Evaluating 23 Mobile Things (the end!)

• Go back to your thoughts/ideas about  mobile devices and apps. Has anything changed as a result of this experience?  I would say the #1 thing that changed for me was my view of mobile devices not just as a personal tool, but as a tool that could be used professionally as well.  As librarians, we often limit ourselves to recommending or suggesting resources we own or license in our own collection.  Who's to say we can't recommend the Audiobooks app for our patrons clamoring for classic audiobooks in our Digital Library?  Or the SignNow app for patrons who don't want to pay for our fax service?  It goes back to my first post about building connections.  Librarians using apps or recommending apps for patrons may be nontraditional connections, but they work! 
• What were your favorite Things and discoveries? So tough to choose!  I loved the hobbies app, because it made me take the time to use an app I've been meaning to use forever.  Fooducate was one of my favorite personal discoveries that I've incorporated into my every day routine.  Professionally?  Thank goodness for discovering HootSuite and Pinterest!  I also enjoyed documents, video, and presentations.  Overall, Libraries & Reference was probably my favorite Thing, because I got to share some of my thoughts on apps I am pretty proficient in, as well as learn info I was able to apply to my work the next day. Plus, fingers crossed for AskMN....
• How did you connect with others doing the 23 Mobile Things? I loved following the blogs of people I know, as well as discovering new ideas and friends via Twitter.  Oftentimes when I was stuck on a specific Thing, I would troll others' blogs for inspiration.  
• Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?  I didn't expect how much I would make connections between the apps I was discovering and how to use them professionally.  Or the trickle down effect it would have on my creativity.  An app got me thinking about presentations, which got me thinking about creating a new class, etc.  I also didn't expect how much I would look forward to this program.  I started out with the goal of one app/week for the duration of the program.  I thought I would look at it as more homework than I did, and would need that checklist to keep myself on track.  And here I am, WAY ahead of schedule.  I was having too much fun...or too many snowdays, or both!
• What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or content? Seriously, the only thing I would say is limit choices so I don't have to make decisions! :)
• If we offered a another 23 Things program like this in the future would you participate? Yes, yes, yes! 
• How would you describe your learning experience in one word or in one sentence, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities to others? Refreshing!  This program definitely freshened up my attitude towards work, my outlook on ways libraries can be involved, ideas for programs and connecting, what qualifies as resources, and more. 

Hobbies (Thing #19)

Hobbies...other than reading you mean?  Well, then that would be mixed marital arts (MMA), specifically the sports' biggest organization, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).  I love it.  I watch it on TV and live, I read and watch the news stories all week long, I follow fighters and journalists on Twitter.  Basically, I just can't get enough.  If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know this about me.  If you don't know that about me, it might come as a shock.  A librarian who loves to watch some of the most athletic guys in the world fight in the cage?  Yep. In my opinion, its the best sport for fans, hands down!

iJudge Fights


iJudge Fights is an app that lets the fans judge fights for themselves (round by round) as they are happening, and then compare your score to other users and experts.  It covers all of the major MMA organizations: UFC, Bellator,  Invicta, and more.

I tried this app for the first time more than a year ago, but it kept freezing up and not submitting my votes so I deleted it.  I decided last weekend's UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Henderson II was a good time to try it again!

Starting with the first fight on the fight card, all the way to the last.

Fights can be stopped a number of ways: a fighter is knocked out, goes unconscious due to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu hold, taps out due to a BJJ hold, doctor stoppage, the ref steps in, etc.  If the fight goes the distance, the winner is determined by the judges' scores.

Following the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, bouts are typically three 5-minute rounds, with championship fights at five 5-minute rounds.  It is a 10 point must scoring system, with the winner of a round scoring 10 points, and the loser scoring 9 or less.  Rounds are scored based on: effective striking, grappling, agression, and cage control.  At the end of the fight, the judges submit their total scores for each fighter.

This was the fight card lineup for UFC Fight Night last week, with the main event listed at the top and going down from there.

