Did you know that you can convert scanned text into Google Doc format? This is particularly handy if you have hard copies of old records or documents that need to be in text format. Rather than spending hours typing them out you can scan them into JPEG, GIF, PNG or PDF format and import them into Google Docs. Their OCR technology will do the rest.

The original image is included in the doc to make it easier for you to edit and correct mistakes.

Interestingly, this came about as part of Google’s 20% time. Software Engineer, Jaron Schaeffer was presented with a problem. A colleague’s wife had found a stack of ancient family chronicles in the attic and wanted to continue writing them.

Here’s the tech bit - http://googledataapis.blogspot.com/2009/09/import-scans-or-go-multilingual.html.

More info at http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/06/optical-character-recognition-ocr-in.html.

Well the day has finally arrived. It’s election day here in the UK and possibly (barring a hung parliament) an end to the campaigning that has dominated the media for the past few weeks. I don’t blog about politics and I’m not going to start now. Nor am I about to share any political views. What I will share is my opinion on the main party websites.

With the live debates and coverage across the internet, I’ve found this campaign to be quite exciting. The opportunity to interact with and question candidates has increased significantly and brought about a sense of openness that we haven’t seen before. This can only be a good thing.

After all the campaigning I returned to the three main party websites to make my final decision. It’s interesting to see how they present themselves and how they interact with the public.

Labour

The Labour Party website I found to be the least user friendly. The initial splash page gets in the way of locating information. You are presented with only a few options and have to hunt around for the link to proceed to the main site. This is not very helpful if you’re looking for something specific like policies on education or small businesses.

[Note: since starting to write this post three shortcut links have appeared at the top of the page. This helps a little but I still feel that the splash screen is intrusive and should be removed altogether.]

The internal pages are also a little confusing. I like the idea of the changing panels at the top of the page. However, the initial banner for ‘It’s your future, vote for it’ didn’t quite do it for me. It comes across as being a bit blasé and almost jokey. The calls to action on the right hand side are also not very clear. ‘Back the Ban’. What ban? ‘Save our Sure Start’. What’s Sure Start? We’re getting into mystery meat territory here. Even more confusing is that when you click on the Sure Start banner you’re diverted to a Facebook page where you’re asked to add your name to help the Labour Party save Sure Start. You are then invited to submit your first name, last name and email address. What isn’t clear is how this can help. What are they going to do with this information? How can it help their cause? Why should you submit your personal details?

I did however like their use of video under the Manifesto 2010 tab. Again they seem to have favoured an informal approach, which works well in this instance. The clickable links within the video allow you to skip to the policies that interest you most.

What is surprising about the Labour site is that their policy prompts appear towards the bottom of the page, suggesting that they’re not as important as the volunteering, voting and joining links. To be fair, they do appear as sub pages in the top menu but on election day when people are making their final decisions, surely this is vital information and not drawing attention to it is a bit of a wasted opportunity.

A well-positioned search box would be invaluable allowing you to locate information quickly and easily. This is missing from the site.

The Labour manifesto is well-presented. The design is clean and easy to follow, with information split into clear paragraphs and bullet points. It also allows the option of downloading and sharing on Twitter and Facebook. Policy information is not so easy to follow with large chunks of unbroken text stretching three quarters of the way across the page.

Liberal Democrats

Content on the Liberal Democrats site is much clearer in terms of design and navigation. There’s no splash screen. As soon as you land on the home page you can navigate to all sections of the site. The layout appears more cluttered than the Labour Party site. However, the calls to action are clear, with the use of icons and explanatory labels. A search box in the top right hand corner allows quick and easy access to information and removes the need for browsing.

Policy information is easy to follow too. Text is kept to a minimum and is split into readable chunks. Large prompts direct you to related pages.

The Lib Dems manifesto page is set out into easy to read sections, allowing you the opportunity to read a summary, read online via e-book or download a PDF. Perhaps most interesting is the Lib Dem’s use of video on this page. You are invited to mix your own video by clicking on three options. The footage then plays in your browser automatically, tailored to your choices.

