ESPN ScoreCenter
This app caught my eye in the list of apps to try. This is loaded on my ipad and used everyday by my husband, although as I read the short summary I realized he is not using it to its greatest potential- so I explored the app and added our favorite teams so he can easily catch the updated scores, stats, etc...
How surprised was he that I 'fixed' his app?? Now he can find the information he is looking for even faster which means it is my turn on the ipad even sooner :-) The organization of information on this app is awesome- separate tabs for each professional sport as well as options for NCAA sports and other sports including tennis, golf, NACSAR, etc.. There is a basic scoreboard, standings, and news/video section for each. Pretty cool for the sports obsessed crowd!
Friday, May 30, 2014
Thing #12 Books, books, & more books
The iStoryBooks app includes a variety of children's books with a read to me feature that can be turned on or off. I liked the selection that includes classic picture books, some non-fiction titles and even a few multicultural type books. My 2 year old loves dinosaurs currently and I was pleasantly surprised to see a dinosaur book here! I can see the value of this app for libraries as a way to introduce children to technology in a way that relates it to something they are familiar with- storytime! Personally, I think this app may be useful for long car rides!
Thing #11 Library & Reference
Dakota County's library app is called 'DCL mobile'. I admit that since I work in the library the majority of my searching/request placing, etc...happens while at work! I am taking some time to look at our app with the eyes of a beginning user! The first thing that caught my eye is the 'ISBN scanner' feature. Well... several minutes later this was a bust. I could not get it to recognize any of the barcodes of books on my desk! I did type in the barcode for 'Eleanor & Park' and got results for the ebook and regular print version owned by DCL. Nice! There are options to request and also the availability and location is shown for the print copies. Other things I liked about our site include the quick links to the catalog, events calendar and my account. Also listed is our facebook page- one more way to raise our social media visibility!
Other library apps used by Dakota County include 3M and Overdrive for books, Zinio for magazines, and OneClick for audiobooks. Within the DCL mobile app there is an area for ebook that separates out the ebooks that are available for immediate checkout. How helpful!! I immediately tried this and found a flaw- many of the books were only available to place holds on. Darn!
This 'thing' was a great excuse to spend some more time with the mobile apps offered by Dakota County Library!
Other library apps used by Dakota County include 3M and Overdrive for books, Zinio for magazines, and OneClick for audiobooks. Within the DCL mobile app there is an area for ebook that separates out the ebooks that are available for immediate checkout. How helpful!! I immediately tried this and found a flaw- many of the books were only available to place holds on. Darn!
This 'thing' was a great excuse to spend some more time with the mobile apps offered by Dakota County Library!
Thing #10 Sharing Photos
Instagram is a popular photo sharing app, simple to use, with the ability to follow friends and allow friends to follow you. I was surprised to see that some of my relatives are more likely to use Instagram than post pictures on Facebook. Maybe because you can limit the audience by being selective of who you add as a follower? Interesting to say the least.
I explored Instagram to find out if any libraries have accounts. I found very few and some nightlife venues with names including 'library'. The State Library of Victoria is a member and has posted many photos of events, exhibits and scenes in the library (kids play area, outside steps, etc...) and has 922 followers!
This illustrates that Instagram could be used professionally- however the use of patrons in pictures could be problemabit (release forms?).
A fun app to explore nevertheless!!
I explored Instagram to find out if any libraries have accounts. I found very few and some nightlife venues with names including 'library'. The State Library of Victoria is a member and has posted many photos of events, exhibits and scenes in the library (kids play area, outside steps, etc...) and has 922 followers!
This illustrates that Instagram could be used professionally- however the use of patrons in pictures could be problemabit (release forms?).
A fun app to explore nevertheless!!
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Thing #9 Taking and Editing Photos
I love taking photos, but rarely take the time to 'jazz' them up so this exercise is a fun one for me! I decided to use LINE Camera.
Professionally, I can see the use of an ipad camera plus an app such as LINE for quick promotional photos of book displays, events, etc... to post on a library's Facebook page while wandering the stacks!
This is what I created in 5 minutes at my desk- a 'Meet the Staff Member' post. I included a selfie, and picture of what you will find at my desk... My complaint is that the text wrapped/cut off words and does not look so great... But, the color options, rounding of corners, etc.. are endless!
Professionally, I can see the use of an ipad camera plus an app such as LINE for quick promotional photos of book displays, events, etc... to post on a library's Facebook page while wandering the stacks!
This is what I created in 5 minutes at my desk- a 'Meet the Staff Member' post. I included a selfie, and picture of what you will find at my desk... My complaint is that the text wrapped/cut off words and does not look so great... But, the color options, rounding of corners, etc.. are endless!
Thing #8 Social Media Management Tools
For this exercise, I explored the social media management tool 'Friendcaster'. This app is advertised as a easy to use app for your Facebook page, meant to make using Facebook easier. Indeed, this is a very simplified way to view your Facebook news feed. I didn't particularly care for it as all the pictures were smaller and the view is pretty much stark white plus text. The app is easy to navigate, has options for posting updates/photos for your Facebook, a newspaper icon for the news feed, and a link to your 'friends' if you want to check up on someone specific. For me, it is too simple, too easy. I guess I prefer the regular Facebook app, and even with that find that the live internet version is often different in how items are posted on the news feed. What I like best about using social media is looking at pictures or videos posted by friends, or following links to stories others recommend. I don't need a special app for this. I am not sure how Friendcaster would be of use professionally unless there was a way to filter the items that appear on the news feed to very specific groups or friends. Interesting to try, but this one will be deleted!
