Ellyssa Kroski's Digital Stream

The OEDb has created a mega-list of the best educational podcasts from across the globe in their Skip the Tuition: 100 Free Podcasts from the Best Colleges in the World. Take a course in Quantum Mechanics from Stanford, explore the Brain Structure and its Origins through an MIT class, or learn about 50 Years in Media: Changes in Journalism at Harvard. The list highlights education on-the-go from these fine colleges and universities:

• Stanford
• UC Berkeley
• MIT
• Duke
• Harvard
• Queen’s…

Inside CRM compiles a list of 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on which includes some familiar names such as Del.icio.us and LinkedIn as well as some you may not have heard of including Care2, Ziggs, and BuzzFlash.net. The listing is divided into the following categories:

• Social-Media/Social-Bookmarking Sites
• Professional-Networking Sites
• Niche Social-Media Sites
• General Social-Media Sites
• Job Sites

Less than two weeks ago we saw the Library of Congress partner with the photo-sharing website Flickr in a pilot project called The Commons to display some 3,100 historical photos, (Read our earlier coverage here). Within days of the project launch, the LOC received an overwhelming response. According to their blog, here’s a summary of what happened within the first two days:

• 392,000 views on the photostream
• 650,000 views of photos
• Adding in set and collection page views, there were…

InformationWeek has compiled an extensive guide to sixty lesser-known blogs and websites dealing with technology including some out-of-the-way destinations such as GottaBeMobile, Hackzine.com, and Google Patent Search. The list is divided by subject category into the following sections:

• Apple
• Finance and Technology
• Hardware
• Ideas
• Internet
• Microsoft
• Media
• Mobile
• Open Source
• Security
• Software
• Miscellaneous Tech Blogs
• Tech Careers

Carmine Gallo of BusinessWeek breaks down the elements of an inspirational presentation through his analysis of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ Macworld ‘08 keynote. He offers us the following advice when delivering a presentation:

1. Set the theme.
2. Demonstrate enthusiasm.
3. Provide an outline.
4. Make numbers meaningful.
5. Try for an unforgettable moment.
6. Create visual slides.
7. Give ‘em a show.
8. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
9. Sell the benefit.
10. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

Read more about this …

comScore Widget Metrix has measured and ranked the top ten most engaging Facebook Applications among US users, based on figures from November 2007. The measurement criteria for this ranking requires that Facebook users actively engage with the applications, not just view them. This analysis revealed that in November 2007, over 20 million Facebook users (61% of the Facebook audience) engaged with a Facebook App. Here are the top ten:

1. Top Friends (Slide)
2. Movies (Flixster)
3. SuperPoke!…

The video game industry experienced an exceptional growth rate in 2007, increasing revenues by over 28% and outpacing both music and movies. Console games reigned over their PC counterparts, pulling in nearly 70% of total sales with the the Nintendo Wii console the clear frontrunner.

“The video game industry set the pace over all others in 2007, with record-breaking sales, off-the-charts consumer demand, and innovation reaching from galactic exploration to guitar simulation,” said…

Most of today’s collaboration tools are free to use and easily accessible, resulting in wide adoption rates and increased experimentation. One way that authors are experimenting with these tools is by using them to enhance their writing process. Here are a few examples:

Author Uses Blog Comments to Peer Review Book
Author Noah Wardrip-Fruin, an assistant professor of communication at the University of California at San Diego is using blog comments to provide a peer review for his …

Walt Crawford has just released a new Cites & Insights book - Academic Library Blogs: 231 Examples. This mega-guidebook has 289 pages and 231 examples from 156 college and university libraries in the US, Canada, Australia, Botswana, England, Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales. This latest blogging compendium from Crawford complements his previous, and equally impressive Public Library Blogs: 252 Examples. Both are available for sale on Lulu or CreateSpace.

The University of London’s LASSIE project (Libraries and Social Software in Education), has produced a case study report on Libraries and Facebook. The report provides an overview of Facebook, a brief literature review, details the project’s use of the Facebook social network, discusses Facebook groups, applications, and pages of interest to libraries, and recommends best practices for using Facebook as a librarian.

The OEDb has compiled a report ordering the top 41 accredited online colleges in their OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2008. These rankings which include national, online-only undergraduate colleges which offer degrees are the first of their kind and attempt to provide a quatitative view of this Web-based academic landscape. The rankings aggregate data gathered according to eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate,…

Educause has written a quick primer on how to use the popular self-publishing service, Lulu with their 7 Things You Should Know About Lulu. This handy introduction covers the following topics:

1. What is it?
2. Who’s doing it?
3. How does it work?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Nick Wilsdon of e3internet has pulled together some useful posts on mastering the popular microblogging app, as well as 5 Tips to Make You a Better Twitter User. Wilsdon advises twitterers to:

1. Use the @ Symbol to Reply to Other Users
2. Keep on Top of Replies
3. Get a Reader for Twitter Updates
4. Promote Your Material Responsibly
5. Keep it Interesting For Your Followers

Check out the full article for his commentary.

via Social Media

A new live blogging tool called CoveritLive promises to make covering conferences, meetings, and events in real-time easier and more engaging. The web-based software enables blog authors to stream in live coverage and commentary into a viewer window which is embedded into a blog post. Readers can follow along with live events, submitting questions and comments which the author may or may not choose to post during the event stream. Readers can also interact by answering user polls…

The PBS series Frontline will investigate the reality of teens on the Web in Growing Up Online which airs tonight at 9pm ET.

“In “Growing Up Online,” FRONTLINE peers inside the world of this cyber-savvy generation through the eyes of teens and their parents, who often find themselves on opposite sides of a new digital divide. From cyber bullying to instant “Internet fame,” to the specter of online sexual predators, FRONTLINE producer Rachel Dretzin investigates the risks, realities…

Transparency and participation are hallmarks of today’s Web, but what do organizations and individuals do when users leave negative comments on blogs, social networking websites, message boards, etc.? According to JupiterResearch, only 12% of Internet users have left negative comments about a company or product online, however, these people tend to be influencers and so this is a valid concern. Here are some suggestions for dealing with the negative.

• Stay Informed. Monitor your blog…

As many of you may have heard, The Library of Congress has partnered with Flickr to display their historical photo collections in a social environment. They have uploaded two sets of photos with over 1,500 images each and have invited Flickr users to help describe them by assigning tags to photos. Users can also place comments on the images. The collections include “News in the 1910s” - a collection consisting of sporting events, crime, politics, and entertainment news photos, and “