Zenodotus

You Can Lead Someone to Knowledge

2010-06-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

This year I have been trying to get teacher's at two satellite "special education/alternative resource" schools to understand the value of a PLN (Personal Learning Network) and suggested at the beginning of the year that we set up a Ning so they could communicate with peers throughout the District, with the hope of expanding it to a GLN (Global Learning Network). I simply asked that they come up with the name and that I would set up the site and get the ball rolling. By January, I had 2 suggestions. [Insert sad face here]. Following the fallout of the Ning restructuring, I began investigating alternatives, namely Grouply and Grou.ps.

I sent out another request for names and with a little poking and proding, I got some great suggestions. We set up an online poll and the name chosen was Agents of Change! Brilliant! Well the group has been set up for a few weeks now and the first day or two people were active. Since last Friday...nothing [insert another sad face] .

Certainly I can continue to add content and continue to encourage the growth of this site, but I don't want it to be about me and my opinions. So, here is my plea to my own PLN and anyone reading this post for this matter: "If you are interested in helping grow a new online community whose focus is based primarily on Technology Use in Speacial Education, come join us and help me demonstrate what it means to be part of a personal learning network at http://grou.ps/agentsofchange/join " I can lead these teachers to a knowledge based PLN, but I can't demonstrate it's power without some interactivity. So even if you are involved in "mainstream" ed tech, please come and join us.

The world is a better place with you in it!

Climbing off my soapbox now....

Transitioning from Tyro to Techhead

2010-04-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

This week I am proud and honored to have a guest blogger at Zenodotus! Feel free to pause the Chris Lehmann video in the next post, so you can dedicate your full attention to Heather Mason's well written content below. Without futher delay:

When I signed up for this blog trade, I was very excited. I imagined that I would connect with another teacher struggling to make tech work in the regular classroom. Instead I got someone who actually knows what they are talking about. What could I possibly add to this conversation?

I can only add what I know. The connected classroom and the use of technology to help learning is not only for those that have knowledge and money. There are ways to incorporate it into all lessons at all levels. Technology isn’t the purpose of teaching, but it is a fantastic tool for getting kids involved in the learning. If you are just starting out, here is my advice to you. If you are a master and trying to get others on board, here is the advice that got me to start rethinking tech…maybe it will help you help others.

Start Small: One of my mistakes when I started to rethink how I worked with students was that I wanted to do everything with every class. Not easy when you don’t really know what you’re doing. Choose one class that you know will do the work and start with them. Next time add another, then another. You work the bugs out of your lessons, learn what students need to be taught (they aren’t as tech savvy as you would think), and figure out the ins and outs of the tool your using.

Pick something that works with what you already do. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was a truly integrated, inquiry based, super tech classroom. Pick a lesson you think you do well then find a way to tweak it using a tool you’ve learned. You’ll find your teaching will gradually start to change.

Look for tools that change how students interact with information or each other. Power point is a great example of what not to do. If you lecture, putting your lecture points on a Power Point doesn’t really change what you are doing or how students receive the information. But if you use on online chat tool in a class discussion, you change how the kids are talking about the lesson. By using digital bookmarking, you change how kids collect information.

Don’t miss the point. Tech use isn’t the point. What you are trying to teach, what kids should be able to do is the point. If you see a tool that is really, really cool and you are dying to try it, don’t create a lesson just for it. Save it until the right lesson comes along. Glogster is a fantastic tool for helping kids create multi-media web pages showing their research. However, much of what I teach asks students to create longer, more thoughtful pieces if writing and this tool doesn’t help with that. So I don’t use it. I do, however, use sites like Edmodo where I can facilitate a class discussion where all students talk, not just those with their hands up.

Explore To start, here are some sites I use…

Edmodo – Great for providing a safe chat room and link sharing for kids of all ages

Wallwisher- A sticky note page where students can add knowledge as they learn it. (Get some ideas here).

Glogster- I know I said I didn’t use it, but it is really cool and you might like it.

Twiducate – Another chat tool. Easy to set up, easy to use.

Delicious – Changes how teachers direct student research or reading as well has how students keep track of what they find.

And if you want to know more about me, visit my blog, Teacher in Transition, or find me on Twitter (hrmason).

Chris Lehmann at the #140Conf

2010-04-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to say anything other than every person in the world should see this (I'm sure I won't be able to resist a comentary eventually, but I want to digest it for a few days first):

P.S. Sorry for the video starting as soon as you open the site, I haven't figured out how to "hack" Ippio's code to disable the autoplay.

Ning News Rocks the EdTech Community

2010-04-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Edtech world was hit with what appears to amount to a magnitude 9 quake today with the announcement that Ning will be eliminating it's free service and laying off 40% of it's staff. Thanks to Lucy Gray (@elemenous) for providing my personal aftershock! When I read her tweet I nearly fell out of my chair!

In case you have been under a rock for the past few years, Ning has been the answer to Facebook in the educational sector. It enabled the average user to build a "safe" online community for free and with very little effort; a walled garden, if you will. Every conference I attended this year was abuzz about the possibilities that these DIY social networks provided. Classrooms could finally break down the walls that bind them and enlightening conversations could continue after the last bell rang. It appears that those days are over, at least when it comes to Ning.

There are alternatives and I'll get to those in just a bit. But before I do, I need to share some things that I am still digesting as the dust settles over the news.

First of all, I am extremely proud to be a member of the edtech community. We rallied today after the initial shock of loosing our free resource. There were some awesome conversations happening on Twitter, my favorite Personal Learning Network (PLN) tool. More importantly, panic did not set in as it did during the Wild Wordle Rumpus. Instead we came together and started discussing alternatives. Way to go!

Second, this reaffirmed a belief I have had for some time. Web 2.0 utilities are not about the tool; rather, they are about the skillset that we learn while using them. Will the alternatives I propose in a few moments be Ning? No. Will you already have the knowledge to create a new online community using a different tool? Yes! The web is full of possibilities and alternatives!

