PABeaufaitBookmarks 09/08/2009

• LearningTimes Network - "LearningTimes.org"

  Comment on Social Presence in Online Learning that resonates with points in Stephen Downes recent presentation at Ars Electronica (2009.09.05): The Cloud and Collaboration
  (http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/the-cloud-and-collaboration)

  tags: collaboration, collab-bk-collaboration

• LearningTimes Network - "LearningTimes.org"

  Comment on Social Presence in Online learning indicating distinct categories of online collaboration during coursework

  tags: collab-bk-collaboration

  • We can divide this 'social presence' into two categories, I feel... (a) the interaction which is graded as part of the collaborative learning process, involving discussions amongst participants and comments on the content of others' posts. There are obviously elements of quantity and quality to be considered here.... and (b) the kind of interaction which takes place spontaneously (and is not graded by the e-tutor)... where participants simply share useful info or their personal feelings about a particular topic, thus establishing affective links not only with the other learners, but also with the e-tutors.

• Digital Citizenship

  Within this website are many examples of how educators can begin the process of teaching their students how to use technology more appropriately. These resources can be used by any anyone who is interested in helping students or others better understand appropriate technology use. (Digital Citizenship Today,¶1)

  tags: appropriacy, technology, citizenship, digital, education, publications, resources

• XMind - Social Brainstorming and Mind Mapping

  tags: mindmapping, opensource, software, download, brainstorming

• Statement of Rights and Responsibilities | Facebook

  tags: Facebook, services, terms of service

  • you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook
  • You will not post content or take any action on Facebook that infringes or violates someone else's rights or otherwise violates the law.
  • You can use your privacy settings to limit how your name and profile picture may be associated with commercial or sponsored content served by us. You give us permission to use your name and profile picture in connection with that content, subject to the limits you place.

• | The Public Domain | [Enclosing the Commons of the Mind]

  Boyle, James. (2008). [CC-BY-NC-SA]
  

  tags: copyright, laws, intellectual property, books, opensource, public domain, cultures, sciences, technology, policies

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

PABeaufaitBookmarks 09/05/2009

• McToonish » ... » The Death of Communities When Courses End

  "Fortunately Facebook, Ning, Google and Yahoo Groups and many other options for social networking don’t work that way. Those communities can continue for as long as the members of the community put in the effort to keep it alive. This can be very useful for students to stay in contact for social, professional and learning opportunities" (Ross, 2008.10.06).

  tags: access, cohorts, communities, course management systems, courses, death, learning, learning opportunities, glossaries, opportunities, professionalism, resources, social networking sites, third-party sites, universities, wikis

• Plaxo

  tags: no_tag

  • an opt-opt confirmation

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity

Wesch (YouTube, 2009.07.16) presents "a brief history" and extolls a new age of "whatever" (33:44 min.), which as Couros (2009.07.21) suggests is well worth our time.

pabspotpourri 09/04/2009

• sleeping alone and starting out early: on social networking guidelines for teachers

  Jenna McWilliams' post frames and follows on from Steve Taffee's post comprising Proposed Guidelines for Use of Social Networks by School Faculty and Staff (Blogg-Ed Indetermination, Social Networking Guidelines for School Employees, 2009.02.12). Follow-ons focus "On 'Misrepresentation'" and "On Course Use of Social Networking."

  tags: social networking, guidelines, strategies, misrepresentation

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Removing mail from servers

Now that I've switched to LDAP mail services for most of my accounts (three of five), to enable synchronization across multiple machines, in various venues, I have run into problems where message that I'm sure I sorted, replied to, or deleted, show up again as unread messages. That is, mainly in alternate users areas (Restorers) in which I hardly ever open mail.

In Mac Mail, I used to delete trashed messages permanently from mail servers after a month, just in case I mishandled some, and didn't discover the errors in my ways till more than a week afterwards. I'm resetting preferences to delete them after one week, and may switch to after one day, or to when quitting mail, if necessary.

Gravatars sound cool!

[kml_flashembed movie="http://v.wordpress.com/UyDfmflZ" width="400" height="224"/]

(Wordpress. tv, How-To, Introducing Gravatar: Your Globally Recognized Avatar)

Collaboration Technology - What's Next

One pick from a rack of attractive productions from case:
http://www.youtube.com/user/case
Case Western Reserve University

Mendeley sync's ... [from] CiteULike

I've accepted an invitation to adopt Mendeley desktop and online bibliographic reference management applications, whose features Mendeley Research Networks summarize here. They work with Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows, as well as online, so you can use Mendeley just about anywhere. It was quick and easy to sign-up, and start a profile.

The Import to Mendeley bookmarklet, found through a dismiss-able feature link in the profile sidebar, dragged and dropped sweetly into a biblio. folder in my Xmarks synchronized Firefox Bookmarks toolbar. The CiteULike Importer (Account Settings) set up was almost as dreamy.

I wonder how long it takes to get CiteULike references flowing [in-]to Mendeley, and how seamless sharing references with collaborators will be.

Addenda: Although adding spot-on articles highlighted by Mendeley at login was a piece of cake (shown first by field, perhaps filtered through new research interests), I've found no trace of previous CiteULike citations coming through to Mendeley over the past hour or so. I checked to make sure the CiteULike Importer connection was hot. Anyone know a way to release the backlog?

AdSense promo blocked access to layout

I've been trying out new gadgets in the sidebar for the past few days. I got one to show blog statistics, thinking it might be useful on students blogs.

However, I was stuck with it in the top one-third of my sidebar because an Adsense promo was blocking access to the lower parts of the blog layout interface, in both Firefox and Safari (below). No scrolling available to get past it, even after refreshing page views.

Firefox

Safari

I tried following the link to the Google Adsense interface, not activating anything, and navigating back to the blog layout interface, to no avail.

Finally, after closing Firefox, and firing up a new window, starting this post, and taking another look at the Blogger layout in another tab; the layout loaded completely, and showed the remainder of sidebar elements. However, in Safari, even after quitting and relaunching the browser, reloading and refreshing the page; the AdSense promo is still stuck there about 5.5 gadgets down a sidebar of 17, hiding 11.5 of them.

Brainless language defaults: not necessarily so

Though service providers seldom notify individual users of enhanced affordances, it has come to my dumb-founded attention that Google Calendar embedding code generators now offer recovery from defaults imposed according to user ISP locations. Deep among your calendars, you may find:

• Settings:
• Embed This Calendar:
• Customize the color, size, and other options (sorry, no screen shots here because they might violate copyright).
  

Then, after culturally sensitive options like "Week Starts On" (left sidebar, 2009.06.19), there's a drop down menu that enables you to over-ride the default. I've over-ridden the default on two calenders, embedded in singular locations, so far.

If you have more calendars that you wish to appear in certain languages, when embedded in multiple locations, more power to you! You may need to regenerate embedding code in Google, and then replace whatever you've embedded in other websites.

Building design and evacuation plans

How fast can you get down the stairs?

A news item on TV this evening reminded me that building designs may fail to prioritize evacuation, and that laws enacted after designs get implemented may be equally likely to fail to make evacuation feasible in existing buildings, whether there are natural or human impacts, for example: earthquakes or missiles; that threaten building occupants.

