Technically Random

The latest in the Educause “7 Things You Should Know About …” series.

7 Things You Should Know About Wii

The Wii is a video game system that uses a wireless controller capable of sensing position and motion, allowing users to interact with the game applications through physical movements. The controller has captured the interest of academic researchers and hackers, who have used the technology to create applications such as a collaborative choreography tool and an inexpensive, interactive whiteboard. Wii technology is used as an input device in virtual worlds and as a training tool that allows learners to perform physical tasks in a digital, risk-free environment.

There’s some very cool videos of what on researcher did to turn the Wii-mote into a lowcost interactive whiteboard and a multi-touch finger tracking device. The discussion boards for this project can be found at: http://www.wiimoteproject.com/

This from the Chronicle Wired Campus:

Wired Campus: Twitter Ideas for Libraries - Chronicle.com

The Web site College@Home has put together a nice list of ideas for libraries interested in using the instant-blogging service Twitter.
More…

I’ve resisted Twitter so far because I’m trying to reduce the number of distractions that keep me from… well… work. I can see though how it could make it easier to do some things. Just yesterday I was trying to help diagnose a IP authentication problem with a new database. It seemed to be working from some subnets but not others. I was going through my IM list looking for people to help me test but it would have been much easier to send out something over Twitter so that whoever was available could to respond or not.
Maybe it’s time to jump in.

The latest in the “7 Things You Should Know About… ” series from Educause.

 7 Things You Should Know About Google Apps

Google Apps is a collection of web-based programs and file storage that run in a web browser. The applications include communication tools (Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Calendar), productivity tools (Google Docs: text files, spreadsheets, and presentations), a customizable start page (iGoogle), and Google Sites (to develop web pages).

-Corey

Check out this article from Read/WriteWeb about Twiddla, a web based tool for collaborative web based whiteboarding. It’s a pretty neat tool for any kind of collaborative work. You can start from a blank page or open an image or web page to draw on and mark up. Imagine doing a brainstorming session with some members of a group sitting in a meeting room with their laptops and the whiteboard displayed on a projector or display monitor, and other group members either in their offices or even across the country at a conference. Since it’s a whiteboard, you could create lists, mindmaps, task or workflow diagrams or wireframes for web page design.

The comments in the RWW post also point to a couple other online whiteboarding tools, Scriblink and Vyew.

-Corey