http://www.sixapart.com/about/news/2008/01/time_for_action.html
Examples of the activity stream plugin in action:
January 2008 Archives
There is also a list of the new features in MT 4.1.
This recent post on Twitter for Academia has gotten some attention today, since it got picked up by the chronicle. It has been over a year since I started using twitter full-steam, and I have to say it still remains my most used and favorite on-line tool. More used than email? Hmmm... I probably read more tweets than email, but def. spend much more time on email.
Anyway, looking at these posts and comments, I see many people still are in the phase of "huh?" with twitter. Maybe I am too quick to be wowed by the latest communication tool. Twitter has added a new dimension to the sense of connectedness to people I know. It is a good feeling. There really is something to the whole social proprioception
thing. I guess I am not saying much here. Just that I still use twitter, and after more than a year, I think it is safe to say it has a pretty entrenched place in my digital life.
I was just reading a post by David Warlick wondering about social networks and education. He talks about how social networks can feed into portfolios, and in a way it reminded me of the process Cole outlined for e-portfolios using movable type at PSU. I think what David might be digging at is something a bit more organic and involuntary. The one piece that might be missing in Cole's model is the role of social interaction in the process even before the final "portfolio piece" is produced. Wouldn't a student's personal repository be made alive by fitting into a social network of the student's peers?
Social Networks or I'm a Hermit | 2 cents Worth:
My own cantankerous reluctance aside, I am increasingly coming to understand what an interesting question this is. What about social networks in education? Mostly, I skip over the pedagogies of collaboration and think about assessment. Even though there are appropriate times for multiple choice, most of us agree that assessment must be deeper and more authentic. We talk a lot about portfolios, and this is a lot closer. But in today's increasingly participatory information environment, asking students to produce, archive, and organize artifacts of their learning, for the sake of assessment, seems almost as contrived as multiple choice.
Rather than evaluating consistently arranged artifacts, it seems to me that assessment should be more about going in to an information site, the information home of a student, and excavating that site for artifacts that help us to determine learning. Obviously, these ideas are still rattling around, disconnected, in my head. But I wonder if some kind of social network that students build and cultivate as part of their work as learners might be that place.
I came across this interview with someone experimenting with pacifist characters on World of Warcraft. This is a really great experiment to someone like myself who has an interest in peace and non-violence. I have often wondered about game mechanics that could give players more flexibility in choosing non-violence - or using a virtual world to explore the feasibility of non-violence.
Anyway, I thought this piece could spur some thought.
Here's something that my neighbors in the podcasting world might find of interest.
Click the link below to check out this pic of Belkin's Podcast Studio. It hooks up to an ipod, has xlr inputs, a speaker, and all kinds of knobs and switches :) Looks like it might provide low cost, higher quality, portable recording.
Belkin's Podcast Studio, the self-contained podcast producer - Engadget
Wired reports that it will be available in June 08 for $100.
Brad manages the programming group in Education Technology Services.
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