Monthly Archives: September 2009

Sep 21 2009

links for 2009-09-20

Sep 20 2009

Facebook Lite

If you’ve embraced social networking for building community, chances are that you have both a Twitter and a Facebook account.  Both services have common elements – you have a profile and you post updates to people that care to read them.

There are, of course, significant differences between the way that the two of them operate and in the additional value that each bring to you as a user.  Facebook asks for more information about you and offers more than just the ability to update your status.  You can play games, take surveys, post pictures and video, and so much more.  Twitter is all about the updates and there are many, many additional outside services that you access in order to get the whole package.

Facebook offers more control over who reads your updates.  You post to Facebook expecting that your handpicked followers will read what’s up with you.  Twitter is more open and when you post an update there, you have the expectation that everyone could read your update should they wish.  Chances are it won’t happen though.  You’re more likely to appeal to those who follow you or those who happen to be searching for a particular term that you might use in a message.

Followers are generated in different ways as well.  By default, in Twitter, anyone can follow your updates unless you do something to prohibit them like protecting your updates or blocking individuals.  Facebook, on the other hand, works on the premise that you control who is allowed to view your updates and the rest of the world is prohibited.  Privacy is one of the huge issues surrounding these services and you don’t have to go far to read about it.  It is good reading and everyone should take the time to research and understand what’s happening.

One of the negative points that you’ll hear when people talk about Facebook is its big and relatively slow interface.  In order to get all of the functionality to you, much information and setup needs to be pushed to your desktop upon login.  Of note is the navigation bar that appears at the bottom of the screen.

While we’re not talking minutes here, the interface does take some time to navigate.  I’ve actually got into the habit of using my iPod to check and post to my Facebook account rather than using a browser.  It’s fast and gets me right where I typically want to go.

So, what’s the compromise to all of this?  Facebook now offers a “lite” service that’s available as a preview at http://lite.facebook.com.  What you’ve got here is access to much of the community elements of Facebook that is displayed to you at incredible speed.  Check out your wall, friend updates, photos and videos through this service.  If you’re needing speed, just the updates, and you like the security of friends that Facebook affords, this might just be the ideal solution.  The developers have done a marvelous job of getting just this sort of information to you as efficiently as possible.  If you’re a dialup internet user and have stayed away from Facebook for performance reasons, this might be just the solution.

If you use Facebook for the surveys and the games, it’s classic Facebook for you at present.  After all, you don’t want to get nudges from your friends that it’s your turn in Word Twist.  But, if you’re looking for just connecting with friends with more control over who reads what, take the Lite version for a test.  It’s now available in Canada so there’s no excuse not to spend a few moments to see if there’s a fit for you.

Social Bookmarks:

Powered by ScribeFire.

Sep 20 2009

links for 2009-09-19

Sep 19 2009

Video and Country Music

For years now, we have been teaching Communication Technology to our students.  Part of that course involves shooting video and editing it for public performance.  It’s a great opportunity for students and certainly turned out to be a profession for my son who works for Survivorman, The Discovery Network and Rogers Sportsnet.  The price for these products has dropped incredibly over the years.  The products themselves have evolved from an elaborate setup with firewire connections and setup issues to the RCA Small Wonder cameras that we buy for our schools that just plug into a USB port on your computer and you’re good to go.

Last night, we took in the Alan Jackson concert at Caesars Windsor and were treated to an incredible show from one of the most recognized talents in the realm of country music.  To keep my marriage rock solid, we did end up getting into the hall as the doors open so that we could watch the audience stream in for the next hour.  To help kill the time, I did send out a Tweet on my phone that we were here waiting for the show to start.  I also sent out a picture of the stage in its readiness although it was kind of grainy and didn’t display well well in the low light and our distance from the stage.  We had the seats that make most of the rest look really good!  Lesson learned about ordering three tickets as opposed to two or four.  At least one of my Twitter followers didn’t recognize the name but she did a quick Google search to realize what I was doing.

So, we’re in for a real treat of a show and Mr. Jackson didn’t disappoint.  We were treated to “Small Town Southern Man”, “Like Red on a Rose”, “Chattahoochee”, “The Blues Man”, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?”, “Drive”, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”, among many other of his well recognized songs.

The mathematician in me is also working on this.  We had some of the cheapest seats because we needed to book three.  But that’s OK.  It’s a small venue but the acoustics are incredible.  Even at though, our tickets were $55 so it’s not something that we do on a weekly basis.  It does seat 5000 people so I did the math and can understand how they can bring in such a talent.

The production values were great.  Behind the band on the stage are three screens and to either side of the side of the stage are two very large screens.  Throughout the songs, camera people are on the stage zeroing in on the performers and these images are mixed into music video clips that you would see on CMT.  All in all, a spectacular performance that reaches out and grabs the senses.

Then, towards the very end of the show, the band plays “Where I Come From“.  I’ve linked to the lyrics for the song and attached a Wordle for a bit of reference.

Now, you’ll notice that “come” has the highest frequency which should come as no surprise since it’s in the chorus and repeated many times throughout the song.  But, look to the references to things you’d see in your community.  “Heaven”, “Chicken”, “Cornbread”, “Porch”, …

But, how it was presented was the show stopper.  Someone…crew, Casino, Alan himself?  had gone through the city and shot video footage from the Windsor area!  When the song made reference to “Barney”, there was a video of a LaSalle police car.  When they made reference to “Detroit City”, there was a shot of the Detroit skyline.  Where they talked about “Chicken”, the Colonel’s store on Huron Church was displayed and when they talked about “Salsa”, the video zeroed in on a Taco Bell.