Next, I want to thank @budtheteacher for having the courage to state the following on Twitter: "Sometimes, I think teachers have a bit too strong of an inappropriate sense of entitlement. That's not so good." (click the link if you don't believe what you just read). A lot of us were thinking this, but didn't have the conviction to state it. Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE a good free tool and I have the utmost respect for educators worldwide. However, we sometimes become so invested in our find that we put the blinders on.  As I mentioned in previous posts a lot of exciting tools are available in Beta testing. But let's face it, money makes the world go round. Let's keep things in perspective. When a new food product is released, you may be lucky enough to get a free sample or two at your local grocery store, but expect to pay full boat the next time you want a taste. Am I wrong? That being said, I think Ning saw dollar signs and chopped off their nose to spite their face. A number of sites will allow Beta testers to be grandfathered in at no cost or at a reduced rate.   Hopefully, this will be exactly what happens when Ning realizes the value of the communities and the content that have already been built and added to the free structure.

Ning truly blindsided their users with this announcement and there is very little chance of finding a way to take the content created somewhere else. That's what makes this situation unique. With tools like Wordle or Twitter there are ways to create an escape plan. Not so with an online community full of valuable content. Ning has us over a barrel on this one. From what I understand there is a petition being created to save these sites. If that fails, I hope that members of sites like Classroom 2.0 (currently with 41,649 members) will be willing to pay a nominal fee for the upkeep of this community - I know I would!

Before I climb completely off my soapbox, there is one other thing that has been bothering me today (and this will likely loose me some followers and ignite the comments!) This also points to the sentiment of @budtheteacher's comment.  Society as a whole has no idea how to do research in cyberspace. Seriously folks, how hard is it to type "Alternatives to Ning" or "Building free private online communities" into Google, before running around screaming that the sky is falling!

With that off my chest let's get to the heart of the matter. What are some alternatives to Ning?

Under no circumstances do I endorse any of the following sites. These are merely suggestions that you may want to investigate.

Let's start with Flux. This is the closest thing I have found to Ning. Unfortunately, it is supported by advertising, I am not sure if they have a way to turn this off for educational sites. Designing the layout for the page is fairly intuitive and can include discussions, videos, photos, and blogs. While it has a great deal of administrative settings, I have yet to see a way to "lock the gate" so only invited members can join.

Offering number 2 is Groupsite. I have some experience with Groupsite back when it was known as CollectiveX.com It was a wonderful way to quickly build an online community and people who joined my site really seemed to like the sense of community. Groupsite does allow you to wall your garden, but is paid for by advertising - unless you opt for one of the paid plans. "This site is a private meeting place that provides members with a shared calendar, discussion forums, member profiles, photo gallery, file storage and more. We encourage you to upload your photo, complete your profile and participate!" There are number of configurable settings regarding how members can interact. However, the add-ins are fairly limited.

Jinity appears to be more of a forum than a social networking site. It is VERY slow and not very "pretty." While it does allow for blogging and some other basic social network functions, it just feels "clunky". Additionally, there does not appear to make the site private. I'd personally shy away from this one.

Let's travel "across the pond" and look at Mixx. Another site that comes close to our old friend Ning. You can lock down the community which allows for Blogs, Videos, Forums, Images, Groups, Wikis, Events, Files, Content Management and News. The most difficult thing about setting up this site is the language barrier. Sometimes the controls appear in Geman or Dutch which can be interesting. But it is an interesting alternative.

Simply because I'm running out of steam for the evening. The last site I want to suggest is Wetpaint. We have been using this successfully at my district for some time. While it is more a Wiki than an online community, it does serve the purpose of an online content management service. Users can work collaboratively to create an end project. There are a number of modules that can be added to make your site as customized as you like. You can definitely choose who has control to join and make changes with Wetpaint. In my opinion, a wiki is much more powerful than a Ning anyway!

Earlier I discovered SocialGo for the first time. It's amazing what you find when you are looking for it! This site is impressive! With paid and free options (each appear to be ad free), the ability to keep out unwanted users and a myriad of administrative tools this site is among the most promising of Ning alternatives. Beyond the base features there is a widget and theme store.  Certainly worth a look.

Incidentally, as I have been writing this post over the past two hours, I have signed up for a new account at each of these sites. Just to be able to refresh my memory and do a quick feature review. If it's that easy to sign up and get started, any of the options have possibilities.

If you are still looking for more options take a look at "34 More Ways to Build Your Own Social Network" by TechCrunch. Or even a Google Doc put together in the heat of the moment by scrambling EdTechGeeks that I discovered via Twitter user @courosa

Finally, if you have any experience with programming there is a surefire way to never loose your social network again and that is to build your own. The Vivalogo list of the Top 40 Free Downloadable Open Source Social Networking Softwares will give you a great head start on creating a site that you have complete control over. A number of these sites will provide server side hosting so that you do not have to maintain a dedicated server at you school or district. Of the 40 listed sites, my personal favorite is PHPizabi.  I had some wonderful experiences with this tool a few years back and am certain that it has improved since then.

No matter what option you choose, don't be afraid to continue to communicate and collaborate online. The internet is growing and changing rapidly. be proud that you are willing to be a digital pioneer and don't get discouraged when your favorite tool changes. Remember you have the skill set to work with alternatives!

Ever have one of those days?

2010-03-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

I've been reflecting a lot on my life recently. I've done a lot in my short time on this ever evolving rapidly spinning planet. Yet, as fast as the world is turning sometimes my brain does not want to keep up. Last year I had an idea. O.K., I had lot's of ideas: Podcasting from my car, live reviews of web resources on Webtopia.tv and a little project I called Digital Decompression where professionals in education and technology could come and discuss the weeks events, share findings or just vent.

I have revisited the idea of a Podcast from the car and have decided, I don't like the end result. Because I have to concentrate on driving, trying to piece together my thoughts just didn't work well and I'd end up with a mismash of information that I would spend the majority of my Friday evening editing down to a 30 - 40 minute podcast. Not to mention I was putting too much pressure on myself to get an episode a week done. While they turned out "OK", (hear for yourself at http://drivetime.podomatic.com/) the idea just never got into "overdrive" - oh that was just bad. Besides, it appears that one of my esteemed colleagues Kevin Honeycutt had a similar idea with "Driving Questions in Education" but it seems he also realized that recording a podcast on the run may not be such a good idea and it turned into an exciting forum for interviewing leaders in ed-tech! Way to go Kevin, I've enjoyed these! We'll see what happens, I may still occasionally record a podcast at 55 mph, but it won't be weekly.

