Site news

Trove: a revolutionary new free search engine

Mon, 03 May 2010 05:04:59 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Finding information just got easier – thanks to Trove, a revolutionary new free search engine created by the National Library of Australia.

With just one click at trove.nla.gov.au users, like never before, can access a wealth of resources - across more than 90 million items in one go - about Australia and Australians.

Trove’s content, much of which is digital, comes from more than 1000 libraries around Australia as well as other cultural and educational institutions and international collections with relevance to Australia.

Trove takes users straight to the source – not just to a list of websites – and allows them to search across pictures, unpublished manuscripts, books, oral histories, music, videos, research papers, diaries, letters, maps, archived websites and Australian newspapers from 1803 to 1954.

The Director-General of the National Library of Australia, Jan Fullerton, said she was proud to announce the launch of Trove, the culmination of more than three years of work by dedicated National Library staff. “Trove has been designed for all Australians. It’s the perfect option for researchers, writers, family historians, academics, students, and more – in fact for anyone with a question about Australia and Australians,” Ms Fullerton said.

“Now, with the ease of one search via Trove, you can have access to the greatest Australian collections in the world.”

Ms Fullerton said the National Library recognised that today’s users wanted more than just a passive information service - they wanted to be part of a growing online community that can contribute and participate. “Trove gives them that opportunity through tagging, commenting, organising and improving data as well as sharing information and ideas,” she said.

Media Contact:
Sally Hopman, Media Liaison Manager, National Library of Australia
02 6262 1704 or 0401 226 697
shopman@nla.gov.au

Into the cloud

Sat, 01 May 2010 09:39:16 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Today I created an account with Dropbox and installed both it's desktop and Iphone applications. Dropbox gives you storage space on it's servers to create folders and allows you syncranise between your applications and the Dropbox server.

You can also set folders to share and invite others to share them. So if you have files that are to large to email you can drop them into your dropbox folders and allow others to download them. This is one of many examples of what is now being described as Cloud Computing.

To take a look for yourself I have included a link to their site.
http://www.dropbox.com/

Moodle Themes

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 08:23:47 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

If your interested in creating your own custom theme for your Moodle site then take a look at this series of videos from moodleman.

"Well, this has been a gamble. I don’t even know if I’ll call it successful, but here it is for you all to see

Many ask me how I go about building Moodle themes. They assume it is difficult, time consuming and a realm for experts. Well I am here to say “Poppycock!” to that and give you a brief glimpse into how quick and easy it is with just a little knowledge of CSS and HTML.

Below I have recorded myself developing a theme for a client..the whole shebang, while trying to provide some useful commentary. I don’t know how many will survive the entire duration. but it does show how simple the process can be. It is not necessarily best practice and I have tried to simplify as much as possible, but it should be enough to get even the most layman of people going."

http://www.moodleman.net/archives/40

A Brave New World Wide Web

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:44:42 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

An interesting video on technology in education worth taking a look at.

Do not go quietly into your classroom!

"It started with a presentation to Simon Fraser University student teachers. I created a Powerpoint presentation by the same name and put it on on Slideshare so that I could embed the show into a wik for the presentation. A number of people suggested I create a video of it. Today I did that and put it on YouTube and on the Internet Archive. One is of poor quality and the other is great, but only in streaming mode, so here I am now on BlipTV.

Visit me on Pair-a-Dimes for your Thoughts and let me know what you think. Thanks,"

Dave.

Iphone Apps for Moodle (IMoodle)

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:49:38 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

A team has got together to create an Iphone app for Moodle. If you have an Iphone are considering getting an Iphone or are just interested you can find out more information from

http://iphone.moodle.com.au/

Update
Another Moodle app MoodleTouch should be in the App store in the first week of April for further information I have listed their site below.

http://www.pragmasql.com/133/section.aspx/81

Re-Development of MACE Slideshow

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:31:49 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Here is a constantly updated slideshow of the re-development of the MACE site.

Google Wave III

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:46:55 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

If you have found your way to Google Wave and your next thought is "Now what?" I have found the first of what I am sure will be many resources on the new Google platform.