Conservatives

In terms of aesthetics the Conservative Party site has the edge. The colours work well and the home page is broken into clear, concise sections, offering different ways to access information. Like the Lib Dems site a search box at the top right of the page cuts out unnecessary browsing if you want to find information fast.

The Conservatives favour a similar approach to labour with a main banner and links on the right of the page. This works well but then they go and spoil it by making the second link all about Labour. I suppose you can argue that this is understandable, given that they’re fighting for Labour’s position, but all this back biting and sniping doesn’t appeal to me at all. Don’t tell me what ‘they’re’ doing or not doing. Tell me what you’re doing or going to do. I can make up my own mind and I’m far more likely to be won over by clear and honest arguments that highlight the positives than negative comment on the opposition.

Of all three sites the Conservative manifesto page is perhaps least appealing in terms of its overall design. However, like the Lib Dems they also favour an e-book version of their manifesto which works well. Audio and accessible versions of the manifesto are much easier to locate on both the Conservative and Labour sites.

The Conservatives’ use of video comes in the form of Webcameron and Conservatives.TV. Their bank of videos are fully searchable with quick links to recent videos, most viewed or alternatively you can view a full list. Where they go one step further is providing related videos which change depending on what you’re viewing. Social media links allow you to share content on your networks.

So, there you have it. A quick run down on the main party websites. I’m a huge advocate for substance over design fluff. But I wonder what effect these sites have had on voters, in terms of clarity, ease of use and portrayal of their message?

It’s easy to forget, what with all the media buzz, that not everyone is ‘on Twitter‘. And some people, not surprisingly, are a bit confused by it all.  I mean who cares that Stephen Fry was stuck in a lift?  Or that Lily Allen is on her way to the airport and needs more sleep? Surely we get enough this stuff in the tabloids and ‘celeb’ magazines?

The jargon doesn’t help either. It’s difficult to explain to someone about ‘tweeting’ or suggest that they join a ‘twibe’.

But of course there’s more to it than vanity tweets and a few vague ramblings. Much more. I’m not going to tell you that you ’should’ be on Twitter. And that it’s going to transform your life and your business overnight. It won’t. And I accept that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But if you’re curious about it and wondering what all the fuss is about, I’ll try to explain how I’ve found it to be a useful tool.

I could write a whole series of posts about Twitter. People have written books on the subject. This is just an intro. A starter for 10. It’s for people who haven’t used Twitter yet or who are wondering how it can help them / their business.

First, a brief introduction to what it is and how it works.

What is Twitter?

Put simply, Twitter or www.twitter.com is a social media tool. It allows us to connect and interact with people. You may already be familiar with blogging and it’s a little bit like that. It all began with a question. What are you doing? You then had 140 characters to answer this question and say where you are, what you’re doing etc. The 140 characters part hasn’t changed, but the way in which we use Twitter and what we write has changed significantly. You’ll often hear Twitter referred to as ‘micro blogging’ but it has evolved even beyond this. Twitter users are constantly seeking new ways to interact and share information. You can expect to find breaking news, links to sites, pictures, special offers, poetry, comments, quotes and more.

Where do I Start?

So, how do you get started? Simple. Go to www.twitter.com and click on the big green ‘Get Started - Join!’ button. Follow the prompts from there to set up your account and away you go. You may want to look round a bit first and familiarize yourself with the format. There’s also a video that you can watch to obtain more information.

Once you’ve signed up you’re ready to tweet. ‘Tweeting’ (the verb) is the act of adding a post or message. A ‘tweet’ (noun) is a post or message. You have just 140 characters to get your tweet / message across. Numbers at the side of the text box will count down as you type to indicate how many characters you have left. Your message will be added to the public timeline automatically. This means that it is published to the World Wide Web for anyone to see. But with nearly 2 million tweets added each day, how can you be sure that people see your message? This is where followers come in.

But Remember

Once you have added a tweet you can’t fully delete it. Ever. Yes, there is a delete button which will enable you to remove this from your timeline. However, it will still appear in Twitter searches and people could potentially still find it. So think carefully before you begin.

