Thing 23. I have seen the light

First, thank you. This was well designed, interesting and extremely educational. I learned so much. I was using the iPad just for the internet and reading books before I started 23 Things. As I often stated in my blog I am not too interested in sharing:) I don't post  on Facebook or Twitter. But, I can see how popular it is with so many people and I believe strongly that libraries need to stay current.

I think libraries should post on their Facebook page information about events and new books. Maybe, we could have an incentive for people to "like" us on Facebbook or follow us on Twitter. Since people are spending so much time on social sites we should have a presence there also. We could Instagram pictures of activities and programs.

How about making an Infographic about teen fantasy book (if you liked Divergent then...)?

How about sponsoring a online book club?

I don't think that I have new ideas, But I do think that 23 Things made it clear to me that there is a wide world of communication that libraries need to be involved in. When I visit Facebook I often see posts that someone likes a product or company. I have never seen that someone likes their library.
It is time. It's overdue.

Again, thank you. I would definitely do another round of 23 Things. I learned how to really utilize my iPad.  I can make notes, listen to books, find free books and listen to lectures. I might even give a life.

22. Discovering Apps

I used Quixey  to find TripAdvisor. I also looked up gardening apps and Jane Austen. I was surprised at the number of apps for all three subjects.  I will definitely use it in the future. It was simple and extensive it covered free and not so free apps.

21. Free-for-All

Trip Advisor is a wonderful app that you can use when traveling to find accommodations, restaurants and things to do just about everywhere. It includes reviews and photos and directions. I tried out a few destinations and I was impressed with the range of coverage of the subject. When my husband and I went to Illinois last Fall, I used a variety of sites to get information but often the sites did not cover everything or seemed to be incorrect. I am going to use it when we travel from now on, it just might save a marriage.

20. Games

I was not excited about Games. I have had multiple experiences waiting for people to finish a level before I could get their attention, and not just young people. Knowing that I  am no better than anyone else, I have ignored requests from friends to join them in gaming. I have not asked for or given any lives.
I tried Bubble Mania first, mainly to avoid the devil Candy Crush. It was okay but not addictive and I have already deleted it from my iPad. Then, ignoring the danger, I stepped into the popular world of Candy Crush.  It was fine when I sailed through the levels, but when I got stuck I kept trying over and over. Since I do have other things in life more pressing, I deleted Candy Crush, get behind me Satan

19. Hobbies

Since gardening is my third passion, it was easy to try out My Garden. It is fairly simple. It is a Facebook for gardeners. I added the various types of plants that I have in my gardens. Some of the plant have pictures, descriptions and instructions on how to take care of  them. I am not sure why some of the plants have more info than others. I do not plan to post, but I am going to follow a few of the popular gardeners. Just looking at flowers makes me happy, so I like this app.

18. Education

This Thing is my kind of thing. It was the first time that I had too many choices. I plan to revisit and try more of the apps.

Google Earth is fun. I have the app on my computer but never thought of it on my IPad. I tend to play with it, looking up foreign places mentioned in the news. But I think it is a great educational tool.

I had heard of Ted but never tried it. I listened to a couple of motivational talks that I found interesting and very well presented.  There are a variety of topics and it is is easy to use the tag button to find areas of interest. Of course, I checked out the Library tag.

I also downloaded Khan.Academy. I listened to a great lecture titled the Pattern of  US Cold War Intervention. I found a wide assortment of topics that I would like to listen to. I appreciate that the lectures are short and some of them have great visuals.

17. Connecting to the Community

Now these apps could make a real difference in my life. I selected just two to investigate, but there are more that I will look into. Minnesota 511 is great. I sub in different libraries and during the summer, I am always running into unexpected construction. I love that I can easily find out if my route will be affected.

My personal goal is to visit a variety of Minnesota museums. I love museums. This app is great, I discovered many many museums that I did not know existed. Now I can plan a trip knowing the best route and the hours and cost of the museum visit.

I have only one concern, when will MN Beer go Apple?

16. Audioboo

Audioboo is another app that allows people to share just about anything. I listened to poetry, a selection from a book, Pete Seeger and some political views. Again, I am amazed how many people want to share their thoughts, pictures, activities and generally their life with other people. I can not think of a single reason to use this personally. In the library, I think short book reviews or poetry readings could be a fun activity.

15. Infographics

 

Infographics Hub  was fun. I searched a few subjects and was amazed at the variety and creativity of the subjects. While there were a great number of subjects, I was not able to search for a defined interest. The search bar did not work for me. I had to scroll through all of the graphics to find out if there was one of interest. Still, it was a whole new world for me and I was inspired to try to create one.

