I just looked at an interesting article from the Read Write Web feed about the embedding of YouTube videos on blogs, The Most Popular YouTube Videos and the Bloggers Who Embed Them. Had I come across this article before taking this class, I probably wouldn't have found it to be quite as interesting, but now that I am blogging and know how to embed, it carries more meaning and is something to which I can relate.
The article reported the top 10 most embedded YouTube videos from July to Decemeber of 2009. The video that was most embedded on blogs, according to Sysomos, a company that analyzes and keeps track of social media, was the JK Wedding Entrance Dance. This does not surprise me, because I know it was quite a hit. This happens to be one of my personal favorites as well. I haven't heard of any of the others that were mentioned, such as Evian Water Babies or Muppet's Bohemian Rhapsody. I am excited to check these out.
This article also gave statistics accompanied by nice pie charts regarding what type of YouTube videos were the most popular for embedding and who is emebedding them. Music videos came in first at about 31% of the embedded videos, and as far as the "who" goes, apparently 20-35 year-olds are the ones behind most of the video embedding on blogs (about 57% of those doing this). For more on this, check out the article that has been linked above!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Apple has best Wikipedia Entry
According to "Lundquist", a consulting firm, out of all the fortune 500 companies, Apple has the top Wikipedia entry. I just learned this from the article, "Companies on Wikipedia: Apple's Fans Get it Right". I thought it was interesting that the article recommended that companies should not edit their own Wikipedia entries, but leave it to others who are supporters of the company. It makes sense that the source for more credible and less biased information is not the company itself. The article did mention however, that some appropriate roles for these companies to take in terms of increasing the quality of their company's Wikipedia entry are using the discussion board feature to communicate with those who do edit the page (I know what this is talking about since becoming a wiki user for this class), making non-copyrighted images available, modifying factual information/statistics, and checking for errors/inaccurate information. After checking out the entry on Wikipedia itself, it is easy to see why this entry was given such high ratings. The information is very clear and presenterd in a well-organized fashion. I also noticed lots of interesting images throughout. Another neat feature of this entry is a "Timeline of Apple products". You can tell that users of Apple products are proud to back the company as they did a nice job with the entry.
Hugging in Schools
I just checked out an Eduptopia poll that posed the question, "Are school bans on hugging justified?" Apparently some schools have attempted to ban hugging while others are considering putting time limits on hugs. The article mentioned 3 potential issues arising from hugging: crowded halls, students' tardiness to class, and sexual harassment suits. Personally, I feel that hugging should by no means be banned, as long as it is appropriate hugging. I think schools have to define and make judgements about what is considered "appropriate". Positive physical touch is something important for kids to receive, and if they are inclined to show affection to their friends in this way, then I do not view this as inappropriate. If students are making it difficult to walk down the hallways for any reason, they should be spoken to about this and their behavior should be monitored, but allowing no hugging at anytime whatsoever does not seem fair. As far as the tardy to class concern goes, students are responsible for getting to class on time - that is the bottom line. If they choose to engage in behaviors which make them late, they reap the consequences.
What should definitely not be allowed is kissing. This is probably pretty obvious, but there has not been any well-enforced rules against kissing at schools I have worked at. At the last school I worked at, it was impossible to walk down the hallway without witnessing kids making out. Now that I teach at a middle instead of a high school, this is not so much of an issue. I do notice other types of PDA, in my CLASSROOM even, that I have to call students out on. Just today I had a boy and a girl who sit in a row next to each other turned facing towards each other, holding hands. I had to tell them to keep their hands to themselves. Oh geez....
What should definitely not be allowed is kissing. This is probably pretty obvious, but there has not been any well-enforced rules against kissing at schools I have worked at. At the last school I worked at, it was impossible to walk down the hallway without witnessing kids making out. Now that I teach at a middle instead of a high school, this is not so much of an issue. I do notice other types of PDA, in my CLASSROOM even, that I have to call students out on. Just today I had a boy and a girl who sit in a row next to each other turned facing towards each other, holding hands. I had to tell them to keep their hands to themselves. Oh geez....
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Google Buzz
I just read How I Became the Robert Scoble of Buzz, an article that was brought to me through the Read Write Web feed. Before reading, I didn't even know who Robert Scoble was...lol. I learned Robert Scoble was someone who quickly socially networked with several other users of Twitter shortly after it first came out. Apparently this man tried to follow as many tweeters as he could and in this way got people to follow him back (I am aware "follow" is probably not the proper term in the context of Twitter; it's a google term, but I don't care). The unnamed guest author of this article was checking out the new Google Buzz and was able to get a lot of followers in a short amount of time and the article is basically him expressing how fascinatied he is by this accomplishment.
