michael chalk, posting sporadically about technological advances that may be related to language and literacy, or may not. This is the geeky, gadget area.
You can also find headlines down the side, from other places such as his research readings, community engagement, and the 'adult literacy meets technology' network.
At last, the guys from Common Craft have done a video how-to on the topic of blogging. Their visual approach is stunning, engaging and really clever - worth emulating. Thanks and well done.
This is a blog post about blogging. (oh-oh ... eyes roll)
No, actually the point i want to make is about using visuals. This slideshow presentation uses cartoons to make a series of points .. and it's very effective. Think you can't draw? Well, how sophisticated are the visuals here, really?
Several bloggers have been linking to this youtube video, as an example of the modern world; some kind of complex infographical philosophy. i just love the song, and want to watch the video later.
.. from multiple input screens, to this wafer-thin flexible mini-screen; it's great to see this kind of technology developing so fast - launched in Japan, of course!
This is astonishing; i had no idea that the Australian Federal Government had handed over an Australian citizen to be tried in the USA. A member of the software-cracking group 'drink or die' which delighted in redistributing illegal working copies of US softwares, faces ten years in US prison plus fines of half a million US dollars.
This is after the same disturbingly reactionary government leaves David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay for Five Fears Without Charge. Has the Island Continent officially become the 52nd State of the USA? Do we not have copyright laws of our own?
i'm loving this help desk episode: reminds me of a good article on the future of the book, "The Book is Dead, Long live the Book", from Priscilla Murphy. People have predicted the demise of the book for a very long time. In 1894, one writer predicted that the phonograph and the kinetograph would rapidly substitute paper-based text with audio.
Murphy explores and questions three themes,
rivalry between media, that they are competing for limited public attention, so every dollar spent on new media = a dollar taken away from books;
convergence, where the new medium affects the old, so that they combine, but cultural attitudes change more slowly than technology; and
complementarity, where each media may complement the others, even synergistically.
"Books are, finally, intricately interrelated to the rest of the media system - economically, socially, intellectually, even symbolically; and those who have envisioned or feared their wholesale removal from the system have generally underestimated that involvement. If one would predict the death of books, it is necessary to know how they live (Murphy)."
Stephen drew our attention to an article predicting the demise of the CD; and i think the same issues are pertinent in this case. Except that music doesn't need to be seen, so it's true that the medium can continue to change more easily.
But, i don't reckon music sellers will ever be able to rely on every single person having their own portable music device with them. That would be like everyone bringing their own bags to the supermarket. Imagine an artist selling music after a gig, desperate for that extra $10 .. "oh you don't have your iPod with you? i'm sorry i can't sell you our music because we don't have it in any kind of physical form".
Infinite Thinking Machine .. i've just stumbled on this one somehow. Very snappy and engaging ideas for teachers. This crowd loves Google in a big way: they're sponsored by google, but they talk about plenty of other things (social software, mashups, classroom ideas).
This episode taken from chapter five of their blog, Calculate This, which has plenty of ideas for using spreadsheets in class. Watch out for the Grade 5 kids sharing their formulas, and getting totally social about feedback on their work.
Anyway, their videos are good! Tight and professional editing, full of ideas. I'm signing up now for their regular headlines (rss).
oh there's more: gotta view their take on myspace. Chris is funny - he says because he's a Digital Immigrant, the teenagers will "give him the 411", whatever that means.
Great to see this guy from an English school in France interviewing people on the street, and then adding captions to the video. This one is part of a series focussing on homeless people, on the beach in Miami. Interesting to compare the two women's opinions here.
Here's the first in the series, with interviews of Santa Claus, whose residence is South Miami Beach. From (Real English MPG.)
Now if you know me, you'll know that i am a keyboard junkie, my fingers can fly across the dvorak keyboard, and if i have to use a mouse, give me a trackball anyday.
However when teaching people in the community to use standard Qwerty keyboard and mouse, i wish the future would get here faster.
I know there are 'tablet pc's for people who can afford them (ie not ACE), but what i'm really wanting is something more like what Jeff Han demonstrated last year .. the multi-touch visual interface. mmm, yes, use your whole hand, all ten fingers at the same time. Technology moulds itself to the human body, not the other way around. i'm tired of "Single Input".
Take a look at his presentation, if you haven't seen it before.
Recording in Google hangout
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Have been investigating how to record a Google Hangout session. One way is
to use the youTube channel for storage.
* How to record your own google hangout ...
