Clint Lalonde
Posts made by Clint Lalonde
I was thinking this exact thought with the hoopla with the Apple announcement last week. The whole book paradigm seems like such a holdover from another age - like a transitory metaphor. Kind of like the file folder metaphor on a computer. A digital manifistation of an analouge form that really doesn't apply to a web world. Why do we even need to hold on to this whole notion of a "book"? Is there value in having a "book" other than it gives publishers a way to package content?
I'm a Kindle guy and very happy with it. Like you, Richard, I like the idea of one device - one purpose. It's distraction free reading, which I didn't realize had gone missing from my life until I got my Kindle last year.
There is a lot I like about the Kindle. The form factor works nicely for me - light and I can read with one hand. Less bulky than a paperback. I can read outside in the bright sunshine - something I can't do on an LCD screen very well. Resizeable fonts for aging eyes :).
But the way the Kindle has transformed my reading is that it gives me a place for reading long form articles I find on the web. I use a web service called Klip.Me in conjunction with Google Reader. I have a special folder in Google Reader called Kindle. In this folder I place the RSS subscriptions to sites that I subscribe to that publish longer form articles. Anything in that folder in my GReader gets pushed to my Kindle once a day - no ads, nicely formatted, ready to read, usually when I am in bed. And when I read with the Kindle, I read. I don't skim.
Finally, the price. At around $100, I take my Kindle with me everywhere and never think twice - to the beach, to the playground with my kids. I read in the bathtub. If I lose it or it gets broken, I am out $100. A loss, but not a huge lose. With a tablet at 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) times the price (and with 10 times the private info on it as my Kindle), I am much more selective about where I bring those devices.
Looking forward to this session!
Clint
Lately I find I am starting my search in delicious ahead of Google. Not only do I have a lot of personal links stashed away like a squirrel hiding nuts for later when needed, but most of the people in my delicious network do similar work to me and as a result, bookmark tons of great stuff. I find much of it relevant and (most importantly) vetted by people I know/trust, either because I know them personally, or I have followed them long enough to learn that their resources as credible.
I am especially grateful when delicious users annotate their links, explaining a bit as to what they are and why the find it useful, or like about the link they are saving.
I also use YouTube quite a bit. I have been subscribing to various Uni/College channels in YouTube, which always yields interesting stuff. And their advanced search is integrated with Google maps so I can geo-search and find videos shot at, or uploaded from, specific locations.
Twitter is sometimes useful. I'll throw a tweet out to the network asking for help finding some resource and usually get some good leads that way.
BTW, if you use delicious and haven't added nessman (our moderator Scott) to your network and are interested in OER, then I would highly recommend adding him and follow what he tags. http://delicious.com/nessman
My name is Clint Lalonde and I am with Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia. My title is Distributed Education Web Specialist. The vast majority of work I do with faculty revolves around course creation within an LMS (Desire2Learn), which often means creating open content (and, in some cases even using open content) can be a challenge when the default starting point is a closed system.
Being more tech than ed, I tend to look at open resources through a technicians lens; how can a resource published over here be modified/reused/republished over there in the easiest way possible? Embed is my friend :)
I look forward to the discussions here over the next few weeks.