Tuesday Technology Talks @ PPL

We have moved "home" the library!

2007-08-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

The Tech Talk blog has been relocated and we are now being hosted on our own servers. Please join us at our new location for announcements about upcoming talks and other news.

Don't forget to update your RSS feeds when you follow us to our new home. Feeds for the new blog are located at the following link:
http://www.princetonlibrary.org/techtalks/atom.xml

Upcoming Tech Talk to feature Nanch Blachman of "Google Guide" fame.

2007-08-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Google Shortcuts
Tuesday August 7th at 7 pm
1st Floor Community Room

Google is so easy to use, why attend this presentation? If you're like many people, you use only a small number of Google's services and features!

Nancy Blachman, who taught computer science at Stanford University, will show you how to go beyond Google's deceptively plain interface and take advantage of many shortcuts and underutilized capabilities.

Nancy has been using Google since the spring of 1999, when it was less than one year old. She has written more than a half dozen tutorial and reference books, including How to Do Everything with Google, and she also maintains the popular Google Guide web site.

Read more about the talk and Nancy in Get Your Google On, an article that The Princeton Packet published on 8/3 that features an interview with Nancy about her upcoming appearance at PPL.

Hope to see you there!

Links from "Top Free Reference Resources Online" DataBytes sessions

2007-06-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

DataBytes is a monthly series that occurs the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of most months at 1 pm in the Tech Center on the 2nd floor (exceptions are that we do not do a session in July and some months we only have one session due to holidays). DataBytes is a 45-50 minute tour of a library subscription database or covers other databases and sites found online that are useful for research and everyday life. Each session is taught by a reference librarian and includes time for Q&A at the end.

Our topic in May was Top Free Reference Resources Online. Here is the introduction from class:
Each year since 1999 the Reference And User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association publishes a list of the Best Free Reference Websites via the MARS (Machine-Assisted Reference Section) committee. This list is a treasure trove of what is good reliable reference sources and freely available on the web.

Essentially, in this session of DataBytes we will be examining this list and I will be highlighting a dozen or so of these sites and. This list of reference sites by RUSA/MARS is a great place to find databases for all types of reference needs, and includes everything from comics to food to government statistics and more.

I will also include a few that are not on the list -- these are sites that I have found via serendipity, reviews and also by using the Librarians' Internet Index (http://lii.org ). I consider the Librarians' Internet Index to be a great reference tool in and of itself due to the fact that they catalog a lot of databases and only sites that have been reviewed by librarians are included.

So, without further ado, here is the list of what we ended up exploring at each session:

Sites Demonstrated:

Librarians' Internet Index http://lii.org

FoodSafety.gov http://www.foodsafety.gov/

Population Reference Bureau http://www.prb.org

Acronym Finder: The Acronym and Abbreviation Dictionary http://www.acronymfinder.com

Internet Movie Database http://imdb.com

The Big Cartoon Database http://www.bcdb.com

National Atlas http://www.nationalatlas.gov

Recalls.gov http://www.recalls.gov

Charity Navigator http://www.charitynavigator.org/

All-Music Guide http://www.allmusic.com

Lyric Wiki http://lyricwiki.org/

Get Human http://gethuman.com/

Hoaxbusters vs. Snopes

http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html

http://www.snopes.com/

Polling Report Online http://www.pollingreport.com/index.html

Plants Database http://plants.usda.gov/

If you are interested in reading more about this session, US1 Newspaper did an interview with me called Scouring the Net for Free in which these sites are discussed (and you can also discover informative facts, such as the real truth behind my path to librarianship).

June 5th Tech Talk on Screencasting

2007-06-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

Our next Tech Talk will be all about Screencasting and feature Steve Garwood -- a dynamic presenter who gave this presentation recently to rave reviews at the NJLA Annual Conference. Here is the official blurb:

Just Press Play
Screencasting is being used increasingly to do computer-based training, online education delivery (PowerPoint with voice narration), software demonstration, and even video podcasting. Steve Garwood, a faculty member of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University, will demonstrate a variety of popular screencasting tools. With screencasting software, a company can easily demonstrate a software program, a trainer can show trainees how to execute a task and libraries can demonstrate common tasks with their catalogs (renewing materials, creating holds, etc.). Screencasts can be delivered online as part of a website, setup as a video podcast, or burned to a CD.

The talk will begin at 7 p.m. and be held in the library's first floor community room.

Links from Open Mic Night

2007-05-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at our first ever Open Mic Night -- even if no one from the audience was brave enough to take the podium and share. Bob, Evan, Jim and I were each prepared with more than enough sites and tips to share. It is a rare occurence for the 4 of us to be together in one place and the chance to share our "favorites" with the Tech Talk audience was a lot of fun. Here are the links to what we demonstrated and talked about that night:

The evening kicked off with Jim Crawford sharing the news that he recently became a grandfather (congrats Jim!). Jim then demonstrated some of the ways that he and his wife were involved with the arrival of their granddaughter even though they live on opposite coasts -- all thanks to the wonders of the modern Web.

