SandBox - Just about anything goes on this page

bw - Top 10 Weblog Design Mistakes by Jakob Nielsen

Tips to make your blog better, more user friendly.

sg - I'd like to put together a top 5 Avatar page (where folks can go to get/make their own)

Definition: (abbreviations include AV, ava, avie, avy, avi, avvie, and avvy) is an Internet user's representation of himself or herself, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,^[1] a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities,^[2][3] or a text construct found on early systems such as MUDs. The term "avatar" can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user. Source: Wikipedia

Yahoo Avatars

Avatarist

Avatar Deluxe

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lf - some other places that offer some pretty nice avatars include Wee World &Photobucket.

(In order to create the avatar using Photobucket you need to create an account. Once you are logged in you will see a tab that says "create avatar" on top of your page.)

rr - I like the avatar I made a while back at meez.com, though the site can be glitchy.

nv - in keeping with our discussion of the effects of web 2.0 I offer the article http://tinyurl.com/2swqld(this is my first time trying tinyurl - hope it works) entitled: "SEC Interested in Web Musings of Whole Foods CEO," about how CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey, dissed his rival Wild Oats while blogging with a pseudonym.  This topic will be discussed with NPR's Brian Lehrer tomorrow at 10 am http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/.  Fair disclosure, securities law - what kind of rights are being violated here, if any?  Interesting stuff - this is just the tip of the iceberg of the issues being raised with social technology. 

sg - so I don't forget, a small team of screencasters to demo a lot of this would be awesome

bw-A free downloadable book for the educators among us - Educating the Net Generation

nv - just to follow through on my previous post, listen to a debate about anonymity on the Internet between Ian Clark, creator of  Freenet and founder of Thoof, and Andrew Keene, author of Cult of the Amateur, How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture.  http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/07/16

sc - here's an Internet Slang Dictionary, for those who are just getting used to netspeak.  It even links to a slang translator.

sg - teaching next time (teacher needs 1main accout, 1-2 test accounts, 1 demo account)

sc - I think I have a handle on why I dislike a lot of the presentations that we have for homework.  It's not merely the length.  It's the fact that these presentations are prepared, for the most part, for an audience that lacks our class' technical background.  Not that we're necessarily tech gurus, but we're all in this class and holding our own with the technology, we can log into sites, create accounts, etc.  As I'm listening to the Flickr presentation, I'm spending a lot of time listening to instructions about these kinds of remedial things.  There are some very excellent nuggets in all of these presentations, but ultimately there aren't many of them within the lectures.  Coupled with the length of most of them, I find myself zoning out of the presentations.

 bw-I've been sharing what we learn with my best friend, and she shared a site back to me. She has MS, and has been getting a lot of information and support from a social networking site called Dailystrength.org   There are groups for all kinds of illnesses and conditions, and you can journal how you feel, ask questions, give cute animated hugs to people.

rr - I've been discussing these tools with the instructional technology supervisor and she offered this handout of a presentation by Doug Johnson. 

This interesting handout covers a lot of ground, including the issue of acceptable use and blocking of  sites.  It even supplies a site which will allow students to circumvent the security and access blocked sites.  Unfortunately the direct URL for the handout does not work, but the following will lead to the handout.  Go to www.doug-johnson.com . Select "Presentations/Workshops/Handouts" from the right sidebar.  Scroll down to the section entitled Improving Instructional Practices. Select "Schools and Libraries for the Net Generation."  Under Handouts, select the first entry.

ts- Here's the schedule of the iLibrarian's upcoming presentations.