TweetCloud

TweetCloud is a handy application for seeing your top Twitter topics. Here is an example of my last month's tweet topics -- makes sense, given last month was the California School Library Association Conference.

How to use it? One way is to use a TweetCloud to make sure you are staying focused and not tweeting about off-topic subjects. Another way to use it is to capture fun word clouds for a blog, website, or newsletter article -- just tweet about a topic for a day and make a one-day TweetCloud (rather than a month or so).

Twitter - First Follower

There are apps for everything. Today, I learned of a Twitter application that tells you the Twitter name of your first Twitter "follower". I clicked the link and learned that it was teacher librarian and CSLA 2009 conference committee member devoted to social networking, Marie Slim. Makes sense! First Follower is simple. Click on the link and there are three action items:

1. A question: "Wanna know who was your first follower?"
2. Box to type in "Your Twitter Nick" (your nickname, such as 4Libraries)
3. Box to click that says "Wanna Know"

Twitter originally was created for a small entrepreneurial team that needed to stay connected and focused on building their business. Back then, the key question they'd ask one another was "What's happening?" That is the simplicity of Twitter.

There are lots of Twitter apps that I'm just learning to explore.

2010 Horizon Report Preview

Horizon Report 2010 preview
The New Media Consortium released its list of six Horizon Report Topics for 2010 (PDF file) and the Horizon Report 2010 Preview (PDF file). It is "must reading" each year. Read it. Share it. Discuss it. The reports were originally for a higher education audience but now has a huge following.

• Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less
  • Mobile Computing
  • Open Content
    
• Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years
  • Electronic Books
  • Simple Augmented Reality
• Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years
  • Gesture-Based Computing
  • Visual Data Analysis

An example of Open Content by the California School Library Association is their free, online professional development tutorials: School Library Learning 2.0, Classroom Learning 2.0, and Discovering Assistive Technology. Also Learning 2.0 for Teens. These and all sorts of free online courses are available anywhere in the world via the Internet.

Personally, I think gesture-based computing will become more mainstream sooner than 4-5 years. The Nintendo wii technology has amazing potential, not just fun and games. Nintendo competitors seek to outshine the wii. Microsoft announced Project Natal , which simplifies use by eliminating the use of a controller. Sony has a motion controller in development that includes a handheld, wandlike device that pairs with a camera, splitting the difference between Wii and Natal.

Critical Challenges (4) - the third challenge resonates most with me: "Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key 21st century skill, but there is a widening training gap for faculty and teachers. Often not seen as a priority for faculty or teacher training, digital media literacy is nonetheless a critical skill not only for students but for those who work with them. Faculty and instructors are beginning to realize that they are limiting their students by not helping them to develop and use digital media literacy skills across the curriculum. This
challenge is exacerbated by the fact that it is not clear exactly how to codify the skills or set standards for their measurement."

The Horizon Report documents are also available the Horizon Report Wiki. They are the result of the rounds of discussions and voting by the advisory board members. The final report will be officially released on January 20. The preview version of the report includes a section called Critical Challenges as well as a section for Key Trends. - Buffy Hamilton, AASL Blog, Nov. 23

Word-of-the-Day - tweets in all languages

The 11/4/09 issue of American Libraries Direct carried an item from Makeuseof.com that eventually directed me to the Transport.com website and Word of the Day in Spanish. The company offers a lot of language products for sale, but also a handful of free practical tools such as Word-of-the-Day. Spanish word-of-the-day twitter = @SpanishLanguage

School, academic, and public librarians could easily offer this educational tool as a resource for foreign or English language learners (ELL). To gradually learn or strengthen foreign language skills, it makes sense to incorporate everyday tools like Twitter, search engines, RSS feeds and such.

Footnote: Here is a NYT map of ELL titled "New to English". Visuals like this map make a lasting impression. Check it out.