Alphabetizing documents in Blackboard

The question:

Hi, John,

I have a large number of documents for my expository writing course. I’d like to put them in alphabetical order [and redo this as I add documents during the semester] so that students can find the document they’re looking for more easily. I can’t find instructions in the Blackboard manual on how to alphabetize document lists.

My Response:

AFAIK, there is no alphabetization function in Bb, and it won’t be easy if you keep all of the documents in one folder in Bb.

My suggestions:

Use the number dropdown to order your documents any way you like. If you want your documents alphabetically sorted, go to the first document, alphabetically speaking, and choose one from the dropdown next to it in control panel/course documents or wherever you have these.

An alternative would be to create 5 or more folders that are named for alphabetical groups. Folder 1 would be named A-F and Folder 2 would be named G-K and so on. Then, you could use the method above in order to alphabetize within those folders.

Hope this helps,

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iMedia Connection: Podcasting 101

This is a good overview on what’s needed to produce a good quality podcast, and so I figured I’d share it. It’s positively amazing what you can do with an open source audio editing application like audacity. Combined with a $100 mixer and a few $15 microphones, you can have a clean crisp mix with effects and fades and more.

iMedia Connection: Podcasting 101

Setting up a quick and cheap recording studio

At the barebones level a microphone attached to the soundcard of your computer will allow you to record audio. Using professional sound recording software can give you more options in creating a quality file. I recommend Audacity which stands out as being of good quality, available for both Mac and PC formats (and Linux) and free!

Audacity is a simple audio mixing programming that offers a handful of audio effects and multiple tracks. It’s worth checking out.

You may also need to invest in a quality microphone. Audio recording, like most multimedia projects, is generally a case of Garbage In/Garbage Out (GIGO). If you use sub par materials you will often get sub par results. For as little as $20 you can get your hands on a solid condenser microphone/headphone combination at RadioShack that will most certainly be better than the microphone shipped with your computer.

Because most podcasts are not professionally produced, basement offices and guest bedrooms are often the recording environment of choice. Ambient noise is always a problem but with consideration to time of day and use of noise canceling filters in the recording software you can bring the quality of the recording up.

I’ll also mention that coming up with an entertaining format for your show is a huge plus. While a monologue format will get your main points across having a standardized ’show’ format (think musical intros and information segments) will make broadcasts more appealing and easier to update.

A Journey to the Center of Yahoo - New York Times

Although I use Google services where available, Yahoo! definitely has some good stuff going on. This NYTimes article [get it while you can] talks about what Yahoo is trying to do, which is essentially, I think, to keep up with Google.

A Journey to the Center of Yahoo - New York Times

Late last year, Yahoo made a deal with the tiny X1 Technologies company, which had created the best desktop search system for files on Windows computers. (X1 rivals the Spotlight desktop search, which is built into the latest Macintosh operating system.) As a stand-alone product, X1 sells for $75 and up; under the name Yahoo Desktop Search, Yahoo’s Web site offers its version free.

This year, Yahoo also bought Flickr, a system for storing, sharing and commenting on photographs; a scheduling application called Upcoming; and the mail utility Oddpost, on which it is basing a new e-mail system. Last year, Yahoo overtook Hotmail to become the world’s most-used free e-mail service. Its new e-mail system, now running in a limited beta version and scheduled for release next year, applies technology called Ajax, discussed in a previous column, to mimic the speed and power of a normal desktop program.

When I tried the beta release of the new mail program, I was amazed that I could, for instance, quickly view the contents of an e-mail message without opening it, via a “preview pane” like Outlook’s - while operating over a normal Web browser. Yahoo, meanwhile, has intensified operations in its offices in Santa Monica, Calif., to bring more music, video and news content to its sites.

USB flash drive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a result of a request of a former employee and his subsequent departure, I have become the recent keeper of a 1GB USB Thumb Drive. Not having been very excited in the past in USB drives due to a real lack of usable space on these kinds of drives, I was happy to find that this was no longer an issue with the 1G USB drive.

So for the last few months, I have been using the drive pretty regularly to take things back and forth from home to work and back, and to use key applications like Portable Firefox, which runs from the drive, but does not need to be installed.

My other big use right now is sneakernetting movies and tv shows back and forth to watch during lunch. I can get hour long TiVo recordings down to about 700MB in Mpeg 2 format, or backed up DVDs into 800 MB MP4s, both of which fit nicely on the drive alongside some portable apps.

VLC++

At this point, I am totally obsessed with finding more portable apps to use with the drive, and today I hit the info_motherlode where you might expect I’d hit one: Wikipedia.

