I guess Yahoo! has decided to take on Google, but what's with this ad? They try to compare My Yahoo (I assume) with the straight-up Google search engine. Hellooo??? Did they forget about iGoogle, which is infinitely more personizable (is that a word?) than Yahoo. Not to mention the themes totally rock, while Yahoo's are incredibly boring.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Google Wave: Update
If, like me, you were somewhat bemused about what to do with Google Wave, here's an excellent
post from Fast Company explaining the recent updates to Wave and why they make it more usable.
Still need an invite for Wave? I think I have a few left--just leave me your email address in the comments.
post from Fast Company explaining the recent updates to Wave and why they make it more usable.
Still need an invite for Wave? I think I have a few left--just leave me your email address in the comments.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
First Diigo, then iCyte...now, Evernote
Do you ever feel like we're constantly re-inventing the wheel? Web 2.0 can be something like that, as we run across new or, at least new-to-us apps similar to other apps we're already using.
Having jumped on the iCyte wagon, I groaned inwardly on discovering Evernote. Another web-based notetaking app! But I must say, I like it. It straddles a fine line: more feature-rich than iCyte (and thus a bit less user-friendly) yet not as confusing as Diigo.
Moreover, it doesn't just store your data in the cloud. You can download a desktop app, a smart phone app, and they all sync with your online data, making your notebooks available wherever you are.
While that's very useful, I think the notebooks make Evernote the go-to app over, say, iCyte and Diigo. All three allow you to capture websites, make screen grabs, etc. Only Evernote allows you to sort them into folders or notebooks. While diehard social taggers consider folders so 20th century, most of us like the extray layer of organizaiton it allows.
Here's a screen-grab of the desktop application. In the upper right you can see I have three folders created, though currently it's showing all the material in all the folders. That includes photos taken with iSight, to do lists I created on the iPhone, as well as websites I visited and documented.
In the online version, you can see similar features. Here, I've selected the "renaissance" folder, and the screen shots of those websites appear.
If I click on one, it becomes editable, with a nifty feature showing the URL and the date I grabbed the shot (great for citation).
Create a new text note (in rich-text format, I might add), and it can either be straight-forward text, in a clickable to do list format or a table. Though I must say, that function needs some work. To make a to do list, you have to go up to the icon and click it for every new line. VERY annoying and time-consuming. You ought to be able to click it once, and have the rest of the note in the selected format.
In edit mode, users can also attach files to documents. For example, if students took a screen shot of a painting, and they downloaded an article about that painting from a database, they could attach the pdf file to the shot of the image.
Like iCyte, Evernote worked with the databases--in fact, it could either just select specific portions, or grab the entire article, which was nice. If I opted to just grab sections of an article, I could separate them with a line tool, making it easy to distinguish among the sections, instead of having one long block of paragraphs.
Students doing multimedia projects would find this especially useful for keeping their material organized, and I'm thinking of my documentary makers here. They can collect all of their online research, use their smart phones to add B-roll images of documents or stills, as well as record audio interviews. Once all of this is synced onto their laptop Evernote app, it's draggable to be used in video editing software.
Of course, this is imminently usable for personal organization as well. Though I find all of management apps fall apart in one area for me: they assume I'm organized enough to put all that info in the app in the first place...which I'm usually not.
Having jumped on the iCyte wagon, I groaned inwardly on discovering Evernote. Another web-based notetaking app! But I must say, I like it. It straddles a fine line: more feature-rich than iCyte (and thus a bit less user-friendly) yet not as confusing as Diigo.
Moreover, it doesn't just store your data in the cloud. You can download a desktop app, a smart phone app, and they all sync with your online data, making your notebooks available wherever you are.
While that's very useful, I think the notebooks make Evernote the go-to app over, say, iCyte and Diigo. All three allow you to capture websites, make screen grabs, etc. Only Evernote allows you to sort them into folders or notebooks. While diehard social taggers consider folders so 20th century, most of us like the extray layer of organizaiton it allows.
Here's a screen-grab of the desktop application. In the upper right you can see I have three folders created, though currently it's showing all the material in all the folders. That includes photos taken with iSight, to do lists I created on the iPhone, as well as websites I visited and documented.
In the online version, you can see similar features. Here, I've selected the "renaissance" folder, and the screen shots of those websites appear.
Create a new text note (in rich-text format, I might add), and it can either be straight-forward text, in a clickable to do list format or a table. Though I must say, that function needs some work. To make a to do list, you have to go up to the icon and click it for every new line. VERY annoying and time-consuming. You ought to be able to click it once, and have the rest of the note in the selected format.
In edit mode, users can also attach files to documents. For example, if students took a screen shot of a painting, and they downloaded an article about that painting from a database, they could attach the pdf file to the shot of the image.
Like iCyte, Evernote worked with the databases--in fact, it could either just select specific portions, or grab the entire article, which was nice. If I opted to just grab sections of an article, I could separate them with a line tool, making it easy to distinguish among the sections, instead of having one long block of paragraphs.
Students doing multimedia projects would find this especially useful for keeping their material organized, and I'm thinking of my documentary makers here. They can collect all of their online research, use their smart phones to add B-roll images of documents or stills, as well as record audio interviews. Once all of this is synced onto their laptop Evernote app, it's draggable to be used in video editing software.
Of course, this is imminently usable for personal organization as well. Though I find all of management apps fall apart in one area for me: they assume I'm organized enough to put all that info in the app in the first place...which I'm usually not.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Coolest Thing Ever!
