Faculty Development News This Week:

Isn't she lovely?

Guess who did this portrait? (Answer at bottom of this edition. See ***.)

Conferences

--Teaching Professor Conference

The topic this year is "Teaching and Learning: Growth, Resilience, and Change"

May 20-22 2005, Hyatt Regency Woodfield, Schaumburg, Illinois.

For more information, see TeachingProfessor

--National University Telecommunications Network, NUTN, 2005: Benchmarking Quality in Distance Learning, Bridging Vision and Practice

June 11-13, San Francisco, California

Presented by NUTN and in cooperation with the University Continuing Education Association and the Sloan Consortium.

Benchmarking Quality

Pedagogy

--Five Personality Dimensions and Their Influence on Information Behavior

Read the abstract for this article:

This article emphasize the importance of considering psychological mechanisms for a thorough understanding of users of information services. The focal point is the relation between personality and information seeking which is explored through a quantitative analysis of 305 university students' personality traits and information habits. It is shown that information behaviour could be connected to all the personality dimensions tested in the study - neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, competitiveness and conscientiousness. Possible explanations for these relations are discussed. It is concluded that inner traits interact with contextual factors in their final impact on information behaviour.

Five Personality Dimensions

Libraries / Knowledge Management

--FRBR: The Bibliographic Universe

Tempting title, yes?

Based on an article originally published in Technicalities (v. 25, no. 5, Sept./Oct. 2003), this pamphlet provides a brief overview of the "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records" (FRBR) as developed by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). Using full-color graphics, What is FRBR? outlines the background of the development of the Functional Requirements, the concepts involved, and their potential impact on cataloging rules, bibliographic structures, and systems design for cataloging applications.

This document is 8 pages, including color graphics and bibliographic references. Available for free download in PDF format.

The Bibliographic Universe

PDAs / Handheld Computers

--PDAs Make Online Learning Convenient

Handheld computers are ready to deliver robust eLearning like the media-rich learning experiences normally run on powerful desktop computers, and a Canadian company has developed a powerful new technology to bring full-bodied online instruction into the palms of learners everywhere.

Read more:

PDAs and Education

Internet Culture

--Napsterization.org

Read all about it:

Napsterization.org was created as a resource to understand the napsterization by digital media of analog, old economy institutions, frameworks and media.

It is an academic exercise, a opportunity to understand how many people use digital media, a meeting place for people to connect over their experiences with digital media, and a place for others to learn about these issues. This site is also a repository of stories on positive uses of peer-to-peer file sharing as well as a resource of information supporting these principles

Napsterization is a term that comes up repeatedly in everyday usage by those talking about the disintermediation of incumbent media and businesses, systems and people's understanding of culture and information, social networks, political institutions and journalism. But with disintermediation in hierarchical systems by the digital, the interconnectedness of the network also grows. Napsterization encompasses all of these phenomena.

Napsterization.org

Blogging

--Blogging.LA

In this blog, LA City Council member Eric Garcetti engages in dialogue with some of his constituents. This is an interesting socio-political application of blogging.

Blogging.LA

I acquired this resource from BoingBoing,19 October 2004.

--Morgan Stanley Promotes Financial flogging

Read an excerpt from the report:

Despite all the noise and random content in blocs, many bloggers have become sources for breaking news, fresh ideas, and expert commentary. For an example of breaking
news, consider that blogs had pictures of the 9/9/04 Jakarta bombing before the major news organizations, according to The San Jose Mercury News columnist and author Dan Gillmor. As for fresh ideas, bloggers were the first to insist publicly that CBS documents regarding President Bush's National Guard service record may be false,an insistence that ultimately proved true. With this election, blogs have really moved into the mainstream. We believe that some of the best commentary comes from the thought leaders in a given subject matter. Consider Larry Lessigs blog from Stanford Law School. One of the world's foremost experts on cyberlaw, he regularly posts quick opinions and links on a range of topics, mostly centered on his expertise or his personal interests. Because he is considered to be a thought leader in the information flow, one may be able to find your required dose of quick news and opinions on cyberlaw issues more quickly via his blog than you would on a normal mass media site or publication.

Morgan Stanley Blogging

This is a 21-page PDF file.

I acquired this resource from Unmediated

Tools

--Web Design Practices

Web Design Practices is a site devoted to helping designers understand what design practices are currently in use on the Web and aims to gather research about the usability of commonly-employed design practices.

Web Design Practices

--VISION

My newest venture in teaching applications is with VISION5, the computer software that allows the instructor to control what students see on screen and also what they do. VISION5 is available in all computerized classrooms on campus.

Read more about it:

VISION5 (formerly Altiris Vision) is an easy-to-use software solution designed to help teachers manage student computer activity in their classroom or lab. Supervise student computer activity, monitor or prevent web browsing, share any computer screen in the classroom with one student or everyone, remotely control student computers from the teacher's machine, view student screens remotely, and guide student computer work.

Charles Town from IT introduced me to the platform. A virtual tour is available, along with an online training session.

Try it out!


--TopazMoment FE

Enhance image quality, clarity and resolution of captured video frames. Tired of noisy and blur frame grab from video? Topaz Moment uses multiple neighbor frames and advanced spatial-temporal enhancement technology to let you capture a picture, from video, that is cleaner, sharper, and at high resolution. This is the tool for capturing the priceless moments and turning them into photo-quality prints.

TopazMoment

Topaz Moment FE is the Freeware Edition of commercial Topaz Moment(TM).

--IconForge

IconForge is a complete graphics suite for creating, extracting, and modifying icons, cursors, animated icons or cursors and other images. Use for creating bookmark and favorites icons for your web pages, filmstrip animation sequences, stitching together panels of icons, and editing other images. Features: Full set of painting tools; Transparent, Inverse paint; Extract from icon, cursor (including OS2, XP and other icon files), animation, program and image files; Export icon, animation or image formats; Edit icons within programs (EXE, DLL, etc.); Effects filters; Animation tools; Icon or cursor albums; much more...

IconForge

This is Shareware; registration fee required.

--SoThink DHTML Menu

This application allows you to create drop down, pop-up, sliding, or animated menus for Web pages, without knowing a thing about JavaScript. It includes dozens of ready-to-use templates that neophytes can use by just filling in the labels and hyperlinks, but it also offers experienced webmasters enough control to create highly customized menus.

This is Shareware; registration fee required.

DHTML Menu

--How to VideoBlog with Blogger

This is a tutorial on how to add video to Blooger.com, a blog platform.

How to Videoblog with Blogger

--TAO

TAO is a powerful outliner/organizer built for MacOS X. Using TAO, you can efficiently manage and organize plenty of chunks of information. TAO supports basic outliner facilities, such as creating, moving, sorting, grouping and combining items, and the following useful facilities help you organize and classify information.

The developers have future plans for Windows platform.

This is Shareware; registration required.

TAO

--OpenForge

With the largest repository of Open Source code and applications available on the Internet, OpenForge.net provides free services to Open Source developers.

OpenForge

--IP Address Locator

This IP Address Map lookup service is provided for free by Geobytes to assist you in locating the geographical location of an IP.

