Jane's Pick of the Day

What I've been doing this week

I have been very busy with a number of clients this week implementing the social engine, Elgg, for some social learning projects, but I've had some time to do a few other things!

1. I've made a daily posting to this blog and also added a few postings to my Social Media in Learning blog

• Get links from your Twitter feed as RSS: Readtwit
• 9 ways to check RSS feeds

2. I've bookmarked a number of interesting items this week (note these links will open in a new window):

• Top 10 Things You Should Not Share on Social Networks
• 10 Successful Facebook Business Pages
• 10 Sites to Learn Something New in 10 Minutes a Day
• Fedena : open source campus management system
• Weblogg-ed » Don’t, Don’t, Don’t vs. Do, Do, Do
• Is the Elevator Pitch Dead? Enter the Twitpitch
• The Top Six Reasons Companies are Still Scared of Social Media
• Picasa 3.5, now with name tags and more
• twtu: Share youtube videos on twitter
• Some fun:The best London Underground Tube map pastiches
• 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business<
• 50 Terrific Twitter Tutorials for Teachers : My Twitter Workshop included!
• Twittercal — tweet your google calendar
• Artwiculate - A word of the day game for Twitter
• Follow Learning and eLearning Professionals on Twitter - my 100 featured learning pros list turned into another TweepML
• CampusTweet | A Twitter Directory of College Students and Alumni
• Social Media Governance : The Book

3. I've re-structured my main website at www.c4lpt.co.uk so that the Showcase and the Reading Lists are more visible from the top menu  and now with their own contents lists.
4. I've updated the Top 10 Tools lists with a number of new and updated contributions.  There have now been 197 contributions.  Who can help get it to over 200?  I'll be closing the list on 15 November to finalise the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009, so if you haven't yet shared your top 10 tools this year, there's not a lot of time left!  You can either email your list to [email protected] or tweet me the 10 names - @c4lpt

My blog postings and bookmarks this week

Here's a list of postings on my other blogs and my delicious bookmarks.  External links now open in a new window.

Social Media in Learning blog

• Facebook lite now available in the UK
• Yammer announces Windows Mobile app and Outlook plugin
• Jajah's Twitter voice call service
• How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0
• How to use Twitter on Campus
• Using Google Calendar

All things Elgg blog

• Draft roadmap for Elgg 1.7

Delicious bookmarks

• 100 Best Blogs for Tech-Savvy Teachers
• A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges - washingtonpost.com
• HOW-TO: Write Effectively for Twitter & the Social Web
• Tech addiction 'harms learning'
• How to make social media a business tool not a distraction
• 47 Ways to Fine Tune Your Brain
  
• Measuring the Business Effects of Web 2.0
  
• Canadian Scientists Say Fruit Flies Capable of Social Learning
• What Can Be Taught: Part I by Roger C Shank
• What Can Be Taught: Part II by Roger C Shankk
  
• Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook
• iMindMap for iPhone
• iPhone app for fresher students
• 14 Practical Ways to Use Evernote
• Top 10 Ways to Unblock Websites

New structure and design for my website: C4LPT

Due to the large amount of material I now host on my main website, Centre for Learning & Peformance Technologies (C4LPT),  I've re-structured it, and applied a new design.

if you're looking for something, and can't locate it, try the new Site map.

This week on the Web

Here are a few more resources I came across this week, taken from the c4lptnews.

First a couple of Twitter articles:

• Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter by Laura Walker
• The Hierarchy Of Tweets - Analysing The Psychology of Twitter

If yu are looking for further articles on Twitter, take a look at my Twitter recommended reading list.

Other articles:

• Computer World (as other places) reports that Microsoft is to shut down Encarta Web sites.

• ReadWriteWeb discusses Dimdim's latest version 5: Speed, Security and Widgets

• Janet Clarey, of Brandon Hall, shares the slides and notes from her recent webinar, SMBs and Social Learning Technologies - very comprehensive as usual

And there were a couple of new tools, which I thought looked interesting, but more on them next week!

What's been happening this week?

There's been lots happening online this week.  Here's just my personal run down of some of the  interesting news.

It's not even April Fools Day yet, and yet this Twitter hoax managed to get a lot of mileage: Twitter to blame for economic woes.

If you want to keep up with April Fool's Day jokes, then follow April Fools Day (AprFoolsDay) on Twitter

This Twitalyzer tool might prove useful for tracking influence and measuring success in Twitter.

