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Two Millionth Wikipedia Article

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Mashable is reporting that Wikipedia has reached two million articles.

Wikipedia has hit a record 2 million articles for its user-regulated online encyclopedia. On Monday, the English Wikipedia’s two millionth article was “El Hormiguero,” detailing the Spanish TV show of the same name. After its launch six years ago, I think we can all attest to the establishment of Wikipedia, its example of effective crowd wisdom, and its lasting power as a long tail entity.

There are concerns in the academic community over relying on articles from Wikipedia, and therefore any lecturer or learner using such sources is advised to also consult and confirm sources, say using an online published reference in addition such as Britannica Online. Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) has also recommended this approach (in a podcast interview).

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Sixty Years of “Charley says” and all that – now online

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If you are of a certain age you may recall various public information films starring such people as Kevin Keegan, Jimmy Saville, the Green Cross Code Man, Charley and the Grim Reaper!

Green Cross Code Man

The National Archives has now put sixty years of public information films online.

For the first time on The National Archives’ website you can view complete public information films from 1945 -2006. Joining with the Central Office of Information (COI) to celebrate their 60th Anniversary, we have featured a selection some of the most memorable and influential COI public information films that cover some fasinating events from Britain’s post-war history.

Continue reading Sixty Years of “Charley says” and all that – now online →

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Apple Back to School Promo

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Apple have launched their “Back to School” promotion in the UK.

University just isn’t the same without a Mac and an iPod. They make the tough stuff like reports, presentations and research a little easier. And the fun stuff like music, photography and movies a lot more fun. So whether you’re a new or returning student, a lecturer or a member of staff, you can kick off the school year in style. Buy a qualifying Mac before October 30th, 2007, and get an iPod nano via mail-in rebate.

This is the new fat nano which can play video.

Find out more.

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Facebook is costing “businesses dear”

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BBC is reporting on a report on Facebook.

Workers who spend time on sites such as Facebook could be costing firms over £130m a day, a study has calculated. According to employment law firm Peninsula, 233 million hours are lost every month as a result of employees “wasting time” on social networking.

Doing anything socially costs time (which in business terms means money). However a happy employee is often more productive than a miserable one.

In terms of learning institutions, should we be banning Facebook? We create physical social areas in our learning institutions, we have a cafe and a refectory for example, why not allow students to interact socially online? There is a hit on bandwidth and access to computers, true, but is that the only thing we need to take into account.

Is using Facebook (and other social networking sites) a problem that needs to be dealt with and “banned” or is it something that the majority of users use sensibly and get a lot from?

altc2007, apple, m-learning, mobile, video

iPod touch

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In a session at ALT-C I mentioned (and blogged)…

…about the rumours of new OS X based iPods, these may be wireless and may have browser capability. We should know by about 7pm tonight.

Well by 7pm we did know. I checked out the details via my phone at the conference dinner.

Apple did announce a new iPod with a touch interface (aka the iPhone) which will be available worldwide and will be wireless, have a browser and run a version of OS X.

Whether I get one, different story, £200 is a lot of money for a touch interface. I already have devices which can play music and video and portable wifi capability as well.

Having said that , it would be nice to have one, then again do I wait until the iPhone is available in the UK and get the phone element as well?

Decisions, decisions.

Whatever I decide one of the key things to remember is that our learners will by buying this iPod, they will be buying other iPods, other mp3 players, new phones, etc…. and we need to think about how they can utilise those devices to support their learning.

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Didn’t take much…

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Just a follow up to my previous post.

As you can see from the following photograph that it doesn’t take much, seems like they used a screwdriver to get in!

Lock?

Still lots of hassle dealing with insurance companies. More annoyance more than anything else. I was lucky that I didn’t lose any data (all backed up).

Another annoyance has been changing passwords. Though I am sure that the thieves are not really that interested in my Flickr photographs and my Facebook profile, I’d rather be safe than sorry. I didn’t use the laptop for personal financial stuff so there is virtually no risk there.

Following the comments on the previous post on having a whip-round, which really touched me, I have setup Paypal to allow this to happen. Thanks in advance, much appreciated.

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Great conference, unpleasant aftermath…

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I really enjoyed ALT-C this year, however as I was leaving the conference I found that my car had been broken into, my work laptop had been stolen, as well as a digital SLR camera and my funky bluetooth printer which had gone down so well in my workshop.

The thieves had done their best and as a result my passenger door was so damaged that I couldn’t secure the car and had to drive all the way home. I was suppose to be only going as far as Birmingham for a JISC Collections workshop tomorrow.

I am insured, but with excesses I am going to be somewhat out of pocket as a result. I have also paid for a hotel room I can’t use and couldn’t cancel.

I am trying to not to let this get me down, it is more annoying more than anything else.

Great conference, for me though it ended on somewhat a sour note.

altc2007, blog, blogging

Caught in the act…

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It seems I am not the only one who was entertained by David Bryson’s piece on A blog about bloggers blogging others also enjoyed it, including Steve and Haydn.

I was caught on camera, and yes I was blogging (and eating at the same time).

Blogging and eating

I did also talk to the person sitting next to me…

One thing that I have found blogging about stuff at ALT-C is how it can be used to create and stimulate verbal communication. I doubt I would have spoken to Steve Wheeler if he hadn’t blogged about a session we both attended and on his blog he mentioned my blog.

Other delegates have come up to me and mentiond my blog. Others have mentioned the photographs I have uploaded to Flickr.

Yes everyone  focusing on their computers can be seen to be rude (here I am typing this during a session), but I know I have talked and discussed more during this conference as a result of blogging then I have at previous ALT conferences.

I reflected during the refreshment break this morning that though there were some people using laptops, many, many more were talking.

Personally I think blogging has improved the verbal discussion not replaced it.

altc2007, social networking, web 2.0

Learning technology for the social network generation

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I am at the Theme Speaker’s Summary Learning technology for the social network generation.

Marion Miller (JISC RSC YH) is talking through her background and is giving an overview of the RSCs.

She’s covering some interesting points, in the main learner control to start with, empowering learners and other issues.

At this point I moved over to large scale implementation session as I wanted to hear about that as well.

news and views on e-learning, TEL and learning stuff in general…