Survey Monkey

Need to create a survey?  Give Survey Monkey a try.  It is free to start an account.  I used it to poll SG staff about teen volunteer information for Summer Reading.  Creating a survey is so easy, and you can customize what you want to ask, and how you would like to ask.  Once your survey is complete, you get a link to send to everyone you would like to participate.  Results can be anylized once the survey is finished.   Fun and easy!

Beyond Cookies and Merit Badges

Now that the start of school is fast approaching for another year this is a good time to alert our patrons of a new feature of the Girl Scouts website.  I'm thinking not only of the young girls and their families who use our libraries but also teachers who are looking for new ways to motivate their students in writing.  This brand new addition is The Studio.  It can be accessed directly with the URL http://studio.girlscouts.org.  It is designed to be a showcase to inspire aspring storytellers.  The site is currently limited to authors however they plan to include other artists as well.  In addition they are planning to include the ability for girls to upload their own work.  There is a featured author of the week with a good biography and includes descriptions of his or her own experiences and tips for writing.  Some of the authors featured so far are Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn Dixie), Patricia Reilly Giff (Pictures of Hollis Woods) and Megan McDonald (Judy Moody).  The site is operating in cooperation with the Children's Book Council which provides the content.

Firefox Updates

Firefox 12 has been out since April.  Their new update process has become nearly silent.  Firefox for Windows achieves updating by removing the user control dialogue pop-up that in the past required explicit user permission for each update.  Mozilla claims there is no adverse effect on system security and the benefit is fewer interruptions to the user.

To turn off or not to turn off

What do you do with your PC when it's time for nighty-night?  Some think that using the startup and shutdown processes creates wear and tear so they leave it on.  Others don't want to waste energy. How about sleep mode?  According to Ioto Labs, as reported by Rick Broida at PCWorld they found putting your PC to sleep instead of letting it run saves about $24.00 a year and 25 minutes a month in time for startup and shutdown.  They didn't study hibernate mode. Saving money and avoiding slow boot times is a good thing.

PBS Kids' history of producing strong & purposeful learning content for children has continued into mobile space according to PBS Kids Interactive vice president Sara DeWitt. With a series of quality apps aligned to PBS Kids programs like Arthur & Dinosaur Train, Curious George, etc. it's setting up a platform that demonstrates how to convert existing content & characters into digital content that both respects the mobile space, but also the children who will be engaging with it. The design of each app reflects the nature of the characters and program to which it is aligned. The learning process of children is considered and designed into apps that have appropriate prompts, audio & visual for the different age groups for which they are developed. The PBS digital team has presented its apps in a portal that makes it easy for parents to establish which apps are targeted at the children's age, interest & their own device.
Sara DeWitt says that they look for learning opportunities in every new technology, therefore developing true, immersive character engagement that's exciting in their apps.   The tools can be found on pbskids.org/lab.

Video games in the library

I came across an article about university libraries across the country installing video game labs in order to allow students to do research and experience retro games.  They seem to be primarily targeting computer science and programming majors but I wouldn't be surprised to see sociology or communication majors (heck, I wrote a research paper on early online text based games) doing some research in the labs as well.  The goal is to provide education and opportunities to try out games on a variety of platforms that have developed over the last 40 odd years.  The really interesting part was the discussion that was spawned in the wake of the article about whether or not this was a good use of the university's funds.  People got pretty fired up about the whole thing.  Here's the link if you're interested:

http://chronicle.com/article/Video-Game-Rooms-Become-the/127229/

Neighborhood Libraries Pinterest

I used to love reading the NL Tech Blog. But they have now changed their focus from tech to general conversation. According to Jenny Pissara, "It (NL Tech Blog) started diminishing so we started something new at least for our summer reading for staff... They are kind of like mini book reviews and also with music, movies, etc." So cruise on over to Pinterest, and start following their Boards. You can establish your own accout or find Jenniferpisarra and start pinning.