How healthy are health supps? A visualisation

By now you should have realised that I love visualisations and the Information is Beautiful blog – I find David’s visualisations beautiful and interesting. And his newest one does not disappoint it’s a generative data-visualisation of all the scientific evidence for popular health supplements by David McCandless and Andy Perkins.

They’ve made both an interactive and a static version – below is the static version, but do check out the interactive one.

 

TED2010 – broaden your mind

The 2010 TED conference starts today in Long Beach and Palm Springs, CA and the theme for this year is: What the World Needs Now … come on sing it with me “is love, sweet love”:)

The conference covers various themes in the four days and honestly if you see the line-up and speakers for the themes you’ll wish you could be there (all talks will be up loaded to the TEDTalk blog)

TED really is an amazing organisation and website and the quality and variety of the talks are staggering – do check it out.

 

25 sites with instructional videos

by  speedoflight_speedoflight

Jane from Jane’s learning pick of the day is an absolute life-saver!

Why?

Because of her newest post: 25 places to find instructional videos which does just that – gives you 25 top-notch places to get instructional videos.

Here is her list:

5min Life Videopedia – instructional and how-to videos

Academic Earth – Thousands of video lectures from the world’s top scholars

blip.tv – next generation TV network

Google Video – videos on all topics

Graspr – The instructional video network

Howcast – How-to videos

iCue – A fun, innovative, learning environment built around video from the NBC News Archives

Instructables – Make, HowTo and DIY

iTunes U - Faculty are using iTunes U to distribute digital lessons to their students, e.g Stangord, Trinity College Dublin, etc.

John Locker – Documentaries and educational videos

MindBites – Video instructional marketplace and publishing platform (Some free)

MonkeySee – HowTo videos

neoK12 – free educational videos and lessons for K-12 school kids

Research Channel – 3,500 video titles available

SchoolTube – provides students and educators with a safe, world class, video sharing webiste

Sparkeo – a flexible video platform

SuTree – learn virtually everything by watching how to videos from all over the web.

TeacherTube – educational videos

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) – a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

TV Lesson – How to videos

Ustream – watch live broadcasts, explore networks ranging from music, talk shows, sports and politics and/or review our past broadcasts.

Video Jug – Life explained. On film.

Vimeo – a thriving community of people who love to make and share videos

YouTube – videos on everything under the sun

YouTube EDU – aggregates all the videos from more than 100 institutions of higher education around the US.

If you want to see some more cool links, go to Jane’s 101+ Free Websites to find out about Anything and Everything

 

Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in ringtones and keytones

Rob posted this Vodafone commercial on his Mobile Learner site to show

that there is no prescription to creativity and there is no rubric that can measure inventiveness and ingenuity

I happen to think it’s also a pretty cool video!

 

Best of Tony Karrer’s e-learning learning

Tony Karrer posted his list of best eLearning links again (Best of eLearningLearning).

So without further ado – here it is (with my comments, for what they are worth, in italics):

Best of eLearning Learning

October 9, 2009 to October 16, 2009

Upcoming Free Online Events

I never really comment on the webinars as I’ve never participated in one. But if it is possible for you, check out Tony’s links below:

• New Possibilities with Mobile Learning 2.0
• Mobile Learning Gains Momentum
• Tips for Teaching Synchronous Virtual Classes
• Online Interviews In Real Time: Webinar And Book Release Party
• Unleashing The Power Of Social Learning

Featured Sources

The following are the top items from featured sources based on social signals.

1. Online Games for Teaching Business Concepts and Ideas- Kapp Notes, October 16, 2009 A post by Karl Kapp with a list of online games and the reason gaming is actually a very good tool for teaching business ideas and concepts to kids
2. eLearning Portal Integration- eLearning Technology, October 13, 2009
3. Mentoring vs. Training — Why Social Networking Isn’t Enough- aLearning, October 13, 2009 I was fortunate enough to be part of both formal and informal mentoring at my previous organisation and experienced it as extremely positive. The point that Ellen makes is very true “mentoring is not the same as training, and shouldn’t be substituted for it Social networking/social media are not the same thing as training, and shouldn’t be substituted for it, either.”

