Tag Archives: technology

There is an app for that

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Apps are revolutionising the way we all use the internet and the way we connect, are entertained and informed. I love my iPod and the things it does for me keeps expanding and enriching my days. When I bought it all I wanted was a device that could play my music choices and allow me to listen to my favourite radio programs when I could. Little did I know how much more this little device could do for me? And it’s not even an iPhone!

Here is a list of the “apps” I currently have on my iPod:

App name Description Internet required
1 iTunes Basic Apple function for iPods, iPhones, iPads yes
2 App Store Basic Apple location for Apps yes
3 Safari Internet Browser for Apple products yes
4 Mail Connects to your chosen email i.e. Gmail yes
5 Facebook Facebook functions via mobile device yes
6 Twitter Twitter functions via mobile device yes
7 Tweetdeck Twitter functions via mobile device yes
8 Google Earth Access to Google Earth yes
9 Wikipedia Access to Wikipedia yes
10 Skpye Face to Face chat – personal “phone” calls yes
11 YouTube YouTube videos yes
12 DrawCast Doodle and create pictures no
13 Solitaire Card game no
14 Mahjong Tile game no
15 Sodoku Number game no
16 Hipstamatic Photography with camera options and photo editing no
17 ClassicCam Photography with camera options and photo editing no
18 Art Guide Lists of art galleries, artists, exhibitions yes
19 Thousands Australian events guide by city yes
20 TED TED talks yes
21 At the Movies ABC At the Movies show yes
22 Dictionary Dictionary yes to refresh but not to find word
23 Translate Translation software with many language options with speech option yes
24 Dropbox File saving and transfer i.e. Word documents yes
25 Pages Document creation and file transfer Not to create and save documents but yes to transfer
26 RTM – Remember The Milk To Do Task list and organiser no
27 Mind Tools Leadership and Management tips no
28 LIndedin Professional Profile connections yes
29 Flashlight Handheld light no
30 Yoga Yoga postures and instructions no
31 Insight Timer Meditation timer and bell no
32 Nike + iPod Exercise walk and run workout program no
33 LYR – Log Your Run Exercise walk run cycle workout program no
34 MyNetDiary Calorie and nutrition counter no
35 21 Day Veg Kickstart Vegetarian diet and recipes no
36 Dalai Lama A brief overview of the life of the Dalai Lama no
37 Buddha Quotes Inspirational quotes yes
38 Amazon Search and purchase at Amazon.com yes
39 Kindle eBook purchasing, storing and reading Yes to purchase but not to read eBook
40 iBooks Apple eBook purchasing, storing and reading Yes to purchase but not to read eBook
41 Borders Borders eBook purchasing, storing and reading Yes to purchase but not to read eBook
42 State Library NSW NSW State Library Events and information yes
43 Library Anywhere Connection to Public Library catalogues yes
44 iSpydus Staff Library Catalogue connection for Library Staff yes
45 Podcasts Enormous amount of podcasts to choose from radio, TV, independent.
Find your favourite and subscribe for automatic updates when you have
internet access.		 Yes to download but not to listen

The weight of words

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As a lifelong lover of books I can list many good reasons to support printed books as opposed to electronic books: the beauty of the printed book as an object is a view shared by many; the musty smell; the weight in your hand; the perfect size; the tangible delight of anticipation and discovery as you flick through the pages seeing sentences, thoughts and images at first glance; the sound of the pages turning. A whole library of these wondrous creations can keep your attention for days.

But I am being nostalgic. This may well be a vision from our past. Coffee-table books are more suited to these attention-deficit times. A quick flick through a glossy work of biblio-art is all our brief leisure time can afford.

Reading books is a lot more complicated now with the evolution and availability of ebooks and ereaders. Many of the things we love about the freedom of reading a book has finally been translated successfully to the ebook device: portability; visual ease of reading on a screen; choice of font size; finger-flick to next page; the sound of pages turning. Where once you might have carried one or two books in your bag for reading on trains, or in waiting rooms, or on the beach, your ebook device can carry that whole library of musty old books in the palm of your hand. Can it really? Theoretically – yes, but what books and how?

