Research, Education & Technology

"Slow" Jams on Social Media

2012-01-30T06:41:00.000-08:00

I like this post about "Slow Social Media" -- I've been meaning to try This Is My Jam, and perhaps now I have good motivation. I won't give away the ending, but the three lessons are interesting.

Social Media Writing

2012-01-29T21:46:00.000-08:00

After a great course this past weekend, I'm really excited to be teaching another class on Social Media Writing for the Faculty of Extension tomorrow. Again, here are a few great resources I've found on the topic, including some additional links on writing tips -- if you have any suggested resources to add to this list, please let me know!

Introduction to Social Media

Clay, R. (2008, May 15). 5 reasonsyour business needs a blog. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/randa-clay/intelligent-design-crm-www/5-reasons-your-business-needs-blog
CommonCraft. (2007, November 30). Blogs in plain English [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttp://www.commoncraft.com/blogs
CommonCraft. (2008, May 28). Social media in plain English. [Video file]. Retrievedfrom http://commoncraft.com/socialmedia

Basic Web 2.0 Features & Functions

Pearson, M. (2011, Dec 29). How the social media conversation will change in 2012. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/advertising/how-the-social-media-conversation-will-change-in-2012/article2285329/

Effectively Using Social Media Technologies

Bellamkonda, S. (2010, July 6). How to blog effectively to market your small business. Small Business Trends. Retrieved from http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/07/how-to-blog-effectively-to-market-your-small-business.html
Brooks, R. (2009, Aug 20). 25 ways to promote and market your blog. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/rich-brooks/social-media-strategies-small-business/25-ways-promote-and-market-your-blog
Brooks, R. (2010, May 10). A blog won’t help your business. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/1650142/a-blog-wont-help-your-business
Pearson, M. (2011, Dec 22). Self-serving content will only drive fans away. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/advertising/self-serving-content-will-only-drive-fans-away/article2279507/

Promotional Writing and Ad Strategies

Ball, R. (n.d.). 11 tips for Ad Word success. Retrieved from http://www.apogee-web-consulting.com/sem_articles/google-adwords-tips.html
Boag, P. (2010, January 4). Stop using stock photography clichés. Retrieved from http://boagworld.com/design/stock-photography/
Dixon, G. (2011, Nov 11). Ashton Kutcher: Dude, Where’s my editor?! The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/ashton-kutcher-dude-wheres-my-editor/article2232666/
Nielsen, J. (1997, October 1). How users read on the web. Retrieved from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

Technology How-To

Google.(2007, May 11). Blogger: How to start a blog [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU4gXHkejMo
Google.(n.d.). Blogger help. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/support/blogger/?hl=en
Gunelius, S. (2010, July 5). How touse your business blog to get people talking about your brand. The Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-your-business-blog-to-get-people-talking-about-your-brand-2010-7
Steinberg, S. (2010, May 3). 10 ways for your business to make headlines. The Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-for-your-business-to-make-headlines-2010-5

Evaluating Your Strategies

Brooks, R. (2009, Aug 20). 25 ways topromote and market your blog. FastCompany. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/rich-brooks/social-media-strategies-small-business/25-ways-promote-and-market-your-blog
Cowgill, D. (2009, January 29). Howto install Google Analytics on Blogger [Web log posting]. Retrieved from http://www.eblogtemplates.com/how-to-install-google-analytics-on-blogger/
Carr, N. (2006, July 18). Lessons incorporate blogging. BloombergBusinessweek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2006/tc20060718_932217.htm
Madia, S.A.(2010, August 16). Five social media land mines companies must avoid. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/your-business/grow/customer-experience/five-social-media-land-mines-companies-must-avoid/article1674300/?service=mobile
Reuters. (2011, July 26). Aussieswimmer warns athletes over social media ‘monster’. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/social-networking/aussie-swimmer-warns-athletes-over-social-media-monster/article2109845/

Trends in Social Media - Resources

2012-01-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited to be teaching a course on Trends in Social Media Writing (for Business and Non-Profits) for the Faculty of Extension next weekend. Here are a few great resources I've found on the topic -- if you have any suggested resources to add to this list, please let me know!

