But websites aren’t just for posting funny pictures of cats. What are Michael, Erin, and Sean doing online? Let’s see:

Erin, Michael, Sean

Michael found an outstanding new way to reach potential employers and show off his skills at the same time: he made himself a website. He used Weebly to put together a totally pro-looking online advertisement for his own bad self. He posted his resume, work samples, portfolio, sample writings, and even links to a few short education films he made and posted on YouTube. He used this link when applying for jobs as a way to showcase himself and stand out from the crowd.

And guess what?

…drum roll…

It worked.

Michael accepted a new full-time position just nine weeks after he started using his site. He even negotiated a nice little salary increase from where he was at before. Unfortunately, his new officemate has a really irritating nose whistle, but this is a minor inconvenience. You better believe he’ll be maintaining his site and using it to show off all the skills he’s learned and will continue to learn.

Erin is eager to get a web presence for Yurt World. She started the blog way back when and that’s been pretty handy, but she feels it’s time to expand. She’s going to trick out her site with e-commerce, RSS feeds, embedded videos, and photo galleries, plus maps showing where on the globe her yurts are being used (although she will definitely need help from professionals for some of this.). She’s going to integrate her blog with the site, and she’s also going to invite customer comments and publish them along with Yurt World’s responses. She plans to make her website a community where the yurt-minded can congregate. We imagine this can only be good for business.

And Sean? He started a site to be a travel journal to document everywhere he’s been. He integrates his Flickr account to show off all of his photos, plus his Facebook and Twitter feeds so he has an all-in-one web presence. His site is a space where he can express himself, show off his artwork and photos, and write about the amazing places he’s been and wonderful people he’s met. Part journal, part portfolio, and part tribute to his travels: his website is as personal and unique as he is.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the Weebly Website Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Weebly Website Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

Super Happy Web Time!

Although there are a lot of different ways to create a web site, Weebly is what we’ll be using here. You can do a practice page to play around with, or start in right away making your dream site. Consider this tutorial a guide to get you started, but really the best way to learn is just to plunge in and start playing around.

Let’s start at the very beginning; a very good place to start. To begin, put in your name and your email, and then pick out a nice, secure password.

The next thing you’ll see is that annoying little screen where you have to type the words you see. Remember, this proves you’re a living, breathing human being with a soul and feelings, and not a heartless, mindless spambot programmed to destroy the internet. So just do it already.

Now you’ll be asked to pick a name for your site. What? You don’t have a name ready? Well, just pick something. Change it later if you don’t like it. And choosing the type of site you’re planning is, we hope, pretty self-explanatory.

Next, you’ll be asked to pick a domain name. Holy technical jargon, Batman! What does that mean? Easy: it just means you’re deciding the address people will type into their browser when they want to get to your website. If you’re just starting out with your business, or if this the first time you’ve created a website, you probably want to choose the first option. (You can always change your mind later if you want to.) In our example, we’ll pick the first option, too, so the website we’ll be creating is http://www.yurtworld.weebly.com.

Do you see the tabs across the top? We’ll start with the “Elements” tab. That tab has four subcategories on the left: Basic, Multimedia, Revenue, and More. Can you guess where we’re starting? If you said “Basic,” you’re absolutely right. In the next section we’ll talk about basic design.

Basic Design

One cool thing about Weebly is that the elements are drag-and-drop—meaning that you can literally drag down (click and hold with the left mouse button, then pull across the page) the elements you want and place them where you want. For example, try dragging down a “Paragraph with Title” element and drop it at the top of your page just below the header (you’ll see an orange line that shows you where the element will be placed). Let go of the mouse button to place the element. Don’t like where you put it? Drag and drop somewhere else.

The filler text in your element says “Click here to edit,” and that’s just how it works. Click on the text and you’ll see an editing toolbar pop up at the top of the page to change the text color, size, alignment, and so forth. Try editing some text now.

Pro tip: if you’re getting frustrated with the text editing process, try typing in some dirty words and giggling about it like a 12-year-old. That always helps us, at least.

Drag and drop a few elements, then start playing with them. Move them around. Notice how each element has a red x on the right-hand side. That’s if you want to delete an element. Try it now. And do you see the green arrow on the left-hand side? That’s if you want to move this element to another page on your site. You haven’t created any other pages for your website yet, so this part won’t work very well for you. Unless of course you’ve already skipped ahead and made more pages, in which case maybe you want to teach this class?

Linking: It’s really fun

One of the critical parts of having a web page is having links to other pages. This is easier than you might think. But please be aware that if you believe the computer can read your mind, it’s going to be a lot harder than you might think.

Take a look at one of your elements that has text in it. Highlight the text you want to turn into a link, then look around for the text editing toolbar (probably at the top of the page). Do you see the button with the picture of the chain? We actually think it looks like a Lone Ranger mask, but it’s really a link (get it?) of a chain. Click on that, and you’ll see you can make a link to:

• another page on your own website (again, this will be handier when you have more than one page)
• a website elsewhere on the internet
• a file, like a Word or Excel document
• an email address

Try making a link, then take a moment to contemplate this sentence: Are you a genius or what?

Adding pizzazz

Another thing you’ll almost certainly want on your site is images. Drag and drop a “Picture” element or a “Paragraph with Picture” element. See where it says “Click here to edit”? Go ahead and click right on it. Here’s where it gets exciting:

You’re going to have to get your image from somewhere, right? This is how we do that. At the top of the dialogue box that pops up, you can choose to get your image from My Computer (meaning your computer, not our computer, since otherwise that would just be confusing), a photo gallery (Weebly pulls images from Flickr; check out the copyright agreement at the bottom), or the internet. If you pick the internet, be sure to credit your source! If you just use someone’s image without respecting their copyright and giving them credit, yes, that is stealing, and yes, that person has every right to be mad at you. So don’t come crying to us if you do it anyway and get in trouble.

Go ahead and find an image to put on your site. If you want to use one on your own computer, navigate to the folder where you store your photos and select one to use, then click “Open.” To get an image that’s online, either search through the photo gallery or type in the address (URL) of where the image is on the internet.

If you don’t know where to get an image from, just choose “My computer” and your computer will probably automatically take you to the folder where the sample photos that came preloaded on your machine are kept.

Pro tip: if you want to take an image from the gallery or the internet and save it to your personal computer, find the image in the gallery or online, then right-click on the image, then left-click on “Save picture as.” You’ll be able to browse through folders on your computer so you can save it somewhere convenient. You may want to rename the file something less gibberish-y.

Notice that after you import an image, when you hover your mouse over it, you get new toolbars that pop up to edit the image. Play around with this. Try adding a caption. And if you really want your mind blown, click on the orange “Edit” button and check out all the ways you can tweak your image. (If you joined us for the last Thing, Online Image Editors, this will be old hat for you.)

In addition to images, other elements you can add are in the multimedia tab, meaning things like a photo gallery, Google map, or that cute YouTube video of a dog barking “Auld Lang Syne.” The “Revenue” elements are mostly for businesses that want to sell goods or services; you’ll need to set up a Google Checkout or PayPal account to use these. And under “More,” holy moly there’s a lot to explore. See if you can find these things and add them to your site:

• a game
• a survey
• an RSS reader
• a way to signal Batman that you need help

Just kidding! The best way to signal Batman is still the tried-and-true light in the sky. Although we’re given to understand that Bruce Wayne is now on Twitter, so you can also try reaching him that way.

Make it shine

Now comes the really fun part: what do you want your site to look like? Click on the “Design” tab and the first thing you’ll see is the most popular templates Weebly has. You can pick one of these, or click on “All Themes” for more choices. Go ahead, click around and see what you fancy. Each template allows you to preview what the structure of the page will look like, plus you can change your mind later anyway, so don’t worry about making any irreversible decisions.

Side note: How do you pick a good design? The first question to ask yourself is, “What do I want to use the site for?” Then pick a theme that captures that purpose and that feeling.

And finally, if you find a theme that’s almost perfect but not quite, you can use the “Design Options” tab to monkey around with colors and fonts.

Two last things: one is that Weebly has a great help section that can work you through almost any problem. That’s the “Help!” button in the upper right. And at any time when you’re ready to see what your page looks like, click on the orange “Publish” button and you’ll be able to see your masterpiece (or soon-to-be-masterpiece-in-progress, depending on how far you got today).

More Information for the Curious

Okay, now I have a web site with images and links. But it’s going to need a lot more pages than just this. How do I start putting in all my information? Also, I want to move this thing here over to the right, or maybe down a little.

Easy there, buddy. Let’s start by clicking on the third tab, called “Pages.” You’ll notice a couple of things right away. First is that there isn’t much there. Second is that your shoe is untied. Hah! Gotcha. Man, that gag never gets old.

