uncharted learning

360 degree images from 2011's Union Protests

2011-03-07T19:37:00.000-05:00

http://www.tourdeforce360.com/madison_protest/

In mid February, 2011 Wisconsin's State capitol became "ground zero" in the battle between Republicans and Democrats on the way forward, fiscally and politically in the United States. The debate has attracted tens of thousands of protesters daily to the capitol (100,000 on Saturday, February 26th). Photos and video shown around the world illustrate what is happening but can't convey the feeling of being there. 360VR can, especially when viewed in full screen.

Come. Immerse yourself and experience this history making event.

[This text is taken from the website]

Everything is A Remix

2011-03-03T06:34:00.001-05:00

[Steve's note: Two videos up now, the third is due later this year. Each is about 10 minutes; some contain film clips from movies, depending on your child's sensitivity you may wish to preview.]

http://vimeo.com/14912890

Remixing is a folk art but the techniques involved — collecting material, combining it, transforming it — are the same ones used at any level of creation. You could even say that everything is a remix.

HOWTO Replace Zefty with GDocs [crosspost]

2011-02-27T08:37:00.002-05:00

[Edit: Zefty's back up.]

I used Zefty pretty extensively with my kiddo. He liked being able to see and keep track of what he earned, while I liked not having to have (or worry about) cash. Not to mention that it really helps when those taking care of the child aren't always in the same location - such as grandparents, divorced or separated parents, or even savvy babysitters.

Zefty's been down for half a week now, and I'm starting to think that it's not coming back. Luckily, I used it enough that I remember his balance... and I realized that I could recreate the essentials using Google Docs. Here's a link to a public copy of what I made:

http://bit.ly/gYdp4ghttp://bit.ly/gYdp4g

The real copy has edit permissions for his mother and I, and view permissions for him only. While the interface isn't quite as kid-friendly, it's the big G, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Claiming Their Citizenship

2011-02-25T17:02:00.001-05:00

http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/africanamerican/index.html

Concurrently, the history of African American women is unique because these women occupy a nexus of two groups of marginalized people, women and African Americans. This unusual position has afforded these women a peculiar perspective on American citizenship in the areas of labor, politics, entertainment, academics, sports and religion to name a few. From the era of enslavement, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Progressive era, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement and the close of the twentieth century, black women have fought racism, sexism, classism and other obstacles in seeking to establish their humanity, womanhood and citizenship. Their story is a multi-layered tale of travail and triumph. These women befriended white men and women, while simultaneously fighting rampant streams of white supremacy, sexual violence and internal dissension and ever-present stereotypes.

[This text is taken from the website]

Google Family Safety Center

2011-02-21T16:06:00.001-05:00

http://www.google.com/familysafety/

We know how important it is to protect and educate young people on using the Internet and want to provide all of our users with a safe experience.

When it comes to family safety, we aim to:

* Provide parents and teachers with tools to help them choose what content their children see online
* Offer tips and advice to families about how to stay safe online
* Work closely with organizations such as charities, others in our industry and government bodies dedicated to protecting young people

[This text is taken from the website]

Sweet Home 3D

2011-02-19T10:13:00.001-05:00

http://www.sweethome3d.com/index.jsp

Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application
that helps you place your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview.

[This text is taken from the website]

Project Implicit

2011-02-12T08:22:00.001-05:00

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/

Here you will have the opportunity to assess your conscious and
unconscious preferences for over 90 different topics ranging from pets
to political issues, ethnic groups to sports teams, and entertainers
to styles of music. At the same time, you will be assisting
psychological research on thoughts and feelings.

Sessions require 10-15 minutes to complete. Each time you begin a
session you will be randomly assigned to a topic. Try one or do them
all! At the end of the session, you will get some information about
the study and a summary of your results. We hope that you will find
the experience interesting and informative.

Famous Writers and Books in the Public Domain

2011-02-07T20:49:00.001-05:00

http://cinemoose.com/famous-writers-and-books-in-the-public-domain-a-g/

Following my last post about adapting creative works in the public domain, I thought I would follow up by providing a list of famous creative properties in the public domain. This is by no means a complete list, merely a starting point for entrepreneurial screenwriters and filmmakers. Please remember that this list is for the original stories by these authors. Many of these works have already been produced for film and television and contain famous story elements particular to that adaptation that are not in the original works. Those story elements are not in the public domain. Only the original story from the original work by these authors.

Free Income Tax Videos from H&R Block

2011-02-04T09:42:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/hrblock

For those of us in the United States, it's become income tax time again. H&R Block has tax advice videos up on YouTube, covering a wide range of topics. They are, of course, somewhat biased towards one using H&R Block, but still contain a lot of information in easy-to understand formats.

