Thing 11 Library Reference

I downloaded WCL Mobile because I am familiar with Washington County’s website and I thought it would be interesting how the mobile app compares to the site (it is a great website by the way).

The WCL mobile app is impressive. The lay out is considerably different than the website however its layout is easy to follow. This mobile really overcomes the problem of a  lack of space.

Personally I can use this app to find books available in WCL when I’m away from computers. Professionally I can use this app to reflect on what my library’s mobile could/should look like.

Thing 10 Sharing Photos

Instagram

First thing I have to say the Instagram app is that it, like Pinterest, is better when on a computer or a larger screen than a smartphone.

I definitely think that Instagram is a preferred choice to flickr for libraries sharing their photographs. Instagram is easier to organize, allows tags and feeds photos from most recent to oldest (whereas flickr feeds oldest to newest).

SnapChat

I added Shapchat to my phone about two years ago. Like most picture apps, it has a lot of potential for creatively and creating art. Like this guy makes:

http://thesnapchatartist.wordpress.com/page/2/

More of Game than a Picture App

However Snapchat isn’t like any other picture app. Any potential user needs to understand that it isn’t a photo edit app (allow the pictures taken can be altered in some ways).  Nor is Snapchat a means of storing pictures. Instead its more like a game. A user takes a picture, and sends it. When the picture is received it’s only visible for a few seconds. Then its gone. For some this is an annoying trait, for others it simply add to the fun.

Finding Friends

When I first started with Snapchat I remember I had really hard time finding friends. It took me a long time to locate any of my friends on Snapchat because I could search for them by their name, or email or find them through my other social medias. Instead I had to know their precise snapchat user name.

Privacy issues

Like all social media sites SnapChat has had some bad PR on its (lack of) privacy settings. Privacy settings can be set, but it can be difficult to do it. There has also been controversy in whether the ‘view once’ pictures really disappear or if there are merely “hidden”. And if they are merely “hidden” who is accessing them.

Thing 8 Social Media

I have just recently cut back on my social media use. So I find it a bit funny that I should be asked to use an app to organize my now-nonexistent social media use.

At one time I had a LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Google+ (I think I used that one for like a week before I gave up on it)  and Pinterest accounts. At some point I did download and try Hootsuite. I just remember feeling overwhelmed by it. Especially since I had so many social media accounts connected to organize. When going through your Facebook accounts it can be overwhelming enough to go through updates. But to go through updates on five social medias on once. I was seeing too much. I preferred to just go on each social media individually.

What I ended up doing was hooking up my Twitter and Facebook accounts. So that anything I Tweet also goes on my Facebook.

Hootsuite can save time if a person does not want to log into log into different accounts individually, but as long as the person can handle seeing so many updates at once.

Thing 7 Content Saving & Sharing

Thing 7, Content Saving & Sharing

F

Thing 7, Content Saving & Sharing

For this “thing” I looked up BitDroid for the first time. Like most people, I have been used Pinterest before.

Pinterest

Pinterest is really for the visually thinker/learner, which is pretty much everyone these days. Pinterest has been very useful to me in generating ideas for passive programs, displays and just getting the creative juices flowing. As well as being a great source of finding great Fandom Art and humorous memes. Pinterest serves and a one stop shop to get, store and organize all things fun and even educational.

That being said, Pinterest App  does have some downsides. The first is that it is it it is difficult to use on a small screen. Pinterest is completely visual. Because Pinterest is all about seeing and browsing, I think it one of those programs/apps that are actually more enjoyable on a tablet or a laptop where the screen is bigger and the user can appreciate the features and uses of Pinterest. Using Pinterest on a smartphone is like watching ‘Gravity’ on your ipod. Its just better on a larger screen.

The second and last problem I have seen with Pinterest is, like all social media sites, very public. Thanks to facebook and the rest I am not sure if there are a lot of people like me --someone who doesn’t want to share all their ‘likes’ with everyone. But I would appreciate it if social media sites made it easier to create privacy settings. And keep those settings. It is possible to do “like” or “pin” some things privately, however it is pretty difficult to figure out how to do.

BitDroid

This app seems to be the opposite of Pinterest. Instead of being all about pictures and visual learning and interest, it is simply a collection of shortened URLs.

Difficult to Organize

I guess I am a visual learner because I sort of miss seeing the pictures along with the URL’s. Also I can’t figure out how to rename the URL’s.

