Thing 23: Evaluate 23 Mobile Things

I don't feel that I started using very many new apps as a result of 23 Mobile Things.  I ended up deleting most of the new apps that I checked out and stuck with the ones I've always found useful.  I realized that app aesthetic is a really big deal to me - if the app doesn't work smoothly or is unpleasant to look at I probably will find a better app.

23 Mobile Things did help me find new ways to utilize apps that with which I'm already familiar.  I was also able to recommend several of the apps I tried to instructors who might find them useful. 

I felt that some of the later Things were more interesting to me, maybe because I am a user who is more comfortable with mobile technology.  Maybe for future Things there could be a standard Thing and a more advanced activity in connection with each Thing so that all levels of user are challenging themselves.

Thing 22: Discovering Apps

Quixley is a great website - I really like how you can search for a keyword, not the app name.  The Apple App Store is difficult to search.  Sometimes your app doesn't come up, even if you have the exact name right.

One app that helps combat App Store difficulties is Find.  I've had a much higher success rate using Find than I have with the App Store.  Find also gives a lot of the same information available in the App Store and then links you directly to the app in the App Store so that you can install it like usual. 

I used to have Apps Gone Free installed but I didn't find many apps that I was interested in so I deleted it.

Thing 21: Free-for-all

One of the apps that I've found most useful is OWA for iPad/iPhone.  My employer uses Microsoft Outlook as our employee email platform.  OWA for iPad brings together my email, calendar, and contacts in one easy app.  When I first got my iPad I had my work email synced to the default mail app and my calendar synced to the default calendar app.  These apps limited my access and editing to my mailbox and calendar.  The OWA app offers so many more options and syncs nearly seamlessly with my calendar and inbox.  It also requires a pin for log in, so that makes it that much more secure, which is extremely important when dealing with company information on a mobile device.

Thing 20: Games

I actually don't play a ton of games on my mobile devices.  I find it hard to get absorbed in games, especially games that have you playing through different lands or stories.  For a while I played Dumb Ways to Die, which was easy and quick to play.  I liked that I could play a round in 5 minutes and then be done.  I also tried Icycle:  on Thin Ice, which was entertaining, but again I just couldn't get that into it.  I've tried Angry Birds and Shark Dash, lots of word games, multiplayer games and I just get tired of them easily.  I think without the face to face contact of a board game I get bored.

Thing 19: Hobbies

I am moving into a bigger apartment at the end of June and one of my hobbies lately has been looking at ways to decorate, organize, and arrange the new apartment.  I love using Pinterest for DIY furniture ideas.  Now I just have to get motivated enough to actually try them out.  Pinterest also has a lot of clever ideas for apartments and apartment patios. 

One home decor app that I found for this Thing was Houzz Interior Design.  This has a lot of cool features, but my favorite one is Ideabooks.  Ideabooks basically has a lot of different curated lists and articles that are browseable by topic.  It seems like it's very interactive, with Houzz, interior decorators, and Houzz subscribers contributing to content.

One app that I'd like to buy is HomeDesign DIY Interior Floor Layout Space Planning and Hours Decorating.  First of all, that name has got to be changed.  This app allows you to create a scale floor plan and then add furniture and other items to see if they will really fit in your space.  This app is $4.99.  The reviews are not great overall, so maybe I'll see if it goes on sale or free before I check it out.

Thing 18: Education

I've used several of the education apps featured on a regular basis.  I've recommended Ted, Socrative, Duolingo, Khan Academy, and MyScript Calculator to instructors and students.  Out of these apps Ted is probably my favorite.  It provides such easy access to so many great ideas and motivating speeches.  Ted Talks are amazing and a great way to share new ideas.

For this Thing I explored three new apps:  Advanced English Dictionary and Thesaurus, Fooducate, and Today's Document.

The Advanced Dictionary is great!  I love how easy it is to search for words and find related terms.  The scan and search feature is awesome - you scan a word using your device's camera and it brings up options to search.  Choose the term that matches and you're off!  There are even word games and a word of the day feature if you're trying to build vocabulary.  The one feature I couldn't find and wish this app had is a pronunciation guide.  It would be nice if the app spoke the correct pronunciation on command. 

The Fooducate app is formatted for the iPhone, so it looks a little clunky on my iPad.  This app contains a lot of great information, basically down to the full nutrition label.  The alternative options is a great tool, especially for suggesting different brands or versions of the same product that might be healthier options.  It might be nice if the app was able to tell users where to purchase items or the approximate price, but that could be included in the premium features that I didn't pay for.

