In Time and Place - Trove Tuesday

   

This week Alex Daw, Shauna Hicks and Fran Kitto have published their reviews of the successful History Queensland "In Time and Place" conference held in Brisbane. Looks as if I missed some excellent sessions but it was not the time and place for me to be there as we travelled southwards for grandparent duties while we await the birth of another grandchild. Luckily we have arrived in time and are now in place as resident babysitters.

With an emphasis at the above mentioned conference on Queensland local history, this article tweeted by @TroveAustralia last week caught my eye. In 1921 this article detailed the movement by the Historical Society of Queensland lobbying to have local history studies included in the school curriculum.

1921 'LOCAL HISTORY.', The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), 10 November, p. 6, viewed 6 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20502592

Thanks are due to the many historical societies across Australia who work towards preserving and sharing their local histories.

Keeping the brain active

A retirement activity

This article shown in the newspaper clipping was written by Jim Fagan and appeared in the September 2015 Sunshine Coast Seniors paper.

Noosa Library has been holding computer classes well before the start of Tech Help sessions which are mentioned here, and there are other volunteers who offer one-to-one sessions to help with technology.

On the first and third Tuesdays of the month a drop in, no bookings required, group session provides the opportunity for Noosaville library patrons to have their questions answered, problems solved or simply to learn a little more about their device in a friendly atmosphere.

Tech Help started out as an initiative of the Friends of Noosaville Library group, several of whom have been and are involved. This varies as we retirees can be involved in a wide range of activities or just taking those holidays and making family visits.

The wide range of questions, devices and operating systems keeps my brain active in retirement and provides the excuse for having the latest "tech toys." Phones, laptops, tablets, ereaders, USB devices, SD cards, scanners and so on it goes. It is definitely bring and learn on your own device.

Numbers of attendees have ranged from 3 to 13, some folks are repeat visitors and some only come once or twice depending on their need. A smile, a friendly word and a group situation can help those who are anxious dealing with the unknown.

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

Update or be outdated

Screenshot of updates in App store - text added in WordSwag

Updateitis or appaddiction 

I think I have both. Each day lately new updates arrive.
 - Windows 10 with dribbles of fixes
 - iOS 9 merely days ago is already iOS 9.0.1
 - Android 5.1.1

Ouch, I obviously have too many apps across a variety of platforms. Yesterday my ipad indicated there were 43 apps to update.
Google pushed all new versions of its 11 apps to the Android phone and now on opening the Play store there are 5 more waiting to be updated.

App and program developers keep us moving on too. Evernote has a new web interface, so does Ancestry. Dropbox has added some features, Facebook is forever changing its layout and settings. September has been an unusually busy month for updates.

Okay, so what is outdated? I've had a trawl through the apps on my devices and deleted those rarely used. Sometimes it is easier to just use the web interface rather than a specific app.

• For Facebook I always prefer the web version so goodbye to all those apps. 
• Diigo is great for bookmarking, but a separate app, no thanks, I've got the bookmarklet installed. 
• Pinterest annoys me with its insistence on updating the app every three weeks. Give us a break please, I'll only be using you on the laptop from now on.

How many document scanners does one really need? Scanner Pro, Text scanner, Scanner+ CamScanner and Evernote Scannable. What about note apps? Evernote will stay but 2Do, Metamoji - - can't even remember its original name, and some others have gone. How many calendar apps have you tried, yes, I deleted 3! Whew, feeling better already. Then there's the range of web browsers, the photo editing apps and the image makers like the one below. How's your updating progressing?

Just couldn't get rid of this old favourite  - Wordfoto.

Screenshot of ipad keyboard, words added in Wordfoto

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/09/update-or-be-outdated.html