The problem with video in the past has been its multiple formats–essentially, there are dozens of ways of compressing video data (big) into video for the web (small). So, companies like Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft have all developed their own particular formats–and their own web browser plugins to play their video format. The result is a sort of mish-mash of formats; you’re never quite sure if your browser will be able to play the video on a given site.

HTML5 tries to get around this by making a simple video tag which will automatically allow all HTML5-compliant browsers to play video without a plugin, no matter the format. At least, this is the goal. Right now, not all browsers support HTML5 (I’m looking at you, IE8), and HTML5 currently works with only MPEG-4 formats. I am dying to try it out, though, so here goes. The following clip is of Josephine Tucker, the subject of a new book I am working on during my sabbatical. In this clip, Josephine remembers a story that her grandmother used to tell her. You’ll need Google Chrome to view it.

Many readers of this blog (and students in my class) know that I am working on a new book. The subject is a family from Sierra Leone, who came to Grand Rapids in 2005, after surviving the decade-long civil war in their country. Right now, I am chiefly researching–that is, conducting interviews with the family and reading all I can on the conflict. Technology is playing a key role in this stage, obviously. Most of all, I have located resources that exist only online–such as the video collection by Journeyman Pictures, the Truth and Reconciliation Report at the Sierra Leone Web, and the terrific blog on the trial of Charles Taylor. I’m using del.icio.us to keep track of all these online resources. You can see my del.icio.us list here.

I’m also using the web to find and read traditional print media. You can see my bookshelf on Sierra Leone at Google Books, for instance. I have been using one feature of Google Books heavily–locate a nearby library. Just provide your zip code, and Google finds the book in the closest library. Then, thanks to GVSU’s document delivery system, I can order the book with just a few clicks. Amazing, really. And then there are the databases–full text and otherwise–that I’ve been digging into.

Beyond this kind of research, I’m using social media to connect to participants and scholars and to stream video. I’m struck by how flexible a tool the web can be. No single app is ever go to replace all if this; the web is just too good at finding and retrieving information. Reports of the death of the web? Largely exaggerated.

Anderson notes a a couple of other things slowing web traffic, including one that I have written about here: the movement away from free online services, as the 2.0 movement matures and begins actually turning a profit. Ning certainly is a prime example of this free to freemium trend. Syndication moving to subscription means that less content will be available via RSS, and more will be available through subscription apps. The chart included in the article sums things up nicely.

I might add that the dominance of Facebook is thinning out the web, as users spend more time on this single site–and as Facebook eats up more and more web territory. Of course, as PC World points out, other technologies have been written off before.

Our asynchronous means of online collaboration–email–works pretty well, despite inherent issues such as replying to all/one, endless email spam, and information overload. We’re pretty good at sending email, after nearly two decades of popular use. When I encounter someone who does not have an email address, I am admittedly suspicious: what, I think, you can’t use a computer?

As for synchronous communication, most web users are a least a little familar with tools such as instant messenging and chat. Texting is the IM and chat killer, of course, and we’re getting better at that all the time. We have established ways of sending short bits of information in rapid succession, though texting between multiple users is still challenging.

So, there was nothing Google Wave needed to do. No itch it needed to scratch. Worse still, its interface was decidedly unsexy and not very user friendly. The iPad, by contrast, also does nothing that we couldn’t do before, but the thing is so sleek we buy it anyway.

Google will no doubt learn lessons from the burnout of Wave. Ambitious failures are common at Google Labs. The lesson I am drawing is that no amount of hype can ever secure a niche for a new technology–unless that technology supplies users with something they needed or are deeply drawn to. As educators, we need to sort out what is pure hype hype from what is potentially interesting. I fell pretty hard for Second Life, but that too, seems to have seen its better days. My prediction, based on the Google Wave flame out, is that Second Life will join the dead pool in two years, essentially replaced by Facebook and other social networking services.

Another reason for staying with Ning, despite its pricey upgrade, is the continual development of applications. One such application is the integrated Eventbee registration tool, which we’re using for the upcoming MCTE Autumn Assembly. Another admittedly cool tool is the Cafepress application, which lets you design and sell merchandise such as t-shirts, coffee mugs, and more for your organization. I used Cafepress to create the t-shirt shown here. It uses a high-resolution, public domain image of Ernest Hemingway that I found on Wikimedia Commons. The picture is actually taken in Cuba, but no one has to know that.

