Twitter Problems - Reconsidering Jaiku
May 29, 2008
Twitter’s had a number of problems lately. Seems it all started when they had the system down for upgrades a couple of weeks ago. Since then they’re on par with Second Life for technical problems. The two blur together for me: is it Twitter that has the database problem, with Second Life affected by VPN connections between servers, or is it the other way around?
All of this has me looking for alternatives. I don’t think I could stand Pownce again. I never liked the design and their AIR client was too buggy.
Jaiku was worth another look, though. It’s missing my social network, but overall it wasn’t as awkward as Pownce. My biggest problem with Jaiku was that I kept getting redundant Twitter feeds hours after the fact. A Tweet from D’Arcy would echo from Alan and Andy long after I’d seen it, with the attribution confused. It was like an echo chamber, with no way to stop. So I stopped watching.
But with Twitter in trouble I thought it was worth another look. And I’m glad I stopped by.
First thing I noticed was a note from Jaiku itself (1 month, 2 weeks ago no less):
Jaiku will be moving to the new Google App Engine. More on the Jaiku blog: http://tinyurl.com/3o2kkr
I figured by this point the move would be done. So what had changed? The first thing I checked was if I could use SMS on my iPhone to send Jaikus. Back in the day, it just didn’t work. My only choice was to have a Safari bookmark, which I didn’t like. Now? The test message went through, I was able to reply, and now I can use SMS to sent to Jaiku.
More importantly, as I started browsing my friends, I noticed an option for each feed they send to Jaiku: I can unsubscribe from just that feed. So now I can get Alan’s Jaikus, his Flickr stream, but not his Twitter feed or CogDogBlog if I don’t want.
That’s exactly the kind of control I would need for Jaiku to work. And so I’m back. Not giving up on Twitter yet - I’ve been playing with brightkite lately and like the ability to send posts to Twitter - but I am going to post to Jaiku more, just to see what happens.
Toolbox or Trap? Course Management Systems and Pedagogy
May 18, 2008
Lisa Lane has an article in the most recent issue of EDUCAUSE Quarterly, “Toolbox or Trap? Course Management Systems and Pedagogy.” For a brief article, she does a good job laying out the criticisms I hear most frequently about course management systems: their design is focused on integrating resources (as “inventory control”) instead of being focused on innovative teaching.
“The construction of the course syllabus, a natural beginning point for most instructors, is a good example of how the software imposes limitations. When they first enter a CMS, new instructors see the default buttons of the course menu, which are based on type rather than purpose: Announcements, Course Content, Discussion, even Syllabus. The buttons link to pages that simply provide a place to upload a document, which is exactly what most instructors do: upload a word-processed file of their in-class syllabus. It would be more natural for novice instructors to see a blank schedule in which they could create each week’s (or unit’s) activities. Most professors think in terms of the semester and how their pedagogical goals can be achieved within the context of time rather than space. The default organization of the CMS forces them to think in terms of content types instead, breaking the natural structure of the semester.”
Lane suggests that constructivist, learner-centered, or inquiry-based approaches are better supported by Web 2.0 applications, or by learning management systems that focus more on pedagogy than content management.
We’re exploring these tools at Richmond now, but at this point we’re connecting with our early adopters, not the majority. I wonder what it will take for most faculty to embrace social tools: they require more consideration up front, and if they want to use more than one tool, it’s multiple logins for them and their students. The effort has to be justified, and I think we’ll see that as early adopters share compelling stories of transformed learning. But is there something more we need to do, either to be sure the stories are communicated effectively or the administrivia streamlined?
I guess I’m trying to step into our learners’ shoes, to be sure our plans are effective. I can be patient, as social technologies work their way into instructor toolboxes, but I also want to be sure I’m not missing any opportunities.
SCS Directors - Presentation Outline
March 10, 2008
The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
- Organization
- Kevin Creamer, Director ( kcreamer at richmond.edu, 804.289.8677)
- CTLT Liaisons (web site coming soon)
- Allison Czapracki ( aczapracki at richmond.edu, 804.287.6657)
- Jim Groom ( jgroom at richmond.edu, 804.287.6872)
- Hill Scott ( hscott at richmond.edu, 804.289.8452)
- Kenneth Warren ( kwarren at richmond.edu, 804.287.6656)
- Tom Woodward ( twoodwar at richmond.edu, 804.289.8258)
- Allison Czapracki ( aczapracki at richmond.edu, 804.287.6657)
- Terry Dolson - Faculty Development Specialist (804.287.6038)
- Mark Nichols - Lab Group ( mnichols at richmond.edu, 804.287.6877)
- Technology Learning Center [TLC] ( tlc at richmond.edu, 804.289.8772)
Resources
- Blackboard
- Oracle
- Acrobat Connect (Breeze)
- Blogs
- Wikis
- Second Life
- Web 2.0
Faculty Support
- Answering questions
- Connecting with resources
- Coming to class
Faculty Development
- Technology overviews and workshops
- Learning 2008 (web site coming soon)
- NITLE workshops: Visual Literacy, Web Mapping
- Instructional workshops - suggestions to Pat Brown
- One-on-one teaching consultations - contact Terry Dolson
- School-specific programs
Content systems: Joomla! vs. Drupal
October 4, 2007
Since 1991 I’ve been the list owner / moderator of Milton-L, a discussion list on the life, literature and times of the poet John Milton. In 1994 I created The Milton-L Home Page as a support site for the discussion list.