IP Address Locator

--BigString.com

Bigstring is the sole provider of fully Erasable-Recallable Email. Pioneering the field with our unique patent-pending technology, we empower our users with the ability to take control of their email. The best part is that it is easy to use - in fact there is no difference from regular email. Three years ago, the Bigstring founders set out to build the best spam fighting email system on the planet, and then, quite by accident, they invented the world's first fully erasable email and didn't even realize it.

Free at basic user-level; otherwise, fee for service.

Big String

--SofoText

Software downloads.

SofoText

Trends

--Smart Objects: Spime

What is a spime? Read the article from Wired Magazine Online, October 2004.

Smart Objects

--RoboLawyers

Robolawyers are here to protect you! Read the article.

This article is from Wired Magazine Online, October 2004.

RoboLawyers

Diversity

--DiversityInc.

Although the target audience for this site is senior management at large corporations and owners/partners of women- and minority-owned businesses, it has useful resources for educators and students, such as Resource Guide and Career Center, and Diversity Quotes.

Free newsletter available.

DiversityInc.

--Diversity Database, University of Maryland

This database contains campus, local, national, and international academic material relating to the following areas of diversity as defined by the Office of Human Relations Programs at the University of Maryland: age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion & sexual orientation.

Recommended.

Diversity Database

--Comme un Image

Don't these people look interesting? Click here for a better image of the film marquee.

Agnès Jaoui's wonderful second feature "Comme un Image" opened this year's New York Film Festival. The film won the best screenplay award at Cannes.

C'est l'histoire d'êtres humains qui savent très bien ce qu'ils feraient s'ils étaient à la place des autres mais qui ne se débrouillent pas TRWès bean à la Lear, qua la crescent tout simpleminded.

Excuse moi.... I am brushing up on my French.

Look at Me

Academic Culture

--Despite 9.8 Million Dollar Fine, University of Phoenix Unrepentant

University of Phoenix will still be conducing business as usual, despite the 9.8 million dollar fine imposed by the Department of Education. Here is what a U of P spokesperson had to say:

{The fine} has no effect on any of our business plans, and of course that would include expansions," said Terra Bishop, senior vice president of public affairs for Apollo Group Inc., the Phoenix-based owner of the university.

Read more:

University of Phoenix

This article is from 29 October 2004 issue of Pittsburgh Live.Com.

--Consensus Building

This guide provides an alternative to Roberts Rules of Order.

A Short Guide to Consensus Building

Students

--College Students and American Fly

When Genesis biotech introduced a liquid aphrodisiac called African Fly on the internet four years ago, it was aimed toward older couples who wanted a natural alternative to vigor. They never dreamed Africanize would be all the rage on college campuses.

College Students and American Fly

--The Education Diaries: A British Perspective

This two-part article from The Observer, 5 September 2004, attempts to provide readers a true insight into Britain's education system, along with helping them to understand what it is like to work and study in the nation's schools and universities.

The Education Diaries, Part I and The Education Diaries, Part II

I acquired this resource from Assorted Stuff, 18 October 2004.

--Careers in Physics

This article from Physics World discusses the range of careers available for physics majors: teaching, physical manufacturing, communication industries, energy facilities, to name a few.

Physics Careers

Pedagogy

--Non-formal Learning

Here is one interesting quote from this article:

Learners used to informal learning might be pathologised within more formal educational processes.

Intrigued? Read more:

Non-formal Learning

This resource acquired from OLDAILY28 October 2004.

--Tips and Tricks to Teaching Online Like a Pro

Read the abstract:

This paper summarizes some of the best ideas and practices gathered from successful online instructors and recent literature. Suggestions include good online class design, syllabus development, and online class facilitation offering hints for success for both new and experienced online instructors.

Keywords: online education, distance education, online teaching, online instructor, online faculty training.

Tips and Tricks to Teaching Online Like a Pro

--LoLaExchange

LoLa is an exchange for facilitating the sharing of high-quality learning objects. It contains materials for use across the curriculum, with a particular focus on modules for Information Literacy

LoLExchange

Blog Grab Bag

--The Best Equations of All Time

Physics World in May 2004 asked readers to send their shortlists of great equations. The editors also asked them to explain why their nominations belonged on the list and why, if at all, the topic matters. Read this article for the results.

Best Equations

I acquired this source from Assorted Stuff, October 25, 2004.

--NationMaster

NationMaster is a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF and OECD. Using the form above, you can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease.

NationMaster

--TomPaine

Progessive news of the day. Free subscription.

TomPaine

--Glad to Be Asexual

Sexual abstinence and celibacy as chosen lifestyles are more common in population than previously supposed.

This article is from The New Scientist, 14 October 2004.

Glad to be Asexual

--Drug Facts

Question: Any idea what pilladies is?

Answer: It's one street name for the drug OxyContin.

This tid-bit of information comes from the United States Office of Drug Control, which, believe it or not, maintains a list of slang terms used in the drug trade.

Interesting insight into a large global subculture.

This resource acquired from my "baby brother," Michael Wanless, FBI, Quantico, Virginia.
Thanks, Mikie!

Drug Facts

--Geostationary Satellite Server, NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service)

NESDIS provides timely access to global environmental data from satellites and other sources to promote, protect, and enhance the nation's economy, security, environment, and quality of life.

Neat site!

Geostationary Satellite Server

--Best Applied Physics

College physics was one of the most difficult courses I ever had as an undergraduate, but I remember how much I enjoyed it--and still do, when someone interprets it for me! This article from Physics World discusses the impact of physics on our daily lives, including areas one normally would not think of, such as finance.

Best of Applied Physics

--Electoral College Calculator

The electoral system, mandated by the U.S. Constitution, forces candidates to carefully allocate their time and money among the states for electoral votes. Each candidate must devise a campaigning strategy which gives him or her the best chance to win at least 270 electoral votes. This site contains a Java applet which allows the user to experiment with different campaign strategies or to track the probable election outcome based on the user's estimate of state-by-state election outcomes.

Electoral College Calculator

--Build Your Own Computer

Looking for a winter project?

This site, KitchenTableComputers, is dedicated to the thousands of ordinary people every year who decide to build their own PC's -- very often, on their kitchen tables. Our goals are to present basic information in simple language to help make your computer-building experience as enjoyable, educational, and rewarding as it can be.

This site also has other interesting resources.

Build Your Own Computer

I acquired this resource from OLDaily, 27 October 2004.

***Answer to question about the portrait: Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). Surprised? I was! I am not familiar with Mondrian's portrait painting.


Until next week!

Blog editor

Image Credits

--"Comme un Image," http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=51309.html
--"The Greatest Equation of All Time," Physics World Magazine http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/17/10/2/1
--"LoLaexchange,"http://www.lolaexchange.org/
--"P.Mondrian, 'Little Girl,'http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/mondrian/p-mondrian3.htm
--"Napsterization.org," http://www.napsterization.org/aboutus.htm
--"PDA," http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/10/emw171001.htm

Faculty Development News This Week:

Conferences

The Sun Conference, El Paso, Texas, March 4 and 5, 2005

Conference topic: What are Students Learning-- and How Do You Know?

The focus of the conference is on practical, applied strategies, tools, and techniques. All university faculty, instructional staff, instructional developers, and administrators are invited to share their innovative teaching practices, and to explore with their peers transformative college and university teaching methods.

