Tag: technology-tools

OpenID

A recent post to the EDUCAUSE blog nicely sums up the challenges of being a participant (citizen?) in the Web 2.0 world. Trying to navigate through a variety of tools and the resulting multiple identities can be a hindrance to really exploring all that Web 2.0 has to offer. And to compound it, some of those identities are personal and some are professional…and some are a blend which blurs it all even more. Lines that I had firmly drawn years ago to separate those worlds now seem to have shifted, which causes me to ponder just how transparent I want my life to be.

But back to the more technical challenges. A micro-level example of the problem of multiple profiles/identities is on our own campus. One of the most common questions I hear is “When will I be able to have just one login?” I think that the powers that be are very aware of this issue, and it is being addressed as part of an Identity Management initiative (I’ll add a link to that soon as I can find it).

A response to that post has led me to read more about OpenID, a phrase I’ve seen but only now am appreciating as a concept. Simply put, “OpenID means the elimination of multiple user names and passwords and a smoother, more secure, online experience.”

The notion of solving this at the macro-level is exciting, and I look forward to watching its development.

Top 100 Tools

The Centre for Learning & Resource Technologies recently published a list of  Top 100 Tools for Learning. I’m not familiar with this organization though reading up now. The list is dynamic and routinely updated based on Top 10 Tools lists submitted by a variety of folks from the corporate world, higher ed, K-12, other non-profits, consultants and so on.

As I scroll through the list, I find myself thinking in terms of myself (do I use these tools?) and my Student Affairs colleagues (do they, generally as a group, use these tools?).

The top five: Firefox, de.licio.us, Skype, Google Search, and WordPress.

Me: Yes (daily), Yes (daily), Yes (occasionally), Yes (daily), and No (Blogger and others)

My SA Colleagues: Some, Probably Not, Probably Not, Yes, and Probably Not.

This isn’t surprising to me, or really even disappointing. It is so hard to keep up with the technology, especially for those of us who are digital immigrants. Many university administrators are probably unfamiliar with many of these tools, and it is my job to keep our SA folks up to date about these tools. First, how do students use them? Second, how can we use them to deliver courses, student services, and developmental programs? Third, how can we use them for our own individual productivity?

This list might be good material for initial self-assessment for workshops related to these tools.

Bacn

My ten-year-old daughter loves visiting the NC State campus. Her favorite spot is Clark Dining Hall. Why, you ask? Two words: Unlimited bacon.

But this Bacn (yes, without the letter “o”) ain’t the same as the tangy, salty, crunchy, chewy manna from heaven (I like bacon, too). Nope, this is the latest techno-hip-buzzword that may or may not make it to mainstream dialogue. But I found it fun nonetheless (cuz…gee…it’s bacon!)

Bacn (first cousin to Spam) is, according to the folks at Bacn2, “email you want, but not right now.” Geeks are posting online their favorite strategies to deal with Bacn, such as creating an  email folder with a label like “Later” or “When I Have Time.”

Want to learn more? Just do a search on “bacn” with “email” in your search window and you will be surprised and likely amused with the results.

I’m laughing now, but will be watching to see if this term truly becomes part of our lexicon. (And by the way, Sausage is next!)