Webtopia.tv will soon be making a triumphant return (perhaps as early as this weekend). I have a passion for finding ways to incorporate cloud technology into educational settings and that's what Webtopia is all about.

And finally there's Digital Decompression, the true point of this post. Digital Decompression was an idea I had that would allow Ed Geeks from around the world to get together and discuss their latest failures, findings, and trumphs. After all, these are the components that make us who we are. I found that the debate rooms provided for free at Stickam.com provide an opportunity for up to 6 individuals to be featured using a webcam and up to 1000 participants to join the chat. I spent months advertising and hosting the event, but only had one successful session that included all of 5 people. Most of the time, I sat by myself in the session, waiting for someone to join me. Of course this was before Twitter allowed me to build my incredibly strong PLN full of people willing to share ideas and hold discussions online. I'm hoping that I can cajole the likes of @jenwagner, @stevekatz, @kevinhoneycutt, @Luke1946, @vanishingpoint, @ijohnpederson, etc...into joining me in Digital Decompression. Like the way I name dropped there?! :-)

More to come on this in the future! Hopefully the Digital Decompression will return next week!

The Wild Wordle Rumpus

2010-03-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

Something I've been meaning to post about, also happened this past Saturday night. While the whole @Biodome10 fiasco was going down there was a simultaneous meltdown occuring within my PLN on Twitter.

Apparently, for a brief moment in time Wordle disappeared. If you are unfamiliar with Wordle, you can take any written content and Wordle will create a "pretty tag cloud" of your words. This is absolutely a fantastic tool and I don't mean to lessen it's importance to visual literacy in any way, shape or form.
That being said, I am glad that Jonathan Feinberg after having "received an email concerning a perceived trademark infringement on the part of the Wordle web site. In the spirit of 'better safe than sorry', ... took the site down..." The reason I'm glad this happened (this may upset some people - but hear me out) is simply because it showed us that the wonderful world of Web 2.0 is an ever evolving universe. Sites can suddenly go supernova and just as quickly vanish. Too often we in education and technology latch onto a new tool and claim it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is always important to hold onto just a bit of skepticism. Fortunately, my PLN suddenly rose above the fray and immediately started sharing alternatives to Wordle:

Worditout.com
Clusty Cloud Creator
ABCya
Tagul
and my personal favorite Wordsift from Stanford University (That not only builds a cloud but performs searches from the cloud, creates a visual thesaurus and a host of other information based on the cloud)

Bravo, PLN you proved that you are not Lemmings and that you can adjust and adapt after loosing your right arm! After the shock set in - the feelers went out and in minutes educators were building tag clouds again. We're they as pretty? Maybe not. Were they as powerful? Absolutely!

Another example happened to me a few months ago as I was trying to convince someone to move their bookmarks online and start storing them in a delicious account. Well guess what? Delicious is still free and is still owned by Yahoo, but now you have to have a free Yahoo account to sign up! A small price to pay in my humble opinion for such a powerful tool, but for some it isn't worth the hassle. OK, alternatives? Diigo, Clipmarks, Ma.gnolia and Stumbleupon are just a few.

My point is this: We all like free. But nothing in life is truly free. So many of these great Web 2.0 and now Web 3.0 apps are in Beta testing. By definition Beta means volatility! The cloud is the new Wild West of the World Wide Web and people will want to make a profit. They may come up with an amazing new application, invite you to Beta test it and suddenly six months later they go Alpha and that great utility is suddenly costing you $50 a year to use.

But if your smart (which I'm sure you are), you will learn the skills needed to use the tools. This way you can quickly jump ship and immediately begin using the alternative free tools that just went Beta! So, the price you pay to stay ahead of the curve is a little bit of knowledge. Not a bad trade off!

This post may be edited later, since I am going on a few hours sleep and do indeed feel I am rambling at the moment.

A Hideous Display of Abusing Social Networking

2010-02-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

Normally, the posts that I write here at Zenodotus.net are all about Education and Technology. Occasionally I diverge from this and hop up on my soapbox. This post will start out that way and make it's way full circle (or not). You see, I'm angry.

Last night I was at a neighbor's house for his daughter's birthday party. While everyone else was watching Olympic coverage, I decided to check my Blackberry to see what my PLN (Personal Learning Network) was talking about on Twitter. I happened to notice one RT (re-tweet) in particular that sent chills through my body: (I will be using screenshots and hyperlinks them at this point to illustrate and prove that this really happened - pay particular attention to the time stamps)
My friend @jswiatek sent out the following post::

http://twitter.com/jswiatek/status/9753452948

I wrote Jerry back and said if this is not a hoax, it really shows how powerful a tool Twitter can be. You see, for the past few months I have been presenting at Educational Technology Conferences about the power of Twitter. At the same time of course, I was hoping that no one was truly in this situation, but just in case I Re-Tweeted it as well:

http://twitter.com/JMGubbins/status/9753789122

At this point I started feeling helpless. Who do I contact to get help to that address? The host of the party suggested CNN and I thought that was a good idea, but I wanted to be sure before contacting a major news network. So I excused myself and walked back to my house to do some research. On the way I sent the following messages:

http://twitter.com/JMGubbins/status/9754272365

http://twitter.com/JMGubbins/status/9754352833

Once I was in front of a computer, it was time to research. The first thing I did was look at @biodome10's profile: http://twitter.com//biodome10