I think Cafepress would sell this t-shirt for around $22.00, with a small percentage of profits going toward maintaining the MCTE Ning. Oh–the dotted line is not actually on the shirt. If you like the design, let me know. Or, if you’re feeling inspired, send me your ideas for a cool MCTE t-shirt.

Michigan out of running for U.S. education grant
Detroit Free Press
July 27, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Michigan failed to make the cut in the second round of competition for federal “Race to the Top” education reform dollars, despite increased support from its largest teachers union, the Detroit Free Press reported. The state had hoped to win up to $400 million to improve public education.

Mike Flanagan, state schools superintendent, said that the Michigan Department of Education would analyze feedback from the federal grant reviewers before discussing reasons for the rejection, according to the Free Press.

Doug Pratt, Michigan Education Association spokesman, told the Free Press that while the group was “just as disappointed as everybody else, it’s important to keep in mind this $400 million would have helped but it wasn’t going to solve our financial problems.”

Public school districts still will have to adhere to reforms that the state adopted in preparation for the “Race” competition, such as a higher dropout age and a cyber school initiative, Brad Biladeau, associate executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, told the Free Press.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the state presented a strong application and that she was disappointed it was not approved, the Free Press reported.

Second-round finalists are Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Winners will be announced in September.

Just one question: if we are not getting the money, why do we still have to adopt the common core assessments?

That’s why I have titled this post “Ning Blows,” despite years of recommending the social networking site to educators. Search this site for entries on Ning and you’ll see: I was all about the Ning. But this past spring, Ning decided to do away with its free plans. Educators were outraged and panicky. Ning was swamped with emails and petitions to keep its services free for teachers. So, Ning struck a deal with Pearson, one of the industry giants of educational publishing.

I signed up for the deal, thinking I could keep all of the free services on several of the Nings I have developed.

Not so fast. Turns out, Pearson and Ning are just a little stingy. Not blaming them for that (I mentioned my heritage), but come on! Ning is only offering the “mini-plan” for free. Among its very limited features are a cap of 100 members, no applications, and no groups, events, or chat. Hey teachers across America–you can afford $19.95 a month, right? How about $49.95 a month?

For some reason, I just put this all together tonight. I guess I am a little slow on the draw.

Ning should do the right thing and keep its premium services free for educators. It should also give out small grants to fund original/effective uses of Nings in the classroom. It should run workshops at intermediate school districts. Give out totebags. Pens. It should funnel at least a small portion of its profits to urban schools, where technological know-how is low.

Get a heart, Ning. Or a social conscience. Teachers deserve much, much better than a mini-plan.

Facebook wants to be more than just one of the top destinations of the web–sometimes even beating out Google. It wants to be the web, with everything coming into and out of your Facebook account. This includes using Word, for instance, and I’ll bet that Facebook will put out a sophisticated search tool sometime soon.

The problem is, interest in Facebook is waning. Not plummeting (like, say, the interest in Second Life), but slowly eroding. One sure indication of this gradual erosion: teen users are getting fed up. The recent Teens and Social Network Study by roiworld shows that teenagers are getting sick of Facebook. Money quote:

Online teens in the US report they typically spend 2 hrs on the internet a day. On average, 80% of that time is spent on a social network. Is Facebook the new MySpace? Most online teens belong to a social net, and Facebook is still by far their #1 social network. But, a significant amount of teens report “Facebook Fatigue.” Among those teens who have created a profile, roughly one-in-five (19%) claim “they no longer visit Facebook” or “are using it less than they did a year ago.”

Teens who quit Facebook or lessen their use do so because too many adults have joined (like parents and teachers) and because of fears of privacy violation. Here is one provocative chart from the report:

So, now that Odeo is back (though loading very s-l-o-w-l-y), I’ve been able to add a couple of new podcasts from the past two semesters. The return of Odeo is a relief, but also an indication of the fly-by-night nature of quite a few 2.0 startups. Ning is no fly-by-night, but did nearly leave educators in the lurch a few months ago. What would happen if Wikispaces went under? Or even WordPress? Quite a few teachers and professors would be in trouble. . .