You definitely need to share this with your English teachers! Many Eyes is more than just a Wordle clone. While it works in a similar manner, it provides an option that's very useful for literary analysis.
I taught English--everything from 7th grade up to IB and AP--for twenty years before switching to the library, and one constant during those years was the students' difficulty in recognizing recurring patterns. Many Eyes offers a wonderful tool for helping students visualize these: the word tree.
Instead of just creating a word cloud, useful enough for analysis in its own way, Many Eyes allows users to generate a word tree, which shows the context where the word appears.
For example, I input the text from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"; the narrator repeatedly uses the phrase "but John says" (or something similar), demonstrating her submission to her husband's will over her own desires. Students often fail to note this on their initial reading.
Once I submitted the text, I typed the word "John" into the search box, generating the tree below:
The resultant tree allows students to focus on, for example, the forceful verbs, actions and attitudes related to John, and allow for great specificity when discussing his character.
Moreover, each of those trees is clickable, to focus on specific areas. I ran another test to examine the narrator, only known as "I." It generated quite the word tree...
..but I could focus specifically on the "don't" aspect of her thoughts.
Obviously, any word can be part of the search, so this would be excellent for symbols as well.
Of course, the big drawback is finding a digitized text; otherwise, you'd have to type it all in yourself. Also, be aware that whatever text is submitted, it remains public and available for others; thus, copyright becomes an issue.
I taught English--everything from 7th grade up to IB and AP--for twenty years before switching to the library, and one constant during those years was the students' difficulty in recognizing recurring patterns. Many Eyes offers a wonderful tool for helping students visualize these: the word tree.
Instead of just creating a word cloud, useful enough for analysis in its own way, Many Eyes allows users to generate a word tree, which shows the context where the word appears.
For example, I input the text from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"; the narrator repeatedly uses the phrase "but John says" (or something similar), demonstrating her submission to her husband's will over her own desires. Students often fail to note this on their initial reading.
Once I submitted the text, I typed the word "John" into the search box, generating the tree below:
The resultant tree allows students to focus on, for example, the forceful verbs, actions and attitudes related to John, and allow for great specificity when discussing his character.
Moreover, each of those trees is clickable, to focus on specific areas. I ran another test to examine the narrator, only known as "I." It generated quite the word tree...
..but I could focus specifically on the "don't" aspect of her thoughts.
Obviously, any word can be part of the search, so this would be excellent for symbols as well.
Of course, the big drawback is finding a digitized text; otherwise, you'd have to type it all in yourself. Also, be aware that whatever text is submitted, it remains public and available for others; thus, copyright becomes an issue.
Need an Idea: It's Free?
* 87 projects.
* 10 further resources.
* 52 applications.
* 94 contributors.
* The benefits of using Web 2.0 applications.
* The challenges of using Web 2.0 applications.
* How the folk who ran these projects handled the issues...
* ... And what they recommend you do if you run them.
* What were the learning outcomes?
* And did I mention that this is free?!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
JayCut: New and Improved!
Jaycut used to be my go-to tool for online video editing. It was WONDERFUL as an excuse-breaker for students when editing their video. No more "we can't get together" problems. But then it closed down.
Well, guess what? Jaycut's back, and better than ever with a sleek new design. The account is free, and once you've uploaded the video, allows simple editing. You can cut clips, add titles, transitions and audio with multiple tracks. It allows publishing either online or as a desktop download.
Here's a sample video I put together using their preset videos/audio, with a simple title in front and a dissolve about halfway through.
Well, guess what? Jaycut's back, and better than ever with a sleek new design. The account is free, and once you've uploaded the video, allows simple editing. You can cut clips, add titles, transitions and audio with multiple tracks. It allows publishing either online or as a desktop download.
Here's a sample video I put together using their preset videos/audio, with a simple title in front and a dissolve about halfway through.
Get Mischievous...
I'm torn on this one. Microsoft recently added a free tool for Power Point that basically functions like those expensive clicker sets that were all the rage a while back. The tool, Mouse Mischief, allows teachers to embed interactive quizzes into their presentations, theoretically making students more active participants in the learning process. The tool also allows teachers to build in quick checks for understanding.
You can access the eSchool News article here.
Since I'm torn on PP presentations, anyway--not very many people do them well (including me, I might add), and they tend to lead to rather deadly lists of points, as this recent article on their use in the military points out, and this classic blog post from Creating Passionate Users.
It could be interesting for simple gaming and reviews, especially for elementary-age students, but the types of responses it allows--yes/no, multiple choice--are definitely NOT the kinds of questions older students should be spending much time on. So, possibly useful for introductory stages, but not much beyond that?
Or, as I said, on those rare occasions when we have to resort to PP lectures, a good way to monitor students' attention!
UPDATE: Unfortunately, this only works with Windows. No Mac version. Grrrrr.....
You can access the eSchool News article here.
Since I'm torn on PP presentations, anyway--not very many people do them well (including me, I might add), and they tend to lead to rather deadly lists of points, as this recent article on their use in the military points out, and this classic blog post from Creating Passionate Users.
It could be interesting for simple gaming and reviews, especially for elementary-age students, but the types of responses it allows--yes/no, multiple choice--are definitely NOT the kinds of questions older students should be spending much time on. So, possibly useful for introductory stages, but not much beyond that?
Or, as I said, on those rare occasions when we have to resort to PP lectures, a good way to monitor students' attention!
UPDATE: Unfortunately, this only works with Windows. No Mac version. Grrrrr.....
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