I have followed the MN 511 website for close to 10 years now. In the winter it seems like I drive just as much as I do in the summer, mainly visiting family, so it was always a good way to check the safety of the roads. Overall I feel the Sheriff department does a good job of reporting the conditions of the roads as they drive along. So I was a happy camper when I found out there was an MN 511 app for my phone. Besides road conditions you can also check traffic congestion, handy if you are going down to the Twin Cities.
I like that City of Mankato 311 app. Boy would that be nice to have around the Iron Range. Potholes, broken traffic lights, we have those in spades around here.
The MN State Fair and MPR apps are also ones I plan on using in the future. The MPR Classical station as well as the normal one does not come in to well in the Gilbert area so this would be great to listen on my phone.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
16. Audio
I like this SoundCloud one the most, mainly because I have found sound clips on it before. So I was already familiar with the website, but not the app. I think this would be a great idea for a program. Get patrons to come in and make their own radio programs complete with voice overs, hand created sound effects, etc.
Granted this would take several hours to complete something, and probably more realistically several programs to get something into the final stages. However, it would be a pretty rewarding.
Or you could even record yourself reading a book for story time. I remember that when I was a kid I would dial into the one that the International Falls library did. Or even read a book, and send it to your grandkids who live on the other side of the country. The wonders of the spoken word!
Granted this would take several hours to complete something, and probably more realistically several programs to get something into the final stages. However, it would be a pretty rewarding.
Or you could even record yourself reading a book for story time. I remember that when I was a kid I would dial into the one that the International Falls library did. Or even read a book, and send it to your grandkids who live on the other side of the country. The wonders of the spoken word!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
5, 10, 15 Badges
Whoops! I got so carried away with doing all of the Things that I did not notice the badges at the start. Here they are for up to 15:
Sunday, February 16, 2014
15. Infographics
I looked at Infographics Hub for this fifteenth Thing. I really like how you can search for them. There are probably millions of them out there, but this lets you search by category so that is good too. I like this infographic I found. I'm sure most of can relate to how much email we all get. I only have a few minutes each day to look at my Inbox, so I'm glad that I don't get very much email anymore. A simple program but nice to use nonetheless.
Since I did not really have much to say about Infographics Hub, i Visual Info Touch was one I wanted to try as it appeared to be a broken program according to our Thing information. iVi Touch Free was the one I found so I think the developers may have went back and retooled it so that it would actually work. This latest version opened fine and I was able to mess around with it for a bit. It seemed pretty slow to respond to commands, but at least users can open it and use it now for the most part.
I have a couple infographics up in the bookmobile, but we don't have a lot of space to display long or wide items like these. One day I might start taping some up on the interior roof in the back and see how many patrons I can get to notice them.
I have a couple infographics up in the bookmobile, but we don't have a lot of space to display long or wide items like these. One day I might start taping some up on the interior roof in the back and see how many patrons I can get to notice them.
14. Videos
I picked the Vine program for this Thing, as it was yet another program I had heard about but had never tried before. I like how it only gives you 6 seconds of time for your video. Challenging yet rewarding at the same time. What a great idea for libraries.
Give a short spiel about new materials every week. This week we have some new romances, the new Tom Clancy, the newest Sports Illustrated magazine with Olympic coverage, etc. I also like the idea of introducing patrons to the staff so they are viewed as being more approachable. Just a quick video for all staff if you are in a smaller library. If you have a large amount of staff on board, then you could take a video for each department. Another great idea I found on one of the links is highlighting programs or events that just took place. This would be good to show off what fun patrons were having in the hopes that you could entice new patrons to come to the next program. This would probably help the most with kids and teens, as they always seem to be the most challenging to get to come into the library.
With this one we could give a tour of the entire bookmobile, inside and out, and be well within our 6 second time limit!
Give a short spiel about new materials every week. This week we have some new romances, the new Tom Clancy, the newest Sports Illustrated magazine with Olympic coverage, etc. I also like the idea of introducing patrons to the staff so they are viewed as being more approachable. Just a quick video for all staff if you are in a smaller library. If you have a large amount of staff on board, then you could take a video for each department. Another great idea I found on one of the links is highlighting programs or events that just took place. This would be good to show off what fun patrons were having in the hopes that you could entice new patrons to come to the next program. This would probably help the most with kids and teens, as they always seem to be the most challenging to get to come into the library.
With this one we could give a tour of the entire bookmobile, inside and out, and be well within our 6 second time limit!
13. Presentations
I worked with Deck Slideshow Presentations for this project. It is a nice little program but I guess when doing any sort of presentation I would like to have more control over it and use either Excel itself or something similar.
You basically give it just a small amount of info and it will write a bare bones slideshow for you. Giving it more information will create a more detailed slideshow. There are themes as well but not very many. Apparently the paid version of the app includes more. While this seems like a cop out I guess I need to realize they are out to make money just as anyone of us would be if we put time and energy into making an app.
You can also save and export your file to work on later. But this brings me to sort of an off topic rant. How come a floppy disc is STILL the icon used to save your work? I know what they are since I grew up using them as a kid. But kids today must wonder just what the heck that icon is for.
You basically give it just a small amount of info and it will write a bare bones slideshow for you. Giving it more information will create a more detailed slideshow. There are themes as well but not very many. Apparently the paid version of the app includes more. While this seems like a cop out I guess I need to realize they are out to make money just as anyone of us would be if we put time and energy into making an app.
You can also save and export your file to work on later. But this brings me to sort of an off topic rant. How come a floppy disc is STILL the icon used to save your work? I know what they are since I grew up using them as a kid. But kids today must wonder just what the heck that icon is for.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
12. Books, Books, & More Books
I picked the Audiobooks app for this Thing. Very interesting idea. I am not one for audiobooks, but I might be now after it is so easy to use on your phone. Even has a "Netflix" feature, as if you exit the program and want to come back to it later it will pick up right where you left off. No having to write down whatever minutes and seconds you were at for later. Streaming is how it is done for the free version, but if you want to download them you can pay for a little better version of the app. I had no problems with my streaming connection, but this could vary depending if you are in a remote area or not.
This is another problem the bookmobile faces. 99% of our stops we have good, quality connections to a 3G signal. For those few we don't we would need a work around to be able to run any sort of circulation program.
The Free Books app I just looked at very briefly. This would be great to show patrons on the bookmobile some of the "classics" that are available to view. From time to time we do get patrons asking if we have a classic section, but due to the small size of the truck we typically only carry books published in the last few years. While it is sad that we aren't able to carry more things, we primarily circulate newer and popular items. You must know your clientele.
This is another problem the bookmobile faces. 99% of our stops we have good, quality connections to a 3G signal. For those few we don't we would need a work around to be able to run any sort of circulation program.
The Free Books app I just looked at very briefly. This would be great to show patrons on the bookmobile some of the "classics" that are available to view. From time to time we do get patrons asking if we have a classic section, but due to the small size of the truck we typically only carry books published in the last few years. While it is sad that we aren't able to carry more things, we primarily circulate newer and popular items. You must know your clientele.
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