Thursday, August 28, 2008

Add Captions to YouTube Videos

Add Captions to YouTube Videos

This is cool.  This is a big issue around the University.  We are working to make all our materials universally accessible.  This would be a big help. Now we just need a good consistent way to create transcripts (from which captions can be created) via software rather than human effort.
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Sailor Family Picture


DSC_0216.JPG
Originally uploaded by scott.sailor
I had the privilege (and pressure) of shooting a photo of all my parents kids and grandkids, along with myself last Sunday. I was very pleased with some of the pictures. I think it had to do a lot with my new lens. The equipment makes the man. Have fun.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod.

By JONATHAN D. GLATER
Crosspost from New York Times

Taking a step that professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to students.

The always-on Internet devices raise some novel possibilities, like tracking where students congregate. With far less controversy, colleges could send messages about canceled classes, delayed buses, campus crises or just the cafeteria menu.

While schools emphasize its usefulness — online research in class and instant polling of students, for example — a big part of the attraction is, undoubtedly, that the iPhone is cool and a hit with students. Basking in the aura of a cutting-edge product could just help a university foster a cutting-edge reputation.

Apple stands to win as well, hooking more young consumers with decades of technology purchases ahead of them. The lone losers, some fear, could be professors.

Students already have laptops and cellphones, of course, but the newest devices can take class distractions to a new level. They practically beg a user to ignore the long-suffering professor struggling to pass on accumulated wisdom from the front of the room — a prospect that teachers find galling and students view as, well, inevitable.

“When it gets a little boring, I might pull it out,” acknowledged Naomi J. Pugh, a first-year student at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., referring to her new iPod Touch, which can connect to the Internet over a campus wireless network. She speculated that professors might try harder to make classes interesting if they were competing with the devices.

Experts see a movement toward the use of mobile technology in education, though they say it is in its infancy as professors try to concoct useful applications. Providing powerful hand-held devices is sure to fuel debates over the role of technology in higher education.

“We think this is the way the future is going to work,” said Kyle Dickson, co-director of research and the mobile learning initiative at Abilene Christian University in Texas, which has bought more than 600 iPhones and 300 iPods for students entering this fall.

Although plenty of students take their laptops to class, they don’t take them everywhere and would prefer something lighter. Abilene Christian settled on the devices after surveying students and finding that they did not like hauling around laptops, but that most always carried a cellular phone, Dr. Dickson said.

It is not clear how many colleges plan to give out iPhones and iPods this fall; officials at Apple were coy about the subject and said they would not leak any institution’s plans.

“We can’t announce other people’s news,” said Greg Joswiak, vice president of iPod and iPhone marketing at Apple. He also said that he could not discuss discounts to universities for bulk purchases.

At least four institutions — the University of Maryland, Oklahoma Christian University, Abilene Christian and Freed-Hardeman — have announced that they will give the devices to some or all of their students this fall.

Other universities are exploring their options. Stanford University has hired a student-run company to design applications like a campus map and directory for the iPhone. It is considering whether to issue iPhones but not sure it’s necessary, noting that more than 700 iPhones were registered on the university’s network last year.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iPhones might already have been everywhere, if AT&T, the wireless carrier offering the iPhone in the United States, had a more reliable network, said Andrew J. Yu, mobile devices platform project manager at M.I.T.

“We would have probably gone ahead of this, maybe just getting a thousand iPhones and giving them out,” Mr. Yu said.

The University of Maryland, College Park is proceeding cautiously, giving the iPhone or iPod Touch to 150 students, said Jeffrey C. Huskamp, vice president and chief information officer at the university. “We don’t think we have all the answers,” Mr. Huskamp said. By observing how students use the gadgets, he said, “We’re trying to get answers from students.”

At each college, the students who choose to get an iPhone must pay for mobile phone service. Those service contracts include unlimited data use. Both the iPhones and the iPod Touch devices can connect to the Internet through campus wireless networks. With the iPhone, those networks may provide faster connections and longer battery life than AT&T’s data network. Many cellphones allow users to surf the Web, but only some newer ones have Wi-Fi capability.

University officials say they have no plans to track their students (and Apple said it would not be possible unless students give their permission). They say they are drawn to the prospect of learning applications outside the classroom, though such lesson plans have yet to surface.

“My colleagues and I are studying something called augmented reality,” said Christopher J. Dede, professor in learning technologies at Harvard University. “Alien Contact,” for example, is an exercise developed for middle-school students who use hand-held devices that can determine their location. As they walk around a playground or other area, text, video or audio pops up at various points to help them try to figure out why aliens were in the schoolyard.

“You can imagine similar kinds of interactive activities along historical lines,” like following the Freedom Trail in Boston, Professor Dede said. “It’s important that we do research so that we know how well something like this works.”

