tech-ed collisions

ed.au blogs on Twitter

Can't force yourself to leave Twitter but still interested in the ed.au blogs? Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/edaublogger. Cheers, Jerry.

Filed under  //   Twitter  

User generated content (UGC) analysis

An interesting post on Erik Duval's blog on the quantitative analysis of user-generated content on the Web. The post refers to a presentation given by Erik and Zavier Ochia at the First International Workshop on Understanding Web Evolution (WebEvolve2008). The research builds on the notion that while consumption of user-generated content (UGC) might seem to be well understood, not enough research has been done on the production of UGC. Having read the paper I am now keen to understand the notion of 'fat tails' and 'fat bellies' and do some analysis of our own sites in order to gain an insight into the contributors of UGC in them. An important warning from the paper for me is to determine whether we have any sites that have a few 'very important' users that are really contributing to the overall success of the sites and how we are looking after them.

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Filed under  //   general  

presentation from AVETRA

As mentioned in a previous post, here is the presentation that I did for the AVETRA conference.

And it's a good way to test embedding a presentation from Slideshare. Cheers, Jerry.

Filed under  //   eportfolio  

do you have time for social networking?

Here's a great article aimed at people working in museums but I am sure it's just as interesting for anyone working in any cultural institutions or really, anyone with an interest in social networking in general. Written by Nina Simon, 'How much time does Web 2.0 take' looks at what you might be able to accomplish through social networking based on the amount of time you can devote to it per week. Have a read and work out if you are a participant, a content provider or a community director. There are some great suggestions in here on how you could promote your institution online and help those seeking information or trying to discover you.

Filed under  //   Web 2.0  

establishing an Internet connection

Establishing an Internet connection can be a bit hit and miss sometimes - I have been trying to sort out wireless access to my (now not so) new home laptop for quite a few months. Unfortunately it came with Vista. Try googling 'Vista - local access only' and read through the dozens of forum threads by many, many frustrated users with the same problem to get an idea just how painful this problem is for them. btw wireless access hasn't been a problem for any other device at home (XP, Mac, Linux, Nintendo WII, a number of phones and other mobile devices, etc). Anyway, I have had to revert back to installing cable for the laptop which kind of defeats the purpose. Which brings me to the main point of this post- cabling. Cabling a home properly (ie tidily, through the walls etc so you don't have complaints about the mess your making) can be enough of a challenge for some of us but what if you're laying a connection from the USA to Australia. Here are some great pics on ZDNet giving a bit of an insight as to how it's done.

Filed under  //   Internet  

Powerhouse Museum collection on Flickr

From the Powerhouse Museum comes the news that they have joined the Commons on Flickr. From their website:

"The Powerhouse Museum is the first museum in the world to release publicly-held historical photographs for access on Flickr, one of the largest online photo communities in the world. The Museum joins the world’s largest photo library, the US Library of Congress, which released its first photos for public access on Flickr in January this year."
This means that there will be some fantastic historical photo collections from them posted up on Flickr. Rights associated with them are easily understood and whats more, they have geo-tagged many of the photos so that you can view them on a map. The mapping service is the Yahoo! one - I had a look and while the satellite imagery is great, the map itself didn't have much detail but I guess that will come. Users are encouraged to tag and comment on the photos and that information will ultimately be fed back into the collection records. Another great initiative  from the Powerhouse Museum!

Filed under  //   Web 2.0  
Posted April 9, 2008

Good practice guidelines for social network providers

The Home Office in the UK has just release a report entitled 'Good practice guidance for the providers of social networking and other user interactive services 2008'. It's probably a must read for providers of social networking services and many others. Educators and parents should all find something of interest in it. Part 1 of the report provides some background information on social networking and some of the potential dangers for younger people such as bullying, self-harm and other threats. Part 2 makes some recommendations for good practice while Part 3 provides some safety tips. Although a UK report, the Australian Communications and Media Authority had a role in its development so those of us in Australia should at least have a read to see where ACMA's current thinking is on this really important issue.

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Filed under  //   Web 2.0  
Posted April 7, 2008

on ePortfolios and AVETRA

Yesterday I had the privilege of presenting at the AVETRA conference here in Adelaide. My talk was focussed on ePortfolio policy and interoperability. Over the last eighteen months or so I have been concerned about the lack of a systemic approach to ePortfolios as compared to other jurisdictions (in particular the EU and UK). Most ePortfolio services that I come across in Australia are organisational/institutional applications that are focussed on meeting the needs of the student/institution while they are in that institution. ePortfolios mean many things to different people and there are many definitions and uses for them but what we don't have here in Australia is something that can be used to cater for lifelong learning. In the presentation I gave I suggested that perhaps we should simply turn our attention to the Web to see what is available publicly that can be used as an ePortfolio service or set of services. There are many examples around (see Helen Barrett's ePortfolio and instructions on how to construct one for yourself. Helen Barrett is a great source of information on ePortfolios for those who are interested. The JISC ePortfolio reference model (essentially a service oriented approach) is another interesting model worth exploring. Of course there are a number of services that are not available on the Web at the moment that would be really useful for a lifelong ePortfolio. For example, accreditation verfication and authentication services are examples. It would be fantastic if I could aggregate my favourite blog services, photo/document sharing services into a spot on the Web that I have created and also include links to services that could validate my claims for awards (degrees, diplomas, certificates etc) that I have. Hopefully the presentation or the paper that I submitted will be available shortly. It was nice to attend part of the conference at least and make some good contacts who appreciated what I was saying and who may hopefully use some of the ideas to make a difference. Cheers, Jerry.

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Filed under  //   eportfolio  
Posted April 4, 2008

Document Freedom Day update

In a previous post I mentioned that Google were hosting a local (Sydney) event to celebrate this day.  Unfortunately I don't live in Sydney so attending was not possible. However, Sarah Maddox, who was able to attend has posted a great article on her blog covering the event.  It is great to see the concentration on the broader challenges 'document freedom' presents rather than simply focussing on disputes over format specifications.  I encourage anyone interested in finding out more about document freedom to read Sarah's article.

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Filed under  //   Google  
Posted April 1, 2008

Document Freedom Day

Google, the Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) and the Sydney Linux User's Group are hosting an event for the first annual Document Freedom day on Wednesday 26th March at the Sydney Google offices. From the document freedom site:

"The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation with grassroots action for promotion of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general. The DFD was initiated and is supported by a group of organisations and companies, including, but not limited to the Free Software Foundation Europe, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, Inc. On 26 March 2008, the Document Freedom Day will provide a global rallying point for Document Liberation and Open Standards. It will literally give teams around the world the chance to "hoist the flag":"
For more information about the event in Sydney, see here. At education.au we are keen to use, showcase and promote open standards in general, but we obviously have a specific interest in those that affect or can be utilised within education. This event in particular is well timed in terms of what is happening at the moment with open document formats and the standardisation process. Many will have heard about OOXML and possibly the fast tracking of the Draft International Standard 29500. However, if you are not, simply try googling OOXML. The debate over this issue is intense, to say the least. Trying to find an unbiased view can be challenging. Here are a couple of links that are worth reading but as with anything that is written, are written through the eyes of the writers/contributors. Cheers, Jerry

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Filed under  //   Google