Three To Try

Photo by Ellen White

The following trio of tools proved useful to me this week. Take a look and see if there's anything you might like to test drive.


 #1 Many of the digital resources I use are harvested from interactions on social networking sites. A new service, RebelMouse, aggregates personal updates, making it easy to share Facebook and Twitter content with people who don't choose to connect there.

The RebelMouse page is visually appealing, presenting content in an easily accessible format. In addition to automatically aggregating from multiple streams, RebelMouse allows the user to post supplemental content, highlight "important" items, "stick" links (a la Pinterest pinning), and perform a host of other actions. In the opinion of Technorati blogger, Jim Haughwout, "The value is clear: If I wanted someone to rapidly and easily get a perspective on what interests me, I would recommend they first go to the my Rebel Mouse page (rather than my other of my social media pages)."

#2 Once having realized the merit of RebelMouse, I wanted to add it to contact information on my business cards. In order to do this, I turned to a familiar but still very useful tool,  the QR Code Generator. There are a number of similar sites, but I've used this one before and find it to be quick and intuitive: paste in a URL, generate a code, then download the image and grab permalink information. Sites like Zazzle accommodate custom business card designs, so it's easy to add the QR code to other text and images.

"Business card Back" by dmcordell

#3 Another tool I've recently used is an oldie but a goodie, the Flickr badge creator. A few years ago, I decide to add daily photos from the 365 Project to my blog page. Since the badge is directly linked to a specific photoset, I need to update it yearly. This posting provides a link and further information. You can see my Flickr badge in the right sidebar, under the traffic map.

Any tools you'd like to share with me?

A Matrix Barcode

Wikipedia defines it this way:

"A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobiles phones with camera, and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR is the acronym of Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed."

A QR code can be read by any mobile phone that has a camera to scan and process its information. It provides a quick and easy way to collect data - for example, contact information about people you meet at conferences or the addresses of useful wikis and websites.

Libraries are exploring the use of QR codes. Sacramento Public Library has a Text 4 Answers page which allows patrons to "Use our QR Code to add our text reference service to your phone's contact list. First, download I-nigma's free QR Code scanner to your mobile device."

Half Hollow Hills Community Library posts QR codes on end stacks as subject guides.

Patrons of San Diego State University Library are advised that they may use QR codes to:

• Download contact information to your address book with a Vcard
• Initiate a call on your phone
• Visit a mobile website
• Display a message on your phone

Thanks to a link from Cathy Nelson, I was able to access QR-Code Generator, enter the URL of my blog, and create a unique QR. The resulting bit of informational art is now displayed at the top right of each page.

I'll definitely add the QR code to my next batch of business cards. It would be fun to print it on a button, t-shirt or mug, also.

I have a feeling that we may be seeing a great deal more of these intriguing matrices in the future, at work, in the marketplace and in our daily lives.