For instance, when the baby shower was being planned, invitations were sent via Evite, a site which allows guests to rsvp online with notes to the hosts and guest of honor. So even though Jim and his wife could not fly to California for the shower, they could send their regrets with a personalized note.

On the day of the shower they were able to contribute to the buffet by having a beautiful "bouquet of fruit" delivered from Edible Arrangements and have their gift sent automatically using online baby registries.

Now that their granddaughter is here, they get to see her grow via a flickr photostream.

Jim also shared a few items from a list he compiled called Jim's Web Picks. We will post that list shortly as a separate blog entry as it is lengthy.

Next up was Bob Keith who shared 2 "freebie" utilities that he uses regularly, a new online photo editing site as well as one site that is "just for fun" because we all need a little fun now and then.

The two utilities that Bob demonstrated are CCleaner and LogMeIn. Bob will write more about those in a separate post in the coming weeks so stay tuned... next up was Picnik!

Picnik is a photo editing site that is still in beta, so all of its tools and features are currently free. After they come out of beta, a good portion of the site will still be free but you will have to pay for some of the premium features. Bob is excited about Picnik as it is a good alternative for quickly editing photos when you do not have access to other software. Also, you can grab your photos right from your flickr photostream for easy-editing. Bob will be teaching a class on Picnik on June 26th at 7 pm. Why not sign up and explore! Check our class calendar for this and other exciting classes.

Finally, just for fun, Bob shared the KrazyDad Colr Pickr -- a great way to explore the color fields tags on flickr and a fun way to surf for images.

I was up next (I am Janie Hermann, for those who do not read this blog regularly) and my selections were somewhat eclectic.

I started off with a live demo of using a new service called Jott. I had literally just set up my Jott account a few days before this session and am still loving this service. With Jott I can dial a 1-800 number from my cell phone to send messages to my email -- and much more! My best ideas often occur to me on my morning commute, so now I can just send myself a Jott and not worry about forgetting a single thing!

I am a list maker and have long used calendars to keep myself organized, so I demonstrated two online tools that I use to keep my life organized: Cozi Central and Tada Lists.

I finished off with a demonstration of how to stream music using Pandora. I have blogged about my love of Pandora before and you can read about it on Library Garden (my other blog). Pandora and other

Last, but certainly not least, was Evan Klimpl who gave us a tour of the tools we used to create PPL's Poetry Podcast Blog for National Poetry Month in April. We were able to create and host an ambitious podcasting project using a variety of free tools.

The blog was hosted on the free version of WordPress and each entry consisted of the text of the poem(s), a biography of the poet and their photo. We recorded the poets using a free audio editor and recorder from SourceForge called Audacity. We also used Audacity to edit the files and Evan gave a fun demonstration of the capabilities of Audacity to clean up sound files for clear quality. All of our sound files were then hosted for free on the Internet Archive and linked to our blog via a free Adobe flash MP3 player.

If you are interested in some hands on experience with creating podcasts, Evan will be teaching a 3 week course on podcasting this July in our Tech Center.

We are going to do another Tech Talk next spring with the PPL Tech Staff, and even though the format may be different I can guarantee that it will still be fun.

Open Mic Night!

2007-04-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

We are trying an experiment this month for Tuesday Technology Talks and I hope you will join us to help make it a success. We are hosting a Tech Open Mic Night on Tuesday May 1st at 7 pm in the Community Room!

We recognize that our Tech Talk audience is full of expert users with much knowledge to share and we want to take advantage of the collective wisdom of those who attend.

We will have our laptop set up with an Internet connection for all to use. You can demonstrate a favorite site or two or show off a good search strategy. Perhaps you know of a great Firefox extension that was not covered last month, if so please share! We are also interested in learning about any shortcuts or tricks to make us all smarter computer users. It is an anything goes type of night!

To kick off the night, and to help get everyone feeling at ease, we will have the PPL Tech Training Team start by sharing their favorites, shortcuts and tips. We spend considerable time collecting useful sites and helpful tips and are eager to share them with you.

Here is the official "blurb" from our program guide.

What's New and Cool?
The PPL Tech Team Presents Open Mic Night
Get to know Princeton Public Library's technology training team (Janie Hermann, Bob Keith, Evan Klimpl and Jim Crawford) as they reveal all about their favorite sites and recent discoveries. Then, it's your turn. Don't be shy: Step up to the podium and share your knowledge with others. What sites do you use daily? What is really useful to you? Chances are if you find a site useful , then others will, too
Tuesday May 1, 7 p.m.
Community Room

We hope this will become an annual event so help spread the word to make this a success!

