I wish I’d found this video when I tried to explain it to my Dad, but considering he’s off and running something worked 
. For those of you who are still trying, the video might come in handy.
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How To Explain Social Bookmarking To Your Dad
Photosynth
Blown away by Blaise Aguera y Arcas’ Photosynth presentation on Ted Talks. Still processing the ramifications for visual literacy, classes on media messages, and social software-based learning.
And kudos to Microsoft – the developers of Seadragon and Photosynth – for pushing the edge here!
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Haiku – A Web 2.0 Learning Experience
Haiku is a Web 2.0-centric learning management system from education software developer Haiku Inc. Compared to established systems like Blackboard and WebCT, or even open source options like Sakai and Moodle, Haiku is still in its infancy. In fact, going by the tour, it appears to be mostly an easy way to set up a course web site.
I took the tour to check it out and Haiku does have a few things going for it. The drag-and-drop interface makes it a snap to set up the course website with content and activities. Skins allow you to customize the look and feel and the latest version includes enhanced discussion forums, drop box functionality, and an Inbox for messaging.
In terms of content, there’s the usual suspects – text, links, and files – but you can also add images from Flickr, audio from Odeo and video from YouTube and Google Video. All in all, Haiku looks like it might be an option for anybody who wants to quickly and easily build a course web site with a few interactive options.
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New Real Player: What Does This Mean For Participatory Culture?
The new Real Player beta “gives you the power to download Web video instantly.” You can also burn the videos to CD or DVD for a little extra moolah. Essentially, with Real Player 11, you and I can “own” any video content simply by way of downloading it. Ok, sure, Real draws the line at DRM-protected content, but come on, how many people uploading to YouTube or Google Video think about “protecting” their content. How many take that extra step?
On the Camcorder Info website, Michael Perlman contends that this new player is a threat to online video creators, and I’m inclined to agree.
This type of technology is not new,
but the ease of use which Real Player imparts, coupled with its
widespread use, is likely to have a much larger effect than similar
software in the past. Those who post videos on revenue-sharing sites
like Revver may be particularly vulnerable. Real Player users can now
download Revver videos to their computer, never having to access the
site to watch that particular clip again. This, in turn, minimizes the
number of ad clicks and reduces the stream of revenue within the site.
Meta Café is in a tight spot, as well. Users who post videos on the
site are paid a fraction of ad revenue solely based on the amount of
clicks their video receives. Since almost any video clip online is
susceptible to a Real Player download, Revver and Meta Café are not the
only sites that will suffer losses.YouTube, MySpace, and Google Video
users rely on the number of clicks their videos receive in order to
boost popularity, ultimately heightening the chance of being featured
on the front page or favorites page. Instead of throwing someone a link
or saving a clip to a list of favorites in a user profile, users now
have a few alternative options in regards to sharing and playing
videos—none of which will equate to an additional click.
Given the nascence of participatory culture, will this drive us back into a closed and shuttered medium, where content sharing is regulated by policy and law? Or will it force us to evaluate this culture, and the nature of the medium that enables it, tand drive Real Player to revamp the player to accommodate the rules of the game?
Public voice can be a driving force as evidenced by the resurgence of Jericho, a show that was canceled by the network, but revived by its fans. Perhaps it will be public voice that shapes what happens next in this instance. Either way, we live in interesting times, don’t we?
Technorati Tags: Real Player, media
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My Top 5 Movies
Last night was essentially “veg in front of the TV and add to ‘movies to see’ list night” in our home as we settled in to watch the AFI’s 100 Years 100 Movies special on CBS. Of course I had to tweet it, and sure enough, there was Julie asking me which movies made it to my top five. So here’s a quick head to head.
AFI’s top five are Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The GodFather, Gone With The Wind, and Lawrence of Arabia.
My top five are Star Wars (4, 5, 6), The Sound of Music, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, An American In Paris, and it’s a tie between The Wizard of Oz and Ben-Hur.
My criteria is simple, what movies am I likely to see over and over again without ever getting tired of them, and these made the cut.
And so now it’s your turn, what movies made it to your top 5?
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Of Students and Laptops
Results of technology surveys at the University of Virginia and Stanford sparked off some lively discussion among some of the Trinity faculty, a librarian and the instructional tech (yours truly) today. One faculty expressed fear of a future where every student has a laptop, I suspect because of the inability to blank their screens if desired, as is possible with desktops and some software today, even as he acknowledged that laptops in the classroom are changing the way faculty interact with their students.
