I’m sorry, folks! Due to the fact that I’m buying a house, and turning 30 (yes, on the same day!) there will be no Tuesday Two.Oh! today. However, I will leave you with some real estate related 2.0 sites to check out.

In no specific order, please enjoy:

From the site: “We aim to be a delightfully smart partner when you are looking to buy a home. The smart part should help you find your dream home (or at least the dream home within your budget) and arm you with data and information about local real estate (without too much work). The delightful part should make you smile and keep you coming back.”

From the site:”HotPads strives to build the most comprehensive, interactive marketplace of real estate and location-based services, presented with an innovative user interface and a memorable brand.”

From the site:”Our roots go back almost 6 years but unlike many new “real estate technology” companies we are not trying to change the business model, but rather provide the technology to augment an existing one. Over the years we’ve worked very closely with agents and companies both large and small, providing the technology to support their core business, selling homes. Our goal is to “Empower the real estate professional” and as an extension empower the consumer. We don’t believe in placing additional barriers between the consumer and the agent.”

From the site:”Zillow.com is an online real estate service dedicated to helping you get an edge in real estate by providing you with valuable tools and information.”

From the site:”Homethinking is an online service that helps home owners choose the most remarkable neighborhood real estate agents to sell their house. We measure performance by monitoring real estate transactions to know which houses each real estate agent has sold, for how much and how long on average it took them to do so. There are also user reviews by home owners who have sold their house with the particular agent that helps determine the rank of them. If you’d like to know more, read our manifesto and why the decision to engage a real estate agent is possibly the most financially significant you will make.”

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

Today on Tuesday Two.Oh! we’re going to have some fun. I am not going to be able to post next week- or at least that’s what I’m thinking right now. For now, let’s take a little bit of time to take a look at Friv.

Friv is extremely easy to use- and it’s all about currently popular flash games. The site consists of small picture previews of the game, which you click on to get to the embedded version in Friv. Then play. It really is that simple. Your choices are any of the 264 games currently featured on the site. I’ve used Games.Com in the past, and this is more visually pleasing and has a (in my opinion) better and easier interface than Games.Com.

Games are set up like this:

You just click on the picture and start playing the game:

On just one game I noticed ads during the load time, but they were not intrusive.

So, get out there and have some fun killing time. I enjoyed this site- especially since this time in the semester is busy busy busy!

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

Today’s Tuesday Two.Oh! goes out to my Mom, who likes to give away books as soon as she finishes reading them. I, on the other hand (and much to my husbands shagrin), am a keeper. I have loads and loads of books that I’ve been keeping since I was a teenager. Hey, what do you expect when you marry a librarian? Let’s take a look at Book Mooch.

From the site: “BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books. BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want.”

Short and sweet, and in reality that really is a good reflection of the site. The concept is nothing more than what they say it is- upload books you would like to give away, look for books you would like to get in return. All for the price of postage. Keep in mind when signing up for this site to know your limits when sending books. Choose either in your country or worldwide. Shipping internationally can get expensive, so if you’re not willing to spend money on shipping it far, make sure you say so in your preferences.

That said, signing up is very easy.

Once you have filled out this information, Book Mooch asks that you log in. That done, you will see your homepage. It’s very simple.

The first thing I decided to do was browse Book Mooch for title I was interested in. I chose to look for All Quiet on the Western Front, an oldie but a goodie.

The search brings back categorized results, by author and edition. Though I don’t know how they choose their “related searches” as I don’t know what Stephanie Meyer or Chuck Palahniuk have to do with this specific search.

Here, if you would like to take a closer look at the book, you can see a brief synopsis, as well as see reader reviews.

If you would like to upload a book to give to someone else, it’s really easy. Just search for your title and edition. Once you’ve chosen to add it to your list of books you’re willing to give away, you’ll get the following warning.

Your uploaded book will look like this.

A requested book will look similar.

If you’re interested, here’s a snapshot of the most listed (to give away) books on Book Mooch.

As well as the books that are most often borrowed:

In closing, I think this site has a ton of potential. I am looking forward to using it myself once I have my books unpacked. One of the things that I like the most is that I don’t have to give away a book if I don’t want to- I just list books I would like to share and then can keep the books I get in return. It’s an even-stephans swap. I know I did a lot of screen caps, but I think that the best way to check out this site is to sign up for it if you’re interested. Watch those mailing preferences, and get to reading!

