23 Mobile Things PH SG: Things 15 ,16 & Catching Up on Things 13 & 14

I'm a returning mentor for Thing #16: Ebooks & Ebook Apps this week on 23 Mobile Things PH SG. It's a fun week since there are two things going on in 23 Mobile Things apart from mine. Thing # 15 Adobe ID is also up for reading and discussion.

It's a smart move for Joan Wee and Karryl Sagun to put these two things together in the same week as these two things are connected. Mentor Persues Rex Molina provides a thorough and practical use of Adobe ID to access Adobe Ebooks, while I lend insight and strategies on using ebook apps and setting up an ebook collection in the library. I come from the school library background, while Mr. Molina brings forth his experience in an academic library setting. It's going to be an exciting convo this coming Saturday, May 17 at 10.30AM Manila time, I predict!

To make Thing 16 more exciting and engaging (I hope), I'm giving away copies of my books for the first five librarians who will do and submit any of the three activities I designed.

As for the past Things, particularly 13 and 14, I updated the links in About Me and added apps like Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and Blogger in my account there. I'm relearning Tumblr all over again. I discovered I have a microblog in Tumblr: In Between Shelves. Now I'm thinking of using it to tell the back stories on my published books, or share success stories on reading, books and my library advocacy. We'll see. I've really no intent in using Tumblr for specific library work, so I suppose I'll optimize it for developing my personal and professional learning network (PLNs).

23 Mobile Things # 11 and # 12: Augmented Reality & Games

If you missed my post on Thing # 11, here is the link to the Book Love activity I did using ThingLink. It's my second favorite as Flashissue happens to be the first. Overall, what I am having fun with in 23 Mobile Things is the process of creating stuff using things. Ooops. That sounds vague.

I mean, I enjoy learning about the apps introduced every week and I enjoy it even more that I'm capable of creating content using the apps for personal and professional purposes. I have been using Flashissue as the library's e-newsletter for over a month now and teachers reply back to me on resources I recommend and apps I feature in the newsletter.

Last week, I had a ball exploring ThingLink. I discovered it as a cool tool to feature books I've read and recommend these to library readers. I like these two the best, so far, since I found the apps so easy to use. I learned making the e-newsletter in an hour with all the basic bells and whistles. The same with ThingLink. But, content really matters big time. While these apps allowed me to blend technology, content matters.

Now that Thing 12 has been up since last week, I'm trying to figure out how to use games in the library. One thing I know for sure, this is one Thing in the 23 Mobile Things that I need to put aside for now and go back to during the summer. The apps recommended for Thing 12: Games look easy to learn. No coding needed. But, a certain degree of logic and a knowledge of basic design, plus a clever story is needed to put one end with the other.

My list of to dos for 23 Mobile Things is getting longer. Just saying. Time management is the key here. I have learned in the past that technology use and integration must be well thought out. Never jump into the tech bandwagon immediately. Study. Strategize. Experiment. Assess. Evaluate. And yes, I'll bog to document my learning experiences in 23 Mobile Things.

Book Love: An Interactive Book Talk on Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I made an interactive book talk feature on a recently read novel, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I used the app ThingLink. View my page here.



Thank you, 23 Mobile Things PH SG! You make me look so good.

I think I'll be doing lots of interactive book talks like this. I've called it BOOK LOVE.

23 Mobile Things PH & SG: Recap of Things 7, 8, 9 and 10

Keeping up and catching up on lessons and activities on 23 Mobile Things PH & SG, here are my thoughts and insights on Things 7 - Communication, 8 - Calendar, 9 - QR Codes and 10 - Social Reading.

Thing 7 - Communication via Hangout

Participants were introduced to Hangout, a chat and video conferencing app. I joined the convo that Saturday using my mobile device. I was able to chat and do video conferencing with librarians from Manila and Singapore. I met Joan Wee and Yunyun Wirawati on video conferencing!

Hangout is another app librarians can use for off shore guests, meetings with other professionals that are geographically far apart, and instant messaging for internal communications between librarians in big learning communities. I think Hangout can also be used for an Ask-a-Librarian service.

Thing 8 - Calendar

I've always used my mobile's built in calendar but I still write down my schedule and activities for the week and the whole month. Seeing the list of To Do's helps me visualize tasks that need to be done but writing down specific activities for a week makes me remember the task better.

For Thing 8, I'll do an almanac of sort on a monthly basis, post this up in the library's newsletter using Flashissue and share this with my learning community. I'll tag #23mthingsphsg, of course!

Thing 9 - QR Codes

I've heard and seen QR Codes and I know what they are. But using them is something I need to explore more on.

Thing 10 - Social Reading

I mentored this Thing and the convo on Social Reading and there were wonderful discussions. One idea that cam about was the important role librarians bring to the fore in using Social Reading apps and in moderating book clubs. I recommend a blended approach or an integrated approach towards Social Reading to keep the balance of print and ebook use. The principle being that library users learn and apply a variety of learning modes when reading. A balanced reading program prompts readers to use their brains' capacities, left, right or round about.

Social Reading apps are cool. Reading can be fun despite its complexity. We learn through reading on a personal level, but when we reach out to other readers and join a reading collective, we are able to innovate and create, and reflect on our own thoughts. The individual experience of reading is elevated in the universal.

It's been an exciting ride learning from peers in 23 Mobile Things PH SG. Thirteen more things to go!

23 Mobile Things PH&SG: Thing # 3: Email Marketing

Thing #3 is Email Marketing.

This is all I can say about this week's topic: It is new technology for me and it's taking me a while to learn the whole thing. I've done a couple of Enewsletters using FlashIssue and MailChimp. I sent this to 23 Mobile Things' email add and I'm a bit successful. I think. My blogging experience helped me figure the navigation and design of both apps but this is new stuff for me. Blogger is indeed old school. And yes, I feel old too. Hahaha!

But, I'm a self declared learner for life so I'll keep trying until I figure things out completely in MailChimp and FlashIssue. I can use either apps to repackage and reformat information needed to disseminate to readers in our high school library. Apart from news and updates on readers' services, I can use the Enewsletter as tool to communicate Information Literacy Skills topics. For example, an introduction to the research cycle may take one whole period to teach. That's an hour. As follow through, an e-newsletter will help me remind students on relevant concepts about the research cycle. The cool thing about sending this e-newsletter is that, I can make a mailing list and presto! The e-newsletter is sent to recipients.

I take it that there are two prerequisites here: one is learning the apps; two is the digestion of content. Oh Father Time, please be a friend!

E-newsletter using FlashIssue

Ecampaign using MailChimp

23 Mobile Things PH & SG

Filipino Librarian Karryl Kim Sagun and Joan Wee of Singapore teamed up for 23 Mobile Things PH & SG, a self paced online course that provides discussion and interaction on 23 mobile things that libraries can use to deliver services. Scheduled to run on a weekly basis for 23 weeks, participants register, log-in and engage with moderators and co-participants in the course from all over the world. Started in 2006 by Helen Blowers, 23 Mobile Things has been replicated by librarians from different countries like Denmark, Australia and New Zealand.

Today, January 17, is the start of the first 23 Mobile Things discussion. Thing #1 is Twitter. Aaron Tay from the National University of Singapore Libraries moderates.

If you have not registered, you can still catch up. Register in 23 Mobile Things. Once you have registered, join in the conversation in Twitter by using #23MThingsPHSG.

I will be moderating Thing #10 and Thing #16. See you online!