It depends! It depends which device you have, which distributor you choose, what format your device likes. Apple make it easy for even the most technologically- challenged amongst us – but at a price. You will be a slave to the proprietary nature of Apple products. Ipods, ipads, and iphones can do it all simply and quickly through the itunes software that connects your device with their software via the internet. But their software must be loaded onto your own pc initially for this all to work seamlessly. Apple has world domination in this field in the palm of their hands – apple-sized.

There are other devices suitable for ebooks but they also all have some kind of proprietary nature and problems associated with formats. If you try for a freely available format like PDF you will need further software that will reformat the PDF to be readable, scrollable, page-turnable, to suit your device. Software such as Adobe Digital Editions or Epub. Eyes glazing over now?

So the advantages of ebooks such as: portability, accessibility, immediacy, weight in hands (propability?), screen light, font size, library in your pocket; these advantages seem just out of reach for many. It’s easier to buy the book – if you can find the one you want in print.

Or go to the public library and borrow the book – for FREE! Now there’s an idea!! But chances are the latest new release by your favourite author is out on loan and you will have to reserve it and wait to be notified of its arrival for you. By then you might have bought it, or borrowed it from a friend. It might just be worth the cost of a quick download to your ereader afterall. Immediate gratification is sometimes not met well by public libraries. Whereas if you have your ebook/ereader format and subscription dilemmas sorted then you will be able to download that book you desperately want NOW.

While ebooks are cheaper per unit by comparison to the printed copy, you must factor in the other costs associated with your ebook convenience: the ereader, the internet access, the device plan, the credit card fees, etc.

The notion of the experience being “special” is also worth due consideration. The anticipation of waiting for that particular book is not to be dismissed. If I have immediate access to all and every book I want to read then not only am I swamped with too many things for my mind to manage, but that one special book loses some of its appeal if it is available to me straight away. This is a very fuzzy concept and needs further investigation, but book-lovers will know what I mean I’m sure. It’s like eating chocolate: if you eat it every day then you might get a bit sick of it, and it becomes common place and not the luxury special occasion item that it should be. Immediate impulsive download robs you of any anticipation. You are poorer for it. An article I read recently, “Can the book survive?” in the Good Weekend section of The Age on 15th January 2011, touches on this notion.

Further on in the same article is the idea that the “voice” of the author changes depending on the medium on which the text is being read. The layout of the text on the ereader screen can detract from the potency and importance of that text; while other books are more suited to being read on an ereader. I noticed this too when I read a free copy of Alice in Wonderland complete with old illustrations that I had downloaded onto my ipad. The artistic beauty of the serif-font laid out on the page was missing, and yet the small “original” illustrations were lovely captured on the small screen. This is where the book as beautiful object is most obvious, and in this case, lacking as an ebook.

This idea needs further research and I have the perfect title for a thesis – “The weight of words and how text and meaning are affected by format, display and availability”. Go for it.

So the advantages of ebooks and ereaders are disadvantages also. What they offer us in terms of portability and access robs us of the quality of the experience of reading in some obscure way. The delight of browsing, serendipity of discovery, and being exposed to a broad range of subjects that you might never have considered, amidst the shelves of books, narrows the experience to obtaining just the one book you seek. You might get what you want right now, but not what you don’t know that you might want.

Public libraries are the losers in this battle of the ebook/ereader formats. Publishers have tied up the ebook market into a knot. Ask at a public library if they have ebooks and you will get a bold “Yes” in response, followed by an uncertain “but…” What device? What format? Which book? Sorry but you can’t get fiction FREE in ebook format at a public library for download to your personal device. Well you probably can somewhere, but the latest titles? You will probably be able to easily read an ebook on the library pc or on your home pc if you are a library member. But ebooks mean portability, so what is the point of reading an ebook on your pc? Electronic notebook? Well maybe.

Most librarians will tell you about the many ebook collections available online, such as Project Gutenberg, Safari books, ebooks at the National Library of Australia, the ebooks supplied by Adelaide University, and many more. But this is not answering the problems associated with being able to borrow the latest novel for free from your library, or perhaps buying the ebook outright then being able to pass it on to a friend.