This year's theme "What are your students learning-and how do you know?" will allow SUN Conference participants to explore new ways of assessing the real outcomes of their teaching efforts. When we teach, we aim to change our students, but it is not always easy to know when we have achieved our goals. This conference will provide ideas on how teaching strategies, assignments, technologies and various forms of feedback can help us to refine our work with students so that they can best achieve the learning goals we have for them.

Because the SUN Conference takes place on the border between Mexico and the United
States, it is a bilingual conference. Proposals are accepted in Spanish or in English. Participants submitting proposals in Spanish will have the option of presenting in either language. Please be explicit in your proposal whether the session will be conducted in Spanish or in English.

Hola!

La "Conferencia del Sol" es una conferencia bilingüe porque es llevada a cabo en la
frontera entre México y Estados Unidos. Propuestas son aceptadas en Español o Inglés.
Los participantes que envian propuestas en Español tendrán la opción de presentar en
cualquiera de los dos idiomas. Favor de indicar explícitamente en su propuesta si la
sesión será hecha en Español o Inglés.

Sun Conference

Trends

--A Look Inside a Learning College

This article is from CenterPoint, a publication of the American Council on Education.

A Look Inside a Learning College

--Change Management

Read a summary of this article on change:

The introduction of technology, increasing needs of society and the growth of global organizations trading in goods, knowledge and expertise has increased the need for, and frequency of, change. Although the majority of people are resistant to change, more and more are finding themselves affected by it and having to come to terms with the issues and benefits it brings. Effective change management cannot therefore be underestimated and its implementation needs considerable thought and commitment by senior managers. This paper discusses some of the issues surrounding change management and highlights some simple techniques commonly used.

Change Management

This is a 15-page PDF file.

This source acquired from What's New at the E-Learning Centre12 October 2004.

Online Education

--Categories of E-Learning

This wonderful mind map is from an article by George Siemens in his current issue of
eLearning Resources and News,18 October 2004.

Categories of E-learning

Highly recommended.

--U.S. News and World Report E-Learning Directory (Updated, October 24)

Read what this directory is all about:

The number of institutions offering courses and degrees taught via E-learning technologies grows rapidly every month. To help you navigate this expanding universe, we've created a searchable directory of E-learning providers, institutions that offer courses, certificates, and degrees via Internet, video, CD-ROM, and other distance-education technologies.

E-Learning Directory

--PowerPoint: No! Cyberspace: Yes!

Excerpt:

Using PowerPoint in the classroom doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. It does, however, mean that your emphasis is on the quality of your presentation rather than your students' learning.

PowerPoint:NO

This rescource acquired from the blog Contentious, 10 October 2004.

Libraries/ Knowledge Management

--Data vs. Metadata?

Read the introduction to this article:

There used to be a difference between data and metadata. Data was the suitcase and metadata was the name tag on it. Data was the folder and metadata was its label. Data was the contents of the book and metadata was the Dewey Decimal number on its spine. But, in the Third Age of Order (see the previous issue), everything is becoming metadata.

Data vs. Metadata

Diversity

--The Alphabet in American Sign Language

This site not only provides an alphabet template in American Sign, but you can also see fingerspelling in action.

The Alphabet in American Sign Language

Pedagogy

--The Other 80%

Although this article is addressed to learning in work environments, there are useful concepts here about teaching applications and holistic learning--learning all the time, not just in the classroom.

The Other 80%

--Six Criteria of an Educational Simulation

Key elements of educational simulations.

Six Criteria

This is an 11-page PDF file.

--Less is More: Designing an Online Course

Excerpt:

Someone developing an online course needs to go from being the center of attention to being someone on the sideline. The catchy way others have expressed this goes like this: Don't be a sage on the stage, but a guide by the side.

Less is More

--Fashioning the Emperor's New Clothes: Emergimg Pedagogy and Practices of Turning Wireless Laptops into Classroom Literacy Stations

This article is from the Fall 2004 issue of Kairos.

Fashioning the Emperor's New Clothes

Students

--Goal Setting Strategies

Read the introduction to this site:

Welcome to the Web's leading site for setting and managing all of your personal and professional goals. myGoals.com walks you through a simple, step-by-step goal-setting process for any goal, whether it's short-term or long-term, easy or difficult, practical or lofty. We also provide pre-made GoalPlans® for popular goals, to get you started even faster.

Once you've set a goal, we'll send you email reminders that arrive precisely when you should be working on each task. myGoals.com keeps you focused and on track until you accomplish your goal.

Free newsletter available.

Goals.com

--S.A.V.E. / Suicide Prevention

SAVE's Mission is to prevent suicide through public awareness and education, eliminate stigma and serve as a resource to those touched by suicide.

Fast Facts:
--More people die from suicide than from homicide.
--Suicide rates among the elderly are highest for those who are divorced or widowed.
--For young people 15-24 years old, suicide is the third leading cause of death.
-- 80% of people who seek treatment for depression are treated successfully.

S.A.V.E.

--The Lost Boys

This article addresses how to reach 18-34 year old males from an advertising perspective. Useful demographic information contained here.

This article is from Wired Magazine, August 2004.

The Lost Boys

--Gender Equity in Higher Education: Are Male Students at a Disadvantage?

The title of this article says it all.

Gender Equity

This is a 10-page PDF file.

Tools

--Macromedia Captivate

Macromedia Captivate (formerly RoboDemo) automatically records all onscreen actions and instantly creates an interactive Flash simulation. Point and click to add text captions, narration, and e-learning interactions without any programming knowledge.

Use Captivate to create engaging, interactive educational content. Simulations allow your students to interact with content.

Macromedia

--eVolt.org

eVolt.orgis a world community for web developers, promoting the mutual free exchange of ideas, skills and experiences.

What "evolt" means: "evolt" combines the best elements of evolution, revolution, with a bit of voltage thrown in for good measure. "evolt" embodies goals and enthusiasm!

eVolt

--Wondir

This is really neat. Read on:

Wondir is designed to help people find practical, focused answers to questions, with an emphasis on connecting people who have questions with other people who can provide needed help. These experts, tutors, mentors, enthusiasts, and peers might be volunteering on their own or as part of an organized online help program, such as an AskA service, government or social service, corporation, civic group, professional association, university, school or library.

In addition to live resources, Wondir utilizes FAQs, stored Q&As and other searchable web resources. Relevant human resources are integrated into the results and featured.

We think of Wondir as the blending of a universal search engine and a universal message board enlivened with real time communication. Wondir is uniting Search and Community - two pillars of the Internet that have not yet lived up to their potential - by making human help accessible and as simple as asking a question of a search engine.

Free, too!

Wondir

--Windows XP Icons

Take a look at all the icons offered. Here are two:

Tempted?

Seriously, though, InterfaceLIFT is useful for not only icons but wallpaper and themes. Read some more about this site:

InterfaceLIFT, your source for graphical user interface enhancements for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux. We specialize in desktop wallpaper, icons, themes, and news with a focus on community. New content is posted virtually every day so make sure to bookmark us and come back often.

Windows XP Icons

--Onfolio

Onfolio is a PC application for collecting, organizing and sharing information you find online. Fully integrated with Microsoft Internet Explorer and Office, Onfolio has tools for capturing a wide range of content including links, text snippets, images, web pages, and documents. Onfolio lets you organize and find captured content quickly and easily. And with Onfolio, you can easily share your research in documents, presentations, emails, and research reports.

30-day free trial.

