Week 8: Things 18-19

 

Thing 18 – Infographics and Visual Tools

Infographics

This is a snip from a search I did of Google Images for: inforgraphic

Rather than have you read a whole lot of text as I try to explain what an infographic is, just check out these infographics about infographics!

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/images/what_is_an_infographic.jpg

http://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_marketing_blog/bid/110469/Will-Infographics-Be-Effective-Marketing-Tools-In-The-Future

http://socialmarketbuzz.com/socialmediamarketingresources/that-page-with-the-infographics/infographic-of-infographics-detail/

Wikipedia has a helpful entry describing what infographics are, their history and tools that you might use to create one.

Example tools are:

Creately
Gliffy
Lucidchart

Here is a blog where you can go to learn about some of the latest, “cool infographics”: http://www.coolinfographics.com/

Blog Post

1. Search Google Images for infographics and write about one that was of particular interest to you. What made the infographic successful? Can you find anything about it that could be improved?

2. Is there a topic in your work or in your life that you wish there was an infographic for? For example, a complicated topic that you wish someone would simplify into a one page graphic for you? Describe what that might look like. Consider sketching out what the infographic might look like, take a picture/scan of it and post it to your blog.

Visual Tools (optional)

The following text and links are meant to expose you to a few tools that exist. There are no required activities relating to our 23Things programme. If you have the time and interest, please read on. Otherwise, proceed to Thing 19.

This thing represents the data-driven direction of much of what we do online these days. We’ll explore some simply tools for visualization of information.

Getting started

Google Public Data Explorer
Google Public Data Explorer is a tool developed by Google Labs that makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and understand. It offers a simple way of generating different views and graphs (e.g. bar charts, line graphs, etc.) to better understand and present data.

Currently a range of public data (130 datasets as of 6 August 2014) from organizations and academic institutions—including US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Eurostat, Statistics Iceland, etc.—are available for users to explore interactively. You can also upload your own datasets, using the Dataset Publishing Language (DSPL) format, to Google Public Data Explorer for visualisation and exploration.

It is important to note that you will NOT be able to export data, only manipulate them within the Google Data Explorer environment. However, you can embed the data as part of a website or email the link to someone else. The tool produces interactive, animated graphics using the four available chart formats.

Gapminder
Gapminder is a visualization software package created by a Swedish Foundation to help enliven and disseminate freely available social science data using animated, interactive graphs.

Gapminder is powered by a software called Trendalyzer (which is owned and licensed by Google) and comes with a staggering range of data collected worldwide (519 datasets as of 6 August 2014), on subjects from national economies to AIDS.

It is also possible to use Gapminder to display data over a map so the statistical changes can be seen geographically. However, it has a limited ability to upload and visualize private datasets (possibly via the use of Google Docs) with certain functionalities (e.g. map) not supported.

Tableau Public
Tableau Public is a free desktop tool for generating interactive data visualization, graphs and reports onto the Internet. You can use this application to analyse any type of structured dataset, and can publish the work to Tableau Public web servers where they will be readily accessible to the general public.

Tableau Public is an advanced desktop tool for people who don’t have programming skills but still want to create highly interactive data visualisations on the web. It offers a ‘visual data window’ that allows you to connect different data sources by simply pointing and clicking. You can also apply various filters before exporting the data. Tableau Public can connect to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and multiple text file formats but has a limit of 1,000,000 rows of data in any single file.

The published data saved to Tableau Public is accessible by the general public but you can remove your content later if needed. There are also paid versions of Tableau software, namely Tableau Personal and Tableau Professional, that allow you to save your visualization works locally.

Most of the tools discussed here use publicly available datasets for generating the visualisations and graphs. When using a tool that allows you to upload your own data collection, for instance Tableau Public, you need to consider if these are any restrictions on those data being hosted on a public server.

Blog post (optional)

Think about the role of data in the work you do, your research or your hobbies. Can any of it be enhanced by presenting it visually, especially by presenting data visually? Can you think of how any of these tools might be useful to you? If so, how? Or, why not?

