Even though listservs are so 1990 they still provide good information. Thanks to NITLE's IT listserv I found this Facebook To Open Source Facebook Platform.
Does this move by Facebook position it to be the next Google where everything and everyone develops applications and services that allow upstarts and fringe services to piggyback on the success of the giant?
One of the characteristics of web2.0 applications is having open API's that one can use to mash up applications to produce new ways of using or displaying the data of the original services. For example one can configure your flickr account to post to your blog or you can see the latests tweets on a map of the globe at twittervision.com/. As of late, it seems that the most used services have such integrations available to those off us without the hacking ability or the time to do it by answering a few questions of a wizard.
For example I used Remember the Milk for a while as a todo list but discontinued use because it was one more place to log into and manage. Recently, I came back to "rtm" and realized that it added a ton of features that lets me use the services through other technologies, which make "rtm" more useful than a paper and pencil todo list.
Of the various options for integration here are a few that I am looking at -
I am going to give "rtm" another go based on this new knowledge and let you know how it works.
I had something interesting happen to me via Twitter over the weekend, that I'm not sure how it works....
Since learning of Twitter, I've wondered the practical application of it. I have intentionally used it for a while to publish personal stuff like "sipping on coffee as I blow through some emails" or "listening to jack johnson" and for following what my friends and colleagues are doing. But have yet to find practical ways to integrate naturally into a work flow.
Recently, several of the blogs I read linked to the articles outlining a its practical applications, here is one such article. And I found a good description of what twitter actually does thanks to the CommonCraft Show on youtube
But I am still working on how to integrate it naturally into work flow. My best guess is this - create twitter accounts for a couple of the web logs we use to keep the campus informed of computing news and workshop information and see how many "twits" start to follow. (Thanks to Richwalsky I found a tool that will take and rss feed and create twitter tweets.)
Do we want the same for technocool?
As I mentioned a while back I moved techNOcool: Back to Firefox for my web browsing needs. I have found that I miss some of the nice built in social networking features of Flock so I went looking for Firefox plugins to meet those needs.
I found a few of them and added them. What I found is that while there are plugins available using them is not as nice using the built in features of Flock. That being said I am sticking with Firefox mostly because it loads faster and the delicious plugin works better than the flock/delicious integration.
I posted a while back on the Flock browser and how it had several nice features in that allowed one to pull the parts of one's online life together in your browser. I stand by my comments that it is a nice browser for those who plug into the social networks and applications of the the web but I have still decided to reset my default browser to Firefox.
There are many rational reasons for defaulting your web browser to Firefox. The main reason that I chose to go back home is that it is simply easier to tag things in del.icio.us using Firefox's plugin than it is to use Flock's del.icio.us integrated favorite button.
Often we talk of the next cool thing that we integrate into our technology lives but often ignore talking about our experiments that don't work out. What are your "failed" experiments?
A few weeks ago I techNOcool: posted about the latest release of Flock the Social Web Browser.
On Friday one of the co authors of this blog harassed me about the new fangled browser I was using. I tried to explain one would want yet another browser option but as he is not a social software kind of a guy my arguments fell flat. Today, I emailed my original post hoping to pick a discussion online for you the reading audience (ha, ha) so I used the Flock feature "share this link via email"
While I freely admit I am not a disciple as of yet, I do like many of the little things like the 'share this link via email" feature. That being said how will browsers change over the next few years as social networking becomes ingrained in our online lives as this NPR segment suggests.
Last night I download a new web browser Flock that makes it easy to subscribe to one's various social sites and services.
I first heard about Flock a year ago and thought wow that's a nice idea. After playing with it for a short time I decided that it was just that a nice idea.
Well folks this time it is a nice tool that does a good job of connecting your online life. The one spot were it seems to fall short is that all of the connections are managed locally on the computer. What would be the bees knees and make flock truly a social browser would be to have your profile travel with you as you open flock on the various computers you use.
I was reading Christopher Sessums' blog this morning and came across Twitter Me This: Brainstorming Potential Educational Uses for Twitter. As we have posted a few times on Twitter, I thought it would link to his post as it provides a window into what others view as the potential of Twitter.
Is the true strength of Twitter that it provides a "technocool" media to conscisely exchange the thoughts that pass through one's mind as they work on a project or tackle the day to day activities of life?
