Tag Archives: Various & Interesting

Pokemon Go Articles and Information

I keep coming across interesting articles about Pokemon Go! There is a lot of grumbling about it, some of which is justified. I think it is amazing in a lot of ways:

  • has great potential for orientation and team building in large companies
  • is getting people out and walking
  • highlighting little known historic places in communities
  • keeps people in their community by augmenting their community with pop culture in which they are interested
  • A lot of people, regardless of age, are engaging int he game. We had a multi-generational discussion about it over family dinner the other night. Even my 90YO MIL knew about it and was interested.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list; go out and search on your own for the zillion other articles. 😉

Everything Librarians Need To Know About Pokemon Go!

“You’ve seen the Facebook posts. You’ve seen the headlines, you’ve heard about it in conversation, and you may have seen groups of teens and young adults walking around in odd places with smartphones and simultaneously bewildered and overjoyed expressions. But what is is this game? Why is everyone so excited, and how can I use it at my library?”

The above clip is from The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.

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From Andrea at MCI/SLA

Here’s an article about the way some non-profits have incorporated Pokemon Go. 

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Bronwyn from Victoria, BC pointed out a Reddit article and says she ” saw this fantastic post [no login required to view link] at the top of the front page. For those unfamiliar with the game; don’t assume that this is a youth-oriented opportunity only. My 20-something and 30-something friends are all over this game and appear to be following it wherever the pokemon lead!”

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Austin Gipanski’s article highlights the fitness aspect of technology including Pokemon Go!, but also talking about other digital products such as FitBit, MyFitnessPal as well as Employee Wellness Programs. He talks about the motivations of getting moving and how TV fits in.

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ResearchBuzz’s Tara says “I really am trying to keep the Pokestuff to a minimum, but I thought it was fascinating that Delaware State Parks was so fast off the mark that it’s already launched a Pokemon Go contest. “On Monday, the Division of Parks and Recreation launched ‘Poké Park Adventure,’ a contest for Pokémon trainers of all ages. To win, players must take a screenshot of their avatar in one of Delaware’s state parks, and then take screenshots of each Poké Stop that they visit. Then, players must upload the screenshot to social media and use the hashtag #pokeparkde.” “(ResearchBuzz, 7-21-2016)

Various & Interesting #4

 

Michael Ginsborg, NOCALL President shared the title of a post by NOCALL member Sarah Lin which was published at the On Firmer Ground blog. Sarah offers us tips on how to deploy our data sources to better track collection usage. She describes new ways to think about our monitoring tools and training opportunities. Michael also noted that  Sarah will join David Holt in a related panel moderated by Hadi Amjadi: “Google Analytics: Best Practices and How To Use At Your Library” at the NOCALL Spring Institute. Check the NOCALL site for an announcement about Institute registration.

Various & Interesting #3

From ResearchBuzz: “The ALA is offering a digitization workshop for beginners at the end of January. “Whether you’re a community repository just dipping your toes into digitization, or you need to digitize old materials to save space and enable greater access, the ability to plan and begin a digitization project is quickly becoming an essential skill for librarians. In this workshop, digitization expert Susanne Caro will show you what you need to get started if you are new to digitization.” It’s not free, but $60 for an introduction to digitization sounds like a good deal.”

Not much today, but I am sure I will find more later.

Various & Interesting #2

I know this series of posts must seem like All ResearchBuzz All the Time. I think Tara, the author and owner of ResearchBuzz does a great job and has so many helpful tips on so many different topics that I can’t help myself. I have found some other interesting tidbits and added them.

The Toronto Public Library and the Kansas City Public Library really did a good job collaborating on activities and events around the World Series. Great way to engage in the community and get people to the Library.

From ResearchBuzz: “Aaron Tay’s got a useful article if you’ve been using Google for a long time: 6 Common Misconceptions When Doing Advanced Google Searching. These are good points but I want to add it’s always worth it to try multiple * as wildcards when doing phrase searching. It doesn’t work quite like it used to, but it can still change the count and order of your search results. (Compare “three * mice” to “three * * mice”, “three * * * mice”, etc.)” (10/31/2015)

–> One of the things corporate and special librarians do for their professionals is help them with more precise Google Searching. I really wish Google would partner with librarians to work on their search algorithm.

Tara from ResearchBuzz also gives us some tips on uninstalling in Windows 10: “In case you need it: How to uninstall an app or program in Windows 10.” (11/2/2015)

ResearchBuzz is spending NaNoWriMo writing articles she has wanted to write for a long time. recently she posted one on Buffer. I knew about Buffer peripherally, but the article really got me interested in the product. I hope Buffer is listening as Tara has some GREAT ideas for improving the service.

Intersect Alert, the Government Relations newsletter of the San Francisco Bay Region chapter of SLA has posted an interesting new app. LawLibe – A Law Library – on Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

“This app comes preloaded with the U.S. Constitution. Then you can download additional legal content directly into the app, including the U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, State Statutes, the M.P.E.P., and more!”

Features:

  • Fully offline – just download and go!
    • Download additional content directly into the app!
    • Lightning-fast speed.
    • Full-text search and in-text highlighting.
    • Page through content just like a book.
    • User preferences – adjust the font and font-size for easier reading.
    • GoTo Button – know the exact section you want? It’s one touch away.
    • Includes Advisory Committee Notes where available
    • Updated frequently to ensure you have the most current edition.

Have you tried it? What do you think? What effect will we see on law libraries and law librarians.

Various & Interesting

From ResearchBuzz: LinkedIn is apparently making all LinkedIn Groups private starting October 14th. “The biggest change — the one that LinkedIn believes will make a qualitative difference — is that all Groups are being made private; only Group members will be able to see the contents of conversations, and only members will be allowed to contribute. LinkedIn also won’t allow search engines to crawl the discussions, another key, it believes, to providing a trusted private space for people to communicate.”

–> Well, I have to say it is about time. LinkedIn has made some changes in the past year that have made it less useful. I find it useful as an online place to store my resume, but beyond that, it isn’t useful and groups were just annoying. I hope that this change will start to turn the LinkedIn ship.

From ResearchBuzz: The DPLA has released a self-guided curriculum for digitization. “Through the Public Library Partnerships Project (PLPP), DPLA has been working with existing DPLA Service Hubs to provide digital skills training for public librarians and connect them sustainably with state and regional resources for digitizing, describing, and exhibiting their cultural heritage content…. Now at the end of the project, we’ve made this curriculum available in a self-guided version intended for digitization beginners from a variety of cultural heritage institutions. Each module includes a video presentation, slides with notes in Powerpoint, and slides in PDF. Please feel free to share, reuse, and adapt these materials.”

–>This is great news. Many public libraries have interesting print materials about their local community, but no knowledge of how to get it online. While this new curriculum doesn’t solve the funding question, it is a start.

I saw an article where a security expert was telling colleagues NOT to tell their client to Google some question for which they need an answer. My mouth dropped open, because we have the opposite problem. Info Pros want to help people, but everyone wants to Google their question. What is the difference?

Also from ResearchBuzz: “A brief slide deck, but plenty of resources: Text Analysis Without Programming.”