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The first speaker was quite good, but he kept referring to the “backnoise.”  I didn’t know what this meant, but a quick check of Twitter and Facebook led me to the BackNoise website.  From what I can determine, BackNoise is the equivalent of passing notes or whispering in the back of the classroom, except anyone who wants to participate or listen in can do so.  Someone had set up a conversation area on BackNoise for New Media Atlanta, and people in the audience were typing in comments during the day that others could read in real time. 

One thing I learned yesterday was how the existence of BackNoise can change the direction of an event in real time.  This sounds like a good thing, and it partly is.

after lunch, the lights in the auditorium were low and several people posted on BackNoise that they were falling asleep, so the organizers turned the lights back up.  When a panel discussion and the keynote speaker got good reviews, they let those sessions run long (which meant the last session of the day didn’t happen, which would have upset me if I were that presenter, but it appears the audience got what they wanted).  And there were enough gripes about the “no beverages in the room” policy that the organizers had a shipment of bottled water brought in and added a break in the afternoon.  All good stuff!

--- Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages (Jim Kapoun): Accuracy Authority Currency Objectivity Coverage

To evaluate Web sites go to this table of criteria and questions to ask when judging the reliability of information on the Web.

--- Generic Criteria for Evaluation (Hope Tillman): Stated criteria for inclusion of information Authority of author or creator Comparability with related sources Stability of information Appropriateness of format Software/hardware/multimedia requirements --- ...Criteria for the Evaluation of Internet Information Resources (Alastair Smith) --- ICYouSee: T is for Thinking (John Henderson)

Many think of Twitter as a place where people post insignificant updates about themselves. You know, "I'm getting a coffee." There was a time when I thought the whole concept was silly. Then, Twitter transformed...actually Twitter users developed new ways to use this communication tool. Here's how educators are using Twitter to collaborate and learn more about their craft.

Hashtags changed everything. Twitter users have developed ways to search for content and one of the most important innovations is the hashtag (#). A hashtag is text inside a twitter post (called a tweet) that starts with a # and then some text (i.e., #hashtag). This provides a very efficient way to search for content.

- Note - The power of Twitter for professional development is not the tweets themselves...it's the links to broader content.

Conclusion These are just ten ways that you can protect your privacy on Facebook. While there are a few other small things to keep in mind, these ten settings are most important. Keep in mind that while you may have turned off the visibility of many profile sections, there is no way to prevent all photos or videos from being visible if friends of yours make the images visible. The best way to prevent embarrassing items from showing up on Facebook in the future is to not make bad judgements in your personal life. We’re all human though and being completely paranoid about every choice you make is probably not the best way to live your life. Be aware of what privacy settings are available and be conscious of what your friends may be publishing about you. While you may not want to configure all of the privacy settings outlined, simply knowing how to do so is a great step in the right direction. By following the 10 settings listed above you are well on your way to an embarrassment free future on Facebook!

I’ll touch on each of the things listed above in more detail later. A

He envisioned that telepresence would allow the district to participate in cultural exchanges among local students and those in other countries. It could be used to deliver staff development courses and enable people to get together for district business meetings without the time, expense, or carbon emissions associated with physical travel.

VoIP was a revelation to the district. Teachers have become more immediately accessible to parents, who no longer have to leave messages in the main offices and hope to be available when teachers call back. And now, when a teacher or staff member moves to another location in the district, the phone and a person's number can follow along; all it requires is a simple update through software. "We know who's got that device, where they have it, where they have it plugged in," Devkota explains. In short, VoIP gave the district community a taste for location-free communications, which naturally led to the next best thing to being there: telepresence.