Title: Local Birds
Platform: iOS
Cost: Free
Springtime. Flowers are blooming. The sun is shining. Birds are singing… and flying by and hanging out on the lawn. Hey, what kind of bird is that anyway? If you’ve wondered about this, Local Birds can help.
Local Birds pulls together a database of birds based on your location. If you use the browse function, birds are sorted by types, raptors, songbirds, etc and listed in order from most common to least common in your area. You can also search for birds that don’t live in your part of the world and get information about them as well. For each bird, the app gives a short description and pulls in data from around the web to provide detail. The Details tab links to the bird’s Wikipedia page, the Images tab links to Google Image search, and the Videos tab links to YouTube videos of the bird.
Birdwatching is like a scavenger hunt for getting close to nature. In most places, if you pay attention, you’ll see birds. On this New England spring morning, I woke to bird calls, Chickadees and Crows, and something else that I’m not quite sure about. (One thing I wish this app had was a more consistent means of hearing bird calls. YouTube has great videos for some birds, Crows and Ravens for example, but nothing of the American Robin or Song Sparrow). If you pay more attention, you’ll notice things about the birds you see and hear. That’s all well and good if you enjoy nature and are interested in paying attention to birds, but birdwatching is very specific. It’s not for everyone.
Something I noticed about this app that might be interesting to a wider audience is the way the app is structured. It pulls together information from different places to make a quick and useful resource focused on its topic. This is the kind of thinking teen researchers should be using when working on a large scale project: focusing on a topic, pulling data from multiple sources, and organizing it for ease of use. In that way, Local Birds, is like a research project presented as an app. I wonder if this is a type of project we might see more of in high schools and colleges as a companion to the traditional research paper. It’s something to consider, perhaps, when you’re not checking out that Red-tailed Hawk or trying to spot a Bald Eagle.
Title: WordFoto
Cost: $1.99
Platform: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
Too often innovative ideas are quashed by questions like “How will we fund that?” or “How will staff have enough time?” Inevitably, change requires a bit of sacrifice–if you are going to fund a new idea, you either have to generate more resources or take a little bit from somewhere else. Even with shifting dollars, there still might be only a small available budget. This is why I love apps! Apps often help you produce something new and interesting with only a small cost. The app I tested this week falls into the “cheap with big results” category. For only $1.99 and some patience, you can use WordFoto to generate colorful, eye-catching publicity materials.
WordFoto turns photos into word collages. With several pre-generated themes, creating a piece of art is quite simple. To start, take a picture with your iPhone or select a saved photo from your Camera Roll. After choosing an image, you can crop, type in words to use, and select from preset or custom styles. You can use the “Finetune” option to adjust the edge threshold, and color tolerance. I played with the options until I got the effect I desired, but WordFoto provides a more detailed description of how to adjust each setting.
I created a wordfoto of my library (Belgrade Community Library), and I was pleased with the results (see above). The app was easy to navigate and produced fun, unique results. Testing revealed that some photos and words work better than others. Close-up photos with few details were the most successful. Shorter, action words also were more effective.
There are a few things about this app that I would change. First, it would be really nice if I could manually shift a few of the words on the image. For example, at the bottom of my picture of the library, I really wanted the three big words to be Read, Discover, Create, but no matter how many times I re-rendered and fine tuned the image, I could not get that combination to appear. According to the FAQs on the WordFoto website, the developer’s are aware of this weakness and are “thinking about different ways to implement” manual placement.
The custom styles were also a bit confusing. It was unclear how to save a new custom style without changing what you have already created; tapping to edit changes the word configuration before you can adjust settings. There is also no way to rename the custom style so that you can select the correct option for a new picture (i.e. they are labeled Custom 1, Custom 2, etc.).
How can you use this app in the library? I used some of the art I created for my library’s Facebook cover image, but you can also use the photos to create fun posters and prints. WordFoto does not hold any copyright or legal claim to your art and permits printing for commercial and public use. The art you generate is saved at a high resolution (either 5MP or 3MP, depending on your device), allowing for quality prints. The Teen Librarian’s Tool Box suggests that you cr
Title: Wreck This App
Cost: 4.99
Platform: iOS, Android
(this review refers to the iOS version)
Based on Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal, Wreck this App is a collection of activities designed to awaken creativity through the power of destruction. Don’t worry no iPhones were harmed in the process of writing this post. The destruction this app inspires might take the form of defacing a photo, repurposing text, or using the various drawing tools to smear ink, cut up an image, or scribble all over the page. Other times the activities are more wacky rather than actually destructive, designed to shake up your brain, like putting your fingers in your ears and touching your nose to cure hiccups. For example, you will be asked to draw a picture of something you dislike, connect a set of dots from memory, and make a collage of photos of stickers found on fruit.
Your toolbox of artistic destruction includes a pencil, an eraser, a smudging tool, dripping ink, a text tool, a color palette, tools to cut and paste, and links to your device’s camera and photo roll. Navigate through 60 pages of activities by using the “Go To” menu where you can click on each page, or turning pages back and forth with icons you can click in each of the bottom corners. Save your creations to your device’s photo roll, or share them on Facebook or Flickr with one click. There is also a page to make up your own activities in the spirit of Wreck This App.
Customer reviews on the Apple Store complain that the app is too expensive and that the book is more fun. While I agree that there is more destructive creation potential available with a journal that you can actually destroy, 60 pages of inspiration that fits in your pocket is an accessible jumping off point. With the app you can play with creative exercises from anywhere. Maybe you’ll be inspired to buy the book, or maybe you’ll be inspired to get out some paper and a pile of art supplies and go from there.
I think this app would make a good icebreaker activity in a teen program or a meeting of adults. It would be especially suited to use with a teen writing group, or other creative meeting. I might pull it out at Anime Club because so many of the teens who come regularly, come to draw. Because it is on the more expensive side, you might purchase it yourself and then pass your device around or make up activities inspired by the app’s (and the book’s) tagline: “To create is to destroy.”
For
