Subscribe to RSS Feed TechTips: What’s a Hashtag?
Hashtags are used by Twitter users to make it easier to search for tweets about specific topics and events. A hashtag consists of a word or code which is preceded by a “#” which helps denote what the tweet is about. Think of it as tweet-metadata. Hashtags allows specific tweets to be searchable and discoverable along with [...]
TechTips: Geolocation and Google Scholar
There is an advanced option within Google Scholar that makes it easier to access OSU Libraries electronic and print resources. Since OSU Libraries that make their resources available via an OpenURL link resolver, Scholar automatically links to these resources as a part of search results. Scholar identifies a user’s physical location using their computer’s Internet [...]
TechTips: WolframAlpha Computational Engine
Wolfram Alpha is a ‘computational knowledge engine’ that answers questions, solves equations, and cross-references data types by synthesizing it into different combinations. The goal of WA is to make systematic knowledge immediately computable by drawing on terabytes of curated data. The service is the brainchild of Stephen Wolfram, who is behind the Mathematica computational software [...]
TechTips: Searching Wikipedia Using Powerset
Powerset is a discovery tool that (currently) extracts and organizes information contained in Wikipedia and Freebase. A natural language algorithm allows the searcher to use keywords, phrases, or even simple questions. The results page aggregates information from across multiple articles, in essence creating an enhanced Wikipedia article.For example, here is the search results for Thompson [...]
TechTips: Customized Google Search
Do you have a particular hobby or interest that you have compiled a collection of Webs sites and blogs for? Do you keep extensive bookmark lists for these collections? Are you frustrated that you need to visit each of those sites? Do you finding yourself sifting through pages of results that come with a generic [...]
TechTips: Micro-blogging
Most readers should have at least heard of Twitter by now. Twitter is one of many social networking micro-blogging tools which are available. Simply defined, micro-blogging is a form of blogging that allows individuals to publish brief text or multimedia updates. If you are a Facebook user, you become a micro-blogger every time you update [...]
TechTips: High Capacity Bar Codes
An academic librarian hands out a one page summary sheet at a library orientation program. Glancing down, an attendee notices a weird looking bar code placed at the bottom of the page. Taking out their mobile device, the attendee photographs the bar code and software converts the image into an Internet accessible address. The [...]