As always, thoughts and comments are welcome.

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

Today on Tuesday Two.Oh! we’ll take a look at a site that helps you create web forms. I know that a lot of you out there are very good at html, but for those of us who might be a bit….rusty, a site like this will help us to create something that looks good as well as being functional. Let’s take a look at Wufoo.

Find them on Twitter.

When I was working for NSU I thought a lot about web forms. The librarians there disliked email contact, but I kept thinking that a web form with a report would be a good way to go. I wanted our patrons to be able to go to our site, fill out a form with their research question, and have it counted, sorted and archived as well as answerable. If the questioner fills out a form, it would be easy for a group of librarians to route it to the correct research professional.

Currently, however, I no longer have the need to create an online reference form. We are interested in creating a course reserve request sheet, and that’s what I’ve experimented with while using Wufoo.

Overall, the site was extremely easy to use and navigate. The first thing you might want to concern yourself with if you’re interested is site pricing.

There is a free account option, but I definitely think that if your institution is interested in using this site, one of the paid accounts would be optimal. Sign up was very simple, with no need to check your email for a confirmation link. Simply fill in the information and you can begin building your web form.

The site has some humorous qualities, and I enjoyed that as I went through.

Creating the form was extremely easy. Essentially any user of the site (who doesn’t know CSS) will have a basic template to work off of- and I use the phrase “template” loosely. Essentially, you can create whatever kind of form you would like. The site allows for complete manipulation of page elements. Simply use their drag-and-drop interface and you will have created a unique form. Keep in mind, though, if you choose a free account as I have done, the form has a limited amount of fields that can be entered.

Your choice menu for page elements will look like this:

Which you drag and drop to get something like this:

From here you will edit what each element says. This will be where you can add directions for the user if something on your form is a little more complicated than “yes or no.”

One of the things that I appreciate most about the set up to these elements was the option to require a response from your form-taker. For instance, if we decide to use Wufoo to build a Course Reserve Request sheet, we will require the professor to fill out the course information, because without it the request would not make any sense. So, when submitting an unfinished form, the site would send a pop-up asking that the user finish all required fields, hopefully eliminating error and time spent tracking down this information.

When you have finished adding and editing all of the form elements, save your form. You will get a pop-up that will tell you that your form has saved and that you can either return for more editing, check out the sharing options, or quit. Since I’m interested in sharing my Course Reserve document, I clicked on sharing.

To share your document in Wufoo, you do actually have a lot of options. From a weblink you can copy/paste into email to embedding code to put it on your website. There are also mobile/emailing options to share your web form.

Also, you can choose how to receive notifications that your form has been filled out.

Now we’ll move on to the only part of the site that I found frustrating: adding pizazz to your web form. There is a “themes” tab that you’ll see at the top of your screen, and the creation of a them is easy enough. What I found a little frustrating is figuring out how to apply it. But, first let’s take a look at how to build a theme.

Pick a heading image, which will appear live in the preview screen below.

Then, choose a background.

There are a lot of other options you can choose while setting up your theme like “shading” and “highlighting.” I really didn’t mess around with all of that too much, but the set up of your options is pretty straight forward. I enjoyed the creation interface here.

The problem I ran into was trying to figure out how to apply my created whale theme (which I named “Busy Busy Whale) to my already created web form. Luckily this moment of confusion and several minutes spent clicking from my form to my theme lead me to the extremely well put together help wiki.

Keep in mind, that help screen might only be accessible through your own account setup.

The next step is to get your user to fill out the form. Go ahead and fill mine out if you would like.

When someone has filled out your form, you will get a notification in whatever form you had chosen previously. You’ll click on the link and head back to your homepage, where it will show that a new response has come in and that you are able to look at it.

All of the answers:

Take a look at my finished product here.

In closing, I really do think there is a lot of potential for this site to be used in libraries as well as other business entities. Students might even be able to mold the options here to conduct surveys for classes. I felt that the site was easy to use, and though I did run into some confusion their help page was excellent. And there’s nothing better than a well put together help page.

One drawback that I saw would have to be the limitations of their free account- but they are a business and they are offering a product. When I spoke with my colleague about using this site potentially to solicit course reserve requests we wondered if 100 responses were enough to meet our course reserve demands. In this economy it’s hard to justify a small expense in order to ease life when the “way it works now” does actually work. I’m interested to see how people have been applying this tool. If you use it or have any ideas, I welcome your input.

