CMIS Evaluation Technology Focus

Those who were unable to attend the ASLA Conference this week may like to check this twitterfountain for the tweets and photos posted to flicker.

An archive of tweets from the conference attendees is also available via twapperkeeper

Thanks to Libsmatter and Pru

Update: This morning’s post was put up in haste – before I left for the unconference. Thanks to Kathryn Greenhill (libsmatter) for this great example integrating technology at libcampperth09

Unfortunately only one java script will run on this blog so I have deleted the twitterfountain for the LibCampPerth2009 [It can still be viewed on The LibrariansMatter blog and a number of other places on the web]

Enjoy the show – wherever you are.

Visit Librariansmatter for Kathryn’s CoverIt Live window or the LibraryCampPerth2009 wiki where session notes, photos and videos will be uploaded as they become available.

Our recent posts I’ve seen that book and What will yours look like? focussed on the blending of digital and print formats in the field of young adult publishing. You may also have noticed our updated VodPod widgets featuring a selection of YA booktrailers.

Pursuing this theme of the blurring of lines between the two formats here is a further example of the use of electronic/digital media to enhance and support print resources.

The latest digital offering from Scott Westerfeld’s blog: a Leviathan countdown timer.

Visit Scott Westerfeld’s website!

Note from Scott’s blog: Small warning, this is an American countdown timer, which is only accurate for North America. I’m trying to get exact dates for the Oz and UK editions, and will then make adjustments. But don’t fret, Aussies and Brits, it looks like your edition will come out the same week as the US one—maybe even earlier!

Also of note is the Simon & Schuster offer of the FREE book download of Uglies.

The Feature Article in the latest issue of Fiction Focus: The Book 2.0 – Why eBooks are eLectric! looks at how technology is changing the way people read, interact with and access information. Please use this blog’s comments function let us know about your favourite digital/web-based resources used to  supplement or extend your students’ print reading experiences.
The CMIS Resource Bank contains reviews of  Scott Westerfeld’s books.

Book Trailers are digital multimedia productions designed to promote an interest in reading.

Sites to check out include:

• Digital Booktalk

This information-rich site which was developed by Drs. Robert Kenny and Glenda Gunter at the the University of Central Florida includes video book trailers produced by both K-12 students and students of the Uniuversity. Free registration will give users access to contributors blogs and help forums. The UB Director link provides curricula and plans to help teachers implement a Booktalk project in their classroom. This site is highly recommended as a starting point for teachers beginning to explore digital booktalking.

• Reading – Active-and-Engaging

Rhonda Powling, Head of Library at Whitefriars College and Information Services and School Library Association of Victoria President has created a wiki –  which outlines her rationale for creating booktrailers, records her experiences involving students in the process and provides access to student generated content. The Storyboarding page outlines a lesson plan used to prepare students to create their own booktrailers. The assessment rubric measures student achievement against nine criteria.

• Tech & Learning blogpost: December 1st 2007

According to Mark Greary ‘making a Book Trailer is fairly simple. Just follow these steps.’ His simple explanation to creating a book trailer using Microsoft’s free Photo Story 3 leads users through a step-by-step process complete with clear screen shots and jargon-free instructions. More detailed instructions for using Photo Story 3 are available online.

Youtube provides access to online booktrailers from a variety of sources. A collection of links to booktrailers targeting Young Adult readers is available via the CMIS Evaluation del.icio.us account. Included are links to booktrailers  for the following titles reviewed in this issue of Fiction Focus:

• Graceling by Kristen Cashore
• Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
• 3 Willows: A sisterhood grows by Ann Brashares
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

YouTube videos of these book trailers can also be viewed using the CMIS VodPod widget in the sidebar of this blog or by visiting the CMIS Tech Focus VodPod page.

This is a repeat of today’s post on the CMIS Eval blog (for the benefit of those readers who do not subscribe to that blog)

WolframAlpha was announced in March 2009 by British physicist Stephen Wolfram, and was released to the public on May 15, 2009. Unlike Google, which searches for web resources to match a query, WolframAlpha generates answers to factual queries by computing the answer from available data.

Watch Part 2 of of the video.

Related CMIS blog posts include:

• Maybe AND/OR/NOT isn’t so hard
• Seek and you shall find…a list of Search engines (other than Google!)