This app allows fans to judge fights round by round, giving 10 points to the round's winner and 9 or less to the loser. You also can move the slider in the middle for grappling, striking, agression, and cage control.  In Round 1 below, my opinion was that Prazeres did all 4 better and completely, so I moved all the sliders 100% over to his side.

After you submit your opinion for each round, you can see how your judging stacked up against the iJudge Fights consensus, the experts, and your friends.  

If a fight doesn't go the distance (complete all 3 or 5 rounds), and gets stopped due to tapout or referee stoppage, you "report a stoppage" and then judge the timing of the stoppage and rate the finish from 1-10.  Judging the timing of the stoppage means, did the referee step in too early because the fighter could have recovered?  Did he step in too late because the fighter was clearly injured or knocked unconscious?  Did the ref step in at the right time?  And finish points really is a matter of opinion.  Was it a flashy KO?  Will we be talking about that submission a year from now?  I tend to be much stricter on my finish points than my husband.

At the end of the card, you supposedly can vote for Best of the Night (Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night, Knockout of the Night? or the new Performance of the Night?).  I couldn't get this part of the app to load?  I'll try it again next time.

All in all, this app gets two huge thumbs up from me!  We loved having this app out to play along throughout the fight card, get involved, and see how good we are at seeing what is happening in the fight.

Discovering apps (Thing #22)

Droid of the Day
I've had the Droid of the Day app on my phone for more than a week now.  Each morning I wake up with an alert on my phone telling me what the app of the day is.  From the Dormi Baby Monitor to a game with physics (Domingos) to Mixology drink recipes, this app certainly gives you a variety.  You can also access the list of previous DOTD apps.  You're bound to stumble across something you just have to have...eventually! And in the meantime, you can laugh at all the stuff people spend their time creating, so others can spend their time wasting!

Quixey

This app is more my speed.  I guess there's not a lot of browsing or serendipitous use on my phone.  Usually, I know what I'm looking for.  It's nice to know if there's an app I'm looking for, Quixey is the app to find it.  I'm guessing many of the apps for 23 Mobile Things MN were discovered using this app?

20 down...

3 to go!

Free-for-all fun! (Thing #21)

Necessary apps
Apps I couldn't live without?  All pretty simple ones that help me live my life on the go...Gmail, Wells Fargo (to find the nearest ATM), Walgreens (to reorder prescriptions), Redbox, Target, and DirecTV (for those panic moments when I forget to record my must-see shows!).  I would guess most participants have similar apps for brands/companies of their choice.

Apps I love
The apps that 23 Mobile Things MN didn't include, that I love, and that I think a lot of other librarians use or would love to use ...Goodreads and IMDB.  Because if there's one thing librarians love more than books or movies, its making lists of books and movies.  We love to organize, review, and rate content.  We love discovery tools.  And these apps do both.  I have no idea how I would keep track of what books and movies I have read/seen, want to see/read, am currently reading/watching without these apps!  Goodreds especially also has the social element so that you can share your choices, opinions and reviews with friends.

Newly discovered cool apps
Finally, I attended the LibTech Conference at Macalester last week, and learned about two cool new apps I am looking forward to incorporating into my work life. At the "When Every Student has an iPad: Impact on the Library" session, librarians from Globe University discussed how they incorporated iPads in their info lit instruction sessions after their campus' initiative to issue every student an iPad.  Namely, they use Socrative and  Nearpod, both interactive student response systems.  As they said, if you give students an iPad in class, but don't give them something to do with it, you will lose them as they will be using the iPad for Facebook, surfing the web, etc. By incorporating interactive presentations into your lessons, and allowing students to monitor their own understanding, they are engaged in the learning process.   Our library system owns a handful of Nook Colors, which both of these apps are compatible on, and users often have their own devices.  Though I don't have "students" per say, I can see myself using either or both of these apps in staff or patron training.  Actually, I can't wait for my next training opportunity to try these out!

Games (Thing #20)

I'm doing Thing #20 out of order, because I found a really cool new app I want to try out for my hobby (#19), but that has to wait until tomorrow.  So...