It is too soon for a conclusion of thoughts. These are uncertain times for book lovers. It is still evolving. Optimistically I think that public libraries and freedom of access will prevail. Fearfully I envision half empty shelves with old pre-loved books decomposing and awaiting the arrival of H. George Wells in his Time Machine. (Remember that scene from the classic movie where he is relieved to find the public library only to have the books fall to dust in his hands?)

Ultimately literacy, creative endeavour, the need to express ourselves, the desire to share our ideas, and discover new ones, and the pure and simple love of books as objects will ensure that public libraries continue to be valued as places for community narrative, history, wealth of knowledge, ideas, learning, gathering, sharing and for the free inclusive access for all.

Mipod

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I know. I know. I’m late into the ipod market. I just bought my first one – a 32gb ipod touch. I didn’t particularly want one nor need one, even though I am an avid music lover. The CD players in my car and home have always fulfilled my needs.

Having moved to a country area I discover that my favourite radio program is unattainable. Downloading the podcasts of the program is possible, so I thought about buying an mp3 player for this purpose. The difference in price was a determining factor, as well as my reluctance to buy into the proprietary nature of Apple products, and this resulted in the purchase of a generic brand mp3 player. I was suspicious when seeing on the device interface “artists” spelled with an extra “i” – “aritists”. If I had been able to see this error before purchase I definitely would not have bought it. Work mates told me that if I didn’t buy an ipod I would wish I had. They were right.

I pushed ahead though and downloaded the mp3 files of the podcasts from the program, then loaded them onto the mp3 player, only to find that I could not hear the program through my ear-phones as I drove along the highway in my car. This made me realise I would need to buy an ipod after all. So I did. Then I bought the necessary accessories: protective jacket, charger, and car FM transmitter.

The first “sync” between my pc and ipod transferred just under 1000 separate mp3 tracks. Some of these were the downloaded radio programs, some were of a lecture series from the State Library of Victoria, and others were French language lessons. The majority were of music tracks from my previously bought CD’s.

To my delight I found that I could subscribe to my favourite programs via RSS feeds through itunes, and these would be updated automatically from website to pc to ipod without me having to do anything after the initial addition of the subscription. This is how today’s technology should work – seamlessly and easily. And when I have viewed or listened to the program on my ipod it is automatically removed when I connect again to itunes. I can now listen, without ear-phones, to my favourite programs and music playlists whilst driving the long trip to work every day. I can forego the mindless drivel and advertisements on the local radio broadcasts, and improve and broaden my mind by learning interesting things told by the clever people interviewed by Margaret Throsby.

I also subscribe to TED talks and can load them onto my ipod and watch them at my leisure, although I still mainly do this on my pc, but I get notifications of the latest talks as they are available, so don’t have to go searching, then I can pick and choose the ones that interest me.

I have only touched the tip of the iceberg and haven’t even begun to search for apps that might be of interest to me. I have created playlists from my music collection and can play these loud in our house with an mp3 dock and speakers. I love this ability to tailor my listening consumption to suit my own tastes and circumstances.

The handling and management of ebooks is another area that interests me personally and professionally and I will investigate this further. I did download some ebooks using audible.com but found a silly glitch with my pc and itunes because our laptop has an administrator and two users. I access itunes and my ipod through my user, audible loads via the administrator and itunes and audible won’t allow the access from one to the other, even though they are all me: one of those problems caused by the proprietary nature of Apple and Microsoft.

Master of the Web 2 World

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Gary Vaynerchuk is The Master of the Web 2 World. His voice rings out above all the other web2ers. He is a wine seller in the USA who uses social networking technologies to market himself, his business, and his world views.

I first heard of him mentioned by someone I was following on Twitter. I followed the link to a YouTube video of Gary’s presentation at the Web 2.0 Conference in New York in 2008. His presentation made an impression on me. He stood out as being brash, aggressive and passionate. His approach was far from being politically correct or polished. His impassioned plea to everyone to “stop doing what you hate immediately!” resonated outward like a tsunami.

