TechNotes

TechNotes is a weekly, informal 30-minute talk on various technology topics,
open to anyone who wants to learn more.

Click on a date to get a summary of the session and list of links to content covered.

2008

The inaugural session of TechNotes was a review of the capabilities of AppSearch. Topics discussed include an explanation of the search box, results display, category listings, and searching options. There was also some discussion about further enhancements to the federated search and what changes can be made with the WebFeat interface.

02/20 - Blogs/RSS

In this session, we talked about blogs and viewed a number of different types of blogs. We also discussed RSS, RSS readers, and demonstrated the use of one reader, Bloglines.

Scott's OPML file
Scott's Bloglines subscriptions
ASU Multi-Feed Generator

Library Related Blogs

Beyond the Job
Shifted Librarian
A Library Writer's Blog
E-Learning Librarian
Dolores' List of CFPs

RSS Readers

Bloglines
Google Reader
My Yahoo!
Pageflakes
NetVibes

02/27 - Google

This session discussed the many products of the Google empire.

Maps
Sketchup
Custom Search
Docs
Calendar
Earth
Labs
News
Alerts
Finance
Blogsearch
Trends

A few search tricks

use Google as a calculator - try "3+56/72-4+2^8"
use Google for measurements - try "feet in a mile","teaspoons in a gallon"
use Google for currency conversion - try "10 USD in GBP"
use Google to find movie reviews - "movie:holly hunter nicholas cage" use Google to search a specific domain - "site:.edu"

03/05 - 30 sites/30 minutes

News/New Stuff
Digg
PopUrls
StumbleUpon
delicious
Web 2.0

Library
LisZen
Library Thing

Wikis
pbwiki
Library Success Wiki

Blogs
Boing Boing
Life Hacker
Consumerist

Productivity
Remember the Milk
BaseCamp
FaxZero
You send it
Zotero

Useful Stuff
Bugmenot
GetHuman
Farecast
Freecycle
Skype
Mint
KnowMore
gliffy
Animoto

Fun
Stuff on my cat
Pandora
FreeRice
Etsy

03/19 - Web/Library 2.0

A survey of Web 2.0 tools and how various libraries are using them.

A definition of Library 2.0

Flickr

Flickr - search for "library special collections," "library events," "library tour"

Wikis

BizWiki
LibSuccess

Blogs/RSS

Federated Search Blog
UNCG Reference Department Blog
University of Minnesota Blogs

Podcasts

LibSuccess Libraries Podcasting list

Other Tools

Ning - Library 2.0 - ALA
Facebook
Del.icio.us
Meebo - E-Learning Librarian
Twitter - UIUC
Ann Arbor District Library Catalog

04/04 - Podcasts/Vlogs/Flickr
04/09 - Google II

Another visit to Google-ville, trying to get to all the stuff we didn't get to the first time around.

Watch the screencast of the session

Notebook
Sky
Mars
Street View
Suggest
Accessible
Directory
Groups
Orkut
Touchgraphic
use Google to find different filetypes - try "library assessment filetype:ppt"
use Google to weight a search term - try "library assessment" and "library assessment library"
use Google with a full word wild card - try "when the * hits your eye"
use Google to search for synonyms - try "~gorillas"
use Google to find a number range - try "shoes 5..7"

04/16 - 30 more sites in 30 minutes
04/23 - Firefox

Tools . . Options

Main - Save windows and tabs after shutdown/Multiple home pages
Tabs - Open new window in tab/Switch to new opened tab
Content - Enable/Disable JavaScript
Feeds - Specify how to handle RSS feeds
Privacy - Manage cookies
Security - Manage passwords

Make a keyword bookmark

Perform a search
Save the search as a bookmark
Right-click on the bookmark and select 'Properties'
Enter a unique keyword in the keyword space
Put %s in the spot where your search terms were in the URL
Try it out!

about:config Tweaks

Preference Name	What the change does	Change to make
browser.tabs.closeButtons	Controls where the close box is located for tabs	Change value to a 3
network.prefetch-next	Tell Firefox to stop grabbing webpages you haven't clicked on yet	Toggle true/false
permissions.defaultImages	Tell Firefox to not download images from 3rd-party sites	Change value to 3
browser.tabs.tabMinWidth	Change the minimum size your tabs can be before scrolling	Set to number for minimum width (100 or less)
layout.spellcheckDefault	Allow spellcheck in text boxes	Change value to 2
browser.search.openInTab	Open searches down from the toolbar in a new tab	Toggle true/false

Search Plugin

WNCLNC Catalog Search Plugin

Extensions to Try

Zotero - Citation manager
RSS Ticker - Live RSS Feeds in a scrolling bar
Google Notebook - Add and organize your notebooks
Del.icio.us - Add to your link list and access it quickly
Adblock Plus - Blocks ads
Colorzilla - Sample colors or measure distance on a web page
PDF Download - Decide what to do with a PDF before it downloads
GreaseMonkey - Makes possible a huge number of page- or feature-specific scripts
ImageZoom - Zoom in and out of any image quickly and easily
FireDoodle - Use your browser as a whiteboard
CoolIris Previews - Get a look at a web page before you click the link to take you there