Showing posts with label 19 Mobile Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 19 Mobile Things. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Thing 19: Evaluation

I've had a love/hate relationship with this dear 19 Mobile Things project. It was tough sometimes to find the off-desk time to get it done, but I know it was also good for me to learn about different apps. Even if I don't continue to use them, having some familiarity with them is a good thing. And let's be honest, any excuse to bring Kpop into the mix is worth my time, right? Other than spreading the love of Kpop, the biggest take-away is that I found a new game, Bubble Mania, for Thing 16. I'm currently on Level 186 and going strong!

My favorite Things, besides raindrops on noses and whiskers on kittens, were the ones in which I found useful apps that I will continue to use even after this program ends. Just this morning, I was using Wunderlist (Thing 5) at the grocery store for my shopping list. Many of the other apps I find useful are ones that I was already using, like Messenger and Hoopla. Most of the apps I downloaded for this program have already been deleted from my phone because there isn't enough space to hold all of them! I'm just keeping the ones I feel will continue to be useful to me.

If this were to be done again, I think I'd recommend extending the amount of time available for each Thing. When I got behind on them due to other responsibilities in my job, I felt very overwhelmed.

My general response when I didn't get my Thing done.
Additionally, I know many felt a lot of pressure to complete each and every assignment to the fullest. Some of the assignments took quite a bit of time, especially the ones that required us to create content. I think just requiring participants to explore the apps and write their opinions on it would be less time-consuming. I understand the assignments were done to make it entertaining (like writing a story, having a conversation all in questions), but I think not everyone had the necessary time to complete them.
 
How I look on the outside about completing 19 Mobile Things

How I feel on the inside



And how I feel about life in general

If I had to describe this experience in one sentence, I think it'd be "It's tough and challenging, but that's how it is when you push yourself to learn something new."

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Thing 18: Find, Discover, & Share

I downloaded BAM for this Thing. It nicely lays out apps sorted into different categories so you can search based on their purpose/subject. You can look at Top Apps, New Apps, Tools, Productivity, Shopping, Health & Fitness, and many other categories. You can also receive recommendations based on what you already have installed and what's popular out there.

My one problem with this app is that the Google Play Store app does essentially the same thing and it's already installed on my Android. I can look at Top Apps, Games, and Family apps, as well as others listed under a gazillion other categories, many of which are similar to those in BAM. Users may prefer the layout in BAM, but as far as I'm concerned, the Google Play Store does a good enough job for me. Space on my phone is at a premium (gotta fit all those Kpop songs on there) and I don't really need a duplicate app.

Chanyeol wonders why I would need two apps that do the same thing

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Thing 17: Hobbies

As you know, most of my hobbies are Korean-related. Sometimes I'll use a Korean-English dictionary app to look up words I've heard in songs or in TV shows. The app I'm trying out now, English-Korean Dictionary seems to work pretty well. It has pronunciations you can listen to, definitions, images, etc. I know anyone can just go to Google Translate, but specific language dictionaries tend to have more information regarding words and translations.


Learning new Korean words is more exciting than you think!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Thing 16: Games

Although I'm quite a fan of Temple Run 2, I decided to download Bubble Mania. The description had me at saving kittens! I've played a game just like this, but this one is infinitely better because kittens are involved. I feel like I've done a world of good today, what with helping so many kittens.

Just doin' my civic duty and saving the kittens
The game is easy enough to learn. I'm sure the levels increase in difficulty as you go, but when the lives of kittens are at stake, I will go the distance to help them!

Kpop idols like kittens, too!

Thing 15: Education

I downloaded Khan Academy for my education app. I had heard of Khan Academy, particularly in connection with SAT preparation, but hadn't checked it out. After I downloaded the app, I specifically focused on the test prep portion. Each test has instructional videos covering the different subjects, as well as tips and planning information. The topics are broken up into smaller, more specific points, and users can add individual videos to a favorites list, which they can then download and access offline. The videos also have transcripts so users (especially hearing-impaired) can read the instructions, too.

