Tama’s eLearning Blog

Unless you’ve been hiding under a digital rock, you’d know that the best browser in the world has released an even better incarnation: Firefox 3 is here.  I could write about all of its improvements, but you can get a fuller version here, suffice it to say it runs faster, takes a lot less memory (20 tabs open suddenly takes about 300mg less RAM for me!) and has some spiffy new security features.  And let’s not forget, it’s an open source creation, made by the people, for the people!

To celebrate, Mozilla are encouraging people to download Firefox 3 today, attempting to break the Guinness World Record for most downloaded software in a 24hour period.  For those of us in Perth, that 24 hours runs from 1am Wed 18 June until 12.59am Thurs 19 June.  So, be part of a World Record and download now!  I was the 29005th person to download from Australia, so I know there are a few Aussies who could download yet! And just in case you need one last ounce of motivation, downloading FireFox 3 today will get you a cute little certificate:

Seriously: go download it now.

Sometimes I find it hard to get the time to explain certain concepts - RSS, for example - which both have enough information and avoid boring to death those who already know things. Thankfully, those folk over at CommonCraft do really, really good introductory explanations of Web2.0-type tools. Here’s their take on social bookmarking:

After that you’ll also want to check out RSS in Plain English; Wikis in Plain English; Google Docs in Plain English; and Social Networking in Plain English. Watch the show for future useful episodes. I’m sure these clips will find some use in my teaching!

A couple of months ago I wrote about Virgin Mobile’s controversial use of CC-Licensed images from Flickr in one of their advertising campaigns.  Things have now taken an odd twist, with on of the teenagers features in the photos suing not just Virgin but Creative Commons as well!  As the Sydney Morning Herald reported:

A Texas family has sued Australia’s Virgin Mobile phone company, claiming it caused their teenage daughter grief and humiliation by plastering her photo on billboards and website advertisements without consent. [...] The picture of 16-year-old Chang flashing a peace sign was taken in April by Alison’s youth counsellor, who posted it that day on his Flickr page, according to Alison’s brother, Damon. In the ad, Virgin Mobile printed one of its campaign slogans, “Dump your pen friend,” over Alison’s picture. The ad also says “Free text virgin to virgin” at the bottom. [...]

The lawsuit, filed in Dallas late yesterday, names Virgin Mobile USA LLC, its Australian counterpart, and Creative Commons Corp, a Massachusetts nonprofit that licenses sharing of Flickr photos, as defendants. [...]

People who post photos on Flickr are asked how they want to license their attribution. The youth counsellor chose a sharing licence from Creative Commons that allows others to reuse work such as photos without violating copyright laws, if they credit the photographer and say where the photo was taken. His Flickr page appears at the bottom of the ad.

Worth reading on this matter are:-

[X] Lawrence Lessig’s post “On the Texas suit against Virgin and Creative Commons” (always thorough, Lessig also links to the actual complaint);
[X] The Slashdot Thread on the lawsuit;
[X] and Joi Ito’s post, in which he notes this complaint is a ”very good example of the complexities of copyright and other rights and the necessity of educating the public and ourselves about what copyright exactly is.”

Personally, I find it hard to credit the complaint against Creative Commons.  I think as an organisation, CC have done more to educate people about copyright than almost any other organisation.  While I admit using certain CC licenses leaves the lay-person ignorant about the complexities of model releases and the different international standards (ie you need people in the photos to grant permission for their image or likeness to be used), the fault lies more with copyright law per se than with Creative Commons.  Of course, given this development, it would seem prudent time for a more detailed guide about using CC licenses on Flickr (and other photos) to be developed.

[Cross-posted from my main blog.]