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Thing #7 Content Saving & Sharing
Pinterest! Oh how I love Pinterest. I have many boards and pins, and pinners to follow. I recently read a funny quote that "Pinterest-ing is the new Googling". I find that to be true when I am looking for recipes, craft ideas, inspiration for family photography and gift ideas. I store many recipes here, and ideas for future projects to do with my kids.
What I like about the Boards is that you get to see a visual cue to what the Pin contains- either a picture of the finished product or a set of several pictures showing the steps involved in making whatever it is. Sometimes that visual reminder is enough to get you to click on that link again to see why you saved it in the first place. Healthy muffins is much more exciting when accompanied by a mouthwatering picture!
I often neglect searching by category, and instead type in some sort of keyword search. Many hours can be wasted away jumping from Pin to Pin, Board to Board- fantasizing about having the time to cook/bake/create all of the ideas collected in my Pinterest account!
I have not used Pinterest for work, but am aware of others who use it to collect ideas for storytime, library programming, etc... It is a multiple purpose tool. Out of curiosity I used the link on 23 Things to checkout how the Owatonna Public Library uses Pinterest. My first surprise was how many boards there are! What a great way to push Staff Picks or other topical reading lists!
What I like about the Boards is that you get to see a visual cue to what the Pin contains- either a picture of the finished product or a set of several pictures showing the steps involved in making whatever it is. Sometimes that visual reminder is enough to get you to click on that link again to see why you saved it in the first place. Healthy muffins is much more exciting when accompanied by a mouthwatering picture!
I often neglect searching by category, and instead type in some sort of keyword search. Many hours can be wasted away jumping from Pin to Pin, Board to Board- fantasizing about having the time to cook/bake/create all of the ideas collected in my Pinterest account!
I have not used Pinterest for work, but am aware of others who use it to collect ideas for storytime, library programming, etc... It is a multiple purpose tool. Out of curiosity I used the link on 23 Things to checkout how the Owatonna Public Library uses Pinterest. My first surprise was how many boards there are! What a great way to push Staff Picks or other topical reading lists!
Thing #6 Creating & Editing Documents
I installed the app Quickoffice which allows you to create and edit Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations, then saves everything via your Google account. I think this will be useful in order to access work from either a mobile device or computer workstation.
Perhaps the most useful part of this app is the pdf file for getting started. It told me everything I need to know about creating or moving files and folders, deleting or emailing files, and much more.
The biggest stumbling block I can envision with using Quickoffice is the fact that all my work documents are stored on the server at my employer. We do not use Google Docs, and therefore I would need to remember to upload files, and later download and re-save newer versions. This could get complicated!
However, for personal use I have started to use Google + for photo sharing, documents, spreadsheets... It seems to be an easy transition to Google Drive.
Perhaps the most useful part of this app is the pdf file for getting started. It told me everything I need to know about creating or moving files and folders, deleting or emailing files, and much more.
The biggest stumbling block I can envision with using Quickoffice is the fact that all my work documents are stored on the server at my employer. We do not use Google Docs, and therefore I would need to remember to upload files, and later download and re-save newer versions. This could get complicated!
However, for personal use I have started to use Google + for photo sharing, documents, spreadsheets... It seems to be an easy transition to Google Drive.
Thing #5 Notetaking
I decided to test out Dragon- a dictation app. It seems simple enough- speak and Dragon will type whatever it is you say. This could have many practical uses- list making, letter writing, brainstorming sessions, etc...
I quickly realized that you truly have to tell Dragon each and every punctuation mark in order to make your text make sense at all... It is like speaking another language. After a short trial I decided that I would make better use of a more intuitive app and did a test run of Remember the Milk instead.
With Remember the Milk, I liked the easy to use Weekly display, simple text format, ability to have a title to each task and then expand with more notes on that task. For example- an entry for Dinner Party could easily include my grocery list. The app also includes different ways to create personal, work and study lists to further differentiate your to do list. I was unable to figure out how to set up notifications for email or text message which I think would be helpful. This app may take a little more time to figure out the bells and whistles, but it could be a helpful tool for both work and home! An internet search for help/tips on RTM led me here: http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2011/05/introducing-remember-the-milk-for-ipad/
Lots of useful tips!
I quickly realized that you truly have to tell Dragon each and every punctuation mark in order to make your text make sense at all... It is like speaking another language. After a short trial I decided that I would make better use of a more intuitive app and did a test run of Remember the Milk instead.
With Remember the Milk, I liked the easy to use Weekly display, simple text format, ability to have a title to each task and then expand with more notes on that task. For example- an entry for Dinner Party could easily include my grocery list. The app also includes different ways to create personal, work and study lists to further differentiate your to do list. I was unable to figure out how to set up notifications for email or text message which I think would be helpful. This app may take a little more time to figure out the bells and whistles, but it could be a helpful tool for both work and home! An internet search for help/tips on RTM led me here: http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2011/05/introducing-remember-the-milk-for-ipad/
Lots of useful tips!
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