For Thing 17 - Connecting to Community, I chose to look at the Explore MN app. I chose this app because I love exploring Minnesota and having this app will give me all the up-to-date information about the things going on in our lovely state. This app is much better than ordering all the paper brochures plus you can create a list of places to visit.
Personally I would use this to make lists of places that I want to visit, find festivals that are going on in the different areas and new places to take photos. This would also be helpful to me when I have out of town guest come to visit, because I know I have lived here all my life but there are many things that I still have yet to experience or things that I don't even know about that would be fun to see.
Professionally this would be helpful to guide people to who are in the library looking for travel information about Minnesota. This would be great to point out to patrons because then they don't have to carry around the bulky travel books and all the information is current. This would be great in a school library because it would help students who are doing a report on Minnesota find out about places in our state.
This app seems to be a little temperamental right now, but hopefully there is a bug fix coming soon.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Thing 16
For Thing 16 - Audio, I used the app ipadio which allows you to record unto 60 minutes and then you can add titles and images and then you can upload your finished product to many different social media accounts.
Personally I can see myself creating great creations about photo trips I took and add thoughts or feelings about the trip. I could also use it to create a historical collaboration about the places I visited. It would also be a great way to create a family album and narrate the family history.
Professionally this would be a great way to create book reviews or record how to information. This is a great way to create interesting book reviews for patrons to see/listen too or make great how to "videos" about how to use the library catalog, how to access the databases, or how to cite sources. It is great to give people visuals, but some people need that audio format to help the grasp things.
I think that this is a very helpful app and would be fun to use to create family histories or document an audio of a place you visited.
Personally I can see myself creating great creations about photo trips I took and add thoughts or feelings about the trip. I could also use it to create a historical collaboration about the places I visited. It would also be a great way to create a family album and narrate the family history.
Professionally this would be a great way to create book reviews or record how to information. This is a great way to create interesting book reviews for patrons to see/listen too or make great how to "videos" about how to use the library catalog, how to access the databases, or how to cite sources. It is great to give people visuals, but some people need that audio format to help the grasp things.
I think that this is a very helpful app and would be fun to use to create family histories or document an audio of a place you visited.
Thing 15
For Thing 15 - Infographics I chose to use the i Visual Info Touch Lite app. I have already had some experience making infographics using a web based program and it was not bad but I had only done this once. Infographics are a great way to display information without having to write a long paper but include just as much research as if you would be writing a paper. It is also a great way to display information for people to see.
Personally I could use this to create "posters" to display images or information for my wedding or about a baby being born. This would be a fun way to make those announcements and send them to people. Especially since you don't have a whole lot of space to work with on the app.
Professionally it is a great way to give directions, show statistics, show book reviews, and show other types of information. You could use it to make posters for new books and include brief information about the book and author.
While I think this is a great way to display information, this app is really limiting. You can put in shapes, text and change the background but that is about it and you can expand beyond the space of the screen. But it is very easy to use, unlike the web program that I had used before, which was slightly tricky to figure out. But recently I found a great new way which is very easy to create infographics, and that is using PowerPoint. PowerPoint is very easy to create infographics and it takes about 20-30 minutes. Someone created a slideshare presentation about how to do it and since then I have created 2 infographics and I have 3-4 others in the works.
Personally I could use this to create "posters" to display images or information for my wedding or about a baby being born. This would be a fun way to make those announcements and send them to people. Especially since you don't have a whole lot of space to work with on the app.
Professionally it is a great way to give directions, show statistics, show book reviews, and show other types of information. You could use it to make posters for new books and include brief information about the book and author.
While I think this is a great way to display information, this app is really limiting. You can put in shapes, text and change the background but that is about it and you can expand beyond the space of the screen. But it is very easy to use, unlike the web program that I had used before, which was slightly tricky to figure out. But recently I found a great new way which is very easy to create infographics, and that is using PowerPoint. PowerPoint is very easy to create infographics and it takes about 20-30 minutes. Someone created a slideshare presentation about how to do it and since then I have created 2 infographics and I have 3-4 others in the works.
