A blog to explore the interests of an original renaissance woman; arts, sciences, poetry, librarianship and everything in between.
Thursday 26 March 2020
Librarians are trained to work effectively in a climate of ambiguity!
Wednesday 11 March 2020
My Latest Blogpost Round-up: Collaboration
Friday 24 January 2020
Some tips for avoiding anxiety at conferences
If it’s any consolation for nervous first-timers, it can be just as bad for those going for the umteenth time. The truth is, we ALL get anxiety - some of us worse than others, but it affects every single one of us.
Tuesday 16 April 2019
4 Ways to Improve Your Law Firm’s Newsletters and Current Awareness
The key to a successful law firm client newsletter is more than just the right content. Include information that is relevant to the clients’ business, as items that may be interesting on a personal level. Then ensure you present it in the right way and remember to include a meaningful CTA - to have conversations further down the line.
Friday 22 February 2019
How do you get everyone engaged in your BD strategy?
Marketing and business development (MBD) and client relationship management (CRM) is central to the ongoing growth and success of any organisation. After my conversation with the in-house lawyer, I was inspired to turn to another friend - let’s call her Fatima - for insight into the role of the legal business development specialist, and how it has changed.
It is clear from my conversation with her, and further research that marketing and business development leaders need to harness everyone’s ‘sales’ potential. One recent survey claimed that only 20% of firms get their lawyers involved in the sales process, so we must improve this. I conclude this post with a use-case scenario which brings together the three threads of discussion, and will hopefully get you and your colleagues inspired to become business development champions.
It is clear from my conversation with her, and further research that marketing and business development leaders need to harness everyone’s ‘sales’ potential. One recent survey claimed that only 20% of firms get their lawyers involved in the sales process, so we must improve this. I conclude this post with a use-case scenario which brings together the three threads of discussion, and will hopefully get you and your colleagues inspired to become business development champions.
Here is my easy ABC:
- Align your business strategies across the firm
- Move Beyond the Buzzwords
- Communication is key
Thursday 7 February 2019
Useful Information Management Blogposts from 2018
Where were you for the start of 2019? |
We also attended various conferences to explore innovative and flexible approaches in the world of library and information work. With our own approaches to innovation and working with others, late last year we were proud to announce our MLex integration, as well as a partnership with Onelog.
Thursday 8 November 2018
Legal Upheaval: A guide to creativity, collaboration, and innovation in law by Michele DeStefano
We live in a hi-tech world where even the simple act of reading can depend on electronic devices. You catch the news on your mobile or tablet; reading for pleasure might mean a Kindle; and longer articles perhaps become ‘TL;DR’ because of service interruption. Imagine the pleasure then, of a picking up a book. Michele DeStefano’s 2018 hardback has been a constant travel companion and physical reminder of the nebulous world of legal innovation.
The old fashioned approach was something that came up time and again during the recent Legal Geek conference. The emphasis on the efficiently low-tech, e.g., post-it notes as a collaborative way of generating ideas has seen a revival at tech events. As the Times Law Blawg reported, Shmuli Goldberg of LawGeex said, ‘stop buying legal tech if you are just curious about it, but if you have a problem that needs resolving then do buy legal tech that will resolve it. You are then not just buying legal tech but resolving a problem’. So what is going on?
The old fashioned approach was something that came up time and again during the recent Legal Geek conference. The emphasis on the efficiently low-tech, e.g., post-it notes as a collaborative way of generating ideas has seen a revival at tech events. As the Times Law Blawg reported, Shmuli Goldberg of LawGeex said, ‘stop buying legal tech if you are just curious about it, but if you have a problem that needs resolving then do buy legal tech that will resolve it. You are then not just buying legal tech but resolving a problem’. So what is going on?
Sunday 8 July 2018
Heat
The scent of heat soaked masonry
Envelops you. Forming out of hot clay a
sense of time.
Kiln-like, the golden rocks stand against the blue sky
As permanent as Mary
As the resurrected cathedral
With the gold and blue finding a different kind of worship
The scent of heat soaked masculinity
Suffocates you. Forming out of muscle a
Envelops you. Forming out of hot clay a
sense of time.