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

Today on Tuesday Two.Oh! we’re going to take a look at a tool that could be useful to any professional or public citizen; basically anyone who might have a need to think about a space virtually will be able to use today’s website. Personally, I will be able to use if for many reasons- we’re buying a house, so I will be able to visualize the space virtually. Also, at work we are rethinking the Circulation area, and this will be a tool I will use in order to imagine the space- which is very restricted. Let’s take a look at Autodesk: Project DragonFly.

Find them on Twitter.

I want to tell you that I have looked for room design tools before, and haven’t really come up with the most easy to use sites. The first thing that struck me about Project DragonFly was the apparent ease of use. The homepage of the site is clean, easy to understand and uncluttered. Right off the bat, you are provided with an easy-to-comprehend run down of what to expect from the site.

From the homepage, click on

to start designing.

I did like the fact that I was able to start designing immediately- without singing up for the website. The next few things I’ll show you won’t take much narration. The site has some clunky navigation while you’re flipping through room elements, but over all I found the process to be easy. On an amusing side note, while choosing furniture you have a lot of options, but none of the options really fit my own items. I suppose that the visual elements are a suggestion rather than finding the exact match.

The first thing you’ll see is a blank canvas.

From here, you use the tool bar on the left to choose the room you would like to start from.

Building your “space” can be a little tricky, and I was unable to full recreate my desired structure. However, I think that with a little practice I would likely be able to come up with a more clear representation of what I was trying to do. That said, once you have the basics in you will have something that looks like this.

From this basic room outline, you can add doors and windows.

You will be able to choose your elements easily using the side menu.

You will have options as to which room elements you choose, but as I mentioned before the choices are somewhat limited. Though, not so limited as you won’t be able to choose something that is similar to your desired outcome.

Once you have chosen all of your elements, you will have a finished project.

This project, if you have not signed up for an account, can be printed. I clicked on “export” before I did anything else and was thusly prompted.

Since I usually sign up for the sites I demo, I decided to go ahead and sign up. I have to admit, it could not have been easier.

I was not even prompted to check my email for a confirmation link. With my account set up, I was able to use the right hand menu to share my room. My email was opened automatically with the information supplied in the body of the message.

If you desire to save your room as a .jpeg, you have that option using the export feature.

Another thing I enjoyed about the site is that if you create an account, you can save your designs in your own personal gallery. I have only one design to open currently, but as I know that I will have other projects in future I know this feature will be useful.

If you’re curious to see what other people are doing with their designs, I suggest that you check out the public gallery.

In closing, I thought this site was very useful. Though I did find some of the navigation clunky and at times confusing. The site is essentially an open book: it does what it says it is going to do. And it does it for free- which is always nice when you’re used to using programs like Visio. I did find myself wishing that the walls and door openings were a little easier to manipulate, but, again, I feel that I might be able to better tackle these things when I have used the tool for a little bit longer.

As always, I enjoy and welcome your thoughts and comments.

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

Today on Tuesday Two.Oh! we’ll be talking about a tool I’ve actually been aware of for a long time. My husband really enjoyed this site when he first found it a few years ago, and though I found some kinks I wasn’t too happy with, over all I enjoyed the site. Let’s take a look at Instructables.

Find them on Twitter.

From the site: “Despite the catchy title, this Instructable is more personal story than authoritative how-to: It chronicles how and why Squid Labs, Instructables, and our sister companies were started, and what we’ve learned along the way. Squid Labs is a research and design firm that did innovation consulting, and built prototypes for services and products, many of which have since spun-off into separate companies: Instructables, this project-sharing website; Potenco, which is making a hand-held generator for cell phones and laptops; Howtoons, comics showing kids of all ages how to do things; Makani, an energy company seeking to harness high-altitude wind; OptiOpia, a vision-correction business developing low-cost portable vision-testing and lens-fabricating devices; and MonkeyLectric, which makes LED lighting systems for bicycles.”

The site has a few levels, depending on what you want to pay for. A free account is pretty basic, but here are your options:

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t “favorite” an Instructable without having a paid account.

The site is easy to navigate, but I definitely got the feeling that there is a lot there. The main navigation is fairly easy:

Instructables also supplements the main navigation links with sub categories that help the user narrow down the item they would like to build or make.

I really did enjoy the browsing option under explore. The pictures are often interesting, and draw you in and make browsing fun.