The audience went wild and I just sat there amazed.  Not only was the video local, but the timing was absolutely perfect.  In a song, you don’t linger on any particular word or phrase for long.  One of the challenges that any video creator has is the synchronization of the audio with the video.  Here, it appeared to be bang on.

So, in the middle of this very entertaining evening, we see a convergence of a few things.  The concert was incredible.  Of that, there was no question.  But, the inclusion of local video and its production value just blew me away.  The lyrics of the song talk about a local community but the video made it our community.  If that doesn’t speak volumes for digital storytelling, I’m not sure what else would.

It was just such a wow night on so many levels.

Social Bookmarks:

Powered by ScribeFire.

Sep 19 2009

links for 2009-09-18

Sep 18 2009

Sigh

After posting the blog entry yesterday, I didn’t feel right somehow.  That somehow came clear through the emails.  The YouTube versions of those videos are blocked by our firewall so you can’t use them in class. 

Thankfully, they are available on TeacherTube for my friends who need them

Did You Know? – by Karl Fisch
Version 1

Did You Know? 2.0
Version 2

Did you know? 3.0
Version 3

Did You Know? 4.0
Version 4

There…should be good to go.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Sep 18 2009

links for 2009-09-17

Sep 17 2009

Did You Know?

There’s an interesting series of videos that have been posted to the internet.  They’re entitled, “Did You Know?”  I get amused at the number of times that someone sends one to me.  “Hey, have you seen this?  Amazing facts!”

Yes, they are amazing and there is a great deal to learn about the facts and how humbling it is to be one of the small numbers.  There are also statements about preparing students for jobs that don’t exist – cell phones – numbers from the future…

Nothing succeeds like viral and this certainly has gone viral from its beginnings.  If you’re concerned about any of this, this is one blog that you need to read and think about.

But, did you know that there are four versions of this popular video?  Did you know there was a wiki to support its use with all kinds of PD and presentation materials?  Did you know that you can download high resolution versions of the video?  It’s the stuff of great contemplation and about where we’re headed as a civilization.  Did you know?  Did you know that it’s available in many languages and many format?  Do you care? – You better.

I’ve linked all four of the videos below from their YouTube versions so that I have them all in one spot.  It’s good viewing to watch them all and see how they’ve evolved over time.  They’re also good material for inspiring yourself, others, your students, …

Did You Know – the Original

Did You Know 2.0

Did You Know? 3.0

Did You Know 4 0

Thanks to Steve Rubel for the inspiration to put all of this together in one spot and, of course, to Karl Fisch for the original content.

Social Bookmarks:

Powered by ScribeFire.

Sep 17 2009

links for 2009-09-16

Sep 16 2009

The Enthusiasm of the Profession

I’ve decided that Wednesdays will be the short blog of the week.  After working all day on Tuesdays for my day job, I’m back teaching at the University of Windsor with the Computer Studies teachable group at the Faculty of Education.  It’s a three hour session and the body is running on fumes by the time things are done.

Thanks, Rachel A.K.

Last night was our first session and we had our first meeting awkwardness as I struggle to learn names – none of the names on my class list are “Hey, You” – and they get to learn each other.

Three hours is a lot of time for anything so it’s really important to keep changing the focus and activities.  I’ve taught this course numerous times – never the same way – but I am always amazed at the backgrounds that the students have entering the course.  I went the traditional route – bachelor degree in math/computer science – bachelor degree in education – got a job – went back for additional qualifications during the summer as I started my career.

These days, there are some that take that route but there are also people that are choosing teaching as a way to make a career change.  In so doing, they bring a wealth of experience to our class and, hopefully, to their own in a year or two.

Regardless of the age or experience, it’s been a while since they were in Grade 10 or 11.  One of my biggest focuses in the teaching of anything is to get people up and moving and engaged in hands-on activities.  On the first night, I try to bring a sense of this with just a simple activity.  11 chairs, 10 people with cards numbered 0-9 and one expert.  This expert’s task is to take the 10 people from an unordered arrangement to a sorted order.  The only caveat is that only one person can be out of a chair at a time.

I’ve used this quite successfully when I taught Grade 11 to, first of all, have the students visualize how this might work and then to introduce a bubble sort, insertion sort, or sorting by selection.  You can also do it with 20 chairs to show real inefficiency in storage concepts!


Image via Wikipedia

It never fails to bring a sense of reality to things.  Once you’ve learned sorting algorithms in the real world, you have a library of code that you just access in your application and move along to the rest of the coding.  But, could you go back to the basics?  There’s the alarm with the wakeup bell!

Only one person had worked with a wiki before and our course is entirely centred on our class wiki for sharing and collaboration.  So, we had some fun navigating through week 1 and part of their homework was to get in and do some editing before week two.

At the end of the day, I’m dragging it when I get home.  But, it’s a good dragging.  It’s personally motivating to be able to work with these folks.  The best part of education is the human contact and we need to celebrate it at every opportunity. It’s the enthusiasm for the profession and the excitement of the prospects of them becoming teachers that is the overwhelming motivator for me.

In the meantime, I’m going to be dead dog tired on Wednesday mornings.

Social Bookmarks:
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Powered by ScribeFire.