As I am reading, the posts don't look good and the situation looks grim. So now to find out more about @biodome10. Does he live in Chile? What is he doing there? The tweets a few hours earlier seemed pretty normal. So, I did a Google search for @biodome10 and the word hoax. Imagine my surprise, when I came across the headline "Tweet Cheat: Fake Reporter Sparks Controversy" (click the link to read the article) regarding a controversy @biodome10 was involved in reporting Chris Henry's death before it happened.
Basically the report stated "At around 5 p.m., on an account with Fraley's name, photograph, and a link to the DMN Web site, Twitter user @BioDome10 released a series of tweets that claimed that Henry died. At the time, Henry was battling for his life at a North Carolina hospital, and wouldn't die for another 12 hours."'
OK, so what is going on here? Gerry Fraley is a reporter for the Dallas Morning News? Let's see what he looks like. Time for another Google search, this time for Gerry Fraley video which turned up this link. http://tinyurl.com/yelt57w Yup, sure looks like @biodome10 's avatar and more and more like a hoax. But, what if he was on vacation or visiting a daughter he claimed to be trapped with. At this point it was time to get off the web and make a personal contact. I looked up the Dallas Morning News and found their contact number as 214-977-8222 and called. Meanwhile, I also sent this tweet to keep my Twitter friend @jswiatek informed of what I am finding (of course by including @biodome10 whoever this is will see it as well):

http://twitter.com/JMGubbins/status/9755007326

A few minutes later, I'm on the phone with the receptionist at DMN, I ask for some information on Gerry Fraley and get patched though to another department. I explain the situation to this individual and ask if Mr. Fraley is on assignment in Chile, who after a brief pause connects me to the sports department. The sports department seems a bit shocked that one of their reporters is buried under the rubble in Chile and assure me that he is safe and sound. I explain that I was just a concerned citizen and expressed that someone should look into Mr. Fraley's conduct. The person I was speaking with rather quickly came to the conclusion that the account must have been hacked (funny, since the reports I was reading all said it was an impostor). At any rate, I asked that they look into it and if this did turn out to be some kind of sick joke suggested that he be brought up on some kind of disciplinary actions. I was again assured that "Frails" would never do such a thing. Before I hung up the phone, I noticed that during the time I was being shuffled around DMN @biodome10 was miraculously rescued approximately 1 minute after I called him out! I let the gentleman from DMN know he was indeed safe and sound right after I called his bluff and hung up the phone:

http://twitter.com/Biodome10/status/9755068214

Now, what can be learned from this? Certainly, don't believe everything you read on Twitter or anywhere on the web for that matter. As far as @biodome10 is concerned you are a very sick individual. Whether you are an imposter pretending to be Mr. Fraley, a hacker who decided this would be a good joke or it is indeed Gerry Fraley, you have a very serious problem and should be brought up on some form of charges. What if authorities had responded to that address and others died as they were wasting time?

Second, I am certainly not sure what to believe. It was indeed a hoax (just not sure who perpetrated it), because although @biodome10 continued for a few hours to play off that he had been rescued in Chile, his most recent tweets only a few hours later are back to being sports related:

http://twitter.com/Biodome10/status/9795127900

Next, I believe I just proved what it means to be a responsible Digital Citizen. Before believing everything that appears on your browser or cell phone, do your homework. As you can see from start to finish it only took about an hour to expose this hoax. Meanwhile, all of @biodome10s followers are freaking out thinking he's buried and dying. A search on Tweetag.com now shows that the hoax has been exposed for what it is, but last night was a different story. Hopefully, this is the educational lesson that you can share with your students.

Climbing down off my soapbox now!

Too Much on the Brain

2010-01-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

Until a member of the Generation XYZ crowd invents a cloning machine, we will all likely continue to have too many pokers in the fire. In my case, it includes the following list of things I need to do just this weekend:

Blog a review of FETC (now that I have finally decompressed) - you will find that review on this blog hopefully by Sunday evening
Write a blog post about the staggering research regarding how much time kids today are "plugged in".
Write a blog post about staying motivated and inspired. One of the teacher's I follow on Twitter has been having difficulty with this and I have some ideas on the matter.
Contact a number of presenters at FETC who asked me for more information about specific websites and utilities. Including, Airset ( a desktop in the cloud), Sceenr (a Twitter API that allows you to perform screencaptures and download them as an MP4 file - unlike Jing) and Microsoft Tag (an app that allows you to link traditional media to digital )
Offload Dr. Disk's Drive Time from my Blackberry, perform post-production and upload it to Podomatic (it's already a week late)
Work on a presentation for my districts new implementation of Google Apps
Start brainstorming ideas for next years conferences (those calls for presenters will start sooner than you think) - some of my general ideas include using cell phones as a classroom tool, dealing with "disruptive technology", how current culture inspires the tech of the future, digital citizenship and maybe something on walled gardens
I have to make a Best Buy run to get some cables and return some items
Clean my home studio so I can start producing Webtopia.tv again (my weekly live broadcast covering some exciting new web 2.0 app)
Backup and synch my ITunes library to an external drive
Continue to work on the book I've been inspired to write
Somehow find time to sleep and have a little fun

Whatever happened to weekends?

We'll I got the stuff in green completed. Only a third of what I wanted to accomplish, but at least it's something.

Another New Project

2010-01-09T20:10:00.000-08:00

So, the new year is upon us and resolutions abound. A lot of folks have started working on a 365 project that can be found at: http://365project.org/ which "aims to collect photos documenting 1 year of your life. We want to build a picture of the little day to day things that make your life so special and unique. Everyone can take part and join in! All you need is a camera." Since I didn't find out about it until after it had already started for 2k10, I decided it was time to rekindle a project I actually started last year. Basically, it's a podcast created from the seat of my car and recorded to my blackberry using a hands free microphone. The sound quality isn't great but if your interested it can be found at: http://drivetime.podOmatic.com It is a work in progress and the first episode wasn't great (in fact I think I suggested that Y2K ended on January 31st, silly me - but give me somewhat of a break I was driving at the time!). I expect it will continue to improve ove the course of the year! Any suggestions would certainly be appreciated, do give a listen and let me know what you think.