Firefox Extensions Follow-Up

2007-04-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

John's talk on April 3rd was incredibly informative and lots of fun. Not only did he talk about all the cool ways to extend our use of Firefox, he also managed to demonstrate many useful 2.0 sites such as del.icio.us and tumblr and Google Docs & Spreadsheets in the process. As an added bonus, the presentation even included a good discussion on the important topics of tagging and folksonomy.

John has posted about his Firefox presentation over on his blog at lemasney.com -- he even provides the link to the complete presentation as well as the information on how to access the list of extensions and plug-ins he demonstrated:

Anyone who wishes to see the presentation [which I wasn’t actually able to give, but it all worked out] can go to http://ghost.rider.edu/openlearning and log in as a guest, then visit the Top25 Firefox Extensions course in the course list. There are lots of other resources there you can peruse if you like, too.

We did have a technical glitch which prevented John from accessing his server, but he carried on liek a pro and did the full presentation without his list of links. Thanks John for all your hard work -- and we look forward to having you back again sometime soon!

Tech Talk on Extending Firefox

2007-03-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday April 3rd at 7 pm John LeMasney will make a return appearance by popular demand to lead a session called Extending Firefox. John is going to cover a wide range of popular add-ons and plug-ins that can be used to enhance your browsing experience. The press release is below.

MEDIA RELEASE

Princeton Public Library
Sands Library Building
65 Witherspoon St.
Princeton, NJ 08542
609.924.9529

March 16, 2007

PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY HOST SESSION ON FIREFOX
Web browser is the subject of April 3 edition of Tuesday Technology Talks
featuring John LeMansey of Rider University

Mozilla’s popular Firefox Web browser will be the subject of April program in the Tuesday Technology Talks Series on April 3 at 7 p.m., when John LeMansey of Rider University presents a program titled “Extending Firefox.”

“As the popularity of Firefox continues to grow, so, too, do the ways in which it can be expanded,” said Janie Herman, programming coordinator at the library and founder of the Tuesday Technology Talks series. “John will demonstrate for our audience the best 25 free extensions and add-ons for Firefox.

LeMansey, who presented a program on open source software at the library last November, is manager of Instructional Technology at Rider and the technology consultant for the Center for Innovative Instruction. The center is part of the Teaching and Learning Center at Rider.

Hermann noted that Firefox, a freely available web browser that is released under an open source license and can be extended with hundreds of free add-ons, is quickly changing the way people think about and use the Internet.

The monthly sessions of the library’s popular Tuesday Technology Talks series feature demonstrations and discussions of new and emerging technologies and related issues. The series continues on Tuesday, May 1 at 7 p.m., when the library’s technology team hosts an open mic night.

All Princeton Public Library programs are free and open to the public. If programs require registration, preference is given to library cardholders. The physically challenged should contact the library at (609) 924-9529 48 hours before any program with questions about special accommodations.

The library is in the Sands Library Building at 65 Witherspoon St. in Princeton Borough. Convenient parking is available on neighboring streets and in the borough-operated Spring Street Garage, which is adjacent to the library. For more information about library programs and services, call (609) 924-9529 or visit www.princetonlibrary.org

Zuula in the News!

2007-03-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

Just updating in regards to the Tech Talk scheduled for tomorrow night at 7 pm as Zuula has had two significant interviews published this week. Looks like tomorrow's talk will be very interesting based upon reading the interviews.

Pete Bromberg, my colleague from Library Garden, published his interview with Boris on our blog last week. A great set of questions with equally interesting answers.

In addition, US1 Newspaper published an article/interview by Patrick Spring called Carnegie 214 Firm Aims at Google which gives a detailed overview of the company and its founders.

Spread the word to your colleagues and I will see you tomorrow night!

Meet "Zuula" on March 6th at 7 pm

2007-02-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Zuula: A New Metasearch Engine … from New Jersey!
Tuesday March 6th at 7 pm
1st Floor Community Room, Princeton Public Library
with Boris Simkovich, CEO of Zuula LLC

Zuula is a new metasearch engine, and it's based right here in Princeton. What's more, Zuula has some special features that have been attracting a lot of attention in the world of search engines. During this session of Tuesday Technology Talks, Zuula's CEO will describe the history of Zuula, including the challenges it has faced during development and since its launch. He also will demonstrate the various features of the search engine, and compare Zuula to other leading metasearch sites. Finally, the session will end with a discussion of features and functionality planned for Zuula's future.

This session should be very interesting and a provide unique opportunity to "look under the hood" of a search engine and learn about the technology behind the scenes. Hope to see you there!

Upcoming DataBytes and Tech Talks

2007-02-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

Just a visual heads up to what will be happening for the next three months! I am really excited about the next round of Tech Talks and hope that you will help spread the word!