This is so ill-informed and so egregious that words fail me. Fortunately, NCTE has responded with a statement that condemns the new policy. I am including it here in its entirety.

NCTE Statement on the Removal of Designated Teachers from ELL Classrooms in Arizona

The effects of a new Arizona Department of Education policy are reverberating in the literacy education community. According to numerous reports, the Department has told school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English.

This edict is dangerously misguided. Confirmed by research and by policy positions adopted by the National Council of Teachers of English, what matters most in teaching non-native ELLs is not elocution or adherence to a single dialect or speech pattern. What matters most is understanding students and the dynamics of language learning.

Teachers who have deep roots in the culture and linguistic experiences of their students are well equipped for success in teaching English, regardless of their spoken dialect or accent. A recent NCTE position paper on “The Role of English Teachers in Educating English Language Learners (ELLs)” emphasizes the importance of empathy, connections to ELL students’ families and culture, and innovative teaching methods:
Knowledge of the students is key to good teaching. Because teachers relate to students both as learners and as children or adolescents, teachers must establish how they will address two types of relationships, what they need to know about their students, and how they will acquire this knowledge. The teacher-learner relationship implies involvement between teachers and students around subject matter and language and literacy proficiency in both languages. Adult-child relationships are more personal and should include the family. Focusing on both types of relationships bridges the gap between school and the world outside it, a gap that is especially important for many bilingual students whose world differs greatly from school.

The NCTE position paper further asserts that all teachers of ELL students in all content-area subjects must provide effective instruction for students developing academic proficiency in English by:

• Recognizing that second language acquisition is a gradual developmental process and is built on students’ knowledge and skill in their native language;
• Providing authentic opportunities to use language in a nonthreatening environment;
• Teaching key vocabulary connected with the topic of the lesson;
• Teaching academic oral language in the context of various content areas;
• Teaching text- and sentence-level grammar in context to help students understand the structure and style of the English language;
• Teaching the specific features of language students need to communicate in social as well as academic contexts.

Teaching English language learners well is difficult. The urgent need for more highly-adept teachers to meet the demand is what makes the Arizona ban so invidious: teachers who may best understand the cultural and family dynamics of their ELL students, who are living the gradual developmental process that characterizes second language acquisition, are barred from the classrooms where they are needed most.

We would have a different problem had the Arizona guideline directed re-assignment of teachers of ELL students

• who are unsuccessful at teaching academic oral content in math, science, social studies, or the arts;
• who fail to teach key vocabulary or grammar in the context of helping students understand English for school or other purposes;
• who are unable to provide authentic challenges for applying language to solve problems in the lives of students or their families.

There would still be fewer ELL teachers in Arizona classrooms, but those missing wouldn’t be identified by their accents. We would be focusing on the real problem: competence.

If the Arizona Department of Education wants to upgrade the quality of instruction for English language learners, it could heed the need for professional knowledge among all teachers about how to serve ELL students. Based on research, NCTE’s policy states that:

The majority of ELLs are in mainstream classrooms taught by teachers with little or no formal professional development in teaching ELL students (Barron & Menken, 2002; Kindler, 2002). Many teachers are not adequately prepared to work with a linguistically diverse student population (American Federation of Teachers, 2004; Fillmore & Snow, 2002; Gándara, Rumberger, Maxwell-Jolly, & Callahan, 2003; Menken & Antunez, 2001; Nieto, 2003).

NCTE encourages English teachers to collaborate and work closely with ESL and bilingual teaching professionals who can offer classroom support, instructional advice, and general insights into second language acquisition. School administrators should support and encourage teachers to attend workshops and professional conferences on bilingual learners, particularly in the areas of reading and writing.

It’s time to put sound educational principles ahead of misguided cultural assumptions. We have real work to do unlocking the miraculous potential of a generation of ELL students. Let’s use what educators know about language learning to make decisions about fostering the literacy skills of all students.

