Wiki, Blogs, Podcasts, QR Codes, Infographics, RSS Feeds, Google Docs – What are these tools and technologies?
- How do you disseminate information online?
- Do you have information you would like to share but don’t know how?
Below is some basic information about some of today’s more common information sharing technologies. Review the information below to see if one or more is right for you.
Additional info on CITES ATS site about past workshops: http://www.cites.illinois.edu/training/learningtech/emerging_tech.htm
- Special type of website – similar to a standard website in appearance, but the content is contributed in a collaborative manner
- Allows several people in different roles to contribute new content and edit existing content, sometimes even guests or visitors can play a role in adding/editing content
- No need to learn HTML or specialize in web development
- The most popular wiki today is Wikipedia
- Wikiversity’s Wiki Learning Project http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wiki
CITES Wiki Information: http://www.cites.illinois.edu/onlinelearning/cites_wiki/index.html
- Sometimes referred to as Web-Logs
- A special type of website that acts as a journal of opinions, articles, links, information and more
- It contains whatever the blog owner(s) wish to post – usually in reverse chronological order
- Many blogs allow interaction from readers by allowing comments on each of the ‘articles’ in the blog
- Several services available for creating and distributing blogs, such as: tumblr, blogger, wordpress
- Digital audio file (which is pre-recorded) that allows people to download and listen to on almost any media player device or computer – on demand (when they want to) without an internet connection required
- The files are downloaded to a computer or device
- Some software is available to allow people to subscribe to specific podcasts, allowing them to get the latest updates automatically
- CITES ATS has more detailed information about podcasting on their site at: http://www.cites.illinois.edu/onlinelearning/podcasting/index.html
Sample QR Code for CITES ATS Site
- QR (Quick Response) Codes are a special type of barcodes
- Usually a black square comprised of different smaller squares and white space
- People need a special type of application or software to read these codes – QR Scanners
- Mostly used with moblie devices to quickly scan the code on the go and go directly to a select locatoin using the QR Scanner app and the camera on a mobile device
- QR codes can be found on lots of different types of media, such as magazines, flyers, business cards, signs, a syllabus or any form of media with a flat surface
- The barcode can store a variety of data, but is mainly used for URL’s (web
- They can also store info such as a phone number, email address, digital files
- QR codes are different from standard barcodes because they can store more data,
can be read from any direction (not just left to right), and are two dimensional or a
matrix (not just horizontal)
- There are many resources available online to create QR codes, such as http://www.qrstuff.com/
- The word comes from a combination of information and graphics
- Means of visual communication where data/Information represented in a graphical or visual format
- Can be many formats, such as charts, diagrams, maps, signs and more
- Don’t need to be graphic designer to portray information in a graphical way
- Infographics are not a new technology, but certainly have become increasingly more
popular with the advent of the internet and social media which makes it easier than
ever to distribute this form of communication
- Infographics can be found anywhere online and offline.
- A sample of a current version of an infographic can be found at: http://blog.socialcast.com/e2sday-a-hierarchy-of-communication/
- Several Infographics related to education: http://blog.socrato.com/10-jaw-droppingly-awesome-infographics-on-education/
What is RSS?
- RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, usually called RSS feeds
- A file or URL that contains articles of information to be distributed to people in a feed like format
- A special application is used to subscribe to and read feeds, which are updated on a regular basis
Features of RSS:
- Easy way to distribute a wide variety of content to a large array of people
- RSS Feeds of information can be read (and checked regularly) using special applications or software
- Not dependent on e-mail to get timely information ‘sent’ to people
- Info can be found in one spot, which is updated on a regular basis
- A new way to keep up to date with news and updates to websites
- Many websites today have RSS Feeds, usually broken up into categories or sections.
- RSS Feeds can be created using creation tools, such as FeedForAll (http://www.feedforall.com/)
- RSS For Education: http://www.slideshare.net/leonardstern/rss-in-education
Info on Google Docs Essentials Training on Lynda.com: http://blogs.cites.illinois.edu/cites-ats/2012/04/02/getting-started-with-google-docs/