Laurie Hnatiuk's List: EDES501 DQ#2 :Widgets & Gadgets

• 2007 New York City libraries
• results of that research demonstrated that students frequently use Google and  Wikipedia in their school work, and that they use widgets to connect to  information and resources from where they already are.

• For example, the first product to use that term was a commercial product from  1995, called Web Widgets [1] , which were plugins or extensions that allowed  desktop applications to access the web
• Nowadays other terms are used to describe a web widget including: gadget,  badge, module, capsule, snippet, mini and flake. Web widgets often but not  always use Adobe Flash or JavaScript programming languages

• which I think we can agree are wrong, but again, where’s the line?
• we play different “roles” in different contexts throughout the course of every  day. We are, in reality, a string of personas that each step forward depending  on context.
• When it comes to copywriting and conversational marketing, it’s all about “how  you say it,” combined with a strategic decision as to “what to say” so that you  can meet your goals.
• focus on the needs of others, rather than our own egocentric need to  “authentically” express whatever we’re feeling at the moment.

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• People mainly get into trouble when their intention is to hide or  deceive.
  

• Mad Magazine to Facebook: what have we learned?
• "butwecannotcontrolitandmightlosecontrolofitandwhoknowswherethesekidsmaygowithit."
• his students lived in a world full of the latest cutting-edge technologies and  applications: from iPhones, iPods, and PDAs to cell phones and laptops; from  avatars in Second Life to real friends in MySpace and Facebook. Before entering  the hall, students were socially networking around the world, conducting  immediate personal research on issues they were curious about (Googling anything  from movie times to how to load a new graphic card on their motherboard).
• 1 acknowledge the need for everything from filters, differentiated levels of  software/site admission, strong parental involvement, and appropriate safeguards  in place to protect all students, which includes evaluation of the physical  layout of computer labs.

• Boil it down and my entire argument for giving  students access to all technologies is based on three beliefs:

   

  1. Knowing that students have accessand it is not  going away-we should make that access work for everyone's benefit. We must allow  access to technologies and their applications at school, because, whether at  school or elsewhere, students will find access to current technologies and play/  experiment/innovate with the full range of applications. We will never prevent  students from using current technologies in ways they find emotionally,  socially, or yes, even educationally beneficial;

   

  2. Knowing the benefits, we should do all we can to  promote our students' abilities to use the existing (and future) technologies  and applications to help reach their fullest potentials; and

   

  3. Knowing the dangers, we should teach safe  protocols and 'net etiquette to our students so they do not inadvertently make  the errors that place them at jeopardy socially, financially, emotionally, and  even physically.

   

  Technology is here to stay. And guess what? There is  only going to be more and more of it coming faster and faster. Historically, we  know we will eventually lose any battle against its full acceptance and  incorporation into our classrooms, so why not get on board now and become a  facilitator rather than an opponent?
• it is also a lazy way of avoiding the inevitable and of irresponsibly dodging a  very real public safety issue.
• The problem is that while we argue these social, ethical, political, and legal  points, technology marches on, and we fall further and further behind our  students.
• we are not discussing a new song here. The tune is the same, only the lyrics  have changed
• Mad Magazine. Wow! If you dared to take a copy to school, everyone was warned of  dire consequences.
• there is the calculator
• We all knew that the first handheld, cheap calculators were created by mad  scientists out to destroy the math abilities and reasoning skills of every  schoolaged child
• empty hallway on his campus. He told us it was not really just a hallway, but  actually a Time Warp
• Education had time-warped back to circa 1950s-1960s- 970s formats of standup,  teacher-led lectures, accompanied by worksheets and textbooks.
• our alternative should be to teach responsible, safe use of the technologies and  their applications as they apply to gaining new knowledge, exploring new ideas,  playing with concepts, and building the future.
• FEAR OF THE UNFAMILIAR
• Our superintendent had the district adopt a requirement that all staff must  demonstrate competencies in eight areas of computer/ technology use.
• requires ALL staff members to either pass a competency test or take a three-hour  course in the eight designated competencies
• minimum expectation for any staff member should be for them to at least know how  to refer a new application or web site to a higher authority for further  evaluation before allowing students to use/access it.
• ALL IS NOT EQUAL
• Students may not have equal access to a private cell phone or laptop, but with  wifi, one COW, three labs, and computers in every classroom, 1 can assure them  equal access. 1 believe all schools should make equal access a priority

  • What is a COW?
  Add Sticky Note
• LOSS OF CONTROL
• the teacher had students use the keypads on their cell phones to figure out  relationships between the numbers and letters.
• a 7th grade class could plan and implement a field trip all on their own using  the Internet and their cell phones to make the arrangements? Not only do I  believe it, 1 believe it could be done at much lower grade levels as well.

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• sometimes the word lacks any true definition that everyone can agree on
• The easiest way to explain it is that a gadget is any widget that is not a  widget
• widget is a piece of reusable code that you can plug into virtually any website
• A gadget acts just like a widget, often fulfilling the same purpose, but it is  proprietary. It only works on a certain website or a specific set of websites
• A widget, on the other hand, works on any page that lets you add an HTML block.  You can put them on your blog, or your personalized start page, or your personal  website.

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• really need to find a way to represent ourselves when we communicate from a  distance. We want to be able to personalize our online presence and be instantly  recognized by our posts and responses in wikis and blogs and Nings and on  Twitter and other digital spaces. We've also tried creating avatars for  fictional and historical characters
• Not all of the avatar-making sites work well in every classroom
• Classrooms and libraries have different needs or restrictions.

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• miniature, portable web experiences that can be  installedonyour computer   or-increasingly- embedded in MySpace or Facebook  pages, in personalized home   pages such as iGoogle, or on blogs .
• miniature, portable web experiences that can be installedonyour computer  or-increasingly- embedded in MySpace or Facebook pages, in personalized home  pages such as iGoogle, or on blogs
• same sleek and specialized programs whether we call them "widgets," "gadgets,"  "modules" or "applications."
•  

  same  sleek and specialized programs whether we call them "widgets,"  "gadgets,"   "modules" or "applications."
• platform called Konfabulator, now part of Yahoo, that really goosed the area by  allowing Mac users to pull information from the web-sports scores, for example,  or stock prices-and display it in little floating boxes on their screens. Good  places to learn about the range of available widgets are clearinghouses such as  Yahoo Widgets, Google Desktop Gadgets or Widgipedia.
• platform called Konfabulator, now part of    Yahoo  , that  really goosed the area by   allowing Mac users to pull information from the  web-sports scores, for example,   or stock  prices-and display it in little floating boxes on their screens. Good    places to learn about the range of available  widgets are clearinghouses such as   Yahoo  Widgets, Google Desktop Gadgets or Widgipedia.
• in a  pioneering stage with widgets. It is likely that standards will  eventually   be set for tracking the number of downloads and  perhaps even frequency of use or   user actions  following their interaction with a given widget.
•  

  in a   pioneering stage with widgets. It is likely that  standards will   eventually     be set for  tracking the number of downloads and   perhaps  even frequency of use or     user  actions   following their interaction with a given  widget.
•  

  in a    pioneering stage with widgets. It is likely  that   standards will     eventually       be set  for   tracking the number of downloads  and     perhaps   even  frequency of use or       user    actions     following  their interaction with a given   widget.    ComScore has  taken a stab at widget tracking with its Widget Metrix
• in a pioneering stage with widgets. It is likely that standards will eventually  be set for tracking the number of downloads and perhaps even frequency of use or  user actions following their interaction with a given widget.
• decided to de-emphasize the Flip site, although it will remain live, and push in  its place Flip... the widget.

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