Thursday, January 30, 2014

Thing 8: Social Media Management Tools


Well, my husband is addicted to Twitter, especially to Wild hockey and headline news. Watching him sit and scroll through Twitter for hours at a time made me not want to even look at the app. On the other hand, I just couldn't dismiss something that has allowed dissidents demonstrating for freedom connect. So, I set up Twitter.

I tried to find people to follow and came up with a couple of authors. But I would be able to get a lot more information from an author's web site.

I am sorry to say that having other people feed me their spontaneous thoughts doesn't interest me. I want to focus my inquiries to save time, just like I use an advanced search in ELM so I don't get more than ten or so results.

So, Twitter is not for me.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Thing 7: Content Saving & Sharing


Pinterest and I became acquainted with the help of a couple of high school girls. Some younger friends had shown me their boards, which looked very cool. So I sat down on my own to figure it out. Did not work! I have most often been able to just play and figure out programs. I was embarrassed, so gave up.

One night when I was visiting the girls' family, they were showing their mom their Pinterest pages. I asked a couple of questions and they promptly sat me down for a "flashbulb" lesson. I got the basics and there has been no going back.

Right now, I am setting up a board for my next family trip to Germany. And away we go....

I can see this used to promote books and/or authors, link to activities, make a series of activity links on a topic such as The Flapper Era or Romantic Poetry or Ibsen's Dramas. We are visual learners and Pinterest would be a new way to grab the interest of students.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Thing 6: Creating & Editing Docs


I tried both CloudOn and Quickoffice. The reviews for Quickoffice were dreadful. Google bought it and gutted it, according to most of the reviewers.

First I checked out the presentation piece in CloudOn. It was slow, had minimal help, and just seemed too hard to use. What was particularly annoying was that the program wanted you to upgrade and pay monthly or yearly fees to use almost any but the most basic features.

In Quickoffice, I was looking for a way to take the minutes for an organization I belong to. It was simple and looked just like Word. It responded quickly and gave me all the options I needed. I still don't like typing on the iPad keyboard, but when taking minutes I just get down the essentials and finish them at home on my iMac.

I have been using Textedit to take the minutes on my husband's laptop. This did not work well, but was, I thought, my only option. The iPad hopefully will work better and be easier to take to my meetings.

If your school does not invest in Word, Quickoffice might be enough for notes. I would not want to write an essay or composition using the one-finger keyboard. I didn't check to see if you can use the microphone instead of typing. That would be cool.

Thing 5: Notetaking


I was sure that Remember the Milk would be just the thing for me. I make lists for everything and carry them around, hand them out to others, circle urgent tasks, check off completed ones, and usually have four or five going at once. I also misplace them and lose them.

I downloaded the app on my iPhone, iPad, and iPad mini, added tasks and even a grocery list. So easy!

Then I went to the web site to see why the iPhone showed a syncing bar that wasn't moving. The free version only syncs once in 24 hours and on the forum there seemed to be quite a few problems with syncing. I decided to wait until tomorrow to see if this will really happen, because if it doesn't, the app won't help me much. It will be like any of my misplaced or lost lists.

Then I learned about Smart Lists, which have to be created on the web version of the program. Before making Smart Lists out of the long weekly or daily list of tasks, you will want to assign labels, priorities, tags and other types of definition to each task.

So on my Personal list, I assigned tags for house, project, call, etc. On my Work list, I used the titles of the different activities I am involved in. In the advanced search, I chose the list and tag, then saved the list created by the search. Hopefully these will show up in the apps on my devices tomorrow. 

Simple became a lot more complicated, but may be worth it in the long run. Or not.

If I was still in the library, this would be more valuable to keep track of multiple projects and collaborations with staff members, plus staff development, and community activities. If you are a list maker, beware. This could become a compulsion. Making lists and more deliciously, checking things off.

Thing 4: Keeping Up


I updated my Flipboard and Tumblr accounts, reducing the number of blogs and news feeds I follow. These resources are interesting, but my priorities for learning change often and Pinterest is an easier way to visually organize information I want at hand. It is good to try different apps but I am always ready to eliminate those that no longer make my life easier.

I tried to find focused sites and blogs to choose, but the resources I found were much too broad with too much information. They are an almost irresistible temptation to spend the day just browsing around. Not what I want.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Thing 3: Utilities


Not a lot new here. I should download the StandApp, but I know that if I were in the middle of something, I would just ignore it.

On the other hand, using Google Search/Goggles to take a picture and then use it to search looks like it might help in comparison shopping. I just took a picture of Neuschwanstein Castle on the front of a guidebook and the app told me it was the guidebook and gave me prices through several different venues.

I tried it with pictures from Barcelona, but it returned no information, even though the pictures were of significant buildings, such as Sagrada Familia.



Thing 2: Mobile Device Tips


Since I have an iPhone, iPad, and iPad mini, I was very interested in learning more about organizing them. So far, I have merely set up what I needed on each (used for different purposes) and just ignored the rest. Today, I decided that was not good enough. So it took me quite a while to go through all the relevant tutorials.

On my iPhone 4s (I always inherit my husband's hand-me-downs), I can now take a panorama picture. My husband has been able to do this for a while, but then he is the photographer in the family. Also, I don't ask for his help very often because he can do everything well and it makes me crazy.

I can also add a picture into an email rather than attaching it to a message. Maybe this isn't worth it, but knowing two ways to do something is always better than one, IMO.

It seems that it is difficult to navigate to some sites - like 23 Mobile Things. So....now the site of that and my blog are on the home screen of my iPad and iPad mini. Instead of typing in the name in Google search, then choosing the correct result, and then seeing the site, now I click on the icon. Saving time and effort is exciting.

Finally, I have a handle on iCloud, primarily because I now have my own account rather than my husband's. His was set up in both the iPhone when he passed it on and the iPad that he set up because I was too busy. It didn't seem important to change, but then all of the devices started constantly asking me to sign in with his iCloud password. Of course, I didn't know what it was and neither did he! Today I spent about an hour to find out how to delete his account and set up my own. It feels like my devices have been scrubbed and polished. What a joy.

Hope I don't get quite so involved in all of the 21 Things left. That's what happened on the previous 23's and I never did finish.

I find that when I want to look at email, do a search, check the weather, etc., I grab the mini. The screen on the phone is to small, the iPad is heavy to hold on my lap. If I need to do  extensive typing, I go to the laptop for a keyboard. But the mini is my go-to.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Thing 1: Blogging & Registering

I didn't finish 23 Things on a Stick or 23 More Things because, I told myself, I was working full time. Now I am retired. Maybe I can do it this time.