The app is very user-friendly and it's free! My one comment is that, while it covers quite a breadth of subjects and classes, I'm surprised by some that have been omitted. For example, the test preparation section has information on the SAT, MCAT, NCLEX-RN, GMAT, CAHSEE, IIT JEE, and AP Art History. I would have expected the ACT to be included as well and am curious as to why the only AP test covered is Art History. Maybe they have plans to add others as well. However, as a free resource, what they do offer is great.
 
Even Kpop idols get confused while studying and need help


Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Thing 14: Books

I decided to check out the YALSA Book Finder app. I downloaded it over a year ago and often forget it's there!

It's a simple app that can be of great use to a teen (or a librarian trying to help a teen!). Its main purpose is to help teens find titles to read. One of its features is Hot Picks, which makes three title recommendations every day. Users can also browse and search by title, author, genre, year, award, and book list. They can add any of these titles to their favorites.

Oh, look! One of my favorite books!
This is a great way for teens to find book recommendations. However, I have a few concerns. First, not all of the book covers show up. Many of them have the YALSA logo as the book cover. I'm sure this is a fluke (there were some books that did have their covers), but covers can be very good at grabbing the attention of readers (and sometimes deter readers, too...).

Additionally, when a book is selected, there's a button that says, "Find It," which implies it'll show where the book is, whether at a library or bookstore. However, when I click on it, the screen says "Libraries for book not found," but I don't see any options in the app to add a library (and I'm sure the app isn't built to work with just any library catalog). It pulls up Google Maps and shows my location, but doesn't have any information on the book.

Users also have the option of sharing the book on Facebook or Twitter. This is neat, but one comment I have is that many teens don't use Facebook. And while they may use Twitter, Instagram is much more popular. It would be great if they could share a photo of the book on Instagram.

How I feel after a successful RA interaction


Friday, January 29, 2016

Thing 13: Library Reference

Working in Adult Services, I help a lot of people download eMedia on a lot of different devices. I also often download eAudiobooks for personal use.

Overdrive:
I typically show patrons how to use Overdrive if they want eBooks or eAudiobooks because it's easier to learn than Axis360. And for my own eAudiobooks, I prefer it because it runs more smoothly than Axis360 and offers features like changing the speed of the narration. One complaint I have about it is that sometimes patrons, who are unsure of exactly what they're doing, choose a format that isn't compatible with their device and once the wrong format is chosen, there's no going back. And, depending on the situation, sometimes you don't even have the choice to return it because it requires you to download it since a format has already been selected, but you can't download it because it's the wrong format (this just happened to a patron I worked with earlier this week).

Axis360:
For me, the best thing about Axis360 is the variety of titles available. There are more YA eAudiobook titles, many of which are recent publications. However, I quite dislike the performance of the app. On my Android, the app will often stop working and say it's offline and won't play my audiobook, even though I've downloaded it to the device and, therefore, don't need to be online (but I am online and it doesn't realize that!). I can really only get it to work again by shutting down the entire app through my settings. What a pain! Other times, it'll start playing in a completely different part of the book. There have been times I'm on Chapter 13 and when I press play it goes to Chapter 6. I've gotten pretty used to bookmarking where I am every single time I take a break.

Hoopla:
I think Hoopla is the most user-friendly app of our eMedia resources. In addition to eBooks and eAudiobooks, it also offers movies and music, which we don't provide digitally elsewhere. There's more of a limit on the content (for eBooks and eAudiobooks, compared to the other apps) because we're not buying it, but the app works well, the process is streamlined, and it's pretty intuitive. And another great thing about it is that there can be concurrent users!

Zinio:
Digital magazines are a great service we provide, but the one issue I have with Zinio is the process of checking out magazines (which is in the process of being improved). The app is for reading the magazines, but all issues must be checked out through the website, which you need to access through the library website. This can be very inconvenient on a mobile device that doesn't display our site well, plus, it's a whole extra step in the process. I'll be glad when Zinio's process is more streamlined.

