The State of the Internet - an Infographic

Online Schools has put together an interactive infographic on the state of the internet. It's hard to comprehend the immensity of it all, but this helps.


Created by: Online Schools

Learning in a MOOC

The Center for Online Learning, Research and Service at the University of Illinois Springfield welcomes you to a Massive Open Online Class (MOOC) on “Online Learning Today...and Tomorrow.” It will begin June 27, 2011 and run for eight weeks. It is totally open, free, and collaborative. It can be totally asynchronous, or those attending can join in weekly panel discussions with experts in various aspects of the topic. This is an active and growing resource and networking center on the topic of "Online Learning Today, and Tomorrow." You will have the opportunity to meet many people around the world who share your interest in this topic.


You are invited to register at https://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/home with only your name and email address so you can be given access to all materials, panels and discussions. You can begin building your own personal learning network on the topic. We will use this information to register you in a Google Group (edumooc) which will allow you to enter into discussions and - if you so designate - to receive a listserv of postings. We will not use this information for advertising or promotion of any kind.

Eight topics have been chosen - one for each week. You will see the schedule for those topics below. A Web page is linked below and in the left navigation column for each topic - those pages include details about the topic for each week, including links to about 20 timely resources including articles, Websites, Twitter hashtags, blogs, wikis and more that are relevant to the topic of the week. On Thursday of each of the weeks a live one hour Webinar panel discussion will be held with experts on the topic of the week. The session URL will be available to all who register, and Webinar panel sessions will be open to the first one hundred participants who may ask questions; the session will be recorded and be made available online for those who wish to view later.


Google Group
Those registering for the course - see the short form in the right column above - will be enrolled in Google Group "Edumooc" where threaded discussions will be held. This is where networking will begin among those attending the MOOC. If you choose, you will be able to receive updates via email through the group settings.


Twitter
We will use the #edumooc hashtag for tweets regarding the MOOC. You will see those displayed in the gadget on this page. We encourage tweeting and Twitter discussions.


Contribute Resources to This Site
You are encouraged to browse those sites and to add sites in Diigo. We will transfer the new Diigo sites to the appropriate list on a daily basis. Please use the "edumooc" tag if you would like your selected sites to be transferred to the topic Webpage.

It's a Conversation!

7 Reasons People Give For Not Using Twitter And Why They Can All Be Rebuffed With The Phrase: It's a Conversation

View more presentations from Ned Potter

Technology in the Classroom

I liked this infographic which I found courtesy of Jamadots. Especially like the inclusion of the downside of technology in #10 being included as a consideration.



Via: Online Colleges and Universities

Thing 41 Mashup Your Life

I tried out a number of different aggregators. The one I use the most and find helpful is Friendfeed. I added my Friendfeed badge to the sidebar. You can see most of my web2.0 affiliations are added to it.

What I like about it is that you can be as active or inactive as you like on Friendfeed. It's like Twitter expanded. You can chose to be part of the conversation, or just be solitary when you want to. Like Twitter, what gives it value is the people you follow. I've learned a lot of things just by seeing what those I follow are interested in. It's sometimes led me in unexpected directions. It's definitely expanded my interests and my world. I use it more for professional interests. Facebook is for my closer contacts.

Thing 31 More Twitter

Believe it or not, I have actually read all of these things and tried all of them..but before I wrote the "Thing". In doing so, I discovered how useful Tweetdeck can be for viewing and organizing how you view tweets.

The thing I use the least is mobile tweeting. I don't want to be tied to a cell phone and consequently only carry one when traveling for work. I do understand the convenience of mobile tweeting for some people. It's been especially interesting to see it used as events continue to unfold in Iran. In fact, the use of Twitter to circumvent the shutdown of the normal news media channels and other communication avenues is making Twitter itself newsworthy again. Despite the best efforts of the Iranian government, Twitter is allowing news there to leak out to the rest of the world in addition to within Iran itself. I did notice that most reputable US news agencies are careful to note that the information spread via Twitter cannot be authenticated and should be taken with a grain of caution.

Two Twitter tools I enjoy using are Twitpic for sharing photos and using Tinysong with Grooveshark to share a live link to tunes I'm listening to. I don't tweet songs a lot, but sometimes it's fun to share the current tune. One person I follow tweets entirely too many tunes, especially when it's music I don't really enjoy, but I haven't unfollowed yet because of that. I just ignore it.

