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Tags > education
BigShot Camera Educates with DIY
By Kyle DentNovember 13, 2009
Shree Nayar, chair of Computer Science at the Columbia University has created BigShot, a digital camera kit for kids from eight years old and up to construct their own digital cameras. The purpose of the camera is primarily education, and testing indicates that it does a good job at that, but it also takes honest-to-goodness photos just like grown-up, pre-assembled adult versions.
Four short links: 30 October 2009
By Nat TorkingtonOctober 30, 2009
The3is In Three -- PhD students must explain their thesis topic in three minutes and one Powerpoint slide. Winner had written on the last words of Shakespearean characters as they met unlikely ends. No video alas, but what a great idea for an Ignite! (via sciblogs) Google Wave: We Came, We Saw, We Played D&D (ArsTechnica) -- gamers using...
Four short links: 28 October 2009
By Nat TorkingtonOctober 28, 2009
GMail Labs: Got The Wrong Bob? -- When's the last time you got an email from a stranger asking, "Are you sure you meant to send this to me?" and promptly realized that you didn't? Looks at the clusters of CCs you send and, if you normally send to Bob X but are trying to send it to Bob...
Four short links: 23 October 2009
By Nat TorkingtonOctober 22, 2009
Information is Beautiful -- gorgeous descriptions of the design of infographics. For once, a design discussion that might be useful to mere mortals like me. Australian Teen Crafts "Sneaky" Games -- video interview with a 16 year-old winner of the IFTF, Sun, and BoingBoing Digital Open. Great to see game design, a topic we've followed on Radar, getting uptake...
Four short links: 22 October 2009
By Nat TorkingtonOctober 22, 2009
Eight Billion Minutes Spent on Facebook Daily -- you weren't using that cognitive surplus, were you? How We Made Github Fast -- high-level summary is that the new "fast, good, cheap--pick any two" is "fast, new, easy--pick any two". (via Simon Willison) Isaac Mao, China, 40M Blogs and Counting -- Today, there are 40 million bloggers in China and...
A More Public Role for Public Broadcasting: Education
By Dale DoughertyOctober 9, 2009
Imagine a broadcast network in America that was dedicated to education, where the best educators had the opportunity to produce its programming, and where individuals as well as institutions could develop a new genre of wide-ranging educational programs? Educational programming could elevate the role of teaching in our culture and promote the value of lifelong learning. This blog post explores...
On Continuing Education and Eating My Own Dogfood
By Tom BarkerOctober 2, 2009
So after writing in one of my early articles about how once you've found a company that you consider a home that you should invest your time wisely and take advantage of the company's tuition reimbursement benefits, I decided to...
Four short links: 30 September 2009
By Nat TorkingtonSeptember 30, 2009
Smart Materials in Architecture -- Using thermal bimetals can allow architects to experiment with shape-changing buildings, Ritter said. Thermal bimetals include a combination of materials with different expansion coefficients that can cause a change in. Under changing temperatures this can lead one side of a compound to bend more than the other side, potentially creating an entirely different shape,...
Seeking information on free Linux online training
By Andy OramSeptember 29, 2009
I'm interested in hearing about good open-source training materials for GNU/Linux use and administration.
Four short links: 9 September 2009
By Nat TorkingtonSeptember 9, 2009
RapidSMS -- a free and open-source framework for dynamic data collection, logistics coordination and communication, leveraging basic short message service (SMS) mobile phone technology. UNICEF's mobile data collection framework, as used in Malawi and other proving grounds. (via gov2expo) Groceries -- read this and you will realize that Dan Meyer is the math teacher you wish you'd had. He...
Four short links: 8 September 2009
By Nat TorkingtonSeptember 7, 2009
jQTouch -- jQuery library for mobile web app development. (via brian on Delicious) GData API to Google Book Search -- search full text, get back metadata, modify "my library" collections, etc. Open and Free Courses at the CMU Open Learning Initiative -- rather than just a lecture and handout dump, it has interactive exercises and questions to help you...
Taking Education into the Digital Information Age
By Sarah SorensenSeptember 1, 2009
In this Digital Information Age, that way is constantly evolving, growing in scope, both in terms of possibilities and challenges. An education represents one of the foundational steps on that path, and as such it arguably plays the single largest role in preparing our children to participate in the global economy.
