Wikipedia followed through on the blackout, although you can get around it by turning off JavaScript in your browser. Google changed their logo. Twitter is tweeting about it. We’ll see if the statement was heard by lawmakers.
Archive for the ‘Technology’ category
Actions vs. words
January 18th, 2012Are you ready for the Internet to shut down tomorrow?
January 17th, 2012As a protest against SOPA and PIPA, Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, and a number of other big sites on the Internet are planning to stop services for 24 hours. Instead of a normal Google search, a page describing why they’re protesting.
The text of the Stop Online Piracy Act is here. The Protect IP Act is here. Essentially, the bills say that if a site is found to have material on it that breaks copyright, Internet service providers are required to deny access to those sites.
Are you ready to get some sunshine tomorrow? What are we going to do with ourselves? Use Bing?
Floppy drives as musical instruments
January 9th, 2012I just found this video of five floppy drives playing a cover of daft Punk’s “Derezzed” from Tron Legacy:
So, that’s a lot of fun, but the really cool thing is that YouTube user Sammy1Am uploaded a how-to video for how to do this with your own old floppy drives:
3D tours of the Smithsonian and a virtual dinosaur dig
December 16th, 2011Even if you don’t get to travel this break, you can still explore the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History by clicking here.
Want to see what the process is like when you dig up fossils? Click here
The Newton Project
December 13th, 2011The University of Sussex has scanned Isaac Newton’s notebooks and put them online for others to search. Check out the notebooks from the 1700’s by clicking here.
An amazing interactive map of the Pearl Harbor attack
December 7th, 2011National Geographic always has great resources, but this one really grabbed my attention. Check out this map that commemorates the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Just like how the JFK Library incorporated real audio and visuals in We Choose the Moon, National Geographic has included a ton of primary sources (click on the We Were There links) from the attack.
Put this one up on the LCD and let the students explore.
Poligraft – Tracking financial influence in politics
December 2nd, 2011I recommend the Congress app for Android, iPhone, and Windows phones. It’s a very handy tool to stay informed about what your elected officials are doing.
While on Sunlight’s website, I found Poligraft, a site that helps you track financial influence in politics. You find an article online and paste in the URL or the selected text. The site then searches the article for political names and organizations. On the side of the screen it highlights those names and shows either how much money that politician has received from which organization or how much the organization has donated to politicians.
It can help you track influence when sifting out bias (which helps students meet standard 1.2.4 from the AASL’s Standards for 21st Century Learners).
Click here to learn where Sunlight gets its data.
Watch Know Learn
December 1st, 2011Another great alternative to YouTube is WatchKnowLearn.org, a collection of videos with an educational focus. Within a few clicks I was able to find a well-made video introducing JavaScript programming.
PBS’s collection of research on educational technology
November 10th, 2011There is definitely a push to use technology in education, which makes sense since much of life in the United States involves some form of technology. Throwing technology at students for technology’s sake, though, is not best practice.
That’s where PBS comes in as a great resource with their collection of articles about using technology in education, complete with research as evidence and essays on effective use. If you’re an educator, it’s something you will want to check out by clicking here.
One of my favorite features is a database of technology lessons that you can search by content area. With just a few clicks, I found 78 pages (as of the time of this post) worth of lessons for using technology in Reading and Language Arts classes.
Six pre-made HTML 5 lessons
November 9th, 2011This one’s for the teachers of technology. If you are doing any instruction on what HTML 5 is, check out Microsoft’s faculty page here for pre-made PowerPoints for six lessons. The page also includes all of the project files, which gives you a lot to pick and choose from when modifying it for your own classes.
