This is really so much fun and one of the highlights of last season. Join in the PLN madness and sign up on the Third Annual Holiday gift exchange - you sign up on this page and elfster "draws names" the end of this week - you send something to your person - usually things local to your area. It is a lot of fun. Thanks to Steve Dembo for doing this!

A dark version of the icons.

Lots of other wallpapers that let you organize your icons - this can make your desktop "prettier" and help you be more organized.

For those who like the getting things done method and would like to have it in front of them, here is GTD Wallpaper.

Yes, you can use wikis to organize your sports teams like my friend Brandt Schneider from Seymour High School does on this wiki.

While this article starts out about a lawfirm in Birmingham UK that is going to "track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online" it becomes an amazingly poignant article on the very nature of the Internet today and the push pull between anonymous commenting and accountability of the commenter. Push pull between free speech and online identity and brand protection.

One person in this article claims that this sort of thing is the sign that the "wild west" of the INternet is coming to an end. Oh dear, I hope someone invents a new one if somehow anonymous commenters are now going to risk such!

Also love the article's discussion of the Streisand effect wherein Barbara protested the sharing of some photos of her eroding beachfront which caused a stir and more people looking at the photos than if she had left it alone.

This article is going to be a must read for Flat Classroom students and would be great for college-level discussions as well.

Excellent overview of Rupert Murdoch's taking on of Google and that they should not index his sites, even though he can easily opt out of indexing, that they are somehow demonetizing his work by searching since he wants to "reduce his audience to those who will pay" not "increase his audience." This is a fascinating read and case study for those following Fair Use.

If you're looking for ways to raise money for your PTA, just got this in from the national USA PTA - a way to make 10% for those of you who have access to jamba juice this might be a good deal.

Here is an excerpt of the press release:

"Kicking off during National PTA's Healthy Lifestyles Month, the partnership builds upon Jamba's longtime commitment to supporting local schools through fundraising efforts at the store level and furthers National PTA's mission to increase family engagement in their children's school by providing additional funding for local PTA's to create and execute programs that promote physical activity and encourage healthier eating. Launching the partnership, Jamba has created a School Appreciation swipe card that offers 12% give-backs on all sales (10% to Local PTA and 2% to National PTA). Local PTAs can simply visit: www.jambajuice.com/PTA to register for the swipe cards-then the fun-draising begins! Jamba Juice will also be announcing a PTA smoothie flavor later this year.

You can find video footage of the announcement as well as the press release here: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/jambajuice/41115/"

Steve Hargadon's new whitepaper on social networking in Education (which does include some comments from Julie Lindsay and me.) Full disclosure: Elluminate provides Kim Caise, our Flat Classroom administrator, to us for 20 hours a week and we appreciate it very much. Go to this page to download the whitepaper.

This phenomenal special interest group of ISTE has a great quarterly newsletter which is really the best of innovative learning in all of education. On pages 15-17 there are three pages of an article from two of my students and I about teaching in a virtual world including my "quick tricks for teaching in a virtual world." Print this, share it, and learn - so many great things in this newsletter!

This blog shares contests to use and share with your classroom.

It is great to engage students with contests. I've added this to my rss reader.

Important article to read about children of all ages creating profiles. I believe this supports our driving need to incorporate instruction and discussion on this topic in schools.

Blogged my thoughts on crowdsourcing the ISTE keynote this year.

Office gossip (this study on an elementary school and their gossip against a principal) hurts EVERYONE including your school and in this case, test scores declined. Remember that when you gossip, you also hurt yourself and if you didn't already know this, take a read here about office gossip and how to intervene and stop it.

This is an example of how I used Diigo to create an annotated link to give feedback on a wiki on Flat Classroom. I love using Diigo for giving wiki feedback because I can mark up the page. I like ot share them through groups that are private with my students and I and the annotated link feature is one of the best ways to do this.

If you want to know how one of the pro's makes and publishes podcasts, here is Wesley Fryer's how to - a must read for anyone working in this area of technology.

New comic making web app which also has an i-pod compatible app. This lets you combine drawings, photos, and ready to use artwork to create caricatures. This is great. You can also mash up regular backgrounds with caricatures in the foreground.

Fred Haas' reflections are so very real when it comes to ambitious global collaborations. I had to laugh as he said about NetGenEd (last spring's project): "Without question it was a mildly harrowing but ultimately rewarding experience."

The learning curve is TREMENDOUS but once you have it under your belt it is similar to your first year of teaching or boot camp for someone in the military. If you're wondering if this sort of thing is for you, take a read of Fred's very real reflections.

Julie nor I NOR ANY global collaborator will ever say it is easy - if it is perhaps you're not having to be as engaged as perhaps you need to be. However, it is most rewarding!

This is a great blog that is choc full of what can (and should be done) and if you're not following http://www.twitter.com/janeinjava , you should. I just snagged this from Julie Lindsay and wow, I'm impressed with what they (and Jane) are doing.

This ebook has over 10,000 views and it is about movie making for kids with just simple pictures.