I love game nights with friends and family, playing CatchPhrase, Taboo, Wits & Wagers, Bezzerwizzer, and more.  Computer games is a completely different story.   I'm constantly getting invites from people to play Candy Crush, Mafia Wars, etc.  Of those, I've tried just Dice with Buddies & Words with Friends, that I play for a while and enjoy, but the truth is, I'm not much of a computer games person.

Word Games definitely hold the most appeal to me, so I tried Word Collapse.  I would've tried Wordmaster too, but it wasn't compatible with my device.  For what Word Collapse was, it was pretty fun!  

You are given a puzzle that contains hidden words based on a theme.  Your job is to find the hidden theme words within the puzzle, and do so in the right order.  As you find words and select them, those letter tiles disappear and the remaining tiles move together.  If you eliminate words in the wrong order and run out of moves, you have to start over at the beginning of that level.  Word Collapse reminded me of the Bejeweled, except for with letters not shapes?  There are 10, 20, or 35 levels within each theme, with more letters in the puzzle and more words to find within the puzzle as you increase in level.  The "starter pack" or free version of the game has 15 themes for 185 puzzles.  It didn't take me much longer than 10 minutes to complete the first three themes of animals, fruit, and cities, so I'd guess it won't take me very long before I complete the free version completely.

Education (Thing #18)

Seriously, Things with so many app options to choose from are terrible for the decisively challenged like me!  So many of the apps appeal to me, so I end up trying a handful.  Here are the Education apps I found that I could see myself keeping on my device for personal/fun reasons.

Advanced English Dictionary & Thesaurus
Simple app for the basic function of dictionary and thesaurus.  Some entries have more in their WordNet than others.

Wordnet options include: Related to, Similar to, Hypernyms, Hyponyms, Holonyms, Domains, Meronyms, A value of, Antonyms, and probably more.  In all honesty, I didn't even know what the definition of some of the WordNet options were, so I used the app to find the definition!  Did you know that a hyponym is a more specific version of another word?  i.e. beagle is a hyponym of dog, tulip is a hyponym of flower.

Within this app, I probably would only use the definition, similar to, and antonyms options.   Otheriwse, I can see myself getting stuck in a vicious cycle down the rabbit hole following the WordNet trail.

B-Rhymes Dictionary
A fun app for finding rhymes of words.  You can search for a word you have in mind or 'roll the dice' and B-Rhymes will generate a random word and its rhymes for you.   As the app itself says, these are not A-Rhymes, but B-Rhymes, or almost rhymes.

Once you have selected a word, B-rhymes generates a list of words for you.  The rhyming words are broken down into their parts, and color coded based on how well they rhyme with your original word. 

Though it's a fun app, I don't know how applicable this would be to my life.  Maybe when you read a word, but don't know how it is pronounced?  Rather than looking up the phonetic spelling?  It probably would be more helpful for kids' lit authors, poets, songwriters, etc.  I'm pretty sure my family would consider it cheating if I pulled out the B-rhymes app when I draw the "Words that rhyme with luck" card playing Outburst...

Fooducate

Holy cow do I LOVE this app.  It is a great place to check the nutritional value of foods you are eating, track what you are eating, and find healthier alternatives.  It would be a great weight loss tool, though its also awesome for someone like me who simply wants to eat a balanced and healthy diet.  (Also a great educational tool for my husband who thinks the blueberries in yoghurt count as a serving of fruit!)

To start, you are asked for basic info about yourself: gender, age, height, weight, activity level, if you want to lose weight or not.

From there, you can scan a UPC code, keyword search, or browse for a food item.  Each product has a rating from A-F.  You can view explanations for the rating, the nutritional values for the product, and healthier alternatives.   You can see the info for my chocolate chip bagel below.

If you choose to eat something you can add it to your Health Tracker.  The main screen of Health Tracker shows a snapshot of your diet for the day, calorie goals, calories consumed, calories burned, and how many you have left.  This is the awesome (not so healthy) food I've eaten on my Saturday on the go.