Visualize Free, although limited because I only used the free app was fun and very easy. I made a couple of  infographs just to try it out. I could see many uses for this in the library. It would be great for anything from promoting library resources to steps for using resources to "if you liked this title" infographs. For those of us that are visual, pictures tell the story.

14. Videos

I tried out Vine and took a short video of my daffodils in the garden. It was very simple and fun. I was not interested in most of the clips shared. I know I sound like an old crank but even six seconds is enough of someone doing the hula hoop. I am bewildered at the number of people who want to share every little moment with others. First Twitter with every ill considered thought, then Instagram with "selfies" and now videos of  performances, guess everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame.

Magistro was easy to use. I used the free version, so the length and tools were limited. I was not that impressed with the functions. But maybe, if I used the full version I would have liked it more. 

I can think of some uses of both apps in the library, especially with teens. Videos of teen activities or promotional videos of books or programs could appeal to patrons. I still wonder if the library is followed by teens (or anyone) on Facebook, but I could be wrong and perhaps it is a matter of  advertising and promotion.

13. Presentations

I tried out Haiku Deck. I read several of the other participants' blogs and decided that Haiku Deck seemed the easiest. It was very simple and pretty intuitive. I made a simple slide show of pictures of my gardens of the past.  I kept thinking of how I would have used it when I was teaching technology in an elementary school. To date myself, it was a simpler Hyperstudio. I am not sure how I would use it now. I do not have the opportunities to do presentations. The only use that I can think of is to bore coworkers with pictures of my gardens.

Thing 12. Books, Books & More Books

I tried out the app Free Books. It is simple to use and has an amazing number of free books to download. I already had on my iPad the Jane Austen collection, so I really have all that is needed. But, I was pleased to see a number of books that I would like to read. Of course, they are "old" classics.  It is very nice to have the ability to have a good book to read at anytime. That is true peace of mind.

I also downloaded Audiobooks. I rarely listen to books. I only recently tried out books on cd for a long trip. I did love listening while traveling in a car.  For this Thing, I tried out Audiobooks while crocheting and really enjoyed the experience. The quality was great.

Thing 11. Library and Reference

I am a great fan of  ELM. When I was working at a school, I encouraged the students to use it in school and at home. It is a wonderful resource. At the public library, when parents and students are looking for information for projects and papers I show them the site and explain how to find what they need.

My library does not have an App, but I looked at several and can see how easy and useful they are for a mobile device. I do use Overdrive and it is wonderful to use. I love reading books on my iPad, Overdrive makes it simple to download and organize the books.

Thing 10 Sharing Photos

I decided to try Instagram, after my daughters laughed at me for considering Snapchat. Actually, they were torned between laughter and horror.  Obviously, there were connotations that I was not aware of.

Even after read about Instagram and downloading the app, I did not get the purpose of the app. It seemed no easier or  faster than emailing a picture.  Part of the problem was that so few people that I knew used the app. Only after a kind friend agreed to join and follow me, did I finally "get" the app. It is a picture tweet to anyone who follows you.  I am not sure that I will often use it personally, but I can see how a library could use it. 

If the library could get teens to follow it on Instagram then the teens would get library info instantly. A picture of a event, or  a picture of a flyer of a coming event  could spark interest and attendance.

I thought our library's teen poem program was a great idea, but few teens participated. A Instagram of a flyer might have intrigued them.

Thing 9 Taking and Editing Photos

I tried out the app Line Camera. At first I was a bit confused but after watching the video and reading instructions, I realized that it is quite simple to use. I am not a photo editing expert. For me, editing photos is like going to the eye doctor for glasses. I can't really tell the differences between the choices. I played around added frames and captions to photos. My efforts in the beauty selection were less successful. Most of my pictures turned out worst. 

I do plan to experiment with the app more and I can see how labels and frames can be useful.

Thing 8. Social Media Management Tools

Confession- I am a flurker. I rarely post on Facebook and I rarely comment or "like". I do scroll through news a few times a week. I joined Facebook many years ago for Twenty Three Things on a Stick but I never really got into it. I also joined Twitter but I have never had anything to tweet about.

I have an iPad that I dearly love, but no smart phone. So it is pretty easy to manage my devices and apps. I downloaded Friendcaster. The look is somewhat cleaner and I think if I ever was to post it might be easier. But I really don' t see the need for it. I am going to give it more time. Maybe I might even post something.

Thing 7. Content Saving and Sharing

I have been using Pinterest for a year. I starting using it as a way to save pictures of gardens and flowers.  Instead of  saving hundreds of magazine pictures to inspire me, I  found I could save pictures online with Pinterest.  Last summer,  the pictures inspired me to create new container or garden features. Of course, my use has expanded to creating new boards and following many other boards. 

It is simple to start and use. When the winter seemed endless, I would  scroll through pictures of flowers, gardens and landscapes to ease the pain.

