gploski at slc dot edu


YouTu.be
December 22, 2009, 3:10 pm
Filed under: tech talk | Tags: , , , ,

Have you tried sharing a YouTube link via Twitter or another social site that limits your character length? YouTube has changed things up for the better.

Make Way for youtu.be Links
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/12/make-way-for-youtube-links.html

What is the change?

Original = 31 characters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
New = 16 characters: http://youtu.be/

A reduction of 15 characters.

Sure, it’s not the ultra short link shortener but “when you see a link with this URL, you are indeed about to click on a YouTube video.” – from YouTube blog linked above

What else is better besides the 15 character crunch?

Also, because the link contains the ID of the video you’re going to see, developers can do interesting things like show you thumbnails, embed the video directly, or track how a video is spreading in real-time.

So, grab that shortened URL and start sharing.



temp
November 11, 2009, 10:18 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized


What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later
October 27, 2009, 6:22 pm
Filed under: tech talk | Tags: , ,

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.


Students go ga-ga for ‘Undo Send’
October 15, 2009, 2:12 pm
Filed under: tech talk | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Every time I tell students about the lab feature Undo Send within seconds they are giddy with excitement about how much this is going to save them. That’s right – going to. Inevitably their thoughts go back to an email they wish they could have unsent but the possibility of never having that worry again is mesmerizing.

At a student club leader presentation two weeks ago I reviewed a number of labs and explained Undo Send. Note – I had approximatley 5-10 minutes to review the entire Google Apps suite so I was going quickly. About 3 seconds after I explained Undo Send and had paused for effect one student literally gasped with jaw agape! You could see the “OMG HFCIT FTW” look across her face. She was elated.

Though not at profound a reaction, possibly because of the brain melt that has affected them, students also smile a the fact that they can change the undo time from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.

Tasks has graduated to become an official part of GMail, when will Undo Send.

Nobody has snubbed the lab feature. Yet. Will someone? I’d be amazed. (more…)



DormNoise – Calendar for students and clubs
September 25, 2009, 1:59 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , ,
DormNoise

DormNoise

Students are on the go and want information when they want it where they want it. They use any number of devices and online tools not related to those provided by a school. DormNoise aims to fill that gap and provide a centralized place for students, clubs, and an institution to announce and promote events.

Students can sync with iCal, Outlook, Gmail, etc. and share events – think Facebook events.

DormNoise organizes your college events with a series of interconnected Personal, Student Group, and Campus-Wide Calendars.

DormNoise is for college students only! You need a .edu email address from a college or university to join.

http://www.dormnoise.com/about.php

The cost is (presently) $2/student every school year. The CEO has added that he is willing to negotiate a payment plan considering budget cuts and the current economic state.

Check it DormNoise here.



Syncing a GMail Calendar with Entourage and iCal w/Calgoo
August 28, 2009, 7:56 pm
Filed under: tech talk | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I have read blogs and forums on how to do this but ran into troubles or became frustrated by the instructions.

Background – My primarily calendar is in GMail. All my calendars are caldev’d in iCal. Entourage was recently installed on my work machine meaning I had zero events in its calendar.

Without noting clicks for ‘next’ or other similar buttons Here is the ultra streamlined version…

  1. Open Entourage
    1. in Preferences, Sync Services, click Synchronize events and tasks with iCal and MobileMe
  2. Open iCal and verify that a new calendar called ‘Exchange’ has been created
  3. Open Calgoo
    1. create a new connection,
    2. use the Sync an Apple iCal Calendar with a Google Calendar option,
    3. name the connection — I used: ical 2 gmail,
    4. click iCal, click the box next to Entourage,
    5. enter your GMail user|pass,
    6. select a GMail calendar,
    7. and finish up
  4. Optional – In the Calgoo settings change the Synchronization frequency; it is set to 1 hour by default.
  5. In iCal, un-check the Entourage calendar so it is not displayed

If you run into any troubles with these steps please post a comment below.

