Google

Protest the Death of Google Lively

To me, the news of Google pulling the plug on Lively came way too soon.  Sure, Lively didn’t set the virtual world on fire, but there were some great ideas in there.  It seems like it was also starting to catch on with Educators.  And now they are pulling the plug?  How many other dead Google products are still in development?

A group called the Digiteen Dream Team is staging a protest to see if they can keep Lively afloat.  The really interesting thing about this team is who they are:

We are ninth grade students at Westwood Schools in Camilla and started this blog to speak out about the fact that Google Lively is shutting down.

Yep – not a bunch of geeky old people like us EduGeek moaning the death of some obscure tool that we never actually use – 9th grade students.  But that is not all –  they also blog about “Encouraging Corporate Digital Citizenship, Sharing How We Think Virtual Worlds Can be Used in Schools, and Creation of a Digital World to Teach Digital Citizenship to Students.”  Wow.  Even if you can’t make their protest (or don’t care about Lively that much – even though you should), at least check out their blog and read their thoughts on several virtual worlds – fascinating stuff.

Visit Ancient Rome Thanks to Google

Not only does Google own the future, they are starting to take over the past, too. But when it is this cool – who’s going to complain? Now you can visit a virtual re-creation of ancient Rome inside of Google Earth. Here are links to the official Google page and a BBC article about this project:

http://earth.google.com/rome/index.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7725560.stm

There was obviously some serious brain power and time behind this – but what a great educational opportunity for many different disciplines – not only history, but literature, art, cultural, and even religious studies. Hopefully, this will catch on and we will see more re-creations like this – maybe even ones tied to virtual worlds like Second Life? One can dream.

For those too busy (or impaired by archaic admin restrictions) to be able to go in and check this out, here is a video that gives you a preview:

Web3.0 Watch Part 2: Google Chrome

Google always seems to grab the headlines. There are others working on Web 3.0 stuff, but few seem to grab attention like Google does. Now Google has gone in to the browser market with a product called Chrome.

Yeah – it’s a pretty lame name. Not sure what they were thinking there. But what does this have to do with Web 3.0 you might ask? There are some interesting features under the hood of this new browser that seem to be opening doors for Web 3.0 to become a reality. The first thing I noticed when trying out Chrome was how much they have tried to make the browser disappear from your screen. While I love many Firefox plug-ins, sometimes they start taking up too much screen space. If cloud computing becomes a reality, the browser will need to disappear as much as possible so people won’t get confused about which button/link to click.

Another way that Chrome is bridging the gap to Web 3.0 is by the creation of Application shortcuts. You can create a link to Gmail, Google Docs, or any other web-based application right on your desktop, start menu, or quick launch bar. While we all know that we could have done that for years now – I am betting few did because of the time involved. Chrome simplifies that process and makes your favorite Web 2.0 tools seem more like a real desktop tool. Well, at least when there is an Internet connection, that is.

There are also some major improvements behind the scenes and under the hood, all designed to make browsing faster, more stable, and more optimized for use with AJAX-powered Web 2.0/3.0 sites. There is a really long (almost never-ending) comic story online about all of the technical changes they made. Interesting, even if a little long. Google Chrome is a good start – but will this go somewhere or join Lively in the creepy “Google Graveyard of Abandoned Ideas”? Only time will tell.

(Lively is not even compatible with Chrome – kind of telling don’t ya think?)

Google Docs now does surveys

Thanks (again) to Ramblings of a Technology Coordinator for another great find!

Did you know that Google Docs now supports survey-creation with data collection? I apologize if this is old news, but Google has created a very nice, very easy interface for creating and publishing surveys. Basically, you create a blank spreadsheet within Google Docs, click on the Forms tab at the top, and it steps you through creating your survey/form. With six question types to choose from (text, paragraph text, multiple choice, checkboxes, choose from a list, and scale 1-n), you can create a simple yet very functional survey.

What I especially like about Google Doc’s survey tool is the ability to embed the survey directly into your html page by using iframes. Below, you’ll see the EduGeek Journal survey I created. Please take a sec to answer the questions if you get a chance. Google gave me the code to copy/paste directly into my blog posting. Very nice. You also have the ability to email the survey directly to a list of people, and at any time you can stop accepting survey responses.

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Best Google Earth Interface Videos

The Google Earth Blog posted yesterday a bunch of video clips of different ways to interface with Google Earth. Thought this was just too interesting for just a twitter/jaiku post. Enjoy!

Best Google Earth Interface Videos

Web3.0 Watch Part 1: Google Lively

Yes, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 are both hype buzzwords to some extent. They do get over-used by some. But so do “brand new”, “limited time”, and other terms like that. We don’t discount the validity of the meanings of those terms just because they might be hype or buzz. The same should be true of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. They are legitimate concepts with validity (and actual definitions, despite what some say).

So, as new Web 3.0 stuff comes out, I want to take a minute and take a look at them and how they might effect education. Google has created a new virtual world service called Lively. The good: it embeds in websites. Yes – in websites. You do have to download and install a program for it to work, but after that – it’s all web based. It’s simpler than Second Life. Fewer options and easier to learn controls. You can embed YouTube videos and Picassa photos in to 3-D objects. You get a free room (which can be private). There is already a FaceBook app. In fact, there is a lot of free stuff.

The bad: not much. If you are a control freak, there is not near as much customization possible as Second Life… but more is coming. It is still a little clunky when compared to Second Life. It only works on Windows XP and IE or Firefox (for now). Chatting is only text based. Most of these are good trades for education, where simplicity can actually be a plus in emerging technologies.