As we were saying: before you start to add in new pages to your website, you’re going to want to think about navigation, or how easy (or hard) it is for someone to get around your site. Making websites easy to read is a topic way too big to cover adequately here, but if you want to really delve, try reading Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. You can also get a good start by paying attention to websites you like and visit a lot, and watching how they organize their information. Online, your presentation is often as important as your message, so take care to put things in an order that makes sense. We recommend have a friend or two test out your site to give you feedback on what works and what is a problem. Heck, order some pizza and have a testing party. Honestly, it can’t hurt.

For now, just click on “Add a Page” and see what happens. You can name your new page whatever you want. Try dragging it above or below the page called “Home,” then go back to the “Elements” tab to view the page. Then go back to the “Pages” tab and drag your new page below “Home” and slightly to the right. Now go back and try to spot the difference.

Notice that there’s also an “Add Blog” button. If you want a blog that is integrated with your web site, this is a super-simple way to do it. Try editing the blog page to see what it looks like.

Pro tip: when you’re editing your blog page, check out the “Elements” tab. It will have a lot of options that are different from your regular web page.

Also, if you have a page that you worked on really hard to get just right and you want to use it as a pattern to make other pages, you can select that page and click on “Copy Page” to get a perfectly usable copy, which can be moved around and edited at your whim.

The penultimate tab, “Editors,” is where you can add other people who are allowed to access your site; you can control the level of access each person gets. And finally, the “Settings” tab is where you can—guess what?—control the settings for your site.

And finally

As we mentioned earlier, Weebly is far from being the only web site software available. Some other choices include:

wordpress.com — Good for a basic and straightforward introduction to blogging only.
wordpress.org — Yes, confusing, isn’t it? This is good for the more advanced user, or someone interested in doing more with a blog and/or creating a website.
Google sites — A handy way to get a website up and running in a jiff. Plus you can integrate with all of your other Google products (see Things #5, Gmail, and #6, iGoogle).

Ta da! You made it all the way to the end of the Baker’s Dozen classes. Congratulations! We’ve certainly enjoyed talking tech with all of you, and we hope you’ve enjoyed it as well. Let us know what you think: leave a comment here below to tell us what you loved, what you hated, and what you remained completely indifferent about.

So that’s it from us. If you want to know more, visit your local library and we’ll be happy to help you out. Thanks for being here, and thanks for sharing Baker’s Dozen with us. See you at the library!

Anywho. The software we’ll be using is Picnik, a fun, free image editing tool. Part of what makes Picnik so easy to use is that you can do all of your editing online, without ever having to install software onto your computer. What kinds of things can you do? Let’s see:

Michael, Erin, Sean

Remember Michael’s sister in Bulgaria? She’s living there with her husband and their new baby boy. Michael wants to do something nice for her first Mother’s Day, so he’s going to pick out the best photos of the baby and use Picnik to turn them into a collage and then create high-quality framable prints. He can also clean up the photo backgrounds, sharpen up some almost-perfect shots, and put cute little artwork and funny text on the photos to make Junior even more adorable than even his mom thought possible. All it costs Michael is time, plus he scores major points for being an awesome uncle.

Erin’s cousin Lurlene just announced she’s getting married! And while it’s true that Lurlene’s been engaged twice before (she left groom #1 at the altar and broke up with #2 for having “strange toes”), we feel sure this one is going to stick. As her present, Erin offered to use Picnik to make Lurlene save-the-date cards, announcement cards, invitations, thank you cards, and then afterward to make a Lurlene a lovely photo album. It’s not too hard to do, but it looks professional and is completely affordable, assuming you can afford free. And the best part is, by doing the photos, Erin is spared having to spend endless hours dragging around town helping Lurlene shop for a dress. (Really, the whole process would go a lot faster if Lurlene would just admit she’s not a size 4 anymore.)

Sean’s happy to leave the family photo stuff to his mom, but he does have a lot of architecture shots from his backpacking trip across Asia. His classmate Emma saw the pictures and thought they would be perfect for her art project. She asked Sean if she could use his pictures and also if he would help her out with the project. Sean’s had a crush on her all semester, so it was easy for him to say yes. However, what he probably should not have done is gotten flustered and told her he already knew how to use Picnik when he really didn’t. Fortunately, Picnik is so easy to learn that he can teach himself in a couple of hours and she never has to know he was trying way too hard to impress her.

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the Play button (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really, that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the Picnik Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Picnik Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

What Next?

We’re going to walk you through how to get started with Picnik. It’s the kind of program that rewards experimentation, though, so once you get the hang of things, you may want to start just playing around and testing out the different buttons. You can’t break anything, so step on up and don’t be shy.

1. To get started, open your Internet browser and type www.picnik.com into the address bar. Once the Picnik website loads, click on the “Get started now!” button. (You can register if you want, but it’s not required.)
2. Upload: You’re probably eager to get going right away, so let’s just jump right in. Click on the “Upload” button on the left.
3. Now you can either upload a photo from your computer, your flash drive, or your camera. When the pop-up box appears, select “Computer” or “My Computer.”
1. If the photo you want to edit is on your computer, navigate to where the image is and click “Open.”
2. If you want to upload an image from your flash drive, go to “Computer” or “My Computer,” then select “Removable Disk” (for a a flash drive) or find the icon for your camera if you are uploading photos directly from your camera. Then click “Open.”
4. Now you should see all of your photos listed in the pop-up box. If you don’t, ask a buddy to help you. After all, it’s not like we can see what you’re doing from way over here.
5. Select the photo you would like to edit and click “Open.”
6. Wait a moment for Picnik to upload your photo.

Still waiting? Huh. Weird. We’re going to go get a sandwich. Do you want anything? Ok, we’ll be right back.
And we’re ready now? Fantastic.

Once Picnik uploads your photo, your screen will be on the main editing page. Your main editing options are on the menu bar for the Edit tab.

Is it sideways?
If your photo appears sideways, you can rotate your photo before you do any other edits. Click on the “Rotate” button. Select the “Left” or “Right” button to rotate your photo, then click “OK.”

Do you want to cut part out?
Do you want to cut your picture down to another size, or cut something out that is distracting? Select “Crop.” You can select the section of your photo that you would like to keep. Move your mouse to the light gray circles that appear on the edges of your photo. Click with your left mouse button and drag (meaning keep your finger down) the light gray lines to create new margins for your photo.

Change it back! Change it back!
If you decide that you don’t like how you cropped the photo, click “Undo” to (guess what?) undo the most recent edit that you made.

Is it the wrong size?
If you would like to change the overall size of your photo, you can use the “Resize” button. So, say if you want the image to be half the original size, click “Use Percentages” and then put 75 in for the new dimensions. Fun tip: If the “Keep Proportions” box is check, Picnik will automatically keep the image at the right size so you don’t accidentally stretch or squash your pic.

Too muddy? Too light?
“Exposure” allows you to adjust the colors and brightness of your photo. By moving the “Exposure” and “Contrast” sliders at the top of the page, you can make changes to your photo. Try it—it’s fun!

Is the color wrong?
Next is the “Colors” tab, which allows you to make even more adjustments to the colors of your photo. Holy cow. Try using the “Temperature” slider to add more blue or orange to your photo. Try out “Auto Colors” and “Neutral Picker” to see what they do, too.

Waaaaay too fuzzy?
“Sharpen” allows you to make the details of your photo sharper or softer than the details in the original.

The dreaded “Red-Eye”
And last but not least, we get back to good ol’ Uncle Charlie: the Red-Eye tab. Use the crosshairs to center in on the eye, and click to banish that red-eye. You can do this for people or for pets—note the handy selection box to the left. And we would hope it goes without saying, but this option only really works when you have a picture with people or pets in it.

Ta-da! Now you know the basics of Picnik. We bet you’re feeling pretty good about yourself right now. If you’re ready to hone your expertise, we’ve put even more tips and tricks in the “More Information for the Curious” section, which is coming up next.

More Information for the Curious

What did we tell you? We’re right back with even more fun things to try with Picnik.

So you’ve made basic edits to your photo, but now you’re ready to kick your photo-editing skills up a notch. Bam!

Advanced editing in Picnik
In addition to making basic edits to your photo, you can also use Picnik to make more creative changes to your photo. We’ve been using the “Edit” tab (look up at the top to see it), but now we want the “Create” tab, just to the right of “Edit.”

Whoa, hold on there. Don’t just start clicking all over the place. We can’t be held responsible if you do. Let’s start with the “Featured” tab (all the way to the left). With any luck, this should already be automatically opened for you.

The first thing you might notice is that some of the featured editing options say “Premium” on the side. That means, alas, that you have to be a premium ($$ paid) member to use these options. All the others are fair game, though.

