Talking Tech Friday – aWare

Some discussions with some colleagues over the past week or so have made me realize that many librarians like to toss around techish terms without really understanding what they mean.  Today I thought I’d put up a little glossary about some various “-wares” to help you be more aware and really sound like you know what you’re talking about.

Tech-terms

Hardware – these are the physical components of a computer system.  It includes all the bits and pieces inside (if you talk about the CPU, motherboard, buses, and hard drive, you’ll really sound like you know what’s going on) as well as external components such as keyboard, mouse, monitor, cords, etc.

Software – these are the programs and applications that run on your computer. Pretty much, if it’s not hardware, it’s software.

Freeware – software that is available at no cost.  Most open source programs are freeware

Shareware – software that is often offered for free on a trial basis or with limited functionality.  One usually has to pay for the software for full access.

Middleware- software that allows different computers to run programs or processes over a network. An OPAC is an example of middleware – it connects a database (the ILS) to a web server to allow users to search library holdings on the web.

Malware- malicious software.  Any computer virus is considered malware

Spamware – software that provides information to spammers, such as lists of email addresses.

Spyware – a type of malware (which is a software!) which collects information about how you use your computer without your knowledge or consent.

Crapware – software you don’t want on your computer. This could be pre-installed software that came with the computer but doesn’t do anything useful, or it could be software that’s bundled in an application you DO want – for example, I don’t want Safari automatically checked for download whenever I get an update for iTunes.  I have a PC and I’m happy with Firefox.  Crapware is very much a matter of personal opinion, but something to be on the lookout for whenever installing new programs.

Adware – software which automatically displays advertisements on your computer or browser.  If you’re web surfing and an ad pops up, that’s adware.  Sometimes this is annoying but harmless, sometimes it’s a form of malware.

Well, they’re flashing the lights on me at work, so I’ve exhausted my wares for today.  However, aside from Wikipedia, How Stuff Works is a great resource for brushing up on your computer knowledge.

 

Talking Tech Friday – Random Linkage

Well, I’m feeling lazy today and don’t have any services I’m in the mood to review, so I thought I would just give you a link collection of sites I think are pretty cool, but don’t really need a full review.

• Fantastic Fiction – This website may not have the best design, but it has some great content! It’s a bibliography of works by over 25,000 fiction authors, with information on over 300,000 books. I find it particularly useful for finding information on series – while I can often find a listing of other titles in the series in the book or elsewhere, this will give me the actual order!  Check out the author page on Kevin J. Anderson, whose Hidden Empire series I’m currently mowing my way through.
• Ditto – this is a downloadable clipboard manager that allows you to store and retrieve multiple clippings.  If you do as much repeated copying and pasting as I do, this would be a useful tool.
• Free Rice – a vocabulary game that donates 10 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Program for each correct answer.  Surprisingly addictive and for a good cause!
• What Should I Read Next? – a website that lets you plug in the title or author of a book you enjoyed and it will send you a recommendation of a book that is similar.  Useful for those brainless summer reads.
• Instructables – this website has tutorials for just about anything. I mean it.   Anyone can upload a tutorial or how-to video on any subject.  I got some great tips on cooking pancakes.  If you can’t find a tutorial on a topic you want, you can submit a suggestion and wait for the hive mind to answer it.  Very cool site!

Okay, that’s it for this week.  Next week I’ll really review something!

 

Business meeting in July!

Just a reminder that we will be having our annual business meeting on July 28th, from 10-noon at the Carnegie Center auditorium!

Please attend with your meeting ideas, including roping, I mean asking, volunteers to present topics.

Also – we would like to elect/appoint new co-chairs and a program coordinator.  The primary responsibilites of the co-chairs include attending the Directors meeting of the Maricopy County Library Council (our parent group), and helping to coordinate programs.

The program coordinator is responsible for scheduling meeting topics and speakers, and arranging meeting spaces.

All officers (and indeed members) are welcome to post here at the blog, but I will continue with Talking Tech Fridays, whether I continue as co-chair or not.  I’d prefer not…so step up!

Hope to see you there!

 

Talking Tech Friday – Ideas!