I really do think that’s one of the most interesting things about this site- you can literally find anything to make or create. If you are creative, you can upload directions and pictures of your own projects. The projects range from practical to wildly impractical, but are fun and interesting to sift through. We won’t be talking today about how to upload your projects, but it is an option to keep in mind if you find this site interesting.

If you’re browsing under one of the main topic categories, for instance art, you’ll find the most popular, recent, zeitgeist, and recent.

Once you have found something you’re interested in creating, click on the picture or title to get to the actual instructions.

Often the main page is an overview of the item. I chose bubble tea, since I tried this for the first time the other week. A very interesting experience, by the way.

The main page will also give you a good idea as to how many steps the item will take to create.

From there you click on each step to follow the directions, almost exactly as if you were following a recipe.

The page which you are looking at will also give you related items and ratings of other users that have tried to create the item.

The feature of Instructables we won’t be going into depths on tonight is uploading your own set of directions. Briefly, however, the first thing you’ll do is click on the submit link.

First time users will get an overview:

And then a template to upload:

In closing, I found this site both fun and completely useless. It’s interesting insofar as there are a lot of interesting things that people create, but when I searched for something practical (e.g. book shelves and cabinets) I came back with few results that satisfied my need. That said, there are a lot of interesting projects that I would consider trying that I probably didn’t even know existed before stumbling upon them on this site.

I do realize that this site has been around for awhile, but I figured it was time for a little bit of a fun, if mildly educational, diversion.

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

Today on Tuesday Two.Oh! we’ll be continuing our lawyer and law student theme. Today we’ll examine a site that acts as a “Law Library” and research tool. As many of us in the library business know, databases and other digital research tools can be extremely pricey. With excellent resources like Westlaw and Lexis Nexis on the radar, it’s interesting to find a relatively low-cost law research tool on the market. Let’s take a look at FastCase.

Find them on Twitter.

From the site: “Fastcase is a comprehensive online law library with all federal cases going back to 1 U.S. 1, 1 F.2d 1, 1 F.Supp. 1, and 1 B.R. 1, not to mention state and appellate cases going back to 1950 or earlier, for all 50 states. We also offer access to federal and state statutes, as well as adminstrative codes.”

In order to gain access to this tool, I used their free 24 hour trial access. It’s very easy to sign up for, and requires email confirmation.

The free trial will give you complete access to the site.

Once you have access to FastCase you’ll be able to conduct searching. FastCase provides the user with many search aides- and I find this imperative when doing research in the law. Law can be very confusing to the novice, and a guide to any tool is welcome. I would even go so far as to saw beginning law students and lawyers would benefit from the tutorials provided.

Once you have chosen a tutorial to watch, you will be taken to a screen that gives you video as well as chapter titles for the tutorial, so if you have a specific need you can choose that option from the menu.

If you do run into problems, live help is available via an online chat interface.

I did end up signing on for this chat service, and a rep was on the line quickly. This is a good way to ensure that questions are being answered quickly, and the FastCase potentially has the service to back up their site.

Once you feel confident in your ability to search the site, the search screen will provide you with all of your options.

One thing that I noticed was that Boolean searching is the acceptable norm on FastCase, and as a librarian I am comfortable with this method of searching. That said, other searchers might not be so comfortable, and will be provided with a natural language searching option.

I conducted a very simple search using the terms “slavery” and “property.”

The search results are linked cases with brief descriptions.

Once you click on a case you will be taken to the case text.

This is very similar to the searching capabilities of Westlaw, and the result layout is also similar. Above the text of the case there is a toolbar. The options on this toolbar include KeyCite information, saving options, and links to WestLaw and Lexis (for a price). I wonder if your IP has Westlaw or Lexis access you will be able to link for no cost- and, if so, what FastCase offers that doesn’t make it redundant to these other services.

One thing that I liked was the appearance of my search results to the side of the case that I was currently looking at. This gives the user the ability to browse the text of a case while keeping in mind the other search result options.

I would like to just take a second to expose you to one of the other search features of FastCase. There are a lot of options here, and I just don’t have the time to cover them all, but I do know that State Statute searching is a popular thing in a law library, so I’ll examine the procedure here. The option to search statutes is linked from the search page. The first thing you do is choose the state in which you would like to search:

Again, you enter your search terms.

The results are then displayed with a brief explaination and link to statute text.