Four short links: 31 August 2009
By Nat TorkingtonAugust 31, 2009
CK-12 Textbooks Accepted by State of California -- kudos to open textbook non-profit CK-12 for having many of their textbooks okayed for use in classrooms. Their books did better than those from commercial publishers! (via Slashdot) Diagrammr -- web app to diagram simple sentences. (via brian on delicious) Noticings -- Noticings is a game of noticing things in cities....
Four short links: 10 August 2009
By Nat TorkingtonAugust 10, 2009
The Propaganda Newspapers -- London councils increasingly providing their own newspapers, masquerading as mass-market popular appeal newspapers but without anything critical of the council that produces it. This is an evolutionary dead-end for reinventing newspapers, and is why the non-profit/trust structure works so well. Time for Computer Science to Grow Up -- publish in journals so conferences can be...
Wikipeadia Papers - How to improve Wikipedia and University Studies Quality
By Mark FinnernJuly 15, 2009
How to bring Wikipedia up to the scientific standard that many in the Universities are claiming it is missing: The Wikipedia Paper. Every student that takes a class, no matter what topic, has to create or improve a Wikipedia page of the Topic of the class.
Four short links: 6 July 2009
By Nat TorkingtonJuly 3, 2009
Offline Mapping App for iPhone -- carry Open Street Maps maps with you even when you're not in 3G/wifi range. (via Elisabeth) My dentist used an in-office CAD & CNC mill to produce a new tooth for me today (Nat Friedman) -- hello, future! New version of Scratch released -- Scratch is an excellent way to teach kids how...
Four short links: 29 June 2009
By Nat TorkingtonJune 29, 2009
Server Fault -- Wikipedia-like sysadmin guide, built by the Stack Overflow team, who are branching out to reach a more general IT Professional audience. (via Brady in email) Sixty Symbols -- 5m videos about the symbols of physics and astronomy. Great stuff! (via Glutnix on Twitter) US National Archives launches YouTube Channel -- a mixture of archives-nerd stuff (directors...
Four roles for publishers: staying relevant when you are no longer a gatekeeper
By Andy OramJune 17, 2009
In many areas of publishing, there are enormous resources of free online material and innumerable forums where individuals can quickly and conveniently post their own observations. Since we are no longer gatekeepers, publishers have to focus on how we add quality.
Four short links: 5 June 2009
By Nat TorkingtonJune 6, 2009
Visual Programming Environments for Kids -- detailed writeup of the research and coding done by Shone Sadler to build a visual programming environment for robots, so simple that kids can use it. (via steveweiss on Twitter) The Nation's CTO Lays Out His Priorities -- it's still not entirely clear how the CTO and CIO's roles differ, as both are...
Four short links: 4 June 2009
By Nat TorkingtonJune 3, 2009
Wave Robot Ruby Client -- Sam Ruby ported the Wave Robot Python Client library to Ruby. He found that the wire protocol is full of Java classnames, and says, Overall, I feel that this Google Wave could benefit from earlier and wider reviews. In the comments, a Google employee replies The Java API was implemented first... We are working...
How to Get Involved in Higher Education
By Tom BarkerMay 26, 2009
My previous article explored the benefits of getting involved in higher education. It was followed up with a number of interesting comments, one of which was: Great idea, but would like to hear more on how you got the job teaching (saw a posting, contacted the school, what). So I thought I would follow up with an article detailing my experience with this.
Four short links: 20 May 2009
By Nat TorkingtonMay 20, 2009
Distributed Proofreaders Celebrates 15000th Title Posted To Project Gutenberg -- a great use of our collective intelligence and cognitive surplus. If I say one more Clay Shirkyism, someone's gonna call BINGO. (via timoreilly on Twitter) Datacenter is the New Mainframe (Greg Linden) -- wrapup of a Google paper that looks at datacenters in the terms of mainframes: time-sharing, scheduling,...
Getting Involved in Higher Education
By Tom BarkerMay 13, 2009
The single biggest recommendation I can give to developers out in the field, the one thing that they can do that will impact their career and personal growth, is to get involved in higher education by teaching. The benefits are...
Twitter Boot Camp Coming June 15 in New York
By Mac SlocumMay 12, 2009
Twitter seems simple on the surface, but it takes practice to harness Twitter's audience development power. That's why we're hosting a one-day Twitter Boot Camp in New York City...
Hackers wanted! Scholarships available to coders who'll come to journalism and help save democracy
By Brian BoyerMay 8, 2009
Guest blogger Brian Boyer is a hacker journalist who writes about the intersection of technology and journalism. He's worked at public-interest journalism site ProPublica and is now at the Chicago Tribune, building their new News Applications team. It's not news that journalism is in crisis. CNN turned newspapers into first-day fishwrap and Craigslist killed the business model. Solutions are...
