Month: April 2016

Book of the Month: The Business of Being Social

Daren Mansfield / / Book of the Month

CapturebbWelcome to the social media age! Well, it’s the first chapter in an engrossing read entitled ‘The Business of Being Social‘ by Michelle Carvill and David Taylor, and a friendly introduction to start this blog post. It’s the second edition, published last year, and covers every aspect of social media and ‘explains step-by-step how you can create a strategy for success’.  Why is it important? Social media is simply indispensable to any business, it (almost) goes without saying. The significant dates in technological innovation include telephones (1876), radio (1896), television (1925), and World Wide Web (1990) could be justifiably enhanced by social media being launched on:

5th May 2003 – LinkedIn

4th February 2004 – FaceBook

23rd April 2005 -YouTube

21 March 2006- Twitter

2007 marked The Apple iPhone’s arrival to herald the smartphone age. Other social networks include Google+, Pinterest and Instagram, alongside social messaging sites WhatsApp and Snapchat. These outflank all other media in their huge global reach. The figures are staggering: Facebook has over 1.4 billion active users, Twitter has 280 million, LinkedIn over 340 million, YouTube over 1 billion and Google+ around 300 million. Almost 2 billion people access social networks, and is estimated to rise to 2.44 billion in two years’ time. The book is interesting to read not only for those running a business, or a student studying the social media aspect of business, but for anyone interested, as I am, in this dynamic area.

The Business of Being Social (2nd ed) is available at 658.872 car on the 2nd floor of the Library.

 

 

Use the Snipping Tool, not PrtScn, to capture images

Daren Mansfield / / digital learning

I find using the PrtScrn button on the keyboard unhelpful when capturing images or the screen as it includes everything, sometimes personal information, as demonstrated below. Well, to be honest, even this screenshot was edited…There is a simple alternative though.

Capturescf

Whenever I give a lecture and show how to capture data such as charts and tables using the Snipping Tool, it is definitely a crowd pleaser, despite it being so easy to use. I don’t think many students know about it, hence this blog post.

 

Capturesn

 

It saves editing a screenshot where the toolbar and icons are evident, and anything else you may have accumulated at the bottom of your screen.  Windows instructions are captured below (naturally using the Snipping Tool), but on our system at the University of Lincoln, I go to Start> Accessories > Snipping Tool > Add New (a cross appears) > Scroll over screen / image > Copy > Paste into document. Remember to reference whatever you have copied if you’re writing an assignment.  I regularly use the Snipping Tool for the blog as any image is so easy to capture, but I have to save the image to a file and insert the image (under Visual mode) as I’m using WordPress.

Capturesnip

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/use-snipping-tool-capture-screen-shots#1TC=windows-7

Spring arrivals

Daren Mansfield / / University Library

We’re often asked about strengthening our print book collection by purchasing more copies and make them more available, such as placing them on short-loan or supplementing a title by acquiring an ebook. I use a New Library Books for Business School Talis reading list as a news bulletin to keep students and staff aware of our latest additions, either as new titles or as additional copies.  It is interactive containing the past three months’ worth of newly acquired books that support the Business School, and is updated every week to illustrate what new titles and additional copies are available in the Library, so it’s worth checking out the Business Librarian blog regularly.

Capturebooks

 

 

Where good ideas come from by Steven Johnson

Daren Mansfield / / Study Skills

Continuing my encouragement of learning about research skills in Higher Education, I came across this video through the Learning Development in Higher Education Network @ LDHEN@JISCMAIL.AC.UK via Sandra Sinfield from London Metropolitan University as part of a #Take 5 series about the best way of being creative. I found this 4 min RSA animation about how ideas are formulated entertaining, where Steven Johnson talks about the patterns he has discovered in his research into where good ideas come from. Basically, some ideas flow, others take a long time to mature, some wither on the vine.

There are some excellent discussions taking place via creativeHE community Creativity for Learning in HE course on Google+.

 https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110898703741307769041

Online tutorial for business students: writing a lit. review

Daren Mansfield / / Study Skills

By signing up to JISCMAIL.AC.UK emails and perhaps most notably, The Business Librarians Association Mailing List @ LIS-BUSINESS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK, I find out lots of useful information, and sometimes stumble upon the  occasional nougat. Thursday was no exception. In collaboration with with lecturers from DCU business school, Jack Hyland (Business and Fiontar Librarian from the Dublin City University), has kindly created an online tutorial on writing a literature review for business Masters students.  Fortunately for us, it’s publicly available version and generously shared under a Creative Commons license (BY-NC-SA). I hope you find it interesting. It takes about thirty minutes to complete.

Capturejack

 

Top tips on proof reading

Daren Mansfield / / Study Skills

At this most frantic time of year, proof-reading becomes a crucial part of the pre-submission process of any assignment and especially for those dissertation students who have been working so hard for several months on their research. Nothing can go wrong – or can it?  According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), too many employers were having to invest in literacy lessons for their staff, and an online entrepreneur reckons that millions are lost in online sales because of poor spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and so forth (BBC, 2011).  With online sales accounting for over £500 million a week, proof reading skills need to be acquired before a business student graduates. Fortunately, there is a plethora of online materials to help those students before they choose the submit button on Turnitin. Or to be more specific, the University of Reading with its insightful list of effective proof reading tips, is a useful place to start.

https://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Writing/sta-proof.aspx

Ah, YouTube. A Wealth of Material for the Enquirer. Be warned though, as some (other) videos on proof reading contained mistakes! For those wishing to delve into more about proof reading, East Tennessee State University, offers some suitable academic advice. Perhaps easier to follow if you’re tired, rather than reading a list. Basically, the rule is not to leave it to the last minute, and avoid proof reading on the bus (too bumpy, being tired & probably not paying attention anyway).