TechnoTipster

Web-based Annotation Tools

2010-11-08T07:31:00.000-06:00

Have you ever wanted to add annotations to a web site so your students (or friends) will know exactly the portion of the site on which they should focus? There are several tools that can prove useful.

http://reframeit.com/ adds a panel to the right side of the web page (in your browser) to display annotations and comments.

http://www.diigo.com incudes an educator’s version that features bookmarks, annotations, highlights, sticky notes and more.

http://www.mystickies.com adds sticky notes (that is, “bookmarks on steroids”) to annotate web sites. Sticky notes enable you to do more than just link to a page; rather you can add notes and annotate to highlight the important paragraphs and features.

Since When Is Twitter an Educational Tool?

2010-11-05T06:40:00.001-05:00

Last June attendees at the Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange (TTIX) conference (http://ttix.org/2010-sessions/tweeting-from-the-titanic-a-hands-on-demo/) participated in a hands-on session using Twitter to teach and recreate history. The end result was “Sinking the Titanic, 100 Years Later” (see http://twhistory.org/). Twhistory is an online effort to use Twitter to teach, recreate, and reenact history. Further, the educators involved “see opportunities for students to learn to think more deeply about history by participating in creating TwHistory reenactments with their classmates. They will learn how historical narratives are made.”

Other reenactments are listed at http://twhistory.org/reenactments/ if you wish to see further examples.

By the way, if you’re still skeptical of using Twitter because of your initial experiences with the tool, check out the Twitter Life Cycle at http://cogdoghouse.wikispaces.com/TwitterCycle and Alan Levine’s blog at http://cogdogblog.com/2007/04/26/splj-20/. It might change your mind.

If you’re still not convinced, you might want to try a collaborative 3D timeline for a classroom project (rather than the Twhistory approach). If so, check out http://www.beedocs.com. If you have an educational need, there’s an online tool.

A Good Question Leads People on a Quest: What’s the Future of Education

2010-10-11T09:01:00.002-05:00

We’ve concluded the Digital Nation conversation at JCCC (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/)…or have we. There are many voices besides PBS attempting to explore technology and how it is and will affect our lives, our society and the way we define ourselves as human beings.

Michael Wesch is another voice asking educators to examine their roles in this digital age and he comes from as far away as KSU. Wesch has been dubbed "the explainer" by Wired magazine and is “a cultural anthropologist exploring the effects of new media on society and culture. After two years studying the effects of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the effects of social media and digital technology on global society. His videos on culture, technology, education and information have been viewed by millions, translated in more than 15 languages and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences worldwide” (for more information check out http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/weschbio.html).

Some JCCC faculty members, like Terry Helmick, have used Wesch’s materials in the classroom. Terry used a TED (http://www.ted.com/) presentation given by Wesch in August 2010 (see http://tinyurl.com/2f2yc89) and then asked her Interpersonal Communications students to respond to these questions:

If a good question is one that “leads people on a quest” what kinds of questions could you ask yourself right now?
“When media changes our relationships change.” What is the most common media you use to communicate with those close to you and how has that changed your communication with those individuals?
“Students are meaning seekers; they are looking for who they are.” What meaning are you seeking to find in your life?
If student’s “learn what they do”, what do you wish to be doing to help you improve your interpersonal communication with those close to you?

Spend 19 minutes and explore the power of media, critical thinking, global connections, and the world we as educators already occupy (along with our students).

By the way, if you’d like to see a less blurry version of the Dove/Unilever ads and the Green Peace response (mentioned by Wesch), check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_wIXAP8iAg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odI7pQFyjso. The video created by Wesch’s students (partially shown in his TED talk) is available in its entirety at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o.

Also the Eric Whitacre virtual choir can be seen and heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs. Whitacre describes the project at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyLX2cke-Lw&feature=channel.

SoftChalk Connect: A Learning Object Repository for SoftChalk Users

2010-10-11T08:46:00.001-05:00

JCCC has for several years licensed SoftChalk, a tool you can use to:

Create interactive web pages for your e-learning course. It's easy, quick, and your lessons will look like a professional designer created them.
Engage your students with lessons that include pop-up text annotations, self-assessment quizzes, and interactive learning games.
Package your lessons for delivery via CD-ROM, Intranet, Internet, or integrate with your LMS (Learning Management System).

With the latest update to SoftChalk 6, you can now publish your lessons, eCourses, interactive Flash activities and quiz questions to the searchable repository, called SoftChalk CONNECT (see http://www.softchalkconnect.com/).

CONNECT enables you to organize your personal collections by creating and managing folders. Another significant enhancement is the ability to create CONNECT "groups," and then require authentication by group members for access to your CONNECT content. For example, if you want to share a SoftChalk lesson with a group of colleagues or a group of students, you can publish the lesson to CONNECT, and using the new Group feature, limit access to only those in your group.

Go to CONNECT and search for your discipline. Maybe you’ll find a learning object you can use. You can learn more about SoftChalk using an online self-paced course developed by the Ed Tech Center (see http://tinyurl.com/37tedey ) and to access the software with the installation key see http://tinyurl.com/32k7dy3.

If you’re interested in attending a webinar on SoftChalk CONNECT, you can register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/146840904 (3 PM, October 20) or https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/679476160 (11 AM, November 8).

More about QR Codes

2010-09-17T05:00:00.003-05:00

After yesterday’s mention of 2D or QR (Quick Response) Codes the logical question is how do I generate a QR Code? The answer is as easy as going to http://www.qurify.com/, entering your message and clicking the Qurify button. You’ll then have the option to download the code as a PNG or JPEG image, emailing the code to a friend or printing a hardcopy of one or more QR codes. The downloaded QR Code can be included in a document or web site or printed. There are numerous other sites that enable you to also generate QR Codes, just Google “create QR Code” and you’ll see a long list.

The code to the left is a message to all JCCC QR code readers. Below and to the left you’ll find a QR code that includes a URL with more information on QR Codes.

Why would you want to create QR Codes? QR Codes are readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera with a QR reader and SmartPhones. QR readers include apps like beetagg, i-nigma, Kaywa, and ZXing (most are free). The QR codes could be used to:

Deliver text messages to students at specific points in their readings or course work,
Identify and open web sites with supplemental readings,
Include contact information (phone number),
Send a prescribed SMS text message to a SMS service (such a subscribing to a SMS news update), or
Share GEO (geographic) coordinates.

This is one case where innovation could be free! For more details, check out http://opus.bath.ac.uk/11408/1/getting_started_with_QR_Codes.pdf.

Use of Motion Picture and Video Clips in Education

2010-09-16T14:59:00.003-05:00

I'm not a lawyer, only offering a summary of my understanding of the following:

This summer saw a change in the interpretation of a portion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The change specifically affects instructors using a small portion of video in the classroom and how they may acquire those video clips. If this issue interests you, please read on.

Background: Over the summer, there was a lot of excitement over a “change” in the copyright law specifically regarding the use of video in instruction. The event was not so much a change in the law as a change in interpretation…from someone who has the authority to reinterpret. The Librarian of Congress has the authority to designate “classes of works that will be subject to exemptions from the [copyright] statute’s prohibition against circumvention of technology that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work.”

The Librarian may “determine whether the prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works is causing or is likely to cause adverse effects on the ability of users of any particular classes of copyrighted works to make noninfringing uses of those works” (italics added throughout for emphasis).

In July 2010 the Librarian “designated six classes of works” that “Persons who circumvent access controls [e.g., copyright protection] in order to engage in noninfringing uses of works…will not be subject to the statutory prohibition against circumvention.”

The very first class of work listed was “Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:

(i) Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;
(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos”

In a closing comment, the Librarian stated that “All of these classes of works find their origins in classes that [were] designated [earlier], but some of the classes have changed due to differences in the facts and arguments presented in the current proceeding. For example, in the previous proceeding [the Librarian] designated a class that enable film and media studies professors to engage in the noninfringing activity of making compilations of film clips for classroom instruction. In the current proceeding, the record supported an expansion of that class to enable the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into documentary films and noncommercial videos for the purpose of criticism or comment, when the person engaging in circumvention reasonably believes that it is necessary to fulfill that purpose. I agree with the Register [of Copyrights] that the record demonstrates that it is sometimes necessary to circumvent access controls on DVDs in order to make these kinds of fair uses of short portions of motion pictures.” (italics and underline added for emphasis)

What does this mean? Faculty at not-for-profit educational institutions may use small portions of video for instructional purposes even if they must use DVD rippers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_ripper) to break the encryption. The ruling does not address what constitutes “fair use,” it only allows circumvention of copy protection to obtain clips, when the use is legal. So combining this ruling with provisions of the fair use provision, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the T.E.A.C.H. act would suggest these guidelines for faculty and technical support staff:

The video/DVD must be legally obtained (not an illegal or bootleg copy).
The video must not be available and marketed specifically for on-campus or online classroom use.
The video clips used must be for educational purposes only; that is, used to meet specific course objectives.
The video clips, if delivered via digital (electronic) technology, must only be accessible to and restricted to currently enrolled students through password protection (such as provided by a learning management system) or similar technological methods.
When DVDs or other media formats are protected by anticopying technology (such as CSS, a content scrambling system frequently used for DVDs), that protection may be circumvented if the resulting use of “short portions of motion pictures” is for lawful educational purposes. The instructor will not be in violation of the anticircumvention provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, 1998) based on the recent rulemaking by the Librarian of Congress.
The rulemaking exemption also permits instructors to use ripped content in non-classroom settings that are protected under “fair use” such as presentations at academic conferences.
In summary: copying and performing film clips in the classroom is not an infringement of copyright and appropriate methods may be employed to circumvent the copy protection, if the use complies with the fair use provisions of the copyright act.
Phrased another way: “The question, essentially, was: did the breaking of encryption on a DVD for a fair use of the content violate copyright law? The answer is now ‘no.’ And that answer is a very good thing for higher education. With the uncertainty lifted, film studies professors -- or any instructors or students who wish to use encrypted digital materials -- may now do so without fear of litigation, so long as fair use covers the content.” (see Milano, Inside Higher Education, below)
Finally, these new exclusions to copyright are in effect for 3 years and then the Librarian of Congress must review and renew or change the ruling.

Final note: Nothing in this rulemaking establishes that instructors or institutions may freely convert an entire VHS (analog) tape or video to a digital format either for archival purposes or for classroom use. However, it’s clear that small portions of legally obtained analog video may be digitized for classroom use.

Sources for this article include:

“The Best of Copyright and VideoLib” by Carrie Russell from Library Trends, Vol. 58, No. 3, Winter 2010 (“Current Trends in Academic Media Collections and Services,” edited by Ciara Healy), pp. 349–357, © 2010 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois)
the July 26, 2010 Librarian of Congress news item “Announces DMCA Section 1201 Rules for Exemptions Regarding Circumvention of Access-Control Technologies” (see http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-169.html)
“Movie Clips and Copyright” from the July 28, 2010 issue of Inside Higher Education (see http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/28/copyright) and
“What the Copyright Ruling Means” by Tracy Milano from the July 27, 2010 issue of Inside Higher Education (see http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/law_policy_and_it/what_the_copyright_ruling_means).

JCCC Anatomy & Biology Project Featured by Producers of Articulate

2010-09-16T10:24:00.000-05:00

Tracy Newman, Sr. Ed Tech Analyst, developed a Human Anatomy project using a software tool called Articulate for use by students and faculty through an online Science Resource Learning Community. The new learning tool is currently featured on the company’s E-Learning blog (http://www.articulate.com/blog/e-learning-helps-anatomy-biology-students-make-the-grade/) and includes a snapshot of the online application.

The article states, “Tracy helps faculty and staff with their computing & instructional technology needs. Earlier this year, she used Articulate software for the first time to rapidly create a series of study tools for the college’s anatomy class. Now several other instructors want to leverage the same approach for their own courses.”

Industry Gears Up to Compete with iPad

2010-09-16T10:09:00.001-05:00

The iPad has become the hot, new technology since its release. Many educators and institutions have established pilot acquisition programs to see how the iPad might support instruction. The marketplace seldom stands still, especially in the face of a popular new technology, so now other manufacturers are joining the “Tablet Wars.”

Among those companies getting ready to release their own product is Samsung. The Galaxy Tab is described at http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/. Some of the basic features designed to set it apart from the iPad include: based on the Android 2.2 operating system, “users can continuously communicate via e-mail, voice and video call, SMS/MMS or social network with the optimized user interface,” it touts the ability to video conference, give access to the Android Marketplace of apps, supports the Adobe Flash player 10.1 and features a slim 7” TFT-LCD screen. No word on pricing, availability and whether or not it will be sold without a telecommunications (phone) contract.

Another option that is currently available is the slightly smaller (5” screen) Dell Streak (see http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/us/segments/bsd/mobile-streak?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd). It also runs the Google Android OS, can communicate with Google Mail or Outlook, runs Android apps and is designed for mobile web access, business applications and video conferencing. Dell lists the Streak for $549.99 but it may be available for as low as $299 with a two-year AT&T contract activation.

2D Codes or QR Codes

2010-09-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

Have you run across the two dimensional (2D) codes also called QR (quick response) Codes? A QR Code is a matrix barcode that is readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, or a smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded by the QR Code can include text, a web URL or other data.

An example of the educational use of QR Codes can be viewed by examining Ubimark’s publication of Around the World in 80 Days with QR Codes (see http://2d-code.co.uk/around-the-world-with-qr-codes/). Ubimark has republished the Jules Verne classic but this time with QR Codes (two per page) that enable the reader to access supplemental materials or participate in online SMS chats. The site demonstrates an interesting use of QR Code that might enhance learner engagement.

Random Name Generator for Classroom Use?

2010-08-26T21:48:00.001-05:00

Recently an instructor asked “A couple of years ago at SIDLIT (Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology) you randomly chose participants for (door) prizes using the computer. Can that same idea be used to randomly choose students in a class to respond to questions? I just thought it might be an interesting way to keep the class motivated to stay awake.”

Here’s the answer: There’s a random name generator that could be used to accomplish what you wish at http://www.superteachertools.com/classroom-tools/random-name.php
Be sure to click the "Click here" link above the Random Name Generator button to create a class list. You can then bookmark the page (with the list) and/or download it and use each time you need to generate names for that class randomly. You could create a roster once for each class and then never have to type those names again.

Green Tip

2010-08-26T21:46:00.003-05:00

If you’re the eco-aware, green, environmentally conscious type of person, take a look at the American Libraries blog posting on “Before You Press the Print Button Consider This” at:
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/green-your-library/you-press-print-button-consider

NASA Footage Showing Gulf Oil Spill from Space

2010-06-29T16:32:00.003-05:00

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W2fmCfKx_4&feature=player_embedded# to see a two-minute video of compiled NASA imagery showing the view from space of the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the subsequent oil spill. The images were taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (or MODIS) instrument and selected to best show the disaster. The images begin with the oil rig explosion on April 20, 2010 and include images acquired through May 24, 2010. The latest images and other NASA stories are available at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/oilspill/.

Thanks to http://treehugger.com for alerting me to these links.

Beware Amazon Phishing Messages

2010-06-22T19:13:00.005-05:00

Here I was checking email, minding my own business, and a confirmation came across for an Amazon.com order I didn’t make! I can tell it’s a fake (and they’re fishing for personal information) because:

I have no outstanding order with Amazon for $73.99 (or any other amount).

I moused over (but didn’t click) the links and my status bar shows an actual link that is NOT to any Amazon.com page.

I went to Amazon.com (by typing the actual address, not using a link within the document), logged in, checked for any Open Orders and found none (I order a lot from Amazon and thought all orders had been received but wanted to double-check).

I noticed that the “Thanks for the Order” didn’t include any mention of what I ordered (and Amazon’s invoice/confirmation always does).

So be forewarned. Even if you get email from a company with whom you do business, if ANYTHING seems fishy, don’t use links in the email but go direct to the site to verify the order, the communication or whatever it is. Be cautious. It pays.

Have You Registered for 2 Days of Free Workshops?

2010-05-20T11:53:00.002-05:00

Even while you wind down this semester, plan to start the fall semester by registering for SIDLIT (more information at http://bit.ly/aDCY35). Register today for sessions on “Facing Reality: The Challenges of Using eTexbooks in Online Classes,: “Android Productivity Tips,” “Beyond Ning: Rolling Your Own Social Network,” “Education by MMO: The Evoke Game,” and sessions on Pecha Kucha, hybrid courses, ANGEL, Blackboard, Windows 7, Clickers, Gaming, Social Bookmaking in education and much more. Over 60 sessions scheduled and complimented by door prizes, free food and snacks!

If you are not a current C2C member becoming a member is as easy. Simply go to www.sidlit.org and click the Create New Account link in the bottom left corner. Once you’ve completed the member registration form, locate the SIDLIT SIGNUP link and click it.

Join Colleague to Colleague (C2C) and join us for a cost efficient (free) conference at Johnson County Community College on the first Thursday and Friday (5 & 6) in August 2010. And pass on this message to your colleagues so they can attend and learn at SIDLIT 2010.

“What Bugs You About Email?” Captured

2010-05-20T11:49:00.002-05:00

Last week we held the last Technology Brown Bag of the school year at JCCC. THe session included a panel of JCCC staff (Marziah Karch, Keith Krieger, Michael Rea and Jonathan Bacon) who asked attendees, “What Bugs You about Email?” All of us use (and many abuse) email daily.

