#20 Casting the net

Originally uploaded by tsheko
 
 
 

 

 Camilla Elliott provides many useful links for podcasting on her Linking for Learning site. I took up her recommendation to subscribe to the ABC’s EdPod RSS feed. Now the latest EdPod audio files are automatically sent to my iTunes every fortnight. Love the idea of getting stuff automatically. It’s like someone working for me while I sleep.

I listened to ‘One long yawn? History in the classroom’ and pondered the podcast. What’s not to like? Continue reading #20 Casting the net

History of libraries – fascinating

Originally uploaded by tsheko
 
 
 
 
 

 

After a brief hiatus, due predominantly to brain fag, having almost exhausted all things Web 2.0 (or is that, exhausted myself?) I decided to offer a morsel of general interest, to whit, a fascinating site detailing the early history of libraries. Have a look, too, at Survivor: History of the Library from History magazine.

Notice my reversion to bombastic and antiquated expression when I have nothing to say.

Wait, I do. Continue reading History of libraries – fascinating

unreal bookshop


zoomii

Originally uploaded by tsheko

Two fun ways of looking at books are with Viewzi and Zoomii.  Viewzi is a gorgeous visual search engine offering a variety of searching options. But more about that later… If you choose the Amazon Book search, you get a deliciously large image and synopsis of the book. Zoomii takes book searching one step further – it’s an online book shop, displaying books on shelves under different genres. You can move through the bookshop, browsing through books and clicking on them for information. Even if you don’t end up using Amazon’s book buying options, you will still enjoy this virtual bookstore experience.

Getting dressed in 1805

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When muttering profanities under my breath whilst trying to remember usernames and passwords for various Web 2.0 applications, I like to remind myself that, while many things have become complicated by technology of our times, there are some things that have been simplified - thankfully.

Why Young Adult?


New York books

Originally uploaded by tsheko

Read Alert has a fascinating debate about the place of the Young Adult label in fiction. To whet your appetite, here’s a section of what Frank Cottrell Boyce says:

‘It used to be the case that you moved on from children’s fiction to adult fiction, from The Owl Service, maybe, to Catcher in the Rye. There were, of course, some adult authors who were more fashionable with teenage readers than others – Salinger, Vonnegut, Maya Angelou. But these were chosen by teenagers themselves from the vast world of books. Some time ago, someone saw that trend and turned it into a demographic. Fortunes were made but something crucial was lost. We have already ghettoised teenagers’ tastes in music, in clothes and – God forgive us – in food. Can’t we at least let them share our reading? Is there anything more depressing than the sight of a “young adult” bookshelf in the corner of the shop’.

Read the string of comments for a satisfying debate on the issue of Young Adult fiction – is the category YA ‘ghettoising’ or ‘the most flexible, challenging and dynamic genre in publishing’?

Wordle


wordle Hitler speech

Originally uploaded by tsheko

My first go at Wordle, the word cloud generator using text, has resulted in a rather strong example of the interesting possibilities with this application. Using Hitler’s speech delivered in Munich in April, 1923, the wordle has created a powerful, visual summary of the text, revealing  points of emphasis.

It would be an interesting experiment for students to enter chunks of text in order to visualise main concepts and ideas at a glance. You can also play around with colour and font. I’d be interested to know what other ideas anyone has for this application in the classroom.