This is a television commercial that was uploaded to YouTube -- very cool.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Thing #17 Explore Web 2.0 Award-Winning Apps
I really didn't know where to begin with this "thing" -- there are SO-O-O-O many Web 2.0 tools that are ...interesting, useful, dynamic, amazing, practical, entertaining,... oh, where to begin. The Seemoz.org list of award-winning tools could take hours to explore.
I was drawn to Zillow, however. I've used Zillow before, as I have been trying to sell a home by owner. I wanted to be every place an Internet seeker may look. Wow, has it changed -- from a Web 1.0 site to a great interactive Web 2.0 site. It has come such a long way, from being a spot to view the "market value" of the house, to a community of sellers, buyers, and real estate professionals to discuss real estate issues, vote on favorite rooms and houses, search for real estate (yours or where you're looking to buy) on great street/aerial/hybrid maps, update your basic home facts to reflect improvements and information useful to buyers, learn about your home's valuation, and get home-selling/buying tips. A real estate social network.
Not only are Web 2.0 tools improving personal productivity, but they are changing the way commerce functions. I like being empowered with information and knowledge -- to NOT be dependent on sales people, advertisements, and businesses who are not forthcoming with ALL the details. I don't like fine print or sales pitches.
The power of information is changing every part of our lives -- a welcome change indeed.
Can this tool be used in the high school library? Maybe. But, more importantly, it is useful, as one of many tools, for students to realize and embrace this information power -- whether in business, personal, education, or any life issue. Learning is not just within the walls of a school building any longer.
I was drawn to Zillow, however. I've used Zillow before, as I have been trying to sell a home by owner. I wanted to be every place an Internet seeker may look. Wow, has it changed -- from a Web 1.0 site to a great interactive Web 2.0 site. It has come such a long way, from being a spot to view the "market value" of the house, to a community of sellers, buyers, and real estate professionals to discuss real estate issues, vote on favorite rooms and houses, search for real estate (yours or where you're looking to buy) on great street/aerial/hybrid maps, update your basic home facts to reflect improvements and information useful to buyers, learn about your home's valuation, and get home-selling/buying tips. A real estate social network.
Not only are Web 2.0 tools improving personal productivity, but they are changing the way commerce functions. I like being empowered with information and knowledge -- to NOT be dependent on sales people, advertisements, and businesses who are not forthcoming with ALL the details. I don't like fine print or sales pitches.
The power of information is changing every part of our lives -- a welcome change indeed.
Can this tool be used in the high school library? Maybe. But, more importantly, it is useful, as one of many tools, for students to realize and embrace this information power -- whether in business, personal, education, or any life issue. Learning is not just within the walls of a school building any longer.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Thing #16 Learning a Language
I have always wanted to learn another language. I dabble in Italian -- mashing up some colloquial bits and pieces I learned from my father and grandparents, conversational classes I've taken, and some real practice in Italy. I WANT to learn the language. Well...as always, time is the biggest factor...and practice. It has been awhile since I've been to Italy and I have forgotten so much -- "use it or lose it".
I am enthralled with the LiveMocha site -- almost total immersion in your own living room. You can do the free lessons in several languages (unfortunately, Italian is not one of them), but the beauty of this site is the social-networking aspects. You can converse with other in your language of study, learn from them, and most importantly, USE the language skills. You can Skype with tutors and other language-learners, listen to podcasts, communicate via email or collaborative wikis/docs...you have all the tools of the Internet at your disposal. That is cool.
I am enthralled with the LiveMocha site -- almost total immersion in your own living room. You can do the free lessons in several languages (unfortunately, Italian is not one of them), but the beauty of this site is the social-networking aspects. You can converse with other in your language of study, learn from them, and most importantly, USE the language skills. You can Skype with tutors and other language-learners, listen to podcasts, communicate via email or collaborative wikis/docs...you have all the tools of the Internet at your disposal. That is cool.
Get conversational! Develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills by enrolling in a course for one of our six supported languages: English, French,I may start the Spanish modules this summer, from a practicality standpoint; but I, romantically, wait for the time when Italian modules are available. Italian learners and tutors are available now, but I look forward to the Italian learning classes. I'll be there.
German, Spanish, Hindi, or Mandarin Chinese.
Practice with people from over 190 countries, speaking 27 languages, using text, audio, and video chat tools! (from the LiveMocha Site)
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Thing #15 Audiobooks and eBooks
I love to read. I love books. I love audiobooks. Reading books is such a pleasant pastime -- I can learn, I can be entertained, I can be scared, cry, and laugh out loud. There are few things I enjoy more than curling up with a great book and getting lost in the pages. I never thought that I would like listening to the book -- and, honestly, it took awhile to get into the mindset of listening to the story. Once I found a great narrator, then the deal was done.I remember how much I loved having my mom read to me when I was little and, in a way, I find the same comfort in someone reading the story to me. I find that my imagination takes off and the visual imagery is at a peak -- maybe even more than reading the book. It is perfect for multi-tasking (I don't know if that is a good thing, or bad) as I can enjoy a good book while I'm doing some of the most mundane of chores (I can find little about cleaning house and doing laundry exciting) or long distance driving. Add the element of a great story, and the time whizzes by.