Social Software Round Up: Part 1

2007-01-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

We had a good crowd come out on January 2nd for our first Tech Talk of 2007 -- it was a great way to kick off the year. I have been meaning to get this post written for the last week but have been swamped with other duties. I will split the post in two as I still need to find time to convert our PPT slides to PDF. Here, in brief, are a few of the highlights that Karen and I covered that evening.

What is Social Software?
A relatively "new" term with lots of creative and complex defintions.
Simplest Definition -- software that facilitates collaboration.
Wikipedia Defintion -- Software that enables people to rendez-vous, connect or colloborate through computer-mediated communication.

MySpace is one of the best known social software sites, but there are many sites that utilize social software for a variety of reasons. Social software is about meeting people, but it is also about sharing information, opinions and interests.

A few examples of Social Software Sites:

MySpace/Friendster/Facebook/bebo -- online communities for connecting with friends and meeting new people.
Second Life -- An online society with a 3D world.
YouTube -- a place to share, rate and comment on videos
Flickr -- a place to share and talk about photos
Xanga/LiveJournal -- communities of online diaries and journals
LastFM and LibraryThing -- sharing music and books (respectively)
del.icio.us -- social bookmarking (sharing your bookmarks with others)

Positive Aspects of Social Software for Teens (and others):

Expressing Individuality
Engaging in Reading and Writing
Sharing Ideas and Opinions (and sometimes creative work such as music or photos)
Great tool for learning hands-on about blogging, podcasting, and other new technologies
Community Building and collaboration with others
Communication with each other, but also Teens to Adults and Adults to Teens.
Raising awareness of events and "causes"
Freedom to choose, be creative and express themselves.

The "Hype" is that social software is dangerous and should be banned from places like public libraries and schools. While tt is true that predators can and do use social software to find victims, they also use Instant Messaging, Message Boards, and other forms of electronic communication in addition to going to public places like malls. The problem of online predators and cyberbullying is much larger than banning a few popular social software sites. A proactive approach of teaching our children and teens about online safety is crucial because the "reality" is that much of MySpace and other sites are safe when you are aware of common sense rules for protecting your identity online.

A great site for learning about safety online is WiredSafety, which includes great handouts on Social Software and YouTube.

I will hopefully find time to finish this post next week. Feedback and comments are welcome.

Tech Talk on Social Software on January 2nd, 2007

2006-12-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

Here is the press release for January's Tech Talk -- thought I would post it early since I will be taking some time off during the last week of December. The topic of this talk really couldn't more timely given that Time Magazine considered the development of the social web to be worthy of being named "Person of the Year". Hope to see you there!

PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY HOSTS SESSION ON SOCIAL SOFTWARE

Janie Hermann and Karen Klapperstuck to give overview of sites such as MySpaceas part of Tuesday Technology Talks program

Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.

Princeton Public Library’s Tuesday Technology Talks series will focus on social software sites such as MySpace on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m., when librarian Janie Hermann and Karen Klapperstuck present a program titled “Social Software: Hype Versus Reality.” Hermann, program coordinator and reference library at Princeton Public Library, and Klapperstuck, director of the Bradley Beach Library, will examine the increasing popular sites, which allow users to connect and communicate online in an open and easily accessible space.

“MySpace, Facebook and YouTube are the most well-known of these sites,” Hermann said, “but social software in general is increasingly popular and has received unprecedented media coverage this year, as the recent issue of Time magazine proves.” Time awarded its 2006 Person of the Year to You, which the magazine defined as the community of Internet users who create content on social software sites.

The Princeton Public Library talk will define social software, look at the pros and cons of using it and show participants how to set up a profile. “We’ll also provide tips for staying safe in online communities and examine what is hype and what is not about the dangers of connecting and collaborating in a virtual world,” Hermann said.

The monthly sessions of the library’s popular Tuesday Technology Talks series feature demonstrations and discussions of new and emerging technologies and related issues. The series continues on Tuesday, Feb. 6, when Martin Mosho presents a program titled “eBay Essentials.”

All Princeton Public Library programs are free and open to the public. When programs require registration, preference is given to library cardholders. The library is in the Sands Library Building at 65 Witherspoon St. in Princeton Borough. Special assistance is available for library customers with disabilities. Those with special needs should contact the library 48 hours before any program to arrange for accommodations. Call (609) 924-9529. For more information on library programs and services, visit www.princetonlibrary.org

DataBytes for Winter 2007

2006-12-15T14:18:00.000-08:00

Getting a Human

2006-12-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

I am a fan of technology (this should be obvious by now), but the one technology that I despise is complex phone menus that always lead to a dead end when I just want a bit of help from a human. I am pretty certain that I am not alone in my frustration with phone menus and now I have proof.

