Tag Archive for 'wiki'

IT News - Dec. 10-17, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on December 17, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: IBM releases two new services for alphaWorks, Wikimedia introduces high-quality printing capabilities for Wikipedia, five wireless trends for 2008, strong laptop sales during the fourth quarter, device allows authors to sign books remotely

IBM has added two new Web services to its alphaWorks (http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/) Web site, which provides “sneak previews” of the kind of technologies that are being contemplated at IBM research and development labs. The new Web services include IBM Sharable Code, a platform for managing Web 2.0-type mashup applications, and IBM Web Highlights — Campus Technology

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. announced a partnership that will make it possible to obtain high quality print and word processor copies of articles from Wikipedia and other wiki educational resources. The development of the underlying open source software is supported by the Open Society Institute and the Commonwealth of Learning. It is led by PediaPress.com, a start-up company based in Germany. — Information Today

Microsoft released updated institutional licensing terms for education customers. Microsoft’s subscription licensing programs for education, collectively known as the Campus Agreement and School Agreement (CASA), now offer two additional benefits–home usage and evaluation rights–as well as several other changes in the areas of license renewal, buyouts, prorating, and other program terms. — THE Journal

150272362_95f26266a2_m.bmpAndrew Hickey at EETimes makes a prediction what five wireless trends will define the industry in 2008. The technologies and issues he bets on are wireless LAN, open networks, legislation, dual networks, and web services. — EETimes Online

Strong laptop sales are making this a hot holiday shopping season for PC makers. In its Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, IDC projects that worldwide PC shipments will increase by 16.7% in the fourth quarter of this year, bolstered by the strong laptop sales. — Computer World Hardware

books.bmpA device called the LongPen, originally created for Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood in 2004, so that she could meet remotely with fans, chatting with them by videoconference, allows authors to remotely sign books. The author uses a touchpad, which conveys handwriting to a remote autopen in a bookstore and is printed on the copy of a novel. More than two dozen authors, including Alice Munro and Norman Mailer, have used LongPen in 2007. The device is developed by Unotchit, a Toronto-based company. — The New York Times (free registration may be necessary to view article)

Online Education in the News – December 3, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on December 3, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Curriki.org’s wiki approach to teacher education, Japanese university’s mobile phone course, a Biology teacher’s tale of implementing online materials into classes, Bloomsburg University’s online course for deaf and hard of hearing students

Curriki.org, a nonprofit group originally part of Sun Microsystems that likewise takes content contributions from the public at large, teaches educators themselves how to teach. Is this wiki-approach academically credible? Will its free content hurt textbook publishers? — International Herald Tribune

Cyber University in Japan has begun offering a mobile class on the “mysteries of the pyramids,” but instead of a typical PC’s display of text, images, sound, and video, the mobile version offers a streaming Power Point presentation on the topic. The university – 71 percent of which is owned by Softbank, a mobile service provider — has 1,850 students, and offers almost 100 courses, though only one is available for phones. — Engadget

High school students are hooked on a Biology teacher’s video lectures and notes available online. He talks about how easy it is to record and upload them – and he admits he is not even a tech-savvy person. His web site received some 38,000 hits last year, indicating that his students are using the lectures repeatedly after class, as well as sharing the site with other students. — T.H.E. Journal

Last semester, Bloomsburg University began using Wimba’s Live Classroom, a Web-based learning tool, to offer deaf and hard of hearing students an online course that includes a sign-language interpreter and closed-caption text to accompany the standard slide presentation and instructor’s voice. — Campus Technology

IT News - November 6, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 6, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Engadget, Gizmodo, Permission TV, Harvard Business Digital, Yahoo’s Kickstart, IBM’s new security, and First Alert System Text

In the consumer-technology blogosphere, the rivalry between Engadget and Gizmodo is as lively as a big-city tabloid war. This article explores the history of these two blogs and their creators. — CNN

PermissionTV, a leading interactive Internet video technology platform provider, announced today that Harvard Business Digital, the online unit of Harvard Business School Publishing, is using PermissionTV to serve new video content featuring thought leaders and business experts on its website www.HarvardBusiness.org. — Market Wire

Wetpaint (www.wetpaint.com), the consumer-friendly wiki for collaborating and publishing online, today announced it will offer ad-free, no cost wikis to qualified educators so easy online collaboration can extend into any classroom. — Market Wire

Just how many social networking sites do we really need? At least one more, according to Yahoo. On Monday, it unveiled Kickstart, a sort of LinkedIn for the college set that aims to hook up students and recent grads with alumni and potential employers. — CNN

IBM is tackling security in a big way. Late last week the company unveiled a new strategy encompassing five broad aspects of security and launching new products, services, and research designed to address everything from data threats to physical vulnerabilities. — Campus Technology

First Alert System Text (FAST) has launched a new grant program for colleges and universities, offering no-cost implementation and service for its text message-based emergency notification system. Through the Secure Campus Grant program, 100 higher ed campuses in the United States will be awarded the notification system. — Campus Technology