How is the internet changing the way you think?

I loved this for its disciplinary perspectives - 167 (and counting) short essays from eminent scientists (physical, biological, social), technologists, designers, editors, authors, makers and artists responding to Edge's World Question Center's 14th annual question, 'How is the internet changing the way you think?' (Yes, 'you').

Themes include the importance of focus, the externalisation of knowledge and memory, autonomy, alienation, and the new importance of social networks.

There is so much to think about here, and it's also a rich resource of references to work in this area.

Imagine a day without access to your mobile phone, iPod, laptop, or the internet. How would you do your teaching, learning and research?

From JISC's site:

JISC is putting the spotlight on the education community in a blog competition, with the chance to win a flip camera and inclusion in a JISC publication.

As part of the JISC Conference 2010, JISC is asking teachers, learners and researchers to share their experiences of technology around the event theme: ‘technology – at the heart of education and research’.

Submit your entry via the online form before the entry deadline of 1700 GMT on Friday 19 February 2010.

The competition will be judged by Michelle Pauli, deputy editor of Guardian.co.uk books section and editor of the conference blog; conference keynote speaker Bill St Arnaud, chief research officer at Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organization; and John Traxler, professor of mobile learning and director of the Learning Lab at the University of Wolverhampton.

Entrants should write a blog post or produce a short video explaining how important technology is to their work in education and research.

For example, have you been using web 2.0 tools to get in touch with or engage students or colleagues? Perhaps technology is helping to make your research quicker and easier, or maybe you’ve found a whole new angle of inquiry because of it? Whether it’s about getting in touch with far-flung colleagues, presenting your work in a new way, or working in an innovative area, JISC wants to hear from you.

Michelle Pauli explained what the judges are looking for: “We're really looking forward to finding out what technology the education community couldn’t live without, whether it's a cutting edge software application or a standard piece of kit used in an innovative way. Blog posts don’t need to be long to tell a good story and a short, sweet and to-the-point specific example can be just as compelling and effective.”

She added: “I'm particularly intrigued to see if anyone takes up the challenge of 'showing rather than telling' by using video to share their story.” All entrants will receive reciprocal links to their blogs from the JISC website, with the chance to be part of the selected entries in a publication on the topic.

The overall winner of the competition will receive a flip camera, presented to them at the JISC Conference 2010, taking place from 12-13 April 2010 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London. Anyone employed by a further education college or university in the UK or abroad is eligible to enter the competition, although members of the JISC executive are not eligible to be shortlisted or win the prize.

Submit your entry via the online form before the entry deadline of 1700 GMT on Friday 19 February 2010.

For staff - learn.gold introductory / refresher workshops 2010

These staff workshops are scheduled for January and February, with more to be announced throughout the year. Staff can find out more on the overview and sign-up page (which is reached from learn.gold's front page - look for the main menu sub-heading 'Staff learn.gold workshops').

If you are part of a group of staff with particular learn.gold needs, then we can arrange something tailored for you. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at tel.gleu@gold.ac.uk.

The trouble with pasting from Microsoft Word

On learn.gold some people are pasting text from their word processor e.g. Microsoft Word directly into learn.gold. This isn't an unreasonable expectation - however the problem is that word processed text can carry with it formatting and layout (i.e. 'styles') information, which the Web browser attempts to interpret. These original styles can fight with the styles of the web page into which you are pasting, and strange things ensue.

To avoid the problem:

1. Prior to pasting, convert what you have copied into plain text by pasting it first into a plain text editor (e.g. Notepad in Windows, TextEdit in Macs) and then copying it from there. This is the best approach and only takes a few extra seconds.
   
2. By implication, avoid applying formatting and layout to your word-processed text if you know you are only going to paste it somewhere else - keep it plain and simple.
   
3. If you have pasted formatted text directly into learn.gold, you can clean it up by clicking the little MSWord icon in learn.gold's text editor (however this does not always work).

Incidentally, these problems are not limited to learn.gold - so the guidance above is also true if you edit your Goldsmiths web page using the Web Team's CMS. Sorry things aren't straightforward (yet). Considering these different pieces of software developed independently and (for MS Word) in the absence of interoperability standards, I tend to marvel that they work at all.

More on copying, pasting and learn.gold in this FAQ.