Bypass Firewalls by getting websites emailed to you
This trick is only good for public pages and you do need to know the URL if you’re already stuck behind the firewall. But how many URLs of public sites do you know? Probably a few.
- Web2Mail – Either subscribe to a page you want to watch for changes or email www@web2mail.com with the URL in the subject and it will email you the site within 5 minutes
- WebInMail also sends websites to you. Email browse@webinmail.com with the URL in the subject. Easy!
Don’t forget you can get old snapshots with Wayback Machine or Google Cache. However, these snapshots are probably too out of date for your daily needs.
A guide to teaching on Twitter
Image by James Sarmiento
In the next year, Twitter will likely see a huge boom in useful educational content. Users, sick to death of reading RTs (retweets) of motivational quotes and breaking news, will want to follow Tweeps who can deliver unique, interesting, useful information in bite-sized chunks.
In my own quest to learn French, I found myself searching Twitter for a Twitterer who would just teach me random French words. In particular, I wanted to follow a Twitter account which would just give me the information in the tweet, not require me to click a link to a website. I couldn’t find any such thing, so in the end I created one myself – @Frenchmot. I’ve since found a few more dedicated French learning twitter accounts, which I highly recommend French learners follow.
What I learned in this process was that there aren’t that many Twitter accounts out there who dedicate themselves to teaching a particular topic. Or, if they are there, they’re not very good at advertising themselves. It took a chat with my husband for me to realise that perhaps some people just don’t know how easy it is to run an educational Twitter account.
Before setting up @Frenchmot I really thought for a long time about whether it was something I could commit to regularly. Now that I’ve been running it for a while, I’ve realised it’s very, very easy to stick to.
Firstly, it has to be something you are interested in learning or teaching. It’s best if you have a fresh source of information to provide. For me, I am usually trying to read French newspapers and books. Whenever I don’t know the exact meaning of a word I look it up, cross reference and reverse translate. When I’m sure the translation is accurate I write the tweet. This can take a little time, but I’m learning from the process. So, it’s good for me and the people following me. Plus, it feels good to share something just because you can.
Learn, check, tweet.
I’m pretty sure this approach could be used by just about anyone who had to learn multiple small pieces of information by rote. It could be used for all sorts of topics, medical terminology, physics formulae, tips for DIY.. anything. Can you imagine how good it would be to revise for exams with regular tweets (from lots of other students) reminding you of all the little things you need to learn?
So, you’ve got an idea what you can teach people? Here’s how to set your own educational Twitter feed up.
- Set up a new dedicated Twitter account for your topic. Don’t use your normal account. You can always tell the followers who you really are in your bio and your Twitter background.
- Start an account with Tweetlater so you can schedule your tweets into the future. This will keep you sane. When you’re motivated you can schedule a tweet per day for several days ahead. Then when you go away for the weekend no-one will know. It’s not too hard to nose your way around Tweetlater. Make sure you set your current timezone, then when you Tweet make sure you choose when you want it to be posted.
- Make sure you tag your tweets with relevant hashtags so that people searching the topic can find you. Make sure the same keywords are in your bio.
- Sign up to some of the Twitter directories, eg. Wefollow or Twellow.
- Keep your tweets on topic, interesting, reliably correct and numerous (keep the stories about your lunch to your normal Twitter account).
- Try to stagger (using Tweetlater) your Tweets to co-incide with the workdays of all timezones that speak your language, eg. English, American and Australian workday.
- In order to find other educational Tweeps, try searching Twitter for hashtags of your topic (or try the user directories).
- Occasionally promote similar Twitterers to your followers. It will help your followers to learn more and it might gain you some Twitter karma.
Now you’re ready to share and learn cool things from your fellow Tweeps. Do it now – it’s easy!
PS. I’m @smange on Twitter. Feel free to follow me!
(For more teaching ideas, take a look at Interesting ways to use Twitter in the Classroom)
Image Credit: James Sarmiento
Social networks: Hermit or herd?
Facebook is changing us. We use it to stay in touch with many people from all areas of our life. Often these aren’t people we know well – they’re just people we knew from one thing or another. But we can see into their lives: see what’s bugging them, what bands they like, who they’re dating and what sort of person they’re after. It’s not usually life-altering information, but it’s enough to feel like you have an idea what their day-to-day lives are really like. This is kind of voyeuristic in terms of workmates and old school friends, but when it comes to close friends or family separated by distance it is an absolute godsend. To stay abreast of the little things means you feel closer to that person’s life.
But it also changes normal relationships with friends who are in the same town. You get invited to lots of stuff via Facebook. What if you don’t log in often? What if you’re not savvy enough to set up an iCal feed for Facebook events in Google? Well then, you miss out on the party. Tough. Now, what about those that did make it to the party. How do you explain that fancy dress costume to the boss? Your workmates all saw the photos before you even got over your hangover the next day.
But wait. There’s more. There is actually a good side to this networking business. It’s like what they always say: It’s not what you know – it’s WHO you know. If you know a whole lot of people and they all know you’re looking for a new job (Status update: “Bob is finished the degree and officially looking for a graphic design job!”) then that’s a whole lot more eyes and ears and “I know someone..” conversations to get you started. Much better than searching the papers, finding only courier and snack bar assistant jobs.
Of course, this status trick can backfire too (Status update: “Tim is sick of his boss and his whiny voice.”). Teachers have been fired for saying what they really think of the kids. Not a smart move. Or worse, you could get sprung taking a sickie. You might also get fired just for lazing away too much of your day.