Some Thoughts Before Ringing in the Next Decade

2009-12-31T19:14:00.000-08:00

Here we are just minutes from closing the first decade of the 21st century! I am a big fan of the Terminator movies. Have been since the last century! Since the kids came along, getting to the theater has been near impossible. So I missed the most recent installment "Terminator: Salvation", until tonight.
Every year for Christmas I buy the house some exciting new entertainment for the family. A few years ago it was a DVD Burner with a VCR deck, then came the Wii, last year was a bit tough economically; but, I was still able to squeeze in a Flip camera. Two days before Christmas this year, I saw an add for an Insignia Blu-Ray player that had Wi-Fi at an incredible price and snatched the last one off the shelf. OK, that's a long way to go to get to the fact that I just watched "Terminator Salvation" on Blu-Ray, but there it is.
Now what on earth does the Terminator series have to do with education and technology (the driving force of this blog)? Glad you asked. I was actually highly disappointed in the movie. Oh sure, there were plenty of explosions and cool looking futuristic weapons. But the plot was very dark, almost non-existent and depressing. But here's it's saving grace. When we look at movies like this (Minority Report is another good example), we begin to realize that Michael Wesch, the self-proclaimed Digital Ethnography, was astutely correct in his now famous YouTube video "The Machine is Us/ing Us" (which incidentally could not have occurred until the 21st century since YouTube did not exist until 2005!)
Every time I see this video I have a different idea of what it's really about. However in this final version I think I finally get that what Michael is getting at (and correct me if I'm wrong Professor Wesch - I would love to hear from you): We as human beings, have become humans doing and as such have developed and continued to improve upon ways to ways to communicate and share information. And over the course of the past 20 years or so, the internet has become a tool for the masses. It is no longer for the geek in his basement with an analog modem connecting to the "internet" to play their favorite MUD (that's geek speek for multi-user dungeon role-playing game). And in fact, what we have developed is a user friendly environment that encourages social collaboration without having to have the technical skills to develop the sites needed for the sharing of information. In fact what we have been doing for the past decade is adding more and more information to the cloud and developing vast databases of valuable information. This will eventually lead us to what Sir Tim Berners-Lee (the realfather of the internet as we know it today) refers too as the Semantic Web - that's web 3.0 to you and me. The linking of data that will make it even easier to analyze and collaborate on a global scale.
OK, so that's a lot of rambling and a ton of information to digest in getting to a very small yet indelible point: the machine is indeed using us, but I don't think Skynet and it's Terminators are going to be coming for us anytime soon, because we still have free will. We are able to create amazing new technologies that enable the betterment of our lives. And when you consider the fact that even though countries around the world have the ability to wipe each other completely off the map, the simple fact remains that deep down beneath it all we have an inherint need to survive, to live and to thrive as a global community.
I'm sure in the next few days I will post a decade in review and a look to the future, but until then may the new year bring you peace, harmony and good fortune! Happy 2010 everyone!

Something doesn't taste quite right at Delicious

2009-12-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

First, a little history lesson. The Social Bookmarking giant Delicious has been around in some form or another since 2003. Originally, Joshua Schachter of memepoo l fame created a personal linkblog called Muxway. This site quickly grew into what became del.icio.us in 2003. By 2005 Schacter was working on the project full time and by the end of that year had sold out to Yahoo for an undisclosed sum (although according to Business 2.0 that sum was upwards of $30 million with Schacter netting about half that). OK, all well and good. Bravo for Joshua!
For some years, Delicious continued to function in much the same manner that it had since it's inception. You were able to share your bookmarks with the world and have anytime/anywhere acesss to your favorite links. No fear of a hard drive crash wiping out years of research, no worries about being able to find a link away from the office and best of all you could now easily share relevant information with colleagues. With Yahoo being the backbone of the new Delicious things continued to get better as features became more robust. I have been a Delicious user for some time and particularly in the last few years. In fact, whenever I see someone using browser bookmarks I have fully encouraged them to use Delicious. That is, until the last few months.
What has changed you asked. Well as with most things in the Web 2.0 universe, eventually even free has a price. Much to my amazement, a few months ago I was helping someone sign up for a Delicious account when Yahoo reared it's somewhat ugly head and asked for your username and password. Say what?! Since when did you need a Yahoo account to sign up for Delicious? Well, it had to happen eventually. Now when I suggest Delicious as an alternative to static bookmarking, I have to use the caveat that you must also sign up for a Yahoo account. And while a Yahoo account is free (and I have a few myself) this deters a number of people from signing up to use the social bookmarking service and that's a shame.
If you already had a delcious account, fear not dear reader you are grandfathered in and all your old links are still there. Just sign in the way you always have in the past.
So why am I blogging about this? Who cares? You ask. The cynic in me is questioning Yahoo's motives for this move. How long will it be before our precious research and links are held hostage by a change in the Yahoo TOS (Terms of Service). Will there be a fee? Will we eventually have to have a Yahoo account to get our information. Will they pull a "Facebook" and make all our private information public? Who knows? But you should care!
So what is a social bookmarker to do? Well, I would start looking for another resource to backup my Delicious information (Diigo, Blogmarks.net or Faves). Better yet why not upload to all your Social bookmarking locations at once using something like SocialMarker? That way all your links have been cross-referenced and saved across cyberspace.
While Yahoo has left a bad taste in my mouth, I don't plan to stop using or encouraging the use of Delicious, however I will have a backup plan if Delicious decides to try and start using me!

Been a While

2009-11-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a while since my last post! I do try to avoid cluttering this blog with needless ramblings. At any rate, I've just returned from IETC (The Illinois Education and Technology conference) where I was a first time presenter and boy am I exhausted. I love educational/technology conferences and getting to learn and share new things with my colleagues, but tend to get about 4 hours of sleep over the course of three days.

Incidentally, if you'd like to see what I presented on, you can. Here and here.

While I may be physically wiped out, my emotional state is fully charged and my soul is re-enrgized. I had been a nervous wreck in the weeks leading to the conference. Were my presentations ready? Were they informative enough? Would I stumble through my presentations and leave session attendees feeling empty? Truly the stuff of nightmares. But as usual, I overcomplicate things and over-prepare to avoid failure and everything worked out in the end. Funny how we can add undue stress to our lives isn't it? I'm already thinking about FETC (Florida Education Technology Conference) in January, ICE in February and IETC 2010. The ideas are churning away in the brain.

