Tag Archives: software

A wee bit technical⤴

from @ wwwd – John's World Wide Wall Display

At work I get emails about scratch. I often miss these or don’t pay enough attention. There is also a scratch blog on medium. I thought I could subscribe to that in an RSS reader. Couldn’t see a rss link so I searched for more information. Ironically the first two medium articles I found needed a paid account to read. Eventually I just pasted the link into Inoreader which did auto discovery. I also found the email archive on mailchimp and subscribed to that too.

It seems to me that it is getting harder to be a wee bit technical. Like hiding full URLs in the address bar, or making it difficult to find an episode page for a podcast to link to. No RSS link buttons or links to audio files. These changes may have been made in the name of simplification or to make pages a bit stickier but cause frustration here.

Microcast 5: Choices⤴

from @ John's World Wide Wall Display

IMG_7438.jpeg

Some thoughts about making choices about the software and systems you use, they may have hidden positives or negatives.

Featured image, iPhone screenshot, edited in snapseed

    Modern Technology⤴

    from @ John's World Wide Wall Display

    CharlieChaplinEatingMachine

    Yesterday I tweeted a link to a great post, the transcript of a talk about some social aspects of technology and how allowing technologist to lead our progress might have negative impacts on our privacy and lives, here is a quote.

    Those who benefit from the death of privacy attempt to frame our subjugation in terms of freedom, just like early factory owners talked about the sanctity of contract law. They insisted that a worker should have the right to agree to anything, from sixteen-hour days to unsafe working conditions, as if factory owners and workers were on an equal footing.

    Companies that perform surveillance are attempting the same mental trick. They assert that we freely share our data in return for valuable services. But opting out of surveillance capitalism is like opting out of electricity, or cooked foods—you are free to do it in theory. In practice, it will upend your life.

    Remarks at the SASE Panel On The Moral Economy of Tech

    This spoke very much to some thoughts I’ve been having about our relationship to technology companies. Some of these were sparked  by Dean Groom, Why not to buy Minecraft Education Edition.  Some more idaea were discussed at the Always on (them) event at the University of the West of Scotland and I am in the midst of exploring those in a few microcasts, tagged DigitalUWS & microcast (one down a few more to go).

    I’ve not come to any great conclusions but I do think it is something we should be thinking a lot harder about.

    More grist arrived today from Stephen Downes:

    I can see how the presentation would engage school leaders looking for a way to address current trends in learning, but they need to look beyond the single-vendor approach proposed here, and they should be clear that technology companies are service providers who are held accountable for delivery, not partners taking a hand in pedagogical and educational decisions.

    Looking back to move forward: A process for whole-school transformation ~ Stephen Downes

    I know myself enough to recognise that I am somewhat enthralled by technology and software. I certainly need to think about my relationship, on so many levels, with the technology I use. Should we be addressing this in the classroom with our pupils?

    featured image is probably walking a copyright tightrope, but seems appropriate

    Chalking my First Slate⤴

    from @ John's World Wide Wall Display

    I had a bit of a play with Adobe Slate this morning. It is an iOS app for publishing words and pictures.

    The Devil's Pulpit
    The Devil’s Pulpit

    It is quite a very process which allows you to get good looking results quickly. Macworld points out some limitations that struck me immediately.

    It’s dead-simple, but also quite limited. You can choose from a handful of themes to change the whole look of the story, but can’t adjust individual fonts or formats, or even add a link within a larger block of text. (You can, however, place links as standalone buttons.) You can change image formats so they appear full screen, inline, or as a scrolling “window,” but you can’t add borders or freely move images around. Video isn’t supported at all.

    What we gain

    I guess slate is part of the same move to allowing producers to concentrate on the content while the ‘professionals’ provide the design.
    Like Medium you cannot argue with the results from a clean readable point of view.
    We can publish text and pictures easily on a blog. I am sure we can find a theme or two with typography that is as good, but I suspect it might be hard to find such elegant handling of images.

    What we lose

    I am not a professional writer or photographer, neither am I a designer or coder (obviously;-)).
    I publish ‘stuff’, sometime approaching stories, because it is fun and I want to explore the potential of these activities for learning. I have different degrees of interest in all aspects of the process, I think I can learn from each.
    I’ve been thinking about the tension between ease of use and creativity for a while. For learners we will sometimes want them to concentrate on one particular aspect of the work. I can’t be the only teacher who sometimes asked pupils to leave font and style changes till the story was finished. At other times we will want them to get fully involved in messy learning.
    We also lose some control of the data when we publish to silo sites. I am pretty sure that Medium and Adobe will be around a lot longer than Posterous, but I still like backups.

    Alternatives

    Just as I am writing this I remember an earlier experiment A Walk to Loch Oss using Odyssey.js

    The odyssey.js library is being developed to help journalists, bloggers, and other people on the web publish stories that combine narratives with maps and map interactions. The library is open source and freely available to use in your projects. It is initially being built to work with most modern browsers

    from: odyssey.js README on GitHub. Odyssey.js adds maps to the mix but might be an interesting alternative to Slate that allows you more control and ownership. I am sure there are others out there.

    Unexpected Practices⤴

    from @ John's World Wide Wall Display

    it is seldom about technology designers’ a priori plans for a technology, and more about users’ unexpected practices with it. That, to me, is the most fascinating and useful basis of research inquiry.

    via Brief statement on ‘Digital Wisdom’ | Ibrars space.