Introduction to Social Media

Clay, R. (2008, May 15). 5 reasonsyour business needs a blog. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/randa-clay/intelligent-design-crm-www/5-reasons-your-business-needs-blog
CommonCraft. (2007, November 30). Blogs in plain English [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttp://www.commoncraft.com/blogs
CommonCraft. (2008, May 28). Social media in plain English. [Video file]. Retrievedfrom http://commoncraft.com/socialmedia
Des Jardins,J. (2005, Aug 1). Business blogging for beginners. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/97/open_5-things.html
Yao,P. (2010, July 6). The art of business blogging. Today Online. Retrieved from http://www.todayonline.com/Business/Impact/EDC100706-0000043/The-art-of-business-blogging

Basic Web 2.0 Features & Functions

Allemang, J.(2011, Dec 30). Reshaping history: Crucial players in 2011’s revolutions. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/reshaping-history-crucial-players-in-2011s-revolutions/article2286135/
Google.(2007, May 11). Blogger: How to start a blog [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU4gXHkejMo
Google.(n.d.). Blogger help. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/support/blogger/?hl=en
Madia, S.A.(2010, August 16). Five social media land mines companies must avoid. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/your-business/grow/customer-experience/five-social-media-land-mines-companies-must-avoid/article1674300/?service=mobile
Pearson, M. (2011, Dec 29). How the social media conversation will change in 2012. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/advertising/how-the-social-media-conversation-will-change-in-2012/article2285329/

Effectively Using Social Media Technologies

Nielsen, J.(1997, October 1). How users read on the web. Retrieved from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Bellamkonda,S. (2010, July 6). How to blogeffectively to market your small business. SmallBusiness Trends. Retrieved from http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/07/how-to-blog-effectively-to-market-your-small-business.html
Brooks, R. (2010, May 10). A blog won’t help your business. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/1650142/a-blog-wont-help-your-business
Dixon, G. (2011, Nov 11). Ashton Kutcher: Dude, Where’s my editor?! The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/ashton-kutcher-dude-wheres-my-editor/article2232666/
Pearson, M. (2011, Dec 22). Self-serving content will only drive fans away. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/advertising/self-serving-content-will-only-drive-fans-away/article2279507/

Technology How-To

Gunelius, S. (2010, July 5). How touse your business blog to get people talking about your brand. The Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-your-business-blog-to-get-people-talking-about-your-brand-2010-7
Steinberg, S. (2010, May 3). 10 ways for your business to make headlines. The Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-for-your-business-to-make-headlines-2010-5

Evaluating Your Strategies

Brooks, R. (2009, Aug 20). 25 ways topromote and market your blog. FastCompany. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/rich-brooks/social-media-strategies-small-business/25-ways-promote-and-market-your-blog
Cowgill, D. (2009, January 29). Howto install Google Analytics on Blogger [Web log posting]. Retrieved from http://www.eblogtemplates.com/how-to-install-google-analytics-on-blogger/
Carr, N. (2006, July 18). Lessons incorporate blogging. BloombergBusinessweek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2006/tc20060718_932217.htm
Reuters. (2011, July 26). Aussieswimmer warns athletes over social media ‘monster’. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/social-networking/aussie-swimmer-warns-athletes-over-social-media-monster/article2109845/

2011-11-12T09:16:00.001-08:00

The State of E-Learning in Canadian Higher Ed

Hello again, blogger and Twitter accounts. I know it's been a while since I've last posted (and, I know one of my posts last year was about not abandoning your accounts...). So, here I am, ready to renew my posting efforts! Lots has been going on...

A couple of things that I've been following lately in the world of e-Learning. One is the article from the National Post, "Students Give E-Learning a Grade of Incomplete." It seems that the jury is still out on what all is going on in the world of e-learning -- particularly regarding notions of digital natives, popularized by Marc Prensky in 2001. Reading the full report on e-learning in higher education in Canada (see: The state of e-learning in Canadian universities, 2011: If students are digital natives, why don’t theylike e-learning?)gives us a chance to begin to see some of the perplexities and complexities of e-learning today. Unsurprisingly, students like some ed tech things sometimes, and dislike other technology innovations at other times -- it's all about context, and the teaching and learning purposes for which the technologies are being used.