So, educate yourself and your friends/kids/whatever on how to lock down your social networks. Keep your address and other personal info safe, keep your secrets locked to close friends. Seriously, how much do you want your high school friends to know? Think first. Share later. Then, make sure you are happy with your conduct going public. Don’t bludge, don’t pull sickies and don’t do dumb things in front of cameras. If you do accidentally get caught on camera then chat to the person who owns the camera ASAP. Preferably ask them to delete it, but at least ask them to lock down the photo for the sake of your job.
Generally, the benefits of social networking outweigh the dangers. You might even manage to teach yourself to be a more upstanding citizen. Out you come hermits! Come play with the herd.
It’s not rocket science.. or even cryptography. Typical!
Alice, a thirty-something career girl, lives in the sort of house you’d expect a thirty-something career girl to live in. She’s just started dating Bob, a typical business-guy, who is so far proving to be exactly the sort of boyfriend you’d expect a typical business-guy to be.
Alice, being a very typical thirty-something career girl, thinks Bob’s a pretty good catch and tells her friends about him on Facebook. She also, very typically, uploads a handful of photos so she can show him off to her friends.
Eve is your typical gen-y millennial girl, who until very recently has been dating a typical business-guy called Bob. Eve is feeling a very typical type of depression common to the recently dumped. Eve, in fact, has been so depressed lately that she hasn’t bothered to de-friend Bob on Facebook.
When Eve can’t resist the urge of her computer any longer, she logs on to Facebook and is instantly confronted with typical photos of typical business-guy ex, Bob and this thirty-something career girl. Angry and confused, she does exactly what any typical heartbroken young woman would do: She clicks through to find out more about this thirty-something career girl, Alice.
Alice, being the typical thirty-something career girl, is a very trusting sort of person. Her Facebook profile is an open book of information for the typically heartbroken, gen-y millennial, Eve. Eve starts by looking at other photos of Alice, taking extra special note of all the not-so-flattering party photos in the collection. Her compulsion is great, so she starts to trawl through other stuff: Alice’s wall, personal information and upcoming events. Eve now knows Alice’s email address, phone number, IM details, address, workplace, school details, friend details, music taste and where she’s going to be this weekend.
It’s not hard to see how Eve could use this information against Alice. Eve could break into her house while she’s out, start a fake profile, stalk her, harass her or even hurt her.
Think once. Think Twice. Think “Lock your frigging profile on Facebook”.
Arrr, but I’m not a pirate!
- Image via Wikipedia
Copyright material is, on the whole, controlled by companies who are still stuck in the dark ages. They want to maintain the rights and ownership forever – even when you purchase a physical CD!
These companies are clearly not listening to what the customers and the artists want. Which is a great shame for them, as there is a potential for big money for them if they take notice.
What customers want:
- Cheap products
- Near-instant availability
- Quality products
- Ample choice
- Permanent ownership rights
That’s pretty much it. I’m sitting around late on a Monday night and I remember that track I heard on the radio this morning. I search for the snippet of lyrics I can recall, work out what song it is and who it’s by. I then want to own it. I’m quite happy to pay $1 for it. But I want it NOW. I want it on my iPod and I want to listen to it tomorrow when I go out. I also don’t want to get screwed over when I reinstall Windows or upgrade iTunes. I want to own the track and for that to be it.
The same goes for movies and TV. I don’t want to wait until show x is on TV. I’m not rearranging my social schedule to watch TV. No-one owns VCRs anymore and I’m not rich enough for a set-top box that can record. Hell – I’m a student. What I want is to be able to download the movie or next season of the show that I’m in the mood for that night. I’m willing to pay a bit. Maybe $5 to hire or $10 to own. But I want it NOW, in good quality and for it to be mine forever (except if I was hiring). No games – that just won’t hold with me.
So, okay. Let’s see what the artists want:
- Exposure (especially to the right audience)
- Some income (sometimes more)
- Fans who will come to their gigs
Seems to me that making it easy for fans to get hold of their stuff would benefit them a great deal. Just think of all those late night $10 impulse-buy spends by teens who are desperate to be up with the next big thing.
Right. That’s settled. So, what about the labels and studios. What do they want?
- Lots and lots of money
- To have control over everything forever and ever
- To get paid every time someone hums a tune
Well, something’s got to give. Face it. They don’t really have control at the moment, which is why they’re in uproar about filesharing. It’s time to try something new.
For starters, they need to get music, TV and movies online ready to be purchased before they start hyping them. This also means you need to have TV ready to download at the same time as it’s aired on TV. Any later than that and half of your potential paying customers just downloaded it for free from someone that taped it digitally and stuck the torrent up as soon as the show finished. You annoyed your fans by not having something they could buy, so they got what they wanted for free. These people might go and buy the box set down the track, but they’re not going to go back and buy a (possibly DRM controlled) digital copy a week later when you finally get it online.
This timeline goes for the whole world, too. Australians want to see the next episode of “Lost” just as much as the Americans. If they can’t buy it before that first torrent goes up then you’ve lost them. Here’s a thought: Let people buy the digital version BEFORE you play it on TV. Let TV be the second-best option for people who can’t be bothered forking out the cash. I am absolutely certain you will make more money this way.
I get the feeling that labels and studios could make many millions by offering the sorts of payment options tried and tested in other industries over the years:
- Pay-per-view
- Periodic rental (one day or one week)
- Subscription with caps (either by size or by dollar value of the media)
- Unlimited subscriptions
- Subscription to a radio or video stream (sort of like TV)
There are many ways to stop people sharing the files once they’ve got them:
- Digital signature (If I know my name and email address are encrypted in that file I won’t be giving it to anyone)
- Time or usage-locks (such as the ones used by trial software – offer rentals in a special format that will only work with a specific player)
- Prosecute the people who are sharing the material (rather than targeting the ones that download it).
The labels could be making a fortune by doing things right. Most pirating only occurs because people can’t buy what they want when they want it. They have products that the people want – let them have it!
3 comments