Harvard Referencing and Essay Writing

I am one of those people who can not learn anything without writing notes,  it's long winded and sometimes frustrating but it does seem the only way that things stay in my head. In reviewing the first reader on communication technologies I wrote a lot of mind maps, notes and quotes to help me understand what I was reading.
I was going to leave professional communications technologies behind as in my last post I decided I had gotten all I could from it, I think this is still the case but after talking to Hollie I decided to have a quick look through my notes, and as an exercise in getting to grips with studying again I have formed all of my learning into a kind of essay. The essay can be found at the link below...

Web 2.0

It's long, and I don't expect anyone to read it, but it did throw up some questions for me about Harvard referencing, as this is my first attempt at using it. I was wondering if anyone could help?

I found many quotes, which I scribbled down in my notes, but I also found that work I was reading also contained quotes from other sources.... which I wanted to use, so who do I use in my referencing, is it enough to simply reference the work I was using, or do I need to quote the person who originally made the quote or both? 

Also, I used a lot of websites, have I referenced them in the correct way?

And finally I used some YouTube Video and quoted the interview. I found the video via Ahmetts blog, would I need to reference him?
And how exactly do I quote an interview from YouTube, or should I not use such sources in academic work? 

By no means do I expect anyone to read the essay but if anyone has time just to skim and see if I am referencing in the correct way, or are having similar problems with it then maybe we could discuss? any comments or corrections would be really useful to me for future work.

Moving on...

I had sat down this morning to re-read and to re-write my efforts on task 1b. Professional communication technologies, with a view to feeling like this section was complete, as I felt my first efforts were not up to scratch and with a need to move on feeling satisfied with my work to date.
I have not been able to re-write my work, I have become completely stuck! Reading everyone's blog entries about this subject shows that we have all gained a good understanding of what these technologies are, both positives and negatives, and how we use them on a regular basis. Some have gone on to thinking about how they can use them to promote themselves and their businesses, and this is where I feel like I have failed.
I don't use these sites to promote myself, I don't shout about myself or my work, in fact I hate talking about myself or my opinions and this is where I am struggling both in my professional career and so far in this course.
This has been a stark wake up call for me and the first real insight that I think is really going to aid my Professional Practice. It is funny that I use the term "Professional Practice" in this context as I do not feel like a professional, I teach dance, but I do not feel like a "Dance Teacher", but why is this? and how can I discuss or have opinions on professional communication technologies, if
1. I don't feel like a true professional?
2. I have never really tried to use them professionally or to promote myself?
And finally why would anyone communicate with me (the whole point of web 2.0 technologies) if I don't share my insights or information.
My conclusion, these first tasks have taught me a massive lesson. I have been wanting to move forward in my career for a long time, but day to day work commitments have been crowding my ambition, leaving little time to concentrate on my creative work and I now realise having compared myself to others that I am not taking myself seriously or doing enough. Not using the opportunities that are available to me to get to where I want to be.
So armed with this realisation, and new skills and understanding gained from these tasks. And having been thrown into a community of real professionals, with the opportunity to witness professional communication first hand through the blogs, I have decided not to go over the work I have done.
I feel I have learned a huge amount and now have the tools to begin marketing myself as a real professional, any progress I make using web 2.0 to do this I will now be shouting about on my blog! I hope to be a much more obvious presence in this community in the future.
I may have completely missed the point of the part 1 tasks, and please comment and let me know if you think I have? But for me, gaining new skills in how, and new insight into what I need to be doing along with new confidence to put myself out there for constructive criticism and advice, and to share my thoughts and opinions with others is a massive step forward and my first achievement on the journey of this course.

Photos

Photos, a set on Flickr.

I have been looking into the use of images of children for publication and I have found some useful information from the NSPCC website.
The information basically states that if you are responsible and take steps to minimise the risks that the photographs will be used inappropriately, that to a certain extent you protect the children identity, (so not including names and addresses) and that you have parental consent, then the use of children's photographs to promote your work or organisation is acceptable. More information can be found at

NSPCC - Using photographs of children for publication

So I now include some photographs that I had taken at my classes last week, I have avoided using photographs where children's faces can been seen clearly, faces have been blurred on several photos, and I have asked consent to make use of the images. 

TASK 1d. Images

College CV photos, a set on Flickr.

These are the first pictures I've uploaded to flicker. They are my CV photos I had taken when I was in my last year of college... not very exciting I'm afraid, and unfortunately they aren't really pictures of my work. Because I work with children and vulnerable adults I don't feel it is appropriate to upload pictures of them onto the net. However, I am going to try and take a set of photos that hopefully show my work but protect the people I work with by not showing their faces, and look further into the issues of using photos of children in promotional work and the permissions I would need to obtain to do this. I think this goes back to issues that have been discussed about being responsible and careful about what you post in order to protect both yourself and others.

