Article: Web economy 'to double by 2016'

Web economy 'to double by 2016'
http://digg.com/news/technology/web_economy_to_double_by_2016

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Life in a Day, and why YouTube and Wikipedia matter

Life in a Day is, at its core, a documentary film. But its scope is what sets it apart - it is nothing less than a global snapshot of humanity.

The project asked people all over the world - and in places where "media" is not as ubiquitous as in the West, the film's producers and editors sent cameras - to video record their lives on a specific day: July 24, 2010. The producers expected to receive perhaps 15,000 submissions; they got more than 80,000, a total of 4500 hours of images mundane and extraordinary.

Through a process of cataloging and culling, the editors present the finished film in 1:35. It is available for full viewing on YouTube, and is also now available on NetFlix or DVD.

Life in a Day is sponsored by YouTube, and took advantage of YouTube's massive video servers to collect and catalog the clips. The clips were shot by amateurs - ordinary people - using HandyCams and $100 flash memory cameras, iPhones, what have you. Some clips are grainy, poorly lit, jittery, out-of-focus - it doesn't matter. The content is so compelling in aggregate that the intercutting and juxtapositions become lyrical.

The structure is loose, the themes broad, and there is no plot. The entire film may be summed up as "Life happens." There are funny moments and inspiring ones, profound moments and tragic ones. It's like, you know, life.

I picked out one particular contribution, about an 11-year-old shoeshine boy from Peru. His story is woven through other stories. He appears briefly, we move on to something else, and just about when we have forgotten him, he reappears, framed in his doorway holding his green and white laptop, supplied by the One Laptop Per Child project. This boy lives in conditions the poorest Americans would consider appalling. He works because his mother has died and he must help support his family, and he finds both refuge and escape through Wikipedia. "Wikipedia has everything," he says. "It has stories, and history, and maths, and science." He uses his laptop to play games, to draw, to write stories. "It is my friend," he says, "like my sister."

We leave him, believing - or wanting to believe - he will make it, will succeed, escape the tragic conditions life has dealt him. His worldliness and joie de vive, despite his core sadness, seem well beyond his years, and too strong to fail. That is, if disease or hunger or street thieves after the coins in his pocket don't do him in first. He has connected to the larger world, a world he might never even know of if not for the OLPC and Wikipedia. We in higher education can bemoan Wikipedia's "amateur" nature all we like, but for millions, and soon billions of people, it may be the closest they ever get to a library, or a school.

The internet is not for Americans only, or for the well-to-do. It's not just shopping and friending and World of Warcraft. It is a lifeline, a potential rescue out of desperate conditions, perhaps the only chance millions upon millions will ever have.

It is incumbent upon us - the internet wealthy - to not just focus on how the web can entertain us, or make us richer, but how it can make the world better. Life in a Day helps us remember that, and more.

Article: Codecademy and The White House Announce Code Summer+ Youth Education Program

Codecademy and The White House Announce Code Summer+ Youth Education Program
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/17/code-summer-plus/

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Article: iPad a Solid Education Tool, Study Reports

iPad a Solid Education Tool, Study Reports
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/01/ipad-educational-aid-study/

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Article: can changing how we teach make our kids smarter, more creative?

First the $50 tablet and now self-organized learning... The education revolution is happening in the slums of India, and in America we keep building cathedrals to 1950s-style worker factories and call them "schools."

can changing how we teach make our kids smarter, more creative?
http://blog.ted.com/2012/01/24/new-ted-book-asks-can-changing-how-we-teach-make-our-kids-smarter-more-creative/

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Article: iPads in Education: Wake up and Smell the Future

From what I've seen of it, iBooks Author is a game changing piece of software.

iPads in Education: Wake up and Smell the Future
http://ipadinsight.com/ipad/ipads-in-education-wake-up-and-smell-the-future

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iTunes U Puts Entire College Courses on Your iPad

http://m.gizmodo.com/5877532/itunes-u-puts-entire-college-courses-on-your-ipad

--Brad

Article: Tech giant unveils iBooks2, iBook Author, and upgraded iTunes U

Tech giant unveils iBooks2, iBook Author, and upgraded iTunes U
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/01/19/digital-textbook-world-awaits-apples-education-announcement

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--Brad

Article: U.S. Department Of Education Calls For Action To Develop 21st Century Citizens, Strengthen Democracy | National Service-Learning Clearinghouse

U.S. Department Of Education Calls For Action To Develop 21st Century Citizens, Strengthen Democracy | National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
http://www.servicelearning.org/news-notices/news/us-department-education-calls-action-develop-21st-century-citizens-strengthen-demo

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--Brad

Web Video Gets Real-Time Translation In 50+ Languages

If this works, even kind of sort of a little bit, it's a major WOW from CES!

Web Video Gets Real-Time Translation In 50+ Languages
FAST COMPANY | JANUARY 11, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/4TRgl

Canadian startup Ortsbo's new product can instantly translate Internet video into more than 50 languages in real time. And Gene ... Read more

Infographic: The Growth of Enterprise Mobility

Some really interesting numbers here...

Infographic: The Growth of Enterprise Mobility
READWRITEWEB | JANUARY 11, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/4Tn8f

No industry vertical has been more disrupted by the evolution of the smartphone than the enterprise. Since Apple released the ... Read more

Hybrid HTML5 Apps Are Less Costly to Develop Than Native

Hybrid HTML5 Apps Are Less Costly to Develop Than Native
READWRITEWEB | JANUARY 9, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/4P3kX

It seems like a fairly straightforward question: As a developer, business and enterprise, do I develop Web apps, native apps or ... Read more

Article: More Left Brain / Right Brain Nonsense

More Left Brain / Right Brain Nonsense
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/more-left-brain-right-brain-nonsense/

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--Brad

Why College Is Still Relevant in the Age of Free Information

Why College Is Still Relevant in the Age of Free Information
MASHABLE! | JANUARY 6, 2012
http://pulse.me/s/4JNgV

Hansoo Lee is co-founder and CEO of Magoosh, an online test prep company with products for the SAT, GRE, and GMAT. The ... Read more

Article: Small Demons — Welcome to the Storyverse

A new way to think about books as an immersive experience!

Small Demons — Welcome to the Storyverse
https://www.smalldemons.com/#request-invite

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Article: Meeting the demand for workers with social media skills

Meeting the demand for workers with social media skills
http://www.communitycollegetimes.com/Pages/Technology/Colleges-adjust-program-to-meet-demand-for-workers-with-specialized-online-skills.aspx

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Article: Job Board

This could be fun! Looks like a web designer internship (unpaid) at Fifth Third for the Dragons.

Job Board
http://www.creativesyndicate.org/blog/job-board

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Article: Win $1,500 in ED’s College Net Price Calculator Student Video Challenge | ED.gov Blog

Win $1,500 in ED’s College Net Price Calculator Student Video Challenge | ED.gov Blog
http://www.ed.gov/blog/2012/01/win-1500-in-eds-college-net-price-calculator-student-video-challenge/

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Website Design Contest!

ChooseOhioFirst.org wants you to design their new website!

http://www.chooseohiofirst.org/

The purpose of the website is to recruit talented Ohio students into STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) fields. The website should encourage students to pursue a degree as part of the Choose Ohio First scholarship program.

Do it!