Free Stuff

ALA’s Library Instruction Round Table issued a call for presenters this month to participate in their conference program, “Capitalizing on Technology: A Teaching Technology Fair” during the 2010 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. June 24-29.

Here is their Program Description:

Using technology in teaching is an ever changing process and keeping aware of new technologies can be daunting. Come discover how using free or open source software can enhance instruction. Presenters will discuss and demonstrate using various technologies in their instruction. Attendees will then be able to talk with librarians who use free or open source technology. Even if you just want to learn more about how free or open source software is being used, this session will help you capitalize on technology.

First of all, if you’re going to the conference and attend this program, please share with us what you learn.  I will not be there and can’t wait to see what comes out of this program.

Next, this made me think of all of the free and open source software I use to actually do my job and would like to share my list with all of you.  The easiest way to do this is to go through the sequence of what I open when I get to work in the morning and then other applications I use throughout a typical day.

After I turn my computer on and log in, I open our Spark Instant Messaging client.  This is used internally in the IT Department (of which I am a member).  Throughout the day, we communicate to each other using this open source IM client.  We let each other know where we are or where we are going or when we are back (no clunky in/out board for us!).  We ask questions of the group for clarification, or we can just chat individually with someone.  We send important links, and a myriad of other communications throughout the day.  The techs can even jump in with questions when they are out in a library troubleshooting or installing new equipment/software.  This has cut down on departmental emails and has strengthened our teamwork approach.

Next I open Outlook, which we all know is NOT free.  After that, I launch my Firefox Browser.  This is my browser of choice, and I have it customized with many

Greasemonkey scripts (allows for customization of the way a Web page displays using small bits of JaveScript) and other Add-Ons; all of which are free.  Here’s a screen shot of a few of them…

Meebo is a Web based IM that lets me log into my IM networks from any computer with a browser and internet connection.  So my Google Talk, AOL IM, Messenger and a host of other IM/Chat clients can be accessed all at once in a single buddylist from anywhere.  Because I use the meebo firefox extension, this loads automatically when I launch my browser.  I have also placed the meebo me widget on all of my blogs and on other sites I’ve used for workshops as well as within our Intranet so that anyone can reach me anytime instantaneously when they need assistance.  Another great way to avoid email.

The first site I open in my browser is Basecamp.  (Actually, using the Morning Coffee Add-On, these sites open automatically into separate tabs when I click the icon on my browser).  This is the open source project management software my department uses.  We started with a free version, and now we do use a paid version.  I love this.  It keeps me on task for all of my projects and trainings.  The templates are the best.  If I teach a class on a rotating basis, I can just pull in a template of each task and step I need to do to prepare for, conduct and follow up for a class.  When working on projects with others, I can clearly see the scope of the project, what my tasks are and when they need to be completed, and everyone else’s tasks.  Again, this has added better communication and teamwork within our department.

Gmail, is what I open next.  What can I say except that I absolutely could not live without it.  The labels, filters, and ability to add in so many other features makes this the email client of choice for me.  Many times, I have contemplated forwarding my work emails into Gmail for better organization, but I have not taken that leap to date.  Instead, what I have done, is signed up using my Gmail account for all of the listserves, Google groups, Yahoo groups and others.  This way I can filter all of those out into labels (think folders on steroids) to read when I have time.  Also, if I want to use a vacation message in my professional Outlook email, all of those groups will not have to read that because I did not sign up for them using my Outlook account.  Truly, there is nothing more annoying than seeing someone’s vacation message all over the place…

SurveyMonkey is my next stop.  It is great for creating surveys, but it can do a lot more than that!  We do not have a Web programmer at MPOW.  I needed a free and easy way to handle registrations for my training classes.  The ideal would be an online form that would feed into a database.  I was tired of people just sending me an email to sign up for a class and then placing that information into a spreadsheet.  So, a few years ago, I began using SurveyMonkey in a creative way.  We do have the paid version here, which allows me to use logic and export results directly into Excel.  Staff click a link on our Intranet to register for training.  It takes them to a survey I created that contains almost 30 pages with logic built in.  They only see on average about 5 of those pages as they register.  Each class option leads them down a different logical path of pages.  Each class has pre-requisites and I didn’t want to have to keep checking with people when I used to use email to see if they had the skills necessary for a class.  They would fail to include that information in their email even when asked.  The registration survey forces them on a logical path for each separate class.  So, to take Microsoft Word Level 2, it asks them if they have Basic Windows skills or have already taken the Basic Windows class.  If they aren’t sure, it links them to another survey where I have built a Basic Windows Pre-Test.  After that, it asks them if they have Word Level 1 skills or have already taken that class.  Again, they are linked to a pre-test if they aren’t sure.  This has made registrations a snap now and I rarely have to follow-up with anyone.  Feel free to take a look at this and test it out if you like here (Don’t worry, I created a copy of my true registration, so you can fill in whatever you like and it won’t get mixed up with the real data).

I check my account daily to see who has registered for classes or who has completed a Pre-Test that I need to process and send results.

