About

I believe I have had enough of the About Me Gadget...

...which from 2020 reads "Labelled: Mica, Michaelina, Mike, moonflowerdragon, Mum, dag; I am a librarian who values compassionate communication and constructive critique. 2012-2017 I experimented with self-hosted Wordpress, then came back".

My "About Me" gadget at end of 2020, thanks to Wayback Machine.

I cannot find a record of what was originally in the gadget, but by 2011 it contained:
"LibraryCode1.0:[LRSStAInD+8GenR++*lsfmrjneN++B4TP+ Cs+IT+Cat++Ma+Ddc+RFdivs]" which you can if you wish Decode thanks to Wayback Machine's archive of an old ALIA page about LibraryCode1.0

My "About Me" gadget in 2011, thanks to Wayback Machine.

For the fun of it in 2021:
LibraryCode1.0:[ClRTPInD8GenR++*smrN++B4TP+Cs+IT+Cat++Ma+Lcc+Ddc+]

There and back again: returning to Blogger from self-hosted WordPress?

Who cares?

I hope anyone else who lands here after pondering whether to switch from Wordpress.org to Blogger comments below – so we can compare thoughts. Were you wondering how, or why? Are there as few articles about that journey now as there were when I searched--let alone any promise of ease in such a transition?

During my search for tips back in July 2017 I found that my experiences and rationale almost totally matched Jenn’s Wordpress—>Blogger transition story, even to the fact that Google assumed I really meant to ask about switching the other way. (Did hers happen in 2014, or was the post re-dated when she shifted it with her blog, Hello Brio over to Squarespace?)  Like Jenn, I want to tell you why ; and in case she decides to ditch that post, I will reflect on her suggestions.

Why I decided that the experiment with self-hosted Wordpress was over

--posting infrequency + not finding the right handle for a static portfolio = insufficient value for $$$
--under my name = wanting it to be perfect
--struggle to get it "just right" too time consuming
--needing to spend less time at the computer

Why I am switching [back] to Blogger from Wordpress (despite the p tag issue).

1. Nostalgia.  I loved learning to blog here, and have fond memories of when some of my posts made a difference to people.
2. I still have a hefty collection of posts here, which people are still reading.
3. It is free.
4. I think Blogger can do more now than it did then, but I do not need most of the extra functionality self-hosted Wordpress could do.
5. moonflowerdragon.blogspot looks better on mobile than micameerbach.com

As Jenn suggested, I reconsidered my goals:

• Return to one FREE online spot
  # no particular deadline, although the sooner it is done the sooner I can stop paying for the other domain, yet let’s give enough time to be sure it will work comfortably.
• See whether I return to posting more frequently under the pseudonym
• It was always about skills/professional development, and it still is, with a few new questions:
• What would it take for a blogspot site to be a professional advantage rather than the opposite?
• How much of that which I did at micameerbach will remain relevant if republished?
• Are any of those posts that stayed so long in draft worth actually posting?
  

How I plan to switch from Wordpress back to Blogger = Slowly

Tracy Thomason over at 15 Minute Monday posted about exporting one’s files to move from Wordpress to Blogger.

However, I figured that as I would need to check each post for peculiarities anyway, I might as well consider each of the 111 posts (61 published, 49 drafts, 1 private) manually.

Those peculiarities?

• both Jenn and Tracy mentioned that image URLs don’t transfer
• inbound links would be broken
• internal links would be broken
• comments would have to be exported or mapped over

First: I made sure that the Internet Archive WaybackMachine is capturing micameerbach occasionally – some busy posting months were not captured at first, but the Internet Archive WaybackMachine lets us add.

Second: This post here, and a (semi)final post there

Third: Up to 111 iterations of:

1. Pick a post, either the next highest viewed, or any post,
2. Check whether its URL is cited anywhere else online.
3. Read it,
4. Consider: does it offer or demonstrate anything useful?

If it is worth transferring,

1. in html view, copy and paste everything across to a new post here, but in Open Live Writer (unless Google decide to support p tags in their Blogger editor),
2. append note about where I had originally posted it, perhaps hyperlink to archive version?
3. reupload photos and basically re-link everything.
4. retag & add tag Republished_from_micameerbach
5. Do not try to anticipate whether formerly internal links will also be transferred, just relink to their WaybackMachineversion, and note them in a Google Doc for later checking
6. At old post append note about and linking to republication
7. At old post tag with Republished_at_Moonflowerdragon – let’s me track which ones I’ve done.
8. If the URL was cited anywhere, contact citers to inform them of new post/archive to avoid broken link.

If it is not worth transferring,

1. Check whether it is at WaybackMachine
2. If similar topics/posts here, append at top – link to tag/post]
3. Tag as Not_republishing
4. If the URL was cited anywhere, contact citers to inform them of archive version.

For drafts, I could just copy & publish, but that would not help answer the learning questions above, so I could

1. if publishing: tag it something like drafted@mm / published@MFD
2. if not publishing, don’t delete but tag it notpublishing@MFD

Finally: Unless I give up earlier, when all 111 iterations are complete:

1. Count the tags & maybe talk about what if anything I got out of the process
2. Wind up that account
3. Celebrate

Image Credit: The beautiful watercolour above is “Bilbo: Back again…” by Kinko-White who kindly gave me permission (via shuzzy) to use it here to symbolise my return home here after an adventure.