Google Chrome Experiment with Arcade Fire

2010-09-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

On a recent road trip, I became entranced by the new Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs. After listening to the creative and evocative tracks, I was even more excited to see the song "We Used to Wait" brought to life in Chris Milk's Google Chrome experiment, The Wilderness Downtown.

Photo credit: The Wilderness Downtown

The Globe and Mail's article on the experiment, "Plug in your postal code and pull out a hankie" aptly describes the nostalgia and sense of awe one gets from seeing her neighbourhood in the video.

While the Google Chrome experiment's use of many browser pop-ups can prove somewhat annoying and un-user-friendly, it's still worth catching out this interactive online music video.

Handling Bad Press

2010-09-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

In my Blogging for Business and Non-Profits course this weekend, there was some discussion about how to handle bad press. Air Canada recently faced fierce Twitter rage with this story:

Air Canada fixes wheelchair; Family credits viral outrage

Photo credit: the Globe and Mail

I think that this Globe and Mail article on the 5 Social Media Lessons for Air Canada shows the importance of making your social media timely and relevant, especially when facing "Twitter rage" from your customers.

Rule number one: don't abandon your Twitter or other social media account.

Blogging for Business Resources

2010-09-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to be teaching a course on Blogging for Business and Non-Profits for the Faculty of Extension this weekend.

Here are a few great resources I've found on the topic:

Introduction to Blogs

Clay, R. (2008, May 15). 5 reasons your business needs a blog from Fast Company.
Common Craft. (2007, November 30). Blogs in plain English.
Common Craft. (2008, May 28). Social media in plain English.
Des Jardins, J. (2005, Aug 1). Business blogging for beginners from Fast Company.
Yao, P. (2010, July 6). The art of business blogging from Today Online.

Basic Web 2.0 Features & Functions

Google. (2007, May 11). Blogger: How to start a blog
Google. (n.d.). Blogger help.
Madia, S.A. (2010, August 16). Five social media land mines companies must avoid from The Globe and Mail.

Effectively Using Blog Technologies

Nielsen, J. (1997, October 1). How users read on the web.
Bellamkonda, S. (2010, July 6). How to blog effectively to market your small business from Small Business Trends.
Brooks, R. (2010, May 10). A blog won’t help your business from Fast Company.

Blog Technology How-To

Gunelius, S. (2010, July 5). How to use your business blog to get people talking about your brand from The Business Insider.
Steinberg, S. (2010, May 3). 10 ways for your business to make headlines from The Business Insider.

Evaluating Your Blog

Brooks, R. (2009, Aug 20). 25 ways to promote and market your blog from Fast Company.
Cowgill, D. (2009, January 29). How to install Google Analytics on Blogger.
Carr, N. (2006, July 18). Lessons in corporate blogging from Bloomberg Businessweek.

iPad circa 1988

2010-06-03T08:22:00.001-07:00

The buzz surrounding Apple's iPad continues to grow, especially since it's become available in Canada this week. Reportedly, Apple's surpassed the 2 million mark in iPad sales. But is this really the "game-changer" people are touting it to be?

Photo credit: Rego on Creative Commons

It's amazing to think back to the roots of the tablet -- it's worth reading Harry McCracken's post on "The iPad. Of 2000. As Envisioned in 1988," in which he compares what some keen, contest-winning students in the late 80s told Apple a tablet launched in the year 2000 should do.

This Youtube video on Project 2000 (1988) from Apple is worth revisiting:

After reading McCraken's article, I can't help but still ponder whether the iPad is truly the "game-changer" that many imagine it to be. Sure, it looks cool -- the large screen is certainly a great asset for eBooks and eReading, amongst other things.

But, in 2010, long after the y2K mark, does the iPad really deliver on the tablet promise?

Video: The End of Publishing (?)

2010-03-16T09:50:00.001-07:00

Worth watching and very creative -- too much said here might give it all away, but I recommend taking a look.