Thing 19 – Presentation Software

  Videos and podcasts might be a growing part of sharing information, but presentation tools are used on a daily basis. In Thing 19 , we’ll explore some new tools for creating presentations, and you’ll take another look at sites like Slideshare that let you share your research and presentations online.

Presentation tools
Most of us are, by necessity, familiar with PowerPoint and/or its Apple counterpart Keynote. There are open source alternatives, although you may find they’re not always compatible in the ways you need (there’s a list at Alternative To). Prezi is growing in popularity and offers an interesting alternative to the usual static slides you normally see. Prezi allows you to zoom, pan and layer levels of information, although these tools need to be used well in order to be effective. Instead of presenting a linear story, you can move around a storyboard, highlighting connections.Prezi can take some getting used to, but it’s worth jumping in and giving it a try. Take some time to experiment with it and think about what it could offer to help you share your research, present a subject to students or colleagues, or create an informational or induction presentation. You can even use Prezi as a collaboration tool – it’s great for mind mapping with colleagues.We particularly like this presentation by Ned Potter of the University of York on how to make good Prezis. As well as showing you what Prezi can do, it’s a great example of exactly that – a good Prezi: The how to make a great Prezi, Prezi on Prezi:
Presentation sharing tools
Now we’d like you to think about uploading your own research or presentations to them. We love the following tools:

• Slideshare and Haikudeck
• Note & Point
• Speaker Deck

These tools give you the opportunity to store all your research presentations or teaching material in one place. Maybe you gave a presentation at a conference, and you’d like other people to have access to it (or you’d like other people to see that you’ve been providing expert comment on the topic). Perhaps you use presentations as teaching tools, and you want your students to have access to lectures after the class. These sites bring your presentations to a much wider audience than you can ever hope to reach with handouts or even an institutional website. They also let you embed your presentations in blogs and websites.Have a look at each site (and feel free to look at others), and pick at least one to try. If you have a presentation floating around, upload it (extra credit: tweet a link to your presentation). Many of these sites let you upload PDFs as well as PowerPoints and other formats, so your ‘presentation’ could even be a simple handout. If you don’t have any presentations to upload, think about when or how you might or might not use these sites.

Exploring further: Some notes on presentations in general
Since we’re on the subject, let’s talk about what makes a good presentation in general. There are blog posts, courses and books galore on this, but we think it deserves addressing. Presentations should be engaging and interesting, and the standard bullet point format, while effective in the right context, can be the opposite of engaging.If you’re looking to breathe life into your presentations, there are some basic things to keep in mind:

• Cut text. Less is better.
• Don’t read our your slides – they’re there to support what you are saying, not replace it.
• Keep to one point per slide.
• Use good images (studies even show that this improves retention!)

Task:

Blog post
Now that you’ve experimented with Prezi and various presentation-sharing tools, what do you think they could add to your work? Can you see yourself using them? Do you think they can help you find new audiences for your work? Tag your post Thing 19.

Further reading

• Prezi: The PowerPoint Alternative? 
• Steal this Presentation (tips for presenting with slides)

 

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Week 6: Things 14-15

14th Thing — Twitter

What is Twitter?
You can think of Twitter as a sort of micro-blogging service. It allows you to publish short updates of up to 140 characters. You can follow other users to subscribe to their updates. All updates from users you follow appear in your own feed, so it’s easy to see them.

Why use Twitter?
It’s a common misconception that Twitter is ALL about people tweeting what they had for breakfast (or their latest date, or their sleeping habits, etc.). Although there are certainly (many!) people who only use Twitter for these things, the reality is that many professional users prefer to use it to ask questions, network or share relevant information and interesting links. It can be a powerful tool, for building professional contacts and for staying up to date in your area of work or other interests. A famously good example of twitter use was during the Haiti Earthquake crisis. People used Twitter to communicate effectively when other communication methods had broken down. Locally, @hfxtraffic is a great example. You can check this twitter feed to get a play-by-play of traffic conditions and accidents that might affect your route, whether you travel by bus or car.

