"In the Internet era, it's not enough to have good ideas or content. People also have to be able to find you." -Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics "The impact of my online visibility has been profound. Nearly every day I hear from someone, somewhere in the world, who has a question or a comment about my online content. Because I'm clickable, I have connected with numerous information sources and voices that I never would have found otherwise. My online presence has fostered many professional opportunities." - Scott McLeod
This is what I see when I "google" myself. What do you see? If you want to change the image that is presented to the world, you have to have a presence, or the world will create one for you.
If you begin reading a few blogs on a daily basis, you will probably find yourself addicted to the idea of writing a blog in 6-12 months. When this happens, you will have to decide about whether you want to blog anonymously or publicly. Unless you're going to blog about something that could get you fired or affect your future job prospects, why on earth go through all that work unless you are going to use it to bolster your web image?
Build a website to keep track of all of your experience, projects, presentations, education, and digital materials. When something new happens, just go online and add it to the appropriate category. Wherever possible, link to the appropriate resources on the Internet. Google provides an application called Google Sites that is particularly helpful.
This site provides a social reading environment for 960 books. It's like a book club for everyone out there who is reading the book - you can add comments at any place in the book and read the comments of others.
The Time Machine.
Create a shelf of books you've read, books you're going to read, books for a course, or whatever. Shelfari will let you interact with other readers or ... here's what I use ... it will build the embed code for a virtual bookshelf on a webpage.
Recall a book in 5 min or less. Mindmapping Software. There are at least 10 different mindmapping programs out there and each seems to occupy it's own niche. If you want to choose a program, and it costs money, you should plan on doing your own thorough search.. Examples. A Mindmap on How to Mindmap. Mindomo. This is the software I used to build this presentation. All in all, a great resource for students and for collaboration - especially the ability to make your mindweb live on the internet and collaborate with others within the software.. Novamind. Desktop software that works on both macs and PCs.. MindView. This desktop software (PC only) is a bit pricey, but it can perform minor miracles too. Build an extensive mindmap on any topic, and then use the export feature to build a beautiful website, a powerpoint presentation, or a formatted document. This software used to be called OpenMind.. MindJet. MindJet is the web-based version of this software and MindManager work on both PC and Mac.. Freemind. Never Eat Alone. English Literature. Physics. Education examples from Matchware. T-Cells. What is your Learning Style?.
Upload your documents (PDF, web screenshots, docs) and then annotate and highlight them as they live online, from any location. Create searchable notes and keywords in your documents. This is really cool!
Find some academic blog authors that write about the field. Search their blogs for the topic. If nothing else, these blogs will lead you to resources that you might not otherwise find.
This tool helps you keep track of your favorite blogs. You can also subscribe to specific sections of newspapers (like the technology or business section of the NY Times).
Study Hacks. Gearfire: Tips for Academic Success. The Students' Blog. Unfortunately, this blog has gone dead, but there is still a lot of good information here.. Student Help Forum. Another dead blog that has a lot of great tips.. Write a Blog. What is a Blog?. A video from Commoncraft that explains what a blog is and why it might be useful. "Blogs in Plain English". WeblogMatrix. If you're going to use a blog, choose carefully based on your intended use. For example, not all blogs will allow LaTeX or MathML input for mathematics. Some blog software is free, others cost money. Weblogmatrix will help by allowing you to search for specific features or compare different programs.. Google Reader. Find other Blogs.
Google Docs. Write and edit your paper from anywhere you have an Internet connection. You can also take Google documents off-line by installing Google Gears. Google Docs is essentially just a word-processing program. You should find the interface simple to learn.. Grammar Girl. GrammarGirl is AUDIO grammar lessons, in short snippets.. Citations. Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus. Understanding Digital Copyright. ClearForest Gnosis. This is an odd add-in to Firefox that creates an overlayed hyperlink structure to any webpage (and some automatically). From their website: Currently, Gnosis automatically processes pages from CNN, Google Finance, Wikipedia, Forbes, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Washington Post, Yahoo News, BBC News and Wikipedia. If you want Gnosis results on any other page - just click the button.. RefWorks. This web-based software can keep a citation and keyword database for your references. You can include links to original sources if you have them. Site licenses are available for educational institutions.. Citation Machine. This citation tool lives completely online. Choose the format for your paper (APA, MLA, Turabian, or Chicago), then choose the type of print, and enter all your information. CitationMachine builds the proper citation for you.. Zotero. This is a Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and site your resources.. iBreadCrumbs. A Fair(y) Use Tale. Creative Commons.
Indexed. xkcd. Make a cartoon Avatar. Use Jing, PrintScreen, or SnagIt to make a copy of your avatar image.. PhD Comics. South Park Studio. Simpsons Avatar. Dumpr. Voki.
Searchcube. Cooliris. Yippy. Wolfram Alpha. Google. Google Scholar. Bing. Flickr Advanced Search. Google Books. Open Book. Twitter Search.
Twitter. Twitter is a difficult one to explain. If you're already into social networking, it's a bit easier to explain. With twitter, you can make short updates about your life using 140 character bursts of information. You can also feed your tweets into websites, blogs, facebook, myspace, and other applications - so for some, it may provide convenience!. Gmail Chat. Gmail saves every email as part of a conversation of "stacked" emails. When you send a question to a Listserv, for example, all the responses come back packaged together, as part of the same conversation. So rather than seeing 25 separate emails in your inbox, you see one little package instead that indicates there are 25 new emails in the conversation. Read at your leisure. Using gmail has been a life-changing experience for me. Being able to search your email in the same way that you would use Google to search the Internet gives you functionality that you just can't imagine.. Chatzy. WizIQ. Aggregators. Also see tools for Groupwork. Skype. Busynessgirl. Twitter in Plain English. Twitter 101. Twitter2Talk. This one took a few days before the 'synch' began working.. Sample Chat. Pidgin. Digsby. Amplify.
