Thing 13-Presentations

Love 'em or hate 'em, presentations of varying degrees of formality are pretty commonplace in librarianship.  This Thing looks at some apps that can be used to help create presentations.  I scoped out two apps-Haiku Deck (Apple only) and Deck Slideshow Presentations (Apple and Android) for this thing. 

Haiku Deck-Right after opening the app for the first time, there is a brief presentation about Haiku Deck (promotional more than informational).  Then, as with anything else these days, you have to create an account to get started.  Once you've done that, you'll see your "decks" (presentations).  At this point, there is just one-"Meet Haiku Deck for iPhone."  That is when I realized that Haiku Deck currently has limited functionality for iPhones.  You can view decks but you cannot create or edit them on iPhones.  Supposedly this ability is coming soon, but in the mean time if you try to click on the "+" to create a new deck, you are offered email links for the web version of Haiku Deck or a link to the iPad version of the app.  I don't have an iPad, so I had to check it out online.  For anyone familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi, or any other slide-based presentation application its easy enough to use, even without a demo or tutorial.  One really slick feature is the image search box.  Pop in a search term, "beach" for example, and up pop a bunch of beach photos you can use in your presentation (of course you can also upload your own photos).  Supposedly (hopefully) the images are all free, Creative Commons licensed images (more info here: https://haikudeck.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202231193-Free-Images-Licensing-and-Commercial-Use), which is a GREAT feature.  And, if you've typed some text onto a slide it might automatically find relevant images for you.  For example, I created a slide that had the text "What about libraries?" on it, then clicked on the images button and it automatically searched for 'libraries' images for me!  Neat!  In my honest opinion (and in my limited user experience since I cannot use my phone to edit/create decks), that is the app's coolest feature.  Overall, it was very easy to use and a fun alternative to the more commonplace PPT or Prezi.  I will definitely keep this in mind next time I have a presentation, and hope for continued updates that bring more functionality to the iPhone app. 

Deck Slideshow Presentations-This app does actually allow users to create and edit slideshows on their iPhones.  It is simpler, doesn't require an account, and has no tutorial or anything upon start up.  Its focus is on 'Twitter-like brevity" (from the Sample Deck that comes pre-loaded on the app)-it actually limits the number of characters each part of a presentation can have.  This is great-many people put WAY too much text on their slides, then simply read the text...BORING.  This app might help eliminate that problem.  The app itself has a selection of  'professionally designed' themes-you choose the one you want, punch in your text and data, and you're good to go!  Some (like Paper Planes) are fun, but could get old fast (imagine orange and grey paper planes unfolding and refolding, and flying across the screen to reveal your text...cool right?  Only for so long, and only ONCE.  Show the same group of people that same theme again and it loses its cool factor-in my opinion!).  Anyway, most the themes are pretty nice and creating a deck is pretty simple-there is a very clean, easy to follow layout in the creation phase.  There is also an option to create and input your own charts and graphs-Probably not ideal if you have a lot of data, but easy enough to use.  Overall, this is a great app!  Easy to use, really fast, and worth a download if you're looking for something fresh (note-you will have an ad message at the end of your presentations-"Effortlessly create unique presentations with Deck at deck.com" or something along those lines). 

I haven't had to do a presentation that required a slideshow or anything of that nature for at least a year (when I finished grad school), but believe it or not-with these apps I'm sort of excited for the next opportunity to come up!  Cheers!

Thing 12-Books, Books and MORE BOOKS!

Whew-its been a while but I'm back!  Feeling refreshed after a long weekend and ready to finally type up my next blog post  :)  This time we tackle the arguable "meat and potatoes" of librarianship-books!

When I got my first iPhone about five years ago one of the first apps I downloaded was Free Books (available for Apple and Android).  However, I didn't use it much.  It provides access to thousands of eBooks, mainly public domain titles, but I quickly found that I just don't like reading eBooks on my iPhone screen-its just too little!  So, after a few attempts, I eventually just deleted the app.  In the future, if I get an iPad, I would almost certainly download it again, as it was an easy to use app and who doesn't love free books!