I have recently discovered a great new site for when you need to make a phone call to a “customer service” line and dread weaving your way through the prompts to find a human voice that can provide help. Check out http://gethuman.com for a database of customer service numbers and instructions on how to defeat the menu of prompts to get directly to a human! The database is here:
http://www.gethuman.com/us/

I-800 customer lines are listed and then tips on how to defeat the menus are given! Here is a sample entry:

Pep Boys
F (note: this is the grade it was given... they failed)
800‑737‑2697
Press 33; at prompt press 1; hold through prompts for representative.

I will be adding this to the Fantastic Freebies roadshow!

Tech Talk on 12/5/06: Cyber Crime

2006-11-30T15:01:00.000-08:00

Our final Tech Talk of 2006 is coming up in a few days and it promises to be something a little different and quite fascinating -- a look at computer crime from both sides of the law. Here is the blurb below. I hope to see everyone on Tuesday night.

Reporting and Defending Computer Crime
Tuesday December 5, 2006
7:00 pm
Presented by Jef Henninger, Esq.
A vast amount of computer crime goes unreported by both individuals and companies because the victim doesn’t know how to proceed or is afraid to get involved. Jef Henninger, a criminal defense attorney who has been studying computer crime since 1990, will cover topics such as what to do before you become a victim, who to call when you are one, what to expect as a witness before and at a trial, interacting with the prosecuting authority, and other tips to make the prosecution a success. On the opposite side of the law, defendants charged with computer crimes face an uphill battle at trial because most lawyers have a computer phobia which causes almost all cases to end in a guilty plea. These crimes are ensnaring more innocent people than any other type of crime. Learn how to protect yourself when you are suspected of committing a computer crime.

Podcast of Open Source Software talk now online!

2006-11-30T14:51:00.000-08:00

John LeMasney gave a great talk earlier in November on election night. He gave a great overview of the open source movement, creative commons licensing and software built using open source standards. If you missed John's talk, he has put up a podcast in MP3 format on his blog so you can listen and you can view the slides too!

I hope we will have John back in the near future to talk to us about Firefox extension and customization!

Open Source Software (and election results) on 11/7/06

2006-11-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

It will be a double-header in the community room of the library on November 7th -- come hear a fabulous tech talk on Open Source Software and then stay late to watch the election returns on our large screen. The library will be open late on election night so that the community can gather to discuss election results as the returns are announce and Ingrid Reed will be there to lead the discussion.

The Tech Talk will begin at 7 pm sharp and the election results will be broadcast starting around 8:30 pm.

John LeMasney of Rider University will be our guest speaker and he will set about giving us all we need to to know about Open Source Software (see blurb below).

Hope to see everyon there!

Open Source Software
"This presentation will give an overview of Open Source Software, touching on history, applications, and common usage with examples. Linux will be discussed in depth, but many OSS applications for Windows and Mac OS will be discussed as well. Come and find out why business users, home users, and even those who don't use computers are so excited about the Open Source movement. "

An Event Not to be Missed!

2006-10-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would alert everyone to a great event that is happening next week on Thursday October 19th in the Princeton area. It is the 27th Annual Computer Graphics Film Show of the Joint Princeton Professional Chapter of the ACM and IEEE Computer Society. The event takes place at Sarnoff and starts at 7 pm. Lots of fun and lots of great door prizes. Mark you calendar now!

Learn How to Protect your Home Computer on 10/3/06

2006-09-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

Please join us for our next Tech Talk on Tuesday October 3rd 2006 when Joe Perignat gives a presentation called Security for the Home Computer.

Safeguarding your home computer is crucial in order to protect both your equipment and data.
In this talk Joe will cover virus protection; e-mail security, and spyware programs. In addition, buying on the internet, e-mail scams as well as the “Do’s and Don’ts” of releasing information online will also be discussed. Staying current and up to date is important and this talk will cover advice and products (both commercial and free) that will protect you.In this talk Joe will cover virus protection; e-mail security, and spyware programs. In addition, buying on the internet, e-mail scams as well as the “Do’s and Don’ts” of releasing information online will also be discussed. Staying current and up to date is important and this talk will cover advice and products (both commercial and free) that will protect you.

The talk will begin at 7 pm and be followed by a question and answer session.

Flyer for Upcoming Tech Talks

2006-09-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

Links and Notes for Web 2.0 Presentation

2006-09-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago, Pete Bromberg gave a great presentation that gave an overview of Web 2.o and the associated software and sites. It was really too much to cover in one presentation, which I knew from the start, so it looks like we will be having a follow-up session in the Spring (especially since Sophie Brookover was not able to present with Pete due to illness and she really has a lot to add to this topic). So, stay tuned for more on Web 2.0 at future tech talks.

In the meantime, Pete has been maintaing and adding to the wiki that he and Sophie set up for the presentation. So, if you missed the talk, need more handouts, or just want to review what was said take a visit to the PPL Tech Talk Web 2.0 Wiki.

