Archive for the 'ITBits' Category

iTunes U has launched in Australia & New Zealand with seven Universities
signing on. The Universities to be part of the launch include:

- Australian National University
- Griffith University
- Swinburne University
- University of Melbourne
- University of New South Wales
- University of Otago (NZ)
- University of Western Australia

Find our more information about iTunes U in Australia at:
http://www.apple.com.au/education/itunesu/

Australian IT News Article
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23805542-25918,00.html

Green computing is all about using computing resources more efficiently. Are you doing your bit to reduce your computer-related energy consumption?

The reality of modern offices is that many of them are energy-hungry monsters. As the number of desktop computers and associated storage units has grown, energy consumption has rapidly increased.

Green computing aims to make computing more energy efficient and reduce computing carbon footprints. But it’s not just energy use. Green computing also looks at waste disposal and recycling, water usage and toxicity.

There are a range of things that you can do to reduce your computer related energy consumption. Many of these things are simple such as adjusting your computer’s power options, adjusting monitor brightness and ensuring that peripherals like printers are not left on.

There are some great online resources to help measure and reduce your IT energy consumption at work and at home. Here are a couple to get you started.

http://www.maximumpcguides.com/ways-to-reduce-computer-energy-consumption/

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/04/16/8-ways-to-easily-reduce-the-energy-consumption-of-your-computer-and-save-big-money/

Do different generations have different learning styles? And should universities be changing to meet the needs of Gen-Y?

Baby boomers (1946-1964) prefer face-to-face delivery of learning materials. Gen X (1965-1979) prefer independence and Gen Y (1980-1996) want communication and interaction. At least that’s the claim.

Gen Y (also known as the Net Generation, Millenials, iGen, or digital natives) have grown up in a world of digital communication. Mobiles, laptops, PDAs, instant messages, blogs, wikis, chatrooms and podcasts are supposed to be all second nature to this digital generation.

Going along with 24/7 ‘connectedness’ is a change in learning styles with an emphasis on learning by interacting virtually with others. Going to lectures is less important than being able to access a podcast (and being able to hold down a job!!). The learning style of the digital native has been described as a ‘bricolage’ an assemblage of a bit of this and a bit of that.

So what do you think? Does Gen-Y have different learning needs and if so what are they??

The study referred to in this blog is Hartman et al 2005 Preparing the academy of today for the learner of tomorrow. Available online www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen

Tomorrow’s seminar in the LCRC seminar series will look at how information management technologies work to ‘carve up’ information.

Taxonomies are fundamental component of knowledge and information management systems. Dr Csaba Veres (who currently works for the Defence Science and Technology Organisation) will look at the problem of trying to define ‘valid’ information taxonomies before suggesting a new approach in which taxonomies are removed from knowledge representation.

Dr Veres will speak on Wednesday 26th March at 3pm in the Paul Barratt Lecture Theatre.

ITD’s conker nuts came out in force last week to contest the third annual conker challenge.

It was a tough competition with more than 30 ITD staff vying for the Conker King title. Some very fine conkers were collected by Mr. Hale.

“In England you have to go to some effort to get good conkers because everyone wants to play. But here it’s not that popular so I found some very fine conkers on the ground” said Mr. Hale

After a brief demonstration of the art of conking from Richard Wilson and Rob Hale, and a few cucumber sandwiches for good luck, the nuts began to fly. Luckily injuries were limited to the odd sore knuckle and bruised ego.

In the end it was an Aussie who emerged the victor. Senior analyst Brendan Heywood (pictured below with web architect Lynda Creedy) managed to crack the conkers of all opponants to take home the trophy.

del.icio.us gives you a way to share your favourite sites with friends or find others that share your interests. It can also be a fantastic research tool.

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking tool. What this means is that it gives you a way of storing your favourite bookmarks online (rather than in your browser). Storing your bookmarks online has a few advantages, firstly you can then access them wherever you are and secondly (and this is where del.icio.us gets exciting) you can share bookmarks with others.

del.icio.us has a range of uses particularly for students and researchers. You could be searching to find other researchers or students with similar interests. Once you’ve found someone studying the same things you can share bookmarks to useful sites. You could also use del.icio.us to set up a research group using a shared account. A group of people can set up bookmarks that might be useful for the whole group.

Obviously there are lots of other ways to use del.icio.us like looking for new things, sharing hobbies or making a wishlist - the possibilities are endless. To find out more visit http://del.icio.us/ and happy bookmarking.

Are you looking for a way of keeping up with new information? Google offers an RSS reader that will help access updated content.

Some websites produce new content regularly – news sites, blogs and other regularly updated sites. You can usually subscribe to these sites to get updated content automatically. Some sites ask you to subscribe to receive  email updates  while others allow you to subscribe to an RSS feed.To subscribe to an RSS feed you’ll need an RSS reader.

Check out this article for an intro to RSS http://blog.une.edu.au/itd-news/2007/04/24/introducing-rss/ There are lots of RSS readers available and many of them are free. Google reader is a web-based RSS reader (which means that you can access material from any computer). It includes a number of features including a good search facility and the option to set up folders. It’s also easy to use Google reader although you will have to sign up for a Google account (this is free).

Check out  http://blogpond.com.au/2008/01/09/how-to-set-up-google-reader/  for more info on Google reader, including instructions for signing up for a Goggle account. You can also check out      http://blogpond.com.au/2008/01/09/how-to-add-new-feeds-to-google-reader/ for instructions for adding ‘feeds’ to your Google reader.

Instant messaging and social networking sites are being targetted by cyber crooks wanting to spread viruses, malware and spyware.

The Million books project now contains over 1.5 Million books (maybe they need a new name?) in more than 20 languages.  All the books in the collection are available free online. You can find out more about the Million books project here http://www.itnews.com.au/News/66093,digital-library-hits-15-million-volumes.aspx

Another fantastic online resource is the Internet archive which has in addition to books archived websites (the Wayback machine) video and audio. You’ll find it here http://www.archive.org/index.php

What’s your favourite online resource? Why not share your online treasures…….

New research confirms that Australians fire off emails without stopping to think about what they’re sending.

Researchers found that only a third of people thought about whether email was the best form of communication and more than 60% admitted that they sent emails without thinking about the content. More than 50% of people admitted to having sent emails to the wrong recipient.

To read more visit http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/think-before-pressing-the-send-button/2007/11/25/1195962828236.html