This area is meant to contain stories, examples, and items that could be classified as general food for thought. The initial list was culled from a variety of sources, including the NY Times, PC World, Technology Review, InfoWorld, and Wired. Please add more, or leave comments on how important you think they are in the Sandbox!
20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have
During the last 15 years, we in education have moved at light speed in the area of educational technology. Whether you are involved in higher ed, secondary ed, elementary ed, or special ed, all of us find it difficult to catch up, keep up, and put up with fast-moving computer-based technology.
http://thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A5387.cfm
AI Seduces Stanford Students
Researchers at Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab strapped 69 student volunteers into an immersive, 3-D virtual-reality rig, where test subjects found themselves sitting across the table from a "digital agent" – a computer-generated man or woman.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,67659,00.html
Augmented Reality, Another (Virtual) Brick in the Wall
Georgia Tech University researchers are working to meld virtual and physical reality together, which will enhance the ways people interact with and perceive the world around them. By Michelle Delio.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/02/wo/wo_delio021505.asp?trk=nl
Can Machines Read Body Language?
Human communications depends heavily on nonverbal cues; that's often the best way to tell when someone is annoyed, or tired, or pleased. In contrast, it's often impossible to know from looking at it whether a robot is processing data, awaiting instruction, or in need of repair. Now, researchers from Switzerland and South Africa have designed a visual interface that would give autonomous machines the equivalent of body language.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/rnb_061804.asp?trk=nl
Controlling Graphics with Pressure
Researchers from the University of Toronto are proposing to add a new dimension to the clickable graphics that appear on computer screens: pressure.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/rnb_062104.asp?trk=nl
The Dream of a Lifetime
Doug Engelbart and augmenting human intellect. By Bill Joy
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/08/issue/review_dream.asp?trk=nl
The Fading Memory of the State
The National Archives struggle to save endangered electronic records. By David Talbot
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/07/issue/feature
Florida Concept Mapping Idea Given To Schools Around the World
A simple 'clustering' concept for teaching concepts has some enthusiastic supporters. By Bill Kaczor
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/07/ap/ap_071105.asp?trk=nl
Gaming Technologies Alter Classroom, Textbook Models
Educators and video-game developers gathered last week in Madison, Wis. to explore how learning technologies can alter traditional classroom and textbook education models, which speakers agreed early e-learning projects failed to achieve.
http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=1954
L.A. Times's Experimental Journalism
Chris Anderson at The Long Tail has an interesting entry on why the L.A. Times's bloggish experiment with participatory journalism went so wrong. By Jason Pontin
http://pontin.trblogs.com/archives/2005/06/la_timess_exper.html?trk=nl
The Linux Longhorn Challenge
Open Source Developers race to get applications and migrations tools in top form before the launch of Microsoft's next operating system. By Eric Hellweg
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/05/wo/wo_051305hellweg.asp?trk=nl
Microsoft Steps Up Pressure To Adopt Spam-Fighting System
MS plans to require IDs from more emailers. By Anick Jesdanun
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/06/ap/ap_062305.asp?trk=nl
New For Back-To-School: Clickers
Students in Ann Auleb's biology of human sexuality class at San Francisco State University are often shy about joining classroom debates on gay marriage, abortion, circumcision and other emotion-stirring topics.
http://news.com.com/New+for+back-to-school+clickers/2100-1041_3-5819171.html
New Tools: Blogs, Podcasts and Virtual Classrooms
The "Room 208" podcast may just have the youngest production staff in the history of broadcasting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/technology/techspecial3/03ethan.html?
A Room Without Books
The University of Texas at Austin did a little housecleaning this summer. In preparation for the school year, UT retooled its undergraduate library into a "learning commons." Accoutrements include a coffee shop, computers, "software suites" where students can gather for group projects, 24-hour technical help and a center for computer repair. But to make space for all of this, something had to go. So UT removed most of the library's 90,000 books, transferring them to other collections.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3283466
Sun Microsystems Unveils Grid Computing Initiative
Sun's pay-per-computing grid initiative will help small business harness large networks much easier. That, at least, is what Sun hopes to sell.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/02/ap/ap_2020205.asp?trk=nl
UT Game Group Unveils AI Project
My friends at the Digital Media Collaboratory at the University of Texas at Austin have been working on a very cool artificial intelligence. By Brad King
http://king.trblogs.com/archives/2005/06/ut_game_group_u.html?trk=nl