Tech Roundup

Technology Committee members here at Towson University’s Cook Library are always on the hunt for new technology applications to bring into the library or technology-related issues our library should be addressing.  As we scour the internet for important, interesting, or just plain cool examples of technology applications, issues, or news, we post links and  summaries with our take here to the blog.

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Exobrain

The next time you need to do a little mind mapping, check out Exobrain. The uncomplicated interface enables users to create a clean, color coded visual map for virtually anything.

Submitted by Shannon

BOOKish

As great as technology has been in providing information access, any nostalgic librarian can agree that nothing beats simply browsing a shelf to look for a book. Improving book discovery is something which is still eludes the online environment. Amazon, Good Reads, Library Thing, there are many ways for people to skim books online, check reviews, catalog their personal collection. A new online book recommendation engine has recently emerged. BOOKish attempts to pull various information from multiple sources, including editor and publisher reviews and recommendations. Books will have reviews, prices from various vendors, favorite quotes and more. While I am not entirely sure about it yet, given a bit of time to grow a user base and build more recommendation, BOOKish could become a contender in the search for something to read.

Submitted by Laksamee

Storify

Storify is a web tool which allows a user to illustrate a topic by pulling together various online works, such as tweets, images, websites, videos and more. Create a storyboard about current events, a project your library is implementing, or highlight what the world is saying about you! Here is an example created by NCSU libraries. If your connected to the world through various social media facets, Storify can help you create a cohesive story so your followers can focus on what you think is important.

Submitted by Laksamee

 

Making the Most of Google Drive With Integrated Apps

Although we’ve mentioned some of the original Google (Doc) Drive applications on LibTechTalk before, there was recently an interesting article from Make Use Of about using additional apps within your Google Drive account. Now you can integrate your PicMonkey creations into your Drive!

Submitted by Kim

 

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What do you think about some of the issues or technologies presented?  Have you found anything interesting online this week? Share in the comments!

Tech Roundup

Technology Committee members here at Towson University’s Cook Library are always on the hunt for new technology applications to bring into the library or technology-related issues our library should be addressing.  As we scour the internet for important, interesting, or just plain cool examples of technology applications, issues, or news, we post links and  summaries with our take here to the blog.

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The Ivy Guide – This Pen Translates While You Read

Does your library carry a high number of foreign language items? Do you have a high number of international students? Then perhaps this translator pen might be something your library might consider in the near future. The Ivy guide mini-translator seems to be just a design concept at the moment however the idea is eye catching. The gadget functions as an attachment to any writing device. As the user is reading a book if they come across a word they do not know they can turn on the translator, underline the word then project the translation into a language they are comfortable with. This provides paper books with some of the functionality of ebook dictionaries and one can imagine the tool being used in a variety of ways.

Submitted by Laksamee

Announcing jQuery Mobile 1.3.0 Beta

We use JQuery Mobile as the framework for our mobile website. A new release is a moment of both excitement and anxiety. New releases can mean new features (exciting!) but it can also mean doing things differently and our website not functioning properly (anxiety-inducing). Fortunately jQuery Mobile has already provided more of the former than the latter. Their newest beta release moves beyond mobile and toward a responsive web design framework. At its essence responsive web design means that the design of the site changes (or responds) to the type of device being used to maintain it. For more details about responsive web design, see: http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2013/what-is-responsive-web-design-and-why-librarians-need-to-know-about-it/

Submitted by David

NMC Horizon Report – 2013 Higher Education Edition

Each year, the New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative publish the Horizon Report, which is “designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in higher education.” The Higher Education Edition focuses on 6 near-, mid-, and far-term trends that are likely to impact teaching and learning at higher education institutions within the next five years. This year, the 6 trends are: Games and Gamification, Learning Analytics, Massively Online Open Courses (MOOCs), Tablet Computing, 3D Printing, and Wearable Computing. Many of these technology trends are already in conversation across the library world – what do you think of this year’s top trends?

Submitted by Kim

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What do you think about some of the issues or technologies presented?  Have you found anything interesting online this week? Share in the comments!