Knowledge Handler

Information Sources & Information Sifting Techniques

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Location: Independence, Ohio, United States

I am a retired librarian, most recently serving at Indiana Wesleyan University's Cleveland Education Center.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Students In Free MOOCs Are Not Committed to Reading the Course Material

Fred O'Connor reports "Most People Who Signed Up for MOOCs Offered by MIT and Harvard Never Looked Over Half of the Course Material."
-DD
 
 

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Thursday, January 30, 2014

MSN Careers has useful tips for those considering or involved in employment search. This link suggests good conference call etiquette.

The following video is a comedian's take on conference calls . . . -DD

&npbs;

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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Money Transfer Technology

Kim Nash reports on money transfers technology in the digital age, focusing on the firm Western Union.

-DD

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"Discern" Grading Software

After reading about Discern essay grading software, Kristen Hicks muses "Can Software Take Grading Off a Professor’s To Do List? "

Hicks reports that faculty are opposing the introduction of such software even though it will save them work. Of course, if evaluation and feedback could be done as well by a machine as a human, ninety percent of faculty could be retired to join engineers who only use slide rule.

-DD

 

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Speech Tech Blog

Speechtechblog.com offers news about speech recognition and other uses of verbal technology in transferring data. This seems to be a property of Information Today, a publisher of respected technology newsletters.

-DD

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Google's Help Page

Google's help page offers many tips for improve your Google experience.

-DD

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Monday, January 27, 2014

Google's Top Ten Search Modifiers

Jon Ball, a columnist at Searchengineland shares Google's most useful search modifiers . He explains why they matter, what they are and how to use them.

Ball notes that search products have been engineered to be more relevant over the years, and stores of personalization and localization data are now automatically linked to searches to increase relevance. In the vast majority of cases this is a boon to the user.

In my own experience a search engine's response to these cues sometimes make it very difficult to obtain what I want. For example, I become short tempered when Google adds additional (generally relevant" terms when I enter a search into the address bar.

-DD

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

Geographic Information Systems Careers

Knowledge of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology is in demand, according to Stephen McElroy as quoted by Sharon Florintine. ESRI is a major software vendor in this field, and offers free career resources on its Website.

-DD

 

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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Google Books, HathiTrust and the DPLA

Naomi Eichenlaub reported in the November, 2013 issue of Computers in Libraries on the status of Google Books, HathiTrust and the DPLA . These efforts to preserve or make available books from decades ago have been the subject of court battles over copyright.

NOTE: This article may only be available for a short time using this link, but the journal is available in full text from several EBSCO and ProQuest databases.

-DD

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Friday, January 24, 2014

British Library to Study Open Access and Academic Publishing

Ann Jarvis reports that the British Library is collaborating with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to foresee the future of academic book publishing given the rise in open access publication.

-DD

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Smartphone Security

Spencer McIntyre evaluates "Which Smartphone Is the Most Secure ?" His conclusion is that all phones have weaknesses, and that users need to be aware of potential threats.

-DD

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Mobile Security

Grant Hatchimonji offers "Five Ways to Lockdown Your Mobile Device " in a short slideshow.

-DD

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Credit-for-MOOCs Effort Hits a Snag

Steve Kolowich reports that prospective students seem to have little interest in credit for MOOC participation .

-DD

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Monday, January 20, 2014

Business Security

Joan Goodchild shares nine common questions used by thieves to cause people to divulge confidential information such as passwords. There have been a number of fascinating articles on employer-sponsored security probes, such as "Anatomy of a Hack" or "How to Rob a Bank." For more information on corporate security issues, SecurityMetrics has a series of informative videos on security issues affecting small businesses.

-DD

 

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Sunday, January 19, 2014

Upgrading Your Windows Laptop

Brian Nadel outlines how to upgrade your laptop . Unfortunatly, he puts over $600 worth of parts into the device -- enough to buy a new laptop!

Nadel also developed an earlier presentation on cleaning a laptop inside and out. Making your computer shine does not increase its speed, but may increase its resale value.

-DD

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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Religious Hostility Report

The Pew Research Council has released its annual report on religious hostility around the globe.

