A short meeting today because of the upcoming LS Forum (which was very interesting) but we still packed a lot into LILI IT!
Jim demonstrated the way that he has been using the POP option in Gmail to read his Wiscmail via Gmail. One of the major benefits that Jim looks forward to is to use his (soon to come) Google Nexus One phone to use his Gmail to check his Wiscmail. That is pretty cool. Jim mentioned that though the email interface is great, there is no easily accessible "get mail" button to run the POP. Soon probably...
Next, Jim showed us a very cool web-based image editing application called Aviary: http://aviary.com/ There are downloadable add-ons for Chrome and Firefox. It looks intuitive and fast. Honestly, I can't remember the huge number of times that I wish I had access to a good web-based imaging application that can compete with Photoshop. Based on a first-look, it looks like Aviary can compete favorably.
Bob let us know about these very useful tools for blocking and dealing with malware, the bane of everyone's existence these days. As Bob noted, malware can lurk in advertisements syndicated to even very popular and legitimate sites, as this CNET article explains.
NoScript https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722
Flashblock https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433
Adblock Plus https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
Bob notes that though these work, they can also work too well. For example, No Script can and does block JavaScript from running, but many legitimate sites use JS in non-evil ways. So, use these tools wisely.
If you read the blog posts below, you will see a post where I promise to add some of the discussion from the LILI IT Ref-Retreat Lunch Table. Well, this is the LILI IT Group, so, using our time machine to return to the Reference Retreat in January... Jim reminded us (me, really) of the password management application that he demoed at the Reference Retreat lunch table: Last Pass http://lastpass.com/ It works great, and is a very efficient way to deal with ballooning password management.
Tom mentioned the suite of tools from the ZOHO site. http://www.zoho.com/ I like the note-taking application called ZOHO Notebook in particular.
OK, back in the time machine... and now we are back in March... ahhh, March.
Bob lamented that we were not all at SXSW. Truer words were never spoken. Maybe next year we can all do a roadtrip.
Ian mentioned that John Martin has been putting together a Friday Game Design meeting in the GLS offices of Ed-Sci (room 138). Apparently campus librarians have been attending in force. Of course! The purpose is to test game designs and is not restricted to digital games. One of the very fun-sounding activities that they did included designing games from random objects. Read all about it on the ComETS Game Sig page.
Ian also let us know that the notes and materials from the EDUCAUSE Mobile Learning 2.0 meeting were still online for our viewing/reading. I was lucky to be able to attend part of the event. A big thank you to Sarah for making sure this happened locally. Like she is not busy enough already!
Jim showed the interesting site, Fuelly: http://www.fuelly.com/ It shows average mileage for many vehicles. Very useful!
Jim and Ian moved us on to talking about 4Square: http://foursquare.com/ An augmented reality phone app. What does it do? Users share geolocated information to "learn about favorite spots and new places." Ian was Mayor of College for a while. He has since retired. Life is tough at the top.
Katy (DING! New member!) noted the similarity to Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/ and also how they had gotten in trouble lately for extortion...
That is it for today. We packed all that into 45 minutes!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Next LILI IT Meeting at MERIT
Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 25th at 12-1pm.
Jim Jonas suggested moving the meeting to MERIT Library room 348. It think it sounds like a great idea!
(This is so that people can get to the Library Services Forum that starts at 1:00pm, located in room 204 Educational Sciences Building.)
See you all at MERIT on Thusday, March 25th at 12 noon!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
LILI IT Meeting Location Change - ComETS birthday party!
Hi LILI IT! Come to the ComETS birthday party, scheduled for Thursday, February 25, at 11:30am-1:30pm - in the Red Gym.
From the website: http://comets.wisc.edu/event/comets-birthday-party-membership-meeting
"Lunch and birthday cake will be provided (thanks to CIO Ron Kraemer and DoIT-Academic Technology). Please come to help us celebrate, and to engage in conversation about what ComETS is doing and to share your ideas for the future."
12:30 - 1:00 Choose a breakout table to discuss visions for the following topics at UW-Madison: • Assessment • The ComETS community • Games • Learning Management Systems / Personal Learning Environments • Media Production • Mobiles • Supporting Outreach and Public Service
From the website: http://comets.wisc.edu/event/comets-birthday-party-membership-meeting
"Lunch and birthday cake will be provided (thanks to CIO Ron Kraemer and DoIT-Academic Technology). Please come to help us celebrate, and to engage in conversation about what ComETS is doing and to share your ideas for the future."