In addition to food items you've eaten, you can also add exercise, water, notes, and your weight to you your Health Tracker.

The more detailed screen of your Health Tracker shows your daily summary.  This includes info about your food grades/calorie quality, calories, foodpoints, carbs/protein/fat breakdown, and "real foods" breakdown which measures how processed your food was.

If you continue to use Fooducate, you can use Health Tracker to track your progress, among the same measures as above.

I definitely will continue to use Fooducate!  My goal will be to always have an average daily food grade of B or higher.  My poor husband...this is going to drive him nuts! 

Connecting to Community (Thing #17)

Minnesota 511

This app is a must-have for all Minnesotans.  It has been on my phone for years, and I check it every morning in the winter, before even rolling out of bed.  I am a chicken winter driver, so days like today, I am constantly opening it up on my phone to reassure myself that things have not gotten worse! Though I primarily use the app to check winter driving conditions, you can also view road reports, cameras, and traffic conditions.  Road reports include construction, accidents, closures, restrictions, and other miscellaneous pertinent info. 

In my use, I've found the winter driving conditions to be fairly accurate.   The different levels include:

-Good-green

-Fair-blue

-Difficult-light purple

-Hazardous/travel not advised- dark purple

If you click to see more detail, you can also see when the conditions were last updated.  They usually are reported early morning and late evening, or if conditions change throughout the day.  

Stay safe on the MN roads!

MN Museums

What a fun little app! I love all sorts of museums, and am constantly dragging my husband to them.  I'm sure he will not be thrilled that I now have a new way to discover new ones! The best part about the app is that it includes museums as large as the Science Museum of MN all the way down to museums as small as the Moody Round Barn in Chisago City, where I work. I don't think I'd ever use the add photos feature, but I like being able to check off museums I've visited, as well as add ones I really would like to visit to my itinerary. The app has all the pertinent info a visitor would need to know for each museum: directions, address, and links to the website.   You can browse by type of museum or search by location or category, both great ways to discover new places to visit.  

Badge 15

Chuggin' along!  Here's the badge for 15 things!

Audio (Thing #16)

Audioboo

Recording a boo on Audioboo is simple; click on record.  You can pause as many times as you need to within the 3:00 minute recording window.  Then, you can save the draft boo or publish it.  I found it weird that Audioboo put a random name in for my boo every time I recorded; the first one was "Sunnyboo."  Of course I had the option to edit it, but why wouldn't the app just leave it blank for me to change?  Once you click on publish, you can also add one picture as a background to your boo, describe your boo, and select a boo category, such as business, celebrities, etc.  Then you can save and upload your boo to Audioboo.  Once published, the boo is easy to share via email or social networks.  It's also easy to delete a boo, like the test boo I created.

Finding content via Audioboo is much less fun fun.  Perhaps is you know someone is using Audioboo you could follow them, but searching or browsing resulted in less than desirable results.

ipadio

I don't see myself ever making an audio recording via phone.  Recording via audio is simple, as is editing the  clip, adding images, title, summary, and tags.  What I don't understand is why it defaults to geo-locating your device and including that as part of the phonecast info, if other users can't find my content via location.

It is also easy to upload, though you do have to go to the website version if ipadio to share your content via link.  I also appreciate that you can make your broadcasts private, though that setting also is not easy to find.  You can access your uploaded broadcasts on the app at a later time, just not share them.  The ipadio app also does not have the ability to browse or search for other content, though the website does.

The online world seems to think ipadio is preferable to Audioboo.  I disagree.  But really, why use either when there's a better alternative to both?  The better alternative is what I discovered in SoundCloud.

SoundCloud
SoundCloud has all of the benefits of Audioboo and ipadio and none of the negatives.  It really is a "huge social sound platform," with content from news outlets, comedians, musicians and more.  Many of the podcasts I listen to are available on SoundCloud, all in one place.  Rather than having to remember to go to the podcast website, all I have to do is follow the stream on SoundCloud and the feed will update when new episodes are released.  It is also easy to search and browse for new content, as well as create playlists.