-DD

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Religious Persecution Map

Open Doors has developed a list of regions with significant religious persecution .

-DD

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Friday, January 17, 2014

Dell Purchasers Get Dropbox Account

Brandon Butler reports that purchasers of Dell computers will receive 20 GigaBytes of Dropbox storage.

-DD

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Optimizing the Home Office

Joe Kissell shared seven tips for optimizing a home office .

-DD

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Edupunk Guide

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have sponsored the Edupunk Guide for those who want an education without the expense and seat time of a traditional university. This is how the bi-line on the home page reads:

An edupunk is someone who doesn't want to play by the old college rules. Maybe you have interests that don't fit the academic mold. Maybe you're in a remote location. Maybe you have a family, a job, or other responsibilities and you can't take on life as a full-time student. Maybe you love new technology and new ways of learning. Or maybe you're just a rebel!

This indexes a substantial number of resources for the online learner. Recommended.

-DD

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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Mobile Study Tools

Chrissy Winsky shares her list of ten best apps that help college students study .

-DD

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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

What Five Tech Experts Expect [in education] in 2014

Megan O'Neal reports on what selected tech experts expect in 2014.

-DD

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Smart Locks

Amber Bouman notes that home security , such as the smart lock, is now experiencing tremendous growth.

-DD

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Monday, January 13, 2014

Sponsored Mobile Data

Frederic Paul muses about the ramifications of AT&T allowing corporations to pay for data downloads so customers may download their media-rich advertising. Kenneth Corbin is not so sanguine, noting that customers may end up paying twice for data.

-DD

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Does Ikea Hold The Secret To The Future Of College?

I find that Fast Company is a good source for learning the social impact of business & technology trends. In the most recent issue of the magazine, reporter Anya Kamenetz considers the potential benefit if MOOCs take off.

-DD

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Sunday, January 12, 2014

UK Censorship

Mark Gibbs warns of a new censorship initiative in the UK.

-DD

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Can Computers Competently Grade Essays?

Roger Riddell has interviewed Vantage Learning CEO Peter Murphy, who claims that "Computers Can Now Competently Grade Essays ." Murphy reports that his tools are used to grade the GMAT and MCAT, and he is now trying to market his software to schools and universities.

-DD

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Saturday, January 11, 2014

Managing Research Data

Ricky Erway has authored the report "Starting the Conversation : University-Wide Research Data Management Policies." Erway suggests that academic library directors should initiate this discussion, and the report provides a list of issues for consideration.

-DD

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Friday, January 10, 2014

eBooks and Libraries

Brian Mathews recently posted about the pressure on library directors to discard the printed books and move toward an all electronic library . A comment on the post noted that some Canadian Libraries have already lost valuable historical data due to a similar government demand.

-DD

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Thursday, January 09, 2014

46 Tools To Make Infographics In The Classroom

The "Teach Thought Staff" provide 46 Tools To Make Infographics In The Classroom .

-DD

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Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Digital Citizenship

Terry Heick explores the aspects of character displayed in good digital citizenship .

-DD

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Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Ten Specific Ideas To Gamify Your Classroom

Mike Acedo shares essential principals of gamification for a classroom. Not surprisingly, most of the basic concepts are familiar to those who practice independent learning.

-DD

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Friday, January 03, 2014

Google Promotes 4K Video Streaming

Agam Shah reports that "Google's 4K video format to hit TVs, mobile devices, PCs ." The hardware compression of data will allow the distribution of high-density DVDs and streaming 4K video.

-DD

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Thursday, January 02, 2014

Mobile Trends for 2014

Al Saccio reports on ten mobile technology trends that experts anticipate strengthening in 2014.

One surprising predication was that businesses would market more with SMS rather than apps. The predication was made by Steve French, a VP at OpenMarket, a SMS marketing firm.

-DD

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Mobile Devices as Travel Tools

Al Sacco shares tips for easing travel through use of a mobile device such as a smart phone.

-DD

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Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Android Apps on Windows 8.1 Hardware

Greg Keizer reports that new software allows Android apps to run on a Windows 8.1 device with a touchscreen. Keizer raises the question whether Microsoft or Google will take steps to limit this cross-product development.

-DD

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