Category: iPad

Upcoming ALA Storytelling 2.0 Webinar

NotQuiteSuperhumanLeave a comment

ALA | Storytelling 2.0

I am very excited because if you click on the link above you will find information posted through the America Library Association website about an upcoming webinar offered through the ALSC.

Storytelling 2.0 is all about making the storytelling experience more interactive using new ideas and technology. This webinar explores how digital resources and tools like websites, social media, iPads, digital cameras, computers, and more can be incorporated into traditional storytelling and programming techniques to enhance the library user’s experience. Also covered will be information about storytelling basics and using storytelling as a marketing tool.

Registration is not open just yet, but four dates have been set:

Friday, December 16, 2011; 11 am Eastern, 10 am Central, 9 am Mountain, 8 am Pacific
Friday, January 13, 2012; 11 am Eastern, 10 am Central, 9 am Mountain, 8 am Pacific
Monday, February 6, 2012; 2 pm Eastern, 1 pm Central, Noon Mountain, 11 am Pacific
Monday, March 19, 2012; 7 pm Eastern, 6 pm Central, 5 pm Mountain, 4 pm Pacific

Webinar is limited to 100 students.

ALSC Personal Members and Students: $45
Non-Member: $55
Groups*: $195

You can find more specifics through the link at the top. If you have already clicked on it, did you see who the instructor is? I know awesome, isn’t it? I am both super excited and intimidated at the same time. Hope to see you all in class. 😉 —JH

Advertisements

V is for Vuvox

NotQuiteSuperhuman1 Comment

http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=0248a41d61

I love Vuvox. It is a free tool available on the internet for creating interactive collages. This is a great resources for educators, librarians, and writers. You can use it to market a program, teach a lesson, or even incorporate a digital booktalk into it. I love the idea of using it to promote books because it allows the user to explore a bit more than a digital book trailer does. The only downside to the application is that it does use Adobe Flash which means that it can’t be seen on an iPad or an android device (Bad Adobe! Haven’t you learned nothing from Beta? If you don’t allow others to use your technology then something not quite as good will come along to take your place. i.e. VHS).

*If you are viewing this post in a blog reader, you might want to check out the actual post because there is a pretty cool Vuvox collage on Digital Booktalks at the top that doesn’t seem to want to carry over. 😉

I is for…Innovation

NotQuiteSuperhuman1 Comment

…Bet you thought I was going to say iPad.

If you have been following for a while then you already know I am a big fan of innovation and imagination. I have used digital storytelling in my library programs and I am still trying to think of ways to excuse bringing the iPad to work. –Well, this one gives me an excuse for bringing the droid.

The first time I heard about QR codes, I think it was through Woman’s Day or Entertainment Weekly. All I can really remember was that it was a magazine left on the staff table. I downloaded the app and tried to scan the codes in the magazine. Needless to say it didn’t really work , but I think it might have been the start of the issues with the Blackberry.

The Daring Librarian had a great post last week about using QR codes in her library as a scavenger hunt and though I am eager to try it, I am not so eager to hand my phone over to the teens. (Let us just say that I know a former Teen Camp Counselor who did something similar and he still gets text messages to this day from former camp members who “added” him while they had access to his phone. Yeah, so not happening.) I do applaud the idea and if I thought that my library’s socio-economic area meant that every teen had a smart phone let alone a cell phone, I might even try it. –Yes, it is a misnomer that every teen has a cell phone, though I admit it does seem that way.

BTW know what I am going to do tonight? Yup, I am going to download a QR code scanner app to my phone. Who knows maybe I will change my mind about doing a program. While hands on programs are the best, there are sometimes ways around it. Very much a thinking out of the box ideology.

I welcome innovative thinking and new ideas and suggestions. I especially love hearing from other librarians. If you have a suggestion for a program, new tech activity, etc; I would love to hear about it.

H Is For Hot Apps

NotQuiteSuperhumanLeave a comment

It has already been established that I am in love with my iPad. There are some great apps out there that are free or relatively cheap. Here is a list of some of my favorites:


Grocery IQ— Free. This app is also available for my droid which makes it even better. It keeps a running list of items I need from the grocery store; when I update on the iPad it will automatically update the droid and vice versa. The list can be divided by store which means I can have a list for Wal-Mart and one for Sam’s. It let’s me input the prices to keep a running total of how much I am spending and keeps those listed in my history. Very useful and such a time saver– it even has coupons!


Blogsy— $2.99. Now I have been having trouble updating my blog from the iPad. I use blogger and for some reason the two just don’t like communicating. That is where the new app Blogsy comes in. The app is new on the market and I mean new as of this week. Right now it has an introductory price that will change with the next update. It is compatible with both Blogger and WordPress. You don’t even have to know HTML code! (though I have to say, I am getting better at embedding the codes for links). Blogsy allows you to grab links and images from the integrated browser, Google Images, YouTube, Picassa, and Flickr. Simple and easy just like it should be!


Twitter— Free. I use to be very anti-Twitter, but I have since discovered that it is a great networking tool. I am connected to authors, librarians, bloggers, and tech news. It keeps me up to date on the things that I need to know about.

Angry Birds— Free. I am not obsessive about this game, but I can understand how some might be. It reminds me of an old shareware DOS game where these huge monkeys held on the top of these buildings and the object was to throw bananas at other buildings and helicopters. The one thing I will say about it is that it is very useful to have when you are sitting waiting somewhere with a five-year old who doesn’t want to sit still…it even works on husbands!

Do you have a favorite iPhone or iPad app? Any for the droid?

D is for Deadline

NotQuiteSuperhuman2 Comments

Well, that is the problem with my writing. I have no deadline. It just doesn’t seem to carry enough weight when it is self imposed. Therefore none of my projects ever get finished. However, I have no problem meeting a deadline for work or even stuff that has already been committed to a publisher. Problem here is that agents usually want to see the finished product rather than a work in progress. So far my only completions besides my upcoming chapter in Marketing Methods for Libraries have been my picture books. Yeah, not so much luck with the whole picture book querying thing.

I have been toying with the idea of entering a pseudo-fan-fiction type of contest rewriting a scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. To be honest, as much as it should be one of my favorite Shakespeare plays based on the concepts, I hold very little interest in it and I am not sure if I could sit down and try. Give me Twelfth Night! Give me Taming of the Shrew!  Give me As You Like It! —-I am having flashbacks to Shakespeare I & II. Scary!

The iPad addiction is whittling down, so I should get my act together and get more motivated. This A-Z Blogger Challenge is a step in that direction. What gets you motivated to write?

**Check my Works In Progress Tab for a list and synopsis of what I am working on —or procrastinating on. 😉