Archive for August, 2008
Me and My Avatar
What does your avatar say about you? Do you secretly desire to be taller, thinner, or younger? Do you see yourself as a canine, a cartoon character, or a jedi knight? Do you feel a desire to change your race or gender? It’s not always clear exactly what our avatars say about ourselves, but clearly they do mean something. After all, consider how much time we spend customizing physical characteristics for entirely virtual identities. Considering how quick and easy it is to change them, it’s surprising how few people actually do. Regardless of what they say about ourselves, our avatars are certainly a statement that we make to the world.
With that being said, I put out a Tweet and Plurk asking people to share photos of themselves with their avatars. Here’s what people shared.
Steve Dembo (and Demb Oh)
Wendy Sigele
Liana Iaea-Honda
Jennifer Kraft
Do you have your own image of yourself with your avatar? Share a link!
Across the Metaverse
I’ve been working on a Second Life article, and part of it was spent checking out a few other virtual worlds. And while I thought I had a pretty good grasp on what was out there, this video shows that I really was just barely scratching the surface.
Think you are a Virtual World Guru? Then share just how many of the worlds in this video you have avatars in!
Do you believe?
Thanks to Justin Karkow for point out this post of Christine Southard’s on the New York DEN Blog.
Just in time for the beginning of the school year, Dalton Sherman has a message that is sure to inspire anybody who has chosen to devote their lives to education.
Education version of Blabberize coming?
After education versions of VoiceThread and Animoto have been released, it looks like more sites may start to realize that they really do have an education market to appeal to. Is Blabberize the next to jump on the bandwagon?
Check out the message they have posted on the front page right now.
Sounds to me like they realize there’s a solid community of teachers that are interesting in using Blabberize more but are a little leery of some of the less than savory Blabbers that other users have created.
Crossing my fingers. Also hoping that other sites jump on the bandwagon as well.
Your thoughts on advertising
I’ve been approached by a company that wants to advertise on Teach42. It’d be a pretty decently sized banner ad that would stay in the sidebar. Dont’ know how much it would generate, but there’s only one way to find out. So here’s what I’m thinking:
1) I display the ad, and donate the revenue that it generates from the first year to an education charity of some sort. I’m sure Beth Kanter can recommend a few 
2) I display the ad and donate the revenue that it generates from a specific period of time back to the audience. For example, maybe give away a few Flickr Pro accounts, or podcasting equipment or something along those lines. Basically, give it back to the people that are generating it.
3) I keep the darn thing off the blog.
What do you think? Cast your vote!
Number 8 in the Top Language Blogs? Seriously?
When I was first notified that Teach42 was one of the Top 100 Education Blogs, I have to admit I got kind of excited. That was until I followed the link back and discovered that the site giving me the ‘award’ basically had no content at all. It seemed little more than a cheap ploy to get some press. If it was, it worked. Many people linked into it at the time and still proudly display the badge. More power to them. It isn’t necessarily a bad list, I just questioned it’s credibility at the time. Since then, the site has definitely filled out quite a bit more, but I’d still be curious to know what their standards were and how they came up with the list. It’s why being in Scott Mcleod’s top 50 list is more meaningful to me. He clearly states how he came up with the list and shares his data with the world.
So this morning, when I checked my email, I got a message that I assumed had to be spam. The subject was “You ranked #8 in out top 100 language blogs list!” Yes, I too found it ironic that the subject line announcing that I was a top language blog had a typo in it. But that’s besides the point. Or is it?
Like I said, I assumed that it had to be spam. It wasn’t. I followed the link over to Lexiophiles.com, and checked out their Top 100 Language blogs page. Lo and behold, there I was:
At first I assumed that this was just a publicity stunt per se, and that they must have just done some keywords searches and put them in some random order. However, they do have a page explaining how they picked the sites, what their criteria was and how they judged them. Not only that, but they claim that they sifted it down from a larger list, and even have a link containing all the blogs that didn’t quite make the list. And beyond even THAT, they’ve created a poll where you can vote for your own favorites, so if they got it wrong, the community can help correct the problem (of course I threw in a vote for Teach42 while I was there).
