Bucking the Status Quo

I've been reading articles here and there touting the technological wonder of carbon nanotubes. But this article is the first time I've heard of 'buckypaper'. Of course, all of the old-school industries built on steel aren't going to be happy with these breakthroughs. Wouldn't it be cool if the library could beta-test some shelves made of this material?

Know It Now

This is an appropriate label/title for anything related to the library. We are officially a Know It Now (KIN) site for the third Thursdays of the month from 3:00 - 4:00 pm. So far I am the only one trained but by the end of the year Grace and Wilbert will be as well. This Thursday, we will be sequestered in my office at a little before 3 so we can log on and they can watch and ask question while I become KIN friendly. In preparation for this I visited Janis Blades at Gahanna to watch her log in and perform KIN duties. It is very confusing at first and there are several places to look at at once, but that's not why I'm writing this. I also decided to get familiar with the OPLIN site since that is the major source of our KIN answers. While flipping through the site, under communications I discovered Laura. This is a down to earth site that tries to explain why certain things are important to us, like tinyurl.com or YELP. See what you think.

Here is another informative and thought provoking article from Multimedia & Internet@School Magazine.

Adapting Social Networking to Address 21st-Century Skills

From using Twitter to encourage short story writing to utilizing Delicious to organize professional development tips and favorite articles, the number of social networking tools and websites is increasing exponentially. We know educators use these 21st-century tools with students in all grade levels. The question remains, how­ever, whether and how these tools might be used to positively affect student understanding and achievement. "Yes," says ePals' Tim DiScipio, "these tools, when chosen thoughtfully, implemented appropriately, and combined with innovative pedagogy through internet-connected communities, can teach students the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st century and expand their ability to communicate and collaborate in a global marketplace." Read on, learn more!

[ http://www.mmischools.com/Newsletters/MmisXtra.aspx?NewsletterID=695#1 ] [Back to Contents...]

Kindling?

Oooooo....aaaahhhh....the new Kindle design. Check out the gallery on Boygeniusreport.

via Geek.com

Pics on the Web Getting You Down: Smush It!

Smush It is a brand new tool from the purveyors of Yahoo! that's supposed to help you create a better web-ready image to post on your site or share with other folks. I haven't tried it yet, but the fact that it has a Firefox add-on means I'm going to test it soon. Check out the Geek.com article link below for more details.

via Geek.com

Secure Your Browser

I just read a post on Michael Stephens' Tame The Web blog that dealt with browser features, in particular, Mozilla Firefox versus Google Chrome. One of the things he mentioned dealt with securing your browser while surfing the 'net. The page he linked to has quite a bit of useful information on it. The article is probably longer than you'd like it to be, but not nearly as long as it could be. It has nice step-by-step tutorials with screenshots that will make configuring Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari a breeze. Highly recommended.