My Long Silence

I received an email from Goggle telling me I had posted objectionable content on this site (when I hadn't posted for several months). Their response was to shut down my blog and my access to it and to cut me off from Google mail.

Without warning I found myself unable to communicate on multiple levels.

I had to Google search for others to whom this has happened to find that I could appeal my case to Google. Eventually they reinstated my mail and much later, to my surprise, I regained access to this blog. Using it, however, became a big question mark.

In the past, when I taught about Google and Google products I would say "Google wants to take over the world. Should we care?" This is becoming more apparent as Google+ sends its tendrils throughout personal networks, seeking but one more way to take over. And now I care more than I used to.

Professionally everyone is creating their Personal Learning Network, expanding their connections exponentially on sites like Linked In, inviting people into their Google+ circles, following and being followed. It's the smart thing to do, right? The more the world becomes divided into the haves and the have-nots, the more important it is to belong, to get the current information, to be recognized, be recommended, and to be made valuable, to be "liked."

The alternative, technological isolation, feels like professional suicide. Right?

But remember who holds all the cards, and can fold your hand without warning.

With Google, Apple, Microsoft and so many major players driving us toward the Cloud, I find myself more and more resistent, wanting to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground, holding on to my own content, my own gathered resources, hoping, perhaps in vain, that I won't lose it all again because.... I never did find out why.

A "Cybrarian" makes our online life a little more organized

Julie Greller, a "cybrarian," has posted an amazing list of Internet resources. In a class for life-long learners, this could be your syllabus!

Leadership

Be the first one to spot the lone nut doing something you admire and follow him, showing others how to follow as well.

Thanks Charley for finding this!

"The Fourth Screen"

As a teacher I have been deeply frustrated by administrative policies seeking to protect students from the Internet by blocking access, instead of allowing us to teach them how to use it safely and intelligently.

On first viewing this video I appreciated the rationalization that technology has taken society to a new place and that schools should embrace the powerful personal technology kids bring every day. I planned on showing it to my classes for discussion solely on this topic, but the end screen shows it to be embedded advertising! How clever of the phone maker to create a video for educators to use in the classroom--and how much more to discuss!

DIIGO for educators

This could be good for classes!

Big Bang Big Boom

The amazing talent one finds passed around online. How could you calculate how long this piece took to produce?

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Prezi Power

A Prezi presentation presents an information map, visually spinning through the pieces and revealing the whole. It's a visual and mental treat! Here's one I found on their website:

Mixing Mind and Metaphor on Prezi

Wikileaks --- the most important news service you probably don't know about

Wikileaks raises the critical question about where the future of journalism is going as it all migrates online. Will we follow the "freedom of press" model that is so vital to American democracy, or will the Chinese model of allowing governments and powerful entities to suppress and censor news rule Internet information sites? Watch this video and support this website!

Google Advertises It's Goal of Taking Over Your Life

Yes, they seem to be benevolent, but was Big Brother similarly motivated while He was growing up and building his world?

Frontline's "Digital Nation"

An excellent documentary, broken in 8-10 minute pieces (so I can teach with it) that tries to "pause" and look around at how the human experience is changing and evolving (or devolving?) as our lives become digital.

Frontline comes through again. Watch the whole program online. Fan them.

Social Media (Did You Know Mashup)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

Amazing photos from Mars are released...is anyone watching?

A bouncing boulder comes to a stop...on mars!

A (false color) detail
of sand dunes (above) and the actual photo (right).

Gully channels show evidence of water activity.

I remember how the whole world stopped and held its breath when the first men stepped out onto the lunar surface. It seems surreal that the headline for ice on Mars came and went and these other-worldly photos are being missed.

They're talking about Web 3.0

Experts ask if the future web I see will be the same one you see. They wonder if we will continue surfing or have machines do it for us. Google has one vision of our future (based on their ubiquitous apps) while the inventor of the web,Tim Berners-Lee explains how the semantic web is evolving, where information brings multiple connections linking databases together.

Digital Inspiration brings together several different presentations to explore this debate on where the web is going.

Google Wonder Wheel

Does everybody already know about the options Google has for searches? (They went live last May, but I missed it then.) Do a Google search, then, on the top left side, click on "more options." You can see your results in a whole lot of different ways, but to see them visually in a concept/mind map kind of way, click on "Wonder Wheel." Click and play, or get instructions at Google's site.

Muzorama animation --- nonlinear storytelling

Reposted from NPR:
"You’re not losing your mind. You’re just spending a few minutes in Muzorama.

When we hear the word “animation” many of us think of the narrative storytelling of The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Pinocchio, or Shrek, but when you enter the universe of Muzorama all the laws of physics and logic surrender to the unpredictable imagination of French illustrator Muzo and the Muzorama team.

Produced in 2008, Muzorama is not merely a 3D animation, but a Jungian, psychedelic freefall of visual irony, extremely inventive situations and unending surprises."

Muzorama from Muzorama Team on Vimeo.

"Did You Know" + Creative Commons = Powerful New Media

Exploring what happens to a good idea online by looking at "Did You Know? 2.0," Creative Commons, how people have riffed on the material, and the latest version just released, "Did You Know 4.0). It's a great example of how Creative Commons allows a good idea to be adapted, developed, updated, and transformed.

SOUR '日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro)'

Multichannel's been around for awhile, but this is the first webcam version I've seen! What creative fun!

As always, guru Alan November shows us what's on the horizon, as seen in this youtube video about MIT and Patti Maes called The Sixth Sense Tech of the Future, another TED presentation. This is just too cool!

The Hirshhorn Museum in Washington is inspirational in so many ways.
Here's something I'll use in my media literacy classes. No music or movement is intentional to reduce how much I have an effect on the viewer. Sorry for misspelling the name in the credits : (

Michael Jackson and the Twitter Effect

Andy Warhol gave people 15 minutes to be famous. Today, Twitter gives fame in waves. Here's a record of reaction to the news of Michael Jackson's death.