Uses in the Library

Protopage would be a great addition to any library. It allows the viewer to look at many different websites at once. These seperate windows to other websites are called widgets. A library could use Protopage in many ways. For example, it could be the homepage for any of the computers that the patrons use. There could even be a separate one for the staff as well.

Some Widgets that could be used on Protopage for libraries are:

• Reading ideas/lists
• How to videos
• Catalog search
• Type in Demonstration Page
• Interesting article of the day
• Book of the day or week
• Calendar of monthly programs
• local and national news headlines

Here's an example of how one Medical Library has set up their widgets:

This is South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Library Services Page: 

(General, n.d.).

Another nice feature about Protopage is the ability to have many pages. Each page can be something different. Pages at the top could be different genre's that way patrons can go to whichever one they are interested in, instead of searching through the page to find what they are looking for. Some pages could also be the how to videos, mentioned in the above as well.

Here is an example of how a school library has set up their Protopage pages:

This is NLRHS West Campus' Library Page:

 (Home, n.d.).



As you can see, there is plenty to put on a Protopage and each one will be unique and different. There are a lot of great features for a library to use with a Protopage. I personally feel that a Protopage would be a great home screen for any library computer. It gives the library the opportunity to let the patrons know what is going on in the library that month and even for the year. With the ability to change the layout to your needs, the library can do just that.  Overall there is just so much to explore with Protopage that the possibilities are endless when it comes to library use. 


Some questions to think about:

1. If you work in a library do you think Protopage would be useful to you? If you do not work in a library, could you think of a way to make Protopage work in a library?

2. Are there some other ways Protopage could be used in the library?

3. Have you ever used or heard of Protopage before and if yes, what for?

References

Home. (n.d.). NLRHS West Campus Library [Protopage page]. Retrieved April 14 2014, from http://www.protopage.com/nlrhswestlibrary#Untitled/HOME 

General. (n.d.). South Tees HospitalsNHS Foundation Trust Services [Protopage page]. Retrived April 14 2014, from http://www.protopage.com/southteeslibraries

Evaluation of Protopage

PROTOPAGE

LIS6080 GROUP PROJECT

EVALUATION

By Linda Streeter

 My role in our project was to evaluate Protopage. 

First, let me say, that before this project, I had never used a RSS Feed reader and I have never blogged. In short, I was a novice going into the project. 

The idea of trying to learn how to use a program in such a short period of time was daunting.  However, I was able to jump in and create a page with very little difficulty. My skepticism as to how this product would beneficial to me in particular but also to librarians in general was dominating my thoughts going in but I soon found I was premature in ruling Protopage out.

With a glass of wine in hand and a positive attitude (probably because of the wine), I set down to Protopage and after a day of creating my page and playing with it. I can now see its relevance. 

Creating a page in Protopage is very simple.  You don’t have to be tech savy to create a personalized page to suit your needs. When you sign on for the first time you will see an auto-populated page of some many things that it might seem a bit confusing.  With just a click of your mouse, you can clean up the page by deleting any of the many widgets that you do not want. From there it is easy creating bookmarks and widgets for the feeds that are of interest to you.  Everything is menu driven which takes a lot of the guess work out of creating a page. 

I am a news junky, so I created a page titled “HEADLINES” and assembled feeds from papers and television stations in Florida, Maryland and Michigan.  I threw in a few national networks as well.  Protopage is hard not to like.  I only ran into a few problems trying to attach feeds from a few of my sources.  If you attach a feed from Protopage’s list of sources you will have no problems. However, when you try to go outside of their list and create feeds on your own, a little tweeking might be necessary. Nothing major, you just have to play with the URLs until you get the right address for Protopage to read. On all of the sources I had to get on my own, Protopage was not listed as a “share source” in their acceptable shareware.  With the Pensacola News Journal I had to use GMAIL to share the feed, then from there link the feed to my page in Protopage. Other than that, I find Protopage useful in the sense that I can now click on my page and “at a glance” see what is happening in my geographic areas of interest. This could be beneficial to the reference librarian during major news event. He/she could set up a page of worldwide news feeds and see at a glance the latest on what is happening.  I think Protopage is worth looking into.  However, I think there are others out there that are more widely used and recognized by more. 

