Thing #23: Journey's End

Well it took a last-minute holiday cram session, but I made it through to the last Thing. It was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon - and other hours in months past. The scope of choices vastly broadened my familiarity with some of the most popular apps out there. I'm not sure I want to embrace Twitter or Instagram or Soundcloud to the degree others have. My life is more opaque and I am fine with that. But knowing what they do and look like is worthwhile.

I mentioned the 23 Things to my colleagues - especially thinking of my manager, a newcomer to smart phone connectivity. I'm not aware that any of them gave them a try. As a private special library we may not have many opportunities to integrate apps into our workflow. But I appreciate having the chance to learn myself. I would do it again.

Thing #22: Discovering Apps

As an Android user, I usually pick up ideas for apps from my feed reading and head for Google Play. Of course, there are thousands of choices displayed, with many of dubious quality even when payment is required. I thought Quixey might be a nice complement, but I found it to be too limited in scope. Its browse feature is very skimpy; it took two filters to see Facebook among the choices for social media apps. I might go back to the web site again but didn't waste time downloading the app. I think I will stick with recommendations and occasional peeks at the popularity rankings in Play.

Thing #21: Free-for-All

I have two apps that I use daily on my mobile devices and my desktop, and don't know how I got along

without them: Feedly and Evernote. They are nowhere to be seen in the top downloads on Google Play, but I could not manage my personal or professional data bits without them. I keep current with Feedly and save the best in Evernote. Today I knew I had stored the recipe for chickpea dal in my recipe notebook, and took my tablet/cookbook into the kitchen. They make it too easy to keep too much data, but also help find it when needed.

Thing #20: Games

Since I already spend too much time playing Solitaire and Mahjongg, I was reluctant to add another addiction to the list. Several of my FB friends seem to do nothing but play games but I'm not retired yet, with lots of time for such frivolity. But I decided to surrender to a top pick: Candy Crush Saga. Can over 5 million 5-star reviews be wrong? Did quite well for the first round, until my lives were gone - now I know what jellies are about!

Thing #19: Hobbies

Genealogy is my primary hobby, and I already have the best apps on my phone and tablet. I have heard a lot about Spotify: my 30-something son and 20-something niece are both devotees. I do love listening to many genres of music, but didn't think I needed yet another way to do so. I've got iTunes, Pandora, Play Music, Amazon, MPR, TuneIn. I'm into my own mixes more than following the lists of others.

Spotify appears to be a pretty comprehensive suite: songs and albums of all sorts, related artist suggestions, tour schedules, and bios. I searched out a few of my obscure favorites and was pleased to find them represented. Exploring Spotify will be a great time gobbler, I can tell already.

Thing #18: Education

I'll being heading to San Antonio next week for a librarians' convention, so I opted for the DuoLingo language instruction app. It's simple but useful lessons introduced me to some beginner's Spanish. It would probably be useful to also look for a translation app if I get serious about adding a language. I may try the French lessons - it has been 40 years since I took my last formal class in that.

Thing #17: Connecting with Community

Rather than choose from the selected apps, I searched for anything Minnesota in the Play App Store. Just for something completely different, I installed the Minnesota Wildflowers Lite version, which profiles a couple dozen common flowers seen in the Gopher State. Each item has a nice photo, with basics such as Latin name, habitat, and characteristics of the flower, leaves, and stem. You can save your own notes and create lists. The paid version has hundreds of flowers. This is a fun little app, and I found out about Butter & Eggs and Pipsissewa.

Thing #16: Audio

IPadio is a slick little app for recording short audio snippets. It is intuitive and straightforward. I tried only the tablet recording option rather than the phone, but it worked quite well. My sample is a favorite poem by e.e. cummings.

Obit for an App

Springpad will be no more as of June 25, 2014.  They thoughtfully provided a migration plan for Evernote users, so I am already converted. I liked this app the most of those I've learned about through the 23 Things, so I am sorry to see it go. I wasn't as attached to it as I was to Google Reader, but it is still sad to see good apps go away when there are so many lousy ones in the marketplace.

Thing #15: Infographics

While I love the images that Infographics Hub collects and categorizes, the app itself is disappointing. I was not able to set up a personal login for saving items I found, and attempts at both searching and sharing via email crashed it. Luckily the sources are usually on the images, so this app can still function as a locator. But then so can Google Images. I liked this one on What Can Humans Learn from Animals.

Thing #14: Video

I am not much into sharing pictures and video. I have Facebook friends who capture so much of their lives that one feels like they've moved in with them. I'm sure their children will cherish those movies and pix someday but right now I'm a bit of a Luddite in that regard. Super 8 reels probably elicited the same reaction a generation back.