Even the group EXO reads eBooks!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Thing 12: Video & Audio

By now, you all know I listen to Kpop as my main genre of music. When I'm at home, I typically listen to it on iTunes or YouTube (if I want to watch the music video or happen to not own the song). When I'm in the car, I'll typically listen to the CDs I've created, and when I'm elsewhere, I'll listen to the music I've put on my phone.

I have a Pandora account that I use when I'm using a computer that isn't my personal laptop. It's more mobile than Spotify because it's web-based as opposed to requiring a software download. Because I already have a Pandora account, I decided to download the Pandora app.

It's pretty easy to figure out. One difference between the app and the browser version is that the app pushes recommended stations and the browser lists similar artists. Maybe they both provide recommended artists and stations (which are essentially the same thing because the stations are given the names of the artists), but just push them in different ways. And one thing that grabbed my attention was the profile tab. It stood out in a way the browser version doesn't. I have not filled out any kind of information on it and don't plan to. I don't think of going to Pandora for social media, but I recall years ago people sharing on Facebook what they were listening to on Pandora. I can't say that I've seen it in the past few years. Maybe it's no longer available or maybe it's just no longer cool.

Hmm, I already know I like those first five groups...

While the Pandora app works just fine, it does require either wi-fi or a data plan, so if I'm going on a road trip, using this is probably going to take up a lot of data. And it can't be used while on airplane mode. I've added my favorite songs to my phone so I can listen to them anywhere and not have to be connected, but of course, the selection is finite. If I'm in the mood to try some other songs, Pandora is a good choice.

How I think I look dancing to Kpop
How I actually look dancing to Kpop

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Thing 11: Edit, Save, & Share Photos

Believe it or not, I didn't have Instagram until today. I know Instagram is super popular, but it's just something I hadn't ever put the time into joining. I used my Facebook account to sign up for it ( I didn't want to have to create a separate account), so it brought in all my Facebook friends as potential followers and suggestions for pages I can follow. I would say I was quite startled by how freakishly fast one of my friends followed me. As I played around with the app, I realized, first and foremost, that I had spelled my name incorrectly on my handle, and I also figured out how to make my account private, which was not the default setting.

I don't think I'll use my account much to post photos, but I think I may use Instagram to follow others. I'm now following my sister, a few friends, about 20 Korean celebrities, and Geneva Public Library, of course! Although I succeeded in following the library (due to my perseverance), it took a bit more looking that I would have liked. When I typed in the library's name, the first results were for a location, not an account. Other users must have assigned their pictures the location of Geneva Public Library (District), so those locations, including ours, Ohio, and New York, came up first, and I had to scroll down to the bottom to find our library's account.

For my post for the Library, I took a photo of our teen drawing boxes for the Winter Reading Program and used the Clarendon filter because I felt it made the green pop a bit more.

Hey teens, there's still time to read and win prizes!



How many shots does it take for Kpop idols to look good?







Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Thing 10: Chat

Of the options given to use for Thing 10, I use both Messenger and Skype on a regular basis. Messenger for chatting by text, Skype for video chatting (although I did use Messenger for a phone call with my sister when I was in Thailand).

I use Messenger and my phone's texting plan as means to communicate with friends and family. Messenger is handy because I can chat with people whose phone numbers I don't have or who live abroad, like my sister in Indonesia. Plus, sending links, images, and videos is, overall, a more fluid process and the Messenger app can handle longer messages. And because Messenger is run by Facebook, I can chat with friends on my computer (my preference) or my phone no matter where I am. With regular texting, I can only use my phone, and when I have a lot to say, it's tiring (what a tragic life I lead), I make more mistakes, and the long messages are divided up to send as smaller batches.

Even K-pop idols are amazed at what phones can do
For our assignment, I decided to bug Ellen using Messenger. It was kind of hard responding only in questions! I once did this in person as improv and failed on my second line. At least this time I was able to collect my thoughts and make sure it was a question. Ellen is quite responsive, so we had this chat in a relatively short span of time and I could see when she had read my messages and was writing back.