Protopage Summary

Protopage

LIS 6080 Group Project

 Group Members:

   Margaret-Mel Lenox,   Delcene Hughley,   Ashley Miklues,   Linda Streeter

Most of our communication was done using the group’s discussion board provide on the WSU Blackboard. On there we created a thread with all of our contact information, which was really helpful. Other threads were created to help decide what each of us were going to do for the project.

Margaret Mel-Lennox provided our introduction to Protopage and was responsible for posting it on her website. Margaret helped with editing our videos with Delcene.

Delcene Hughley provided step-by-step instructions on how to use Protopage and created a Blog for us to post out individual reports.  Delcene also assisted Margaret in editing our videos.

Ashley Miklues provided information on ways librarians might use Protopage and how they are using it now. Ashley provided imput on this summary paper with Linda Streeter

Linda Streeter provided our evaluation of the project, discussing, ease of use, and discussing Protopage’s  advantages and limitations. Linda provided imput on this summary paper with Ashley Miklues.

Throughout the project, in addition to the project website, Protopage, our group relied largely on the WSU Blackboard discussion board, File Exchange and various e-mail carriers for communication.  Delcene created a blog for us using Blogger: http://delashlinmar.blogspot.com/.  This blogspot was used to post our papers.  We each used Movie Maker to produce videos and Camstasia for video of our screen shots.  Papers were created using Microsoft Word.

Each member did their own evaluation of Protopage, by using the site and creating individual pages to get a better understanding of what value Protopage offered  and just how useful it could be in the library arena.

Introduction to the Protopage

Protopage is a London based, internet start-up company, with two trademarks registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. One of the trademarks is for Protopage, and the other is for ONETAB Goods and Services. 

Via a search of the Wayback Machine, the domain name Protopage.com was registered in 2001. The site did not officially come online until 2005. The sole proprietor of Protopage.com is Andre Parrie, who at the age of 25 founded the company. Currently, it only has two employees listed: Andre Parrie, and Robin Parrie. The website offers an easy way to create a homepage that you can take with you; it offers subscription to RSS feeds, in addition to hundreds of widgets which allow you to customize your page with games, comics, music, sports and many other subjects. 

In this day and age, it is surprising to be able to fly under the radar, but that is exactly what Protopage has done. While Protopage has a presence on Twitter, the tweets are not updated frequently, but when they are, it is to address updates about the page, or most recently, to let people know that Protopage.com is an option for those who are looking for a replacement for iGoogle. 

Initially, when Protopage first came on scene, there were numerous news outlets which featured the page citing its use of AJAX as an attractive feature. Market Wired, in an article from August of 2005, has quoted the founder as saying "AJAX turns a web page into putty. We're getting a taste of what the web will become." 

For those of us unfamiliar with AJAX, w3schools provides a great overview: 

What is AJAX?
AJAX = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.
[It] is a technique for creating fast and dynamic web pages.
[It] allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page.
Classic web pages, (which do not use AJAX) must reload the entire page if the content should change.
Examples of applications using AJAX: Google Maps, Gmail, Youtube, and Facebook tabs.

Ajax allows the customization that Protopage users adore. 

Protopage has various features that can easily be edited or deleted to create a home page that is reflective of one's individual taste and interests. Boxes containing feeds can be resized and reordered. It is a simpler way to create an individual webpage. The site also allows you to adjust your settings for private or public, for the whole page, or you can use the tabs to create specialized content that you would like to share. 

Intro to blogging

This is my first time using a blog, so bare with me as I try to figure this out.  If I did this right, everyone should see this.  I gather we are going with Protopage.  I will try to learn as much as I can about it quickly, while trying to review for the final exam.