Scroll down the “Featured” list and take a minute (we’ll be timing you) to check out some of the options. When you pick one, you’ll notice you get some options pop up, usually with slider bars. Play around with these; if you find something you like, click “Apply;” if you don’t like what you’ve done, click “Cancel.”

Once you’re bored with “Featured,” click the next tab, which is “Effects.” One fun option is “Vignette.” Use this to darken the edges of your photograph to give it an artistic, old-fashioned look. “Vignette” automatically uses black to darken the edges, but you can choose any color!

These really are a blast, so have fun trying all of the different options! “Focal B&W” allows you to focus on one section of your photo to leave in color, while changing the unselected areas of your photo to black and white. “Focal Zoom” allows you to choose one section of the photo while making the rest of the photo out of focus. How about “Pencil Sketch?” That makes your photo look like it is a hand-drawn pencil sketch. Hence the name, presumably. “Neon,” “Gooify,” and “Invert” are also staff favorites.

The next tab, “Text,” allows you to put text on your image, in one of many attractive fonts. With the “Stickers” tab you can put line drawings and clip art on your images, changing the size and color to suit your taste. The “Touch-Up” tab is worth looking at just for the frog art on the side.

Once you’ve thrown all the special effects on that you care to, go to the “Frames” option under the “Create” tab. Here, you can look at a before and after version of your photo. Check out what an awesome artiste you are!

Once you’re all done, be sure to save your photo! Click on the “Save&Share” tab (the last one on the right) and name your photo before you click on “Save Photo.” The other tabs across the top let you share your photos with just a few easy clicks. It really is that simple.

Just one more to go! How many of you have done all 12 so far? Show of hands? Wow, that many? Fantastic! Well, you’re just one class away from the end of Baker’s Dozen. Our final class is website construction. We make it as easy as we can, so don’t be intimidated. Ta ta for now!

Help!

Questions, comments, & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php

Is that the thing where you can call people with your computer?

Yeah, that’s the one! Skype is a service that allows you to use the internet to make phone calls.

Is it free?

Sorta. The basic service, calling computer to computer, is free. The more advanced services, like using Skype from your phone or TV, or making group calls, are gonna cost ya.

But what’s the deal? How does a computer call another computer?

Excellent question.  The video below may provide the answers you’re looking for.

So you just use it for calls? That’s it?

You can use Skype just about any way you can use a phone. But better. For example:

Michael, Erin, Sean

Michael has been interviewing at local jobs, but he’s also applied for jobs in places as far away as Alaska. Instead of spending time and money travelling to other states, he’s been doing a lot of phone interviews. And in a couple of cases, Skype interviews! Some companies are trying out Skype as a way to do a better interview for out-of-state candidates while saving money at the same time. (If you’re wondering, both of his Skype interviews went very well; he’s hoping to hear back from the companies next week.)

Erin works with vendors and suppliers all over the world. She spends a lot of her time on her email trying to coordinate all the details for all of her projects, big and small. Waiting for emails to go back and forth can be time-consuming and sometimes confusing. Conference calls are ok, but it can be hard to manage meetings when no one can see who’s talking. Skype is the answer: with video conferencing, even large groups of people can easily talk out problems in an hour or two that might take days over email. Sweet.

When Sean spent the summer before his junior year travelling through Asia, he wanted to keep the doctor he had back home. Sean was able to have live appointments, get updates on his health, and even have prescriptions sent to him where he was. Whoa. And while he was abroad, he met a lot of really interesting people, and now he wants to stay in touch. Fortunately, Skype is again the answer to his problems. It’s easy to stay connected for pennies a minutes. It’s like living in the future, except with no flying cars or Smell-O-Vision. Yet.

So what’s the deal with Skype anyway?

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the Play button (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the Skype Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Skype Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

I Want to Try!

To get an overview of how to get started with Skype, try this video:

But if you’ve tried the other Baker’s Dozen projects, this will probably be a pretty familiar process:

1. Go to skype.com. Click on the “Join Skype” button in the upper right.
2. Don’t panic! Skype has probably started its download automatically. If not, it will.
3. Follow the directions on the screen to download Skype for your machine.
4. You’ll need to create a user name and password. Make it something you can remember—or at the very least write it down someplace.
5. In order to register, you’ll need to provide a valid email address.

Why? That’s irritating.

Well, if you ever forget your user name or password, that’s the only way to get back into your account.

Oh. I guess that’s ok, then. Go ahead.

We’re almost done anyway.

6. So you’ll need to provide an email address, but what you don’t have to do is agree to get lots of emails from Skype. Want the emails at a minimum? Be sure to uncheck the box that says “Yes, send me Skype news and special offers.”
7. Once your account is ready, follow the instructions on the screen to make a test call to make sure everything is working right.

Ok, I think it’s working. So what now?

Now try calling someone! A major drawback of any communications device is that it’s not much good for just one person. So Skype someone. Ask around among your friends and family to find out who is already using Skype. You can also search in Skype itself by phone number, or you can search online to get a number and put that number in Skype directly.

What if nobody I know is using Skype?

This is a perfect chance to teach someone! Show off your amazing new knowledge and get someone you know on Skype, too. Then get chatting!

More! More!

Skype isn’t the only game in town. If you tried Thing #5, Gmail, or Thing #6, iGoogle, or you have one of those accounts already, you can use Google Talk for voice or video chatting. Google Talk doesn’t have quite as many bells and whistles as Skype, but it is free and already integrated with Gmail, which is a big plus for some people. If you want to use Google Talk, first you’ll need a Gmail account, and then you’ll need to install the chat software.

Google+, another Google product, also integrates Google Talk, and Google Talk works the same way here as it does in Gmail or iGoogle. Google+ was just released, and as of this writing you need an invitation from a friend in order to join. But Google+ is Google’s answer to Facebook, meaning you can keep in touch with friends, share photos, chat (voice, video, or text), and find new connections, all while having immediate access to the Google line of services. Google+ is a little more than we can into in depth here, but it’s worth checking out.

Next week: online image editors! For those of you who loved our Flickr class, this will be right up your alley. But whether you’re a shutterbug or not, come on back and talk some tech with us. We look forward to it!

Wiki comes from “wiki wiki,” a Hawaiian term for “really fast.” Wikis are quick to set up, quick to learn, and quick to edit—hence the name.

That’s what I thought.

Sure you did. As we were saying, wikis are web sites that can be viewed and edited directly by the people who use them. Wikis are great for online collaboration and communication, and are super easy to use—no techie skills necessary!

So how are our friends using wikis? Let’s see:

Erin, Michael, Sean

Michael would prefer that we don’t tell you all this, but we’re going to anyway: Michael loves Hello Kitty. He collects Hello Kitty toys, eats off of Hello Kitty plates, and pays his rent with Hello Kitty checks. You could say he’s something of an expert on Hello Kitty. (You could probably say something else about him, too, but let’s be nice.) Because he has a lot to contribute to a conversation about Hello Kitty, he works diligently on Wikipedia’s Hello Kitty page to keep the information there accurate and up to date. He doesn’t get paid, but he takes pride in the fact that he is one of the Hello Kitty information army. A tip of the hat to you, Michael.

Erin was finding that a lot of her prospective customers were asking the same questions of her sales people, and her staff was wasting a lot of time and duplicating work just to get the same answers over and over. She decided to set up a wiki with all the answers to frequently asked questions. Not only did she save time and improve customer service, the sales staff really got into the idea. They started posting up their own pages to keep track of important dates, events, and information, and now their wiki has grown to be the critical go-to information source for the entire staff. Bob, the northeast regional sales manager, claims he “can’t remember how we got by without it.” Thanks, Bob.

Sean got so excited about all the architecture photos he took during his summer traveling that he chose to use them for a project in his Modern Art and Architecture class. A couple of his classmates liked what he did so much that they decided to work together on the subject as a senior capstone project. Because their schedules were so crazy, they decided to make a wiki to keep track of everyone’s different parts of the project. It worked like a charm; you’d never know they put their whole project together and were never in the same room at the same time.

Presentation on Wikis

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

Click on the link below and wait for the Prezi to load.
Once the Prezi is loaded, click on the “Play” button.
After you’ve read the text on the screen, click the “Play” button again to go to the next part. Keep clicking to go all the way through the presentation.
When you get to the end, click on the blog link to go back to the class.
That’s it! No, really, that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

1. Click on the Play button (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the Wiki Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Wikis Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

Discovery Exercise

Wikipedia

For this project, we’re going to become editors and contributors at Wikipedia. Don’t be scared—it won’t hurt a bit. Unless you drop the keyboard on your toe. Try not to do that.

