Here’s the latest Tweet app I have come across.

To me what seems different is its ability to put replies in a thread.

It also expands the tinyURLs and gives you the title of the page.

It can also show embedded content like links to YouTube and Flickr.

One to watch I think.

So do you use this app? Or do you think it might be useful?

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I like what Chris Brogan writes a lot. He is down to earth and pragmatic, just my sort of guy.

So although his post was entitled “12 Things to Stop Doing in 2009″ it actually contained

6 Things to Do in 2009

1. Find a new way to improve someone’s day (and determine if there’s value in it).
2. Synthesize new ideas from outside your audience’s circle (and help us make meaning from them).
3. Promote the great people out there ( and and keep doing it).
4. Learn from brilliant people (and share what you learn).
5. Work on interesting projects that matter to you (and empower others to participate).
6. Discover your passions (and share them openly).

So Chris I’m doing number 3 and promoting you and number 4 learning from you. I look forward to reading more of your wisdom in 2009.

Via http://www.chrisbrogan.com/12-things-to-stop-doing-in-2009/

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So a page on Wikipedia showing a “potentially illegal child sexual abuse image”, has been blocked by many ISPs in the UK on the advice of the IWF. The blocked page shows an album cover of German heavy metal band Scorpions, released in 1976. According to the BBC News site many UK users are angered by the block. The whole page has been blocked not just the image.

Now the blockage itself doesn’t bother me, in fact I applaud anyone doing stuff to protect children. But this ban is not equal. Other sites that show the album cover are not blocked by the ISPs and the IWF has not said they should be.

Now this smacks of double standards to me. Sites like Amazon are not blocked but sites like Wikipedia are. Is this to do with the ability of the site to afford to legal action? Perhaps. But if the safety of our children is the aim then all images of the album cover should have been banned no matter which site they are shown on.

Out of interest I went to the Amazon UK site and looked at the cover in question. It shows a naked family, man, woman, child (circa 10/11) and a baby. The woman has one breast showing, the other covered by the baby, the man is showing nothing and the girl has her back to the camera. Outside the cage are a lot of wild animals. A bit like a zoo in reverse. I would have put up a copy on this blog but don’t want the IWF banning my site too but here is a link

I have to say I did not think it at all pornographic, the images weren’t sexual in a pornographic sense, and I think the IWF should spend time on the real problems of child abuse on the Internet. Or perhaps they will go and tae down all the pictures from the grand masters in the art galleries too. Get real IWF and tackle the real issues.

What do you think?

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Today I’ve been making curtains for the new house and it got me to thinking about the impact teachers have on our lives.

So what’s the connection between making curtains and teaching? Well simply, that I did needle work at grammar school and the skills/techniques are still with me 35 years later. Some other stuff has long been forgotten, I mean I don’t do quadratic equations anymore!

Some teachers made great impressions on me and others have just got lost in time. Here is a round up of the positive ones:

• Mr Granger 1965-66, York Mead Primary School, Birmingham, UK. The first person to teach me to play the recorder. Thanks, your teaching is still with me, I still play, though I need to practice to get back up to grade 8 level where I was at teacher training college. I appreciated you taking me on the the “advanced” group to learn treble.
• Miss Chapman, 1967-72, Yardley Grammar School, Birmingham UK. Thanks for teaching me to write correctly. Do you know how valued I felt when you put one of my essays up on the wall for parents evening? Sending me on an Outward Bound week was great. Sorry I never got to go on one of your Skiing expeditions.
• Mrs Carradine, 1967-72, Yardley Grammar School, Birmingham UK. Your recognition of the difficulties of adolescence was very comforting. Although I haven’t done any sewing in years, you’ll be glad to know I haven’t forgotten what you taught me. I didn’t get a Bernina machine however, have gone with Janome.
• Mr Richmond, 1967-72, Yardley Grammar School, Birmingham UK. I did think music would be a large part of my whole life. Got that wrong. But it has stayed with me and it was great to be musical director of the Lincoln University Choir (NZ) before I took early “retirement”. Thanks also for lending me your ear.
• I think you get the picture.

Those who had a positive influence on my life, were those who believed in me. They believed in me. I’ll say it again as I think it is important. THEY BELIEVED IN ME. I was a very shy student, not at all outgoing, got picked on, wore specs, had a lisp, but for all that these people saw past my inhibitions, saw the potential I had and encouraged me. THANK YOU. Because of your faith in me I have had a great career and life.

If any of you read this blog, do get in touch, I’d love to catch up.

Image “Teach me” by Foxypar

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Get out there and vote for your favourite blogs. Lots of different categories to choose from.

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This young man looks bored to death. Although the video is supposed to be about education in 1999, I think it actually says more about what education was like in 1967. This was the year I started Grammar School in the UK, and yes education was seldom exciting back then.

Video found via Martin Ebner’s Vodpod

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There is still time to vote for your favourite edublogs but be quick as nominations close at the end of November. Instructions on how to vote can be found here.

This is my vote for “Best resource sharing blog” - Jane Hart’s “Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day“. If you don’t know Jane’s Blog give it a look see. The “Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008” is great.

Best of Luck Jane!

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Chris Brogan blogged yesterday about where he’d start if he was just starting to use social media today.

He reckons he’d start with a blog, add in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, then link to an audience by blogging relevant stuff, and finally don’t be afraid of experimenting with new ideas. I hope I caught the gist of your post Chris.

Now whilst I agree with Chris on this (and I usually find his stuff on the nose) I have to say that this isn’t easy for people with little or no experience of these technologies. Neither should you assume that customers are all ready for this either. I am working with a client at the moment who is keen to embrace the web, but their Internet/digital skills are basic. So it will be a step at a time and hand holding for some time. A survey of their customers is showing that whilst email is fairly universally used social media are not. So is it worth my clients time to get involved in social media? Two answers of course, “no” if you only want to engage with your current customer base, “yes”, if you want to reach out to a new market.

We’ll see how things go.

Image: Laihiu

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Just trying out an add-in for Firefox called Dash Blog. It allows you to grab a web page as an image, crop it, draw on it, add arrows and text, and then publish to your blog. I Like it.

Great for those people who need to include screen shots for teaching.

What do you use for this purpose?

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If you haven’t signed up yet get over to http://learntrends.ning.com/ and register yourself for a free conference. There are some great speakers, including Nancy White who I had the pleasure to meet earlier this year in Wellington. Also there are Jane Hart, Robin Good, Tony Karrer, George Siemens, David Weinberger, Dave Pollard, Dave Wilkins, Mark Sylvester, Marcia Conner, Jay Cross, Allison Anderson, Alvaro Fernandez, Kevin Wheeler, and Dave Gray.

A truly great lineup for a free conference.

Elluminate is a great product, we have been using it for the DEANZ online sessions. In fact I’m doing one on Friday if anyone wants to come along. See the event calendar on the DEANZ homepage for more info.

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