Kiln-like, the golden rocks stand against the blue sky
As permanent as Mary
As the resurrected cathedral
With the gold and blue finding a different kind of worship
The scent of heat soaked masculinity
Suffocates you. Forming out of muscle a
sense of beauty.
Godlike, the man stretches his lithe body upwards
As hard as rock
As the stone in the ancient buried city
With the flesh and blood creating a
Different kind of worship
Let me embrace the rock and the gold:
Sighing inwardly, wishing to be your mould.
To take you into the heat of the sun’s desire
Wanton I lie here and simply admire.
Godlike, the man stretches his lithe body upwards
As hard as rock
As the stone in the ancient buried city
With the flesh and blood creating a
Different kind of worship
Let me embrace the rock and the gold:
Sighing inwardly, wishing to be your mould.
To take you into the heat of the sun’s desire
Wanton I lie here and simply admire.
Wednesday 31 January 2018
Of Croatian Beasts and London Artistic Feasts
'suspended' |
Labels:
Archives,
art,
art history,
Battle of Lepanto,
Christie's,
connections,
conservation,
Croatia,
Dragons,
estorick collection,
exhibitions,
London,
Modern art,
modernism,
National Gallery
Thursday 18 January 2018
A love letter to the books of Ljubljana
This piece came out of a month long stay in Ljubljana in October 2017. This is when I fell in love with this beautiful capital, its culture, architecture and people. I am happy to say that I am posting this whilst in the city again. They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but is it possible to judge a city by its bookshops?
Friday 3 November 2017
Gently
The dark muted autumn peeps through mist
Dark and earth and wet and coldScientific method strives to rise
As golden sun appears
All is magically uplifted
Quietly, roaringly, gaseously
The vibrant autumn calls us clearly home.
Gently.
We are but shadows against an illusory life
Fleeting and swift and temporary
We strive to love and rise above our failings
As people come and go
All is supposedly revealed
Closing, dying, ending
The unknown winter beckons us clearly home.
Gently.
Wednesday 6 September 2017
Tales from the river to the ocean
Brest Maritime International Festival |
Tuesday 5 September 2017
Law librarians and the importance of training
May your training room be full! |
Monday 3 July 2017
A personal approach to mentoring
Looking for me? |
Tuesday 20 June 2017
Virtual teams and collaborative working #BIALL2017
I've now completed my first full week of truly remote working so am reasonably well equipped to comment on and consolidate the notes taken from the various relevant sessions. As usual BIALL had ensured that although there were topic overlaps, a different perspective was given by each expert. Eleanor Windsor from LibSource presented on 'Managing a successful virtual team', whilst the entire Vinge law firm library team came in to offer insight on working together in different offices. And finally a duo from the University of Law talked about collaborative working to reduce pressure on library services.
Wednesday 14 June 2017
Being Informed about Brexit #BIALL2017
The notes that follow arise out of the BIALL Conference 2017 and given the theme of the conference was 'Together or Apart? Effective ways of working' I'm happy to share my notes! This has recently been updated to reflect the #BIALL2019 conference on Vable.
The first plenary session - and Willi Steiner Memorial Lecture was entitled 'Informing the debate about Brexit', presented by David Allen Green. This is obviously a contentious topic as a whole but at least law librarians can claim to be well informed as to the arguments. After all, it is the legal chaos in which we are interested. As I have noted in the past information specialists are experts in spotting fake news. We have all the skills and expertise required to assist the general public and others who rely on us to get things right.
Being Informed about Brexit
The first plenary session - and Willi Steiner Memorial Lecture was entitled 'Informing the debate about Brexit', presented by David Allen Green. This is obviously a contentious topic as a whole but at least law librarians can claim to be well informed as to the arguments. After all, it is the legal chaos in which we are interested. As I have noted in the past information specialists are experts in spotting fake news. We have all the skills and expertise required to assist the general public and others who rely on us to get things right.
Thursday 2 March 2017
Content is dead! Long live content!
This article was originally published on Iris Briefings but I feel strongly about the message it sends. When we create content, who are we trying to reach? Search engines or people?