The immediate use for education is obvious – embed a private room in your LMS or blog for class chat. You can even embed photos or YouTube videos for discussion. You can also let other users of your room edit objects in your room – which could greatly help you share projects.

Here is a room I created (hint: download Lively first, then create an account, THEN enter the room):

Teaching a Class Entirely Through YouTube

I read an interesting article on Wired Campus today called “What Happens When a Course Is Taught Entirely via YouTube?” The basic idea was that a class was taught entirely through YouTube – class interactions were filmed and posted, discussions happened through comments, etc. Of course, this design does violate just about every Instructional Design standard in the world. Not surprisingly, the instructor felt like it was a failure.

I have to say – of course it was. Why design a course entirely in YouTube, only about YouTube? Here are some of my thoughts on this:

  • Why not make it on something more interesting than just YouTube? Why not try to do something on art, history, culture, or a hundred other topics more suited for the medium?
  • Why not use Google Videos in the first place – and keep the videos private?
  • Why not use Google Groups to discuss the videos, and upload other assignments?
  • When you use a site that was not built for social presence, of course you are going to lose social presence and immediacy. Try using some tools that can increase social presence, like maybe Google Sites?

Just taking these suggestions in to account would have negated most of the criticisms on the accompanying blog post. Most of these reflections I would have predicted before the class even happened, but I think this was still an interesting experiment. I am interested to hear if anyone has used Google Sites to teach a course? I am setting something up in there now, and it is an interesting free tool.

Google for Educators

While it doesn’t seem to have as much of a social networking focus as the soon-to-be-launched Yahoo! Teachers, Google for Educators is already up and ready for anyone to use. It’s been around for a while, but I thought I would highlight it here since we haven’t yet (see Katrina’s post about Yahoo! Teachers for a reference on some of the interesting features being developed there).

What you really have with “Google for Educators” is existing Google tools highlighted for Educators and some nice extra information. They have an email list that tells you about upcoming GfE news, a good set of pages that tells how each tool (like Gmail, Docs, Page maker, etc) can be used in education (here is a good example of ideas for using Blogger in class), free posters for your classroom (including this nice, simple tips for better Google searches), and a discussion group for educators.

With Yahoo! also now creating tools for teachers, it could be interesting to see where competition might take both products. If Google takes this seriously, and really starts to integrate some of it’s existing tools, they could get a good lead in this area. But that will probably only happen if they develop an interest in it.

(Follow-up) Google Investing in Facebook?

(As my Dad would say…) I’m not one to say I told you so, but…

The tech and investment worlds are abuzz as Google and Microsoft battle it out to see who will get to invest a significant chunk of change in Facebook. (Read more here.) We should find out in the next day, but according to the article, all indications point to Google moving in on this extremely popular social networking site.

Google on the Brain

I was a bit surprised today when I saw Matt’s Jaiku post about Google buying Jaiku. (See Jaiku’s announcement and Google’s blog post.) Now, I know this is a conversation that’s been going on a long time now and has been a concern for many, but it still just really amazes me and kind of catches me off guard at just how much of my everyday online experience occurs on a google.com domain or through some site that’s owned by Google.

And these are just a few of the things I/we do every day. I’m impressed that Google went with Jaiku instead of the much more publicized Twitter. Proof (to me, at least) that they’re going for quality. With this in mind, I’m wondering what’s next?

  • Will Google snatch up its own share of Facebook — just enough to edge out Microsoft? Sure Google has Orkut, but Facebook is huge … and growing exponentially… and follows the same clean and simple design that Google’s known for.
  • Will Google somehow woo Flickr users to its own online photo storage tool? (I’m just not a fan … currently … of Google’s Picasa. IMHO, Yahoo’s Flickr is still the powerhouse in this arena.)
  • Will Google overthrow the metaverse by releasing its own virtual world, eclipsing current favorites such as Second Life? Heck, we’ve already been building that virtual world for them. Check out all the cities, buildings, structures, etc. that have been built in 3-D by you and me using Google’s Sketchup software.

Wouldn’t it be great to sit in on a meeting at Google where they’re discussing all their upcoming projects/mergers. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out our future includes:

  • Google Weather – They already have the maps. Now they just need to buy out The Weather Channel or Intellicast and overlay their weather maps.
  • Google Vacations – We (you and I) are already adding in the user reviews into Google Maps for hotels, restaurants, and attractions. Google already has a way to purchase goods/services via Google Checkout. Now all they need to do is buy out Expedia, Travelocity, or Priceline.
  • Google Movies – Google already can distribute media via Google Video or YouTube. Now they can buy out Netflix so they have the video-on-demand capabilities. Definitely subscription-based.
  • Google Library – This one’s a little tricky. Like Google Movies, would probably be subscription based. (Plus they’d have to figure out a way to restrict printing/saving/etc.) Google’s already scanning library upon library of material. Now just make it available to users to read books cover to cover. Throw in the ability to search news/journal databases, and college students worldwide would sign right up.
  • Google Conferencing – Combine Google Talk with plugins that enable a collaborative whiteboard, group voice chat, and application sharing, and you’ve got your own web conferencing tool. Watch out Elluminate Live and Horizon Wimba.

But enough dreaming. You guys can continue speculating in the comments. (It’s actually really fun pondering what Google will do next!) Needless to say, I’d be very interested in seeing this mythical Google phone we keep hearing about. Surely this device will give users very easy access to Google services… which is pretty darn impressive considering what we’ve just talked about. Steve Jobs might be a little concerned about this, come to think of it.