Author: grabe

Posters as Presents

This is a reprint of a post from approximately a year ago. I like this idea for holiday gifts.

I have the newest version of iPhoto and was able to get the poster script to work with 10.4.11 OS. Here is a more recent post that explains the process. Follow the instructions carefully. I did encounter the “Error Can’t get item 1 of {}/ (-1728)” message” several times. When I manually selected the images to be included and not just the folder containing the images, the procedure worked.

MacWorld had an article describing how to use the Automator to generate a 20X30 poster from images stored within iPhoto. This article prompted me to generate a blog entry. The article provided access to an automator script that users can activate to generate the giant pdf poster.

Now this only works for those with access to a Mac, but if you are searching for a present your class can generate for each other or for friends and you have been collecting digital images throughout the year, this script does a great job.The idea is really that you would print out the pdf on a large form printer or send the pdf off for printing (we did this last year). However, the script saves the pdf back to iPhoto and you can then export the image in whatever size you like (see below for sample created from recent China photos).

Sample Poster

The script has been updated for a more recent version of iPhoto (Versions for iPhoto 5 and iPhoto 6 are available online). If you try this project make sure you are patient. The script may take 10+ minutes to reach completion. Read the MacWorld article (link above) for complete instructions.

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Spam for the holidays

Offer any opportunity to participate in a web application and it seems you must be prepared to deal with spam. For all practical purposes, the comment portion of this blog has been shut down because of spammers. The hoops one must jump through before you are allowed to offer comment probably eliminates all but my students.

I am now having to deal with spam on my social bookmarking site. I have a simple”Scuttle” site that allows registered users to add bookmarks. I have also modified the basic code to allow users to evaluate the quality of the sites that can be accessed. The site is intended to organize links to sites focused on educational applications of technology.

Recently, groups of users have signed up using fake names with what appears to be the intent of creating links to commercial sites. My site has some protection measures, but these individuals clearly know how to circumvent the protection. I am not certain I understand their motivation. I know that some attempt to spoof Google into thinking many sites link to a target site in order to boost the page rank for that site, but spamming Scuttle sites seems a labor intensive way to go about such a strategy. The spam appears to be added manually and once I notice the changes it takes me only a few seconds to eliminate inappropriate links. I keep thinking there must be something I am missing about this strategy, but nothing obvious occurs to me.

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PageFlakes for Educators

I make use of personal web portals and while I was aware of Pageflakes, I have always classified it as another personal portal. By personal portal, I mean a web page hosted on a remote server that users can easily customize with “widgets” (or whatever the host companies calls function specific modules that can be selected and positioned on a page) to serve as their browser home page. The idea is to bring together information sources (RSS feeds for news, weather, blogs, images), email, commonly used links, etc. in one location.

Now, I learn that PageFlakes can be used to create a “page” for sharing and some special flakes have been included in a version for educators/students (Mashable). If you don’t understand what this might mean, recognize that it allows a user (teacher/student) to create a page that can include powerful functions you don’t have to understand how to create yourself. Select a “”flake” from a long list of possibilities, position it on the page where you think it is most appropriate, and edit flake “parameters” to adjust the function of that flake to your own needs.

I have created a sample Page for your exploration (http://teacher.pageflakes.com/markgrabe).

Access control is an important issue when educators involve students with online resources. PageFlake can be private, public, or available to a designated group of participants. I have not included examples of flakes that might be among the more useful for classroom group (e.g., blog, notepad) because I must make my example public for you to be able to access the page. Unless I am missing something, I could not determine how I would turn off “comments” and similar response opportunities under these conditions.

One flake allowing personal content creation even under the public condition is the “anything flake”. This flake amounts to a simple web page authoring tool (see upper left-hand corner of my page). The tool is very easy to use and saves a fully functional html “mini” page that is really part of the full page.

Some have already developed simple tutorials for PageFlakes (e.g., PageFlakes for Education Wiki). The best way to understand this environment is probably to explore (http://teacher.pageflakes.com) as a personal portal and then, if this proves to be a productive experience, progress to the creation of pages for sharing.