1. Open Source E-Learning Development 5: Media Capture- The E-Learning Curve, October 14, 2009
2. Live online learning – a free download- Clive on Learning, October 13, 2009 Onlignment has issued a free download e-book, A Facilitator’s Guide to Live Online Learning: covering planning and building and facilitating learning sessions and communicating with voice and live video/text and image. It looks like it could be well worth the download.
3. Educational iPhone Apps to Make You Smarter- Kapp Notes, October 8, 2009 The iPhone still haunts me! For those who don’t know, the iPhone is way to expensive for me to afford it on my South African librarian salary. But I live in hope … one day you will be mine!
4. Convert ILT to eLearning – Estimating- eLearning Technology, October 14, 2009 a great post from Tony for anyone who has ever wondered what the criteria should be when guestimating eLearning duration as  a classroom course
5. Rhizomatic Learning: What is it?- Dont Waste Your Time, October 12, 2009 David talks about Steve Wheeler’s presentation on Personal Learning Networks as well as Rhizomatic Learning which spontaneously shapes, constructs and reconstructs depending on external environmental factors
6. Whose learning are you responsible for?- Internet Time, October 12, 2009 I like this quote from Jay Cross “Any organization that is committed to working smarter needs to assess the impact of helping employees learn at every step in their career cycle” smart words from a smart man!
7. Leadership Development – First break all the rules- Free as in Freedom, October 11, 2009 Sumeet Moghe asks some great questions about developing leaders in organisations (such as ow about a Leadership Development program that targets the regular players in your organisation?) and advocates breaking some rules (such as Try to fill your future positions) in his post on where organisations can find leaders
8. Helpful — Free — Resources for Finding LMS and LCMS Vendors- aLearning, October 11, 2009
9. CCK09: does Connectivism want to change the world?- Ignatia Webs, October 9, 2009
10. Reading: “College technology ‘catching up’ with students”- Dont Waste Your Time, October 9, 2009
11. How a piece of 166 year old graffiti was (partly) responsible for e-learning- The E-Learning Curve, October 16, 2009 - a mathematician went out walking with his wife and had a breakthrough, but nothing to write on but a tree trunk – the first example of mobile learning perhaps?
12. 3 Steps to a Driving Question for Project Based Learning- Blender – Training Solutions, October 16, 2009 -Tom Preskett makes the case that personal learning environments (PLEs) should be unique to each user, and should change according to the user’s needs and experiences
13. Personal Learning Environments – Concept not Tool- Learning Technology Learning, October 16, 2009
14. Game-Based Learning Impacts Youth Behavior/Attitudes- Web Courseworks, October 15, 2009
15. Why You Should Have User Centric Tutorials for Software Products- The Writers Gateway, October 13, 2009
16. Using Screenr to Create a Video Post- MinuteBio, October 12, 2009 – I’ve used Screenr quite a few times – its easy, fast and hasslefree and within minutes you can tweet your video or upload it to YouTube
17. Rules for Social Media? Just say no.- Electronic Papyrus, October 12, 2009 - Hinoj talks about 4 misconceptions of social media (SM needs to be carefully monitored for accuracy; SM needs to be controlled; SM can waste valuable work time and best practices are the same for all)
18. Guest post: “What’s New in Human Trafficking”- Business Casual, October 12, 2009 - talks about human trafficking are gaining popularity here in South Africa as we are the hosts for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and while it’s not something I consciously think about each day it really is a very important issue
19. If the world is changing, why am I studying about the guys that sent us down the wrong path?- Adventures in Corporate Education, October 10, 2009
20. Interview with Brent Schlenker- Learning Visions, October 10, 2009
21. Computer-based Games in Classrooms: Leveraging the Instructor- Vikas Joshi on Interactive Learning , October 9, 2009
22. The danger of a simple story- Simply Speaking, October 9, 2009
23. Your learner journey can start here…- ThirdForce Blog, October 9, 2009

Other Sources

The following are the top items based on social signals.

