Easy, Embeddable Google Maps for Your Site

Tagzania.com offers an easy way to add contextual map experience to your site.

tagzaniapaste
Tagzania: Items by LauraFries

Tagzania allows you to:

• Create a point by searching for an address or clicking on the map.
• Add a description; including links to pictures hosted elsewhere, and links to stories
• Add keywords to your ‘point’ to help other users find your content

From there, it’s just a matter of clicking “Paste this map on your site” in order to generate some code that can be used throughout your site (depending, of course, on your individual templates).

In news stories where place is important, Tagzania can help illustrate the story for a reader. For example:

Point A: Factory leaking fumes
Point B: Schoolhouse where children became sick
Point C: Bakery where bread became contaminated

I created a quick map using AAN’s offices and two hostels I worked at to illustrate some possibilities.

How do you think Tagzania could work for your publication? Or do you have a better mapping tool we should know about?

Or, a Lil Dab’ll DB-Do ya.

WHAT: Online Spreadsheets, made better. DabbleDB.com features a faaaast video demonstration of Dabble’s functionality.

WHO WILL LOVE IT: Anyone who uses spreadsheets to track assignments, special sections, clients or finances will be impressed with DabbleDB’s versatility – especially reporters who crunch data and reps who crunch numbers.

WHY: Excel spreadsheets are clunky and often crash on Macs. Google Spreadsheets are somewhat better, but DabbleDB offers more flexibility.

HOW IT ROCKS: To import your old spreadsheets, you can *cut and paste* your old spreadsheets. You can also cut and paste info you find online, such as public records search results.

Dabble allows you to select which fields you want to see at any given time … which means you can have a giant spreadsheet, but you can easily just compare and sort by two columns — without having to cut and paste your info into a new spreadsheet.

Below is a screenshot of my Dabble account, as I sort by AAN member papers with a MySpace presence.

You can also re-arrange your columns easily and on a whim. Filters allow you to display only the info you need (like “unpaid accounts”).

I asked AAN Awards Contest Administrator Heather Kuldell, who works with massive spreadsheets, for her take on Dabble:

The handiest part of Dabble DB is combining the view feature with the export features. For the AltWeekly Awards, I have large spreadsheets of information on judges — first name, last name, email, mailing addresses, what categories they judge, reading assignments, etc. But I only need to see a few columns for various steps of the awards. One view I have is simply a view that shows a first name, last name, and mailing address that I can export as a .csv file, which I can flow into Word to create mailing labels.

HOW TO USE IT: DabbleDB has a lot of great “help” info with screenshots embedded into the site, so the best way to figure out DabbleDB is to set up a trial account.

COST: Free, if you are OK with your info being public [Free account info]. Free, if you remember to delete your account within the 30 day trial period. Or, for a private account $10/month. [See Dabble DB pricing plans]

NERD NOTE: To create a free account, set up a 30 day trial account. Follow instructions to ‘upgrade your account’ – but choose the Free option, not a paid one.

You may have heard the buzz around it, but been confused: What exactly is Twitter? Why is it useful, and why should I pay attention? And how can I use it to connect audiences at events – or to drive traffic to my site?

What’s Twitter?

Twitter is a deceptively simple technology. Sign up for an account. Invite your friends to do the same. Then, you can send each other short little messages – like the ones below – using your phone or the web. Your messages go out to everyone in your network.

You can receive your Twitter messages however you like – via IM, web, or SMS (text message). It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Twitter-ing microblogging.

Flickr’d by rorris | Flickr’d by cackhanded | Flickr’d by Patrick Haney

Why is Twitter useful?

Twitter works really well in two ways:
1. Connecting wired friends in a compact urban environment. At South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) 2007, networks of people used Twitter to find out about great conferences and parties, and to meetup with each other.

2. Connecting like-minded friends over topical interests. Now that SXSWi is over, my network sends out links to things I’m interested in, like new web developments.

Sounds cool. How can alts use Twitter?

Use Twitter at sponsored events to help people interact A screen displaying the latest “twits” from attendees is a huge crowd pleaser.

Use Twitter to drive traffic to your site FoxNews has taken the lead here, using their Twitter account to send out the latest news to their “friends.”

NERD NOTE: Fox News uses TinyUrl.com, a program that shortens lengthy URLs, in order to stay within the 140 word character Twitter maximum.

So what do you think?

Is Twitter overrated? Do you see other ways alts could use this technology to connect with our audiences?