A recent article on content marketing got me thinking. As a qualified information professional it has always been my responsibility to get the right information to the right person and at the right price. My colleagues knew that if I sent them an article or document, they could rely on the quality of the content. Increasingly though, people researching online are being deluged with rehashed, badly written ‘junk articles’. I’m unsure whether this is the fault of a decreasing amount of discerning readership, or a rise of a new king: the search engine.
Monday 13 February 2017
Lost found lost
Lost found lost
In earth orange they lost their treasures
Small somethings across the stage
Socks, umbrellas, slike, stuffed dogs
As they lost their minds they found their breath.
To catch a body to hold aloft...
In muted reds they found their voices
Large nothings beat deep inside
Fathers, emotions, limbs, virginity taken
And as they found their breath, they lost nothing.
To land a body with perfect poise...
In fierce pinks they lost their breath
Many and all fighting hard
Metronomic, arrhythmic, moving lines
And one by one they noisily collapsed away
Fall falling body fallen lost.
Lost found lost
In earth orange they lost their treasures
Small somethings across the stage
Socks, umbrellas, slike, stuffed dogs
As they lost their minds they found their breath.
To catch a body to hold aloft...
In muted reds they found their voices
Large nothings beat deep inside
Fathers, emotions, limbs, virginity taken
And as they found their breath, they lost nothing.
To land a body with perfect poise...
In fierce pinks they lost their breath
Many and all fighting hard
Metronomic, arrhythmic, moving lines
And one by one they noisily collapsed away
Fall falling body fallen lost.
Lost found lost
Inspired by the Janis Brenner & Dancers Concert of Dance, Voice and Music presented by the Sarajevo Winter Festival 2017 'Silk Road Art' National Theatre, Sarajevo, Friday 10th February 2017.
Saturday 14 January 2017
A Human View of Current Awareness
Current awareness has been on my mind recently as I begin the New Year. Most people pick up a free newspaper on the train or bus, or listen to the radio, and it's apparent than many rely on Facebook. Not the highest quality or most reliable sources.
High quality current awareness services are only available to professionals. It’s normally provided by in-house information specialists to scholars, lawyers, doctors and others. But in my view, everyone is entitled to quality low cost alerts from a trustworthy curator.
High quality current awareness services are only available to professionals. It’s normally provided by in-house information specialists to scholars, lawyers, doctors and others. But in my view, everyone is entitled to quality low cost alerts from a trustworthy curator.
Wednesday 11 January 2017
Constellation London
Even the methodically moving moon takes on a deceptive speed
As seen from the small windows of this metal and plastic conveyance.
As its crisp flashing harasses the dark lakes below, the benevolent moonlight
Competes with earthy sodium glow and wins in its startling blinding whiteness.
Moonlit clouds quickly obscure the city and in cruel stargazing reversal
Eyes search the ground below for familiar constellations of motorway.
In this topsy-turvey corruption of the heavens, glowing grey gaps appear
Forming a jigsaw of the universe below, Becoming more complete as we climb.
Normality returns. Moon recovers its extreme speed, needing no illusion
To impress our flight's feeble flash. Indiscernible against the street stars.
But for that split second between land and cloud, our disinterested
Satellight overshadowed our city's artificial Big Bang of travelling light.
Friday 28 October 2016
Dark and terrible: Beyond Caravaggio
Many high profile reviews of Beyond Caravaggio have criticised it because it only contains six works by the master himself. However as the exhibition title makes perfectly plain, it is looking beyond Caravaggio. The stress is clearly on the word 'beyond'. It aims to examine his legacy, critique his followers, and put him into a wider context. Given his mastery over story telling, he deserves to have his own place in the art history story, as the quality of those incredible six pieces demonstrate.
Monday 8 August 2016
Waiting with Magda Mozarka
Waiting. We sit on the island content to wait. Waiting weeks for the moon to be in the right quarter so we can fish. Waiting months for the fruits to ripen so we can start the harvest. Waiting hours for the heat to pass so we can work. Waiting for the time we can leave this island for provisions...the inevitable slow but steady natural clockwork marking time. An hour hand of ferries offering a smaller human scale to the wait. Just waiting. When waiting is part of a culture, patience and acceptance almost to the point of madness is inevitable.
