Michael Wesch, TEDx talk: TEDxKC talk synopsis: Today a new medium of communication emerges every time somebody creates a new web application. Yet these developments are not without disruption and peril. Familiar long-standing institutions, organizations and traditions disappear or transform beyond recognition. And while new media bring with them new possibilities for openness, transparency, engagement and participation, they also bring new possibilities for surveillance, manipulation, distraction and control. Critical thinking, the old mainstay of higher education, is no longer enough to prepare our youth for this world. We must create learning environments that inspire a way of being-in-the-world in which they can harness and leverage this new media environment as well as recognize and actively examine, question and even re-create the (increasingly digital) structures that shape our world.
I read on it, a lot. Instapaper is great for saving articles and blog posts for later reading. My iPad is also loaded with PDF's related to my teaching and research, which I often take notes on, using iAnnotate
Add a Bluetooth keyboard, and I have an incredibly lightweight writing machine with enough battery power to last me all day long. And to those critics who argue that you can't create media on the iPad, I suggest they spend some time with the new GarageBand app
traveling or doing any light work for school or work
reading news to keeping up with social networks to blogging to light photo-editing work and uploading (with Adobe Photoshop and Flickr), and, of course, media watching and casual game playing.
LogMeIn Ignition
read the things that I save to Read It Later
read longer scholarly articles using either iAnnotate or GoodReader
take it with me to all my meetings, where it works as a great tool for taking quick notes (using Plaintext, everything gets synced to Dropbox), checking relevant Web sites, or responding to Exchange-powered meeting invitations
small Bluetooth keyboard is simple and adds up to a viable laptop replacement
I can handle classroom management (tracking attendance and calculating student grades) using the "attendance" and "numbers" applications. I can update course blogs (I use WordPress) quickly and easily. I can also respond to student work by using Dropbox and iAnnotate. Then, with a simple e-mail program (Gmail, for instance), I am able to send graded work back to students.
convenient note-taking device
On the iPad, I use Evernote (though any of several text editors would work as well), and so my notes are not only more readable, but they are automatically synced anywhere I might need them. That's nice. The reading/media-consumption aspects of the iPad were not really a surprise, but they've certainly been delightful.
I use Pages and Google Docs a lot.
for reading RSS/Twitter feeds and Web browsing. When I head out, if I'm not up for carrying the laptop, the iPad usually makes the cut.
I have all my files accessible via Dropbox (over Wi-Fi) or a significant percentage of my PDF's synced to it via DevonThink To Go (but I usually read any files in GoodReade
iTeleport for controlling computers remotely (
Instapaper has all those Web articles I never got around to reading
I wonder if CCT would consider an undergrad minor? Janet or Theresa - who should we forward this to in CCT? Not sure where else something like this could live.
3. One True Media
http://www.onetruemedia.com/ "...effortlessly combine photos and video clips with words and music to personalize your story. Quickly share with our Online Slideshow or get as creative as you want with our Video Montage." Upload images and audio for story track. Embed in blogs or directly post to YouTube/Google video, mySpace, Google Groups. Great template choices.
20. VUVOX
http://www.vuvox.com/ "turn your photos, video and music into professional quality presentations that can be easily shared with friends and family. " search images in flickr, google, upluad youtube video, embed code (see MasterNewmedia review).