Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Try something new in the new year
My 6 year old daughter, a notoriously picky eater, resolved to try new foods in the new year. So far, she's tried lasagna and pierogies.
The new year is generally a good time to try something new, so I offer some new technology-related things to try.
1. Firefox--I've been using Firefox forever. It's based on Mozilla. It's more secure than IE* and has more features like tabbed browsing. Firefox also has free extensions, little add-on programs for your browser. You can see the weather in your status bar and other cool things. Try em; you'll like em.
2. Social Bookmarking--As someone who uses 3 different computers on any given day, social bookmarking has been a godsend. I can save articles I want to read or have read but want to refer back to. Most social bookmarking tools also offer categorizing and a "people who've read this site have also read . . ." feature (what I call the Amazon feature). I personally use both Furl and CiteULike, but there are plenty of other good ones out there.
3. Flickr--Flickr is a photo sharing site. It's very easy to upload photos, tag them and then share them as you see fit. It's been used in some educational applications. Even if you don't use it to store your own photos, it's a wonderful resource for finding photos.
4. Blogging--Blogging has become quite the phenomenon. There are now about 23 million blogs out there and many of them are quite good. You can create your own blog by using one of the freely available blogging software applications, such as Blogger or, for a small fee, Typepad. Or you can use the Bryn Mawr blog site. Not ready to create your own? Reading blogs is a great way to keep up with news or a specific topic. Search for blogs using Technorati or Google's new blog search. I have a few academically oriented blogs listed here, or check the sidebar for good educational technology blogs. Keep up with your blogs using an RSS reader such as Bloglines.
5. Podcasting--Podcasting is like audio blogging or like amateur radio, however you want to think about it. We have our own podcast. And I know a couple of top ten podcasters. Like blogging, you don't have to create your own to participate (though it's really easy). You also don't have to have a shiny new mp3 player to listen to them. Find podcasts via iTunes or via a directory like Odeo. You can download them to your mp3 player or listen to them online. Since I got some speakers for my iPod, I've been listening to podcasts all around the house. It's a great way to keep up when you don't have the time to sit down and read something. You can also subscribe to podcasts so that you get new episodes automatically. Podcasts are generally both informative and fun and a lot of media outlets have podcasts: CNN, NPR, PBS to name a few.
6. Open Source Software--Even if you're not ready for a full-blown open source operating system like Linux, there are plenty of open source applications for the mac and windows. I'm using Open Office for Windows and AbiWord for the Mac. Both are quite excellent applications. Open Office is a great substitute for Microsoft Office.
7. Tablet PC--I have a few around in the ETC if you want to try one out. I'm presenting on the use of tablets next week. There's a lot of potential for tablets and they've come down in price enough that it makes them well within reach.
8. Video editing--Want to create some clips for a presentation or class? Try out some simple video editing applications. The New Media Lab comes equipped with tools for both the mac and the pc. Create your clips, burn them to CD/DVD or stream them. It's really not that hard.
That's all I can think of for now. Do you have suggestions for me or others? Feel free to leave a comment and I'll update this post.
The new year is generally a good time to try something new, so I offer some new technology-related things to try.
1. Firefox--I've been using Firefox forever. It's based on Mozilla. It's more secure than IE* and has more features like tabbed browsing. Firefox also has free extensions, little add-on programs for your browser. You can see the weather in your status bar and other cool things. Try em; you'll like em.
2. Social Bookmarking--As someone who uses 3 different computers on any given day, social bookmarking has been a godsend. I can save articles I want to read or have read but want to refer back to. Most social bookmarking tools also offer categorizing and a "people who've read this site have also read . . ." feature (what I call the Amazon feature). I personally use both Furl and CiteULike, but there are plenty of other good ones out there.
3. Flickr--Flickr is a photo sharing site. It's very easy to upload photos, tag them and then share them as you see fit. It's been used in some educational applications. Even if you don't use it to store your own photos, it's a wonderful resource for finding photos.
4. Blogging--Blogging has become quite the phenomenon. There are now about 23 million blogs out there and many of them are quite good. You can create your own blog by using one of the freely available blogging software applications, such as Blogger or, for a small fee, Typepad. Or you can use the Bryn Mawr blog site. Not ready to create your own? Reading blogs is a great way to keep up with news or a specific topic. Search for blogs using Technorati or Google's new blog search. I have a few academically oriented blogs listed here, or check the sidebar for good educational technology blogs. Keep up with your blogs using an RSS reader such as Bloglines.
5. Podcasting--Podcasting is like audio blogging or like amateur radio, however you want to think about it. We have our own podcast. And I know a couple of top ten podcasters. Like blogging, you don't have to create your own to participate (though it's really easy). You also don't have to have a shiny new mp3 player to listen to them. Find podcasts via iTunes or via a directory like Odeo. You can download them to your mp3 player or listen to them online. Since I got some speakers for my iPod, I've been listening to podcasts all around the house. It's a great way to keep up when you don't have the time to sit down and read something. You can also subscribe to podcasts so that you get new episodes automatically. Podcasts are generally both informative and fun and a lot of media outlets have podcasts: CNN, NPR, PBS to name a few.
6. Open Source Software--Even if you're not ready for a full-blown open source operating system like Linux, there are plenty of open source applications for the mac and windows. I'm using Open Office for Windows and AbiWord for the Mac. Both are quite excellent applications. Open Office is a great substitute for Microsoft Office.
7. Tablet PC--I have a few around in the ETC if you want to try one out. I'm presenting on the use of tablets next week. There's a lot of potential for tablets and they've come down in price enough that it makes them well within reach.
8. Video editing--Want to create some clips for a presentation or class? Try out some simple video editing applications. The New Media Lab comes equipped with tools for both the mac and the pc. Create your clips, burn them to CD/DVD or stream them. It's really not that hard.
That's all I can think of for now. Do you have suggestions for me or others? Feel free to leave a comment and I'll update this post.
