I want the ultimate e-book reader bundled with everything else...NOW!

• An Apple tablet could pit iTunes against Amazon - CNN.com

  This is a speculative blog piece based on rumors of an Apple tablet computer that may (or may not) be released this fall. I've been dreaming of the ultimate e-book reader and the freedom to use low cost specific chapters from text books in my onilne classes. Will Apple satisfy those dreams? ~ Den
  
  What can Apple do better with e-books? For textbooks or anthologies, Apple can give iTunes users the ability to download individual chapters, priced between a few cents to a few bucks each.

  Tags: e-book, apple, 21cif

  • Reading in the 21st Century is changing. I crave a hybrid technology that combines the joys of a traditional book with the power and reach of modern tech. This might be the next step in the evolution of e-books and online reading. We'll see! - By Dennis OConnor

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Investigative Searching Tutorials: Website Evaluation

Website Evaluation: Part of the WSI (Web Site Investigator) Series

• Interactive Website Evaluation Tutorials

  10 online Flash games to teach 'investigative searching'. Learn how to dig deep into a website to determine credibility of the resource.

  Tags: 21cif, website evaluation, information literacy, information fluency

  • Investigative Searching Tutorials

    Use these interactive tutorials to strengthen your skills locating and evaluating information.

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21st Century Librarian Steps Up at The University of Maryland

• Media-Newswire.com - Press Release Distribution - PR Agency

  Tags: 21cif, library2.0

  • "Librarians offer an important voice in this emerging technology environment and Maryland is an especially exciting place to work right now," says Steele. "The University has a dynamic vision for the future and appreciates the role libraries can play in achieving it. We'll be able to collaborate with top researchers on campus, and our enviable proximity to the nation's capital will give great access to the many leadership organizations."
  • Steele emphasizes that university libraries must collaborate with units across campus, serving as a catalyst for change in the production, distribution and preservation of scholarly output. She also sees a teaching role for libraries, "assuring the information fluency" of students.
  • (Media-Newswire.com) - COLLEGE PARK,Md. - The University of Maryland has named as its new dean of university libraries, Patricia A. Steele - a national leader in the Google Project and other efforts to digitize collections creating wider access to universities' information resources. Steele, described as a visionary and dynamic leader, currently directs the libraries at Indiana University Bloomington. She begins at Maryland on Sept. 1.

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Innovations and Opportunities for Media Specialists

Taught by noted library media specialist Mary Alice Anderson

In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” With the beginning of each new school year, media specialists have a chance to start fresh.

Innovations and Opportunities for Media Specialists is your opportunity to get recharged and energized to deliver a media program that has an integral role in today’s changing education environment. The course focuses on examination of current critical issues facing the media profession. Topics include understanding, surviving, and impacting change, program advocacy, data collection and becoming a leader in technology integration.

Activities include harnessing the power of Google, applying innovative web 2.0 technology tools to support engaged student learning, and examining online professional development options for your staff. Participants will complete practical course projects that meet the unique needs of their own professional growth and their media program.

Media specialists just beginning their careers and those currently in the field will gain new ideas to apply in daily work and program development.

It’s been a tough year for many media specialists, but there is still work to do and much to learn. I’d love to have you join the discussion. Mary Alice

Learn more about this course Online Graduate Course from the University of Wisconsin-Stout | Read comments from past students

Electroninc Liturature 101: Hyper-Link Reading & Understanting

• Electronic Literature

  Electronic literature uses links, images, sound, navigation, as well as text to convey meaning. Electronic literature is ergodic, and thus it is up to the reader to piece together the materials as the reader goes through the work. Elit 101explains how these elements work to convey meaning and provides examples and exercises for each element.

  Tags: writing, writing across the curriculum, 6-traits

  • Electronic literature uses links, images, sound, navigation, as well as text to convey meaning. Electronic literature is ergodic, and thus it is up to the reader to piece together the materials as the reader goes through the work. Elit 101explains how these elements work to convey meaning and provides examples and exercises for each element.
  • This is a beta-launch. I would like to work directly with some high school/college classes to refine the exercises. Please contact me at deenalarsen AT yahoo.com.
    
    Thanks.

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Twitter your next library job!

• TMJ-USA Library Jobs (tmj_usa_library) on Twitter

  Here's a Twitter Feed for library media specialists

  Tags: library media specialist, jobs, jobsearch

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Project Tuva: great video lectures wrapped in Web 2.0 tools

• Project Tuva: Enhanced Video Player Home - Microsoft Research

  A new project from Bill Gates that provides a series of video lectures to "explore core scientific concepts and theories". Includes "..searchable videos, transcripts, notes and interactive extras." Free, requires installing a Microsoft plug-in called Silverlight. Currently there are 7 lectures from the 60's by Richard Feynman. Includes links to extras that are rich and varied. This resource is a treasure for all.

  Tags: tuva, physics, lectures, feynman, research, microsoft, science, lecture, 21cif

  • A new project from Bill Gates that provides a series of video lectures to "explore core scientific concepts and theories". Includes "..searchable videos, transcripts, notes and interactive extras." Free, requires installing a Microsoft plug-in called Silverlight. - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google for Educators

• Google For Educators
• Tags: google, e-learning, education, tools, teaching, resources, 21cif
  • At Google, we support teachers in their efforts to empower students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. That’s why we’ve assembled the information and tools you’ll find on this site. Learn more about Google for Educators.