Slideshare, the YouTube of powerpoint (and other) slides, just got a lot more interesting with the launch of their SlideCast function which allows users to quickly and easily synchronise uploaded slides with audio to create ‘SlideCasts’ which are, essentially, narrated powerpoint/slide presentations in an embeddable flash format. For all the how-to-ness you’ll need, click here. Nifty! [Via]

Speaking of Second Life, I’m watching Sloodle with real interest, because proper integration between Moodle and Second Life would make teahcing and learning in SL a whole lot easier!  See their concept:

I just watched Kathryn Greenhill’s presentation about introducing Second Life via Murdoch Library.  Clearly the potential for Second Life in tertiary education and digital literacy is impressive, even if there are some serious obstacles to overcome.  Kathryn’s presentation illuminates a very sensible and reassuring way to introduce SL to staff and students, so if you’re thinking of heading down that path, take a look:

Despite the increasing number of Creative Commons licensed images out there, many students still seem to resort to a single service like Google’s Image Search since it’s still the easiest way to find images (copyright be damned). I’ve always hoped to find a tool which makes it just as easy to search for images which are freely reusable, via CC (or other) licenses, so I was delighted when I stumbled upon the Picture Sandbox.

The Picture Sandbox lets you search Flickr (and other services), easily restricting searches to any CC license type, as well as a number of other limiting parameters such as data taken, or user. As this screenshot shows, all of these options areon the frontpage as drop-down boxes, making the service very easy to use:

Simply entering ‘Venice’ (for example) into the search window, brings up pages and pages of photos which students could use in projects and media creations, with simple attribution, and then be able to re-use in the future as part of ePortfolios or the like:

This is a fabulously simple tool so I hope it finds its way into media classes across the entire educational spectrum!

Update: If the Sandbox Flickr search doesn’t work (which seems to happen occassionally) try FlickrCC.

Looking at the way PowerPoint slides can be used poorly is something most higher education developers need to make time for. Comedian Don McMillan makes all of our lives a little easier, because he demonstrates some of the worst uses of PowerPoint, with humour! Check it out:

I’m sure this clip will make it into future discussions of using media in teaching!

[Via and Via]

Slideshare - the YouTube of powerpoint - has been around for a while now, but I’ve always wondered in slides, by themselves, are all that valuable as a teaching and learning tool. Of course, if I’d been thinking like Steve Jobs’ catchphrase “think different” I’d have soon realised that the best slides online are those which are purpose written for that context.

Today, browing Slideshare, I came across this breakdown of Pleasantville using slides:

[slideshare id=48443&doc=pleasantville-shot-by-shot-27846&w=425]

Apparently the author - mcmrbt - uses these slides in teaching high school students. My first reaction was to think I really wished my high school media classes had been like this! Secondly, though, I think I’ve now seen how Slideshare can be used well - as an online resource which complements other classroom teaching, not slides which were used in snyc with a face to face presentation.

One of the restrictions I hate the most is the legal restriction on breaking copyright protection on DVDs (which is so easy to do), despite the fact that playing ripped clips from DVDs is so much easier than have to cue up a DVD in the player before a lecture starts and then hope that the cue doesn’t reset before you get around to playing the clip. Although from the perspective of US law, I found this article from Edgar Huang in the latest Convergence of real value:

A DVD Dilemma: Ripping for Teaching

Edgar Huang

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, USA, ehuang@iupui.edu

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has made ripping Macrovision- or CSSprotected DVDs illegal, but university instructors and students need accessible videos in a digital format for pedagogical purposes. This legal analysis has compared the DMCA with the TEACH Act and the fair use doctrine in the Copyright Act in an attempt to find a viable solution to this dilemma. The study has provided alternative and creative approaches to DVD ripping while finding it necessary to pursue a legal amendment to the DMCA.

Key Words: copyright • Digital Millennium Copyright Act • DVD ripping • fair use • Macrovision

Of course, at the end of the day Huang’s voice is simply another calling for a better system of fair use, or fair dealing in Australia, that maintains certain protections but which also permits teachers to use media in the best way possible for teaching, not just for copyright. One, I guess, there will be enough voices … I hope.