Firefox 2.0

A word to those who have been converted to the cause.
A new version of Firefox is now available from the Mozilla website.
Download here.
Release notes here.
Press release here.
Damn! My Blue Cats have gone.
But this post is being spell-checked as I type by Firefox. There you go!
Current Awareness? We've got it covered.

Newsblast!

Pageflakes has had a makeover so Newsblast is looking goood!
Newsblast?
The site's Emission Statement (sic) is:
All I am trying to do here is draw together many strands of what should be interesting information (we are educationalists, after all) in one easily accessible website which consists of a mere 4 pages. If you don't think this is useful, fair enough! Build your own.
It's called Current Awareness. Try it sometime.

At least it tells you when it's raining in Paisley.
Link is to the right or click here.

By Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs

Planitax Internet is run by a volunteer staff of company directors, who provide free help and advice for small businesses, to assist them in getting to grips with the internet for business purposes. It includes forums where tips and help on everything from business planning, business start-up, marketing, advertising, design, hosting, tax issues, etc are discussed, plus articles, etc.
http://www.platinax.co.uk/

Source: Internet Resources Newsletter, 144

Health-EU Portal

The Health-EU Portal is the the official public health portal of the European Union and contains a wide range of information and data on health-related issues and activities at both European and international level.
The main objective of this thematic Portal is to provide European citizens with easy access to comprehensive information on Public Health initiatives and programmes at EU level. The portal is intended to help meet EU objectives in the Public Health field, it is an important instrument to positively influence behaviour and promote the steady improvement of public health in the 25 EU Member States.
http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu

Source: Internet Resources Newsletter, 144

Free photos

everystockphoto.com is a search engine for creative commons photos.
They aim to be a community for designers, developers, photographers and other media publishers who want better, easier access to license-specific media on the web. They add value by providing a single integrated search, allowing users to bookmark their photos with private and public tags, and increasingly will be offering advanced searching options, rating systems and other tools.
283441 photographs indexed to date
http://www.everystockphoto.com/

Source: Internet Resources Newsletter, 144

European Journal of Open and Distance Learning (EURODL)

The European Journal of Open and Distance Learning (EURODL) is an open-access journal which publishes the accounts of research, development and teaching for Europe in its most inclusive definition, exploring the potential of electronic publishing. Furthermore, EURODL presents scholarly work and solid information about open, distance and e-learning, education through telematics, multimedia, on-line learning and co-operation.
It is also an interactive platform - a place where you may comment, find links to interesting sites, prepare for conferences or look up conference documentation.
http://www.eurodl.org/index.html

Source: Internet Resources Newsletter, 144

European Educational Research Journal

The European Educational Research Journal is a peer-refereed international journal devoted to Europeanisation in educational research. It publishes aspects of educational research which illuminate the cases and contents of the emerging borderless space of European educational research.
Articles become free-access one year after first publication.
One for the professor?
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/eerj/

Source: Internet Resources Newsletter, 144

Beyond Brunel

Beyond Brunel is part of the Brunel 200 commemorations from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council which aims to show how modern engineers are building on Brunel's amazing achievements.
Tell most people that you are an engineer and they will immediately think of houses, bridges, and the engines and machines that make modern life possible.Yet engineering is about so much more than this.
Find out more at this excellent site.
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ResearchHighlights/BeyondBrunel/default.htm

Source: Internet Resources Newsletter, 144

2.0 Websites

I know that you're not interested but...
2.0 Websites is a portal to all things Web 2.0. Blogs, social networking, wikis, mashing, it's all here.
I thought so. Well, I try.
http://2.0websites.com/

Source:n Internet Resources Newsletter, 143.

The Doors of Perception

Viperlib is a web-based resource library of images and presentation material illuminating the study of visual perception. Viperlib is a trusted source of selected, high-quality Internet information for researchers and practitioners in the social sciences.
One for the psychologists?
What you see is what you get? Perhaps not...
http://www.viperlib.com

Source: JISC RSC Newsfeed

Copyright & Images

TASI, the JISC-funded Technical Advisory Service for Images, has just updated its copyright advice for education with the publication of 4 new documents:

• Copyright and Digital Images
• Roles and Responsibilities for Staff Involved in Building Digital Image Collections
• Roles and Responsibilities for Staff Using Images for Teaching and Research
• Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright

These resources have been created in collaboration with copyright consultant Naomi Korn. They provide in-depth advice about copyright for those creating or using digital images within UK Further and Higher Education.