Take a look at the CMIS webpages on Search Tools

If you know of other resources useful to teachers exploring aspects of Internet safety please let us know via the comments on this blog.

On January 16 2008 flickr launched The Commons, starting with a  pilot project in partnership with The Library of Congress.

One year later, 17 participating institutions have contributed to The Commons from their photographic archives. Australian contributors include: The Powerhouse Museum, The State Library of NSW and The Australian War Memorial.

Screendump from www.flickr.com/commons

The program has two main objectives:

1. To increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and
2. To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge.

If you make use of a photo from The Commons, you are advised to read the usage rights statement.

from The Commons website…

The best way to get involved is to add a tag or two to the photos you see, and if you happen to know anything else about the subject, by all means add a comment.

*Any Flickr member is able to add tags or comment on these collections. If you’re a dork about it, shame on you. This is for the good of humanity, dude!!

For readers new to online photo sharing here is quick introduction.

In case you missed it – there are a couple of items in the August 8th Eddymail of interest to DET schools.

1. There has been a modification to school bandwidth allocations which is effective immediately. Details of the allocation formula changes can be found on the Intranet Some schools may find their allocation decreased whilst others will have increased. Generally schools will have a “per student” mb increase.
2. Improvement in Anti-virus protection for the Department’s Network should result in safer Internet browsing for DET users.

 For further information, please contact the Customer Service Centre on 9264 5555, regional callers 1800 012 828 or via email.

Tag clouds are popular to both represent and navigate web content. Now students can build ‘word clouds’ from written text to help them visualize the main concepts in the text.

From the Wordle website:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

So what text was used to generate these Wordles? The image at the top of this post was created using the first section of the Classroom First Strategy: A shared understanding.

Below are Wordles created from the first two of the six key elements of the strategy:

1. A focus on student achievement: success for all

2. A classroom orientation: sound teaching

Have some fun and generate some Wordles of your own.

Please be aware that some clouds in the Wordle gallery include examples that might offend.

Imagine being able to select the information you want and have it delivered to your desktop … as soon as it is published on the web!

Add an online stopwatch timer, a To-Do list and a pet tree frog at the same time. You can even choose a theme to suit your mood.

RSS [Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary] combined with a Personalized Home Page will let you do all this … and it’s easier than you think:)

That’s the last of the technical jargon I’ll use in this post.

PLEASE NOTE: RSS feeds are not supported in Internet Explorer 6.

Sue Waters of The Edublogger has a simple guide to Making Your Life Easier Using RSS which will help readers using Internet Explorer 6 set up an RSS news reader.

Follow these 3 steps to create an iGoogle account with RSS feeds.

Click on the images to view more detailed versions.

Due to different computer configurations your computer screen may not look exactly like the images included here. Despite some minor differences the process should be the same.

Step 1: Create an iGoogle account:

• Go to Google and click on the Sign in link.

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• Click on Create an account now

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• Fill in the boxes and click on I accept. Create my account.

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• Check your email and click on the link in the new message from Google to confirm your account.

Congratulations – Step 1 done. (Easy wasn’t it!)

Step 2: Sign in and Add Stuff

• Go to Google and click on the Sign in link.

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• Enter the email address and password you just used to create your account to sign in.

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• Click on iGoogle (a new screen will appear)

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• You may have to click on iGoogle again (in a different spot this time)

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• Select the content you would like to appear on your personal iGoogle homepage by ticking or unticking the boxes. Click Save

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• Your page will look something like this – depending on which boxes you selected in the previous step. You can set iGoogle as your homepage and select a theme for your page.

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• Adding more tabs is easy. You can select different themes and gadgets for different tabs. Drag and drop the title bars to re-arrange the content.

Step 3: Add CMIS RSS feeds:

• Create a new tab called CMIS. Untick the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ box. Click OK.

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• Go to the CMIS Evaluation blog and click on ‘Subscribe by RSS’

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• Click on Subscribe

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• Click ‘Add to Google Homepage’

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• Congratulations! You have added the rss feed to your iGoogle homepage. Every time there is new information on the CMIS Evaluation blog your homepage will automatically update and show you the new content. You can even read the post without leaving your page by clicking on the +sign next to the post title.

• Now visit and add the feeds from the CMIS Fiction Focus, Primary Focus and Technology Focus blogs and you will always be up-to-date.