You might find it informative to view the discussion and hear some tips on how you can eliminate email frustration for yourself and your correspondents. The video archive of the session is available at http://video.jccc.edu/academicvid/BrownBags/Brownbag05-12-10.asx.

Video archive links for all of the Spring Semester JCCC Technology Brown Bag sessions are available at http://web.jccc.edu/edtech/brownbag/.

AcademiX: Learning in an Open Access World

2010-05-12T17:01:00.002-05:00

Apple Computer has announced AcademiX 2010, a free one-day conference on “Learning in an Open Access World.” More information is available at http://maclearning.org/userpage.php?page_id=22. The conference can be attended as part of a simulcast in Lawrence, Kansas (and other sites nationwide) or from your desktop. When you register, you’ll be asked to indicate where and how you wish to attend. We’ll show portions of the webcast in the Ed Tech Center at JCCC.

Remember, you can also register online and watch from your home or office computer.

Tip: Buying a Car with Data

2010-05-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

In the market to buy a new car? It’s the one activity that can make strong men and women weak in the knees. Why? Because no one (in today’s economy) can afford to overpay and everyone feels at a disadvantage in a car show room. What should you pay for a new car? What’s the average sticker price? Is the negotiated amount or sticker price a great price, a good price and a rip-off?

What if one site existed that could help you calculate the “True Cost” (what a dealer paid for the car including discounts and holdbacks…an amount typically less than factory invoice) and the “True Average” (that is, the average cost of a car in your zip code, your region and the country as a whole)?

If such a site sounds helpful, check out http://www.truecar.com, print the page, take it to the dealer and you’ve got your “buyer’s ammunition” in your hands.

Comparison of eBook Readers

2010-04-30T10:20:00.002-05:00

At JCCC we're scheduling a special Technology Brown Bag session on eBook Readers next week. Northwest Missouri State University (NWMS) has investigated the possibility of transitioning from textbook rentals to using eBooks to deliver all college textbooks. NWMS has researched the current crop of eBooks including the enTourage Edge, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader and others. In this session Darla Runyon, Curriculum Designer and Assistant Director Center for Information Technology in Education (CITE) and Roger Von Holzen, Director of CITE from NWMS will share their research and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various eBook readers they've tested.

Resources that you might find helpful on the topic include a short article from The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com/article/6-Lessons-One-Campus-Learne/44440/) and a second article (with much more detail) from the EDUCAUSE Quarterly (http://bit.ly/ICl7L).

Pecha Kucha, Ignite and Flash Sessions

2010-04-30T09:57:00.002-05:00

Pecha Kucha, pronounced “pe-chak-cha” (see http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdghID66kLs for help with the pronunciation) “is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images.” Pecha Kucha presentations (also called Flash or Sprint sessions) typically use 20 PowerPoint slides each displayed for 20 seconds which limit the presenter to 6 minutes and 40 seconds to convey a concept or idea.

Ignite Law is a weekly Pecha Kucha event held in Chicago for lawyers and is free (with a ticket). It’s just one example of regularly scheduled Pecha Kucha sessions around the country. Many educational conferences are beginning to incorporate this type of event within their conference schedule. An example is the upcoming Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology (SIDLIT) sponsored by Colleague to Colleague and JCCC (supported by Staff and Organizational Development and the Ed Tech Center). Check out http://www.c2conline.org/ or http://www.sidlit.org/ for more information.

If you’d like to see video from the Ignite Law sessions, check out http://www.ignitelaw.com/video/. Additionally, you can see a Pecha Kucha training video about Pecha Kucha presentations at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGaCLWaZLI4.

Could this concept be valuable in the classroom? Or maybe there’s an application for PowerPoint Karaoke (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSsj0wmeS00&NR=1).

This We Know about U.S. Locales

2010-04-30T09:54:00.000-05:00

Interested in some “factoids” about a particular locale (city, town or zip code)? Want access to all the demographic data for communities across the United States (culled from the Agency of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor and the U.S. Census)? If so, check out This We Know at http://www.thisweknow.org/.

For instance, did you know that for the 66210 zip code (Overland Park, Kansas), there are 33 factories within 8 miles; there were 311 violent crimes (or 1.8 per 1000 people) and 20,434 people are unemployed (2009 data); plus 40,732 homeowners and 19,012 renters reside in the area (2000 census…wonder how much that’s changed!).

Playing to Learn

2010-04-23T11:52:00.000-05:00

According to a NY Times Op-Ed piece on "Playing to Learn” (http://nyti.ms/c8Wc3j), “Scientists know that children learn best by putting experiences together in new ways. They construct knowledge; they don’t swallow it.” While the piece was written for the K-12 teacher audience, is it applicable to higher education?

C-SPAN Video Available Online

2010-04-23T11:50:00.001-05:00

Suppose it was valuable (for your classroom instruction) to have access to 160,000 hours of video spanning 23 years covering the hotly contested Health Care Reform battle and other legislative actions? If you need it, it’s online as part of the C-SPAN archives at Purdue Research Park (see article at http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/04/07/c-span-video-library-puts-democratic-process-online/). Check out the archive at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/ for the latest and greatest news as well as the historic and timeless C-SPAN video.

Mobile Notebooks and Sketchbooks

2010-04-21T11:11:00.003-05:00

On April 6, Ruben Puentedura and his concept of “The Lively Sketchbook,” was featured on the New Media Consortium’s Adobe Connect webinar series. The session, archived and available at http://www.nmc.org/connect/2010/april/16, offers an insightful discussion of how mobile devices can act as the equivalent of the sketchbooks (a la Da Vinci or Hemingway). The concept is that writers, researchers and artists often use physical notebooks to record ideas, sketches and concepts that later are the building blocks for their creative end-products. Puentedura suggests that mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Android phones) can all be utilized to create digital notebooks or sketchbooks by students and faculty alike.

Apps that can be used to create a Lively Sketchbook (such as Awesome Note, EverNote, WordPress, Instaviz, MyWiki, Sketchbook Mobile, Storyrobe and many others) are listed on Ruben’s blog at http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/000043.html. Three videos showing Ruben using mobile apps area available on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNakZDGlnK8, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNW-chAnwZU&feature=channel and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE-6_rBqV2k&feature=channel.

Share Your Expertise This Summer at SIDLIT

2010-04-20T10:07:00.001-05:00

Colleague to Colleague (C2C), the sponsors of the 2010 Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology (SIDLIT), has extended the presentation proposal deadline until Friday, April 30, 2010. Proposals are submitted online at http://c2conline.org/node/add/sidlit-session.

SIDLIT is an opportunity for faculty and staff to share and discuss instructional technology ideas and techniques with your colleagues from the Midwest. Examples of 2009 SIDLIT sessions are displayed online at www.sidlit.org. Topics range from copyright issues, to Web 2.0 tools, to student and faculty support issues to best practices for online instruction.

Notification of successful proposals will be communicated by Friday, May 7, 2010.

Registration for SIDLIT is now open and can be completed online at http://c2conline.org/sidlit/sidlit-2010. SIDLIT will be held on Thursday and Friday, August 5 - 6, 2010 in the Regnier Center on the Johnson County Community College campus in Overland Park, KS. This is a free conference supported by numerous sponsors including: Articulate, Blackboard/ANGEL, the Ed Tech Center (Johnson County Community College), Epsilen, Hawkes Learning Systems, KCREACHE, MBS Direct, McGraw-Hill/ALEKS, Pearson/eCollege, Softchalk, Staff & Organizational Development (Johnson County Community College), and Tegrity.

Looking for a Helpful Guide to Buying a Digital Gadget?

2010-04-20T09:56:00.000-05:00

Looking for an eBook reader, digital camera, high-definition TV, Netbook or Smartphone? Measly (at www.measy.com) “helps you find the perfect gadget.” You can find the site’s recommendation by taking a quiz or simply exploring. Either approach will walk you through important features and criteria for the device you seek.

If you want to view the reviews of a product you’re considering, you’ll find http://www.consumersearch.com a useful site too. Information is power, so use it or lose it.

If You’re Going to Buy from Amazon, Get Free Shipping

2010-04-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

Have you ever placed an order with Amazon.com only to find you’re just a few cents away from free shipping? So you just add another CD or book, right? Wrong. To make up that 37 cent shortfall (or whatever amount), visit the Amazon Filler Finder site at http://www.filleritem.com/, enter the amount you need to increase your order by to quality for free shipping, and you’ll see a list of items costing that amount or more. Rather than pay over $5 in shipping, buy a Prestone 17400 V-Belt (or whatever item puts your order over the top) and then donate the item to Goodwill (if you don’t really need it). It’s a win-win situation.

By the way, to buy, just click on the link shown for the item on the Amazon Filler Finder site; you’ll jump to www.Amazon.com and the item will be visible. www.filleritem.com also has a similar tool for www.Buy.com, but it only checks bestselling books at that site.

In the Recycling Mood?

2010-04-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

Hope Phones (http://hopephones.org/) accepts old cell phones (any phone, no matter the condition or age) to help healthcare workers and medical clinics in developing countries. The not-for-profit service “allows donors to print a free shipping label and send their old phones in for recycling. The phone’s value is then used to purchase usable, recycled cell phones for healthcare workers in various third world areas.”

“Every cell phone given to community health workers connects distant patients to a medical clinic. A $10 cell phone will provide 50 families with access to emergency medical care, health information, transport services, and clinic resources.”

Got an old phone? Visit the web site.

Screen Magnifier

2010-04-01T10:36:00.000-05:00

A faculty member recently asked if I knew of a free utility to magnify select portions of the computer screen. Thanks to Keith Krieger, I discovered a neat little tool at http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/. This is a freeware tool available for download but with the understanding that the software designer will not provide email or other support. Use at your own risk. It is simple to use, once installed and started (you can add a desktop icon when the app is installed), it appears on the Windows Taskbar and can be invoked with a simple click on the Taskbar icon and dismissed by pressing Esc.

Innovation Corner: iPad-Next Big Thing?

2010-04-01T10:32:00.002-05:00

Mike Elgan of ComputerWorld wrote about Apple’s iPad on March 27, 2010 (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9174239/The_iPad_Era_dawns?taxonomyId=165&pageNumber=1) stating, “I'm predicting that old people, toddlers, baby boomers, teenagers, twentysomethings -- OK, that all age groups will use the iPad in significant numbers. It will be the first consumer electronics product in recent decades to match the age demographic of the TV.”

Later in the article Elgan continues, “The combination of touch, rich media, third-party applications and a familiar (iPhone-like) user interface make it ideal for people who would never dream of buying most other categories of consumer electronics.”

After a discussion on how the iPad can revolutionize gaming (“I believe many people who have never embraced gaming will be converted into gamers by the iPad -- much like the Wii did, but on a much larger scale.”), Elgan discusses its impact on education.

“The iPad is ideal for education because it will be easy to develop for, cheap to buy, easy to carry and store (no cables, peripherals and so on), and come with seemingly infinite content and media. As with games, the network effect phenomenon will affect education. It won't take long for apps to emerge that pull together courseware with downloadable instruction and live lectures, events and so on. It will become a medium by which far-flung schools can help one another. But you can't get in on all this collaboration unless you're using the iPad. So schools will. Students will. Teachers will. The iPad will be very big in education.”

So what do you think?

SIDLIT Registration Now Open

2010-03-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

Registration for the 11th Annual Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology ( SIDLIT ) is now open , the institute will be held on Thursday and Friday, August 5-6, 2010 at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. The conference is jointly sponsored by JCCC and Colleague to Colleague (C2C). If you are already a member of C2C, register by logging in at www.sidlit.org and then click the SIDLIT SIGNUP link. If you are not a member of C2C, go to http://c2conline.org/user/register and join C2C. If you signed up as a member on last year’s website you are still a member, if you forgot your password click the Request new password link.

The two-day institute includes presentations, topic-oriented special interest discussion groups, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations. There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.

This is also your invitation from C2C to submit a proposal for a 50 minute presentation on issues or topics related to distance learning and instructional technology. Proposals for hands-on training to be offered in a computer lab are also invited. Returning this year, we will be offering an improved Speed Geeking session (a take-off on speed dating) which offers 5 short, concise presentations during a one hour session. New this year we are presenting a Web 2.0 Sprints session where 4 presenters spend 10 minutes demonstrating/discussing their favorite new Web 2.0 tool.

To be a part of this year's SIDLIT 2010 submit a proposal at http://c2conline.org/sidlit/sessions-speakers and click the Submit a session link.
April 15th is the deadline for proposals.

The SIDLIT Planning Committee will review all proposals and presenters will be contacted prior to May 4, 2010.

What’s in Store for the Weather?

2010-03-23T16:54:00.001-05:00

Are you too focused on your inbox to look out the window and see what the current weather is? Or tired of guessing about tomorrow’s weather? Check out a full screen view of weather in the Overland park, KS area at http://bit.ly/drr66t. Want to view the weather for a zip code other than 66210? Go to http://www.wunderground.com/auto/wxmap/.

Top 10 Passwords You Should Never Use

2010-03-10T16:49:00.001-06:00

Reprinted from Uniblue Tip of the Month

According to a report, most users still haven't answered the call by security experts to implement more robust passwords. In fact, in a list of the most easy to hack passwords, simply typing '123456' took a truly forgettable top prize.

Security firm Imperva recently released its list of the passwords most likely to be hacked based on 32 million instances of successful hacking. Imperva named their report "Consumer Password Worst Practices," and some of the entries near the top are truly simple and could lead to theft or identity fraud.

TOP 10 WORST PASSWORDS

The following is a list of the most predictable passwords, and should not be used under any circumstances (Source: pcworld.com):

123456
12345
123456789
Password
iloveyou
princess
rockyou
1234567
12345678
abc123

HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR PASSWORDS

Other key findings in the report: it seems that almost 1 in 3 users choose passwords comprised of six or fewer characters; more than half use passwords based on only alpha-numeric characters; and almost 50 per cent used variations on their name, popular slang terms, or simple strings of consecutive characters from the average QWERTY keyboard -- such as 'asdfg'.

Imperva has made several obvious recommendations, suggesting most users adopt passwords with at least eight characters and to mix those characters between upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Passwords should be simple enough that they won't be too easily forgotten, but the idea is to make cracking the code virtually impossible for either an unknown or known hacker.

About this article: Dennis Faas is the CEO and Chief editor of Infopackets.com: a daily, digital publication dedicated to MS Windows, computing, technology trends and solutions to real life computing issues: all written in simple English. Subscription to Infopackets Windows Newsletter is free. Visit us today! http://www.infopackets.com/

Innovation Corner: More on Digital Textbooks, Connexions & DynamicBooks

2010-03-01T16:43:00.003-06:00

Follow-up
As a follow-up to the eBook and digital textbook postings earlier (see http://bit.ly/aEdPwt), I heard from at least one assistant professor who wrote: “Thank you for reporting on ebooks. I was just telling [a book] rep today that unless they can lower their price and or provide a better digital learning option, I will be changing books and I already use Flat World Knowledge in one class with great success and will probably replace the [rep’s]book with Flat World. I love Flat World Knowledge and so do my students….”

Tracy Newman, JCCC Ed Tech Center Sr. Analyst also responded to the eBook report stating “Flat World Knowledge (where you can remix textbooks)… reminds me of a project I worked on for KU Med before I started working at JCCC. I worked for a professor in the field of photobiology, which is a difficult field to find textbooks for. He started what he called the Digital Photobiology Compendium (DPC). He offered stipends to various professors to write articles about their field of knowledge. We then organized the articles into a grid where professors could easily create an account, log in, and choose/assemble a “textbook” by picking and choosing which modules and in what order they wanted to use them. Students would then log in and have access to the modules their instructors chose – essentially a custom, online textbook!”

“There was a paper written in 2003 about it: http://bit.ly/bPgWC8

“It looks like they have discontinued the part of the project that allowed students and instructors to log in and create/use the custom textbooks, but the articles are still online and freely available.”

Connexions
A similar resource is available and offered for all college and university faculty through Rice University. It’s called Connexions (see http://cnx.org/). Connexions is self-described as “a place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. Anyone may view or contribute: [including] authors [can] create and collaborate, instructors [can] rapidly build and share custom collections [and] learners [can] find and explore content.”

You can learn more about Connexions by listening to Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk, one of the founding faculty members. In this TED (Technology, Education, Design) Conference presentation, he explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system; see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRymi-lFHpE&feature=related.

Macmillians DynamicBooks
Of course textbook publishers are not standing by idling waiting for open source textbook repositories to grab their business. Macmillian Publishers has announced a system, called DynamicBooks, that “lets any professor make a customized version of one of the company's existing titles. That means that chemistry professors can take one of the company's chemistry textbooks, rewrite some parts, add their own papers or chapters, or embed videos or homework questions they've created. Any passage added or changed is clearly labeled as not part of the original book, so students know what is original and what is customized—a concession that was made to textbook authors.”

DynamicBooks also includes an incentive system where “Professors who customize a textbook have a chance to make some extra money. For each customized copy that a student buys, the professor who contributed the material gets a dollar. That could add up if a professor's retooled book becomes popular and is assigned by professors at other colleges.” For more information check out http://chronicle.com/article/Format-War-Heats-Up-Among/64323/.