Today's Document is a really cool app that makes viewing historical Unite States documents easy.  It's easy to use the search function to pull documents.  I wish that there was more of an option to browse by category or time period.  The app promotes a different document daily, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of order to the choices.  The information button is nice because it allows you to view additional details about the historical context.  It also links you to the document source so that you can research additional information about context.  This would be a great way to explore history and context with a class.

Thing 17: Connecting to Community

For Thing 17 I searched for apps useful to the Fargo-Moorhead community.  I downloaded the FM Mobile Coupons app.  The app itself is clunky, but it has a simple layout that gets the job done.  This app would be really great if more businesses were using it.  I'm not sure that there is much awareness of this app either.  There weren't any app store reviews for it. 

I also checked out Minnesota 511.  This app is not updated frequently enough for it to be of real use.  Traffic and road construction alerts aren't really helpful unless they're updated daily - this app seems to be updated weekly at its best.  I would use this app frequently if I knew I could count on it.  I traveled I94 between Fargo and Alexandria this weekend and the app didn't note any of the three construction areas I went through.

I really like the Minnesota State Fair app - I think it works well and captures the atmosphere of the Fair in a great way.  I hope that I get a chance to use this one this summer!

Thing 16: Audio

For Thing 16 I checked out SoundCloud.  SoundCloud has an interesting mix of content created by well-known artists like Justin Timberlake and U2 and by comedians like Jim Gaffigan, as well as by lesser known artists and podcasters.  It's very easy to record and cut an audio clip and to share it.  You can follow different users that you find interesting and share your content on other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  The app is easy to use and runs smoothly.

This would be a great app to use in a flipped classroom model.  You could have students create podcasts or record themselves answering interview questions or record a lecture.  If you send students on a site visit they could also listen to recorded information about that site.  It's also a great way for students to take verbal notes.

Librarians could record short blurbs with details about upcoming programs and share these on Facebook or Twitter.  I loved the idea of having readers record book reviews - you could also create book talks and post them on social media and the library website.  There are a lot of Twitter and Tumblr accounts about the impact libraries and librarians have made on their customers' lives.  We could encourage patrons to record their stories and share them as a collection.  This would have been so fun during National Library Week - idea for next year!

Thing 15: Infographics

Infographics are GREAT!  They are a great way to share synthesized information and statistics, as well as catch your audience's attention.  We had a dinner event earlier this year to share information about our campus with members of the community and were asked to create flyers about our departments.  I created an infographic about the library instead of a standard handout using the online Piktochart tool.  I would much rather read an infographic than a pamphlet because it makes information more memorable. 

The Infographics Hub app has a lot of great infographics but is kind of a bummer because it's so glitchy.  It was constantly freezing and I had to kill the app several times to exit out of different infographics.  If the app itself worked better it would be an awesome tool.  I search for library and librarian infographics but none were available.  Quite a few of the infographics I viewed were created by companies so that's something to consider when looking at the information presented.

The Info.graphics app is very similar to Infographics Hub, although it has a nicer look.  It was also kind of glitchy.  I'm not sure if it's because of the amount of data the apps are accessing or what, but it was frustrating to use these apps.  I found more infographics that would be useful for an academic library using Info.graphics.  I'd stick with this app for searching and browsing categories.

Thing 14: Videos

I have some experience creating videos with my iPad using the iMovie app.  iMovie has a lot of great features and editing options.  I really love the trailer creator - I've used this a few times on my campus and our students are using it various ways in class.

I decided to check out Vine because I keep seeing examples of libraries using it to advertise services and materials.  Vine is very simple to use and I like being able to explore different categories of Vines that other users have created.  The format looks a little like Instagram, which I'm not a huge fan of.  I do like that you can post right to Facebook.  I use our library's Facebook to send updates to students and it would be a great way to let people know what new items the library has received.

Magisto takes a lot of the work out of creating a movie.  You choose the images or video that you want to use, choose one of their pre-selected songs, and let Magisto put the movie together.  Magisto puts together pretty cool videos and the videos center on people fairly well.  I also like all of the options that Magisto gives you to share your videos.

Magisto and Vine are both good options for sharing information about the library.  I think it would be cool to use Magisto to create ads for events that are coming up on campus as well as to highlight what's going on in the library.

