Category Archives: Web 2.0

Web 2.0

#16 Taste test

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ellie eat icecream

Originally uploaded by Liquang

It’s a bit like piggybacking. Del.icio.us, that is. I jump on the back of a person I revere, a person whose blogs, wikis, professional guidance I’ve been following, and suddenly I’ve hit the jackpot! Somehow I’ve managed to legally ‘steal’ someone else’s hard work, time and mental journeys. Of course, I also develop my own social bookmarking links on Del.icio.us. It’s all fair. Although I have to warn those who think my Del.icio.us links are worth ‘stealing’ that my path to bookmarking is slightly crooked, and that they’ll be plunged into a randomness that only I can decifer.Tagging is magical. As far as I’m concerned, it’s like waving a magic wand. It has freed the outdated subject heading, that hallowed entity that demands strict adherence to its unflinching laws. I started using Furl before I tried Del.icio.us, but it doesn’t bring up previously generated tags for you to grab like Del.icio.us does. Like many new Web 2.0 applications, Del.icio.us can be pulled out of the hat of any computer; the memory stick is redundant (no viruses!)One more thing, before you fall asleep – if you customise the del.icio.us URL, eg. http://del.icio.us/tag/wiki, you’ll get a combined view of the most recent links tagged with the last word, in this case, “wiki”. I think I’ll play around with that for a while… 

Uncategorized, Web 2.0

#18 Grow knowledge

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388px-Franz_Marc_028

Originally uploaded by tsheko

I’ve planted my wiki seeds and I’m waiting for them to grow. I know it’s winter so I’ll have to be patient. Once the exams and report writing are over, I’m hoping to see the miraculous organism taking shape and increasing in size. My art wiki is in its formative stage. I’ve started the growing process by adding pages within topics and raising questions for discussion, I’ve emailed art teachers within and without my school, added a couple of artists and brilliantly creative people for a bit of spice, and it’s just a matter of time before the living organism I call my wiki starts to mutate. My wiki will be a classroom without a room, a global community of critical readers, bravely discerning correctness and relevance of information, sculpting information into knowledge. It’s just a matter of time…

In his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Will Richardson imagines the possibilities of the wiki in the classroom – students could create book report wikis, what-I-did-this-summer wikis, brainstorming wikis, poetry wikis, notes-from-class wikis, year six wikis, history-of-the-school or community wikis, formula wikis, wikis for individual countries they might be studying, political party wikis, exercise wikis… and so on. As Richardson says, wikis are ideal for ‘whatever topic might lend itself to the collaborative collection of content relating to its study’.

Uncategorized, Web 2.0

If the blog fits

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Perfect Fit

Originally uploaded by riverxan

The search for the perfect blog …

Now it’s easy to keep the blogs you want rolling in.  With a little help from Google blog search.

Not only can you do an advanced search for a blog using keywords of your choice, but you can also create an email alert for these blogs, add a blog search gadget for your Google homepage or subscribe to a blog search feed in Google Reader. You can even limit the search for blogs created in the last hour, last 12 hours, last day, past week, past month.

Just thought I’d let you know.

Children's books, Web 2.0

#14 Google book search

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Little suck a thumb 2

Originally uploaded by daniel.schenzer

I thought I’d search an old German children’s book to test out Google Book Search. Can’t believe it, not only did I get a result, but also whole page images (which I couldn’t copy), extracts of popular passages and interesting background information. I still can’t believe this book – so violent and politically incorrect. It’s fascinating to see what was important for children of nineteenth century Germany. The author wrote and illustrated it in 1845 as a Christmas present for his 3 year old son. I’m not sure of the psychological damage done to this little boy as he pored over stories with gruesome consequences that befell children who tormented animals, played with matches, sucked their thumbs and refused to eat their soup. As you can see from the picture I’ve included about the boy who sucked his thumb, the illustrations spare no detail. Actually, it reminds me a little of Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons – not the moralising part, just the violence. I’m not sure what I thought of all this when I read it as a young girl. I must have realised that it wasn’t a realistic depiction of what would happen to me if I displayed any of this behaviour. Grimms’ fairy tales were no less gruesome. I think kids like that, actually. Look at older kids watching South Park.

The Google book search gives a synopsis, reviews, other editions, where to buy or borrow from a library, the option to add to your Google library or write a review. You can search genres within fiction and non-fiction.