Facebook: Guidelines and Challenges

2010-03-01T16:40:00.002-06:00

How private are your frustrated, idle threats on Facebook? Ask the East Stroudsburg University associate professor who’s January 21, 2010 Facebook posting read: "Does anyone know where I can find a very discrete hitman, it's been that kind of day." She’s now suspended, see http://bit.ly/dsBptx. And what would a lawyer advise other lawyers as far as posting to Facebook? Check out “Saving Face: 5 Tips for a More Secure Facebook” at http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/saving_face. For more detail; read the article, but the short summary is:

Use a strong password and change it frequently.
Review carefully your privacy settings and change if needed.
Be discriminating in your use of Facebook.
Take control of what others can post to your page.
Consider using “friends lists.”

Shrink-O-Matic: Another Free Tool

2010-02-26T08:38:00.000-06:00

A couple of week ago, we introduced Shrink-O-Matic at a JCCC Ed Tech Center’s Web 2.0 Wednesday session. It’s an Adobe AIR application that easily resizes (shrinks) one or more images (such as JPGs, GIFs and PNGs). If you need to quickly reduce the size of images, you can simply drag and drop the images into Shrink-O-Matic and they'll be resized as you specify! The web 2.0 app offers options so you can choose the output sizes, names and formats of the graphic files. Check it out at http://toki-woki.net/p/Shrink-O-Matic/. It’s a very simple application to use.

Just be aware, this tool is supported by the online developer. If you get stuck, review the Shrink-O-Matic blog at http://toki-woki.net/blog/p157-shrink-o-matic.

Innovation Corner: Will the 20 Pound Textbook Still EXist in 5 Years?

2010-02-26T07:52:00.001-06:00

Some interesting developments are occurring in the eBook/publishing arena. The recent O'Reilly Tools of Change (TOC) Conference in New York (February 22-24, 2010) covered many topics including eBooks. As recorded on the Smashwords blog (Smashwords is an eBook publisher and distributor), Raymond Kurzweil, the man behind the new Blio ebook platform, spoke of “how most forward-thinking people consider technology progression as linear (steady predictable progress), when in fact some of the most important technical progressions are exponential (progress accelerates over time, catching everyone by surprise). Ebooks are likely an exponential phenomena. They're not a fad, and they may reshape the book market faster than any of us believe.”

The posting on Smashwords (http://blog.smashwords.com/2010/02/tools-of-change-conference-notes.html) includes some interesting stats (see the section on “Stats, Stats, Stats”) such as “Ebook customers would be willing to pay more for ebooks if they come with social-media-enabled tools that help them discuss and share the books with others.”

The posting continues, “[What are the] most popular devices for reading ebooks: This is interesting. You might guess, as I did, the Amazon Kindle. Wrong. The most popular device for 47% of customers is their computer screen. Kindle comes in at a close and impressive second place at 32%, followed by 11% for the iPhone, 10% for iPod Touch (note this adds up to 22%, pre-iPad), 9% each for the Blackberry and netbooks, and 8% each for the Barnes & Noble nook and the Sony Reader.”

The most interesting section of the post (“The Future of Digital Textbooks”) states “Whenever publishers create content for which there is great demand (such as textbooks), yet they make that content prohibitively expensive and inaccessible (textbooks), it causes customers to seek out alternative content options (piracy, used textbooks, etc.), all of which provide the publisher no economic benefit.”

“Digital textbooks offer potential relief to students and their parents. The challenge for college textbook publishers is to make the transition to lower cost digital products without putting themselves out of business. I think Flat World (see http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/) is well-positioned for the future of textbook publishing….”

If you want to know more about Flat World Knowledge, which offers “remixable textbooks by expert authors” check out the site (above) or the blog posting at http://blog.smashwords.com/2009/08/flat-world-offers-smarter-fairer-model.html.

Another potential eBook/textbook tool is Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/), “a place for writers to sell books they can't afford to publish and for people to discover others with similar reading interests” (see http://bit.ly/c8p5aW) which has a new send-to-mobile-devices feature that enables readers to select books on the Scribd site and send them to the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s The Nook, the iPhone or a mobile device using the Android operating system (such as the Motorola Droid, Samsung Beam, Nexus One, and HTC Hero). Scribd currently hosts over 10 million documents (growing by 10% each month) and unlike Amazon and Barnes & Noble, their emphasis in on the small self-published author. What does that mean? College instructors can author textbooks or chapters or papers and distribute to the student’s existing mobile device via Scribd.

So when textbooks skyrocket in price, faculty members can author or remix digital versions, and ebook readers, mobile devices and the computer screen are common and popular ways to access content…what do you think is the future of the hardcover or softcover textbook?

Class Videos and Copyright

2010-02-16T14:05:00.003-06:00

The University of California at Los Angeles has stopped allowing faculty members to post copyrighted videos on their course Web sites after the Association for Information and Media Equipment (AIME), a group that protects the copyrights of education media companies, charged the university with violating copyright laws by posting the videos to the password-protected course Web pages without the proper permissions. For additional details, check out the Inside Higher Ed article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/26/copyright (be sure to check the very intriquing comments to the article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/26/copyright#Comments ).

A follow-up article is also available at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/02/04/copyrightredux .

What does this mean? In overly simplistic terms:

Fair use only allows a portion of a work (video or otherwise) to be used by a not-for-profit educational institution in the classroom.
The TEACH Act extends the classroom to include any online, password protected course space with access only by currently enrolled students, and access enabled only for a time period appropriate to presentation and discussion of the work.
The use of the video must be related to specific course objectives (i.e., not just as a time filler).
As a "general rule", the TEACH Act would only authorize portions of, not entire works. The exception might include showing an entire film in a media studies program, but other criteria must also be met.
The work (including video) must be legally obtained (e.g., not a pirated copy).
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it illegal (even if fair use might otherwise apply) to bypass the encryption on digital media (e.g., CSS encryption codes on region-encoded DVDs) in order to create a streaming media version. For example, if you digitize and bypass the encryption on a DVD to create a streaming video clip, the issue of fair use is moot.
The TEACH Act does not extend fair use to works primarily produced or marketed for in-class use in the digital distance education market.

JCCC has licenses with several companies to provide video access for instructional purposes, including Ambrosia Video, Journal of Chemical Education (ACS) demonstrations, American History in Video (streaming video collection includes newsreels from 1929 through the 1960s plus hours of documentaries from the History Channel and more), Counseling and Therapy in Video, Dallas TeleLearning Digital Resource Repository, and the INTELECOM Online Resources Network.

Members of AIME, the group that has threatened UCLA with a copyright infringement suit) are listed online ( http://www.aime.org/corporate-directory.php ).

As background for this increasingly important area of media usage, check out “Video Use and Higher Education: Options for the Future” at http://library.nyu.edu/about/Video_Use_in_Higher_Education.pdf .

Word Tip: Converting a Graphic to Free-Floating

2010-02-09T09:01:00.001-06:00

Have you ever added a graphic to a paragraph in Microsoft Word 2007 and found it locked to a specific paragraph when you wanted it to be a "Free-Floating" graphic? To change it from locked to free-floating, simply click the graphic to select it. A new tab labeled Picture Tools appears above the right-most tab. Click the new tab and in the Arrange group, near the right-side of the ribbon, click the down-arrow next to the right of the Text Wrapping text. From the drop-down menu, choose "Through". This releases the graphic from its paragraph anchor, and you can drag the picture anywhere in the document. If you need to have extra vertical space to position the graphic, simply press the Enter key until enough space is reached, and drag the picture to the new location.

Thanks to John R. Nicholson for this tip.

Free eBook Reader Coming?

2010-02-05T09:09:00.001-06:00

Everyone’s releasing eBooks, from Apple’s iPad to Amazon’s Kindle to the Sony eBook Reader to Barnes & Noble’s The Nook. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Ray Kurzweil, creator of Kurzweil Educational Systems (technology pioneer and developer of a range of assistive technology products) announced the February release of Blio, a free eBook reader. According to eSchool News (see http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/01/31/blio-free-ereader-makes-impression/ ), “Perhaps the software’s most impressive feature is that it can support the original layout, font, and graphics of any book in full color, its creators say. It also can support embedded multimedia such as video and audio, and readers have the ability to highlight, annotate, and share information.”

“Blio isn’t yet available, but already it’s backed by Baker & Taylor, one of the world’s largest publishers, as well as Elsevier, Hachette, HarperCollins, Random House, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Wiley. Blio users will have access to more than 1 million books altogether, its makers say—including a large selection of current bestselling titles.”

If interested in Blio, go to their web site ( http://www.blioreader.com/ ) and signup for an email alert when the app is available. Also check out http://www.blioreader.com/about.html for a feature comparison chart (bottom of the page) with other eBook readers.

Eyes on the Earth 3D

2010-01-21T16:13:00.001-06:00

Instructors: What if you could enable your students to view Global Climate Change satellite data from NASA in 3D (based on over a dozen key satellites orbiting the Earth; such as AQUA, CloudSAT, OSTM, and so on)? Check out http://climate.nasa.gov/Eyes/ and be sure to watch the demonstration video first. It’ll explain the controls you have to selectively view data from one or more satellites. The site does require you to install the Unity Web Browser, but it’s pretty straight-forward to do.

Be sure to check out the planet’s vital signs on the right, including the long term summer average of Arctic Sea ice, parts per million of Carbon Dioxide, the rise or fall of the sea level since 1992, and the increase or decrease in the global temperature and the size of the ozone hole.

Gadgets I Didn't Get for Christmas

2010-01-04T07:30:00.004-06:00

Just before the holiday break, we held a Technology Brown Bag session on "Electronic Gifts for the Season" (see video at http://video.jccc.edu/academicvid/BrownBags/Brownbag12-02-09.asx). I invited several staff at JCCC to participate and Keith Krieger (Technology Training Coordinator) was one of the invitees. Keith was unable to attend but sent me a list of interesting gadgets...none of which I received for Christmas. :-(

We ran out of time to share his information, so the least I can do is share these great gadgets with you. Here's Keith's note:

"Since I can’t be there, I thought I would share a few items I’ve seen.

I’ve done this for the Center for Business for 4 Christmas seasons, and I like to have a bit of fun with the items. Please feel free to pass these along for anyone to review or point out."

Space Food Sampler from ThinkGeek:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/b264/ $20

For aging boomers who bought every Beatle album (not that I would know anything about that):

The Beatles: Rock Band

http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/

For Trekkies (more aging boomers):

An entire set of iPhone applications devoted to Klingon: dictionary, conversational Klingon (“The engines are overheating, Captain!”), and phrasebook. $11.99 for the suite.

http://www.simonandschuster.com/w/klingonApps/content.html#klingon_language_suite

For WoW fans, you can now buy an in-game pet to accompany you:

http://us.blizzard.com/store/browse.xml?f=c:5,c:33

7 Cool and Easy Robot Projects (book):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0072226404/davejohnsonswebsA/

Free virtual robot software to use with the book, or buy expensive Lego Mindstorms kits for real robots!

Simplify charging your gadgets with PowerMat:

http://www.powermat.com/us/home/

Poor man’s network using a plug-in Ethernet crossover adaptor, from ThinkGeek:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/7470/

Tools of Innovation

2009-12-05T07:02:00.002-06:00

In an earlier posting, we talked about the Technology Innovation Grant at JCCC and where ideas come from, see http://bit.ly/3vcJkp. The TIG funds are still available for JCCC faculty…and additionally, since innovation often just requires elbow grease (and no funds), we thought we’d share some resources with you.

JCCC is a member of the New Media Consortium (NMC) and they host a cool technologies site at http://www.nmc.org/cool. Check it out (and contribute, if you wish).

Tracy Newman, Ed Tech Center Sr. Analyst, brought to my attention an article about a 3D Video Projector. As the blurb states: “The automobile, moving pictures, personal computers, cell phones, and social networks—all of these technologies, once considered frivolous, have made such a huge impact on our culture that our daily lives would change dramatically without them. Could 3-D video be next?” Check out the article at http://tinyurl.com/yldyqn7. From page 3 of the report: “Sound Video Systems, maker of the AVRover brand of portable audio-visual systems, has partnered with BenQ to release the AVRover 3DSVS24, which the company says is the "first fully integrated 3-D Stereoscopic Educational System." The product is a portable and rugged 3-D AV system with all components securely mounted inside. It features a powder-coated, scratch-resistant steel console, as well as a 3-D projector from BenQ and sequentially numbered active-shutter glasses, storage, and sanitation for an entire class. It lists for $7,895.” Who at JCCC (or elsewhere) will be the first to find an important instructional use for a 3D video projector?

Also from Tracy, who would have thought $148 would buy students a chance to snap pictures of Earth from space? Check out http://tinyurl.com/mz54zs. Images are shown at http://space.1337arts.com/flight and at http://tinyurl.com/m5rrzs.

One of the current innovations currently offered by Google is the new Google Wave tool. From the NMC, comes word that a visitor to their web site shared a research paper on "A Study and Analysis of Google Wave and its Potential Impact on Education and Collaboration." The paper was written by Johanna Hane (johanna.hane@gmail.com) who gave permission to share with NMC Members. A PDF format copy is available at http://web.nmc.org/files/google-wave-revolutionary-tool.pdf

And while we’re talking about innovation, what will the classroom of the future (Classroom 3.0) look like. Check out the “Classroom 3.0: the brave new world of high-tech teaching” blog posting at http://tinyurl.com/yl25crx. As the article’s subhead indicates “iPhone apps, teachers on Twitter, downloadable lectures: Will a university education ever be the same?” What are you doing to include relevant technology in your courses?

Finally, Marziah Karch attended the Web 2.0 Expo in New York recently. The Expo keynote addresses are all available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A0D433518BDA7856. Got a few minutes? Check out topics ranging from “Radical Abundance: How We Get Past "Free" to “The O’Reilly Radar” to “There’s a #Hashtag for That” to “Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media” and more.

Do you have innovative tools or sites you’d like to share? E-mail me at jbacon@jccc.edu.

NEED VIDEO RESOURCES FOR SPRING 2010?

2009-11-05T14:55:00.002-06:00

Are you looking for a short video clip to supplement your instruction or reinforce a concept? Are you looking for ways to reinforce in-class or online class lectures?

Ambrose Video has over 1000 Educational DVDs in their collection including science and history topics. New releases include "21st Century Turning Points in U.S. History (2000-2009)", "America's National Monuments: The Geologic West", "A History of Chinese American Achievement", "When the Water Tap Runs Dry" (a look at the challenges faced in a climate changed world) and new Ancient History DVDs. Ambrose’s video collection is designed to provide clips for educators to deliver digitally in the classroom (face-to-face or online). That means they’re available for download or in a streaming format.

JCCC will license 50 hours of video from Ambrose that can be used in the classroom or online. The same 50 hours of video will be available to students via the JCCC Library’s web site (requires use of a proxy server).

If you're interested in seeing the variety of video clips available, visit Ambrose Video. Here are some helpful steps you:

Go to http://www.ambrosevideo.com
You will find the tutorial helpful (see the link on the right of Ambrose Video’s home page or at http://www.ambrosedigital.com/content/view/102/160/).
When done watching the tutorial, click the Home tab to return to the Ambrose Video home page.
Type a key word in the search box (after the magnifying glass icon on upper right side of the page) that represents the video you seek; such as, “history” or “astronomy” or “law” and press the Enter key.
A list of videos that match the keyword will appear on the screen.
Click the title and the next screen will show “Programs and individual clips.” You’ll see a sample clip at the top of the screen.
While you cannot view each clip, you can mouse over the “I” or Information icon (that precedes each title) to see more information on the clip.
When you find clips that you might be able to use, make a note of the clip (such as “1754 - The Albany Plan of Union”) or the name of the entire program (such as “18th Century Turning Points in U.S. History”).

The Seed of an Idea: Education, Technology & Innovation

2009-11-02T09:56:00.002-06:00

For several years JCCC has set aside 1% of its Information Technology Plan (ITP) budget to fund the Technology Innovation Grant (TIG) program. Faculty members may apply for a grant which is “designed to assist JCCC faculty with the acquisition of technical hardware and software, which fosters innovation in instruction. This process has been created to help make possible and expedite technological innovations that improve learning at JCCC.” Not all of the grant applications have been funded and some proposals have been funded wholly or partially out of other college resources besides TIG funds. One benefit of the program is that it brings to light instructional needs that while not funded through TIG, need to be funded within the institutional budget.

Some of the funded projects have included the acquisition of an iTouch mobile device for a faculty member teaching in the Interactive Media program, several Kindles for faculty in the Reading program, Camtasia Studio, handheld camcorders and wireless Wacom tablets for 35 faculty in a pilot project to develop tutorials for classroom/online use, PDAs for Nursing faculty to try out software for their curriculum, assembling equipment for an Archaeological Field School, the addition of three “Cones of Silence” for use by students viewing media in the Library and a 3D printer for the Drafting Department to enable students to visually create a 3D model from CADD drawings. The last two projects are detailed in a recent Technology Brown Bag session (see http://tinyurl.com/tigtbb or http://video.jccc.edu/academicvid/BrownBags/Brownbag10-14-09.asx ).

Sometimes there’s a scarcity of faculty proposals for TIG funds. I suspect that one reason is that technological innovation doesn’t always require funds, hardware or software. With faculty creativity and access to a wide range of free web 2.0 or rich internet applications (RIAs), sometimes no institutional funding is required.

When funding is required, where does the seed of an idea come from? We’ve encouraged brainstorming of ideas during Technology Brown Bag sessions and JCCC faculty members are always invited to visit with a staff member in the Educational Technology Center (ETC) to discuss possible instructional technology projects (and not just for TIG proposals).

