"The joy of Pinning" or "In praise of big knickers!"

Its nearly Spring!

Ok, maybe not, but It's not freezing every morning any more, and when the sun shines, its actually WARM!.
So, in the hopes of sparking off a proper pre-spring cleaning frenzy, over the past week I have been looking through my bookmarks to try and get them into some kind of order.

I don't know about yours - you may be one of those strange and mysterious beings who tag, file and collate your bookmarks with library precision, able to find any reference with a few precise clicks.
If so, I bow to your magnificence and suggest you skip the next bit rather rapidly. You will be appalled at my haphazard methods.

Me?
Well, I just click 'bookmark this page' in the handy section at the top of my browser, add the link to whatever section seems most relevant at the time, and leave it there until I need it again.
At which time I realise that:

1.  I haven't titled it.
2.  For reasons which are lost in the mists of post menopausal memory, I have not put it in the section that now obviously relates to it.
3. It's not actually about what I thought it was about in the first place.

And I promptly resort to Google.

Yet again.
*Le sigh*

Now, while I've found somethings that have made me smile*, or wonder why I bookmarked them in the first place, mostly its been a slog to open them, rename them

However, since I discovered the joys of Pinterest my bookmarks have become much more manageable.
Post-pinterest, things are rather different.

• I find something interesting as I pick my way through the spider-silk  of the Interweb.

• I realise, as I'm Ooohing and Aaahing, that I want to follow the link to some other tantalising site.

• But I don't want to lose the link to the page that I'm on, so.....I look for something visual that will tell me as soon as I see it, what the original site was about, and I click the 'pin it' button, kindly supplied by those sensible people at Pinterest. ( I bet they collate their bookmarks!)

• It  brings up a pretty list of all the possible images, and choose the one I decided on earlier, click it, add a note about it, put it in the relevant file, and Hey Presto! its done.

Of course, there are pitfalls.

• Time works differently when you are in the Pinterest dimension - before you know it the ten minutes that you think you have spent flicking through a couple of sites has warped into ten hours. And, NO, I'm not joking.
• Some swanky websites don't let you pin their images. Not in an 'You do not have permission to do so' way, but a ' No image or video found on this page" way. And while I recognise that the image belongs to someone ( I always try to make sure I've attributed it to the correct source, and don't pin an image if there is a request on the page not to,), and Pinterest will ALWAYS remove it if someone objects, When I'm on a page that is selling stuff, PLEASE make your image Pin-able! . I mean, when even a computer illiterate like me can screen grab, save , copy and then add a link back to the original page then what difference would it make?

So, after that mini Pinning 101, it's back to the old fashioned version.

And 'click'

Enjoy your weekend!

* This was this story that made me smile - It was in The Guardian on Wednesday 2 Jan 2008 and was called "Fire,fire, put pants on fryer"

:D
Oh yes, I can empathise with that last comment!

Pinterest, work and me

Have you heard of Pinterest?

Lots of people that I know, do know about it.
(yes, i do have real flesh and blood friends!)
But lots of people that I meet, don't.

That makes it sound as if I accost random people and, after a short introduction , hit them with questions about their interweb usage!

Perhaps I'd better explain the context.....

By profession I'm a Dispensing Optician, and so obviously come into contact with lots of different people every day.
One of the things that the practice that I work for specialises in, is something called Colorimetry , which can reduce the effects of visual stress. These are the kinds of effects that can make it difficult for people with Dyslexia to read, or which can be linked to Migraine.

The short of it -and I could go on at length about this because it's really interesting- is that for some people, the use of a specialist tint can really reduce the symptoms dramatically, and so they have those tints made up as spectacles, either with or without a power to correct their vision.

That seems straight forward, I can hear you saying as you nod sagely...
...and you would be right!
The problem comes when you add to the mix:

• The majority of users are children ( adults do use them, but have often worked out coping strategies as they have grown up ) 
• The impact appearing 'different' can have on said children
• The  sad lack on understanding from teachers, who often think the spectacles are a fashion accessory.

In order to combat those points, we have started to take photography of those people who collect a pair of Colorimetry glasses (with their permission , obviously!) and putting it on the work Pinterest page.

There are also photo's of the spectacles themselves... like this gorgeous purple lensed set.

Plus a link to a video explaining all about how it works, that was made by the lovely people at RiceOpMedia for us.

The aim is to have an accessible, visually attractive page where people can comment if they want to and show it to their friends, family or uninformed teachers.
So when i take the photo, I send a copy to the patient, or their parents, and give them a link to where it will be posted.
Which brings me on to Pinterest.

As I'm explaining that the photo will be shown on Pinterest, linked to our Facebook page, and our Twitterfeed  (all curated by me at the moment - how do I find the time?) and I normally ask them if they have heard of Pinterest?
Mostly the answer has been no!
Which has surprised me.
I know Pinterest is fairly new, but everywhere I go on my travels through the Interweb, I find little 'pin it' signs by the images, or added to the list on 'follow-me's'.
Plus its rather addictive...I just went to set up a link and I've been pootling through the pins for half an hour....erm, actually, it was nearer an hour : /

Which is the reason for my question.

Feel free to comment - not only about Pinterest - I'd be very interested to know how many of you know that the colorimetry lenses are available, and how they can help.

Now I'm off to put the kettle on, so I can have a relaxing mug of coffee while I pootle through the Pins!
:D


Oooh! I've just updated to add that I'm rather excited that my own Pinterest 'Home' board has reached 332 followers!
*does a happy dance*
:D