TASI is at http://www.tasi.ac.uk

Source: JISC RSC Newsfeed

Google for Educators

How many of these posts are about the Great Google & his works? I wonder...
Anyway, in the wake of their (ongoing) flirtation with librarians, Google have launched a website aimed firmly at teachers.
Google for Educators is essentially a guide to the 12 (at present) Google products (their word) with brief descriptions of each, lesson ideas & how each is being used by educators.
The component parts are: Web Search; Google Earth; Google Book Search; Google Maps; Docs & Spreadsheets; Blogger; Calendar; Picasa; Personalized Homepage; SketchUp; and Google Apps for Education.
Certainly worth a look if only for some advice on how to fine-tune those dodgy search skills?
http://www.google.com/educators/

Source JISC RSC Newsfeed, October 2006

Assist-IT

Assist-IT is a valuable resource for staff interested in all aspects of accessibility.
The site is jam-packed with resources: tutorials, video step-by-step guides, free downloads, hints and tips, for learning support staff as well as learners with additional support needs – or anyone who might require additional help with essay planning and writing.
For instance Assist-I.T. has developed a toolbar designed for learners with dyslexia related difficulties called 'My Learning Toolbar', which incorporates mind mapping, homophones, speak my answer and a range of other useful tools. This was promoted in this month’s Microsoft Learning Newsletter as a valuable tool for dyslexic learners.
http://www.assist-it.org.uk

Source: JISC RSC Newsfeed, October 2006

Make mine a CAMEL

New publication from JISC Infonet which should be of some interest to Blenders...
CAMEL is short for Collaborative Approaches to the Management of E-Learning. CAMEL set out to explore how institutions who were making good use of e-learning and who were collaborating in regional lifelong learning partnerships might be able to learn from each other. The publication highlights some of the things CAMEL participants found out about e-learning and about each other. One of the most interesting aspects of the project was the model itself. It is believed that the CAMEL model could have widespread application for many types of people wanting to share experience and learn from one another. For this reason JISCInfonet will also be producing a CD-ROM toolkit for anybody wanting to start up this kind of network. The CD-ROM will be available in late October.
Copies of the print document are available in the staff library.
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/news/camel-publication

Source: JISC Infonet

Innovate: new edition

The October-November 2006 issue of Innovate focuses on the potential of open source software and related trends to transform educational practice.
The first four articles map out the current state of open source technology and offer recommendations for how educational institutions can benefit from its advances.
The following contributions offer detailed accounts of the development, design, and use of specific open source applications as well as a study of how the process of open source development provides a valuable model of pedagogical design in its own right.
Finally, in his Places to Go column, Stephen Downes introduces readers to Intute, an open access Web site that represents a significant step forward in the evolution of learning object repositories. But we all know, use & love Intute already, don't we? Well, don't we?
http://www.innovateonline.info/

Source: Innovate

Information for Social Change

Information for Social Change is an activist organisation that examines issues of censorship, freedom and ethics amongst library and information workers. It is committed to promoting alternatives to the dominant paradigms of library and information work and publishes its own journal, Information for Social Change (freely available online at http://www.libr.org/isc).
The ways by which information is controlled and mediated has a serious influence on the ways people think, how they communicate, what they believe is the "real world", what the limits of the permissible are. This applies equally to information that comes through the channels of the mass media, through our bookshops or through our libraries.
Of course, free and equal access to information is a myth throughout the world, although different situations pertain in different countries. Control is more explicit and cruder in some places, more "sophisticated" and more invisible elsewhere (for example in Britain). One of the aims of Information for Social Change is to document these situations.