The following mind map represents consequential impacts on stairwells, rather than superstructures, without taking into account variation in individual or planned evacuation speeds; which depend in turn upon immediate floor-level casualties, and willingness of non-casualties to engage in near-peer evacuations.

Odeo player test

The purpose of this post is to test scripts for embedding Odeo players for recordings that students made.

Track One



Track Two

Brainless language defaults (Apple, Japan)

It isn't just Skype that obfuscates internet location with language preferences. What follows is the last in a long suite of unanswered feedback that I've sent to Apple, Japan:

To:

Apple

Clueless no あなた: News_Japan@InsideApple.Apple.com;

Why do you keep sending me messages in Japanese? Is it because you ignore feedback, or because you locate me in Japan, and ignore language preferences for individuals?

I thought Apple had its sh... together, but apparently not. Please get a clue, and share it with your mother sites: Language preferences and internet locations are, or should be, entirely independent.

Cheers, PB

PS: I plan to publish this message.. If you have a problem with that, please let me know immediately.


On Thursday, May 28, 2009, at 09:05PM, "Apple" <News_Japan@InsideApple.Apple.com> wrote:
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>あなたのMacを最大限に楽しもう。
>おすすめのアイテムで、最高の写真を。
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>
>Macを使えば写真の整理も、編集も、共有も、すべてが今まで以上に簡単に。
>ここでは写真に関連した人気のアクセサリやアプリケーション、また、
>オンラインのチュートリアルや、無料ワークショップを紹介します。
>
>全てのMacを見る
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2i0wEd5SPdLnlC6KSSmMkOrnm3EEreotIT5HuYPe0KMToOkUlZqNoBDEYl4ET2BDgdOwewZP3iB5ewyuvG3G4ZUFjezbcHJ48BQRtA0i%2FPESDnX4PurPizY1mh5rZZb5RQ%3D%3D
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>写真を撮る
>────────────────────────────────────
>
>■美しい画質と細やかな描写を実現。
>コンパクトボディに約1,000万画素CCDを搭載。被写体のディテールまでくっ
>きりと、色鮮やかに描き出します。顔にすばやくピントを合わせる「フェイス
>キャッチテクノロジー」。カメラまかせで、ポートレートがキレイに撮れます。
>
>□Canon PowerShot A480
>今すぐ購入
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=KO%2Fd9Zjtbvo9fDYGg1BGc5NmNrtpXE%2BDcG9BHYXlNXQ7g1zXunw30m94s0Mrg6nGowbWJu08ncK1P72QX2GjZ0T7CxRiGHb6w%2BO3xuoNCu%2BTd811uhDTPf7NOJJSg2%2BuQBOZy2n10%2BUyxHKYdpMO%2Bg%3D%3D
>
>すべてのデジタルカメラを見る
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=KO%2Fd9Zjtbvo9fDYGg1BGc5bKz2bBL8QPklNUxt2j1ctPkTWOEieFXiEcjbB5HjwZPJliTJOsM8%2BuNNIa0DQCV5Uzf%2FThWmZj1Oinktv3yRpjS7Y8Hy1PR0hrdn5agcRMBgHzgla1VoopkTwiZx%2BmXg%3D%3D
>
>
>■無線LANで、自動的に写真を保存。
>Eye-Fiカードは、デジタルカメラ専用の無線LAN内蔵SD型メモリカードです。
>操作は簡単。一度カードに無線LANの情報をセットアップすれば、あとはデジ
>タルカメラで撮った写真が、自動的にMacやインターネット上に保存されます。
>ケーブルをつなぐ煩わしさや、写真を保存し忘れる不安からあなたを解放して
>くれる便利なカードです。
>
>□Eye-Fi Share 2GB ワイヤレスメモリーカード
>今すぐ購入
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=497E6yACV1177%2BEvJjNQwIGbS6B2QJ7yLc0ujH2NQe7nm3EEreotIT5HuYPe0KMToOkUlZqNoBDEYl4ET2BDgdOwewZP3iB5ewyuvG3G4ZUFjezbcHJ48BQRtA0i%2FPESDnX4PurPizY1mh5rZZb5RQ%3D%3D
>
>すべてのストレージを見る
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=KO%2Fd9Zjtbvo9fDYGg1BGc%2BqFU6fQqI%2FS7YsMWBBrjlvnm3EEreotIT5HuYPe0KMToOkUlZqNoBDEYl4ET2BDgdOwewZP3iB5ewyuvG3G4ZUFjezbcHJ48BQRtA0i%2FPESDnX4PurPizY1mh5rZZb5RQ%3D%3D
>
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>整理と編集
>────────────────────────────────────
>
>■「人々」機能と「撮影地」機能を実際に試してみよう。
>iLife ’09に含まれる最新版のiPhotoは写っている人で写真を整理する「人々」
>機能や、撮った場所をもとに写真をブラウズする「撮影地」機能など驚きの
>新機能を搭載しています。
>
>□iLife ’09
>今すぐアップグレード
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=S6FAOo9G6rwdAbXYXl1hhVSNnYZj0LNrgureytpyBWZb4ptM7i4MS1GUGhowaO8n8Oymn%2B44bPEtiZJG7dcLwKgH8yJANMyta%2Bd1VwHSAL4AR8FGElX1%2BwLaM2K4scisak%2FtaFs0TjUo2iq3aQL1hA%3D%3D
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>撮影のヒント
>フラッシュを使わないで写真を撮れば、赤目を軽減できます。最初はフラッシュ
>を使って撮影、その後フラッシュを使わないで撮影して、どちらの写真が良いか
>比べてみましょう。iPhotoの赤目ツールを使えば、いつでも赤目を取り除くこと
>ができます。
>
>チュートリアルを見る
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=LcLpeVwjmE3ZAqE0bEJGvbWpgEgQcZJgDQTsbr0R2AdPkTWOEieFXiEcjbB5HjwZPJliTJOsM8%2BuNNIa0DQCV5Uzf%2FThWmZj1Oinktv3yRpjS7Y8Hy1PR0hrdn5agcRMBgHzgla1VoopkTwiZx%2BmXg%3D%3D
>────────────────────────────────────
>
>■あなたの写真をプロのように仕上げ、上手に整理しよう。
>このパワフルなツールを活用して、初歩の写真編集や写真整理からステップ
>アップ。Aperture 2を使えば、何千枚もの撮影データからよりすぐりを選び出す
>のも簡単です。写真の色調を整え、レタッチするための高精度のコントロール
>機能を備えているので、出来上がりの完成度を高めるのに、特にRAWデータ
>からの作業に最適です。
>
>□Aperture 2
>今すぐ購入
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=KO%2Fd9Zjtbvo9fDYGg1BGc1Mm6%2BfBJdqfS%2FbrOH2tYeu7YgR9sQbyqgWZ44OLUj2G4y4UXURjtx1XzGOYNRAlrY8sWlvw7VDCyUCqFsWTLvfddfx1ZhExGMon7F1j6UGLRzYyiLGr7g6C7IDXrE0%2FJA%3D%3D
>
>Aperture 2の特長や新機能をさらに詳しくみて、もっと学ぼう。
>
>さらに詳しく
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=KO%2Fd9Zjtbvo9fDYGg1BGc%2BqlRoeYdjkOgxVoe5yA%2Bhma6k7VhuPDw5DknVr%2FevnJWDiyAV0YtUpC6JACpm0an9BD6hJLzROVxJ8JOI%2Bnyav4uOBSQGC7A6nzYt0hdNZeL0Ebk2CKJKnJUGJ8BYxt0w%3D%3D
>
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>印刷する
>────────────────────────────────────
>
>■WiFi標準対応のコンパクトなオールインワン。
>フォトもテキストも、より早く、より美しくプリント。対象のMac本体と
>HPプリンタの同時購入で、9,870円をキャッシュバック。*
>
>□HP Photosmart C4580 All-in-One
>今すぐ購入
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=dHpUhwiJ%2FX7aAdBEe%2BmRX2nUt8Wp4nCM5CzwP%2BH%2FZrapC8DYPQpNzaX%2FP9myevmfWYK4gsiSPY1w8rkaWEP4U%2FsOJU8709iSjkW2quzzjPzgWRnxBPJ%2FNKjULnCMXYJY