Kent Williamson, Executive Director
National Council of Teachers of English

Here is what I mean: we are entering the downhill slope of the 2.0 revolution–the changes in the structure and functionality of the web exemplified by YouTube, Wikipedia, and yes, Facebook. The 2.0 idea–namely, that users create and organize content through huge, interwoven social networks–is being seriously challenged by the unchecked growth of Facebook. Facebook wants to be the web, in the same way that Google is virtually synonymous with being online. Facebook, in other words, wants people to say, “Where’s that restaurant again? I’ll Facebook it. ” Or perhaps more ridiculously, “I’m Facebooking my article right now.” (see my recent post on the new Microsoft/Facebook partnership).

The trouble with this is that Facebook is crowding out other innovative 2.0 companies as it gobbles up more and more user experiences. Why keep a blog any more? All of your friends and family members (in other words, the people who actually read your blog) are on Facebook already. Just post a note there. Why upload your photos to Flickr, the photo sharing site whose features far exceed those offered by Facebook, when your photos have a much better chance of being seen at Facebook?

Part of the idea of web 2.0 was that users can create a highly customizable web experience with absolutely no coding experience. This experience went something like this: go to WordPress, start a blog, add a blogroll, embed your video from YouTube, publish your podcast, syndicate your feed, and alert your friends and family. Now, the idea of web 2.0 is this: Facebook.

The dominance of Facebook–and the limited user experience that results–is somewhat akin to the Apple experience. A life-long Windows user, I’ve switched to a Macbook Pro. I really like the computer, don’t get me wrong. In fact, I still can’t figure out why the Windows clones cannot be a sleek or as well-designed as the Mac. But I have noticed that the online conversations about Macs are less about innovation (how to hack the code to make it do what you want) and more about advocacy (“Who needs to be able to cut a file? Not Mac users! Everything is better in a Mac!”) . Windows, for all of its failures, has given rise to really smart, really useful software and modifications. Windows Media Player not working for you? Try one of the dozens of free alternatives available on the web. Don’t like the version of iMovie that came bundled with your Macbook Pro? Good luck.

So, it may be that Facebook needs the equivalent of the blue screen of death. Enough users have to get fed up with its privacy violations and its interface to begin hacking its code and offering better alternatives. I personally would like to see four or five major social networks, all contending for customers. Maybe we start by quitting Facebook in favor of new startups like Diaspora. Who’s with me?

What’s still on the horizon, of course, is the idea of Web 3.0, the so-called semantic (knowledge) web. The main idea of this new and largely theoretical version of the web is that computers will learn our language, so that will be able to communicate with them as well as we communicate with human beings. This video created by Kate Ray, a Journalism/Psychology major at NYU, does a great job of explaining the idea:

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

Ning Planning to Remain Free for Teachers
By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN
May 4, 2010

Ning, a company that allows users to build their own social networks, says it has signed a letter of intent with a major educational publisher to keep its service free for educators, several weeks after causing an outcry among nonprofit groups by announcing that it would end its popular free service. Ning did not give any more information about the deal, which it disclosed as it outlined its plans to begin charging subscription fees to all of its users.

Ning claims over 46 million users, spread over 300,000 social networks focused on topics from music to politics to religion. It has become popular among nonprofit groups, and tens of thousands of organizations established networks ranging in scale from teachers who set up networks for their students to sprawling efforts like T. Boone Pickens’s PickensPlan, for people interested in alternative energy, which claims over 200,000 users. Setting up the network is free, but extra features are available for a fee.

While the vast majority of Ning’s users relied on the free service, the company says 75 percent of its traffic and 80 percent of its revenue come from paying customers. The company announced on April 15 that it would shift to an exclusively subscription-based model, saying the needs of its free and paid clients were so different that it had to choose one of the groups to be its focus.

The company’s initial announcement prompted a round of spirited discussion among nonprofit groups about the perils of relying on free Web-based services. While these services can be invaluable to groups on shoestring budgets, they can also disappear with little warning when companies change business strategies or fall onto difficult financial times.

