YouTube becomes mainstream media

Posted on March 3, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

A lot of talk in education about YouTube has centred around the ‘dangers’ of this open-access, user-generated visual content repository. In some places this adds up to “if you can’t control it, then block it”.

So the report from BBC news – BBC Strikes Google-YouTube Deal – puts a new twist on media and news distribution, and shows how Web 2.0 tools are re-aligning the global media & communications industry.

BBC has struck three deals in one with YouTube – non-exclusive and set to run for several years.

BBC: One of the BBC’s two entertainment channels will be a “public service” proposition, featuring no advertising.

BBC Worldwide: The second entertainment channel will feature self-contained clips – about three to six minutes long – mining popular programmes in the BBC’s archive.

BBC News: The news channel, which will be launched later this year, will show about 30 news clips per day.

The BBC’s director of Future Media and Technology, Ashley Highfield, said the deal was “not about distributing content like full-length programmes; YouTube is a promotional vehicle for us”.

Thanks BBC! – what you’ve given us is a promotional tool to counter-act hysteria in some education circles.

Youtube Ban Comic

EduNation SecondLife

Posted on February 5, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

The Consultants-E are proud to launch the first private island simulator in Second Life dedicated to online training seminars and conferences, and the use of Second Life in Education. EduNation is a 65,000m2 island in the Second Life virtual world with seminar, powerpoint, audio and videocast facilities. Use of the seminar facilities is free.

More information at EduNation

Web 2.0 …. and professional development!

Posted on February 4, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

Last week I had the pleasure of joining the staff of The Kings School on the second day of their professional preparation for the new academic year. The Kings School has a reputation for excellence and innovation in boys education, and their mandate for 2007 to explore and adopt Web 2.0 is impressive. The day before staff had been given some time to explore a number of Web 2.0 tools – just to have a ‘hands-on’ taste of the possibilities. On day two I was given just under an hour to present Web 2.0 – the vision, the purpose, and the value for learning and teaching.

While I have done quite a few similar presentations, each with their own focus and purpose, I found the opportunity to work with my King’s colleagues to be exciting. It makes such a difference when leadership has made a ‘decision’ to support staff in developing Web 2.0 knowledge and skills!

There was a lot of enthusiasm generated, and I know that they will be following up with rolling workshops on various Web 2.0 tools to ensure that staff are confident and able to transform their learning and teaching frameworks. Many thanks to Rob Chandler, Director of Staff Development, for the opportunity to assist Kings in this professional development programme.

Things are ‘afoot’ in my own schools as well. This week I visit with two primary schools with a view to looking at how we can change (develop, innovate) collaborative teaching practises and integration of technologies.

I think 2007 will prove to be a valuable learning experience for many of us! I hope I get lots of invites to do lots of ‘fun’ things this year!

Flock Fever

Posted on January 24, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

Frustrated at work today by technology issues on my IBM computer (and too lazy to open my MacBook Pro) I decided to go back and give another run of Flock.

I wrote blogged about Flock (and more) back in July 2006 – but my Flock use has slipped away since then.
So I downloaded the update – and Bingo! I was a winner. I have blogged several posts since then, and love being able to blend my Delicious and Flickr accounts into Flock

What a great decision! I’m sold on the fantastic integration and functionality that Flock provides me. Cuts my blogging time in half!

Don’t just take my word for it. Read a comprehensive review of Flock written by Kathleen Gilroy at Library 2.0 back in July last year.

This will give you a good idea of the combined functionality of this excellent browser.

Technorati Tags: Flock, social software, web browser

The [library] world is flat – too!

Posted on January 23, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

We have a central library catalogue (SirsiDynix Unicorn) serving 77 schools K-12 plus some specialist libraries, which allows for individualisation and sharing of information – we can search our own library or all libraries across all our schools as well as the specialised support libraries.

Unicorn’s architecture makes it easy to change databases and to implement new functionality. We have ‘content enrichment’ – book jackets, reviews, teacher notes and more also added to our basic catalogue. We could extend our services to include electronic packets (learning objects) and electronic files, provide federated searching of our resources, which includes an excellent range of subscription databases such as Britannica and EBSCO.

We could launch an enterprise portal solution, or implement any number of excellent options that SirsiDynix offers to revolutionise access to digital knowledge resources, as well as bibliographic resources.

At this stage, we have not rolled out the really effective enhancements that makes this system of delivery revolutionary…….. information anywhere, anytime.

We ‘stand out‘ in the school library sector in Australia for having implemented this system – yet we are hindered in making further developments because ………the potential of the innovation goes unrecognised! Urrrrggghhhh – so frustrating! Such Web 1.0 thinking. So yesterday!

The Information Network for Ohio Schools has done much of this, and is worth exploring to see some of the possible ways of supporting learning and teaching across schools.

I am delighted that at least a public library in Australia is leading the way in Web 2.0 using the same platform as our own (Unicorn), though obviously for a much smaller group of libraries.

The SirsiDynix WebSeminar “Hopping into Library 2.0: Experiencing Lifelong Learning” will be presented by Christine Mackenzie —Chief Executive Officer, Yarra Plenty Regional Library, in Melbourne, Australia. She will talk about why they decided to implement Learning 2.0 and how this has equipped them to get bold in their thinking about social networking. They’ll discuss 4 themes for their Library worker 2.0 staff development program in 2007 – getting information, enabling learning, creating content and celebrating culture; and how they are encouraging an environment of lifelong learning within the organization. Grab the podcast if you can’t join in the conversation. Of course there is also an excellent Yarra Plenty Library Blog, currently promoting great summer reading.

