Library News and More

Hello, My name is Zoie. I am currently a full-time Library & Information Services student.

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Twitter Hacks & Tricks

1. String Tweets together with a Thread

A thread is a series of Tweets that are linked together so they don’t get lost or taken out of context.

How to do it:

1. Click the Tweet button to draft a new Tweet.

2. To add another Tweet(s), click the highlighted plus icon (the icon will highlight once you have entered in text).

3. When you have finished adding all the Tweets you’d like included in your thread, click the Tweet all button to post.

2. Download your Twitter Data

Create a backup of your account’s Tweets by requesting your full archive from Twitter.

How to do it:

1. From your Twitter profile, click Settings and Privacy.

2. Select Your Twitter data.

3. Enter your account password.

4. Scroll to the bottom and click Request data.

5. Look for a notification and email to your associated account with a link within a few hours.

3. Save Tweets for later with Bookmarks

If you come across a Tweet on mobile you plan to revisit for some reason, hit the share icon at the bottom right of a Tweet. Then select Add Tweet to Bookmarks.

As of June 2019, bookmarks are unavailable on desktop, but you can workaround it with this Twitter hack. Switch to mobile mode by adding “mobile.” before Twitter in the URL.

Like this: https://mobile.twitter.com/.

Find your Bookmarked Tweets by clicking your profile icon and scrolling down to Bookmarks.

4. Organize your feed with Lists

Whether you run a personal or business account on Twitter, you likely follow people for different reasons. Grouping followers into specific categories can make it easier to stay on top of trends, customer opinions, and more.

How to do it:

1. Click your profile icon.

2. Select Lists.

3. Click the icon in the lower right.

4. Create a name for the list and add a description.

5. Add Twitter users to your list.

6. Set your list to private (only visible to you) or public (anyone can see and subscribe).

Or, here’s a hack for this hack: Just press g and i to open your lists tabs.

Twitter notifies someone when you add them to a public list. So unless you’re okay with that, make sure your list is set to private before you start adding.

Source: https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-hacks/

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Social Media Scenario Practice

For this week's blog post, we got to create mock Facebook and Twitter posts advertising a event that would take place at a library. The event we were hosting was a Harry Potter Day event.

Here are the two posts I made for the event:

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Feelings on HTML

Well, this isn't the first time I've seen or used computer code before. I've taken a Introduction to C++ programming class but it was for using technology for preparing and analyzing solutions to problems. It uses some of the same tags and elements as HTML, so this week's assignments helped me refresh my memory. If we are to be using HTML more in the future, I'd like to learn more. I feel confident and comfortable using HTML right now.

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Tips for Digital Citizenship

Hello Everyone, 

For this week's blog post, I have two videos for you to watch about Digital Citizenship tips. 

The first video is from the website called Next Vista, they are a non-profit, advertising-free video sharing site run by Google Certified teacher Rushton Hurley. The video was found under the Light Bulbs collection on the Next Vista web page. The video is called “Digital Citizenship: Thinking About Etiquette”. This video was made by Raymond Andrade a student from Sutter Middle School.

https://www.nextvista.org/digital-citizenship/

The second video is from the website called School Tube, this website is dedicated to sharing videos created by students & teachers. The video is called “The Cyberwise Guide to Digital Citizenship. This video was created by Cyberwise.org.

https://www.schooltube.com/media/The+Cyberwise+Guide+to+Digital+Citizenship/1_p65axi5u

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SpiderScribe

SpiderScribe is an online mind mapping & brainstorming tool. It let's you organize your ideas by connecting notes, files, calendar dates, pictures, and maps. You can share and collaborate the mind maps with others too.

I find the SpiderScribe website user interface to be simple and user-friendly to interact with. As you can see in the photo above, it's very easy to use. It platform layout clearly lays out the tools for you to create you mind map or brainstorming.

Overall I enjoyed using this web tool and recommended it for anyone who needed to create a simple mind map or brainstorming map.

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Advantages to Digital Calendars

Using digital calendars is one of the ways in which technology helps us keep our ever busy schedules in order. Knowing digital calendar skills such as creating/scheduling meetings, scheduling meeting with others, and managing reoccurring meetings is beneficial for librarians working in a library. It’s convenient and useful tool that can be used to collaborate with either library staff members or partnerships in your community.

Some features of Outlook Calendar are sharing calendars to anyone through email, viewing group schedules, and the calendar reminders that can email or message you about your upcoming meetings, events, or appointments. Potential challenges/barries with using digital calendars is that not everyone knows how to use one or they may not have access to this technology.

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Paper Letters to Digital Letters

As our world evolves so does our ways of communication with others. Going from letters that could take anywhere from 3 to 5 days to reach the receiver, we have technology to thank for creating a way to communicate in the form of emails that just take a few minutes to reach someone.

Email stands for electronic mail. Email addresses are made up of three parts:

Usernames = this is an individual's unique "handle" or name

The @ (at) symbol = hold down the shift key and press the "2" key to access @

The domain name = the webmail service or domain name of email hosting service

Some email services that are popular to use are Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo mail. I find that these email services have an easy to use interface and are user friendly to new email users.

My only experience of teaching someone how to create an email account had been my younger sibling. They had needed an email to connect their gaming information to. I chose rto show them how to create a email account with Gmail. Since this email account was going to be used as a personal account, we used the first 5 letters of the last name, the first 3 letters of the first name, and 3 zeros to make the username part of the email. For example, let's say the users name is Jason Smith, it would look like this [email protected].

From the teaching email activities I liked the idea of giving the learners blank wallet sized cards to write their email address, password, and website URL they will use to access the email service. Also from experience I can agree that having their email address and password written down to visually view is a faster way for users/learners to remember quicker.

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Review of Usernames & Logins Activity

What did you think of the activity?

I thought the activity of Usernames & Logins was substantial for novice users learning about an important internet skill that they will continue to use. This activity can be used for anyone who lacks computer skills. The workshop does a nice job explaining how important it is for users to create strong passwords and how to avoid creating weak passwords like "123456" or "password1".

How could it be modified to meet the needs of a different audience?

This workshop activity could be modified for an younger audience, say around six to ten years old. By collaborating with schools, we can help teach the importance of why creating unique and strong usernames & passwords can help them avoid people online that want to steal their digital information.

Instead of having students sign up for a web service, they will practice learning their school issued username. They would be practicing with the reward typing username with pixel art. The students will use Google sheets that has pixel art already encoded in it, then they just need to paste their username into colum A. Students then practice typing their username into colum B. They will know they have typed it correctly if they see pixel appearing. If nothing happens, then students know they need to self-correct their answer.

What are some potential challenges of using this activity?

Some potential challenges of using the Usernames and Logins activity is users not understanding why logins and usernames have to be used on the internet. And, the dangers of hackers and scamers trying to steal their personal information if they use weak passwords for their accounts.

Website Used -

https://www.erintegration.com/2020/01/02/help-students-learn-usernames-and-login/

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What is Digital Divide?

Digital Divide is a gap between those who have access to digital technology and those who do not. But the phrase Digital Divide can also mean there are people who don't know how or what to do with technology.

Potential Barriers

Lack of physical access

Lack of digital skills

People's technology prepareness

Lack of trust in technology

Lack of motivation to use technology

Low literacy & income levels

How Libraries can help narrow the gap of the Digital Divide?

Libraries offer public space that has computers with internet access. And, library staff that can help with basic tech issues. Lastly, some Libraries offer basic computer skills classes/programs.