Web 2.0 Test Kitchen

Sound wave by betmari is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 As my recent blog entry on Audacity mentioned Ogg Vorbis, I thought I’d try to give an explanation of this technology a shot. Ogg Vorbis is an open source, studio level audio encoding and streaming media. It’s licensed under the GNU General Public License and is supported by a community of developers. The .ogg file format may not be recognizable to most but can be recommended as a substitute for .mp3. It is valued for it’s low bandwidth and benefits to efficient storage. Where Vorbis is the audio compression, Ogg is the container format. Both technologies were developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation.  The combination of Audacity to create and edit files and exporting to .ogg shows how open source solutions can be expertly applied to your next project.

Nerds viciam by Ninha Morandini is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 Soundcloud is a community of music artists, producers, podcasters that deliver content to a wide and diverse audience of listeners. As a visitor to SoundCloud, you can search and listen to tracks. However, by creating an account, you can experience many more features. Just as any Web 2.0 tool, you have the ability to engage with the content and the community. You can openly comment on content, follow accounts, add to personal playlist, as well as share the content over social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, Pinterest) and good old-fashioned email. Interacting with content is unique as comments go directly on the waveform’s timeline and not a comments section per se. It’s as if the audience is directly engaged with the track, just as if you were commenting about something with friends in a face-to-face live setting. This allows the community to specifically point out their interest in the co

For this Lunch Bytes, I’m keeping the the theme of free apps going and we’re looking at Audacity . But what is it? Well, it's a multi-tracking recording and editing software that will help you with your audio projects. Whether it’s laying down, cutting, enhancing, or exporting audio tracks, this software application has kept its user base happy. My Audacity 1.3.6 Mix by Roy Blumenthal is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Licensed under GNU General Public License, this open source software is free to the public. It's also supported by major operating systems (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS). The success of this project is the result of a community of developers and audiophiles working together since 2000. Why pay for studio level software, when Audacity can handle your project's needs. The user interface (UI) is straightforward and intuitive. If you’ve seen timeline applications, it’s just a main panel with a visual representation of sound (waves) by track and allows for

The expression, “too many cooks, spoil the broth”, is an accurate precaution for managing projects. The solution, a hard and fast rule underscoring that information flows to a single project manager to best oversee a job. However, when it comes to a community of practice, where we invite all sorts of contributors, a different set of rules apply. So, let’s form a line in the Web 2.0 Test Kitchen, as it’s all about order and convention. Kars in the Kitchen by Glen Zazove  is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 As far as I can tell, well-engaged communities of practice are cooperative and follow a formal set of policies and applied governance.  The Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities typically have a philosophical understanding or ethos that binds the community similar to a social contract. There are also codes of conduct that clearly identify unacceptable behavior as well as the repercussions. Here are a few policies for FLOSS communities: Drupal Apache Ubuntu

As I approach a produsage project for students in a first year course in Computer Science, I have to think of it in layers. Yes, I know. It's just become too easy to incorporate this food theme, so I'll spare us for a moment. But back to the plan. I'm interested in seeing a collaborative process, where learners describe their experiences with technology and report these back using some form of a blog or storytelling platform. I'm especially interested in how learners can respond or interact with each other in this environment. The sharing process is key to building the community and exchanging ideas but realistically they're extrinsically motivated (by points or grade) to complete their responses to classmates. Perhaps, I can use that to continue the assessment process of learning the instructional materials. Assessments based on students building something together like a knowledge repository based off the topics covered in the course. I'm seeing the pieces c

Sometimes, hybrid skills pay dividends in the form of informing your audience and learning from them. Let's say you want to promote content or survey a group of people to determine the value of the content. I know, happens every day, erright?! These are typically skill sets for the marketing crowd but I assure you there are tools out there for us. It's time to go bananas as we look at MailChimp and SurveyMonkey in the Web 2.0 Test Kitchen. Remembering that email is one of the most frequently employed ICTs, we can lean on MailChimp for marketing-based strategies that promote specific content on other platform or just inform our audience. Choose from a ton of templates configured for specific communications. Also, it's loaded with rich analytics that let you know who on your distribution list is actively clicking and which links they're accessing. It's free to use, when accounts have less than 2,000 emails on their database. Now, if you want to start coll

Not every web URL has a neat and orderly path string. With some links you can wind up with up a ton of characters that are impossible to remember and take up way too much space on a line or lines of text. But beyond the aesthetic issues with some links is the unknown. Did someone actually click on it? So, just like pastries, when it comes to links, we want to add some shortening. Pastries by Andrea Kirkby  is licensed under CC by 2.0 Now, when it comes to shortening URLS, there are a few solutions out there.  Here’s a handful of URL shortening sites available for free on the web: Goo.gl Ow.ly Bit.ly TinyURL With these tools, you not only have the option to shorten an URL (I pronounce it as Earl) but you can also tap into some level of analytics. They can offer link tracking to count clicks. You don't have to wonder if visitors or an audience are actually interacting. I personally like Goo.gl as I can apply the analytics and create a QR code equivalent if I ever need t