Dancing with a Machine

2010-03-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something that might spark reflection on creativity and technology for the week's end:

Can you imagine the concept map that went behind the plans for this machine? Doesn't it make you think of a life-sized version of the game mouse trap (did you play that game as a kid?)?

The WIRED article How OK Go’s Amazing Rube Goldberg Machine Was Built is interesting too, and points out that this was done in a single, unbroken shot. There are also some interesting points about YouTube and the music label's views on this kind of online distribution.

Study Bus?

2010-02-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

CC attribution: image by Allie_Caufield

When I ride the Red Arrow coach down to Calgary, I love the fact that there is wireless on-board. Now, a new initiative in Arizona is letting students study during their commute:

Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall

It's a nice change to see pictures of students quietly studying on their laptops -- many of the usual iPod/smartphone shots focus on excessive student multitasking (and I'm not saying they're always wrong...). It's refreshing to instead focus on the quiet study time that devices like laptops can foster.

Digital Curators

2010-01-14T08:27:00.001-08:00

Digital curating -- sifting through the pieces of our technology puzzle...

Image from the George Eastman House Flickr Photostream

A colleague passed along an article called "The Content Strategist as Digital Curator" by Erin Scime (December, 2009). I like the term "digital curator" for people who work with digital artifacts of all kinds, since so much of our culture is now online and/or digitized.

There seems to be great possibility in using the curatorial process in our Information Age, when there is such a glut of online information -- it's difficult to sift through it all, but perhaps considering the value of how as well as what we curate as digital artifacts will help us make meaningful connections.

Open Access Concept Map, OERs

2010-01-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

Laura Briggs has posted a comphrehensive concept map illustrating connections in Open Access initiatives. I recommend checking it out.

I'll be presenting with Richard Hayman at the upcoming Alberta Libraries Conference on Open Education Resources (OERs) and libraries -- ALC 2010 promises to have an interesting program.

Horizon Report - Where are We?

2009-12-03T10:13:00.001-08:00

Interesting to look at the newest predictions and recommendations from the Horizon Report. Makes me wonder exactly who is really that close to full mobile computing adoption in 2009?

A recent email from EDUCAUSE describes the following:

"The 2010 Horizon Report, a joint undertaking of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) and the New Media Consortium (NMC), is nearing completion. As you know, the annual Horizon Report identifies six technologies that will be key for teaching and learning in higher education.

As a partner with NMC in the report's preparation, ELI would like to invite you to participate in one of the final stages--gathering examples of the technologies featured in the report. This work can be in almost any form: production or pilot programs, research projects, faculty undertakings, or evaluation/assessment projects. It can involve any of the six technologies listed below. The intent is to give readers a more concrete sense of how these technologies will play out in the context of teaching and learning in higher education.

Here are the six areas identified for this year's report:

* TIME-TO-ADOPTION: ONE YEAR OR LESS
Mobile Computing
Open Content

* TIME-TO-ADOPTION: TWO TO THREE YEARS
Electronic Books
Simple Augmented Reality

* TIME-TO-ADOPTION: FOUR TO FIVE YEARS
Gesture-Based Computing
Visual Data Analysis

The time-to-adoption horizon indicates how long the advisory board feels it will be until a significant number of campuses are using each of these technologies broadly. Innovative faculty and campuses are already working in some of these areas, and this is where you come in.

A preview of the 2010 report, containing more detail as well as the trends and challenges presented in the report, is available at http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/2010HRPreview.pdf"

Do you think we're really that close?

Copyright in Canada: New Responses

2009-09-04T08:06:00.001-07:00

Michael Geist, Canada's resident guru on (and, advocate for) the future of Canadian copyright law recently blogged about Project Gutenberg Canada's response that is focused on public domain issues.

You can access the Speak Out on Copyright website by clicking on this image:

For those in the education/e-learning community who are following the ongoing debate about copyright legislation in Canada, you might be interested in this response from the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education:

CNIE Response to Federal Copyright
August 2009
See the full PDF here.