Can’t explore

Also there isn’t the social media aspect with BitDroid. That is, with Pinterest I go out, search a term and find all these great URL’s and then save URLs, but with BitDroid its is just a collection of URLs I have made myself.   

thing 6

CloudOn

This was great. I was able to view all my Google docs right from my cell phone without having to open a browser going to Google and logging into to G drive.  Also the layout doesn’t look that different from how my Google Drive looks on my computer. The only thing I have to say against this app is that it was a little slow opening each document. Only a few second delay.

Quick Office

This it app is AWESOME! This app makes it possible to use Microsoft, PowerPoint, and Excel all on my phone. Like CloudOn, this app also allows me to access my Google Drive without changing the look of the how the software appears on my computer.

Thing 5 Note Taking

Before reaching this task I used a really simple and straight forward app called ColorNote. It suited me just fine. When it comes to notetaking I just want something simple. I want to get into the app and get down to taking notes. So when reading my reviews for these apps just know that for me, the simpler the notetaking app, the better.

For this task I downloaded for Bamboo Loop, Remember the Milk, and Springpad. Personally I didn’t really care much of any of them for notetaking. I think they try to do too much! Its like having a phone that does thousand things at a touch of a button, but you have press 50 buttons to place a call. But if I had to pick I from these three as my note taking app, I would “Remember the Milk”.

Bamboo Loop

I needed to make an account for each of these apps. Why do we have to do that? Can’t the app just know it’s on my phone? I’m just sick of giving out my email and hoping I remember my password for another thing.

Anyway, I couldn’t find an app called “Bamboo paper”, but I did find Bamboo Loop. First of all, I don't think this app is all that intuitive, and I'm a fairly tech-savvy person.  If I can't figure it out pretty quickly, I lose interest pretty quickly. In about 5 minutes of working with it I hardly figured anything out about it. But when I did figure out how to send a “loop”, it turned out not to really be for note taking. It’s more for a sending a picture with a pictures with a little message/note. But it’s not really for note taking.

Another thing that really turned me away from this app is that although the app itself is free, you have to pay for applications for the app.

Remember the Milk

This app is OK. It’s a little more intuitive. But it seems to be for a lot more than simply taking notes. You can add tasks for a particular day in the future, or the day of, or you can simply take notes. You can also add a location that the notes are for. You can decide if the notes/tasks belong in your “inbox, personal, study, work or sent” inbox. You can also add tags to notes/tasks. Thank goodness there is also a way of searching within the app so if you forget where you put the note you can find it via keyword search.

Basically there are so many parts to this app for organizing your notes/tasks that I think it’s a bit too much for me. Like I said, if I want to take notes on my phone I want to just get down to it and not have to decide what inbox it’s in, what tags it needs etc. But if you were someone who did want to take a lot of notes on your phone the organization features could be useful if you get used to them.

 

Springpad

Once again I don’t really see this item for notetaking. I see it as more of a way to organize and keep track of URL’s  and web pages I like. It also reminds me of pinterest a little bit. Because has built in suggestions for various topics such as recipes which is fun but not great for note taking.

Thing 4-Flipboard and Zite

I looked at both Flipboard and Zite and quickly decided that I prefer Zite. Mainly because Zite uses the exact same format as most social media sites—a wall of feed with the most current posts on top. Zite also allows the user to “like” or “unlike” posts which should help the app learn your interests  and better serve the user the more (s)he use it.

Flipboard, on the other hand, has a more unique layout. It reminded me a little bit of the Windows 8 look. So the layout isn’t bad, in fact fans of windows 8 might prefer the look of Flipboard over Zite.

When you first sign up both apps ask you to select what topics/categories of information you would like to receive. Zite has a larger variety of topics to choose so that is another thing I like for.

One plus side to Flipboard is that you can connect it to your other social media accounts. So you can have your feed of your various information categories, facebook, and twitter etc. all on one place. However, I for some reason don’t enjoy “flipping” each post to get to the next. I prefer just scrolling up and down a wall of news feed.

Thing 3--Utilities

RedLaser Barcode & QR Scanner

In the past I have used the QR Scanner on my android phone. But I have may be using RedLaser in the future because it is MUCH faster at loading websites.

Professionally I first used the QR Scanner as part of a display called “Readbox” which, of course, is a play on words from the ever popular “Redbox”.

(picture taken by Sarah Hawkins)

I simply posted an image of a forthcoming title with a QR code in the bottom corner of the picture. The QR code took the patron to book trailer posted on YouTube. (If you are looking for book trailers some go-to channels are: HarperTeen, PenguinYoungReaders, and Fierce Reads.)

I have also used QR codes whenever I do a display for a program featuring someone who has website I can link patrons to. A few times I have used a QR code to link to my library’s facebook, encouraging people to “friend” us.