There are so many Twitter tools that keep popping up that it's hard to keep up. Mashable has a nice organized list of them that's a good place to check. I like some of the ones that let you save a copy of the Tweet for use as a blog illustration.

I like the convenience of Tweetdeck for replying, retweeting and direct messaging. I also use Twhirl, Betwittered, and the web interface depending on where I am and how I'm tweeting. When using a computer that isn't my own, the web interface is most convenient. My current background is courtesy of PrincesstimeToys, some spring tulips. I really like the ability to change the background, but Twitter has had some difficulties with this off and on. I was stuck with a Christmas background for longer than I wanted to be because of their technical difficulties.

I've integrated Twitter into my Facebook and Friendfeed applications as well as some other social media aggregators I use. I also have my latest tweets in my blog sidebar, and have a twitter badge there too.

Scheduling tweets worked well when I knew I would be away to my internet connection to deliver expected information when I had promised to provide it. This feature would work well for a library who tweets.

I think Twitter is what you make of it. If you give it a chance, you'll soon become a believer. And if you don't give it a chance, you'll never even know what you're missing. And those of us who do use Twitter and LIKE it will have less noise because you don't use it. To those who do enjoy the flexibility of Twitter, I salute your astuteness. I've had great unexpected information supplied via Twitter and fun things as well. I might be labeled a Twitaholic; I love it that much. And as I use it, I become more convinced of its value as a communication tool.

Thing 30 More Ways to Use RSS & Delicious

It was interesting to investigate the options for filtering RSS feeds. I tried a quick test of FeedRinse. Feed Sifter which filtered in by keyword was also intriguing. I used it to find something I knew was there and saved a bit of time.RSSFWD announced their shutdown via Twitter in mid-January.The idea behind Feed My Inbox is good and I can see some use for it, but I'm trying to cut down on mail, not create more. I do regularly add and subtract feeds from my Google Reader application.

I did like the reminder applications and can see that they would occasionally be useful when you are busy. I also liked the usefulness of RSSWeather.com especially in the spring/summer severe weather season. It's nice to have the warning.

I added a widget to my blog from a Govt. RSS feed (Federal Legislative tracker) relating ta bill introduced to eliminate the need to keep track of calls on work supplied cell phones made for personal use. It's a GOOD THING! I hope it passes.

I used Delicious search features regularly, even before this thing. I like being able to take advantage of the accumulated knowledge of others. And I mourned the disappearance of Favthumb as I really liked their visual display of thumbnails of pages. I guess I am a more visual person than I realized. I like the display of my delicious tags in the sidebar of my blog. It's a BIG cloud. And there's a link to my delicous account there too.

I found some new tools for special purposes here that I'm sure I will come back to use when needed.

Thing 27 Twitter

Since I wrote Thing 27 for the most part, I viewed and read all the contents that it has. I combed through hundreds of tagged items in Del.icio.us to pick out what were in my own opinion the most helpful to understanding Twitter. Understanding Twitter is not an easy thing; I think it is many things to many people. One thing it is is adaptable; new uses spring up everyday.

My username on Twitter is @lindawadman. I created an account in the first round of things just to try it out. I could not imagine what possible use Twitter might be, but as I used it it I found more and more value to it. Some view it as a time waster, and it could indeed be that for the unenlightened, just as many other things are. What it become for you is entirely up to you. I have found it to be a valuable tool in many ways. You can glean a lot from following a twitterstream of a conference you cannot attend. Where else can you follow someone who is a leader in their field and perhaps get a direct response to a query? You can do it on Twitter. It will be as useful to you as you allow it to be.

Twitter's rapid growth should be a clue that there's something there to pay attention to. If you don't get it, how will you ever understand it without using it?

I'm currently using a Twitter theme that is included by Twitter. They are having some difficulty with uploading images and backgrounds that I hope they will resolve soon. I had a background with first snowflakes, and then valentine hearts both from PrincessTime Toys, but as they were seasonal it was time for them to go. I've not been able to upload my background of choice because of their troubles, but I'll keep trying.

Since I had my "aha" moment on how libraries can use Twitter, I love it. There are many interesting as well as fun applications using it. Twitpic is a favorite, but I use many more.

I use Tweetdeck, Twirl, BeTwittered, Twitter's Gmail Gadget,and am trying out a new one AlertThingy which also can include status updates from Facebook, Flickr, Twitpic and some other social networking applications. All have their uses, but the one that I like best is Tweetdeck.