You want the "Know Your Taxes" and "Tax Tips" sections.

Learn to Code With Lifehacker

2011-01-31T18:55:00.001-05:00

http://lifehacker.com/5744113/learn-to-code-the-full-beginners-guide

This is easily one of the most informative and interesting Lifehacker originals in a while - a quick and dirty introduction to writing programs. You can read and follow along online, or you can download a handy PDF. Good stuff!

Wex: Law Online

2011-01-22T10:13:00.002-05:00

http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex

Wex is a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Wex entries are collaboratively created and edited by legal experts.

[This text is taken from the website]

When to Use BCC with your e-mail

2011-01-19T16:50:00.000-05:00

I recently got a message from a friend who had suffered from a computer virus. He wrote everyone to let them know he'd had a virus, and that it had sent spoof e-mails that seemed to come from him.

Except that he sent it with everyone's e-mail address in the "To" field.

Fifteen messages, four party invites in a different state, an attempt to get "the chapter girls" together, and dozens of people saying "take me off this list", I had to say SOMETHING.

The below is my reply. It's also, pretty succinctly, why I think the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field should be used in e-mail.

I hope you find it amusing and informative.

-Steve

======

I think it's blindingly obvious to everyone that this carbon copy list has a bunch of people from different social circles.

Rather than continue to have folks say "remove me from this list" (when, um, it's not a list), how about all the rest of us

1) Reply to only those who we KNOW have a stake in our message (for example, all of us who keep getting these). Yes, that means that you should probably check that invites to "Chapter Girls" go to, um, GIRLS, in your Chapter.

2) Always use BCC (like I've done) so that we don't keep letting "Reply All" send messages to everyone. Whether forwarding an e-mail, inviting friends, or letting others know your account has been hacked, use the BCC field. A longer explanation why is here: http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/web1/bcc_field.htm

3) Quit hitting "reply all" when complaining about being included in the carbon copy (and NOT using BCC either, which makes the original problem continue). It's not a listserv, and even if it was, 99% of the people on the list wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about removing someone.

It's the 21st century, and presumably we're all grownups who have some familiarity with e-mail.

Let's act like it.

My Princess Boy

2011-01-18T16:57:00.002-05:00

http://www.myprincessboy.com/index.asp

My Princess Boy is a nonfiction picture book about acceptance. It tells the tale of a 4-year-old boy who happily expresses his authentic self by enjoying "traditional girl" things like jewelry, sparkles or anything pink. It is designed to start and continue a dialogue about unconditional friendship and teaches children -- and adults -- how to accept and support children for who they are and how they wish to look.

[This text is taken from the website]

The List of Common Misconceptions

2011-01-13T09:07:00.001-05:00

[Steve's note: The first link is a comic accurately illustrating why I'm posting this.]

http://xkcd.com/843/

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions

This list of common or popular misconceptions describes documented ideas and beliefs which are fallacious, misleading, or otherwise flawed; however, these ideas have been repeated as though they are true.

Notalon - Note Taking Simplified

2011-01-10T14:45:00.000-05:00

https://bitbucket.org/saketh/notalon/wiki/Home

Notalon is note-taking, simplified. Its aim is to streamline your
focus on taking notes on books and during class lectures. It is
cross-platform and free (though donations are appreciated).

[This text is taken from the website]

Nonpartisan explanation of US healthcare reform

2011-01-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

http://healthreform.kff.org/

http://healthreform.kff.org/timeline.aspx

Stay up-to-date on the latest studies and developments on (United States) health care reform. Of especial interest, the year-by-year timeline of coming changes.

Open Teacher Language Software

2011-01-05T16:50:00.001-05:00

http://openteacher.sourceforge.net/

OpenTeacher is an opensource application that helps you learning a foreign language!

Enter a list of words in both a known and a foreign language, and OpenTeacher tests you.

OpenTeacher 2.0 has the following features:
- Smart question asking
- Think answer, shuffle answer and repeat answer input modes
- Easy symbol and Greek input
- Read and write T2K (Teach2000) and wrts files
- Save and open your online WRTS lists
- Support for synonyms
- Printing your word lists
- Available in English, Spanish, German, Dutch and Hungarian

OpenTeacher 2.0 is available for Windows and Linux

[This text is taken from the website]

Virtual Vietnam Memorial Wall

2011-01-03T19:47:00.002-05:00

http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

Vietnam War casualties listed by Home of Record.