Go to www.wikipedia.org. (Fascinating side note: many people try to go to wikipedia.com. Although you’ll get automatically redirected to the right site by typing this address, Wikipedia is actually a non-profit organization, so it has a .org ending.)

Now just hold on there, pardner. Before you go typing anything into the search box, take a minute to look over the page if you haven’t before. Scroll down and look around. Maybe you knew that there are Wikipedia pages in other major languages like German or Russian, but did you know that there are pages in dozens of other languages? (Don’t worry, even we’ve never heard of some of those.)

And at the very bottom of the page, there are links to other cool pages, such as Wikibooks, to search open-source textbooks, Wikiversity, a resource center for educators, or Wikispecies, a free species directory.

No, none of this has anything to do with the project yet. We just think it’s cool.

Moving on: go to the search bar and type in something you’d like to find. We’ll be using the Tucson page as an example if you want to follow along. If not, you’re on your own.

From the Tucson page, click on the Edit tab in the upper right.

Scroll down past all the funky code until you get to the first line of the third paragraph of text, where it says, “The Tucson skyline is dominated by mountains in every direction.” Change this to read: “The Tucson skyline is dominated by zombies in every direction.” Click on “Save page” underneath.

Voila! Check out your bad self. You’re now a Wikipedia contributor and editor.

But now good manners says we have to fix it: Click edit page again, change “zombies” back to “mountains,” and click “save page.” Check to be sure you’ve saved the change; otherwise, we’re just being rude to other people who are trying to use the site.

More information for the curious

Other Wikis

Wikipedia is not the only wiki out there. Some other examples of popular wikis include:

wikiHow

– an online “How To” wiki

Wiktionary

– an online dictionary

Wikitravel

– a worldwide travel guide

Wiki Services
Wiki services are not all equal. Some are paid services with nifty advanced features, and that may also let you customize the wiki or add your own branding. Some services are free, allowing people to create free wikis, invite any number of people to help keep them up-to-date, and upload photos, embed videos, and create profiles. You don’t need a web server, an IT staff, or any money at all. Why would they do that? Easy: they allow ads. You might see them up at the top left, below the table of contents, or maybe in another place on the page. The ads pay for the service, so you don’t have to. Many free web 2.0 sites have ads on them.

Other free wiki services include pbwiki and wikispaces.

Only three classes left! Coming up next is the lovely and talented Skype. Yup, that’s the one where you can talk long-distance for free. Meet you all right back here one week from today. Bye now!

Help!

Drop-in Sessions: get help or ask questions about these classes: Schedule.

Comments & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php

Photo sharing is just like swapping snapshots with your friends, only online, and possibly easier! There are as many reasons to share photos as there are people who are sharing them. For example:

Erin, Michael, Sean

Michael’s sister just had her first baby! Yay! But she and her new family live all the way in Bulgaria. Boo. His sister could always email the family those cute photos of baby drooling on daddy, but if she posts them on Flickr, everyone in the family can see them at the same time plus make comments about how adorable her sweetie pie is. She can also manage all of her photos in one place without having to email the entire extended family every time—and who has time to do that with a new baby, anyway? And it’s easy for her to make sets of pictures so Michael can see and sort through the different photos of his niece growing up any time he wants without having to store emails or worry about losing files.

Erin decided to have Yurt World be a sponsor at the Thirty-Fourth Annual Portable Housing Fair. She and her employees were at the fair the entire week demonstrating their new line of wigwam wash. She put her photos on Flickr and posted the link to her company’s website. Her customers love seeing the faces of the people they normally only talk to by phone and email, and it’s helped to bring in new business, too.

Sean spent the summer between his sophomore and junior year traveling through Asia taking pictures of modern architecture. When he got back, he posted all of his photos and tagged all of his snaps with descriptive words, both to help him find his photos later and help other people find his pictures. He noticed there were a lot of other people on Flickr interested in architecture, too, so he joined a couple of groups where he could see what other people were taking pictures of. He started asking questions in the forums and made a few friends. He learned about architecture in a way he never would have gotten in class, improved his photography technique, and can see his photos alongside those of other people with similar interests. And all for free!

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the Play button (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the Flickr Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Flickr Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

Lemme at it!

• Get a free account at Flickr.com. Flickr is owned by Yahoo!, so if your email is “@yahoo.com,” signing in is as easy as it gets.
• If you don’t have a Yahoo! account, you can also sign in with your Facebook or Google information.
• Flickr will walk you through getting started, so take the tour! Since this is about sharing photos we recommend uploading a photo as your first activity. Set permissions to “public” (everyone can see them).

Hey, wait. What if I don’t own a digital camera?

No problem! This exercise is about sharing photos, not honing your photography skills. If you need to, you can use someone else’s photo, found here at www.freedigitalphotos.net (click on the “Download” link underneath where it says “Free Image Download.” Don’t forget to credit the photographer!).

Add some things to your profile:

• Upload your buddy icon image! This can be a portrait of yourself or a cartoon image. Flickr members often choose a buddy icon that says something about their personality, often in a fun or witty manner.
• Tell us a little about yourself. Share some information about yourself with the world. Remember, “the world” isn’t just your friends—it’s really the whole world, so nothing too personal! For example, in your profile you may want to click on “Contact” and keep your personal email address hidden to the public.
• Explore! Add a few photos to your “Favorites.” See what else you can do. Just have some fun out there, you crazy kids.

This is great! I want to know more!

Other Services

Flickr is but one of many photo sharing sites. Some popular ones include:

• Photobucket
• Shutterfly
• SmugMug

Google’s Picasa
Since you have a Google account (which you do if you’ve followed Baker’s Dozen up to this point), you might want to explore Google’s Picasa. It’s a bit different from Flickr.

• It’s software, so you have to download and install it
• It automatically recognizes photos and images on your computer and organizes them by folder
• You can create web albums by selecting photos and clicking on a Web Albums button—your photos aren’t automatically posted to the web

Can you believe it? We’re already on to #10: wikis.

Help!

Drop-in Sessions: get help or ask questions about these classes: Schedule.

Comments & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php

You can’t.

But that’s why I bought it.

That stinks. We’re sorry to hear that.

You’re kidding, right?

Unfortunately, no. At the moment, Amazon doesn’t allow libraries to purchase books for the Kindle™. (But lately we’ve heard rumors that things might change…keep your eyes peeled for that announcement!) Until then, however, we have lots of digital downloads for other devices, like the Nook™, the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch™, the Sony Reader™, the Pandigital™, with more being added all the time. We also have downloads for your computer and mp3 player.

Okay, so what’s a digital download?

Digital downloads come in different formats, but they’re all basically electronic versions of the same kinds of things you would check out in a library–books, audiobooks, videos, and/or music.

The difference is, the materials are online so you don’t have to go into the library to get them; you just download them onto your computer. Built-in software automatically checks the files back in when the checkout period ends, so you never have to worry about overdue fines, or lost items, or anything like that.

Since you get the books from the internet, digital downloads are a way to use the library 24-hours a day, from pretty much anywhere.

What’s great about digital books is their portability and convenience. All you need is a device to use, and you can have tons of books with you wherever you go.

Erin, Michael, Sean

Michael just found out his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew are going to stay in Bulgaria another year, so he flew out to go see them for the holidays. He loaded up his laptop with ebooks and burned through 12 of James Patterson’s finest on the flight out.

Erin likes to load up fluff novels and reads them on her smartphone when she has a free moment. She doesn’t get as much time to read as she would like, so she enjoys being able to squeeze in some recreational reading.

Sean carries his Nook™ with him wherever he goes, and has discovered that he actually is reading a lot more since he brings out his Nook™ for found moments throughout the day: waiting in line, waiting when his his friends are late to meet him, riding the bus, or before classes when the professor hasn’t arrived yet. And because his device is so lightweight, he’s even started reading in the bathtub. Don’t tell anyone, though; he’s a little shy about it.

Library eBooks: the good news

• They’re free.
• You can borrow without driving to the library.
• They check themselves in automatically — no late fees!
• Compatible with many eReaders (but not the Kindle™ yet).
• Have a smartphone or tablet? There’s an OverDrive app that saves a big step, and you won’t need a computer.

Library eBooks: the not-so-good news

• As we said above, Kindles™ are not yet compatible with the only eBook formats libraries can buy.
• There is more than one eBook format, and not all formats work with all eReaders.
• Most library eBooks are “locked” so you can’t share them with friends.
• Library eBooks may not be available immediately if someone else has the one you want checked out.
• The first time, you’ll need to download Adobe Digital Editions and create an account.
• Unless your eReader is a smartphone or tablet you’ll need a computer and your eReader for all downloads.