I also got an email from Doug Dixon (a Tech Talk "regular") where he provides a wonderful link to his Notes on Blogging, Syndication, Podcasting, and Vidcasting. As Doug indicates in his email these "notes on Blogging & other Web 2.0 goodies ... help to define these concepts and put them in context". Thanks for sharing the link Doug!

Links for Power Googling

2006-09-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

I have had several requests asking if there are links to the handouts that Nancy Blachman distriubted during her talk on Power Googling that she gave on July 25th. So, for those that couldn't make the talk or those that have misplaced the wonderful handouts, here are the links to the printable versions for future reference:

The 16 page guide to Power Googling

The always popular Google Cheat Sheet

The Google Guide to Developing a Web Site

Keep checking the Google Guide often as Nancy does a great job keeping it current.

Web 2.0 Demystified on 09/05/06

2006-09-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

Join us on for our 1st Tech Talk of the 2006-2007 season when two dynamic speakers will demystify the buzz and hype of Web 2.O. Here is the official program description:

Web 2.0 Demystified
You've seen the term and heard the buzz, but what in the world is Web 2.0? Sophie Brookover and Pete Bromberg offer an answer, incorporating blogs, RSS feeds, Wikis, Podcasts, social software, Friendster, MySpace, de.lico.us, furl, Flickr, IM, lastfm, Folksonomies, Mashups and Tagging. Learn about this slew of 2.o technologies and find out what's useful and what's not.

US1 Newspaper did an extensive interviews with Sophie and Pete about their upcoming talk, and the article, World Wide Web 2.0: The Next Generation, can be accessed online.

This talk is going to be a fantastic way to kick off our 7th Season of Tuesday Technology Talks! I hope to see you there.

Tech Talk on 08/01/06: Designing Intelligently with Adobe InDesign

2006-07-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Beat the Heat! Enjoy the cool comfort of our community room while you learn all about Adobe InDesign at our upcoming Tech Talk. There is not need to register, just drop on in! The session will start at 7 pm. Here is the press release:

PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY TO HOST TALK ON ADOBE INDESIGN Princeton residents Andy Epstein and Tim Quinn to discusshistory and functionality of graphics software on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m.

Princeton Borough residents Andy Epstein and Tim Quinn will review the history and functionality of Adobe’s powerful graphics software InDesign at Princeton Public Library on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m.

Titled “Designing Intelligently with Adobe InDesign,” the program in the first floor Community Room is part of the library’s Tuesday Technology Talks series.

Quinn, public information director for the library, will discuss the history of the software and Adobe’s efforts to compete with QuarkExpress, which until recently had been the industry standard in print graphics software. Quinn is a writer and designer responsible for the library’s marketing and promotional materials.

Epstein, associate director of graphic design and print production for Bristol-Myers Squibb, will demonstrate some of InDesign’s capabilities. Epstein is a graphic artist who manages the creative group responsible for much of the pharmaceutical company’s graphic design, copywriting and Web Design.

Recently he completed a two-year term as president of InSource, an organization he co-founded, that is focused on addressing the needs of the in-house design community. Epstein has written articles for HOW and Graphic Design:USA magazines in addition to contributing to articles featured in Dynamic Graphics and the Rockport Press book “Bringing Graphic Design In-House.”

Awarded a Sappi “Ideas That Matter” grant, he is most proud of the book published with that award, which he created with the students of The Lakeview School, an institution devoted to the needs of children with Cerebral Palsy.

The monthly sessions of the library’s popular Tuesday Technology Talks series feature demonstrations and discussions of new and emerging technologies and related issues.

All Princeton Public Library programs are free and open to the public. The library is in the Sands Library Building at 65 Witherspoon St. in Princeton Borough. Special assistance is available for library customers with disabilities. Those with special needs should contact the library 48 hours before any program to arrange for accommodations. Call (609) 924-9529.

For more information on library programs and services, visit http://www.princetonlibrary.org

Become a Blogger -- let PPL show you how!

2006-07-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

If you have always wanted to start your own blog or even if you are just curious about how blogs work, then Princeton Public Library has a new class in its Technology Center just for you! Our first sessions of the new Become a Blogger mini-course will be held in August 2006 and is sure to be fun.

Here are the details:

Become a Blogger
2 Week Course
August 15, 2006 - 10:00am
August 22, 2006 - 10:00am
Intermediate Level
Max. Class Size - 12
Registration Required
A two-week introduction to blogs, the interactive, personal websites that can easily be updated daily iwth news, comentary, or your own private thoughts, will be led by PPL's own logging librarian Janie Hermann. Basic PC skills and a valid e-mail address required.