The rush to distribute the devices worries some professors, who say that students are less likely to participate in class if they are multitasking. “I’m not someone who’s anti-technology, but I’m always worried that technology becomes an end in and of itself, and it replaces teaching or it replaces analysis,” said Ellen G. Millender, associate professor of classics at Reed College in Portland, Ore. (She added that she hoped to buy an iPhone for herself once prices fall.)

Robert S. Summers, who has taught at Cornell Law School for about 40 years, announced this week — in a detailed, footnoted memorandum — that he would ban laptop computers from his class on contract law.

“I would ban that too if I knew the students were using it in class,” Professor Summers said of the iPhone, after the device and its capabilities were explained to him. “What we want to encourage in these students is active intellectual experience, in which they develop the wide range of complex reasoning abilities required of the good lawyers.”

The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns. A few years ago, Duke began giving iPods to students with the idea that they might use them to record lectures (these older models could not access the Internet).

“We had assumed that the biggest focus of these devices would be consuming the content,” said Tracy Futhey, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at Duke.

But that is not all that the students did. They began using the iPods to create their own “content,” making audio recordings of themselves and presenting them. The students turned what could have been a passive interaction into an active one, Ms. Futhey said.

GEN Y CHECKS FACEBOOK MORE THAN CNN



This is another post from Sarah Sladek's eblast. I almost missed it. I think this is amazing. Want to reach this generation? How are you using Facebook to do so? Wow!


There’s nothing exactly newsy in the fact that young people read the paper less than their elders. That information has been around for awhile. What is news, however, is that it might be a misconception to think young people (under 25) are getting news from any type of source. The latest Pew report states that 34 percent of the people surveyed under the age of 25 get no news on any typical day. Ten years ago, in 1998, that number was at 25 percent. While these same people might check a social networking site daily, such as Facebook, that still isn’t getting any news to them.
- Staff Writer blog, August 18, 2008

Your Toughest Customers

This is an awesome crosspost from Sarah Sladek's eblast she sent recently. I believe this is valuable insight for people in a variety of industries (e.g., educators, youth pastors, business people). Let me know what you think.

YOUR TOUGHEST CUSTOMERS

They're growing up on the wired alphabet: PC, CD, PDA, DVD and CUL8R. They average $100 a week in disposable income, spending a stunning $150 billion a year. And they influence another $50 billion in family purchases, bumping the total to $200 billion.

Say hello to Generation Y (ages 13-25), also known as Echo Boomers or Millennials. For sheer spending power, this consumer group is unrivaled in American history. If your organization hasn't thought much about how your wares might attract this cohort of big spenders — who are savvy and wary in equal parts — start thinking.

Gen Y is savvy because they were weaned on technology. These days, many youngsters are busy creating their own social circles by blogging about the Jonas Brothers, updating their social network profiles, and uploading videos of their latest dance party on YouTube.

Gen Y is wary because they were raised in the midst of some rather nasty national traumas, including the O.J. and Monica scandals, the 1999 Columbine school shootings, and a presidential election that failed to pick a winner. All before Sept. 11.

Reaching today's teens poses both a great opportunity and challenge to your organization. The organizations that succeed will be able to balance the benefits of attracting the younger market against the difficulties of embracing alternative business principles.

Here are a few tips:

Use technology. This generation wants rich media, gadget ads, customization, and expressive ad copy. Companies targeting America’s youth need to take a long hard look at their current marketing plan and allocate the necessary time and funds into new mediums. The days of simple keyword searches and text ads on Google are numbered with this group.


Build relationships. Like Gen X, Gen Y relies on peer recommendations. In addition to using technology to build relationships, find ways to be present where teenagers want to spend time (malls, skate parks, concerts) and deliver value to them (discounts, free merchandise, movie tickets, jobs, etc.). Establish meaningful relationships with them and they will return the favor.


Be giving. Gen Y is far more socially conscious than any generation since World War II. They believe in giving, volunteering, and donating time and resources. In fact, a Cone/Roper survey discovered that 91% of teens value companies and products that support good causes and 89% would be likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause.


Be honest. When pitching Gen Y, keep in mind that they've grown up on slick ads and commercial messages. Any whiff of over-promising or false advertising will send them running. To appeal to teenagers is to be genuine and to deliver consistent, excellent service.


Understand Y This generation is well-educated. Their awareness level is very high and they loathe being treated like young whippersnappers that need to be managed or kids that don’t know anything. Don’t assume you know what’s best for them. Ask them for their feedback or assemble a team of teens who can be trend-setters and trend-spotters for your organization.

Gen Y spends $150 billion per year. Furthermore, attracting a teen customer is like triple dipping: First, you get the youngster. Next, you get the parent. Third, you get the loyal customer that a teen grows up to be.

That’s a whole lot of revenue that your organization can’t afford to lose.



Sarah L. Sladek, President & CEO
ssladek@limelightgenerations.com

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Fresno State Alma Mater