Checkout Storify.com

Storify is a new Web 2.0 tool that allows you to search social media content by subject or theme and then drag and drop the results (tweets, status updates, videos, photos, etc.) into Stories. These stories can then be shared or embeded on social media accounts, websites and blogs.


It is currently in Beta but you can try it out. View some of the stories already created by others on the http://storify.com/ website.

Scheduling Blogger Posts So They Don't Feed Through to Facebook All At Once

Wish you could spread out your posts on your Blogger RSS feed so they are not published and posted all at once on your Facebook account? Use the "Post Options" feature at the bottom of the "New Post" edit window in Blogger.

With the "Post Options" feature you can select the "Scheduled at" radio button to bring up a drop down menu. Then select the date and time you what your post to be published. Finish by clicking the "Publish Post" button as usual.

This is a work around for all of us who have set writing schedules and business accounts that will not let us purchase HootSuite.

Using Blogger for Your School/Business Help Desk FAQ

Let's start with an example. Here is my Help Desk FAQ that I created over 4 years ago. http://libhelp.blogspot.com. Every question that a student ask us at the Library's Help Desk that relates to computers, the campus online content, saving or storing files and much more goes into this blog. Every semester I invite new Help Desk student workers to "author" a few of the posts.

It gives them the opportunity to practice their writing skills and to showcase their technical knowledge.

This blog is linked to from the library's homepage with a blogger icon and it is feed through to the library's Facebook page as well. http://library.chattanoogastate.edu

For the Facebook feed, I use the "Post Option" in blogger to schedule the posts that feed through Facebook's Apps>RSS Graffiti. Otherwise, the posts that I work on during my scheduled writing time would publish on the Facebook page all at one time.

By scheduling each post, you will avoid Facebook's new algorithm that takes multiple posts over the 2 post limit (that they want) and collapses them into one post.

There are many reasons I like Blogger for FAQ.

1.) You can email and share individual posts to students or friends.
2.) You can set them to be mobile friendly.
3.) They provide statistics.
4.) They play well with Facebook.
5.) I can give Authorship to students and staff.
6.) You can embed or use the RSS feed options with other CMS or social media programs.
7.) You can turn off comments for a more structured blog interaction.

DreamSpark.com

The "DreamSpark" website gives students microsoft professional tools for free to encourage them to learn about the products. Some of the downloads available are: Windows Phone, Kodu:Game Lab, Virtual PC and Visual Basics 2008. Check out the GET TRAINING side menu at the website to learn more about these programs and others by: reading, doing and watching. This is a valuable resource for students. They can even visit DreamSpark on their mobile phone, mobile.microsoft.com/student.

NOTE: Students must have a student Outlook/Live@EDU account to verify their student status.

Animoto Free for Non-Profits and Academics

I openly confess to loving Animoto's music video production software. I like the ability to create a music video straight from my iPhone and I like the easy upload to YouTube or Facebook in seconds. Every year when Dr. Susie Matthews brings her Vet Tech students to me to make their PSA(Public Service Announcement) projects I am thrilled. Students in the Vet Tech program work in groups to create PSAs about important animal care topics. The images and video they use are taken at local non-profit animal shelters where they have interned. Dr. Mathews uses the free academic account to make this happen.

Uploading and exporting - Play your video files in Google Docs

Uploading and exporting - Play your video files in Google Docs

This just popped up on my google documents' menu. This may be a good alternative for educators and students to post school project video. I would imagine that it is a good compliment to the blogger accounts. Now, you can upload and save your project videos in a location that is less public and easily shared with one's blogs and online websites.

Add Your Blogger Account To Your FaceBook Page via Notes

You can add your blogger account to your Facebook page under the Notes feature. The image above shows the 1,2,3 easy steps to importing an external blog. If you are having trouble viewing this, click on the image to enlarge it.

Posting... But Not On Blogger

I've been so busy over the last few months that I haven't posted anything new here. When I started this blog and two others, my goal was to post at least twice a month. However, as you can tell by the dates on my post this hasn't happened. In fact, I'm behind on another blog I write titled, Parenting the Gamer Generation at http://www.kidsgotgame.blogspot.com/.

What happened? you may ask. This is what happened: life, kids, new house, more volunteer work, coaching upward soccer, joined the Holmberg Art Leadership Institute, started working at my father's driving range again and other things I can't remember now. There is also my job. It takes my time too.

In addition to these activities I do try to keep up with web 2.0 tools. I do this mostly through my iPhone. After leaving the Art Institute meeting I stopped for lunch. While I waited for lunch, I posted to Twitter and Facebook about community projects that I hoped would be taken up by Chattanooga State students.