So what does all this mean? Well, it certainly wasn’t all automated. This took some serious time by at least a few people. Looking through the site does reflect that time and effort was spent creating it. It’s NOT spam. And while they are sponsored by Bab.La, there’s just one small add on the page. Pretty subtle if they’re really behind it. Although, their image WAS attached to the email I received. Despite all this, there’s still just one thing that doesn’t quite add up…
How the heck did somebody review Teach42 and decide that it was the 8th best LANGUAGE blog on the internet??? I don’t even talk about language much, besides mentioning a few tools that could be used by ESL teachers! I’m completely boggled by this one. There are some great sites on there that I recognize that actually focus on language, and ESL learning and so on. Mine doesn’t. So to put Teach42 ahead of blogs like EFL Geek is just crazy! They deserve to be on the list. I can’t for the life of me figure out why I’m there.
I guess the lesson in this is once again that we always need to be looking at our sources and questioning them. Who’s the expert? What are their credentials? What are the ulterior motives if any? And after evaluating it all, does it feel right to you? The internet is a slippery place to hang out.
The funny thing is that I’ll probably get taken off the list for spouting off like this. And that would make me feel sad, melancholy, sorrowful, doleful, woebegone, and desolate. Think that amazing use of language will keep me on there?
Oh, and if you’re from Lexophiles and reading this right now, welcome! Love your site! And I’d love to hear what the real story is.
A CarCast, a BikeCast, and… a GovernmentCast ?
It’s no secret that I’m fascinated by live video streaming. I’ve never been one to do much editing, I like my media authentic, unscripted and unfiltered. And that’s the way I’ve always podcasted, well back when I used to do it on a regular basis (more often than once year).
Well, in the last month I switched from the Samsung Blackjack to the Nokia N95 which has an unbelievable video camera built into it which is perfect for live streaming. Since Nokia’s happen to be compatible with just about everything, I’ve got my choice of sites to use including Qik, Flixwagon, Kyte, Seesmic and more. My favorite right now happens to be Qik, which is what I used at NECC several times over, including the incredibly fun pair of broadcasts on airplanes before they took off.
However, as with with any new technology, I think the best way to figure out where it fits into my professional life is to start off playing. Try things out, experiment a bit, throw things up against the wall and see what sticks. And that’s what I’ve been doing with Qik lately.
Last week, I did my first CarCast in quite a long time (download link). I used an old hair tie to strap my phone to my suction cup GPS mount. Then I hit broadcast and recording the commute home, talking head style. Since it as mounted, I was able to keep my eyes on the road, and just shoot glances at the camera on occasion, to make sure it was still broadcasting. Very fun. I enjoyed it so much that I’ve actually bought a mount specifically for the phone in the car.
A couple of days later I rode my bike to work. On the way home, I realized that if I stuck the phone in the little pocket one of the backpack straps has, it would probably hold the phone in place well enough to do a BikeCast (download link). And so I did. Threw on my helmet, hopped on the bike, and broadcast my ride home. Well, most of it anyway, I kinda ran out of battery before I got there. Regardless, it worked rather well for the first time! People were able to join me for the ride home in real time, and you can see the archive now. It’s a little slanty, so sit down if you get motion sickness easily.
So what does all this mean for education? To be honest, I’m not sure. Would I recommend everybody start broadcasting their commutes every day? Well, no… But this seems significant to me and worth more exploration. It feels powerful. It seems like it opens up new doors. Imagine being able to share accomplishments with parents in real time. To broadcast successes, make the classroom more transparent than ever before. What do we do with it? I don’t know, but maybe we can figure it out together.
However, we’re not the only ones trying to figure out what it all means. In fact, there’s a certain Representative from Texas that has been doing some rather interesting things with Qik. Last week, when the Republicans staged their protest before the House let out for a 5 week recess, the lights were shut off, the microphones were shut off, and the cameras were shut off. So was the general public blocked off? Not by a long shot. John Culberson, representative from Texas, continued the broadcast via his cell phone. He had interviews, covered a press conference, and provided the only glimpse into what was fascinating day in US politics. An integral part of the political system, it may not be. But there’s definitely some significance that bears more contemplation, exploration and innovation.