Power Googling with Nancy Blachman

2006-07-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday July 25th at 7 pm in the community room we will be having a special edition of our Tuesday Tech Talk series. Nancy Blachman is visiting Princeton until the end of the month and has offered to give a seminar on "Power Googling" before she departs once more for the west coast. Here is the official press release:

Power Googling: Getting What you Want from Google
Google is easy to use, but the more you know about how it works, its features, its capabilities, and how it displays results, the better it can serve your needs.Learn how to go beyond Google's deceptively plain interface and take advantage of underutilized capabilities and shortcuts. In this presentation, Nancy Blachman will show:

how to select terms and search (more) effectively;
how Google interprets your query;
what's included with your results;
how Google works;
how to use "advanced" search features, even undocumented ones.

Nancy Blachman has been using Google since the spring of 1999, when Google was less than one year old. She developed Google Guide, an online tutorial that can be found at www.googleguide.com and has written over a half dozen tutorial and reference books, including How to Do Everything with Google, Mathematica: A Practical Approach, Mathematica Graphics Guidebook, Mathematica Quick Reference, Maple V Quick Reference, and Putting Your Heart Online. She is president and founder of Variable Symbols, a company that specializes in software training and consulting. She obtained a B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Birmingham, U.K., an M.S. in Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University, where she taught for eight years.

More information on Nancy and what she talks about can be found in U.S.1's recent article about Nancy.

No registration is necessary. Pass the word around as I can assure you that this will be an informative and interesting event.

Fireworks trump Tech Talks

2006-06-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

There will be no Tech Talk in July as it coincides with the 4th of July. We figure that fireworks not technology will take precedence for that day (and indeed most of the weekend if you live in the Princeton area). You can view fireworks every night for several nights in and around the area. Here is the listing of firworks from the Princeton Packet:

Stay tuned for news about our August Tech Talk and have a good holiday weekend!

Notes and Links from "Fantastic Freebies for Everyone"

2006-06-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

We had a great turn out for this program. It was a fun night as we explored all the stuff that you can do or find on the Web for free.

We spent some time talking about the concept of Web 2.0 and then we launched right in to demonstrating 13 of our favorite freebies.

A PDF of our slideshow (which will give you the addresses for all the sites we visited and talked about) can be found on the Princeton Public Library's Technology Center web page.

Our audience asked lots of great questions and the discussion was fun. One of the questions asked was in regards to free software that keeps track of passwords. After a bit of research we have found RoboForm -- there is a free download for personal use and it comes highly recommended by several reliable sources. Try it out and let us know what you think!

If you want to learn more about Web 2.0 and what it can do for you, then watch this blog for an announcement as I am planning to have Sophie Brookover and Pete Bromberg come in the fall to give a tech talk devoted to this topic and it should be great.

Article about Fantastic Freebies

2006-06-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

U.S.1 newspaper printed a fantastic article about the Tech Talk that Bob and I will be giving tonight. They interviewed both of us for this article and did a nice job of highlighting a few of the sites and applications that we will be demonstrating in our talk.

For those that want a preview, here is a link to the article: From the Internet: Great Free Stuff

Mark Your Calendars for the next Tech Talk!

2006-05-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Fantastic Freebies for Everyone!
Janie Hermann & Bob Keith
7 pm
Tuesday June 6th, 2006
1st Floor Community Room
Princeton Public Library, Princeton NJ

Contrary to popular belief, there is such a thing as “free lunch” and you can find it on the Web. The number of free services, sites and downloads is multiplying monthly at an astonishing rate in a new era of Internet innovation. In this program Janie Hermann and Bob Keith, Princeton Public Library’s “tech gurus” and technology teaching team, will take you on a tour of some of the hottest freebies currently available. Everything from system tools to image editors to word processors and much more can all be found online for no cost. This session will ensure you know where to find the newest and most useful tools to keep you on the cutting edge of technology.

Notes and Links from "Optimizing Your Computer"

2006-05-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Joel May --he gave a fantastic presentation tonight that was filled with many tips and lots of practical advice for how to keep your computer clean and running smoothly and effeciently. The audience had lots of great questions and he was able to provide solid answers for everyone.

The main content of the presentation (with lots of great screenshots) is hosted at the Ewing SeniorNet Computer Literacy Center -- just click here to view it or go to http://snipurl.com/optimize.

As a result of questions from the audience, Joel shared many other tidbits with us. For instance:

Consider using at least 2-3 spyware removers and run them each at least once per week. There are lots of good free spyware removers available and he uses 2 of them, but he also uses Spyware Doctor as he feels it is worth the investment of $29.95
Subscribe to the LangaList to keep current and get a great newsletter filled with advice and tips by noted computer author Fred Lang. It will be delivered to your inbox twice per week and is spam-free.
Be sure to visit Windows Update on a regular basis to make sure that you are current with your patches and fixes (especially if you have automatic updates disabled).
Smart Computing has some great articles on backing up your hard drive in the current (June 2006) issue. Visit your local library to read this magazine or read the articles online while they are available.
Consider carefully how you manage your cookies and know the difference between allowing 1st Party and 3rd Party cookies to be accepted. Consider using a "cookie crusher" product to gain total control of cookies.

