sallysetsforth

I have no energy for writing a blog post today.

I love discovering fun online tools, especially when they're free :)

Dumpr is a photo and image editing tool that I came across at the beginning of the year. It has some really nice effects available. A few of the effects that used to be free are now part of their paid "pro" package, but there are still enough free ones to make it worthwhile checking out.

I especially like the Amazing Circles effect. It doesn't work well with every image, you'll have to try a few to find out for yourself which ones you like. Here are a couple that I think turned out well - I've included the originals here for comparison.

Tulip at Floriade 2007 with Amazing Circles effect applied:



Original photo:



Lotus pond at Botanic Gardens of Adelaide with Amazing Circles effect applied:



Original photo:



I also really like the Rubik's Cube effect. The Christmas Ornament and Museumr effects are cute too :) Why don't you give it a go?

I really like the Library Minute videos produced by Arizona State University Libraries, featuring librarian Anali Perry. They have a wonderfully light touch, are visually interesting and professional looking, and manage to impart plenty of information (but not too much!) in the space of a single minute.

Have you seen them? If not, do be sure to check out their YouTube channel. Here's one of my favourites:

I consider myself fortunate to work in a small but energetic team of liaison librarians at Charles Darwin University (CDU), and I love that new ideas for providing innovative and relevant services to our clients are encouraged here. This year we created a fun activity that incorporated library orientation, mobile technologies, learning about our on-campus and online students, promotion, and activity-based learning.

Last year, when the call for abstracts for the Third International m-libraries Conference went out, we decided to pool some of our ideas together into a project that we could report on. As a regional and remote university, we decided to develop a project that would find out more about our students' engagement with mobile technologies. We'd heard about the use of QR codes in treasure hunt activities, and decided that we would develop a project incorporating QR codes into our Semester One library orientation program.

Our abstract was accepted, and the team quickly got to work developing an engaging orientation program that had the dual purpose of answering some questions about our students’ use of smartphones and QR codes, and being a fun and informative activity for the students taking part. The program took the form of a library treasure hunt that could be done either online or on campus, and with or without a smartphone - we have a large external student cohort and wanted to ensure that the activity was inclusive. The activity had to be fun too, so we used free online tools to create silly video clips (you can view some of them in the Slideshare presentation below).

We also wanted our findings from the orientation program to be measurable. As much as possible, we built in metrics in ways that wouldn't be obvious to the students taking part. For example, we differentiated the four modes of entry by using mascot animals and distinct 'secret phrases' for entering the competition. We also used website statistics, clicks on links, and QR code usage statistics. We did all this on a very small budget, and learnt a lot about mobile technologies in the process.



In May, my colleague Michelle and I attended and presented at the m-libraries conference on behalf of the liaison librarian team. I'm happy to say our presentation on the library treasure hunt and its findings was very well received – the seminar room was standing room only, and there were lots of questions following the presentation and throughout the conference. As first-time presenters, the experience was extremely rewarding. I'll write more about the conference itself in a future blog post.



You can now view our presentation on SlideShare. Since the conference, the liaison librarian team has also prepared an accompanying paper, which we hope will be published in the upcoming conference proceedings book.

The positive outcomes of the project have continued to roll in. I recently blogged about the 2011 ALIA NT Recognition Award, which the CDU liaison librarian team was nominated for. We also received a CDU Corporate Services "Gnome" for our efforts. And today we learnt about how our use of QR codes in the treasure hunt has inspired others, with QR codes being incorporated into VET carpentry assessments at CDU.



As a result of the orientation program, we're planning to use QR codes in the library on a longer term basis. We'll start with using QR codes to link students with information right at the point of need, such as QR codes in the print room linking to video tutorials for printing and photocopying instructions. We'll also use them in our promotional material to link to more information about library events and services.

Finally, I just want to emphasise that smaller libraries with tight budgets can still create engaging activities like this by making use of free online tools, encouraging play and making the most of existing staff knowledge and enthusiasm for building fun learning activities. It's worth it :)

I promised that I'd do another blog post featuring Darwin sunsets, so here it is :) Last Sunday, we decided to get some hot chips and help ourselves to a sunset view at Nightcliff jetty. It turns out we weren't the only ones who had the same idea - it was absolutely packed! But there was enough coastline and enough sunset for everyone, so we eventually found somewhere to park the car and pulled out the picnic blanket to enjoy the view. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking (larger versions available on Flickr HERE).