There is a time and place for everything -- audiobooks are finding their way, more and more, into my life...and I love them!
Now...eBooks. That's another story. I think that I stare at a computer screen enough; I don't want my "downtime" to also include a computer monitor. I think that access to eBooks will be incredible for in-school (we all know the textbook story), great for personal research, and research for school (at home). I however, for reading enjoyment, prefer to stick to my great hardbound books and an occasional audiobook.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thing #14 Podcasting
Okay...here it is -- my blog reflection via a podcast.
Honest...it's coming soon!
Honest...it's coming soon!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Thing #13 Google Apps
Can't...fight it...any...longer. Google is just making it impossible to ignore their innovation, wealth of tools, and their business model. I've been slow to jump on the Google-wagon. I remember when they were just that little, itty-bitty, privately held search engine company in 1998...yawn. Yeah, one among the many others... so what? Now, as I watch them consume smaller Internet companies and grow to the largest Internet presence ever... well, my first thought is: why didn't I jump all over that IPO?...daytrade it...then sell it at $747 per share (yes, this is a GoogleFinance link). Well...if I had, I wouldn't be writing this blog post for a professional development class!
I remember the days when the only Operating System that came on the home computer was DOS -- everything you did was from a command prompt and you had to build everything yourself. How proud I was to write my first program, a home budget, more than 30 years ago (on my 32k memory computer). It only took me 3 days and all it really did was balance my checkbook and keep track of balances. All on that ugly green screen with the little blinking cursor.
I was thrilled when Microsoft came along with Windows 1.0. THRILLED! Yes, the MS-machine has made me very happy over the years -- I was happy to fork over the cost of MS Office, FrontPage, Excel, Publisher, Powerpoint (before they were a part of Office) -- productivity and ease-of-use ruled all decisions. But wait...what do you mean I can do all of that, plus tons more, without any cost at all. You jest!
All I need, now, is a high-speed Internet connection (that's like oxygen now, isn't it...a basic staple of existence?), open sourceware, and I can access every productivity, creativity, entertainment, business, and leisure tool I can imagine. Thank you Google and all the Opensource developers. My only complaint was that everything in GoogleDocs was online -- you couldn't work on your documents offline. Oh wait -- you can now work on GoogleDocs offline!
I will begin learning to use, share, and create with these new tools -- the advantage being...well, ease of use, functionality, flexibility, collaborative features, and portability. Huh, I have come full circle. And, I have to admit -- they have some really cool applications (and more springing up every day). As far as using GoogleDocs in education? The uses are limitless, only depending on the knowledge and creativity of teachers and staff to use, model, and teach using these great tools.
I remember the days when the only Operating System that came on the home computer was DOS -- everything you did was from a command prompt and you had to build everything yourself. How proud I was to write my first program, a home budget, more than 30 years ago (on my 32k memory computer). It only took me 3 days and all it really did was balance my checkbook and keep track of balances. All on that ugly green screen with the little blinking cursor.
I was thrilled when Microsoft came along with Windows 1.0. THRILLED! Yes, the MS-machine has made me very happy over the years -- I was happy to fork over the cost of MS Office, FrontPage, Excel, Publisher, Powerpoint (before they were a part of Office) -- productivity and ease-of-use ruled all decisions. But wait...what do you mean I can do all of that, plus tons more, without any cost at all. You jest!
All I need, now, is a high-speed Internet connection (that's like oxygen now, isn't it...a basic staple of existence?), open sourceware, and I can access every productivity, creativity, entertainment, business, and leisure tool I can imagine. Thank you Google and all the Opensource developers. My only complaint was that everything in GoogleDocs was online -- you couldn't work on your documents offline. Oh wait -- you can now work on GoogleDocs offline!
I will begin learning to use, share, and create with these new tools -- the advantage being...well, ease of use, functionality, flexibility, collaborative features, and portability. Huh, I have come full circle. And, I have to admit -- they have some really cool applications (and more springing up every day). As far as using GoogleDocs in education? The uses are limitless, only depending on the knowledge and creativity of teachers and staff to use, model, and teach using these great tools.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Thing #12 -- Open Source Applications
We are probably just at the beginning of a major shift to open source applications. The costs, expertise, and availability of programs and applications has really limited the use by the masses. Open source will create a community of creators across the board. Developers, end-users, and those who deploy all working to make an application accessible and highly usable is exciting. This de-centralization of creation will open up to many contributors working collaboratively to create a great application. Bottom line? Open source is the epitome of community -- the creators and the end-users.
