Lesson 11: Wrap Up

Prompts and answers:

  Go back to your thoughts/ideas about technology and mobile devices. Has anything changed as a result of this experience?
 I thought a bit more critically about access to technology and mobile devices, which is a useful exercise.  

What were your favorite Cosas/Things and discoveries? 
The things I learned through this experience that I use most often are definitely the snipping tool and an increased familiarity with hoopla.

Did you connect with others doing the 11.5 Cosas?
 No, but I joined late, so maybe that's why.

  What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or content?
 A forum-style discussion might be more engaging than blogging to an invisible (and mostly nonexistent) audience.

  Describe your learning experience in one word or in one sentence. We may use your words to promote 11.5 Cosas learning activities to others.
 I learned some useful tips and became more familiar with SAPL's digital resources.

Lesson 10 Challenge

I explored sanantonio.gov and usa.gov. Just glancing at the two, I have to say that the federal site has a much more clean, uncluttered presentation and is more inviting to browse. The sheer number of links on the sanantonio.gov home page can be overwhelming. It's great that the local government info is available, and the city's 311 services section is nice, but it certainly takes some time to learn to navigate it.


I'm not sure that government access and services are really at a level yet where they're "on the go." Government organizations don't have the motivation or the incentive that private app developers do, and their offerings are going to lag behind significantly. I think when we reach a point where government access can be easily accessible away from a computer, we're still reinforcing some privilege. Not everyone's going to have a smartphone or tablet and access to wireless internet or an abundance of data, and not everyone who has one knows how to use it (or all of the things it can be used for).


You can definitely see some engagement with "viral" trends on social media and in the news - like when John Oliver did his bit on net neutrality and the surge of comments was so big that it overwhelmed the FCC's website. However, it seems like these things are short-lived and easily forgotten. So while we might see surges of activism and engagement, I don't think there will be a sustained change in the way we interact with government.

Lesson 9 Part 2- Zinio

Three of the titles available through SAPL's Zinio website are American Craft, National Geographic Traveler, and Vegetarian Times. The Zinio reader app is available for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 8, Mac, PC, and Kindle Fire.

Lesson 9 Part 1 Hoopla

In Hoopla, three of the top Audiobook titles are The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, People I Want to Punch in the Throat, and Orange is the New Black. Services like Hoopla are making the library more accessible for some of the populations we serve - those with fast, reliable internet at home and a device with which to access content. They can be very convenient, but they can also cause significant confusion and often necessitate specialized library programs to help users learn to use and navigate the services. Some libraries are circulating devices and tools (like WiFi hotspots) to make these services accessible to more of their patrons, which I can certainly appreciate and understand. I'm looking forward to seeing how these programs work.

Lesson 8 Part 2 Challenge

I searched OverDrive and Hoopla for eAudiobooks on the topic of electricity. There was only one nonfiction title in each platform on the topic. Overdrive: The Boy who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba Hoopla: The Story of Electricity, by Professor John T. Sanders Both were fairly simple to search, but I liked that Hoopla suggests categories to search within, as you can see in the image below.

Overdrive's advanced search has the functionality of searching within formats. If you do a basic search for a term, you can narrow your results using the limits, which is easy enough. I have to say, I vastly prefer Hoopla's browsing interface. I like the Netflix-style scrolling covers within categories as well as the large number of categories.

Lesson 8 Part 1 Challenge

In the library's Overdrive catalog, I searched for the titles below, and these are my results. Nora Roberts – Chasing Fire Formats available, copies owned/available: eBook - 17/15, eAudiobook - 2/1 David Perlmutter, MD – Grain Brain Formats available, copies owned/available: eBook - 14/11

Lesson 6 Part 2 Challenge

Social media can certainly have unintended negative effects. If you watch the news regularly, you'll see people (from celebrities to police officers to corporations) enduring and responding to negative reactions from the public because of social media gaffes and missteps. One's public social media presence can be limited with privacy settings, but it's best to always keep in mind that what you post online may very well be seen by someone you didn't anticipate. I've posted a link below, as an example of what can happen if you don't consider your possible audience when posting on social media.