23 Mobile Things Group Completes Their 23 Things . . . and then some

The first group of participants in the 23 Mobile Things program have completed their tasks.  While not all of the group managed to finish the program, we did have about half who did, despite the holidays and the renovation preparations.

The participants were very active, tweeting and sharing documents, posting photos and even watching some movies.  We discussed social media and online safety, shared images from our workplaces, and created some QR codes for our favorite websites.  The group also found some interesting apps for their 24th thing, and we found some things that just didn't work for us.

All in all a great learning experience for these intrepid explorers, some valuable lessons learned and some great resources shared.  Thanks to all who participated and especially those who made it to the end.

MLA/DLA 2015 Data Mining Craft

Maryland Library Association/Delaware Library Association 2015 Conference

May 6-8, 2015

Data Mining Craft

The session on data mining at the 2015 Maryland Library Association Conference explored the legal, ethical and privacy issues related to the collection of data, and challenged the audience to consider the library’s role in its collection and dissemination. The presenter, Carrie Gardner, stated that when it comes to the use of electronics, the amount of freedom you enjoy is inversely proportional to how much time you are willing to expend. An example is having an online vendor make recommendations based on your purchasing habits rather than performing multiple searches. She also pointed out that individuals are covered by different laws depending on the country or state they reside in.

Issues that directly involve libraries include keeping track of what people read and library computer usage. Even if the library does not collect this information, security cameras are recording much of this activity. Librarians have been asked by some patrons to collect this information so they can keep track of what they have read while others do not want this information retained. Libraries need to be aware that they are not required to collect Personally Identifiable Information (PPI), but if they do they are subject to subpoena. Even libraries that say they do not retain this information are being approached by vendors, and consider subscribing to, products that collect data for the purpose of making better purchasing recommendations. 

It is very difficult to completely go off the grid. Even if you use only cash, and do not use the Internet, a cell phone or EZ Pass, you are still being recorded by cameras. Facial recognition software has become more sophisticated and has been touted as helping to identify the Boston Marathon bombers. Medical information is shared by health organizations, and friends and associates often post your picture online without your knowledge.

Carrie presented the subject in a way that was engaging and challenging while managing to be balanced and fair about the myriad of issues. After going over my notes, I’m considering posting this anonymously.

MLA/DLA Annual Conference - Boldly Go Where No Libraries Have Gone Before

MLA/DLA Annual Conference

May 6-8, 2015

The Place to Find What’s Free, Online, Collaborative, and Shared (aka Crowdsourcing)

Joyce Valenza presented the “Hack Library” during Friday’s lunch and reception.  A school librarian and professor at Rutgers, Joyce explained that when we hack libraries, we are doing “…playful problem solving of a problem by understanding it as part of the system.”  A motto to librarians that hack is, “Nothing is ever complete.” 

When we think the best answers are only from scholars and databases, we learn from Joyce that there are free, online resources built in collaboration with several people and are meant to be shared.  “Crowdsourcing” resources have credible and insightful information from and about us.  Yelp:  http://www.yelp.com/ and Yahoo! Answers:  https://answers.yahoo.com/ are crowdsourcing mainstays.  Two unique crowdsourcing resources to try out are:

Ask.fm:  http://ask.fm/

Whisper:  https://whisper.sh/

Even Tom Croft, the graphic designer at the Frederick County Public Library, shared great resources during his program that he uses on the job:  some are free, and some come at a low-cost that also happen to be crowdsourced:

Dafont:  http://www.dafont.com/

Dafont has freeware, shareware, demo versions, and public domain fonts that get submitted in by “font authors.” 

Videvo:  http://www.videvo.net/

Videvo has free photo stock and motion graphics.  You can make a free account, find graphics by subject, and download for fair use.

Joyce Valenza’s presentation is available at http://www.slideshare.net/joycevalenza/hacking-libraries.  Joyce’s blog is the “NeverEndingSearch:” http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/.

Who’s ready to crowdsource?  

Paul Chasen, Statewide Coordinator, Maryland AskUsNow!

Computers in Libraries Conference 2015

Computers in Libraries 2015: Cool Tools to Use Today

by Rebecca Starr

Computers in Libraries 2015, held in Washington, D.C. at the end of April, was abuzz with the latest technology, fun new apps, and innovative strategies to bring both to your community. While the total list is quite exhausting, here are some of my favorite tools that can be used on-the-job or shared with your patrons.

Educational

Mary Ellen Bates introduced these websites in her presentation, “Super Searcher Tips and Tools”:

●     Microsoft Academic: When Mary Ellen is tackling a search about which she knows very little, she will type it into this search engine to find dominant keywords, authors, and authoritative websites.

●     Instya: This cool search tool scours multiple search engines and social media sites at once.

●     Google Trends: This site is great for those obscure “Most Popular Searches” questions. It also houses great data visualizations of searches from around the world.

Finally, for those of you who answer technology questions or teach classes, be sure to visit NYPL TechConnect’s website. They host all of their presentation handouts and tutorial videos here!

Creative

In her presentation “A Thousand Voices: The Power of Storytelling”, Diane Cordell offered these digital tools to help patrons of all ages tell stories of their own:

●     Zooburst: This application let you create digital 3D pop-up books! (If you closed this post now in favor of playing with this tool, I wouldn’t blame you.)

●     Shadow Puppet: Upload images, add text, and set them to narration to create your own video story. One classroom used this application to create a listening center.

●     Thematic: Create a narrative using your images and text...think Medium, but for photos. Here’s a cute example.

●     Storybird: Users of this social media-esque site can create stories using illustrator-developed work and share them within the Storybird community.

Just For Fun

Gary Price, the co-founder of INFODocket, shared some of his favorite apps, both old and new:

●     TinEye: This app allows you to upload an image and conduct a reverse image search. It may be handy with those “What is this?” questions where someone just has a photo.

●     AudioNow: Users can listen to radio stations from around the world on their phone for free. This site lists all of the phone number for different radio stations.

●     PhotoMath: Take a picture of a math problem and this app will solve it and show its work.

●     Office Lens: This scanner for smartphones “clears up” images that are otherwise hard to read (such as receipts and whiteboards).

To view additional presentations, head over to the Computers in Libraries website. I highly recommend this conference for all librarians and IT professionals.