This author seems to be quite the fan of Buzz. He mentioned things he enjoyed about it compared to other social networking sites, such as the way it doesn't limit the number of friends you have like Facebook (which apparently has a 5,000 person friend limit), or the number of characters you can post at a time, like Twitter.
Personally, I do not currently see myself having much of a desire to use Buzz any time in the near future. However, I do admit I have at least checked it out. It was super easy to do since I am in my gmail account all of the time. When I saw the Buzz icon thingy appear on the left side of my email account page it was slightly intriguing, and so I clicked on it. I was suprised that some of my friends already were using it quite a bit, posting status updates. I wondered what its appeal to them was. I thought we were all content with facebook. I know I am. Maybe they like it because it's like one stop-shopping for google account holders. They can check their email, follow and comment on friends' statuses, and read their reader feeds all at the same place (and probably do whatever other stuff Google has to offer that they enjoy using). As for me though, I don't see what's the buzz about Buzz, and will keep doing my thing on facbeook. I don't want to have more than 5,000 friends anyway. I can hardly keep up with the approx. 500 that I have. :)
This author seems to be quite the fan of Buzz. He mentioned things he enjoyed about it compared to other social networking sites, such as the way it doesn't limit the number of friends you have like Facebook (which apparently has a 5,000 person friend limit), or the number of characters you can post at a time, like Twitter.
Personally, I do not currently see myself having much of a desire to use Buzz any time in the near future. However, I do admit I have at least checked it out. It was super easy to do since I am in my gmail account all of the time. When I saw the Buzz icon thingy appear on the left side of my email account page it was slightly intriguing, and so I clicked on it. I was suprised that some of my friends already were using it quite a bit, posting status updates. I wondered what its appeal to them was. I thought we were all content with facebook. I know I am. Maybe they like it because it's like one stop-shopping for google account holders. They can check their email, follow and comment on friends' statuses, and read their reader feeds all at the same place (and probably do whatever other stuff Google has to offer that they enjoy using). As for me though, I don't see what's the buzz about Buzz, and will keep doing my thing on facbeook. I don't want to have more than 5,000 friends anyway. I can hardly keep up with the approx. 500 that I have. :)
Getting Group Discounts Online
I was just introduced to a way of getting discounts online of which I had not been aware prior to reading an article from the Read Write Web called "Scoop St: From Flash Mobs to Group Shopping Discounts". Basically, the website Scoop Street provides a way of getting a group of people together who all have a common interest in purchasing something. If enough people commit to making the purchase in a certain amount of time, then they get a discount because of getting a group rate. If not enough people commit, then those who were initially on board are not charged anything. The website offers deals for items such as sporting event tickets, spa packages, and restaurant certificates. Apparently a couple of college roommates at Georgetown started this website not too long ago. At first I thought businesses might feel like they are getting gypped by people getting together online to get a group rate at their establishment (and some might), but then the article brought up a valid point that this is actually more so helping out those businesses. They are getting more business because the good deals are bringing people in.
Apparently the whole concept of getting random strangers together via the Internet to purchase something at a group rate is not a new one. The article mentioned that this type of thing has been happening in China ever since the 90's.
Maybe the reason why I haven't heard about a website of this nature before is because there is not one that has deals for this area (at least, not that I know of). According to the article, Scoop Street is now just offering deals for New York City area, but it the owners want to expand it other areas as well. Does anyone know if we have something like this for deals at businesses in the Lansing area?
Apparently the whole concept of getting random strangers together via the Internet to purchase something at a group rate is not a new one. The article mentioned that this type of thing has been happening in China ever since the 90's.
Maybe the reason why I haven't heard about a website of this nature before is because there is not one that has deals for this area (at least, not that I know of). According to the article, Scoop Street is now just offering deals for New York City area, but it the owners want to expand it other areas as well. Does anyone know if we have something like this for deals at businesses in the Lansing area?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Future of Online Learning
I have been having a hard time blogging lately because whenever I do find time to try to sit down and do it, I look through my google reader and find little that catches my attention or inspires me to write something. Maybe I need to find some more feeds to subscribe to. Because I am behind with blogging, I am going to discuss something that didn't really strike me as profound or surprising or interesting any particular way, but I am just using what I have to work with from my feeds so I can do another blog post.
Tonight I looked at an Edutopia poll that asked people, "What will online learning look like in 20 years?" I guess I could be at least somewhat interested because we have just written a couple of papers for class centered on the topic of online learning. Apparently the U.S. Department of Ed. estimates that about 25% of K-12 public schools now offer online learning. Sara Ring, the author of this brief article/poll proposes some possibilities for what online learning might look like in 20 years, throwing out the idea that maybe all classes will then have some type of online component. She also suggested the idea that perhaps in 20 years all learning will be done online and students will not even go to school (I highly doubt that this would be the case in 20 years, because I think people will not lose sight of the value face-to-face interaction).
