Be in complete control of your own learning, create PLNs

As I designed and developed the activities for my performance support (PS) project, I was somewhat surprised at how gratifying it was to be able to curate and share information with a community of fellow musicians. My project "The Bass Hub" was inspirational not just because I'm a bassist but because it was something that I had wanted to do for sometime but wasn't motivated enough to take the first step. Okay I admit that this Web 2.0 course was a strong motivator but I'm so happy that I took that step.  I felt like the proverbial horse who was led to the water and while not forced to drink, I realized that water was actually good for me and thus decided to drink of my own volition.

My PS project was expansive enough to be incorporated into my personal learning network (PLN) since the central theme for my PLN was my passion for music and, by extension, my love for the bass guitar.  I enjoyed curating, sharing and communicating so much that I am now an advocate for PLNs especially if you're a budding or seasoned educator.  I like that you, as the user/learner, are in complete control of your environment.  You decide who you'll converse/associate with and you decide whether the content is worthy of your attention. You choose the tools and decide who'll be in your network.  The frequency of your interactions or consultations are also determined by you. It is just that open and as such you'll soon appreciate that only the 'sky is your limit' on creativity and innovation. I certainly hope PLNs become a more prevalent online pastime in the future.

Web 2.0 - there's just so much stuff out there!

For me, the past ten weeks have been a roller coaster ride of emotions. From anxiety, frustration and disappointment to excitement, curiosity, enjoyment and numerous 'wow' moments, the time spent in this course has truly been a rewarding educational experience. Being immersed in Web 2.0-based learning and performance concepts and tools at first took me well out of my comfort zone of usual online activity, but now I can say that it was truly worth it. I am still amazed by the number of tools that are out there in cyber land. In fact, when folks reference almost any technological idea under the sun, we often joke that "there's an app for that!"  Funnily enough, we really not that far off.

With over a million apps on Google Play and over 900,000 on Apple's App Store, you can imagine that quality will not always be the watchword. I notice too that we casually throw these figures around like they're no big deal, but according to my calculations if you use or experiment with at least 270 apps every single day of your life, it will take you roughly ten years to get through 1 million! And what's even funnier is that by the time you get through that million, there will probably be at least a million more new ones. So remember that whatever crazy electronic concept you might think of, there's probably an App for that already, or one in the making.

Also, with so many apps, I can appreciate why the Web 2.0 environment is frequently being reshaped and re-tooled. In fact, it is against this backdrop that I expect to be learning about new concepts, developments and tools long after I've completed this course. There's just so much going on out there that you wouldn't believe that just ten years ago, the Web 2.0 platform was only being conceptualized and developed.

All of this leaves me wondering what the next ten years will look like. Maybe there's an app that will predict or estimate what this will look like! The talk of a Web 3.0 or the Semantic Web has not fully taken off yet but maybe it will in the very near future. But there's also Bitcloud that wants to replace the internet and the initiative by CERN (known as the Worldwide Grid) for an unfathomably fast internet. To add to all of this, there is also the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Everything (IoE) which all makes you curious about how these platforms will change the internet's technological landscape. Again, you just have to wonder, what's going to be next?

Social media in the fight against crime

Sometimes you just gatta love social media. I think many people do have a love/hate relationship with it but when you see stories like these, you'll start loving it again.

I had to laugh at Roger Ireland’s very amusing story. Roger decided that he'd respond to a police Facebook page that posted him as a wanted man. His response: “Y’all will never catch me”. Well the postings captured the attention of concerned residents and they began tagging Ireland's family members to the Facebook posts. Of course he was caught soon thereafter and was clearly annoyed that residents had responded to the police's posts and tagged his family which led the police straight to him. Those darned posting and tagging Facebook residents, you gatta love 'em. Maybe Ireland thought that only police officers are on Facebook - very 'smart' isn't it? As the police captain aptly put it to Yahoo News, “he should have kept his mouth shut.”

Then there's Danielle Saxton who posted Facebook photos of herself in a very unique but stolen dress. Did I mention 'not smart'? The things folks do to get attention on social media! There are countless examples of people posting inappropriate or ill-advised statements, photos or videos online. With these unwise actions, often rooted in people's desire for attention, there's no wonder why the police can use social media as an effective tool in the fight against crime. Here are some recent examples where it was useful in helping the police identify and capture suspects:

•   Facebook Selfie Helps Police Identify Fraud Suspect

•   Social Media Helps Police Identify Theft Suspect

•   Social Media Helps Nab Suspected Carjacker

•   Social Media Helps Police Track Down Assault Suspect

•   Police use social media to help catch suspects

•   Social media helps Ormond Beach police catch bank fraud suspect

•   Social media monitoring helps police nab drug dealer

I must admit though, the use of social media to fight crime makes me wonder just how far the police are prepared to go. "The Crazy, Cool and Unsettling Ways Police Are Using Social Media" is an interesting report that begins to address some of these potentially complex concerns.