I'm baaaack

Later, maybe, more on why and how...
 In the meantime, I'm listening to (and occasionally watching) [Update 14 June 2021 - formerly shared video is no longer available at Youtube]

Motiversity. (2017). Best Motivational Speech Compilation EVER #4 - GET BACK UP - 30-Minute Motivation Video #5. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgS0JG2cgWU

Spreading my wings: a double-barrel experiment

For the next few months most (if not all) of my blogging will be at my latest experiment.

A self-hosted, Wordpress, blog in my own name: 

www.micameerbach.com

How I feel about it (in pictures):

and a little fragile?:

Preparing for conference

#ALIA2012 is my first librarianship conference.

How different will it be to gather with a collection of librarians instead of a bevy of breastfeeding counsellors?

ABA conferences inspire

I found conferences with the Australian Breastfeeding Association warm, friendly and encouraging. Could that be because members are nurtured in welcoming skills (by example, inclusion and training) from their first contact?  Perhaps it was also because we all shared a purpose, and identity - having reached at least a specific stage of training in order to be there. 
 
Of course my own attitude played a huge part too: I was eager and determined to learn all I could to make my own volunteer work more successful. I expected to enjoy an ABA conference because everyone who had been to one spoke positively and excitedly about them.  Even that would have been shared though, because going at all was an additional voluntary opportunity.

Discovering ALIA conferences

So why do I feel a little differently about going to ALIA2012?

• The association is different: ALIA is more heterogenous, sure we share an interest in library and/or information services but that is a very broad field. My evening work hours prevent me attending ALIAVic events so there are few inter-personal relationships involved in my membership. There is no patterned (personal) welcoming behaviour in ALIA.  I wonder whether warmer 'welcoming' is something ALIA groups could arrange for members to learn from ABA?
• My position is different.  With 18 months of study and unschooling to go, and with a casual and subordinate work-role the distance feels much greater between what I might learn in session and any opportunity to apply it.
• I expect that the content will be drier (no pun intended). Frequently after (other LIS) conferences bloggers bemoan a general lack of vibrancy in presentations.

Orienting myself

Nevertheless, having thought back to my ABA experience, I see ways to uplift my attitude and I realise I have been applying some already:

• Signing up for first-timer mentoring;
• Booked to attend the first-timer breakfast and all the social events;
• Paying attention to ongoing discussion around the conference - through ALIABiennial (blog), @ALIAbiennial and #ALIA2012;
• Pre-reading all information on sessions (the program now links to papers) and presenters - I've even browsed online sources about (or discussions of/by) speakers to get a sense of their direction: Keynotes: Alex Byrne, Michael Kirby, Tom Chatfield, Ingrid Parent, Mitchell Whitelaw, Anita Heiss, Matthew Reilly, Richard Glover.
• Discussing the conference with people at work;
• Reminding myself it is okay to be curious and to ask.

Re-reading advice saved earlier (with Delicious/Diigo)

Do you just love it when you can use sites you found earlier?  Although I had remembered most of the advice, it was still reassuring to refresh and double-check my readiness against:

• 6 tips to prepare for a conference from Kristy Bolsinger;
• David Bentley's Top 10 ways to get the most out of conference;
• Joeyanne Librarianne also offered 10 tips post-LILAC2010 ;
• Chris Brogan recommended 27 things to do before a conference.  

Sorting out the technology

• With my Xoom (so I can Skype home, and continue testing its relative handiness):
• its charger and the cable in case I need to re-enable Screenshot It
• New apps Evernote Hello, Blogger, WordPress;
• Games (currently Random Mahjong or Backgammon),
• My Toshiba laptop (for writing up in the evenings (and in case the Xoom dies))
•  its charger and a headset in case I need to dictate instead of type.
• with Evernote, Dropbox, Firefox and plugins (Diigo, Zotero, kwout, echofon) updated.
• Mobile phone (although it seems to be dying, will I have time to look for a smartphone?) and of course its charger
• Paper, pens and printouts of schedules - because electronics can die or disappear.

 I wonder what I forgot?

Image Credit: Laura Geared Up by Edward Liu, CC at Flickr

Trip notes going up at family blog

For anyone who might be interested, I've finally got back to actually publishing some of the notes I had jotted on our trip (to Canada and the US back in June/July), over at the family blog Counting Everything. Only four days in so far, the rest will have to wait till assignments are finished for the year.

Donating Blood

‘Tis my day for donating blood: must drink plenty of water, and eat proper meals.

Also I don’t want to run late again so I may not get time to finish last night’s posts. Downside: Writing a post still taking a little too long; Upside: That is two more drafts of ideas in my stockpile so I don’t resort to memes just to keep posting.  Just as well I was two posts up for #30postsin30days (an alternative interpretation to #blogeverydayofjune).

Do you donate blood? 

If not, do you know whether you’re eligible?  The Red Cross Blood Bank’s website has a quiz to help you discover that.