After consulting with it's membership, CNIE's Board of Directors submitted the attached position paper to the Canadian government's electronic consultation on a future Canadian Copyright law. PLease feel free to share this position paper with your colleagues at work and within your networks so as to encourage others to share their views with the government. You can also share CNIE's position paper with your Member of Parliament. The more people who make themselves heard on the topic of a furture Canadian Copyright Law and it's impact in and on the education, library and research sectors, the more likely Canadians are to have a future Canadian Copyright law that appropriately and adequately responds to the needs of all Canadians.

eInfrastructure Use Cases (EIUs Project)

2009-07-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

This eInfrastructure Use Cases and service usage models project out of the UK looks exciting. I really like the idea of sharing workflows and research objects in myExperiment -- repurposing these kinds of data and workflows will enable much richer forms of research and scholarship.

Reading about the service-oriented, shareable approach reminded me of Richard Baraniuk 's inspirational talk at the 2009 Canadian E-Learning Conference. The more we can look at flexible and sustainable ways of sharing research and educational information, the more potential there is for furthering the connections between disciplines, delivery mechanisms, and content areas.

EIUs Project Videos

Archaeology : eIUS e-Infrastructure Case Study
See the YouTube video.

Bioinformatics : eIUS e-Infrastructure Case Study
See the YouTube video.

PIctorial COmmunication Language (PICOL)

2009-07-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across a neat online library of icons called PICOL; I think I'm going to experiment and give it a try. In many cases, simple visual ways of communicating just seem so much more effective, especially when there is a standard in place to help create consistency and usability.

My PICOL image:

(translation: social network + globe = full group)

According to the PIctorial COmmunication Language website, "PICOL stands for PIctorial COmmunication Language and is a project to find a standard and reduced sign system for electronic communication. PICOL is free to use and open to alter."

Gov. Schwarzenegger terminates textbooks

2009-06-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

This article really highlights the wide range of issues that the ever emerging area of learning-technology faces.

Toronto Star, Saturday June 14th:
Gov. Schwarzenegger terminates textbooks
But critics say his cost- cutting shift to digital classrooms is premature

I'm highly skeptical that this transition will be seamless; I imagine it will be anything but. It's really important for some infrastructure and decision-making to occur before this kind of huge transition of this nature. But, there is one point that I agree with in the article: that just like Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon, this will definitely be a catalyst for change and achieving innovations.

Sneeze Game

2009-06-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

I just found David Rothman's site --there's a lot of stuff here for medical librarianship, but I have to say that his most recent post on the Sneeze: Flash Flu Fun game that's posted on there; I highly recommend it!

Google Wave: The Next Generation of e-Communications?

2009-05-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

By announcing that the new Google Wave is opensource, Google is capitalizing on power of the opensource community to help finish the Wave's development. According to webmetricsguru, Wave will enable new architecture that allows building of new applications -- Wave has the potential to "deconstruct what a document is" and enable further collaboration on documents, as well as the possibilities for art, analytics, not to mention new forms of Google marketing (see Social Media Today's article).

Will this really "make life easier" as many tech bloggers and twitter folk are stating? Am I old-fashioned because I like having separate ways to communicate online, including the difference between private email messages, public blog posts, (semi)private instant messages, etc? Do we really want to integrate *everything*? I like integration where it makes sense, but too much integration could be scary; how will this affect privacy and security?

Google Wave YouTube Video (posted on May 28, 2009 and as of May 31, 2009 almost 1 million views).

State of E-Learning in Canada - Report

2009-05-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) posted their report on the "State of E-Learning in Canada." It highlights some interesting trends in online learning for Canadians -- I particularly like their profile of e-learning for students in first nations communities, students in elementary and secondary schools, students with disabilities, and students in a post-secondary environment.

"Many Canadians go online to pursue learning opportunities. In 2007, one-half (50%) of all home users (16 and older) went online for the purposes of education, training or school work."
- State of E-Learning in Canada, CCL

The CCL also posted a great fact-sheet that summarizes some key points to take away from the ever-growing e-learning trends, including:

"How does e-learning help Canadians learn?
E-learning provides Canadians the flexibility to learn at their own pace at any stage in the lifespan—thereby fostering positive attitudes about the value of lifelong learning.
• Self-directed: Learners can choose content and tools appropriate to their differing interests, needs, and skill levels.
• Reduces physical and geographical barriers: More educational options to learners with disabilities, and those living in remote areas.
• Timely: Learning can be delivered and learned when desired or necessary."