This is not the first time that nonprofits feel they have been burned. Last November, Causes, a fund-raising application, stopped working with MySpace, deleting users’ content and communications. Ideablob, a service that created a platform for people to discuss business ideas and awarded cash prizes to the most popular ones, shut down later in the month when its parent company filed for bankruptcy. In both cases, the changes were abrupt, and nonprofit groups felt blindsided. This seemed to be happening again last month, when Ning’s decision was made public before the company told its clients.

“We have to ask, ‘what is the cost of free?’ ” wrote Beth Kanter, the author of a blog about how nonprofits can use social media, in an e-mail message.

In the hours and days after Ning’s announcement, the company’s message boards were filled, and it was deluged with hundreds of e-mail messages from teachers and nonprofit groups. It was also presented with an online petition signed by over 1,100 people asking it to waive its fees for educational and nonprofit groups.

Ning says it is taking a step in that direction with its effort to provide free service for teachers and their students. The company also says its premium subscriptions will cost less than they do now. It will offer three tiers of service, ranging in price from $2.95 a month (or $20 a year) to $49.95 a month. Ning will no longer look to gain revenue by placing advertisements on its networks. Jason Rosenthal, the company’s C.E.O., said he expected the increased income from subscription fees to offset the loss in advertising revenue.

The company is announcing its changes on its blog on Tuesday.

The decision to exempt teachers from subscription fees was made after discussions with teachers about the barriers to getting even small amounts of money approved by school systems.

“For public educators, the process for buying anything tends to be so arduous, and we’re going to make it easier to use Ning,” Mr. Rosenthal said.

Manny Hernandez, the author of the book Ning for Dummies who also runs a nonprofit focused on diabetes that maintains two social networks on Ning, was involved in discussions between nonprofit groups and the company as it worked out its new pricing structure. He said he was happy with the outcome, saying that even the paid subscriptions were modest enough to be affordable for small groups.

But he also saw a cautionary tale.

“The big lesson for nonprofits and education technologists alike would be to keep in mind that if you want absolute control over the way a certain platform or solution works, the only way that can be accomplished is by housing it yourself,” he said. “Unfortunately that comes at an additional cost, and that cost has to be taken by someone.”

The big deal is that Facebook and Microsoft are linking their services together. Here’s how it works: your Facebook login will get you into Docs.com, and all of the documents you create on Docs.com will be shared with your FB friends (depending, of course, on your privacy settings). The idea is to make collaborative work with others simpler by drawing on your existing FB connections.

Not a bad idea, really, though I doubt that a cloud version of MS Office will EVER replace the software version. Better to add more sophisticated networking capabilities to the software version if you ask me. But here’s the larger significance: FB and Microsoft are betting on the future of the web. Facebook wants to become the very fabric of the web, the way that Google is now. Think about it: whenever you need to find something on the web, you Google it. Facebook wants to be your first stop on the web–the place you go to find things.

This marks a kind of shift in thinking about information online. Google banks on the idea that information is important in and of itself. Their mission statement, after all, is to organize all of the world’s information. Hence Google Book Search, the project to make millions of volumes available to the public.

Facebook believes that it’s not what you know (or can find): it’s who you know. The most effective way of finding information, from this point of view, is to see what your friends are posting about–not just status lines about their cats, of course, but important news stories, blogs, and, according to this new deal, documents. This idea does have some merit. I remember learning about the death of Michael Jackson and the earthquake in Haiti through FB and not a news organization. Somewhere, one of your friends is online, sharing videos, posting links, and updating his status line.

The truth of this new etymology occured to me this week as I continued my research on my new book. Here’s the story. I need the transcript from a BBC radio program originally aired on March 6, 1991. The BBC electronic archives do not date that far back–essentially, to the pre-Internet days. I was searching online in vain (looking for the what, I suppose) when I thought of something better–contacting the scholars whose works reference the original transcript. I emailed one, and in short order, I had another lead, this time to a collection at Northwestern. I emailed the keeper of that archive, and, while I would like to say she sent me the transcript post haste, I am actually still waiting to hear from her.

I am not entirely convinced that knowledge is inherently social, at least in terms of the web. But incidents like the above go a long way toward validating the importance of who you know.

