Introducing the Little Library 1.0

Finally, a full version of the Little Library is out in the wild! After extensive testing on multiple platforms in Beta 1 & 2 (and a lot of failure), the Little Library 1.0 is ready for a gig on the mainstage. Take it out for a spin. Expect automatic updates as feedback comes in.

Check out, fork, and modify the source code for the Little Library on Github.

You can also find out more about the Little Library at http://thelittlelibrary.com.

Mobile JWiki

On the side as of late I’ve been working with Tim Jore at Distant Shores Media to help them create ajaxy goodness for their MediaWiki-based site at http://door43.org that features free and open licensed contributed discipleship resources for everyone in every language, including an open Bible, open Bible School, open worship music, etc. Anyway, I’ve just released a new application for them that dynamically has the ability to turn their entire wiki into a mobile online/offline application.

So if you are using MediaWiki, or would like to mobilize someone else’s Web site or wiki, you can find the simple 1-2 pages of code here: https://github.com/rwadholm/Mobile-JWiki. The code can be put on any server anywhere (that supports PHP 5.3), and will create a mobile offline/online version of whatever site you point it  at (out of the box it works with MediaWiki) via PHP,  JQuery, JQuery Mobile, and HTML5 (and it works as well without javascript enabled, so for non-smartphones it’ll still serve up your mobile site just fine). Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but you could even use it to make your own mobile offline/online version of Wikipedia that’s hosted on your own server.

The real purpose, however, is to allow users of wikis in areas with spotty internet connectivity or expensive data plans to be able to learn on the go, using their phones, without a continually active internet connection.

The Little Library Beta 1 Release

The Beta 1 version of the Little Library application was release earlier today (to mild applause by my family). You can check it out here:

https://github.com/rwadholm/The-Little-Library-Beta

Follow the instructions on that page, and you too can be the proud owner of a test library! You’ll be doing the world a service by breaking things now so they don’t have to later. Please send any comments and feedback my way.

Some new features include syncing with other libraries (actually works now!), automatic creation of an online library, a three page End User License Agreement that quotes Patrick Henry, file validation (to avoid loading those pesky malware files onto your computer and in the cloud), optimized iOS page sizes, automatic thumbnails for any items that have images in them, and the ability to upload and view multiple files for every item in your library. This last feature allows you to use your library as a private Web server. You could host every file of a website you’ve made in one item, and when users click on the item–BING!! (not really “BING”, I actually prefer non-microsoft products), they’re at your hosted Web site. So you could share your library with them, they could make changes, share with you, and you can have a dynamic Website between friends. How lovely.

Beyond Web sites, you could include all of the Word documents, books, videos, audio and images you wanted to all in the same library item, so that you can serve up a college course, a series of videos, a compilation of songs, etc. all packaged together nicely. You’ve just got to make sure the content is owned by you (as in, you created it, or you found it with a Creative Commons license that allows you to share it). That’s because the End User License Agreement requires you to only upload and share Creative Commons or Public Domain or other similarly licensed content.

So you can think of the Little Library not as a file repository, but as a multi-device, peer-to-peer, distributed online/offline open content bazaar based on bleeding-edge technologies like JQuery Mobile, HTML5 WebStorage, and CouchDB. Although that is a bit wordy…

More to come.

JQuery Tools

I have begun to use JQuery Tools for tabs and other minimally animated content. You get six JQuery related plugins in one package, all of which are hosted on a CDN so scripts don’t take up server space or bandwidth. Pretty clean coding and easy to expand. I’ve reworked their tabs and pop-up descriptions on a new site that I’m developing for the IU Theatre and Drama Department here: http://www.indiana.edu/~coas2/thtr/facilities/layout.shtml. This tool has allowed me to focus on specialized scripting rather than patching together many different JQuery plugins to do what I want them to. Also exciting is the release of JQuery 1.4 in January. I’m loving their new API documentation on their redesigned site, and some of the new features that come standard now.

The beauty of frameworks and tools like these are that they are easy to use and learn, and they allow us to focus on content and specialized tasks, and leave the rest to the framework. They are also open and heavily documented all over the internet. And extending them is very simple. This allows us to save time and money and hopefully allows our pages to be more accessible and interactive at the same time. If you haven’t already, try them out. There’s nothing like the feeling you get making stuff move around on a screen in a useful way.

Learning to Blog, Blogging to Learn

Last summer I finished an E-learning solution for highschool and college teachers who would like to learn how to use blogs as a part of their instruction. Videos, links to online resources, and walk-throughs are provided in this extensive (2-3 hour) self-directed tutorial website. Feel free to use these materials in any way you want (think of the content as open source, as well as the code).

Bob 2.0

There is a lot of talk about Web 2.0 tools and resources, but what about me? What personal changes will occur as a result of my use of Web 2.0? Will I become more social? Less afraid of joining into productive conversations with complete strangers? More willing to collaborate with people across the planet? More willing to explore and to open up my own resources, knowledge, and skills to the world?

On the negative side, will I miss out on physical connections? Will I become like the person you see in the mall walking beside their friend but talking on the cell phone instead, distracted away from the here and now and the people in their lives that are physically present? Will this technology separate me from the ones I love? Or will it connect me more? No doubt it helps me to connect and learn with others far away (proximally), but will it help me to connect in new ways with those nearby? I think perhaps that it will. I already enter into collaborative work with those close to me using Web 2.0 tools and resources. Perhaps I’m becoming more like the person you see at a party using their cell phone to text message their friend who is sitting right next to them on the couch. But is this useful? Sometimes not so much. But I think Web 2.0 tools and resources let us do things that were before much more difficult or impossible to do even with those nearby.

I think one other thing it will do to me (and is already doing to me) is to make me more thoroughly dependant on the internet for my communication, collaboration, learning, and educational needs. I presently spend 4-16 hours on the internet every day as it is (I am a Web developer), and I only foresee more time being spent (the tools and resources are becoming more pervasive in my daily life). Nearly all the television shows I watch are online. Most of my gaming needs are met online. I haven’t physically been in a library to look for educationally related materials since I began my Master’s degree a year ago (though I have probably read 5-10 thousand pages of pdfs online provided through classes and by the library). I no longer print my articles for graduate classes: I read electronic copies. I buy all of my electronics online. I meet all of my present informal learning needs online, and a large part of my formal learning needs. I’m learning several new languages online (some of them programming languages). I no longer use a radio: I listen to podcasts and streaming audio. And nearly all of the tools and resources I use every day online are Web 2.0.

So watch out for Bob 2.0! He’s smarter, faster, more connected, and a lot less tan.