Most of the libraries I found on SoundCloud were music libraries, understandably so.

SoundCloud is also extremely easy to record audio of your own, to edit and add an image, to make public or private, and to share your published audio.

Audio in libraries.  I can see this being implemented in a teen Summer Reading Program, where teens submit book talks on SoundCloud and share the link with the library as an entry into teen drawings.  SoundCloud could also be used to create a podcast for employees, to share updates or need to know information.  We could do a quick interview with an upcoming artist or author to promote their Legacy program.  Another possibility is for instructions or tutorials, but I don't know that audio alone is as effective as having a video or visual element.  Interviewing staff for historical record would be great as well.  I don't know that these are realistic in the immediate future, but they are nice to brainstorm, especially knowing that you have a solid app in SoundCloud just waiting to be used! 

Infographics (Thing #15)

I Visual Info Touch

I love how this app is "designed specifically for tablets," but it is compatible with my Galaxy S4 and Infographics Hub is not.  Bummer.  Infographics Hub sounded awesome!  

After I watched the tutorial, I created a basic infographic.  Though the features are easy to use, there aren't many so you really are limited to creating very basic infographics.  Nothing more sophisticated than I could create in Word, PPT, or Publisher.  In addition, they were right when they said the app was designed for tablets.  The screen doesn't format correctly to my phone, so the buttons are really small  and hard to manipulate.  Rotating the screen doesn't change the orientation either. 

Nonetheless. My infographic.  (Based off of their example of social media channels in the tutorial)

Videos (Thing #14)

As spring rolls around, public librarians everywhere start planning their school visits to pump kids up for Summer Reading Program.  And I start planning my SRP video.

Two years ago, I was splitting my time between two libraries, and just didn't have the time to make school visits at my soon to be library home.  So, I decided to make a SRP promo video instead.  The school media specialist showed it to each of the classrooms at the two elementary schools in our service area.  And it was a hit!  All summer long, kids came into the library, "Hey, you're from that video!"

So, the SRP Youtube video stuck.  Now, instead of hitting a few classrooms here and there, one grade and not another, or one school instead of another, the video gets show to each elementary classroom at the two schools in the last week before school ends.  Having this option removes the logistical nightmare of  my schedule vs. the teachers, cuts back on my time spent, AND (major bonus) guarantees that every child in the service area is reached.  Our SRP numbers have risen each year, and I think it is at least partially attributed to the video.

That said, I was excited to find a new app to spruce up this year's video!

Socialcam
Socialcam was the perfect choice for me to try, because of the lack of time limits. 6, 30, or even 45 seconds isn't enough for my purposes.

Or not... the Socialcam for Android is a major bust.  Apparently its compatibility depends on your Android, but either way it doesn't offer the full featured app that iOS has.  On my Galaxy S4, I couldn't change filters or edit the video after it was taken.  No adding music or tagging people.  Just title, public or private, and share.

As it exists, Socialcam is no different than uploading an uncut video to YouTube.

Thus began my search for a no time limit free video editing/recoring app app.  I tried WeVideo, QikCam, and countless others I can't even remember!  I scoured other 23 Mobile Things MN blogs.  Nothing was doing it.

And then, I looked at what was already on my phone...tadaa!

Samsung Video Editor

With Samsung Video Editor you can upload previous videos or record new ones.

You can choose from a handful of themes: romance, action, travel, family, and party.  Or you can go with no theme at all.Once you have selected the theme, you can title the video.  Then you can drag and add various clips (photo, video, audio) or record a new video.  Once you have added the various components to your video, you go back to the review screen where you can edit things such as background music, video volume, filter effects, clip sections, and add transitions.


Samsung Video Editor also has an Auto edit feature based on the length you want the video to be, which works surprisingly well.

Exporting the video takes quite a bit of time, but then can be shared anywhere via MP4 format.

I definitely will be using Samsung Video Editor for my SRP video this year!