For Thing 3, I was asked to explore one of the image banks mentioned in the blog and download an image from it. As an added option, I was asked to write a blog about my experience, which I did - the blog can be accessed here. I was really excited about this Thing as I use image banks a lot and was keen to experiment with Pixabay, which I hadn't heard about before. I felt confident to use this tool and found it easy to do, mainly because I had used image banks before and they all work in pretty much the same way. One interesting thing I learnt from this Thing is that image banks can differ quite a lot from each other in terms of their content - some are strong on contemporary images, others on clip art and so on. Image banks are a wonderful resource and a great tool for creating infographics, LibGuides, how to-leaflets and websites, and I can see myself using them a lot in the future. Another aspect I enjoyed about Thing 3 was firming up my knowledge on Creative Commons licensing which enables me to use images with greater confidence and to better understand the context and manner in which they can be used. In the copyright jungle that exists today it is wonderful to have a resource that won't get you into hot water!
For Thing 7, I hit a snag, or rather several of them. First, although the title of this Thing was 'online exhibitions', the instructions I was given didn't seem to match that concept as I was asked to recreate a poster or booklet online using a blog and re-imagine it in different contexts. I asked one of the course directors what this entailed and was told that I should not scan any images but literally recreate them and use them for inspiration. This threw me altogether (was I supposed to do an infographic or something?) so I decided to wait a few days to see how other course participants tackled this Thing. Eventually I realized that the idea was simply and literally to create an online exhibition. I think one of the reasons for why it took so long for the penny to drop is that I have previous - albeit not first-hand - experience of online exhibitions and knowing how incredibly time consuming they are I couldn't quite believe that this was what we were asked to do. Things rapidly went from bad to worse as I had no idea what sort of an exhibition to create and it took me three months to come up with a suitable idea. By then I was so far behind with the course that I nearly threw in the towel. However, this was a skill I really wanted to learn so I decided to stick with it.
For my online tool, I opted for WordPress as I had done a beginner's course in WordPress basics a couple of years previously and wanted to put what I had learnt to good use. On the whole, I found WordPress easy and straightforward to use, even though the free version differs quite considerably from the paid version in which I had received my training. I did have a bit of trouble figuring out what to do when I was finished working on a page, and frequently ended up accidentally closing down WordPress rather than just closing the page tab. I also found that the options for manipulating the template in the free version are very limited. This is fine for a simple, functional no frills website, but for anything more ambitious the paid version is a better option and one that I would opt for in the future. I was quite nervous at the start as I wasn't quite sure what I was doing and was afraid of making a total mess of things but I am glad to say that going through the exercise has taken out the fear of using WordPress and given me a fantastic new skill to utilize. It was really good to combine the training I had done with an actual experience of using this tool. The Thing 7 blog on online exhibitions was also truly inspirational and packed with good information. By far the best piece of advice was to plan the website before beginning to put it together. I had a clear idea in my mind how I wanted the website to look and this made things like selecting the right template a whole lot easier. Apart from the initial confusion and delay, I found this a truly positive experience and one that I would like to repeat in the future. I honestly don't think there is a better way to promote archival collections and the wonderful stories they tell than through an online exhibition. The exhibition I created for this Thing can be found here, and here is a link to the blog which accompanies it.
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A snip of my online exhibition |
For Thing 8, I was asked to experiment with Piktochart or Canva and put together an infographic on an easy topic. I felt a bit wobbly getting started as this was completely uncharted territory for me but I was also intrigued and excited to learn something new. I was relieved to discover that both online tools were really easy to use and this time I was even able to come up with an idea for the infographic in rather less time than three months! I opted for Canva because it had a better range of templates to choose from. On the negative side, the bank of free images available to users is very small, but having done Thing 3 I knew where to go and was able to download good clip art images from Pixabay. I was also able to utilize some of the skills I had learnt from Thing 7, including the need to plan before you jump. It was really nice to see all the new skills I had acquired coming together in this exercise! Although I enjoyed learning a new skill, I am not quite sure how I could apply infographics in my line of work except perhaps if I were to attend a conference or put together a workshop and needed to bring along something easy and eye-catching as guidance or to promote our collections. You can view my blog and the infographic I created here.
To sum up, earning a Visual Communicator badge has been a rewarding journey even though it required a far greater time commitment than I had anticipated when signing up for the course. I am glad to have learnt how to create online exhibitions and infographics and awfully proud of myself for having stuck with the course when I felt it was slipping away from me. Getting through the three Things was a big commitment but on the plus side I feel I have truly earned my badge!
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