Another, even more local example: SMU’s Writing Centre is active on Twitter:

Some basic Twitter vocabulary
(see the Twitter Glossary for more)

• Tweet: a single update of no more than 140 characters
• RT: A Retweet, or a way of reposting a tweet originally posted by another user, sometime with your own text added (more info on Retweets from Twitter support)
• @reply: a reply to another user (more info on @reply from Twitter support)
• DM: a private message sent to another user (more info on DMs from Twitter support)
• #: A hashtag, which provides a method of grouping tweets by adding a standard tag, e.g. #23PPL2015, so that all tweets on a particular event or issue can be easily searched and tracked (more info on hashtags from Twitter support)

scott_hampton via Flickr

Tasks

Set up a Twitter account
If you already have a Twitter account, skip ahead to Post to Twitter. If not, follow these easy steps to get one set up.

1. Go to http://twitter.com/ and use the sign up box to get started. Follow the steps to create an account (if you want more help, Twitter provides detailed step-by-step instructions). You may want to think about your online presence when you decide on a user name. Do you want to be consistent across your various accounts?
2. Once you have created your account, you’ll be taken to your Twitter homepage. You can update your profile to include a short biography or add a profile picture. You can come back to these steps at any time using the link to Settings in the top right corner of the screen. We recommend you leave the privacy box unchecked so that others can see your tweets and communicate with you.

Post to Twitter
Now post an update! Click on the status box on the top left where it says ‘Compose new Tweet…’. Write a comment – maybe something about your participation in 23 Things. Maybe what you had for breakfast this morning. 🙂 As you type you will see the number in the top right of the box decrease; this tells you how many characters you have left. Leave enough space to add the hashtag #23PPL2015 at the end. This is the hashtag for our 23 Things programme and will allow others to search for all #23PPL2015 tweets. Once you’re done, click ‘update’. You’ll see your tweet appear in your timeline. You can see what other PPL folks have tweeted by clicking on the #23PPL2015 link.

Find people to follow
Search by name or twitter handle in the search box. (Examples: @SMUWritCentre, @hfxtraffic, @CBCNews)
There’s also a follow button on every user’s profile page.

You can also click on #Discover, and find people through “Who to follow” or check out the list of popular topics under “Trends”.

Post to your Blog
Think about Twitter and how you think it may or may not be relevant to you. Do you feel it’s useful? Why or why not?
Did you find any interesting people to follow that others might also be interested in following? Let us know on your blog!

Further Reading (optional):
Twitter for Academia
Guardian: How Twitter will revolutionise academic research and teaching

15th Thing — Social Networking

Here’s a video clip to introduce this topic…

According to Wikipedia, social networking “focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most [of them] provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.”

The internet has always been a social space, but it wasn’t until around 2003 that it hit the big time. Three sites in particular became extremely popular — Bebo,Friendster and MySpace. At the peak of its popularity, MySpace was getting more hits than Google!

For this particular Thing we’re going to look at a social networking site that was developed at Harvard University and launched quite a few years ago —Facebook.

Wander around the library and it won’t be long before you spot a student using Facebook!

If you’re not currently a member of Facebook, then your task will be to join. If you are already a member, then your task will be to write a blog post about Facebook.

Tasks for non-members

Step 1: Go to the Facebook homepage and sign up for an account. You will need to use a valid email address. Keep in mind, you can choose to keep some distance between the “personal, private you” and your “facebook you”, just as you’ve been doing with the creation of new email addresses, blog and twitter accounts, and so on.
Step 2: It’s up to you how much personal information you add to your profile. You can also control how much of that information is viewable by other people.
Step 3: Find some friends! Using the search box, search for someone you know who is already using Facebook — it might be a work colleague also via 23 Things at PPL, or if you’re comfortable using Facebook freely, search for an old school friend. On the search results page, you might want to click on the “People” tab to limit the results. Once you’ve found someone you know, click on the “Add as Friend” link. You might have to wait for the person to confirm that you are indeed a friend! Once you’ve added some friends, try exploring their Facebook pages.
Step 4: Join a group or become a fan of something. Using the search box, do a search for something you like — it could be your favourite TV show, film, singer or band. This time, you’ll probably want to click on either the “Pages” or “Groups” tab on the search results page. Some pages and groups are just for fun, but you can also find some more serious ones — see if you can find a sensible group set up by either students or staff at Saint Mary’s University!
Step 5: Whilst you’re playing around with Facebook, don’t forget to occasionally update the status on your profile page. That way, your friends will know what you’re doing!

