Urban Architecture - Reflecting Contrast

Lately I keep 'seeing' the contrasts and correspondences of current urban architecture and how it frames itself. Digital cameras entice me to practice seeing what I see.

Zonbu - A Green and Cheap Computer

I was sitting in my exercise Second Cup, a 20 minute walk each way, and leafing through one of the magazines - Forbes, I think, when I came across and article on a new make of computer. I could hardly get my head around the price for Zonbu, a computer.

Just $99.00 - (and currently, it doesn't matter whether that's Canadian or American!) It's a gift price. Even though you have to supply a keyboard and pay $12.95 (or more) a month, it's still remarkably cheap.

I like the set-up, too. I'm a fan of online applications, especially free ones. I already use Firefox and Open Office, and store some of my files online in my G.Space - http://www.getgspace.com/ and in my Box account. I think the plan to use the web is very forward thinking.

This is not an advertisement and I'm not going to give up my Mac for a Zonbu just yet, but this is the future. High storage and high cost applications will be for professionals, and perhaps the first home computer. Second or third computers, and computers for students, will be Zonbu computers, or something like them.

Mac + Kitten - Way Too Cute!

Sometimes even cuteness has a purpose

My apologies if you're offended by cuteness or kittens, or Macs;->

Found through Christopher Sessums

A Wiki Showcasing Web 2.0 Learning Tools

releasethehounds - http://releasethehounds.wikispaces.com/ is a wiki aimed at teachers and showing what can be done, by teachers and by students.

Among the tools it showcases are VoiceThreads, - www.voicethread.com - YouTube, - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZfqOTWQCuA - and SlideShare, - http://www.slideshare.net/charbeck1/scribepost-119097 - all free and fairly straightforward to learn how to use. All both audio and visual.
Courtesy of the prolific and generous Stephen Downes's OLDaily

The Information Revolution

I believe that we are in the middle of an amazing shift in our knowledge semiosis. After about 6000 years of writing and 400 years of print, we are in the digital age with world wide access to an abundance of information, available on a world wide platform, delivered in a mixture of media. Michael Wesch has put another of his brilliant short videos up on YouTube, this one demonstrating the impact of the information revolution we are currently careering through.

Link found through Donna Papacosta, blogger, podcaster, and all round amazing!

"Knocked Up" - A Story by and for the Boys

I saw "Knocked Up" a couple of nights ago, and I was underwhelmed. What I had expected to focus on a highly female experience was told from the point of view of immature males. First, to respond at the depth the movie encouraged, that is, shallowly, I couldn't believe the couple. The woman, Kathleen Heigl, was beautiful, and she can act; I've seen her in Grey's Anatomy. The male lead was about as unlikely as possible, and certainly no pleasure for females to look at. (Did I mention "shallow"?)And he declaimed rather than acted. I couldn't feel any chemistry between him and Kathleen Heigl, or, indeed, between him and his future brother-in-law. He was the geeky guy who got, so to speak, the girl, and thus the projection of male fantasies.

The jokes and gags were male-oriented; it was a story about how one of the gaggle of pointlessly-stupid males got cut from the herd. From the bong jokes to the practical-joke jokes, it was male sentimentality and gross-out humour all the way. Even the sex scene was about the male's problems with sex with a pregnant woman, not about her experience, except for her frustration at his irrational idiocy.

One contrast to this male-oriented approach did exist. Kathleen Heigl kept her bra on and her butt covered in all the sex scenes while he had his ass clearly displayed on camera - no treat that! However, there were improbably large breasts displayed in the nightclub scene to balance Heigl's dignity.

I had read that "Knocked Up" was a "sweet" story of young people taking responsibility and "growing up". What I saw was a version of the "Animal House" approach applied (quite improbably) to a situation that could have been seen in a less shallow and more nuanced way.

I give it a finger down the throat.

In Plain English - Commoncraft

As the web develops new possibilities for communication are created. Here are three examples. The main example is how Commoncraft uses simple video and recorded voice to communicate basic concepts. Both of the following videos are illustrations of this.

This first is about how to use Google Docs to write collaboratively. Notice how clearly the information is displayed and described.


The second is an explanation of the new communication situation for PR and is, I think, like the Google Docs one, an ad wrapped in a concept - a style of communication that works particularly well in this era of rapidly changing communications.


I think this is really clear communication. What do you think?

September = School

All my life, since I was 4, September has meant that school starts again. I remember in grade school, promising myself that this year my notebooks would be beautiful, that I wouldn't make messy mistakes in them. Always, September meant the chance to see old friends who were somewhere else over the summer, the chance to find a new friend who would truly understand me and like me, the chance for something wonderful to happen. Is it any wonder that I find September an exciting yet anxious month?

Business and Web 2.0 - Again

A couple of weeks ago I posted a link to a SlideShare site on Enterprise 2.0 - http://webtoolsforlearners.blogspot.com/2007/08/understanding-web-20-and-business.html

I believe that business, like all of our culture, is on the edge of a whole new way of communication with a generation that understands and uses the new way, but not the old way. Rich Hoeg, in his blog, eContent, has put up an interesting webcast on the subject of learning in business

From Flat Learning - Learning 2.0

Why Schools Need to Learn About the Digital Ecomony

The digital economy is part of globalization and will be a big part of the future Canadian economy, and we need to get it right. Michael Geist has written about what would enhance Canada's digital economy in the Toronto Star today. I recommend the article.