As you all know, Ellen is a sweetheart, so our hostile tone is all fun and games. No feelings were hurt in the completion of Thing 10.



Thank you, Ellen, for your help! And for the treats....very yummy:)

Over halfway done with 19 Mobile Things, I'm like...



Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Thing 9: Social Media

Facebook is the only social media platform I regularly use. Although I'm on it about every day, I don't use it as my public diary, and I share things just occasionally. I use it more to collect information (like about K-pop, go figure) than to share information. I had already liked the Geneva Public Library District page (that Ellen curates), so I receive library updates on my news feed.

When I accessed the page on my phone, I saw that Ellen had recently posted a promotion for my upcoming 20s & 30s program, Aluminum Embossing Workshop, and decided to shamelessly plug my own program by sharing it. I'm pretty average at texting, but for some reason, knowing that what I wrote was going to be posted publicly, I stressed out about the spelling and grammar and ended up making many more mistakes than I normally do (which I fixed, of course, to my best knowledge).

Based on a class I took in grad school about using social media in libraries, I learned that libraries shouldn't use platforms solely for promoting activities with dates and times. They need to balance those with fluffy posts (like fun pictures or lists) and make sure they respond to comments from followers as a way of both giving and receiving information. Whenever I see a fun post, like from Book Riot, or a trailer for an upcoming book-to-movie, I'll send the link the Ellen.

Book Riot recently posted Book Riot Best of 2015 listing the best books of the year. The list was compiled by online voters, so it's most likely a list of popular books rather than the best written or most literary ones. Not every reader will agree!

Pictures are also fun to post. I can't remember if any of these were posted on Geneva's page or if I just saw them elsewhere:









So funny, right?

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Thing 8: Presentations

I downloaded Google Slides to my phone. I had previously made presentations on Google Drive for classes, but had not used my phone. After having tried out both versions of it, I can say I definitely prefer the computer version over the mobile version.

On the mobile version, it was easy enough to fill in the text boxes and add new slides, but beyond that, it was frustrating. I couldn't figure out how to add a theme to the presentation or move text boxes/images/videos around the page. After adding text to two pages, I switched over to the online computer version and completed my presentation much more efficiently.

I can see the usefulness of the app in that you can present it essentially anywhere you are as long as you have your phone and a wifi or data connection. I think it's pretty cool that you can choose to view it on your device or present it on a video call. However, when I went back to the mobile version to view my presentation, I became frustrated with it again. I could easily swipe or tap the screen to move on to the next slide, except for the final slide! There was no indication that it was the final slide, and no matter how many times I swiped or tapped the screen, it would not change. If you're watching a presentation that you're unfamiliar with, it's hard to tell when you're at the end of it! It is expected that there is a black screen at the end of a presentation, but using this app, you might think there's more to come!

I created my presentation on something about me, my love for K-pop. Many of you may know about it, but I'm sure it's news to others of you! Enjoy!

Did Someone Say K-pop?

Claps all around

Friday, December 11, 2015

Thing 7: Saving & Sharing Docs

I decided to try out Dropbox for Thing 7. I just recently used Dropbox for the first time about a month ago when my sister and I wanted to share our pictures of our trip to Thailand with each other. It was a much more preferable method to emailing all the pictures! Although we both shared pictures through Dropbox, I hadn't really explored the product. And even though the app came installed on my phone when I got it, I hadn't previously used the mobile version.

The app is easy enough to figure out and divides uploads into general categories of files and pictures. And there's also a feature that allows a user to store some files that are accessible offline.

