I have moved my SJSU Twitter Feed

My train feed as seen on an iPad using Flipboard, delivered via Twitter, click on picture to see related Twitter feed.

In the past I used the following Twitter feed for passing along news related to SJSU:

http://twitter.com/stevesloan

Well, that has changed. With tools like Flipboard (for the iPad) now being available, I am now seeing and using Twitter in a whole new way. To quote Flipboard, "Flipboard is a fast, beautiful way to flip through the news, photos and updates your friends are sharing on Facebook and Twitter."

Scoble has a great post about Flipboard. I am passionate about my work at SJSU. But, I am especially passionate about trains! After speaking to Scoble, I realized, using Twitter, I could launch my own personal train picture magazine.

I am using Twitter as the conduit for my photo stream. This is very cool! So I decided that I wanted my name to be address of this train photo magazine. So, I have moved my SJSU related Twitter feed. My SJSU feed is here:

http://twitter.com/sloansjsu

I hope this does not cause confusion. I will continue posting news related to San Jose State University. I will just be doing it from this new Twitter account. You are invited to subscribe, or stay subscribed, to my Train picture feed and subscribe to the new SJSU Twitter feed.

Oh, and do check out Flipboard. It rocks, and is a great example of why I think the iPad is so cool!

Introducing Facebook Community Pages

According to Adam Ostrow on Mashable, Facebook is introducing community pages. Ostrow wrote:

It’s for the hordes of “unofficial” Pages that have been created by users in support of topics or causes. There’s a big difference in functionality too –- Facebook says that if a page becomes popular enough, administration will be handed over to the Facebook community. In other words, Community Pages become a whole lot like a wiki once they reach a certain threshold. [Read More]

You can start a Facebook Community Page here.

Are students hurt by social media?

Is Twitter hurting students? According to a post by Carin Ford of Higher Ed Morning.

Dr. Tracy Alloway of Scotland’s University of Stirling, says her study shows using Facebook stretches our “working memory” (our short-term or recent memory), while Twitter, YouTube and text messages tend to weaken it.

The study Ford cited focused on younger students. Ford went on to say, "prospective college students are increasingly using Facebook for more than just social interaction. According to a new Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions study, more than 70% of college admissions officials have received “friend requests” from students using Facebook and MySpace."

This brings up other questions, what are the ethical considerations of teachers friending students on social media sites, like Facebook? Since these sites may not be as accessible as university provided media outlets; are faculty members putting disabled students at a competitive disadvantage by "friending" non-disabled students on social media sites?

Technorati Tags: twitter, Social Media, ssloansjca

Twitpocalypse: The failure of Twitter (a Geek tragedy)

Mark Gibbs of Network World wrote The Twitpocalypse Tragedy, a Greek Geek tragedy about the failure of Twitter. Gibb wrote:

It has been predicted that A Bad Thing is about to happen in the Twitterverse. This Bad Thing is being called the "Twitpocalypse", and if you believe some of the commentaries, we could have a world totally bereft of Twitter. They make it sound like a tragedy. Accordingly, here's my tragedic play in the classical Greek style (sort of) that I have titled "Twitpocalypse Now." [Follow link to read more.]

Be aware: Twitter Virus!

According to a post by Curt Monash at Network World, "Twitter was hit today by the StalkDaily virus." Monash provides a concise overview of the virus.

Will Twitter Transcend Facebook?

Dale Larson wrote an interesting blog post on the rise of Twitter and its position versus other social networking platforms like Facebook. Larson writes:

The moment I was introduced to Twitter, my eyes got big. I saw something simple, different and open. It was already evolving through user behavior and through the addition of connecting services. It could be a kind of underlying protocol, the hub of an ecosystem, not a stand alone website.

To me it is just not the openness of Twitter that is so inviting and absorbing, it is its adaptability. Twitter works with so many platforms and devices. It is ubiquitous.

Microsoft Windows Azure

Microsoft's new OS for cloud computing

According to Wikipedia, "Windows Azure is the name of the upcoming cloud-based operating system ("cloud" is a metaphor for the Internet) being developed by Microsoft, announced by Ray Ozzie at the Microsoft PDC on October 27, 2008.

Microsoft's Web site for Azure says, "The Azure Services Platform provides a wide range of internet services that can be consumed from both on-premises environments or the internet."

Google, and the range of Google applications, have long pointed out that the future of software is the cloud. Empowered by always on portable connected devices, like the iPhone and the Android mobile device platform. Phones and portable computers are merging into a mobile computing platform that is neither a mere phone nor a laptop computer and is more than both. Wired together, using high speed telcom technologies like 3G, and using real-time Web technologies like Jabber and Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). The Web is becoming more synchronous and cloud computing is a huge part of that.