Wednesday 3 August 2016
The Boat Road
How do you view the world when you're five years old? How much of that youthful joie de vivre do you - and can you - retain as you hit middle age? Having rarely spent so much time with a young gentleman it's been an interesting couple of weeks, and in some crazy irresponsible ways, it seems I have more in common with my young nephew than my younger brother.
This is not meant as any kind of criticism of my brother. Indeed I adore him and he is an inspiration to me; he's a parent, a carer, a survivor of a very different and difficult upbringing in comparison to mine. Those six years between us might as well as be sixty. But as my exhausted adult friend and family nodded off on the final stretch of their journey, the inevitable result of an early flight, me and my nephew bonded on the ferry ride back to mine.
Friday 29 July 2016
Hospitality: Or, what makes a room a home
This is hopefully part of a longer piece generally, but I thought it would be a positive way to embark on this Friday blog challenge. Since I've been heavily reliant on short term accommodation during my time abroad, excellence in hospitality has been on my mind for a while.
My journey began in February. So I could start my year in Croatia in style, my friend and I took a road trip through France and Italy for a week. As we headed south to Ancona, we purposefully stayed in a wide variety of places; from a family owned medieval Italian palazzo, a 1920s spa town grand hotel of faded grandeur, as well as a hysterically 1980s orange hotel room somewhere near Montpellier. Most of these were memorable because of the freedom and fun of travelling, and excitement of not knowing what to expect from our temporary residences.
Sunday 12 June 2016
Sunday Sounds
The bustle of bells pronounce Sunday magic;
Full peal across the bright pastel space,
Where pale sea meets busy harbour,
Hazy sky meets jewelled balloons
And conversations murmur and burble.
Sounds rising and falling,
Interlacing in an endless swirl of persistent rhythmic clouds,
Echoing the multitude of percussive noon bells across the city.
Appealing to each other like friends in friendly greeting.
Saturday 4 June 2016
The Croatian Literary Baroque
Bartol Kašić (1575-1650) |
Thursday 19 May 2016
Klapa: The Rhythmic Heart of Dalmatia
Klapa singers on Vis 2016 |
Monday 16 May 2016
The Tradition of Bosnian Catholic Tattoos
There was a spell in the not so distant past where I did a module on exhibiting the body as part of my MA in History of Art. It was one of the more challenging subjects because of the sheer newness of the subject to me; basically I was pinging around like an over enthusiastic firework because every lecture we had presented a new idea which I wanted to pursue. Did I want to stay in the renaissance where the body was emerging as a machine, or head into enlightenment with wax modelling, Victorian health and death, or be in the present with bodies and taboos? This also coincided with some interesting events at London's RAI, where I wrote up a film about bodily suspension. Body modification and using the body as a canvas still really intrigues me, which is why a talk given by one of my fellow students in the Croatian Civilisation and Culture class today made me dash here and blog about it. The research is all hers but where I was unsure, I've added, clarified, and interjected because I'm annoying like that.
Monday 18 April 2016
Walking on Vis
Night has fallen over this scene of convivial voices;
Brotherhoods bonded over the thrum of tones.
Sounds revolving around the thickness,
Atmosphere of fire smoke inviting wisps of mountain down.
But the notes rise up to send love skyward
Day has filled us with sounds of light and conversations;
Friendships walking together winding up through the green.
Crunching over stones sibilant voices harmonise.
Atmosphere of pine scent catching all with amber glow.
And our loads lightened by love falling skyward...
Brotherhoods bonded over the thrum of tones.
Sounds revolving around the thickness,
Atmosphere of fire smoke inviting wisps of mountain down.
But the notes rise up to send love skyward
Day has filled us with sounds of light and conversations;
Friendships walking together winding up through the green.
Crunching over stones sibilant voices harmonise.
Atmosphere of pine scent catching all with amber glow.
And our loads lightened by love falling skyward...
Swifts
A piercing of the air
With cries of summer
A graceful winging arc
Against the pastel blue
A stirring of the sky
With an urgency of spring
A vortex of black specks like
Tea leaves in Wedgwood.