>
>すべてのプリンタを見る
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=KO%2Fd9Zjtbvo9fDYGg1BGc27ezdFJFuf%2FmJvR72qXNwq7YgR9sQbyqgWZ44OLUj2G4y4UXURjtx1XzGOYNRAlrY8sWlvw7VDCyUCqFsWTLvfddfx1ZhExGMon7F1j6UGLRzYyiLGr7g6C7IDXrE0%2FJA%3D%3D
>
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>共有する
>────────────────────────────────────
>
>■写真を高画質で楽しもう。
>Apple TVがあれば、iTunesに入っている音楽やPodcastを楽しめるだけでなく、
>お持ちの写真を大きく、色鮮やかに大画面テレビに映し出すことができます。
>スライドショーをセットしたり、リモートを使って写真をぱらぱらとめくる
>ことも。FlickrやMobileMeギャラリーにアクセスすることもできます。
>
>□Apple TV
>今すぐ購入
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=KO%2Fd9Zjtbvo9fDYGg1BGc06NEX1UxMhDBpd5mImYeASdkWWXfDMX7GhHEGRnH6a03DIpDjqwsrFjD3NakN4CPTagPb%2F7Wl%2BHaJKyyf0EarcbL5RblegQ1e%2B2zQOB%2BkUbE%2FZSWNLDUqv8EunRGFIgPw%3D%3D
>
>
>■高解像度の写真を友達と共有しよう。
>写真やムービーをみんなと共有してオンラインギャラリーを楽しもう。友達があ
>なたの写真をダウンロードしたり、自分の写真をアップロードすることも可能で
>す。また、iPhoneを使って直接写真を公開したり、表示させることもできます。
>今すぐ、サンプルギャラリーにアクセスしよう。
>
>□MobileMe
>フリートライアルの登録はこちら
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=%2B5ZFuXs9%2B1J8XKvnWRTEWf9mxzNOLDnM0HXCJOcBxaia6k7VhuPDw5DknVr%2FevnJWDiyAV0YtUpC6JACpm0an9BD6hJLzROVxJ8JOI%2Bnyav4uOBSQGC7A6nzYt0hdNZeL0Ebk2CKJKnJUGJ8BYxt0w%3D%3D
>
>サンプルギャラリー
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=%2B5ZFuXs9%2B1J8XKvnWRTEWWugoTdpwtsoWfXLMiSF%2FQ5zkwON0xR8I%2BeSUkNIYldU37DJYISxQvBDEnlC%2FXeFJuB0TV8Xd%2Bl%2BhbOGnTIw8kG1yJYivU%2FUDc02N0MBIsf6GnOtxZDmvZW0CngirFri5g%3D%3D
>
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>バックアップする
>────────────────────────────────────
>
>■あなたの写真を自動的にバックアップ。
>Time Capsuleは、セットアップも簡単。数回のクリックで、あなたのパソコン
>をワイヤレスで自動バックアップ。500GBまたは1TBのモデルから選べます。
>たっぷりとスペースがあるので、あなたの写真やデータを、すべてを一箇所に
>まとめて、大切に保管することができます。
>
>□Time Capsule, 500GB or 1TB
>今すぐ購入
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=MlCAlrDa2ZZ72W43DwQnggOjxuuMPngVxPSITjsrX%2BydkWWXfDMX7GhHEGRnH6a03DIpDjqwsrFjD3NakN4CPTagPb%2F7Wl%2BHaJKyyf0EarcbL5RblegQ1e%2B2zQOB%2BkUbE%2FZSWNLDUqv8EunRGFIgPw%3D%3D
>
>
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>ワークショップやオンラインで写真について学ぼう。
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>お近くのApple Storeでは、iPhotoやApertureを基本から学べる無料のワーク
>ショップをご用意。作品作りに役立つヒントやテクニックをアップルのエキス
>パートから直接学べます。また、たくさんのオンラインのチュートリアルから
>学ぶこともできます。
>
>無料のワークショップ
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2uixU4Oj%2BvcZgUFhDnYHixQrwBT06KoRt4kwTEJyLgg89QaIdUcH8xpqUIh7SJpnkk%2FZr356r8h7nOKoixSTPjktuZih%2BmSB2bhAQ62PVdEuDiqU9Y5zz28K64D3fqOXHQ%3D%3D
>
>オンラインのチュートリアル
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2tRfCvz%2B1D66SE52urFsKwn8B5XmVzVIbBw9TTvb9240DO2FOOkQMT72fwfmf5Ggc8AKfshe3iKuvrfmc96coIzmGif0f12zfiaYxMFK8cvhNRA7Qs6tntOBklOWpFZN5A%3D%3D
>
>■人ごとに写真を整理する
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2lyHsW2SxNeXYaZMQ3p59%2B2a6k7VhuPDw5DknVr%2FevnJWDiyAV0YtUpC6JACpm0an9BD6hJLzROVxJ8JOI%2Bnyav4uOBSQGC7A6nzYt0hdNZeL0Ebk2CKJKnJUGJ8BYxt0w%3D%3D
>
>■場所ごとに写真を整理する
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2qlJUZ6EwTuzTf6RZjXooMS9mKJV6w5wssU8dMR6StPEEk8vdFL0GEFc2MIn4QBY%2FdTozYLZMljYd0T2Rv%2F%2BVgNJpseotaeYd9oSEtjDj6TwZigsZG7uQHAPQVojyQf7Bg%3D%3D
>
>■スライドショーを作成して共有する
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2mL1PPST87BpWSxYZnbqgJejKN0Rl95SYHoSyAKS8mrxwxQ%2F9bOveD2nGjjDLc0%2Fk6uSFHPd4bAuwx0WO4iN4NwXctutSrQPjo5CpTdLwfMB%2BZ0QQUEJl005VL22hkivkQ%3D%3D
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>チュートリアルのヒント
>iTunesから無料でチュートリアルビデオをダウンロード、あなたのiPhoneや
>iPodとシンクすれば、チュートリアルをどこへでも持ち出せます。
>
>チュートリアルを見る
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2rGaDYkT5D%2BK%2FDsKkDqZ88lRUabMf%2BtexuRgDJJLE3yiwxQ%2F9bOveD2nGjjDLc0%2Fk6uSFHPd4bAuwx0WO4iN4NwXctutSrQPjo5CpTdLwfMB%2BZ0QQUEJl005VL22hkivkQ%3D%3D
>
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>あなたの写真を宝物に。
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>iPhotoなら、デザインされたテンプレートの中からお好きなものを選択、あとは
>写真をドロップしてテキストを追加すれば、ブックカバーの付いたフォトブック、
>大きな24ヶ月のカレンダー、プロフェッショナルな仕上がりのカードやプリント
>を作ることができます。
>
>さらに詳しく
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2qhJEgc6kPCpW6stJP0xCgya6k7VhuPDw5DknVr%2FevnJWDiyAV0YtUpC6JACpm0an9BD6hJLzROVxJ8JOI%2Bnyav4uOBSQGC7A6nzYt0hdNZeL0Ebk2CKJKnJUGJ8BYxt0w%3D%3D
>
>
>■フォトブックを作成する
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2kol5wr7%2B6B1QibupF65HHr9MAhfop6FpUWgptPrY28JwqSAMD1DrisWkNvvOP639zQ0fPocsKLpbtxgAQWhhp50GBtzgB4VTkA7TDScmvmFeF2O0FO6tvHeDu774a%2BJSA%3D%3D
>
>■オリジナルカードを作成する
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2uGJJ4aloGGtBsOWUU0XcT6fX2xMbRp1DRQpy8CaNT9Ut9YfkVOHxlYnAy0orhfZKBuf6PUvMCrW2kkMq8%2BzUDekmBbB8aEFiaGCJ8gP%2FAS%2FKJ13kFS5zpWEVkowmpiV8A%3D%3D
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>知ってましたか?
>お近くのApple Storeでは無料のiPhoto ‘09ワークショップをご用意。
>今なら父の日に間に合います。ユニークなフォトギフトの作り方を学んで
>お父さんにプレゼントしよう。
>
>今すぐ予約する
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2ppV7pjF0B1sDUxzbCycwgVzPbo18rZanpxNOftGJi4swxQ%2F9bOveD2nGjjDLc0%2Fk6uSFHPd4bAuwx0WO4iN4NwXctutSrQPjo5CpTdLwfMB%2BZ0QQUEJl005VL22hkivkQ%3D%3D
>
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>プロから写真の基本を学ぼう
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>iTunesにある無料のPhotography Podcastをダウンロードして、あなたの
>Mac、iPod、またはiPhoneに入れて学ぼう。
>
>□The Art of Adventure Photography
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2qf91UsxUfaxMRGh1cFuwPI7g1zXunw30m94s0Mrg6nGowbWJu08ncK1P72QX2GjZ0T7CxRiGHb6w%2BO3xuoNCu%2BTd811uhDTPf7NOJJSg2%2BuQBOZy2n10%2BUyxHKYdpMO%2Bg%3D%3D