It will be interesting to see if the promise of web 2.0, social software, and other e-learning trends will actually result in more effective learning in addition to increased flexibility, and if we'll be able to add words like "engagement, interaction, community connections, authentic learning" to the list of things that e-learning enables.

Medpedia

2009-02-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

This Medpedia project looks quite promising.

According to the creators of Medpedia:

"Editors are now collaborating on the Medpedia Project to collect the best information about health, medicine and the body and make it freely available worldwide. Only physicians and Ph.D.s in a biomedical field are allowed to make edits directly to the Article pages. However, everyone is encouraged to contribute by using the "Suggest Changes" link at the top of each Article page."

M-learning and Usability

2009-02-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

I like Jakob Nielsen's recent post on usability issues for the mobile web. Considering that many e-learning professionals see mobile learning or "m-learning" as the next big thing, and given the huge amount of time and budget and development that is already associated with online learning, it is kind of scary to think of creating a "mobile" version of e-learning applications specifically for mobile devices. Tony Karrer has some interesting insights into the topic where he mentions mLearnopedia.

According to this recent article from the BBC that outlines a 'Mobile health' campaign launched, and another article on the mHealth Alliance on mobile health and NGOs, mobile or "m-health" is also a rapidly growing area (thanks to Raj for sending me these links). There will be particular issues with security and usability for this audience.

Not surprisingly, it looks like there will be even more design and usability issues to consider with the evolution of m-learning.

Photo courtesy of Flickr creative commons: Treasuremytext for iPhone: SpringBoard by katielips.

Neat Way to Animate (for free!)

2009-02-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

GoAnimate Demo: Star Trek Launch from GoAnimate on Vimeo.

This tool looks like it might be a fun, visually rich way of communicating and creating mini-animations. I'm going to give it a whirl to see what kinds of cool things I can come up with (and, to see if they can be educational). Thanks to Raj for sending me the link.

Twitter and Health 2.0

2009-02-09T11:47:00.001-08:00

(if the above presentation doesn't fit the screen, click here to see it on the VizEdu site)

This presentation is done by Bertalan Meskóthe, a medical student and the same person behind the PeRSSonalized Medicine and Webcina. I'm not sure if we'll really be using Twitter within Healthcare as Bertalan outlines, but it's an interesting concept.

PeRSSonalized Medicine

2009-02-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Personalized Medicine (beta)

For busy clinicians who don't necessarily have time to use their own news aggregator, this tool could be useful for helping to managing pieces of information. The creator dubs it as a way to keep up-to-date and create your own "medical journal" through a personalized space.

Listening in on Social Media Conversations

2009-02-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

I find such great stuff on Donald Clark's Big Dog, Little Dog blog. Thanks to Donald for pointing me towards Spy, which allows you to "listen in" on social media conversations by showing threads on a particular topic on Twitter.

Check out the Spy listings for e-learnin g; or, try another e-learning list through Serph.

E-Learning and Medicine: A Good Mix? (Yes!)

2009-01-08T20:08:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine sent this to me and I think it's good for an end of week laugh. She asked "E-learning and medicine: a good mix?" -- I say...yes! Still, the comic is cute.

Innovation with the "Every-day"

2008-12-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

An Industrial Designer that I know sent me these links, and they show great examples of innovation for design in learning and healthcare. We need more examples that inspire one to think of ways that Industrial Design might overlap (or, become a part of) Instructional Design.

If you work with education and technology, then you've probably heard of TED before (I have to admit that I *love* the TED videos!):

Design is in the Details (great example of how little design changes can make a difference, with examples from a healthcare context):

Creating Tech Marvels out of Wii Remotes (great example of how we can be innovative with seemingly every-day objects)

Twitter for Education

2008-12-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

In considering recent social networking trends and the newest/best learning technologies that have emerged in 2008, I'll admit that I'm still a bit mystified by Twitter. Despite my slight reluctance to sign up for yet another social networking site (me and some of my friends are, at times, experiencing social networking fatigue), several months ago I signed up for my own Twitter account.

