Personalized OU Library Tech Tip

I use the J-STOR and Project Muse databases a lot for research papers. For my Anthropology classe there are also databases that I use that are specifically for Anthropology journals. 

When doing this tech tip I also added the subjects I look up the most on the website, Journalism and Mass Comm, Anthropology, Religious Studies, and Woman and Gender Studies. 

I had never taken the time to personalize my library homepage, so I'm very glad this was a tech tip option. It will be very helpful for future references and ease of access. 

OU Email Tech Tip

Before this semester I hadn't made folders for different classes. I had made folders for financial aid information, other important University emails, and enrollment activity before, though. This semester I did start making folders for this class and my Intro to Professional Writing class because in both we receive important information that we may need to reference again. I will definitely be continuing making folders for some classes next semester.

Google Timer Tech Tip

I did not know that the Google timer was a thing before clicking on this tech tip. I think this will be incredibly helpful to manage study breaks.

Like many people, I'll decide to take a quick break on YouTube or other websites, and then three hours later I haven't done anything else on my assignment. I had always tried to limit myself by saying "only three videos" or something of that nature but it rarely works.

Because maybe there was a really short video, so I actually could watch a few more. Or sometimes I would decide a full length movie on YouTube should count as one video.

I think this timer will help a lot because it will be a loud beeping reminder that I have work to get done. This will be an extremely useful tool to know about.

Google Language Tech Tip

This is a screenshot of the Pirate Language setting for Google search.

Google Search by Image Tech Tip

For this tech tip I used the first image:

By Raphael "Sistine Madonna" Cherub detail. Wikimedia

The search result led to the Wikipedia page which these cherubs are a small part of, called the "Sistine Madonna" which was painted by Raphael.

Google Site-Specific Searches

For this tech tip, I searched the classical section of the sacred-text websites for the Greek goddess Athena. To go to the search, click here. The results for this search came up with a lot of interesting finds.

The first result was from a 1928 book by Jane Harrison. This described Athena using different pieces of Greek literature. Another link that came up in my search that I especially liked was the ancient Greek play, Ajax by Sophocles. In this play Athena is one of the main characters.

It was interesting to see the wide variety of articles and writings that were easily available by using the site specific search.

Resize Tech Tip

This week I did the used picmonkey to resize and edit an image. I just looked up sunset pictures that were large and were available for public use. This was my favorite picture that I found.

"Sunset Reeds, North Shore Port Lincoln, South Australia" by Jacopo Werther. Wikimedia

Typing Game Tech Tip

For this week's tech tip, I decided to try some typing games. While I did like the one Laura recommended, Ninja Cat, I also tried two others. The first was Typing Race. The second was Typing Chef.

Of the three, I think my favorite was the Typing Race. While I thought Ninja Cat was helpful because it was purely reactionary, I liked that Typing Race had full sentences that you were typing. I find typing full sentences helpful because it is more like practicing for the way we type in life.

However, I do think that Ninja cat could be helpful also. I found myself having trouble remembering where some of the individual letters were when they came up on their own. It would also be very helpful because unlike other games, it also includes numbers, which I am not used to finding when typing quickly.

I did not like the Typing Chef very much. I found it more unhelpful than the other two. I got bored with this game very quickly. This is the only game of the three I tried I wouldn't recommend.

Collage Tech Tip

I used PicMonkey.com for this tech tip. The collage is for the introduction of my storybook.

Top Picture: "Muses Dancing with Apollo" by Baldassarre Peruzzi. Wikimedia

Bottom Row, Right To left: "Artemis with a Hind" Wikimedia. "Mattei Athena" Wikimedia. "Hera Campana" Wikimedia. "Demeter in Madrid" Wikimedia.

Typing Test Tech Tip

For this tech tip, I tried two typing tests. The first was the Rank My Typing website and the second the Fast Fingers website.

While they were both typing tests with similar processes, I found it interesting how big of a difference the minor changes made.

In the first test I scored 51 wpm. In the second I scored 57 wpm. Both had about two words wrong.

In the first test, I was typing complete sentences. I thought that this was great because it is very similar to how we type in the real world with capitalization and punctuation.

However, the second test was just random words listed one after another. I did not like this so much because it isn't like we actually type when writing. That being said, I think that that is why I scored higher on the second test. There was no capitalization, or punctuation. Also, instead of looking at the sentence as a whole for meaning, when you just have random words strung together it is much easier to focus solely on those words. Therefore, I think that the first test was actually much more accurate for my overall typing abilities. Also the first website seemed cleaner, with less ads pasted all over the place. I also liked that the first site ranked you with the demographics you chose.

That being said, there were a couple of things I liked better about the second website. The first was that it gave you your percentile compared to everyone else who had used their website in the last 24 hours. I thought that was unique and interesting to see. Next, you could easily change languages, which I think could be interesting to try, although I didn't this time. The last thing that I liked better about the second website is that they start the timer whenever you begin typing. I liked being able to look over the website without the countdown of when the timer would start for the test.

YouTube Tech Tip

For this Tech Tip, I'm adding YouTube videos to a blog post. These are  fan made videos from two of my favorite TV shows.

This Video is of the Tenth Doctor's run on Doctor Who, in musical form. David Tennant is my favorite Doctor and this is one of my favorite Doctor Who fan videos. (Warning: One of the songs in this video contains strong language.) To see this video on YouTube click here.

Another TV show I love is Game of Thrones. In this short fan made video by Karliene Reynolds, she writes lyrics for the show's theme song, along with a beautifully made video of the characters. To see this video on YouTube click here.

Tech Tip 1

The template that I chose for my blog is one of the Travel Templates. I liked the color scheme of it, as well how the posts were framed in the screen. I haven't done much blogging before, so I don't know how the format compares, but I like the template I chose. The way the template frames the posts is like a few of the blogs I follow. I like the blocks of color, where the blues make the blog stand out some, but the text is easy to read with the traditional white background and black lettering.