The 1% 'rule'

Here's an article that discusses the 1% rule of online content creation!

"It's an emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will "interact" with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it".

Sad but true - how can we get over the 1% threshold? Ideas?

SMS Post

Wireless 3G connectivity. Its great to have connectivity via wireless technology, enabling things like mobile blogging via sms!

Via Letmeparty.com

Create a free account with http://www.letmeparty.com , register your Blog address (e.g. http://puriri.unitecnology.ac.nz/wp/xmlrpc.php ) and your cellphone number, send a text message to +13128047068 , and you're mobile blogging!

Why bother?

“New mobile and context-aware technology can enable young people to learn by exploring their world, in continual communication with and through technology” (Sharples, 2005).

“A review of current practice suggests that mobile and wireless learning is the natural next step wherever institutions and practitioners have already adopted e-learning” (JISC, 2005b).

Sotillo (2003, p5) describes the pedagogical impact of ubiquitous wireless computing:

In summary, the advantages of wireless computing in education are ubiquity, portability, and flexibility for collaborative learning projects. Computer power everywhere and all the time means the ability—and the challenge—to integrate computers into every aspect of teaching, learning, and research. This represents a Copernican revolution in instruction, with the professor as guide and mentor rather than "fount of knowledge" or ultimate classroom authority.

DipLSD Mobile Trials 2007

Got a really encouraging response to suggestions for setting up mobile web2 trials with the Diploma Landscape Design course at Unitec today!

Trial goals so far:

1. Students purchase their own Palm Treo 680, and monthly data plan


2. Regular weekly technology support/exploration sessions


3. Tentative Dates:
   
   March 12, 19, 26?
   May 14, 21, 28


4. Project culminates in eportfolio for Ellerslie Flowershow


5. Setup COP with DipLSD staff

MOLTA Conference disappointing

MOLTA Conference
I was a bit stunned at the limited understanding of web2 technologies (over half the audience had not heard of RSS!) by conference attendees! Many of the presentations were out of date - promoting 3-4 year old technologies, and badly informed on the current state of wireless data in NZ! :-(
I was also frustrated by the persistence in developing institution specific applications - instead of using the fantastic web2 mobile applications tat are already available!!!

One of the exceptions was Selena Chans workon mobile eportfolios and web2 mashups, including the use of VOX. Interesting restyling of Moodle using 'Firebug' plugin for Firefox, to make it more mobile 'friendly'.

WordPress

I've been experimenting with WordPress recently - and so far I'm quite impressed with its ease of setup and options, particularly the ability to associate 'static' pages with your main blog page. Thus you could almost use Wordpress as a basic website solution.


http://www.wordpress.com

Mobile plugin for wordpress available at http://alexking.org/projects/wordpress

Google Blogger Widget

Google have produced widgets for OSX for both Blogger & GMail! Cool.

Energy.png

Scratch All Future Conference Presentations on Web 2.0

Scratch All Future Conference Presentations on Web 2.0: "Scratch All Future Conference Presentations on Web 2.0
And maybe instead, we can get it with 5 minutes, no bullet points, no lecturing in Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us, a YouTube gem:

This comes from Digital Ethnography @ Kansas State University, ‘a working group of Kansas State University students and faculty dedicated to exploring and extending the possibilities of digital ethnography.’"

(Via CogDogBlog.)

Interesting Time Magazine Articles

I really should read Time Magazine more often! I came across an issue brimming with Web2 articles from December 25 2006 - #51.

Web2 (or more directly YOU) is named 'person of the year' for 2006!!!

A good overview of Web2 - plus a nice image mind-map of web2 services (only in print version).

An overview/history and early video of YouTube development.


Also of interest:
Overview of "World of Warcraft".

iPhone Flash Demo.

Surgery Recovery Tools

1. Panadol


2. Watch - to while away the dragging hours


3. 3G cellphone to keep in contact & read RSS feeds, blog etc...


