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Video: The machine is using us. This video is a visual timeline that explains how the use of technology has changed since 1996. It demonstrates the difference between HTML which was designed to define the structure of a web document. When people were first creating websites, they had to understand and imput the computer code that supported the website, you had to be knowledgeable beyond what everyday users (such as myself) saw on the screen. Form and content were dependent on each other. Today, xml or digital text is used so the data can be formatted without having to know complicated code. It lets users create blogs and websites and edit wikipedia without having to understand the process behind their creations. This has made information much more accessible and changes the way people use and interact with "facts" and stories and any type of information we can think of. In other words, Web 2.0, which is really what this video is about, has redefined how we use our machines and it has become inextricably linked with the sharing of information in our world.

Here is a 9 minute tutorial that shows you how to resize your photos using Fotoflexer - the same tool that some of us used for our 6 word stories! Sometimes you need make your photos smaller to fit on a web page a little better.

This commercial makes a good point, that while technology can be wonderful and simplify many things, it can't replace everything!

Susan mentioned a MOOC last week and Maryke was asking for a definition. I found this one that explains it pretty well!

Watching this was a great way of brainstorming tech applications in my classroom!