>
>□Photography 101
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2mcGKi3XOQ4xRKwfmd4UIPg7g1zXunw30m94s0Mrg6nGowbWJu08ncK1P72QX2GjZ0T7CxRiGHb6w%2BO3xuoNCu%2BTd811uhDTPf7NOJJSg2%2BuQBOZy2n10%2BUyxHKYdpMO%2Bg%3D%3D
>
>□Camera Dojo: Digital Photography Enthusiasts
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2nT%2FEutyExPrUwpnsuH6Ybw7g1zXunw30m94s0Mrg6nGowbWJu08ncK1P72QX2GjZ0T7CxRiGHb6w%2BO3xuoNCu%2BTd811uhDTPf7NOJJSg2%2BuQBOZy2n10%2BUyxHKYdpMO%2Bg%3D%3D
>
>□Maarten Kroes Wildlife Photography Podcast
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2veYnA46nJ1%2FjUGZEZg2o5Q7g1zXunw30m94s0Mrg6nGowbWJu08ncK1P72QX2GjZ0T7CxRiGHb6w%2BO3xuoNCu%2BTd811uhDTPf7NOJJSg2%2BuQBOZy2n10%2BUyxHKYdpMO%2Bg%3D%3D
>
>□Digital Photography and Artistry
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=IKkmqVnYIEYctBXxbqH9fnFqY3a6PaUnoxR9QDL4ssoFqupMk5RvAqVvA2bSmlXf37DJYISxQvBDEnlC%2FXeFJg46RvnWrOm5mj48WPPgvc5wmVSY5mrL85%2FTfMiORLE9LbmYofpkgdm4QEOtj1XRLg4qlPWOc89vCuuA936jlx0%3D
>
>□The Art of Photography
>http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=IKkmqVnYIEYctBXxbqH9fnFqY3a6PaUnoxR9QDL4ssoYxuqlPIb5AzF1aJkxhfhZ37DJYISxQvBDEnlC%2FXeFJg46RvnWrOm5mj48WPPgvc5wmVSY5mrL85%2FTfMiORLE9LbmYofpkgdm4QEOtj1XRLg4qlPWOc89vCuuA936jlx0%3D
>
>
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>■オンラインのApple Storeならではのサービス。
>
>　オンラインのApple Storeでは、ほぼすべての製品にユーザレビューやおすす
>　め度を記載。ご購入後には、あなたの貴重なご意見もぜひお聞かせください。
>
>　オンラインのApple Store
>　http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=MlCAlrDa2ZZ72W43DwQngi0Gf1na6AcoUBHNng5epJia6k7VhuPDw5DknVr%2FevnJWDiyAV0YtUpC6JACpm0an9BD6hJLzROVxJ8JOI%2Bnyav4uOBSQGC7A6nzYt0hdNZeL0Ebk2CKJKnJUGJ8BYxt0w%3D%3D
>
>────────────────────────────────────
>
>　オンラインのApple Store、または0120-993-993で、5,000円（税込み）
>　以上ご購入頂くと配送料は無料です。
>
>　オンラインのApple Store
>　http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=MlCAlrDa2ZZ72W43DwQngi0Gf1na6AcoUBHNng5epJia6k7VhuPDw5DknVr%2FevnJWDiyAV0YtUpC6JACpm0an9BD6hJLzROVxJ8JOI%2Bnyav4uOBSQGC7A6nzYt0hdNZeL0Ebk2CKJKnJUGJ8BYxt0w%3D%3D
>
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>■アップルのスタッフがお手伝いします。
>
>　お近くのApple Storeでは、あなたのMacにぴったりなアクセサリが見つかり
>　ます。また、無料で参加できるiPhoto ‘09ワークショップでは、Macのアプリ
>　ケーションを使って写真を管理、編集、共有する方法を学べます。ワーク
>　ショップのスケジュールをチェックして、今すぐ予約しましょう。
>
>　ワークショップのスケジュール
>　http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=MlCAlrDa2ZZ72W43DwQngj%2FbhqwIgZemXlEPS3gBdYRh9xT7axTVrmJFmHETYLICwqSAMD1DrisWkNvvOP639zQ0fPocsKLpbtxgAQWhhp50GBtzgB4VTkA7TDScmvmFeF2O0FO6tvHeDu774a%2BJSA%3D%3D
>
>
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>
>
>　*対象製品、諸条件などの詳細はこちらをご確認ください。
>　http://store.apple.com/jp/browse/home/campaigns/printer_promo
>
>　1GB=10億バイト、そして1TB=1兆バイトですが、実際にフォーマットされ
>　た容量はそれ以下になります。
>
>　ワークショップのご予約は、先着順となります。ご了承ください。
>
>　Aperture 2は別売りです。
>
>　一部の機能のご利用には、インターネット及びWebサーバーへのアクセスが
>　必要です。MobileMeを推奨。MobileMeサービスは13歳以上の方々にご利用い
>　ただけます。年会費とインターネットアクセスが必要です。また、別途使用
>　許諾契約へのご同意が必要です。
>
>　iPhotoは、動物の顔は識別しません。
>
>　iPhotoプリントサービスは米国、カナダ、日本、一部のヨーロッパ諸国および
>　アジア太平洋諸国でご利用いただけます（料金は別途必要です）。
>
>　Wi-Fiインターネットアクセスには所定の機能が必要です。ブロードバンド接続
>　を推奨します。使用料がかかる場合があります。地域によっては機能やサービ
>　スをご利用いただけない場合があります。
>
>　製品仕様は、予告なく変更する場合があります。また、一部の店舗で取扱い
>　がない場合があります。
>
>　本メールに記載されているアップルブランド以外の製品については、製品に
>　同梱された使用許諾条件に従って、それらの製品の製造メーカーのサービス
>　およびサポートが提供されます。尚アップル製品と一緒にパッケージされ販売
>　されるアップルブランド以外の製品においては弊社からの製品保証は一切
>　行われませんので、テクニカルサポートやカスタマーサポートについては、
>　製造メーカーへ直接お問い合わせください。
>
>　iPhoneはApple Inc.の商標です。iPhone商標は、アイホン株式会社の
>　ライセンスに基づき使用されています。
>
>　iTunes Storeは、日本、米国、およびその他の地域で、13歳以上のユーザに
>　限りご利用いただけます。サービス提供国の一覧は、
>　www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww （英語）
>　をご覧ください。
>　iTunes6.0以降（ビデオを利用する場合はiTunes 7.0以降）、対応するハード
>　ウェアとソフトウェア、インターネットアクセスが必要です（料金が課される
>　ことがあります）。諸条件が適用されます。詳しくは
>　www.apple.com/jp/itunes/whatson/
>　をご覧ください。
>
>　Google, the Google logo, and Google Maps are trademarks of
>　Google Inc. Map data (c) 2009 ZENRIN.
>
>　(c) 2009 Google. Map data (c) 2009 Basarsoft, AND, Geocentre
>　Consulting, Tele Atlas, PPWK, LeadDog Consulting, Europa Technologies.
>　All rights reserved.
>
>
>　All Rights Reserved
>　http://www.apple.com/jp/legal/
>
>　ニュースレターへの登録
>　http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=zED5xC1lD%2FmkMUXUuJsy2phDXkqe2WKDqalbitUnkADCpIAwPUOuKxaQ2%2B84%2Frf3NDR8%2Bhywoulu3GABBaGGnnQYG3OAHhVOQDtMNJya%2BYV4XY7QU7q28d4O7vvhr4lI
>
>　プライバシーについて
>　http://www.apple.com/jp/legal/privacy/
>
>　My Info
>　http://insideapple.apple.com/redir/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=%2B5ZFuXs9%2B1J8XKvnWRTEWbbdXluOIOcZTdIfwItNpVy31h%2BRU4fGVicDLSiuF9koG5%2Fo9S8wKtbaSQyrz7NQN6SYFsHxoQWJoYInyA%2F8BL8onXeQVLnOlYRWSjCamJXw
>
>　■メールの配信中止を希望される場合
>　メールでの情報提供を中止されたい場合は、下記URLにてメール配信中止希望
>　の申請手続きを行ってください。
>　http://insideapple.apple.com/updateacct/cbx-cgi.do?v=2&la=jp&lc=jp&a=I2uMXak%2BKV9INqvU2hVZnLtiBH2xBvKqBZnjg4tSPYbjLhRdRGO3HVfMY5g1ECWtjyxaW%2FDtUMLJQKoWxZMu9wjyZ5wL2Ft0pGlCeVGUp1%2FeoR1ivKSLvpuNuAhdOM6wDiqU9Y5zz28K64D3fqOXHQ%3D%3D
>　
>　※誠に勝手ながら当メールへの返信による製品内容等のお問合せは承っており
>　ません。予めご了承ください。
>
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>　本メールに掲載された記事を許可なく複製、転載する事を禁じます。
>
>　TM and copyright (C) 2009 Apple Inc.
>　アップルジャパン株式会社
>　東京都新宿区西新宿3-20-2 東京オペラシティタワー
>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
>

