Mar 28 2007
Twitter, Splashcast and I Feel Fine….
Blogging just seems to get quicker and in someways it is amazing what catches on. All this meta-data and micro-detail about our lives has led to the Twitter craze? Simply you can update with a small sentence and no more – what you are doing at that present moment. This can then be sent to your instant messenger or mobile phone, or more importantly to your friends messenger and phone services. The interesting point about this silly Web 2.0 service is that the web is being combined with messenger, and text on your phones….and communication can pass either way. This is starting to develop ways in which ubiquitous computing can allow communication anywhere from any connected device, and would lead to many applications for education and teaching and learning. I tried way back in the first year of my Masters to use an online application called in.mediat which is now defunct but tried a similar thing, as whenever I posted a blog post it would be sent automatically to a messenger service like MSN. The app was a little cranky but the idea intrigued me, as most of the students I teach readily admit they use their computer primarily as a messaging device even before using it for social networking. Anyway hopefully more developments will follow which I can research into soon.
Also just discovered ‘We Feel Fine’, which again shows the amaxing interconnectness and openness of the net today. The application uses an API to track anytime a weblog uses the words ‘feel’ in a webpost, it then feeds this all into an amazing online presentation tool which places them into a variety of categories. Much better to check it out, than to let me describe it. But again this shows how a tool, can extract data amazingly accurately from millions and millions of sources. Could this not be used in some form or other to extract reusable sources and educational activities?
The third of my amazing and fun finds this week, was Splashcast – which simply allows you through a flash interface to create your own channel of video, resources and much more into one package that can be embedded on any website. For instance their example of the front of their site, brings together all the TED videos into a package you can embed on any website. The possibiliites of this are endless, and much more transparent and immediate than the above two tools. I’ll get back to you when I have created my first channel.
(Editors Note: After all these wonders I was brought back to earth by the crass firewalls that schools keep on putting in place, leading to my school weblogs and MOODLE CICT site amongst other items not passing through the firewall. Great learning tool when no-one can access it at school..aargggh)
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