Thing 13: Presentations

Working with college students who use tablets daily has introduced me to a lot of presentation apps, including Keynote, Slideshark, Prezi, PowerPoint, HaikuDeck, Nearpod, Flowboard, SlideIdea, and Educreations.  Out of all of the options I have explored I use Slideshark the most, simply because it is easy to use and loads my PC-created PowerPoints easily and doesn't mess with the formatting.

HaikuDeck is great if you have the flexibility to use their images.  Some of them don't really fit with the academic presentations that our students are expected to give.  They might work if you have a more general topic, but otherwise they are ill-fitting.  I ended up deleting this app because I just didn't like the layout.

I really like how professional slides can look using Flowboard.  There's a lot of great ways to layout content and link to videos and other media.  Flowboard would be my choice for presenting on business topics because it has an extra polish that some of the other presentation apps don't offer.

Thing 12: Books, Books, and More Books

I love to read (librarian, duh) and have a reading list that stretches from here to Texas, so this Thing was dangerous. 

I explored Wattpad first and immediately recommended it to my sister, who is a writer.  This is a great way to bring together writers and readers and let writers get some feedback on what they're writing.  It also seemed like a great way to connect readers with more of what they crave.  The app was fairly easy to use, although I felt kind of stuck inside books sometimes until I tapped just right and the menu would appear.  I thought it was great how writers could create from inside the apps as well, although I couldn't see a way to import a Word document or anything like that.  As a reader the downside is that you might have to sort through a lot of less than great writing before you find something that you like.  I see this app as more of a support and connection system between writers than necessarily an app for people who are solely readers.

At first I was very excited about YALSA's Teen Book Finder.  However, it's pretty limited as to what it can do.  There are only a few hot picks listed and no way to connect to similar titles.  There's not a lot offered as far as genres go and those that are offered are far too broad.  I can't determine exactly what the point is of this app.  At first it seems like it's supposed to be a reader's advisory discovery app, but the options are so limited it doesn't seem like it would be helpful for that.

As far as reader's advisory goes, the most helpful app I've used so far is Goodreads.  The rating and recommendation systems are very sleek and helpful in finding new books for users to read.

Thing 11: Library and Reference

My academic library subscribes to a collection of Zinio eJournals/eMagazines.  I'm also able to access additional eMagazines through Zinio with my Hennepin County Library card. 

My academic library's access to Zinio requires a two-part log in process, which sometimes causes confusion to the students when they first try to access Zinio.  First they must access the Zinio database through our library's website and create an account there.  Once they've created an account they can check out magazines.  Once they checkout the magazine they then have to reenter that information into the Zinio app to be able to access their reading materials.  It can be a bit of a process for our less tech savvy students. 

What's great about Zinio is that once you've checked out a magazine you can download it to your Zinio app and be able to read it offline.  This does take space on your iPad, so you'll want to delete issues that you're no longer reading. 

Zinio also offers the option to explore and read selected articles from various magazines for free.  The options available are updated regularly.

I think as more and more journals become available as eJournals that academic usership of apps like Zinio will increase and students will have access to an  increasingly wide variety of journals. 

Thing 10: Sharing Photos

The apps listed for Thing 10 are Instagram and Snapchat.  I already use both of these apps, although not as frequently as others.  I don't take a lot of pictures, although I do enjoy seeing what other people are sharing.  Does that make me a lurker? 

In my experience, Instagram is great for following photos by celebs.  I think that I just might be more of the Facebook generation, because all of the people I know personally see tend to post photos there more than on Instagram.  Instagram for the iPad has a sloppy interface; the app is built for smart phones, which becomes obvious when you use it on your iPad.  I'm also not a big fan of the how hashtags appear in Instagram.  If Instagram built a smoother iPad app I think I'd use it more than I use their current app.

I also use Snapchat on occasion.  Again, I think this just might be a generational gap thing.  I only have one friend who uses Snapchat on a regular basis.  I kind of find Snaps more intruding than text messages.  There's more steps to viewing them than to viewing a message that comes through by text.  The feature that might be the most useful is the ability to limit the amount of time viewers can see your Snaps.  Unless they're savvy enough to get a screen shot, you don't have to worry much about photos getting saved without your permission.  And Snapchat lets you know if someone does take a screenshot. 

After revisiting each of these apps I don't think that I will increase my use of either of them, unless Instagram comes up with a better iPad app.