Addenda:

Here's a snapshot of a previous message retrieved garbled from a Mail folder after being set aside to pickle for a few days:


That reminds me of a host of other business-like (bulk mail) messages that come in with a "don't reply to this address" warning (or not), because companies (un-)concerned don't monitor replies anyway.

Brainless language defaults (Skype)

From a help link in an English, so-and-so-wants-to-contact-you web-mail message (Yahoo!), opened in Safari, on Mac OS 10.5.7, while operating in English in Japan; I got shunted to a Japanese language page automatically:

• http://www.skype.com/intl/ja/help/guides/ (emphasis added, pab)

Knowing just enough about URLs, and two-character country or language codes, I was able to read that troublesome URL, and figure out that the Skype site had probably read my internet location, and imposed a connection to the Japanese language page in the international users directory ("...intl/ja/...).

In this case, plugging in different language codes that I tried (en and fr) worked to over-ride the default, and made reading the page easier than it would have been in a third language. Thankfully, the Skype URL above was human-reader-friendly.

Virus Transmission: Test Drive of WriteToMyBlog

This post represents a couple of mail-related security tips that I gleaned from a Microsoft publication (perhaps a Mactopia Newsletter), and mailed to myself as a reminder in August 2004. I'm posting it now to: a) purge mail archives, and b) test drive WriteToMyBlog (TM). [WriteTo... is a web-based word-processing application that appears to have been superseded or supplemented by SourcedFrom (WriteTo... Blog, 2008.11.07).]

* To prevent virus transmission when attaching documents:
o Save & send Word documents as rich text format (rtf) files.
o Save & send Excel documents as comma separated values (csv) files.

* To prevent automatically opening messages which may contain web-based graphics or executable virus files:
o Disable Outlook preview panes in the view menu after selecting each folder (Deleted items, Drafts, Inbox).

(Microsoft, n.p., c. August 2004)

__________

Notes:

The dialog that opens when you click "Publish" in WriteToMyBlog includes the following warning:
Warning! This website has not registered with Google to establish a secure connection for authorization requests. We recommend that you continue the process only if you trust the following destination: http://writetomyblog.com/action/blogs_publish.cgi

The tags you apply get converted to Technorati tags.

...

The layout got buggy after I'd opened and closed the Publish interface; the entire text of the draft post replicated itself in the word processing window.

When I went back to the publishing routine, after closing it once, and reviewing the explanation of Tags, the WriteToMyBlog interface recognized the fact that I was logged in to my Blogger account, but kept returning "500 Internal Server Error" messages:

Error Code: 564-5
Your Google session token may have expired, click back then [logout] and try again.

