Julia's Blog

I live in North Kent, and commute each day to London. For 20 years I worked in the Department for International Development. I used to manage the team responsible for the website and the ever expanding range of online channels we use to tell DFID’s stories. Since the website migrated onto the single government web platform and I wrote DFID’s digital strategy, I left communications division and worked to oversee implementation of the strategy. In 2015 I decided to take a break from working in international development and moved to the Taskforce for Libraries.
See my disclaimer – I’m doing this blog in my own time, based on my own experiences and thoughts.

Why am I doing this?

I started out as a librarian, before even Telnet existed….. and used to use paper and postcards to share snippets of information with friends and colleagues. Now the web is evolving at an incredible speed, there is tons to learn and share, and so I thought I’d start this blog, both as a way of putting my money where my mouth is, but mainly to record and share all the references and links to brilliant ideas that I’m always stumbling across on the web.

If you are one of the people who I usually bombard with notes or emails, you will find the filtered results of my hours of web browsing here, and notes on things I’ve heard, seen or done. One note of warning though – I’m easily distracted and sidetracked – so while the main focus of this blog is my interest in the exciting world of  the internet itself – and the many new ways people are finding of communicating with each other, my other interests may creep in. So you might find a post containing links to good tools for enthusing people about web 2.0 or writing a digital strategy, next to one on environmental news, photography or castles. Oh yes, and I still love libraries! [update – and since starting my new job in 2015, I can legitimately enthuse about them for work too!!]