Robotic Prosthetics

I was searching around TED Talks, as I often do, trying to find inspirational ideas about teaching and learning in social networking environments. As I searched, I soon found myself sightly distracted but totally enthralled by Hugh Herr's story. You see Hugh was once a very talented rock climber.  In fact he was considered a child prodigy and by age 17, was one of the best in the United States. Sadly, some thirty years ago during one of his climbing expeditions, Hugh and a fellow climber were caught in a blizzard which rendered them stranded in -20 degree weather for more than three days. They both suffered severe frostbite by the time they were rescued and as a result both of Hugh's legs had to be amputated from below the knees. His colleague also lost a leg and much of the other foot.

Of course Hugh's doctors advised him that he'd never climb again but against the odds, he helped to design prosthetic limbs that helped him relive his dreams of climbing once again.  During a TED Talks presentation, Hugh explains the incredible and innovative designs of his robotic prosthetics.  He currently heads the MIT Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group and through his designs he is viewed as an architect for the next generation of bionic limbs and robotic prosthetics.

Hugh's story is so incredibly touching that I began wondering if it had any impact on social media. Though I'd expected some traction, I was surprised that by March of this year, his TED Talks presentation had received more than 2.2 million views from the TED Talks website. To date, Youtube shows that there have been over 750,000 views, 6,450 shares and almost 18,000 likes. Hugh's story is truly inspiring and I encourage you to take some time to check it out. I think you too will be amazed at where technology is headed.

So many tools and so little time for exploring

I've been searching and searching for an online platform that I could use to create an ideal user-centered and interactive experience. I would like visitors to my website to not only view the content presented, but also leave comments, request information, suggest alternative paths or websites, add content that could bring further clarity to a concept or provide feedback on my chosen format or design. Short of developing a whole new website, I would prefer a tool that would allow for all of the above, is user friendly, and easy to navigate.

During my search, I was really amazed by the many options for each aspect of my goal, but was also frustrated and overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. To add to all this, the reality is that in order to fully appreciate what a tool has to offer you'd be better off signing up and exploring its capabilities. In fact in most cases you are required to create an account to use the service. As you can imagine, this all takes time.

The frustrations begin when you realize that one tool might be able to accomplish one or two of your objectives flawlessly but is unable to perform another, or achieve a critical nuance. If you're like me, you'll find yourself in this quandary - you like that tool '#1' can do 'X', 'Y' and 'Z' but you don't like that it cannot do 'W' and 'T' ... you really need 'W' and 'T'! On the other hand tool '#2' can do 'W' and 'T' very well but does a lame job of 'Z', and doesn't do 'X' or 'Y'. So you move on to tool '#3', but '#3' only accomplishes 'W' and does an exceptional job at it. You only wish tool '#3' was combined with '#1' and '#2' but that is simply not the case so we move to tool '#4'. Of course after signing up you realize that tool '#4' actually does a little bit of 'X' and 'Y' but really was designed to accomplish 'A', 'B' and 'C'. Can I scream for you? I'm certain you can now appreciate why I've mentioned being frustrated.

And guess what? Like a good novel or a movie, everyone likes happy endings but unfortunately for me, I'm still searching for that ideal platform. Here's a preview of the sites that I've only just recently signed up with, while trying to reach my goal: Linoit; LessonPaths; Padlet; Storify; Symbaloo; WebriQ and Weebly. As I said, some of this and a little bit of that.

What I've had to do is to combine, as best possible, a few tools to get most of my fundamental objectives accomplished as a single project. I'm still wishing for that one tool that does a better job of combining more of my requirements. If you've found one, other than designing a full-blown website, I'd be happy to know about it.

Top news aggregators

News aggregators have many different aliases. They are also known as feed readers, feed aggregators, news readers, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) readers or just aggregators. These tools are web-based applications or software that are used to collect syndicated content being transmitted via the world wide web. The content is generated by podcasts, blogs, online newspapers/magazines, video blogs, and the like and can be streamed to whatever application is able to accept its transmission.

Aggregators make bringing content from all over the web a little easier by collecting these feeds and collating them into one application or location for easy viewing. These kind of feeds became available to the public as early as 2011 as text-based feeds and later evolved into the more sophisticated platforms of today. Some of the more notable feed readers are Bloglines, Feedly, Fresca News, Feedspot, Flipboard, Digg Reader, News360, NewsBlur and Netvibes.  Even My Yahoo! has found a spot in the list of top aggregators.