Onfolio

--TiddleWiki

This is a free wiki platform.

TiddlyWiki

--Expression Engine

This is a cutting-edge blogging tool. 30-day trial for $10.00.

Expression Engine

--Opera Show Software

Read the promotional literature:

Turn your browser into an advanced presentation tool using Opera Show, an impressive feature of the Opera browser. Learn to master Opera Show and save work and hassle when giving presentations from your computer!

Compared to other popular presentation tools (such as Microsoft PowerPoint), Opera Show has several advantages:

It is a standard feature of a small and fast Web browser.
It uses HTML as the document format, which makes the files lightweight compared to proprietary formats used by other tools.
It makes publishing your presentation on the Web a breeze.
Compared to other presentation tools, Opera is inexpensive.
It will not annoy your audience with tacky animations .

Free trial download.

OperaShow

--Toogle

What on earth is Toogle? Read on:

Toogle is a Text version of Google's Image Search. Currently it creates images out of the very term that was used to fetch those images, later we will endeavour to create images out of the search terms entered by users past and present. But for now: please, go play.

You also might want to consider the disclaimer statement written by Toogle's creator:

This website is not necessarily recommended for children, minors, or other people of a sensitive nature, since it will most likely present content that might be upsetting. Still it was never my intention to pussy-foot around, and I don't intend on making the site any safer, the net is a big bad dangerous super-highway and if you get upset by images made from text then you might as well give up now.

I am not impressed, but I provide this site in the spirit of free circulation of infromation and ideas.--Blog editor

Toogle

--Wearable Digital Camera: Philips KEY010

This fairly new product from Philips is a two-megapixel camera that does not have an LCD screen or a flash, and the pictures are not the quality of full featured digital cameras, but thatis not the point of this little camera. The Philips Wearable Digital Camera is all about having a tiny instant-on digital camera that is always with you and is always ready for some quick shots.

Wearable Digital Camera

This resource acquired from a post in Jeremy Zawodny's Blog, 9 October 2004.

Wikis

--Wikis

This article is from KairosNews,a Weblog for discussing rhetoric, technology, and pedagogy. Posted 16 October 2004.

Wikis

Students

--College Debt Riser Faser than Tuition, Fee Increases

This article is from The Seattle Times, 17 October 2004.

College Debt

Understanding the Gaming Generation

Although this article from the Harvard School of Business has a corporate perspective, it still offers some interesting points about today's students.

The Gaming Generation

Blog Grab Bag

--Global Vote

Read the introduction to this site:

Even if you are not a US citizen, the November 2 presidential election will have a huge impact on your life. The very idea of democracy requires that you should have a say in choosing who determines your destiny. This site therefore allows non-Americans to vote in the 2004 US presidential election.

GLOBALVOTE2004.ORG is totally neutral. You may vote for any candidate. Your vote will be kept secret. And you may only vote once. We will count the votes 48 hours before the election and submit the result to the US media. Just letting US citizens know how the world has voted could influence what looks like a tight race.

GlobalVote2004

--Make Money, Be Happy

This is a wealth calculator.

Wealth Calculator

--Global Rich List

What is this site about? Read on.

We are obsessed with wealth. But we gauge how rich we are by looking upwards at those who have more than us. This makes us feel poor.

We wanted to do something which would help people understand, in real terms, where they stand globally. And make us realise that in fact most of us (who are able to view this web page) are in the privileged minority.

We want people to feel rich. And give some of their extra money to a worthwhile charity.

Global Rich List

--Big Noise Music

Oxfam became the first UK charity to launch a legal download service, BigNoiseMusic, in May 2004. Users can download from a choice of 300,000 tracks and know that .10 in every 1.00 that they spend is going to help end poverty.

Big Noise

--Audio Files for Three Presidential Debates

Audio files courtesy of Torrentocracy.com blog.

Presidential Debates Audio Files

--Noble Prize in Literature: Elfriede Jelinek

Noble prizes in other categories are provided on the site as well.

Noble Prize in Literature

--Lord of the Flies

This is an interactive game on the NoblePrize.org Web site.

Lord of the Flies

--The Big Try

Try something new for free!

TheBigTry

Oxfam T-shirts

"Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering."

These t-shirts promote awareness for the organization and generate money for Oxfam work all over the planet.

One design provided below:

OxFam T-shirts

See History of Oxfam for more information about this organization.

--FirstGov.com

This is the Web portal for United States government offices and departments.

FirstGov

--Onelook Reverse Dictionary

OneLook's reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word. Just type it into the box above and hit the "Find words" button. (Keep it short to get the best results.) In most cases you'll get back a list of related terms with the best matches shown first.

Reverse Dictionary

--Vikings, 800-1050 C.E.

This Web site is devoted to the history of the Vikings.

The Vikings

Until next week!

Blog editor

Detail of wall painting in the church of S. Angelo in Formis,
late 11th or early 12th century.

Image Credits
"Angel," http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales03.htm
"Devil," 237 x 296 pixels - 18k
department.rwu.edu/ ~english/brit.htm
"Diversity," 200 x 200 pixels - 5k
www.ups.edu/news/releases/ 2003-04/spshedp.shtml
"E-Learning Categories, Mind Map," http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/(Creative Commons)
"InterfaceLIFT," http://interfacelift.com/
"Key010," http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/002793
"Miscellany," 227 x 71 pixels - 8k
www.californiaart.com/ misc.html
"Nobel Prizes," 178 x 122 pixels - 7k
www.theraphi.com/ dailyeditorial.html
"Online Education," index.htm_txt_wpe8.gif
238 x 215 pixels - 16k
www.knowledgenetworksolutions.com/
"OxFam T-Shirts," http://www.oxfam.org.uk/generationwhy/whats_on_offer_tShirts.htm
"Oxfam Logo," http://www.oxfam.org.uk/about_us/history/index.htm
"Ramadan," 400 x 300 pixels - 9k
www.netmuslims.com/ greetings/pictures/ramadan.gif
"Tools," 300 x 206 pixels - 10k
www.pikezander.co.uk/ predpics/tools.JPG
"Two Students," 514 x 365 pixels - 19k
www.fno.org/ sept01/students.jpg
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Faculty Development News This Week:

Conferences

--Internet Generation: Call for Submissions

Call for Papers – IR 6.0: INTERNET GENERATIONS

International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of
Internet Researchers

Chicago, Illinois, USA

October 5 – 9, 2005

Workshops: October 5, 2005

AoIR Conference: October 6 – 9, 2005

Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2005.

CALL FOR PAPERS

We call for papers from a wide perspective of disciplines, methodologies, and communities. We invite papers that address the theme of Internet Generations including TOPICS such as:

--Histories of the Internet: human, social, technical, and/or cultural stories and histories
--Internet use by generation, e.g., by era of technology, by children and seniors, or by age of user, etc.
--Individual, group, organizational, or community use, adoption, or diffusion of the Internet and its practices
--Development in use of languages, new vocabularies, social roles, rules, and etiquette
--Societal impacts of and on the Internet and its evolution
--Perspectives on the Internet and social change in a changing world
--Internet expansion across divides, borders, nationalities, etc.
--Mapping the course of Internet connectivity
--Prospects for the future: Next generation Internet

Wanted: submissions for papers, panels, and demonstrations of work on topics related to the conference theme of Internet Generations. Sessions at the conference will be established that specifically address the conference theme. Goal: innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on the conference theme. Also welcome: submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, economic, and/or aesthetic aspects of the Internet beyond the conference theme. In all cases, we welcome disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions as well as international collaborations from both AoIR and non-AoIR members.