You’ve seen them all over your social media account feeds or maybe on some blogs. They’re images, animated gifs, videos and the content is viral.  Some can be funny, others offensive (or even brutally honest). In the Web 2.0 Test Kitchen, we’re looking at memes and customizing them for educational purposes. So, pile it on because it’s all you can eat at the meme buffet. You do realize by now, I have no friends. The message in a meme moves Internet fast. That’s like really fast, guys.  There is a specific weaponized meme employed among trolls, the image macro.  Unlike animated gifs and video, they’re static and have textual content overlaid on some ridiculous satirical image culled from the Web and pop culture zeitgeist. The content is based on pointing out an epic fail or reflecting the meme creator’s perspective. Its purpose is to efficiently communicate a message without any wordiness. In an effort to bring some educational context to using memes, I decided to redirect the

My Birthday Cake 2017 by Dark Dwarf is licensed under CC by 2.0 It’s been another year and you’re ready to celebrate. You’re fortunate enough to enjoy good times with friends and family. You stand around a cake with candles alit and the scene is festive. But before we cue up for the harmony, we may want to seek out a lawyer. Here, in the Web 2.0 Kitchen, we’re liable to learn something about intellectual property and copyright. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Ever go to a franchised chain restaurant and hear the staff sing someone Happy Birthday? It’s some brand spun song and sounds nothing like what you usually hear with family, friends, or at the office (basically in private). The Happy Birthday song, as we know it, has been protected from infringement for quite some time.  The consequences are shelling out bags of cash in the form of royalties to the holders of the copyright. The Happy Birthday song has been in the hands of Warner/Chappell for years. In the process of acqu

With all that we are gifted from the open resources community, how can we contribute and give back? Fortunately, Creative Commons has provided a tool that both serves the commons and is engaging enough for the end user to pony up. With this, the Web 2.0 Test Kitchen is taking a moment to praise CC and stock the commons with our own content. The List , is a Creative Commons developed application that allows users to snap some pics and directly upload. Under the GNU license, it’s a free program for all. You’ll just need a smartphone that meets the technical requirements. As soon as you install and open the app, you'll see the Creative Commons CC logotype. You're in! Once, the app opens you’ll be prompted as to the current needs of Creative Commons with a request for a specific type of subject matter. For example, “Creative Commons needs a picture of…”. You have the choice to accept, move to the next request, or hit "done". All items selected will fall un

I’d like to introduce you to another “freebie for the people” resource. Imagine that you’ve created a first-rate multimedia asset, more specifically, a video or podcast. The video has excellent narration, transitions, titling, or the podcast has clear vocals, but you’re missing that special something. What could it be? You know it! It's the emotive and compelling sound of music. In today’s Web 2.0 Test Kitchen, we’re tuning-in to a music repository for your awesome eLearning digital media. Finding music that is free of copyright constraints and in an immediately accessible format can be a daunting task. Fear not, the Free Music Archive is here to help us out. You can search this vast library of .mp3s that have been curated by actual music mavens that work in the industry. This is where you can find just about any score for your video or podcast, and hold the attention of your audience. Don’t know where to start? You can filter your searches by curators, genres, and how

Since we’re on the topic of Creative Commons this week, the Web 2.0 Test Kitchen will be showing off some free apps that can help you work with content. So, let’s say that you've just downloaded an image(s) from Flickr and you’re ready to remix the content but don’t have a raster graphics editor. You don’t have to shell out $150 for Adobe Photoshop Lightbox or subscribe to their monthly plan whilst contributing to their $4.795B revenue steam. Go to Pixlr, as they offer a free web-based application that meets most of the demands of its pricey equivalent. You can start using Pixlr as soon as you land on the site. This is one of those rare times that I’ve tested an application, where the proprietor does not require you to fill out any forms to get started or to receive your file. There are two accessible releases on the site. The Express version allows you to do simple alterations, resizing, overlays, and add borders while the Editor flavor of the app allows you to complete more

Question, is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Does anyone really care? Well, today, we do. Since, I’d like to underscore perceived individuality, let’s cue the Web 2.0 Test Kitchen theme music. We’re looking at identity and no matter how you slice it; you’ve got to be you. Ugh, was that too much? The two domains a tomato resides in are culinary vegetable or the classification of botanical fruit. The latter is the legitimate answer to the query with much appreciation to botanists for setting us straight. However, am I now expected to see the tomato as a fruit? I don’t think so. I’m not going to mix it up in a fruit salad as the berry they say it is. It’s hard to disassociate its virtues as it’s a recognizable force in a vegetable ratatouille or as the base in a vegetable stew. So, did I miss something? Who are you really, tomato? Now, obviously the tomato is not a sentient being with personal identity issues but allow me to fill in for that role. Let’s consider, who we are o

