guide – Dave Briggs

Quick tip: screenshot an entire webpage in Chrome

This is a handy feature, hidden away in Chrome, that I was very pleased to discover the other day. Basically it’s a way to create a screenshot of an entire webpage, and not just the bit that is currently visible, without the need to install any extensions or whatnot.

It might be that this feature isn’t accessible to you at work, as it uses the developer tools menu, which some places switch off for their users to stop them having too much fun. Sorry about that.

First click the three dots that are usually found on the top right of the browser window to bring up a bunch of extra options. Find More Tools and click that, and then click Developer Tools on the next menu that pops up.

The developer tools console will then pop up on the right hand side of your browser (usually). Hit the three dots on that, and then choose Run command.

Type the word screenshot and a list of related commands appears. Click Capture full size screenshot.

Doing so should instantly download a png of whatever tab you were viewing when you ran the command.

It might seem convoluted at first, but I definitely prefer it to faffing about with extensions and so on.

Recording podcasts

A few people have asked how I go about recording my podcast. So I don’t need to keep repeating myself, I thought it worthwhile to write it up here.

Skype

So, the format of my podcast is usual an interview, or really just a chat, between myself and one other person. It’s done using Skype, just a normal free call using the basic service. It’s not perfect but is usually good enough.

When recording, I wear a pair of Logitech UE 4000 headphones which feature a microphone on them, which cuts down on too much background noise, and using headphones means there’s no echo too.

Call Recorder

To record the conversation I use a Mac app called Call Recorder. This really does exactly what it says – you start the Skype call, then when you’re ready, hit record and it starts to record both ends of the conversation.

The file is saved as a .mov on your desktop, and Call Recorder comes with another app to convert this file to mp3.

If you’re on Windows, then you could try Evaer instead of Call Recorder.

Garageband

I tend not to bother editing the podcast, unless something catastrophic happens during recording like Skype dropping out or similar. I use Garageband for this, which is a free bit of software on the Mac.

If you’re on another platform then the open source Audacity would be a good place to start.

Libsyn

Once the file is ready to go live, I upload it to Libsyn, which hosts the audio file and also creates an RSS feed for the podcast with the appropriate enclosure. Libsyn also submits the podcast to iTunes, helps you add an image to feed and so on, to make things look at least reasonably professional.

It’s pretty cheap – the basic tier is just a few pounds a month, although I pay a bit extra for more storage and some stats.

One thing I have found with uploading the file is that rather than using Libsyn’s browser based uploader, it’s best to save your audio file in Dropbox first and then use Libsyn’s tool to transfer that file into Libsyn. Just seems to work better and have less chance of failing.

WordPress

I then promote the podcast by creating a post on my blog here in WordPress. WordPress has an inbuilt audio player, so all I need to do is paste the URL to the audio file into my post, and WordPress does the rest for me.

I listen through the podcast and add links to the show notes as it plays, to help listeners find out more about what I am talking about with my guest.

Hope that’s useful! Any other podcasting tips?

Engaging colleagues with new online tools

Getting people to actually use new tools in the workplace is pretty hard.

No matter how cool your new social platform is, your colleagues (except for the super keen) won’t suddenly leap into using it.

Instead, you need to think tactically about how you engage workers with new online tools.

Here are ten ideas for making it happen. If you can’t see the embedded document below, then you can download the PDF version.

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Engaging colleagues with new online tools from WorkSmart

My thanks to Steve Dale and Anne McCrossan who gave me some great advice when I was putting these together.

It would be great to get your views on these ideas – and whether you have any to add?

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to:

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to:

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to:

Councils — Kill your PDFs – Some sage advice from Adrian Short – stop publishing so many PDFs!
Evolving Digital Engagement – From Participation to Partnership – "This report reviews the background and context for digital engagement, with a focus on the shifting social and media landscape and the potential for more radical forms of policy development."
Facing the Open Data Templars at GovCamp in Canberra – A bit more open data contrariness.
Open source, open data, open options? | Spartakan – "A permanent acceptance of OS will need organisations to change so that it is possible to construct successful business cases for OS solutions. What that change is, is another question."
Warning and informing is not even the start of it | Ben Proctor – "…what excites me, and (from an emergency planning point of view) scares me, about this technology is the power it gives to individuals. We’ve really got to get a handle on how this changes things for responders and public safety."

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to.

Nelson Mandela Digital Archives – "Our aim is to locate, document, digitise, and provide access to all archival materials related to Nelson Mandela. This is a work in progress. Here is a selection of materials arranged in exhibits for your enjoyment."
Talk About Local » Developments in UK hyperlocal scene – "It’s a great few days for the UK hyperlocal scene as several blue chip organisations reveal new projects."
Control issues around social media in local government – "I would argue that in terms of capability maturity, most local governments are just starting up the ladder and it would be more effective to focus on a few key controls and use a bit of common sense, and allow for a lot of process improvement and lessons to be learned"
The Digital Engagement Guide | Ideas and practical help to use digital and social media in the public sector – "Ideas and practical help to use digital and social media in the public sector"
WE LIKE: Ideas for a good Facebook page timeline « The Dan Slee Blog – "It’s the easiest thing in the world to create a Facebook page. It’s a lot harder to do it effectively."

You can find all my bookmarks on Pinboard.

Who retweeted you?

I didn’t know you could do this. Maybe you don’t either, so I’ll share it.

How do you find out which of your tweets have been retweeted, and by who? Turns out, by looking on the Twitter website!

First, go to twitter.com and log in. Then click the little ‘Retweets’ tab just under the updates box. Should look a little like this:

Click on ‘Your Tweets, retweeted’, as per the arrow.

You’ll see a list of all your tweets that others have retweeted. Cool!

If you then hover over one, and click, a detail pane should pop up, giving info on exactly who retweeted you. Click the image below to make it bigger, if you need to.

So now you know.

What is Google Docs?

Here’s another quick one page guide, this about about Google Docs. If you can’t see the embedded version below, you can head to the Kind of Digital site and download a PDF.

What is Google Docs?

View more documents from Kind of Digital