Mobile Thing 6 - Videoing things

This Thing covers the use of YouTube and other applications for videoing in libraries, and things generally. 
Having played with some of the other tools Vimeo, and Animoto previously (it was amazing to realise that it was 6 years ago though), I decided to Explore 'YouTube' - Record a video on your mobile device and upload a YouTube video, (I had created a YouTube Account, just hadn't uploaded anything, so now is the chance to do so) and combine it with some of the Thinking Points - local history and library programs and promotion. The result being an information video on the 'Wimmera in Photographs' project.
The video can then be utilised by both staff and the public to familarise them with the scope of the project, it could be on the Digital Photo Frame prior to Collection Days.
So here is the 'Wimmera in Photographs' video from YouTube, via the library's channel.

 

Lights - Camera - Lego!

There are few toys as timeless and iconic as the humble LEGO block. However, in the 55 years since the LEGO block was born, another industry has created thousands of iconic images that we’ve grown to know and love.

What better way to celebrate the motion picture industry than by recreating some of these recognisable images in LEGO form?

Charlton Heston drives some static horses in 'Ben Hur'

'The Matrix' complete with water-wall effect

In ‘Brick Flicks : 60 iconic movie scenes and posters to make from Lego’ by Warren Elsmore, the author has recreated 60 famous movies from one of the earliest colour films - ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939), right up to the computer-generated imagery of ‘The Life of Pi’ (2012). The journey takes us through action, comedy, drama, science fiction and more as we celebrate the versatility of the LEGO palette. 
Each film brings its own challenges to create an image that is instantly recognisable. In some instances, the author has chosen to use a scene from the film itself and in some cases the movie poster itself is the ‘main protagonist’. Either way, the image brings back memories – or perhaps triggers a desire to expand your own film collection!

Check out this YouTube clip, especially the ‘Dr No’ and ‘The Shining’ ones (the Lego face does look like Jack Nicholson).

Yes - 'My heart will go on' , 'Titanic'

The full-colour photography is accompanied by a commentary and interesting facts on the movie, how the scenes were made, and step-by-step instructions for constructing some of the smaller projects yourself at home.

Warren Elsmore is an adult fan of LEGO, he's been in love with the little plastic brick since the age of four, and now lives out many people’s dream of earning a living playing with Lego!

Orson Welles' classic 'Citizen Kane'

Interesting pin

Have to give a gong to someone using the moniker mulzi. Seems mulzi is the hundredth person to follow my Pinterest page.

My Pinterest Page

 While your Pinterest boards are personal - your likes/interests/hobbies - its great to see how universal they can be, when people follow you, or repin, or like your pin board/s. 

Interestingly my pin with the greatest interest has been the librarian t-shirt (more kudos to librarians everywhere) - 82 people have repined it, and 14 have 'liked' it.

The pinners I've 'encountered' are from all over and unknowns - none are people I actually know or have met - it's a bit weird to know of people with similar interests.
So it is back to my pinboards and the next milestone - maybe my 30th board or 5,000th pin?

Technology gone wild

Got to embrace some new uses of technology today - well new to me.

The first was the mobile checkin for flights ( I had thought that the email boarding pass was a great leap forward, now this is even better). Just click on the link in your ticketing info confirm a few details and the airline sends you a message with a QR code for your boarding pass no queues no waiting just hold your screen over their scanner at the gate.

For me it was even easier on a 2 person ticket it sent each code to different phones I didn't even need to make the a connection.

The next new tech I encountered was wi-fi on the plane. I can still remember when a mobile phone was likely to bring down a plane by interfering with its electronics, now the planes come equipped with public wi-fi.

And yes, the flight crew couldn't get it to make a connection on the way up, and then on the flight back they needed extra hamsters to spin the speed up (I endeavoured to download an ebook from Bolinda's BorrowBox but it just kept whirling), but hey gotta love the concept each passenger in their own electronic cocoon.

I think anything that can ease the steps involved in passage through the airport is a plus plus.

Not to be carried into any attack

'Not to be carried into any attack' That's the warning printed on the top of the map of which features on the endpapers of "Mapping the First World War : the Great War through maps from 1914 to 1918".

(the book's front cover is a famous photograph by Frank Hurley, of five members of the 4th Australian Division field artillery brigade, passing along duckboards over mud among gaunt bare tree trunks in the devastated Chateau Wood, a portion of one of the battlegrounds in the Ypres salient. Left to right: Gunner James Macrea Fulton, 110 Battery, 10th Field Artillery Brigade; Lieutenant Anthony Devine; Sergeant Clive Stewart Smith. It has also been claimed that the third soldier from the left is Gunner Hubert Lionel Nichols with his brother Gunner Douglas Roy Nichols, immediately behind. The Nichols brothers both served in the 110th Howitzer Battery. All the identified men served in 4th Australian Division artillery units. The last man in the group is unknown. Western Front, 29 October 1917). 
Gathered by Peter Chasseaud from the collection of the Imperial War Museums.
During the years of the First World War, the world saw the rise of technology, including improvements in the making and disseminating of maps. Portable printing units, aerial photographs, and precise measurement became an integral part of strategy, troop placement, bombardment, and even retreats. The number of maps produced was staggering British production alone was more than 34 million maps. Featuring more than 150 maps, this work shows the trenches, troop placement, planning, and even propaganda. The maps are reproduced in high-quality colour, and there is a plethora of accompanying black-and-white photographs. The work includes maps representing all battlefronts, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. .
More than 150 maps (some previously unpublished) demonstrate how World War I was fought around the world -

• Small scale maps show country boundaries and occupied territories.

• Large-scale maps cover the key battles and offensives on all fronts of the war, and trench maps show detailed positions of the front line.

• Maps from newspapers are also included, as well as battle planning and propaganda. 

Key offensives covered include the Battles of the Marne and Ypres; Tannenberg and the Eastern Front; Verdun and the Somme; the Gallipoli Campaign; Battle of Jutland; the Advances to Jerusalem, Damascus, and Baghdad; Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele; and the German 1918 offensives and Allied counter-offensives. 
It includes the lesser known African campaigns with one German map which includes an annotation of 'Reserved Football Ground for Tame Englishmen' set in the Sahara Desert.
The book is more than a collection of coloured maps though. Along with the maps, key historical events are described - from the causes of the war to the role of sea & air forces -  giving an illustrated history of the war from an expert historian.
As the hype ramps up for the centenary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli, books such as 'Mapping the First World War" will come into their own.