Marginalia: Thing 12 – Lurking on the sidelines

Thing 12 invites participants to reflect on their use of social networks and to consider whether you:

ñ interact with people or do you lurk?

ñ tend to stay within the comfort zone of your own sector or do you actively look for people who work in different areas of the profession?

ñ Are a bit reluctant to get involved, and if yes, why do you think this is?

Claire Sewell also suggests looking at the blog of a CPD23 participant who is in a different sector and starting active dialogue on their blog.

Lurking on the Sidelines?
© Copyright Sarah Charlesworth and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2117179

My use of social networks?

I guess that I'm more of a lurker than an active participant, although I have published a couple of reflections on legislative developments in Wales and on value-adding work in business information provision. I also occasionally respond to requests on email lists or via Twitter. I try and use my professional judgement to comment on aspects with which I have knowledge, or which fascinate me. Hopefully my contributions will therefore be of value and will add to the discussion in a helpful way. I don't necessarily want to add to “random noise”, but when it matters I would like for my voice to be heard. Louise Cowan's Peripheral Device blog notes her reluctance to blog for reasons of time and confidence. I guess many of us can identify with these constraints! Louise sets out a great action plan to address these - an admirable practice, and one to follow.

However, I beginning to wonder if lurking is being overly dismissed as a negative activity. Is this always fair or true? Lurking can still be great for professional development, raising awareness of issues, concerns or current professional news. An appreciative audience of a social network discussion is surely still to be valued? A "live" audience would mark the end of lively debate with applause and perhaps questions or comments. Then perhaps should we do similarly for online discussions? A quick contribution to indicate that I've enjoyed the conversation, would, I'm sure, be welcomed by the main parties in the discussion. Better still a comment to indicate that discussions have provided a new perspective, or that you agree with most of the points, but what about “x”, or would anyone suggest to a good resource to improve understanding about “y”? And of course, in doing so, one breaks free from the shackles of lurking. This is certainly something that I hope to undertake a little more frequently.

Comfort zone or "social animal"?

Inherently by nature I'm a "comfort zone" kind of person, although I'm really lucky in having a reasonably diverse and wide professional network. My involvement with CILIP Career Development Group helps here. And I'm fortunate to receive updates from Cardiff Libraries in Cooperation [CLIC] and attend their excellent events. My blog for Thing 10 also records that I've worked in a number of different library sectors and over a number of years so this helps provide a varied range of contacts. So, on reflection, perhaps I'm not quite so confined and parochial as I think I am. However, Thing 12 has inspired me to reach out beyond my usual list of contacts and to expand my horizons. I found a lot of shared experience and interest in Anabel Marsh's experiences of CPD23Things in her blog and we've sent some supportive Tweets. Anabel has encouraged me to reconsider becoming a mentor :-) and it was just the encouragement I needed. A school librarian, Caroline Fielding's blog also provides a new perspective for me.

Reluctant participant?

Yes possibly, mainly because of time and confidence - so here I agree with Louise. However Thing 12 has encouraged me to reflect on my social network participation, and as a consequence to try to be more engaged and to be more of a contributor. Creating time to work on 23Things may well help me with this goal too.