Singapore National Library shows an interesting MashUp with BookJetty. Some nice Web 2.0 enhancements, and a curious blend with Amazon. Can’t borrow the book? I guess you can buy it! My test searches provided pretty interesting results – in some cases, only providing Amazon information. Port the same search across to WorldCat – and get a very comprehensive result – all the information leads you could want for collection development, research sources, or unusual collections. Why not put the WorldCat search box on your site?

In terms of nice innovation, I love what MIT libraries have done! MIT Libraries now have RSS feeds for new additions to their catalogue.

Of course, they have lots of other nice things too, but RSS feeds for new resources is a cool Web 2.0 touch for keeping informed!

Technorati Tags: sirsidynix, MIT, bookjetty, MITLibraries, InfOhio, YarraPlentyLibrary, unicorn

YouTube – Time’s Best Inventions 2006

Posted on December 15, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

It’s been an interesting year in technology. Nintendo invented a video game you control with a magic wand. A new kind of car traveled 3,145 miles on a single gallon of gas. A robot learned to ride a bike. Somebody came up with a nanofabric umbrella that doesn’t stay wet. But only YouTube created a new way for millions of people to entertain, educate, shock, rock and grok one another on a scale we’ve never seen before. That’s why it’s Time’s Invention of the Year for 2006.

This is the Real McCoy!

Posted on December 3, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Michael Habib’s Masters Thesis: Academic Library 2.0
This is the Real McCoy!

I’ve just fininshed doing a batch of marking for Master’s students whose task it was to create pathways and electronic information packets for a chosen audience, and to analyse the development and implementation of these ……..and, well, they were nice ………. but not within ‘cooee‘ of what you can read in Michael Habib’s Masters Thesis for his MLS, which is available for download at http://etd.ils.unc.edu/dspace/handle/1901/356

I’ve read through the paper twice, and was thrilled by two things.

A university is allowing graduates to write about directions in a Web 2.0 world.
The quality of Michael’s paper – which is just great!

The definition of Library 2.0 (and it’s purpose) is grounded in its roots in Web 2.0. Read Michael’s paper as it is a great overview of Web 2.0, as well as being something of a compass for navigating ourselves through to a new future.

Of relevance to Australians is Michael’s discussion of intellectual freedom and knowledge usage.

He says:

…librarians have always trusted that the majority of their users strive to distinguish that which is good and true. This is the foundation of the principles of democracy, academic scholarship, and intellectual freedom. However, Academic Library 2.0 demands a more explicit trust in the majority. This explicit trust necessary for Library 2.0 is rooted in the principles of academic scholarship and intellectual freedom.

…..Information literacy classes would instruct students and faculty in the use of these and other Web 2.0 services. Instruction would also teach students about responsible content creation. This would include teaching them about intellectual property so that they could maintain appropriate control over their contributions

Michael also pushes more possibilities, e.g.

….An API would also be available to allow students and faculty to develop mashups of library system datasets and other datasets.

….A built in RSS reader would enable students to pull in data from various sources such as a friend’s favorites or new recommended materials. This would present students with a snapshot of what is occurring in their areas of study.

The thesis represents a good review of the Web 2.0 literature related to libraries, and poses some good ideas and templates. Michael plans to develop an Acadmic Library 2.0 Wiki to continue the conversation.

Good one Michael!! Congratualtions on making it to the end 🙂

Comments are welcome at his post: http://mchabib.blogspot.com/2006/11/toward-academic-library-20-developme

Google – altruism or what?

Posted on December 1, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

I had to follow up my last post, prompted by a friend, to comment on the constant rollout of stuff from Google. I’m a fan on the one hand, and then I worry on the other. Google’s technology playground, GoogleLabs, is seemingly always cooking up cool new things. The graduates of GoogleLabs soon find a place in the digital mainstream. I liked Google Desktop, for a while, then gave up a few months ago as in reality I do not work on only one computer and not enought stuff transfered – so Desktop had too many limitations. Even the indexing fails at times! I have of course dabbled with other Google goodies, and make good use of Picassa. And I am curious to see how Google Suggest shapes up. It’s fascinating to watch the hits – worth showing teachers and students.

At the back of my mind, however, is the Googlification of all things online as posed by that great flash video EPIC2015. Was 2004 really the year everything began? Can’t you just see all these Google things leading to the Evolving Personalised Information Construct?

Regardless, a Google product that has been getting some ‘press’ in the blogosphere is The Literacy Project.

Ira at SpecEdChange says ” Google has pulled together a vast collection of literacy resources into an on-line Literacy Project that can help educators assemble books, information, videos, book groups, blogs, and much more.

Take a look around, you’ll find fascinating things that may spark all sorts of classroom ideas. There are easy to follow directions for creating tech-enhanced on-line book groups, developing school-wide blogs, or for adding your own school literacy videos to this project”.

Ho Hum. I’m going to wait to see what teachers in schools can do with this.

Tom Hoffman in Emerging Technologies quoted Andy Carvin who comes down a bit on Google:

My guess is that other educational bloggers will have similar reactions. Not unlike the Google Literacy project launched the previous week, Google for Educators seems more like a promotional stunt, lacking in any new resources tailored for educators. Given Google’s superpower strength in the Web 2.0 universe, one might expect them to focus their resources a bit more on developing tools and services that teachers and students could really use.

Tom also complains about advertising – fair enough – but how else will we get lots of apps for free in schools?

In the meantime I do feel that the Google Literacy Project pulls together into one space various tools that we can use in our Web 2.0 learning environment – and from my point of view, having them together in one Project (or portal) makes it much easier to promote to reluctant teachers.

It’s just the quality that’s the issue isn’t it? But I do like fun!! So go try this out now….

From Dean Shareski:

This is just plain good fun. Spell with Flickr was fun but this is really cool. Type any name or phrase and geogreeting finds buildings that will spell your phrase.