My first try at video was created with Magisto, an Editor's Pick on Google Play Store. The star is Duncan Cat, whose tuxedo lent an air of elegance to the film despite his low-key portrayal. I couldn't get an easy connection to my still photos or my own music so this first try is not quite what I wanted.  It felt like the app had all the control of the finished product and I wasn't really directing it. Maybe that's all one needs for a quick post on a social media destination. I liked it enough to pay $.99 to download it from the free app.

Thing #13: Presentation

Deck is an interesting application for quick and simple slideshows rather than a sophisticated presentation. I could especially see its creative and streamlined aspects applied to PechaKucha, the compact presentation style that limits one to six slides and six and a half minutes. The template themes are pretty wacky, and only a few are free, but the effects are nice. I'll have to think awhile to see applications to our special library setting.

Thing #12: Books, Books, & More Books

I had never heard of Free Books until this Thing. Of course, Project Gutenberg is well know to most librarians if one is looking for the classics. I've also found a fair number of such works free on Kindle. But this was a quick way to get access to the words of top authors and beloved stories.

I am not impressed by the formatting of the books themselves; in the test books I downloaded there are paragraph breaks and not much else. These are the TXT file versions of Western lit, not prettified or enhanced. They have skimmed the universe of out-of-copyright titles for the best known, even if most are of the dead white men vintage. Even the Gutenberg HTML version of The Velveteen Rabbit includes the original artwork, while Free Books does not.

As with all my other info apps, I am doubled or tripled up when it comes to book apps. I have Kindle, Nook, and Google Play Books on my tablet, along with the Overdrive reader. I prefer not to read books on my phone.

Thing #11: Library & Reference

While I am familiar with and thankful for the resources provided through ELM, I have not used it much through the elm4you.org web site. My usual point of access is Hennepin County Library's web site, where the full range of databases is available. Now I will remember that a lot of things are easily available to me on the go through their mobile page. I've created a shortcut to it on my tablet, reinforcing a learning from Thing #2.

I have use the HCL app on my phone and tablet as long as I have had the devices. Being able to see the status of my account (requests, books checked out) is great. I've loaded and looked at Overdrive too, but there are so many books and so little time...

Thing #10: Sharing Photos

Since Facebook is my primary social network, I have only shared photos there. And since FB keeps one's photos forever, I have posted very few. So I have also avoided using Flickr, Instagram, etc. up to now. I have friends on FB who use Instagram heavily though, so I loaded the app and started following them. I don't do selfies or many other phtos of myself but I do have many pix of my cats...

Thing #9: Taking & Editing Photos

I have wanted a simple app for working with images and Photo Editor does a nice job with the basics. One of my scrapbooking buddies uses a collage app to cluster photos for use on her scrapbook pages. Photo Editor doesn't offer that functionality so I searched Google Play and found Photo Grid - Collage Maker. It duplicates Photo Editor in many ways, but also offers lots of additional features. I look forward to experimenting with both apps with scrapping in mind.

Thing #8 Social Media Management Tools

While I am connected to several social media networks, the only one I use regularly is Facebook. Therefore most of these tools are not of much interest to me. I decided to install Hoot Suite to handle my underused Twitter account. It is certainly straightforward - more so than using the native app. Maybe it will stimulate me to tweet more.

Thing #7: Content Saving & Sharing

I signed up for Pinterest quite a while ago, but, like Twitter, I have not yet found a practical application for it in my daily life. I already save content in too many places - Google Drive, Evernote, Pocket, Dropbox, and now Springpad. Publicly broadcasting my likes and personal interests via pinning seems too open-ended. Although I am an info addict, I am not inclined to share everything I find with either friends or strangers.

I've also never used Bitly before, and for the most part haven't felt a need. Even in the professional sphere I prefer to keep full URLs where possible. Signing up for it seems like just another place to leave a trail.

Thing #6: Creating and Editing Docs

My tablet came loaded with Polaris Office, which similarly handles MS Office documents. I installed Quickoffice and liked the ease of interaction with Google Drive. Since I do not generate many Office documents outside of work, either tool would be serviceable. I would not enjoy using them on a phone, however.

Thing #5: Notetaking

I wasn't sure about loading up yet another notepad-type app. I already use Evernote, and store lots of info flotsam on both Google Drive and Dropbox. But Springpad is pretty terrific, both on the tablet and the Web. I liked the interface, the collaboration with other apps and especially the templates. Within minutes I had set up notebooks for quick thoughts, movies, books, recipes, tasks, and miscellany captured in my net rambles. Synching was immediate, and the potential of public/shared notebooks is intriguing. This is definitely a keeper.

