Beyond Method #8: Screenshots

I did like the look of these very much. I often watch videos on youtube or on ehow about how to do something, like spackling the ceiling for example. I find them very helpful since you can stop the video and replay that part until you figure it out. I wonder if all cookbooks will use those eventually for trickier methods, so we may not have to learn those kinds of tasks by reading anymore!

I used Screenr, the cloud tool. I was disappointed in that all it seemed to do was record, and there seemed to be no option for me to edit it or add pointers or text boxes to the recording. I did create an account, and this screenshot is registered to my account, but I saw no place for me to edit it. (Perhaps I was missing something.) But doing even such a simple procedure (setting up a Yahoo mail) showed me that there were things that you don't foresee - like how big the screen has to be, what about if the person has some errors, etc. I like the idea of taking more time to script a screenshot, and be able to have graphics and audio on it to make more of an impact.
When I first tried this, I went over the time because I was talking too much! And the voice over could use some brushing up. But it was fun to create.

Although we are not using screenshots at this point, I'm sure we will be using them in the near future.

Beyond Method #7: Next Gen Presentation

I chose Sliderocket for my presentation, and since I had no old presentations to use, I went ahead and created 5 slides about things I like about Houston, which is 30 miles away from me. The free version of Sliderocket unfortunately doesn't have any audio capability (except you can embed videos) so I used video, pictures and URL's. I found, like the review we read, that Sliderocket was too easy to just accidently sign out of, and like he said, the recover function was not that reliable when it happened. That said, I do like the look of it and think if you could add feeds like Twitter and invite comments and look at the statistics this would be good for a workplace. But I'm not sure if it would be worth the $24 a month. Each slide can be saved in the Library and reused. You can't crop a video, so the one I found about running in Houston is actually too long, and probably most viewers would not be interested enough to view it all. I must say, I didn't think about the copyright issue of using a video that is not mine, and not getting permission either. (!) I have worked with PowerPoint just enough so that the basic tools are easy to use. I like the idea of film and audio in a presentation. Especially for me, music has a potential impact for me that silent slides do not, although the music has to be skillfully applied. I especially liked the example of Sarah McLachlan's "infomercial" about film studio costs vs help for people.

I must say I do not do presentations for my job. I did one in library school....that's it. These online tools ones look very promising to me. I think we certainly could use them in the library...on our blog or at kiosks where people can see a local history overview, or a quick run-down of different book genres. As long as we have that internet connection!

Beyond Method#6: Ebooks and Ereaders

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/125
the above is the link to the book I viewed. The Kindle version is displayed, and I would imagine that the patron would just have to connect their device to download it. However, I note that our subscription to Overdrive currently requires our patrons to download the ebooks from their home computers or computers outside, our computers in our library do not work for downloading currently. I can imagine that some patrons would be interested in Gutenberg, but the plain HTML is not fancy....and of course only old books are available.
I have read books online for a long time. There are other sites besides Gutenberg I used, one I liked because you could change the colors of the background and text, as well as the size.
Ereaders are still a new thing for me, and I can't seem to get that excited about them. But I do accept that they will change libraries a lot.