Four short links: 1 May 2009
By Nat TorkingtonMay 1, 2009
A Little Give and Take On Electricity (NY Times) -- Dennis L. Arfmann, a lawyer at the Boulder office of Hogan & Hartson who specializes in environmental law, said he had no idea how much electricity he and his wife, Dr. Julie Brown, had used before he filled his roof with solar panels producing 4.5 kilowatts of power. During...
Four short links: 30 Apr 2009
By Nat TorkingtonApril 30, 2009
Ypulse Conference -- conference on marketing to youth with technology, from the very savvy Anastasia Goodstein who runs the interesting Ypulse blog on youth culture that I've raved about before. Register with the code RADAR for a 10% discount (thanks, Anastasia!). Government in the Global Village -- departing post by the NZ CIO (and Kiwi Foo Camper) Laurence Millar....
John Seely Brown, others on "Introducing the Collaboration Curve"
By Andy OramApril 9, 2009
Very interesting observations at Bloomberg on the power of collaboration for education.
Four short links: 7 Apr 2009
By Nat TorkingtonApril 7, 2009
Maps, meaning, makers, and orphaned works: Lens Tools and Fisheye Map Browsing -- a summary of magnification in maps through history, culminating in use of the fisheye/lens as a way to explore layers and data in thematic maps. (via Titine's delicious stream) Socially Relevant Computing -- frustrated by the meaningless examples and work in computer science classes, Mike Buckley started...
Four short links: 1 Apr 2009
By Nat TorkingtonApril 1, 2009
No April Fools jokes because I'm a Grinch. Instead you get architecture, research, visualization, and pain: Stacks, Readers, Staff--Building the British Library is an overview of what a momentous accomplishment the British Library was. And a reminder that no matter how gorgeous, loved, and inevitable the final product seems, there's always a pitched battle to get it made. Architect Sir...
Challenges from a book sprint: the great things about ignorance and disorder
By Andy OramMarch 24, 2009
e tried to write a conventional computer manual in two days, and the experience has made me reconsider the conventions of computer manuals. The computer field is still in the kindergarten stage of exploring serious questions of how people learn, questions at the center of psychology and pedagogy for many decades. Even those disciplines don't quite get it, because they're fumbling with the instant messaging culture that gives us so many more tools today for learning together.
Free book, community gathering, Richard Stallman to write foreword
By Andy OramMarch 19, 2009
Update to my posting about a book-writing project this coming weekend in Cambridge, Mass. (March 21-22). RMS will write a foreword for the book.
As the Internet Rewires Our Brains
By Kurt CagleMarch 1, 2009
The Internet, ironically, has been abuzz this week with dire news about how the Social Media and the Internet itself is stunting our mental growth, is turning us into idiot savants, Aspergers and reverting our brains to a more primitive state. The first such statement came from Lady Greenfield, an Oxford University neurologist, baroness, and director of the Royal Institution in England, who warned that sites such as Facebook and Twitter were contributing to the decline of critical skills in children who used them heavily, claiming that repeated exposure could effectively rewire the brain.
Four short links: 25 Feb 2009
By Nat TorkingtonFebruary 25, 2009
Amazon, Apple, Science, and Databases: Amazon's Wheel of Growth -- a fascinating diagram in the middle, the flywheel of customer experience driving sales driving sellers driving selection which drives experience again, and all the while lower costs allows Amazon to deliver lower prices and thus lower selection. iPhone Sketch -- stencils to use when sketching your iPhone app's screens. The...
libproxy tries to fix what sucks about proxies--and other news from first day of Southern California Linux Expo
By Andy OramFebruary 21, 2009
Application support for proxies is inconsistent. Nathaniel McCallum and his colleagues have done a pretty exhaustive study of application support for proxies. This is a classic problem crying out for standardization, and libproxy tries to fill that gap. Existing applications would have to be rewritten, but for an interface that provides only three calls, how much trouble can that be?
Four short links: 19 Feb 2009
By Nat TorkingtonFebruary 19, 2009
Art, astronomy and more fun for you in today's four short links: Found in Space -- there's an astronomy bot on Flickr that identifies stars in the night sky, and from the unique positions of the stars figures out what bit of the night sky is looked at and then adds notes for interesting parts of the sky visible in...
