THING 23!!

Hey, I made it!  This last thing is sort of meta: just evaluating the 23 Mobile Things MN project itself. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this project.  I think I went into this project thinking that most librarians are either not tech savvy, or like to jump on every tech bandwagon that comes along to try and prove that they are tech savvy.  Most of the Things in this project, however, seemed to be normal, useful, and inspiring.

The wonderful part about this project is that it gets you thinking.  Not only are you exploring fun video-making apps for you to send to your friends in your spare time, you're also discovering ways to better serve your patrons.  Some Things inspired me to look farther than the Thing required--like exploring the differences between a mobile site and app when looking at Thing 11. 

I particularly enjoyed the  movie making and presentation apps and hope to utilize those in the future.

This project inspired me, and I learned a lot from it.  I'm really glad I participated, and can't wait to see what the next 23 MN Things activity will be!

Thing 15: Audio

For my LAST Thing, I explored the audio app AudioBoo!  The app allows you to record and share clips as long as three minutes.  It's sort of the social media of the audio world.   Just by browsing through some "boos" as the clips are called, it seems like a lot of radio shows take advantage of this app.  I could see libraries doing little segments on special collections or events going on in the library, but I think in general visual displays are better.  I can't really see library patrons sitting down and listening to audio clips, but that's just me.

Another thought: Could this app help the visually impaired community?  It would be interesting to see the implementation of audio apps for the blind, or for those whose eyesight might not be the strongest.

Thing 15: Infographics

I was disappointed to find out that there were no infographic creator apps for Android, as I was really looking forward to playing with some of those tools.  But, truth be told, if I were to create an infographic, it probably wouldn't be on my phone--it would be too much of a hassle.  I would probably use websites like Piktochart or infogr.am.

I was doubly disappointed to find out that I could not even download Infographics Hub... am I missing something?  I couldn't find that app anywhere.

I did download an app called Energy Infographics, which stated that it would display "the latest Energy Infographics for the United States."  When I opened one in the app, I saw:

Blah!  Gross!  Okay, first of all, 2009?  That's the "latest?"  Secondly: That is a pie chart.  A boring, early 2000's pie chart.  That's not an infographic.

I think for now, since I don't own a tablet, I'll do any infographic designing on my desktop computer.  I think solid infographic apps aren't quite there, yet (at least for Android).

Thing 13: Presentations

Much of life is first impressions.  The minute one of my MLIS classmates opens up their PowerPoint from their thumb drive containing a blank white slide with WAY too many words on it, I judge them.  Don't you?  You're in for a long, boring presentation.  (The worst part is, you can't leave, because you'd lose class participation points.)

Learning how to make a snappy presentation that looks like it took a lot of effort is one of the best ways to professionally gain respect and attention.  For this Thing, I played around with Deck Slideshow Presentations.

I LOVE this app.  I think I found another keeper!  I might even try this out when I give a presentation next semester.

What you do: Plug in the text (no longer than a Tweet) or images in the order you want them displayed.  Then, pick a theme.

What the app does: Makes it look REALLY cool!  It's like Prezi without the headache!  PowerPoint with more pizzaz!

 

I made a tiny presentation and applied a couple different themes to it.  Very.  Cool.  I think many of the themes cost money because most of mine are locked. 

I don't think this app will completely revolutionize presentations.  Each slide can have no more text than a Tweet, so you can't use lengthy quotes or do a book report in this app.  But!  This app would be great for a speech companion, an intro to a speaker, or an informal gathering.  There are tons of library-world uses for this app.

(Have you noticed that I appear to gravitate toward apps that do the design work for me?  See also Thing 14.  Hah!)

Thing 14: Movie Making

For Thing 14, I decided to explore the app Magisto. The app is very slick and easy to use.  It reminds me a lot of Instagram.

First, you go into your photos and videos and select which ones you want to include in your movie.  You can choose between 5-10 in the free version of this app.

Next you get to choose the "Editing Style," which basically tells Magisto what kind of feels you want to add to the video. 

After that, you get to add Hipster Background Music, and then you get to make your movie!  I uploaded 2 at once using WiFi, and it took about 20 minutes to make the movies.  Kind of slow, but the results are pretty cool.

Below is the movie.  Not perfect, but not bad for almost zero effort involved!  I think I'll be keeping this app.