This is just a sampling of the advice that Joel had to offer. I urge you to read the presentation if you were unable to make it to the tech talk tonight.

Oh, and one last link... after the talk ended Joel and I were talking about blogs and rss readers and he urged me to check out popurls. I did and I am very impressed. It has been bookmarked for what I am sure will be many future visits.

Next month's tech talk will be given by myself and Bob Keith. We will be giving an overview and review of the many fabulous "freebies" you can find online. Stay tuned to this blog for further details.

Genealogy Classes now being offered!

2006-05-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

Terri Nelson, the local history librarian at PPL, has busy putting together some wonderful classes that explore online genealogy resources and databases. Here are the classes for May:

Thursday, May 11, 7-8:30 p.m.
Free Genealogy Resources Online
The big subscription databases hold a wealth of information, but there’s even more sitting out on the Internet at no cost to you. Come explore the wealth of free information and help that’s available, from large volunteer projects that cover the entire country to a single person who will happily look up information for you.

Sunday, May 14, 2-3:30 p.m.
Digital Collections for Genealogy Research
The great progress in digitizing text and making images available online is a boon to the genealogy researcher, but much of it is hard to find or part of the “invisible Web.” This class will explore digital libraries containing family and local history, statewide projects to make vital records available on the Internet, and many other digital collections of help in genealogy research. Also learn how to explore a new resource and how to evaluate its quality.

Seats are still free for both the classes. Call (609) 924-9529 x220 or send an email to refstaff at princetonlibrary dot org to register.

Stay tuned to this blog for further announcements of summer computer classes and programs.

Tech Talk on May 2nd, 2006: Optimize Your Computer's Performance

2006-04-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Our Tech Talk this month is the 50th Tech Talk since the first talk was delivered by John Levine in October 2000! When the series began I was not sure how long it would last or if it would even take off at all. Over the years we have had many amazing talks and I am so happy with how Tech Talks has continued to grow and change with the times. I am looking forward to many more seasons of Tech Talks and want to thank everyone for your continued support and interest in this program.

Joel May will be our speaker for May and he will be delivering a talk that is highly relevant to all computer users called Optimize Your Computer's Performance. Here is official the "blurb and bio":

Configuring your computer to function just the way you want it to is an activity which is both important (in terms of faster and more dependable operation and fewer crashes) and satisfying (you'll enjoy the fact that it looks and feels the way you want it to). In his presentation, Joel will discuss a number of things you can do to make this happen: upgrading your system memory, optimizing the systems properties, adjusting display settings, optimizing the hard drive and deleting unneeded elements. He won't turn you into a computer "geek," but he will help you to understand your computer better.

Joel has spent most of his adult life teaching, first at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago and, subsequently, at the School of Public Health of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He holds a BS degree in Economics from Albright College and an MBA and PhD in Economics and Statistics from the University of Chicago. He's been using computers since 1961, the Internet since 1974, PCs since 1979, and the World Wide Web since 1994.

Since his retirement in 1995, he has volunteered his time teaching computer skills to senior citizens at the Ewing SeniorNet Computer Literacy Center, reading for the blind at the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped and singing in Princeton Pro Musica and the Hopewell Valley Community Chorus.

The talk will begin at 7 pm and be held in our first floor Community Room (next to the library cafe). Please contact the library's reference desk at 609.924.9529 x220 if you have questions.

Let's Talk Technology!

2006-04-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone to the official PPL Tech Talk Blog!

My name is Janie Hermann and I am the Technology Training Librarian at Princeton Public Library in Princeton, NJ. I am also the founder and coordinator of Tuesday Technology Talks, a monthly evening program that is now in its sixth season.

The Tech Talk series began in October 2000 and it is dedicated to exploring current and emerging technologies. We rely on invited guest speakers to deliver a talk on a technology topic in their area of expertise. The program opens with a librarian(usually myself) giving an overview of technology training at the library for the month and it concludes with a discussion period that is moderated by a staff member opr the presenter. Topics have included everything from P2P Networking, Linux, Wikis, Blogs, The Invisible Web, Digital Photography and much more.

This blog will be used primarily to promote upcoming Tech Talks, but will also include updates about the extensive training program that is provided in the library's 2nd floor Tech Center. In addition, I will post other technology information that I feel will be of interest from time to time.

Tech Talks are free and open to the public. No advanced registration is required. I am always looking for good speakers, so if you can recommend someone please let me know.

Now, let's start talking about technology!