Some tips form lifeHacker, some links about programming, and a travel site.

• How to Create a Fake Identity and Stay Anonymous Online – “You don’t need to have evil motives for wanting to fake your identity or go incognito online; for many people, it’s a matter of privacy and avoiding spammers and scammers. Thankfully, there are a great many tools for staying anonymous online. Here are a few of the best.”
• Heiner’s SHELLdorado
  A resource for shell scripts
  (tags: tutorial programming computer unix shell)
• Linked Lists in 10 minutes – I – YouTube – 6 minutes
• The Cool Hunter – Travel – neat travel sites
• WordPress Plug-Ins: A Roundup of Favorites – ProfHacker – The Chronicle of Higher Education – Good article on a collection of plug-ins for WordPress. THese seem to be useful whether you use your blog for teaching or not.

• Free Online Course Materials | OCW Scholar | MIT OpenCourseWare
  “OCW Scholar courses are designed for independent learners who have few additional resources available to them.”
  (tags: mit education learning opencourseware)
• Higher Education Teaching and Learning Portal | Advancing the scholarship & practice of higher education teaching & learning.
  “As such, we have created a unique model of how we publish and disseminate journal articles and other information on teaching and learning to the global higher education community – a model that utilizes Web 2.0 technologies to involve the global higher education community in the process and provides a convenient way to disseminate information to that community”
  (tags: teaching portal learning technology)
• Electronic Literature Collection Volume Two
  Very nice collection of electronic writing
  (tags: literature newmedia writing art reading)

The assignment is to create a data-driven Web site that has as its database a collection of at least 60 jokes/sayings/images/videos/whatevers. A visitor to the site  can see one of the items selected at random. A visitor can add an item, delete an item, or display all the items.

Whose shall we look at today?

What is Web 2.0?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Web_2.0_Map.svg

• O’Reily’s definition

Web 2.0 Design Patterns

In his book, A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander prescribes a format for the concise description of the solution to architectural problems. He writes: “Each pattern describes a problem that occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice.”

1. The Long Tail
   Small sites make up the bulk of the internet’s content; narrow niches make up the bulk of internet’s the possible applications. Therefore: Leverage customer-self service and algorithmic data management to reach out to the entire web, to the edges and not just the center, to the long tail and not just the head.
2. Data is the Next Intel Inside
   Applications are increasingly data-driven. Therefore: For competitive advantage, seek to own a unique, hard-to-recreate source of data.
3. Users Add Value
   The key to competitive advantage in internet applications is the extent to which users add their own data to that which you provide. Therefore: Don’t restrict your “architecture of participation” to software development. Involve your users both implicitly and explicitly in adding value to your application.
4. Network Effects by Default
   Only a small percentage of users will go to the trouble of adding value to your application. Therefore: Set inclusive defaults for aggregating user data as a side-effect of their use of the application.
5. Some Rights Reserved. Intellectual property protection limits re-use and prevents experimentation. Therefore: When benefits come from collective adoption, not private restriction, make sure that barriers to adoption are low. Follow existing standards, and use licenses with as few restrictions as possible. Design for “hackability” and “remixability.”
6. The Perpetual Beta
   When devices and programs are connected to the internet, applications are no longer software artifacts, they are ongoing services. Therefore: Don’t package up new features into monolithic releases, but instead add them on a regular basis as part of the normal user experience. Engage your users as real-time testers, and instrument the service so that you know how people use the new features.
7. Cooperate, Don’t Control
   Web 2.0 applications are built of a network of cooperating data services. Therefore: Offer web services interfaces and content syndication, and re-use the data services of others. Support lightweight programming models that allow for loosely-coupled systems.
8. Software Above the Level of a Single Device
   The PC is no longer the only access device for internet applications, and applications that are limited to a single device are less valuable than those that are connected. Therefore: Design your application from the get-go to integrate services across handheld devices, PCs, and internet servers.

Google analytics

• Video featuring Google’s Analytics Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik
• Avinash on Analytics
• Google Analytics
• Kaushik’s Blog Occam’s Razor

Future of the Web

• Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the Web

• Connexions – Sharing Knowledge and Building Communities
  Connexions is:
  a place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. Anyone may view or contribute
  (tags: courseware opencourseware web2.0 teaching education academic opensource collaboration)
• Moodle.org: open-source community-based tools for learning
  Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.
  (tags: online web2.0 education teaching lms moodle cms freeware)

• SML Instructions
  starting and using SML
  (tags: sml ml instructions)
• Standard ML of New Jersey
  Standard ML of New Jersey (abbreviated SML/NJ) is a compiler for the Standard ML ’97 programming language with associated libraries, tools, and documentation. SML/NJ is free, open source software.
  (tags: software languages Language Computers computing ML New jersey functional SML Standard smlnj sml/nj)
• A Gentle Introduction to ML
  getting started with ML
  (tags: programming tutorial introduction ML functional)
• SML Short Reference
  SML short reference by Ryan Stansifer
  (tags: sml/nj sml functional programming language)
• SML, Some Basic Examples
  SML introduction by Ryan Stansifer
  (tags: sml programming computers functional language)

