Archive for the ‘Lists’ Category

Want to create your own maps, graphs, charts, and diagrams but don’t have the software to do it? Here are five top-notch applications which will let you create professional quality data visualizations for free.

Stat Planet

Used by the UN, NASA, and many Fortune 500 companies, Stat Planet will let you create customizable, interactive maps or graphs with data you import. Check out some of these amazing examples!!

Gunn Map 2

Gunn Map 2 is a completely online application which also lets you create customizable maps with your own data. Watch this quick video to discover how to create your own maps in under 2 minutes!!

Many Eyes

Many Eyes is an online application by IBM which will let you upload data sets and create stunning visualizations with ease including bubble, bar, pie, and matrix charts, network diagrams, tree maps, word trees, tag clouds, world, country, county, and neighborhood maps, and line and stack graphs.

Gliffy

Gliffy provides pre-built templates to help you create incredibly professional-looking diagrams including: Flow Charts, Network diagrams, Floor plans, Org charts, Venn diagrams, SWOT analysis, Wireframes, Site maps, UML, Business process modeling, Technical drawings. The free version allows users to create 5 diagrams.

Creately

The free version of Creately enables users to design and store 5 diagrams which can include Venn diagrams, UI & Web mockups, Flowcharts, Organizational charts, UML diagrams, Mind maps, Network plans, SWOT analysis, Value stream maps, TQM diagrams and more.

After taking a few days off last week, I returned to find my email inbox full of hundreds of new messages, so I am looking forward to reading Whitson Gordon’s Top 10 Tricks for Dealing With Email Overload at Lifehacker. Here are the first 5 tricks to spark your interest:

1. Triage Your Email to an Empty Inbox
2. Get Rid of Unwanted Spam
3. Learn to Use the Search Function
4. Use Text Expansion to Save Yourself Hours of Typing
5. Keep It Under Control When You’re On Vacation

Cloud applications, platforms, and services are being embraced by libraries and librarians around the world. If you’re just getting started or want to learn more about this increasingly popular trend in computing, here is a collection of 21 articles, blog posts, and conference presentations to get you started:

What is Cloud Computing?

1. 7 Ways to Get Started With Cloud Computing
2. Cloud Computing: The Layperson’s Guide to Distributed Networks
3. EDUCAUSE Spotlight on Cloud Computing Now Summarized in PDFs
4. 8 Simple Ways To Share Data Online
5. 7 Things You Should Know About Organizing Files in the Cloud

 

Cloud Computing Applications

6. Top Five Cloud Applications
7. 5 Free Online Tools to Create Your Own Infographics
8. The Best Way to Store Stuff in the Cloud
9. 8 Simple Ways To Share Data Online

 

Libraries in the Cloud

10. A Cloudy Forecast for Libraries
11. Using the Cloud at Vancouver Public Library (Internet Librarian 2011 Presentation)
12. Using the Cloud to Power Library Sites & Services (Internet Librarian 2011 Presentation)
13. Usability Test of Libguides (Internet Librarian 2011 Presentation)
14. LibGuides Usability Test Part 2 (Internet Librarian 2011 Presentation)
15. Web Services: Libraries in the Cloud (Internet Librarian 2011 Presentation)
16. Libraries & The Cloud
17. Cloud Computing in Libraries

    View more presentations from Ellyssa Kroski

 

Cloud Privacy/Security

18. 5 Things You Need to Know About the Security of Google Apps
19. 3 Legal Issues to Consider When Going to the Cloud
20. Can There Ever Really Be Privacy in the Cloud?
21. How Does Google Protect Your Data in The Cloud?

As usual I’ve been posting a lot of mobile and social media related stories lately, so I decided that a roundup was in order, just in case you missed any of these previous articles and posts.

Social Media

1. How To: Fill In Your Facebook Timeline
2. 6 Best Practices for Universities Embracing Social Media
3. 20 Ways to Improve Your Google+ Knowledge
4. A Quick Guide to Getting Started with Quora
5. Apps That Free You to Work Anywhere
6. 5 Free Online Tools to Create Your Own Infographics
7. 5 Ways to Set Up A Free Personal Landing Page in 5 Minutes
8. 16 Awesome Instagram Apps & Services- Part I
9. 16 Awesome Instagram Apps & Services- Part II
10. 25+ Resources to Create Library Videos

Mobile

11. A Quick Guide to iOS 5: 12 Resources to Get You Started
12. 9 Tips for Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Users
13. 12 Mobile Check-in Applications
14. A Quick Guide to Creating Library QR Codes

Robert Bruce at Copyblogger gathers 9 Resources That Make You a Better Marketer on Twitter. If you’re using the immensely popular microblogging application to spread the news about library events, services, and collections, you’ll want to check out this post for great advice on reaching your Twitter marketing goals. Here are just a few of the recommended resources

• The Art of Writing Great Twitter Headlines
• The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Marketing
• Here’s Hard Data for Headlines that Spread on Twitter

