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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Thing 4. Keeping Up

First of all, I really liked the Common Craft video, which gave a straightforward explanation of RSS feeds. Even though I sort of already knew what they were, it was a nice way to clarify it.

I downloaded the Flipboard app. I was particularly interested to see how Twitter and Instagram would look, and to find out what types of functionality I had from within the Flipboard app.

Here's what my twitter feed looked like in Flipboard:

I like the fact that I can easily retweet, and that I can comment or do a modified tweet:


And I liked that I can choose which parts of my Twitter account to look at in Flipboard:

I did figure out how to create a post to Twitter from inside Flipboard, but it wasn't incredibly obvious to me how to do it. (here's how a retweet from Flipboard looks from within the Twitter app):

However, I can see how this app would be really useful to follow tweets, instagram pages, and blogs around specific topics.

My cat, Genghis Khlaw, loves Flipboard (obviously).


Thursday, January 23, 2014

Thing 3. Utilities


I definitely wanted to use a QR scanner to incorporate more information into displays and posters at my library. So that's the app I chose to focus on in this post (even though there were lots of other interesting utility apps I explored as well).

As a library in the MELSA consortium, we participate in the Winter Jackets adult reading program. When patrons fill out book reviews they are placed in a binder for all to see. I also created an online book list of each review turned in. I decided to create a QR code to post on my winter jacket display, so folks with mobile devices could access the reader reviews instantly.

Here's the display:


And here's the poster with the QR code:


As evidenced in this next screenshot, the RedLaser Barcode & QR Scanner app is quite sensitive:

Even from this extremely blurry image, it was able to read the QR code correctly and take me directly to the online reader review list:


I was quite pleased with the results.



Thing 2. Mobile Device Tips

I learned a lot of just basic features in this thing. Like, for instance, that I can make the word thing italicized by holding the screen, selecting it, and tapping the menu that comes up like so:


I also learned how to use the flyover feature of maps, and was thus able to take this screenshot of my library (Augsburg Park, a Hennepin County Library):


And I can now also take panoramic pictures. Here's one of my office!

This new info makes me feel like smiling, in the noir filter, of course.



Thursday, January 16, 2014

Thing 1. Blogging & Registering

I'm excited about this program because it will give me the opportunity to learn about where mobile technology is taking us in the library world AND it will give me the opportunity to play with my shiny new iPhone 5c!