Thing 9: Taking and Editing Photos

I don't usually do a lot of photo editing, except maybe to fix red eye or crop to fit.  For this Thing I checked out LINE Camera and Color Splurge.

I found it frustrating that both of these apps only worked in portrait mode and would not switch to landscape on my iPad.  Landscape mode is easier for me to navigate.

LINECamera had great options for photo collages, which I use a lot in library marketing.  It included a lot of different formats - something that is hard to find in other photo collage apps.  Some of the Beauty editing features were a bit comical, as they seemed to give the photo subjects an anime look.  I also don't know what I would do with the stamps feature - I think that stuff is kind of cheesy.  Younger kids would probably think this app is fun.  If I use this app it would be for the collage features only.

Color Splurge was a fun app, but includes a lot of adds that caused the app to crash over and over.  I think that adding a pop of color to black and white photos is a fun concept.  However, this app's tendency to crash made it hard to get anything accomplished - I probably won't use this one again.

Thing 8: Social Media Management Tools

I run a Facebook page for our library and usually use Facebook's Pages app to schedule and manage posts.  This app works well for the things I'm posting.  I typically schedule most of my posts for the week ahead of time and then let Pages post for me as the week progresses.  I can add photos, locations, and choose the exact time that I want future posts to be made.

I explored HootSuite for this Thing as well.  I connected my library's Facebook page with HootSuite and it works very similarly to Pages, with the addition of translation and shrinking links.  The translation option is awesome, but I don't have any reason to translate most of my posts.  Shrinking links is also a great idea, although Pages basically does the same thing automatically with a thumbnail that you can click on instead of the link.  You can also direct message contacts, although when I post I'm normally posting for my entire following audience.

Because I'm already comfortable and don't need another social media management system I'll stick with Facebook Pages for now.

Thing 7: Content Sharing and Saving

I am a Pinterest addict.  It's useful and entertaining.  I find ideas for library programming, recipes, home decor, gifts, and more using Pinterest.  If I'm looking for a recipe I'll start with a Pinterest search, rather than a Google search.  I love that I can add my own content to Pinterest as well as view content added by others.

One pin described Pinterest as a form of digital hoarding, which is a pretty accurate description.  If you like a pin, you'd better pin it or you might not find it again.  With over 3.5K pins, my boards have become a little unwieldy and need to be reorganized.  I wish that you could create sub-boards for your existing boards.  But hey, that's a librarian for you.

One thing I love is the ability to follow only certain content from your Pinterest friends.  I can follow my sister's recipe board, but I don't have to follow her knitting board (Pinterest is a gold mine for crafters, which I am not).

It's easy to share content with your friends and followers.  You can even view related pins to the one you're looking at, which I've found helpful on numerous occasions.  Pinterest has quickly become my favorite social media site.

Thing 6: Creating and Editing Docs

Oh man, this has been an ongoing debate on our campus.  When students received their tablets they immediately wanted to use it like a laptop and use it to type their research papers.  However, their tablets were not meant to replace computers, only to supplement.

We explored several apps for creating and editing docs, including CloudOn, QuickOffice, Pages, GoogleDrive, and more.  These apps were great options for quick documents, but not for the editing features that students needed to polish assignments.  CloudOn didn't have all the editing tools students wanted, QuickOffice wasn't free, Pages looked different than Word, GoogleDrive required a Google Account.

But now, students are happily plugging along using Office365 and Microsoft Word for their tablet.  They have free accounts connected to their student email, which has made creating and editing documents on their tablets a much easier process and one that is much closer to the one with which they were familiar.

Thing 5: Notetaking

Previous to this post the only note taking app I used was the Apple Notes app.  It's easy to use and syncs between my iPhone and iPad, which is really helpful when I'm adding to my grocery list from my nearest device.

I have played around with Evernote, but haven't found a great use for it.  I don't find it very easy to jump between Evernote and whatever other app I'm using.  I don't do a lot of recording or voice commands, unless I'm using Siri to text, so taking notes with audio feels uncomfortable to me.  I do see that it could be useful for students, though.

Thing 4: Keeping Up

I have used both Zite and Flipboard fairly often since I got my iPad.  Of the two I prefer Zite.  Zite reminds me of Pandora Radio.  I read what I am interested in and have the option to give feedback about why I like it.  Zite shows me the tags given to the article and I choose which tags match what I liked about the article.  Then Zite builds more related content into my next magazine.  I can also see which of my previous tags the article matches, which tells me why Zite showed it to me.

