Group items tagged

Observations by Alan Levine about the use of Ning for collaboration, specifically based upon Flat Classroom and Horizon.

Interesting observations from Alan Levine about those of us who use Nings for our projects. It truly becomes "the" ning.

A very nice video done by a student about connecting people via the network.

I enjoyed this video a lot from Ren at Goodland High School. I particularly liked the contrast of the computers at the beginning of the video. I think he did a nice job.

the 31 day comment challenge is a program to promote effective, meaningful comments run by several amazing edubloggers -- this is an example of something that those interested in facilitating effective communications should discuss and participate in.

Business people and management should read this article about the transformation of business by using workplace communities.

"Workplace communities are designed to solve workplace-related challenges" -- they focus on tasks. I would find it interesting to see a business REALLY use technology to change things.

Having the business in a business network (OK a NING) and let people tag their posts with the business related PROBLEMS they are having and blog, video, or photograph it-- the tag cloud would tell the business IMMEDIATELY what the problems are in the company.

The problem with this model is that there are few corporate executives who REALLY want to know the problems within their organizations. They don't want to be problem solvers, just opportunity creators.

However, when managers open their eyes (and I'm a former General Manager myself) and see that two things give business opportunity: problem solving and innovation. And they are directly related. True innovation solves problems.

Read this article and think about how you may solve problems using the networks you may now create. If you don't want everyone to know, keep it private and only allow people in your company in.

Important article about why businesses need to change.

Yahoo is opening up its applications for others to modify. This concept was emphasised in Wikinomics.

We don't think of social as a destination but as a dimension

How twitter was used to backchannel a conference.

Excellent overview from Jeremiah about the use of twiter to backchannel at a conference. Backchanneling is something I think that is very important, but there is very definitely a best practice.

Here were my comments to Jeremiah:

"I am a classroom teacher and LOVE the backchannel (they are great for test reviews -- like group notes and more) and won't do a conference presentation without one, that being said, I wouldn't use twitter for it.

Like you said, many people don't use twitter or get it.

I like to create a "backchannel room" so that it is archived and recruit ahead of time at least two people:

1) A backchannel "moderator" - they answer questions and I call on them several times to ask for their summary of what is going on in the backchannel (this is when I'm the main presenter)

2) A google jockey -- they drop the links I'm talking about in the backchannel chat.

I also like to ask the people in the backchannel to share best practice and what they are doing. I've had people comment that the one hour with a backchannel and me presenting was more meaningful than a whole day at a conference. (More compliments to the backchannel, I'm sure.)

I've seen backchannels handled very poorly and it was TERRIBLE. It was chaos. And actually downright rude to the speaker. (More like backstabbing than backchanneling.)

I've also seen it used well and it was incredible!

The archiving of the backchannel gave me rich links as a presenter and participant AND also feedback on the session which I referred to later as the presenter.

The backchannel is great -- I just like to use a backchannel ROOM especially for the session (inviting "friends" from around the world who are also watching on ustream) -- and then creating an archived copy of it.

I think backchannels are very important and you've hit on the core of what is happening in the evolution of professional development and conferences. "

The Internet is the platform - a tool for harnessing collective intelligence. Data has become the "Intel Inside" and software is above being written for just a single device, meaning desktops, laptops and mobile devices.

Some good trends identified, some sites listed where they are working for 'a higher purpose'; the value grows based on the number of participants. Could have some ideas for a mulit-media artifact.

This is a website where tv enthusiasts are sharing videos and collaborating. This is an example of how television and all of our entertainment is evolving to become more customized.

In addition to creating personal learning networks, we will also be creating personal entertainment networks (PEN's) -- all via this amazing thing we call RSS. Understanding RSS is not only important for learning but just living your life.

User created content is here to stay.

This is a website that people are using for TV enthusiasts and they are collaborating and sharing videos.

NBC News and MSNBC.com will provide political news and other content to social networking site MySpace.

The age group that makes use of the likes of MySpace are also getting more involved in teh political process

Global Cooling Project live concert from Toorak College Melbourne, Saturday April 19, 2008

An excellent project for 4th - 6th grade sudents from Jennifer Wagner called the Prince Caspian project which will allow teachers to collaborate with other teachers around the world about the book and the upcoming movie "Prince caspian."

This project will allow students in grades 4-6 to collaborate to talk about Prince Caspian.

This is an excellent article that has been reposted. It includes a lot of the information that outlines WHAT web 2.0 is. This includes videos and many important hyperlinks. Excellent article for newcomers to web 2.0 to pick up on.

Excellent article outlining what is happening in Web 2.0 and education. This includes many important videos as well.

Lines stretched for blocks outside phone stores Monday as ordinary Cubans were allowed to sign up for cellular phone service for the first time.

Technology can link a kettle to a mobile phone, so every time an elderly person boils water for their morning cup of tea a message is sent to a family member letting them know their relative is up and well. (Australia)

This could be an example where Open Source software will challenge commercial producers of web collaboration software. Will it be a Linux? Skype? Apache Server? Audacity?

Dimdim is web collaboration software that is free and is open source. It has become available to everyone in the middle of April 2008

Fascinating article about cross-disciplinary collaboration. This is becoming something that is possible through new means of using the Internet.

Opensource web meeting software. Interesting.

This new platform for allowing people to meet using the internet with free open source software is very exciting!

A webcast with Diane Hammond, organizer of Yes I Can Science about her experiences organizing a blogging project between middle school science students and an astronaut on the space station. She has some interesting insights on the importance of active teacher involvement and engagement of the classroom.

This project is a great one to look at and Diane Hammond from Yes I Can Science is a wonderful resource!