For more information:

Association of Internet Researchers

Diversity / Multuculturalism

--The Face of Tomorrow

Read the introduction to this interesting site:

What is the face of London, New York, Paris? What does a Londoner, a New Yorker, a Parisian look like?

The Face of Tomorrow is a concept for a series of photographs that addresses the effects of globalization on identity.

To the large metropolises of the world are magnets for migrants from all parts of the planet resulting in new mixtures of peoples. What might a typical inhabitant of this new metropolis look like in one or two hundred years if they were to become more integrated?

In Turkey and particularly in Istanbul, situated as it is at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, you can see how this process has been at work over the last thousand years as waves of humanity from Central Asia, Arabia, Greece and Rome have been absorbed. The resulting population is fairly uniform suggesting that if you could combine all the faces in a city right now you would be looking at the future face of that city.

The Face of Tomorrow attempts to find this face by taking photographs of the current inhabitants and compositing their faces to create a typical face. What we get is a new person - a mix of all the people in that city. A face that doesn't exist right now, but a face, it seems, of someone quite real -- the Face of Tomorrow.

The Face of Tomorrow

Students

--Diploma Mill Police

This is a FREE accreditation verification service for those seeking online and distance learning college degrees.

Diploma Mill Police

--Many Students Fail to Apply for Financial Aid

According to a new study, two-thirds of community college students did not apply for aid, compared to 42 percent at public four-year colleges and 13 percent at private colleges.

Read more:

Many Students Fail to Apply for Financial Aid

--Past College Debt Stops Some Students from Finishing College

Read an excerpt from this article:

Colleges do not like to talk about students{in debt} and no large study has even tracked the number of low-income students who leave college for financial reasons. But specialists say the problem is growing, as the federal Pell Grant system, which provides money that does not need to be paid back, fails to keep pace with college costs, forcing students to take out ever-larger loans to get their degrees.

Read more:

Past College Debt....

--GirlGeeks

GirlGeeks is an online community for women and girls interested in technology and computing. GirlGeeks is provided by the Bay Area Video Coalition, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization focused on new media education and training for underserved groups.

GirlGeeks

Tools

--Google Desktop Search

Read the promotional literature:

Google Desktop Search is how our brains would work if we had photographic memories. It's a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, computer files, chats, and the web pages you've viewed. By making your computer searchable, Google Desktop Search puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails, and bookmarks. After downloading Google Desktop Search, you can search your personal items as easily as you search the Internet using Google. Unlike traditional computer search software that updates once a day, Google Desktop Search updates continually for most file types, so that when you receive a new email in Outlook, for example, you can search for it within seconds. The index of searchable information created by Desktop Search is stored on your own computer.

It is free, too!

Google Desktop Search

This is in Beta.

--Blogbox

Blogboxes provide exciting, instantly deployed functionality for your blog or Web site. They are free for non-commercial use. Enjoy them and spread the good word!

Blogbox

--Webnote

Webnote is a tool for taking notes on your computer. It allows you to quickly write something down during a meeting, class, or any other time that you have a web browser available. You start by creating a workspace and creating notes in the workspace. You can save your workspace at any time and return to them from the same computer or any other computer. You can also share your notes with others by providing the workspace name (or url) to a friend.

Webnote

--Copyscape

Copyscape finds copies of your content on the Web. You can use Copyscape to identify sites that have copied your content without permission. Copyscape will also show you who is quoting your site. Simply type in the URL of your original content, and Copyscape does the rest. Copyscape is powered by Google Alert technology and uses the Google Web APIs. The award winning Google Alert service performs automatic daily Google searches to let you know if anyone mentions you or your interests on the web. Both Copyscape and Google Alert are provided by Indigo Stream Technologies Ltd and are not affiliated with Google.

Copyscape

--Google Quick Reference Search Guide

This is a handy research template.

Research Guide

The Guide is a 2-page PDF file.

Academic Trends

--"More Professors Teach by Using Other Colleges' Online Courses"

This article is from the October 15, 2004 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Online Courses

Technology and Culture

--New Millenium Global Learning

This article emphasizes the need to prepare school leaders in a real-world, authentic global context.

New Millenium Global Learning

This is a 5-page PDF file.

--Research Recommends 'Self' Googling

What is your online reputation? And why does your online reputation matter?

"Self-Googling is not simply narcissism," said Alexander Halavais, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Buffalo. "People should Google themselves for the same reason corporations do -- to help to manage their public face."

Give it a try!

Self-Googling

--[Personal]Brand Management : Definition

More to think about in relation to "personal branding," online or otherwise.

This is a definition from Wikipedia.

Brand Management

--What is Your Google Number?

Did you know Googling somebody has become a new action verb?

Read an exceprt from the article:

The Google Search engine has become the Swiss Army Knife of the Internet – it has more uses than finding relevant web pages. Some of the uses are infringing on the domain of Human Resources. It is easy for a boss to do a background check on a potential new employee. With Google, the potential new hire can turn the tables, and do a pretty decent background check on the new boss!

Google’s greatest application as an ‘HR tool’ is not in the corporation – it is out among the free agents, consultants and entrepreneurs who live and work by reputation and experience. It is here where ‘Google numbers’ become very important.

So, how do you find your Google number? It is easy!

Go to www.google.com and enter your name within double quotes. If you spell your name several ways put each of them in double quotes separated by an OR. I put the following string into the Google search box: “Colette Wanless-Sobel” OR “Colette Wanless”. Once you have all of the spellings of your name entered and separated by OR, click the “Google Search” button. Quickly you will see another page listing all of the web pages that contain your name. At the top of the page will be a blue line. At the far right of the blue line Google will report how many total pages it found with your name on it. The total pages found is your Google number

So, what's your number?

What is Your Google Number?

Creativity

--Create the Medici Effect

This is a book review of The Medici Effect, a new book that looks at creativity at the intersections of fields, disciplines, and cultures. An excerpt from The Medici Effect explores the far-flung food ideas of chef Marcus Samuelsson.

The Medici Effect

Libraries / Knowledge Management

--WebJunction

This site is a portal for librarians.

WebJunction

--Introduction to Topic Mapping

Topic maps are a way to represent knowledge structures and their relationships to information resources. Based on XML, topic maps are related in concept to but more powerful and inclusive than book indexes.

Introduction to Topic Mapping

Pedagogy

--Interaction and Immediacy in Online Learning

Read the abstract for this article from Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (August 2004):

This article presents the concepts of interaction and immediacy and discusses their theoretical frameworks, implications, and relationship with one another. The authors propose the development of a new conceptual model and recommend additional antecedent research.

Interaction and Immediacy in Online Learning

--Mind / Brain Learning Principles

Twelve principles "brain-centered" learning are presented here.

Mind / Brain Learning Principles

--"Interfaces for Staying in the Flow"

Read the abstract:

Psychologists have studied "optimal human experience" for many years, often called "being in the flow". Through years of study, the basic characteristics of flow have been identified. This paper reviews the literature, and interprets the characteristics of flow within the context of interface design with the goal of understanding what kinds of interfaces are most conducive to supporting users being in the flow. Several examples to demonstrate the connection to flow are given.