Inside Higher Ed – leaving teaching
• I’m Leaving :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs
  I got the job at the liberal arts college, where I received tenure, and even served as a department chair (a burden, not an honor, I tell you). I now want out.
  (tags: teaching)

Nature Conservancy e-cards

• The Nature Conservancy: Send free ecards with beautiful nature images
  You’re invited to send a free ecard from The Nature Conservancy. Every ecard features an image submitted by Conservancy members to our annual photo contest. When you choose to send a free nature image e-card, you’ll share your love of nature and save paper.
  (tags: ecards natureconservancy)

A Place to Bury Strangers

• A Place To Bury Strangers on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
  (tags: aptbs flickr)
• A Place To Bury Strangers on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
  A Place To Bury Strangers live at Zoe Club, Milan, 05/11/08
  (tags: aptbs italy milan)

Today I asked students to anonymously complete the following:

Why are you taking this course? Results from the first class were:

1. To satisfy a requirement          7
2. resume builder                         2
3. was told to                               1
4. nothing else fit my schedule   1
5. subject seems interesting     11

The results from the second class were

1. To satisfy a requirement          14
2. resume builder                           3
3. was told to                                 1
4. nothing else fit my schedule      2
5. subject seems interesting          6

So the totals are

1. To satisfy a requirement          21
2. resume builder                           5
3. was told to                                 2
4. nothing else fit my schedule      3
5. subject seems interesting        17

• brooklynvegan: Warlocks & Blacklist & Bears Oh!My! – also Twee as F**k, TPOBPAH, APTBS & more in this week in indie
  Noiseniks A Place to Bury Strangers are headlining. The only thing that ever seems to get mentioned about APTBS is how f-ing loud they are, but there’s really catchy songs under all that squall (and behind the smoke machines).
  (tags: aptbs)
• A Place to Bury Strangers + King Khan and the Shrines + Black Acid at South Street Seaport – Time Out New York
  River to River Festival. A Place to Bury Strangers does aggro electrogoth that we immediately associate with those black-clad misfits in ’80s teen movies.
  (tags: aptbs)
• Pop and Rock Listings – Schedule – NYTimes.com
  trio is sweeter and more palatable than it would like you to believe. The band’s throbbing, Jesus and Mary Chain-inspired shoegaze makes liberal use of effects pedals and electronics, and while its songs are indeed loud, they’re also curiously lulling
  (tags: aptbs nyt)
• Primavera Sounds ‘08 – Part II | Evil Monito
  Favorite band at Primavera: A place to bury strangers (I have a dozen more that I can call favourite, but this was an eye opening wall of sound that blew my mind)
  (tags: aptbs spain)

Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence

• Tools for Teaching and Learning – Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence
  Tools for Teaching and LearningLook to our specialists to help you use best practices in your teaching. Whether you are new to our services, or an old friend, please don’t hesitate to contact us at site@psu.edu with your questions.

  (tags: teaching education tools assessment pedagogy resources)

• CNDLS :: About
  CNDLS has supported faculty … tools, resources, and opportunities for new learning environments. … and today CNDLS integrates a teaching and learning center with the latest educational technology.
  (tags: teaching georgetown)
• The Center for Teaching – The University of Iowa
  Services include: *SOTL / AssessmentService Learning, *Diversity in Teaching & Learning, * Plagiarism, * ITS Instructional Services, *ICON
• (tags: pedagogy teaching college)
• Center for Teaching and Learning – Stanford University
  * Resources for Faculty
  * Resources for TAs
  * Resources for Students
  * Oral Communication
  * Upcoming EventsQuick Links: Peer Tutoring,
  CTL offers free Peer Tutoring and Academic Skills coaching.
  (tags: teaching learning education pedagogy)
• University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center
  Begun with the Provost’s support and a Funds for excellence Grant, the Teaching Resource Center (TRC) is now a pan-University center for collegial community and committed conversation about teaching at all levels and in all academic disciplines.
  (tags: teaching center)
• VCU CTE – Mission of VCU’s Center for Teaching Excellence
  Mission statement
  (tags: teaching center mission)
• CTSE: Teaching & Learning Centers in the US
  sort by school name, by state
  (tags: teaching learning)
• Centers of Teaching & Learning
  Comments/sumamry of the role/mission of a variety of teachgin centers
  (tags: teaching resource center)

A Place to Bury Strangers

• A Place To Bury Strangers tour map: A Place To Bury Strangers concert alerts : band tracker
  track band
  (tags: aptbs googlemap)
• A Place To Bury Strangers @ Botanique 28/05/08 – a set on Flickr
  A Place To Bury Strangers @ Botanique 28/05/08
  (tags: aptbs brussels)