TagCrowd, OpenCast, Sakai & more ...

Seen during Kate Ellis' presentation at the Sakai Regional Meeting (Conference) #VTSakai08, she used and mentioned a couple of really cool things. Here's just a few of these:

1. The TagCrowd tagline is, "Create your own tag cloud from any text to visualize word frequency." Very cool! TagCrowd: http://tagcrowd.com/
2. OpenCast: The Opencast community is a collaboration of higher education institutions working together to explore, define, and document podcasting^? best practices and technologies. Through blogs and email lists, the community offers guidance and information to help others choose the best approach for delivering rich media online. OpenCast: http://www.opencastproject.org/
3. TweetScan: Download your own personal Twitter archive! You can download a portable web page and CSV file with your message archive including replies. Our database goes back to December 2007 and is the most comprehensive available. This can be free or whatever price you set. Use your message download to: Archive past exchanges, Publish links and quotes, Follow up on past projects, Access offline, View and reconnect with contacts. TweetScan: https://www.tweetscan.com/data.php
   

Sakai-specific

1. IU has a Sakai Mod called, "Enter Student View". Very useful and wanted!
   

Wired Campus: Project Aims to Build Online Classroom With Latest Web 2.0 Features - Chronicle.com

Wired Campus: Project Aims to Build Online Classroom With Latest Web 2.0 Features - Chronicle.com

The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Wired Campus noted that Howard Rheingold has won a grant in the Digital Media and Learning Competition to put all of the social-collaborative community tools (aka, Web 2.0) together in the classroom.

As Howard Rheingold commented back, "For those interested in a more complete description of the project, which includes the toolset, curricula (syllabi and teaching notes), resource repository (started here), video documentation and instructional material (in the vein of the first several entries), and the community of practitioners: the text of the award application."

How to Describe Web 2.0 to Administrators

http://www.mtl-peters.net/blog/?p=181

"Web 2.0 is sometimes called the “Read Write Web”. I call it the “Read, Write, Speak, Listen Web”. It is an Internet that is no longer about passive viewing and linking . This new Interactive Internet is transforming the manner in which people all over the world are interacting, communicating and collaborating. In the last two to three years, we have witnessed an explosion of new information and knowledge available to anyone with an Internet connection. As educators, we cannot ignore the fact that our students are consumers, distributors, remixers, and creators of content from and to the Internet. They need models and guidance from trusted adults as they interact with others and with information. Reasons why educators should include web 2.0 tools and environments (i.e. blogs, wikis, forums, learning management systems, voicethread, podcasts) as part of classroom practices include: relevance to real world practices, access to authentic audiences, opportunities to learn and practice appropriate online conduct, global citizenship skills, information literacy skills of evaluation and authentication, skills in anchoring and filtering information, and opportunities to collaborate, as well as experience learning gains."

My Faculty 2.0 Course

What am I going to use and survey in class? Some--but not likely all--of the below.

"Pre-Homework"

1. Web 2.0 [YouTube]
   Added: March 08, 2006. From: jutecht
   Using the Web 2.0 write up in Wikiped... Description: Using the Web 2.0 write up in Wikipedia this video is to help teach educators about Web 2.0 tools
2. The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)
   Added: March 08, 2007
   From: mwesch
   Description: "Web 2.0" in just under 5 minutes.
   htt... "Web 2.0" in just under 5 minutes. http://mediatedcultures.net. This is a slightly revised and cleaned up version of the video that was featured on YouTube in February 2007 [...]
3. Wikipedia's List of "Social Software"
4. WebWare 100 Awards
5. Flick'r: Web 2.0 Logos & Links
   

Resources

1. Communities of Practice (CoPs)
1. My Google Library
1. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity
   by Etienne Wenger - Business & Economics - 1999 - 336 pages
2. Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge
   by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William Snyder - Philosophy - 2002 - 284 pages.
2. Wikipedia: Community of Practice
   
   
2. Communication --> Community Collaboration
   
1. Email, IRC, IM (Web 1.0)
   
1. IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
   
2. AIM (AOL instant messenger)
   
3. Yahoo! (Yahoo! instant messenger)
   
4. MSN (Microsoft Live messenger)
   
5. GoogleTalk / Jabber (Open-source instant messenger)
   
6. ICQ (I-Seek-You instant messenger)
   
2. P2P (Peer-to-Peer)
1. eMule
2. BitTorrent
   
3. RSS 2.0 (Really Simple Syndication)
4. Blogs (contraction for "web log")
   
1. Blogger
2. LiveJournal
3. Edublogs
   
5. Wikis (quick website collaboration)
   
1. PBwiki for educators
2. VT's Scholar with wiki
6. Twitter
   
   
3. Productivity Tools
1. Creative Commons
   Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."
2. Daylert
   Combines Facebook's social presence with Blackboard's online classroom.
   
3. Google Apps
   Variety of free, collaborative, online office-like applications (and more).
4. MS Office Live Workspace
   MS Office applications online, shareable, and allows for collaboration.
   
5. My Yahoo! Widgets
   Brings updated, at-a-glance view of your favorite Internet services to your desktop.
   
6. Yahoo! Pipes
   Pipes is a composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web.
   
   
4. Visual Search Engines
1. KartOO
   A metasearch engine with visual display interfaces.
2. Quintura
   Another visual search engine with one built specifically for kids.
   
3. searchCrystal
   A search visualization tool that enables you to compare, remix and share results from the best web, image, video, blog, tagging, news engines, Flickr images or RSS feeds to compare multiple engines in one place.
4. SearchMash
   Google's foray into a search "mashup."
   
5. TouchGraph
   A free Java application to explore the visual connections between related websites.
   
   
5. Social Bookmarking/Clipping/News
1. Clipmarks
2. del.icio.us
3. Technorati
4. Digg
   
   
6. Photo/Slide/Video/Audio Sharing
1. Flick'r
2. Picasa
3. Photobucket
4. SlideShare
5. YouTube
6. Ustream
7. Podcasting
   
8. CrowdAbout
   
   
7. Social Networking/MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online [Role Playing] Game)
   
1. MySpace
2. Facebook
3. Friendster
4. DeviantArt
5. World of Warcraft
   
6. Second Life

CrowdAbout.us: Talk Amongst Yourselves

What I have to say about CrowdAbout.us - Conversational Player

CrowdAbout.us is very professional looking and easy-to-use. It's podcasting meets an audibly gabby forum. You really should just go see it to get what I'm talking about.

I have to say, I find it fascinating. I've mentioned to more than one person that I'm seeing a (rapidly) increasing trend to make all interactions as two-way as our real life interactions. Social networking is simply the same as what we do in RL, only we can do it faster and farther-reaching with the technology at hand. With CrowdAbout, I find myself staring at a podcast or video that lets me literally talk back to it. I can even video record my response. I'm not sure I'm really ready for that ... are you?

Additionally, I'm curious to know what research (if any) the folks of CrowdAbout have cited to support the concept for the development of it? I'm wondering because I've recently read The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Edited by Richard E. Mayer) and suggested to the developers to consider some of the principles listed in the book to help further develop this product. (In particular, most anything in Part II).

On a gut-level, I actually like the move towards two-way participation/engagement with the video and/or podcast. If nothing else, I like the "Wow!" coolness factor of it. That's not enough, of course. Despite that, I've shared the site with my advisers, friends, and colleagues.

What are your thoughts? Comments?