Interfaces for Staying in the Flow

Blog Grab Bag

--Office of Defects Investigation

The Investigations Search Engine will allow searches of current and past NHTSA Investigations of vehicles, tires and equipment opened since 1972, by single year, make or model. An optional item of Vehicle Component may be selected to help narrow the focus of the search.

Office of Defects Investigation

--Toxic Waste River Rafting Game

This is a game for children provided by the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences.

Toxic Waste River Rafting Game

--Find the Farmer's Market Nearest You

This is a neat interactive tool.

Find Farmer's Market

--The Meade Project

This site provides foundational documents in social psychology.

Some of the authors : Meade, Dewey,James, Veblen and others

The Meade Project.

--Retro vs. Metro: The Great Divide

Read an introduction to this book:

The "Great Divide" is a geopolitical concept we use to organize our discussion of American politics. It views the geographical distribution of political power as a determining factor in shaping the electorate and the two major political parties. Geopolitically, America is two nations. We call these two nations Retro and Metro America. Retro America is defined by the South, the Midwest, and the Rocky Mountain states; Metro America by the two coasts and the Great Lakes states. The existence of these two nations was dramatically thrust onto the American consciousness by the election of 2000; since that time there has been common reference to "Red states," which went to George W. Bush, and "Blue states," which went to Al Gore. Map 1-1, showing the results of the 2000 election, has become an iconic portrait of the political divide at the presidential level.

Book available online:

The Great Divide

--JibJab: Flash Movie on the Presidential Election

Enjoy!

JibJab


--World Transhumanist Society

The World Transhumanist Association is an international nonprofit membership organization which advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities. We support the development of and access to new technologies that enable everyone to enjoy better minds, better bodies and better lives. In other words, we want people to be better than well.

World Trashumanist Society

--New Media Musings

This Web site is devoted to "open, democratic, grassroots media."

Read the MISSION STATEMENT:

We are in the midst of the greatest boon in grassroots creativity in ages. Tools once available only to a professional elite are now being taken up by everyday citizens. Just as weblogs brought millions of people into the media ecosystem, so too are new tools empowering individuals to create video, audio, playlists, and other works of personal media and to share them with a global audience.

The personal media revolution is turning visual. Digital stories, video diaries, documentary journalism, home-brew political ads, music videos, fan films, Flash animations, student films, parodies of Hollywood films — all kinds of short multimedia works have begun to flower. Alas, the most compelling ones are scattered across the Web or hidden away on thousands of PCs, laptops and closed networks. These works deserve a wider audience.

Open-Media.org is an open source media project that seeks to expose, preserve, and advance works of grassroots creativity (chiefly, but not limited to, amateur video). Individuals, communities and organizations have begun telling digital stories that enthrall, entertain and often move audiences to take positive action. Plain text or the cool detachment of "objective" media do not come close to matching the emotional power of multimedia stories laced with personal narrative.

Open Media is three things in one:

*an open-source platform to bring personal media to the desktop;

*a destination Web site, to launch soon at www.open-media.org;

*eventually, it will evolve into a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing amateur, hobbyist, semi-professional, and professional visual works and other media.

Unlike other initiatives that are pure-play stand-alone Web sites, Open Media's vision is to bring personal media to millions of desktops through playlists, video jukeboxes, visual albums, and built-in media libraries. The repository will run the gamut from Creative Commons-licensed works to public domain works to fully copyrighted works.

New Media Musings

--Copyright Terms

Thi is a comprehensive summary chart listing the copyright terms for works published within and outside the United States.

Copright Terms

--Bureau of Land Management Historical Photographs

This historical database contains more than 3,500 historical digital images, some dating back more than a century. These images document the nation’s westward migration and highlight the activities of the General Land Office and the Grazing Service, which were later consolidated to form the BLM. The photos in this database are part of BLM’s digital photo library.

Here is one of the photos from the archive, a mother buffalo with her calf grazing:

Historical Photographs

--Copyright Protection Banner for the Web

These graphic files are provided by Copyscape.com.

How might they be useful to you? Read on:

Protect your site from plagiarism.

Most people who copy your content think they will not be discovered. Place one of these banners on each of your web pages to warn potential infringers that they will be found. This will deter them from stealing your work. Regular use of Copyscape will then allow you to detect illegal copying as it happens.

Copyright Protection Banner for the Web

--The Death Clock

Do you have a morbid sense of curiosity?

Well, then, the Death Clock is for you. Enter in your birth date and some other information, and the Death Clock will calculate your probable date of death, including the number of seconds you have left to live!

Fun, huh?

The Death Clock.

Until next week!

Blog editor


Image Credits:

"Internet Research," 283 x 258 pixels - 26k www.cir.nus.edu.sg/ research/
"Copyscape Graphic Files," http://www.copyscape.com/banners.php
"The Death Clock,: http://www.deathclock.com/
"Emboss,"775 x 581 pixels - 91k www.e-ca.ca/
"The Face of Tomorrow,"http://www.faceoftomorrow.com/
"Flow," http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v5i27_bederson.html
"Gears,"175 x 158 pixels - 3k www.khine.de/tools
"GirlGeeks," http://www.girlgeeks.org/index.shtml
"Great Divide," http://www.retrovsmetro.org/book/
"Introduction to Topic Mapping," http://www.computerworld.com/news/2004/story/0,11280,96350,00.html
"Mother Buffalo,"http://www.photos.blm.gov/scripts/PortWeb.dll?query&join1=and&op1=contains&field1=Keywords&catalog=Historic&sorton=Selects&ascending=0&value1=buffalo&join2=and&op2=contains&field2=Description&join3=and&op3=contains&field3=Date&template=Search_4&offset=4
"WebJunction,"http://webjunction.org/do/Home

Faculty Development News This Week:

Diversity

**Celebrate National Coming Out Day, October 11

The National Coming Out Project is part of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. National Coming Out Day is celebrated every Oct. 11. The day was born out of the 1987 GLBT march on Washington , D.C. , where hundreds of thousands of Americans rallied to support equal rights. Today, National Coming Out Day events are held in hundreds of cities across the country and around the world.

Visit the Web site : Human Rights Campaign

--Essentials of Ramadan, the Fasting Month

Read this excerpt from the Introduction:

The institution of Fasting is a unique form of worship prescribed as part of an overall system of Islam. Its uniqueness mirrors the uniqueness of the human being, a creature of physical and spiritual parts whose excellence depends on the right proportion of these two parts. Too much of the physical material will ruin man, and too much of the spiritual will, too. Fasting orients the observer to the art of balancing the spiritual essentials with physical needs, a vivid proof that there is in all of us the will power, a pivotal element that controls our actions. This will be needed to help us curb the animalistic tendencies originating from the stomach, in full. It makes us forget about our beginning, it awakens the mind and kindles clear thinking and consciousness of Allah. Fasting is the sobering of a mind and reconstruction of our spiritual faculties.

Essentials of Ramadan

Conferences

--Asynchronous Learning Networks Conference

November 12-14, Orlando Florida.

Asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) are helping to transform education and training from site-based, time-bound experiences to anytime-anywhere online learning environments. By connecting learners with each other, with their instructors, and with a wide range of resources, ALNs allow a high degree of interaction and collaboration.