Flipboard helps you save more content, into your own "magazines."  However, Flipboard doesn't allow me to keep curating my content to my interests, which makes a lot less of the articles flipboard features interesting to me.

Zite's layout is also much easier to understand and use.

Another RSS app I use is Pulse by LinkedIn.  Pulse allows you to subscribe to "channels" which show you content from those websites or organizations.  A lot of the channels are job/career related, but there are many channels that focus on entertainment.  I don't use LinkedIn Pulse as much as Zite, simply because there is more to sort through before I find content that interests me.

Thing 3: Utilities

All of the apps listed under Thing 3 were new for me, although I do use Google Chrome as my primary search engine.

RedLaser Barcode and QR Scanner could be a tool that I add to my iPhone, but I don't see it as being useful for my iPad, especially because my iPad is not connected to my cell network.  It would definitely be helpful in bargain shopping, although I typically don't do a lot of price comparison shopping for everyday grocery items.  I usually just pick the store that generally has the best prices and get everything there.  However, if I'm looking for a very specific product this would be the most helpful in comparison shopping.

One of our math instructors has started to use QR codes to facilitate a flipped classroom.  She posts problems in the classroom with QR codes that link her students to answers and explanations.  It's been a successful classroom activity that engages students and helps them become comfortable with new tools on their iPads.

Google Search brings all of the Google features I use into one app.  However, when I click on certain features, like Maps, Drive, or Gmail, it redirects me to the specific apps for those features.  It seems to me that I could create a folder with all of the Google apps I use and that would serve the same function as this app.  It is nice that I'm logged into all of my Google functions through the app, though.  

One thing that is striking about Google Search is the ability to search with the new camera function, Google Goggles.  Google Goggles works nicely with the normal Google search functions.  I was curious to see if there would be any kind of facial recognition feature that you can use to search for people, but Google did not recognize my face.  I did a Google Goggles search with Barack Obama's official portrait and it searched for it as a product, but not for Barack Obama the person.  The implications for privacy with all of the new facial recognition features out there (looking at you, Facebook) are serious.  If Google Goggles implements facial recognition I could take a picture of any stranger and find out anything about them that's already on the web.  Scary.

Without an adjustable desk at work, I don't think that the StandApp would be of much use for me.  I do run around campus quite a bit for various reasons, so a reminder to do that is not needed.

I don't do a lot of work at coffee shops now that I'm not a student, so Wi-Fi Finder is not necessary.  If I need to use the internet while I'm on the go my 3G on my iPhone is typically strong enough to get what I need.  I think that this app would be the most useful for those who travel for work.

I have tried different sleep apps before that all promised to wake me up at the right time during my REM cycle, but I never felt better rested after using them.  I think that if I had an issue sleeping an app like this might be useful in helping me decipher the problem, but I already know that my problem is staying up late to watch another episode of Parks and Rec.  

Thing 2: Mobile Device Tips

As the iPad coordinator on my campus I feel fairly comfortable using the features of my iPad, especially because I also train students on the iPad.  The video by App Find on iOS7 discussed some features that I was aware of but also introduced me to several new features.

I normally use Google Chrome as my default browser because I like that I can connect easily with my other Google accounts and bookmarks.  However, the shared links feature that Safari offers is exciting.  I have a Twitter account and currently I'm following so many people that my Feed seems like too much to read sometimes.  If I just looked at the shared links I can quickly find out if anyone is sharing great content through Twitter.

I had heard about the time stamps on texts but I have a hard time swiping just right to get it to work (it usually takes me a few tries - I experience the same thing when trying to access my iPad's control panel).  The time stamps are important because often I look to see how much time has passed between texts to determine if I'm leaving my friends hanging for too long.

I haven't found a use for the level feature of the Compass utility yet, but it looks like an awesome tool.

Learning about new features is exciting - it's also exciting to share features.  My brother-in-law recently got an iPhone and it was fun to teach him some of my favorite features.


- April

Thing 1: Blogging and Registering

I am very excited to be part of the 23 Mobile Things because I work as a Campus Librarian at a college that uses iPads in the classroom.  Each of our students has an iPad to use as an educational and professional tool.  I act as the iPad coordinator and trainer for both our students and faculty, so exploring the 23 Things will give me a chance to explore new Mobile resources and reflect on those with which I am already familiar.  I hope to discover new resources and ways to use technology for both our students and our faculty.

- April