As an additional brainstorming opportunity, TechNews shares information about webinars, Web 2.0 tools and ideas that could provide the seed of an idea for a TIG proposal.

Recently I asked colleagues on the New Media Consortium subscribers list (JCCC is a NMC member) for classroom innovations from their institutions. Here are a few of the responses.
Edward Lee Lamoureux (Associate Professor in the Interactive Media Program and Department of Communication at Bradley University) teaches a course entirely (100%) in Second Life (see http://im.bradley.edu/ell/slstuff.html ). His initial motivation was to find a distance learning environment that would support audio interaction with his students. Edward teaches “Introduction to Field Research in Virtual Worlds” in second life, a three-week intersession course at Bradley U. You can hear an audio interview about his experiences teaching in SL at http://sl.nmc.org/2006/08/08/professor-beliveau/ .

Pamela Gades (Instructional Technology Specialist, University of Minnesota, Morris) reported that an organic chemistry professor is using Camtasia Relay to record “pre-lab lectures” for her students and posting them on her course web site and on iTunes U. Students are required to view the pre-lab lectures before attending the weekly organic chemistry labs. The instructor creates the videos in her office using an iMac. Camtasia Relay is available at JCCC too and can be run on either a Macintosh or Windows PC. More information on JCCC’s Camtasia Relay pilot will be available by late-November. The instructor at UM-Morris uses humor and stories while infusing her sessions with lots of encouragement and real-life application of the topics.

Damon E. Betlow (Academic Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology) reported that RIT has created a Teaching & Learning Technology Studio (similar to JCCC’s Learning Studio) which allows instructors to try out new technologies in a safe, supported environment. The classroom features:

25 student tablet PCs
An instructor tablet PC and stylus-enabled monitor
Collaboration and Faculty Monitoring System for the tablets (DyKnow Vision and Monitor)
Student Response System (iClicker)
Multiple Digital Projection Systems (3 screens that allow for widescreen content or 3 separate sources)
Flexible Seating Design
Remote Pan/Tilt Video capture capability
Audio conferencing capability through room’s sound system (remote microphones and ceiling speakers)

RIT is looking into adding an interactive whiteboard, instructor-controlled lecture capture and/or live streaming, as well as videoconferencing capability. For more information, visit http://tltstudio.rit.edu/ .

So, if you have an idea for a TIG, stop by the ETC and talk with the Center’s staff about your idea. Maybe we can help you flesh it out.

Embedding a YouTube Video in a PowerPoint Slideshow

2009-10-03T06:47:00.002-05:00

The following steps walk you through embedding a YouTube video in a PowerPoint slideshow. Note that this approach only works when you have access to the internet (both during creation of the slideshow and playback). You can watch a YouTube video that demonstrates this process at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hChq5drjQl4. The steps listed below draw heavily on the video by Laura Bergells of www.Maniactive.com.

Be sure you have an active Internet connection.
Open PowerPoint and be sure the Developer tab is visible.
If Developer tab is not visible, go to the Office button (upper left corner), click on it and then select PowerPoint options (lower right of menu box that appears).
Select Popular (left margin of menu box) and select the Show Developer tab in the Ribbon check box.
Select OK button.
Add a new slide (can be any type or blank).
Now that the Developer tab is visible, select it and select More Controls icon (looks like a crossed hammer and wrench).
Scroll all the way down until you find the Shockwave Flash Object (the list is alphabetical), select it and click OK.
Now draw with your cursor/mouse the rectangular area within which you want the video to appear.
You can use the handles on the rectangle to resize the image size.
Now go to YouTube and locate the video you want to include.
When you find the video, go to the box that includes the URL and Embed tag.
Select the entire URL and press Ctrl+C to copy the URL to the clipboard.
Go back to PowerPoint and right click on the rectangle target area that you created in which to play the video.
Select Properties from the menu that appears when you right click.
In the Properties box that appears, click on box behind the Movie label and press Ctrl+V to paste the URL into that Properties field.
Now you must edit the URL. Wherever you see “watch?” delete it.
Wherever you see the equal sign (=) replace it with a slash (/).
Still in the Properties box, if you don’t want the movie to loop, change the Loop setting to False.
If you don’t want the movie to start playing automatically, change the Playing setting to False.
When finished, close the Properties box.
If you need to reposition the video, do so using the handles on the rectangle.
Press F5 to preview.
Click the play button (center of the screen image).
Notice that you have access to the regular video controls to pause and restart the video as well as to adjust the volume.
When the movie finishes, if you have additional slides, you can click to forward to the new slide.

Recovering Deleted Photo Files

2009-09-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

Periodically, we receive inquiries about how to recover lost files, specifically from camera cards. There are many programs that recover deleted files but PhotoRec is specifically designed for recovery of data from hard disks, CDRom and various camera cards. See http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec , it’s free. Thanks to Nick Greenup for this information.

Google Tricks

2009-09-21T09:14:00.002-05:00

Did you know that you can enter specific keywords in any Google search box to quickly obtain information you need? For instance, if you want to know the weather in a specific city, you can enter:

weather: [followed by the city name]

To find the weather in Boston today, type in:

weather: boston

If you don’t get the information you need (some city names are not one-of-a-kind), add the state abbreviation after a comma, such as:

weather: Kansas City, KS

Other examples (that generate a list of links to the information you need) include the following.

To find flights to a specific city:

flight: Durango, CO

To find the current time in another city:

time: Flint, MI

Find a definition:

define: haggadah

To find a current stock quote:

stock: KFT

To identify a file type, try entering:

filetype: amr

And, if you want to know movie show times for your area, type the following (substitute the movie name you want to see and your zip code):

movie: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 66210

Thanks to Marziah Karch for her research on Google and her SIDLIT presentation titled “100 Things You Can Do with Google (Besides Searching),” see http://scholarspace.jccc.edu/sidlit/17/.

Top 24 Sites for Teaching & Learning

2009-09-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) recently announced a new resource for school library media specialists and their teacher colleagues. The Best Websites for Teaching and Learning, a list honoring the top 25 Internet sites for enhancing learning and curriculum development, is considered the "best of the best" by AASL.

The Top 25 Web sites for Teaching and Learning foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation and collaboration. The Web sites honored include: Animoto; Classroom 2.0; Curriki; Diigo; Edublogs; Facebook; Good Reads; Google Reader; Mindmeister; Ning; Our Story; Partnership for 21st Century Skills; Polleverywhere; Primary Access; RezED; Second Life; Simply Box; Skype; SOS for Information Literacy; Teacher Tube; Twitter; VoiceThread; Wikispaces; Wordle; and Zoho.

"The task force worked very hard to target websites that support learner-centered, inquiry-based curriculum. In the hands of knowledgeable educators, these innovative and versatile Web 2.0 tools and resources can be used to engage and motivate students in the learning process and to develop 21st century skills," said AASL Best List Task Force Chair, Pam Berger.

All sites are free, Web-based sites that are user-friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. They also provide a foundation to support AASL's “Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.” Valuable information on each site, including tips for effective classroom use, are available at www.ala.org/aasl/bestlist.

Web 2.0 Apps such as Twitter, Facebook, ePortfolios and More

2009-09-14T20:51:00.001-05:00

This past Wednesday, Tracy Newman and I presented a Technology Brown Bag session on “Twitter, Tumblr, Yammer, Huh? – How to Navigate Massive Information Streams and Have a Life.” A video archive of the session is available from the “Video Archive” link on the Tech Brown Bag schedule page ( http://web.jccc.edu/edtech/brownbag/ ). I was a last minute substitute presenter for Marziah Karch, who presented the same topic at the Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology (SIDLIT) in late July. Marziah’s paper and others from the conference are available in the JCCC Library’s ScholarSpace archive (see http://scholarspace.jccc.edu/sidlit/ ).

Future Sessions
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be focusing on a variety of Web 2.0 tools and considering how they can be used for educational purposes. The Twitter session was the first in the series, followed this coming week (Wednesday, September 16) with “Struttin Your Stuff – Exploring ePortfolios for Everyone (Faculty, Staff and Students) presented by Bob Epp and “Going Where They Are–Using Facebook in Class” presented by Keith Krieger and Jonathan Bacon. Details are available on the Tech Brown Bag schedule page ( http://web.jccc.edu/edtech/brownbag/ ).

Defining Web 2.0
If you’re still unsure what Web 2.0 includes, check out a couple of earlier blog posts at http://technotipster.blogspot.com/2008/08/web-20-and-what-it-really-means.html and http://technotipster.blogspot.com/2008/07/your-digital-toolkit-lesser-known-web.html .

Regarding Twitter
Back to Twitter, a July 2009 survey by Faculty Focus (see http://www.facultyfocus.com/ ) found that almost 80% of faculty are familiar with Twitter compared to 30+% who use Twitter. The report discussed reasons why faculty use Twitter as well as the leading reasons they do not. Page 9 of the report (released in September 2009) summarizes the findings. Faculty survey responses fell in three categories. Faculty use twitter primarily to:

“Stay current on news/trends”
“Network with colleagues”
“Participate in conference backchannel”

If you have an opportunity to review the survey findings, spend some time reading the revealing comments of active tweeters and their current plus planned uses of the tool. You’ll find some potentially useful applications of Twitter.

The report is available online at the http://www.facultyfocus.com/ site.

New Media Consortium Summer Archives Online

2009-08-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

JCCC is a member of the New Media Consortium (NMC) which holds an annual Summer Conference. A collection of videos from the 2009 NMC Summer Conference in Monterey are available, including:

Keynote presentations by Kathy Sierra and Marco Torres
Point Lobos Photo Shoot- a slide show of the best photos from the pre-conference digital photography workshop
The Five Minutes of Fame session (10 great presentations in less than an hour! with a gong!)
And more.

You can watch all of these packaged together in a single Flash Player (there is a scrolling menu below the video area): http://www.nmc.org/2009-summer-conference/videos
or browse them individually, where we have reference links as well as QuickTime versions: http://www.nmc.org/2009-summer-conference/media

Summer Institute on Distance Learning & Instructional Technology (SIDLIT)

2009-08-02T17:25:00.005-05:00

It’s been a while since I posted a tip and my only valid excuse is that the Ed Tech Center (including this writer) have been feverishly preparing for SIDLIT (Summer Institute on Distance Learning & Instructional Technology). The conference ran Thursday and Friday, July 30-31, 2009 and now it is history.

It's always a period of readjustment when SIDLIT is over. We spend so much time planning and building toward the event, followed by a sigh of relief (and an emotional letdown) when it’s over. Can you believe that we’ve been doing this for 10 years and we’ve grown from 50 attendees the first year to around 400 this year?

For those who attended, if you can’t quite let go yet and want to relive some of SIDLIT through a history of tweets, check out http://tinyurl.com/mdtgk9 (visibletweets of SIDLIT postings and those with the #sidlit hash tag).

If interested in a sampling of the sessions, you can visit Rob Gibson’s “Integrating Social Networking & Web 2.0 Applications into eLearning” slideshow at http://www.slideshare.net/rgibson/social-elearning-sidlit or Paul Decelles’ session on “Science Simulations for Students in Second Life” at http://tinyurl.com/lxsdmp or Aaron Sumner’s presentation on “Quick Application Development with Web Frameworks” at http://tinyurl.com/mfrau5. More presentations will be available shortly on JCCC’s ScholarSpace site (I'll alert you when they're ready).

For now, we can start planning for SIDLIT 2010. Thanks to all presenters, committee volunteers and sponsors for supporting year 10 of this endeavor.

Twitter for Education?

2009-07-06T13:03:00.001-05:00

Launched in July 2006 (see http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/07/15/is-twttr-interesting/) as a little communications service (originally called Twttr and created by Odeo), Twitter has become the latest fade and fastest growing Web 2.0 tool on the planet. Twitter (www.twitter.com) was described early in its history as “a social network around text messaging” (see above link). Early subscribers (twitterers) would send messages (“tweets”) on such mundane things as “totally could use a vacation now!!!” to “This girl can play some funky songs on her ukulele.”

While those types of tweets are still very common, the tool is also being used to offer customer support (http://twitter.com/trackthis, UPS), sell products (http://twitter.com/GMblogs), inform about current events (http://twitter.com/iranelection) and more.

Of special interest to educators are the suggestions offered by Jim Vanides in his Digital Learning Environments blog back in early June 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/oh9mgk). He suggests using Twitter:

To create “a backchannel…for student participation (posting questions/comments) during a large group presentation – sort of like giving the audience permission to pass notes, because you can give the note-passing a metacognitive purpose.” Jim has seen this technique used at education conferences and we’ll give this a try at SIDLIT (the Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology scheduled for July 30-31, 2009; see www.sidlit.org).
For “real-time collaboration” among students, such as when on a field trips.
To enhance audience participation at athletic events.
To communicate with a specific audience such as “students’ parents” or alumni or campus clubs (instead of “always creating lengthy newsletters or wading through lots of email”).
To handle conference planning or to provide “non-attendees” a sense of “being there”. Check out www.twitter.com/sidlit.

If you’re interested in learning more about how twitter works, check out Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milsten’s The Twitter Book, from O’Reilly Press, $19.99. It’s a fast read.

VideoGuys Guides

2009-06-24T20:24:00.002-05:00

Grassroots video is all the rage and even identified as one of the higher education trends “on the horizon” by the EDUCAUSE/New Media Consortium Horizons 2009 report. If you’re interested in serious (or even hobby) videography, the following information on storage for video capture and editing will be useful.

http://www.videoguys.com/techstorage.htm

While we’re talking about video, check out the new JCCC YouTube video channel at http://www.youtube.com/jcccvideo . You’ll find Board reports, Kansas Tour video, Athletics, interviews and more.

If you want more information on YouTube EDU ("a gateway to educational video content") check out the article at http://tinyurl.com/mlgo5e.

Summer Institute on Distance Learning & Instructional Technology

2009-06-22T07:54:00.002-05:00

For the tenth year in a row, Johnson County Community College will co-sponsor a 2-day free conference (the Summer Institute on Distance Learning & Instructional Technology or SIDLIT, pronounced sidelight) to be held in the Regnier Center on campus on July 30-31, 2009. The regional conference draws 250-300 participants primarily from KS and MO, but is open to anyone (in the past we’ve had a smattering of attendees from the coasts and a number of states in-between). The two-day institute includes presentations, topic-oriented special interest discussion groups, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations.

For more detail, check out www.sidlit.org . Registration is now open and available at http://www.sidlit.org/user/register .

A sample of SIDLIT 2009 sessions includes: "Choosing an ePortfolio Tool" by Benito Berardo, "Relax and Enjoy a Taste of MERLOT" (the Learning Object Repository) by Heather Seitz, "Delivering High Stakes Assessments in a Computerized Testing Center" by Philip Wilhauk, "Spanish: Reality Online" by Nellie Modaress, "The Open Education Resource Phenomenon: Free Educational Resources for All" by Gloria Creed-Dikeogu, "Digital Storytelling: How to Bring Your Stories to Life" by Tracy Newman and "Effective Video Storytelling" by Bob Epp.

For a listing of all sessions visit http://sidlit.org/sessions/all or to see a tentative schedule of sessions, visit http://sidlit.org/sessions/matrix .

SoftChalk Version 5 Now Available

2009-06-22T07:50:00.002-05:00

SoftChalk LessonBuilder version 5 is now available (we license it at JCCC for use by all our faculty and staff). "With SoftChalk LessonBuilder you can...." (verbage from their web site)

"Create interactive web pages for your e-learning courses. It's easy, quick, and your lessons will look like a professional designer created them.
"Engage your students with lessons that include pop-up text annotations, self-assessment quizzes, and interactive learning games.
"Package your lessons for delivery via CD-ROM, Intranet, Internet, or integrate with your LMS (Learning Management System).

"If you can use a word-processing program, you can use LessonBuilder. Designed for teachers and content-experts who don't have time to learn complex software, LessonBuilder is simple, yet powerful, with only the features you need to create exciting, interactive, content for your online course."

Demos and training are offered by SoftChalk on LessonBuilder 5. Check out http://www.softchalk.com for details.

Royalty Free Clip Media

2009-06-15T22:10:00.003-05:00

At JCCC, we periodically have faculty members ask about clip media that can be used in handouts, in class or online without concern for copyright infringement. There is a good blog posting at http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/tp/FreePhotoSites.htm that discusses 6 different web sites that have (potentially) royalty free images available. Be sure to carefully ready any restrictions associated with a specific image (the blog discusses sites such as Stock Xchange, Flickr, Morguefile, Dreamstime, FreeFoto and Picapp).

Keep in mind, you can also use clip media from Microsoft’s clipart site, if you or your campus has a license agreement with Microsoft; e.g., you have purchased or licensed Microsoft Office (see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx ).

Large Screen TV? LCD or Plasma?

2009-05-04T10:49:00.002-05:00

I posted a message on a distribution list at JCCC and asked the question: Has anyone researched or bought a large screen TV lately and have any advice or caveats to offer? Suggested brands or models? Brands or models to avoid? Plasma vs. LCD? Vendors to use or avoid (Best Buy, Nebraska, Costco, other)?

I received so many inquiries about what my research found that I posted the following summary, which drew heavily (and verbatim) on a message I received from a co-worker (Tracy, Sr. Analyst, Ed Tech Center). I’ve added a few comments (based on other responses from the JCCC community):

Subject: RE: Large Screen TV Advice?