Hopefully you’ve not spent too much time messing around on Facebook! Write a short blog post about your first impressions of using Facebook.

Tasks for members

If you’re already a member of Facebook, then that doesn’t excuse you from doing some work! Write a sizeable blog post about Facebook. What do you like about it? What do you most dislike about it? Is it just for fun or do you think Facebook can be used for more serious things?

Where Facebook is explicitly geared towards personal use, LinkedIn and Academia.edu focus on professional connections. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, and it allows you to build an online profile that features your experience and skills as well as to network with other users in a professional environment, so it provides a great way to connect with contacts from your work world. Academia.edu is essentially a sort of LinkedIn focused on the academic world, so it provides improved features for things like listing publications. Also – going back to our discussions of online presence – LinkedIn and Academia.edu profiles tend to feature high in Google searches, so a well-constructed profile can be a great way to develop your online brand.

Optional Task
You’re not required to set up an account on either network to finish Things 14-15 but you’ll need an account to explore many of the tools’ features, and it’s a good way to improve your professional presence online. Pick one (or sign up for both!) and set up an account. You can always delete it later if you feel the need.

Getting an account on either tool is simple, and you can register from each tool’s home page. Make sure you fill in your profile fully. Remember that these are professional networks, so your photo, taglines and activities should be those you’d be happy with employers and colleagues seeing. LinkedIn allows you to upload your CV straight into your account (with a chance to edit and format, of course!), which offers an easy way to get all your job information in.

Once you’ve signed up, try adding colleagues or other contacts. Successful social media use requires that you actively connect with people and give them something to interact with, rather than just setting up an account and leaving it. If you already have a profile but haven’t used it very much, you might think about these aspects next. You can use your email accounts to find ‘connections’. Don’t be worried about sending requests to contacts; it’s considered fairly normal. Try taking this a step further; rather than just sending a request to connect, send a message with a question or a message.

Specific functionality:

• LinkedIn offers groups, which allow you to join others based around a sector, place of work or other interest. You can also search for groups.LinkedIn also allows you to see who has viewed your profile, send private messages and give and ask for recommendation and skill endorsements.

• Academia.edu has less functionality, but it is geared towards academic activities. You can write update posts on your activities, upload papers and other documents which might include ‘grey’ literature such as conference papers as well as link to your journal articles. It can also tell you how many people have viewed your profile, what keywords they used to find you, and who is following your work. You can also follow the profiles of other scholars, which is useful to keep up to date with people’s publications.

Exploring further

• Many people find LinkedIn useful as a tool for job searching. Employers can post jobs but, more importantly, your profile can give you the opportunity to ‘sell’ yourself to potential employers. Having endorsements and recommendations can help. Try asking for a recommendation for your current or previous position.

Task to complete Thing 15: Blog post

As we mentioned, feel free to talk about all of this week’s things in one post, as they lend themselves to comparison and discussion. Did you choose to use one tool over the other? Do you think these tools offer a good way to present your professional profile, or do you prefer something else (a website, blog, etc.)?

If you use Facebook, do you feel that LinkedIn or Academia.edu are a suitable alternative space for professional activities, or do you find Facebook works just as well if not better for what you want to do?

Note that all of these tools can be useful, but they can also take up a lot of time. Is it better to have no profile at all than an out-of-date one?