I'd love to see the social media class use Foursquares to document the public art sculptures around town. I would be thrilled to read an article by a Chattanooga State Communicator reporter on the Hart Gallery and the art lessons they line up for the homeless.

The social media or broadcasting class could invite the CreateHere non-profit to speak in class on how they use social media to post videos on Chattanooga residents. Have you seen the work they post on YouTube? Before I sign off here, I want to encourage my readers to go online and google Chattanooga. See what I've been researching. Type Chattanooga + YouTube, Google, Facebook, Foursquares and Twitter.

I bet you didn't know half of what you see.

Mobile Blogging

Image from Blogger.com blogspot.

Since having my iPhone, I've been able to do a lot of my work and social connecting on the go. Some of my favorite apps include TweetDeck, Google Calendar and Gmail. I use TweetDeck to check on my tweets and Facebook comments. I use the Google calender and gmail to keep up with correspondence and appointments.

I love the mobility of my iPhone and decided to try out mobile blogging. I tried the go.blogger.com version first but it wanted me to set up a new Mobile blog from my phone. What I wanted turned out to be in my existing blogger accounts. My goal for mobile blogging was not to add another blog to the four I have, but to post to already existing blogs from my current blogger account.

If you want to try mobile blogging with an existing account, change your settings through that blog. You'll need to create an address to send your post. I also set mine to send the post as a draft so I could edit it before publishing it.

If you want to create a mobile blog right from your phone, check out this link to learn how to do it. It has a How-to video.

Creating a 3D Chattanooga with SketchUp on Google Earth

Sometimes it is just fun to see what local talent are doing with web 2.0 tools. Chattanooga has several locals working together to put Chattanooga in 3D on Google Earth. This is something you have to see for yourself. You can check out the 3D warehouse for Chattanooga Buildings already on the map or see them on Google earth. Go to "Whose Doing What" if you want to see the buildings in progress and to find unclaimed buildings. Instruction for claiming a building can be found in "Whose Doing What" too. SketchUp is a free downloadable application. Straight forward tutorials show SketchUp being used on the SketchUp website. More tutorials can be found on YouTube and the SketchUpVideo's Channel. I hope Google is planning a mobile app for this. It would be entertaining on vacations to use my iphone and SketchUp to make my own 3D models.

• Here's How To Help
  
• 3D Warehouse
  
• Whose Doing What
  
• SketchUp Video Tutorials
  
  
• Google Earth
  

Mobile Libraries: HOW TO: Convert Videos for Your iPhone (or Any Mobile Device)

This post is from a blog that I follow daily. Gerry McKiernan is a great source of information on mobile technologies. I am very thankful for his work and his willingness to share.

Mobile Libraries: HOW TO: Convert Videos for Your iPhone (or Any Mobile Device)

RealPlayer SP Player also Converts

Part of my job is to help students learn how to create professional looking PowerPoints. Many students like the idea of adding video clips to their presentations. If the video comes from a source, like Discovery Education, all the student needs to do is download the video segment they need and save it in a folder with their PowerPoint presentation. They can also easily make the video themselves with a Flip mini-camcorder and save the video with its .wmv format into a folder too. From here it is straight forward "Insert" into their PowerPoint. However, if the video format is not compatible it gets tricky. For other formats students should try the new version of RealPlayer.

Real Player can convert videos to formats that work in PowerPoint. It can also convert videos to file formats compatible to iPods, iPhones and other mobile devices.

Here's information straight from the RealPlayer website:

"RealPlayer is compatible with Blackberry, most Apple products, mp3 players and gaming systems (like PSP, PS3 and Xbox) and new devices are added automatically.
Customize for maximum control and quality, RealPlayer lets you customize the format settings, or it can convert your video to H.264, the new digital video standard for consumer electronics and PCs."

Watch "How to Convert & Transfer Video"
RealPlayer H.264

The new RealPlayer H.264 converter lets you easily convert your video to the new digital video standard for consumer electronics and PCs.

See videos shared on Twitter. Learn More: Feature List Video Tour "

Vook = Book + Video

I've had students and constituents ask me how I keep up with technology. One way is by following blogs and tweets from professional techies I admire. One blog I read is called Mobile Libraries by Gerry McKiernan.

His latest post on Vooks tells of videos being inserted with other digital media into ebooks. For those who first think of Fiction, the idea is pushy and arrogant. Who wants a film professional pushing their views of the book on them. Part of the pleasure of reading is bringing your own visualization to its interpretation.