For those in the UK, Twitter Blog reports full SMS Service for Vodafone UK Customers!

Twitter for education? Edmodo is a private micrblogging platform built for use by teachers and students; it has now launched Edmodo 2.0.

Still more about Twitter! YouTube Adds A Twitter Button (as reported in Techcrunch)

And of course the big news about YouTube this week, is that it has launched YouTube EDU, which aggregates the instructional videos from over 100 universities in the US.  Some commentators think that this might become even bigger than iTunes U.

A couple of other interesting tools

• Hunch - helps you make decisions and gets smarter the more you use it, and looks like it ight be on to something
• WikiRank looks at what's trending on Wikipedia

And finally, as 24 March was Ada Lovelace Day, Janet Clarey (of Brandon Hall) put together a great list of Role Models in Educational Technology.  I am honoured to be part of the list, so many thanks Janet.

My week on the Web

On 21st March, Twitter celebrated its 3rd birthday (as Mashable and others reported).  Now it has over 6 million over users.  Here are few more Twitter articles I came across

• Twenty Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom
  
• The 14 Types of Twitter Personalities from Media Caffeine
• 100 Tips, Apps, and Resources for Teachers on Twitter from Online College Degree

Other news ..

• Elliott Masie released the results of his Social Learning Survey
• Furl, the social bookmarking site, has now been absorbed by Diigo

And at the C4LPT website  ...

• 43 Learners and 16 Learning Professionals have now shared their favourite tools for learning.  You can compare the two different Top Tools lists (one for Learners and one for Learning Professionals) as they are compiled from the contributions.  Everyone is invited to share their Top 10 Tools for Learning.

My week on the Web

Despite being on holiday this week, I made sure I got my daily dose of the Web, so here's my weekly round-up of some of the resources I enjoyed this week.

First of all, George Siemens and Peter Tittenburg released their Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning both as a wiki and as a PDF "as a resource for educators planning to incorporate technologies in their teaching and learning activities". 

Secondly, Guardian launched their Open Platform.  This is a service that "will allow partners to reuse guardian.co.uk content and data for free and weave it into the fabric of the internet".

Thirdly, following a number of recent articles about getting the most out of traditional conferences, here's a posting from Chris Brogran: 27 Things To Do Before a Conference

Fourthly, as usual, I've found out about a number of interesting Twitter apps:

• AskOnTwitter - Questions & Answers on Twitter!
• Textbook Price Comparison via Twitter
• twendz - Exploring Twitter Conversations and Sentiment
• tweetparty - group messaging for twitter!

And finally, here's a brief update of some recent activitiy on the main C4LPT website.

• 39 Learners and 12 Learning Professionals have now shared their favourite tools, and you can compare the two different Top Tools lists as I compile them from the contributions.  You can also find out how to share your own list(s) here too.  Everyone is invited to contribute.
• I've also just added Google Friend Connect to the C4LPT site (in a frame at the bottom of the screen), as an easy way  to leave a site-wide comment.  If this proves a successful way of collecting feedback I'll convert this to page commenting, as well as item commenting.

First UK Chinese Restaurant to Use Twitter for Business

Lisa Tse sent me this press release, and although it's not entirely about (e-)learning, it is very interesting nonetheless and shows how Twitter is impacting all kinds of businesses.  I'm therefore reproducing the press release in full:

When Lisa Tse, CEO of the award winning restaurant and cookery school, Sweet Mandarin (@sweetmandarin) in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, UK, first heard about Twitter from one of her customers, she was puzzled but intrigued. Lisa was already hooked on Facebook, Myspace and her own blog on her website www.sweetmandarin.com which also features their self titled memoir, Sweet Mandarin which was shortlisted for the Barnes and Noble prize. Nonetheless Lisa credits Twitter with increasing her orders, bookings, book sales and clientele as well as forging a closer knit community in Manchester.

 

Twitter is a social networking site where you can follow people and access information via Twitter as it happens – from breaking news to the special deals of the day.  People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, "What are you doing?" Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant messenger or the web.

 

Lisa tweets about the dish of the day, the special offers, her business, advice to friends and cooking techniques. Followed by 900 of Manchester's Twitterati, Lisa's fun, easy going and concise words of wisdom have made her real life friends. Remarkably, she's the first Chinese restaurant in the UK to utilise Twitter and nothing can build your brand faster than being or doing something remarkable. And Sweet Mandarin is just that, remarkable.