Update: Springpad has added quite a few new templates, some branded by personalties in a particular field. I am going to try the family history template for my genealogy hobby.

Thing #4.1: Personal Magazines

My smart phone came preloaded with Flipboard, but I've never really warmed up to the magazine-style news apps. My tablet has Google Currents and I've also looked at Zinio and Next Issue. Some are different in that they offer "subscriptions" to actual print-first mags to make them readable on your tab or mobile device. My feed reader Feedly has a display mode that is 'zine-like enough to satisfy me for the most part. I gave Zite a quick spin on my phone and it was very easy to set up. This weekend I will add it to my tablet and experiment further.

Thing #4: Keeping Up

Almost exactly five years ago I posted about RSS feeds on my blog for the original 23 Things on a Stick. Do they have a help group for those of us who want to know too much? Let's see, twelve steps for the RSS-addicted, 2014 edition...

My name is Barb and I am an information addict. I have been using RSS feed reading as a current awareness tool for almost nine years now, in my professional and personal life. My companions on the journey have been Bloglines, Google Reader, and now Feedly.

1. I admit I am powerless over information overload, and keeping up with professional reading had become unmanageable.
2. I have come to believe that the power of Internet tools can restore one to sanity.
3. I made a conscious decision to turn current awareness over to the care of RSS, as I understood it.
4. I made a search of available blogs and news sites and fearlessly added them to my feed list.
5. I entrusted to my reader the exact nature of my interests and info gathering needs.
6. I was entirely ready to have RSS help to fulfill these needs safely (no spam) and in less time than tapping every site individually on a regular basis.
7. I humbly remove feeds that do not provide useful content.
8. I created folders for grouping like feeds, and became willing to make a place to organize them all.
9. I make direct visits to actual blogs and news sites whenever necessary, adding to their page hits and incrementing their revenue stream.
10. I continue to take personal inventory, adding and weeding on a regular basis.
11. I have sought with research and practice to improve my understanding of information and its power in the world at large.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, I have tried to carry this message to others by showing them how to set up a feed reader, writing about RSS in our professional association newsletter, and giving a presentation on it at a meeting.

Subscribing to RSS feeds has transformed the way I keep current with developments in information work, and has supercharged my knowledge of politics and world events. I do it in moderation, with about 150 feeds covering books and libraries, food and fun, popular culture, politics, news, technology, hobbies and - of course - LOL Cats. Last year the opportunities for addictive behavior increased with my new smart phone and bigger data package. Now I can do Feedly on my bus commute....

While I know I can never know it all, using RSS saves me time and anxiety in the quest. It opens up new areas of knowledge and preserves my reputation among friends as the "Trivia Queen."

Thing #3: Utilities

I do not use my tablet at work and often turn off my phone there. A couple of the suggested apps had poor reviews, so I gave one called Peel a try. It came with my phone and I added it to my tablet. It purports to be a one stop controller for your TV, CD-player and other entertainment devices. So far I am disappointed with its interaction with my devices. It does not display all my HD channel choices and turns the TV off unexpectedly. I do like the reminders, and viewing schedule. I think I will check into Comcast's own app as a comparison tool. Goggles sounds interesting too.

Thing #2: Device Tips

I've explored my Samsung phone and tablet pretty well in the past, but I did learn a few new tricks today. Getting to Google search with one keystroke is helpful, and I've added some new widgets for quick access too. My phone has a newer version of Android so it has additional functionality that the tablet does not. I am just as interested in removing apps from my devices as I am in adding them. Both came loaded with a ton of Samsung and AT&T apps that cannot be uninstalled. I don't want to get into rooting the devices, so I guess I'm stuck with unused baggage for now.

Blogging: 23 Mobile Things #1

Five years ago the Minnesota library community offered a self-paced tutorial series called "23 Things on a Stick." It provided an opportunity for information professionals to learn about what were then new technologies: blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging, and social networks. I set up a blog with intent to participate, but never followed through on the full complement of lessons. Well, Things TNG is back: the next generation is mobile applications. Blogging here will be part of the process, and I hope to make it through the gauntlet this time. Part of my job responsibility is to at least be aware of technology developments that might impact law practice and law libraries. This seems like a fun and instructive ways to get that exposure to trends and ideas. Won't you join me? See more details at 23 Mobile Things.