In closing, this tool seems like a viable alternative to the powerhouses in the business of law research if you are a small firm or single lawyer. For a monthly fee of less than $100 I could see this being useful to many people. And, if the need arises to supplement Fastcase, the site links to WestLaw and Lexis Nexis.

I enjoyed the interface, and found the tutorials helpful.

As always, I welcome your comments and thoughts.

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

First of all, let me thank everyone out there- you have been very patient with me during my transition to my new job and my new city. I’m glad to be back, and in honor of my new position in a law library, today I’ll be taking you through a legal research tool.

Today on Tuesday Two.Oh! we’ll be taking a look at a site that will not only allow you to rate your lawyer, but search for one, ask questions (for free) that will be answered by professionals, and read through legal guides authored by site members. Let’s take a look at Avvo:

Find them on Twitter.

From the site: “Avvo rates and profiles every attorney, so that people can choose the right attorney. Lawyer profiles contain helpful information including a lawyer’s experience, areas of practice, disciplinary history, and ratings from clients. Profile data comes from many sources, including state courts and bar associations, lawyer websites, and information provided by lawyers. Information meets guidance in the Avvo Rating—our effort to evaluate a lawyer’s background using a mathematical model that considers the information we know about a lawyer. This information is shown in the lawyer’s profile, including a lawyer’s years in practice, disciplinary history, professional achievements, and industry recognition—all factors that, in our opinion, are relevant to assessing a lawyer’s qualifications.”

Signing up for an account on Avvo will provide you with monthly news updates and is quite easy to do.

However, you should know that you do not have to sign up for an account on Avvo in order to post questions. Answers are given by Lawyers only, and Avvo checks with the Bar in each state to ensure that the Lawyers advising on Avvo are who they say they are. That said, no real indepth advice is given, and from what I’ve seen most answers refer the questioner to lawyers in their specific research field.

You can use the site to search for lawyers in a specific geographical area.

This is where I ran into the first limitation of Avvo: there were not lawyers listed in Oklahoma City. So my search returned like this:

So, I decided to try to search for lawyers in a more populous city, Boston Mass.

What you see above is the search results for lawyers in Boston. Each lawyer in the results list has a detailed profile, and you really will get a good idea as to the caliber of lawyer. I couldn’t snap the whole profile for display here, but here’s a taste of what you will see when you’re looking at a profile on Avvo:

You can quickly see how the lawyer in question has been rated by his clients- in this case the lawyer has been rated very well. Also, reminiscent of LinkedIn, colleagues can leave recommendations for the lawyer, and those will also appear on his page. Also, you can look at their references and their resume.

The profile will also indicated legal guides authored by the lawyer, and answers he has given to other site users. In addition, one of the things that I found very impressive about the profile pages was the list of cases tried by each lawyer, and the outcome.

Avvo does offer more than just provide lawyer searches and profiles. As I’ve alluded to above, there are legal guides available as well as a question-and-answer forum.

The questions-and-answer section is open to all, though only lawyers can answer questions.

There are also legal resources.

In the news:

Regarding the First Amendment:

Regarding the need for foreclosure lawyers during this recession:

Regarding lawyer reactions to public ratings:

In closing Avvo, though controversial, is a real asset to the general public. The law, for novices, if very difficult to traverse and understand, but with the input and guidance of other clients a person can feel confident in their choice of lawyer. One thing I wonder about is if high ratings equal higher fees for the client. From what I have read on the open web, bad ratings have cost lawyers customers.

But, in this day and age a degree does not ensure your popularity, and I personally feel positively about a site that will publicly rate lawyers. In such a complicated world, this kind of site will ensure that the client will be able to trust and have confidence in their choice, and perhaps guard from choosing a lawyer that may not work as hard to win the case. Or, it would alert the potential client to other problems surrounding the lawyer- their profiles do point out instances of “misconduct.”

Overall, I do feel that this site is a positive thing, but I can see how a lawyer might be wary of the site. My advice would be to take control of your profile, and web presence. As with any professional, taking control of your web presence is very important. At very least, be aware of what is being said about you on the web. Pretending the web isn’t there won’t stop other people from using it, and when you preform a public service you have to maintain your public reputation.

It’s a bummer, I know. I’ve yet to complete a full week here at Oklahoma City University Law Library- and I already have my hands full.

Next week I will happily be back on the two.oh! tip, but for now bare with me.

If you’re new to brownez @ the library, some of the topics we’ve covered are QR Codes, History 2.0, Health 2.0, Online meetings, and much much more.