 

On 11 February 2009 a follower booked a table for 2 for Valentine's Day. Lisa quickly replied and after a twittering frenzy, Valentine bookings were full.  Another follower booked a takeaway. Lisa delivered the takeaway and twittered about it. Lisa tweeted about their book, Sweet Mandarin making an ideal present for Mother’s Day and Amazon sales shot through the roof. Lisa has been using Twitter as a booking / ordering service with ease taking regular direct messages (or as Lisa nicknames them "Sweet Treats") from the Manchester Twitterati

 

Sweet Mandarin offers modern Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails in a relaxed atmosphere – as well as teaching her Saturday classes how to make dim sum, stir fries and the perfect egg fried rice. Lisa successfully hosted the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School Tweet on 28 February 2009 10am UK time where Lisa tweeted all through her cookery course and answered questions as she took us on her culinary journey from East to West.

 

The community which Lisa and her sisters have built in the Northern Quarter, Manchester has strengthened thanks to Twitter.  Says Lisa Tse, "I look forward to hosting the Manchester Tweet at Sweet Mandarin on Thursday 12th March starting at 6pm. I can't wait to serve our dim sum and cocktails."

 

With Lisa and Sweet Mandarin, Twitter has not only been a fun past-time but is now central to their marketing strategy.

This week on the Web

I am writing this posting from my hotel room in Miami Beach, Florida, where I am spending a few days before going to Captiva Island (on Florida's west coast) for a short holiday.  I shall endeavour to keep up with daily posts as usual this week, although there might be some delay in posting them.  This posting, however, summarises my week on the Web.

Firstly, I am going to start with a couple of articles about Twitter.  When I was waiting in the departure lounge at Heathrow for my flight to Miami, I saw that two "generalist" magazines  had big articles about Twitter in them; it is clear that Twitter is now catching on in a big way in the UK.  These two articles, however, I found on the web.

• The first is Pat Galagan's article for ASTD - Twitter as a Learning Tool. Really. I have to admit a vested interest in this one as I was one of the people Pat interviewed for her article. But it is  definitely worth reading.
• The second article is a posting by Daniel Schwartz on the Connecticut Employment Law blog.  Despite Twitter's growing popularity it is now being banned within some organisations, so Daniel's posting explains Why Employers Need to Be Cautious, Not Afraid.
  

Now a few new tools that I cam across this week that look quite useful.

• Notepub - a free public notepad
• Keywordle - the site that automatically suggests descriptive keywords for web sites
• Writespace - a fullscreen writing environment as a ClickOnce installed add-in for Word 2007

And now some other news ...

The Top 10 Tools for Learning 2009 activity is taking off:

• 32 Learners have now shared their top tools, and the Top Tools for Learners list is beginning to shape up. You can share your own list here too
• 7 Learning Professionals have now shared  their their top 10 tools, and you can view their contributions here.  If you'd like to share your list or update an old list, find out how here

Finally, if you are teacher in Yorkshire and Humber, then Josie Fraser and I are running a free Web 2.0 Teachng and Learning Sandpit in Leeds on 24 March.  You can find out more about it and how to request a place, on the Yorksshire & Humber ICT Champion blog.

All for now, have a good week!

This week in review

Here's my usual round-up of the week's LearnTech news that didn't make a posting last week, but should have done!

Twitter, as always is in the news, and here are a few interesting articles:

• Twitip describes The 90-10 Rule for Successful Twitter Networking
• Pistachio explains How to Present While People are Twittering
  

For those in education, take a look at these two

1. the UK JISC report: Study on the Effective Use of Social Software by UK FE & HE to Support Student Learning & Engagement
2.  this article in ReadWriteWeb on how iTunes U Proves Better than Going to Class
   

For those in workplace learning:

• read Janet Clarey's comprehensive posting about her recent, successful webinar-  there's some great material here -Multi-Generational Learning in the Workplace
  
• listen to my interview for the TowardsMaturity initiative, on Building business performance with social media
• and watch Jay Cross's video on No more “learners”

And finally, a couple of interesting tools I came across:

• E.gg Timer - a count down timer
• Fliggo - create a video site in seconds

Want to keep up to date with what I am bookmarking?  FInd out how, at the LearnTech News page