Of the above, Feedly is still my top choice though I have not fully explored all the features of the others. What I have seen is that each one has its own set of nuances targeting specific audiences, so I therefore invite you to explore your options to see which ones work best for you.

Twitter analytics

Realizing that at some point I would require some metrics about my Twitter activity, I began exploring my options for capturing this kind of data. It was rather astonishing to find that acquiring Twitter analytics is big business and as such is a big deal. It appears that most of the noteworthy services that offer these metrics aren't free and where the service is free, only limited metrics are provided. In fact some of the top rated tools like Twtrland and Simply Measured offer mere 14-day free trial periods after which the user has to cough up a minimum of $18.00 per month to as much as $250.00 per month  for more superior packages. You can find some free packages from competitors like Twitalyzer, TweetReach and Twitter Counter but the data will be limited unless you upgrade to a paid service. At the time of this posting, I found just two completely free services (foller.me and TweetStats) that offer Twitter analytics but of course there may be more.

Of the top online tools, I believe that you'll find Twitonomy quite helpful for our needs. I like the data provided by, and the layout of, its free package even though it also offers paid options. Feel free to explore the numerous options out there to find the preferred tool that meets your needs.

Entertain yourself with Easter eggs.

Easters eggs in the tech world are intentional hidden features, messages or inside jokes that are embedded in websites, computer programs/games or DVDs.  It is believed that the term was coined at the Atari Corporation by "personnel who were alerted to the presence of a secret message which had been hidden by Robinett in his already widely distributed game, Adventure."

They are hardly ever static and as such may change as updates or edits are made available.  Easter eggs in the tech environment are also known as virtual easter eggs.

I've put together a few of my favorites from Google and Youtube.  Just type the following statements listed below, or click on the links provided, and be entertained.

"Do a barrel roll", "tilt" or "askew" in a Google search window or the Google gravity experiment by Mr. Doob;

How about the "let me Google that for you" (lmgtfy) site animation; (click preview to animate)

"Atari breakout" in a Google image search;

"Google pacman" is still available - its 30th anniversary was celebrated in 2010.  Click your mouse on screen arrows or use the left and right cursors to cycle through other Google Doodles of 2010.  You can also peruse many other Doodle treats in the Doodles archives.

In a Youtube search window you can type "use the force Luke", "beam me up Scotty" or my all-time favorite "do the Harlem shake" (watch with sound on) to view some hidden tricks.

If you're curious like me, Wikipedia has put together a list of Google hoaxes and easter eggs over the years. I know there are many other Easter eggs out there and I hope you can find some additional ones that also grab your attention.  Happy hunting!

Quora wants to share and grow the world's knowledge.

Thanks to this class I'm now aware of Quora. Being totally foreign to me until now, I've been enlightened about this so-called "question-and-answer" website where questions are created to get answers from people who have firsthand knowledge or experience about a topic.  It is anticipated that people with the know-how and expertise will not only find this kind of platform appealing, but will be further motivated to contribute to what is believed to be a top-notched knowledge-based global community. It's really exciting stuff that's quickly catching on.

Interestingly, because Quora is so secretive about its growth, many believe that it is not growing while others think otherwise. By the end of 2012, it was believed that Quora had attracted well over 1.5 million users but again substantiating any figure is proving to be quite the challenge.  Quora's designers appear to not be focusing on this kind of data but rather what the site has to offer to the global online community.

Here are a few random questions, presented through Forbes magazine, that can be found on Quora:

What Was The Best Experience You've Had With An Airline?

How Do You Feel About PepsiCo CEO Indra K. Nooyi's Saying That Women Can't Have It All?

Does The Shootout In Soccer Make A Mockery Of The Sport?

The company was formed in 2009 and the site was made public in June of 2010 making it relatively new on the Web 2.0 scene. It was founded by Adam D’Angelo who created it with a simple mission: to share and grow the world's knowledge.

Goodbye Edcanvas; Hello Blendspace!

I had heard about Edcanvas and thought it would be appropriate for my instructional design assignment but to my surprise, Edcanvas is no more.  Clicking on an old Edcanvas link yielded Blendspace!  Blendspace is visual learning online tool where teachers use a grid-like canvas (like Pinterest) to curate or bundle interactive lessons for their students or colleagues.  In fact, it boasts that it is the easiest way to blend your class and digital content and declares that from its site, you can create lessons in five minutes! And you know what, from my experience that's true.

Blendspace is unbelievably easy to use. Its drag-and-drop feature allows users to seamlessly incorporate digital content like MS PowerPoint slides, Youtube videos, photos, images or websites as well as your own media productions, into a lesson. With its user accounts continuing to grow (well over 150,000 users by the end of 2013), Blendspace is an excellent option for the delivery of lessons online.

