Thing 22: Google Hangouts

The great thing about cloud applications is that they undergo incremental development - no waiting years for the next release. The annoying thing about cloud applications is that they undergo incremental development - no waiting years for the next release - but you may wake up one morning to find it's all changed.
Such was the case with New Hangouts, its release timed to perfection a few days before it was destined to become one of our 'Things'. So finally...

When I were a lad (quite a while ago now), many futuristic TV programmes included people talking to each other using some kind of visual communication system - video screens on the wall or a hand-held device. They also tended to include some rather dodgy fashion statements, but that's another issue.

The point is we've been expecting it for years, and now we can all join Jeff Tracy and his sons, together with Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, and talk 'face to face' when we're miles apart.
Actually, we've been using video-conferencing and Skype for ages now, but a Google Hangout makes it really easy, AND you can broadcast it if you need.

What's a Google Hangout?

It was a component of Google+ (G+) (see Thing 8) with which you can hold a video conversation with one or more people simultaneously, but the new version integrates better with email calendar etc. Although Google maintain you don't need a Google+ profile to use Hangouts, in practice you do if you want to start/join group video calls or use it with iOS devices. If you don't already have a Google+ profile, take another look at Thing 8.

You can get into a hangout through several routes, but when you get there it will basically look the same. In the example shown here, Larry Lamb and Sean the Sheep are enjoying a video chat.


During a Hangout you can:

• Invite more people 
• Choose who to view (also auto-selects person talking)
• Mute microphone and/or camera
• 'Chat' silently with typed text
• Share screens
• Capture the screen image
• Share and edit Google documents
• Wear silly hats - via the icon below drive documents (optional)

Why should I Hangout?

Interesting question, suggesting some US companies need to think more carefully how they name products and services. Have I ever told you my (true) story about the re-branding of the 'Customer Care' section of the 'Wang' computer company? I digress.

• It's a simple conference call, where you don't have to book special rooms or equipment
• You can have a face-to-face conversation with people - an alternative to a voice-only phone call
• Great for meetings when people are in lots of different places
• You can have a meeting without getting out of bed (not recommended)
• Friendlier contact with distance learners
• Broadcast an interactive lecture that can be viewed later
• Screen-sharing feature lets you 'show what you mean' when it's difficult to describe

The list could go on...

What do I need?

• a computer with a web camera and microphone - most laptops are now equipped with these. It works fine with a PC, Mac, Chromebook and probably several others I haven't tried. With an iPad you need to download the (Free) G+ App.
• a reasonably good network connection - it will usually work on the UoY Wi-Fi.
• a G+ account - see Thing 8 if you need to know how to sign up for G+

... and that's it.

How do I start a Hangout?

 

Since the recent changes, starting and joining a hangout has become even easier as it now integrates more closely with email chat and calendar. Look for:

Google+

On G+, over on the right, is the new 'green with quotes' Hangout icon. Choosing it reveals a list of the people with whom you've already 'hung out'. Start a Hangout using any of these methods:

• Click the + next to New Hangout and enter an email address
• Hover over a person from a previous Hangout and choose the Hangout icon at the bottom of their profile pop-up - then choose the camera icon to initiate contact
• At the foot of the Hangouts pane, hover over Hangout Party and choose Start a Party (yes, I know). Invite people using email addresses - you can also invite G+ circles

Another method:

• From your G+ page, under the Share what's new... box choose Hangout

Email chat

1. Open the chat section of the mail screen (speech bubble, bottom left - unless you've moved it).
2. Make sure you are signed in to chat - you and others with cameras are listed with a camera icon instead of a simple green disc (though this isn't 100% reliable).
3. You can then initiate a Hangout with an individual on your list or start a hangout and invite several people using various methods - watch for pop-up boxes, chat boxes etc and look for the icons.

Calendar Hangouts

This lets you plan a hangout at the same time as you invite people to a calendar event.

1. Set up an event in calendar as normal, but make sure you choose Edit Event to see the full details. Invite people as normal.
2. Before you Save, choose the Add Google+ Hangout link - it's labelled Video call and is below the Where textbox.
3. It's also a good idea to make sure you set a reminder or you may leave people hanging around for you when they should be hanging out with you.
4. When the appointment time arrives, view the appointment and choose the link next to Video call - this should take you direct to the Hangout. It doesn't matter who joins first.
   