So when asked the question, "What will online learning look like in 20 years?", the largest category of voters (52% of them, which includes me) selected the choice that states we think online learning will be "Prevalent." The description for this category says, "Online learning will continue to grow, though not every school will have it. Online-only schooling will enjoy greater popularity." I was not surprised that this answer choice was the most popular. It is somewhat interesting though, that 32% of the voters guess that in 20 years online learning will be "Universal". They think that some type of online learning will be required in every school and that many more students will take classes that are solely virtual. Maybe if more people, myself included, were more open-minded at how online learning could continue to develop into something easy to use and that will still provide ways to engage students allow sufficient interaction between both classmates and the students and teacher, then we might have pictured the "Universal" category as a more accurate description for 20 years from now. Maybe many of us educators that voted also have a hard time seeing how we as teachers will fit into the picture if online learning is so widespread. Will we become online instructors? Many of us are probably not open-minded to that possibility, and some of us might be afraid that online learning might take away our jobs that we now enjoy as we physically interact face-to-face with a group of students.
It will be interesting to see where we find ourselves in 20 years...
Tonight I looked at an Edutopia poll that asked people, "What will online learning look like in 20 years?" I guess I could be at least somewhat interested because we have just written a couple of papers for class centered on the topic of online learning. Apparently the U.S. Department of Ed. estimates that about 25% of K-12 public schools now offer online learning. Sara Ring, the author of this brief article/poll proposes some possibilities for what online learning might look like in 20 years, throwing out the idea that maybe all classes will then have some type of online component. She also suggested the idea that perhaps in 20 years all learning will be done online and students will not even go to school (I highly doubt that this would be the case in 20 years, because I think people will not lose sight of the value face-to-face interaction).
So when asked the question, "What will online learning look like in 20 years?", the largest category of voters (52% of them, which includes me) selected the choice that states we think online learning will be "Prevalent." The description for this category says, "Online learning will continue to grow, though not every school will have it. Online-only schooling will enjoy greater popularity." I was not surprised that this answer choice was the most popular. It is somewhat interesting though, that 32% of the voters guess that in 20 years online learning will be "Universal". They think that some type of online learning will be required in every school and that many more students will take classes that are solely virtual. Maybe if more people, myself included, were more open-minded at how online learning could continue to develop into something easy to use and that will still provide ways to engage students allow sufficient interaction between both classmates and the students and teacher, then we might have pictured the "Universal" category as a more accurate description for 20 years from now. Maybe many of us educators that voted also have a hard time seeing how we as teachers will fit into the picture if online learning is so widespread. Will we become online instructors? Many of us are probably not open-minded to that possibility, and some of us might be afraid that online learning might take away our jobs that we now enjoy as we physically interact face-to-face with a group of students.
It will be interesting to see where we find ourselves in 20 years...
Augmented Reality
Until tonight, I had no idea what "augmented reality" was. I came across the article, "Augmented Reality Coming to Video Conferencing" on my Google Reader tonight, and discovered not only what AR is, but I also learned that it might soon become a more widespread tool used in a variety of settings, including education.
From what I understand after briefly checking out this article and the accompanying you-tube video that is an advertisement for an augmented reality company called Zugara, it seems that augmented reality refers to a special type of online live video chatting that can be done between two people that doesn't just let you see the other person, but both parties can interact with graphics and other objects that are not really present, but the computer can somehow still put them in front of people. You really need to look at the video to see what I am talking about. Or wikipedia describes AR like this: "a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imager- creating a mixed reality."
It's crazy and really cool at the same time to think that an augmented reality product like viewed in the video might someday be something I could use in communication with students. I have no idea how it works or what is actually required. How does the virtual object in front of the person know that it is being manipulated? How does the person know where to reach for it if it is not really there (by seeing it next to them on their screen?)? I am definitely interested in learning more about this type of technology!
From what I understand after briefly checking out this article and the accompanying you-tube video that is an advertisement for an augmented reality company called Zugara, it seems that augmented reality refers to a special type of online live video chatting that can be done between two people that doesn't just let you see the other person, but both parties can interact with graphics and other objects that are not really present, but the computer can somehow still put them in front of people. You really need to look at the video to see what I am talking about. Or wikipedia describes AR like this: "a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imager- creating a mixed reality."
It's crazy and really cool at the same time to think that an augmented reality product like viewed in the video might someday be something I could use in communication with students. I have no idea how it works or what is actually required. How does the virtual object in front of the person know that it is being manipulated? How does the person know where to reach for it if it is not really there (by seeing it next to them on their screen?)? I am definitely interested in learning more about this type of technology!
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