I’m now ready to take the web site to the next level, allowing the community of Milton scholars to contribute events, publication notices and more to the site. It’s my hope that the site will become as useful as the discussion list has been.
The current site is on a static (i.e. non-cgi enabled) web server. This server is slated for some big changes and I know the web address for the site is going to change. A few months back I purchased the johnmilton.org domain, and I plan to use this domain for the new site.
When I first started with hosted servers, I looked at several of the open source content management systems. I settled on Joomla! because both the front end and back end were intelligible not only to me but to the community that will use the site. I also liked the theme templates that are available.
In the back of my mind, though, Drupal has always been lurking as the best solution. D’Arcy loves it. NMC switched to it. It seems infinitely configurable, but that makes it seem infinitely complex, to me and the community. Unless I could wrap my brain around it all and architect the site well.
The most recent upgrade of Joomla! broke both of the installations I was using. Users can no longer log in on the front end. So now I’m really looking at Drupal. Here are my questions:
- What’s the state of spam and spam protection for Drupal? Is there a Spam Karma 2 equivalent to keep me safe with a minimum of effort? I plan to create user roles carefully, but I’d love to have a good security system in place.
- What are the best plug-in modules for Drupal? I’m already looking at the Events module, since I need to have that kind of content on my site. But what are the best plug ins overall? I’ve always appreciated blog entries listing WordPress plug ins - love to see a Drupal list too.
- Do you have any theme recommendations? I want to keep things simple, but Drupal’s default themes are a little plain.
- Other than Drupal.org, what are some good web sites for Drupal admins to follow?
- What am I not asking that I should?
Technorati Tags: blog, drupal, humanities, JohnMilton, learning, Milton, Joomla!, socialsoftware, teaching, web, WordPress
Seminars on Academic Computing 2007
August 7, 2007
I’m in Snowmass Village for the 2007 Seminars on Academic Computing. It’s my first time at SAC, and, after 33 years, the last time SAC will be held in Snowmass Village.
I’m not the type that pays much attention to the venue of a conference. I’m not usually interested in exploring the towns that host these events. I am interested in making connections with colleagues, in learning, and in reflecting on what I have learned and on how I can apply what I’ve learned to my work back on campus.
But Snowmass is beautiful. The flight into Aspen was breathtaking. I haven’t seen mountains and valleys like this since Jean and I visited Salzburg in 1989. Even after I had landed, I found myself staring at the mountains that surround everything. There are few places I find myself wanting to revisit, but I would really like to come here again someday to explore.
My first morning here I took a walk on some bike trails on the mountain, and came across flowers in each of my girl’s favorite colors.
More on the seminars in my next posts.
Technorati Tags: EDUCAUSE, EDUCAUSE_SA07
Transmedia Learning
July 8, 2007
In Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins spends a chapter describing how the creators of The Matrix engaged storytellers in many different media to tell complimentary parts of the entire Matrix story. Playing the video games, reading the comic books and watching The Animatrix extended the story with some overlaps to the movies.
In the May/June 2007 issue of EDUCAUSE Review, Carie Windham makes suggestions to faculty considering podcasts for their classes in her article “Confessions of a Podcast Junkie“. One particular suggestion struck me:
Offer something more: For the professors who have implemented podcasting technology, the most common concern they hear from their peers is that students will stop showing up to class if the material is downloadable. In reality, they say, the opposite is true. The trick, students say, is to make sure that there is something to gain by attending class and downloading the lecture. Podcasts should add a new perspective or offer supplemental material. If lectures are podcasts, faculty should use classroom time to facilitate discussion, demonstrate models or simulate problems. “You’re going to gain something out of the classroom experience — it’s that personal lecture experience,” says Maier. “You get comments from other individuals, and examples are brought to the table by other parts of the class.”
This reminds me too of the e-mail that’s sent out a day or two after each installment of the BBC radio show In Our Time is recorded. The host, Melvyn Bragg, extends the story of the broadcast by sharing the conversation he and his experts had before and after the show.
By using different media to discuss the subject in complimentary - and not redundant - ways, faculty can create an engaging and complex learning environment that, like The Matrix or In Our Time, lets the learner build the bigger picture.
Technorati Tags: creativity, EDUCAUSE, information fluency, learning, podcast, students, teaching, technology, transmedia
Social Networking and Network Stress
July 2, 2007
NetworkWorld has a cover story on the stress that social networking sites like MySpace put on DNS servers. Pages on MySpace point to content all over the internet, causing browsers to perform dozens, sometimes hundreds of DNS lookups per page. That combined with the popularity of social networking sites has threatened the performance of DNS servers. Some, including the Department of Defense, have blocked access to these sites.
