Andrew Reid - Constructivist Learner » Technology

Coping with technology

Andrew Reid — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:59:22 +0000

I saw this great way of looking at technology from a Douglas Adams article How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet. Although it puts a smile on your face when reading it I think it does so because there is a hidden truth in its message:

everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;
anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;
anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are.This observation can help us understand which generation finds what technology difficult.

Blogs in Plain English

Andrew Reid — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:10:53 +0000

For anyone who wanted to know what all the fuss is about blogs here is another ‘to the point’ explanation from CommonCraft. They have already covered RSS and Social Networking and help demystify great Internet technologies.[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Do schools kill creativity?

Andrew Reid — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:26:38 +0000

For those working in education this TED video by Sir Ken Robinson is a must watch. It is both inspriring and funny. It really makes you think about our current education system and what we can do to help us prepare our children for a changing world.

RSS in Plain English

Andrew Reid — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 06:18:13 +0000

You already know that I like the tutorial style of CommonCraft.

Here is another short tutorial for those that wonder what RSS is all about.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I use an RSS aggregator to bring together all of the things that I like to read about on the web. Take a look at newsgator as a good example of an RSS feed reader, although Safari and some other web browsers also now have an in-built RSS aggregator.

Those that have Google Mail also have access to a good RSS aggregator in their account.

We are the web, we are the machine

Andrew Reid — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:36:39 +0000

Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology Michael Wesch has created an interesting video exploring the changes the internet is making on society.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Both interesting and thought provoking.

Social Networking in Plain English

Andrew Reid — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 08:27:12 +0000

Ever wondered why social networking is so popular and what all the fuss is about?

Take a look the following tutorial from the great guys at CommonCraft.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Visualising Air Traffic Patterns

Andrew Reid — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:18:12 +0000

I came across this excellent video of air traffic patterns across the United States.

It is by Aaron Koblin at UCLA.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A higher quality quicktime version of this movie can be found here.

A mix of science and art this video makes very interesting watching, and is again a very good use of technology enabling us to visually make sense of data that is already available.

Wikis in Plain English

Andrew Reid — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:35:03 +0000

I love the straight talking plain English style of tutorial that the CommonCraft team present.

For anyone wondering what a Wiki actually is take a look at their short video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hans Rosling – TED talk with some of the best stats I have ever seen

Andrew Reid — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:29:36 +0000

Prepare to be blown away by this 20 minute talk by Hans Rosling.
Hans Rosling shows us how, using technology, we can see patterns in the way the world population is changing. If only all learning was as clear, and interesting, as what Hans presents us with here.

It is amazing that plain old data can be taken and turned in to something as clear and visual as what is seen. We are only scraping the surface of what analysis technology is helping us to perform on our data.Truly inspirational!

One day I would love to be invited to TED – and have something equally as inspiring to show people.

GeekBrief.tv

Andrew Reid — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 12:15:51 +0000

I have recently subscribed to GeekBrief.tv. I think that this is a great video podcast with good production values. Each episode is just long enough to watch any time and they are crammed with lots of small bits of info. Cali Lewis is a great host and is fun to watch.

I am thinking of making my own educational video podcasts and we can learn a lot from studying this one.

Watch this space…