Hangouts on Air

You can also choose to do a Hangout on Air. This means it is 'broadcast' (streamed) as it happens and others can view it. The session is also recorded and stored on YouTube (see Thing 21), which means you can provide others with a link to the recording after the session has finished.  Some at the University are making great use of this to do 'broadcast' lectures, so their students don't need to get out of bed (humour).

(this is a screen shot of a publicly shared Google in Education Hangout on Air)

You can initiate a Hangout on Air:

• From G+ - point at the Home icon and choose it on the list, then select Start a Hangout On Air
• If you have a YouTube account, visit your YouTube home page and choose Upload - you'll see Hangouts On Air listed under Create videos.

Activity

Camera Safety - There have been some recently publicised cases of laptop cameras being hacked, allowing the hacker to access the view from the camera. This is unlikely to be a problem if you have proper protection (anti-virus software etc), but it's worth being aware of this possibility. On many computers a small light shows the camera is on and can warn of unexpected activity, but in any case you should avoid hangouts whilst showering.

 Now it's your turn, but you'll need a friendly colleague to try this with, and you'll both need access to a computer with a web camera and microphone. The best way to get the hang of Hangouts is to try hanging out and experimenting with the features - 30mins to 1hr should be enough for starters.

1. Start by finding a friendly, suitably-equipped colleague (who doesn't need to be in the same room but it can be easier to start with if you can do real talk with each other).
2. Make sure both of you have your G+ page open (and get them to agree to respond to you!).
3. Start a hangout from G+ and invite them to it using their email address.
4. If you can find another friendly, suitably-equipped colleague, invite them too. It's more fun with three.
5. Try other features, like screenshare and silly hats.
6. Hangup this Hangout and initiate one with your well-equipped colleague via the chat feature of Google mail - make sure you're signed in to chat.
7. See if you can create and edit a Google document between you.
8. Hangup again and in your calendar create an event about 15 minutes in the future. Invite your suitably-equipped colleague(s) and also select the Add video call link (just beneath Where), making sure a reminder is set, and Save the event.
   You should find that when you click on the event, the pop-up includes a link to Join video call. When the appointed time arrives (the reminder says it's a video call), join using this method (and encourage your colleague(s) to do the same or you'll end up taking to yourself - I do that all the time (who? me? Yes, you!))
9. Practice regularly, and if you have access to other devices (iPad users pay attention), you might like to try it with those too. In many cases you'll need to download an App to get it working.
10. ...and when you've experienced some interesting hangouts, write about it in your Blog.

Thing 10: Using Google Documents and Spreadsheets

What are they?

Every so often you'll come across an article that says something like, "90% of users only make use of 10% of the functionality of [insert name of application, eg MS Word]."You can argue with the percentages, but it's probably true that many of us produce most of our documents using a limited set of features.

The Google applications provide the essential functionality for producing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and drawings, and the feature set is increasing all the time, but their real strengths lie in that they:

• are accessible and editable online using any common browser on multiple devices (unlike MS Office)
• can be shared with others without creating multiple copies (unlike emailing attached documents)
• are supported by group/individual permissions for viewing and editing (unlike shared drives)
• support real-time collaborative editing (unlike MS Office)
• support real-time chat and commenting (unlike MS Office)

Would you want to use the Google word processor for all your documents? No.
Do they have a place in your workflow? Yes, most definitely, especially if you work as part of a team.
Drive, Documents and Sharing
Google documents are saved in Google Drive, allowing you to organise them into folders. Both folders and documents can be shared with Google Groups, or individuals. If you create and share a folder, all documents created within it will automatically be shared with the same people.

Why should I use them?

When working collaboratively, emailing attached documents is still incredibly common, yet it can be very inefficient; each individual invariably saves their own version. Even with shared work drives, you end up with multiple copies and versions with names like Plan_with_Mikes_comments.docx, absolutely_latest_version2.xlsx or donteditthisone!.docx.

Scenario 1: You need to work with others to produce an article/proposal/outline plan/costing/presentation etc... Create the content in a Google document, share, edit together, comment, chat, argue, discuss, agree. Then, if you need a 'formal' version, task one person to work on the presentation (this is good practice: thinking about presentation separately from content). This could mean downloading and editing in a desktop application if you need to use additional features.