12:30 - 1:00 Choose a breakout table to discuss visions for the following topics at UW-Madison: • Assessment • The ComETS community • Games • Learning Management Systems / Personal Learning Environments • Media Production • Mobiles • Supporting Outreach and Public Service
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Reference Retreat Table Discussion
We had a great Reference Retreat lunch table discussion today. I am hoping we can cover some of the tools we saw today again at the next meeting. Then we can add them to the blog!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
LILI IT Interest Group Meeting Notes – October 22, 2009
We met in October despite WLA conflicts and poor weather!
Bob: got us off and running with a very interesting demo of Google Sketchup. He showed us a file his daughter (an architect) had created to design an end-table. A nice design! One can design objects, add textures, obtain precise measurements of the objects, and make objects transparent for easier observation. Bob showed us that it is possible to import an image of a floorplan, then scale that image to the correct proportions, and then finally draw the walls/doors to exact scale. That is amazing! Bob finds that the "Missing Manual" for Google Sketchup by Chris Grover is a good book to use to learn this tool: http://www.amazon.com/Google-SketchUp-Missing-Chris-Grover
Jim: showed us a variety of great sources of information for staying ahead of technology change and development. The first site we visited was TWiT: http://twit.tv/ (This Week in Tech) - This site includes a series of podcasts (as well as other sources of information) focused on specific topics. Jim notes that the Leo Laporte "tech guy" podcast is very good. He also listens to "Windows Weekly" and the Macbreak Weekly podcast looks good too. From there Jim brought us to http://www.techcrunch.com/ to take a look at their site, also chock full of interesting information. in particular, Jim pointed out the TechCrunch50 Conference that they sponsor every year: http://www.techcrunch50.com/2009/companies/ At this event, top startups present their new ideas, and compete for fabulous prizes... Finally, Jim noted this very promising-looking financial application called Mint: http://www.mint.com/ It helps you manage your personal finances.
Karen: finished up the hour by showing us the NatureBreak site: http://www.naturebreak.org/NatureBreak/Nature_Break.html This site has been created by noted wildlife documentary creator Vanessa Serrao to "bring together people who love nature." There are a variety of nature themed videos to watch, including a few that are "viral" on YouTube. I will let you all ask Karen why that is... :-0
Bob: got us off and running with a very interesting demo of Google Sketchup. He showed us a file his daughter (an architect) had created to design an end-table. A nice design! One can design objects, add textures, obtain precise measurements of the objects, and make objects transparent for easier observation. Bob showed us that it is possible to import an image of a floorplan, then scale that image to the correct proportions, and then finally draw the walls/doors to exact scale. That is amazing! Bob finds that the "Missing Manual" for Google Sketchup by Chris Grover is a good book to use to learn this tool: http://www.amazon.com/Google-SketchUp-Missing-Chris-Grover
Jim: showed us a variety of great sources of information for staying ahead of technology change and development. The first site we visited was TWiT: http://twit.tv/ (This Week in Tech) - This site includes a series of podcasts (as well as other sources of information) focused on specific topics. Jim notes that the Leo Laporte "tech guy" podcast is very good. He also listens to "Windows Weekly" and the Macbreak Weekly podcast looks good too. From there Jim brought us to http://www.techcrunch.com/ to take a look at their site, also chock full of interesting information. in particular, Jim pointed out the TechCrunch50 Conference that they sponsor every year: http://www.techcrunch50.com/2009/companies/ At this event, top startups present their new ideas, and compete for fabulous prizes... Finally, Jim noted this very promising-looking financial application called Mint: http://www.mint.com/ It helps you manage your personal finances.
Karen: finished up the hour by showing us the NatureBreak site: http://www.naturebreak.org/NatureBreak/Nature_Break.html This site has been created by noted wildlife documentary creator Vanessa Serrao to "bring together people who love nature." There are a variety of nature themed videos to watch, including a few that are "viral" on YouTube. I will let you all ask Karen why that is... :-0
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
LILI IT Interest Group Meeting Notes – September 24, 2009
Here we are back for a new semester. At the September meeting we looked at and discussed several very interesting tools/technologies:
1) Jim: started off the meeting by showing us the free Prezi presentation tool: http://prezi.com/ It is really very cool! This presentation tool can replace PowerPoint, but functions in a way that is significantly different. Instead of moving sequentially through a series of slides, Prezi presentations are created as one large "screen" that can be rotated and focused in on at varying levels of magnification as a way of bundling packets of presentation information. If that makes no sense, go to the site and watch the demo. The Prezi site also include tutorials. The entire package is slick, and artistically mesmerizing. Jim notes that the presentations can live on their servers, or you can also download the file.