/////
I've captured what remained in the WriteTo... word processing window (Mozilla Firefox 3.0.8), and continued in NeoOffice.

Did that, but after logging back in to Google via the WriteTo... interface, no blogs or categories showed up A retry, after logging out again, generated the following garbage characters, but still no blogs or categories to select.

è��v ڻ͋rEÐïŒÕ@³##Öå?˜;±Ž¼«ÿ~��ï]ˆ0æÏóºê#$€VâtQõœ#–#x’Nø'#K7¿r áÆŸ#&€+Òàñš {å¾!æU¹5É_@ûÌÙ#§™z#ÿÇ.ÉWH¼¸�î5��?´¢û©ÔÔ†ÁŸ˜‡�EEKú�^��!�ï¿#Ú¹:\Oš÷è4W„ë-zÐ]ˆ0æÏóºê#åžØ•`2Û]ˆ0æÏóºê‰V
‡£½r’âe_ã�¸<ÿ]ˆ0æÏóºêb#Š2(0#­pdŠn¾¹îïÈlaÆû\@æç7…Mña" />

/////
Gut nut: WriteTo... is definitely a non-starter in Firefox! I'm going back to Flock.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Aren't Otters Extraordinarily Cute?

Though I missed it by a week, last week was "the [20th] anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill" (personal correspondence, 2009.03.24).

A family member and friend sent me that picture of two small victims probably no longer inhabiting our planet. Though otters' life-spans may reach 20 years, that wouldn't be the case for those unlucky ones, not even ten years later (Most Exxon Valdez otters sent to zoos are dead, Juneau Empire, 1999.03.30). Otter aren't the only ill-fortuned ones.

Twenty years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, pockets of oil — an estimated 16,000 gallons — remain buried in small portions of the intertidal zone. ... As the 20th anniversary of the spill arrives, hopes are fading for a natural recovery of herring.

(Hal Bernton, Exxon Valdez oil-spill recovery still is work in progress, 20 years later, The Seattle Times, 2009.03.24)

On behalf of her otter buddies, my friend asked me to do "one thing out of the ordinary ... that eliminates the use of oil and gas ... on the planet." If you're reading this post, I'm asking you to do more of the same.


View Larger Map

One of these mornings...

From a message on my Blended Learning and Instruction comment wall (BL&I), I learned that the iCal event I'd collected from BL&I over the weekend had failed to optimize itself into my local time zone (JST). Though the new event was visible in desktop views (Day/Week/Month) at 13:30 JST, 2009.03.28, hidden in the background was the event's actual UTC (GMT), and accurate JST calculations of starting and ending times. Need I add that I missed the event?

[caption id="attachment_44" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Event displayed at 13:30 JST, 2009.03.28"][/caption]

Since I recalled that WiZiQ featuring recordings, I re-drilled the BL&I website (Ning) from top to announcements, to events, to the one I'd missed, and looked for a link to or mention of a recording. Though there was nothing like that visible on-site, there was a WiZiQ sign-in box barely peeking around the edge of my browser window (Safari default size, about a hand-span in breadth).

So after dredging up a suitable mail address and password for the WiZiQ site, and logging in, I found just what I'd been looking for, a "View Recording" button in the center of the window!

The story continues from there, ...:

I tried to "View [the] Recording" (rectangular button below the Tags, Embed[ding] Code, and URL; above). However, the first four out of five times I tried, after successful sign in to WiziQ. I got messages displaying, "You are not authorized to view this recording." Much to my surprise, as I was returning to that recording page to collect evidence of what was going on, it finally loaded! I'm looking forward to watching the show now, and wondering whether anyone can explain the flukiness of access to the recording of it.

(comment yet to appear on WiZiQ,

Integrating Technology into the Classroom Using Moodle and Wikis)

... and resumes here, well, actually, resumed as a draft posted in Safari, and continues now in Firefox:

I started this post in Safari, and got as far as pasting in an overt URL and typing the page of the WiZiQ page (above). In Visual editing mode, twice I tried to insert the link, covered by the display text I'd selected. However, after the page background faded, the link dialog box never un-faded, , and all page controls below the bloxi URL became useless. The only option was to reload at the browser control level, hoping the auto-save had done its thing.

Fortunately it had, but paragraph divisions between default formatted passages (aligned left) above and below the block quotation and reference weren't appearing in the post display, not even in Firefox, until after I came back and hand-encoded them in HTML view. Whenever I get through a troublesome online session like that, I wonder whether ordinary learners or run-of-the-mill site visitors would ever go through all the bother, or ever come back again, much less tell you about it.

OS X Update on PowerBook G4

The PowerBook G4 (1 Ghz Power PC, with 1.25 GB of memory) that I've been using for work has no partitions. When I tried to update the operating system from OS 10.4 to 10.5, the installer indicated there insufficient space available for the 6.5 GB installation. I checked, and found only 5.8 GB free. That was with iDisk on.

 

After turning iDisk off, I checked again, and found 6.58 GB free. However the OS 10.5 installer still indicated that a standard installation of "Mac OS X cannot fit...." So I decided to customize the installation by deselecting Printer Drivers, which require over a GB of space on installation. That sufficed to get me past the first hurdle. The Installation DVD is now checking itself for consistency, a step that is possible to skip....

 

The installation finished, prompted a reboot, and prompted me to update software. A complete update would have required an additional 2.1 GB - unavailable. In the detailed list, I deselected everything but the security update.

 

Wow, finally! No wait. Another reboot launched a SetUp Assistant. The assistant got my MobileMe address right, accepted my current password, but then choked on the Japanese location and telephone number. Though I chose English as the main language to use prior to installing OS 10.5.6, the assistant had auto-generated my location, possibly by retrieving it from Apple Japan, in Japanese characters. That and a Japanese telephone number associated with my MobileMe account choked the assistant when I clicked to continue registration. Long story, short: Clicking "Continue" (anyway) in a intervening dialog box seemed to have aborted the registration, because the assistance routine terminated with a reminder to register. 

 

Stay tuned for selective software removals to free up more space for system software and native accessory updates.

Computer Change-Over: Systems and Wares

Got a new Mac mini up and running, networked through a Time Capsule (1 TB) wirelessly at first. Now a PowerBook G4, my previous mainstay, is hard-wired to the Time Capsule. 

• [Add details and illustration about here.]

I followed a colleagues advice, and started with the mini more or less as a blank slate, at least as far as file applications and documents go. I'll add or retrieve what I need as I need it. First of all, I sync'd Address Book, iCal, and Mail particulars from the PowerBook to the mini through MobileMe. I plan to continue to do so after archiving Mail folders and messages, and installing OS 10.5 on the Powerbook (6.5 GB required, 5.8 available on working partition). 

Applications and suites I've installed so far include:

• iLife


• iWork


• Microsoft Office


• Skype


• Time Machine

Mmm..., not necessarily in that order, but that's about it. Next will be:

• NeoOffice (done)


• Foxmarks for Safari (done)


• ... (a multiple clipboard add-on [iClip])

Then we'll see.... [I've embedded a spreadsheet (below) that I'll use to collect initial use dates, and perhaps to log use periodically, as in Tools, types of site, and such (2008.09.03), but it has disappeared {which may happen every time you open and save a document that includes html code for media} (2009.03.12).]