The last site I open is our Intranet.  We use an open source wiki from MindTouch as our Intranet.  We do pay for support.  Before we moved to this a few years ago, we had one person who could post to our Intranet which was a static Web site he maintained using Dreamweaver.  Everything had to go through him and it sometimes took a few days before information was posted due to his workload.  Now, ANYONE can post to the Intranet with a few clicks.  The user interface is super easy to use.  Plus, there is the opportunity to build community with a comment box on every page.  We are currently working on a redesign to put some procedures into place and to make it easier to find stuff.  We pretty much just slapped it together in the beginning.  We may be doing things backwards, but at least people can get information out quickly and cut down on the tremendous amounts of email that used to fly around here.

Now for the random array of many other free and open source sites that help me in my work…

I love Doodle for helping me to coordinate dates for training classes or meetings.  This is a free, Web-based scheduling tool.  I used to schedule classes randomly and sometimes only get 1 or 2 students sign up.  I changed this model to one where you have to sign up to be put on a waiting list for a class.  Once I have 4 people signed up, I use Doodle to coordinate the best date for those 4 people.  Once that date is determined, I then broadcast the selected date to everyone and usually more people then register.  My training room accommodates 12 people.  This method has been very effective.  I’ve been doing this a little over 2 years now and I teach classes less often but pull in more people.  This wastes less of my time and students’ time and allows me to do more one-on-one trainings.  See how beneficial a free little Web ap can be?

Oh how I sing the praises of Jing!  I can use Jing to capture anything I see on my computer screen and share it instantly.  This can be as an image or a short movie.  As much as I wanted to be able to use Captivate years ago, I never had the time to really learn and use it effectively.  I even went to a 2-day course and didn’t get the hang of it.  That was before all of these free and easy screen casting and screen capture tools started popping up everywhere.  I began using Jing about 2 years ago and may have to get a pro license soon.  For now, everything I’ve done has been for free.  My first use was when we pushed out Outlook Exchange to all of the member libraries.  I created an entire library of how-to videos and posted them to our Intranet.  Then, I started just sending out little videos of how-tos when questions would come up.  I can literally throw on my headset, hit a button, have the video uploaded online and a link or embed code ready to go in 10 minutes.  It’s that simple.  Plus, they have great video tutorials in their help area to get started.  However, if you’re someone who likes to do a lot of editing, forget it.  This is about quick and one take.  For professional tutorials, guess I’m going to have to eventually learn one of the others…

You gotta love Dimdim’s slogan… “Why meet when you can Dimdim?”  I’ve only used this a few times so far, but it’s free and pretty easy.  It lets anyone host and attend live meetings, demos and webinars using just a Web browser.  The free version only allows for a small meeting.  So far that’s all I’ve needed it for.  I’ve also used it to share a screen to show someone how to do something.  Looks like we’re going to be using GoToMeeting now as we just purchased an account.  Something new to learn but at least I can begin doing large scale webinars.

Have I mentioned that I’m a Google junkie?  Google is also my home page for any browser I use.  This past year I made the switch from Bloglines to Google reader as my RSS Feed Reader.  There really is no going back.  I love being able to put multiple labels on a feed and easily share items.  I’ll never be able to actually read everything I have in there, but somehow what’s really important floats to the top and I get the information I need.

Told you, Google junkie… I use Google calendar for many things.  We use it right here on ALA Learning to figure out who posts when.  I like to keep everyone informed about all of the great (and many of them free) library-related training opportunities that abound outside of our System.  I cull information from many feeds and listserves into one big Library-Related Training Opportunities Google Calendar.  It’s easy to just paste information into the calendar and insert a little HTML where needed.  I use a widget on our Intranet and the full calendar embed code at the bottom of my blog.

The theme continues… Google docs helps me to collaborate with people here at MPOW and all over the globe.  This is another tool that we use here on ALA Learning to keep some sense of order to this team blog.  I also like to use the docs or spreadsheets when I’m sharing data gathered from questions I’ve raised in groups or listserves where people want to see the results of my query.  One usually cannot attach documents or pdfs to listserve posts, so giving a published Google doc link is helpful.  See an example here.

Remember I mentioned that we do not have a Web programmer?  Well Google Forms, which are a part of Google docs, are a wonderful way to create forms for placement on Web pages.  I use this on our Intranet as a way for people to report any continuing education/training they have received throughout the year.  Our supply request form was created by our Collection Development/Technical Services department and has again cut down an tons of emails.  You can also set up simple surveys using a form.

I haven’t had time yet to really learn how to do a podcast using Audacity, getting a good mic, mixer etc etc.  I occasionally fill in as host of the T is for Training show and have gotten very familiar with Talkshoe.  This is a service that lets anyone easily create, join, or listen to live interactive discussions, conversations, podcasts and audioblogs.  I think a great use of this would be if I recorded a weekly training tip that I could then share with everyone via my blog and the Intranet and of course iTunes.  Talkshoe does all of this quite easily.  If you want to know more about it, ask the pro, Maurice.

Honestly, I could keep going and going.  There’s Skype and Slideshare and Scribd There’s the Blogger and Wordpress blogging platforms I use.  I won’t even get into the free social networking stuff (think twitter, facebook, flickr…)  These are much more familiar than the items I’ve discussed.

So tell me, what free and open source software do you use to make you more effective and efficient in your job?  Please comment and let us know.  I can’t wait to learn about new gems out there!