In this issue, we launch a new column by our newest member of the E-services team called Francesca�s Digital Dish. It features the latest scoop in the web world! Also some handy how-to�s that you can try at home: how to get what you really want out of the EBSCOhost databases, how to create a course reading web page without the fuss and muss, and how to easily create and share documents online with Writely! And a dandy little video/audio resource for your educational enjoyment!
1) Francesca�s Digital Dish
It�s that special time of year when friends, family, loved ones and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) come together to foster goodwill and the equalization of educational access for people in developing countries. The Development Gateway Foundation�s Open Educational Resources portal is a new Web initiative that will connect anyone with Internet access and the desire to learn to a world of free, high-quality educational materials. The goal is simple: to improve the chances for a better life for people in the developing world. At the same time, the U.S. Library of Congress is kicking off a campaign to build a World Digital Library, with a little help from Google Inc. A $3 million donation from the search engine giant should go a long way to kick-start the project, the main goal of which is to document the great and lesser-known cultures of the world. Looks like the world is going to get a little smaller, and a little warmer, this holiday season.
In other news, there’s been momentum to create a new standard to enable Internet, cellular, Wi-Fi and telephone networks to communicate with one another. The Internet Protocol of Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) aims to introduce a common interface for bridging data. But like with all new technology, IMS has issues and a long way to go. Implementation will not begin until mid-2006, and most of that will be ‘behind the scenes’. The telecommunications industry has issues with IMS as it has not yet been tested in a real-world setting – therefore, they don’t know if it will meet the customer’s stringent requirements for reliability. And with hundreds of millions of customers relying on their communications devices every day, which company wants to be the first to try it out?
2) New way to find exactly what you want in the EBSCOhost databases! Limit by number of pages!
Now it is easier than ever to hone in on exactly the type of resource you want with the vast array of limiters that awaits you in the EBSCOhost databases. (You may remember EBSCOhost as the producer of such popular magazine and journal databases as Academic Search Premier, Business Source Elite, Health Source � Nursing among many others.)
The newest limiter (added just last month) is the �Number of Pages� limiter. Many times students are asked to find articles that are only a couple of pages in length�perhaps they need to find only a cursory overview of a subject, or a short newsy piece. Now, they need only scroll down the search page a bit to find the �Number of Pages� drop-down. Here they can enter the desired number of pages to be found per article. Are you looking for an in depth study? Enter a larger number as usually longer articles are more in depth treatments of a subject. You can choose to look for articles that are so many pages �equal to�, �greater than� or �less than� a certain number.
I know what you�re thinking��this is sheer madness�the absolute usefulness of it is mind boggling!� Well, hold on to your frilly pantaloons�there�s more! Other exciting limiters to try out are: the �Cover story� checkbox � enter a subject and select �cover story� to be sure to get longer stories on your desired subject; document type�search for a book review, bibliography, recipe, report, etc.; publication type�limit your search to only books, educational reports, newspapers, periodicals and more. The business database Business Source Elite contains even more of these babies�search by Ticker symbol, Company, Product Name and more! These limiters are available in the EBSCOhost databases on the bottom half of the search page. Give �em a whirl!
3) BRAINwave of the month: Create a web page of course readings with ProQuest
Need to create a list of magazine and journal articles or a link to a search for your class and have no time to mess around with all that HTML craziness? ProQuest databases to the rescue! Now it is easy to save a list of magazine/journal citations and/or a link to a search all within a handy web page. Here�s how:
- Choose a ProQuest database to search. (ProQuest is the producer of such databases as Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA), ProQuest Nursing, and ProQuest Science. Take your pick from the magazine databases page on TheBRAIN.)
- Perform your search by entering search words in the search box.
- Read through your results and mark the articles you�d like to add to your list (to mark an article, click on the checkbox next to the article citation.)
- When you�re finished collecting articles, click on the My Research tab at the top of the screen.
- The My Research page displays. Click on the Create a web page link.
- The articles you�ve saved and a link to your search displays. Click the Edit link if you�d like to add notes or make any changes. (You can add notes such as��read these articles by next class�.) You can keep the link to the search you performed or you can delete it. If you keep the link on your page, each time it is clicked a new search is performed. That means that if new content has been added to the database, these new articles will appear in the results.
- All done? Click the Download link. Then from within your browser, click File from the menu bar and then Save As�
- Note that if you add this page to your Fred or WebCT course site, your students will need to authenticate before accessing the articles. That is, they will need to log in with their student number and PIN which is the last 4 digits of the student number. They will only need to do this once per session.
- Need more help? Let me know�I�d be happy to help you to add articles to your course site!
4) New Collaborative Writing Tool: Writely!
Writely is a new, free web-based tool for collaborative document creation and sharing. Register for a free account, and using an online editor that looks very much like Microsoft Word, create documents. Then email a notification to others who can sign in and add to your document. View all of the iterative changes online and keep track of all the changes and who made what change. Access the document from any computer with Internet access. Why would you need such a thing you ask?
- use it when your faculty or workteam is collaborating on a document. Upload the MSWord document and everyone can sign in and make changes. No need to send a document via email, download it and resend in a neverending cycle of email heck!
- Have a team-based class assignment? Encourage students to work on the assignment using Writely and when the project is completed, the document can be made public so that the whole class can view it as a web page. Project the document in the classroom for all to see.
- Need to work on a document at work and at home? Using Writely means you always have access�.no more getting home to realize that the document you need is on your hard drive at work!
No, I don�t own shares in Writely�.just overwhelmed by the loveliness of it all.
5) For learning out loud!
LearnoutLoud.com, a seller of audio and video educational resources has recently launched a directory of free educational audio and video. Many are short lectures and talks that the LearnoutLoud people have gathered from many different sources such as MIT, Columbia University, C-SPAN and others. Copyright is not cleared for public performance, nonetheless, a nice collection for your personal learning pleasure.
6) Information Discovery Tour Presentation Online
For the masses who were unable to make it out to the Information Discovery tour last week, the slides are available here on the blog�lower right corner under �Tutorials�!