Debbie Hemley at the Social Media Examiner discusses 20 Ways to Improve Your Google+ Knowledge. The new social network by the search engine giant is fast becoming a major player in the social networking community. This quick primer will get you up and running in no time! Here are just 5 of her helpful recommendations:

• #1: First things first: Get started with Google+
• #2: Engage and learn
• #3: Watch and learn
• #4: Use Google+ Help
• #5: Spark interest on Google+

Jacob Gube at Mashable gathers 22 Essential Tools for Testing Your Website’s Usability. If you’re looking for tools to inform a user-centered design and the best possible website navigability you’ll want to check out these stellar tools which are divided into the following categories:

• User Task Analysis
• Readability
• Site Navigability
• Accessibility
• Website Speed
• User Experience

Looking for ways to make yourself stand out amidst the millions of online profiles and portfolios in the information world? Here are a few tips to amp up your profiles and suggestions for how to make stellar status updates:

Profile Tips

Here are some quick recommendations to improve your profiles on social networking sites.

1. Cross-Link Profiles: Make it easy for people to find you everywhere by linking to all your other profiles on each new social network you join. Link to all your social profiles as well as your blog, your website, etc.
2. Highlight Your Job: You’ll want to list your current and past positions so that others in your field can identify you. Oftentimes I come across someone’s account and I’m not sure it’s the same person I met at a conference or event until I see the library or organization where they work. If your goal is professional networking, you will definitely want to list your place(s) of employment.
3. Use One Image: If you use the same profile image across networks it sets up a very consistent presence and helps people recognize you. It also removes any doubt that you are indeed the same person they friended on another network.
4. Use Good Judgment: You want your profile to reflect your personality, but we don’t need to know everything!! You’ll want to consider what your current or potential boss will think of each activity and photo you post.
5. Get the Vanity URL: Claim your vanity URL when possible. Many social networks will now allow you to create an easily memorable url to point people to your profile such as: facebook.com/ellyssa. This makes it much easier for people to friend you and join your network.
6. Use Privacy Settings: Balance the personal and the professional by using Friends Lists and other privacy settings in Facebook and other networks. Save those photos of your scandalous Halloween costume or your beer pong tournament triumph for your close friends.
7. Create Backgrounds: A great way to stand out from the crowd is to create a custom background. Many social networks, such as Twitter will let you do this relatively easily and there are oftentimes tutorials online for how to create them.
8. Create One Bio: Develop a “master” bio statement for yourself consisting of a brief paragraph describing your current position and any current or past achievements or accolades. Based on this paragraph also create a quick, one-sentence “blurb” summarizing yourself. Save both of these bios and use them in your profile descriptions across all social networks.
9. Look for New Friends: Pay attention to the “People You May Know” section on social sites to build your network. Look through your networks’ connections lists on LinkedIn and other sites to see if there are people you might know or what to know.
10. Join Groups: Join or create groups and get connected to other people with similar education or interests.

 



Status Update Tips

Need some ideas for what to post about on your professional social profiles? Here are some suggestions:

11. Professional Development Activities: If you’ll be going to a conference, taking a class, speaking at an event, etc. post about it and provide a link so others can see where you’re going.
12. Links to Presentations: If you’ll be presenting a paper at an event, for a class, or to giving a workshop to your library patrons, post to your presentation on Slideshare or your paper.
13. Links to Articles/Papers: If you’ve written an article or paper, share it with your network and let them see what you’ve been working on.
14. Travel Photos: If you’ve been traveling for business or pleasure, post up some photos for your network to see.
15. Show Your Personality!: Post about TV shows you’re watching, music you’re listening to, hobbies you’re interested in, or games you’re playing, etc.
16. Shout-Outs: Mention (and link to) other people in your status updates by using the @ functionality in Facebook and Twitter. Also, make some comments on other people’s updates, write some recommendations on LinkedIn.
17. Re-purpose Your Content: Link to your blog posts (Or have them fed in automatically using third-party apps like TwitterFeed), have your Facebook updates appear in Twitter or in your Tumblog or FriendFeed lifestream. Use applications such as HootSuite to post the same status update, photo, video, or link to multiple social networks at the same time.

Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers gathers 7 Good Screen Capture Tools for Teachers. These are all great applications that can be used to quickly and easily create instructional screencasts. Here are his top four:

1. Jing
2. Show Me What’s Wrong
3. Screenr
4. Sketchcast

Infographics and data visualizations have become incredibly popular ways to impart information while keeping your audience engaged. As a result, a slew of user-friendly, free online applications have been created which enable users to create their own information graphics. Here are five such tools that I think are particularly valuable:

Wordle - Create beautiful and fully customizable word clouds with this free tool. Simply paste in your text and click “Go”, or specify your own color scheme, layout, and fonts.

Instantly create a word cloud for your blog or website by entering the RSS feed! Here’s a Wordle for iLibrarian:

Visual.ly is a brand new online application which allows you to create detailed data visualizations and infographics such as the one below. They are still in private beta-testing, however you can sign up for an invite now. And in the meantime, you can browse the Showcase of over 3,500 of the best infographics on the Web.

