Month: January 2020

WT:Social

One of the concerns that many have about Facebook is that this social media service collects user information as compensation for access to the service. Facebook is not a subscription service, but it relies on the value of information collected from users to sell ads more effectively to clients.

Various alternatives to Facebook have been developed, but despite significant concerns that Facebook has an unreasonable influence because of how it uses information it has been difficult for these alternatives to gain traction.

One of the more interesting efforts to offer a platform that intends to position itself in opposition to Facebook and Twitter is WT:Socal. I have now used this platform for several months and described my initial reaction at that time.

The terminology of WT:Social is a little different. It has a main feed that presents content from friends and the subwikis you follow. A subwiki is a topical group that individuals join and submit content to that group.

When you want to give WT:Social a try you will be asked to pay a subscription fee – by the month or year. If you do not want to pay, you will be put on a waiting list to be granted access. I did not pay and I was granted access in a few days. I have tried to address the subscription fee with the developers, not because I did not think paying for a service that does not depend on ad revenue is important, but the options are out of proportion to the amounts requested. $13 a month is about what I pay to purchase server space for my own blogs and to pay this amount to an unproven service does not seem a reasonable investment. What I requested of WT:Social to make a contribution of an amount I determine. At this point, I would likely contribute $20 and then see what develops. I have yet to receive a reply.

WT:Social is easy to use and powerful. I like it. The problem is what is called the network effect. The value in a social service is more the individuals you interact with there and not the sophistication of the service. It is tough to overcome this problem in a new service especially if you expect $13 a month.

My recommendation. Join without paying the subscription fee. Pay if the money is not an issue. Comment on the lack of flexibility in financial support as part of your participation. Join some relevant subwikis and submit content linked from other sources you author and see what happens.

We need to be part of alternatives to Facebook and Twitter if for no reason other than limiting monopolies.

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Social bookmarking with Google

The idea of social bookmarking is that a collection of bookmarks can be created and shared socially. These two functions are independent so that in one application a collection of bookmarks is shared with a group. In the other applications, a group collaborates in creating a collection of bookmarks. Both techniques have potential value in a classroom situation. The teacher may want students to examine a set of online resources. The teacher and groups of students may want to organize a collection of bookmarks on a specific topic.

There are various ways to engage in social bookmarking. I pay for and share using a powerful tool called Diigo. In this post, I am explaining the use of Google and the Google browser to engage in similar practices

This is the screen one sees when using the Google browser. The first step in the process I have in mind is the creation of a collection of bookmarks and the first step in this process is the creation and naming of a collection.

The collection button appears at the bottom of the screen display when using the browser.

Selecting this button allows a new collection to be identified. Using this button displayed the existing collections and the + button us used to create a new collection.

Once the desired collection has been established, you can now add bookmarks to this collection. To add a bookmark, you browse with the Google browser and then use the bookmark icon when you are on a web page you want to add to the collection.

Selecting the bookmark icon, causes the display at the bottom of the browser window to display the default collection and offer you the opportunity to switch to a different collection.

The “change” option brings up the existing bookmark collections and you select the one you want.

This process is repeated to build up the collection of bookmarks.

At some point you will want to share a collection. This is done from the collection page.

There are two sharing options. One offers “read only” access. This would be the approach if a teacher created a collection and wanted students to examine items in the collection. The link identifying the collection would be shared with students. The other option opens up the collection to a collaborative process. This link would be shared with students who then could use the Google browser to add and view links.

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Google Alerts

Google Alerts allow a user to create an automatically repeated search that returns results to a designated email address. The easiest way to set up a search is to use the address https://google.com/alerts from your browser. This address will display existing alerts you have established, provide a way to terminate an existing search (see trash can following an existing search), and the search box for a new alert.

Your search to generate an alert using the same rules you would apply in implementing a one time search. Samples of what these descriptors will generate appear when the descriptors are entered. It is helpful to set specific options you would like to apply.

The following options allow a user to control parameters such as the address you would like to be used to return results and the frequency you would like to receive results.

Alerts offer educators a convenient way to follow topics on a permanent basis or for a time period during which a specific category of information might be useful. Alerts are perfect as a way to return current information relevant to a classroom project.

The following video takes you through the process I have just described.