However,if your first thought when hearing about Vooks is Non-Fiction you may have a different reaction. I can see a how-to ebook being greatly enhanced by video demos. I think I would enjoy a travel book in this new venue too.I'd like to see a sample, so I'll be looking for one to view.

Until then, here is the link to McKiernan's post if you'd like to learn more about Vooks, Mobile Libraries: Vooks = Text+Video+Etc. > Coming To An iPhone Near You ....

Aviary.com Soars Above Photoshop for Free Photo & Now Audio Editing Off the Web

Here is another open source tool with great artistic capabilities for students and avid Internet users. As a former graphic designer, this site is a jewel. I can play around with this instead of trying to figure out where Adobe photoshop has moved tools to in the new CS4. It is a great quick and easy program where you don't have to stall out your creative idea to hunt around and figure out tool options.

Aviary is free but there’s a paid option available that include more tutorial options, private collaborating, and more private files. The premium accounts run you an extremely-reasonable $24.99 a year.

Microsoft Downloads for Your Mobile

Did you know that many of the Microsoft programs that you use on your PC every day can also be used on your Windows Mobile phone? Learn about and download the mobile versions of the most commonly used Microsoft software available including:

Office Mobile
Outlook Mobile
Internet Explorer
Bing
And many more

Click here to learn more about the programs available, and to download the mobile versions.

Take a look at Total Access from Windows Mobile to get a look at exclusive offers and help for your mobile.

You Can Add Video to Animoto Now. WOW!

You can now add video clips to your Animoto videos! Watch a few sample videos and find out more here:http://animoto.com/video

Just follow these three steps:

1. Upload clips from your camera or phone (iPhone 3GS anyone??), or use some from animoto's collection (thanks to iStockphoto and Getty Images).
2. Choose your highlights. You can choose highlights of up to 10 seconds each, though they recommend using only 3-5 seconds as that works best within the flow of an Animoto video.
3. Create the rest of your video as normal, and you're done.

To celebrate the launch of the video clip feature, animoto is holding a contest in which you can win an action-packed TRIP FOR TWO TO NEW YORK CITY! All you have to do is submit your best video. Sooooo easy. Here's the deal: each week for five weeks, they'll announce 2 finalists, and just for being a finalist you'll get a Flip Mino HD (awesome) or a VholdR ContourHD helmet camcorder (really awesome).

Then at the end animoto will announce the grand winner.

For full contest details, head here:
http://animoto.com/video/contest


posted originally by the ANIMOTO Team

Monster.com Mates Up with Microsoft OfficeLive to Give Career Advice

I think this is a winning combination for these two giants of industry. In this economy it is well advised to choose a good roommate to double up. What we have here is Microsoft Office Live pulling their resources together with the top job hunting website on the Internet, Monster.com. Together they are helping job seekers by

providing career advise, resume tips and a job search engine all in one location.

If you are graduating this year or just looking for a job you should check out this website. Pick up some tips on Top Resume Mistakes or read up on how to get noticed for a promotion at Microsoft Office Online.

New Library Tour Video

Create Your Own Site on TeacherTube for $99

Teacher Tube MySite allows educators to create their own site for courses, classrooms and school districts. It has privacy settings so only those you wish to view the contents may. This is a possible solution to posting student multi-media work and restricting it to specified student audiences. There is no advertising and you may add your own school logo to customize your site.

The sites are not restricted to video uploads. Documents may also be uploaded. If you are one of the schools using Flip, Apec or Kodiak Zi6 mini-camcorders for student projects, this might be a good location for you. For $99 dollars a year you may create 10 MySite TeacherTube sites. A good deal for today's budget. Follow this link to learn more, http://www.teachertube.com/mysite/

Wiggio.com for Groups to Gather?

So, I've been trying out this wiggio.com with two friends. It is a free website that incorporates zoho.com to share documents and images and edit them with friends, team mates or other students. It's a place for groups to collaborate and meet up online for group projects.

I've tried out the messages services it offers such as the sticky notes, voice chat (easy record controls), text and email. The two draw backs I see for some is the need to post your cell numbers. This is so members can receive text messages or voice chats when you want to send a group message out to all the members. I ask, "How secure is this? It may be fine" The batch import option in wiggio lets you batch import your contact information from email services such as gmail and yahoo. When I tried it-the little wheel just spun and spun. Seems like this feature may not be working well. Plus! Here we go again sharing content all over the web and some members might not appreciate it.

Always ask first before you give out other people's information, please. Still, it has possibilities and seems to be suited for the multi-tasking, multi-talented teen and students we see around us today.