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the Play button (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the digital downloads Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Digital Downloads Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

Discovery Exercise

Use OverDrive to download an eBook or an audiobook. Whichever you want. The difference might seem pretty obvious, but for the sake of total disclosure let’s nail down some definitions:

an

eBook

is a book you read on your computer screen. It’s like a printed book except without—well, you get the idea. If you have a compatible eReader, you can transfer the ebook to your device and read it on that.

an

audiobook

is a book you listen to on your computer. It’s like a book on CD, except without the CD. If you have an MP3 player, you can transfer the audiobook to your device and listen to it on that.

Find something you like
The first step is to get to the OverDrive homepage. There’s a handy link on the library’s website; your first task is to find that link. (Hint, hint, start here: http://www.library.pima.gov/ and look for “Downloadable Media.”)

Once you get in, you’ll see some of the titles that are available. You can browse around, or use the search box if you’re looking for something particular. You might see videos, audiobooks, and/or ebooks available to check out.

Take a look around and find a book that’s available. If a copy of the book is available, you’ll see a link that says “Add to eBag.”

If it’s checked out to someone else, the link will say “Place a Reserve.”

Once you find an audiobook or eBook that you want, check it out. You’ll have to put the book in your eBag, then proceed to the checkout. As with any book from the library, you’ll need your library card to check it out.

Now here’s where things get tricky! In order to make the book work on your computer, you’re going to have to install some software. (cue scary music…)

Ok, it’s really not that bad. But you will need different software for audiobooks than you do for eBooks. Let’s start with the audiobooks. If you checked out an eBook, you can skip down to the next section. It’s fine if you want to miss out on all the audiobook secrets contained here. Go ahead, move along, we’ll wait…

Still here? Ok, then let’s talk about:

For Audiobooks Only: How to Install OverDrive Media Console. You need this software to open audiobooks from OverDrive, because the files are protected with a code called DRM, to protect the copyright. Not only does OverDrive Media Console get you past the DRM, it also gives you a handy piece of software for playing the books, transferring them to portable devices, or even downloading parts of the book if you didn’t get it all the first time. Installing OverDrive Media Console is a one-time process, but you have to do it before you can download your OverDrive audiobooks.

1. Go to the library’s Digital Downloads page, http://pima.lib.overdrive.com/
2. On the left side of your screen, look for the words “Software Download.” (Hint: it’s right up near the top.)
3. Click the link that says “OverDrive Media Console.”
4. Choose which version of the Media Console you want. There’s a different version depending on whether you’re using a Mac, a Windows PC, or a mobile device that runs apps. Click the “Download Now” button.
5. Run the install program to put OverDrive Media Console on your computer.

If you installed the console on your PC or your Mac, you’ll need to do one more thing:

1. Go to the Media Console ikon on your computer, and open the program.
2. At the top, click on “Tools.”
3. From the menu that appears, click “Windows Media Player security upgrade.”
4. Click the button to run the upgrade.

That’s it! You can now jump ahead to Step #6 in our discovery exercise. But if you’re the curious sort, you might want to stick around and look at:

For eBooks: How to Install Adobe Digital Editions. Thankfully, you’ll only need to do this once per computer. You need this software to open eBooks from OverDrive because the files are protected with a code called DRM, to protect the copyright. Not only does Adobe Digital Editions get you past the DRM, it also gives you a handy piece of software for viewing the books, transferring them to portable devices, and even checking them in early if you’re a really fast reader (or if the book is a real snoozer). Installing Adobe Digital Editions is a one-time process, but you have to do it before you can download your OverDrive eBooks.

1. On the left side of your screen, look for the words “Software Download.” (Hint: it’s right up near the top.)
2. Click the link that says “Adobe Digital Editions.” On the next screen, click the “Get Adobe Digital Editions” button. Then click “Download Now” at the top right corner of the screen. Then click the “Launch” button on the left—apparently, Adobe wants to test your persistence before they give you the software!
3. Adobe Digital Editions will install on your computer.
4. The first time you open it, Digital Editions will try to authorize your computer using a clever piece of technology called an Adobe ID. This allows Adobe to assign an identity to the user of the computer, and compare that identity to the user of any eReader that you plug into the computer. If both are using the same identity, Adobe will let you transfer eBooks from the computer to the device. If you want to use an eReader for your OverDrive books, you’ll need an Adobe ID.Here’s how you set one up:
5. When you open Digital Editions, the Setup Assistant screen will open. Click “Continue.”
6. If you happen to already have an Adobe ID, you can log in with your email address and password. But most likely, you’ll need to create a new ID.
7. Click the “get an Adobe ID online” link. That will open the Adobe website.
8. On the Adobe website, click the “Create an Adobe Account” button.
9. Fill in the required fields to create an account, then scroll down and click the “Continue” button.
10. Once you have created your ID, return to Adobe Digital Editions and use your new account information to authorize your computer.

More information for the curious

You know, I want more ebooks than my library has to offer, but I don’t want to pay for them. Is there anything out there like that?

You thought that one would stump us, didn’t you? No such luck. There are thousands of ebooks available for free viewing online. For the most part, these are classic titles in the public domain, so that copyright is no longer an issue. At Project Gutenberg, you can find ebook versions of Greek and Roman mythology, classics by authors like Nathaniel Hawthorn, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henry James, and William Shakespeare, and well-loved children’s favorites like Little Women, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Anne of Green Gables.

Hmph. It’s still not quite enough. I want more books to choose from.

No problem. Check out Project Gutenberg’s many affiliates, including Audiobooksforfree.com. These sites have more free ebooks and audiobooks available than diamond stars sparkling in a black velvet sky.

Yes, very poetic, but all these books are in English. Where are the books in other languages?

As we said before, you’ll have to try a lot harder to stump us. If you check out the Project Gutenberg catalog page, you’ll find books in about 60 different languages.

Even Esperanto?

Yes.

Really? Wow. Ok, but what if I want to watch a movie instead? Bet you don’t have anything like that.

It’s true that downloadable video is a fairly recent addition in the library market, and so far the major studios have been reluctant to make a lot of the most current content available. That’s changing, however, as downloading movies becomes more and more popular. Overdrive, for example, now offers videos that you can check out from the library the same way you would check out a DVD.

Huh. Ok, fine. Well, um…wait, I’ve got it: what I really want is a copy of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

Sure, we can show you—

Annotated.

That’s easy enough to—

And translated from the original German into, um, Sanskrit.

Uh…well, if we do a search for—

And read by Gilbert Gottfried.

Now you’re just being silly.

Come back again next week, when we’ll be talking about Flickr, the fun, easy, and free way to do more with your digital images than you ever thought possible. See you then!

Help!

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Do I have to download the entire book at once?
  Yes, eBooks must be downloaded all at once.
• How long will it take to download the book?
  Download times will vary with the length of the book and the speed of your Internet connection. If you are on a dial-up connection, you should expect download to be slow.
• Can I download the title multiple times?
  For eBooks, only one download is allowed for each file. If your download fails for some reason, please contact us.

eBook Troubleshooting: help with common problems from your library.

Drop-in Sessions: get help or ask questions about these classes: Schedule.

Comments & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php

Cloud computing is great for a lot of different reasons. Here are three of those:

Erin, Michael, Sean

Michael has just finished his first novel (and he’s looking for an agent if you know anyone) and he wants to make absolutely sure the manuscript is kept safe. He wants backup files that are easy to make, convenient to access, and are maintained by someone with computer expertise. He saved his novel in the cloud and got all three. (And good thing, too, since his computer crashed two weeks later.)

Erin wants to create new marketing materials for her business and is working with Barney, a freelance graphic designer. Because he lives all the way across town and teaches improv comedy at night, there’s no time to meet up in person before everything has to go to the printer. Before, they’d have to email each other every updated draft. But by working together in the cloud, they can both go to the same document at the same time and make their changes. (Of course, Barney is still insisting on using that horrible font he loves so much. But cloud computing can’t help with that.)

Sean’s paper on ancient Mesopotamian pottery techniques is due by 5:00. It’s 11:55, he’s only halfway done, and he needs to go down to the university library to finish his paper there. Before, he would have had to save his work to a USB drive in order to take it with him. But since he stored his work online, all he has to do is click save and go. After stopping for a Dr Pepper and a Snickers bar, he just logs in at a library computer and voila! His work is there waiting for him. At 4:57 the report is done and sent in. Even better, he just clicks save again — no forgetting the USB drive in the computer.

What is Cloud Computing?

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the Play button (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the cloud computing Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Cloud computing Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

So cloud computing can handle all my storage needs? And there’s no downside? Awesome!

Um, okay, we admit it. The great strength of cloud computing is also its weakness: it’s online. While this means that you can access your documents anywhere you have internet, you can only access them in places that have internet. Additionally, often the online file creator/editor isn’t like the full-service version that’s installed on your computer. It’ll do bare-bones, but you’d have to go back to a desktop program for the frills.