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New pattern in search results. What does this mean?

French researcher Jean Veronis reports the results of a study in which he asked students to generate search queries around designated themes and then rate the quality of the first link returned. The system submitted the searches to Google and Yahoo and students were unaware of the engine responsible for the link they evaluated. Satisfaction ratings slightly favored Google.

Other findings:

  • In 27% of searches, the link returned at the top of the list was the same.
  • A relatively large % of first links were to Wikipedia and the author reports that this has changed dramatically from previous implements of his research procedure.

The proportion of links to Wikipedia is perplexing and why the change? The researcher speculates the web is becoming more volatile (with blogs, etc.) and pagerank no longer may return what searchers regard as satisfactory hits. Wikipedia, in contrast, is safe and stable.

While a safe strategy, the researcher concludes that some may decide to simply point their browser to wikipedia for information searches rather than use the search sites we have come to know and love.

Interesting research method. Students looking for research projects might be able to use variations of this approach – e.g., search engines designed for young users vs. Google.

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Media Literacy – "Killer political ads”

CNN carried several interesting spots this evening (with a full analysis later tonight) concerning “killer” political ads (ads intended to smear an opponent). One of the spots featured an ad creator who explained how ads can confuse/misrepresent the facts, use images to disrespect an opponent, etc.

This would seem a great opportunity for a media literacy lesson. Record some ads and determine which of these techniques are used.

One technique involved the use of close-ups to portray individuals in a more unflattering way. See images below. Which represents Mark in an unflattering way? (I am not asking for comments)

me at a distance

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The disintegration of the long tail?

Alex Iskold has added an interesting post to the Read/WriteWeb blog. The comments concern the motivation of bloggers, the concept of the long tail (Chris Anderson), and whether those in the long tail will continue to be motivated to contribute.

The “long tail” is the concept that while a few resources (books, blogs, songs) get a great deal of attention the total attention to the many resources in the long tail (the resources receiving much less attention) will be greater. Companies such as Amazon have thrived on the long tail (your brick and morter bookstore will have the best sellers, but you can find anything at Amazon).

Iskold proposes that the value of the long tail makes sense from the position of those offering access (e.g., Amazon), but perhaps not from the position of those “selling” only a few books or songs. He applies this analysis to the blogosphere and speculates that less frequently visited bloggers will become discouraged. Part of the analysis explains why he feels some bloggers receive so much attention and some of the analysis is devoted to his long term concerns.

The title of his post (No money in the long tail) may reflect a flaw in his analysis. Those with specific foci who receive limited attention are probably not expecting to monetize their blogs. Of course, without these many focused and low volume sites the companies that are supported by blogging (the aggregators, search services, and hosts) would suffer.

The Iskold post offers some interesting comments on blogging and the post links to some additional interesting material on individual motives for blogging. I am thinking this is less of an issue for those who blog on educational topics than for those emphasizing other areas. Some of the most prominent educational bloggers monetize their commitment to blogging by attracting attention resulting in speaking and consultation fees. These individuals are likely to continue their frequent posts and “no payment writing” as long as their services continue to be in demand. Other bloggers might be motivated by an immediate context for their blog (e.g., their class) and be less concerned that a more general audience make use of the resources they provide.

Finally, there are personal professional (or other) motives for blogging. I use this blog partly as a way to keep track of useful ideas and resources I encounter. It does take some additional effort to write a more publicly presentable version of this information, but the total effort expended is not motivated by whether or not anyone else reads the material. Hence, I can tolerate a lower readership because the size of my audience is not the sole reason for taking the time to blog.

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On the future of books

On the media (from New York Public Radio) offers a podcast on the future of books. Are new media replacing old (e.g., books) or are traditional media adapting?

My “listen” of the presentation – it is not so much a decline in books, but in how they are sold. There are too many books and marketing has become emphasized.

Some comments address the possible future role of technology in leading a rebirth of “the independents”.

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