The article includes comments from Travis Berkley, supervisor of LAN support services at the University of Kansas. Faculty, staff and students generate an average of 20,000 visits a day. Kansas didn’t have to update their DNS servers, though. They’re running BIND version 9 software, which apparently handles the load comfortably. The article also notes that Kansas limits how much internet bandwidth students can consume from their rooms, which probably also helps. Does limiting bandwidth reduce the number of DNS lookups? Other than slowing the rate at which pages are loading, I would think this would be true only if the limited bandwidth caused students to use the internet less.
The challenge is that more social networking sites are coming, many integrating new kinds of media. Just yesterday I received an invite from Intellagirl (thanks!) to Pownce, yet another social networking site. Pownce is like Twitter: you create a network of friends, all of whom can read and respond to short messages, or microcontent as Bryan Alexander calls it. Twitter restricts you to 140 characters; I’ve never made use of TinyURL until I met Twitter. Pownce seems to allow longer messages. They also allow for other types of microcontent, including links, events and files.
I’m waiting for my social network to sign up for Pownce. At this moment I have fewer than five friends there, and that’s not enough to sustain conversation. If you’d like an invite to Pownce, let me know and I’ll send an invite so long as I have any left.
One annoying bit about Pownce is the inline advertising. Pownce inserts advertising messages at random points in your message stream. Not good. I can pay $20/year to make the ads stop, but unless my social network decides to use Pownce over Twitter, I’m more likely to abandon Pownce.
Another bit about Pownce that I’m not crazy about is the Pownce client. They’ve built an application to deliver Pownce content to my desktop, but it runs on a new Adobe technology called AIR. I don’t know why I had to install the AIR framework to get my Pownce content, but the real issue is that Pownce doesn’t seem to be opening their APIs. That means there won’t be any innovation around the site other than what the company comes up with itself.
Hopefully they’ll get smart and open up their APIs. In the meantime I’m keeping an eye open, hoping to be impressed, but ready to walk away if it doesn’t tip.
Technorati Tags: Pownce, social software, socialsoftware, technology, Twitter, web
Firefox to WordPress - Deepest Sender
March 18, 2007
If you can read this, I’ve got a recommendation for you.
I’m always looking for an easier way for faculty and students to blog. Blojsom’s interface is difficult for anyone who doesn’t know HTML. WordPress has a pretty easy interface but I’m always looking for another, easier way.
I’ve purchased ecto for my Mac. It’s a nice tool for writing and managing blog posts. It’s what I use on those all-too-rare occasions that I find the time to blog. It’s a simple WYSIWYG interface for editing, and it works well with images.
Yesterday I decided to search through Firefox extensions and I came across Deepest Sender. As a free extension, the price is right and the tool is cross platform (though I admit I haven’t installed it on my tablet yet).
It works with most API-enabled blogs, has a simple WYSIWYG editing interface, and apparently knows how to handle music files. I just went through my preferences and saw options (turned off by default) to automatically detect music. So it’s possible that Deepest Sender can handle podcasts.
In addition to the Normal editing tab, there’s a Source tab where I can easily muck around with the code and a Preview tab. I log in before editing and all of my blog categories are in a drop down box in the upper right corner. I can post as a draft or make the post live right away.
What I don’t see is anything that supports tagging. And I didn’t think there was a way to see what’s been posted to my site but I’m wrong - there is a Post History option in the File menu.
Deepest Sender has just made it to the top of my list as an entry-level blog editing tool for faculty and students. It gets them to use Firefox and makes posting most entries easy.
New Portal to Second Life: Your Phone
February 19, 2007
This is good, because I was getting worried that I wasn’t logged into Second Life enough. Wade Roush at MIT Technology Review writes that Comverse has developed a Java-based client for cell phones with internet connections.
It makes sense. More people have cell phones and more people are getting phones with internet connections. ECAR reports that student ownership of smart phones went from 1.1 percent in 2005 to 7.5 percent in 2006. It’s a small percentage but let’s watch that growth rate next year.
Obviously SL on a smart phone is limited. You can’t see much, but you can interact with others. You’ll be able to send messages to friends via SMS, MMS or IM.
And both SL and smart phones will get better in time. It’s another link point to an immersive world.
Now I just need to find out if Java comes with Windows Mobile 5. 
A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
January 10, 2007
Boing Boing posted a story recently about A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. The chart is fantastic. While I’m familiar with many of the types of visualizations presented, there are several I haven’t seen before. I was happy to see graphic facilitation on the chart: just this fall I participated in a session at the NMC Regional Conference in San Antonio, where Rachel Smith used this method effectively in a session about the future of scholarship.
What’s better is that the chart organizes different types of visualizations into categories: process visualizations, structure visualizations, overviews, details, details and overviews, and so on. I think I’ll refer to this chart frequently when I am thinking of the best way to present information.
Technorati Tags: information fluency, nmc, nmc2006reg, visualization