Web 2.0

The elephant and the balloon

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I know that many people are kicking against this Web 2.0 learning curve. I’m not saying everyone, but I have spoken to several (more than 3) people who are finding this experience more pain than gain. Well, I just want to say , don’t give up! Once you pass a certain threshold, you suddenly get stuck into it, and you know what, you can’t stop.

Personally, I’m  finding  that I have an opportunity to learn which I feel is always a privilege. As a child I enjoyed learning at school, always something to look forward to. There was a time in my life (quite a prolonged time ) when I didn’t have the opportunity to learn as much as I was used to. I’d say that these were the years when my children were very young. Sure, I had to learn stuff, but you know what I mean, there was no time for me.

This program has given me the opportunity for exploration and creativity. I thrive on that. Without it, I’m not in a good state. As I read others’ blogs, the links in these, look at possibilities offered by Web 2.0 applications, I feel like I could do anything. Lately, I’ve decided I could write a children’s book. Do you ever think that? How hard could it be?  Well, here’s a YouTube video from the British comedy show Black Books that I think illustrates what would happen if I ever tried to write a children’s book.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/mAM-ceTC1io" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Web 2.0

#12 Google docs

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Some Questions Can’t Be Answered by Google

Originally uploaded by Mykl Roventine

The unmistakable beauty of Google Docs is that they can be saved and accessed on any computer. It seems that all good things are free-floating. We’re no longer anchored to one harbour. That goes for del.icio.us, furl, librarything and others I can’t think of at the moment.
I played with a google doc, created a folder, was able to see ‘all revisions’ made and how long ago, compared different versions of the document. The ‘sharing’ aspect is cool. This is the meat in the Web 2.0 sandwich, the networking aspect. I had the option to invite people either as collaborators or as viewers. I could even give my ‘collaborators’ permission to invite other collaborators. A socialnetworking army! I feel so powerful!
Lastly, you get the option of saving the document in different formats: html, open document (what the…), pdf, rtf (what the…), text, word – have a look for yourself.
Zohowriter was similar, and enabled me to save folders as tags, ensuring easier location and access. Inserting images is apparently easy, and you can post it to your blog. You can also make a draft post. The ‘add comments’ feature is useful for teacher/student interaction.

Web 2.0

Class, take out your Facebooks

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WEB 2.0 CITY

Originally uploaded by gualtierocatrame

One of the most useful aspects of Facebook is the Groups application. This enables group communication with all the messages visible to the whole group. We could easily incorporate this type of socialnetworking in schools, eg set up the following groups:
Sci-fi; graphic novels; Manga, etc.
Another feature is the promotion of events. A book group, writing group or author visit could be advertised within Facebook.
Relevant YouTube videos supporting events or interests could be uploaded.

Web 2.0

Facebook/MySpace? What the…? (#10,11)

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Facebook Vs Myspace (Ben Heine)

Originally uploaded by Ben Heine

What’s the difference between Facebook and MySpace? To find out, I asked my son who uses both: 

MySpace

– more customised in terms of html; the look is more customizable;
– you can stick pictures wherever you want and also YouTube or widgets
– he feels it’s more ‘his space’ and puts effort into making it look nice and individual
– automatic widget from lastfm  plays his cds on autoplay so it comes on for visitors.

Facebook

– no autoplay, so visitors have to click on to hear his music, and they might not do that
– smoother, when you tag someone it works better – doesn’t open up a new window or take forever 
– photo albums are better, quicker , tagging is better
– better for groups – eg. interests, themes, etc
– he likes to send messages to more than one person at once (like email) and when they reply it goes to everyone in the group selected so it’s good for collaboration

His general comments:

MySpace can look awful (matter of taste)whereas facebook is the same for all
It’s ridiculous that we talk to the same people on MySpace and facebook and msn but we do it

– writing on the wall in facebook is similar to comments on MySpace although with Wall to wall, if there’s a conversation going on b/w two people, it’s easier to keep track of

Participating in these socialnetworking communities, you know more about a person – their taste in movies, music, comedians etc. than you would otherwise – you can’t always work that into a conversation.

My views:
I think that for school, using something similar gives the kids an identity, this is their space, and includes all that they think makes them unique and what they want their friends to know and see about them. Book and film reviews pages could be set out more like this, so that students have an identity and their own space for creativity.

Drupal might be a good option. What do others think?