Server Software: Leading Choices

Current results from Nick Denton's home server software poll indicate that folks responding favor Ubuntu Server Edition a hair more than the commercial Windows Home Server, 2849 to 2846. Each has garnered 32% of votes among five choices, which also include FreeNAS, Debian, Apache, and other (Which Home Server Software is Best, results, retrieved 2009.03.03). For overviews of the server software's strengths, see Hive Five: Best Home Server Software (Jason Fitzpatrick, 2009.03.01).

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TinyChat: Micro Review

Thanks to Andrew Jeppesen for pointing out the TinyChat.com service to the Resources for Languages Group at Diigo. An associated TinyChat blog with only one post so far suggests that the service is brand new (Updates updates updates, 2009.02.18). Although a comment on the blog's About page suggests that there are some bugs getting messages going two ways (rwghezzi, 2009.02.19), it seems easy enough to start using; ... registration is unnecessary.

The Options include various ways of capturing chat logs before you leave them.

You can also get badge or widget codes for use on websites and forums. However, those widgets would have a limited shelf-live since the chats are temporary, a point the Terms of Services and the confirm departure dialog box (below) make amply clear.

For more about features see Girish's post, Group chat utility (2009.02.23).

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Pageflakes for Educators

Check out this SlideShare presentation by Gladys Baya, with an embedded YouTube video (below). It introduces RSS feeds and a tool for aggregating them, Pageflakes.

Vance Stevens, who moderated an Elluminate Live! session for a TESOL workshop in which Gladys gave the presentation, has made a recording of the session available with a TinyURL. Thanks, Vance!

Thanks, too, to Gladys for publicizing this all in a blog post, Pageflakes for Educators (2009.02.10), in which she also notes recent concerns regarding the stability and viability of Pageflakes.

Pageflakes4 Educators

View more presentations from Gladys Baya. (tags: webheads presentations)

Plaxo badge in sidebar

This is a quickpost: I've joined Plaxo, tweaked too many settings to mention or recall, and added a Plaxo widget to the sidebar (currently right). Since Plaxo was a TRUSTe certified site, I had few qualms about linking from it to many other web presences.

Google Docs: Synchronous user limits and document stat's

A couple quick gleanings from:

Fourteen Interesting Ways to use Google Docs in the Classroom (Google Docs [presentation]) - a work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 License (slide 1), by Tom Barrett (slide 16), author of 100 Interesting Ways (ICT in my Classroom, 2009.01.26).

• 10 people can edit a Presentation at the same time.
• 50 people can edit a Spreadsheet....
• 10 people can edit a Document.... (Fourteen..., slide 4 of 16)
  

Doc stat's (Tools menu, Word Count) include an Automated Readability Index keyed to grade levels, in addition to word counts (Fourteen..., slide 7). Cherly Stephen's copyright article, All About Readability (2000) provides background for such indices.

See for yourself:

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhn2vcv5_8323t58h3ft

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Kumamoto Lantern Festival (2008.10.10)

Created from an iPhoto slide show [exported as a .mov file, uploaded to YouTube, and posted to a Blogger blog setup in YouTube

Notes:

• Blog setup in YouTube requires blog password.
• The YouTube video posting function affords text input (e.g.: the text above outside square brackets), but apparently not labels or tags.]
  

A word for today, and beyond!

Sheryl brought this word to my attention, "lagniappe" (Diigo: delicious4educators, Front Page, comment 11, 2008.12.09). It means a little something extra and, as she put it, "more ephemeral."

Visual Dictionary: Blog this - Blog tools

If you click on a "Blog this" button appearing on a Visual Dictionary Online page, you can get HTML code to represent dictionary illustrations and terminology on blogs and websites, with permission, for non-commercial purposes. Here is an example:



For detailed terms of use, see the Blog Tools page.

Birth and evolution of the Internet

For some reason, in 2005, I set October 29 in iCal as an annually repeating event commemorating the birth of the Internet. Perhaps that was because I had been reading up on it at the time. Below are some updated notes that I'd made about references collected, and left in the calendar entry, which I opened today because it reminded me of a website review that I'd done recently: NSF and the Birth of the Internet (2008.09.09).

In a report on the evolution of the internet, Rainie and Horrigan (2005) describe Internet use during the preceding decade, and explain "[h]ow the internet has woven itself into American life." They also provide a suite of "Other Internet Evolution References."

Elsewhere, in what may be a case in point, Lutus used to argue that Internet users' profiles, privileges, and preferences had changed, and included preferences for "Internet free zones" dedicated to "the free exchange of information, programs and content." For such sites Lutus had even prepared special logos indicating that site owners and developers forswore commercial advertising, selling, and spamming. Now a note heading the Internet Free Zone Home Page says the author keeps it as a reminder of previous idealism (Lutus, 1997).

References

Lutus, P. (1997). Internet Free Zone Home Page. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from http://vps.arachnoid.com/freezone/

Rainie, Lee; & Horrigan, John. (2005). Pew Internet and American Life Project: Internet Adoption. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/148/report_display.asp

Potpourri's first K visitors

A free NeoCounter Visitor Tracker tucked in the sidebar suggests that pab's potpourri has recently had its 1000th visitor. Though that's hardly indicative of a huge presence in any blogspheres, here's what visitor and country of origin numbers look like, over the past eight months:


The image above is an export from a Google Spreadsheet, based on a chart quickly generated in the spreadsheet; it includes no data from September.

SearchCrystal

This is an experimental post in which I'm embedding a searchCrystal widget. Thanks to MaryH for pointing it out, and providing a concrete example of its use.

I discovered this interesting visualization tool on the IES Book and Literature Circle Blog, in The Little Prince Literature Circles Week Two post (2008.05.28), through a Learning with Computers network connection in a Shelfari Group: Book, Short Stories Suggestions for the Classrooms and Activities (2008.09.04).

According to the page where I got the widget embedding code for this post (seachCrystal: Widgets), "The searchCrystal Widget visualizes the overlap between the result sets of five major search engines," for example, images on Ask, Flickr, Google, MSN, and Yahoo! (searchCrystal: Home). In order to fit the current template for this blog, I reduced the size of the display (below) from a default 600 pixels square to 400 pixels.

Exhibit A in PictoBrowser and Flickr displays

This post displays a Flickr photo set (Exhibit A, public), embedded with a new-found slide show tool, in which I'm just beginning to fiddle with display parameters other than height and width to fit this blog's template.



Thanks to Alan Levine for pointing out Pictobrowser on the CogDogBlog (Slick Flickr Browser, 2008.08.13). It sure is easy to use.

For purposes of comparison, I'm including a Flickr generated slide show the same size below.



The most noticeable differences apart from border shades (colors) and the like are:

1. Thumbnails and jump arrows for navigation appear constantly in PictoBrowser display, while only briefly after starting the show (">") or on mouse-over in Flickr;
   
2. Slides advance only manually in PictoBrowser, but automatically or manually in Flickr;
   
3. Titles get displayed in overlays at the foot of the graphics in PictoBrowser, but only in full-screen view with "Info On" in Flickr (or on the Flickr site);
   
4. Notes - Descriptions from Flickr - appear in PictoBrowser on mouse-over ("Notes"), but only in full-screen view with "Info On" in Flickr (or on the Flickr site); and
   
5. As Alan suggests, PictoBrowsers "spawn" - you can generate another PictoBrowser slide show on the spot, by clicking on the link at the lower right-hand corner of the display frame, while you must got to the Flickr site to accomplish the same feat.
   

