Google Maps

Google Maps

I don’t know when this happened, but now I noticed Google Maps allows the same thing as many of the third party sites I have been reviewing in terms of making one’s own custom maps. Google maps allows annotations, shapes, lines, embedded photos and videos, and just about everything you need. Plus the scroll zoom and dragging functions are there (two of the best things about gmaps). This will make it easy to create an assignment or project out of this newish mapping technology.

Update: I don’t think Gmaps allows you to have teams edit a map. You can just save your own maps and let others see them. Communty Walk is back on top then.

Clipboard Recorder – Windows Clipboard Extender

Clipboard Recorder – Windows Clipboard Extender | LW-WORKS

I have been using the basic free version for a few months now. Sadly, many people are thrilled to learn about basic things like ctrl-x, ctrl-c, and ctrl-v in the existing Windows or Mac clipboard, but a clipboard recorder like this one (see link above) is a whole new level of utility. I have been using it in writing, tabulating contact info, etc.

Debaters might really find a clipboard recorder useful in brief construction (just be careful not to forget you are copying direct quotations).  In an electronic source, just copy all the necessary citation elements one at a time (no need to paste anywhere yet), then copy selected quotations.  Finally, inside a word processor, paste the citations elements in, paste the quotations in whatever order you thing makes the most sense and then insert your arguments and paraphrases; this creates a nice grouping of the “cards” that you cut from that source.  Format accordingly, put the whole brief where you need it (file it, put it in Endnote, or whatever you do),  and there you have processed a complete source into a usable form. Now, say you want to make a brief or outline a paper using multiple sources, you can do that too by working from your newly created individual source files or database, copying the cards you want to use, and then pasting them into a new document. If you like working with real paper, just make sure the source citation is on every quotation and you can print your source documents and cut them up into cards.

Presentation Zen: Is it finally time to ditch PowerPoint?

Presentation Zen: Is it finally time to ditch PowerPoint?

I have been collecting information about PowerPoint and this blog entry from Presentation Zen encapsulates the main issues involved in my opinion. As much as I love to transfer all my frustrations with bad presentations onto the software, Garr Reynolds is right to point out the tool is not to blame. Then again, the templates and defaults are created by the programmers and can we really expect people to make their slides the slow way? Okay, let’s blame it on bad design, but let’s also aim scrutiny at the software designers.

Abandon Office????!!

Firefox OS: Why My Hard Drive & Software are Obsolete – lifehack.org

This short spiel by Leo Babauta explains how at least a small chunk of the expensive software we typically use may be unnecessary given the host of high quality web-based tools out there now. He does disclaim by saying that a big chunk of the replacements are Google products, but I say that’s no real threat to the position. There are other free utilities besides Google’s. Also, there are implications that strengthen the argument. Okay, so I see the point and I’m looking for the most consequential and real world implications. Well, one is that you need a high speed connection (easy for me; I work at a university). Another of the biggest ones I can think of is the expensive Office suite of applications. I already do not use Outlook for Access, so that’s a waste. I don’t care much for PowerPoint. So, I’m using Word and Excel. I’m going to check how much my college spent on it and maybe give up the license to someone who is more committed to Office. I could almost give it up. That money could be spent on more carefully chosen software without guilt, like Camtasia Studio (very useful to me). Caveat: Endnote’s Cite While you Write feature needs Word.

Discussion groups, Blogs, Listservs, etc. etc etc etc

I copied the list of points below out of a more extended blog entry by David Wilcox. I too felt in good company as I notice very few people in my university actually use the groupware built into our course management system. One reason may be that the sytem we are using (Angel) does not allow some of the things Wilcox mentions.

Designing for Civil Society: Charity web managers sceptical about walking the web talk

# Groups aren’t good for substantial pieces – people want to skip through e-mail and respond quickly.
# If you do write something of substance it will be seen by a limited number of people, and can’t be linked for wider discussion, unlike a blog.
# It can be difficult to follow threads of discussion, because other topics crop up.
# You can’t “be yourself” in quite the same way.
# You can’t put what you are saying in the context of other things you have written.
# You can’t add images, audio, video.
# You can’t tag.
# … in short, it is just so frustrating when you have been in the other Web 2.0 place, and so doesn’t feel worth the effort.