1. How to Create Screencasts You Can Be Proud Of, October 13, 2009 - 17 tips on making screencasts better for your viewers and easier for you
2. 5 great resources to find out about Google Wave, October 14, 2009 - Jane Hart posts links to get you up to speed with Google Wave
3. All things Twitter, October 14, 2009 - Jane again, this time with the ultimate guide to all things Twitter
4. Learning to teach through video | In the Library with the Lead Pipe, October 14, 2009 – if videos become too technical they lose me (I don’t have a tech background)  and Kim Leeder not only agrees, but posts about the ways you SHOULD be doing technical videos
5. How to steer your client away from an information dump, October 13, 2009 – using branch scenario’s to make your training simple and effective
6. Twitter Research – Best of eLearning Learning, October 12, 2009 - if you know someone who talks gets that glazed over look when hearing the words twitter or tweets send them this presentation
7. Mobile Services Taxonomy, October 12, 2009 – gives a nice taxonomy of mobile services with emergencies at the top and an engaged community at the bottom
8. How CarTalk can save your e-Learning, October 14, 2009
9. Defining the ‘e’ in e-learning, October 15, 2009 – Elliott Masie goes through the evolution of elearning and the early methods of going e
10. The keynote and the harshtag, October 9, 2009 – almost sounds like that song from Oklahoma “oh the farmer and the cowman should be friends“! But it’s actually about the keynotes at the Higher Ed Web Association’s conference
    
11. PKM: our part of the social learning contract, October 15, 2009
12. Mobile Momentum, October 10, 2009 – includes some useful pointers to various industry reports and posts
13. What I’ve Been Up To: Some Social Media Training Resources, October 16, 2009 -
14. Online Degrees Viewed More Favorably, October 15, 2009
15. Positive Learning through Online Games, October 13, 2009
16. My iPod Learning Mix, October 15, 2009 – Donald Clark shares his killer iPod learning mixes
17. Warmth and Competence. How our Learners Perceive…, October 16, 2009
18. A few web 2.0 resources, October 16, 2009 – links to IBM and Microsoft web 2.0 resources
19. Cost Comparison: Instructor-Led Vs. E-Learning, October 14, 2009 – Paul T. Walliker gives a very good post about comparing costs with regards to cost per development and hour; factors influencing costs; constructs a model and gives you his key findings (I won’t spoil the ending and tell you which is cheaper, the instructor or e-learning)
20. Knowledge Notebook, October 15, 2009 - Knowledge Notebook is designed for high school and college students to us for note taking, free association of notes, activity scheduling and smart views

Hot Topics

Google Wave (6)

1. 5 great resources to find out about Google Wave, October 14, 2009
2. Google Wave Invitations Available, October 13, 2009
3. Opus Meets Google Wave, October 15, 2009

Learning Environment (16)

1. A first look at Sakai 3, October 16, 2009
2. Personal Learning Environments – Concept not Tool, October 16, 2009
3. Open Source E-Learning Development 5: Media Capture, October 14, 2009
4. How a piece of 166 year old graffiti was (partly) responsible for e-learning, October 16, 2009

Pedagogy (12)

1. Creating games with Caspian Thinking Worlds software, October 16, 2009
2. Learning to teach through video | In the Library with the Lead Pipe, October 14, 2009
3. Twitter Research – Best of eLearning Learning, October 12, 2009
4. Blackboard reinforcing the Status Quo, October 12, 2009

Toolkit (6)

1. Open Source E-Learning Development 3: Open Office.org, October 9, 2009
2. Open Source E-Learning 4: KompoZer Web Editor, October 12, 2009
3. Twitter Research – Best of eLearning Learning, October 12, 2009
4. My Top 10 e-Learning Tools, October 11, 2009

Twitter (43)

1. All things Twitter, October 14, 2009
2. Twitter; for your Business, October 9, 2009
3. Twitter Research – Best of eLearning Learning, October 12, 2009
4. Reading: “College technology ‘catching up’ with students”, October 9, 2009

LinkedIn (17)

1. eLearning Portal Integration, October 13, 2009
2. Social Network = Social Class?, October 13, 2009
3. What’s an Online MBA Worth?, October 15, 2009

My education-based entries into EMC’s Innovation Conference, October 9, 2009

 

Sound can make you younger, healthier and unleash your passion

Julian Treasure gave a very interesting 8 minute talk at TED.com about the 4 ways sound affects us all:

1. Physiological
2. Psychological
3. Cognitive
4. Behavioural

And if you work in an open plan office Julian’s advice is to invest in earphones and a cd with bird songs on it – the reason? Productivity goes down by 66% in open plan offices due to the noise. Yesterday I tried listening to white noise as our office was unusually noisy and I must admit I think it worked (although bird songs would be much more pleasant).

