The NYTimes on "The Prof. as Open Book"

Wow. Looks like the social media is catching up to Higher Ed! Well...sort of. If the NYTimes article is to be believed we Prof's are wildly connected.

Um...

Ok...maybe those they interviewed...and me...and um....

Anyone? Bueller?

Goodbye 802 Online and Inside Track. I'll miss U.

The local Vermont blog scene has lost several blogs this week. I knew there was something in the wind with the dramatic drop-off in postings...and alas, it was confirmed this week.

Cathy Resmer and Peter Freyne at SevenDays have hung up their keyboards and have announced they will stop blogging.

No more 802 Online. No more Inside Track. Call it blogger fatigue...call it too much work...call it burn-out...whatever you call it the loss of these two blogs will leave a gap in our blogger coverage here in Vermont for sure.

I have to admit to feeling a bit...well...bereft. My NetVibes will not be the same.

Of course, things will go on...just differently. Perhaps I'm getting old (turning 41 next week) and am beginning to resist change but even though Cathy will be editing the new SevenDays Community blog "Blurt", I'm not really excited about it. Time will tell if it will keep me up to date the way 802 did. As to Inside Track. Well...that's another kettle of fish. One of the best political columns that I have read -- and while I don't always agree with Freyne, it certainly has kept me up to date in a way that others just don't. We'll suffer for this one for sure. Political coverage in this state is well...um...not terribly diverse for sure.

This brings forth several interesting questions. If blogging is about building community, what happens when the blogger exits for whatever reason. What happens to the community? hmmm..... AND, who will fill the information gap that these bloggers have left behind?

Twittering about Twitter and Rock'n with Ginger: Come follow me!

So the other day, I was Twittering about Ginger and my sister called me. She's been "following" me for a bit through Twitter, but hasn't really done much with it. My Twit, "Rock'n the Ginger Widgets. OMG!" proved too much for her and she called me almost immediately. "What the HELL are you doing and WHAT is GINGER?" she asked. And so it began. Too bad I didn't have the folks at Common Craft to help me out (grin).


Call it social presence or micro-blogging or something else (some might call it crazy!), Twitter allows you to stay in contact with "friends" and others in short little bitess. Of course, Common Craft has just come out with their "Twitter" how-to...



In my Twitter world, as you know, I'm "friends" with politicians -- although right now I'm just getting Twits from Obama and Clinton. I'm also friends with other people too (check out my Twitter feed on the sidebar). What's the redeeming value...really? Here's what I think:

1. Conferences. Conference organizers could set up Twitter accounts that all attendees can "follow" -- the organizers send out one note and all the attendees get it...on their cellphones...in real time.
   
2. Groups. Keeping the group (no matter what the group) informed. Helping complete a project, working on a scavenger hunt, whatever. One text reaches all in the group, quick and easy.
   
3. Family. Just like the folks at CommonCraft point out...keep your family and friends in the know and learn more.
   
4. Classes. Here's an interesting one. David Parry a prof at the University of Texas talks about Twitter and his students. Me, not doing that now, but I'm on the Facebook and working the NetVibes Ginger, so perhaps Twitter comes next. I've thought about creating a Twitter for a class to send out important announcements...hmmm...perhaps.

The general concept however is connection. And following. And that leads me to ...

GINGER!

Imagine you had a way to get to your students all the important things they need to read without printing them out, or assigning the readings. And you could provide a brief context for WHY something was important. A roadmap. A model to teach and show students not what they must read as an assignment, but rather what you are reading and why you think it is important. And you can do that at any time...from any place. And you get them ready for what is to come when they are in the work world.

Well...

It's here!

NetVibes (my FAV RSS feed reader) has released (just a few days ago) their newest version "Ginger". It came off of beta mode just a few days ago. I signed up for it a few weeks ago and have just begun to realize its full potential. Rather than a regular private RSS feed reader, it now allows you to create a public "universe" where others can follow you. You can post blogs and information you read to your "public universe" and even send favorites to your public universe with a note.

So if you follow me you would see that I've shared the Common Craft video, a research article about Web 2.0 and information about the Social Media Release.

Students can also access my Public Universe (http://www.netvibes.com/ejyoung67) and see the feeds that I have that I think they should be paying attention to.

As I talk about RSS in the classroom and show students the potential we are having some great conversations about the use of the RSS for marketing. Well, I do know right now that the power of this version of NetVibes is going to be the power of teaching.

Why not sign up and follow me?