Four short links: 10 Feb 2009
By Nat TorkingtonFebruary 9, 2009
Happy Monday! Kid coding and web-powered political transparency form the artisanal wholewheat organic bread slices around a sandwich filling of meaty (or tofuy) web travel APIs and blogly angst: Art and Code -- conference on programming environments for "artists, young people, and the rest of us". Alice! Hackety Hack! Scratch! Processing! And more! March 7-9 at CMU. Want! (I've written...
Four short links: 30 Jan 2009
By Nat TorkingtonJanuary 30, 2009
Two serious links and two fun today, thanks to Waxy and BoingBoing: EveryBlock Business Model Brainstorming -- Adrian Holovaty's project was funded by a Knight Foundation grant that's about to run out. The software will be open sourced but he's inviting suggestions of business models that would enable the project team to continue working on it full-time. Having used and...
Four short links: 12 Jan 2009
By Nat TorkingtonJanuary 12, 2009
Brace yourself: kids, design, newspapers, and robots. It can only be another collection of four tasty links (or the key elements of the least successful Disney holiday movie ever). Our Work So Far This Year - amazing blog entry about St Pauls high school in England, which has had exceptional technologists come to speak to their ITC class. Who? Oh,...
Crowdsourcing childhood education
By Andy OramJanuary 9, 2009
The current enthusiasm we see everywhere for crowdsourcing and peer production seems ripe for application to pedagogy (see article).
Four short links: 9 Jan 2009
By Nat TorkingtonJanuary 9, 2009
Four questions, one per link: what next, can it solve a big problem, what's the final boss for Python programming, and why on earth would anyone want yogurt that glows in the dark? End Times - gloomy piece on the future of journalism, to be added to the large pile of other gloomy pieces on the future of journalism. The...
Year of Science promotes scientists' responsibility to educate
By Andy OramDecember 17, 2008
I was excited to hear of a nationwide Year of Science initiative, launched by a Boston-based conference in the first week of January. This conference will help people working in the sciences learn how to educate the wider public about what they do, why it's important, and what its implications are for public policy.
Creative Commons needs your donations
By Andy OramDecember 13, 2008
Creative Commons is more dependent than ever before on the funds of individuals. More and more people these days are grabbing pictures, text, and other random goods they find online and using them in their own presentations or creative efforts; some of us even build businesses on open contributions. All of us should be promoting the Creative Commons, which has provided licenses to support such sharing in 50 countries and is working with people in many more.
Practice, Play and Computers
By Kurt CagleDecember 11, 2008
Back channel communications at O'Reilly can be fun. Lately, we've had a running thread about the role of practice and play in learning, and how that impacts the educational process (and the educational industry, which are not even remotely the same thing).
Knight Foundation Scholarship: Bringing Developers to the Newsroom
By Timothy M. O'BrienDecember 7, 2008
Rich Gordon, Associate Professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, discusses the Knight Foundation Scholarship for working developers to attend a one-year Master's program in Journalism. Gordon discusses the current trends in news and technology, and how developers will play an important role in the continued evolution of "news".
Education of software project members: New API posted
By Andy OramDecember 6, 2008
Over the past month I've made a few significant updates to my API for educating software project members.
Vanishing Paper in Higher Education
By Peter BrantleyNovember 3, 2008
Christopher Conway has a thoughtful essay at Inside Higher Ed on the seemingly inevitable trend towards digital text consumption: It is becoming increasingly easier to put together affordable 'readers'...
Incredible images of the Sun
By Jesse RobbinsOctober 15, 2008
The Boston Globe has assembled a beautiful gallery of images of the Sun. This LASCO C2 image, taken 8 January 2002, shows a widely spreading coronal mass ejection (CME) as it blasts more than a billion tons of matter out into space at millions of kilometers per hour. The C2 image was turned 90 degrees so that the blast...
The Confusion Between Content and Containers
By Mac SlocumOctober 6, 2008
The digital realm allows content and containers to exist separately, but their old bond is still tough to break
DonorsChoose Giving Campaign Technology & Learning
By Brady ForrestOctober 2, 2008
DonorsChoose is having their annual Blogger Challenge. O'Reilly's blog network hat is in the Technology Blog category along with Fred Wilson, AllThingsD, BoingBoing and Techcrunch. Let's see whose readers will bring more donations in. Donate here. I personally just donated to help a kindergarten class get WiFi. We've selected other technology-oriented requests for us to assist. Join me in...
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