On a related note, for this Thing I also downloaded Audiobooks (Apple and Android).  Audiobooks is pretty much the audio version of Free Books-Thousands of (mostly) public domain books in audio version!  The app itself is great-books are listed by title, author, genre, popularity, even narrator (which I really like-I'm kind of picky about my narrators and when I find a good narrator I want to listen to everything they've done!  This saves me a lot of steps of looking them up online, finding the titles they've recorded, then searching through the app for those titles).  The app remembers where you are in a book and automatically resumes when you close and re-open the app.  The main downfall is that (at least for the free version) you cannot download audiobooks-you can only stream them!  This stinks for a few reasons.  I have about a 30 mile commute to work-PERFECT for audiobooks, but not if I've got to stream them (I have very little data on my phone plan, since I typically have wifi access, and those overages are STEEP!).  So unless I'm at home, its not very practical.  Also, even if I am at home,  I get nervous.  I was out doing yard work and listening to some Dickens and kept checking my phone to make sure I was still in wifi range!  But, I'll definitely keep the app as it did seem to have (based on the handful of titles I tried) good quality recordings, and sometimes I just feel like being read to rather than reading! 

I'm not sure I'd really recommend either of these apps to patrons, due to their limitations.  (Also, I still get a lot of patrons that don't have at home wireless internet, so streaming is more or less out).  I suppose if they were tech savvy and particularly interested in something other than our own eBook/eAudiobook collections, I might mention these apps.  I would certainly promote our collections before promoting either of the apps I used here, but they might be a good second option for someone looking for more. 

Thing 11-Library & Reference

This Thing mainly covers library mobile apps!  I work for Anoka County Libraries and it is also my home library system, so I downloaded the ACL app for this Thing.  Curiously, I didn't have the app before (if, for example, I needed to renew something I would use the link in the reminder email and it would open my account in my internet browser on my phone. I guess I didn't realize there was an app, or feel a great need to look for one).  I did check out the reviews before downloading, and the main complaint I saw was that although it was a great app it was too slow.  Always good to keep an eye out on what the users think of our products...

Upon downloading I did a few different things-placed some holds, looked things up in the catalog, some of the more common things patrons might use the app for.  Interestingly, I was unable to renew materials using the app.  I tried several titles that all were eligible for renewal and yet none would renew.  We have had prior sporadic reports of the renewal feature not working on the app; I guess I caught it at a bad time!  This does highlight a major problem with the app though-there was no error message to indicate my items DID NOT renew, I had to re-examine my account to determine they had not renewed on my own.  Some patrons may not take this step and simply assume their items were renewed-this could of course lead to confusion, late fees, and upset patrons.  Hopefully a permanent solution (or at least an error message of sorts!) can be found/created.

Anyway, back to the good!  The ISBN lookup feature is really slick.  It allows you to scan the barcode of a book and will then search the catalog automatically for that title!  Handy for when you see a book of interest but wouldn't want to purchase the title yourself- just scan and request (provided ACL has a copy in its holdings-it doesn't let you request ILL using the scan feature).  I also really like the Library Locator feature.  It pulls data from your phone's GPS to determine how far you are from each of the ACL branches  and can generate driving directions via Google Maps.  Great feature, and it could very likely come in handy when patrons travel to and from branches to pick up materials (some prefer to pick them up themselves rather than have them delivered for various reasons). 

I will agree with the reviewers about the app's speed.  It is slow moving between screens and a speed boost could greatly improve the app's overall usability and the user experience with the app.  Overall, though, it is a good app and easy enough to navigate.  I would definitely recommended it to our patrons!
 
I also work at a small private academic library.  As of yet, there is no app for the library.  We do, however, (much like ELM, the Electronic Library for Minnesota) have a responsive webpage that automatically re-sizes itself to fit to whatever screen size you are using.  Granted, that is pretty much the standard with web design these days, but its better than nothing at all! 

Next time, we move onto what some would consider the meat and potatoes of libraries-Books, Books, and MORE BOOKS!  Stay tuned :)

Thing 10-Sharing Photos!

Hi all! Now that we've mastered taking and editing photos, its time to share them! For this Thing I initially decided to try out both photo sharing apps-Instagram and Snapchat. However, once I created a Snapchat and logged in, it seemed like very few of my contacts actually use Snapchat, so I didn't really have anyone to chat with.  I will say, though, that the account creating and log in was very easy, and it seemed the the photo taking and sharing screen was also user-friendly and easy to figure out.  I would try Snapchat in the future if more of my friends and contacts started using it.