Oh, and brilliant, they have Information for Travellers, so I was able to discover which diseases are present/prevalent in USA & Canada and how they would affect my blood donations when I return.

Australian Red Cross Blood Service via kwout

Surfing serendipity: Austenology & Me, me

Thanks to flexnib's tweeted meme for Day 6 of #blogeverydayofjune I surfed the backtrail (< normblog < Harriet < cornflower < callmemadam < Bookish NYC ) to discover new input for my Fun First subscriptions:

A blog collecting, explaining and discussing "Jane Austen's life, times and works": Austenonly

About and Contents « austenonly via kwout

and its sister site A Jane Austen Gazetteer from where I can "virtually visit the real places that Jane Austen and her family inhabited in reality".

A Jane Austen Gazetteer via kwout

Along the way I found someone else who had seen the "me" "me" in "meme", Harriet Devine:

Harriet Devine's Blog: A Reading Meme via kwout

Before answering this meme's questions I have my own to ask:

1. How often do you even open a meme post by someone else?
2. About how much of that post would you really READ rather than scan?

Image via Wikipedia

Do you snack while reading? 

Not since I reduced my carb intake. But before that quite often, unless it was a meal or there were no snacks available.

What is your favourite drink while reading?

Tea: Daintree if available; white; no sugar

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

I have not discovered a way to be certain to retain the material I want from a book, but marking a note *in* the book definitely does not seem the way to get the point *out* of it.

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?

Bookmark of some sort, if I can't get at the supply (which are in a magazine box on the non-fiction shelves which are in mum's room which has been converted from a sitting room).

Fiction, non-fiction or both?

Both, although I'm less likely to be spell-bound by non-fiction.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?

Wherever I am not in the grip of the author's words.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?

Although I couldn't say for absolute certain not, but I don't think so: I might growl and close the book with a snap but place it down with exceptional restraint.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

If I absolutely cannot make sense of the point without doing so, or if it seems like it might be an interesting word. Though I do remember when I was a teen, reading Leslie Charteris' Saint books I kept notepaper and pen as bookmark and jotted down every unfamiliar word to look up when I got out of bed the next day. I am sure he made some words up.

What are you currently reading?

Davies, C. (2005). Finding and Knowing: Psychology, Information and Computers. London: Routledge.

Parker, R. S. (1977). Effective Decisions and Emotional Fulfillment. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

White, H. S. (1992). Ethical Dilemmas in Libraries: A Collection of Case Studies. New York: G.K. Hall.

What is the last book you bought?

A pile of weeded books on librarianship

Do you have a favourite time/place to read?

When I'm awake.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?

Neither/both. I like the story to be told well, without waffle, whether it takes one book or more or less.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

People I know are too different, they all relate to different things. But my catalogue can be sorted to show those I give highest rating, though they're not otherwise sorted by genre.

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)?

It depends on the space available. Non-fiction (and some fiction and games) by Dewey; Children's separate and then by size/shape/reading-age; General fiction alphabetical by title; My fiction roughly by author's last name but less favoured works are relegated floorwards regardless. And then there are the piles of recently obtained books as yet uncatalogued.

Barbara’s additional question: background noise or silence?

As my sons would report, it doesn't really matter once I'm reading.

Just in case anyone from CULLB602C wants to pick up the meme, here are those questions sans answers:
Do you snack while reading? 
What is your favourite drink while reading?
Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?
Fiction, non-fiction or both?
Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?
Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
What are you currently reading?
What is the last book you bought?
Do you have a favourite time/place to read?
Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)?
Barbara’s additional question: background noise or silence?

I'm Problem Plays?

Thanks to ADHD Librarian I took another silly quiz. Silly result too:

OkCupid.com: The Which Shakespeare Play Are You? Test - Online Dating Test via kwout

Supreme Chief of All Hospitals

Supreme Chief of All Hospitals
Originally uploaded by moonflowerdragon.

A very proud gaming moment for me: becoming Supreme Chief of All Hospitals on "Theme Hospital"

"Print Screen" failed to grab a screenshot of this proud moment, so I had to play the end again to take a photo!

Ellipsis for me

Unlike Jennifer (Parenthesis) "Life as I Know It", I *can* often resist these online quizzes, however tonight I appear to have been in the mood. I almost quit right near the beginning because none of the optional answers appeared precisely relevant... I might do it again using other answers and see what happens.

On first go around I am apparently an:

ellipsis

I scored 46% Sociability and 64% Sophistication!

Your life can be difficult because of your insecurities, but you should know that it isn't your fault. YOU didn't ask to be thrown in around thirty times per page in every bodice-ripper on the shelf! Those who overuse you can kiss your . . . you know. You need to learn to hold your head high and glory in your solitude. You really do have excellent, scholarly tastes. You must never forget that your friend, the period, will be there to support you at the end of every sentence where you truly belong, and, if what is left out is as important as what is said, why, then you are as vital as the alphabet!

Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Flickr Photographer

Having Fun: How Girly Are You?

You Are 40% Girly

You are a pretty hardcore tomboy, and a very free spirit. Gender roles be dammed, you like to do things your way.

How Girly Are You?

Girls-Only Blogthings - How Girly Are You?