2) Entire group: discussed smart boards in libraries. Jim notes that the MERIT library recently purchased two smart boards, and they look like they have a variety of potential uses in library instruction. Depending on the brand/type of SB, they function differently. Some require an external device (ie. stylus) to interact with the board, and others just use the touch of a hand. Jody (welcome!) notes that in the K-12 school environment they are in use already. She notes that some come equipped with built in keyboards. Jill and Bob both mentioned that they had seen museum displays (example: Art Institute - American wing) that used these tools. They can run/display the standard computer applications too. The group noted that this looks like a promising item that libraries could experiment with in public spaces.
3) Bob mentioned a very handy desktop set-up that he had been working with. This includes two monitors with a single PC. He has also been experimenting with Windows 7 since June, and he likes it. Phil mentioned that it is possible (it looks like for students) to get the Windows7 home version for $30 if you use a university email address. Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5361767/students-get-windows-7-for-30 Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5361566/get-windows-7-home-premium-for-30-with-a-college-email-address
1) Jim: started off the meeting by showing us the free Prezi presentation tool: http://prezi.com/ It is really very cool! This presentation tool can replace PowerPoint, but functions in a way that is significantly different. Instead of moving sequentially through a series of slides, Prezi presentations are created as one large "screen" that can be rotated and focused in on at varying levels of magnification as a way of bundling packets of presentation information. If that makes no sense, go to the site and watch the demo. The Prezi site also include tutorials. The entire package is slick, and artistically mesmerizing. Jim notes that the presentations can live on their servers, or you can also download the file.
2) Entire group: discussed smart boards in libraries. Jim notes that the MERIT library recently purchased two smart boards, and they look like they have a variety of potential uses in library instruction. Depending on the brand/type of SB, they function differently. Some require an external device (ie. stylus) to interact with the board, and others just use the touch of a hand. Jody (welcome!) notes that in the K-12 school environment they are in use already. She notes that some come equipped with built in keyboards. Jill and Bob both mentioned that they had seen museum displays (example: Art Institute - American wing) that used these tools. They can run/display the standard computer applications too. The group noted that this looks like a promising item that libraries could experiment with in public spaces.
3) Bob mentioned a very handy desktop set-up that he had been working with. This includes two monitors with a single PC. He has also been experimenting with Windows 7 since June, and he likes it. Phil mentioned that it is possible (it looks like for students) to get the Windows7 home version for $30 if you use a university email address. Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5361767/students-get-windows-7-for-30 Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5361566/get-windows-7-home-premium-for-30-with-a-college-email-address
Saturday, August 29, 2009
LILI IT Interest Group Meeting Notes – August 27, 2009
Hi Everyone!
This week we had a very "short" meeting. But, we still looked a a few interesting items:
1) Nancy mentioned that the UW-Madison Center for Visual Culture is moving into Memorial Library. They have an intersting web site: http://www.visualculture.wisc.edu/
2) Ian told us about the College Library "Helen C. House Party" on September 10th: there will be lots to do (and eat): http://www.college.library.wisc.edu/party/ Ian is working on the “Bibliodefenders” game (that will be played at the party) with some of the ARIS people: https://wiki.doit.wisc.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=19300366
3) Nancy showed us the Mover iPhone app. It lets you move files from one iPhone to another very easily: http://infinite-labs.net/mover/ Cool!
This week we had a very "short" meeting. But, we still looked a a few interesting items:
1) Nancy mentioned that the UW-Madison Center for Visual Culture is moving into Memorial Library. They have an intersting web site: http://www.visualculture.wisc.edu/
2) Ian told us about the College Library "Helen C. House Party" on September 10th: there will be lots to do (and eat): http://www.college.library.wisc.edu/party/ Ian is working on the “Bibliodefenders” game (that will be played at the party) with some of the ARIS people: https://wiki.doit.wisc.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=19300366
3) Nancy showed us the Mover iPhone app. It lets you move files from one iPhone to another very easily: http://infinite-labs.net/mover/ Cool!
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