Yes, I find Twitter addictive, and sometimes I like having instant gratification when seeing immediate updates on what my friends and colleagues are thinking and doing. So far, one of the best descriptions of Twitter was in a post by Donald Clark. He points to many divergent views on Twitter (indeed, his post is a great collection of some of the views on the topic), and I like his reference to Jay Cross's analysis in "the points of tweets." Cross makes analogies between info patterns in Twitter and pointillist art. He explains that "[u]p close it can be meaningless. Back away and a pattern emerges" -- individual twitterers and "tweets" may not seem significant, the overall pattern of information becomes valuable (e.g., twitter patterns about the US election, etc.). People "pipe" into this information through Yahoo!, and I can see how this would have information mapping possibilities galore.

Even the Wall Street Journal has an overview of the technology in article on "Twitter 101." Tim O'Reilly lists his favourites things about Twitter, and others are thinking about how Twitter applies to areas like Healthcare. I feel some relief that I'm not the only one struggling with the true educational value of Twitter (see Tony Karrer's post on the subject, and his articulation of similar ambivilance to Twitter). I like Twitter, but can anyone tell me how this really an educational tool, any moreso than a email or facebook?

Online Collaboration Tools

2008-12-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about the Learning Circuits' question of the month, "what did you learn about learning in 2008?" I'm not sure I have the answer to that question just yet, but Dr. Tony Karrer's map of online collaboration tools has sparked a few ideas. To be continued...

Agile Development Projects

2008-11-17T08:07:00.001-08:00

Knowing that I've been talking about how to find a happy medium between a waterfall design method and an agile development method, a colleague of mine passed along a great blog post by Jakob Neilsen this morning. It great to see usability experts discussing agile development processes that can be implemented for a variety of development styles and teams (especially small teams). I agree with Jakob's recognition that changing mindsets is probably the biggest design/development challenge.

Cree School & Flexible Learning

2008-11-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

This article was published in the Edmonton Sun; it’s good to see this topic being discussed in a wider venue.

Cree school a lesson: Flexible learning helps keep students in high school

It just reinforces for me the fact that sharing strategies for alternative and flexible learning at many different levels of education could be of particular benefit to rural and aboriginal communities in the future.

Visualization for Communication and (Learning) Design

2008-10-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

I'm increasingly seeing value in visualization and design for learning technology. I've had great results in the past with storyboarding and wireframing, and the more I work with educational technology, the more I see the value of visualization and design.

See examples of different visual communication and design with the links, below (note: these are reflecting an *advanced* stage of a project; I'm interested in how to also communicate a preliminary picture of such characteristics):

• nForm's Yvonne discusses the use of Swimlanes (example is actually an education technology project)
• Dennis, also from nForm, discusses upcoming CanUX 2008 sessions and this interesting visualization of the financial crisis by Xplaned's Dave Gray (Xplaned is a company that does stuff for many organizations, including Apple, and the example is similar to the “demo” on Wetpaint…I like the way they break down difficult concepts and show a timeline of events)

Alberta has a province-wide distributed learning forum to discuss DL strategies. They have some visualization on their website to help communicate their message/audience in an Interactive Map. This just hits home for me the importance of communicating design and mapping concepts.

UBC's Medical School Implements Advanced Video-Conferencing System for Distributed Learning

2008-10-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.tradelineinc.com/reports/1056722E-2B3B-B525-840162FB19D54221#story

A colleague of mine passed along this link. There is some good information here on lessons learned -- I like the example of the touch-screen that was difficult to use given the need for gloves. It's nice to see that they've listed some of the costs and other factors to consider for technology and infrastructure pieces, particularly for the video-conferencing (a $30,000 camera, for example...some advanced HD cameras actually go up into the $50,000 range...and, of course, that doesn't include any editing or distribution capabilities, it's just the capture).

