Thing 22: Mobile Things
I'm pretty attached to my mobile phone. For a long time I resisted the lure of the smart phone and stuck to the standard phone for making phonecalls. Eventually I took the plunge into the world of apps and I haven't looked back since.
I find my phone so handy for accessing emails and keeping up to date with all my social media accounts, listening to music, podcasts, radio, keeping in touch with colleagues, daily news etc. It's my go to device for any online work-related activities. My social media activities have really increased in the last few months however because of this course, and other work-related projects - to the point where I've made a conscious decision to delete some accounts and apps from my phone in order to give myself a break.
It's important to be able to switch off and take a break from it all. I would say that is the only draw back to the convenience of having a smart phone. It's very easy to be constantly distracted by all the dings and pings and notifications. I make a conscious effort to turn off notifications for all the apps and every so often I will go through my apps and delete the ones that I no longer need. I also try every so often to go on a Facebook diet and delete that app too.
There are some situations where I just have to use my phone for work purposes - if for example I'm photographing an event and need to tweet it etc. I'm conscious of what that must look like to my colleagues and members of the public when then see me tapping away. Unfortunately there's no way around it if I'm required to update our social media accounts in work then using my phone is the quickest way to do that.
I really like the idea of the GUM app. It's very new in production which is probably why there's not many messages popping up when you scan the bar codes of the books. It would be an easy one to use in house in your own library for projects. Encourage your library borrowers to download the app and use it to read and leave reviews on the books you have on your own shelves. Or you could incorporate it into a scavenger type hunt in the library - leaving clues on certain books to be discovered when you scan them using the app. All this depends on the app being made available on both android and apple devices - unless you're lucky enough to own a suite of iPads. I messaged the developers on twitter to see if they were planning an android version. At the moment they are perfecting the apple version and then android is next on their list.
There's mixed views on the Beacon technology. Some people don't like the invasive nature of getting messages on your phone as soon as you enter the library. You do have the option to turn off this function on your phone. As long as there is choice I don't see an issue with it. Unfortunately, like with most new technology, I'm guessing it will eventually be used for direct marketing purposes for brands. So yet another way to have ads pushed upon you when you don't want to see them. I dislike the way that apps always eventually succumb to the revenue generating advertisements.
If I were to pick an app that I use the most on my phone at the moment it's Twitter and Instagram. I manage 3 twitter accounts as well as my personal one, plus I'm trying to build up a work Instagram account at the moment, so it's handy to have them on my phone. I'm loving Layouts at the moment, it's a really useful app for creating a montage of photos together to create an Instagram post.
I find my phone so handy for accessing emails and keeping up to date with all my social media accounts, listening to music, podcasts, radio, keeping in touch with colleagues, daily news etc. It's my go to device for any online work-related activities. My social media activities have really increased in the last few months however because of this course, and other work-related projects - to the point where I've made a conscious decision to delete some accounts and apps from my phone in order to give myself a break.
It's important to be able to switch off and take a break from it all. I would say that is the only draw back to the convenience of having a smart phone. It's very easy to be constantly distracted by all the dings and pings and notifications. I make a conscious effort to turn off notifications for all the apps and every so often I will go through my apps and delete the ones that I no longer need. I also try every so often to go on a Facebook diet and delete that app too.
There are some situations where I just have to use my phone for work purposes - if for example I'm photographing an event and need to tweet it etc. I'm conscious of what that must look like to my colleagues and members of the public when then see me tapping away. Unfortunately there's no way around it if I'm required to update our social media accounts in work then using my phone is the quickest way to do that.
I really like the idea of the GUM app. It's very new in production which is probably why there's not many messages popping up when you scan the bar codes of the books. It would be an easy one to use in house in your own library for projects. Encourage your library borrowers to download the app and use it to read and leave reviews on the books you have on your own shelves. Or you could incorporate it into a scavenger type hunt in the library - leaving clues on certain books to be discovered when you scan them using the app. All this depends on the app being made available on both android and apple devices - unless you're lucky enough to own a suite of iPads. I messaged the developers on twitter to see if they were planning an android version. At the moment they are perfecting the apple version and then android is next on their list.
There's mixed views on the Beacon technology. Some people don't like the invasive nature of getting messages on your phone as soon as you enter the library. You do have the option to turn off this function on your phone. As long as there is choice I don't see an issue with it. Unfortunately, like with most new technology, I'm guessing it will eventually be used for direct marketing purposes for brands. So yet another way to have ads pushed upon you when you don't want to see them. I dislike the way that apps always eventually succumb to the revenue generating advertisements.
If I were to pick an app that I use the most on my phone at the moment it's Twitter and Instagram. I manage 3 twitter accounts as well as my personal one, plus I'm trying to build up a work Instagram account at the moment, so it's handy to have them on my phone. I'm loving Layouts at the moment, it's a really useful app for creating a montage of photos together to create an Instagram post.
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