commoncraft approach to blogs
At last, the guys from Common Craft have done a video how-to on the topic of blogging. Their visual approach is stunning, engaging and really clever – worth emulating. Thanks and well done.
Author: Michael Chalk
Cartoon slideshow
This is a blog post about blogging. (oh-oh … eyes roll) No, actually the point i want to make is about using visuals. This slideshow presentation uses cartoons to make a series of points .. and it’s very effective. Think you can’t draw? Well, how sophisticated are the visuals here, really? Similar points to the ones Sue Waters makes over here. See i don’t do any of the things recommended, which is why i’m writing for myself. Ha ha. At least i enjoy writing. | View | Upload your own
Flex e-news (second life + interactive ochre)
The latest flex e-news is out, from the AFLF (australian flexible learning framework), and this month one of the feature articles focusses on Second Life, the virtual world that’s been on TV and in the ordinary news. In 2006, Gipps Tafe used Second Life to explore work-based learning for VCAL students. Other articles cover the very inspiring “Interactive Ochre”, which is a CD-based resource on Indigenous Culture. Past articles include one study which shows Australia is leading the world. Links: Lead article on Second Life Article on Interactive Ochre Australia Read More …
Remind Me
Several bloggers have been linking to this youtube video, as an example of the modern world; some kind of complex infographical philosophy. i just love the song, and want to watch the video later. Oh, and Jakob says that i’m devaluing my professional input commodity value with such trashy asides. He’s probably right. Cheerio, michael
flexible screens
.. from multiple input screens, to this wafer-thin flexible mini-screen; it’s great to see this kind of technology developing so fast – launched in Japan, of course!
Pacific CALL Symposium
Michael has been invited to represent PRACE, and speak at “The First CALL” in August. Should be a terrific event, with Uschi Felix opening, and James Farmer, of edublogs.org and The Age blogs, as a keynote. The “Inaugural CALL Symposium” hosted by the Monash University English Language Centre and the Pacific CALL Association: Saturday, 18 Aug from 12 noon – 4.30 pm, Monash University, Clayton Campus. From the publicity: “CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) practitioners join global professional communities online, yet they often do not utilise the wealth of expertise Read More …
image labelling game
An interesting idea from Google: they want to improve the quality of their knowledge about online images, so they create a game, the "Image Labeler". Could be difficult to play when people have serious spelling issues, but could be fun for others .. Essentially the program matches you up with another person (you may play as a guest), and you both add words to describe each image, until you come up with a match. This gives the search engine more information about the pictures it has found. Matching two strangers Read More …
extradition for crimes against commerciality
This is astonishing; i had no idea that the Australian Federal Government had handed over an Australian citizen to be tried in the USA. A member of the software-cracking group ‘drink or die’ which delighted in redistributing illegal working copies of US softwares, faces ten years in US prison plus fines of half a million US dollars. Stephen told me, and he read it in The Age. Ouch! This is after the same disturbingly reactionary government leaves David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay for Five Fears Without Charge. Has the Island Read More …
Turn the page
This help desk episode has been very “viral”: it reminds me of a good article on the future of the book, “The Book is Dead, Long live the Book“, from Priscilla Murphy. People have predicted the demise of the book for a very long time. In 1894, one writer predicted that the phonograph and the kinetograph would rapidly substitute paper-based text with audio. Murphy explores and questions three themes, rivalry between media, that they are competing for limited public attention, so every dollar spent on new media = a dollar Read More …
infinite thinking mac .. goog .. machine
Infinite Thinking Machine .. i’ve just stumbled on this one somehow. Very snappy and engaging ideas for teachers. This crowd loves Google in a big way: they’re sponsored by google, but they talk about plenty of other things (social software, mashups, classroom ideas). This episode taken from chapter five of their blog, Calculate This, which has plenty of ideas for using spreadsheets in class. Watch out for the Grade 5 kids sharing their formulas, and getting totally social about feedback on their work. Anyway, their videos are good! Tight and Read More …