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Chrome extension to locate CC images

Richard Byrne recently described a chrome extension allowing users to locate images available with creative commons (CC) licenses. I have authored several posts over the years on using CC licensed photos so I thought I would give the extension a try. Here is the download site for the extension.

The extension works in a strange way. Typically, an extension is applied to what you happen to have active in your Browser, but this extension operates independently of your existing activity and is very much like opening a new site.

Opening the extension (see red box around item in menubar) opens a display that contains a text box allowing a search.

Your search can be filtered to designate the sources you want to investigate. I was curious to see if the search would locate elephant images from Flickr I had assigned a CC designation so this example is based on a search of Flickr.

Even searching a single source, I located many images in response to my request. I got tired of searching and did not find any of my images. I realized that many great images were taken in zoo settings so I guess this was to be expected.

Double-clicking an image brings more information about the image, a way to embed the image, and download buttons for the image and an attribution statement.

Quickly, here is a contrasting approach from Flickr. Visiting the site allows a search (see search box) and a drop-down menu specifies the various CC licenses you can use to filter your search.

Here is the upload side of CC designation within Flickr. Once the image has been uploaded a dropdown menu will appear associated with that image (use the Some rights reserve link). As a content provider, you then select the license combinations you want to apply.

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Layering for learning

A few years ago now, I began promoting a concept I called layering for learning. This effort combined my personal interest in developing and applying skills that others might call studying with my interest in technology. Of the various learning activities involved in education, I would argue that studying tends to be one of the most overlooked of education and yet what is conveniently described as studying in a formal education setting is the basis for the learning we do throughout our lives.

The distinction between studying and say reading can be quite important. For example, the concern that has been associated with reading on a device ignores the special benefits a device can provide in studying a text. Highlighting, note-taking, searching the large archive of the content that can be identified and expanded through highlighting and annotating a large body of content (a textbook), sharing efforts at personal understanding, searching for confirming or disconfirming evidence, and so one are powerful advantages for the use of technology in studying. Where can learners develop the skills in applying such tactics to digital or paper-based studying and who will help teach these tactics?

Layering for Learning is intended to target a carefully defined body of content; i.e., the content offered online which may or may not be designed as a learning resource. When I teach these ideas, I often associate it with the concept of teacher as designer to emphasize the distinction between content designed for education and the additional work educators should do to help learners with content not designed for instruction. This more general purpose content could be text-only, multimedia, or video. I am interested in this body of content because many educators value the authenticity of such sources and because there are important copyright issues associated with this content educators should recognize. We are also becoming aware that this type of content comes with added challenges as it must be vetted by a learner for factual accuracy. Add verification to the studying skills that must be acquired.

I define layering as a technique that adds elements on top of the content provided by an Internet source which does not actually modify that original source and retains all of the expectations the content creator might have had when providing this source online. For example, if a content creator assumed her/his content would be displayed with ads, the ads will be visible and responsive when a learner studies layered content. If a content creator relies on the frequency with which her/his content is viewing as a revenue metric for a sponsor, layering still requires that the server providing this content continues to send this content each time it is viewed. A layered experience actually combines information from two sources (the server sending the original content combined with additional elements from the layering service) that are experienced by the learner as if the combination originated from a single source. 

The elements that can be layered vary from service to service but include highlights, comments possibly including links to other sources, questions, discussion prompts and shared replies, and diagrams or images. Again, depending on the service, these elements can be provided by an educator or generated by a learner. The elements can be shared socially or shared in a limited way to individualize the experience of providing analysis and feedback. Some services allow the tracking of the use of elements through a dashboard used by the educator.

I have developed both a Primer available from Amazon and free online video tutorials associated with several different free and commercial services that allow educators to utilize these services in their classrooms. The Primer is intended to explain how the layering tactics facilitate studying and provide examples. The tutorials are focused on how to set up and assign the layering services.

My focus on layering is restrictive to allow a focus for my writing, but the concepts apply to other tools such as Edji or Newsela that allow the application of similar tactics, but assume the educator has the rights to the content to the content that is being studied. The same goals of developing technology-based study skills can be developed within these environments.

So, if interest, I encourage your exploration of a few of my free tutorials. If these tutorials spark an interest, the $3 primer might be worth the investment.

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