Are you sitting comfortably?

How many hours are we going to spend in front of our computer screens? I’ve just made myself read through tips on using your computer safely and comfortably . IBM’s Healthy Computing website has some neat little graphics about sitting comfortably.

For me, it’s the simplest tips that are the hardest to follow. Here’s my rhyme (I’m sure you can do better):

1,2 adjust the view

3,4 feet flat on floor

5,6 don’t get ‘fixed’

7,8 sit up straight

9,10 move again

Meanwhile I’m glued to my chair, leaning towards the screen and with my legs crossed …

A magic wand

It’s a popular magic device – at one flick the toys are sent back to the cupboard, the crockery arranged on the shelves, and the spells-gone-wrong are righted.

My Spells book (aka the OU Library) has introduced me to a brilliant way to marshall all those journal articles and webpages. The offputting title of ‘bibliographic management software’ hides a magic wand to collect, manage and cite* research sources.

The OU Library outlines the software options here. Some may prefer Endnote (costs money) or Refworks (costs money when you are no longer associated with the OU); I’ve started  using Zotero (install the Firefox browser, install Zotero and then its word processor plugin).  Now I can easily capture publication data for anything I see on-screen. And then I can go to my word processor, put the cursor in the right place, and just click for in-text references and the end References list to appear.  Here’s an example of  output in Harvard format:

(Hade 2002)

Hade, D., 2002. Storyselling: Are Publishers Changing the Way Children Read? Horn Book Magazine, 78(5), 509-517.

It almost makes me wish I had an essay to write.

* Note dated 21 October 2009: Oh dear I got a bit carried away here.   It does ‘collect and manage’ but not ‘cite’ quite so easily. I’m sorry. It doesn’t readily provide Harvard-style citations from all webpages. The best I can suggest with Zotero for TMAs is  that you use it as far as you can then edit what it has provided so that you match the examples given in our Assignment guidance, and via http://library.open.ac.uk/help/howto/citeref/index.cfm (click on the ‘Harvard’ link under ‘Step 1′).

For instance, here’s an example of what Zotero provides for a Harvard full citation, compared with our guidance:

Zotero:

Anon. Oxbridge trainee teachers ‘twice as likely to get jobs’ | Education | Education Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/aug/03/schools.uk1.

OU Library helpsheet:

MacLeod, D. (2007) ‘Oxbridge trainee teachers twice as likely to get jobs’, Education Guardian, 3^rd August, [online] Available from http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2140513,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=8 (Accessed 3 August 2007)

What’s new in the journals?

I suspect we’ll be busy enough with course-directed reading, but if you want to dip your toe into further resources, you might enjoy a simple email alerting service.

Set up  Zetoc Alert and you get an email with clickable links to newly-published articles. Even better, the links may well give you access to the article’s full text.

The Open University Library has produced a friendly introduction and how-to-sign-up leaflet .

Here are the  journals I’ve selected for my alert. Have I missed any?

• CANADIAN CHILDRENS LITERATURE
• CHILDRENS LITERATURE
• CHILDRENS LITERATURE IN EDUCATION
• HORN BOOK MAGAZINE
• LION AND THE UNICORN
• NEW REVIEW OF CHILDRENS LITERATURE AND LIBRARIANSHIP
• PAPERS EXPLORATIONS INTO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
• QUARTERLY- CHILDRENS LITERATURE ASSOCIATION
• SCHOOL LIBRARIAN
• SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

Meanwhile, I enjoyed reading a NY Times article about the endless curiosity of the young mind; in particular

In fact, our mature brain seems to be programmed by our childhood experiences — we plan based on what we’ve learned as children. Very young children imagine and explore a vast array of possibilities. As they grow older and absorb more evidence, certain possibilities become much more likely and more useful. They then make decisions based on this selective information and become increasingly reluctant to give those ideas up and try something new.

Here’s hoping that study helps to keep some plasticity in our ‘mature’ brains.