Well, I've been wondering for the last couple of days what my blog is going to be about, I mean after all who wants to read about what I am doing???  But I think I will make this blog a virtual journal of my travels through this Grad Cert at Swinburne.

I have joined the course to gain myself a management qualification to improve my employability and have started Semester 1 registered in two classes (Communications Management and Managing in a Complex World).  However, after commencing Communications Management and seeing how much stuff there is to get through and learn, and  having read all my classmates posts in various social media outlets, I think it is best to drop back to 1 subject per semester and complete the certificate over two years.  

Communications Management - gosh where do I start.......  Who knew there was so much social media out there??  I have always shied away from things like Twitter and , whilst I have had a Google+ account for quite a while I never used it as I didn't understand it and when I first registered all my friends were using Facebook rather than G+.  However, already after only 4 days I can see the instant benefits of G+.  Being able to filter out groups or "circles" so that I can concentrate only on thing relating to my course, or posts from friends etc. is a huge advantage over FB.  

Twitter - sorry Twitter lovers, I still find T very confusing.  It is simply too hard to read, all the @s and hash tags and being limited to number of characters.  Is it any wonder people's spelling is getting worse, you have to abbreviate so much that things are simply unreadable.

Gmail and Google + - I already have a gmail account so no problems here, although why do internet companies have to keep upgrading their software and changing how things operate?? And as I said above, I have had G+ for a while but I am now starting to use it properly and like it.

Google Reader and RSS - now here is something I do like and could come to use a lot in the future.  However, I do't have that many interests that I would want to have updates immediately sent to me, ie I don't watch the news or read news papers or magazines.  Watch this space to see how my use of GReader and RSS progresses.

Delicious - I think this is a very smart tool.  I love the idea of being able to log into any computer, lap top, smart phone or tablet devise and have all my bookmarks/shortcuts in one place - fantastic.  But thinking purely of my work environment, it is very difficult to download anything onto our work computers without our firewall etc blocking things.  Overnight updates are just as likely to wipe off personal downloads on a regular basis.  However, I will definately be making use of Delicious on a personal level.

One final thought for the day - HOW MANY USERNAME AND PASSWORD COMBINATIONS CAN ONE PERSON BE EXPECTED TO REMEMBER??????  Every online shop I use for work has one, every personal online service I use has one, now all of these for Uni.  I have set up a free online password remembering program but that is just another combination I have to remember.