Meanwhile, I will be blogging and reflecting over the next few days and with the long holiday weekend rapidly approaching plan to re-launch the webtopia.tv project I began over the summer. I'm even considering authoring a book over the next year on the power technology can have in the classroom. Stay turned!

When You Know Social Networking Has Made It's Mark!

2009-08-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, Twitter experience a major Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This basically shut the service down completely and many of the third-party clients also experienced difficulties. As of this morning, I was still having difficulty accessing the website. Why did this happen? According to the New York Times:

"Attackers, who are reportedly trying to silence a political blogger from the republic of Georgia, continue to send data requests to Twitter at many times the level the site typically handles, according to NTT America, Twitter’s network provider. NTT has been able to identify and filter out the attack traffic so legitimate users can get through, said Kazuhiro Gomi, NTT America’s chief technology officer."

You can read the full article here.

So, unlike China who has recently blocked access to social networking sites, apparently Russia does not have the ability to do this and must resort to hacking tactics to prevent it's people from communicating via social networking tools.

You know a Social Networking tool has become powerful and viable once entire countries are trying to keep it's people from using the service! It would seem the "Cold War" is now officially over and the digital war is upon us. The battlefields have yet to be clearly drawn, but one government after another is quickly realizing the power of the internet as a social communication and collaboration medium.

Another aspect of how powerful Social Networking has become is how co-dependent we have already become on it's use. When, I was unable to get into Twitter this morning, I literally began to feel my anxiety and bloodpressure rise. I wasn't sure if it was my network, or the DoS still causing problems. The frustration of not being able to connect with my peers on Twitter, was not only dishearting but made me feel completely disconnected!

It's simply amazing how quickly the tools of the 21st century have become ingrained into our everyday lives.

The World Continues to Shrink

2009-06-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, I began a new endeavor called Webtopia. Webtopia is a weekly series on UStream that investigates and demonstrates live new and exciting Web 2.0 applications. You can find it every Sunday at 1:00 PM on: http://ustream.tv/channel/webtopia If you happen to miss a session, you can visit the site at any time and view old episodes.

Now why you ask, would I start such a show? Well the answer is simple. As the world of technology expands and new sites crop up (sometimes hundreds a day), it gets harder to find the sites that make a difference. On Webtopia, I add some clarity to the sometimes dark cloud of the web for folks who are afraid to jump right into the deep end! I guide you through the process of signing up, setting up your profile and getting into the nuts and bolts of how to use the sites with specific examples of how they can be used in an educational setting.

OK, so now that you have the background. Let me share an amazing story!

Just before I went live I tweeted that I would be reviewing two websites on the first episode: Start.io and Mapvivo.com (incidentally you can follow me @JMGUBBINS on Twitter). Within hours after the episode aired, I received an e-mail from Peter Vidani who works for Tumblr (one of my favorite applications on the web - though I haven't used it much lately) and is a co-founder of Start.io! First off, let me say that I was thrilled to have a developer of the site I had reviewed interested in my project. Second, he was kind enough to point out that some of the difficulties I was having may have been do to Internet Explorer. And I couldn't agree more. Whilst IE is not my browser of choice, it is what most of my users are comfortable with, so it is what it is.
Part of being an educator is learning to roll with some difficulties. As I often preach, "Technology is a mindset, not a skillset!" So, I went to bed last night thinking "that was cool" and feeling like I was swiming in the deep end of the tech pool!
Well, I almost drowned this morning when I opened my g-mail and found a message from Tom Sieroń one of the co-founders of Mapvivo! After coming up for air, I re-read the e-mail and wqas pleased that he was happy with my review. Again, I had a bit of difficulty. This time with my my registration and came to find out that Tom noticed I forgot part of my own e-mail address (I'm such a nerd). Anyway, he expressed his appreciation for my review, insight on educational applications and was kind enough to share that they are currently working on edu.mapvivo.com! Wow! If this doesn't make a ed tech geeks day nothing does!

So lessons learned from Episode 1 of Webtopia?

It may be time to buy a better method for screencasting. Currently I use a combination of ManyCam and SuperWebcam. It seems to be ok, but the actual how comes out extremely pixelated. Could also be my upstream connection...but I need to make the show better if it's going to be a success (so far I have had 23 viewers of the first episode!)
I think the show will need to be just a little less "off the cuff". While it's fine to make small blunders when you are sharing with a small audience, once developers are paying attention you don't want to be making foolish mistakes. Had I signed up for an account the night before the Mapvivo portion may have gone a little smoother. Kinda like the cooking shows where they already have a finished product to pull out of the oven 10 seconds after they are set to 450 degrees
Finally, the world is shrinking. One tweet about a new show and the developers of the sites being reviewed are all over it. Again demonstrating the power of social networking and collaboration. And while webtopia is not yet viral, I am well on my way!

On a personal level, I would like to state my appreciation once again to Peter Vidani and Tom Sieroń for making this Ed Tech Geek feel like a slightly bigger fish in an ever increasing (yet somehow shrinking) pond!

Beyond the Pale

2009-05-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very busy adrenaline filled day for this ed tech geek: Meetings, Challenges and Approvals. So much so that I began reflecting on the roads I have traveled thus far on this weary journey called life.

The friends I had in high school and college who are starting to return to me through Social Networks like Facebook. Just a few years ago I was struggling to embrace Social Networking as an educational tool. Until I started to realize that it was a valuable collaboration and communication resource.

In college I was an elementary education and psychology major; but used too much technology in my lesson plans, according to the powers that were. So student teaching never happened for me and now I am committed to the 21st Century philosophies on education and technology.

Most recently, I faced the challenge of unemployment and had to decide whether to say in the education sector or go make some real money in the "real world". Until I came to realize that Ed Tech is the real world. It's the future.

Most importantly, I have found that I seem to live outside the status quo. I don't "conform to the norm". I don't accept the norm and I try to live "Beyond the Pale". I believe that no matter how long you have been on the planet it is never too late to change your ways and learn new things. I may act a little "different" sometimes and realize I can seem a little eccentric, but I'm comfortable in my own skin.