Are we ready, in public schools, to really embrace open source applications? Probably not. We are moving closer, however. We are using Moodle, a great open source application, but to really make the jump to other programs is probably a ways down the road. Many of the applications are still in beta and still have a lot of bugs and problems to work out. Schools currently have licenses that are still viable and installed -- why would you throw all those out? Perhaps the school, as an end-use partner, is not really ready to take on the time and effort of debugging. Our tech people are just trying to make everything work seamlessly as it is, much less take on the task of debugging software and setting up work-arounds just to save the cost of a piece of software. Most of the smaller open source applications do not have a help desk or a customer service department -- so the task of fixing the glitches falls on the tech people and end-users. But...I do see that open source is the direction we are moving towards. Everyday, applications are refined, improved, and become mainstream applications in the public. Public awareness is probably one of the first hurdles to overcome.
To knock down the walls of proprietary and expensive software applications can only benefit everyone. The community of new users, and the talents and information they have to offer, will serve to be priceless in a world of user-created content. However, this does bring up another set of questions: with open code, is there more chance of vandalism or hacking the code? ...and what about attribution to other's work where it is necessary. I can see how those lines could be blurred or misused.
Closer to home -- how valuable is it that a student can download OpenOffice at home, at no cost, to do homework, create documents, and create presentations that can be shared with MS Office machines at school, at work, and with others? How valuable is Google Apps for students to not have to worry about portability, compatibility, and collaboration issues? That is how open source is valuable to us now. Productivity is not limited to those who can afford expensive applications and systems.
Are we ready, in public schools, to really embrace open source applications? Probably not. We are moving closer, however. We are using Moodle, a great open source application, but to really make the jump to other programs is probably a ways down the road. Many of the applications are still in beta and still have a lot of bugs and problems to work out. Schools currently have licenses that are still viable and installed -- why would you throw all those out? Perhaps the school, as an end-use partner, is not really ready to take on the time and effort of debugging. Our tech people are just trying to make everything work seamlessly as it is, much less take on the task of debugging software and setting up work-arounds just to save the cost of a piece of software. Most of the smaller open source applications do not have a help desk or a customer service department -- so the task of fixing the glitches falls on the tech people and end-users. But...I do see that open source is the direction we are moving towards. Everyday, applications are refined, improved, and become mainstream applications in the public. Public awareness is probably one of the first hurdles to overcome.
To knock down the walls of proprietary and expensive software applications can only benefit everyone. The community of new users, and the talents and information they have to offer, will serve to be priceless in a world of user-created content. However, this does bring up another set of questions: with open code, is there more chance of vandalism or hacking the code? ...and what about attribution to other's work where it is necessary. I can see how those lines could be blurred or misused.
Closer to home -- how valuable is it that a student can download OpenOffice at home, at no cost, to do homework, create documents, and create presentations that can be shared with MS Office machines at school, at work, and with others? How valuable is Google Apps for students to not have to worry about portability, compatibility, and collaboration issues? That is how open source is valuable to us now. Productivity is not limited to those who can afford expensive applications and systems.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Thing #11 Wikis
I have not used wikis a lot, but I can see so many applications for their use in the library: class collaboration projects (with a built-in participation history!), staff collaborations, district collaboration, and more. I think it would be an extremely valuable project for a research project in a class -- students, knowing their work would be "published" online, would really take ownership of their research, writing, and giving credit for materials used. Participation can be documented throught the history feature of the wiki space. Perhaps this could replace individual research papers -- at the same time increasing collaborative planning, editing, and publication.They are available for all members (or anyone if unrestricted) 24/7 -- but, not necessary all of us at once as we discovered last week. The key is to save early and save often to ensure your work is not lost should anyone edit on top of you. Also, to be aware that others could be editing at the same moment is important.
A wiki can be a perpetual document so members can add, edit, and expand into the future. I think that our Media Clerks job manual wiki will be a very helpful document for us to collaboratively build upon for ideas, "how-to's", and an excellent documentation of our job.
Thing #10 Working with Photos
I have always been an avid picture-taker. When I met up with image editing software, it was a match made in heaven! I use photos and photo mashups in almost everything I do: personal documents and projects and in library projects.
Some of my favorite applications are on personal websites and the library website. The READ posters available for the ALA Store division have been a lot of fun. The kids like them, staff likes them, and they are fun to produce. ...a real marketing asset for the library.
I have so many photos to label, organize, and edit...this class has been a good rekindling of motivation to get started on on my photos projects at home.
This knowledge is indispensable in the library when working with staff and students. To be able to assist, or direct them to suitable software alternatives, is a time saver and they are very helpful tools to disseminate.
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