Julian’s talk led me to his blog which had an post this morning about The Power Of Sound, created by Bob McCurdy at Clear Channel Radio Sales. It was designed to sell radio, but it goes far beyond that illustrating how sound affects us all. It can make you happier, younger and even more passionate! (Who knew women liked the sound of a sports car revving?)  Keep earphones handy because after, all it’s all about SOUND.



click on the image to experience the power of sound

 

create a movement – do something that matters

I like Seth Godin ~ and I like this video of his even more.

He talks about Tribes (no real surprise here it is Seth Godin after all) and while I’ve read his tribe stuff this is the first time I’ve heard him speak about it (bandwidth is slooooow here in South Africa and videos can take for.ever. to download). I had trouble embedding the video so just click on the screen capture to go straight to YouTube and watch it from there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The part that I loved the most was from 14:04 where he talks about how you go about creating a tribe:

• tell a story
• connect tribe
• lead a movement
• make change and start all over again

He talks about the three things leaders do:

1. They challenge the status quo: He asks “who are you upsetting?” bec if you are not upsetting people you are not challenging the status quo. And if you’re not challenging the status qou how can your organisation change? (Maybe I just like this as I seem to be upsetting people now and his comments justifies that… or maybe Seth’s just right. I think it’s him – he’s right)
2. They create a culture – a space where like minded people can interact
3. They have curiosity – about the people in the tribe, about the people outside the tribe
4. They connect people – people have a need to connect to others, to belong somewhere, to be missed

He ends with a challenge – create a movement, something that matters… Maybe I’ll take him up on that

 

Did you know 4.0

There is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist

The video is really interesting and makes the case that while reaching people is easier than ever, connecting with them is getting harder and harder.

What really surprised me was the section at 2:55 where they compare John McCain’s $11 million raised in the tradition way (i.e. meeting and greeting) with Barack Obama’s $55 million which he raised by using social networking and not attending a single fund raiser. Mmmmm, I wonder if people will still claim that social networking is a geek fad that won’t last?

And this quote is my fav:

The computer in your cellphone today is a million times cheaper

and a thousand times more powerful

and about a hundred times smaller than the one computer in MIT in 1965,

so what used to fit in a building,

now fits in your pocket

what fits in your pocket now

will fit inside a bloodcell in 25 years

http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/video/video-did-you-know/

 

See how “The Origin of the Species” evolved

If you go over to The Preservation of Favoured Traces, you will able see how Charles Darwin changed and edited The Origin of the Species from the 1st to the 6th edition.

The first English edition was approximately 150,000 words and the sixth is a much larger 190,000 words. In the changes are refinements and shifts in ideas — whether increasing the weight of a statement, adding details, or even a change in the idea itself. The second edition, for instance, adds a notable “by the Creator” to the closing paragraph, giving greater attribution to a higher power. In another example, the phrase “survival of the fittest” — usually considered central to the theory and often attributed to Darwin — instead came from British philosopher Herbert Spencer, and didn’t appear until the fifth edition of the text. Using the six editions as a guide, we can see the unfolding and clarification of Darwin’s ideas as he sought to further develop his theory during his lifetime

Here is a quick video to illustrate this – I set the visualisation on fast – and if you hold your cursor over a section of text it pops up and you can see the changes made with each edition.

I find it fascinating to view in a view seconds the changes it took Darwin 12 years to write and my hat goes off to Ben Fry and his team for tackling and completing this project.

Thanks to TEDBlog for the original posting.

 

Another great video site

Thanks to the previously mentioned TIME’s 50 Best Websites 2009 comes another great video site: FORA.tv.

And here’s what they are about:

FORA.tv helps intelligent, engaged audiences get smart. Our users find, enjoy, and share videos about the people, issues, and ideas changing the world. We gather the web’s largest collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates going on all the time at the world’s top universities, think tanks and conferences. We present this provocative, big-idea content for anyone to watch, interact with, and share –when, where, and how they want.

This is not an educational website such as the previously mentioned Academic Earth, but it is educational in the sense that the presenters are top class leaders in their fields and the videos are designed to make you think about yourself, your surroundings and the people you interact with everyday.

These days I welcome speakers and talks that broaden my mind a bit and make me go “oh I never thought about it like that” and the FORA.tv videos do this in an engaging way!