So, we are going to change our strategy to devote 100% of our resources to building the winning product to capture this big opportunity. We will phase out our free service. Existing free networks will have the opportunity to either convert to paying for premium services, or transition off of Ning. We will judge ourselves by our ability to enable and power Premium Ning Networks at huge scale. And all of our product development capability will be devoted to making paying Network Creators extremely happy.

That hurts. The educational community has embraced the free service–so much so that there is a petition that you should sign if you want to keep using Ning in your classrooms. I am skeptical that the petition will work, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

You can also take a look at the Google Doc co-authored by a number of Ning Network Creators. It outlines some possible alternatives to Ning. I’ll definitely be posting any alternatives I find here, since I have used Ning for multiple classes, conferences, and organizations, including the MCTE Ning. I wonder what the English Companion Ning is going to do?

Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal.

The other trend is moving in the opposite direction: apps for everything. A few days ago, I visited Best Buy to play around with the new iPad. This was my version of a birthday present. Instead of the actual iPad, I get a trip to Best Buy to window shop. The demo iPads had all kinds of sexy apps already plugged in, including a Facebook app, a Google Maps GPS app, and a really cool iBooks app that makes me want to rethink my position on hand-held readers. Many of the apps were free from the Apple store.

The idea here, though, is interesting. Just when we thought we were getting away from software–at least software in the conventional sense–smart phones and the iPad are creating an entirely new market for smaller, cheaper, and more portable applications. As sleek as these apps are–and as clunky as many cloud-based interfaces are–I can’t help but think that true cloud computing has probably seen its day.

That leaves very few choices for streaming hosts, unless I am willing to pay big dollars. Turns out, I am not. So, I use Viddler, one of the few free services that puts no limit on video length and allows 500 MB per upload. As I’ve blogged here before, Viddler also lets you share video with a limited group–in this case, the students in my 331 seminar.

The problem was, I like to use Ning for the seminar, and I couldn’t get the private Viddler videos to embed and play in the Ning. So, students had to keep checking both Viddler and the course Ning. I like things centralized, so this was a vexing problem. So, here’s the work around (from the Viddler forum), in case you want your students to stream large but private videos from your course Ning. Once you have created a private buddy list in Viddler, you should do the following for each video:

Embedding a private video
1. Enable the secret URL (be sure to save).
2. Copy the normal HTML embed code. (instructions)
3. Copy the secret code at the end of the secret URL.
4. In the HTML append /0/secretcode to the player’s source URL.

Example player URL: http://www.viddler.com/player/6e3bf4a7/0/34304303/
Be sure to edit the URL for both the movie PARAM and the EMBED.

This worked really well for me, though the process is a little time-consuming.

I am not a design expert by any means, but I manage with a handful of good tools. One of my favorites is the Color Scheme Designer 3 , which helps me make intelligent color choices for web and print design. Trust me: without Color Scheme Designer, my web sites would be as mismatched as my outfits. I also use a range of old and new software for graphic design: Photoshop for images, Fireworks for vector-based graphics, and most importantly, Snagit to grab screenshots of interesting designs I see on the web. I admit that I am still quite software driven in this regard. Cloud tools such as Aviary Suite are still catching up. I do use two other sites–Rounded Cornr and Roundpic–to help me with web design. And I look around for free downloads–especially for Word templates.

All of these help me create sites such as the Flannery O’Connor Readathon (coming up!) and the new MCTE social network. For a recent design job, I made use of a tool that has been around for a long time: Wordle. I’m not sure why I didn’t know about Wordle, but better late than never. Wordle creates word clouds based on your input or a web site. It then allows you to edit the look and feel of the word cloud. So, here’s a snaphot of a Wordle-based graphic. It’s also a not-so-subtle advertisement for my upcoming spring class. Take a look.

More promising for Michigan (Grand Rapids) is its bid to win Google Fiber, the ultra high speed pipeline project that is currently soliciting pilot locations. Winning would bring real change to West Michigan–including educational change. At the university level, a Gig-per-second data transfer rate (roughly 100 times faster than standard cable or DSL) could mean the almost instant exchange of high-resolution x-rays, for instance, which would make the GVSU and MSU medical schools pretty attractive places to be. Google Fiber would also draw entrepreneurs interested in capitalizing on the high speed connection: imagine a Grand Rapids-based digital movie archive with 10-second download times, for instance.