Jason posted a while back on techNOcool: Ever growing connectedness and Susan, Jason and I commented on it.
And last week I went to actually try it out. (Even though I still have not gotten by the why would I want to yet.) I am on as jfadden. Perhaps as with blogs a purpose will emerge with use. Or I will realize how boring I am or how silly I look staring at my belly-button.
I'm still kind of a Web 2.0 agnostic when it comes to some things, and two of them are del.icio.us and technorati.
Continue reading "Del.icio.us and Technorati (and a twist at the end)" »
Has anyone played with Twitter? I signed up recently, just to give it a whirl, and I may embed this on my own personal page. I'm not sure if it has any practical applications, but it just seems cool to me.
Jason's post on adopting Web 2.0 with in a Web 0.x crowd, seems like a good reference to inject a link to this post Learning Web 2.0 by Diving In from a RefIT project by the same name.
This project is open to anyone who would like to participate. If you are participating, we will ask (as one of the blogging tasks) that you email us the URL of your project blog so that we can include a link to each participant's blog on our home page.
I thought this was an interesting article about how the awful events down in Blacksburg played out online. How students tracked the Virginia Tech shootings online. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine
I reading this post ETC @ BMC: Another look at Zotero I wonder if with the growth of web based publish tools like google docs, blogs and wikis if desktop publishing will take back seat in regards to the tools that people use to develop content.
If this is the case should we start looking at ways to incorporate things like zotero or google notebook into future builds for computers deployed across campus?
(Obviously not a finished thought but I think it close enough to spur debate and opinions.)
I wasn't sure whether or not to categorize Apollo as software or as Web 2.0...
Yahoo Pipesa new mash up service is more than a Daily Show joke.
While a little confusing to develop an information build tool graphically it is pretty cool that you can custom build information using the tool. For example I built a news feed from all of the computing services news pages - Help, OET, LMS, No Name Group, techNOcool - thus getting all of the computing services updates in one place.
Looking for ways to actually use this Pipes thingy? Check out Lifehacker's Cool ways to use Yahoo! Pipes
Thanks: EdVentures in Technology for breaking the news first (atleast to me)
The ITS Coffee Break podcast shares two tools that I wanted to pass along. The tools Libworm and Del.icio.us are mentioned in the December 18, 2006 episode, that also commented on iTunes U and Moodle pilots Lafayette is conducting so you will need to wade through that to get to the good stuff.
I have not use libworm as of yet but it sounds like the Librarians and Instructional Technologists at Lafayette are intrigued by the potential. According to the about libworm page, "LibWorm is intended to be a search engine, a professional development tool, and a current awareness tool for people who work in libraries or care about libraries." It works by collecting updates from RSS feeds allowing one to search for content within RSS feeds and also generate a feed that delivers new results for your search as they are posted. It sounds like it is the search that keeps on giving. At this point, the service is still in beta so who knows will it stay, go, be bought up by google or yahoo, or start to charge. For now it is interesting to consider but how is it really that different from the search alerts from google blog search or technorati?
The other tool, del.icio.us, is a great tool for collecting, organizing and sharing web resources. It is one of the more popular social bookmarking tools, if not the most popular. I have been using it over a year now to keep track of different sites and resources. I really like it for a few simple reasons. First it is easy. I signed up for an account and was tagging resources in minutes. I can also share my bookmarks with others in a variety of ways including rss, widgets on webpages, and using a for:
But that is a different post and enough of me pushing this social software stuff. I often feel like I am floating alone, or nearly alone, with all of this new Web 2.0 stuff. I wonder if there are ways we in computing can help our users accomplish their work more efficiently by taking advantage of the social creation model characterized by Web 2.0?
Technology has many words that people buzz about so much that no one actually knows what you are talking about when you utter them.
The newest is Web 2.0. What the heck is Web 2.0?
First of all, I hate calling the new ways of the web as applications used by people to create and use content Web 2.0 but I also don't want to describe it every time I talk about the new ways of the web. But you know what? When I say Web 2.0 people look at me with that "Nerd Alert!" look in their eyes and smile politely until I either rehash the conversation to be in much less geek speak or they find a way to excuse themselves.