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For the first time in Common Craft's evolution, one of our videos "Twitter in Plain English" is being used in the mainstream media. For the most part, we're excited to have our work in front of millions. However, it brings up some questions and we're curious what you think. A few facts: * The video "Twitter in Plain English" is 100% Common Craft's property and is licensed with a Creative Commons non-commercial, no-derivatives license. * Our names and a link to our web site appear at the end of the video * The video is currently displayed from a link on the front page of Twitter.com * Of the 5-6 media companies to use the video so far (examples below), only ABC contacted us first. * Of the 5-6 media companies to use the video so far, only ABC has attributed Common Craft as the source. * Snippets of the video are being used and sometimes the camera points at the video displayed at Twitter.com

Podcasting in Plain English

Commoncraft: World Wide Web in Plain English.l

Though this article is written for the business sector, there are many great parallels with how we experience social media's acceptance in the educational realm. The suggestions that are given are readily applied to our setting, as well. In the enterprise, many employees think blogs are merely websites on which people talk about their cat or their latest meal. Many don't know the differences between and advantages of such tools as message boards, blogs, and wikis. They have heard of these terms in passing, but the demands of their day-to-day jobs have prevented them from recognizing the distinct benefits of each tool. Solution: It is useless to advocate for social media tools in a vacuum. Unless you're describing a solution to a practical problem, busy workers will not respond to buzzwords like "wiki," "blog," and "community." Your client usually has about a 30-second attention span in which you can sell a social media tool. An aide in my arsenal has been the excellent videos by Lee Lefever at Common Craft. Lee visually explains social media concepts "In Plain English." Common Craft videos quickly explain complex and sometimes unfamiliar technologies in a few minutes, sans the buzzwords, hype, and sensationalism. Problem: Cynical Clients Who Don't Want to Share Information Unfortunately, some potential SharePoint users balk at the technology because they have no desire to share their knowledge for the benefit of the organization. These individuals tend to equate their knowledge with job security; therefore, they feel nervous about sharing out of fear that they wouldn't be needed any more.

Good tips for searching in the Web.

"Simply Speaking is a series of brief videos created by Teaching and Learning with Technology that explain technology topics in everyday language and with a little humor. They are modeled after the "... in plain english" videos that explain more general technologies"

It really makes life a lot easier !!

Nice comparison of Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

Explanation of Google docs

Great site with videos 3-5 mintues covering various computer topics. Great for introducing topics such as blogs, twitter, hardware, sofatwere, etc.