I did, however, have good luck with Instagram!  I logged in using my Facebook account, and that instantly showed me a list of Facebook friends who had Instagram whom I could follow (and who may follow me).  I got logged in, followed some set-up steps of finding Facebook friends to follow, and was ready to go in a matter of minutes.  I was pleased with the app's photo editing options (mainly filters, though there are a few more options).  Even though I just downloaded all those fancy new cameras and editing apps for our last Thing, I found myself just using the default Instagram options just as frequently, and being pretty much just as pleased with the results. 

Overall Instagram was very intuitive and easy to get started posting photos, liking other people's photos, and following people.  I have a mix of friends and friend/professional acquaintances amongst my followers, and we all seem to share both work and non-work related photos.  Right of the bat I can see Instagram being great for sharing ideas at conferences, from programs at libraries, of storytimes or crafts, and much more with librarian followers.  From that standpoint, this app makes more sense to me for professional use-Snapchats disappear after so much time has elapsed (unless you snap a screen shot)-Instagram, however, seems more permanent, especially since hashtags are often used and can be searched.  Granted, I didn't get to Snapchat, so perhaps I'm missing something there...

In any case, if I were ever to use Instagram heavily for work I would probably consider creating a second account, much like I would do for Pinterest.  I'm sure my friends don't mind some library related pics, and my librarian friends don't mind some dog/cat/running shoe/food pics, but too much of one or the other may be a turn off.  So, a possible separation of sorts may come into play at some point, but for now I'm just having fun snapping and sharing pictures with my followers!

Stayed tuned-next time we are shifting gears and moving on to Library and Reference related Things! 

Thing 9- Taking & Editing Photos!

This is a Thing I have really been looking forward to!  I have an iPhone, and they have pretty good cameras, considering its a cell phones, but I've been told that to really make the most of your photos you need to make use of apps.  Despite this, I haven't really tried any, so this Thing gives me the perfect excuse to download and play away!  I'm not currently in a position where I would use my photos for any sort of marketing for my libraries, but you never know when that may change.  I initially decided to download and try three apps for this one-CamMe, Color Splurge, and LINE Camera. CamMe is available for Apple only while the other two are available for Apple and Android. 

I tried LINE Camera first, but wasn't impressed.  It looked like an app geared for children, and I'm not huge into the idea of adding bright text and frames to my pictures.  So, I instead asked a budding photographer friend which camera app she uses on her iPhone, and she recommended Camera Awesome (available for Apple and Android).  I downloaded that one and preferred it.  It feels more grown up, and although there is no in-app tutorial upon start-up (as there so often is these days), it was easy to figure out.  It offers filters, preset image-improving options, textures, cropping, and its "Awesomize" feature, which automatically adjusts images for you and takes the guess work out of adjusting all the levels individually.  For me, it was just easier to figure out and use than LINE Camera. 

Color Splurge, though not an app I'll use terribly frequently, was fun and easy to use and one that I'll definitely keep around.  It allows you to make a photo gray-scale and then go back and colorize just the bits you want to pop!  The app includes a getting started video, which surprising seemed to have no audio, but gets the job done regardless.  I was able to watch the video, select, edit, and post my first photo to Instagram (from right within the Color Splurge app) in less than ten minutes.  For the record, it was a shot of my friend and I running the Get Lucky 7k-wearing neon tutus!  It turned out pretty neat!  I'd always wondered how people did this in Photoshop, so I'm happy to have an app that replicates the effect easily!  The other main feature is a re-coloring option (change reds to blues, for instant), but it looked too off and fake to me, I'll stick with the main feature of the app.

I also got CamMe, because who doesn't love a good selfie!? This app also begins with a quick video how-to that shows a young lady taking pictures of herself in the dressing room while trying on dresses. After the video shows you how the app works, you're off and running taking selfies!  Its incredibly easy to use, and this app would be especially useful for taking group shots-simply wave rather than trying to figure out who has the longest arms/best angle to try to fit everyone into the frame (think Ellen at the Oscars...).  The main problem I had was finding a stable surface that was at the appropriate height and getting my phone to stand on its own/finding things to prop it up with (although I do believe they make cases that work as stands as well). 

Overall, a very fun Thing to play with!  And-keep your eyes peeled for my post on the next Thing (number 10!), which will be following this post in the next day or two.  Now that I've got all these great photos, its time to share them! 

Thing 8-Social Media Management

Hello, hello!  We're back again with social media management tools!  The idea with these tools is that you can input all your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on) and it will allow you to manage (post, view updates, etc.) all of them simultaneously as opposed to having to log into each social media site separately. 

