templatedata

A while ago Michael Wesch produced a fantastic explanation of Web 2.0 on YouTube. Now he's done another, prompted by David Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous (go and read if you have not already).

Heaps of unis are using YouTube (hell, even WE do), but UC Berkeley has become the first one to post full lectures to YouTube for public consumption, including this one of Sergey Brin from Google talking about "Search, Google and Life".

More at UC Berkeley and CNet

This has been mentioned around the traps already but in case you missed it: In the September issue of Currents, a CASE publication, Andrea Jarrell looks at Web 2.0 and universities in Fear and Loathing in Web 2.0. Usually you have to be a subcriber to read Currents stuff but CASE has made this article free until October 31.

A taste:

Rather than trying to control the mes­­sage, a new mindset is required—one that approaches the communications and marketing role as helping to facilitate a conversation about an institution in all its many facets. In this conversation, the institution has a definite voice; it’s just not a definitive voice. Having others—students, faculty, parents, alumni, the media, the outside world—be part of the conversation about your institution and thereby relinquishing the idea of control over your message does not mean relinquishing an institutional point of view or voice. In fact, in this new conversation, understanding and being true to institutional identity becomes more vital than ever.

Get it while it's hot free.

As any Mac freak will know, Apple have rejuvenated their iPod range, including the new iPod Touch (and I defy anyone to say they would turn down one of these things). While the iPod nano has turned into a little fatty, the Touch is something else altogether. Somewhere between an iPod and an iPhone, it has a larger screen and wifi connectivity that makes browsing the web on a small device all that more attractive. Can the Touch finally make web browsing on something this small take off? What does this mean for design? Well, I think it means quite a bit in terms of making things work across massive desktop screens to the 3 and a half inches on the Touch. For those of us dragging the chain, it might be time to get serious about small-screen design. It also may open up a whole new area in app development.

Read more at Montreal Tech Watch.

As some of you may know, danah boyd is in Australia at the moment to do two seminars for Education.au entitled Generation MySpace - Social networking and its impact on students and education. If you're not lucky enough to have been in Brisbane yesterday or be going to Melbourne tomorrow you can listen to a podcast of her keynote and the Q & A session from the Brisbane leg at the Education.au seminar blog.

I'm lucky enough to be going to Melbourne tomorrow so I'm hoping to blog a few thoughts on it when I get back.

Asako, one of the student bloggers on Sydney Life is going on exchange to McGill in Canada this week and has decided to do some of her blogging while there in video form. Her first video is now online. She's using YouTube to store and distribute the videos. We felt it was the easiest way to do it, offering the most flexibility.

Hi Everyone!

It's been a while since I've posted, but after some news I heard last week I thought I'd inject a bit of geek into templatedata and share it with you.

In a nutshell, the news is this. Real mashups are now possible, and easy. And if we take advantage properly, and early, then we've got the potential to add some really useful functions to our websites.

Karine Joly has let us all know that her article in the March issue of Currents has been made available online. Unitl April 15, 2007 you can read User Generation and I strongly recommend that you do.

I'm coming to thsi a little late (it was published in December last year) but thought I would give it a mention in case others missed it: How Web 2.0 is changing medicine. As it's in the BMJ you may not have seen it if you're not in the medical/health field.

Few concepts in information technology create more confusion than Web 2.0. The truth is that Web 2.0 is a difficult term to define, even for web experts.1 Nebulous phrases like "the web as platform" and "architecture of participation" are often used to describe Web 2.0. Medical librarians suggest that rather than intrinsic benefits of the platform itself, it's the spirit of open sharing and collaboration that is paramount.2 The more we use, share, and exchange information on the web in a continual loop of analysis and refinement, the more open and creative the platform becomes; hence, the more useful it is in our work.

Very clever.

Via Boing Boing.