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Browsing the web frequently inspires people to write something to their blogs, either simply to quote, or to quote and comment. This process is now made extremely smooth and effortless with Diigo's annotation features and "Send to Blog" -- another unique blog-integration feature exclusive to Diigo!

simply highlight and add sticky notes

So why use a blog? I suggested at the beginning of this post that a blog is basically a publishing platform. As I have been preparing it I have become more aware of the variety of ways in which I have used them, and I am also aware that there are many facilities offered by blog platforms, commonly used by others, that I have not even tried using yet. So let’s rephrase the question: Why use a publishing platform? Why use a platform that can enable you to write what you like, when you like, how you like, to whom you like? That you can edit and re-edit at will, as often as you like? That you can use to publish to a select group or to the whole world?  Where you can display your own or others’ text, documents, images, audioclips, videos, slideshows, charts, maps and Google Street View tours? That you can link from to anything on the big wide web? That you can organise and style in a variety of ways? That you can tag so that others can find it? That others can post comments to? That your students can use in as many or as few of these ways as you, or they, see fit? Or your Granny, likewise? Why, indeed?

Abstract: This paper explores how personal web technologies (PWTs) can be used by learners and the relationship between PWTs and connectivist learning principles. Descriptions and applications of several technologies including social bookmarking tools, personal publishing platforms, and aggregators are also included. With these tools, individuals can create and manage personal learning environments (PLEs) and personal learning networks (PLNs), which have the potential to become powerful resources for academic, professional, and personal development.

This paper explores personal web technologies (PWTs) and their learning applications.

Connectivism and the need for continuous learning In today’s world, learning needs extend far beyond the culmination of a training session or degree program. Working adults must continually update their skills and behaviours to conform to the constantly changing demands of the workplace (Lewis & Romiszowski, 1996). In times of rapid change, it is not always prudent or possible to offer formal training for each individual’s every need, and some needs may best be addressed by the individual him/herself. Using freely available personal web technologies, employees can create a personal learning environment (PLE) to manage their own learning resources; whether these are wikis, news feeds, podcasts, or people.

Managing resources is one of the most important skills for students (people!) to master. I started blogging in 2000 and have spent a significant amount of time trying to devise an information management system that I can use to make sense of a topic or discipline. I've attached an image below that highlights the process and tools that I use.

This system has a few weaknesses

1. It fails to account for trend development and dissipation

learning as a two-step process: First there’s the transfer of information (from a source of knowledge, like an instructor, to the student), then there’s the assimilation of that information by the student

students need to have their first exposure to the course material happen some other way—like reading their textbook

in all fields, there’s still the challenge of motivating students to actually do the pre-class readings

This type of course is called a ‘connectivist’ course and is based on four major types of activity: 1. Aggregate

wide variety of things to read, watch or play with

Personal Learning Networks are all the rage at the moment. As with a lot of “modern” things, they’re existed for a long time but have now got a snappy new name.

these people are, in Web 2.0-speak, friends.

A PLN can take advantage of lots of different services – Facebook is perhaps the best-known, Ning is also very popular

sensemaking attempts include: blog posts, summary Moodle forum posts, images, analysis of discussion forum activity, social network analysis, etc.

Higher education generally homogenizes learners through pre-requisites or subject streams (programs).

good source for information on Ning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ning_(website)

Ning was a free-form platform for the development and hosting of open-source social applications

Ning pricing structure is three-tiered, as explained here: http://blog.ning.com/2010/05/introducing-ning-pro-ning-plus-and-ning-mini.html

4) You have lots of spammers following you

Chris Anderson via telephone what he thinks will happen to print magazines (and publishing in general) as we move further and further into a digital space.

check out the current issue of Wired magazine on newsstands now; he wrote the cover story “The New Industrial Revolution.”

Given the source and Yahoo's decision to refrain from comment, the rumor is now widely taken as fact. And it's a fact that should trouble every user of the social web.

What do we users pay for the privilege of keeping our bookmarks online and accessible from any Internet-connected computer, 24/7? Not a thing. Not a cent, anyhow. But we're contributing in other ways. Every time I store a bookmark in Delicious, I'm giving the system another piece of information

You might call that point of common interest a relationship. And for many Delicious users, those relationships are a key benefit to using the bookmarking system

higher education’s relationship with wikis — Web sites that allow users to collectively create and edit content — has been somewhat hot-and-cold

tolerance, even appreciation, of Wikipedia as a useful starting point for research

using wikis to pool human knowledge of various topics into single, authoritative accounts falls into the “not” category

I have used the term Personal Learning Network (PLN) dozens of times over the last few years, and have seen it mentioned countless times in blog and microblog posts, and other forms of media. However, I cannot seem to find a solid reference or definition for the concept of PLN.

I thought it was appropriate to ask the question to my PLN (or what I perceive as my PLN) via Twitter. I asked if anyone had a definition for a PLN, or if they knew the difference between a personal learning network and personal learning environment (PLE). I received varied responses, and the majority of these are pasted below. To make more sense of this conversation, read these from the very bottom to the top as they are in reverse chronological order.

From a simple question on Twitter, I received dozens of twitter replies, direct messages, and email responses. While I am still having trouble defining exactly what this is, I know that what I observe to be my PLN has dramatically changed the way I view teaching, communities, and the negotiation and formation of knowledge.

Instant messaging (IM) services like AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, or Windows Live Messenger make it possible for you to chat in real-time with friends, colleagues, and students.

But do you really want to have all of these different tools open at once? Probably not. In order to cut down on applications or screens that you have open on your desktop, you can use an IM aggregrator.

Digsby allows you not only to manage all of your IM streams, but also works as an email manager for web-based mail and as an interface for social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook

Tracking topics on the Web can be a painful process, due to the amount of noise and difficulty of filtering it. So to help you out, we've selected and categorized the leading topic-tracking tools. This is based on the discussion that arose from our earlier post about topic feeds, which are RSS feeds for keywords or phrases.

Google Alerts.

Topikality

experimented with a variety of methods to engage my students in their learning.  My latest endeavor involves introducing different kinds of technology to enhance the teaching

PikiFriends

PikiFriends is an interactive website where students can post blogs, pictures, and short messages on each other’s page.  The purpose of creating PikiFriends was to help EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students practice elements of the English language.