It would be interesting to see what kind of educational possibilities Google Fiber would create. I wonder, for instance, if distance education would be improved. I can imagine all Grand Rapids schools retrofitted with Google Fiber, creating jobs and allowing for real-time data exchange between all teachers, students, and schools. Or, Google could develop more sophisticated cloud apps such as Google Docs (imagine a Google Docs that looks more like Microsoft Office 2007). There are dozens of other possibilities, so keep your fingers crossed.

Strangely enough for a left-leaning guy, I’m hoping a good corporation like Google could foster educational change, and I’m rooting against Obama and more top-down federally mandated “reform.”

In any case, I found one item on the report to be pretty interesting: a majority of those surveyed believe that the web will improve reading and writing skills. I made a similar argument in my dissertation, suggesting the ways in which the web could enhance deep literary reading. And my book essentially makes the same claim: that the kind of skills/habits we value as literature teachers could be supported and enriched by the web. My co-author and I talk specifically about four main habits: entering the story world, close reading, responding personally to texts, and establishing contextual information. I like that this report supports our ideas. I also like that it counters the prevailing cultural discourse about kids and technology–that their lives are impoverished, not enriched, but digital technology. Here’s the key finding from the report:

What’s most interesting about the video game to book comparison, for me, is not the superficial likenesses between the two media. It’s really more about the experience of playing v. the experience of reading a book. My four-year-old, for instances, experiences complete immersion into video games (Lego Star Wars), identifies with the characters he is playing, and narrates other forms of play in terms of video games. That’s pretty interesting–and more than a little like the experience of reading. So maybe, when a game based on The Divine Comedy comes along, I tend to think, optimistically, that games can be played as a way into (or as a way to enrich) reading. This was one of the assumptions driving my dissertation, and this thinking led to the eventual creation of Literary Worlds , a virtual environment (an enCore MOO) where students can play all kinds of literary texts.

My creation, Thoughtcrime (based on 1984) is being played next week by an English class in Ludington. It ain’t exactly blasting your way through Hell, but hey, we’ve gotta start somewhere.

The second milestone is my switch over to a Macbook Pro. This blog is getting a little narcissistic in its continued focus on my Windows to Mac shift, but I am going to risk another post on the topic. So far, I am very, very pleased with the new Mac. Here are some of my favorite parts so far:

• Design. Slim, shiny, and sleek. I could never understand why the PC clones out there couldn’t design anything approaching the Mac. Now I’m beginning to realize just how well-crafted this computer is. The back-lit keyboard is super responsive, nearly silent, and only minimally raised above the deck of the computer. The touch pad is huge and well-placed. Nothing sticks out of the back or sides–the USB ports are inset and the DVD/CD optical drive is a simple slot. Everything is in its right place.
• Speed. I understand that Mac recently switched to Intel processors; this means that this machine really, really cooks. It boots in about ten seconds and the programs nearly leap off the screen. I know that this will slow as I add programs, but for now, I’m happy with the lightning-quick response time.
• OSX. I was pretty worried about making the transition to a new interface, but OSX is pretty intuitive. I’m still thinking in terms of Windows, essentially translating Mac components into Windows language (the DOCK is essentially the QUICK LAUNCH), but it’s easier than I thought. I’m not sure I’ll ever be as accomplished on OSX as Windows, but only time will tell
• Software bundle. Looking forward to trying Garageband and iMovie sometime soon. I have already noticed that iTunes works much better (and faster) on the Mac than it did on my PC. Everything else is looking good, with the notable exception of Microsoft Office for Mac (2008). As a huge fan of Office 2007, I was disappointed to see that many of its features and functions (such as the ribbon and compare documents) are not really integrated into the Mac version. I picked up a copy of Parallels and am still thinking about doing all word processing in Windows, but that seems like a pain to me. I may just have to deal with the more meager offerings of Mac Office until something better comes along.
• Functionality. There are a few minor irritations, like the lack of forward delete (who wants to use two buttons for this?) and the absence of right-click functions, but overall, I think I’ll like some of the additional functionality (easy program installation and removal) and more drag-and-drop options. Everything does seem to be less accessible, but then again, everything works, so I may not need to access programs as often.