Another Twitter application I like is Tweet Replies. Since I don't monitor Twitter continuously, Tweet Replies enables me to see all the Tweets that are @replies to me so that I don't miss them. The @replies are e-mailed to me so my Twitter friends can be sure I see their tweets even if I'm not on Twitter when they tweet. I love it! And if you like Twitter, you will love it too.

I tried all the things in the Challenges as well to make sure that they worked. It was an interesting and learning experience. Scheduling Tweets is useful if you tweet for a library, so that even when you're not working, or the library is closed, you can still keep your Twitter stream going.

I went from skeptic to an adopter who loves Twitter and finds it enormously useful and fun as well. My Twitter friends are many and varied, including my eighty year old father. There's a lot going on there and I'm enjoying the Twitter.

Thing 26 Join the Ning

I joined the Ning in the first round of 23 Things on a Stick, but didn't find much activity there so didn't return much. As a result of Thing 26, however, I have visited it many times. I've added the Ning badge to my sidebar where it's more noticeable than in the blog post from the first round of things.


What have I done there? I added to my profile and fleshed out my page. I've left several comments there for others. I uploaded a bunch of photos to it,some personal, some related to the project, that have elicited comments to which I've responded. I've added to the discussion forum about Twitter. I've looked at the groups there and seeing regional groups developing created a group for the NCLC region. I may join the knitting group when I have more time for it.

While the level of activity on the Ning is still not great, it is increasing and may develop into a destination for networking, at least among the 23 Things and More on a Stick participants.

In chatting with a public library director recently, she expressed her idea for creating a meeting place for those interested in her hobby. None of the things she'd looked at seemed to have everything she wanted, most particularly the ability to have a forum. Because of the 23Things Ning experience, I was able to point her to a Ning as a possibility for what she wants to do. I think it will work well for her planned activity.

Thing 25 : Bloggers' Toolkit

This Thing was my idea, a toolkit of things that would help make it easier for you to blog and to make your blog more friendly for those readers who visit it. There are a variety of tools out there that help "automate" or organize you when adding to your blog whether it be via post or other functionality. I found some things that help me when getting a post ready and wanted to share what helps me. My helpers include Zemanta, Pixresizer, Irfanview, Picasa and a number of Firefox addons among others. This thing took quite a bit of time, but I just did a bit at a time. It was nice to have all the information in one place even if it did take a lot of time to get through it all.

20 Usability Tips for Your Blog offered many tips and ideas for making your blog a good one that people will want to visit. While currently my blog is an eclectic mix because it is a sandbox for the Things on a Stick program and my explorations of the web, after this program I may make some changes to focus on specific topics related to work, or else make it more personal. I need to think about this and decide what avenue to take, but for now the eclectic mix suits me, and I really am not trying to please or cater to others.

Posting by e-mail was among the things to do, so since I had already e-mailed an article on My Favorite Things to be used in the More on a Stick newsletter, I decided to use it as a test and e-mailed it to blogger as well. I set up the process in my dashboard. It was easy and worked flawlessly. However, if you e-mail your post, you do have to make any edits, pictures or links you want to put in it from Blogger itself. This elicits some error messages that I chose to ignore and just made the changes and saved anyway. Again it worked just fine.

About the gadgets: I read the info and watched the videos, but really learned nothing I didn't already know. Since I already had more than forty widgets on my blog page, I had quite a bit of experience with them. Gadgets added recently are a weather gadget, my latest TwitPic picture, another Flickr gadget, a federal legislative tracker, West of East's widget with samples of their soon to released allbum, and a monthly calendar of events.

Shortly after the second round of 23 Things on a Stick ended, I had read in an RSS feed I subscribe to how to turn your blog into a podcast, and also make it possible for people to listen to your post when they visit your blog. I did this using Odiogo in May. Sometimes the voice uses some interesting pronunciations, but for the most part provides an acceptable result. It's a male voice, and one of the other apps uses a female voice that's nice, but I chose to stay with my Odiogo app since when I had a problem in September the Odiogo help staff was quick to respond and fix my problem, and it works well. I did try all the other options just to see how they worked.

About Comments: I investigated Disqus, ClickComments, and Outbrain. All looked like they had some value to offer and I will probably explore them further later. Right now I like the ability to control comments on Blogger that is offered by their own comment system. I don't have time to deal with possible dumping of spam in the comments as I've seen elsewhere. I noticed while reading blogs that the Outbrain people gave some advice about how to set up Outbrain so you had some control of the content it added at the end of your post. Since I mostly use Zemanta to add content,I won't use Outbrain now, but may change my mind later, not wanting to add so much stuff to my posts that it's cumbersome.