Thing 11 Update: “Guide to Delicious Halifax” Wiki

Hi everyone,

Thing 11 says:

“Check out the 23 Things @ PPL 2015 Wiki hosted by PBworks. Anyone can view this wiki but you’ll need to request access to edit it. Please do so! If you don’t get approved within a few hours, please send Nicole (nicole.carter@smu.ca) an email with an email address you’re using for the 23 things programme.”

There was a problem with these steps but I think they are fixed now.

If you experience any problems going forward, please let me know!

Many thanks,
Nicole

Week 4: Things 9-11

9th Thing – Wikis

What is a wiki?

Wiki is taken from the Hawaiian word wiki wiki meaning quick or swift. In Web 2.0 terms a wiki is a website in which content can be added, edited and changed by a group of members. This means a wiki is great way of getting people working together and collaborating online.

(The Wiki Wiki bus, by Kables)

Some of the benefits that make wikis so attractive are:

• anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content
• tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom
• earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed

And users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases simple syntax structure is used.

Are all wikis open to everyone?

No, the ethos of sites like Wikipedia is to be open and allow anyone to contribute – a wonderful idea, but this can cause problems. However, in most cases you will only want certain people to be able to contribute or even to see your wiki, especially if you’re using it in a work context.

Watch this short film to see just how useful wikis can be…

Watch this video to see how easy it is to contribute to a wiki…

Note: As of 2013, wetpaint.com is no longer in the business of wiki-hosting. There are plenty of other free wiki-hosting services. Examples are PBworks, Wikidot and Wikispaces. You’ll get a chance to try out PBworks this week!

10th Thing – Wikipedia

Some of you will have seen and most likely used Wikipedia to find information.

Step 1: Choose the random article link, keep clicking on it until you find an article that interests you, and write about it in your blog.

Step 2: Click on current events link and see what’s in the news – put this in your blog post too. Be sure to click on the “talk” or “discussion” tab on the article to see what people are saying about it. (What are talk pages?)

11th Thing – PBworks 

Here you’ll get a chance to contribute to a wiki.

Check out the 23 Things @ PPL 2015 Wiki hosted by PBworks. Anyone can view this wiki but you’ll need to request access to edit it. Please do so! If you don’t get approved within a few hours, please send Nicole (nicole.carter@smu.ca) an email with an email address you’re using for the 23 things programme.

The objective of Thing 11 is to add some content to our wiki to create a “Guide to Delicious Halifax“; a compilation of all our favourite restaurants, recipes, etc. We’ve already added some content to the wiki but it will be much better once everyone has added something to it.

Let’s Get Wiki’d!

Step 1: Go to the wiki and click on the Guide to Delicious Halifax link.

Step 2: Browse through the wiki site and select one of the pages that you would like to add some new content to — it might be to add your favourite restaurant, your favourite recipe or to add further detail to what others have already posted.

Step 3: Once you are looking at the relevant page in the wiki (which might be blank if no-one has added any content yet), click on the “Edit” button. You should now be able to edit the text of the page. You can use the toolbar to format the text and, if you are feeling adventurous, you can add links to other pages, even new pages.

If the page doesn’t already exist, then select “Add Link” (as shown below).

Don’t forget to click on the “Save” button periodically!

If you enjoyed adding content to the wiki, explore some of the other links in the “Guide to Delicious Halifax” and either add new content or update some of the existing pages! You can think of this wiki as an ever-evolving beast that no one is in charge of. We all have an equal say in what direction it takes, as directed by what we all put on it. It becomes what we all make it.

Optional tasks

Optional task 1: Explore some of the wikis hosted on the Wikia web site. There’s plenty to choose from, including Wookieepedia (Star Wars), Muppet Wiki, Psychology Wiki, and the Recipes Wiki.

Optional task 2: Write a new blog post about your experiences with wikis. Do you think they are useful tools?

Optional task 3: Create your own wiki using PBworks. Watch this video for all the details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ5OV14v4xU And, of course, blog about it if you want your followers to view or contribute to it!