    I love ‘unexpected practices’ it is why we need flexible technology in Learning and Teaching.

    My favourite use for word when I was teaching primary 6 was as a poor man’s vector editor, Sandaig Otters » Seeing Stars, and I’ve often been surprised by how pupils and teachers bend unsuitable software to their needs.

    Javascript – Grades to Numbers⤴

    from @ ICT & Education

    A while ago I wrote about how I was able to (finally) get my Adobe Acrobat form to calculate grades. (You can read it here). I’ve finally (with the help of @PenmanRoss) been able to do it the other way around – to type in a grade (e.g., A3) and get the form to calculate the corresponding number.

    Here’s the script

    var og = this.getField("GA").value; 

if( og =="A1") 
event.value = og = 22; 

else if( og =="A2") 
event.value = og = 21; 
else if( og =="A3") 
event.value = og = 20; 
else if( og =="A4") 
event.value = og = 19; 
else if( og =="A5") 
event.value = og = 18; 
else if( og =="B1") 
event.value = og = 17; 
else if( og =="B2") 
event.value = og = 16; 
else if( og =="B3") 
event.value = og = 15; 
else if( og =="C1") 
event.value = og = 14; 
else if( og =="C2") 
event.value = og = 13; 
else if( og =="C3") 
event.value = og = 12; 
else if( og =="D1") 
event.value = og = 11; 
else if( og =="D2") 
event.value = og = 10; 
else if( og =="D3") 
event.value = og = 9; 
else if( og =="E1") 
event.value = og = 8; 
else if( og =="E2") 
event.value = og = 7; 
else if( og =="E3") 
event.value = og = 6; 
else if( og =="F1") 
event.value = og = 5; 
else if( og =="F2") 
event.value = og = 4; 
else if( og =="F3") 
event.value = og = 3; 
else if( og =="G1") 
event.value = og = 2; 
else if( og =="G2") 
event.value = og = 1; 
else if( og =="H") 
event.value = og = 0; 

else event.value = "";

    Christmas Cheer⤴

    from @ eCurriculum Blog

    Merry JISCmas

    christmas bauble

    A few websites for some Christmas fun this time:

    Dvolver creates creativity widgets - software that enables people to creatively communicate using internet technologies. www.dvolver.com

    NORAD Santa Tracker - It is very good this year, with educational games for younger students, plus lots of other goodies.On Christmas Eve they team up with Google Earth to track Santa as he speeds around the world delivering his presents. As he reaches places of interest there is information about the towns and Cities. http://www.northpole.com/ 

    Buying a Present - One for the lads - forearmed is forewarned!http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/videoPage.aspx

    Elf Yourself - For those of you who had fun a year or two ago - just to let you know The Elf back again this Christmas: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/KQHtQ4ef9fWLQ9h118fI

    Toondoo“ Create your own comic strips, Publish, Share & Discuss”: a creative site with a community presence, very visual, embed or link to favourites, your own or other peoples. http://www.toondoo.com

    Have a happy Christmas and New Year - I'll be back blogging in 2009 - Joan

    Digital Storytelling – Are they Tall Tales ?⤴

    from @ eCurriculum Blog

    Digital Storytelling describes the practice of combining narrative with digital content. Consider how Broadcasters present history and current affairs now e.g. "The History of Scotland" and "Who Do You Think You Are". Take a look at The BBC project Telling Lives which illustrates the concept of digital storytelling.

    Theoretically it is suggested Digital Story Telling could be applied to any subject area as a legitimate technique that can support learning & teaching. Integrating skills from a range of disciplines is an obvious possibility and provides a natural fit for e-portfolios. In addition Digital Storytelling could provide a means of introducing technology to areas of the curriculum that sometimes have difficulty of seeing how it can be applied in non-technical disciplines.

    Someone with little technical background should be able to create digital stories. Typically, a project starts with a script and then digital artifacts are assembled or created to illustrate the story which is then pieced together to form a short movie.

    It is argued that as well as enhancing the oral tradition of knowledge transfer through storytelling, the process also has an impact on learners by forcing them to think critically about the combination of the elements that construct the story.

    There are many easy to use online tools to support the concept over and above well known applications such as photostory3, Windows moviemaker or iMovie. Timeline tools, genealogy tools and the excellent Museum Box which provides tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a online and virtual box.

    http://www.learningtools.arts.ubc.ca/timeline.htm
    http://www.geni.com/
    http://museumbox.e2bn.org/index.php
    7 things your should know about Digital Storytelling (www.educause.edu/eli )

    USB AccessApps: Free Enabling Technology on a Stick!⤴

    from @ eCurriculum Blog

    access_pendrive This week after our own team meeting, Margaret McKay, our eAdvisor for Accessibility and Inclusion did a session with us to introduce AccessApps. This is an initiative developed by the two JISC Regional Support Centres in Scotland, in conjunction with the JISC TechDis Service. AccessApps provides a range of portable/open source technologies on a pen drive. In fact there are over 50 provided.

    Some of the applications are generic tools, such as the word processing, spreadsheet and presentation alternatives. Others cater for specific needs, such as a need to view larger font sizes or different screen colours, or to control a computer without using a mouse.

    Margaret McKay our eAdvisor:Access and Inclusion is providing the support to roll out the initiative in colleges. Contact us here at the RSC if you'd like to know more.

    RSC - AccessApps