So I started following him on Twitter and added his blog to my already overflowing and unmanageable list of blogs in my Google Reader account.

I noticed he had written a book, “Crush It”, but that hardly raised an eyebrow since nearly everyone who writes a blog is also promoting their book – advice from yet another self proclaimed guru on marketing using Web 2.0 tools. Yawn!

Then – again on Twitter – I see he has a music video, so I follow the link to YouTube. It’s a cute, catchy rap tune called “Crush It” that promotes him and his book. I am amused and think that here is someone who really uses Web 2.0 technology to the max. What he lacks in charisma, looks, charm, and polish, he makes up for in effort, determination, creative endeavour, and online knowledge.  

So the very next day I notice, on Twitter again, that he is about to do a live broadcast via Facebook. So I log on and tune in to his talk about marketing, wine selling, web 2.0, his book, his t-shirt, etc. Everyone logged in to Facebook can comment or ask questions, or comment on the comments. He answered the questions as they came up. The number of viewers grew steadily from about 30 to 430 in the first 30 minutes that I watched.

So the message wasn’t new, inspirational, or earth-shattering, but the use of Web 2.0 technology was clever AND his voice stands out above everyone else who is pedalling the same message. But having said that, it was the live and immediate comments from the viewers, that prompted me to think “I really have to read this book!” And so I have ordered the book for purchase at the library. This is the point of his marketing efforts and it has been achieved.

Stay tuned for my review when I do read it in the very near future.

Extreme Libraries

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Mt Gambier Library entrance

Mount Gambier Library in South Australia is a new shiny purpose built, state of the art, no expense spared library. It opens on 17th December 2009. I was fortunate to visit this week to attend a library seminar held there. The new building is completed but the beautiful new timber shelves were bare, silently waiting for the new stock to arrive. Contractors and technicians were finishing the main desk, installing the security gates at the entry, and other little last minute jobs. The technology is state of the art with numerous flat screen TVs, fully implemented RFID, a light bright work room with all the tools of the trade and space to spread out, meeting rooms with smart boards, mini cinema areas, a cafe, and the most amazing cave that is the children’s area.

Mt Gambier Library

The seminar was titled Best Sellers. Paul Brown from Manukau Libraries in New Zealand presented an interesting, useful and thought-provoking session on Reader Advisory services in libraries. He reminds us that this is indeed the core business of public libraries and I applaud him for this focus.

By contrast, just 78 kilometres away, I visited the Digby Library as part of the outreach services maintained by the Glenelg Libraries in Victoria. This tiny old dusty collection of yellowed books is held in an old Mechanics Institute building. We replaced the small stock of new library books and materials for the local farming community. Outside in the dusty carpark we struggled to get a signal to connect to the internet to make the data upload/download. Meanwhile the sun beat down, sweat dripped from our foreheads, and the horses and goats looked with bored indifference.

Digby library

This outreach service goes to small community centres in Heywood and Casterton, a Bush Nursing Hospital in Merino, a local shop in Dartmoor, and the Mechanics Institute Hall in Digby.

Two libraries close together geographically, but as extremely apart from each other as is possible in our society.

Net dependent

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It’s a short 13 years since the World Wide Web burst onto our world and it makes me wonder how we operated before then. Everything is dependent now on immediate information online.

 

Since returning to work in a public library I notice the change in the usage needs of our customers. The demand for the free public PC’s continues to fill our booking system every day and rarely is there a pc vacant; more often there are customers waiting in line. But the nature of that usage has also changed. People are now using these PC’s for online banking, confirming flight details, applying for jobs using online application forms, lodging their tax returns, email of course, promoting their businesses, researching medical conditions on their doctors advice, and children are using the internet to play online games as well as researching for their school projects. The public usage has become more essential and sophisticated. There is an expectation in the business world that everyone has an internet PC at home, when this is clearly not the case. How quickly we all adopt and adapt to advances in technology.

 

As the online information is displayed more and more in multimedia formats, our public PC’s need to respond to this trend and provide basic software for this; basic image editing software and image display software such as flash, Java, and Media Player.