Source: Libr.org

Firefox anonymity

Temporary Inbox (4.5 KB) is a small FireFox extension that creates temporary e-mail addresses. Useful when you’re asked to provide an e-mail address for registering with a site and you don’t fancy revealing your regular e-mail address.
As soon as a site asks you to enter an e-mail address, click on the Random email button in the Temporary Inbox toolbar. An e-mail address will be displayed in the box. Copy this address to the online form of the site you want to register with. Then click on the Check button at the top. This opens the Inbox of your temporary e-mail address. This should now show a message containing, for example, your password or a link that you should click on in order to activate your registration. After six hours, your temporary e-mail address will be automatically destroyed.
Should cut down the spam deluge.
http://www.temporaryinbox.com/firefoxextension.php

Source: Tips & Advice Internet

Learner Driver Conference 2006

The Learner Driver was a major conference about the transformation of learning in Scottish Further and Higher Education. Not a refresher course in the Highway Code, The Learner Driver was a conference which reflected the fast pace of change taking place within the educational landscape. The conference examined the potential positive transformational effect that new technology and methodologies can have on the learner experience, and how learners themselves are central to the change.
Downloadable files of the keynote presentations from this prestigious conference which took place this May are now available from the conference website at: http://www.thelearnerdriver.org.uk/media.htm

Highlights are:
Looking to the future: transforming learning in Scotland
Dr Bill Harvey, Deputy Director of Learning & Teaching, Scottish Funding Council.

Looking to the US: A transatlantic perspective on the transformation of learning
Dr Carol Twigg, President and CEO of the National Center for Academic Transformation, New York

Putting into Practice a Learner Centred Vision
John Stone, Chief Executive, Learning & Skills Network

Available in .mp3, .wmv, .pps formats for Windows, Mac OS & Linux.

Source: JISC RSC

Open Source Software killed my baby...

...but it didn't kill me, Lord, it didn't kill me.
We shall persevere in proselytising Open Source...
We shall persevere in championing ICT in FE...

If you're interested, some O/S info. Never know. Might catch on.

DimDim
Looking for a free web conferencing service for your live, e-learning sessions? Dimdim is Open Source web conferencing software which can show presentations, applications and desktops to any other person over the internet. You can chat, show your webcam and talk with others in the meeting and all without leaving your favourite chair. Try it at…
http://www.dimdim.com/

NoteMesh
NoteMesh is a free service that allows college students on the same course or the same classes to share notes with each other. Notemesh works by creating a wiki for individual classes that all users can edit.
http://www.notemesh.com

NVU
A complete Web Authoring System for suitable for Windows and Macintosh and Linux users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. NVU (which stands for "new view") makes managing a web site a snip. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.
http://www.nvu.com/index.php

Source: JISC RSC

TASI Guide to using GIMP

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free open source image editing program with a comprehensive set of tools comparable to those available in commercial software such as Adobe Photoshop.
TASI (the JISC specialist service on digital images) has just published a brand new advice document: Using GIMP software for teaching and research. This guide, also available in a print-friendly PDF version, looks at the GIMP features of most use to those wanting to use images in teaching and research.

Get software for free from: http://www.gimp.org/
Get advice for free from: http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/creating/gimp.html

Source: JISC RSC

Learning Spaces e-book

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.
With the next phase of the college "new build" almost upon us, the following e-book will surely be of some interest to all, not just driven librarians.
From the introduction:
"Learning Spaces focuses on how learner expectations influence such spaces, the principles and activities that facilitate learning, and the role of technology from the perspective of those who create learning environments: faculty, learning technologists, librarians, and administrators. Information technology has brought unique capabilities to learning spaces, whether stimulating greater interaction through the use of collaborative tools, videoconferencing with international experts, or opening virtual worlds for exploration. This e-book represents an ongoing exploration as we bring together space, technology, and pedagogy to ensure learner success".

Big download (20Mb) although individual chapters are available. Chapters 1-13 focus on learning space design principles, chapters 14-43 are case studies illustrating those principles.
Coming soon to an intranet near you...

http://www.educause.edu/learningspaces

Suits you sir!