• Home ‎(Google Teacher Academy Resources)‎

  Tags: google, education, technology, resources

  • This site was created to support the Google Teacher Academy (GTA). Anyone may view the site and take advantage of the resources shared here. Only Google Certified Teachers (GCT) are free to edit and add to the site. Google Certified Teachers, please follow the Guidelines when you edit the site.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Greenroom - a Great LearningTimes Podcast Series

Viewing Feed (Subscribe to the Greenroom)

• Here's a way to subscribe to the Learning Times Greenroom. This is one of the very best produced ed-tech podcasts I've listened to. Professional production values, fascinating topics, and professional production standards. Stay on the cutting edge of web 2.0 by listening to Susan Manning and Dan Balzer!

  Tags: podcast, podcasting, ed-tech, web 2.0

  • Here's a way to subscribe to the Learning Times Greenroom. This is one of the very best produced ed-tech podcasts I've listened to. Professional production values, fascinating topics, and professional production standards. Stay on the cutting edge of web 2.0 by listening to Susan Manning and Dan Balzer! - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google Image Search - Creative Commons Filtered Search

• Official Google Blog: Find Creative Commons images with Image Search

  Tags: Google, Images, fairuse

  • Find Creative Commons images with Image Search
    

    
    7/09/2009 09:47:00 AM
    

    
    Let's say you're a blogger. You've just returned from a trip to New York City, and you're writing a post on New York landmarks. You want to illustrate your travel guide with an image — as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. It's easy to find images of New York online. But you want to make sure that you don't use images without the permission of their owners, and you can't afford licensing fees for professional photographers.
  • To enable this feature, go to our advanced image search page. Under the "Usage rights" section, you can select the type of license you'd like to search for, such as those marked for reuse or even for commercial reuse with modification. Your results will be restricted to images marked with CC or other licenses. Once you confirm the license of the image and make sure that your use will comply with the terms of the license (such as proper attribution to the image's owner), you can reuse the image. Some of you may already see these options, and we'll be rolling this feature out to everyone throughout the day.

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Information Forensics Goes to School: NECC 2009

Here's a video broadcast of our recent presentation from the ISTE Vision Network:



Links to Materials:

Information Forensics Goes to School

Prezi (the un-slide show)

Investigative Searching 20/10
(8 hours of self-paced online training in website evaluation.)

Open the Door to Free Google Goodies: Google For Educators

• Google For Educators

  Tags: google, e-learning, education, tools, teaching, resources, 21cif

  • At Google, we support teachers in their efforts to empower students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. That’s why we’ve assembled the information and tools you’ll find on this site. Learn more about Google for Educators.

• Home ‎(Google Teacher Academy Resources)‎

  Tags: google, education, technology, resources

  • This site was created to support the Google Teacher Academy (GTA). Anyone may view the site and take advantage of the resources shared here. Only Google Certified Teachers (GCT) are free to edit and add to the site. Google Certified Teachers, please follow the Guidelines when you edit the site.

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Safe Surfing in a Wikipedia World

• 01.18.2006 - Surfing is safer - and smarter - with flotation devices

  One of the evaluation methods 21CIF has been promoting is verification of facts using external links. We also promote triangulation of data; finding three substantive resources that agree on the same fact.
  
  This article calls into question the essential building blocks of Wikipedia, with good reason!

  Tags: wikipedia, fact checking

  • The process of rectifying those mistakes was more disturbing to Duguid than the original errors he had discovered: "My corrections were undone by people who clearly had little idea what they were talking about almost as quickly as they were made by me (who knew a little of what he was talking about)." Well-intentioned but "ill-informed editors" added their corrections to the article without offering meaningful sources for verification or entering the discussion on the discussion page. "People point to the instantaneous revision process as an indication of Wikipedia's quality-assurance mechanism," says Duguid. "These problems - of earnest but inept changes - are to me much more significant than simply finding errors."
  • Duguid and Nunberg agree that the key to using any source of online information is to know its strengths and limitations. "We don't think Encyclopedia Britannica would have a definitive article on Madonna," says Duguid. "Instinctively we just know that. We need to develop those same instincts around tools like Wikipedia."
  • Nunberg, who delivers commentaries on language for National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" program, evinced no surprise at the errors on Wikipedia. "You throw it open so that anyone can contribute, and people are shocked it's a flawed research tool?" he asked rhetorically. While admitting that Wikipedia is "surprisingly good" on some topics - in particular when dealing with concepts familiar to many people, such as "the undead and zombies" or the chi square - he says it falls short in treating "broader cultural topics" such as "Hitler, World War II, or the rise of the novel.
  • Wikipedia's collaborative process treats information as though it is "modular and granular," says Duguid. The problem is that "once you say that information is the basic building block, the assumption is that a lot of people can contribute these blocks and what we'll end up with is the Taj Mahal." Wikipedia's methodology is more likely to result in a patchwork quilt, he says, one that, in Wikipedia's case, is "simply an amalgam of facts." Such an approach, he says, isn't how good encyclopedia articles get written.

Creative commons image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oahu_North_Shore_surfing_hand_drag.jpg

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