To make your own QR Codes I recommend http://www.qrstuff.com/ this site lets you customize your QR Codes in really nifty ways.

The down side of using the QR app was that, depending on the type of device the patron had, it could take up to 15 seconds for the trailer to load. Lucky, this didn’t seem to brother patrons much. Redlaser, on the other hand, is much faster at loading videos. Besides being faster, Redlaser also has the benefit of being able to find deals for online shopping. I’m not a big online shopper so none of the featured deals appealed to me. I am, however, interested in what kind of deals that are available in target, and cub etc. So I tried to doing a number of searches and see if I could see what kind of discounts are in those stores, but that unfortunately none of those coupons/deals are found on Redlaser. So the shopping aspect of Redlaser will probably only appeal to those who prefer to shop online. The speed of Redlaser though will appeal to all people who enjoy QR barcodes.

Google Goggles

I think this is an awesome app. The first thing I thought when I first was introduced to it was  that it’s the answer librarians have been waiting for when it comes to assisting patrons who come in looking for “that book”. The Red One. The Red One With the Golden Writing On It. You know what I am talking about?

Anyways, I tied to use this app for that purpose. Unfortunately it can’t be used for this purpose. What you CAN use Google Goggles for is to take a picture of an item and receive immediate information about the item. Finally I can do a Google Search without struggling to type on my tiny little phone! When it comes to books/movies this app is a great way to get reviews off of amazon before checking it out/buying it.

I found that the key to using this app is to use the crop tool—make sure you are only taking a picture of the item. Don’t have any extra background when taking the picture because it can contaminate the search.

StandApp

This is a good app to know about, but when it comes to fitness apps they all annoy me. I often just forget to update my activity and tell the app what exercise I have done. So when it inevitability lectures me to exercise more I just want to sit on the couch to spite it. So again it’s good to know about but not for me.

Wi-Fi Finder

As far as I can tell this app can’t do anything that my android phone automatically does.  I haven’t been able to find any wi fi that I couldn’t before I added the app. However, if I were traveling (which sadly is a big if) this app could come in handy to search out some new and free public wi-fi.

Thing 2

Tips for Galaxy S3
The only device I have to use for this project is a Galaxy S3. A lot of people I know love to take pictures with their phone, but have trouble with getting a decent shot because the subject (usually a child/pet) was moving. So one of the best tricks I have learned is “Best Shot”. This feature allows the user to take a burst of up to 20 shots at one time.

To take a “best shot" simply go to the camera app. On the left hand side of the screen there will be an icon of a rectangle, select that icon. A selection of “shooting modes” will appear. Select “best shot”. And you are ready to take your series of picture! After all the pictures are taken you can choose which one(s) you want to save in your gallery, you can discard the rest.

Other shooting modes are:

Single Shot (default);

Best Face: Best Face is basically the 'Best Shot' for a group photo. It allows the user to take 5 consecutive pictures and then select the best face for each subject and place all the 'best faces' in one photo.

Face Detection- this allows you to select the focus or center of the picture

Panorma-This allows for wider shots (good for landscapes)

Share Shot-Allows you to share pictures you take with your phone (Wi fi direct has to be on which is found under settings. Make sure the people you want to share your photos will have their Wi Fi direct on as well).

Buddy Photo Share-Allows user to tag a person to a picture (great for adding a pic to a contact).

Beauty-I was hoping this meant that you could add cool drawings or change the brightness of the picture but no “beauty” makes it possible to remove ‘imperfections in a person’s face’

Smile Shot-This is a sneaky! This feature takes the picture as soon as it detects the person smiling.

HDR-prevents picture from being under or over exposed

 

Another feature (although this one is non camera related) that was new with the Galaxy S 3 is the S voice—Samsung’s answer to Siri. My tip on this little “feature” is don’t use it. It never understands what you are asking.

So it begins... Thing #1

Hello Dear Reader. I am a library person and will be par-taking in the "23 Mobile Things" this spring. This little piece of digital non-literature you are reading is my newly conceived blog, created to complete the task known as “Thing 1”.

So why am I doing this? Although I am a fan of social media in general, I am by no means a networking guru. (Come to think of it, as a general rule, I'm pretty anti-guru). I have never been cool enough to own anything Apple. I don't understand tumblr, and I have only made one youtube video. There is a really why it was my last. So there is much for me to learn both from the technically standpoint of how to use devices. And from the creative standpoint of how to use apps (or any techie toy) in the library.

In short, I am hoping that through this mobile/app misadventure I may become more comfortable and creative with the devices I have and be savvy in how I use them in libraries.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers.