johnhendron.net: hendron’s digest - a weblog

It’s kind of funny, I think, that some websites (still) in 2008 don’t work. Google has recently released guidelines “for webmasters” on how to make sure their sites work across all browsers. (link).

The big surprise?

• Test your site in different browsers.
• Write good, clean code.
• Specify encoding (Unicode, please)
• Consider (!) accessibility

Several years ago these were, except for the third, the method I used to evaluate websites in a study I did. And magically, if you wrote good code (and didn’t depend upon lackluster visual tools to write your code for you, ahem, FrontPage), you were mostly out of the park.

Second, you’ll force yourself to write good code when you take accessibility into account. And suddenly, those graphic-heavy, no “alt” attribute websites, disappear.

Thanks Google. But web pundits have been telling us these tips for years. Is everyone listening?

I haven’t played at all with SketchUp since NECC, but today I came across a plugin that will work with the free or Pro versions to produce visually-stunning results.

The plugin is called SU Podium, and is worth a look. I haven’t used this plugin–but I did want to point it out for those interested in Sketchup but un-impressed with the rendering results.

Today during a professional development session with our school administrators, I shared this video called Epic 2015, and we had a discussion that followed. I asked what the technology depicted felt like to them, and then questions about what today’s children who would be living during that time (and perhaps graduating) should be prepared for.

One of the things depicted in the video that “forecasts” what’s happening in the future (some of it funny, some of it true) is something called “The Google GRID.” Among other things, it offers a space to share your knowledge.

Today (for real), Google releases what some are calling a competitor to the Wikipedia: Knol. What’s different is, authorship of an article is maintained. The article is by someone.

I thought it funny, since the make believe “GRID” was so much like today’s real “Knol.” And worse yet, many of the “2015″ technologies are already here today (albeit in some less mature forms). Combine Twittervision with iPhone 3G with an online aggregator service like NetVibes, and you have all the movie’s predictions… 7 years early (save for the court cases and the fall of the NY Times).

About Knol specifically, I like the model at Wikipedia better; I like the concept of crowdsourcing and the crunchy-granola flavor of the wiki. While Knol promises collaboration, it is more traditional in its approach.

And that’s why Google likely did it: it’s not just “another” place to dump content. They’re going for the more “trusted,” traditional route as a competitor. Who wants to write some Knol articles?

In a new article that appears in the Atlantic comes the following:

Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

I just posted earlier on this topic, sort of, at David Warlick’s blog, in response to his adding of a formatting bar to his so-called Blogmeister tool. I approved of the decision, but believed that online writing and reading deserves pedagogical time that likely it does not.

To wit, the famous Friedrich Nietzsche had this to say:

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

A new tool deserves new thought on what it does well. How it affects our communications, for sure. How does it affect our ability to learn?

Of course this is important. To wit:

Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today. Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us

I don’t worry so much as the author of this piece, Nicholas Carr does, about losing my humanity by treating my brain like a computer. As educators, I think we need to harness the capabilities of the Net for its benefits. And some of those benefits may be new ways in acquiring knowledge and thinking. This isn’t necessarily bad, just because it’s different.

But it does remind me of another thing I read recently, at Jason Kottke’s blog, about what would happen if we were to go back 1000 years or so in a Benelux country. Would I survive? Yes, I’m too dependent upon Google. But when Google is ubiquitous as clean water, I think we’ll be okay.

Until time travel is possible, that is.

Technology keeps getting… easier.

Vidnik is a new Mac application that lets you record from your built-in iSight camera, and posts the video straight to YouTube. They give the idea of keeping a video diary.

Keeping a video diary intrigues me, but I also don’t always like to watch videos. Sometimes the written word wins: i.e., I can listen to music while I read blogs. Second, I don’t always sound succinct or lucid if I just “hit record.” Maybe you don’t either. And does that matter, sitting side-by-side more polished writings and presentations?