Just so you know, the clips are from a day about a month ago when my friend Carol and I decided to meet halfway between Madison and Minneapolis for lunch.  Hope you enjoy!

Thing 22: Discovering More Apps

For this Thing, I downloaded Android's Droid of the Day app, which is a great tool for app discovery.  While there is one app featured daily, you can scroll through tons of apps that will inspire and impress.

I was mostly surprised with the variety of apps--things I would never think of.  There's an app where you can write out a math equation in your handwriting and it will know what math you want to do, an app that can use your location to point out constellations (and also be somehow plugged in to physical telescopes), apps for kids, interior design, and so much more!  Sorry I didn't get the names of any of these--I was scrolling too quickly. 

A super fascinating app that I'm going to play around with is called Wheresmytime.  It uses your GPS location  to create a map of where you spend the majority of your time.  I think using this app for long periods of time--months, maybe--could be really fascinating.  I mean, over the course of a week it would show a big circle around home and a big circle around work.  Boring.  But over time, it could show you things like which friends you visit the most, or where your favorite places to go are.  Maybe it could inspire some deeper exploration of parts of the city you haven't visited before.

Thing 21: Free for all

For this Thing, we're supposed to talk about the app that we can't live without that hasn't already been covered by one of the other Things.  The only one that comes to mind is the Mint banking app.  I won't be including screenshots on this post, since all of my screenshots would reveal something about my spending habits, but here's what Mint is, in a nutshell.

Mint connects to your bank account and categorizes your spending.  It presents your spending habits in nice graphs, and let's you know if you're spending too much in one category. It starts to become "smart" as time goes on and automatically categorizes payments it recognizes (i.e. purchases from Target go in the "food" category of the budget.)

For those who love budgets and numbers, or need some help tracking their finances, this is the app for you!

Thing 17: Connecting to Community

This Thing is all about Minnesota apps.  I didn't have much luck with this Thing, to be honest.  First I tried out an app called "MN WF Lite," which was supposedly some sort of Wildflower Identification app.  Basically the "Lite" meant, "Shows you a dictionary of 20 flowers unless you decide to pay the $4.99."  No thanks!

The next app I tried was the Explore MN app.  I was actually pretty excited for this app, since I love discovering new places and things to do.  This app also disappointed, as you can see from the low ratings and negative reviews.  The app basically doesn't work.  I couldn't get past this screen, even after waiting several minutes:

The last app I tried was quaint, but useful.  It was called the "Best of Superior Hiking Trail."  It is really simple--just showing maps, distances, locations, and points of interest on the 11 hikes on the North Shore.  It would be a handy little app to have on a camping trip "up north" though!

This app would be great to include in any sort of summer camping/Minnesota outdoor display in the library.

Thing 12: Books!

A Thing all about books on a librarian blog?  Naturally.

For this Thing I chose to download and explore the Free Books app.  A simple premise: Over 23,000 classics out of copyright and freely available for download.  I loved the interface and found it very visually appealing. 

 I liked that you could download the book and then access it whenever you want to, data free. 

On a personal level, I don't think I'll really be reading books off of my phone any time soon, unless I've somehow ended up at an airport without my current read.  Screens are too shiny, and ...well, I guess I'm an old lady at heart. 

Professionally, though, I think librarians should encourage app use for book access.  This is a great option for students who need a classic novel for their literature class, but all of the copies are checked out.  For e-book patrons who love books on demand without paying for them, this is another great solution (especially for iPad users).  Book apps would make a great library display: nothing catches the eye like the words "free" and "instant!"

Thing 11: Down the rabbit hole

Thing 11 is the library thing: checking out apps for your local library.  I learned quite a bit on my journey with this thing, because through it I learned a lot about the differences between having an app and having a mobile site.

U of M mobile site

I began this thing by looking for a University of Minnesota Libraries app.  I couldn't find one, so I asked a couple librarians if they had heard if one existed.  One librarian told me that she went to a presentation on the new library mobile site, which she understood to be instead of an app. 

This led me to wonder and do some research on what the difference is between a business choosing to build a mobile site, and a business using an app.  I found this great article, which discusses some of the benefits of each mobile presence.  It really depends on what kind of business you have, but the article showed that having a mobile website seems better than having an app because: 

• They are instantly available - no need to download anything
• They're compatible across all types of devices.
• The can be updated instantly
• They can be found easily
• They are less expensive.

