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Since I've been teaching for more than three decades I remember a time when technology was accepted by all teachers. In fact, I remember a time when my administration gave me my first Apple computer to use. My students were all huddled around me as I investigated new learning tools. The graphics were terrible but it was like magic to my students.

This is a video of a talk that Lawrence Lessig (Professor, Stanford Law School) gave for an organization. In his talk, Lessig provides a powerful and piercing analysis and critique on the impact that legal restrictions on the re/use of media resources has on creativity and cultural production. During his talk, Lessig shows some remarkably creative mash-ups videos on YouTube to exemplify the kind of creativity/cultural production that is possible through ubiquitous digital media. Ironically, the organization that hosted the talk received a notice from Warner Bros Music after posting a video of the Lessig's talk on YouTube, which, according to Lessig's blog, "objected to its being posted on copyright grounds." Warner Brother Music Group has implemented content-id algorithms (i.e., technology that detects the digital "fingerprint" of corporate-"owned" copyrighted works) through media hosting services, including YouTube, FaceBook, and others. When the video of Lessig's talk was posted, it was 'dusted' for fingerprints of WBMG copyrighted works. The detection system identified the soundtracks in the YouTube videos Lessig showed, as materials to which they held copyright. Both the video of Lessig's talk and the blog conversation regarding WBMG's objection are must-see resources.

If you subscribe to Gale Databases ... Gale's new customizable widgets are simple but powerful tools that generate short HTML code to be placed directly into any page on yur Web site. Most widgets also provide an option for adding to your facebook profile and iGoogle pages

Steve Dembo writes about whether or not education will be a trending topic.

Social networking for teachers & students. Send homework, links, videos, participate in discussions, share ideas.

From Sean S: "I would describe it as the "facebook of lesson plans." It allows you to upload, organize and share your curriculum."

(PhysOrg.com) -- According to Oxford University's professor of evolutionary anthropology, Robin Dunbar, after you have amassed 150 friends on Facebook, any more are meaningless because the human brain can only remember 150 meaningful relationships anyway. Professor Dunbar says this number applies to ..."

Giving our children agency over their online identities should be important to teachers who use social networking as in instructional tool.

Radiowaves

In recent months, a handful of companies have introduced rankings that claim to calculate a college's brand value or online influence by looking at the attention an institution receives online. One ranking found that the University of Wisconsin at Madison has the strongest brand equity among universities, based on its number of mentions across the Internet. Another named Stanford University the most influential college on Twitter.

A Bloomfire is like your very own mashup of YouTube, Yahoo® Answers, and Facebook - with your people in it, and your logo on it. It's a website geared specifically for easily sharing knowledge and the discussions that surround it. Invite members to find and follow experts, ask questions, and share with others - upload documents, videos, or presentations, record a video with your webcam, or create a screencast on the fly.

Nice alternative to Skype, especially as Skype begins charging for multiple participant video chat. Communicate using 8-way Voice, 4-way Video, Instant messaging (Facebook, MySpace, MSN, Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, GTalk and iChat). Transfer files at any size. Remote PC Access. Share files, photos, documents, and stream music to anyone anywhere.

The gist of this is that blogging takes 2 much time & thought... with the younger more interested in quick soundbytes and informal social interaction

Online ad and flyer creation service--could be used to promote bake sales, school performances, garage sales--you name it. When you're done creating your flier, you can embed it in your website, Craigslist, Blackboard, Facebook, or anywhere else.  You can also print it out as a PDF or .PNG.  I'll bet there are a lot of uses that I can't imagine.  It's free, too!

From Computer Basics to Microsoft Office to Facebook,free computer tutorials including video and quizzess

Recently I read on the oz-teachers mailing list a warning for teachers about using social networking sites unprofessionally. This UK article, suggests that teachers should be cautious of what they post online and check what information is available about them. Teachers are warned that schools are scouring social networking sites and googling potential candidates for school positions. This warning is not of concern to me. I am very wary about thinking before posting. I use Facebook in a limited way, while using Twitter for entirely professional reasons.