Installing software is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. There will be no need. Our applications will be in the cloud! All users will need to do is to be there. The good news is they will be. They already are.

It will be interesting to see where Microsoft goes with Azure. Educators need to watch this type of technology. It will likely be mainstream by the time today's freshmen graduate. If we are not there, where will our students be? We gotta get our heads beyond e-mail and Web pages and into and wrapped around; the cloud.

Technorati Tags: Windows, Microsoft, azure, android, iPhone, Cloud Computing, j-school, ssloansjca

Understanding Twitter

Micro Blogging;
Real Life Happens Between Blog Posts and E-mail

Other Related Videos

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• Twitter Come Back
• Top Five Things To Do When Twitter is Down
• Twitter Whore

Technorati Tags: twitter, Micro Blogging, microblogging, ssloansjca

How we use Google Docs

Tech Tips: Google Docs and the Help Desk

About Google Docs
According to Wikipedia, "Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. Google Docs combines the features of two services, Writely and Spreadsheets, which were merged into a single product on October 10, 2006. A third product for presentations, incorporating technology designed by Tonic Systems, was released on September 17, 2007."

Google Apps @ SJSU
According to a Web page maintained by the SJSU Web Services team (at the time of this writing), "San Jose State University is in the early stages of using Google Apps Education Edition. Currently only faculty and staff are given access. We hope to include students at a later time, when technical challenges around associating student email addresses with Google Apps is resolved." Currently this is being called, "Google Apps @ SJSU".

Known Issues
There are issues using Google Docs if you are intending on inviting university employees into collaboration with people with non-sjsu.edu e-mail accounts. A person with an sjsu.edu e-mail account cannot be invited into collaboration using Google's own brand of Google Docs. We have found, at the help desk, that the best bet is for all parties involved in collaboration to have e-mail accounts that are not in the sjsu.edu domain. We have found, Gmail accounts work best. If you have an sjsu.edu e-mail address and you try to access Google's own Google Docs after being invited by a person not from an sjsu.edu account, you will be forced into an SJSUOne authentication. Even then, you will not be able to get to the document you have been invited to edit. The best bet is to stay off the reservation, for now!

Help Desk Google Docs Work Flow
At the university help desk we use Google Docs extensively for preparation of documentation. This way teams can collaborate on our documentation easily. Because we invite students to collaborate on our documentation we are using the Google's own version of Google Docs. Our work around has been to ask our help desk entire staff to get Google Gmail accounts and to issue invitations to the Google Gmail account for the users we wish to invite to collaborate on the document. We may, as an option, invite them via a seperate e-mail to their sjsu.edu or other e-mail address telling them, "please check your Gmail e-mail account for an invitation to collaborate on a Google Doc."

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

We need to be teaching social networking

Beehive: IBM's Facebook for business

If you don't think we should be teaching social networking skills, think again! Our students may be at a competitive disadvantage if they do not know how to use these tools:

Beehive is an internal social networking site that gives IBMers a "rich connection to the people they work with” on both a personal and a professional level. Beehive helps employees make new connections, track current friends and coworkers, and renew contacts with people they have worked with in the past. When employees join Beehive, they get a profile page. They can use the status message field and the free-form “About Me” section on their profile page to let other people at IBM know where they are, what they are doing, and what they are thinking. Beehive also lets them post photos, create lists to share their thoughts, and organize events.

I am impressed by the work IBM has been putting into using Web 2.0 technology. IBM has been an innovator in the use of social networking technologies such as Second Life and now Beehive. Beehive is another excellent example of their work in the Web 2.0 collaboration and community building space. It is good for us that IBM has also been great about sharing what the are doing with education.

Technorati Tags: Web 2.0, Facebook, IBM, Beehive, ssloansjca

How many friends are too many friends?

5001
Facebook has a limit of 5000 friends. More and more people are running into that wall. We used to say, you cannot have too many friends, now, thanks to Facebook, we know that is not true. Questions:

• If you have not yet hit the cieling in Facebook does that make you unpopular?
• Are there two types of friends, those good enough for your Facebook friends list and those not?
• If you have hit your ceiling and now a really good friend comes and so you have to remove another friend to make room for the new friend, how do you tell your old friend that he/she has been delisted without it seeming like a snub?
  

Meanwhile: Gaurdian Blogger Bobbie Johnson talks about people who have over 800 friends as being "Facebook Whales." Well, if you are hot, you're hot and if your not...

Technorati Tags: Web 2.0, Facebook, Scoble, ssloansjca