That’s it for now. I promise no more posts on this topic. At least for a few days.

I do know that this is going to be a big transition. I need to clean up my old laptop, turn it back in, and then start plugging new apps into the Mac. Here are a few Windows programs I am hoping to retain via Parallels:

• Adobe Pagemaker for editing web graphics and images
• Adobe Premier CS4 for video editing, if the processor can handle it
• Adobe Acrobat for creating PDFs, unless Mac makes something comparable or better
• Macromedia Fireworks, for vector-based graphics
• Snagit for grabbing screenshots. I think this is available for Mac, but why pay for it twice?

There are also a bunch of little applications that I’ve grown quite fond of over the years.

• Filezilla for easy FTP access to my blog is available for Mac, though I may have to pay for the newest version
• Handbrake, a convenient tool for video conversion, is also available for Mac
• Dropbox for file syncing and backup is also available for Mac (yes!)

I’m pleased to think that I won’t be using Internet Explorer much anymore, though I’ve heard mixed things about Safari. I’ll likely stick with Firefox for web browsing, though I may also try Google Chrome for Mac. For word processing, the Mac will have Office for Mac. I don’t think Mac even tries to compete with Word. Might be nice to get a license for Final Cut Pro sooner or later.

Lastly, I’m looking forward to the design. I’ve been spending time with the strictly functional for far too long. Time to bring in some beauty.

Or, I just want to be on the cool side of the Mac/PC commercials.

Whatever the case, I am now joining the Mac universe, pending approval by university IT. I am looking forward to really learning the operating system, which I’ve used occasionally but never expertly. I’m also anticipating iLife software bundle making video and audio production easier. I know the single-piece case will last longer and be more resistant to cracks than my current laptop. And, I’m hoping to keep all of my Windows software by running Parallels on a partition.

All that said, I hope there are a few Mac versions of software favorites I’ve accumulated over the years–little applications such as Snagit, Total Video Converter, Handbrake, Camstudio, and Filezilla. No sense switching to Windows every time I want to use these.

In any case, if you see a 1999 CR-V with an Obama sticker and an Apple icon in a GVSU parking lot, it will probably be me.

But that’s the least of your concerns. Once you get your movie onto the computer, you need to use video editing software to edit your project and export it to a playable format. Editing is a pain: I use Adobe CS4, a pricey, high-end editor that does what I want it to do (once I figure it out). There are also plain jane editors out there, and a huge number of mid-range software packages. The best of this software will export to nearly any format–.wmv, .flv, .mov, .mpeg, or DVD–in multiple resolutions. But you have to know what is going to work best for your needs.

Then, once you have a format, you need to find someplace to host your video, assuming you are uploading it and not just burning a DVD, which itself can require considerable expertise. Now, you need to pay attention to the format that sites require (mostly Flash, but some are picky about this), the length of your video, and the all-important factor, size. Very few sites allow for both unlimited length and unlimited size. Bandwidth is also important: some sites restrict the amount of traffic your videos can receive. Finally, some sites offer “progressive download,” as opposed to true streaming, requiring viewers to wait for the video to finish buffering before they can view it.

Sigh. Like I said, video is hard. Much, much different than audio. Put the CD in, rip it to MP3, and you are done. Or, download the MP3 from iTunes. About the only hard part of audio on the web is figuring out which one of your computers is authorized to play which iTunes files.

Okay–back to video. Orb seems to solve a number of the above problems. If you are willing to dedicate an old desktop or laptop to your media, Orb might be just the fit for you. Here’s how it works: you install the software on your computer, it finds all of your music, video, and images automatically, and then, provided you leave your computer on and online, you can access all of your media via the web. You can also invite others to view your media with no plugins required. And it looks like you can embed your stuff, too. A couple of quick caveats: your video does need to be in flash format, or it won’t work.

Since I routinely record videos of over 40 minutes and over 1 GB in size, Orb may be a good solution.