If you are interested in recognizing writing skills, check out my comments here.

Visualizing Data

I have trouble understanding numbers, however visual images make sense to me.This shows house prices around the world, and I "get" it.

Check out the Daily Mail link to see how the following are spread out over the world: alcohol consumption, HIV prevalence, house prices, military spending, war and death, toy imports, toy exports, the wealth of nations in 1500, and the wealth of nations in 2002.

Geography and political science teachers should be using this kind of visualization, IMHO, so students who are visual can understand even if they are numbers-blind.

Understanding Social Bookmarking

commoncraft has done it again! Another very brief, very clear, virtually whimsical video explaining web 2.0. This time on social bookmarking, showing how it works with del.icio.us.

Enjoy!

Google add-ons Can End Ads!

If you use gmail, as I do ever since my computer crashed and I lost all my computer-based contacts, and if you get annoyed by the ads, as I do, here's a solution:
http://www.customizegoogle.com/ courtesy of a comment by Miguel Guhlin on my Eduspaces blog - http://eduspaces.net/vinall/weblog/189380.html

I've installed and it works! No more annoying ads.

VoiceThreads

VoiceThreads is a beta application that looks like a lot of fun; it's very easy and free. You use photos or other images, upload them, and use your computer's microphone to add narration or other audio, or, if you don't have, or don't want to use a sound recording, you can simply type copy. Then people can comment, by voice or text, on your VoiceThreads, or you can limit who comments and who sees/hears the comment when. For more information, see my EduSpaces blog on it - http://eduspaces.net/vinall/weblog/189270.html

Understanding Web 2.0 and Business

Meet Charlie - Enterprise 2.0 is a slide show that shows where Web 2.0 is taking business. I've hesitated adding it to my blog because it is filled with misused apostrophes. (Please see Lynn Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves for a detailed explanation of what I'm complaining about!)

However,Scott Gavin's slide show, posted on SlideShare - http://www.slideshare.net/slgavin/meet-charlie-what-is-enterprise20 - provides an excellent description of where the business world is going, because of the web, as well as demonstrating how a PowerPoint can communicate effectively even without audio.


Enjoy - and learn!

Top 10 Tools, or What Other Educators are Using

I stumbled across Top 10 Tools yesterday, and found it a rich resource for web tools I could using in my teaching, learning and playing on the web. I sent in my own choices:


Check out my full list - http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/joanvinallcox.html
and find the riches in the collection of lists - http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

Thanks to Jane Hart and the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

Another Brain Backup - Backpack

I have been using the free version of Backpack for years. It's especially handy for reminders, where I can set up a reminder to be emailed to me regularly. For example, I get a monthly reminder to check my bank account so that an automatic monthly withdrawal won't cause me to be overdrawn. I get my monthly reminder in my inbox, and I haven't had to worry about forgetting since I started using Backpack.

Now it has some new stuff making it even more interesting and useful -

http://www.backpackit.com/tour

This is a remarkably versatile and easy-to-use application, and I suggest you add it to your Bookmarks Toolbar, and make it part of your personal learning/work environment, i.e. keep it always handy!

I'm still playing with Jott, which I posted about yesterday, and have found some problems with it, which I'll cover when I get a message back from them.

Jott - Another Fun Application

My friend, Bob Collings, sent me a link to Jott a new application still in Beta, that is very interesting. You phone their number, tell them who you want to leave a message for, including yourself, speak, and Jott emails your message to you or any of the contacts you've named. It is absolutely simple and requires no technical knowledge at all!

It's good for reminders, to do lists, and recording ideas, as well as messages. I'm going to play with it and see how it works for me.

Mapping Wikipedia

Teachers who want a way of introducing their students to a new topic may find it useful to use WikiMindMap to create a mindmap to introduce the subject, and as a quick way of getting basic resources into the hands of students. Mindmaps are especially useful for visual thinkers and those starting to research an area. John Dewey is one of the most important writers on teaching and learning, in my opinion, so I put his name into the search box, made sure that I was using the English Wikipedia, and got this -



Under "Select a Wiki", make sure you select "en.Wikipedia.org"; the default is "de.Wikipedia.org", which finds German results. The green circling arrows are direct links, and the plus signs can be opened out for further links. At this point WikiMindMap is in beta.

I had a lot of fun seeing what I could find through it.

via Tris Hussey's A View from the Isle

Canada and the Web

I'm Canadian, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see the Canadian stats and apps:


from the Read/Write Web:

Canadians use the Internet more than anyone in the world. According to comScore, Canadians spend on average 39.6 hours per month on the Internet, followed by Israel at 37.4 and South Korea at 34, while the USA is in 8th position with 29.4. Canada also leads in online reach with 70% of households having Internet access. The average pages viewed per visitor is 3800 in Canada, while the U.K. is second at 3300. And at 67%, Canada has one of the highest broadband penetrations in the world, 21 points higher than the US. Finally, while Canada still lags in online advertising, with $28.05 per Internet user and the US with $71.43, ad spending is expected to grow 32% this year (Ernst&Young LLP). So Canada is a sophisticated, and growing, market for Web apps.

As in any other country, Canadians heavily use Google, Yahoo and other global services like ebay and craiglist; each of which has their own english and french canadian localized versions. In social networking, Facebook is the star app of the moment. For instance, Toronto has more than 650.000 facebook users, more than the combined facebook users in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.

So Canada is still a communications leader!