About Statistics Collection: I added ClustrMaps to my blog about the same time as I added Odiogo. I also have two other map gadgets in the sidebar: MapLoco and Who's Amung Us. I like the place name lists generated by MapLoco telling where visitors are from. When it was hiccuping a while back I tried out Who's Amung Us. It's interesting to compare the results of each of the three map gadgets which each give somewhat different information. Maybe it's overkill, but I find it satisfies my curiosity. Since I signed up for Darren Rowse's building a better blog 31 day course discovered via Twitter, I needed to install Google Analytics to get ready for it. I combed through the code of my blog template only to find the tag I needed two lines from the end of the code, thirty-seven pages of code at that. Good thing I had my new glasses and they work! Google Analytics is now successfully installed in my template according to the reports I accessed the day after installation.

About Photos & Photo Tools: I have used PixResizer and Picasa since the original 23 Things on a Stick, having found them when seeking tools to help make photos usable with some of the social software apps included in 23 Things. ResizeImage.Org online was easy to use and marked for future use. Pixenate also was easy to use for general photo editing and didn't require a download either so was marked for future use. I looked at all of the copyright free photo sites and did the searches. The amount and quality of the photos available for use just for the attribution is nothing short of amazing. I created a Flickr slideshow, and have also added some from Slideshare, PictureTrail, Slide.com, and Animoto. I made my Christmas card using Animoto this year, in fact several of them, and they can be found in some posts in December 2008.

About Blog Quizzes/Polls: I read the articles on using polls in your blog which were very good. I looked at each of the applications listed and tried them out. I posted just one as an example, asking about social applications used that I made in Glowday, posted here.

I find the added functionality of Snapshots to be annoying and won't be doing that. Apture is possible down the road. I want to keep things simple right now, and turning my blog into a multimedia experience isn't high on my list of priorities. I want to think about how to do it effectively, not distractingly.

About useful features: I did add a search box at the top of my blog. I already had a tag cloud, an archive calendar,a a clock (My Slice of Time.) I had a share this button in my sidebar, but also added this to each blog post to make sharing easier. I also claimed my blog at Technorati, added a Twit This button, buttons for subscribing to my blog, comments, and podcast among others.

About Get Social: I looked at all the listed items. I already have my Friendfeed Badge in the sidebar leading to my feed. My twitter feed is also in the sidebar. Some of the other things could be added to my blog, but many are already part of my iGoogle page.

I had already done the two fun things here: Blog Readability test and Typealyzer. I apparently didn't post the Typealyzer results, but my recollection is that the result was I was a DO-er. One of the other tests indicated that my blog was written by a man, news to me. I've done the test a number of times with a time period in between results and gotten different results. I know I saved the code, but can't seem to find it at present and it doesn't seem to be working tonight as I write this.

I looked at the various widget sources and the amount of these available is astounding as well. I checked out some that my region bloggers were having trouble with so as to help them be able to use those they wanted in their blogs. They didn't realize that many of the widgets allow you to adjust the size to fit the space you have available. It doesn't require much knowledge of code to be able to make the adjustments.

I also backed up my blog before changing the template and plan to do regular back ups. I read the information on exporting your blog which may prove to be useful in the future. I plan to keep refining and adding functionality and interest to my blog as I try and discover things, and can make an organized plan for it. I'm hoping that the course on building a better blog will help with this. I shared the link via Twitter and at least two others doing More on a Stick have signed up for it as well.

Evangelizing Yourself

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Evangelizing Yourself

View more presentations from Whitney Hess.

A Tweet That Says a Lot

Following the tweets from the keynote by Michael Wesch at #ias09, I thought this one said a lot:

The Key to Success

I think that this tweet on Twitter from HBraum during #libcampks09 (planning for a 23 things program in Kansas) which followed the 23 Things Summit on WebJunction is the essential key to success of the program with participants. What do you think?



It was very interesting to follow the thread of tweets during their planning. The Tweets caught many significant points without embellishment. It was fun.

Laurel Burch Purse

Laurel Burch Purse
Originally uploaded by countrycolorcreations

I can't wait to get this and see it up close and personal. I love the color and brightness. (Will I be brave enough to use it?)

