Posting from my iPad app

I thought that I would try the Blogger iPad app out to post on my blog. Unfortunately there are quite a few posts that don't show on the blog when you view it on the iPad. But the app is quite nice. It is very easy to use to make simple posts, quite straightforward but with far less of the frills than the full application on google offers. Only to be expected really. One nice feature though is the fact that you can create a video stream and post it straight to your blog. If I had anything worth filming I would test it now and post, but alas I sit in front of the TV relaxing on a Friday evening. It also allows you to add images from your camera roll, but I can't seem to upload a video I have already created? I will keep trying and hopefully I'll discover some useful little tricks.

The Semantic Web

20 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. For his next project, he's building a web for open, linked data that could do for numbers what the Web did for words, pictures, video: unlock our data and reframe the way we use it together.



The term "Web 2.0" was first used in January 1999 by Darcy DiNucci, a consultant on electronic information design (information architecture). In her article, "Fragmented Future", DiNucci writes:
The web as we know it is a fleeting thing...a prototype - a proof of concept. She goes on to say more explicitly "The Web we know now, which loads into a browser window in essentially static screenfuls, is only an embryo of the Web to come. The first glimmerings of Web 2.0 are beginning to appear, and we are just starting to see how that embryo might develop. The Web will be understood not as screenfuls of text and graphics but as a transport mechanism, the ether through which interactivity happens. It will [...] appear on your computer screen, [...] on your TV set [...] your car dashboard [...] your cell phone [...] hand-held game machines [...] maybe even your microwave oven."

Web 3.0 has a number of different definitions, but the most popular (and simple) explanation seems to be that it’s the virtual blending of online and offline worlds. An example of this might be your computer remembering your tastes and interests, so that your browser becomes like a personal assistant when you search or look for recommendations.

Tim Berners-Lee, calls Web 3.0 the “Semantic Web.” PCMag summarizes the concept as “… a place where machines can read Web pages much as we humans read them, a place where search engines and software agents can better troll the Net and find what we’re looking for.” Nova Spivak, co-founder and CEO of Radar Networks and a champion of the Semantic Web theory, believes that we’re already at the threshold of 3.0–that it begun in 2010, in fact, and will last until at least 2020. “Really,” he says, “it’s just Web 2.0 with a brain.” Spivak’s online company, Twine, often described as “Facebook plus Wikipedia” is one of the first to implement Semantic Web properties into its interface; it’s goal of “knowledge-networking” led to artificial intelligence categorizing groups of data (it consisted of online forums, wikis, and newsgroups).

In other words, Web 3.0 lets the Internet do all the work for users. How would you describe it?

Newspaper Clipping Generator

This is a novel idea that displays children's writing in a creative and interesting way.  
Not only does the writer produce the content of the news article, but they select a name 
for the paper and the date the paper is printed, particularly good for history projects, and
great for all areas of the curriculum. Real creative writing! 

Family Values

The photographs were taken recently by my daughter during her time in Africa, these shots were taken in the Serengeti.  I saw the pictures and thought that elephants are amazing creatures that obviously have very strong family values, well instincts at least. I had a hard job selecting seven to be honest, but the ones that I have chosen represent values that I feel are important to me...as well as elephants!

I used Microsoft Photo Story 3 to create a move from the stills as I wanted the viewer to sit back and enjoy the story effortlessly. I was tempted to add music, but decided that it was about the visual so I went for silence. The single word caption is the value that I felt the image portrays. I would be interested to read what your interpretations are.

For this version I used a PowerPoint slide to arrange the images, then took a snapshot of the screen to create my collage of Family Values

The Art of Reflection

The importance of reflecting on what you are doing, as part of the learning process, is often emphasised. Students in higher education are responsible for their own progress as independent learners. They must of course take notice of and act upon formal feedback from their lecturers, but it is also important that they think about, or more REFLECT on, their learning. I use mind mapping tools to help my students to focus on aspects that help the reflection process. One of my favourite Web 2.0 tools for this job is Bubbl.us. It is a concept mapping application, similar to Inspiration, that allows the user to make graphical representations of ideas. Bubbl.us calles these concept maps "mind maps". But the Web 2.0ness allows users to share a bubbl mind map and work collaboratively, it also allows creators to embed their bubbls on their blogs, wikis or other webpages. In the words of Blue Peter, "here's one I started earlier"

Starting to blog

Beginning a blog is the hardest part.  Once you start, there'll be no stopping you! Well that is what I am telling me new Year 1 Ed Studies students.  Mainly because they have to create a blog for their module Visual Communication Culture & Creativity.  More than that the blog is their assignment.

'Blogging' - the term is a contraction of the term 'web logging' - is perhaps best described as a form of micro-publishing. It is easy to create use a blog, from any internet browser from anywhere in the world and is firmly establised as a method od communication. Lots of travellers, my daughter included, crate a blog to share their experiances with us less fortunate atill at home! The blogging phenomenon has evolved from its early origin as a medium for the publication of simple, online personal diaries, to the latest multi-modal technology, designed to engage people in collaborative activity, knowledge sharing, reflection and debate. Many blogs have large and dedicated readerships, and blog clusters have formed linking fellow bloggers in accordance with their common interests.

So if you are reading guys (that's you Ed Studies Year 1 2012/13) remember your blog will be your assessment for this module so ensure that you keep it up to date and interesting!

I found this site too which I though was interetsing if you are thinking of using blogs in HE.

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/help/2011/02/22/7-uses-for-blogs-in-higher-education/