 

Last year I blogged about trying kumihimo (Japanese braiding) for the first time.

Since then, I've bought supplies and set to work making a number of braids using this technique. I find it very enjoyable and relaxing, and easy to do while travelling or watching TV. I've learnt about colour combinations and patterns, and my technique is definitely improving.







I'm planning to use these braids to create bracelets. I've bought the jewellery findings, but turning the braids into "wearable art" is a whole 'nother learning curve, so I'll worry about that some other day.

All of the braids pictured here are round braids. There are many other types of braids (square braids, flat braids, hollow braids, etc.) that I'm looking forward to spending time on, and I'm also inspired to try different materials to see the effect of using thicker threads, and threads with different textures (eg. shiny, woolly or lacy).

I still have issues getting the tension right sometimes, which I'm sure could be corrected with the use of a proper marudai. But I'd have to give up the portability factor, so for now I'll stick with the flat disk and live with the slight bumpiness. Besides, how will you know it's handmade if it's perfect? ;)

Today we went along to the Greek Glenti festival, held each year in the parklands alongside the Esplanade in Darwin. It was a much bigger event than I had imagined. There were lots of very busy food stalls selling souvlaki, yiros, octopus, oysters, spanakopita, moussaka, honey puffs, baklava, and a whole lot of other sweets that I don't know the names of. Music was playing in the central stage area, and kids in traditional costumes were dancing. And somewhat to my surprise, there were carnival rides, jumping castles and games with prizes. Dora the Explorer was there for the kids too.

I filmed a short video for my daily image, and you can hear the Zorba music playing in the background:







We went for a walk along the Esplanade afterwards, and I took a photo of this US Navy ship that's in town. There are lots of sailors and marines here on shore leave too ...



We continued on to Doctor's Gully where the fish feeding takes place. I'm not sure it's an activity I'm too fussed about participating in, but it's a lovely spot. It's also quite close to HMAS Coonawarra, and you can just make out the RAN patrol boats moored there in the below photo.

The internet is made of cats.

Therefore, whenever I upload a video of my cat I am strengthening the foundations of the internet - yes? Just performing a community service really :)

String. It gets Roxy pretty excited sometimes.



If the video is too small, you can expand it to full screen or view it on my YouTube channel HERE.

If you want more kitty goodness, I've added all of my videos of Roxy (I mean, contributions to the foundations of the internet) to this YouTube playlist.

P.S. I put tonight's blog post subject to the vote on Twitter tonight - I got four votes for a cat video and one for sunset photos, so I'll upload a sunset post in the next couple of days :)

On May 26, the ALIA Top End group held its annual Library & Information Week dinner, which was combined with the presentation of the 2011 ALIA NT Recognition Award. A great night was had by all :)

This was the second year that the ALIA NT Recognition Award was, well, awarded. A'Mhara Russell from the NT Department of Health Library was named as the winner, for her innovative use and promotion of Web 2.0 technologies in the library.

I was really impressed by the achievements of all of the nominees - there's some really fantastic work going on in Northern Territory libraries. I strongly encourage you to check out the related ALIA Top End blog post to read about the activities that each of the nominees were recognised for. I think you'll be impressed.

Oh yes, my own work team - the liaison librarians at CDU Library - was one of those in the running :) I'll do another blog post shortly on the orientation program that we were nominated for, including our presentation on it at the international m-libraries conference in Brisbane ...

2011 ALIA NT Recognition Award winner A'Mhara Russell



Representatives of each of the nominees for the 2011 ALIA NT Recognition Award, pictured here with ALIA NT Manager Jayshree Mamtora

There will be actual library-related posts appearing during this month, but they're all in draft form and awaiting further attention. In the meantime, please enjoy this offering.

With thanks to my colleague Julie for sending this my way :)

Dustin McLean's literal video version of Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels". Strange goings-on in the library ...