Tag: Google

Google Wave in higher education?

Dec 3, 2009

in Education, Technology

collaboration, collaborative authoring environment, collaborative editing, Gina Trapani, Google, google wave, higher education, internet access, leo laporte, online sources, scholarly document editor, search strategies, wave

I just got my invite for Google Wave and I feel like a little kid with a new toy, only I don’t know what the toy is, or how it works, or what (if anything) I’m supposed to do with it. Apparently I’m not alone (keep hitting Refresh to get different comparisons). I’m not going…
Chromium: changing the default keyword search

Nov 18, 2009

in Technology

chromium, default keyword search, Google, google chrome, keyword searches, keywords, search engines, short search, site specific search option, wikipedia

I just came across a pretty cool feature of Chromium…keyword searches. I know that this idea isn’t new, and now that I know about it, it’s clearly documented in the Google Chrome help pages, but I’ll put up some screenshots anyway. You begin by typing the URL of the site you’re going to (Chromium will…
Chromium browser and extensions

Nov 7, 2009

in Technology

chromium, chromium browser, extensions, Firefox, Google, google chrome, linux, the Chromium daily, twitter, ubuntu, youtube

So the Linux build of Chromium (the open source browser than Google Chrome is based on) has been out for a while now and every now and again I’ve been upgrading to the latest developer release just to see how it’s coming along. Lately, the builds have been a lot more stable, font rendering hasn’t…
Proposal coming along slowly

Jul 29, 2009

in Research

Google, Google Docs, Higher Degrees Committee, phd, proposal

I’ve just shared a third draft of my PhD proposal with my supervisors, using Google Docs. Within a few hours, they’d both submitted feedback, and even though neither is finished reviewing the document, I can already start addressing their comments. Why would you not want to use this tool? I’ll be presenting the proposal to…
KDE 4.3 is awesome

Jun 21, 2009

in Technology

akkregator, amarok, audacious, basket, decent podcast catcher, default file manager, desktop, digikam, dolphin, Dolphin file manager, Firefox, flickr, folder view, gnome, Google, Google Earth, google maps, gpodder, GUI, gwenview, jaunty, kde, koffice2, konqueror, kontact, kubuntu, lancelot, light-weight player, marble, media player, media players, MS, ms word, nepomuk, okular, open streetmap, opendocument, openoffice, OpenOffice.org word processor, pdf, podcast, qt4, semantic, semantic search, semnotes, songbird, spicebird, thunderbird, web browser, widgets, wikipedia, word processor

It’s been a busy few weeks at the university, with mid-year assessment (in all it’s various forms) having to take precedence over everything else. Now that it’s over and students are on holiday, I’ve finally gotten around to doing the things I’ve been putting off for a while…like installing the beta version of KDE 4.3…
Mozilla Open Education course: seminar 3

Apr 28, 2009

in Education, Open access, Technology

API, Chris Blizzard, course, Google, html, instantaneous communication network, Javascript, model of open technology, mozilla, MozOpenEdCourse, open education, open technology, open web, open web technology, poor internet connectivity, printing press, technology, twitter, web browser, web tech, web technology, web video

Open web tech Again, I missed this seminar because of poor internet connectivity on the day and am catching up on the audio after the fact. Here are my notes from the presentation given by Mozilla’s Chris Blizzard. Open as a concept Innovation and change = important building blocks Relevance and why open matters Repurposing…
Open research

Mar 27, 2009

in Open access, Research, Technology

blogs, collaboration, Google, Google Docs, internet connection, Jean-Claude Bradley, jon udell, methodology, open notebook science, open research, open science, peer review, publication, researcher, secrecy, social networks, social tools, wikis

I’ve been thinking about the concept of open research since listening to Jon Udell’s interview with Jean-Claude Bradley on his open notebook science project. The idea is similar to the open approach to writing software in that the process is transparent and open to scrutiny by anyone. This could have important implications for the soundness…
Google Docs for collaborative writing

Mar 13, 2009

in Research, Social media

buzzword, cloud computing, collaboration, copyright, desktop work processor, Firefox, Google, Google Docs, google gears, greasemonkey, journal, microsoft, microsoft office live, missouri, online version, online word processing environments, peer review, physiotherapy, publication, research, thinkfree, twitter, undergraduate, word processing, zoho

We’ve recently started using Google Docs for collaborative work in the physiotherapy department and it’s been great so far. There are other online word processing environments with different feature sets (Zoho, Thinkfree, Microsoft Office Live, Buzzword), but after playing around with all of them, I found that Docs offered the best mix of features, usability…
Weapon of mass distraction

Nov 24, 2008

in Productivity, Technology

author, credible, distraction, Google, IBM, ICT literacy, information overload, Information Overload Research Group, microsoft, reliable, search

The title of this post is taken from the text in an article from Time magazine, called “The Off-line American“, about John McCain’s low level of IT literacy and it’s potential implications for his campaign. What I found more interesting though, was the suggestion that for all the potential of the Internet to provide a…
Reference extract: credibility in academic searching?

Nov 19, 2008

in Research, Scholarship, Technology

credibility, credible search results, Google, information literacy, librarian, reference, refextract, research, search, search results

I’ve spoken before about the need to teach students how to search, not just by typing keywords into Google, but by being able to validate the search results in terms of credibility. Reference extract is a new project seeking to do just that, provide credible search results by using librarians (of the human variety) to…
Knol: a unit of knowledge

Aug 11, 2008

in Learning, Research, Technology, Web

articles, citations, copyright, Google, knol, knowledge, reference, wikipedia

http://knol.google.com/k/knol and Wikipedia article on Knol Knol, described as “a unit of knowledge” by the project’s creators, is a new initiative by Google that allows anyone to write an article, called a “knol”, about any topic. It’s a bit like Wikipedia in that respect but is limited to discrete articles with no links between them.…
Managing information 2.0

Aug 5, 2008

in Research, Technology, Web

content, content management, desktop search, Firefox, Google, information, information management, online experience, openoffice, pdf download, research tool, Runtime (AIR), scrapbook, software, web 2.0, zotero

Edit (07/07/08): I need to include PDF Download, another Firefox extension that makes managing PDF documents within the browser a lot easier and more flexible. Up until the latest release, my main use of it was the option to automatically download any PDF document, rather than open it in the browser, a process that’s really…