In May, I posted about the idea that web design is about to change to become mostly search-based. Web 3.0 seems to be the start of a more personalized search experience. Web pages will be about search and building a home page that allows for personalized customization. (See post here for further info: http://techxas.edublogs.org/2009/05/26/district-web-page-design-30/)
Twitter looks like it released a new front page that is focused all on…..search.
No more explanations on what Twitter is or can do. No videos about Twitter or how to use it.
The main page of Twitter is now focused on search.
I wonder what other sites will be redesigning soon? Look for more sites to emphasize Search and less emphasis on that distracting content. Simplified web searching!
I wonder how this new design will affect mobile touchscreen devices like cell phones and Apple tablet PCs? How long until the mouse is obsolete?
I have been an avid user of Facebook since it went public in 2006. Originally it was designed only for college use to link students together at Harvard. Back in 2004, the social network was linking only Harvard, Stanford, and Yale in a way to create a “living yearbook”. I remember reading about it in an article when it was originally title The Facebook and its address was thefacebook.com. From 2004 to 2006, it was only open to college students and accounts were generated based on students having an email address recognized in the system. It was impossible to get in on it unless you had that @edu address.
In 2006, the site opened up to allow non-university users and the floodgates opened. I joined up when I read it allowed us all to have access and I have been keeping up with friends, family, colleagues, old church youth group pals, former students, and so on ever since. My network consists of over 400 “friends” and I post videos, links, blogs, notes, games, etc. in what I consider a living blog.
It is different in many ways to this blog because of the instant response it generates. I get more response to a funny video post there than any post I generate here. Instant-gratification! I don’t have to Twitter that I posted a new blog post either. I don’t have to publicize my new posts there because it auto-feeds my note to the entire network.
I see colleagues in my profession with profiles on the site but they don’t seem to take full advantage of what Facebook offers. Some have it set to receive and feed their Twitters and/or Plurks. But to me that seems like it isn’t proactive enough. It seems like it is just another feeder for the same information. There isn’t interaction in the same way as a blog itself. There doesn’t seem to be the two-way or even 30-way communication when something is shared with commentary on the timeline.
I wonder if people are still adjusting to Facebook and take it way too seriously?
I don’t see it as a professional tool though I do see how it can be used that way. I see it as a way to share the things I find in my daily web travels. From the interesting to the sublime, there are some really interesting things to share on the web. I keep my commentary to a minimum and let the conversation build from the social circles I have developed over the years.
It is blogging-lite! It’s crass and baudy at times but I think it keeps it interesting. I get comments asking me where I find such odd items to post and I share how I harness the web with so many tools. I still get to teach my former students and co-workers but it isn’t planned. It’s live conversation taking place on the timeline.
My hope is that more people take advantage of the possibilities to use Facebook in a way that reaches out beyond streaming what they post on other timeline tools like Twitter and Plurk. Integrate some fun into your timeline! Share a funny YouTube video you found and start a discussion on why it made you laugh. Talk about the social activities you engage in outside your professional world. Take pictures of what is in your yard or something interesting you found in your town. Yes, be concerned about social media professionalism but don’t be stodgy!
It’s okay to have fun every now and then. Anyone else enjoying Facebook?
My profile is http://www.facebook.com/mrjadkins. Stop by for some fun!
Today I watched the news unfold on Twitter and not on any US or UK News agency. I watched people post about an election in Iran and the civil unrest that followed shortly after the results were announced.
In the process of watching the timeline of Twitter, I moved to Twittervision to watch a global messaging start focusing from one country – Iran. Twittervision took too long.
I went to #IranElection and to #IranElection09 on Twitter but those timelines refreshed with over 60 new messages every 10 seconds. I needed more information in a timely manner.
I went to Monittor where I was able to monitor 3 hash-topics at the same time. I watched #IranElection, #IranElection09, and the folding of #TehranBureau. I learned that domestic news agencies were forcibly shut down by the military and TehranBureau’s reports became a trickle.
But the news kept coming from several individuals at ground-zero in Tehran and other cities where public civil disobedience was taking place.
I moved over to Twazzup to monitor the latest news.
The interesting thing during all this tragedy is how little the “news” regime has been covering what is going on. I learned on MSNBC that there are some Republican rappers who are a bit conservative. I also learned that the transition to digital cable went really well this weekend from CNN.
I didn’t learn that students in the University of Tehran were barricaded in their dorms while the police randomly brutalized a few of them. I didn’t see any mention of the tanks that moved into Tehran to help keep the peace. I didn’t see any reports about YouTube removing videos from Tehran that were showing the brutality. And I didn’t hear reports from the news agencies about the Iranian government shutting down Internet access and cell phone service to keep what was happening controlled.
I learned how people are fighting to get information out of their country about what is happening. I am seeing live feeds of people posting how to get around government filters to post to Twitter and other sites. I am reading posts listing who to follow that is typing in English for us to get the real news.
I watched as people sent messages to @andersoncooper and other news related media resources. They were pleading for help but more pleading for recognition about what was going on. What is going on, still.
This weekend marked a victory for digital television but it may be the death date of network news. I like how one post on Twitter says it best: “US News Agencies fiddle while Iran burns”. Is anyone watching? Is anyone chatting about it? My Twitter timeline is full of people posting about what they are eating, watching on television, demonstrating at a conference, and my heart is breaking.
I wonder if tomorrow’s news will cover how they failed? Or will this be a quick story before we get the celebrity birthdays and weather?