Plasma has a better contrast ratio and may look better, but usually they have glare issues so if you have a lot of reflection in your room you may want to go with LCD instead. Plasma can also have burn-in issues despite what the salesmen will tell you, but not as bad as it used to be. Beware some of the new LCD TV’s that have a shiny coating – it improves the contrast ratio but again, glare becomes an issue if you have a bright room.

Jonathan’s Note: We have a well-lit living room so we opted to not go with plasma. However, I did hear from several staff who purchased a plasma from Nebraska Furniture Mart or elsewhere and loved it. The Samsung and Panasonic were top choices, though some indicated the Samsung has a high repair cost and return rate—though their products are also rated top of the line. Another member of the JCCC community (Derek) also wrote: “If you watch a lot of sports on TV, Plasma is the way to go. If you plan on hooking up a computer to it, and will have static images on the screen, then LCD is where you want to look. It all depends on taste really. Plasma’s can get burn in, and have a glass screen. LCD’s are like computer monitors, hold out longer to static images, and they don’t have the glass to reflect light. I believe Plasma’s use more energy than LCD’s do as well.

Maybe this will help: http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/16/lcd-vs-plasma-in-2009/”

Back to Tracy: We have a 47-inch LCD in our family room – a Samsung. We are very happy with it, and it was a good price. We also have a Samsung blu-ray player hooked to it, and there are some special things that they can do because they are both the same brand – like the TV knows when we turn on the blu-ray and can switch inputs to view it without help from us.

Jonathan’s Note: We decided to go with a Sony because of the same compatibility issues. We have a Sony blue-ray player already. Further, my understanding is that if you choose a speaker system/CD player from the same manufacturer (which we’ll do) you gain some auto syncing abilities too. However, several folks mentioned that they avoid Sony because you’re just paying for the name.

We have a 42-inch plasma in the basement, where glare is not an issue. It’s a Panasonic. The plasmas tend to have a faster response time and are therefore better for gaming, and the basement is where my son plays his PS3. There is a bigger risk of burn-in with games, but we have not had any problems (yet), so if you are careful with your TV and don’t leave it paused on the same screen for hours at a time, you should be fine.

Jonathan’s Note: I did follow-up with Derek asking about burn-in and he commented, “I do a pretty good job to make sure I don’t get burn-in on my TV. (To get burn-in) you would have to have a static image up for hours on end. One thing people don’t think about is when you watch a television program that is in standard definition (4x3 aspect ratio) and you don’t stretch your picture out to fit the screen, after a year or two you run the risk of burning the bars on the side into your screen. With a Plasma, after you turn it off, you will see the phosphorus silhouette of the image on the screen for awhile, that isn’t burn in, but is natural and goes away.”

Back to Tracy: My parents bought a Sony 50-inch LCD TV recently for a really good price. The Sony’s are one of the best, but you typically pay a lot more just for the name. We are happy with our Samsung, although I might have bought a Sony if they were the price my parents got theirs for. If you buy a plasma, I would get a Panasonic.

You might want to consider professional calibration. These TV’s throw out a lot of heat, and the efficiency can be improved if they are calibrated properly. Typically you buy the service when you get the TV, but you have to wait several months to put a certain number of hours on the TV and then someone comes to your house to calibrate.

You probably want a 1080p TV, and 120Hz is also an important number. The contrast ratios that are reported can be misleading, because the human eye really can’t see beyond a certain ratio. Also keep in mind that when you get the TV home and calibrated, you won’t be staring at it next to 100 other TV’s and I bet the picture would look great no matter which one you buy.

Also, don’t get taken in by the $100 cables most stores will try to sell you. If you need HDMI cables or any other cables, get them at http://www.parts-express.com . You do probably want a good power conditioner/surge protector to plug everything into, and you may want to consider a Logitech Harmony universal remote if you are going to end up with a lot of components. My parents have the Logitech Harmony 670 (around $150) and are very happy with it – my mother hated having a bunch of remotes and could never figure out how to do anything, and now it’s easy. There are more expensive models, but the 670 is sufficient.

Buying these big TV’s was a scary purchase for me and I waited for a couple years and did a lot of research before I finally bit the bullet and bought them – and we love them!

Jonathan’s Final Notes: John (JCCC Librarian) pointed out that the March 2009 Consumer Reports magazine has a feature article on Best TVs, including ratings on 100+ plasma & LCD sets.

That’s a summary of what I heard through the JCCC list and as always, remember the caveat/disclaimer: please do your own research. Use these notes as just a starting point.

Telling Your Story with Video & Your Video Camera

2009-04-30T05:47:00.012-05:00

Yesterday, Bob Epp, Sr. Analyst (Johnson County Community College, Educational Technology Center), presented a Technology Brown Bag on "Telling Your Story with Video." Bob shared his experiences as an attendee at the Travel Channel Academy's 4-day boot camp led by Michael Rosenblum.

Bob discussed the required steps and planning required to effectively communicate a concept in a video format. He briefly touched on storyboarding, script writing and pre-planning for a video shoot, as a brief summary of the 4-day boot camp.

His presentation reminded me of a recent discussion on the New Media Consortium (NMC) list in response to the question: "How good of a camera do you need to videotape for web delivery? Should you still get as good a camera as you can afford or are the cheaper consumer cameras all you need?"

Here are the points I gleaned from the postings (slightly edited).

As long as your video image size on the web is something on the order of 320 x 240 pixels, you'll do fine even with old non-high definition (HD) cameras, and certainly with a moderately good consumer HD camera. (Hertz)
The little FlipVideo cameras are good for talking head interviews and field news. Actually, I just sent in a video from home that was aired on the local TV news (using) my FlipVideo. The FlipVideo is good for that and for moving around outside. Good because you can quickly upload to YouTube, without needing that much video knowledge. In my opinion, that is the best use of the cheaper consumer cameras: field use. (Laur)
In a classroom setting using a FlipVideo or similar camera with no external mic might not provide the quality you need. Recording location and target destination (YouTube, iTunes U, streaming video server) are all considerations. When our target is iTunes U, we use a wireless mic with a digital video camcorder on a tripod. Most of our classrooms are large with people making noise and moving around. You do not notice it until you actually try to record a class lecture and edit the resulting video. (Laur)
If you plan to do a lot of editing, you'd be best served by something a little more traditional in terms of a camcorder. A FlipVideo and its peers create video files that are designed to be delivered as-is for the most part. They aren't suitable for frame accurate editing. Scrubbing through these types of files can be an exercise in patience even on a nicely equipped machine. (Saunders)
If you use a cheap consumer camera in a big classroom with students coughing and shuffling around, you are going to have audio problems.” (Laur)
Your “videographer’s kit” should include a good quality video camcorder, a wireless mic, an equipment bag, tripod, backup hard drive, and editing software. I would suggest (a camcorder) that allows for external mics and either uses a miniDV tape or solid state built-in memory with sufficient storage to record a complete class without needing a recharge or swap power or storage mid-way through. (Laur)
Good audio can make not so great video look better. Good audio also compresses better, and delivers content more effectively. (Hertz)
Good quality audio quality may require one of the better cameras. An external mic or various mics fed through a mixer (mic for lecturer, mic for audience) can really improve quality of the recording. A camera with good mic/line audio inputs is essential. If you can get a balanced audio input on the camera, even better, but consumer models tend to have just a simple mini-plug input. (Hertz)
If you are not working with a good camcorder and a tripod then the best bet might be to only record audio and then use something to capture the presentation on the computer (Camtasia Studio or other screen capture tools). For instance, a chemistry class is best recorded with only audio with a PowerPoint slideshow synchronized with the audio. (Laur)
You need to determine what value is added by including video over just using an audio recording. Video adds extra editing time and extra download time. If video is mostly someone talking in front of a class, then the audio plus photos, the so-called enhanced podcast, might work pretty good. (Laur)
If you do get a solid state camera, consider getting one that records in the MJPEG format instead of .mp4 or .wmv. I'd personally recommend a better quality SD DV camera that accommodates the audio concerns others are addressing. That way you get a tape backup, which is a good place to store the video long term (those FlipVideo HD files pile up quickly on your hard drive), you get frame accurate editing that performs well on even a moderately equipped machine, and you'll still be well above the level of delivery in terms of quality. (Saunders)

Special thanks to John Kingsley (Instructional Media Developer, University of Virginia) for posting the question and to Paul Hertz (Senior System Engineer, Northwestern University), Don Laur (Digital Media Systems Specialist - Web Dev & Tech Support, College of Mass Communications & Media Arts , Southern Illinois University) and Grover Saunders (Web Media Design Engineer, Center for Instructional Technology, James Madison University) who posted responses.

Geo-Everything -- 3rd Horizon Report 2009 Trend

2009-03-31T06:12:00.001-05:00

The third major trend identified by the Horizon Report 2009 (http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2009-Horizon-Report.pdf) that is expected to effect higher education is “Geo-Everything.” The horizon timeline for this trend is 2-3 year “out.” The Horizon Report’s opening statement on this trend follows:

Everything on the Earth’s surface has a location that can be expressed with just two coordinates. Using the new classes of geolocation tools, it is very easy to determine and capture the exact location of physical objects — as well as capturing the location where digital media such as photographs and video are taken. The other side of this coin is that it is also becoming easier to work with the geolocative data thus captured: it can be plotted on maps; combined with data about other events, objects, or people; graphed; charted; or manipulated in myriad ways. Devices we commonly carry with us increasingly have the ability to know where they (and, consequently, we) are, and to record our coordinates as we take photographs, talk to friends, or post updates to social networking websites. The “everything” in geo-everything is what makes this group of technologies interesting, and what will make them so much a part of our lives — geolocation, geotagging, and location-aware devices are already very nearly everywhere. Geo-coded data (phones, cameras)

In essence geotagging is already here; its full application is yet to be seen, but already

Many camera images are geo-tagged when the image is captured so you can record and determine the exact location where the images originated.
It’s no longer a time-consuming effort to geo-tag images (as was the case in the past) with the images’ physical location; it’s now largely automatic for cameras and mobiles already on the market and in use.
A number of web-based applications exist that accept geo-tagged data and respond based on the user’s current location. One example is http://outside.in/radar/welcome which displays local news, a Google map of the location, instant alerts, blog posts and more. Buzzd.com (http://buzzd.com) is another example of what the site self-describes as “the mobile key to your city.”

Educational uses of geotagging are already emerging, such as Rachel Leow’s tagging of sites from The Travels of Marco Polo using images from Google Maps, Google Images, Wikipedia and the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (see http://idlethink.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/indulgence-sin/).

For a fitness class, Community Walk (http://www.communitywalk.com) enables the user to create a jogging or walking route using geotagged data (latitude and longitude), by clicking on a map location (for each turn) or by entering addresses. Each custom map can be annotated with geotagged data and photos stored (pulled from) Flickr.com.

For fine art or photography classes, PaintMap.com (http://paintmap.com) can be used to indicate the physical location of the subject of a work of art. Imagine mapping the physical location of an end-of-the-semester photography class’ exhibits of best works or creating a geotagged map of the physical locations of all of Michelangelo’s works.

In summary, when the physical location of an object or individual adds to the instructional value of a discipline, geotagging may be a future educational trend that can enhance the learning process.

Cloud Computing: Follow-up

2009-03-07T07:49:00.003-06:00

I received a couple of follow-up email messages on the last post and want to share the author's additional insights. The responses are listed below as received.

From Justin Dugger: I appreciate concept, but these examples aren’t really highlighting the “compute” in cloud computing.

A better example might be Replacing a Pixar renderfarm with Amazon’s EC2 service (http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/). EC2 allows you to basically rent time on Amazon’s massive cloud, and do so on demand. For example, you might when a computer modeling class wants to render a scene, rather than buy a few dozen computers that sit idle, you might buy time on EC2 and use a few thousand computers for a brief moment instead. When it’s done, those computers become part of the “cloud” again.

EC2 is marketed towards websites, where “flashcrowds” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_crowd) can overwhelm organizations not expecting a sudden spike in popularity. By using EC2, you can snap up more computers and bandwidth instantaneously to serve that traffic, and relinquish it when it dies down.

Cloud computing or not, your point about data loss and security on the web is well worth highlighting. There’s an New Yorker cartoon about the internet: “On the internet nobody knows you’re a dog” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog). The same goes for people who run websites. Ma.gnolia [ma.gnolia.com/] ran an online bookmark service essentially out of someone’s basement on a PowerMac, and failed to institute a solid backup procedure and in the end lost every user’s bookmarks. For bookmarks, perhaps nothing of value was lost, but if Zotero were to suffer a similar fate I think many users would be in outrage.

In fact, Zotero stores your data locally rather than in the cloud, and Zotero publishes guidelines for making backups of your data (http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data). I think this example highlights the dangers: how can you be sure your work is safe if it’s hard to even know where it’s stored?

From Keith Krieger: I would suggest that the use of distributed computing resources to only process data is somewhat restrictive.

*Anything* that could be handled with a thin client, from tagging photos with Flickr to manipulating those photos with Adobe’s online version of Photoshop constitutes cloud computing. Or how about adding a Twitter post with a cell phone? Not much computing involved, but very much using the cloud of distributed data processing to interact with other users and data.

And the issue of security seems to arise when considering data in the cloud. We somehow forget about the 1000s of laptops lost or stolen each year, and the breaches of corporate and government data stores that have exposed many SSNs and credit card numbers. Data that is *not* in the cloud seems to be at as much risk as data in the cloud.

As for data loss, I used to be a ma.gnolia user. However, I think that was a disclosure problem rather than a data loss problem. If Larry Haff(Halff? sources differ) had disclosed that ma.gnolia was running on a computer in his basement, I’m thinking that people might have used the service with a different level of expectation, and backed up their data appropriately.

Then again, how many users back up their data appropriately to begin with? Ask people if they have a backup of their digital camera images. The numbers aren’t encouraging.

Cloud Computing--Second Horizon Report 2009 Trend

2009-03-06T05:42:00.001-06:00

The Second major trend identified by the Horizon Report 2009 (http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2009-Horizon-Report.pdf) that is expected to effect higher education is “Cloud Computing.” The horizon timeline for this trend is 1 year or less…so it’s predicted to be an imminent educational trend. The Horizon Report’s opening statement on this trend follows:

The emergence of very large “data farms” — specialized data centers that host thousands of servers — has created a surplus of computing resources that has come to be called the cloud. Growing out of research in grid computing, cloud computing transforms once-expensive resources like disk storage and processing cycles into a readily available, cheap commodity. Development platforms layered onto the cloud infrastructure enable thin-client, web-based applications for image editing, word processing, social networking, and media creation. Many of us use the cloud, or cloud-based applications, without even being aware of it. Advances in computer science to ensure redundancy and protection from natural disasters have led to data being shared across many different hosting facilities. Improved infrastructure has made the cloud robust and reliable; as usage grows, the cloud is fundamentally changing our notions of computing and communication.

Perhaps some clarification might help in understanding this trend. With all the talk of “data farms” and “development platforms layered onto the cloud infrastructure,” cloud computing simply refers to the use of Internet-based (called the "cloud") software and storage. The essence of cloud computing means you can create and store content (documents, images, and so on) on the web rather than on your computer using web-based software rather than software installed on your local computer.

Cloud computing incorporates the concept of software as a service (SaaS), Web 2.0 and other recent, technology trends where the common theme is reliance on the Internet for access to computing power and meeting your computing needs. The best know example of cloud computing is Google Apps which provides common business applications online that are accessed using a web browser. The products created by Google Apps are documents stored online, not on your local hard drive (although those documents may be downloaded and used locally or distributed, just as you would any other document).

Additional examples of cloud computing include:

Free online storage sites such as those listed at http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/free_online_storage_services.php
Photo storage and sharing (see Flickr at http://www.flickr.com).
Video storage and sharing (see YouTube at http://www.youtube.com).
Photo and video editing applications (see http://www.splashup.com for photos and http://www.jaycut.com for videos).
Personal online journaling (see Blogger at http://www.blogger.com).
Publishing of presentations and slide shows (see http://www.slideshare.net or http://www.sliderocket.com).
Online citation generation and management software such as Zotero (see http://www.zotero.org/). Zotero is an automatic citation capture tool that works in your browser (only Firefox at this time) and enables you to annotate, export, and grab meta-data on resources that you may want to cite later (supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and George Mason University).

An interesting side effect of cloud computing is the proposition that telecommuting is “dead” and superseded by a growing cadre of Cloudworkers. For an interesting view, check out the Cloudworker’s Blog at http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2008/10/23/the-cloudworkers-creed/.

One negative of cloud computing is the fact that (in the words of the Horizon Report 2009) “entrusting your work and data to the cloud is also a commitment of trust that the service provider will continue to be there, even in face of changing market and other conditions.” In other words, what happens if the “cloud vendor” ceases to exist? Data security is another issue: how safe and private is your data.

These issues, for many institutions of higher education, are superseded by the cost issue. Cloud computing applications are typically free.

Mobiles - a Horizon Report 2009 Trend

2009-03-02T11:13:00.001-06:00

The Horizon Report 2009 (http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2009-Horizon-Report.pdf) begins its list of major trends expected to effect higher education with “Mobiles.” The horizon timeline for this trend is 1 year or less…so it’s predicted to be an imminent trend to effect education. The Horizon Report’s opening statement on this trend follows:

The unprecedented evolution of mobiles continues to generate great interest. The idea of a single portable device that can make phone calls, take pictures, record audio and video, store data, music, and movies, and interact with the Internet — all of it — has become so interwoven into our lifestyles that it is now surprising to learn that someone does not carry one. As new devices continue to enter the market, new features and new capabilities are appearing at an accelerated pace. One recent feature — the ability to run third-party applications — represents a fundamental change in the way we regard mobiles and opens the door to myriad uses for education, entertainment, productivity, and social interaction.

