TechBits

Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference - Tech Track

Since 2012, January means the Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference. I have the honor of being a part of the team that brings this conference to life. It also means two full days hosting or co-hosting webinars on lots of topics. This year's conference, held on January 22 and 23, featured topics in four tracks: Adult Services, Tech Trends, Library Management, and Small & Mighty. 

For this post, I want to tell you about the Tech Trends webinars. First up was Leah Gentry from the Menomonee Falls Public Library talking about how to Help Your Patrons Cut the Cable Cord. This is the third time I've seen Leah present this topic and I learn something new every time. If you're at all interested in learning more about Rokus, Netflix, Hulu, SlingTV, and more, check out this webinar. (Slides, Recording)

Next up was Laura Solomon from the Ohio Public Library Information Network presenting an "Introduction to Website Accessibility." If Laura's name sounds familiar, you're right. Laura has presented for Wild Wisconsin in past years and also at Tech Days a couple of years ago. She really knows her material and is an enthusiastic presenter. I learned a lot about why accessibility is important in the online world - something I hadn't thought much about before. (Slides, Recording)

And, the final session in the Tech Trends track was Kimberly Crowder teaching us how to "Level Up on Your Social Media Trends 2020." While I learned a lot in this session, I don't think I'll be signing up for Tiktok anytime soon! I believe there will be some future TechBits posts from ideas in this session, too. (Slides, Recording)

Have topics you'd like to see at Wild Wisconsin 2021? Let me know - we're always looking for new topics and ideas.

 

 

Web Browser Terminology

If you've used web browsers for any length of time you've heard the terms cache and cookies. Just what exactly are these and are they the same thing? Well, I'm here to explain these terms for you.

Cookies
No, I'm not talking about Chinese fortune cookies or chocolate chip cookies. I'm talking about the small files that your browser saves on your computer that contain information that the website you're visiting uses to enhance your experience. Every time you visit a website your browser looks for the cookie associated with that website and sends it to the website's server telling it what you did the last time you were there. Cookies will sometimes track information like how frequently you visit, what times of the day you visit, what you've clicked on, and other information that is used to customize your visit. So essentially, cookies are used to store different information about you, the user. Cookies also have an expiration date so they will expire after some time period.

Cache
This is pronounced just like the word for legal tender. When you visit a website your browser saves on your computer a copy of the HTML pages and images that you view. This is done for your benefit to reduce bandwidth usage, server load, and to make the website load quicker the next time you visit. So essentially, cache is used to store information about the website. Cache does not expire and is only removed if you manually remove it. To remove your cache you can follow these steps:

1. Open any browser
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Del
3. Select cache
4. Click the appropriate button at the bottom of the window to delete or clear

How to search within multiple PDF files at once

We all know that we can search within a PDF file for any text that we want to find. But did you know that you can search within multiple PDF files at once? Well, I'm here to tell you that you can and here's how you do it.

1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

2. Click on the Edit menu at the top and select the "Advanced Search" option

3. Click the radio button in front of "All PDF Documents in"

4. Click on the dropdown menu to open it

5. Click on the "Browse for Location..." option

6. Navigate to the folder where your PDF files live

7. Fill in the text box with what you want to search for

8. Click the Search button

9. If you get a Security Warning message click the "Allow" button

10. You will then get a search window that tells you how many PDF files contain your search term and how many instances of it were found

Is this email legit?

Spammers are always trying to trick you. They send emails crafted to look just like emails you might really expect to receive, and their goal is to convince you to do something like...

• download/open an attachment containing a virus
• click on a link which will take you somewhere that can infect your computer
• click on a link which will take you to a page that looks legitimate and into which you will enter your personal information

Often these emails are very, very convincing. How can you tell if an email is legit? The Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Information site has some excellent tips on how to recognize and avoid phishing scams.

Recently, a couple of staff received some very convincing messages that looked like they came from Microsoft about their Office 365 accounts. When they weren't sure if they could believe the message, they contacted the Help Desk. (Smart move! We're always willing to help!)

It turned out these messages were indeed phishing attempts. They included a link to take action on the user's Office 365 account, but when you hovered over the link, it was clear the link was going somewhere other than Microsoft or Office 365!