Thing 6 Creating and Editing Docs

Cloud On surprised me. I have not created many documents on my iPad. If I needed to write a letter or create some other document I would use my laptop. When my laptop could no longer be used with my new printer I would create the document and email it to myself and print off the iPad. A bit cumbersome I admit, but it would work. So I was pleased with Cloud On and was shocked to find old Google Docs from my past. 

 It is a major concern that one needs to be online to create a document. When I visit family in AZ there is not an internet connection. I imagine I could find a different app to use in those occasions. While Cloud On is basic, I liked that it was familiar and easy to use. 

**Further note on Zite

It has been over three weeks on Zite and it becomes better and better. There are many more articles that are of interest to me. In fact, I learned to my great joy that Jane Austen brewed beer.

Thing 5 Notetaking

This is my test of Dragon Dictation. It looks easy and it is easy, but I find that it's hard to think and speak at the same time it's much easier for me to think by writing. It was fun and I can think of  times when it would be very useful. I am not used to dictating so I had many pauses and deletions.  I also dictated my list of things to do this week and pasted into my notes.

It was easy to copy and paste. I would think as I used it more I would remember to add punctuation and be more fluent. Dragon Dictation transcribed my dictation perfectly. Since I am a paper and pen person, I don't think I will use this app often.

I tried out Bamboo Paper. I found it very basic and easy to use. In the past, if I wanted to keep notes or save a document  I would copy it and paste it into the Notes app on my iPad. I could print from there or just keep a record. Bamboo Paper is like paper and pen. I could not find a way to copy or paste. Pages on Bamboo can be sent to email, print or some other app. In my quest to find ways to make Bamboo more useful to me I was seduced into the world of Ever Note. That dark and mysterious world led me to waste much time and still not be able to achieve a simple document.  I have retreated back to Bamboo Paper and Notes.

Thing 4 Keeping Up

I choose Zite because it seemed pretty straight forward, easy to start and easy to follow. At first, I was disappointed with the results. I choose four categories and I found very little of interest in any of the four.  I loved Google Reader, so that may have affected my expectations. It is true, that after a week of following Zite and "liking" some articles there are more items of interest to me now. I wondered, if after reading and liking an article if it would disappear or remain on Zite for a period of time. It seems that articles whether liked or not stay at least for a week. 

I plan to follow Zite for another week and see if  there are more articles that interest me. After that unless  it improves, I doubt that I will continue. I do miss Google Reader.

Thing 3 Google Search

I  love Google Search.  I had heard of Google Search, but I really did not see the need. I am able to find anything I need on the old Yahoo or Google. I decided to give the app a try. Last Thursday,(22nd) was a huge storm day. I played all morning asking for information on the road conditions. It was very interesting to see the different results depending on the way the question was asked.

I love the cards. I basically have three calendars  (crazy) . One calendar is a google calendar shared with my daughter so she can check my availability for babysitting. Another, is a pen and paper one to have when I am somewhere and I am asked to babysit or  to sub. The third calendar is the calendar on my iPad that appears when I check notifications. Obviously, the three are not always up to date. So after a little configuring I was able to merge my two digital calendars. Since I do not carry my iPad with me everywhere I will still need two, but having one digital  calendar shared with my daughter and quickly available is great.

The photo card accessed the Picasa site that I used years ago. I had forgotten about it. I am not sure what I would use it for at this time. I have photos on Flickr, my iPad and computer, so I do not need another place.

I did have fun exploring all of the resources. I can see the advantage of using Google Search especially if I am not sure of the correct spelling of my search subject.:).

Thing 2 or I Never Knew

This was fun and a little embarrassing. I have had my iPad for over a year and I have really done very little exploring. I use it for email, the internet and reading books. I have paid very little attention to all of the other features. It was helpful to watch the video on the OS 7 update.

 On occasion I would accidentally pull up a gray area from the bottom of the screen, as well as from the top of the screen, I would quickly exit. I now realize that the control panel from the bottom is a real time saver and I am thrilled that I can control the brightness of the screen. The top section is a notification center. I added a weather app and entered info on the calendar and now I can quickly see my appointments and local weather.

I had no idea I could simply double click the home button and move from one app to another. While these tips are simple time savers they are fun. The best tip I learned was how to take a screen shot. I had more than once wished that I could but never bothered to investigate how. I know I have under utilized my iPad and I am eager to learn more.

23 Mobile Things

I  am really excited to start this new learning adventure. I loved 23 Things on a Stick and I learned so much. I have an iPad and while I love it and use it to read books and email, I know I could use it for so much more. I rarely take pictures and while I play solitaire occasionally I know nothing about gaming other fun uses.  This will be a wonderful challenge.