Thing 12: Media Skills

For Thing 12, I looked at several different sites, and was already familiar with many of them. Working as part of the Automation Team at Capital Region BOCES' SLS, I frequently use the Snipping Tool to insert screenshots to emails and how-to guides.

 

I have used Picasa frequently for years now and do like it. The desktop application has pretty thorough editing capabilities for a free program.

 

New tools that I liked: Make a Gif was a fun tool to play around with. I made a (very slow) Gif of my son from Christmas Day. I didn't get quite the animation sequence I was hoping for, but with more practice - and more sequential pictures - I think I could. My Make a Gif. I also really liked looking at the Mashable "Educational Gifs" - how interesting to see how a key works in a lock, how a baby's face is formed in utero, how a lightbulb blows out. I think there are potentially a lot of educational applications for this tool.

 

Another tool I played with a bit and enjoyed was Quozio. I liked how easy it was to use - just enter the quote of your choice and its author, then choose a background, and you have a nice-looking quote. This would be useful for presentations, posters, and so on.

 

 

Thing 21: Productivity Tools (2014)

I have tried (and failed) to use several of these productivity tools in the past, but I did get sucked into the vortex that is the Lifehacker "How We Work" series - they were fascinating and fun to read. Contributor Walter Glenns sums up my feelings on many of these "productivity tools" in his post:

 

"I've tried just about every electronic to-do manager around. And I really tried to make them work. But I finally came to the realization that paper works best for me. I can write new things wherever I want, check things off, circle things, draw big looping arrows, and color things in with my pencils. And for those with a keen eye, yes that is a legend of codes and colors on the bottom right. What can I say?

 Finally making the decision to give up on digital to-do lists was liberating, but whatever method you use, my advice is to quit looking for the perfect solution. Pick something and make a habit out of using it. Oh, wait. Maybe that's my best time-saving trick."

Now, unlike Glenns I have not tried "just about every" tool there is, but I've tried Evernote, To DoIst, and LastPass, and couldn't get into using them faithfully. I do love DropBox, but pretty much only use it to automatically sync and store photos I take to the storage they provide. I love the ease with which I can share photos with others and that it transfers from device to device. But I use this for pictures of my son and that's about it.

To stay organized and productive, I use a good, old-fashioned combination of pen and paper "to-do" lists (I love the satisfaction of checking things off) and just keeping a running list in my head. Luckily for me, though my memory isn't always the best, I do seem to remember to do important things that need to be done. And I remember things much better when I've written them down by putting pen to paper (says the woman who always takes copious notes and never re-reads them).

I think it's wonderful that there are so many digital ways to stay organized and if you think one will work for you, it's worth a shot.  

Thing 11: Coding (2014)

I tried out a couple of the coding tools. While in grad school, I had to take a course that introduced me to the basics of HTML and Java Script, so this type of language wasn't totally foreign to me, and I enjoyed the bits of coding I'd done in the past.

 

My favorite tool that I tried was "Animate Your Name", in which I got to play with coding/Java Script and alter the code to change the color, shape, and animation of my name. You can see my finished product here.

 

I also played with the Mozilla Thimble Maker and the "Keep Calm" posters. I can think of lots of fun ways to use this :)

 

I think it never hurts to know a little code. I like having the knowledge of figuring out why a website isn't displaying properly, and understanding the basics of code is really helpful, especially if you're in a position where you aren't just the librarian, but the tech person, too (my job at BOCES combines many facets, including lots of technology applications).