The Learned Man!

Free Web Conferencing Tool By Elluminate

E-learning technology provider Elluminate has rolled out the final release of its new, free Web conferencing system, vRoom. The company has also announced version 2.0 of its Blackboard Building Block extension for Elluminate Live!, a distance learning tool.

Elluminate's vRoom is a collaboration tool supporting up to three simultaneous users, including the moderator. It incorporates "most" of the technology of Elluminate Live!, according to the company, but is available for use free of charge. vRoom is essentially a virtual office, providing features like video and audio conferencing, instant messaging, application and desktop sharing, and interactive whiteboard capabilities.

vRoom is available now for free and supports Mac OS X, Windows, and other operating systems.

- Dave Nagel, "Elluminate Launches Free Web Conferencing Tool,"  T.H.E. Journal, 3/21/2007

Blogs, Podcasts And Vidcasts For e-Learning: A Note From The Frontlines

Sharing an email I received today, from Josh Cavalier, President of Lodestone Digital:

Hello-

I stumbled across your site from Alexia - good find.

I was recently a presenter at an internal "Performance Conference" at a Fortune 1000 Pharmaceutical. There were about 120 individuals from across the enterprise, and by talk was on "Blogs, Podcasts and Vidcasts for E-Learning".

I was presented with the same problem of trying to describe to the audience how this RSS based technology would change the way e-learning is created. How could I get these people to understand? ("Better To Sell Peanuts On The Roadside")

Solution: Create a Podcast of the Event

My talk was scheduled at 1:00 PM so I had some time to work with...
I recorded the openeing remarks and general session on a Marantz recorder direct to MP3. Once the general session was done I skirted to an empty room and went to work. I brought with me an Apple 15" laptop and Logictec USB headset. I opened up Garageband 3, laid down my vocals, imported some clips of the morning session, and added background music. My demo was done in 30 minutes. I then rejoined the conference - nobody missed me.

I gave my presentation, talked about Elearning 2.0, blogs, podcasts, etc. At the end of my presentation - when I played back my piece from the morning session - they we're all floored! Very positive feedback, and many new business opportunities to train the trainers on how to Podcast.

Anyways, I had to share this with someone who understands what is going on...

Cheers!

Josh Cavalier
President
Lodestone Digital
www.lodestone.com

10 x 10

Check out 10 x 10, a new service which every hour "...collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10x10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, form a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life.

Each hour is presented as a picture postcard window, composed of 100 different frames, each of which holds the image of a single moment in time. Clicking on a single frame allows us to peer a bit deeper into the story that lies behind the image. In this way, we can dart in and out of the news, understanding both the individual stories and the ways in which they relate to each other."

This is super-cool stuff but I have one observation to make here. Scrolling down the list of 100 top words for the hour, most of the words seemed to be pretty depressing..like "killing, bombing, violence, roof, soldiers, attack, emergency...and so on". Reading this you get a sense that, atleast right now, the world does not seem like a very happy place! I would love to get world-leaders into a room and get them to scroll through this!

WEB 2.0: Next Generation Of Web Sites

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle talks about Web 2.0, and its a good read for those not already familiar with it.

From the article:

What is Web 2.0?

The definition of Web 2.0, a buzzword that is used often in the Internet industry, is a bit fuzzy. But Web 2.0 sites frequently includes interactive resources -- sites that allow users to share opinions, ideas, photos, videos, even favorite Web links. This contrasts with a simpler variety of Web sites (Web 1.0) that are generally static sources of information.

Who coined the term?

Credit is given to executives of O'Reilly Media while brainstorming names for a technology conference a couple of years ago.

Which Web sites qualify?

Many of the Internet's new video, photo, news and bookmarking sites

A sampling of Web 2.0 sites:

BOOKMARKS/SEARCH
www.Clipmarks.com, Del.icio.us, www.Furl.net, www.Jookster.com, www.Kaboodle.com, Yahoo MyWeb 2.0, www.Wink.com

EVENTS
www.Eventful.com, www.Upcoming.org, www.Zvents.com

NEWS
www.Blogniscient.com, www.Digg.com, www.Fantacular.com, www.Memeorandum.com, www.TailRank.com

PHOTO
23 (www.23hq.com),www.Flickr.com, www.Slide.com

REVIEWS
www.Yelp.com, www.Riffs.com

SOCIALIZING
www.MySpace.com, www.TagWorld.com

STORAGE
www.GoogleBase.com, www.Ourmedia.com

VIDEO
www.CastPost.com, www.ClipShack.com, www.DailyMotion.com, www.Grouper.com, www.Revver.com, www.Vimeo.com, www.vSocial.com, www.YouTube.com 

Heres more:
Web 2.0 Innovation map - A list of Web 2.0 companies (using eHub and other sources) plotted on a map based on WHOIS data and the Yahoo! Geocoder API, via Emily Chang's eHub
Web 2.0 Companies I Couldn’t Live Without, via TechCrunch
Complete List of Web 2.0 Products & Services *Recommended
The Hype and the Hullabaloo of Web 2.0 by by Ellyssa Kroski *Recommended, well researched and well written.
The Next Net 25 by Business 2.0 *Recommended
The Logos of Web 2.0

Gmail Invites

I have 17 16  14 10  Gmail invites to give out and if you want one, just go ahead and mail me.