I’m on vacation today, and am currently driving through the beautiful state of Utah.  No, I’m not blogging while driving, but I AM actually composing a post in advance! Yay me!

However, my time is short, so I will not review a web service today.  Instead, I’m going to beg and plead for ideas!  Do you have any resources you’d like me to review? Even if they’re old school web 2.0 sites, as long as I haven’t already done them, I’d be willing to do a review.

Or, if you’re looking for ideas, take a look at this website, which has a pretty large list of Web 2.0 applications.

Otherwise, I’d also like to hear your opinions about the column.  Do you like what I’ve been covering? Would you like to see me expand the coverage?  Are you bored and just click “Mark as read” in your reader every week?  Let me know in the comments!  I wanna see some action – blogs are best when they’re interactive, and this place has been like a ghost town. Is anyone out there?

 

Talking Tech Friday – Dropbox

I normally don’t cover anything that requires a download, but I’m going to make an exception for today’s very useful application – Dropbox!

What is it?

Dropbox is file storing, synchronizing, and sharing application that allows you to access your content anywhere, across any computer and platform.

How does it work?

You install the Dropbox client on any of the computers with which you’d like to share files.  The client is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems, so if you work on a PC at the office and have a Mac at home, it’s a great way to store files that are accessible on both systems.

Once you install the client, it’s easy to just drag and drop the files you want to store into the Dropbox folder.  Any file you add is automatically synchronized and made available both online and across any of your other computers.  If you aren’t using your own computer, you can still access your files from the Dropbox website.  Dropbox also has an iPhone-compatible site, and hopes to support more mobile devices in the near future.

Dropbox saves backup versions of your files, so you can view previous drafts of a document, or restore a file you accidentally deleted.

You can invite people to share files with you on a shared folder.  Anyone you invite can add or edit files in that shared folder, but won’t have access to anything other than that folder.  It’s also easy to share items with others without having to register or use Dropbox, you can just create a link that you can email to your collaborators.

Free accounts have 2 gigabytes of storage.  That may not seem like much, but my entire “My Documents” folder on my work computer takes up only 238 megabytes, which means that Dropbox certainly offers plenty of storage.  However, if you need more than 2 gigs, there are options to pay for either 50 gigs or 100 gigs of space.

For more information, you can look at their tour or screencast.

Possible Library Uses

I think Dropbox is a very handy tool for those of us that may use multiple computers for work.  I use a PC at work, my bitty laptop, and a PC at home.  I also travel sometimes and want to ensure I have access to my files.  Being able to sync everything in one location without having to save it multiple times or email it or keep it on a USB drive is so much easier.

Reviews

• Lifehacker
• Best Free Apps
• Mac User

 

Second Life Recap

Last week, we enjoyed a fascinating presentation on using Second Life as a 3D immersive learning environment by ASU Librarians Sandra Ley and Beverley Schlee.  They gave us an overview of Second Life, including some avatar creation basics, and then took us on a tour of some really interesting projects.  Here are some useful links:

Second Life LibGuide: http://libguides.asu.edu/content.php?pid=20967

SL Educational Showcase:  http://secondlife.com/showcase/education/

SLURLs (Second Life URLs) to visit in-world:

Dresden Art Gallery:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dresden%20Gallery/123/128/26

NMC Orientation:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Orientation/72/106/33

Info Island International Reference Desk: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20International/125/240/35

Princeton University Library:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Princeton%20University/144/148/24

Know How Island:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Know%20How%20Island/128/128/23

Genome Island:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Genome/160/86/32

Rumsfeld Map Collection:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rumsey%20Maps%202/187/198/715

Virtual Harlem:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Harlem/231/171/31

Robie House:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Avgi/22/235/501

Beverley’s Paper Mill: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20II/217/154/22

Thanks to Sandra and Beverly for a fascinating presentation, and to everyone who joined us!

 

Talking Tech Friday – Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram|Alpha came out of private beta this week, and I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about it.  I thought it’d be a timely topic for this week’s Talking Tech Friday, so here you go!

What is it?

Wolfram|Alpha is a new service that aims to “make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone.”  It’s not exactly a search engine, more of a data search tool.  However, the data you can search is quite broad; anywhere from mathematical equations to the gross national product of Spain, to the weather in Provo, UT on June 22, 1977.