Followers

A follower is so-called because they follow your tweets. If you’re familiar with Facebook, being a follower is like being a ‘friend’. Once you follow someone their tweets are added to your Twitter page. This is one way that you can filter out the tweets you want to read on a daily basis from the public timeline.

To follow someone on Twitter visit their Twitter page and then click on the ‘follow’ button underneath their pic / icon. The good thing is that you can ‘unfollow’ at any time by clicking on the ‘unfollow’ button.

So How Do I Get People to Follow me on Twitter?

Try following them first and engage them in conversation, perhaps commenting on their tweets or retweeting something they’ve written. To reply to a tweet, hover over their message and then click on the curly arrow that appears on the right hand side. This will add ‘@’ followed by their Twitter ID at the front of the message box. You can then type your tweet in the usual way and this will reply directly to that person.

Remember though that everyone else can see your message too. Just because you’re replying to someone doesn’t mean that this is private. To send a private message (called a DM or Direct Message) you need to add a ‘D’ at the beginning of the message / tweet, followed by their Twitter ID. Therefore, if you wanted to direct message (DM) me, you would add ‘D IndieQuarter’. Note: you need to be following that person and they need to be following you in order to DM them.

The Power of the ReTweet

The retweet or RT is where you resend a tweet that someone has already sent. Why? To reinforce what they have said and to make their comment / message etc. available to your followers. This can be extremely powerful. Everyone likes to feel that what they say or do is important or useful in some way. The retweet offers this validation. It is also a recommendation. Evidence suggests that the power of recommendation through trusted networks is becoming more effective than traditional search engine marketing. Copy and paste the tweet into the message box and add RT followed by the person’s Twitter ID at the beginning of the message.

Mr Tweet

Another way to connect to people is through Mr Tweet. If you follow him he will recommend relevant people to you and will recommend you to other people. Follow @MrTweet in the usual way and he’ll send you a DM telling you how to get started.

The Hashtag #

When you start using Twitter you’ll notice a number of tweets including hashtags #. Hashtags are used to link a number of tweets with a similar theme. Sometimes events are allocated hashtags, so that attendees can share info with other attendees and non-attendees. If you search for the hashtag in the Twitter search page, all of the related posts can be viewed. Using hashtags is another great way to interact with people on different topics.

Popular hashtags are called Trending Topics and can be found on the right hand side of the your Twitter home page. Click on them to read the conversations.

Adding Images

There are a number of tools that you can use to add images to Twitter. A quick search in Google will help you identify them. I tend to use Twitpic. Though admittedly not for any other reason than that I found this application first and haven’t found a reason to change.

To add your image go to www.twitpic.com. Type in your Twitter username and password and you’re ready to go. No need to create a separate account. Click on ‘Upload a Photo’ at the top of the page. Then click on the ‘Browse’ button to add an image from your PC / Mac. Type in your tweet / message in the box and click on ‘Upload’. Your message and image will automatically appear in your Twitter timeline.

How to Use Twitter

You may have read recent news reports about Dell making over $3 million through Twitter. Therefore the temptation is to immediately begin bombarding your followers with special offers and promotions. Don’t. This is unlikely to work. What is likely is that people will begin to ‘unfollow’ you. Twitter is a social networking tool, the emphasis being on networking. It is about building relationships and sharing information. People like to know who they’re following and a little bit about them. Huge faceless corporations are out. CEOs that people can identify with and talk to are in. Include a photograph, give your name and some background info, talk about other non-business issues and events. Engage, interact, build trust.

Here are some people who do it well:

- @hunkydoryhome
- @asos
- @PRNewswire
- @TheCharmQuark

The above are all very different companies / people but they all use Twitter well and in return Twitter works for them.

How I Use Twitter

I joined Twitter over a year ago but didn’t start using it properly until quite recently. I use it mainly to keep in touch with work related people. These are people that I come across through my job and also through blogging. Some people I’ve met through industry related events but others I know only through Twitter or through blogging.