Isthisnot news? I guess the 20 year anniversary of the events in Tiananmen Square where the world’s media captured the protests and civil unrest was huge ratings. The events taking place now must seem like a repeat. Why cover this again? The whole world is not watching because Dateline is profiling something else tonight.
This video is a bit long (over an hour); but it does show how Google Wave works. I like the introduction of it where the speakers shares that this works in HTML 5 and not as a desktop application.
No OS required. Just a browser.
This isn’t my first post about the shift from using a hard-drive operating system to the web OS. Wave is another step in that direction by calling their new system a Product, Platform, and a Protocol.
We are moving to the personalized web in leaps.
At 6 minutes and about 15 seconds in, the speaker starts sharing how email has evolved from sending individual messages to the Wave system which is about shared conversation. At 9 minutes in, watch how a conversation can be split in structure to allow you to respond to certain parts of it. In other words, you can have threaded discussions inside each message. You have to see it!
Instant messaging changed as well at the 10:20 minute mark. As you type, the message appears. You don’t have to wait to hit enter. Messaging is INSTANT. You don’t have to spend time watching “this person is replying”. You can be crafting your response as they type it.
At 15:30, you can see how easy it is to add images to a conversation. Click and drag. No import, export, upload, download. Click and drag.
At 20:00, if you use Google blogger you can see how conversations can spill in to the wave from blog comments. Works on cell phones too!
At 35:30, collaborative editing with LIVE changes seen. This is something missing from the current Google Document tool. But with this WAVE, you can see the changes occur immediately.
At 44:20, spell check is explained to work inside context. It doesn’t isolate words, the tool checks the context of the word in the sentence.
At 49:00, there is a show of how a gadget made by a developer changed the conversation in a Wave. Since this audience is developers, the speakers show them how gadgets can improve the conversations. Interesting to see that the gadget developed in the conversation shows how to make a threaded discussion into an “e-vite” type of tool.
This part of the conversation turns into how the Wave connects to Google docs, maps, earth, etc. Using “bots”, the tools are now part of the collaborative environment. They demo using a poll generator tool that literally combines the Google Spreadsheet (Form) tool into the live conversation of the wave. At 57:30, you can see how they use an extension to connect the Wave tool with something like Twitter.
Wave is an Open Protocol so you can customize your own waves and wave tools. For developers, they can build their own extensions into Wave similar to how Firefox allows developers to add their own additional programs.
I can honestly say that this idea is very interesting. It isn’t about email, messaging, document editing, etc. This is about a one-stop shop place for collaboration. Live conversation and collaborative editing that forms in waves and shares in waves. As mentioned in the last post, this all involves less clicking! Less wait time. Less load time. Instant communication. Very cool!
As Twitter has surged in popularity, there have been many stories circulating about how people found answers to questions/complaints within a short amount of time. I have always been amazed at these stories but never really experienced it for myself….until yesterday.
We had a board meeting this week and a board member requested a service to show the policy adjustments from TASB and LOCAL documentation in a way similar to a revision history. The board member described it as a type of transparent overlay to see how the document changes per draft. I know that this can be done by using Word and strikethrough tools but we were looking for something a little more automated.
So…I posted on Twitter: “Any ideas? Trying to find a quick method for viewing TASB policy changes in one document. One file showing all revisions made in three clix.” Within 90 minutes, I received an email from Marvin Long in TASB Policy Services asking me to verify that I was the “mradkins” who posted the question on Twitter. I verified and received instructions on exactly what we needed to do to download this documentation directly from TASB.
We did not need to do anything on our end except login and download the files from TASB. They already have this on their website available for download. I have their instructions posted below if you would like to share with your Superintendents.
I am amazed at how quickly this was handled. I didn’t even have time to ask the question on our TEC-SIG listserv where I would need to wait at least 12 hours for most of the responses. I didn’t hash-mark the TASB question on Twitter either; which usually links it directly to the organization. Marvin informed me that the TASB Communications Director has been very proactive in monitoring Twitter for TASB mentions. Great job! She found me and directed my post to the right person!
All in all, I am still amazed at how great Twitter is working for finding information so quickly. Yesterday I was able to mention to my CTE Director the instant information posted by TEA on Twitter about CTE articulation happening at that moment. I am really pushing the idea of Twitter to my admininstrators to show how instant information is being passed around. With yesterday’s example, it is getting easier to share.
Information is literally at my fingertips and I think that may frighten people….well….until they become Twitter addicts themselves.
Anyone else out there with a personal Twitter experience like this?
Here is the information for viewing draft revisions to board policy:
1. Go to TASB.org
2. Log into their myTASB accounts
3. Access the Policy Service Resource Library and then click a utility called Local Manual Updates.
This will allow them to download documents pertaining to updates of board policy, including a file called “(LOCAL) Policy Comparison.” This PDF file contains annotated copies of the local policies in a given update.
Anyway, by means of Local Manual Updates, the superintendent’s office can retrieve a PDF containing annotated local policies and distribute that to the board, if that’s what’s desired.
On the other hand, if you’re not satisfied with TASB’s proposed text and want to make further changes of your own, you can also download (again from Local Manual Updates) a zipped archive containing the proposed new local policies in Word. These are not annotated. However, you can make your own annotations in a couple of ways:
· You can perform a document comparison of your own between the proposed new policy and a copy of your current local policy (perhaps downloaded from Policy On Line).
· You can use the track changes feature in Word to automatically annotate your own changes. (Combine these two methods, and you can show a combination of TASB’s proposals and your own changes.)
