The problem with Facebook

"The problem with Facebook is that it's keeping things from you."

Thanks to Alan Cann for sharing this intelligently produced and extremely helpful video by Mike Elgan. 7 minutes well spent...

Study and Communication Skills for the Chemical Sciences

A nice way to start the new year; the book I co-authored with Tina Overton and Jon Scott has just been published. Available in all good book shops (or Amazon)...

We got a lovely certificate

Look what came in the post today

The Guardian's social media guidelines

I just saw on a retweet from Richard Hall that The Guardian have just released some social media guidelines for its journalists. You can read them in full here but the main points are:

1. Participate in conversations about our content, and take responsibility for the conversations you start.
2. Focus on the constructive by recognising and rewarding intelligent contributions.
3. Don't reward disruptive behaviour with attention, but report it when you find it.
4. Link to sources for facts or statements you reference, and encourage others to do likewise.
5. Declare personal interest when applicable. Be transparent about your affiliations, perspectives or previous coverage of a particular topic or individual.
6. Be careful about blurring fact and opinion and consider carefully how your words could be (mis)interpreted or (mis)represented.
7. Encourage readers to contribute perspective, additional knowledge and expertise. Acknowledge their additions.
8. Exemplify our community standards in your contributions above and below the line.

Which seems like very good guidance to me.

Tagginganna at ALTC

This presentation is Alex and Jen's work, but I'm putting it here for completeness, and because Mark and I are the other two members of the project team. We're presenting it at ALTC tomorrow (although as I'm setting this post as a delayed publication - that should read 'today').

Tagginganna on Prezi

Annual report wordle

Yesterday I was tinkering with Student Development's annual report for 2009/10. It's largely for internal purposes but I may well publish it on here when it's finalised. In the mean time here's one of those natty little wordles of it. I'm pleased to see students most prominent.