The name you seek may not be under the city you expect.
The state index pages are based on each casualty's Official Home of
Record. The home of record may be the place the person entered
military service or that person's residence at that time. The home of
record is not always that person's birthplace, home town, or place of
high school graduation. If you don't find the name where you expect,
please also look under nearby larger cities or see the index pages by
last name.

[This text taken from the website]

Net Neutrality - Explained by Lifehacker

2010-12-29T17:08:00.001-05:00

http://lifehacker.com/5720407/an-introduction-to-net-neutrality-what-it-is-what-it-means-for-you-and-what-you-can-do-about-it

Lifehacker comes through with one of the simplest and easy to understand guides on Net Neutrality I've seen to date. With it becoming a hot issue for the US government, it's well worth your while to take a look at it now.

"We've dropped the net neutrality term around here a few times, but you may not entirely understand what it's all about. Here's a primer on what net neutrality is, how it might affect you, and what you can do about it."

You can find more in-depth information at Real Net Neutrality.

Secret Builders

2010-12-27T21:01:00.000-05:00

http://secretbuilders.com/

SecretBuilders is a virtual world for children 5 to 14 years old powered by a web 2.0 community of children, parents, educators, writers, artists and game developers. On SecretBuilders, children will explore virtual lands, undertake quests, play games, maintain a home, nurture a pet, and interact with their friends. Three features which form the backdrop for SecretBuilders distinguish it from other online worlds:

* Children learn through immersing themselves in the stories, themes, and concepts from the best in literature, arts and humanities. They will interact with famous historical and fictional figures and be introduced to content and characters from world civilization and the great thoughts and ideas of human creativity.

* Children will create this site, not just consume it. They are directly involved in creating this world with their ideas, critiques and contributions on virtually every aspect of the site and many of their ideas will be implemented!

* Children publish their works – writings, art, videos – making SecretBuilders their own personal store of creativity. They can invite friends and family to view their works, and comment upon them. Seeing their works published and enjoyed by others instills tremendous for self-confidence as well as motivation to do more.

[This text is taken from the website]

Exploring Census Data

2010-12-15T22:16:00.002-05:00

[Steve's note: Fascinating Stuff from the NY Times.]

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

Mapping America: Every City, Every Block
Browse local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009.

The Boardgame Remix Kit

2010-12-14T16:35:00.001-05:00

[Via lifehacker]

http://www.boardgame-remix-kit.com/

The Boardgame Remix Kit works with all the great family favourites. It's got twenty five games that you can play using the boards and pieces you've already got.

As well as smoothing out or speeding up a standard game, the kit can turn Monopoly* into a family poker tournament, Trivial Pursuit* into a surrealist parlour game; Scrabble* into fight between a wasp and a robot, and Cluedo* into a zombie invasion.

[This text is taken from the website]

Blanket Yoga

2010-12-10T17:58:00.000-05:00

[Forwarded to me by @dizney_93]

Blanket Yoga

How's the weather where you are? I'm just about ready for winter. The trees outside our house have shed their leaves, revealing the abandoned crows nests in their branches, and yesterday the first innocent little snowflakes floated down. How quiet and peaceful they look, completely unaware of the utter chaos they'll create on the south England road network once there are enough of them.

I know the modern economy can't afford to stop for sonow, but wouldn't it be nice if we could all just slow the heck down for winter? Just wrap ourselves in blankets, grab a good book and a mug of tea, and stay put?

I have a special gift for you today that will allow you to at least have a taste of put, even if, like me, you'll have to run around buying presents, go to work through the snow and brave the roads and airports of the world to see your family.

It's Blanket Yoga, and it's the perfect winter work-out because you can do it indoors, wrapped up in a toasty warm and comfortable blanket.

[This text taken from the website]

Cybrarian

2010-12-09T08:50:00.000-05:00

http://www.cybrary.org/

The main purpose of this site is to supply child-friendly sites for kids in grades three through eight on a variety of curriculum oriented subjects. Having been a Media Specialist [which is a fancy name for school Librarian] for many years, I have seen kids looking for the simplest items on the Internet and taking hours to accomplish what one book + ten minutes might have done. There is certainly a need for reference books but it is not always practical. Most people don't own one of those thousand dollar sets of printed encyclopedias or a copy of the latest almanac. The Internet lets us use up to date information. Hopefully, this site will make school information easier to find so that you can get to the stuff that's really important--like Gameboy.

[This text is taken from the website]

Spacelog

2010-12-06T21:58:00.001-05:00

http://spacelog.org/

Read the stories of early space exploration from the original NASA transcripts. Now open to the public in a searchable, linkable format. (Need I say more?)