Voila. Your GMail, caldev’d iCal, and Entourage calendars will sync every xx minutes. Add events in any of the three calendars noted (GMail, caldev’d iCal, Entourage) and you’ll see the new event in all three applications (web, iCal, Entourage) pending the Calgoo Synchronization frequency – I set mine to 10 minutes.

end of line



Naming a Department with Library and Technical Staff Members

Recently I wrote to the NITLE Instructional Technologist listserv about naming a department with library and technical staff members. I have received a number of replies and want to share the results and elicit additional contributions. Below is the original email sent along with a link to the open spreadsheet.

Please pass along this blog or the link.

Good day all.

This email is geared toward understanding the naming conventions of groups/departments that consist of reference librarians, instructional technologists, and/or other technical or library staff. Here at Sarah Lawrence we have recently begun the process of merging reference librarians, instructional technologists, and a web developer into a group called – Research Instructional Group.

Previously Academic Computing was the name of the department for our instructional technologists and the web developer.

I have made a Google Spreadsheet editable by anyone with the hope that I, and others in process or interested in this concept, can see what type of name standardization has, is, or is not happening within academe.

Naming a Department with Library and Technical Staff Members

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlmkSVh2igkIdExtM2M3c1pSQkRoRlE0QUs5VzZTdVE&hl=en

Thanks to any and all that are able to contribute.



When will my Gryphon Mail account be deleted?
June 5, 2009, 2:36 pm
Filed under: tech talk | Tags: , , , , , ,

As graduation approaches Sarah Lawrence students begin asking the question “When will my Gryphon Mail account be deleted?” There are two ways to answer this question.

The short answer is…

Never.

The long answer is…

Sarah Lawrence College students (undergraduate and graduate) that complete their degree keep their SLC @gm.slc.edu email for life. There is no need to use it every week, month, year to keep it active as was necessary in the past. Remember, the address is a great tool to use when applying to jobs, sending out your work (writing, music, etc.), reaching out to SLC alum, etc.

Alums that graduated before Gryphon Mail was implemented can claim their Gryphon Mail account here: https://my.slc.edu/emailforlife/
Your account is waiting for you.

Please refer to the Help Desk page to read the Gryphon Mail FAQs if you have questions.



Tech Survey Response Graph
May 21, 2009, 3:58 pm
Filed under: tech talk | Tags: , , , , , ,

While the student body was taking the Tech Survey I noted the response rates daily. Below is the end result.

Of significance is the dates where the data takes a significant upswing. Dates in the graph marked with *’s indicate that the invitation or a reminder was sent to those that had not completed the survey. The graph was created using Gryphon Mail Docs. The spreadsheet can be viewed here.

sarah_lawrence_college_2009_tech_survey_results



Student blogs can win cash for college

Dennis Carter, Assistant Editor of eCampus News offers up a great opportunity for students interested in earning money for school… Blog.

In a move not unlike social networking sites CollegeNET asks student to “…decide who gets thousands in scholarship money every week.” The more people you network with and get to know the greater audience you will have to win cash for college.

Karissa Snow won $5,000 in scholarship money just by blogging and winning her peers’ approval. She’s among 40,000 students vying for tuition cash every week on CollegeNET, a web site that lets current and prospective college students post blog entries on a myriad of topics. The student who receives the most votes from CollegeNET members every week wins thousands for college.

“I was very drawn to it immediately,” said Snow, 18, who lives in Washington and will attend the University of Hawaii and major in business this fall. “I’ve definitely made a lot of people aware of it.”

With weekly money to be had any interested student can look to earn fund, establish or add to their online identity, promote their interests, meet new people, and even earn money for school. So… Students, what are you waiting for? Faculty and staff… Get the word out.

Peering beyond the immediate focus – cash – this type of networking is fantastic because it builds networks based on content rich blogs and provided an opportunity for future collaboration and promotion.

CollegeNET – http://www.collegenet.com/

Original Article (Thu, May 14, 2009) – Web site CollegeNET reportedly has given more than $500,000 to college students to pay for classes