I use Twitter to keep up to date with what’s happening in the digital industry and also in the craft / design world. I follow various digital / tech people who post about new technology and forthcoming events. I follow people like @guardiantech who adds snippets of blog posts that I can click on to read the full post. When I’m busy I email myself the links to read later. I have a folder in my mail client where I keep links to articles to read when I have time.

And lastly, I use Twitter to promote our design blog. When I’ve added a post that I think may be of interest, I ‘tweet’ about it, including a link through to the article.

As I said, Twitter is unlikely to make you a millionaire. And it’s not for everyone. But it’s certainly worth a look. Even if it is just see what Her Majesty has planned for the day.

If you would like to have a chat about how Twitter can work for you, Vanilla Storm will be running some free ‘Website / Social Networking Surgeries’ over the next few weeks. Give us a call to book an appointment - 0161 282 4525.

And if you’d like to follow me on Twitter you can find me at @IndieQuarter.

This is what we’ve been looking at on the web this week.

Jenny

Untitled Books
www.untitledbooks.com

Untitled Books is an independent online book shop with a difference. Titles are handpicked by a bevy of booky types and the virtual stacks are split into categories such as Desire, Intoxication and Great Adventures. In addition, you can find feature articles, recommendations and a brilliant section called ‘How I Write’, where published writers share their thoughts and rituals regarding the writing process. The ‘Literary Seen’ section is pretty cool too - a sort of gallery of readers and their current fixations.

The Manchizzle
www.manchizzle.blogspot.com

The Guardian dubbed this blog, ‘The pick of Manchester culture and hub of blogging goodness’, which says it all really. It keeps pace with all manner of Manc goings on, with a nod towards literary events and new writing. It is also home to The Great Manchester Blogroll.

Rainy City Stories
www.rainycitystories.com

A collaboration of Kate Feld and Chris Horkan, this site is an ‘interactive literary cityscape’. By clicking a cloud on the Manchester map, you can read stories and poems written about that area. Submissions are encouraged from established and new writers.

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Richard

BBC iPlayer
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

The amazing growth of watching TV over the web over the last 12 months has created some excellent tools for watching those TV programmes that you’ve missed. I’m always missing programmes due to travelling etc. so it’s great to be able to access a variety of great content to watch live by streaming or to download later. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly people adopt using media centres at home so they can watch what they want when they want, downloaded over the Internet, signalling the death of scheduled TV programmes. Just in time for us completing the digital switchover!!

Nottingham Forest
www.nottinghamforest.co.uk

I’ve been a Forest fan all my life and it’s not been that often over the last few years that we’ve had much good news to talk about. Having now got rid of our far too defensively focused manager, suddenly the team are scoring for fun and have won their last three games. This includes an amazing FA Cup game at Manchester City where we won 3-0. The highlights on TV were awful, so the Forest site, having proper extended highlights (for a subscription), is a regular visit for me to catch up on all the matches that I’m not able to get to. I’ll remember the freezing cold January afternoon for some time!!

The Boston Globe
- www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html
- www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_in_photographs_part_2_of.html
- www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_the_year_in_photographs_p.html

I can’t claim responsibility for having found this site, but a good friend of mine sent me some links to some incredible photographs showing 2008 in pictures. Some of the photos are quite graphic, but most are simply incredible. If you’ve got 15 minutes to spare, grab a coffee and have a browse around. Amazing!

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Turhan

Last.fm
www.last.fm
Last.fm is an Internet radio station allowing users to create custom radio stations and playlists from a wide range of tracks. You can listen to music by your favourite band and also find music by similar artists. Registering for a free account allows Last.fm to give you music and video recommendations.

National Express Trains
www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com
You can use this site to check times and book tickets for all UK train journeys, as you’d expect, but the thing that makes it stand out from the crowd is the intuitive user interface. This makes planning journeys, checking train times and booking tickets a lot smoother and simpler.

Google Mail
mail.google.com
Google’s free email service, Google Mail, has had a lot of new features added recently including a to do list, themes and inbuilt video chat. These, along with the standard features such as the search facility, ‘conversation view’, and the large amount of storage, make it one of the better web-based email clients out there.