FastStone Image Viewer – Software Recommendation

FastStone Image Viewer – web site

As you consider processing all the photos you take, and digital cameras let you take many without wasting film, you may be wondering if the file manager in your computer or the software that comes with your camera is the most efficient choice for processing and editing potentially large numbers of images. So, if you are interested in an elegant and useful software utility for managing and editing photos, here are some thoughts.

a. FastStone Image Viewer. This is among the most delightful little discoveries I have made. It makes filing and editing images easy. If you need more sophisticated features, which you probably don’t, then you can use Photoshop or some other program for a cost, but this one is free and excellent. Example, in a folder you double click on the first image thumbnail you want to view and it opens up full screen and you can scroll through the other images following it quite easily using your scroll wheel. Now, without leaving the full screen view, you drag you mouse up, down, left, or right and up pops a window with a group of relevant commands. Click and hold on the image and it zooms in and becomes movable until you let go; useful for testing whether the image can be saved with strategic cropping. If you want to jump to the cropping tool, move the image, or copy the image, the keyboard shortcuts are truly shortcuts: x, m, c. That’s right, one key, one command.

b. Other ideas. I did some reading on ConsumerSearch and found Picasa and Google’s Hello to be highly recommended. I would consider looking that way if I really needed to share and tag photos online, but for just printing, I use Snapfish and upload pics after organizing them with FastStone Image Viewer.

Test Map for CommunityWalk

Test Map for CW: Restaurants – CommunityWalk

I like Community Walk more than the rest on the whole but each one has its strengths. One issue: When you draw on a map, which is not allowed in many of these services, it just shows your line and doesn’t go around buildings or follow any sort of natural path; none of the services seem to have addressed this and it may be too difficult to fix. As you can see on this one, the last part of the path is straight through another building. If you want to draw a route and indicate distance, you need to know the distance already (perhaps from Gmaps Pedometer). Community Walk allows for importing spreadsheets to create map points, but this is a little tricky at first. I made one with our newly admitted students’ zip codes and got a nice representation of our geographic range. This service uses advertising to make money.

GeoJoey

GeoJoey Example

I tried out GeoJoey and it’s pretty cool. It allows routes, all kinds of extra info (including tags), and also drawing on the maps. It’s organizing metaphor may get in the way of initial usability, but at least it has an organizing metaphor. It probably is as useful as Platial as far as networking and commenting. The fact that it’s a blog allows it to deal with time a little more effectively. You can call a series of points a “journey” and it has the option of making your most recent entry the focus when someone visits your blog page. I don’t like having too many blogs, so I just think of it as my maps. I think this application stands out because of the number of features. Side note: this kind of thing can have a wide range of applications, from orienting someone to important locations in a community to sharing one’s favorite bicycling routes. I am nearly committed to implementing one of these tools as a requirement in a writing class.

Update: GeoJoey doesn’t seem to have spreadsheet importing for map pointers. That would be pretty important. I also would like to see the ability to edit icons.

Comments on Platial

Platial.com

Okay, this one seems pretty easy to use and it does integrate with this WordPress blog (see sidebar). It doesn’t seem to have routes, but it seems easy to add pics and whatnot. I’m not sure what the blog integration does for me except make my blog longer to load, but I’ll keep playing. Once you make an icon, it doesn’t seem possible to move it by dragging it around. Commenting and networking features may be better here, but I’m still going to take a closer look at Community Walk.

Beth Kanter’s Screencast on Tagging

http://www.techsmith.com/community/blogcomments.asp?thread=329

This is a good example of using Camtasia for a tutorial. She explained tagging so well, I decided I was inspired to realize I could use categories and a blog to organize my own thoughts and ideas.