More on introverted networking

A Guide For The Introverted Blogger by Micah Sparacio. The first in series of entries about introvert-specific blogging - unfortunately, as far as I can tell, this promise remains unfulfilled after more than a year. The gold nugget among the slightly unpolished entry is this:

“Introverts usually bring a long term vision to their blogging. They tend to plan things out meticulously and speak only when they have something important to say. Introverts tend to think twice before blogging an idea, and this can be a filter against junk. Introverts also tend to offer positive feedback to other bloggers, something our community certainly needs more of.”

Networking for Introverts by Allison Wolf offers a lot of the same advice as the writers in my previous post about networking tips for introverts, but she managed to get plenty of suggestions in a relatively concise post. She also offers a handy strategy as a mnemonic: ROAD. ROAD stands for:

• “Relationships – What are the most important relationships in this person’s life?
• Occupation – What is their occupation? What do they like/dislike about it? What is most exciting about their work? What is most challenging?
• Activities – What activities is the person involved in personally and professionally? What professional or community associations do they contribute to?
• Drive – What motivates this person? What are their personal and professional goals?”

I encourage you to read the full post, if you’re interested in networking. Via Stephen’s Lighthouse.

Europe resource

EuropaWorld publishes articles about develeopment issues from a European perspective. They are divided into 21 categories, including Arms control, Climate, Debt relief and development, Drugs and terrorism, and Education. According to their About us page,

“[t]he target audience is opinion, policy and decision makers , NGOs, Government Organisations, Educational Institutions, Media and Commercial Organisations and the general interested public in the English speaking world.

It consists of a website updated weekly .The website may be accessed free of charge.”

The category pages have ads and a search box by Google. The latest articles appear at the top of the page, and, below, past articles are merely arranged in reverse chronological order. This makes scrolling through the page and browsing difficult. There are also some minor editing and convention issues, but on the whole the site provides another useful window to Europe.

Choose your words carefully…

…or they may come back to haunt you. This is even more true in the Internet age.

Lately, on the basis of a very unscientific sampling, the most popular search engine terms people use to get to this blog are “why is carrot good for u”, “carrot is good for”, “what is carrot good for”, and variants thereof. Presumably, they’re after information about the health benefits of said root vegetable, not about the search engine Carrot. While writing my original Carrot entry, I was trying to come up with a catchy, witty header. Not sure about the wittiness now, but I guess I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.

Out of curiosity, I searched “carrot is good for you” in Google. Sure enough, my blog appears second in the results. Google’s friendly description for my post clearly reads “Carrot is an open source clustering search engine…” [etc.]. Does not sound like anything edible where I come from. Why is it, then, that people click on the link to my blog? They don’t even look at what they’re clicking? I am genuinely baffled.

Mind-controlling digital objects

Emotiv has created a prototype of a headset that enables limited mind-control over digital objects. According to CNET News, they promise headsets on the market for Christmas. Clearly this technology is still in its baby shoes. Still, it’s intriguing. Who knows, maybe it will take off. After all, only two years ago I would’ve laughed to hear that you can place your digital camera on a coffee table to download the images; now that’s reality.

Neighborhood news mashup

EveryBlock is now available for New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. In Stephen Francoeur’s words, the site “allows you to search for neighborhood news and data in New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. You can search by address, ZIP code, or neighborhood name. The site pulls together information from a number of sources in a very intriguing way.”

Via LACUNY Blog.

I explored my neighborhood a little. Very interesting. The restaurant inspections info definitely gave me a better idea whether to try some of the area eateries I’ve been curious about.

Public libraries should find this resource useful.

Academic Librarian Journal Readership Survey

Created by Steven Bell at ACRLog, this wee Academic Librarian Journal Readership Survey only takes a minute – or 2 minutes 47 seconds, like Steven puts it, if you want to add a comment at the end. Go raise your (virtual) voice!

Working on the web

Forget PowerPoint: 13 Online Presentation Apps from Mashable. Via Stephen’s Lighthouse.

Forget Excel: 14 Online Spreadsheet Applications and 13 Tools for Tracking Discussion in the Blogosphere from Mashable. Via lo-fi librarian.

The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives. Mostly conventional programs, but includes a few web applictions. Via What I Learned Today.

If you’re curious about the semantic web…

The article 11 Things to Know About the Sematic Web from ReadWriteWeb will not tell you everything you need to know. It will, however, give you some basics.

Via Stephen’s Lighthouse.

Signage done right

This cute sign at a law library not only gives you information, it tells you a lot about the library’s service attitude. Very nice.

Via Tame the Web.

Introvert networking tips and musing on linguistic issues

I’ve long known I’m an introvert. Over the years I’ve developed a way of coping that I’m mostly satisfied with, but wish to improve.

It hasn’t occurred to me, however, to go looking for literature on how other introverts deal with the extroverted world. Not until this spring, that is, when I stumbled on Marcy Phelps’s Power Networking for Introverts blog. Another helpful read was Marti Laney Olsen’s The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World. It’s a positive how-to guide with practical tips for work and personal life as well as raising introverted children. Especially helpful is the definitions of introvert, shy, schizoid, and highly sensitive – not at all the same things.

It was also quite a revelation to find ‘innies’ among seasoned prosessionals and presenters (like Mary Ellen Bates in the LIS world).

Armed with better self-awareness, I’m on the lookout for networking and presenting tips. Here are a few:

• 75+ Tips on Becoming a Better Networker by Jessica Hupp.

Plenty of useful advice, like Focus on quality over quantity, or Keep an updated profile [online]. It’s surprising how often the latter is neglected.

• How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People by Meredith Levinson.

Squeezed in by other material and broken up over five pages. Worth a read, despite some unfortunate (dare I say inflammatory?) wording. (If you want to skip something, though, this would be my recommendation.)

• 25 articles on networking for shy people by Curt Rosengren.

Helpful reference, even though it lumps shy and introverted people together, which is misleading.

All via Power Networking for Introverts.

Online networking:

• Eight Secrets of Effective Online Networking by Beth Kanter.

Concentrates on social networking sites, but her advice has wider applications as well.

Via Stephen’s Lighthouse.

Isn’t it peculiar, though, that the term networking has morphed into the noun phrase social networking in connection to our online activities, even when the meaning still clearly stays the same? Networking is inherently social; why would we want another term for it? I suspect it’s not just the new platform, I suspect we’re marking different connotations with the noun phrase. It seems that social networking appears in contexts that suggest less professional attitudes or expectations than traditional networking.

What do you think?