Tag your world – share with Stickybits

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Judy O'Connell

What next you ask? How about Stickybits!! With Stickybits we are now able to attach digital content to real life objects, and share this content with anyone else who accesses our Stickybits barcodes.

The current phase of social media is all about location-based applications, such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite, to name a few. By downloading the Stickybits mobile application on an iPhone, users can scan the barcode and which provides the videos, photos and text which have been added, which are referred to as “bits.”

Anyone that scans the barcode, can see the bits loaded from other users and also add their own content. Stickybits barcode locations can be identified on a map provided in the application and are tracked on the Stickybits website.

I think there are things we could do with this for professional or fun things, as well as develop ideas for school.

You can attach photos, videos, music, pdfs, and more to a barcode.

It is possible to print out your own barcodes, order some snazzy ones from Zazzle, or attach ‘bits’ to existing barcodes.

Here is where it could get interesting for schools – we already have barcodes on objects – now we could attach information goodies to items that are being used for reading, learning, playing, enjoying. Would we? This is definitely a whole new idea to explore.

Would you use Sticky Bits? What would you attach to your barcode?

TechCrunch has a bit to say too:

Every place and object in the world has a secret past: who lived there, who passed by, who touched it. The secret lives of objects are filled with such details. If only you could make them talk. But what if you could give any physical object a story simply by sticking a barcode on it and appending a message to that barcode?

The barcode in a greeting card , for instance, could trigger a video message from the sender. One on a box of medical supplies could inventory what is inside. A business card with a code on it could link to a resume or LinkedIn profile. Museums and theme parks could use them for audio tours and maps. Local merchants could use the barcodes to track deliveries or place them in their storefront windows to distribute digital coupons and offers to passersby.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/08/stickybits-barcodes-message-boards/#ixzz0lh0WZERv

To get more ideas keep an eye on the StickiWiki, and please do let me know what you try.

Laura Gainor will be utilizing stickybits as a travel journal as she ventures to Disney World with her family from April 16 – 19, 2010 and also bring along stickybit stickers to attach to different real world objects

Laura Gainor used stickybits as a travel journal for a Disney World trip with her family from April 16 – 19, 2010!

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Not just Twitter and Facebook ~ it’s a Poken!

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Judy O'Connell

As John explains in his post on Integrating Social Media and Reality, we live in two separate, parallel worlds, with one foot in each. There’s the online world of text, email, online shopping, Internet search, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Then there’s the real world of food, shelter, family, friends, and work. The two intersect, but they’re not tied together in any robust way. Well, at least until now.

Enter Poken! a device you might keep on a lanyard around your neck or clipped to your jacket, backpack, or bag. Need to exchange information or keep up-to-date with a colleague? If you both have a Poken you can touch the hands of the Poken together and they’ll sense each other’s presence. After a wireless exchange of links, both hands will pulsate with a green glow to announce the successful transfer of information. The magic happens when the Poken is connected online to your personalized online portal.

Way better than a business card ~ amazing social networking! Is this new? Or have I been living under a rock?

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Poken Explained on Vimeo“, posted with vodpod

Teaching Privacy in a 2.0 World

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

[clearspring_widget title=”Animoto.com” wid=”46928cc51133af17″ pid=”4b24168b205436d3″ width=”432″ height=”240″ domain=”widgets.clearspring.com”]

….with thanks to a tweet from Michael Stephens @mstephens7

Teachers done and dusted?

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

A meeting today reminded me of the chasm surrounding general understanding of what is going on in the new media world of our youth. Here we are with teachers still ‘learning’ how to do basic things, while the kids have stampeded right on into the 21st century.

Tipping Point Labs has some interesting insights into Tumblr, Twitter and The Tweeters,Tumblrists and Technogeeks using them. Tumblr is seen as being a more sophisticated version of Twitter with much more room for valuable content and interaction between users.

Now I don’t know about you – but these are old tools of trade for me and many of those in my personal learning network. Definitly not tools of trade for the majority of those I work with and interact with on a daily basis.

I dropped by the Facebook profile of my very sociable teenage niece. What I saw was a breadcrumb trail to some new shifts in what her friendship groups were up to. Seems the kids are starting to ‘swarm’ to places like twitter and tumblr. Facebook, Myspace, Beebo and MSN are no longer enough.

This backs up the odd comments I got at school today from some random kids – “you’re not on twitter are you miss?”

I exchanged a few messages with her – and then she actually discovered who I was!

She described my presence as ‘awkward’ – naturally! I promptly bid my farewells and assured her that I would not ‘follow’ her on Twitter.

Have you checked out lately what your students are doing online?

Horizon Report – K12 at last!

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

The Horizon Report 2009 K-12 is here! Naturally I’m thrilled to bits, for professional and personal reasons.

Firstly, because the Horizon reports, that have been released since 2004 and which have provided critical information for educators about emerging technologies and their impact on society and education – has now released its first report for K-12. Horizon.K12 focuses on emerging technologies for elementary and secondary learning institutions.

Secondly, I was so lucky to be included on the Advisory Panel of the K-12 Report. Just being part of the process was amazing – but seeing such a breadth of information, and engaging in the process of filtering was an education in itself. Much material was covered, as we read, filtered and sifted priorities – we’ve seen what didn’t make it into the report – so maybe we got to know what might come next 🙂

While there are many local factors affecting the practice of education, there are also issues that transcend regional boundaries, questions we all face in K-12 education, and it was with these in mind that this K12 report was created. The hope is that the report is useful to educators worldwide, and the international composition of the Advisory Board reflects the care with which a global perspective was assembled.

Information on all the Horizon Reports may be found, and downloaded, at
http://www.nmc.org/horizon. The Horizon K-12 Report may be downloaded here.