Wikitecture - 3D Wiki Using Second Life

2008-10-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

It's interesting to see how 3D immersive representations of design, discussion and collaboration are evolving in Second Life (SL). In this case, Wikitecture seems to focus more on emulating physical architecture components, but the people at Studio Wikitecture also tout their product as a way to do project management online. Joshua-Michele Ross has some things to say about the benefit of Wikitecture for bringing local knowledge into the design process, and he points out that Studio Wikitecture just received the Architecture for Humanity's Founders Award for their work on a health facility in Nepal. Others, like the people at Immersive Workspaces, see potential in collaborative online workspaces in SL, but for now I think most businesses and post-secondary institutions will find the ease and simplicity of WebEX and Elluminate more appealing for their day-to-day lives.

I still wonder if the learning curve for aclimatizing to these virtual workspaces will, in the end, outweigh the benefits of 3D collaborative spaces. It's great to see this work being applied to things like healthcare and NGO-work, and I hope that we can see more of this kind of real-world application of SL development.

This Wiki Tree is also kind of cool...

Canadian Conference on Medical Education 2009

2008-10-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

According to CCME website, the deadline for submissions for this year's CCME, which will be held in Edmonton, is Saturday Oct 25, 2008. On their website, the CCME is described as the following:

The Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) is the premier medical education conference in Canada. It hosts the largest annual gathering of medical educators in the country. Each year a different Canadian faculty hosts the conference (in 2009 it is the University of Alberta) in partnership with five of Canada's leading health organizations - The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), the Canadian Association for Medical Education (CAME), The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), the Medical Council of Canada (MCC), and The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). The AFMC is conference secretariat and provides administrative support for the conference.

See: http://www.mededconference.ca/home.php

Moodle Moot - Edmonton, 2009

2008-10-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

Moodlemoot 2009, in cooperation with Athabasca University, will be held in Edmonton from April 1-4, 2009. See: http://moodlemoot.ca/moodle/index.php

New MacBooks

2008-10-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

The new MacBooks are here...I like the idea of having the aluminum casing and the glass touchpad.

MacBooks
http://www.apple.com/macbook/

Happy Open Access Day

2008-10-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

The UofA is one of the institutions participating in the world's first celebration of the international Open Access (OA) Day, in support of the free and open sharing of publicly funded research.

Open Access Day

http://openaccessday.org/

Oct. 14th, 2008 is the world’s first OA day (that’s today!).

PS - Thanks to Richard for sending this my way.

Welcome

2008-10-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I created this blog to examine issues related to research, education and technology. My interests are in the following areas:

Instructional Design
Humanities Computing
Multimedia
Education (post-secondary and K-12)
Copyright
Digital Culture
Usability (User Experience)
Literature
Medicine and Healthcare
Distributed Learning
Distributed Computing

The most interesting part will be getting some feedback on the things posted. I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Erika

Research, Education & Technology

"Slow" Jams on Social Media

Social Media Writing

Trends in Social Media - Resources

Google Chrome Experiment with Arcade Fire

Handling Bad Press

Blogging for Business Resources

iPad circa 1988

Video: The End of Publishing (?)

Dancing with a Machine

Study Bus?

Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall

Digital Curators

Open Access Concept Map, OERs

Horizon Report - Where are We?

Copyright in Canada: New Responses

eInfrastructure Use Cases (EIUs Project)

PIctorial COmmunication Language (PICOL)

Gov. Schwarzenegger terminates textbooks

Sneeze Game

Google Wave: The Next Generation of e-Communications?

State of E-Learning in Canada - Report

Medpedia

M-learning and Usability

Neat Way to Animate (for free!)

Twitter and Health 2.0

PeRSSonalized Medicine

Listening in on Social Media Conversations

E-Learning and Medicine: A Good Mix? (Yes!)

Innovation with the "Every-day"

Tag Cloud of Clinical Uncertainty

Twitter for Education

Online Collaboration Tools

Agile Development Projects

Cree School & Flexible Learning

Visualization for Communication and (Learning) Design

UBC's Medical School Implements Advanced Video-Conferencing System for Distributed Learning

Wikitecture - 3D Wiki Using Second Life

Canadian Conference on Medical Education 2009

Moodle Moot - Edmonton, 2009

New MacBooks

Happy Open Access Day

Welcome