Because I already had pictures from my trip to Thailand saved in my Dropbox account, I decided to share one of the photos with Ellen. I was surprised at how many different methods of sharing there were, like texting, email, Facebook, Wunderlist, Flipboard, Feedly, Skype, and others. I could also share it with my Blogger app, which I thought would be a great and easy way to get the photo on this post! However, it only sent me this link to the photo, not the photo itself:

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/kbmxa081g3js8d7/AAB_hIclSmcgZCZkoe6C0ceUa

So I opened the link from the draft of a post, which took me to the photo located on Dropbox, which I then downloaded to my computer and then uploaded to Blogger. Maybe there's a better way to get a photo from Dropbox to Blogger without having to deal with a link, but this is how I figured out how to do it.

Paradise with a guaranteed sunburn
I shared this photo with Ellen, via both texting and email. I wanted to see if one of the ways would work better. Both methods of sharing delivered the photo to Ellen quite promptly. She was able to click on the link and see the photo without having to be logged in to Dropbox.

Overall, Dropbox is a helpful tool to have if you need to access files and photos from multiple locations or want to share items with others, but I wish, by sharing the photo with my Blogger app, that it would upload the photo to my photo album on the blog rather than beginning a post with just a URL.

How I feel completing Thing 7


Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Thing 6: Creating & Editing Docs

I have been using Google Docs on a computer for the past few years. I have a few qualms about it, but I find it very useful, particularly because multiple users can access it concurrently and I can access it from any device with Internet access. As a student, this was very helpful with group papers.

But I hadn't ever used the Google Docs app before. The app is fine, but I have a harder time editing text, and it doesn't seem to have as many formatting options as the browser version. I began to write my short story on the app, but I've never cared much for writing extensively on my phone. I decided to switch to the browser version on my computer and the typing went much faster! (and I found quite a few mistakes from my phone version, whether it was my poor typing or an incorrect autocorrect).

Overall, I would take the computer browser version over the app version any day (mainly because I prefer typing on a keypad compared to a phone), but I would definitely use the app version if I needed to write something or check on a document and didn't have access to a computer.

So onto the story. The requirement to create a short story around "The self-assured fingerprint expert watered the lawn close to a broken refrigerator during the party for the deadly frog," was quite a challenge. To amuse myself, I decided to give my characters the names of Korean celebrities. Just so you know.

And here we go:

Suho’s life was on a predictable track. At least it had been until a severe storm hit the previous night. He had never seen such destruction. The wind howled, thunder drummed, and rain pelted the ground. The only thing Suho could possibly compare to the fear and chaos produced by the stormy night was his past experience as a K-pop idol.
Suho as an idol

Suho had become an idol because he loved to sing and perform on stage with his 11 other ridiculously good-looking group members. But nothing had ever quite prepared him for the crazy fans. But with fame came fear. Being followed by people obsessed with him made him terrified for his life and was the sole reason he had left his group and created this boring, yet safe, life of a fingerprint expert. He had been on the police force for two years now, investigating crimes anywhere from co-workers stealing each other's coffee mugs to crimes of passion. The coffee mug cases were the real tough ones because the criminals always washed the mugs after using them, thereby removing all fingerprints and rendering Suho’s expertise unnecessary.

Suho as a fingerprint expert
His pursuit of justice had been the most important focus of his life. That, and his deep love for singing. But as he was no longer a K-pop star, he no longer had his audience. So one year ago, he turned to the next best thing; he got a pet frog who would have to give him undivided attention. Kwangsoo, the frog he bought to fill the hole in his life, wasn't quite living up to his expectations. In fact, he was anything but attentive, but he was all Suho had.

This all changed last night during the storm. Suho hadn't been expecting the power to go out, and he certainly hadn't been expecting the house to be hit by lightning. As he was preparing his playlist to croon his frog to sleep, all of a sudden the house began to shake and a bolt of lightning hit. The current of electricity found its way to Kwangsoo’s cage and electrocuted the amphibian. In a Hulk-like experience, Kwangsoo started to grow at a massive speed, so quickly that he easily broke through his cage and the house was soon destroyed. At the shock of it all, Suho lost consciousness.