Thing 14
For the Videos Thing, I had a lot of fun with the Magisto app. In this app you can put videos and photos together into a movie along with music and effects and then send it to friends and family. All you have to do is select the pictures or video clips (you get 10 in the free version), the layout, the music (they have choices or supposedly you an add your own music), then you create a title and then it makes the movie for you.
Personally I would use this to create cute, short movies of photos of friends and places I have visited that I could then share with others. I chose a bunch of photos that I had on my camera roll and I wasn't exactly happy with the way they displayed each photo. Some had important parts of the photo cut off and there was no way to change how the photo was displayed because the app created the movie. I would rather use different software to create movies for friends or family, also because you can only use 10 photos in the free version and it wouldn't allow me to use any of my songs from iTunes even though it showed that it was an option.
Professionally this would be a great way to have students or kids/teens create a book report. You could have them find 10 images that would tell the story and then you could have them showing on a screen in the library. This is a great way to show them that a book report doesn't always have to be a written paper and a great way to integrate technology into lessons.
Personally I would use this to create cute, short movies of photos of friends and places I have visited that I could then share with others. I chose a bunch of photos that I had on my camera roll and I wasn't exactly happy with the way they displayed each photo. Some had important parts of the photo cut off and there was no way to change how the photo was displayed because the app created the movie. I would rather use different software to create movies for friends or family, also because you can only use 10 photos in the free version and it wouldn't allow me to use any of my songs from iTunes even though it showed that it was an option.
Professionally this would be a great way to have students or kids/teens create a book report. You could have them find 10 images that would tell the story and then you could have them showing on a screen in the library. This is a great way to show them that a book report doesn't always have to be a written paper and a great way to integrate technology into lessons.
Thing 13
For the Presentations Thing I chose to use Educreations because it is an app that we have on our school sets of iPads and I haven't had a chance to really explore what the app can do, so this seemed like an opportune moment.
This is a great app to create presentations and share ideas with students, co-workers and use at professional conferences. You can add images, text, audio, etc. and it is like a electronic whiteboard. You can also share what you have created by emailing it, on Facebook or Twitter. This is a very easy app to use and it I can see how it would be very helpful to professionals and educators.
Professionally I could use this to create information that I could present to the students about new books, citation help, copyright and many other library topics. I can also show teachers how to use this app so that they can use it to create lessons for their students, this would be very helpful in a flipped classroom model.
Personally I could use it to create a timeline about the family history or create collection of photographs from an event and share it with people who attended. This app is harder for me to think of ways to use it personally because I can clearly see it being used more in the professional realm because there are so many other apps that allow sharing information or photographs.
This is a great app to create presentations and share ideas with students, co-workers and use at professional conferences. You can add images, text, audio, etc. and it is like a electronic whiteboard. You can also share what you have created by emailing it, on Facebook or Twitter. This is a very easy app to use and it I can see how it would be very helpful to professionals and educators.
Professionally I could use this to create information that I could present to the students about new books, citation help, copyright and many other library topics. I can also show teachers how to use this app so that they can use it to create lessons for their students, this would be very helpful in a flipped classroom model.
Personally I could use it to create a timeline about the family history or create collection of photographs from an event and share it with people who attended. This app is harder for me to think of ways to use it personally because I can clearly see it being used more in the professional realm because there are so many other apps that allow sharing information or photographs.
Thing 12
For Books, Books & more Books I chose to look at both the Free Books and Audiobooks apps. For people being able to have access to books is essential, whether it is for school, work or pleasure, reading is fundamental. Both this Free Books and Audiobooks app will make having access to books much easier.
For Free Books, there is access to over 23,000 books which are ones that are mostly in the public domain, so there are a lot of classics, and you can read the books directly from the app. This app also has access to the audiobooks and for $3.99 you can have access to the 4,727 audiobooks in the collection.