The takeaway? Be skeptical! Look at the details! When in doubt, call the Help Desk!

Want practice identifying phishing attempts?  https://www.phishingbox.com/phishing-iq-test

Um, excuse me? Weaponized PDFs?

I was going to do a Tech Bits post about Carla Hayden's (Librarian of Congress!) proposal to digitize the  Library of Congress (!!!) but I ran across this other article and thought "What?!  Like with little guns and knives and stuff?"  

American Libraries linked to an April 19, 2019 article on the Nextgov website that has the title "Report: Weaponized PDFs on the rise." (sounds like an excerpt from a Terminator movie, right?) But it is no fantasy my friends, just the next generation of malware, scamming and spamming.   

So in addition to reminding your patrons, staff and coworkers about suspicious emails, ads and hyperlinks you also need to warn them about weaponized PDFs.

Welcome to the 21st century.

 

 

 

Some recent Digital Bytes

Wisconsin Valley Library Service has some new (short!) Digital Bytes training videos ---

Dropbox
Time: 6:23
Description: Jamie talks about Dropbox, and how she uses it for library collaboration.
Watch    Training Guide

Password Protecting a Document
Time: 3:30
Description: Jamie shares how you can protect a document with a password.
Watch

Boomerang for Gmail
Time: 6:30
Description: Jamie talks about how she uses Boomerang to help keep her email organized.
Watch

The complete collection of Digital Bytes can be found here and includes a wide range of topics from technology to continuing education, reference resources, customer service and more : https://wvls.org/digital-bytes/

Let's go phishing

Can you spot a scam? Here are a couple of short phishing quizzes to test your skills:

• phishingbox - Phishing IQ Test 
• Barracuda - The Ultimate Phishing Quiz  (includes explanations of why answers are right/wrong)

 

How did you do?

Looking for tips to improve your skills?  These webpages have some helpful suggestions about what to look for!

 

• Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information - "Phishing" 
• National Cyber Security Alliance - Stay Safe Online - "5 Ways to Spot a Phishing Email" 

 

Grow with Google

Are you (or your library's patrons) thinking about making New Year's Resolutions to take training or learn new skills?

Grow with Google

Google has a "Grow with Google" program with free training, tools, and events to help people grow their skills, career or business. Google and the American Library Association are also launching the Libraries Ready to Code website, an online resource for libraries to teach coding and computational thinking to youth.

You can read about these and other ALA activities on this ALA District Dispatch blog: "Grow with Google is coming to a library near you."

If you're interested in more details about some of the many Google initiatives associated with Grow with Google, take a look at this Google blog post: "Opportunity for everyone."

Looks like there are some good free learning opportunities for 2019!

What are you talking about?

Being one of two millennials working in this office, I find myself in conversations frequently about differences between the generations.  Someone will make a reference about licking a postage stamp and I reply with "That's cray".  This has led a co-worker to show me The Mindset List.  Created at Beloit College in 1998 as a way for college professors to understand the "mindset" of incoming students, it has been eye-opening for myself. 

A list has been created each year since 2002 and features 50+ items that young adults entering college that year know or don't know.  The lists can be used with adults today to better understand the differences in generations.  I think they would especially be helpful for libraries to not only understand their patrons but also potential job candidates.  The authors have also written two
books (both of which are available in LINKcat) and frequently present the information as well.  

The most recent list has some new slang, and I'll be honest that even I don't know what most of it means.  Take a look at the lists and I think you will find them interesting as well.

General Data Protection Regulation law - what?

Europe's General Data Protection Regulation law goes into effect May 25, 2018.  The definition from Wikipedia is "The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU and EEA.

This law has been seven years in the making and, in light of other recent news about data privacy infringement, seems to be very timely.  If companies and websites that you may use have a global presence (like Google), you are probably seeing an increase in "required" information bits about how that company or website is protecting your privacy and/or changes you should make to your account to increase the protection of your personal data.  

Here's a link to an article in The Guardian (UK) that I was reading in my last copy of American Libraries Direct.

And an article from The New York Times May 6, 2018 

Enjoy! Heidi O.