I realize there are barriers and aversions to technology that have been built over the course of time and have developed out of antiquated pedagogies (which when they were designed to fit the model of the society in which we lived). And I typically take this as my personal quest in life to help people mitigate and break these barriers. And today I saw the following graphic while looking for a graphic of a fork in the road for a totally different project and it put everything in prospective for me.

We have a choice as educational technologists, educators and digital citizens in the 21st century. We can take the comfortable road of conformity and continue with the status quo until it all breaks down or we can go "beyond the pale" together and break through to a new world of communication, collaboration and learning. Bridging the technology and achievement gaps that have grown as our society continues to expand and diversify. That's the challenge I issue you today (on two hours sleep) will you breakdown or breakthrough?

Something New

2009-05-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since my last post, and I typically reserve this site for the philosophy of ed-tech rather than the technical hub-bub, that can easily bore the non-geek. However, take a moment to scroll down to the bottom of the page at 7:40 am Central Time on Wednesday, May 6th 2009 and you will be in for what I hope is a treat. I am presetning at the Alternative Resource Center in Morton Grove, IL tomorrow on the use of social bookmarking. The treat is that if you like, you can attend as well no matter where in the world you are! That's because I have embeded both my UStream.TV feed and my Sliderocket presentation at the bottom of the page. You can easily follow the presentation by clicking on presentation each time you see the green mouse icon appear on the UStream broadcast. This is a rather grand experiment in which that I hope you will be able to participate. If all goes well, this type of remote broadcasting may have far reaching implications. Hope to see you in the morning!

Wi-Fi: The New Deal for the 21st Century

2009-02-25T07:40:00.000-08:00

After listening to Barack Obama's address last evening, my blood was boiling. Listening to his initiatives to stimulate our economy sounded to me like noting more than rehashed rhetoric from the Roosevelt Era. Working on building roads and infrastructure, creating windfarms, etc. At some point I actually turned to my wife and said "Listen to Don Quixote tilting at windmills" In a Twitterpoll about his speech last night, I gave it a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. And this morning when told I brought down the average, I responded that "I am not yet drinking the 'Yes We Can' Kool-Aid." And then the following happened and changed my whole prespective.

Whilst, finally, listening to a Keynote given by David Warlick that I had saved to my desktop many moons ago I heard him mention that South Korea already has broadband in every home that is faster than most o the US connections. He went on to further state that Macedonia is completely wireless. Not a city, not a town, an entire country! That got me researching and sure enough according to USA Today: "Macedonia may be the world's first all-wireless Internet country, where Internet access is available to virtually anyone with a wireless-enabled computer. "

Now granted from what I gathered the infrastructure is not free to the citizens. To use the system users must purchase a phone-type card that allows access for a set ammount of time. Also, Macedonia is 9,779 sq mi, which is roughly about the size of metro area of Chicago (10,874 sq mi) and has nearly the same population. And there have been plenty of major us cities that have tried to provide such a network and failed: Hartford, CT (due to cost and technical issues) , Philadelphia, PA (Due to Earthlink bailing out of the project) and St. Louis Park, Minnesota (who is currently in a law-suit with Arinc over the failure) to name a few.

But my point is simply this, President Obama, while your head is in the clouds and your attitude is still "Yes We Can," perhaps the solution is right around you - "In the Cloud" as it were (sorry for the analogy...I am a network engineer at heart!) With layoffs at Microsoft, Motorola, and a multitude of other technology hubs across this great country it may be a good idea to create a collective technology braintrust that can seed the cloud and create a true information superhighway to which everyone can hitch a ride! Placing a shovel in the hands of a white collar worker to build a bridge at minimum wage is not likely to do much good. But perhaps, creating a new infrastructure for the 21st century built of clouds would create the benefit all sides. It's an initiative you may wish to consider.

Survey Results

2008-12-11T07:09:00.000-08:00

Recently my District conducted a technology survey targeting the students. The final question was: "What is your best advice to your school for advancing technology in the next 3-4 years?" Of the 992 responses one keeps ringing in my head: "Don't overdo it, because many parents today are still technologically impaired." It's a fact all of us in technology are aware of, but occasionally need a reminder such as this! It's a component of the Digital Divide that is often overlooked. The dreaded generation gap.

I have sat in sessions with affluent parents attending workshops on the "dangers of the internet". Many are agast and agog at what there children are able to find out there in cyberspace. The initial response is generally to want to yank the connection. I must admit that this was my intial responses as well. Blocking and filtering to protect the student from the sewers on the information superhighway. My opinion has changed somewhat. Now I am of the mindset that it is vital that we teach our students to be responsible digital citizens. But how do we do that, if Mom and Dad haven't a clue?

So how do we close the generation gap? It is my humble opinion that it starts with the most basic of communication and observation skills. Ask your child for help! Believe it or not they may have experiences that you don't! Watch what they are doing online. Ask them what interests them. Have them show you how to use the tools that you are paying for!

In a recent post, I mentioned a class that was provided for parents to train and introduce them to school resources. There are often classes at the local high school, community college, library or park district on how to leverage the power of technology. Take advantage of these typically free resources. You can make a difference in your child's life by making a difference in yours! Don't be afraid to try new things. You're likely not going to "break" your computer and if you do your child will likely no how to fix it!

Shameless Plug

2008-11-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

Dateline Friday, 11/28/2008
Tonight I will be hosting another Digital Decompression session. This is a weekly online event for those passionate about technology and education to come and discuss how tech tools are being used in the classroom. The last one failed miserably. But Rome wasn't built in a day, how can an online discussion group? At any rate, if you have a few moments please do stop by at 8:00 pm CDT. To find the discussion simply point your browser to Stickam.com find the Group Chat button and select Debate Rooms. Once there, click on Digital Decompression. Hope to see you there!