For the Audiobooks you have access to 5,533 audiobooks that you can listen to on your device, they also have premium ones that you can purchase for $.99 or there is a premium unlimited for $7.99. This is for streaming of their collection only, you can't add your own audiobooks to the collection.
Personally both of these apps are great because I can read or listen to a great collection of books for either class, work or pleasure. I will have access to these and I won't have to worry about due dates so I can finish them on my own pace. I also won't have to waste money or shelf space on books that I might read only once.
Professionally this will be helpful to many people or students, who have devices, gain access to tons of free books to read or listen too. Another great feature for the Free Books app is that you can take notes and highlight sections. This feature will be great for people who are reading the books for school work because they can leave notes about important things that they will need to know or possibly write in a paper.
For Free Books, there is access to over 23,000 books which are ones that are mostly in the public domain, so there are a lot of classics, and you can read the books directly from the app. This app also has access to the audiobooks and for $3.99 you can have access to the 4,727 audiobooks in the collection.
For the Audiobooks you have access to 5,533 audiobooks that you can listen to on your device, they also have premium ones that you can purchase for $.99 or there is a premium unlimited for $7.99. This is for streaming of their collection only, you can't add your own audiobooks to the collection.
Personally both of these apps are great because I can read or listen to a great collection of books for either class, work or pleasure. I will have access to these and I won't have to worry about due dates so I can finish them on my own pace. I also won't have to waste money or shelf space on books that I might read only once.
Professionally this will be helpful to many people or students, who have devices, gain access to tons of free books to read or listen too. Another great feature for the Free Books app is that you can take notes and highlight sections. This feature will be great for people who are reading the books for school work because they can leave notes about important things that they will need to know or possibly write in a paper.
Thing 11
For the Library & Reference Thing I chose to use the Ramsey County Library App. With more people having smartphones, tablets or other mobile devices it is important for these libraries to have a mobile app to reach all of its patrons. This makes sure that the materials they have in the library, along with any events or other important things happening are available to every patron, and not just those who walk through the library doors.
Personally I am excited to be able to easily access the library catalog, see what events are happening at my local branches, follow the library on Twitter and Facebook and even ask a librarian a question. A great feature is you can scan a barcode of a book and see if the library owns that book, this feature will be great if you are at a book store and are not sure if the book you are looking at is something you would enjoy and you want to see if the library owns the book so you can borrow it instead of purchasing it and finding out you don't like the book. This app is also easier to have access to the library catalog and your own library account that using the website to access this information, being able to type in the fields is much easier.
Professionally I would make sure to put the local library catalogs for the students at the school where I work on our iPads so when they are doing research they can easily find access to these different public libraries. Our school library is great and we have Destiny Quest on the iPads but we don't have every book that they student might be looking for so it would be great if they had just as easy access to the public library systems on the iPads too.
I think that when we do our next updates for the iPads that I will suggest doing this, I would never have known about this if it hadn't been for the 23 Mobile Things!!
Personally I am excited to be able to easily access the library catalog, see what events are happening at my local branches, follow the library on Twitter and Facebook and even ask a librarian a question. A great feature is you can scan a barcode of a book and see if the library owns that book, this feature will be great if you are at a book store and are not sure if the book you are looking at is something you would enjoy and you want to see if the library owns the book so you can borrow it instead of purchasing it and finding out you don't like the book. This app is also easier to have access to the library catalog and your own library account that using the website to access this information, being able to type in the fields is much easier.
Professionally I would make sure to put the local library catalogs for the students at the school where I work on our iPads so when they are doing research they can easily find access to these different public libraries. Our school library is great and we have Destiny Quest on the iPads but we don't have every book that they student might be looking for so it would be great if they had just as easy access to the public library systems on the iPads too.
I think that when we do our next updates for the iPads that I will suggest doing this, I would never have known about this if it hadn't been for the 23 Mobile Things!!
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