Task 1c. Audio Visual.

Danni, Starting out on BAPP

This is my YouTube video, its quite difficult to get across in 45 seconds (or 56 in my case) why it is I've chosen to do this course. I chose to start because I wanted to improve myself, to continue to learn and develop and build upon the skills and experience I have now, it's so easy to get stuck doing the same things day in day out when you work, and never really consider why it is you do what you do. It will also be so valuable to have to ability to analyse my work in a way that isn't just critical and negative but in a way that really helps me to improve my practice in a positive way, and I hope that I learn those skills along the way on this programme. 
As for aspirations, I'm not too sure, I love what I do and I want to continue, but again I also want to build on it. Working in mainstream education would be fantastic, working with children who are still growing and open to new ideas and possibilities is so rewarding, it seems they really do take everything in and it would be a real privilege to be part of that. But also I love working within learning disabilities, you are constantly challenged on a day to day basis, you have to think on your feet, learn a million ways to phrase and explain things, and also you have to be engaging as its so easy to lose peoples concentration.
So all in all, somewhere along this 15 month journey I hope to discover which way it is I want to go... at the moment though I'm still panicking about whether I've done enough work, whether I'm doing the work right, how to go about all of this and fit it into my schedule and If I'm going to be able to keep up with all the informed and intelligent things that everyone else is blogging about. Maybe in a few weeks time i will look back at this post and giggle to myself as I'm cruising along..... fingers crossed!  
 

TASK 1b. Professional Communication Technology.

On reviewing the first course reader Professional communication technologies my first task was to simply grasp what web 2.0 is, a concept that was alien to me, or so I thought, the more I read I realised that I was more familiar to the concept than I first thought, the idea that software is free and held remotely, where content can be added and removed by the users and where the site grows depending on the strength and amount of information that is added by the network.

I myself use these sites on a daily basis, I seek out information on line and find that google generally sends me in the direction of Wikipedia, I communicate on facebook, and have a myspace account, youtube is an endless source of entertainment and inspiration and these are all sites that are based on the web 2.0 technologies.

This blog is my newest venture into the world of 2.0, and I have to be honest although I make use of these sites on a regular basis it is not usual for me to be creating the content, not a fan of the lime light strangely enough for a performing arts graduate, (probably why I’m a  teacher not a performer) I love to read what others are thinking and doing but tend to keep my musings to myself, something that I am obviously going to have to change for the purposes of this course and for the continuation of my professional development.

I have found myself wondering about the merits of these sites however, I do use them but mostly for my own entertainment, and I am always sceptical of believing what I am reading. I have made a lot of use of the blogs today, seeing what others have concluded has helped inform my decisions, I guess that is the whole point and in that sense a very valuable tool. A lot of people say that they use the sites professionally to network and gain information of castings and jobs and an opportunity to get in touch with the right people, and again I can see this is massively valuable, but as a tool of self promotion I wonder how valuable it is, I can tell you I’m an amazing teacher, but ask me to prove it…

For this reason I think that these sites need to be used with caution, and although it is wonderful that we can create networks of people with similar goals and ideals to exchange ideas and create work we need to be mindful that the content is created by anyone, with any agenda and the information that we are reading and sharing may not be 100% accurate, I saw that Paula had commented saying that sites such as Wikipedia are great places to start but further information and evidence must be sought and I think this is something that we should always be mindful of. It is not just the danger that we may post something we wish we hadn’t that casts us in a bad light but that we might be mislead by the content of a piece, and form decisions that are not entirely based on truth.

So in conclusion, my first thought on this reader are that web 2.0 is a valuable professional tool for creating networks, forming relationships and sharing ideas, I have been doing it all day by reading people blogs, and hope people do the same by reading mine. It is a great tool for getting noticed and getting out there, as long as you’re sure to only share what you want people to know. But that we should be cautious of what we read and what we believe as really there is no one monitoring the content.

Task 1a.

I have been looking at other people's blogs and seeing how they have responded to Task 1a, and saw that everyone was taking the opportunity to update their CVs during this task.Its a long time since I updated mine so it's prompted me to do the same, here is the updated version below...

Danni Webber CV

I actually found the task of updating my CV quite challenging, I am no longer fresh out of college and am not looking to perform, so pictures and eye colour, and a CV designed to catch attention doesn't seem appropriate but I also wonder if the standard CV format is appropriate. I don't work in an office or have a formal profession, I still work within the arts and so wonder if something so formal also seems out of place, so unsure, I simply included the facts. I haven't actually used a CV to apply for any of the jobs I have had, it's been mostly application forms or making phone calls and sending emails that have helped me so far so any feedback on this would be really appreciated.

My profile on here is also my first attempt at the task, I have just talked about what I do really, why I do it and what I want to achieve. I think I have probably talked to much about why, rather that what... so again any thoughts would be great.