Elementary Parent University

2008-11-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I missed it! My oldest will be in kindergarten next year (how time flies). At any rate I just got home from IETC and my wife says, "I wanted to show you something before I threw it away." The "something" was a flyer from my local school district informing us that they will be hosting a Parent University to familiarize parents with tools the students are already using, including "Study Island, My Access and Custom typing" It's amazing because I just got back from T+L (Tech and Learning in Seattle) a few weeks ago and got my first look at some of these programs on the vendor floor.

So now, I'm excited to see them in action. And providing parents with some hands on experience not only is exciting, it's a key step to bridging the digital divide and catching the digital immigrants up to speed. Additionally, I just got back from IETC in Springfield. And one of the sessions I saw today was by Robert Small from District 211 on bridging the digital divide. And if I'm not mistaken (should probably check my notes) one of the programs he spoke about was exactly this: Bring the parents and the community to the school for training.

So now I'm really excited! Everything seems to be going my way, until I look at the date of the event: November 17th, 2008. That was last Monday. I'm so busy driving the information superhighway, I'm not paying attention to my small little piece of terra firma! Bummer. Time to find the Technology Director at the district and start hoping another date will be offered in the near future.

The Death of the Digital Native

2008-11-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking a great deal about my recent experience at T+L in Seattle. In Particular I was stuck by a comment made by Tim Tyson: "Being a Digital Native does not equate to digital literacy." Within that same breath, I recall the forcaster, Paul Saffo, guiding a thought process that I don't think reached fruition. Mr. Saffo talked about how the industrial age gave way to the consumer age which gave way to the digital age and the birth of the digital native. And now the digital age is giving way to the "Media Age." All this in the span of one Century!

Let's put some of this in perspective, shall we? Can you believe that Myspace has only been in existance for five years? Has it really only been 5 years since the social revolution that is web 2.0 went supernova? Sure their has been ICQ, Instant Messanger and even online communities brought to you by Compuserve, you remember Compuserve don't you, but the explosion happened in 2003! Yes, 2003!

Don't believe how quickly things have changed? Watch this video on the birth of the internet:

And so, I am thinking, perhaps rambling as I gather my thoughts to come to some conclusion.

Today I listened to an early podcast from David Warlick. During a discussion with educators, David asked the question: "What will the classroom look like in the year 2015?" One response sent a "shudder up his spine" and chills up mine. The comment refered to a "media native." It made it clear to me that we are no longer dealing with students who know how to use technology, we are dealing with students who are creating the technology! The Digital Native is already dead, and like a phoenix from the ashes a "Media Native" has emerged. This is why it is vital to break the walls and empower studnts. They are the new creators and inventors. Our job as responsible adults should be to step back and facilitate the natural learning, collaboration and authentic assessment that is occuring before our eyes! Our responsibility is to teach responsibility. To teach students ethical habbits and critical analysis will give them the tools to change the world!

Embrace a Media Native today!

On a sidenote, I'd like to welcome you to a new project I am working on for leaders in education and technology. The project is called Digital Decompression! Every Friday evening, I will be hosting a Stickcam conference for all of us involved in educational technology to gather and discuss the weeks events using the new Beta technology available at Stickam.com. Please, do stop by at approximately 9:00 P.M. CDT on 11/14/08 and introduce yourself at Stickam.com. Look for the Debate Room under the Group Chat tab. Find the Digital Decompression room and come on in. You don't need an account to join the chat but will need to sign up for a free Stickam account if you would like to use your webcam or microphone. Hope to see you there!

Big Ideas for Education

2008-11-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

No time to waste on this one. The Landmark Project has an interesting initiative happening as I type. They are conducting a microblog survey and plan to compile the final action statements in just 18 hours! The associated statements collected will be published, with a request that education bloggers and microbloggers share their insights about their favorite statements, tagging their blogs appropriately. Once the request has been made, a facility will be added that enables prioritization of the action statements in order of importance and sequence.

Make your opinion count by making a statement today!

Geotagging Halloween

2008-10-31T17:50:00.000-07:00

Normally, I wouldn't post something so inane on a site about education and technology but...

File this under: What will the think of next. While looking for spooky music for Halloween I came across this link: Halloween Candy Code. Basically, it's geotagging for candy. While humorous in nature, it just shows how ingenious can be. Next year I'm sure it will go more high tech. Kids may have an elaborate Twitter network established and coded specific to their sweet tooth! Gotta love it! Happy Halloween!

Is anyone really out there?

2008-10-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to ask this question. It's akin to the question does anyone hear you scream in Cyberspace? Viral videos have begun to be broadcast on network tv. There are televisions channel created by people. Current TV for one.
Other sites like UStream, Mogulus, Stickam allow users to broadcast their lives. But is anyone really out there? Are we using the technology purposefully or as I heard a board member for a school district in Alabama say today during a T+L presentation: are we just "playing with technology" Students today are using the network to sign up for facebook and myspace. But what are we doing as adults?
Sure we have facebook accounts and might have 100's of contacts there, but are we just "playing with technology" when we should be leverging its power.
I just sent a very public twitter message stating that I am Stickam right now willing to discuss the days events at T+L Seattle and absolutely no one is dropping in! It may be that a lot of people are still at the event or meeting with people in small groups with their own districts. But you would think that one person, just one, would be curious enough to pop in and see what the heck that tweet was all about!?
In such a social world, we are apparently not very social and that just leaves me screaming in Cyberspace where no one can hear me...Guess I'll try again later. Going to Pike's Market to pick up some souvineers.

2008-10-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

As I have been preparing for T+L in Seattle tomorrow. I have been thinking about a number of things including: The socio-economic causes of the digital divide, cognitive versus behavioral leaning, bridging the gap between genrations using todays Web 2.0 technologies and ways we can virtually break down classroom walls. My brain has been working so hard at the philosophy, I somehow lost sight of what is most important in 21st century learning process -- the views of the student.
Luckily, just in the nick of time a new found friend on Twitter and facebook posted the following podcast to facebook.
It is interesting to hear how today's students reflect on technology that is just a few years old and practically obsolete already as well as invision the classroom of tomorrow! I remember my first daisy wheel printer. What do you remember? What will we remember in ten years? Great, another question to muddle my brain over the next few days!

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