Mobiles (also called handhelds and personal digital assistants) include broadband devices such as the Smartphone and Apple’s iPhone and iTouch iPod. The report notes the replacement of laptop or portable computers with mobiles. This is becoming a more realistic approach because many mobiles can now run 3rd party applications.

The 1.2 billion phones produced each year include new features such as location awareness (we’ll talk about geo-tagging and geo-everything as another trend) and as devices for creating and accessing content by both faculty and students. Smartphone applications can allow users to access text, calculate, and play educational games (ex. Art Masterpiece ID game, CRAM test review) as well as to integrate with web-based applications (email, ebooks, podcasts, updates to social networks like Facebook and Twitter).

New tools such as Stoneware’s WebNetwork 5e2 enable access to data from anywhere, anytime: http://www.stone-ware.com/sw/products/webnetwork.html using any device, including mobiles.

You can check out http://delicious.com/tag/hz09+mobile, which includes links tagged by the Horizon Advisory Board and friends. Simply follow the link to find additional resources and examples of this trend. You can add to this list, by tagging resources with “hz09” and “mobile” when you save them to Delicious.

Tomorrow: trend #2, Cloud Computing.

What's the Buzz - Innovation & Technological Trends

2009-02-27T16:34:00.002-06:00

In a Technology Brown Bag session (held at JCCC on Wednesday, February 25, 2009), Marziah Karch, Keith Krieger and I tried to focus on what's new, what's old, what's hot, and what's trendy in instructional technology. Our belief is that innovation in instruction often has its genesis in that moment of epiphany that follows exposure to a new "trend" or idea. So we focused on discussing new technological trends based on the Horizon Report 2009 by the New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE.

This year’s Horizon Report 2009 lists 6 “big” new trends including:

Mobile devices
Cloud computing
Geo-everything
The personal web
Semantic-aware applications, and
Smart objects.

Over the next several days, we’ll focus on each of these trends and share specific examples of tools and applications that fall under each trend. If you’re impatient, you can view the entire report (in PDF file format) at http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2009-Horizon-Report.pdf.

You can also view a video/slideshow that records when the report was presented at EDUCAUSE (53 minutes in length) at http://hosted.mediasite.com/hosted5/Viewer/?peid=ac311d35918948468f92deab20379246 (or http://tinyurl.com/8uh9ss).

Keep in mind that the Horizon Report 2009 identifies:

The top 6 predictions for technologies that will be adopted in higher education,
Provides a timeline for the anticipated adoption (ranging from less than a year to four-five years),
Provides current examples of how the trends are being used, and
Allows readers to participate by adding additional examples through the use of social bookmarking (uses delicious, see http://delicious.com/tag/hz09 but you can also view just the bookmarks for each trend – I’ll share those links as we go along).

More to follow...

Transitioning from Word 2003 to 2007

2009-02-25T06:08:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Maureen Fitzpatrick who pointed me toward a very helpful web site at http://tinyurl.com/y85r6y (the actual long URL is http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/asstvid.aspx?assetid=XT100766331033&vwidth=1044&vheight=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA100744321033).

This Flash-based site visually demonstrates where you’ll find a familiar Word 2003 command or action on the new Word 2007 interface. With the shift to tabs for all Office 2007 applications, some functions were re-arranged and appear hidden to the “converted” user. Now, you have a web-accessible tool to use in finding that misplaced, rearranged, seemingly hidden new location for those old, beloved Word commands.

Icon If You Must

2009-02-10T09:28:00.002-06:00

I frequently see web sites, online courses and PowerPoint presentations with an overabundance of animated GIFs and icons. Frankly, when it comes to cutesy icons and graphics of any kind, more is not better. Too much of anything can be distracting and unprofessional looking.

On A&E’s “Sell This House” TV show, one rule of thumb is “Less is more! When preparing your home for sale or an open house, minimize the amount of personal items that are on display. Excessive personal photos, trinkets and memorabilia will distract a buyer. Remember, the goal is to provide an environment where the buyers can picture themselves in the home for years to come.”

When you welcome a student (consumer of knowledge) into your course or to your web page (virtual home), the same principle applies. Eliminate clutter, don’t distract the “learner,” focus on what is important (e.g., the content you wish to pour into their brain). Always ask yourself “does that icon, animated GIF or graphic help convey or enhance the information the student needs to acquire or is it a distraction?”

Now that I’ve tried to talk you out of using animated GIFs and icons, here’s where you can find a collection of the little devils, if you insist on using them. Take a look at the very clean, professional icons at http://www.freeiconsweb.com/ but please avoid the cheesy stuff at http://www.graphic-station.com/.

Need more? Check out the very nice icons at http://www.iconarchive.com/ and http://www.freeiconsdownload.com/.

The Digital Research Tools (DiRT) Wiki

2009-02-09T20:41:00.001-06:00

The range of digital resources for instructional use is pretty wide ranging (and constantly changing). Web 2.0 tools emerge quickly and sometimes disappear just as quickly. That’s why it’s always helpful to have a single source to determine what’s available…especially when you share a common interest and point of view (e.g., education). Lisa Spiro of Rice University and her wiki colleagues collect and share information about tools and resources that are useful for educators and scholars. Her project, the Digital Research Tools Wiki (DiRT) can be viewed at http://digitalresearchtools.pbwiki.com and includes “a directory of tools organized by research activity, as well as reviews of select tools in which we not only describe the tool's features, but also explore how it might be employed most effectively by researchers.”

Browse a little and you’ll find tools that enable you to do everything from “Analyze Statistics” to “Visualize Data” plus many functions in between. Some of the categories of tools covered include those for blogging, creating mashups, editing images, making a screencast, managing bibliographic information, sharing bookmarks, converting files and much more.

Capturing YouTube Video to Your Desktop

2009-01-21T07:56:00.005-06:00

From time to time, we receive requests from faculty regarding capturing video from the web (typically YouTube or TeacherTube clips) to their desktop for use in class. The reasons include:

Slow web access times
Insurance that the video clip will be available for class use and not disappear or be withdrawn
The need to extract a segment and not use the entire video.

There are many tools available to capture video from the web (your students probably know about more tools than you and I ever will) and it’s important to review each use to be sure it complies with educational fair use (use the "Four Factor Analysis"). If the usage is appropriate and does not infringe on copyright, you can go to http://www.techcrunch.com/get-youtube-movie/, enter the URL for the video and click the Get Video button to start the download. The download frequently takes less time than playing the video over the web. Just be sure you save the file using the .flv (Flash video) file extension.

By the way, some YouTube videos, such as President Elect Obama’s weekly addresses, now have a download option (just under the left lower corner of the video image space). It provides access to a H.264 encoded version that can be downloaded and played later offline.

Zamzar: Online File Conversion

2009-01-17T07:32:00.004-06:00

A faculty member recently inquired "My office computer used to be able to read Works, but that capability seems to have disappeared with the appearance of Word 2007. Can someone point me to what I need to do to get Works working for me?"

As a test, she sent me a couple files and I went to http://www.zamzar.com/ and easily converted them. The site is loaded with pop-ups and advertising (and it you stay on the site long enough, your computer will start talking to you ("you've won..."). Just ignore all that and you'll see the 4-step process to convert a file from one format to another. In this case, I converted a .wps file to a .doc.

Zamzar can convert to and from a variety of formats (video, graphic image, document, music, archive). Once you make your selection and identify the file, Zamzar uploads it and then emails you the converted file. There are file size limits (depending on the type of file) and it does take a few minutes to convert and then email the converted file to you.

As always, use at your own risk. I would not use for highly sensitive data (there's a copy out there somewhere) that might be used or abused. Zamzar will of course try to sell you a premium service. It's an option if you use the service frequently and want faster turn-around.

TinyURL.com Equals Short Web Links

2009-01-14T04:59:00.004-06:00

Have you ever sent an email message that included a long, indecipherable URL (web link) that broke across two lines so it didn't work for the recipient of your message? If so, there's a free, easy to use service sponsored by Gilby Productions that converts those long web links to a short (tiny) URL that'll always work.

You can go to http://tinyurl.com, enter the long URL in the text box at the top of the page and it'll generate a tiny URL that begins with http://tinyurl.com/. The new link never expires, so you can use it whenever you wish (in email or on web pages).

You can also add TinyURL to your Internet Explorer Links menu (how to do so is explained at http://tinyurl.com). Once added, you can navigate to any site and generate a TinyURL instantly for that site using your Links menu.

As an example, here's a moderately long URL to a Wikipedia article on the birth of modern copyright:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_copyright_law#The_birth_of_modern_copyright

The TinyURL for the same site is:
http://tinyurl.com/8m7wel

Obviously the longer the original URL, the more "character" savings you'll encounter.

Publish A Book with Oprah's Help

2008-11-14T06:02:00.001-06:00

Have you ever considered publishing:

A family history (a little text, lots of photos) or
A collection of your child’s baby pictures or
A hardcover of your child’s drawings or
A hardcover collection of student work (e.g. a hardcopy portfolio) or
A history of your company, department or organization with images and text?

If you’ve ever considered archiving images and text in a hardcover format that can be preserved on your bookcase, you have a chance to do so for almost free. Peter Walsh (an organization specialist; e.g., how to organize your home and your life) appeared on Oprah yesterday. As part of his appearance, SnapFish is offering a coupon (through today, Friday, November 14) which must be redeemed by Sunday November 16 that covers the production cost of an 8x11” custom cover photo book (20 pages). Check out http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081029_tows_messyhouse/7 for the details.

I’ve used other book publishers for this type of hardcover project but not SnapFish. Now’s your chance (and mine) to test them out and pay only shipping and handling.

Buried in Email

2008-10-21T08:34:00.000-05:00

Remember the good old days when receiving an email message was new and exciting? It was an exhilarating experience to send and receive those instantaneous messages and we started referring insultingly to regular U.S. Post Office mail as “snail mail.” Oh, for the good ole days. The business and technology research firm Basex recently reported (in "Information Overload: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us") that the average employee in the United States receives 200 email messages a day. Here’s a case where you may want to strive to be “below average.”

A recent article in eschoolnews listed six techniques for handling the volume of email messages. Let me share just one: when you first arrive at work, avoid the temptation to immediately check email. Instead identify the top priority that you need to accomplish for the day and tackle it. Check email later, so you avoid using email as an excuse for postponing more pressing issues. Are you curious about the remaining suggestions? Check out: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=55435.

In these Financial Times--Check Your Credit (Online)

2008-10-20T09:16:00.000-05:00

You’ve probably heard numerous times that you have access to free annual credit reports from the three big credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). What you may not know is that you can access (that is request) your credit reports from a single site: http://annualcreditreport.com. In fact, it’s better to request from the http://annualcreditreport.com site, because it’s a bit easier to get the “free” report as opposed to going down the wrong path and subscribing to credit reporting services that you may not need. The centralized site enables you to transfer seamlessly between each of the three credit reporting sites (and you do want to check all three reports) and then bounce back to the central location after requesting, viewing or ordering your reports. As you go through the process you can spend money (to get your credit score, to get credit alerts, and so on) but it’s not really necessary unless your circumstances (or curiosity) dictate the need.

When I originally requested these reports a couple years ago, I found major errors on two of the three reports. If you have grownup children and have ever cosigned a lease or loan or guaranteed a phone bill, you may find their finances still intertwined on the credit report with yours; even though they’re married and over a decade has passed. Sadly based on the changes I reported, I no longer have residences in three cities in two states; but I’m also free of multiple rent and mortgage responsibilities.

In a time when credit is tight, identify theft is a reality, and safeguarding your credit rating is crucial, it may be worth the time to request your current credit report.

Check Out Your Bank

2008-09-23T08:21:00.000-05:00

With the nation’s financial crisis making headlines, it makes sense to use the technology to assist in making financial decisions. So, use your browser to visit http://www.bankrate.com/ and check out the rating for the bank, thrift or credit union where you store your money each payday.

Once you arrive at the bankrate.com site, look for the “Is Your Bank Safe” article under the Spotlight banner. The text “Safe and Sound Ratings” is a link to a page where you can start your search. First you’ll select whether you want to search banks/thrifts or credit unions. After making your choice and selecting the Next button, you’ll narrow the search by zip code, state, starting alpha character (e.g., the institution’s name) or other criteria. Follow the on-screen instructions and you’ll end up with the Safe & Sound CAEL rating (the lower the number, the better, but 1, 2 or 3 is considered good) or the Star Rating (more stars are better with 5 stars being tops) for the bank, thrift or credit union you select. See http://www.bankrate.com/brm/safesound/cael_explain.asp for more details on the rating systems.

Put technology to work on checking out your bank’s rating.

Fact Checkers

2008-09-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

I received yet another email message from the Department of the Treasury this morning stating I have a $189.60 tax refund coming (I only need to click on a link that goes to an AOL site!). That coupled with similar messages received a month ago mean I can fill up my car this week. But I won’t really count on it.

There are two sites that have been very handy lately. Both enable me to check the facts. The first is www.snopes.com where I often check various email “facts” such as:

Presidential candidate Barack Obama is a “radical Muslim” (false),
Presidential candidate John McCain declared during a 60 Minutes interview that he was a “war criminal” who “bombed innocent women and children” (false),
The USS New York was made using steel from the World Trade Center (true),
You can cook an egg or popcorn if placed between two activated cell phones (false), and
That an email greeting card from a family member may include a malicious virus (true, but generally only unpatched Windows-based systems are vulnerable and to infect your system you must click a link that goes to server with malware). Note, always hover over any link in any message and if the web address displayed on your status bar is inconsistent with a real online greeting card site (such as www.hallmark.com or www.egreetings.com or www.bluemountain.com) or the site you expect the link to go to, don’t go there.

The other site I use to check facts is http://www.factcheck.org/. The site is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and identifies itself as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit, ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.” The Annenberg Political Fact Check monitors “the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases.” Their goal “is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.”

So check your facts…before you pass them on.

Microsoft Office Help

2008-09-02T07:40:00.000-05:00

Microsoft publishes an online newsletter (the Microsoft Office Insider) with tips, news, latest support articles, templates and clip art. To subscribe, check out http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101864261033.aspx. As an example, the August issue includes the following tip:

Do you e-mail documents to yourself or others?
There's a new development that's faster and easier. Download this plug-in for Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and save documents to a free Workspace on the web. Access, view, and share documents with the people you invite - anytime! Here's the free plug-in. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9382158. What's a Workspace? http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9382159.

"Virtual" Student Response Systems

2008-08-23T12:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday’s tip talked about clickers in the classroom (see http://technotipster.blogspot.com/2008/08/clickers-in-classroom.html) and mentioned ResponseWare Web. That’s a “revolutionary” new response system that enables classroom or audience participants to engage in polling using a mobile device (PDA, cell phone), laptop, desktop or handheld clicker from TurningPoint Technologies. “As a web-based polling application, ResponseWare Web allows participants to submit responses via any device with access to the internet and immediately transfers results to TurningPoint's interactive polling slides” (see http://www.turningtechnologies.com/governmentnonprofitinteractivepresentation/governmentresponsewareweb.cfm).

It’s important to note that you can “mix and match” response devices. Whether participants are students in a classroom, committee members in a face-to-face meeting or remote conferees (connected via a webinar session or conference call); the presenter, chair or speaker can gather anonymous feedback from participants:

If responders are using a device that connects to the web (cell phone, PDA, laptop), either in the meeting or remotely or
If responders are using a TurningPoint clicker (either RF or XR) and located in the same location as the speaker (within range of the TurningPoint access point).

“Without using their voices” this product enables anonymous audience participation. After allowing a period for polling, the speaker, instructor, chair, or facilitator can display a graph of the polling results with percentages or counts using TurningPoint 2008 (works with PowerPoint) or TurningPoint Anywhere 2008 (works as an overlay with any application or web page).

Response devices that can be used instead of a handheld clicker include the Apple® iPhone™, a Blackberry®, a smartphone using Windows Mobile 5.0 or above, or any laptop or standard computer with wired or wireless access to the Web.

Using this technology, you can move along the agenda and gather feedback whether your “audience” is face-to-face or in remote sites; e.g., students in classrooms, students in distance learning courses, committee members teleconferencing from remote sites, and so on.

Clickers in the Classroom

2008-08-21T08:46:00.002-05:00

Student response systems (affectionately called clickers) are being integrated into instruction at both the high school and college level. This semester, we have over 20 faculty members at JCCC using the TurningPoint clicker system. TurningPoint Technologies offers three different applications for use with their clicker system: TurningPoint 2008 (which works hand-in-hand with PowerPoint to add special interactive slides with questions and then displays the responses received from students in graph form), TurningPoint Anywhere 2008 (which overlays any computer application and can be used to poll, survey, collect and display student responses; e.g., you can use the overlay on top of a screen displaying a Word document, a web site, an Excel document, or literally any application), and ResponseWare Web (which collects student responses using a web site; that is, it can be used in a classroom where all students have access to a computer or it can be used when students have their own wireless laptop or cell phone with Internet access). ResponseWare Web can also be used with distance learning students, since only web access is required…no student clicker is needed..