Twitter is responsible for my finding this marvelous purse; yet another reason why people should Twitter! In addition to one for myself, I ordered one as a gift. I wonder if I'll be able to part with it once I see it. It's the same purse, but in pastels. If you want to see what else the talented artist has in her shop, you'll find find her creations at
www.countrycolorcreation.etsy.com

All this and I got a new Twitter follower to boot.

How Twitter Started

The founders of Twitter have a history that makes them and Twitter something to watch. Are there any clues here on how they might turn Twitter into a moneymaker?

Twitter in the News

A New Twist on an Old Saying

I was taken by the message in this poster shared by user experience designer Whitney Hess in her photo of the day. She had previously shared the thought on Twitter, but I'd missed it there. The message is hopeful, if somewhat cynical.



The library community needs to take heed of this message. We can't change the world alone; but if we organize together we can find solutions to the problems confronting us. Unfortunately it seems the community is splintered by self-interest, not looking for the greater good and service to our community. Rather than rowing together and moving forward, each is using their oar separately, and the boat is spinning aimlessly out of control.

A Twitter Discovery

One of the things I like about Twitter is the sheer variety of unexpected information you can stumble upon. Today, for example, I saw a twitter from Neil Gaiman (who is currently on a tour promoting either his book or the movie Coraline which is based on his book of the same name, I didn't investigate which.)



I saw this Tweet and had to check it out. I found video clips of Neil Gaiman himself reading his 2009 Newbery award winning book The Graveyard Book. He was videotaped reading on a book tour, one chapter at each location and they were then put up on The Official Neil Gaiman Page for Young Readers at Harper Collins where you can listen to the whole book. So much for productivity for me this Saturday, but I am really enjoying being read to. What an expected pleasure!

lindawadman | Twitter Grader

The Twitter Grade at Twitter Grader measures the reach and authority of a Twitter user. Simply enter your Twitter username, click the "get grade" button and wait while your grade is generated. Your rank is calculated as a percentile score. A grade of means that @ scores higher than percent of the users that have been graded.

* The number of followers you have
* The power of this network of followers
* The pace of your updates
* The completeness of your profile
* ...a few others

The results give your overall rank, number of followers, number following, and number of updates. You can share this with your friends via a selection of services, social networking sites, posting it to social media sites or your blog, e-mailing or by tweeting it to Twitter.

It also generates a tweet cloud based on terms you used in your tweets. You can check a name to see if they are following you, download a social media kit, and follow Twitter Grader on Twitter.

In addition, you can look at who the Twitter Elite are (one way to find those who you mght want to follow), search by keyword, name, or e-mail address, or generate a badge to show of your Twitter Grade. Also, you can install a bookmarklet for Twitsnip in your browser. TwitSnip is a simple tool for easily posting to Twitter. It lets you "quote" text on any web page. It does nifty things like looking up the @user for the website and linking back to the source. It shortens the URL too. It even tries to shorten the length of the tweet (when needed) using a twitabulary of short words. For FireFox/Safari/Chrome just Drag-drop the TwitSnip link into your bookmarks. For Internet Explorer, right click and add it to your favorites. To use the bookmarklet browse around to some web page. Highlight/select some portion of text (as if you were going to copy it). Invoke the TwitSnip bookmarklet by choosing it. Review your tweet and post it.

My Twitter Grade Badge is below.

lindawadman | Twitter Grader

Posted using ShareThis

Flaunt your Twitter with Twitstamp

I've been busily trying to organize all my Twitter bookmarks into some semblance of order so that I can use them to work on a More Things on a Stick wiki entry. I found I had over 340 entries for Twitter in Delicious, so it was a painstaking process to whittle them down and try to order them. Finally decided that there were just too many for one wiki entry so we will be doing two Things related to Twitter.

In the course of checking them out I decided to see what TwitStamp would do.

Here a tiny version of the TwitStamp:


Here's a small single tweet stamp chosen from a selection of eight varied styles:

Here's a medium Twitstamp chosen from eight different styles:


Here's the the general TwitStamp card I generated:

Twitstamp made it really easy to generate the stamps/cards. You simply plug in your Twitter username/ID, select from one the the three categories below the username blank chosing latest from user, single tweet ID, or Twitcard and click the Generate button. Your stamp/card is generated. Click on the size, then style of stamp/card you wish to use,and the code appears in three forms below. You then can copy the code you need for whatever use you need. You can also save the image to use as a graphic file. It couldn't be much easier. You can use it to illustrate your blog or other social media site, breaking up the monotony of too much plain text.

It appears that the tweet changes in each stamp to update to your most recent twitter post.