Feel free to check out the archives, or leave me a comment if you have ideas or new tools you would like me to check out and cover.

Till next week….

Tuesday Two.Oh! is not meant as an endorsement, but as an exploration of the tools that are out there. Click at your own risk.

Today on Tuesday Two.Oh! we’re going to be taking a look at a very very cool tool to help you sell whatever it is you’re trying to sell, be it a website, a product, or a movie. We will actually be taking a look at two sites today, both of which are easy to use and easy to navigate. So, get out those cell phones and let’s start talking QR Codes.

QR Codes are essentially barcodes that your cell phone can read. You take a picture of the code with your phone, and the code will direct your phone to a website, video, or really any digital media desired.

I was introduced to this technology by an innovative librarian at the University of Central Oklahoma, Amanda Lemon. Amanda and Jason Cimock (also of UCO) presented at this years COIL workshop, unCOILed. They spoke about mobile phones in the classroom, and their presentation can be found here. Part of the presentation focused on todays tool, QR Codes. It’s a very interesting presentation, and if you have time, I suggest that you take a look.

On to the tools! The first tool we’ll be taking a look at is Mircosoft Tag Beta.

Here they are on Twitter.

From the site: “Microsoft Tag creates unlimited possibilities for making interactive communications an instant, entertaining part of life. They transform physical media (print advertising, billboards, product packages, information signs, in-store merchandising, or even video images)—into live links for accessing information and entertainment online.”

Signing up for an account on Microsoft Tag Beta is extremely easy- and, if you’re like me and already have a Hotmail or Live ID account, you are already registered to use Microsoft Tag Beta. I was able to sign in quickly using my log in information for my hotmail account.

Once you’ve signed in, just click on the Make A Tag Link to get started.

Microsoft Tag Beta provides and easy form to fill out in order to create your code. I admit that before my explorations today I knew very little about creating the codes. If you take a little time reading around the creation websites, you’ll start to understand the language and the intended use of the codes. Here’s what to expect once you’ve decided to build a tag:

When you’re done, click save and you’ll be brought back to a menu of all the codes you have created.

This is where, for me, it got a little bit complicated. I don’t know it’s because of the website or my computer, but I clicked on the Render button and nothing happened at first. I’m sure it’s a minor glitch, because on the second click I was given the following menu, which will provide you with your publishing choices:

I chose PDF and quickly downloaded my new code. I had previously downloaded the Microsoft Tag reader app for my iPhone. I just took a picture of my computer screen:

And, instantly I was taken to my website (which is what I had programed the code to do):

I saved my code as a PDF that I can physically print out and post. Anyone with a cell phone camera and an app to read the codes can click the picture and be taken to my blog. Very cool. Go ahead, give it a try (get readers here):

There are a lot of potential uses for this technology.

To be fair, there are a lot of code creations sites out there. Spend a little time on Google and you’ll find a site that fits your needs. With that in mind, let’s look at another code creation option. Q-Lytics:

Here they are on Twitter.

From the site: “Q-lytics is a free service that enables you to create dynamic barcode campaigns that can be updated on the fly and track how many hits your codes have received. Detailed reports can be generated that display your campaign activity including unique visits, traffic from multiple codes, locations, carrier and handset data.”

Amanda and I discovered a code in Tulsa a few weeks ago. It was posted on the outside of a mall, as you would post a movie poster. Amanda snapped a picture of it, and using an app we were led to a video for the movie “9.”

Signing up for Q-lytics was very easy.

From there the set up of the code was similar to the Microsoft Tag Beta site insofar as there was a menu which I filled out in order to get the code.

Once you have filled out the information you will be provided with your code.

One of the coolest things about Q-Lytics is the fact that they provide you with the actual code, a SMS shortcode, and a URL for your code. For example:

Also, they give you a unique URL that you can share that will direct people to your website, or chosen web destination.

In closing, this is definitely a neat bit of technology. I had never heard of it before our conference, and once I saw it in use at the mall I realized that we’re really coming into a new era. Amanda and Jason mused that the placement of these codes around a library could lead patrons to a help page- if they needed help locating a book they could be led to the catalogue, for example.

The one draw back I see is that the use of this technology isn’t widespread yet. Amanda was using QR codes in Japan years ago, but the technology is only coming into use now.

I am looking forward to keeping my eyes peeled for these codes. Very interesting stuff.

As always thoughts and comments are encouraged and welcome!