Asynchronous Learning Networks Conference

Service Learning / Civic Education

--The Green Toolshed : Environmental Activism

Green Media Toolshed is a powerful technical resource, particularly for a young organization like SkyTruth. A big part of our mission is making our satellite and aerial images available to environmental advocates and the news media. Building and maintaining the web-based tools and services to accomplish that would be very time- and resource-intensive. Fortunately for us, Green Media Toolshed does all the heavy lifting behind the scenes on our behalf, hosting our image galleries and creating a seamless interface between SkyTruth and the public. Their suite of image management tools allows us to easily build and modify image galleries for either public or internal viewing, and their technical staff are quick to respond whenever we have any requests. SkyTruth is looking forward to a long and productive relationship with Green Media Toolshed.

GreenToolshed

--Civic Education Among College Students: A Case Study

Read the abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze the extent of civic engagement among college students and to determine some of the factors that are associated with civic engagement among these students. To this effect, a survey of students at North Carolina Central University, a predominantly Black institution, was conducted and analyzed using correlation analysis. Most of the respondents considered voting to be important in civic engagement. The study also found that institutions of higher learning that have integrated community service in their academic programs are contributing to the promotion of civic engagement.

Civic Education

This is a 19-page PDF file.

--Bridging Community Service and Life's Great Questions: Thoughts on Co-Teaching a Service Learning Course

This article is from The Journal of College and Character (2:2004).

Bridging Community

Libraries / Knowledge Management

--The Changing Information Cycle

On the Internet, the traditional information cycle is broken in a variety of ways. News may be reported, analyzed, debated, corrected, and reinterpreted in a matter of hours. Old stories from decades ago may be re-examined. Factual information can be evaluated, expanded upon, and expounded on by a wide variety of readers. Instead of reading through complete Web pages or sites, searchers can browse results and choose to read a variety of extracts from pages created by completely different organizations. Finding a community of Web sites that together provide an answer can offer a deeper and broader understanding of certain issues.

The Changing Information Cycle

--The Mentality of Homo Interneticus: Some Ongian Postulates

Because typical experiences will differ, the mentality of the typical Internet user, or Homo interneticus, is likely to be significantly different from that of the typical reader of printed works or of writing or of the typical member of purely oral cultures. These differences include deep assumptions about time and space, authority, property, gender, causality and community.

The Mentality of Homo Interneticus

--American Library Association Washington Office Newsline: Court Decision on PATRIOT Act May Affect Libraries

September 29th marked an important victory for civil liberties when the federal district court judge in the southern district of New York struck down Section 505 of the Patriot Act which permitted the FBI unchecked authority to obtain subscriber information, toll billing records and other transactional records from electronic communications service providers 'without any judicial oversight or opportunity for challenge'...Since many libraries may be "electronic service providers" if they provide public access to the Internet, libraries are among the entities that may benefit from this ruling.

Court Decision

--Do Open Access Articles Have Greater Research Impact?

Although many authors believe that their work has a greater research impact if it is freely available, studies to demonstrate that impact are few. This study looks at articles in four disciplines at varying stages of adoption of open access philosophy, political science, electrical and electronic engineering and mathematicst o see whether they have a greater impact as measured by citations in the ISI Web of Science database when their authors make them freely available on the Internet. The finding is that, across all four disciplines, freely available articles do have a greater research impact. Shedding light on this category of open access reveals that scholars in diverse disciplines are adopting open-access practices and being rewarded for it.

Do Open Access Articles Have Greater Research Impact

This is an 11-page PDF file.

This resource is courtesy of Gary Fine, The Resource Shelf, 30 September 2004.

--Open Directory Project: The Republic of the Web

The web continues to grow at staggering rates. Automated search engines are increasingly unable to turn up useful results to search queries. The small paid editorial staffs at commercial directory sites can't keep up with submissions, and the quality and comprehensiveness of their directories has suffered. Link rot is setting in and they can't keep pace with the growth of the Internet.

Instead of fighting the explosive growth of the Internet, the Open Directory provides the means for the Internet to organize itself. As the Internet grows, so do the number of net-citizens. These citizens can each organize a small portion of the web and present it back to the rest of the population, culling out the bad and useless and keeping only the best content.

Open Directory Project

--Seeking an Educational Commons

Schools are hindered by cost and flexibility problems as they try to obtain resources such as software and textbooks. Open source development processes are producing products that can address many of these problems and, as importantly, provide a better alignment with core educational values. Indeed, open source products potentially encourage the development of an educational commons.

Educational Commons

--Manifesto for the Reputation Society

Manifesto for the Reputation Society by Hassan Masum and Yi Cheng Zhang .

Information overload, challenges of evaluating quality, and the opportunity to benefit from experiences of others have spurred the development of reputation systems. Most Internet sites which mediate between large numbers of people use some form of reputation mechanism: Slashdot, eBay, ePinions, Amazon, and Google all make use of collaborative filtering, recommender systems, or shared judgments of quality.

The authors suggest the potential utility of reputation services is far greater, touching nearly every aspect of society. By leveraging our limited and local human judgment power with collective networked filtering, it is possible to promote an interconnected ecology of socially beneficial reputation systems to restrain the baser side of human nature, while unleashing positive social changes and enabling the realization of ever higher goals.

Manifesto for the Reputation society

--The Web Book and the Web Forager: An Information Workspace for the World Wide Web

The World-Wide Web has achieved global connectivity stimulating the transition of computers from knowledge processors to knowledge sources. But the Web and its client software are seriously deficient for supporting users' interactive use of this information. This paper presents two related designs with which to evolve the Web and its clients. The first is the WebBook, a 3D interactive book of HTML pages. The WebBook allows rapid interaction with objects at a higher level of aggregation than pages. The second is the Web Forager, an application that embeds the WebBook and other objects in a hierarchical 3D workspace. Both designs are intended as exercises to play off against analytical studies of information workspaces.

The Web Book and the Web Forager

Tools

--Dowser

Dowser is a research tool for the web. It clusters results from major search engines, associates words that appear in previous searches, and keeps a local cache of all the results you click on in a searchable database. It helps you keep track of what you find on the web.

Dowser

--Scirus

Scirus is a search engine specifically geared toward scientific sources A newly enhanced, scientific-only search engine gives students, scholars, and other academics another tool to conduct effective, comprehensive internet searches to find bona fide scientific information.

Scirus

--Clusty.com

Clusty is a clustering tool offered by Vivisimo.com.

Clusty.com

In Beta.

--GoHook

The new GoHook PDF database includes about 500,000 documents. According to the company, more than 10,000 documents are added to the database each week. The company is also developing a database of .WAV sound files. At the moment GoHook Audio search contains only 5000 files.

GoHook

--TimeLine Tool

The Timeline Tool is a web based learning object template which allows an instructor to quickly construct an interactive timeline with audio and visual effects. The finished timeline can serve as an re-usable learning object which can be easily distributed and shared over the web. This learning object template is built in Flash, PHP and XML.

TimeLineTool

Blogging

--The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom

This paper explores the role of weblogs or "blogs" in classroom settings. Blogs, which resemble personal journals or diaries and provide an online venue where self expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built, provide an excellent opportunity for educators to
advance literacy through storytelling and dialogue. This paper explores the importance of literacy and storytelling in learning, and then juxtaposes these concepts with the features of blogs. The paper also reviews examples of blogs in practice.

