The Pinstriped Librarian

Here are 10 things I learned:

10: Using mobile apps and devices effectively requires you to invest time.

9: It's OK to give up and delete apps that don't work well or aren't for you.

8: If you're going to spend time using your mobile devices you might as well master them.

7: More often than not, there is, actually, an app for that!

6: Apps don't mean sharing - you can usually turn off the social features.

5: Tumblr is more interesting than it first appears.

4: The best apps are the ones where you add the content.

3: Some people may actually be doing work on their phones.

2; There are some seriously deranged librarians out there.

1: There is always something new to learn - sign me up for the next one!

Thing 22 was discovering apps. I used Quixey to search for apps. Since I had covered wine in Thing 19 I decided to look for bike related apps. It came up with several route planning apps but the best looking was The Minneapolis Bike App ($0.99). It relies on either Google's "Bike There" directions or OpenStreetMap bike routes from Mapquest. It shows bike lanes and paths and appears to integrate with the Nice Ride bike share program. According to the displays, it shows the closest place to get a Nice Ride bike and tells you if there is one available.  This could be useful for me since I take the bus downtown and sometimes need to get to a meeting or connect with friends after work. Occasionally, I ride my bike to work as well. I didn't spring for the app yet but it seems like it might be worth the low price.

23 Mobile Things: Thing 21

For this "Thing" I am supposed to pick an app that I "love".  I chose the app for WestlawNext which is the app for the primary legal database we use at work.  I wouldn't say I love this app unconditionally, but it does make my professional life easier. It makes my job mobile which is pretty remarkable. I prefer to be at my desktop but, if I can't be there, I can still get work done.  I can work from the doctor's office with a sick child or finish up a project on the bus ride home.

Thing 20 was "Games".  I downloaded Candy Crush Saga to the iPad and played it up to level five. These were basically tutorial rounds that introduce you to the game.  It was fun and I can see how it becomes addictive as the levels become more complicated and more strategy is required. Hopefully, I stopped playing before before I got hooked!

23 Mobile Things: Thing 19

I went all out for Thing 19 (Hobbies) and spent $1.99 on the Cor.kz wine app (CellarTracker).  I wasn't totally impressed with the location based features which used foursquare data to suggest wine stores, wine bars etc. near me.  However, the wine database and cellar features were excellent. The photo above is an example of the kind of information you can find on each wine.  

Education was the topic for this "Thing". I chose the Advanced English Dictionary and thesaurus.  I downloaded the app to the iPad and tried it out during my bus ride. This app was more interesting than I anticipated. In addition to basic definitions it listed lots of people, places and things that would be beyond the scope of a traditional (abridged) dictionary.  It also had a number of games and features: Flashcards, Hangman, Word Scramble, Word of the Day, etc.

23 Mobile Things: Thing 17

Audio is the topic for this "thing". I chose to investigate SoundCloud.  I downloaded the app to the iPad and spent an hour or so investigating its features. As a general rule, I don't access a lot of audio content. I'm not a fan of audio books or podcasts. However, my spouse and children are big fans of audio books. I think audio can be a great source of information but, as matter of personal preference, it isn't going to be my first choice.

I liked SoundCloud. It was easy to set up and get a stream filled with content. As the summary indicated, there is a a lot of content on this site. It would be possible to spend nearly unlimited time investigating.  It did take me a little bit of time to figure out the stream interface which wasn't quite intuitive.

Infographics was the topic of this "Thing". I chose to download Infographics Hub onto the iPad. Infographics Hub is basically a search engine for infographics. You can browse them by category or search. I browsed through a few on the upcoming FIFA World Cup which were pretty informative. Only eight countries gave ever won and only three (Brazil, Italy and Germany) have taken home more titles than the rest of the world combined.

The search feature worked well although some of my searches turned up only a few results. For example, I searched for "wine" and got only three results - and one was about Amy Winehouse.  However the other two were interesting: One was about wine consumption in the U.S. and the other was about wine growing regions in Europe.

Video was the subject of this thing. I wasn't as enthusiastic about this Thing as I have been about some of the others. I don't see much opportunity to use short videos and they seem difficult to make well. The sound in particular is an issue.

I tried to use Vine for this thing. I had previously downloaded the app to the iPad but never used it.  This time I browsed through the videos and went through the tutorial to create a video of my own.  I chose to create a video of my dogs, particularly Max who dances when he is offered a treat.  However, the resulting video was dark, the picture quality was poor and the sound was terrible.

Presentations was the theme for this "thing".  I chose Haiku Deck because it was supposed to help me "easily create impressive-looking presentations without a lot of preparation—or time." This sounded pretty darn good to me - time is something I haven't had enough of this week.

I downloaded the app and created the guided presentation which was very easy. For example is asked where you were from and let you choose from images of that place. It also guided me through the creation of a graph. You can see examples below.

I tried out the YALSA Teen Book Finder. I have a teen in the house and in a few years her younger sister will be a teen as well - so it seems like it could be useful. 

The app had a great appearance and was easy to use. I scanned some genres and awards and was able to click though to a short blurb about the book.

I enlisted my daughter to check it out and she suggested we search Rick Riordan who has written several series of books based on mythology. Strangely it listed only one of his books.  Another of her favorite authors, Anne Ursu, wasn't listed at all. (Perhaps it only lists books that have won awards?)

Once you find a title in the app you can click through to a map of where to find it. If you click again you leave the app to see the World Cat entry. (See photos below.)  It would be easy to reserve a book by clicking through from World Cat into the library's catalog - or even driving over to get it. In this case the book was available within a few miles of our home.

This thing was fairly easy for me since I already use Instagram and had it installed on both my Android phone and iPad. I think it is easy to use and I have really enjoyed seeing what some of my more artistic friends have been able to do with it.

I think this has some great potential for libraries. I have learned about some great books and events from Instagram. Even businesses can be fun to follow if they have have an interesting feed. I follow a custom bicycle builder that posts beautiful pictures of their work in progress. Creating an entertaining feed would take some skill but it can also convey things that are not easily described with words.

I consider myself to be reasonably adept at social media and I had a neglected Hootsuite account.  I have most of the basic social media accounts, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a few others. I don't consider myself an expert, or an early adopter, but I enjoy checking out the various options.  I tend to stick with the ones that offer some kind of community I am interested in. Some of my closest friends don't participate in social media at all so it is not a perfect mode of communication for me.

I installed the Hootsuite app on the iPad.  It already had Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and Foursquare connected to it but I am guessing I hadn't looked at it on more than a year and I had never used it on a mobile device.