tfpl blog

Are our heads in the Cloud?

An interesting article in the Sunday Times highlighted the key themes we explored at the TFPL Cloud Computing conference back in March.  There are strong advocates for the Cloud but also significant resistance to the concept of ‘private data in public spaces’.

It’s clear that the Cloud is here to stay and there are real benefits to using it, but also risks - not least of which is that, once you have signed up to using the Cloud all your data (including photographs, videos, music, financial data) is held by a third party and if you want to retain access you need to continue subscribing.  One of the speakers at our event emphasised the need to ensure that you have an agreement in place that allows you to switch providers (or withdraw from the Cloud altogether) without losing access to your information.

That’s obviously a critical issue for an organisation but can be equally important for an individual - would you want to risk losing access to personal treasures?

On the other hand, once in the Cloud your information will (should?) be backed up, mirrored and secured by a provider who does this for their living.  How many of us are guilty of not backing up laptops and PCs which contain our personal digital archives on a regular basis?

Read the full article for a detailed discussion of the pros and cons and the potential impact of the Cloud on the IT, media and publishing industries.

Melanie Goody
Director of Consultancy

Professional development in a downturn

Organisations (and individuals) have responded to the current downturn by cutting costs wherever they can, and all too often training and development budgets are considered easy targets for budget cuts. 

This provides a challenge for those of us who value our continuing professional development but it’s also an opportunity to consider new ways of keeping up to date and maintaining our networks.

In the current climate it’s worth considering the resources and support on offer from our professional bodies such as CILIP , The SLA and other networks for example, our own Connect. 

The SLA offers its members access to Click University and free webinars, in addition to face to face meetings and networking opportunities; CILIP provides members with access to newsfeeds, blogs and discussion groups as well as membership of special interest groups.  Membership of these bodies is relatively inexpensive and, if you make the most of the resources on offer, is very good value for money.

I also find the free newsletters and listservs I subscribe to and the discussion groups I belong to really good sources of information and support.  The current surge of interest in social networking sites like LinkedIn has meant that activity in discussion groups is high.  It is possible to keep up to date without spending a great deal (or anything at all).

I also found it very impressive that so many of the delegates at the SLA’s 2009 conference in Washington were self-funding - these people value their professional development and networks so highly that they are willing to invest their own time and money.

Of course, there are occasions when only targeted training will provide us with the necessary knowledge and skills needed for particular projects and initiatives but it is worth remembering that by using free resources for more general development needs, you can be better placed to make the business case for investment in more focused commercial training and development.

Melanie Goody
Director of Consultancy