Blurts

Strange Fall in Grand Forks. There was a heavy leaf drop last night with very little wind. The leaves are green. I wonder if the rapid temperature change we have experienced – record warmth in September and now a hard freeze in the low 20s – is responsible. Wrong camera for capturing the effect, but the best camera is the one you have with you (leo).

This NYTimes article was written for parents with the intent of helping them prepare their children to benefit from YouTube. Educators interested in YouTube might also benefit from a review of these suggestions.

I am now writing more within Google docs than with any computer-based program. It just makes sense to me to be able to access from different locations and machines. I also have based saved a couple of times by the document history feature.

I like the idea of sharing with colleagues. I must admit that I get few takers when I offer this feature. Patience is a virtue.

I see today (another account from MacWorld) that Google offers a new way to share. You can set access to a folder and anything you add to this folder is available to those you designate. This seems handy if you work consistenty with the same group.

I opened up Google docs to see how difficult it was to implement this feature and I was greeted by a graphic explaining just what I would have to do. No hiding this new feature.

I have not found iTunes U that useful for assisting me professionally, but I have found things that are quite interesting and offer material relevant to some of my hobbies. I enjoy listening to jazz and have a few attempts to explore beyond the standards. The Ken Burns series of Jazz was a start and I highly recommend this DVD collection. My new find is the iTunes U series by Georgia State faculty member Dr. Gordon Vernick – History of Jazz (just visit iTunes U and search). You can download the entire collection to your iTunes account. I guess it is all learning in the end.

A recent ruling by the FCC indicates –

The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

I guess I have on occassion had something positive to say about a product or service (and sometimes some negative things to say). i am, or at least I consider myself to be, a blogger. I can assure you that none of my product or service related comments have been financially motivated. Or, if so motivated, none of my comments qualify in meeting the requirement – “receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product”.

This NY Times article examines the controversy surrounding Google’s plan to digitize “the world of books”.

This is not just about out of print books anyone –

Many scholars initially sided with Google in 2004 when its scanning project, originally designed to create a kind of universal card catalog, drew lawsuits from the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. But the settlement transformed Google’s plan into something far more ambitious.

Online users of Google’s digital library and store would get free access to 20 percent of any book and be able to pay to read the rest. Every library in America would be able to offer free, full access to Google’s library at one terminal. And universities would be able to purchase access to the entire collection. Revenue would be split among Google, authors and publishers

As a textbook author, I am somewhat unclear as to what this approach would offer and what content it would cover. If a university library gets the entire collection, would that mean that a previous edition of one of my books would be available via library computers? One could debate the book business forever and clearly change is afoot in the textbook area, but without inventives somewhere quality instructional materials may represent the next educational crisis. I am thinking we may see a form of government subsidy via grants.