Scenario 2: When you've finished working on a document (spreadsheet etc...) you know you will need to get comments from several people on its contents. Create it as a Google document initially, share it with them, and invite comments. After commenting, download and tidy up with MS Word if you need the additional features.

Knitting and photo by Clancy Ratliff
Source: Wikimedia COmmons

Scenario 3: You've been asked to plan a session on knitting for the Directorate Staff Festival, and you want to find out which aspects of the craft would be most popular. Create a Google form and make it available to the potential audience. When people fill in the form, their responses will be collected in a Google spreadsheet, allowing you to count, average, total etc.

When should I avoid them?

If I'm honest, and I do try to be, the functionality of Google docs has a long way to go to match the standard desktop applications. However, where the advantages of 'cloud' storage and editing make work more productive, I'll put up with these deficiencies while I'm working on content. When it's essential I also control presentation precisely, I'll switch to a desktop application to utilise the extended features.

Activity

There's a version of the first part of this post saved as a Google Document, and it's shared with you if you are a member of the 23 Things Group (see Thing 9). If you didn't join the group, refer back to Thing 9 and do the Join and Use a Group activity. Once you're a member open the shared document (this is a link to the document to save you having to search for it and it should open in a new window or tab). You will also need a friend.

1. You have edit permissions for this document so should be able to change it. Find a 23 Things friend (I know most of us have friends - if you have difficulty I'll be your friend temporarily - or even longer term if you're nice to me). Make sure your friend is also in the 23 Things Group, and try the following:
2. After both of you have opened the Thing 10 shared document, notice the indicators for multiple editors, top right. You may also have access to Google+ profiles here.
3. Both of you simultaneously add paragraphs at the bottom (below How I might use Google docs) describing how you might... (you get the idea). Notice how Google shows the editing taking place, and repeatedly saves the document automatically.
4. Use the 'Other Editors' indicator to 'chat' about the document with your friend.
5. Read through the document and add comments (highlight a word/phrase, right-click and choose Comment). You can also add other general comments about the document by selecting the Comment button top right.
6. The document has changed while you've been editing it. View the history by selecting File > See revision history. You can select any earlier version to see how it looked, then select the latest again.
7. While you still have a friend available, each of you create a new document (back in Drive, choose Create), add some brief content and share the document with your friend (Share top right, add them and choose to email a notification). Note that you sometimes cannot find a shared document in Shared with me (Drive) unless you have first opened it from the notification email.
8. Check your settings in the new Google document. Unless you have already changed it, the default size is US Letter paper, so choose File > Page setup..., change it to A4, edit the margins if you like and then choose Set as default so new documents will be A4.

Thing 9: Using Google Groups & Google Sites

What are they?

Groups and Sites are brilliant tools to help you work with your colleagues. They enable us to work collaboratively with much greater flexibility than you get just using plain email and shared file storage.

A Google Group is a collection of people, gathered for some common purpose - a project, a forum, a team, a department - which may be long term or short term. You can share resources and communicate with the group without needing to know exactly who is in it. When new people arrive, adding them to the group means they will automatically have access to all shared resources. It’s like this:

A Google Site is a collection of web pages, together with suitable navigation, that needs no special web skills to construct. A range of page types allow you to present information, upload files, receive comments and construct lists, and it’s quite easy to include Google calendars, Drive folders and other Google resources (such as YouTube videos. Best of all, you have control over who can view and contribute (edit) - a perfect use for groups.

Why use them?

In Google Mail you can set up mailing groups within contacts, but these are specific to your account. A Google Group, on the other hand, is available to everyone who is a member - and even those who are not, if that’s what you need. It has a web-page view that enables it to be used as a discussion forum or simple enquiry system, giving an altogether more flexible way of communicating with colleagues and beyond.

Many people already share Google resources (eg documents) with co-workers. Often it is done by configuring the share for each resource to each individual, but this is a very inefficient way of managing shares and can produce a lot of extra work. It’s better to use Groups to share resources.

What about Sites? We're all familiar with the concept of a ‘document’; this goes back to the days when everything was on paper, and the temptation is to assume all important information must be presented serially in A4-sized chunks. But information isn't like that; it is shorter, longer and connected like a web rather than a piece of string. Collections of interrelated pages let the reader map their own path, and are best implemented using web pages - a Google Site will do this brilliantly.

