Archive for November 2005

Stanford Gets Hi-Fi

Posted by: rkassissieh
November102005

Some months ago, Princeton University unveiled the University Channel Podcast, which provided access to hundreds of lectures and speeches from a number of universities. I thought this was a great idea and promptly transferred the first few files to my iPod. When I connected it on the bus, the quality of the MP3 recording was so poor that I couldn't understand the words! I quickly gave up on that podcast.

Stanford recently published a hundred lectures and speeches on iTunes. I have to say: they got it right. The quality is perfect, and I listened to an entire two-hour speech by Cornel West between two days' travel in the car and on the BART.

Hopefully this will encourage more publishers of audio content to up the quality. The better user experience is worth it.

Tomorrow, UHS will record the third of its 30Years school assemblies. If all goes well, we will post it to our web site, hopefully in high resolution audio for perfect listening!

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Where Are All the Tech Directors?

Posted by: rkassissieh
November102005

As I search for good blogs to read, I find plenty from the world of education consulting, higher education, research institutes, and high school classrooms. Notably missing are high school technology directors such as myself. Why? Maybe high school tech directors are not that numerous, purely a product of elite independent schools. Public school districts commonly centralize computer administration in a district office rather than in individual schools. Or perhaps I just have not found them yet -- please let me know where they are! I will keep searching in order to include in my network of bloggers those who most closely share practical and conceptual concerns with me.

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What Is Blogging?

Posted by: rkassissieh
November032005

Blogging is read, think, write (and link) and read some more.
- Will Richardson

An incredibly convenient way to publish stuff on the web
- Jay Pfaffman

[using] frequently modified webpages containing individual entries displayed in reverse chronological sequence
- Herring et al

Starting a blog reminded me what it is like to learn to use a new, technology-based communication medium. (This is most valuable training when part of my job is to repeatedly teach fundamentals to novice users.) Since it is still becoming familiar to me, I often wonder what I am actually doing when I blog. At times, it is variously vehicle for self-reflection and a communication device for sharing tech-related ideas with others.

Blog purists point to the unique type of communication that happens when a community of bloggers actively read and link to each others' blogs. (It took a while for me to feel this myself.) At the same time, others (especially youth) have appropriated the blog format for other purposes, such as online diaries and standalone web pages. Herring and co-authors insist that it is elitist and sexist to not acknowledge this as blogging too.

We need both points of view. Enthusiasts promote one concept of blogging that has demonstrated value, but others find different uses that may end up being just as valuable someday.

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