Suho witnessing his frog getting electrocuted

Kwangsoo before
Kwangsoo after

He awoke the next morning to find himself as a prisoner of Kwangsoo, now a giant and terrifying frog. Although he was feeling quite unwell, he was forced to do the frog's bidding. The storm had caused a lot of damage, and Kwangsoo destruction in the wake of his new size and power hadn’t helped. As he was led outside to begin the cleanup, he saw debris scattered everywhere. There were beds, pots and pans, unicycles, carpet samples, and much more, spread out as far as the eye could see.

After a long day of moving debris and cleaning, Kwangsoo the Great held a party in his own honor to establish his rule over the city. All survivors of the previous night’s storm who were not injured were required to attend in order to pay homage to the lord frog. The main course at dinner, a plateful of flies, did nothing to help the ease the common people. Suho, greatly distressed by the responsibility he felt toward the current condition of the city and its people, felt overwhelmed and needed a breath of fresh air. Once outside the celebration hall, he sat down on a broken refrigerator turned over on its side, debris that had yet to be removed, and was able to calm down to the point where he could think. He noticed a garden hose dribbling water on the nearby lawn and took a drink. While taking a large gulp of somewhat rusty water, an idea hit him, and he wondered if he might possibly have come up with an idea to rid the city of the frightening Kwangsoo the Great. The more he thought about his plan, the more confident and self-assured he became.

Suho ran inside, located the nearest fire alarm and pulled down on it.  Although Suho had always abided by the law that one should never pull the fire alarm unless there is a real fire, he felt that this emergency called for such action. Immediately alarms sounded and the overhead sprinklers began spewing water and drenching everyone. People started screaming in fear and running out the doors. Except for Kwangsoo the Great. At the moment the first drops of water hit him, he began to croak in pain. His whole body lit up with bright lights, and his croaks were soon drowned out by the sound of electric currents. As quickly as he had grown in size the night before, he now diminished back to his former self. Suho, knowing he was no longer in danger of his frog, picked him up and put in him a box (with breathing holes, of course Suho wasn’t cruel).

The next morning, Suho took Kwangsoo to the local zoo and donated him to the amphibian exhibit. The zookeeper had no idea that the new frog had been the people’s despot the day before. Of course, no one knew what had happened. No one but Suho. While drinking from the garden hose the night before, Suho had realized that Kwangsoo’s ferocity and deadliness had been created by a bolt of lightning. And two things that don’t go together are water and electricity. If electricity was what brought Kwangsoo to power, could water be his downfall? Suho had been right, but no one would ever know it was him, the former idol, who was to be credited with their rescue. But since he felt somewhat responsible for the incident in the first place, he didn’t want his police buddies looking into the story anyway.

So happy singing with his friends
As the city returned to normal life and finished cleaning up the mess the storm and Kwangsoo had made, Suho thought back on his love of singing. He had no desire to return to the life of a superstar, and he enjoyed his work as a fingerprint expert on the police force. But his life could not be without music. He gathered together many of his co-workers, and, once a week, they had a karaoke night. Suho was, by far, the best, and was able to continue his music and perform for an adoring crowd without having to fear for his safety from crazy fans who thought he was each of their true loves.  

The End

What story did I just read? K-pop.....?

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Thing 5: Notetaking

I decided to try out Wunderlist for Thing 5. I know YS uses it to create shopping lists. This app is one that could prove quite useful to me...as long as I remember to check it! I like that I can create lists of any theme. I might finally remember to buy dishwasher soap at the store!

The important things in life

In Circulation, I spy with my librarian eye...

 One aspect of this app that I like is the ability to change the order of the items on a list. You can choose one of the orders provided (e.g., alphabetically, by due date, etc.) or you can change the order manually. I have recently started using Evernote on my computer and have started to become frustrated with trying to put my notes in a particular order within a notebook. 

I've really been running behind on these Things the past few weeks, so the fact that I'm doing this one on time earns me two Kpop thumbs up, right?


Thing 4: Keeping Up

 I follow only a few blogs that I read regularly, including a couple for work, like The Hub and YALSAblog, and just a few others for amusement.