However, for example, we started this Prezi on a work computer, then shifted it to Google Docs and wrote the rest from the cloud at another computer at the library. We even worked on it from a different library branch, seamlessly. It’s pretty cool.

What else could go wrong with cloud computing? You have to be able to trust the company you’re working with not to sell your documents to a shady character in a trenchcoat down a dark alley. And even a 100% honest and trustworthy company can mess up big time if gremlins start chewing on their wiring. For this reason, it’s a good idea to back up your most super-duper important cloud docs to a local computer somewhere.

And because your computer is constantly talking to a server over the internet, your connection speed can become an issue. Still using your Aunt Margie’s dial-up? Cloud computing may not be the best choice for you.

I Want to Try!

What we’ll be exploring is Google Docs, a free, “cloud” equivalent for Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect. Google Docs is considered a “cloud” service because a) There’s no download to install. b) It is shareable (two people can even edit at the same time). c) It can be accessed whenever and wherever there is internet. When you create a document in Google Docs you are working on the internet and saving to the internet.

Here’s a short video introduction to Google Docs:

OK, here we go. Do you have a Gmail account or Google ID? If not, go set one up. (We got you a Gmail account in Thing #5 and made a Google ID back in Thing #2.) If you didn’t do those classes, you can get your ID here:  https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

It’s ok, we’ll wait…

Oh, you’re back!

Okay, now you’re ready to start playing with Google Docs. You can try this one of two ways.

First Way: Storage and retrieval

• Go to Google and sign in. Find “Documents” in the menu along the top. You might have to click the “more” button to find it on the list, but it’s there, I promise.
• Go to “Create New” on the upper left-hand side (under the Google Docs logo) and select a file type. You can create a document (like Word), a presentation (like Powerpoint), or a spreadsheet (like Excel). Make any kind of document you want. It will pop up in a new tab or window.
• Give it a name. You can either click on the word “Untitled” to change it or just type your title as the first line of your document.
• Type a little something in the body of the document.
• Click the “save and close” button. Log out of Google Docs.
• Move to another computer.
• Log into Google Docs, select your document from the list, and keep working!
• Was that easy or what?

Second Way: Collaboration

• Grab a friend who also has a Gmail account or Google ID. If you don’t have a friend, make one. We suggest cupcakes.
• Log on to Google. Follow the instructions above to set up your Google Docs account.
• One of you create or upload a document to Google Docs. Then — and this is important! — give the other person permission to access that file. There are two ways to do that:
• From the file itself, go to the upper right-hand corner and click the “share” button. Pick “invite people” and you’ll get a pop-up box that asks for the email address of the person you want to share with. Plug in their address and write them a message.
• From the list of your files, select the ones you want to share by clicking the checkbox to the right of the file name. Select “invite people,” and you’ll get the same pop-up box as in the first way.
• The second person will get an e-mail telling them you’re sharing a document. They can click the link in that, or they can simply sign into their own Google Docs pages and the test document will magically appear on their list.
• Now both of you can edit the document. You can even edit it at the same time. Try it!

Tell Me More!

Curious for more? You can read up on some informative articles or visit the help forum since somebody probably has the same question as you.

Plus Google docs is constantly making improvements and changes. This blog has tons of tips and tricks to help you keep up.

But it’s not just Google that has cloud products—there are other services that offer a way to store, edit, and share documents online:

Office Live Workspace – Microsoft’s answer to Google Documents. It, too, has document, presentation, and spreadsheet options.

SlideShare – This is just for Powerpoint-style presentations. While there’s no function to create or edit, it is much, much easier to share presentations with others using SlideShare. Just send a URL. Others can even download your file.

DropBox – Software that allows you store documents or images, etc. on the internet so you can get to them from any computer with internet access. Download DropBox to your computer and put everything you need in a particular folder on your hard drive. Then you can either install DropBox on other computers you own, or use the DropBox website to get to that folder online.

And guess what? We’re halfway done. Next week we move on to the mega-trend of 2011: digital downloads!

Comments & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php

Actually, Gmail and iGoogle aren’t quite the same thing. Gmail is Google’s free email program.

iGoogle is a powerful yet easy to use startpage that you can customize almost endlessly. Love photography? Facebook? Are you a news or sports junky? Want to look at your email in a quick glance? The weather? iGoogle can show you all of this and more.

Once you set up a Gmail account, you have access to both Gmail and iGoogle (and all of the other Google applications).

However, if you don’t want to get a Gmail account, or if you don’t want yet another email account, or if you didn’t do the last class and you don’t feel like going back, you can set up an account just to access iGoogle.

And what will Michael, Erin and Sean do with an iGoogle account?

Michael, Erin, & Sean

Michael’s decided to ramp up his job search by using iGoogle to bring news of new jobs to him each day.

Erin tracks business trends and science and technology news to find new sales leads and to see how the yurt market is faring.

Sean uses his as a social planner and communications feed, where he can read his email, watch his Facebook and Twitter accounts, and see that hilarious new video on YouTube (you know, the one where the spider does that thing with its leg, and…well, maybe you had to be there.).

Let’s explore a little further…

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

Click on the link below and wait for the Prezi to load.
Once the Prezi is loaded, click on the “Play” button.
After you’ve read the text on the screen, click the “Play” button again to go to the next part. Keep clicking to go all the way through the presentation.
When you get to the end, click on the blog link to go back to the class.
That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

1. Click on the Play button   (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Prezi artwork, “Sacred Geometry,” created by Eric Murrietta.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the iGoogle Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the iGoogle Prezi as a PDF [link is coming soon], which has no motion.

By the end of this class, you’ll be able to do all of this as well, including putting tabs on your pages so you can be extraordinarily organized. Sound intimidating? Don’t worry. We’ll walk you through it.

DISCOVERY PROJECT

First things first: do you have a Gmail account or Google ID? If not, we’ve got you covered. We can help you get a Gmail account or just a plain ol’ Google ID.

Setting up an iGoogle account:

1. Go to iGoogle.
2. Click on the link on the far right called “Sign in.”
3. Over on the right, there’s a link that says “Create an account now.” Click there!
4. It’ll ask for an email address so you can verify your account. It’s painless. Now then. You do not need a Gmail account to use iGoogle. But if you try your iGoogle and decide you want to get Gmail, too, there’s a way to do that.
5. Sign into your iGoogle account.
6. Look in the upper left, where it says “Mail.” Click on that.
7. Follow the directions for signing up for a Gmail account.
8. Start exploring! Google tends to be user-friendly and easy to explore, so take some time to look around!

Try it now!

One fun thing to do is to change your theme. Near the upper right you’ll see a link that says “Change theme.” Click there and prepare to be amazed at the sheer number of choices you have to decorate your page.

You can also use different themes for all your different tabs. Can’t decide what to do? Search for “Theme of the Day” and use that.

Here are some ideas for some gadgets you could try to get organized and increase your productivity:

• A fun and useful to-do list.
• A clean, straightforward time and date gadget.
• A gadget to give you the weather forecast and one to warn you about nasty storms.
• A great and easy to use currency converter.
• If you need directions, Google Map Search is an excellent choice.
• For down ‘n’ dirty translation help, try Google Translate.
• You can get Wikipedia or YouTube right in your iGoogle!
• And of course don’t forget Facebook or Twitter, which you can also watch from your iGoogle.

Aaaand, here are some ideas for some gadgets you could try to waste time and decrease your productivity:

• Funny, strange, or unusual photos people have found in Google Maps.
• A cutie little hamster you can feed, play with, or just watch run on a wheel.
• Remember PacMan? Play it on iGoogle. Warning: Namco loyalists may be annoyed.
• Comics! Comics are fun.
• Spy on the world with a gadget that gives you random images from webcams around the globe.

Sit and watch the clouds go by. Literally.

MORE INFORMATION FOR THE CURIOUS

We promised in the introduction of this thing that we’d show you how to add a tab to your iGoogle homepage. Never let it be said we don’t live up to our promises. Behold:

1. Start by clicking on the down arrow on the left-hand side, next to “Home.”
2. Click on “Add a tab.” You’ll get a little pop-up box that asks you to name the tab. In this case, we’re going to do a job search tab, but you can do something else if you’d rather.

Time to interrupt you here for a sec. What’s that “I’m Feeling Lucky” whosit all about?