Activity

Join and use a Group

1. Open a browser and navigate to Google Groups (‘Welcome to the new Google Groups’).
2. In the search box at the top, search for ‘23 Things’. Several posts to the group will be listed, but at the top is the link to the web view of the group postings. Choose this link.
3. When you’ve reached the list of posts, choose the star just under the name ‘23 Things’ to add it to favourites - this makes it easier to find again (look on the left for the favourites list).
4. You will be able to read the current posts (that’s because the group is set up with very liberal permissions), but to take part you’ll need to join - choose the Join group control.
5. Read one of the posts by Tom or Mike (or someone else if you know them) and reply to it (you’ll see a Click here to Reply link below the posted message).
6. If you have something to say about 23 Things, post a new message of your own.
7. Open your Google mail and send an email message to the 23 Things Group - the address is: 23-things-group@york.ac.uk. 
8. Check again in the group (you may need to refresh the display) - your message should appear and will be sent to other group members.
9. It may be annoying to receive a lot of mail via the Group. From the My Settings control near the top right (next to the gear-wheel icon), choose Membership and email settings for this group. Configure this to receive a daily summary.

If you're not already using a group for a project or team, set one up and start using Groups.

Google Sites

Take a look at these simple Google Sites. The first was created to help show students how to download references into the EndNote reference management application. The second one is a collection of useful information on Blogging:

Reference Management (opens new window/tab)

Blogging At York (opens new window/tab)

There's a 23 Things Example site available for you to play with. Again it has very liberal sharing permissions, so you should be able to edit it to your hearts content:

https://sites.google.com/a/york.ac.uk/23-things-example-site/

If you’ve never edited a Google site before, take a few moments to read through the Home page, and then take a look at Creating and Editing Pages - this runs through the basics of creating and editing pages (as you’d expect by the page title).
And now:
Create a new page and have a play at editing.  

Please remember this is an open site, lots of people will be able to see it, so be good. 

If you make a mess it doesn’t matter - contact the 23 Things Group and we’ll tidy up anything that will prevent others from being able to join in the fun.
Things you might like to try doing:

• Enter text - use some headings and sub-headings
• Enter images
• Embed a YouTube video (Insert > Video > …)

Enjoy!

Thing 5: A social media primer

Welcome to the first of four social media Things. This first one provides an overview of what social media is and how it works, and outlines some of the important platforms - we'll be looking in more depth at Twitter and Google + later on.

What is it?

The term 'Social media' refers to any kind of online platform where users can exchange stuff (sometimes known as User Generated Content). That stuff can be views, opinions, pictures, videos, presentations. Social media is interactive, so because people can leave comments on your blogposts, your blogs are social media.

Facebook and Twitter probably the two most famous social networks - they're the two most popular at this time, certainly. The numbers are huge, and among younger demographics more people use social media than use email. Here's a video with a suitably dramatic soundtrack to give you some mind-spinning facts and figures:

Why is it useful?

There are a HUGE number of information professionals, both in IT and Libraries, on social media. It therefore acts as a way to increase the network of people you can call upon to help and advise and encourage you professionally. In the same way that you might look up from your PC and ask your colleagues how best to do something, you can ask hundreds or thousands of colleagues the same question around the world. It's like a human Google, where instead of an algorithm bringing back the answer, it's a trusted network of your peers.

Using social media also keeps you up to date with your field. Because you're plugged into a network of information professionals, important knowledge comes to you without you having to go out and find it - for example interesting conferences or training coming up, calls for papers, new tools and technologies, trends in academia and so on. I occasionally teach courses on emerging trends and technologies and when people ask how I keep with all the new platforms and ideas, the boring but true answer is always: I'm on Twitter. That's enough.

Having an online presence is very easy with social media, and that makes it attractive to people who want to build their professional reputations. Social media allows you to showcase your knowledge and expertise, and to connect with people who have relevant interests. It's a great leveller - for example on Twitter you can talk to everyone from people just starting out in our professions, to people who run libraries, IT departments, and even Universities.