Gina Trapani and Adam Pash have written a Google Wave user guide and they have a version that you can read online.

http://completewaveguide.com/

enjoy

Daryl

Update

They have now produced both a PDF and a colour book version of the guide.You can get more information and grab a copy at the above URL.

Google Wave Peview II

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:22:18 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Today i finally received my invite from Google to create a Google Wave account. Wave is in preview mode so expect it to be a bit flakey. Am looking farward to giving it a road test. If you also have Google Wave my account is
daryl.hunt@googlewave.com

Google Wave Preview

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:18:24 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Check out the developer preview at Google I/O

Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year. Watch the demo video below, sign up for updates and learn more about how to develop with Google Wave.

http://wave.google.com/

Making the world's knowledge computable

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:39:42 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

"Today's Wolfram|Alpha is the first step in an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone. You enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and growing collection of data to compute the answer. Based on a new kind of knowledge-based computing."

Take a test run for yourself

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Upgrade to 1.9.5

Sat, 16 May 2009 15:54:48 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Tonight I upgraded this site to Moodle version 1.9.5 So far everything looks fine. The main change in this version is to the Gradebook. There have also been bug fixes. If you want to know more about this version you can read all about it from the link below.

http://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_1.9.5_release_notes

Calendar

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:53:07 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

As you can see Moodle has it's own default calendar but unfortunatly you currently can't import a web calendar into the Moodle calendar. I use a Google calendar as part of my Google Apps (learnscapepro) so I have decided to create a page and embed my Google calendar into it.

If and when Moodle add this functionality to their calendar I will move back to it. You can find the link to my calendar page under "Main Menu" or below here.

Calendar

Dipping my toes in the world of Linux

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:27:49 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Last week I installed Linux Ubuntu making my computer duel boot between Windows XP and Ubuntu. I found that it was a painless operation and I was soon up and running using Linux programs. My first real observation was that the Linux version of Firefox rendered websites faster than the Windows version. The email program Evolution that comes with Ubuntu is very nice with plenty of options.

It just feels even at this early stage that Ubuntu is much more stable than Windows. I am slowly adding other programs and as I continue to learn more about Ubuntu I will write about my experiences. I will also add a course here which I will use to add Linux resources.

If you have been contemplating taking a look at Linux my suggestion is don't wait any longer because I think you will be pleasantly surprised. You don't need to be a techo geek to get it running. I will add a resource showing the steps i took to get my install running.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Upgrade to 1.9.4

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:54:06 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

Last night I upgraded this site to Moodle version 1.9.4 This is a point version upgrade that fixes some bugs and security issues as well as some minor feature changes. If your running your own Moodle site you should read the upgrade information at Moodle.org and consider upgrading your site. If you find any issues with this upgrade please let me know.

Lively is closed.

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:43:04 GMT

by Daryl Hunt.

"Lively by Google?

Lively was a network of avatars and virtual rooms created and decorated by its users. Google launched Lively on July 8, 2008 as an experiment in providing people with more ways to express themselves on the Web.

Lively's users created thousands of cafes, bars, discos, tropical islands, treehouses, space stations, galleries, bedrooms and more. Lively's users shared their rooms with people from all over the real world, meeting and chatting with each other via their customized avatars.

The experiment ended December 31, 2008"

As you can see from the above quote taken from the Google Lively site the experiment has come to an end. I am sorry to see it go as I thought Lively had promise and I hoped to use it as part of my elearning projects.

Site news

Trove: a revolutionary new free search engine

Media Contact: Sally Hopman, Media Liaison Manager, National Library of Australia 02 6262 1704 or 0401 226 697 shopman@nla.gov.au

Into the cloud

Moodle Themes

A Brave New World Wide Web

Iphone Apps for Moodle (IMoodle)

Re-Development of MACE Slideshow

Google Wave III

Google Wave Peview II

Google Wave Preview

Making the world's knowledge computable

Upgrade to 1.9.5

Calendar

Dipping my toes in the world of Linux

Upgrade to 1.9.4

Lively is closed.

Media Contact:
Sally Hopman, Media Liaison Manager, National Library of Australia
02 6262 1704 or 0401 226 697
shopman@nla.gov.au