On the flip side, another faculty member recognized that multi-tasking at a computer is inevitable today. In fact, it’s not unusual for non-Net Gens to be playing Free Cell, or shopping, or checking their email while at meetings and presentations. So why expect any less from the students when the difference is just that they are more likely to be on Facebook, MySpace,YouTube, or listening to their iPods. Her contention is that the future belongs to institutions, faculty, and developers who adapt to this changing environment. As for the laptops, “you gotta know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em,” is her contention.
What was interesting about this is that the instructional tech (yours truly) and the librarian had near identical thoughts. Here’s what he said:
We really MUST insert ourselves here. I think it’s not just education that can become diffused or distracted by technology, but most aspects of life. We have to be the ones who find means to blend technology and education in such a way that education is still the focus. Computer and online technology is ubiquitous for students today, and if we remove technology in order to focus on education, we stop meeting students where they are. Too, we have to be the ones to critique technologies (and their uses) and we must encourage students to critique them as well, and they’ll need to be present to do that.
My sentiments exactly. We definitely are dealing with a new generation of learners here, but I suspect some time-tested strategies hold just as true for them, as they did for us. For instance, when my daughter needs to buckle down and get some writing done, she turns off her IM, shuts the door to her room, the music is still on, but she’s focused on what she needs to do. I suspect a lot of them work in a similar mode, we just don’t see it as often as their multi-tasking mode.
So, can we force them to listen by blanking out their computers? Maybe. Can we force them to pay attention by blanking off their computers? Perhaps. Yes, you’ve got to know when to hold them, and to that, I would say, you’ve also got to know “how” to hold them. Engagement doesn’t need PowerPoint presentations, fancy technology, or cool toys.
On the flip side however, we are also, to some degree, teaching them to think critically about what technology or tool is appropriate to the learning context at hand, or even if one is needed at all. Consequently, I would say the issue is also how does one teach them to recognize when it is essential that they turn away from their laptop or desktop and their email, Free Cell, Facebook, etc. to focus on what’s going on, to learn, to reflect. Perhaps what we the non-Net Gens, could, should, teach them, is how to disconnect and focus when the situation calls for it.
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A lil “pome”
Damp, soggy Saturday morn
Cuppa tea is almost gone
It’s install wireless network day
And that’s my Saturday!
Well, ok, cheesy, I know. But what did you expect for a Saturday morn anyway, William Wordsworth?
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Welcome Back to the fold Aaron!
Aaron, this is in response to “But does Maine have anything to say to Texas?“; I’m with Adri on using IM over email for quick, easy, efficient conversations. I can’t imagine life or work without my IM, and you should see my buddy list, I have to scroll up and down . It made me more accessible to my students last year, and yes, I did instruct them to first check my status to see if I was available or away. Oh, did I mention my status messages are a mile long too? And yes, I’m on Facebook, and I Twitter on a regular basis, and I still I do get serious work done.
I guess I’m a burst worker, but email can’t, just can’t, beat the efficacy of turning to a trusted colleague and friend, who is an expert in his or her area, for a quick rundown on a problem, or exchange of ideas, or even a quick hello to stay connected. For my students, the opportunity to quickly clarify something via IM as they worked on their assignments was a huge plus. OF course, they were instructed to check my status to ensure I was available first. What I got out of it was the opportunity to stay connected with them even after they had moved on to other classes and assignments.
Email has it’s place, and it’s a great way to disseminate information or communicate with a large group of people. But IM is real, one-to-one conversations, and often times, that is exactly what’s needed. As knowledge workers and information sifters, the challenge is to identify which communication tool best serves our need at the moment, and live in neither, not our email inboxes, nor our IM windows.
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Podcamp in San Antonio
May 19, 2007, San Antonio will play host to Podcamp, the “unconference” on podcasting, blogging, vlogging and new social media. I’ll probably be dead tired from conducting Tech-Beat, my semi-annual technology camp, but it looks like something to check out, especially if Dad’s around at the time. He’s keen to learn more about these new social tools.
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The New Breed of Web Designer
The hallmark of geek ADDness is the ability to drop whatever it is you are currently doing in hot pursuit of the shiny, new thing you’ve just discovered. And what does this have to do with a blog post on the new breed of web designer? Nothing really, except that in the process of exploring FeedRaider, I diverged into checking out posts about the Web 2.0 Expo, which in turn led me to a blog post by Richard McManus his Read/WriteWeb blog on a panel on hybrid design at the expo, which then prompted me to write this post. I guess I have severe geek ADD.
So what are the characteristics of this new breed of designer? To quote:
Writing semantic markup (transition to XML)
Providing Web services (moving away from place)
Remixing content (about when and what, not who or why)
Emergent navigation and relevance (users are in control)
Adding metadata over time (communities building social information)
Shift to programming (separation of structure and style)
Also check out a visual representation of the above summary.
And I just remembered, I still have to check out FeedRaider, don’t I?
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