For this app I chose to use Cloze, as I liked its concept most and it seemed most relevant to me.  One of their slogans is “With Cloze people come first, everything else is secondary.” That said, their main feature is that the app prowls through your email and social media accounts to find out who you interact with most.  It assigns your friends and contacts a closeness score, and puts those with the higher scores at the top of the pile.  That means that when you log into Cloze, your contacts with high scores will have their posts, pictures, emails etc. visible to you first, as opposed to a date/time order. 

It sounded good, but didn't pan out so well in reality.  The app did have an in-app walk through that came up the first time I signed in, but it was very brief and after it was over I still had no clue what to do or what was what!  I found some more information online, and evenutally got used to playing with Cloze.  However, as it turns out, I'm really not a fan of the main concept of the app. 

The "key people" only feeds were just sort of repetitive, and not really that targeted to me.  For example, a "key person's" friend has a birthday and they wish them a happy birthday on Facebook.  That post wishing them a happy birthday then shows up in my feed, even though I am not mutual friends with the birthday boy/girl.  Such a post as that one is not really relevant to me, and a waste of screen space.  Plus, I realized I like seeing the random posts/tweets/whatever from people I vaguely know, as well as from my loved ones!  I'd rather just scroll all the way through my Facebook feed, and my email, and my Tweets and see everything. 

Beyond my general dislike of the concept (which sounded good on paper but just didn't work out for me), the app also has some strange quirks.  For instance-I frequently send myself email reminders-links to check up on later, a reminder to get a piece of mail out in the morning, etc.  So, I popped up as an important person on my Cloze news feed, meaning I saw all my own tweets, posts, emails, updates, and the like on my feed.  This was redundant and a waste of feed space, and I couldn't figure out a way to completely delete myself as a "key person" (perhaps it can be done, but not intuitively). 

Overall, I'm just not a fan of this one.  Its a good concept, and would probably work very well for some people, but just not for me!  You win some, you lose some! 

Thing #7-Content Saving & Sharing

Back again, this time with content saving and sharing!  The idea behind this Thing is getting easy access to things we find and want to save on the internet.  This things hits close to home-I used to have a beautiful collection of bookmarks, organized into folders, on my browser on my main personal computer.  I had bookmarks for professional information, hobbies, sites I frequented in grad school, you name it.  Then my laptop died a horrible death, had to be completely wiped and restored to factory settings.  And I lost Every. Single. One. Of. My. Beautiful. Bookmarks.  And what's worse is that since I had them bookmarked I didn't really even pay attention to what the actual web address was, so I haven't been able to recover most of them.  *sigh*

The content saving and sharing tools we looked at in this section (Pinterest and Bitly) could have saved me from losing my bookmarks, as they store your content on the cloud, so to speak, making it accessible from pretty much any internet connected device.  I chose to create a Pinterest account because just a few weeks ago a coworker had told me she keeps both a personal and professional Pinterest account and has found it to be a great professional tool.  She works in a public library with adults, young adults, and children and uses her Pinterest for everything from ideas for story-time and crafts to book clubs and collection development.

I decided to follow my coworker's lead and create a Pinterest for work-related ideas and information.  I'm part time academic reference librarian and part time public library substitute, so I love having the ability to create an unlimited number of boards for various aspects of public vs. academic librarianship.  The app is very user friendly and it is easy to search for, pin, and organize things.  It was also easy to transition back and forth between web and mobile versions of Pinterest, though I suppose one would expect that from such a popular entity.  I can also see how collaborative and social this app could be-I ran into the pins of several professionals I know from around the country while perusing the pins! Overall, I'd have to say I'm really enjoying using Pinterest.  I've pinned books I'd like to read, statistics, cool library spaces, and much more.  Its been a fun and new (to me) way to engage in the professional field. 

I'm going to end by sharing another cloud bookmarking tool called Delicious that I learned about in grad school (delicious.com, also available as an app for Apple and Android) (and yes, I do realize that had I adopted it back then I would not have lost all my bookmarks on my recent computer crash. Hindsight...always 20/20).  You can bookmark online resources and add your own tags to them to help you describe, organize, and find them (what librarian wouldn't love that?!).  Similar to Pinterest, Delicious lets you ‘follow’ other users and the user’s public resources and tags become viewable by their followers.  Another plus-you can choose to make resources and tags private, which can be tricky to do on other services like Pinterest.  It would another great tool for workplace collaboration. Cheers!