My general attitude toward blogs ;)

It's a bit ironic that here I am writing this all on a blog. I can see the value in writing/following professional blogs, but I've never been one to really want my thoughts and opinions available to just anyone, so I haven't been interested in starting one.

And because I follow so few blogs, it's easy to just regularly check them without needing to rely on an RSS feed. This is my first experience setting up a feed. I decided to go with Feeder (my previous phone would automatically open the Flipboard app just often enough to drive me crazy, even though I had never set up anything). It was simple enough to add some blogs to Feeder, and I like how they're easily categorized by topic. If I decide to continue with the app, this will make it easier to separate professional and personal blogs. At this point, I'm interested in seeing how often I will be alerted of new posts. I don't enjoy being notified by my phone all the time (hence my avoidance of Twitter), so we'll see how this goes!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Thing 3: Utilities

The utility I tested was Google Goggles. At the beginning, I was quite meh about it. I had taken a photo of my calendar, and the app only searched for the text "2016," which is written on the front cover. This calendar is a personal planner I bought at Barnes & Noble. Let's say a friend liked it and wanted one for herself, but I couldn't remember where I bought it. I would have expected Google Goggles to be able to search the entire calendar online and find it listed on Barnes & Noble's website, and then my friend would know where she could get one. Alas, this was not the case!

I tried taking a few other photos, one of which turned out much better. I took a photo of Gail's birthday card, adorned with the creepy baby face (by yours truly):


and it magically pulled up the original image, sans creepy baby:


This sneaky corgi with his creepy disguise couldn't fool Google!

I was hoping to have better luck taking a photo of a YA book (thinking this could be used as a shortcut if I want to look up a book online), but each photo I took of the book picked up different portion of the title/author and I couldn't get it to recognize the correct book.

Because Google Goggles can identify QR codes, I tried that component out. I'm interested in having a poster with a QR code in the YA area. When I took a photo of the QR code on the page I recently submitted for next month's Viking Vessel issue, I was unhappy with the results. I was supposed to be taken to the Library's website, but instead, Google asked if I meant www.gold.org and the results listed under that included a link to Geneva 304's November Viking Vessel issue and another one to view GPLD's online survey responses as a PDF. I tried scanning the QR code with a QR code app I already had on my phone, and it took me right to the Library's homepage.

Google Goggles has some neat features and can be fun to use, but based on the small trial I just did, it doesn't seem very reliable. I'm sure taking a photo of something really famous gives better results, but other than uncovering the corgi's true identity, I wasn't all that amazed.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Thing 2: Mobile Device Tips & Tricks

I finally got around to working on Thing 2! I have an Android smartphone and, while I don't use it to its fullest potential, I typically feel pretty comfortable using it.

One of the biggest things I learned from the Lyda.com tutorial is the word "salmagundi." The instructor used this term, and I was a little embarrassed I didn't know it. The first definition of it is "A salad of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, often arranged in rows on lettuce and served with vinegar and oil." Based on contextual clues, I felt I could safely assume the instructor meant the latter definition, "A mixture or assortment."

One of the other things I learned was the power of the voice activation abilities of the phone. I've used the voice commands to search Google plenty of times (typically when I need to look up a clue to help fill in my daily crossword puzzle!), but I didn't know I could also control the phone itself. By saying, "Ok Google, take a picture," I could pull up my phone's camera; by saying, "Ok Google, play music," I could get my phone to automatically play music. One important tip to share with the rest of my library folks: Don't tell your phone to play music while you're in a library, especially when the door to your office is open. And if you do happen to do that, make sure you have fast enough reflexes to pause the music before everyone starts questioning your "slight" obsession with K-pop. 

One other thing I did with this Lynda tutorial is go through the camera's edit features. I had some fun playing around with the different tones and effects I could give this photo. I was most amused by the hue effect. While sliding my finger along the scale, I noticed that the only things that drastically changed within this effect were the tint of my eyes and Gail's computer screen. The terror!

Super intense