If you’re one of those faculty members using TurningPoint, one of the first lessons we try to teach is that after installing the software, users should set the default option for the TurningPoint 2008 add-in to always appear in PowerPoint. If you do so, you don’t need to open TurningPoint 2008 and then open a PowerPoint slideshow. With the option set, you can simply open PowerPoint and the TurningPoint 2008 add-in is loaded automatically and available. To turn on this setting:

Open TurningPoint 2008.
Select the TurningPoint tab (in Office 2007 version).
Select the Tools > Settings command.
In the Presentation settings (select in the left panel), under the Misc section (you’ll need to scroll down in the right panel), change the value for “Add-In always loaded” to True (click on the word False and use the drop-down to select True).
Click Done (bottom of window).

You only have to do this once and then TurningPoint will always be loaded when you start PowerPoint. Then you can dispense with the TurningPoint desktop shortcut if you wish.

Sharing & Finding PowerPoint Slideshows

2008-08-20T20:39:00.001-05:00

A basic premise of Web 2.0 is that users collaborate, publish and share digital resources. Slideshare qualifies because it is a repository of PowerPoint slideshows that are contributed by the creators, can be viewed, downloaded and used by others (as always giving credit is both neighborly, judicious and appropriate). http://www.slideshare.net/ is a searchable archive of slideshows covering topics from Aljazeera to the Olympics to Zoology and everything inbetween. Visit the site, use the search box to enter a keyword (“copyright,” “web 2.0,” “conflict management,” or whatever) for the topic you’re researching and you’ll (probably) find a host of slideshows.

Once you locate the topic you seek, you can view the slideshow (clicking through a page at a time), display it full screen, download it, and leave comments (or view the comments of others). If you create an account and log-in, you can upload your own slideshows (if you want to share them; in PDF, PPT, PPS, POT, ODP or keynote format), locate and download presentations (if the creator enables the download), embed slideshows in a blog or website, and create a slidecast by linking your slides to an audio track. You can also enroll in a “group” and receive email alerts when anyone posts a slideshow or message related to that topic.

To check out a couple slideshows I’ve posted on “Web 2.0” and “copyright,” see http://www.slideshare.net/jbacon.

Mind-Mapping & Web 2.0

2008-08-19T21:39:00.002-05:00

What tools are available for instructors to develop instructional materials or for use in instruction? How do you locate one of the plethora of Web 2.0 apps that meet your instructional or course development needs? To address that issue, I populated a mind map for "The Instructor's Digital Toolkit: A Show & Tell Session," a presentation for the Kansas City Professional Development Council Conference at Ottawa University last March 1, 2008. Then I updated the mind map for use at a similar presentation for the Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology (SIDLIT) held at JCCC on July 31 and August 1, 2008.
Specifically, the mind map is but a single example of what can be accomplished using a tool like Mindomo. Mind mapping can be used:

To document classroom brainstorming sessions,
To develop a timeline,
To organize tasks,
To flowchart processes,
To cluster ideas,
To present information in a classroom or for a presentation (instead of using a PowerPoint slideshow).

In the example at http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=38c41ea842988eb5177861fc90f77e46, Mindomo has been used to categorize and document a host of Web 2.0 applications (plus some desktop apps that might be useful for online and classroom instructors).

When using the mind map, hover your mouse pointer over each note icon to see related text, click the globe icon to jump to the website for the specified application, click the "+" sign to expand and display subtopics or (if visible) click the "-" sign to contract and hide subtopics.

How would you use this web 2.0 tool?

Web 2.0 and What It Really Means

2008-08-18T09:08:00.002-05:00

From Wikipedia (commonly considered a prime example of a Web 2.0 application), Web 2.0 is defined as: “ the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies. The term became notable after the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web.”

And what does that mean? The British Guardian newspaper further describes Web 2.0 as “an idea in people's heads rather than a reality. It’s actually an idea that the reciprocity between the user and the provider is what's emphasised. In other words, genuine interactivity, if you like, simply because people can upload as well as download.”

Web 2.0 is really a concept that identifies tools which:

Use the Internet as their platform (e.g., the application resides on the web and not necessarily on your desktop),
Enable web authors (e.g., publishers) and web users (e.g., readers) to easily collaborate and co-publish, and
Breaks down the barriers between publishers and readers (e.g., we all become publishers, contributors, editors and readers).

The best definition of Web 2.0 can be obtained by seeing “it” in action. So, let’s suppose you are one of thousands of individuals who take digital images of “places” you’ve visited. You can share those images with anyone or a select group of friends. That’s basically what Flickr, Picassa and other Web 2.0 photo sharing sites enable you to do. But let’s take it a step further. Suppose you want to see not just a 2D photographic image of a landmark, historic site or location, but also want to “contribute” toward a virtual 3D view of that “place.” That’s what Microsoft Photosynth does. It takes hundreds if not thousands of images, aligns and synchronizes them so that users can see the combined photographic contributions of “the many” in order to view a “unified 3D version” of the image. To quote Microsoft’s site at http://labs.live.com/photosynth/, “what if your photo collection was an entry point into the world, like a wormhole that you could jump through and explore?”

The following video was presented at SIGGRAPH to demonstrate what the university of Washington and Microsoft Research have been able to accomplish using this tool. Check out http://phototour.cs.washington.edu/findingpaths/.

Now that’s Web 2.0. It’s collaborative, utilizes the best work of all contributors, while breaking down the artificial barriers between publisher, editor, artist, contributor, and reader…and make us all..all of the above. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about yet another Web 2.0 tool and how it can be used in instruction.

Your Digital Toolkit: Lesser Known Web 2.0 & Desktop Apps

2008-07-30T04:00:00.000-05:00

The Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology (SIDLIT, pronounced "sidelight") returns to Johnson County Community College on Thursday and Friday, July 31 and August 1, 2008 with over 380 attendees registered. The conference, in it's 9th year, is sponsored by Colleague to Colleague and includes sessions on topics from ANGEL to blogs and wikis.

One of my sessions (on Friday, August 1st) covers "Your Digital Toolkit: Lesser Known Web 2.0 & Desktop Apps." It's described in this way: "If you've heard about Web 2.0, you've heard about blogs, wikis and social networks. But what web 2.0 tools are available for your digital toolkit beyond the basics? This session begins with a quick survey of Web 2.0, desktop and rich Internet applications (RIAs) that may be useful for personal and instructional purposes (both classroom and online)."

The handout for the session is this blog entry and includes a del.icio.us link to each of the web 2.0 tools and desktop apps that I'll discuss. The list of tagged items is available at http://delicious.com/jbacon/SIDLIT2008?sort=alpha&order=asc.

To be sure everyone understands the language, I'll begin with a brief explanation of the differences between web 1.0 and web 2.0. My definition will focus on the following basic comparison.

Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 represents a shift:

From personal bookmarking to shared tagging,
From permissions, centralized security and control to radical trust, every person involvement and decentralization,
From text & graphics to media rich, participatory, web experiences,
From versions and scheduled releases to continuous improvement where products are always in beta,
From static web publishing with limited, restricted roles to dynamic, interactive participation where everyone's an author, contributor, editor, reviewer and owner using rich Internet tools (RIAs) available to everyone, anytime, online.

The tools I'll discuss are in the del.icio.us list (link above) but I've linked to a few specific examples of content created using these tools (below).

Animoto (http://animoto.com/play/CVlzO5DMFxD6SpAmekcU0Q)
Camtasia Studio (http://www.iriseducation.org/user_filestore/jkent/picasa/Using_Picasa2/Using_Picasa2.html)
Mindomo (http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=38c41ea842988eb5177861fc90f77e46)
MyPublisher (http://www.mypublisher.com/bookstore/book_viewer.py?d=tq%3Ey-cppl%60je%3E3273827)
Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/jbacon)

Finally, to keep up on Web 2.0 news, I subscribe to http://news.cnet.com/webware/ (RSS feed, email, lots of options). Good place to get news on new apps, losers and winners.

Splitting Worksheet Windows

2008-07-07T08:09:00.000-05:00

The question came up recently “How do you split the window in Excel so you can see a spreadsheet (usually referred to as a worksheet) in two different windows.” There are several answers depending on your needs.

After loading a document (workbook) in Excel 2007, go to the View tab and select the Split option. The current document window will be split and you can scroll either window (on the same document) independently of the other.
Also there are splitter handles at the top of the vertical scrollbar and at the right end of the horizontal scrollbar. Click and drag one of them with the mouse and it will split the window. Again, this only lets you look at two parts of a single worksheet at one time, It won't, for instance, let you look at parts of different worksheets at the same time (whether they’re from the same Excel workbook or not).

If you want separate windows showing different parts of the same workbook (including different worksheets), use the New Window button on the View tab (the third icon to the left of the Split icon on the View tab).

Now if you want two instances of Excel so you can run them in separate windows and see the same or different worksheets displayed in each window, just launch Excel directly, rather than launching it by opening a file. If you use the second instance to open a file you already have open in the first instance, the access in the second instance will be read only.

Thanks to Saul Epstein, Ed Lovitt, Tracy Newman and Michael Rea who contributed to the information included in this tip.

Phishing Part II

2008-07-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

One of the Ed Tech Center staff members at JCCC (Davy Jones) pointed out, after yesterday’s tip on phishing, that the IRS does have a site with instructions for helping them shut down phishing schemes at: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=155682,00.html

The instructions for submitting suspected bogus email messages are at http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=179820,00.html. Though they indicate you can “forward’ the email to phishing@irs.gov it’s actually better to send them an email and attach the bogus email to the message you send. This preserves the header information that enables the IRS to better follow-up and track the sender of the fraudulent message. To attach the message (using Outlook 2007) you’d:

Open a new email message,
Address it to phishing@irs.gov,
Enter a short Subject line such as: “Possible Phishing Message,”
In the text area enter a short message, if you wish,
Select the Insert tab,
Select the Attach Item option,
When the Insert Item dialog box appears (see image below), navigate to the suspected phishing email message and,
Double-click to attach it to your message. Now you’re ready to send the email message.

The Department of the Treasury Does Not Do Business This Way

2008-06-30T06:25:00.000-05:00

At least two members of the staff at JCCC received the following email “supposedly” from the “Department of the Treasury.” The email is not from the Department of the Treasury and the senders are phishing (trying to get personal information from you in order to defraud you, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing). Here are a couple of obvious clues:

Hover over the Click Here link and you’ll see that the link address is an AOL (America Online) address, yet the “From” field indicates the email is from service@usa.org. Anytime there’s this type of discrepancy, be leery and assume the message is bogus.
Government agencies rarely allow obvious spelling errors to enter their communications (“u” for “you”).
You can spot bogus, phishing messages by their use of such phrases as “"Verify your account" (businesses should never ask you to send usernames, passwords, or confidential, personal data such as social security numbers through the mail), "If you don't respond within 48 hours, your account will be closed" (don’t fall for any type of pressure that encourages you to respond without thinking), or "Dear Valued Customer" (these messages are sent in bulk and are not personalized).

For more detail check out Microsoft’s anti-phishing site at http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/phishing/identify.mspx or the University of Minnesota’s Safe Computing site at http://safecomputing.umn.edu/safepractices/phishing.html.

From: Department of the Treasury [mailto:service@usa.org] Sent: Friday, June
27, 2008 6:15 AM
Subject: Notice from Department of the Treasury

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you
are eligible to receive a tax refund under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal
Revenue Code. Tax refund value is $189.60. Please submit the tax refund request
and allow us 6-9 days in order to IWP the data received. If u don't receive your
refund within 9 business days from the original IRS mailing date shown, you can
start a refund trace online.
If you distribute funds to other organization, your records must show wether they are exempt under section 497 (c) (15). In cases where the recipient org. is not exempt under section 497 (c) (15), you must have evidence the funds will be used for section 497 (c) (15) purposes. If you distribute fund to individuals, you should keep case histories showing the recipient's name and address; the purpose of the award; the maner of section; and the realtionship of the recipient to any of your officers,
directors, trustees, members, or major contributors.
To access the form for your tax refund, please click here
This notification has been sent by the Internal Revenue Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
Sincerely Yours,
John Stewart
Director, Exempt. Organization
Rulings and Agreements Letter
Internal Revenue Service

2008-06-25T17:15:00.001-05:00

Have you every scanned images or text and ended up with numerous separate Adobe PDF (portable document format) files and wanted to merge them into a single PDF file? Or have you ever had an assortment of files (images, Word documents, PDF files, and so on) and wanted to package them together? Well, you can.

Prior to Acrobat Professional 8 you could (and still can) merge a collection of PDF files into a single PDF document. To do so, you can select the Document --> Insert Pages command and in the Select File to Insert dialog box, select the filename of the PDF file from which you want to insert pages. When prompted, you can indicate if you want to insert the pages before or after a given page in the target PDF file.

When importing (combining) a large numbers of pages (over 10 or so), a problem occurs where the pages are inserted in reverse order of their file names, no matter what you do. For example, if you have scanned pages and saved them as file01, file 02, file03, and so on; they’ll be inserted in the order file30, file29, file28, and so on.

There is a better way, which also enables you to insert pages in the order you want as well as merge files that are not already in the PDF file format.

The solution is to not use the Document --> Insert Pages command but rather use the Combine Files option from the Tasks toolbar (it resides under the Menu bar and above the File toolbar and is between the Create PDF and Export buttons).

This option enables you to select from any files to which you have access (on your hard drive or a network drive) and then add (import) them in any order you specify. If the files are not already PDF files, Acrobat automatically converts them to the PDF format before merging them into the final PDF package. You can merge Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, graphic images (JPEG, GIF, PNG), as well as PDFs. You also have the option to manually rearrange the files into any order you prefer. You can also choose whether you want a combined document with each file becoming a sequential page in the PDF file or whether you want to save all files separately in a container that uses a single filename.

If you want Adobe Acrobat to walk you through the entire process, start up Adobe Acrobat Professional 8. If the Getting Started with Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 wizard is not visible automatically, select the Help --> Getting Started with Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 command. Then select the Combine Files button. You’ll arrive at the same place whether you take this route or simply select the Combine Files button on the Tasks toolbar.

Thanks to Bob Epp for providing the basic research for this tip.

Tired of Pre-Approved Credit Card Junk Mail?

2008-06-24T08:51:00.000-05:00

You can go to www.optoutprescreen.com (or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT) to help reduce the number of those pre-approved credit card junk mail letters you receive. Don’t expect overnight results, but I did this several months ago and the number of pre-approved offers has definitely diminished. Now, if we could just opt out of SPAM!

How Small Can You Make a Camcorder?

2008-06-23T08:22:00.000-05:00

Digital Camcorders are getting smaller and the prices are dropping. That seems to be the general story of all technology. I’ve recently tested a Flip Video Ultra camcorder (see http://www.theflip.com/products.shtml) and found it wonderfully small (fits in a shirt pocket). It’s lightweight too. It records video on internal memory rather than on a miniDV tape. The Flip Video Ultra can record 60 minutes of video using 2GB of internal memory (the Ultra has 2GB while the regular Flip Video has 1GB). Note, the newest addition to the Flip Video family is a 2GB Flip Mino. It’s much like the Ultra except it includes an internal Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery capable of 4 hours recording between charges. It retails for $179.99.

I was pretty impressed with the 640x480 resolution image from the $149 camera, until I ran across the AIPTEK A-HD 720P digital camcorder (see http://www.aiptek.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=R-AHDB&Category_Code=DC1&Store_Code=AS) which retails at $159.99 (as low as $139.99 refurbished). While the A-HD 720P doesn’t have a snappy name (like Flip Video Ultra), it does provide high definition (HD) video recording (1280x720 using H.264 video compression) and is also an 8 megapixel still image camera and media player all rolled into one. The video you capture can be played on a high definition TV, standard TV, PC or Mac (cables are included) and enables you to record direct from a TV set as well. Some of the other significant differences include a rechargeable 1000mA Li-ion battery good for about 4 hours of recording (the Flip Video Ultra uses 2 AA batteries that give you approximately 2 hours of recording time) and the ability to use up to an 8GB SD card (the Flip Video Ultra’s memory is not expandable). The bad news is that the A-HD 720P does not come with an SD memory card, so you must buy one or you don’t have sufficient memory to record video (it comes with only 6MB internal memory). So effectively, the cost of the camcorder is $12 to $30 more than it seems. The following chart indicates how much video recording time or how many images you can store based on the SD card size and the resolution of the images/video you capture.

One negative to the A-HD 720P is it’s a bit heavier than the 5.2 oz Flip Video Ultra (can’t find an exact weight in the specs).

The A-HD video files are compressed (stored in the QuickTime .MOV format using H.264 video compression) while the Flip Video Ultra uses Pure Digital Video Engine 2.5 to compress in .AVI format. With both camcorders, it takes some practice to steady the camera and adjust the zoom (both units employ a 2x digital zoom).

Prices listed above are list and can be “beat” at http://www.amazon.com/ and other vendors. There are accessories available for both camcorders (tripods, and so on). Either choice is a giant step forward in miniaturization and price reduction.

No Free Lunch @ Adobe Until July 1

2008-06-19T09:33:00.000-05:00

Bob Epp, Sr. Analyst in the Ed Tech Center, alerted me to the fact that some of his Photoshop students wanted to download a trial version of Photoshop (typically good for 30 days) and found that the trial downloads (http://www.adobe.com/downloads/) are unavailable until July 1. This appears to be the case with allk Adobe trial downloads, not just Photoshop. Here is the explanation from Adobe:

During the month of June 2008, certain product trials that are launched for the first time (regardless of when they were installed) will function for only one day instead of 30 days, due to an error in a line of code that counts down the remaining days in a trial. You will not experience this issue if you have launched your trial before June 1, 2008, or do not launch it until July 1 or thereafter.

