I'm beginning to get a little frustrated... I will try to keep calm, but wanted to know if others are really experiencing the problems I'm experiencing with this now. Any suggestions would be helpful!
I started CPD23 in all good faith, trying to do this during work hours to improve my professional knowledge of web 2.0 and library 2.0. Trying to network online with like minded people, and pass on what I learn to my colleagues (many of whom aren't aware of this, even though I've talked about it until I'm hoarse!) and to use what I've learnt in my day to day work.
The problem I'm experiencing is that many of these fantastic tools just don't work on our PCs at work. I cannot log into personal webmail, I can't install additional software or Internet add-ons, and many sites come up with an error message in the HTML in Internet Explorer. The latest issue I'm finding is that I can't even comment on others blogs because my account details won't carry over on the work network and I end up being Annoymous. That's fine, but in many circumstances, I'd rather be a person. Anon is so common, even more so than Trad, I believe. :-)
Consequently I'm reluctant to share much of what I'm learning with work because I'm now doing much of this at home. I'm happy to do these things at home, because I'm so determined to come out with something positive when there's such little staff development available (I also hate failing).
What I'd like to know, is there anyone else who experiences these problems? Are there others who are getting more frustrated because of these great tools which we can't use in our work? Have you get any unblocked or working correctly? How have you gone about this? Can anyone help?
That's my rant over with for now, but I'm certainly intrigued how others networks and Internet access are configuered. I'll try not to get too techy, but do others log into PCs or do you have a virtual machine which you log into? How often is the software updated and do you run the latest? I realise now I've opened a whole new subject and possibly a very large can of worms!!
PS I've managed to write this at work, but I won't be able to see any comments until I get home!!
This is a really interesting post. Whilst we are quite lucky (only certain sites are blocked Gmail, Hotmail to name 2) on the whole Web 2 resources are available (and i have quite free range in their use). It is not the case for colleagues either further afield in the NHS or especially in the local council organisation. They have to fight & justify anything not on the ‘approved list’ from wiki’s to blog sites! To compound this, both are still stuck with IE6, which means that even if they do have access, they often cannot view or, like yourself contribute in any meaningful way. I think often it is for a two-fold reason 1) ignorance within information governance/safety teams & 2) misuse by other members of staff. These are 2 areas where a lot of education is required i believe.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! And I can tell you that working in an Army library, I feel your pain. Our IT systems at work are very restricted for security reasons. We use virtual machines which also has an impact on peripherals like USB sticks. It can get very frustrating because it feels as if the IT Support don't trust us to freely use a computer by ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIt surprises me that a council library would be so restrictive to its staff. As well as CPD stuff, surely it affects how well you can do your job and retrieve information for users?
I am in the same boat, some sites I can't even see at work, but I do form home, I feel it is a thing for me and I shall do it despite work! I am a Librarian no matter where I am and if work is too short sighted to allow and encourage this I shall keep my eyes open and either show them or find some who is... :-)
ReplyDeleteReading posts like this really makes me value what freedom I have in my workplace (HE) - fast internet connections, Firefox, ability to an extent at least to customise things. It seems so ridiculous to me that other organisations won't trust their professional staff to the extent that they are very heavily restricted from doing their jobs well.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, here's a Voices for the Library blog post I've just seen that addresses some of these issues, including ways in which to try and improve the situation:
http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=53
I understand your frustration completely. I was going to link to the Voices post we've just published, but Katie beat me to it :) Hope you manage to break your way through somehow.
ReplyDeleteMm, I completely recognise all this. I also can't use a USB, so often send things via gmail to get to work. I don't book the public PCs at lunchtime though, it's work, so I'll book it for work time!!
ReplyDeleteAs for NZ, hoping to come out ASAP! We have resident visas and are just trying to sell up here. No jobs as yet, no jobs would have been held open the time it's taken to sell!
Fingers crossed we'll get there!
Yes, this is right. We've only just had IE upgraded to 8, but the flash player is out of date, so that doesn't help and means I do a lot of this stuff at home. Misuse has happened, I know that and our ICT is outsourced anyway...
ReplyDeleteWe use virtual machines too. We can't use USB sticks either. I do a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between public and staff PCs emailing between gmail and work!
ReplyDeleteWe do have issues sometimes trying to retrieve information for users, but it's not a regular occurrence and so it's not something we can report frequently enough to be allowed access.
I like your comment. I know exactly how you feel. If they won't encourage us to learn, we'll do it ourselves and go somewhere where they do!! :-)
ReplyDeleteOoh, thanks for the link. I've not had the chance to see that yet and I subscribe to their blog!! I worked in HE for ten or more years and possibly that's why I find it frustrating. This CPD23 is a real eye opener!
ReplyDeleteThanks will certainly read the post, hopefully I can get something positive from this.
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki, I work in FE and we are still on IE7 so most of the sites on cpd23 are inaccessible at work. We also have a very restrictive websense filtering system in place. 18 months ago we had all sites labelled social media or networks restricted in use to 20 minutes per day broken down into 4 blocks of 5 minutes at a time. This was for all staff and students alike. Overnight we were unable to update twitter, facebook, blogs etc. It took a year to get my work account unrestricted and more recently upgraded to IE8. Which is great for me but the rest of the team still can't access everything they need to. Plus everything we have created online and through web2.0 is still restricted to the rest of college. Even Wordpress is restricted! To me this is so shortsighted. We should be embracing new ways of accessing information not sitting in the dark ages wondering why we are being left behind.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing the cpd23 things at home too. There is little chance of getting anything like this done at work with the present set up. I have heard rumours of upgrades to Windows7, we are currently having an upgrade college wide to Office 2010. Unfortunately the LRC computers need so many upgrades to get them to upgrade to Office 2010 that there have been major problems. All we ask like everyone else in libraries wherever they may be is to have a system, computer, printer etc that works!!! It's not too much to ask ..... is it?
Sarah, Thanks so much for your reply. I didn't think this post would get such of a response... I'm glad I'm not on my own. If I was brave enough I'd be starting something onlong the lines of Voices for the Libraries, but IT wise to try to get those with the purse strings in all sectors to realise that we need access to these resources. I'm sure if we had the chance to use these resources, we'd have people banging our doors down trying to get in!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your efforts!