• If you check this box, Google will automatically add gadgets to your tab based on the name of the tab. So, say, if you add a tab called “football,” Google would add sports- and football-related gadgets. Don’t like that idea? Make sure that box is unchecked.
• At this point your job search tab is ready; now let’s make it more powerful. A good gadget to add is Craigslist Monitor. Once you add it, click on the down arrow on the title bar of Craiglist Monitor and click on “Edit settings.” Where it asks for a URL, you can put in the address of whatever page you’d like. For example, to watch all Craigslist jobs in Tucson, you’d put in: http://tucson.craigslist.org/jjj/. You can also pick how many jobs at a time you’d like to see.
• Another job search gadget to try is this job search engine. It’s fast and easy to use.

Other ideas for gadgets you might put on a job search tab: Gmail, time zone clock (for calling those out-of-town companies), to-do list, word-of-the-day (trying to brush up on another language? Improve your vocabulary?), Google Maps (for finding that interview location quickly), and Yellow Pages. What else would be useful to you?

That’s a lot to think about, so let’s take a break here. We’ll come back next week with…

…drum roll…

Cloud computing! It’s not as nebulous as you think. See you then.

Help!

Drop-in Sessions: get help or ask questions about these classes: Schedule.

Comments & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php

And what is Google?

You know, Google! The search engine that changed the way we use the internet. The company that openly pledges not to be evil. The workplace with free gourmet lunches and dinners every day and on-site oil changes, hair stylists, and doctors. The only verb that used to be a number.

(If you’re still not sure what Google is, well…google it!)

Okay, fine, you made your point. Can we get back to it?

Sure thing. Gmail is web-based, which means that your emails and other information are stored on servers out in Google-land rather than on your actual home computer. This is sometimes called cloud computing. (We’ll talk more about this in class #7: Cloud Computing).

Now, while this might sound insecure, keeping your email on the internet instead of your personal computer has a lot of advantages. For example, you can check your email from any computer in the world that has internet access, plus Gmail provides an enormous amount of storage space for every account. You also don’t have to worry if your home computer crashes: since your emails are stored safely elsewhere, it doesn’t matter if your nephew just poured his apple juice into the hard drive of your brand-new computer. (At least as far as your data is concerned. You might want to have a talk with darling little Billy anyway.) There are a lot of different ways to use Gmail, as our friends can demonstrate:

Erin, Michael, Sean

Michael just switched from Yahoo! to Gmail. Although the differences took some getting used to, he found he really liked the way Gmail is organized–he can easily search his messages to find just what he’s looking for, and he can quickly put tags on emails so he can organize and re-organize whenever he needs to without breaking a sweat. He loves the massive amount of storage space he gets and started using the chat feature for the first time after he found out how handy it is. Plus he likes being able to use a cute picture of Hello Kitty for his avatar. Sweet!

Gmail has business solutions that can be very appealing to a small business owner like Erin. She can’t afford to have someone on staff just to fix email problems, and it’s inconvenient and expensive to call a tech out every time there’s an email glitch. With Gmail, she gets the bonus of a big service upgrade without having to put money she doesn’t have into new equipment or people to keep it running. She also gets extra security to keep her proprietary information safe, not to mention her sales staff can check in from their phones after a sales call, plus it includes a calendar feature so everyone can coordinate lunch next Friday. With Gmail, as long as the internet is up and running, so is she. The only major downside is that she just spent the last two hours trying to decide if she wants her color theme to be purple or orange. If she’s not done in another half hour, we’re going to suggest she just flip a coin.

Sean uses Gmail for his all-in-one mail center, planner, and communications hub. The filters he’s set up route and organize his emails automatically, and he keeps his school and work schedules in the calendar so he can have them wherever he goes. He video chats with his best friend while text messaging his classmates for help with his homework at the same time. When there’s an internet outage, he goes right on working offline, and Gmail takes care of everything when he’s back up. He even set it up so that Gmail reminds him if he left an important person off of a group email, and will also double-check with him first if he tries to email his ex-girlfriend a drunken message late at night. That’s scary smart.

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the Play button   (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the Gmail Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Gmail Prezi as a PDF
  , which has no motion.

Discovery Exercise

Are you ready to get a Gmail account? Not quite yet? No, no, don’t worry if your shoe’s untied. No, don’t worry about that, either. Well, how about now? Yeah, we’re good? Okay, we’re going to start over.

Are you ready to get a Gmail account? Excellent! Get your Google goggles on and let’s get started!

First stop is google.com. At the upper left you’ll see a lot of links to different things Google does. They’re all interesting, but a little bit much for right now. We’ll talk more about these in the final part of the Gmail class. But if you want to go through any of it on your own before then, knock yourself out.

One other thing to be aware of is that, before you can start using your Gmail account, Google will ask you to verify your identify via text message or phone call. This might mean you need to use a friend’s phone if you don’t have one yourself.

Click on the Gmail link, then click “Create an account.”

As you’re setting up your new account, the first thing you’re asked for is your name. You can put your real name or not, depending on your preference. Whatever you put here will be visible to you when you’re looking at your email and when you send emails to other people. So if you just want to forward chain letters to your friends and family, please don’t. No one actually likes that. But if you’re only going to be using this email for personal reasons, or you’re just testing things out, it doesn’t matter what you put here. However, if you think you might send resumes or job inquiries from this email, or have to do things like emailing your child’s teacher, put your real name here. You’ll look like a pro.

Your user name: Next, pick out what you want your user name to be. This might be challenging; there are scads of people using Gmail and no one can have the same email address, so you probably won’t get your first choice. (That’s ok; we didn’t, either.) Click the “Check Availability!” button just below to see if someone has already picked this name.

TIP: Do you have a lucky number? Try adding some numbers to your user name, though for security reasons it’s not a great idea to use your birth year, age or pin number. You can also use underscores to separate words, as in:

0pimacountypubliclibrary0
pima_county_public_library

Password: Next we come to the password. You’ll want to pick something a) no one else can guess, and b) you won’t forget. You’ll probably want to write down both your user name and your password, at least for a while, until you’re sure you can remember. Just put that paper somewhere safe!

TIP: So what makes a good password? It has to be at least 8 characters long; characters can be letters (upper case or lower case), numbers, symbols, or even a space. Remember that when you type in your password, it has to be exactly right every single time–there’s no spellcheck with passwords.

Security question: Then comes the security question. This is your emergency backup if you forget your user name or password. If you need a reminder, answering the security question right will get you back in to your email. Pick something that only you know and that someone else couldn’t guess or figure out.

The next question is your emergency emergency backup: another email address. This is so Gmail can email you information on how to get back into your account if you ever get locked out. If you don’t have another email, leave this blank.

With location, you can either put your real location or something silly. However, there are some times when Gmail will use your location to figure out what time it is where you are. For example, some of the Gmail themes (the color schemes to decorate your email account) will change depending on what time of day it is. No fooling.

Birthday: you can either pretend you’re 21 (again) or just put in your real information. Again, Gmail will sometimes use your birthday as an emergency, emergency, emergency backup if you need one, so don’t outsmart yourself by putting in a phony birthday and then forgetting what it is. You might find yourself locked out of your email altogether, and that is a real drag. (We speak from bitter experience here.) If you absolutely don’t want to put in your real birthday, try putting in something close, or use someone else’s birthday who you won’t forget.

We’re almost done, honest.

Now see those funky characters? Type what you see in the text box just below. This is to prove that you’re a human and not a computer programmed to automatically set up thousands of email addresses to send out billions and billions of spam. Yes, it’s a pain, but by doing this part you become a soldier fighting in the war against spam. Stand proud.

The last thing is the terms and agreements. Read this, or don’t, depending on how dangerously you like to live.

Click “I Accept” and let’s roll!

Hey, wait–why do they want my phone number?

This is something fairly new that Gmail has started doing to try and stave off the hordes of spammers. They will use whatever number you give them to either text or call you with a verification code you need to activate your Gmail. Once you get that code, and enter it you’ll be ready to roll!

Whew…now you have this thing and you’re ready to start using it! Try this handy beginner’s guide for more information on how to use your new email. Some ideas to play with:

Click on one of your unread emails (Gmail will send you some right away) and read it.
Go back to your inbox.
Write an email and send it to a friend.
Star a message.
Label a message.
Change your theme.
What else can you find to do? (Hint: a lot.)

More Information for the Curious

Once upon a time Google was a noun (spelled googol, a number equal to 1 followed by 100 zeros). Now it is a verb (“I googled it”), an adjective (the “Google generation”), a proper noun (“from the fine folks at Google”), an institution, a gateway…and with all the new ideas, products, and services they come out with all the time, Google truly is a force to be reckoned with.

Google offers a lot more than just search or email. To get an idea of all that it offers, check out this list of Google products.

Some of our favorites:

Google News
Google Alerts
Google Maps – Try the search restaurants near (your city) and see what happens.
Google Groups
And a fun one: Google recipes! Try searching for a dish in Google–say, “chicken cacciatore” or “mushroom soup” and see what you get on the left-hand side.

