Archive for the 'Technology' Category Page 2 of 6



My Twitter survey: results

About a month ago I created a short Twitter survey. The idea for this survey emerged out of discussions about using Twitter in learning environment and the varied responses I received from students and educators. This inspired me to capture and share these responses in hopes that we might, collectively, demystify this weird new moment of microcontent. I distributed the survey via my blog and Twitter network and solicited responses for two weeks.

Download it here: Twitter Survey [PDF]

Of all of the questions I asked, I was most interested in knowing HOW we can use Twitter for productive ends. Read on (below)

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Social media scorecard: How social is your site?

I created the following scorecard for small publications and organisations in order to help them assess the absence or presence of social media on their site. Here are the questions. You can dowload the scorecard to calculate the results social_media_scorecard [PDF]

1. How social is your site?
Rate your site features following social media (2 points each)

__ RSS/feeds/syndication
__ Blogs
__ Bookmarks (delicious, digg, etc)
__ Tags
__ User comments

2. If you build it, users will find it …
Rate your site’s social media usability and find-ability (2 points each).

__ Social media features are prominently located (close to the top of the article)
__ Social media features have recognisable icons (delicious, technorati, RSS symbol)
__ Your site features a “how to” or “help” section that explains social media features
__ Your site blogs allow (and encourage) user comments, permalinking and tagging
__ There is little to no registration involved for participation

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Web Weekend Vancouver

mmwebweek.jpgI just returned from another wonderful Magazines Canada Web Weekend event where I presented my talk “Magazines2.0: User is King” to a dynamic and engaged group of Mags Canada member publications. Find out more about my presentation below …
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How not to be a blowhard: Best practices for lifestreamers

seesmic1.jpg

The many-to-many conversation model of Seesmic.

This weekend, I spent some more time exploring the content at YLive and Seesmic. While YLive allows for the immediacy of live streaming, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of noise to signal. Seesmic, on the other is rich in maturity, civility and kindness - all qualities that build trust and community (though this could change when alpha goes more public). I could write more about the pros and cons of each but what interests me more is this: what makes for a meaningful broadcast?

I spent a bit of time meditating on this and have come up with a few strategies of my own. Read on …

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Take my Twitter survey

Are you using Twitter? What do you think of it?

Do you have any ideas … about how Twitter might be used - for education, media, publishing, personal use, work, study, etc?

Having tried it in my own classroom, I’m especially interested in hearing from students, educational professionals/teachers and content producers (citizen or professional):