Archive for August, 2008
August 29th, 2008
It’s always heartening to see positive responses from educationists to mobile technology. I’ve just caught up with a report from Becta on the potential learning benefits of mobile phones in secondary schools.
The new primary research in “How mobile phones help learning in secondary schools” recognises the need for a more open approach to their use with blanket bans giving way to gradual inclusion of the devices in all areas of the secondary curriculum.
The research, by the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Nottingham in schools in Cambridgeshire, Berkshire and Nottingham, strikes a fine balance between over-zealous advocacy of mobile technologies and fearful exclusion.
As it underlines, by the time they reach secondary school, 91% of 12 year olds in the UK have a mobile phone – and most are application-rich devices perfectly suited to media-rich learning.
During the research, the pupils used their phones for learning in a wide variety of ways (the report highlighted 15), including:
• Creating short narrative movies
• Downloading and listening to foreign language podcasts
• Using GPS to identify locations
• Bluetoothing project material between group members.
You could make a little leap and suggest that – right there – is a snapshot for mobile content strategies that don’t rely on push and prod but embrace the technology to provide engaging ways of interacting with young people. It also shows that with a little creative thinking (Numnut broadcast TV anyone?) mobile content can be very attractive to relevant communities of all ages.
The report didn’t ignore the need for solutions to current fears of distraction, cheating, and abuse of devices through inappropriate recording and publication on social network sites. But it clearly supported the need for a cultural shift – trusting the students to be part of a change in attitude and creating an education environment where mobiles would be used responsibly. The parents of the young people involved were also almost unanimous in their approval of the development – which I find a tad amazing and really encouraging, given the negative press that surrounds mobile.
Steve Jobs’ fake death hits Wikipedia in seconds
August 29th, 2008
It’s the stuff that editorial nightmares are made of - publishing someone’s obituary before they have snuffed it. Well poor old Steve jobs had his 17-page obituary published by the Bloomberg financial newswire last night, even if it was just for 30 seconds! The mistake was of course retracted, and a full account of events can be read on Gawker.
But even more astonishing is the speed at which Steve Jobs’ name was added to the Wikipedia round-up of premature obituaries. There’s no hanging around in the world of social media! The listing could almost instantly be viewed here, along with the names of other people who were mistakingly written off as dead including Pope John Paul II (who was the subject of three premature obituaries), Alfred Nobel (who later went on to create the Nobel Peace Prize), Fidel Castro (where Ronald Reagan’s had been used as a template) and Humphrey the Downing Street Cat!
The Bloomberg gaff reinforces the universality of newswires. According to sources, the mis-published obituary crossed the newswires and was picked up within the 30 seconds it was live for. Online authority is so important, and once news breaks, it is nigh on impossible to retrace your steps and cover things up. One tiny comment can mushroom into hiroshima within a matter of hours - so be warned!
Five on Friday - five fabulous web 2.0 tools of the week
August 29th, 2008
Five fabulous web 2.0 tools of the week
From now, on every Friday I am going to do a small round-up of the very best web 2.0 tools I have checked out during the week.
Here is this week’s top selection in no particular order:
1, A search engine called Viewzi, which gives you a nice visual twist on the boring Google and Yahoo set-up. My particular favourite view is the timeline view.
2, Next is another visual web 2.0 entry in the form of Tweetrush. Tweetrush is a graphical tool that shows the usage of Twitter, with some great data available.
3, Not so much of a web 2.0 tool this next one, but as a huge movie fan I am going to share it with you. It’s called Moviestring, which allows you to review a movie in 255 characters or less.
4, This next site has been out for a while and it’s more of a boredom killer. The site is called HelloQuizzy, which allows you to create you own quiz or try one of the one already made up. I tried the The Beatles Lyrics Test and failed totally.
5, The best is left for last. Blabberize is a tool where you can upload a photo of a face, change the mouth movement to record some speech, and hey presto you have made a fool out of your boss or best friend! Go to the site to see what I mean - very funny!
More of the same next Friday.
Finch from American Pie’s dream application!
August 28th, 2008
Paul Finch from the American Pie film series has a problem, he only likes clean toilets, and every time he needs the toilet he has to head back to his home.
Paul, if you’re ever in New York or Manhattan to be precise, I have found something just for you!
The quirky site is called Diaroogle and claims to be the premier toilet search engine. At the moment all the toilets listed are in Manhattan . You can search the site from your mobile phone and users can also submit other clean toilets in the area, along with a photo of the lavatory.
Diaroogle helps you find quality public toilets from your mobile phone.
It’s for the discerning, on-the-go defecator who is brave enough to use a public toilet, but still demands a hygienic and private bathroom experience. It is also a community authored database of Manhattan toilets.
- Sounds just like the Finchmeister to me!
Seems like it’s getting some good press and praise too. Although I don’t think this idea would work in some of the countries I have visited!
Paul Finch I dedicate Diaroogle to you!
How to lose a community off the games radar
August 26th, 2008
Rumblings over at the popular GamesRadar site where a move by the US parent company to close down the UK forum underlined for me how fragile is the relationship between community managers and the people they are communing with.
Without, it seems, any significant discussion, the US managers decided to streamline the forums on GamesRadar, making the UK forum read-only from September 4 and offering UK users a single sign on to the wider RadarNation site community with every user having their own profile page on the site with their own avatar or picture. Users can now also post comments on GamesRadar content directly under the article itself. GamesRadar is planning further upgrades this year.
These are usually the type of improvements that users welcome with open arms but it seems that GamesRadar overlooked the simple sense of ownership that the UK forum contingent feels. Some of these guys have been on the forum for seven or more years, growing up in the place. Now they’ve been told that it’s closing – you might understand the very powerful reaction to that decision. The UK forum community has sent its very clear message to GamesRadar managers – with nearly all refusing to sign up to the new forum process and within 72 hours setting up their own community site – GRcade.
Reading the heartfelt comments made me think how quickly a trusted and loved brand can suffer serious – and long-term – damage. It took Future Publishing years to build the GamesRadar reputation, and minutes to tarnish it.
Weirdly, the GamesRadar response to the UK move has been effectively zero. I would have thought at least a brief comment to users would have been good practice. Thanks to son Nath (now a confirmed GRcade member), for helping me with this post!