Haven’t had enough yet?

If you have a question or want more information, first try the help guide. For tips and tricks that make Google apps even more useful, try Google Tutor.

Next week we’ll be moving to iGoogle, which contrary to what you might think, is not actually the same as Gmail. And although you can use your Gmail while using iGoogle, you don’t have to have a Gmail account to be able to use iGoogle. Confused? You won’t be after next week. Or if you are, just come and talk to us after class and we’ll get you straightened out.

Help!

Drop-in Sessions: get help or ask questions about these classes: Schedule.

Comments & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php

Erin, Michael & Sean

Michael gets job postings delivered right to his smart phone. Erin gets local economic news and keeps herself on the forefront of trends that might affect her customers. Sean gets unfiltered political news as it’s happening on the ground.

That’s right, they’re all on Twitter.

So one thing can do all that? What is it, magic? Actually, it’s just conversations going on all over the world, right now. And you can be a part of that, right now.

But what is Twitter, really?

• a combination of instant messaging (IM) and blogging
• a way to quickly send–or resend–news directly to people interested in you or your organization
• real time postings, with the emphasis on what people are saying now
• a way to generate buzz about your company or product
• a way to monitor–and respond–to what people are saying about you or your company
• a way to keep on top of world, local, and professional news

No, seriously, what is Twitter?

Okay, how about this:

• It’s like being at a cocktail party where you get to pick the guests, and then walk around listening to (and participating in) the conversations (–Stowe Boyd).
• It’s like a fast-moving river of thoughts and news (inspired by Salman Rushdie).
• It’s like being a fly on the wall, listening to people you might never have the opportunity to talk to in person

This isn’t helping.

Well, try watching this video (you might want to lover the sound, the beginning is noisy):

But how is this interesting? I don’t need to know when my kid brother gets himself a cup of coffee. I have a life, you know.
Twitter is often criticized by people who join, and who then only follow self-obsessed celebrities, or boring acquaintances who just talk about things like their poodle’s adorable new pink rhinestone collar (although in fairness, we saw it and it really is pretty cute). For these people, the Twitter experience is ridiculous at best and painful navel-gazing at worst. Smart Twitter, dumb Twitter–what makes the difference? Easy: who you follow, and how you interact with them.

So how do I find the interesting people?

Look around. See what looks good to you. You can search Twitter to find the fascinating and interesting conversations. Of course, everyone has a different definition of “interesting.” Your second cousin Suzanne might be genuinely riveted by what Carrot Top has to say. Try not to judge her too harshly.

So what is Twitter like?

• It’s public by design. Anyone who thinks you might be interesting can follow your posts. It is possible to change your settings to make people request access, but if your goal is the widest possible broadcast, this is probably unwise.
• Unlike Facebook, you do not automatically follow the people who follow you.
• Posts (“tweets”) are limited to 140 characters.
• It’s possible to include links to photographs and video, but Twitter is primarily a text-based form of communication.
• Twitter is hardware-neutral, meaning that you can tweet from your computer, smartphone, or basic phone–you don’t even need an internet connection.

What you’re about to click on is a link to a Prezi presentation. What’s a Prezi? It’s a presentation tool that allows you to follow the text as it moves, turns, and zooms. If you haven’t used it before, here’s what you do:

1. Click on the Play button   (in the box below) to start it.
2. Once the Prezi is loaded, click again on the “Play” button each time you want to move forward through the slides.
3. When you get to the end and the Play button disappears, scroll down to the “Discovery Exercise” below the Prezi to get back to the class. That’s it! No, really that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

Not working for you? Here are some Prezi alternatives:

• Are you using an iPhone, iPod or iPad? Download the free Prezi Viewer app and go to the Twitter Prezi online, then return to this blog when you’re finished.
• Is the Prezi too zoom-y? You can also view the Twitter Prezi as a PDF, which has no motion.

Get your feet wet!

Get ready

1. First you’ll need a username, the shorter the better. A Twitter username can only have 15 characters, but try to get one shorter than that. There are a lot of tweeters, though, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get your first choice.
2. Come up with a short, snappy way to describe yourself. People do think about your username when they are deciding whether to follow you or not. Don’t stress out about it too much, though. The most important thing is to have interesting tweets.
3. You’ll need a password, too. It could be embarrassing to have a stranger start making up tweets for you. Or possibly thrilling, depending on how much of a risk-taker you are.
4. Optional but really you should do it anyway: find something you can use for an avatar. If you don’t know what an avatar is, check out class #3 on avatars.

Get set

1. Bookmark this page or open a new browser window or tab (File –>New Window, or New Tab) and go to the Twitter homepage.
2. Sign up for an account.
3. You’ll be asked for your real name, your username, an e-mail, and a password.
4. You’ll probably have to try a couple of times to get a username you want. It’s ok, it happened to me, too.
5. Fill in your profile.
6. Tweak your settings to suit you.

Tweet!

• When your account has been created, use the search box on the right to search Twitter for something fun. Did you watch that video we put up? Go watch it now if you haven’t. Or, if you can’t think of anything fun, just try searching twitter for “Tucson.” Follow anything you see that you think sounds interesting.
• Hint: locals will generally follow you back if you follow them.
• For more fun, search Twitter for your favorite authors and follow them, too.
• Eventually it will happen that you follow someone who turns out to be booooring. You can un-follow, too:
• Click on the name; this will take you to their main page.
• Look for a gear-like wheel in their banner and click it.
• One of the choices will be “unfollow.” Click there. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt their feelings. Well, probably not much, anyway.
• To see what’s new and hot, try clicking on one of the “Trending Topics” (right hand side) and see what’s there. Be careful–some topics may be embarrassing to read at work (and even more embarrassing if you find your boss there).
• Start tweeting! You can say anything–hopefully something interesting. What do you have to say? What did you just notice that you hadn’t before? Did something hit your funny bone? Is there a triumph you want to share? Delicious cookies you just baked? A great (or horrible) book you just finished? Be creative, be silly, be yourself.

Hey, what’s this #@RT stuff?

Twitter users have developed shortcuts to help them search for and discover interesting posts without plagiarizing and still keeping it under 140 characters. That’s what we call win-win.

Here’s how to decipher the hieroglyphics:

• RT = retweet, a re-posting of someone else’s post more or less verbatim
• @[name] = someone’s member name
• #[word/phrase] = a “hashtag” is used like a keyword or to identify a topic of the post or keep the thread of a conversation together. It helps spread information as well as organize it because it is clickable, searchable. But don’t overuse them. Hashtags can be used at the end, or within a sentence. Example: I am #reading #GraveyardBook and had a laugh about what it said about cities and upkeep on historic buildings.

Want to try retweeting? Here’s how:

1. Find a tweet you think your friends might like to read.
2. Put your cursor over the post you want and look for the looping arrows labeled “Retweet.” Click it.
3. A box will pop up with the message. If it looks good click the “Retweet” button again. That’s it!

Can’t get enough Twitter?

Here are some more videos about Twitter and how it works:

• Twitter in Plain English (video by Common Craft) focuses on using Twitter to keep in touch with friends.
• Social Media and the Workplace (video by Common Craft)
• Twitter Search (video by Common Craft)

Bone up on your Twitter etiquette (just please don’t call it Twittequette)

• Communiqué Public Relations Blog
• Chris Brogan
• CIO: 5 Dos and Don’ts

More on Twitter

Twitter made easier: several companies offer free software that makes Twitter easier to use: tweetdeck, hootsuite, seesmic, and buffer will all shorten URLs for you, make it easier to reply or re-tweet (RT), or schedule your posts to be published at a later date and time.
Twitter on your smartphone: more people access Twitter on their phone than via the website! Search your app store for the possiblities. The official app is pretty good.
Twitter news: One of the best sources for Twitter news is the blog Mashable, which also has a Twitter account.

Who else is tweeting?

• Pima County libraries: PCPL | Main Library | Wilmot Library | Woods Library | Mission Library | more
• Authors: Laurie Halse Anderson | Mo Willems | Luis Urrea | Neil Gaiman | Maureen Johnson | more authors
• Bookstores: Bookmans | Changing Hands | Third Place Books | Tattered Cover
• Tucson on Twitter

Woo hoo! Now you can use Twitter, too. We’ll be back again next week with that heavyweight of free technology, email. And specifically, Gmail. And if you already have a Gmail account, come on back anyway. We like having you around.

Help!

Drop-in Sessions: get help or ask questions about these classes: Schedule.

Comments & suggestions welcome: Jenn and I welcome your comments about these classes! Comment in the “leave a Reply” form below or via the tech help comment form at: http://www.library.pima.gov/contact/tech.php