Australian checklist of things to consider before embarking on 1:1 computing initiative .

This is is a useful list if your thinking of looking at embarking on a 1:1 computing initiativess. Not a blueprint but definitely a good starting point. Another top tip share widely your ideas and test them. Key thing is secret squirrels who keep ideas and control to themselves often (nearly always fail).

http://www.techlearning.com/article/21978

Blastfollow blessing or spammers dream

BlastFollow enables you to follow Twitter users who share your interests
en masse. This is accomplished by searching for users who have
tweeted with a particular hashtag recently. For example, if you are
interested in event , you may want to search for users whose
tweets
have included the hashtags for example #event or #interest.

now this is great for conference type events or those following specific topics but also might be used to collect user accounts by spammer . You decide I quite like it

http://blastfollow.com/

youtube channel for google apps

If your a visual or audio learner or just interested you will like the YouTube channel for Google apps

very cool and lots of examples there http://www.youtube.com/googleapps

thanks to Sangeet for pointing this out.

QR codes that are flexible and last

Here is an interesting one from the great QR and url shortening site http://splashulr.net theyve now added functionality to produce a QR code but to change where the code takes you so if you change hosting or run a series of dynamic events you can keep same produced/printed qr codes. Think publications; teeshirt logo's, beermats ( I kid you not) .

Basically the produced QR code is to a forwarding page that is editable and can automatically forward the enquirer on. Neat eh !
Site describes it this way

" Want a QR Code T-Shirt or badge? Use our new QR Code redirector. That way you can alter where the URL in the barcode redirects each time you wear it, rather than print a new one every time! It would be funky with stickers too  sad)

Create me a QR Code that I can redirect on a whim!

SE.Asia releases study on media consumptions, Internet and mobile trends key findings this is is only the start

Huge thanks to Mark Kramer for this great piece of info Yahoo South East Asia has released a study on Internet trends and media consumption. Great read but this is only the start and the trend of progression from wired to wireless telecoms, PC internet to Mobile just doesnt apply anymore especially outside the supposedly  developed economies.

Now in its second year, the Net Index series has recently been launched in Southeast Asia.  The study is based on an in-depth, large-scale cross-media habits study of online users that goes beyond Internet media habits. The study is conducted  in Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines and Malaysia.
Interesting range of countries  from highly developed Malaysia to Vietnam at the other end of the scale with the market giant of indonesia in between.

see more of the reports findings at http://ycorpblog.com/2010/06/09/yahoo-netindex/

You can read key finding yourself but how about this for a statistic

• Indonesia, the largest and fastest growing online market in Southeast Asia, has recorded a jump from 22% (2009) to 48% (2010)

• Vietnam, mobile Internet access is picking up fast, nearly doubling year-to-year, from 10% (2008) to 19% (2009). Popular activities are searching for information and listening to music

It also dsipels our fascination with high end smart phones in europe with this statistic from Indonesia

• Mobile Internet usage is predominantly from a mobile phone with advanced features rather than a smartphone as only 11% own a smartphone

Now to depart from Yahoo report why do I keep banging on about Indonesia

• its got 10million 3G 5 times more than it has broadband user (bmi report in mobi 2009)
• 150 million mobile users Indonesia is 4th largest country in the world with a population of 240Million people 

Indonesia is missing out the wired stage of telecommunication and it appears fast abandoning the tethered computer internet model . Its gone from public interent cafes to mobile without the home computer step it appears .
If you want to know more on Indonesia check out this great presentation


Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Monetizing indonesia internet & Mobile

View more presentations from Andi S. Boediman.

Now if you think thats interesting the one to watch is the continent of Africa that on the whole will go straight to mobile

Near and Far NFC just got nearer

Bless Nokia all goes relatively quiet and Apple and Android take centre stage then they do this All Nokia smartphones released by the company from 2011 will come with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology built in, according to Near Field Communications World (NFCW).

NFC is technology used in oyster cards etc and can be used for location,data transfer and importantly micro payments .

The mobile phone is now not only to paraphrase Ray Kurzweil, "the gateway to all human knowledge but your wallet too

•  Electronic ticketing — airline tickets, concert/event tickets, and others
•  Electronic money
•  Travel cards
•  Identity documents
•  Mobile commerce  Electronic keys — car keys, house/office keys, hotel room keys, etc.

This will impact on education in the medium term

UK internet watch foundation 2009 report published

A unsettling report to to read but with some positives but you should read it if your interested in e and child safety . Looking at global trends .

.http://www.iwf.org.uk/documents/20100511_iwf_2009_annual_and_charity_report.pdf

Learning on the Beach 10 going back to my learning routes evening 1

No I have no family connection to Ireland except for my 100 year old granny was born in Belfast on a day trip from  Stranraer.
Learning on the Beach 2010 Lob10 http://lob10.wikispaces.com/ came at a really opportune time . I booked on the wikki ages ago before the current turmoil around my current employment kicked off and went using annual leave. Billed as a unconference not a teachmeet but with some of the spontaneity and honesty of teachmeets .

John Davitt explains the concept while cooking on the barbecue (near the beach). Excuse the upside down video idea of turning learning on its head ;-))



Arranged if thats the word by John Davitt Angela Davitt and Eliza Mountford at Mulranny on the west coast of Ireland in County Mayo

View Larger Map

Now learning on the beach or specifically learning on the move really took me back to my roots when I used to teach prospective Nature conservation staff who now have gone onto work for RSPB, Scottish Natural heritage etc  at an FE college. My wife is also a talented environmental education specialist who I have observed doing smelly cocktails, smell maps Nature Palettes and map sticks . Plus to be honest I am a bit of a outdoor nutter cycling, walking, and recently swimming . My first introduction to tech was stealing a BBC micro from a computing department to write my poly dissertation plus doing loads of computer cartography in my degree (days before GPS yes I am that old !)

Now I realise the value of this approach and like Dughall huge fan of forest school movement But I hadnt really thought about its value when linked to edtech .

Now this first learning on the beach wasnt that tech heavy apart from a google map reference time to get to opening session and wifi up a beach with the help of some tech and car battery a standard router and an ariel 

But this was against an activity using a outdoor friendly low tech version of Johns now famous Learning event generator
which now my favourite Ipod App  called the Random Activity generator the The Rag plus of course a beach barbeque







This involved us forming into three groups and being given the following tasks.
1) History of of Ireland as sand drawings on the beach.

2) Salt Marsh formation as a theatrical whisper

3)  Tidal processes as a mini opera

The evening made me think non more so than the arrival of Chris and Sandra Kerndter and there two children who live on Achill Island come originally from Germany and just discovered the lob wiki on the web and just trucked up  .
The Lob in my view is about space to think and taking yourself out of your usual environment "comfort zone" into the "inter tidal zone"

I made a statement about a LOB manifesto what discovered on the beach is gets off the beach to a wider audience whatever the means this post on day one of the Lob is start of that process . Can I also recommend you look at Dugghalls blog on Lob at http://shareit.yhgfl.net/kirklees/kcyps/ .