And many, many more reasons.  But it's good and important to realize that once you have a mobile website, the process of making an app becomes a lot easier.  So it seems like a mobile website is a great place to start for many libraries.

I downloaded HCL's app and compared it to their mobile site, and, lo and behold--they're the same!  Whether you open the site or app, you'll see this:

I think it is important for libraries to have a mobile presence and to consider their user's needs when on their mobile devices.  For example, you shouldn't just take your regular website and slap it into a mobile app.  Think of the things users are most likely looking for when on their phone: Is the library open right now?  Can I renew my book real quick?  Did that new book come in yet?

I think both the U of M and HCL's mobile sites do a great job of having a clean-cut user interface that meets user needs. 

Summer Favorites: Thing 19

Thing 19 is devoted to our hobbies and finding helpful apps to compliment them.  For this Thing, I'll talk about 1 successful and 1 unsuccessful app installation.

First, the not-so-successful: MyGarden.

I installed this app because gardening is my summer passion.  In the summer, everything stops--if I could quit work I would probably spend all day weeding.  I was really exited for this app, mainly because one of the features was having help identifying plants in our garden.  We get all kinds of things--there's currently two sunflowers growing up between our rows of unions, and climbing peas in the basil patch.  Most weeds we, of course, get rid of, but I've learned from a few friends that many are good tossed in a salad, like Doc or Lamb's Quarters.  I would love to be able to have gardeners around the world help me identify plants.

However, when I've tried to view some of the other plants people have posted and want help with, all I see is this: 

I tried exploring some of the other features of the app, but was also disappointed.  I added all of the vegetables I'm currently growing to my virtual plants list in the app, and then clicked on "Tasks."  The app simply told me when I should be sowing or harvesting each plant.  I could check off the tasks once they were completed.

All in all, I just didn't find this app that helpful.  Seed packets can tell you when you should plant and harvest each plant you're growing, and the plant identification area didn't work. 

Now let's talk about the hobby app I like: Vivino!  I use this app every time I go into a wine store.  It's super cool -- you can just take a picture of the wine labels and the app will bring up ratings and reviews.  You can store and rate your own wines--perfect for me, since I can never remember if I like Pinot Grigio or Riesling better.

Thing 20 : Games

I've been jumping around throughout the Things this week, finishing up some that are a little bit easier to try and finish up by June 15 (oh gosh that's less than 2 weeks away).

For this Thing, we were basically supposed to test out some popular gaming apps (the Thing writer stated that this was because studies have shown that "gaming is good for you."  Hm...)

I used to play Candy Crush until I got stuck on a level and deleted the app in a fit of rage.

Temple Run is also an oldie but a goodie, but gets a little boring for me after a while.

To finish up this Thing, I'll share my favorite gaming app, called "My Boy Free."  This is a Game Boy emulator for your phone.  Basically: It allows me to play old school Game Boy games on my phone for free.  That means Pokemon.

I am a Pokemon Master! ....I better stop before I dissuade any more people from networking with/hiring me.

I. LOVE. DUOLINGO.

(This is technically Thing 18 but we are allowed to not go in order.)

You guys.  I am SO HOOKED on an app called Duolingo.  I've been playing around with it for about 2 weeks now.  Nathan and I are both obsessed and competing with each other.  What does this app do?

It teaches us Spanish.

Sounds boring, right?  WRONG.

Duolingo is like the Rosetta Stone of the mobile world.  Rosetta Stone is this computer software you can buy for a million dollars that effectively teaches you whatever language you want to learn.  It's expensive because it works.  Duolingo works, too, and is free. 

You can use this app on your phone, tablet, or computer to learn up to five languages, so far: Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese.  There are also several other languages currently in the works.

Duolingo teaches you languages through games--matching, fill-in-the-blank, translation work, and speaking (using your phone's microphone--these exercises are optional.)

 

Once you've mastered a certain skill set it will turn gold and shiny--but if you don't practice those words for a while (or if you struggled with many of the words prior to mastery) the game will suggest strengthening some of the words you struggled with to boost your memory.

I've learned so much in the past couple weeks, even though a lot of the basic stuff is review for me.  I feel like I've solidified a lot of my previous Spanish knowledge, so this app is good for all levels.  If you don't want to start from the beginning like I did, you can take shortcuts to get to the level you want to be at.

Bottom line: INSTALL THIS APP.