With cries of summer
A graceful winging arc
Against the pastel blue
A stirring of the sky
With an urgency of spring
A vortex of black specks like
Tea leaves in Wedgwood.
Saturday 2 April 2016
Some Poetic Playing: Mrtva Luka, or Dead Harbour
The new writers group I've just joined here in Split talked about inspiration. What inspires us, why are we here in Split, what is making our lives colourful? Although I have yet to put pen to paper about that, the previous day I was incredibly struck by a meeting I had with a PhD student from the University of Split. Although we were initially having a coffee to discuss klapa, we covered pretty much everything within our broad range of interests. Talking about music naturally leads to discussion of poetry. In my opinion, writing about music in a cold academic way is one of the hardest things to do and whenever I've tried to do it for fun, it seems best expressed as a poem. After all, what is poetry but music expressed as words?
Wednesday 30 March 2016
Lost on Lastovo
Lastovo is known as the island of stars, but for reasons I shall go into, for me it will always be the island of pink. It's been on my list of places to visit but its reputation for remoteness is well deserved. Five hours on a ferry makes a weekend trip possible but not ideal, however the ECA and their small but growing fleet of seaplanes now offer an easy and quick option for a flying visit. There had been talk of a seaplane service in Croatia for many years but it took until late last year to get going. But with an out of season service being more like a private taxi, I'm sure it will take off - no pun intended - and be very popular during the summer.
Lastovo is a collection of islands and its environment is protected by law; in 2006 the Croatian Government made the island and its archipelago a nature park. The islands have a fascinating history and it generally mirrors the story of Croatia as a whole. It has been inhabited since the late Neolithic period and the first traces of humans on the island have been found in the Rača cave . Illyrians, Greeks, and Romans all made their mark, and "villae rusticae" (residential farming units) and water wells known as "lokve" are evidence of Roman ingenuity. However although agriculture was always important, the fertile island has seen war and conflict from the 10th century until the mid-1990s.
Friday 18 March 2016
Croatian Painting on Glass; and other tales
M Hodge "Bear's Dream" 2012 |
Tuesday 15 March 2016
Croatian Culture and Civilisation part 1
Death of the last King of Croatia |
Wednesday 24 February 2016
A short hiatus
A short hiatus is occurring as I am actually in transit.
I have no idea what is going to occur on this blog in the future. Art, librarianship, lectures and more exploration of the things around me, I hope, In the meantime the travels are being recorded at Contrary Towers.
Normality(ish) will resume shortly.
I have no idea what is going to occur on this blog in the future. Art, librarianship, lectures and more exploration of the things around me, I hope, In the meantime the travels are being recorded at Contrary Towers.
Normality(ish) will resume shortly.
Saturday 6 February 2016
Travelling
The beauty sparkles from deep inside;
To catch the city pulse to see the light.
The unexpected shoots sideways,
To glow, to shine, diffuse across my mind
The lights have been my safe harbour;
The bustle of noise has been my home.
The planned voyage takes me further east,
To travel, to explore, my mind takes shape
The old and the new collide
In glass and metal and skin reflected.
Reflecting on both leave me in colour,
To imagine, I am free, your spirit is free
To catch the city pulse to see the light.
The unexpected shoots sideways,
To glow, to shine, diffuse across my mind
The lights have been my safe harbour;
The bustle of noise has been my home.
The planned voyage takes me further east,
To travel, to explore, my mind takes shape
The old and the new collide
In glass and metal and skin reflected.
Reflecting on both leave me in colour,
To imagine, I am free, your spirit is free
Sunday 24 January 2016
Reconstructing the impossible: Diocletian and Split
Just no. And no again! |
What is it about art, sculpture and architecture that really makes me tingle passionately? Why is it such an obsession with me? This latest lecture from the combined British-Croatian and Split based Croatian-British Societies, given by Goran Nikšić, Conservation Architect, Head of the Service for the Old City Core of Split, provides the perfect answer. He is an architect unravelling a historic architectural mystery; romantic nineteenth century myths are less interesting than the late antiquity/Roman life he is actually uncovering. As he talked about his findings, my brain tingle awoke and once again, I was gripped by an art story.
Saturday 9 January 2016
Revelations in glass
Eleanor Morgan |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)