Twitter Visualizer – This fun tool quickly creates a personalized infographic of your Twitter persona based on what you tweet. You can create a solo infographic such as the one created for me below, or compare yourself to tweeting celebrities.

Creately let’s you build organized concept maps, flowcharts, and diagrams for free. Although they do have subscription packages, users can create 5 public diagrams with the free account. They offer an easy-to-use interface with drag and drop shapes that will have you mind mapping in seconds.

Tagxedo - Create a beautifully shaped word cloud from your blog, tweets, delicious tags, news topic, or any RSS feed. Tagxedo lets you customize words into stunning images.

Visualize.me syncs with your LinkedIn account to create a stunning infographic of your experience, education, and skills. You can customize how much or how little is displayed within the easy editing interface. Fonts, colors, and backgrounds are all editable as well. Each position and educational entry can be moused-over to view the full job/school description that is found on LinkedIn.

David Strom at ReadWriteWeb provides tips on 7 Ways to Get Started With Cloud Computing. This helpful post discusses a variety of ways to dabble in the cloud domain for those of you who are still unfamiliar with these services. Here are the seven ways covered in the article:

1. Set up a Google Docs account
2. Do the same thing for Box.net
3. Use one of the cloud-based spreadsheet programs
4. Use the Salesforce for Intuit QuickBooks
5. Windows Live Mesh
6. Set up a server on Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
7. Setup two Windows machines on Cloudshare.com

Cindy King at the Social Media Examiner gathers up 34 Google+ Resources for Your Business. If you’re wondering how you can leverage this new popular social network for your organization, you’ll want to check out this post. The resources are organized into the following sections:

• What’s Google+?
• How to Get Started on Google+
• What Businesses Need to Know About Google+
• What’s Different in Google+
• How to Find Friends
• How to Get the Most Out of Google+
• Google+ Tips
• Connect Google+ With Other Social Platforms
• Google+ Resources

Linda W. Braun, Project Management and Consulting Coordinator for LEO, a library consulting firm, writes for the latest issue of School Libary Journal about The Enablers: Apps that free you to work anywhere. This excellent article reviews the best mobile apps for supporting the day-to-day work of librarians and educators as well as students. The applications covered are organized into the following categories:

• Writing and Research Apps
• Apps for Media Creation
• Photos
• Keeping Up
• Being Productive

Instagram, the mobile photo-sharing app for the iPhone and now iPad has spread like wildfire with over 7 million users sharing 150 million photos. This immensely addictive little app enables users to snap photos with their devices, add fun and transformative filters, and then share them on social networks such as Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter. Its burgeoning popularity has brought with it a slew of third-party apps to enhance your Instagram experience. Here are 16 of the best:

Instagallery

Cost: 1.99
Browse Instagram pics in a gallery on your iPhone or iPad with this handy app. “Like” photos or view the ones you’ve liked. Create and view slideshows that can be set to auto-repeat on iPads.

Instaprint

Cost: $5000+ (includes rental of boxes, iPhones, iPads, laptop, photo hosting, & Instaprint crew to work the event)
Rent Instaprint boxes for your next special event which will print out Polaroid-like photos taken with Instagram. This new service strives to be the modern-day photo booth.

Postagram & Instapost

Cost: $Free
Send actual print postcards with personalized notes made from your Instagram photos with these apps. With Postagram, recipients can pop out the photo from the postcard to keep. Postcards are $.99 to send.

Artflakes

Cost: $20.86 for 10 stickers
Make 4″x4″ stickers of your Instagram photos. Stickers are fully removable.

Instabam

Cost: $Free
This handy application displays Instagram pics taken near your location. When used from your phone, it will auto-detect your location.

Prinstagr.am

Cost: $25 per poster
Turn your Instagram photos into a high-quality 20″ x 40″ poster. The poster can fit anywhere between 50-400 photos.

Instakitty

Cost: $Free
View a stream of feline-only Instagram pics on this popular website.

This past week has been a busy one in the library technology realm, be sure you’re caught up on all that’s happening with this roundup of the 15 top stories you might not have seen:

E-Books

1. The Evolving Book Group: New Formats Mean More Engagement
2. Overdrive’s Top 25 Most Downloaded Titles
3. Integrating Library Borrowing into eReaders

Mobile

4. A Quick Guide to Creating Library QR Codes
5. Five Types of “Tips” Nonprofits Can Post on Foursquare Venue Pages
6. What are mobile friendly library databases offering? A survey
7. 20 Coolest iPad Ideas for Your Library

Social Media

8. 15 Case Studies to Get Your Library Director On Board With Social Media
9. AL Direct – August 31, 2011
10. Cool Tools: Digital Aids for Staying Organized
11. 25+ Resources to Create Library Videos

Gaming

12. Becoming Lore Keepers

Misc.

13. What IT Professionals Can Learn from Librarians
14. Practical IT Security In Libraries
15. Social Metadata for Libraries, Archives and Museums

Please send library and technology related stories for next week’s feature to ellyssakroski@yahoo.com!!!!