Okay, in this post I am trying out the option of embedding JavaScript. It appears that it inserts a "View Survey" link. When you click on it your survey will open on a new layer above your website and will disappear when the user is finished. This way your user never has to leave your site!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Twtpoll
Here is an example of a Twtpoll poll. In this case I have embedded it in my blog post. I could have embedded it in my blog sidebar or on a regular web page. I also had a choice of what to embed: just the question, just the response, or both. I was also given the option of sharing this poll via Twitter, Facebook, or Google Buzz.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Popup Survey
I have embedded code in this post that should cause a window to pop up and invite you to take a survey when you view this page. This was done using SurveyMonkey. Personally, I don't like windows popping up and asking me to take polls -- I'd rather there be a static link on a web page asking me to take a poll -- but I thought I should at least see how this works.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thing #36: Flickr Revisited
I haven't posted anything to my Flickr account for awhile, so theoretically Option 2 was available to me. I feel like I am pretty comfortable using Flickr though, so I chose Option 1. I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed watching the WebJunction recording of Library Images: Engage, Inspire and Tell your Story.
I was really impressed with the way the Lester Public Library director used photography and Flickr as a way to simultaneously familiarize himself with his new community, contribute to the community, and promote the library. What a win-win situation!
I think one comment he made early on in the presentation is particularly noteworthy. He mentioned the fact that before moving to the community he'd looked online for pictures of it and hadn't found many.
Think about this for a minute. It just makes sense, doesn't? In this day and age, just about everyone is going to go online to see what they can find out about a community before moving to it. As librarians, wouldn't it be great if we could "hook" people before they even move to our community?
If I was getting ready to move to a community and the local library had an active and appealing online presence, it would certainly predispose me to make the library one of the first community resources I plugged into when I arrived! And if the library's online presence made it seem like a vibrant, friendly, helpful place, maybe I'd even call or email with re-location questions before my move!
I think it is also worth noting what the director said at the beginning of his presentation -- that before moving to Two Rivers, his social networking experience was pretty much limited to posting to his former library's blog. Now, just a few years later, because he wasn't afraid to try something new, he is considered a social networking expert in his community! It's a good reminder to all of us that just because we haven't done something in the past, doesn't mean we can't do it in the future.
I was really impressed with the way the Lester Public Library director used photography and Flickr as a way to simultaneously familiarize himself with his new community, contribute to the community, and promote the library. What a win-win situation!
I think one comment he made early on in the presentation is particularly noteworthy. He mentioned the fact that before moving to the community he'd looked online for pictures of it and hadn't found many.
Think about this for a minute. It just makes sense, doesn't? In this day and age, just about everyone is going to go online to see what they can find out about a community before moving to it. As librarians, wouldn't it be great if we could "hook" people before they even move to our community?
If I was getting ready to move to a community and the local library had an active and appealing online presence, it would certainly predispose me to make the library one of the first community resources I plugged into when I arrived! And if the library's online presence made it seem like a vibrant, friendly, helpful place, maybe I'd even call or email with re-location questions before my move!
I think it is also worth noting what the director said at the beginning of his presentation -- that before moving to Two Rivers, his social networking experience was pretty much limited to posting to his former library's blog. Now, just a few years later, because he wasn't afraid to try something new, he is considered a social networking expert in his community! It's a good reminder to all of us that just because we haven't done something in the past, doesn't mean we can't do it in the future.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Thing #35: Wakoopa
In order to do this Thing, I signed up for Wakoopa, but I didn't download the tracking software. At work my machine is locked down and I would have had to ask someone on the computer team to download it for me; and at home I share a computer with two other people and pretty much know what programs we use.
I added Michael Sauers as a contact with no problem. I wasn't able to figure out how to join "the librarians group" (per step 2 of the assignment) but I was able to join "the librarians team" (per step 3). (Maybe those are the same thing? Michael?)
My Wakoopa username is bluedonkey.
As far as my thoughts on Wakoopa, I don't see myself using it to track my own software usage, just because I don't tend to use a huge number of programs. I can actually see it being useful in a public computer lab, however, particularly if you want to get a good sense of what sorts of online activities are popular. These sorts of statistics could not only help you with software purchase and management decisions, they could also help you tell the story of how your library serves its customers and give you programming ideas.
One feature of Wakoopa that interested me was the ability to browse software by categories. What a great way to get ideas about new software to try, especially if other Wakoopa users have reviewed the software. Plus, it's nice to know how many Wakoopa users have used a particular piece of software before trying it.
When browsing the software categories, I did find myself wishing for a bit more granularity. Some categories seemed perfectly sufficient, but other times the software listed in a particular category did such a variety of different things, that I wished for subcategories.
In trying to use Wakoopa to search for potentially useful software, I found that search wasn't as powerful as I'd like (you can filter your results by platform, category, license, price, and users after the fact, which is cool, but I'd like to be able to apply some of these ahead of time). I am not really complaining, since I am well aware that I'm not using Wakoopa the way it's designed to be used. I know I'm supposed to track my own software usage, and that based on that usage Wakoopa will suggest similar software for me to try. I'm sort of doing an end-run around that mechanism. Still, it's been interesting.
I did go in this morning with the intention of writing a review. I looked all over for where I could do this, but couldn't find anything. Eventually, in the Awards area, I saw that you could "Write a review for an app you've used over 1 hour" and earn 5 points. I'm guessing that if I was actually tracking my software usage, I'd get an option to review a program after an hour of use. Makes sense.
One final comment -- It's interesting to see the ranked list of software used by the librarians group. This past week Facebook was first, but WorldCat did show up at #9!
I added Michael Sauers as a contact with no problem. I wasn't able to figure out how to join "the librarians group" (per step 2 of the assignment) but I was able to join "the librarians team" (per step 3). (Maybe those are the same thing? Michael?)
My Wakoopa username is bluedonkey.
As far as my thoughts on Wakoopa, I don't see myself using it to track my own software usage, just because I don't tend to use a huge number of programs. I can actually see it being useful in a public computer lab, however, particularly if you want to get a good sense of what sorts of online activities are popular. These sorts of statistics could not only help you with software purchase and management decisions, they could also help you tell the story of how your library serves its customers and give you programming ideas.
One feature of Wakoopa that interested me was the ability to browse software by categories. What a great way to get ideas about new software to try, especially if other Wakoopa users have reviewed the software. Plus, it's nice to know how many Wakoopa users have used a particular piece of software before trying it.
When browsing the software categories, I did find myself wishing for a bit more granularity. Some categories seemed perfectly sufficient, but other times the software listed in a particular category did such a variety of different things, that I wished for subcategories.
In trying to use Wakoopa to search for potentially useful software, I found that search wasn't as powerful as I'd like (you can filter your results by platform, category, license, price, and users after the fact, which is cool, but I'd like to be able to apply some of these ahead of time). I am not really complaining, since I am well aware that I'm not using Wakoopa the way it's designed to be used. I know I'm supposed to track my own software usage, and that based on that usage Wakoopa will suggest similar software for me to try. I'm sort of doing an end-run around that mechanism. Still, it's been interesting.
I did go in this morning with the intention of writing a review. I looked all over for where I could do this, but couldn't find anything. Eventually, in the Awards area, I saw that you could "Write a review for an app you've used over 1 hour" and earn 5 points. I'm guessing that if I was actually tracking my software usage, I'd get an option to review a program after an hour of use. Makes sense.
One final comment -- It's interesting to see the ranked list of software used by the librarians group. This past week Facebook was first, but WorldCat did show up at #9!
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