Wesch introducing YouTube at the U.S. LoC

Billed as "an excellent backgrounder to social media, user-generated content, and online communities through the lens of anthropology" by Alec Couros (2008.08.03), this YouTube video resonates in a similar post by D'Arcy Norman (2008.08.06). The video represents a June 23, 2008, appearance of Professor Michael Wesch at a U.S. Library of Congress (LoC) podium to display and describe his and his students' findings from ethnological investigations into YouTube as participant observers (Wesch, 2008)

Wesch describes media such as YouTube as neither content, nor tools of communication, but rather as a landscape that mediates human relationships. He suggests that changes in "the mediascape" correspond to changes in human relations (approx. 12 of 55 minutes in), reflecting manifestations of participatory culture and networked individualism. Eschewing Powerpoint, he and his students remix dozens of independent video productions to portray a mediated state under tension between personal expression and social aspiration:

• individualism and community,
  
• independence and relationships, and
• aggrandizement and authenticity.

"More info" in the YouTube sidebar provides a timeline for the video itself (Added: July 26, 2008). However, you've got to see the presentation to believe it!

Reference

Wesch, Michael (Dir.). (2008). An anthropological introduction to YouTube. Retrieved September 9, 2008, from http://youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU

Social media: Is there anything but?

August 7, 2008, Chris Brogan listed ebooks that he'd found available for free, and thought looked worth reading to learn about social media. I've made five quick picks from his list of twenty; my fifth pick (his 19th) is actually a journal article:

1. The Zen of Blogging, by Hunter Nutall (2008);
   
2. A Primer in Social Media: Examining the Phenomenon, Its Relevance, Promise and Risks, by Eric Karjaluoto (2008);
3. Effective Internet Presence, by Ted Demopoulos (2008);
• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
  
4. Introduction to Good Usability, by peterpixel (2008); and
5. How blogs and social media are changing public relations and the way it is practiced, by Wright and Hinson (2008).

I've made one more tentative selection from Chris' updates:

• The Essential Guide to Social Media, by Brian Solis (2008)
  

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[Notes: What first caught my eye was Siemens' musing about Brogan's list, "In the sense that all media ... require a producer and consumer, doesn't the notion of media have an inherent social trait?" (elearnspace, 2008.08.21). I'd been wondering the same thing with regard to a local course entitled Social Communication, because even though communication may manifest anti-social characteristics, it is fundamentally social.

Though I've only peeked under the covers of a couple of items on my short list, it seems that my choies differ in concentration on marketing from other items and articles Brogan later added to his list. As a subset of social activity, he may be focusing more on the commercial than the educational. (2008.09.08)]

Tools, types of site, and such

Without delving into the nitty-gritty of many actual sites, I've been tracking and listing up most of the tools and types of sites that I've used over the past week, since deciding to do so while writing Tools I use (2008.08.27). I've taken cross-sections of what's up and running on machines at work or home just after lunchtime, in the middle of an academic recess.

The spreadsheet below represents my current findings. It also enables me to continue working in details without necessarily having to tweak or follow up on this post. Such details may include:

• Future sampling periods, possibly:
  
• during academic sessions, and
  
• including computer laboratory applications;
  
• Other (unexploited) possibilities in my tool chests; and
  
• What's free or open source software.
  

A Gift that Gives for 15.5 Years

Reading back through Mctoonish to 4 Generations (2007.01.23), I discovered a powerful short film by Robert Thompson documenting the acquisition, delivery, and aftermath of a surprising gift. Here it is (in various formats and sizes).

Image by geofana (2006): There is a Creative Commons license attached to this image.
AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works

Tools I use

At the first of the year, Heather Ross [(McToonish, 2008.01.08)] posted a list of the tools that she uses least once a week. She had gleaned the idea of making a list for comparison with those she may be using next year from Will Richardson [(Weblogg-ed, 2008.01.06, who had taken a cue from Michael Arrington (TechCrunch, 2008.01.01)]. This sounds like an interesting project, especially since Heather's MacOSX@home - WindowsXP@work situation is a mirror image of mine.

Listening to a podcast about open source software, in which Heather took part (EdTech Posse Podcast 2.1, 2006.09.18), while reviewing a number of posts in which she mentions or recommends tools, sites, and extensions, I've decided to make a list of my own, and will try to sort it out in terms of platforms as well as open-sourced-ness.

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[Note: I've detailed the references to chronicle the stream of the meme Richardson mentioned, and decided to do my list during summer academic recess, when I'm most likely to have a full rack open (2008.08.28).]

Balance, on all fours

Balance, on all fours, seems to be what keeps tails from wagging dogs. For educational technologists, these days, the balance and interplay of humanity and technology seem to keep coming to the fore. The technological end of things has been twisting my noodle since I chewed over Achieving Sleep/Network Balance (Ceraso, ELT Blog, 2007.10.21) in pab's potpourri (2008.01.28).

Call it a rush, or addictive, vacuous pressure to adopt more and more diversified web tools, join more and more diversified professional and social networks, hold further discussions - with more people, explore existing topics more deeply, share and try new ideas, compare findings, pool and package resources, ..., and what do we get?

Loud whooshing sounds as our lives evacuate online, or something graphically represented as an exploding head, for which Alan Levine suggests he is "lacking an easy answer beyond shrugging it off, unplugging, letting stuff slide, or just floating along til the groove returns." Nonetheless, he keeps contemplating "how much 'power' we acquiesce to technology tools" (CogDogBlog, Exploding Heads, 2008.07.22).

Without ever having tried twittering, I'm inclined to agree that doing it needn't make everyone who does micro-thinkers. Yet humans are creatures of habits, and Levine wonders, "If some of the most sharp and clever people I know and respect find themselves overly immersed in something like twitter, what does that portend for the many more people who look to them for guides?"

If collection and recollection of both data and thoughts becomes largely and ubiquitously mechanical and piece-meal, it may lead to flattening of the web, and bode ill for discursive thought patterns, coherent conversations, cogent analyses, and deliberative syntheses. When push comes to pull, which way will online educators be leaning - towards the flat, quick, and transient, or the deep, rich, and stable?

It comes as some relief to hear of folks abandoning twitter accounts before I ever got one. However, I felt a twitch of dismay yesterday discovering So Many Nodes, Not Enough Reciprocity (Yet) (Marielle, Authorship 2.0, 2008.07.03), about which I growled on the LTD Project Blog (2008.07.24). Marielle reminds us "not to get lost in a plethora of solipsistic silos, speaking without listening, [and] reinventing rather than building upon each other’s ideas and deepening the collective dialogue." I wonder how long it may take twitter-free digital immigrants to groove deep enough into the web for the rest of the world to hear the music.

Photo by Andrey Sukhanov (2008)
Creative Commons License BY-NC 2.0

The World is a Mosaic!

AppAppeals Map of theWorld 2.0, with hot-linked graphics in the original (World Mosaic Created from 1001 Web 2.0 Logos):

Source: http://media.appappeal.com/map/appappeal-mosaic2.png

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