View Youtube like a tv.

Lately I've found myself exploring Youtube more than ever and it's amazing how a website that was designed strictly for video sharing has become so popular. The sheer volume of videos is simply astounding and these days they cover just about any conceivable topic or idea. Against this backdrop, it was just a matter of time before Youtube itself saw a need to better categorize its content according to themes. Imagine being able to access a great compilation of Youtube videos by selecting clearly defined areas of interest and watching them live or tagging favorite items for playback at more convenient times. This concept is analogous to the content segmentation seen on live video and audio streaming devices like Amazon Fire TV, Roku devices, Google Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Apple TV, Samsung Smart Media Player and Xbox One to name the more popular ones.

Youtube Leanback was designed with the above principles in mind. Created in 2010, Leanback was described as 'Youtube designed for your tv'. It was designed for users to watch their favorite videos in full screen and in high definition where available.  The user can create a personalized 'feed' or list of preferences for continuous play of pre-selected videos. Even though I had to figure out how to scroll across the screen to select videos that don't fit in the initial menu display area (by using left and right arrows on the keyboard), I still think the interface is great and I've enjoyed using it.

Yahoo Pipes - a bit complex but worth a try.

This week the focus is on Yahoo Pipes, Mozilla's Popcorn Maker (video editing app) and MeeMoo (used to hack web applications) and it's true, they're all just a bit more complex than your average tech tool. But as with any tool on the web, exploration and practice goes a long way.  I'll be honest, until now, all of these tools were new to me and if you're like me, the first challenge is finding an instructional video or website that does a good job of describing what the technology or tool is, it's purpose and how to use it.

Fortunately, my search has yielded some pretty good sites that explain these tools but today we'll spotlight Yahoo Pipes. I really wish I had more time to fully explore the concept of creating filters on the web as Pipes does. It reminds me of the old MS Query for MS Access where the user would use commands to filter items in a database.  Pipes treats websites, particularly those with RSS feeds, like they are databases of information and allows the user, through a graphic interface, to filter and sort (curate or mashup) content.

Four engineers from Yahoo! (Pasha Sadri, Ed Ho, Jonathan Trevor and Daniel Raffel) back in 2006, built Yahoo Pipes. During a workshop presentation titled "Pipes: A Tool For Remixing the Web", Pasha himself explains the genesis of Yahoo Pipes! He further describes how it all fits together as a viable online resource tool. Very interesting though complex. I figure it's worth a try.

Flickr was down - again.

Recently, I've been exploring Flickr and was getting pretty excited about its place in my arsenal of online tools to improve my own teaching and learning experience.  For those who appreciate that a picture can paint a thousand words, then Flickr is the tool for you.

But as I attempted to log on a few days ago, I experienced something that I've never observed before with a major social networking platform - Flickr was down, and down for hours. When I saw the odd notification screen, the first thing that came to mind was that I'd picked up a virus. There was this "Bad, bad Panda!" message with a picture of a little girl pulling a stuffed toy panda. Flickr may think it's cute but it's not cool.

It turns out that this was not the first time that Flickr has experienced technical difficulties affecting users all over the world.  And it wasn't just in the US but all over the globe.  Sue Glossop posted "don't tell me it's just me lol when it's not, Flickr is down again in Australia" just two days ago from around that time. In fact over the last year, Flickr's apparently been experiencing numerous problems and has been down any number of times.

What this really made me think of is our increasing reliance on the social networking platform for just daily existence.  As we feel the gratification from the 'produsage' phenomena, sometimes we feel like we just can't do without Web 2.0 and social media.  More importantly, I feel for those of us who use these platforms for educational purposes. Students design and submit projects via a growing number of tools that use the Web 2.0 framework and are encouraged or even required to use particular tools/activities for grading. A good example of many where malfunctioning tools can cause problem is when Josiah Windler of Paraguay writes "Flickr is flickering to an end and my photos will not upload. The Ubuntu Photo Competition is using Flickr uuuggghhhhh!!!" Ouch, I feel your pain.

Can you imagine if some of the bigger names in social networking like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn go down? What would the world be like without these three giants? Probably much quieter! But that silence would be short-lived because some brilliant soul would create something else to begin the chatter all over again, and the cycle would continue. But in a scenario without these giants, users, designers, owners and advertisers will all lose out and that's a lot of losing. Facebook alone, for example, services well over 1.2 billion users.

While Flickr's growing user involvement is around 92 million accounts, the message is clear - no matter how many tools there are, the platform on which they run must be reliable and robust enough to handle potential online traffic. Otherwise, the tool is worthless.  Flickr is a great resource but it must seriously address infrastructural issues if it wants to remain useful and competitive in the cut-throat social networking environment.