From today's Guardian:
Your local Oxfam shop may well be relieved to hear about this. If you're getting rid of an old jacket with patches on the elbows, heave it over to Lewisham College, which has stumbled on an intriguing phenomenon. Its business students appear unable to turn up to lectures on time, but youngsters pursuing construction or nails and beauty are impeccably punctual. Some shrewd old salt wondered whether the fact that the latter students are given the right kit to wear had anything to do with the difference. Suits were bought for some business students and their timekeeping has improved dramatically ever since. The college is now looking for a sponsor to kit out the rest of the business course. But why should their teachers be left out? They too perform much better in the proper uniform. So if you have an old jacket ...

http://education.guardian.co.uk/further/story/0,,1891310,00.html

Source: The Guardian, FE Diary, 10 October 2006

Vector Park

Trip the light fantastic - emphasis on trip.
Vector Park will seriously test your sanity.
Navigate a broken cable car around a forest populated by bunnies whilst being stalked by a giant finch. No? Doesn't do it justice. Beautifully realised but requires Flash to be enabled.
Please note that the mere existence of this post does not in any way endorse spending endless work hours trying to solve these puzzles. Problem solving? My God, you're on holiday next week. Do it then!

http://www.vectorpark.com

Source: Guardian Guide, 7 October 2006

World Mental Health Day 2006

To mark World Mental Health Day 2006 & do a wee bit of awareness-raising re the prevailing stigma of mental illness, we present a few useful websites.

World Mental Health Day
http://www.wmhday.net/
See Me
http://www.seemescotland.org.uk/index.php
Mind (National Association for Mental Health)
http://www.mind.org.uk/
NHS Scotland
http://www.hebs.scot.nhs.uk/topics/mentalhealth/index.htm
WellScotland
http://www.wellscotland.info/index.html
Depression Alliance Scotland
http://www.dascot.org/
Breathing Space
http://www.breathingspacescotland.co.uk/

Van der Graaf Generator

• Treat yourself to 5 bottles of Coca Cola.
• Read the instructions on the label & then go to the iTunes website.
• Download Van der Graaf Generator's The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other for free! (Well, you'll have to pay for the last track from the original album).

Monday morning blues: Sorry. Doesn't work. Can't download the album as individual tracks. Try Refugees though.

http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/store/music.html

Channel 4 Fourdocs

FourDocs is the broadband channel for documentary from Channel 4. On FourDocs, you can upload or watch four minute documentaries from all around the world, as well as classic feature-length docs from the last 100 years.
FourDocs is full of hundreds of brilliant documentaries of between 3 and 5 minutes for you to watch and review. Some are serious, some are funny. Some you'll learn something from, some you'll be entertained by.
Index is at http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/film/index.html
Fourdocs home-page at http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/

Source: BUFVC

British Library Archival Sound Recordings

Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush...
This site was launched at the end of last month but I haven't heard anything about it from the usual (reliable) sources.
There does seem to be some teething problems, like the Athens login not working or not being mentioned in Athens resource lists... Hold on, I'll just check. No. Not yet.
Anyway the BLASTER (or is that BLASER?) site will allow you to "explore 12,000 selected recordings of music, spoken word, and human and natural environments.
Anyone can search or browse the information on this site. For copyright reasons, only people in licensed UK higher and further education institutions, or in our reading rooms can play the recordings. Downloading is available in licensed institutions.
Please note that content is still being added to the site. Some collections are not yet complete and some have only a small sample of recordings available at present."
Contents page is here.
We'll keep you informed of developments.

http://sounds.bl.uk/

National Poetry Day 2006

Seeing as it's National Poetry Day here in the rain-swept UK, forty miles north of Burns Country, time to indulge you, dear reader. Aye, singular.
Poem of the day is Matthew Fitt's Kate O'Shanter's Tale. Still makes me laugh, well, smile inwardly.
Excerpt & full reading can be found at the Scottish Poetry Library's website.
This poem contains material of a mature nature. Or immature nature.
At least pesky WebMarshal can't block the spoken word. Yet.

http://www.spl.org.uk/best-poems_2004/fitt.htm

Innovate

Don't worry. Not asking you to do anything so, well, risky...
The August / September issue of Innovate has just been published. Innovate provides assessments of emerging technologies for educational practice, studies of recent efforts at technology integration, and a commentary that promises to provoke engaging discussion about the role of technology in education.
Of all the technological developments that hold significance for educators one of the most far-reaching in its future implications is the rapid growth of open source software. In this special issue of Innovate, contributors explore, assess, and illustrate the potential of open source software and related trends to transform educational practice.
Timeous, I would say. Timeous.

http://www.innovateonline.info/

Source: Innovate