Friday, December 16, 2011

Weekly Reader

LSE Produces New Twitter Guide for Academics
"How can Twitter, which limits users to 140 characters per tweet, have any relevance to universities and academia, where journal articles are between 3,000-8,000 words long? Can anything of academic value ever be said in just 140 characters? A new Twitter guide published by the LSE Public Policy Group |and the LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog  |seeks to answer this question, and show academics and researchers how to get the most out of the micro-blogging site. The Guide is designed to lead the novice through the basics of Twitter but also provide tips on how it can aid the teaching and research of the more experienced academic tweeter."-- LSE News and Media, 10/3/11 via Jennifer Howard, Wired Campus, 12/15/11

Getting Started with Twitter's Embedded Tweets Feature
"Somewhat lost amidst the news of Twitter’s revamped interface is a slightly more interesting tidbit for web developers: Twitter posts can now be embedded in other pages. The new Embedded Tweet feature works just like a YouTube movie, offering a short HTML snippet that you can copy and paste into any third-party website. Unfortunately using the Embed Tweet feature from Twitter is somewhat awkward since it’s buried in the new interface. First you need to click on a tweet, then click “details” and then you’ll see the embed option." -- Scott Gilbertson, WebMonkey, 12/9/11

Opening Up a World of Educational Content with YouTube for Schools
"We’ve been hearing from teachers that they want to use the vast array of educational videos on YouTube in their classrooms, but are concerned that students will be distracted by the latest music video or a video of a cute cat, or a video that might not be appropriate for students. While schools that completely restrict access to YouTube may solve this distraction concern, they also limit access to hundreds of thousands of educational videos on YouTube that can help bring photosynthesis to life, or show what life was like in ancient Greece." --  Brian Truong, The Official YouTube Blog, 12/11/11

The Trouble with Transparency and the Creative Arts
"One downside of increased transparency of many people’s lives, especially noteworthy people, is that it’s harder to divorce the person from their creations." -- Walt Crawford, Walt at Random, 12/9/11

What You Can do to Support School Libraries in Crisis
"There is a common misconception that technology replaces school libraries and school librarians. Rather, in reality the explosion of technology and information access makes having full-time access to a state certified school librarian and school library program even more critical for today's learners. There is an entire new skill set today's students will need as they enter the workplace, and school librarians are the leaders in helping teach these skills to students." -- Carl Harvey II, Huffington Post, 12/8/11

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