Activity: Get an overview of the big social networks 

This Thing's activity is very simple - you really just need to read to the end of this post! Then anyone curious can sign up to some of the platforms I'm about to describe, if they want to, and have a play around - it's entirely up to you. As I say we'll be setting up accounts for Twitter and Google+ over the next couple of weeks, so this primer only covers the other major platforms. 

Facebook is the big one - it has over 1 billion active accounts. It's a social network where people exchange pictures, status updates, and so on; you know all this because you're probably on it already...

YouTube is the main site for sharing videos, and it is huge; as the video says above it's the second most searched site everyday. In other words Yahoo!, Bing, all of these search engines that search the entire web, still don't get as many searches as YouTube does just for videos. 72 hours of video are uploaded every minute. In one year YouTube the same number of views as if every single human on earth watched 140 videos each. Etc etc. The other major video sharing site is Vimeo, which provides a smaller, somewhat classier alternative to YouTube. 

LinkedIn is the main social network for business, and for career minded people. It's primarily an opportunity to showcase your CV, but people also use the many groups and discussion forms to chat about professional issues. LinkedIn results show up incredibly high in Google, so it's worth having an account just so people who Google you find your professional activities near the top! 

Academia.edu is minuscule compared to the giants of social media we're discussing here - but we're including it anyway as it's so relevant to working in a University. Academia essentially tries to sell itself as an academic Facebook, and indeed you can use it that way - set a up a profile, interact with other users and so on. But you can just use it to find out about papers being published in the areas you're interested in - authors often put early versions online at Academia.edu before they're published in journals. You can also talk directly to those authors. 

Honourable mentions go to Pinterest (an increasingly popular place for curating and sharing multimedia, usually pictures), FourSquare (a geolocation site which takes advantage of the fact that your smartphone knows where you are, allowing you to 'check in' to physical locations), Flickr (the main image sharing site, other than Facebook) and good old MySpace (many libraries experimented with MySpace when it first came out, often with fairly rubbish results - although much maligned, MySpace has attempted to reinvent itself as a primarily music-based network, and actually still gets over 70,000,000 unique visitors per month). 

Blogging

If you have time, write a short blog (or long!) blog post about whether you think social media is for you, which platforms you're on and what you use them for, and which you might join in the future. 

Introducing 23 Things

Welcome to 23 Things! Over the next 12 weeks you should be introduced to some useful online tools to help you in your job and in your Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

This is a self-directed learning programme - you can take as much or as little time as you like over each activity. All the learning materials will appear here on this blog.

How does it work?

• Every week, there will be two posts on this blog, introducing two 'Things'. This may not be two separate tools - you might be given two Things to do with just the one tool in a given week
• Over the 12 weeks the whole thing is divided up into themes: Publishing Online, Social Networking, Collaboration, Time Management, and Multimedia 
• Each post will be about what a tool is, how it works, why it's useful, and then an activity so you can try it out
• You then blog about your experiences (Thing 1 is setting up a blog, so you will all have one...), read each others' posts, discuss whether or not the tools are for you in the Comments section and so on
• Around half-way through there's a little interval, where the Things are reflection and catching up 
• At the end of it all one person will win a prize at the staff festival - a £100 Amazon voucher 

A full list of the 23 Things can be found here - but the blog posts themselves will appear twice a week as we go on. To release all the information and activities at once would probably be overwhelming.

Hopefully that makes it clear, but if not then please leave a comment below this post to ask a question. There's also plenty more information on the About page. 

Why take part? 

There are loads of really useful tools online, which aren't just for the very technologically savvy or the technogeeks, and which help solve existing problems or otherwise make life easier (rather than just being new and shiny but not really doing much). This programme is an easy way to keep up with what might be useful in your working life, without spending huge amounts of time doing so. The tools you learn to use will hopefully save you time in the long-run - and ultimately, taking part in 23 Things should be fun! They've been run successfully at Libraries across the world, and people get a lot out of them. 

What do I do next?

The first and essential step is to subscribe to this blog. You can either put your email address into the 'Get new posts email to you as they arrive' box, on the right. Or use the 'Subscribe to this blog' button to subscribe to the RSS feed (we'll be finding out more about RSS feeds in Thing 3). 

Once you've created your own blog (the instructions for which will be in a new post published later on Monday) you can register your blog using this Google form. 

Any questions? Leave them in a comment below, or email me (ned.potter). 

Good luck!