4. Bible - spiritual rejuvenation required!


5. Wireless Laptop - they need longer life batteries!!! - hence 3G cellphone higher in list!


6. A good fiction book - but hard to concentrate enuff to read much for first few days!


7. iPod - with a large library! Stops insanity


8. And MOST IMPORTANTLY - should be first in the list - a loving wife! and friends



9. Oops - and don't forget PRAYER - faith that keeps you from falling over the edge into despair when nothing seems to make sense!

Prostate Cancer Research

From NZ Herald A12 Thursday 25 Jan 2007 - Research indicates eating 2-3 servings of tomatoes along with 1.5 cups of broccoli daily reduces cancer cell growth by 30%

[ Sent from my mobile phone using the Blogger widget from www.bluepulse.com ]

Wimax at EIT!!!

Trans-Tasman broadcast and telecommunications technology provider Kordia has secured the New Zealand distribution rights to RoamAD’s networks, which it plans to deploy throughout the country.

The partnership of the two companies won its first New Zealand contract before Christmas, coming top of five bids to build a wireless access solution for the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) in Hawkes Bay.

Kordia chief executive Geoff Hunt said Kordia (which was until recently known as THL Group) will develop more applications and is willing to work with other content and service providers in the Wi-Fi arena.

“This deal with RoamAD and EIT Hawke’s Bay is our first step towards increasing ease of use and the utility of Wi-Fi networks throughout New Zealand,” he says.


Wow - not bad thinking for a 'small' regional Polytechnic with 3000 EFTS!

Original Article here.

NMC 2007 Report at EDUCAUSE ELI

Get Horizon! at EDUCAUSE ELI: "Okay, this was just the fun part. The six topics:

Time to Adoption 4-5 Years:

The New Scholarship and Emerging Forms of Publication

Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming

Time to Adoption 2-3 Years:

Mobile Phones

Virtual Worlds

Time to Adoption One Year or Less:

User-Generated Content

Social Networking"

(Via CogDogBlog.)

Gmail

By forwarding pop3 mail to Gmail i can pick it up on my mobile devices - Cool!

[ Sent from my mobile phone using the Blogger widget from www.bluepulse.com ]

Bits & Pieces

1. I've been using google reader mobile on my cell phone for RSS feeds - getting used to the interface, although I still prefer NetNewsWire Lite on my Mac (with Newsgator synching).

2. http://www.vox.com looks like a nice featured blogging host, with growing mobile features.

3. The Google synch plugin for Firefox is a great way to synchronize bookmarks and settings between Firefox on multiple computers - very similar to .Mac synching for Safari.

4. The Apple iPhone looks very cool - could be the perfect UMPC device for education!!! (especially with the uptake of podcasting in education already...)

Christmas in Te Awamutu & Athenree - a great family time - but NO 3G

Brung my Vodem with me - but GPRS access available only :-(

[ Sent from my mobile phone using the Blogger widget from www.bluepulse.com ]

Imaging a Dual-Boot MacTel!

To find out how, have a look at http://www.bombich.com/mactips/dualboot.html, and download the free OSX app 'NetRestore' from the same site - the same author as CarbonCopyCloner!

Study on 'What [US] College Students want from their Education'

Interesting article:

Study on 'What [US] College Students want from their Education': "

http://www.eduventures.com/about/press_room/

12_12_06.cfm?pubnav=about

Via Jim Farmer's eLibrary feed, an ongoing treasure trove of documents on patents and elearning (amongst other topics), comes news of this report by Eduventures, a Boston-based consulting firm. You have to pay for the full report, but even the short precis has some interesting nuggets from a student perspective. According to this summary, the study of 6,200 enrolling freshman in the US found 'Professional Preparation,' 'Academic Strength' and 'Affordability' (in that order) as the top 3 things incoming students are looking for. And around the notion of 'Academic Strenght,' apparently

students value 'close interaction with faculty' and 'experiential learning' more than 'honors programs' and the development of smaller 'learning communities.'

"

(Via EdTechPost.)

Bluepulse

Bluepulse is one of the best social software hubs for mobile i have come across. http://www.bluepulse.com

[ Sent from my mobile phone using the Blogger widget from www.bluepulse.com ]

PageFlakes

PageFlakes is an interesting Social Software hub for your fav SS right inside your web browser (Firefox is best option currently). Worth checking out & playing with.

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