Using Weblogs...Literacy

Pedagogy

--The Map of Creativity

Given the enormous number of innovative projects, many of which are unknown outside a narrow circle of researchers, the NGf has developed a tool to make educational innovation visible.

The Map of Creativity contains hundreds of projects recommended to us by educators around the world. If you know of an innovative project to support creativity, learning, or play, you can follow the simple instructions to put it on the Map. To help other users, consider rating some of the projects you discover on the Map. The Map is only as good as you make it!

The Map of Creativity

--Online Journal: Innovate

Read the introduction to Innovate:

These pages feature cutting-edge research and practice in the field of information technology, but Innovate invites you to do more than simply read. Use our one-button features to comment on articles, share material with colleagues and friends, and participate in open forums. Join us in exploring the best uses of technology to improve the ways we think, learn, and live.

Innovate

This source courtesy Mark Peterson.

--Brain-Based Education

This site provides links to various sites dealing with brain-based education.

Brain-Based Education

Students

--specialty Majors are the Rage on Some Campuses

This article is from the October 5, 2004 edition of The Christian Science Monitor.

Popular choices for majors: sports sales, video-game development, casino studies, and homeland security.

Specialty Majors

Educational Trends

--Panel Hunts for Ways to Cut College Costs

Experts propose giving more federal aid to students in their first years of college, creating programs to allow some students to graduate debt-free and making sure students can transfer from community colleges to state universities without losing credit hours. The speakers make their comments at a forum hosted by the Atlantic Monthly. Almost half of the nation's high school students who are prepared academically can't afford to attend a four-year institution, and more than 20 percent can't even afford community college, Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., said. (Quoted from eNewsletter@educatorsportal.com, 7 October 2004.

Panel: College Costs


--Adult Education United States /National Center for Educational Statistics
Participation in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning: 2000-01

This is the first full report using data from the Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Survey of the 2001 National Household Education Survey Programs on the educational activities of adults in the United States. The report shows that 46 percent of adults in the United States participated in some type of formal education between early 2000 and early 2001.

Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

This is a 31-page PDF file.



This source courtesy of Julie Benolken, who acquired it from Gary Fine's Resource Shelf.

Blog Grab Bag

--Mount Saint Helens on Webcam

This is an image of Mount St. Helens, taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The Observatory and VolcanoCam are located at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet, about five miles from the volcano. You are looking approximately south-southeast across the North Fork Toutle River Valley.

This image automatically updates approximately every five minutes. Please make sure your web browser is not set to cache images or you may not see the updates when the web page refreshes.

Mount Saint Helens

I acquired this reference from Windley's Enterprise Computer Log, 5 October 2004.

--GooglePrint

Google is launching a new service that performs the same function as Amazon's A9, namely, letting users search inside print books.

GooglePrint

--Daily Calendar of the Greek Gospels

This site is designed to help you read through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in Greek over the course of a year. The readings vary in length, usually around 10-11 verses, but sometimes more or less depending on the specific passage.

Daily Calendar of the Greek Gospels

--Everyday Mysteries

Did you ever wonder why a camel has a hump? If you can really tell the weather by listening to the chirp of a cricket? Or why our joints make popping sounds? These questions deal with everyday phenomena that we often take for granted, but each can be explained scientifically.

Everyday Mysteries will help you get the answers to these and many other of life's most interesting questions through scientific inquiry. In addition, we will introduce you to the collections of the Library of Congress in science and technology.

Everyday Mysteries

--Photographic Collections

Twenty major categories of photo collections here. Great repository.

Photographic Collections

--Zip Code Locator

A tool for identifying ZIP code locations on a map of the United States. As you type in digits, the map highlights the region covered. From a doctoral student at MIT. Neat!

ZipCode

--CIA World Factbook Updated

Posted update to The World Factbook which is now updated regularly with new features added as soon as available. Recent additions include four new economic measures which frequently foretell changes in a country's economic growth, welfare, and position relative to the rest of the world: Current account balance, Investment (gross fixed), Public debt, and Reserves of foreign exchange and gold. More new fields are planned, including Refugees and internally displaced persons and major endemic infectious diseases.

CIA World Factbook

--Historical Voices.org

A substantial portion of our cultural heritage from the 20th century is recorded in enormous collections of spoken-word materials. Yet much of it may be lost or remain hidden away in archives and private collections, making the voices inaccessible to students, teachers, scholars, and the general public. The purpose of Historical Voices is to create a significant, fully searchable online database of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century - the first large-scale repository of its kind. Historical Voices will both provide storage for these digital holdings and display public galleries that cover a variety of interests and topics.

Historical Voices

--Bioscience Literacy

Read the goals for this site:

ActionBioscience.org is a non-commercial, educational web site created to promote bioscience literacy by examining issues that will:

--motivate the public to play an active role in bioscience education --show how developments in bioscience research can affect everyone --promote an understanding of biogeography and the biodiversity of life --engage the public to reflect on the relationship between human activity and the natural course of evolution --promote global ecological awareness -- advance formal and informal bioscience education --encourage students to pursue studies in the biosciences.

Action Bioscience

--Meeting Frontiers

Meeting of Frontiers is a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the American exploration and settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. It is intended for use in U.S. and Russian schools and libraries and by the general public in both countries. Scholars, particularly those who do not have ready access to major research libraries, also will benefit from the mass of primary material included in Meeting of Frontiers, much of which has never been published or is extremely rare.

Meeting Frontiers

--U.S. in the World

U.S. in the World Guide, a publication of Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Aspen Institute, supports the work of advocates of pragmatic, principled, effective, and collaborative U.S. engagement in the world. It draws on the latest communications research and the insights of experts to outline convincing facts and arguments, and offer effective ways to put them across to non-expert American audiences. The Guide flows from a straightforward core vision: an informed, empowered citizenry is needed to encourage policymakers to support the sustained investment, involvement and leadership needed from the United States to tackle 21st-century challenges effectively. Advocates and experts alike need reliable, cutting-edge advice on how to communicate those ideas to citizens.

US in the World Guide

This is a 164-page PDF file.

--National Priorities Project: Americans Pay High Cost for War

Americans Pay High Cost for War provides state-by-state data on the number of soldiers killed and wounded, the dollar cost, and the number of reservists and National Guard troops on active duty. This data is presented in the context of worsening conditions in Iraq as well as expert opinions on national security policy.

What is the National Priorities Project?

The National Priorities Project (NPP) offers citizen and community groups tools and resources to shape federal budget and policy priorities which promote social and economic justice. Since 1983, the National Priorities Project (NPP) has been the only group in the country that focuses on the impacts of federal tax and spending policies at the community level. We link political analysis to action by serving as a bridge between policy organizations and grassroots groups. We translate policy information into everyday language and assist national and grassroots groups in their efforts on such issues as improving their schools, creating living wage jobs and providing affordable housing.

National Priorities Project

--The American Dream in 2004

This is an opinion poll conducted by the National League of Cities. Here is what the press release said:

Two-thirds of the American people say the American Dream is becoming harder to achieve, especially for young families, and they point to financial insecurity and poor quality public education as the most significant barriers....

The American Dream in 2004

This is a 44-page PDF file.

Until next week!

Blog editor

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