We understand that trials are an important tool to experience the new features of a product. However, this issue would have resulted in a frustrating situation for a large number of customers — an experience that just does not meet the high standards we have set for all of our products and solutions. We invite you to explore the other resources available on Adobe.com in order to experience the products in action.

While we’re discussing Adobe products, I mentioned Adobe Express in an earlier post. Christopher Boyce of the UMKC School of Medicine (Kansas City, MO) subsequently shared the following information with me:

I just wanted to mention a note about Photoshop Express, which you may already know - Adobe's terms of use: https://www.photoshop.com/express/terms.html

They have already revised it recently, due to negative feedback from their original terms, but there is still these particular terms which may not sit well with some users:

"8. Use of Your Content.

Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, and unless otherwise specifically agreed in any Additional Terms that might accompany individual services (such as Photoshop.com/Express), you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed."

and

"10. Right to Derive Revenue/Advertisements.

You agree that Adobe may derive revenue and or other remuneration from the Services including from portions of the Services that include Your Content.
For example, Adobe may display Adobe and/or third party paid advertisements and other information adjacent to or included with the Services and adjacent to or in connection with Your Content, and you agree that you are not entitled to any compensation for any such advertisements. The manner, mode and extent of advertising or other revenue generating models by Adobe on or in conjunction with the Services are subject to change without specific notice to you."

...I just wanted to pass this along.

So, “buyer (or freebie user) beware.”

Information Please!

2008-06-18T08:15:00.000-05:00

Nick Greenup, Sr. Analyst in the Ed Tech Center, recently shared this information with me. When Nick receives a new phone book, he slices out the coupon pages, staples them together and discards the rest of the book. With directory assistance and the Internet there’s no need to keep a bulky set of yellow pages around. Here are the ways Nick accesses the information he needs.

For residential, business, and "reverse" look up use: http://www.anywho.com. Reverse lookup is when you know the phone number and want to find out to whom it belongs. Try looking up your own information and you’ll see what’s available to anyone on the web. Helpful and scary.

When www.Anywho.com fails to locate a desired business or contact, try a Google Maps search (http://maps.google.com). Notice the Find Businesses tab at the top. You can be very general or specific with your search. For instance, try “colleges” in the What field and “Overland Park” in the Where field. You’ll see all the local educational options. Nick points out that you can also talk to Google Maps like a buddy instead of a computer program; e.g., type "pizza in overland park" or "lunch Westport" and you’ll see surprisingly good results including a list of findings and a map view with all contact info (often a picture or street view of the business too). You can also get driving directions using Google Maps.

Suppose you are not at your computer, then what? Call 1411 and pay up to $3.50 per call? No way! Try Goog411, by calling toll free 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411). Check out the YouTube video http://www.google.com/goog411/ for more details. There is no charge for the service and they will connect you to the desired number without charge too. If using a cell phone you can say "text message" and Google will text you the business details. If you have a phone with Internet access you can say map it and view a map/directions!

These options should cover all your “information” needs, but there’s still one more option. It’s not new, does include ads, but it’s also free. This company holds the patent for free ad-based 411 information. Simply call 800-Free-411. If you have a Skype account add the contact "FREE411USA" and when you call it using Skype you’ll be connected to the service. Nick also mentioned that “Microsoft and AT&T are also running a free 411, but I haven't tried them.”

Plethora of Web 2.0 Tools

2008-06-17T08:03:00.000-05:00

Back in March 2008, I presented a workshop session called "The Instructor's Digital Toolkit: A Show & Tell Session" (at the Kansas City Professional Development Council Conference at Ottawa University). In the session I attempted to focus on the question “What tools are available to instructors with which to develop instructional materials or that might enhance the presentation of instructional materials?” Many of these tools (but not all) are part of the plethora of Web 2.0 applications. The selection of instructional tools is far greater than the typical blog, wiki, and social bookmarking apps that are commonly discussed. To illustrate the range of tools, I developed a mind map (http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=38c41ea842988eb5177861fc90f77e46) and included it in the presentation. The mind map has since been enlarged and I continue to add new apps as I hear about them (and have time to update the mind map).

When using the mind map, hover your mouse pointer over each note icon to see related text, click the globe icon to jump to the website for the application, click the "+" sign to expand and display subtopics or (if already displayed) click the "-" sign to contract and hide subtopics. In a few cases, you can expand the mind map beyond the listing of apps to display instructional examples. If you have comments or additions to the listings, please email me at (jbacon@jccc.edu).

It’s probably worth noting that many colleges (like JCCC where I work) offer in-house equivalents to many of these tools (e.g., Blackboard and Angel include blog and wiki tools, SharePoint is a collaboration tool), so many of these applications may not be supported by your college (or your company for that matter).

"You're Killing Me" said the Flash Drive

2008-06-16T09:17:00.000-05:00

A number of reasons exist for flash drives (sometimes called pen drives) to go bad. Obviously, physical abuse of the flash drive, manufacturing errors and the like can contribute, but I’ve never had a flash drive fail. I suspect that one common mistake can greatly increase the chances of failure. If you do not disengage the flash drive properly it can contribute to the failure rate.

The proper procedure is to use the Windows "Safely remove hardware" process listed on the Windows task bar. The task bar icon looks link a small green arrow (pointing to the left and downward) which hovers over a gray rectangular object. If you remove your flash drive or other storage device without first using this feature and your system is writing files (temporary or otherwise) to the flash drive, you can corrupt the files being written which can subsequently cause the pen drive to fail.

What is Web 2.0

2008-06-12T06:04:00.000-05:00

Nowadays, you’ll frequently hear the term Web 2.0 or Web 2.0 apps (applications). It’s a term that’s several years old and refers to the second generation of the web (some say we’re already into Web 3.0 or Web 3D, but that discussion is for another day). If you’re curious, checkout a slideshow I put together last Summer for the Powerful Professional Conference hosted by Johnson County Community College available at http://www.slideshare.net/jbacon/personal-professional-uses-of-web-20-tools. The second slide says most of what you need to know.

In essence, Web 1.0 was a “one way street” (web publishers sent you information they wanted and publishing was restricted to those who knew the language (HTML) and had the tools (HTML editors, servers, access rights). Web 2.0, on the other hand, is participatory. Anyone with web access (a browser) has the ability to publish, contribute, comment and co-author. Tools such as wikis, blogs, and social networking apps are the epitome of Web 2.0. They provide for the “harnessing of collective intelligence” (e.g., we all contribute and the product is better, more accurate and more accessible because it is democratic, self-checked and above all else participatory.

Another way to summarize the shift from Web 1.0 to 2.0 is covered by slides 4-7 of the slideshow at http://www.slideshare.net/anantshri/web20-an-introduction-396686. By the way, http://www.slideshare.net/ site is another example of a Web 2.0 participatory, web-based application.

In upcoming tips, I’ll discuss Web 2.0 apps in more detail. You also have an opportunity to learn more at the upcoming Summer Institute on Distance Learning and instructional Technology (SIDLIT) hosted by the Colleague to Colleague organization and Johnson County Community College on Thursday, July 31 and Friday, August 1, 2008. For more information, a schedule of sessions and to register for the free conference, check out http://web.jccc.net/c2c/sidlit/.

Worldwide Telescope from Microsoft Research

2008-06-04T08:24:00.000-05:00

I don’t pretend to be even an amateur astronomer, but found the Worldwide Telescope (WWT) released by Microsoft Research a fascinating application (see http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/experienceIt/ExperienceIt.aspx). In knowledgeable hands, it would have a clear educational use. Simply from a curiosity standpoint, it’s a fascinating tool that enables you to see black holes, colliding galaxies and the birth of new stars.

After you download the 20.2 MB installer, run the installer (instructions are available at http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/experienceIt/ExperienceIt.aspx?exp=true) and start up the application (it’ll appear on your Start menu), your next step should be to click the Guided Tours link (top left of the screen) and run the “Learning WWT” tour. It’ll give you a quick overview of how to navigate and get the most out of WWT (e.g., use your right mouse button for more information on any “heavenly body,” use the scroll wheel or Page Up and Page Down keys to zoom in or out from an image, click and drag on the star field background to change your view or use the arrow keys to navigate, and so on).

The WWT is considered a “Web 2.0 visualization software” tool that enables your computer to become a virtual telescope. It is a collaborative work because educators and scientists have compiled the images from multiple sources and created guided tools. You, in turn can collaborate, by adding your comments when you complete a tour.

In Microsoft’s verbiage, “WWT is a single rich application portal that blends terabytes of images, information, and stories from multiple sources over the Internet into a seamless, immersive, rich media experience. Kids of all ages will feel empowered to explore and understand the universe with its simple and powerful user interface. “Microsoft Research is dedicating Worldwide Telescope to the memory of Jim Gray and is releasing WWT as a free resource to the astronomy and education communities with the hope that it will inspire and empower people to explore and understand the universe like never before.”

SpyWare and Your Home Computer

2008-06-03T22:04:00.000-05:00

If your home computer seems to be running slower, you're seeing pop-up windows you didn't invite and you can no longer access web sites that you previously could browse, here's a prescription for your sick computer.

Be sure you have a firewall installed (Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes a built-in firewall).
Be sure you are running anti-virus software with the most up-to-date virus definitions available.
Be sure you are running adware/spyware protection.

One option is Ad-aware SE Personal (free) which is designed to provide "protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components."

To locate, go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ and click on the "Download Ad-aware here" button on the right.

Or you can find the software on http://www.download.com/ at http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

Ad-aware is one of the first applications built to find and remove adware and spyware. It has the ability to scan your RAM, registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components. This application cleans your system and provides a higher degree of privacy (and more efficient computing) while you surf the Web.
Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition can also scan for known and unknown/possible browser hijackers.

NOTE: Ad-aware is NOT free for commercial or business purposes.

Pop-up Blockers

2008-06-02T10:21:00.000-05:00

If you have Microsoft Windows Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed, the service pack automatically adds a pop-up blocker (and turns it on) that can interfere with accessing certain web sites such as the Web Outlook page (owa.jccc.edu), and many web based tools such as Blackboard (either a learning managemnet system). You can turn off the pop-up blocker, using the Tools --> Pop-up Blocker --> Turn Off Pop-up Blocker command, but a better option is to leave it turned “on” and exempt certain sites.

To exempt specific sites select the Tools --> Pop-up Blocker --> Pop-up Blocker Settings command. When you select this command, you can type in the URL to exempt and click the Add button. Then click Close when done adding sites to exempt. By the way, you can also exempt sites on the fly by clicking the bar that appears across the top of the page when a web site tries to open a pop-up.

In addition, many toolbars (Yahoo, Google) also include pop-up blockers, so you may need to turn these off (in Internet Explorer use the View --> Toolbars menu option to see which toolbars you have turned on/visible). You can turn off extra toolbars using the same command and then clicking on each toolbar (which causes the check mark to disappear).

Joe McNally & "The Moment It Clicks" Redux

2008-04-16T08:12:00.000-05:00

If you’re interested in more information about and by Joe McNally, author of The Moment It Clicks (mentioned in yesterday’s posting), check out the “This Week in Photography” (TWIP) podcasts. You can find information at http://twipphoto.com/index.php/archives/282) about Podcast #20 in which Joe discusses his book.

The TWIP blog (http://twipphoto.com/) is a great source of information for anyone interested in photography. Thanks to Bob Epp for the tip.

The Moment It Clicks

2008-04-15T08:23:00.000-05:00

Joe McNally is variously described as “an internationally acclaimed commercial photographer and long-time photojournalist” and a “legendary magazine photographer.” He describes himself as “LIFE magazine's last staff photographer” (he held that position from 1994 until 1998 when the magazine ceased publication). Joe is among a select group of 10 photographers worldwide to work on the promotion of the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. You may know him from one of his exhibits; a collection of 246 giant Polaroid portraits taken in a three-week period immediately after September 11, 2001 (known as the "Faces of Ground Zero - Giant Polaroid Collection").

Joe was also one of two instructors/guides for the Nikon Photo Safari (pre-conference workshop) that I attended at Photoshop World 2008. He’s a wonderful, energetic instructor. Luckily, he’s also the author of a new book called The Moment It Clicks published by New Riders.

If you’ve ever looked at a photo and had a response somewhere between “what were they thinking?” to “How did they do that?, you’ll find this book fascinating. Often creative artists (photographers included) neither want to give away their techniques nor explain their work. In both respects McNally breaks the mold. Throughout The Moment It Clicks, McNally describes how he shot each image (with lighting, set-up, and equipment tips) and tells the story behind each photo. Among my favorites are changing a light bulb on the top of the Empire State Building (page 3), Joe’s first LIFE magazine cover (something about a green frog, page 19), Tony Bennetts (page 85), Munchkins (page 151), Nanny & Baby (page 199), Napalm Girl (Kim Phuc, page 213) and Her Pope (page 221).

Maybe your library has a copy you can check out?

Digital Photography--Light & Focus

2008-04-14T10:05:00.000-05:00

Some of the often repeated axioms from Photoshop World were “If you want to improve your pictures, then take a step closer” and “shadows are a good thing.” The former may have originated with Robert Capa (“If your pictures aren’t good enough, then you aren’t close enough”) or may just be a common refrain from professional photographers. Time and time again, we heard “provide focus for your images” and the best way to do so is to “simplify, simplify, simplify.” In other words, ask yourself what or who is the “subject of this photograph?” Then ask, “What can I do to focus on the subject and simplify distractions?”

Light can help focus or can be the distraction. The eye naturally jumps to the lightest portion of an image. If that “high light” is the subject, you’ve won half the battle. If not, you have work to do.

One web site that received a lot of “press” during the conference was http://strobist.com/ (“strobe” in this context refers to an electronic flash used by photographers to light a scene). The Strobist site focuses on lighting techniques, many of which are aimed at Nikon and Canon users, but if you’re willing to wade through product specific information, you’ll find the site helpful even if you just point and click. Take a look at the drop down lists on the right side of the blog (yes, it’s a blogspot site). Start by clicking the Complete Lighting 101 Archive and select a topic. To give you an example of the non-technical posts that can help an amateur, read http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-assignment-thinking-outside-box.html (the “Thinking Outside the Box” post).

From Digital Photography to Adobe Express -- Part I

2008-04-11T07:55:00.000-05:00

I just returned from Photoshop World and four days of valuable and intensive sessions on Adobe products (Photoshop CS, Elements, Lightroom, and so on) as well as digital photography. Over the coming days, I’ll share some of the information I gathered.

First, Adobe has released Photoshop Express (see https://www.photoshop.com/express/), a totally online consumer product for storing, editing and sharing your digital photos. Without charge you obtain 2GB of storage space. You also get access to a variety of Photoshop tools that enable you to crop, correct and even “deform” your images. If you wish, you can then create a gallery of images to share on the web. The gallery feature requires Adobe Flash Player 9, but that’s installed automatically with a single click. You also have built-in features to enable you to post/integrate your photos with Facebook, PhotoBucket or Picasa; or to post to your blog.

When editing a photo, you have access to some pretty advanced features (though not with the fine control available in Photoshop) such as white balance, sharpening, cropping, rotating, red-eye removal, saturation, and adding fill light (to name only a few of the 17 controls). When you select a tool, you’re given several visual thumbnails to use to determine the exact settings (e.g. if you add Fill Light, you can select one of the thumbnails to determine how much fill light you want applied). You can also click and hold the View Original button at anytime to see the original version of the image and compare to the changes you’ve made. Express also enables you to drop any changes by deselecting the check box next to the tool/adjustment made. Or, you can click the Reset All button to revert to the original.

It’s probably wise to mention a few caveats.

Depending on your connection speed and network traffic, you’ll just need to go get a cup of coffee each time you open an image.
Photoshop Express is a beta project (if that scares you, don’t go further). This beta seems fully functional and Adobe is asking for feedback before they finalize Photoshop Express.
Keep in mind that you can add captions to your gallery and technically show any image you want; but discretion suggests you should make public only images that do not give away personal information or which could be misused against you or by others.
As always, be aware of college/company policies regarding the disclosure of student/employee, medical and other restricted information (e.g. don’t post an image with a caption disclosing information about someone’s medical condition, student/employment status, and so on).
Be aware of copyright issues. Just because someone posts an image in an Express Gallery (or anywhere on the web) that you like does not give you or anyone else the right to copy, reproduce, distribute or to make a derivative works without permission. Any creative works (photographs are included) are copyright when created, with or without a copyright notice.
Finally, from what I’ve discovered, you can share your “Albums” in your Gallery but you cannot restrict access to only specific users. Once shared, your images are available to anyone on the web.

If you’d like to see a small example of a Gallery, check out http://jbacon.photoshop.com, hover your mouse over the Album icon and click to play the slideshow. When finished, click the Browse button at the top of the screen to view other albums.

Anonymous Email

2008-04-09T21:34:00.000-05:00

If you receive email from someone you don't recognize (or even if the name sounds familiar) with:

no subject line or
a subject line that is not descriptive or
a subject line written with bad grammar or
a nonsensical subject line...

Don't open the email, don't be curious, have no regrets...just delete it!