WizIQ. This is a web-based synchronous communication tool that has video, audio, chat, and whiteboards that can be used simultaneously. Choose which features you want to use in each session. Sessions are automatically recorded and you can go in and rewatch them later. Oh, and it's free.. Yugma. This is a browser-based tool that allows live screensharing. What you see on your screen is what the participants see on theirs. Audio is obtained by calling a phone number (you choose the number) or you can use Skype for no more than 2 people. The basic Yugma service is free, but has a maximum group size of 10.. Chatzy. iBreadCrumbs. Wikis. Writing a paper in a wiki means that you can access it anywhere you have Internet from any computer (the library, a friend's house, your laptop). Plus, you can share with a peer-reviewer or the professor (if they are willing) for comments and revert to prior versions. Wikis scale better to large papers or projects. If you're proud of your work, publish it to the web (with a CC license).. Google Docs. With Google Docs you can collaborate with others on a document, spreadsheet, or other project in real time.. Doodle. This incredible, easy-to-use, free tool will help you find a time to meet with your group without any fuss at all.. Jing. Are you having trouble communicating something in emails, but can't meet in person? Record your explanation with Jing and send the link to your group members (or post it in the wiki).. SubtopicLumifi. PBWiki. I include this one because I have used it myself.. What is a Wiki?. A video from Commoncraft that explains what a wiki is and why it might be useful. "Wikis in Plain English". WikiMatrix. If you're going to use a wiki, choose carefully based on your intended use. For example, not all wikis will allow LaTeX or MathML input for mathematics. Some wiki software is free, others cost money. Wikimatrix will help by allowing you to search for specific features or compare different programs..
Unfortunately, there's not much you can change about the classroom experience if the instructor doesn't initiate it. If you've got other digital suggestions for the classroom, please send them my way!
Organize a Class Wiki or Blog. Idea from this blog post: One student is responsible for posting class notes every night on the blog or wiki. The rest of the class is responsible for correcting and adding to the notes. I would add that students should then link to current news that relates to the content (if it has not been provided). Also, you should tell your professor.. Livescribe. This digital pen not only digitally records what you write in the special notebooks, but it also records the audio in the room (with 3D sound) as you take the notes. Tapping your pen on the notes brings you to that moment of the audio track. After the lecture or meeting, you can upload the notes, it puts them through a sophisticated handwriting recognition, and then you can search your notes.. Quizlet. Need some flash cards? Find them here or create your own.. Evernote. Google Docs. Blogs. Wikis. Sample Doc.
You have to use Powerpoint?. If you have no choice but to use PowerPoint, then at least do it right! Read some of the tips at Presentation Zen to see how to create an engaging PowerPoint presentation or build a presentation with menus and action buttons so that it can be more interactive and spontaneous.. Share Slides Online. Prezi. Mindmaps. Animoto. In a few minutes, you can make a really great music video by telling Animoto which pictures to use, in what order, and with what music. 30-second videos are free, full-length cost $3. There's no reason why the "photos" can't be a few slides of phrases with large print.. Build a simple website. Voki. Jing. Jing has become the one communication tool I cannot live without. Jing is free, it works on a PC or Mac, and you get 2 GB of storage space. Use Jing to capture screenshots or to record up to 5-minutes of screencast video (saved as Flash).. Wordle. PollEverywhere. Designing a Digital Presentation. Presentation Zen. Authorstream. Slideshare. Future-proof Your Education. Playing to Learn. How Can We Measure Teaching and Learning in Math?. A Year in the Life of a Math Blog. Wired NextFest.
iCharts. Visifire. Requires you to install Microsoft Silverlight.. Gapminder. ManyEyes. Zoomerang. Survey Monkey.
Google Talks. Google brings in some really great speakers to give presentations to their employees. They are posted on YouTube.. TED Talks. How can I possibly summarize this one? Watching TED will change the way you view your world. My Prescription: Stop watching TV for two weeks and only watch these.. Thought provoking. Interactive Learning Tools. Open Courseware. JFK School of Government. Vega Science Trust. Interviews with Nobel Prize Winners Vega Science Lectures Reflections on Science. Oxford Internet Institute. NobelPrize.org. NSDL. Academic Earth. Wolfram Demonstrations. Shift Happens. A Vision of Students Today. Information R/evolution. The Machine is Us/ing Us. Google Earth and Ocean. Universe: Revealing Modern Mythology. Wolfram Demonstrations. Smithsonian Online. Worldwide Telescope. Google Sky. Universal Leonardo. Encyclopedia of Life. We Feel Fine. An interesting experiment in psychology and sociology that "scrapes" all the blog posts involving emotion from the entire world and then compiles the data in a visual format.. Google SketchUp. From what I understand, the principles of "building" in SketchUp are very similar to the way you construct things in virtual worlds like Second Life. For many students, especially those in graphic design or art, this program would be a lot more useful than CADD.. Academic Earth. Webcast Berkeley. MIT Open Courseware. Harvard @ Home. Stanford on iTunes.