Who could forget the children’s classic, Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Possibly imagined as a cautionary tale, the protagonist burglar inadvertently exposes the child reader to relativism and harmony. Each new encounter within the bear’s home is an exercise in finding balance. Keep this narrative in mind as we serve up some metaphorical bowls of porridge in our Web 2.0 Test Kitchen. When it comes to our interconnectedness, how much time and attention is just right? The answer is fairly simple, it's relative to the person. We each have our own threshold on sustained attention over a period of time. With regards to social networks, I can honestly say that I haven’t found that balance. I’m either in a prolonged state of connectivity or the esoteric hermit that barely peeks outside his mountaintop cave only to scurry back into obscurity. My work-related connectedness has been demanding and follows Ranie and Wellman’s (2012) assertion that “many workers experience some negative i

While working with Hootsuite and setting up my streams, I noticed the search query modifier tool and was quite impressed. There are a number of logical operators that can be applied to monitor social media data (posts, tweets, grams, etc.). So, for this Lunch Bytes presentation, we’re sampling some kicked up Boolean Soup. Switching up hats here, right quick, and putting on my librarian sombrero. From ye olde information science field, I can recall the main modifiers for search terms. Briefly, they are Quotes to search for the exact term. Example: “hot sauce”. The Parenthesis to combine modifiers together. Example: hot sauce AND (liquid OR dry).  The AND operator will include two search terms in the results. Example: Sweet AND Spicy. The OR operator broadens the search by locating either or both of the terms. Example: “hot sauce” OR “ketchup”. Lastly, NOT can be used to exclude items from a search to limit returns. Example: chefs NOT cooks. Hootsuite has a kicked-up version

I'd like to commit to a segment during the lunch hour that is short enough to make it easily digestible. You already know that I'm locked (or is it flavor sealed) into this food/kitchen/cooking theme. So, welcome to Lunch Bytes .  Let's start the first piece on a topic that intersects with the course. With all of the site accounts that we're signing up for, I'm sure you're thinking about password management. What's the best way to keep track of all those passwords? There are two schools of thought that I'll briefly bring up. Low tech A simple, dedicated notebook to write down your passwords should work. This is almost an immediate go-to as passwords tend to evolve from post-it to a secret notebook early on. Pro: Cheapest and easy to use.  Con: Not available via the Web. High tech For some time now, companies have been hoping your short term memory issues and disdain for writing implements have prepared you for their online solution. Yes, kee

So, I'm trying to find some complementary items to enhance my main ingredient, Twitter. I'm thinking a heavy helping of Hootsuite and a dash of Canva for flavor. Let's take a look at a couple of the goodies from the Test Kitchen pantry. That's just my themed out slang for the Internet. As best as I can gather, Hootsuite will be our preferred social media management tool. I'm sure we can squeeze out some sweet analytics but probably not all options while we're on the no-pay plan. And hey, it's not just for Twitter. This tool can manage multiple accounts across a variety of social networks. Cutting through millions of posts and accounts simply by entering search terms is immediately possible without a learning curve. See below as I track down a previously prepared tweet within a few minutes of setting up an account. Canva , on the other hand, is just a treat. This graphic design web-based app will provide you with zero analytics (as far as I know) and

Has anyone dined at a communal table? You know the scene. You're seated facing absolute strangers. This may sound awkward for some, engaging for others, or simply a matter of function and nothing to fuss about. Maybe, it really depends on how hungry you are. No matter which camp you find yourself in, it would make sense to lean on some pre-web technology skills. I mean, I’m sure you’re going to be as pleasant as possible while trying to enjoy a meal. Harkening back to undergraduate linguistics, I recall the conversational maxims presented by Paul Grice in his highly regarded work, "Logic and Conversation". Applying this criterion for welcomed discourse at our hypothetical communal table (or no-tech social media platform), we succeed in breaking the ice, getting to learn about new people, and not being overwhelmed in the process (I really hope there’s some decent grub involved here). How does this relate to Web 2.0? Well, thanks for asking. We can also tie the maxims dir

Sometimes, inspiration is not enough to knock out a home run dish. You need a strong foundation to build your improvisational skills in the Test Kitchen. A good start involves a nostalgic return to the classics. For me, the fundamentals in working with social media go back to the Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff chef-d'oeuvre, Groundswell: Winning In a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Their best practice, and a tried-and-true social media strategy called the POST method gives us a clear starting point for our campaigns. Here's the rundown: P - People:  We need to understand who our audience is in order to best engage them. O - Objective:  Clear and measurable objectives can help determine if we're successful or not. S - Strategy:  A winning strategy focuses on an effective transaction or value exchange between you and your audience. T - Technology:  Once we understand our people, objective, and strategy, we can then confidently adopt the necessary tools and

I would like to extend a warm and hearty welcome to my fellow technology chefs. It's been quite some time since I've contributed to a blog, and I can't quite remember the last time I published my own. Hopefully, this Test Kitchen will provide the means to discover, experiment, and create some tasty Web 2.0 recipes for all to incorporate into their own cookbook.