How does it work?

Wolfram|Alpha doesn’t search the web for results, they are delivered from an internal knowledgebase curated by their Experts Network, to which “qualified academic, industrial, trade, or professional expert[s] in virtually any field” are welcome to apply to join.  They also seek volunteer curators to help fill in in the blanks – as they say “Computers and algorithms can take things only so far—at some point, if you want to be sure the data is right, you need a human being to look at it.”

They provide an Examples page, which helps detail the types of questions that can be asked of Wolfram|Alpha, as well as how to formulate the question. The FAQ mentions that their first concentration was on subject areas where math and computation are the strongest, but they are continually expanding that data.  Wolfram|Alpha can tell me that while my BMI is normal, I would be my ideal body weight if I lost 9 lbs.  Probably all those peanut M&Ms I eat while blogging don’t help.

A few nice features: At the bottom of each results page, you can see the sources from which the data were derived and you can download a results page as a PDF.   The downloads page offers a variety of tool bars, search boxes, and an iGoogle gadget (I added a search box to my browser).

There is also a fantastic screencast that gives a very thorough introduction and demonstration of what Wolfram|Alpha is capable of.  I encourage you to take the time to watch it.

Possible Library Uses

Obviously, this is a great resource, and is a lot of fun to explore. I also think that it would be ideal for librarians to get involved with the project.  What are your thoughts?

Reviews

• Lifehacker
• Telegraph.co.uk
• Search Engine Land
• ReadWriteWeb
• Wall Street Journal

 

Quick Survey

Mary Mitchell, one of the coauthors for the Emerging Technologies column in the AZLA Newsletter, is asking for your input on the types of topics you’d like to see covered in that column. Please fill out this short survey by June 15th.

Thanks!

 

Talking Tech Friday – Daytum

What is it?

Daytum is a website for collecting and communicating data.  You can track any type of data you like, from personal things like what you eat for lunch or how many minutes you ran on the treadmill to business statistics or anything else.  The basic service is free, but there are additional features (such as being able to track statistics privately) available for a $5 monthly subscription.

How does it work?

To create an account, put in your email address and then click on the link in the email that shortly arrives.  Enter in a username and password, and you are set!

There’s a short screencast that gives an overview of setting up your page.  Pages consist of data sets, displays, and statements.  Here is the test page I created.

A statement is just that – a free text widget you can use to highlight some data or do whatever you like.  For example, if you were tracking the books you read, you might use the statement to list what you’re currently reading.  You can also link to a specific widget, which is a nice feature.

The data set is also pretty self explanatory – that’s where you enter your data.  I created this data set of book genres from my Library Thing account by just entering in the genre tags and the number.  You can choose from a variety of display options such as bar charts or pie charts, as well as how to organize the data, such as averages or by date entered.

Entering data is very simple, and it is always editable so you can go back and make adjustments to prior entries.

There’s not much to the settings, you can choose a color for your page, change your user name or password, and upload a profile picture, if you like. Very simple.  Your account information is where you’d go to upgrade to the subscription features, or export your data into CSV files, or delete your account.

You can also add data to Daytum through their mobile site or using Twitter.

For some more examples, check out the About page.

A couple of caveats – unless you pay for a subscription, all data on Daytum is viewable to the public.  Also, there isn’t really a multi-user option, other than sharing a single account.

Possible Library Uses

I can think of a lot of uses for a simple data gathering and display site – as librarians, we are always tracking data!  I think Daytum could make it a little more interesting for the data that isn’t confidential – and I think it could be used as a fun marketing tool.  Create a page with fun library statistics and share it with your patrons.  The subscription option is also pretty affordable, so it might be worth it for the additional features and privacy options.  Any other ideas?

Reviews

• How to get longer days
• Web Standardistas
• Lifehacker

 

Video Gaming Trends for Librarians

Vinny Alascia of the State Library presented on video gaming to a small crowd at Burton Barr Library last week. Vinny did an excellent job on going over gaming basics and researching what the new, hot games for each type of gaming genre are going to be. Here’s his full presentation and his Twine as well:

Google Docs Presenation

Video Gaming Trends for Librarians Twine