USB flash drive -

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keydrive applications

* USBApps - Listing of USB keydrive applications
* TinyApps - Tiny applications for your USB keydrive
* StandAlone - Stand alone applications for your USB keydrive
* airWRX - USB Keydrive application framework
* kikizas.net - Freeware programs to run from a USB stick
* Portable Freeware - The Portable Freeware Collection
* RUNT - ResNet Network Tester for USB Keydrives
* CryptoStick Software - Encryption, Private Internet Browsing, PestPatrol, all for your USB Device
* USB driver
* Dekart Private Disk - User-friendly disk encryption software for Windows XP/9x/2000 - AES 256 bit encryption
* Truecrypt - Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows XP/2000/2003

* Gaim - a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows.
* Portable OpenOffice - A complete office suite for your USB pen drive
* Portable NVU - The Complete Web Authoring System
* Portable AbiWord - the popular word processor AbiWord optimized for USB pen drive use
* Portable Mozilla Stuff
o Portable Firefox - Web browser
o Portable Thunderbird - Email
o Portable Sunbird - Calendar application

[edit]

HOWTO pages

* Encrypted thumb drive and autoplay howto - Open source tools and a very clear walkthrough
* Combining encryption and mobility howto - A guide on using Portable Firefox, Thunderbird, Instant Messenger in a secure way

[edit]

GNU/Linux distributions for USB

* DamnSmallLinux (DSL), a small derivative of Knoppix, tailored to USB
* Knoppix USB Based.
* featherlinux - distribution specifically created for USB sticks
* Flash-Puppy a mature distro designed for keydrives
* Flonix: USB Keydrive Operating System
* Generic Howto on USB booting, incl. with using a floppy/CD for the initial boot if the BIOS does not support USB
* Installing Debian from a USB stick
* LiveDistro.org - Operating systems and HOWTOs for LiveUSBs

How to Accept Criticism While at Work - WikiHow

While I was trained how to do this in fine arts classes while in University, [yes, I have a BFA in scuplture] many people are not, and this little ehow gives a good insight into how to best approach external criticism.

How to Accept Criticism While at Work - WikiHow

How to Accept Criticism While at Work

So you just finished what you thought was a great project at work, and now your boss is listing all the things you need to improve upon. Don’t get discouraged; constructive criticism is a key part of any job. Through this article, learn how to accept criticism and do your job as well as possible.

Grokker as a Search Tool

Grokker is a search engine front end for Yahoo! Search that displays results in circles of related topics. It is a unique and interesting way to look at any topic, but particularly fun for ego-searching. I like it so much, I wrote a grokker search plugin for mycroft, Firefox’s built in search tool, and if the database on that site ever works again, I’ll submit it. Below is an invitation to see how Stanford uses Grokker to improve the way patrons use the Library’s vast resources.

Event Status

Stanford’s Success Story Using Grokker for Federated Search and Visualization
Does your library need to uncover quality information hidden deep within multiple data sources? Are your patrons increasingly turning to Google as their primary research tool despite the many quality information resources available? Are multiple points of access and disparate user interfaces posing significant barriers to full utilization of quality research sources in your library?

Join us for a free live Web seminar sponsored by Groxis Inc. and featuring Chris Bourg, Associate Director for Communications of Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information Resources.

Chris Bourg will present:
Stanford’s success story using Grokker for federated search, results categorization and visualization

Attendees will learn how:

* Grokker increases the utilization of Stanford library subscription content (i.e. EBSCO, IEEE, HighWire, etc.)
* Grokker’s federated search gives Stanford researchers the ability to simultaneously access and efficiently explore hundreds of results from disparate sources
* Grokker’s visualization and clustering tools improve the quality of research by facilitating deeper exploration of research materials
* Grokker’s document summaries and previews allow Stanford researchers to quickly assess the content of returned documents

Who should attend:

* University Library Professionals
* Corporate Library Professionals
* Researchers
* Knowledge Management Professionals

What is Grokker?
Grokker helps libraries add value to databases and subscription content by facilitating the delivery and exploration of those resources. The result is fuller utilization of resources and higher quality research.

To learn more about Grokker, please visit www.grokker.com or contact our sales team at sales@groxis.com.

Technology-Enabled Teaching/eLearning Dialogue

Most of the people who heard of this merger between Bb and WebCT seemed to think it was a great thing, but I didn’t. Or, I should say, I don’t now if it’s a good, thing, but I don’t think it will be. I think that the tools in WebCT will be merged into Bb quickly and clunkily. I think that prices will rise to the point that we simply couldn’t afford to continue to use Bb. I think that WebCT is difficult for the average end user, and I think that the inclusion of the tools that I saw in WebCT to Blackboard will probably complicate Bb’s expensive but easy interface. At any rate - here’s a page with some analysis, commentary, and suggestions for people like me, who feel some apprehension about the merger.

Technology-Enabled Teaching/eLearning Dialogue
1. The merger will be a boon to the open source community, providing a forceful rationale for preserving self-initiated pace of change, customization, managed cost, and multi-vendor support platform for innovation. Skeptical WebCT users will move in droves to Sakai and Moodle. (or) The merger is a major set-back for open source, the forthcoming standardization/harmonization between the two market leaders will facilitate content sharing and tool development among schools that use the new Blackboard. Finally, there is the opportunity for higher education to focus on content development and pedagogy.

2. Basic costs will go up more slowly; there is an economy of scale that can be leveraged to reduce the rate of growth in licensing fees. The new Blackboard will grow revenue mainly through volume and BuildingBlocks sales that add value to the core CMS functionality. (or) The two big fish are now one bigger fish; the uncertainty, and the competition, is over. There is yet another bigger fish (e.g., Oracle-Peoplesoft, Microsoft) waiting to consolidate the educational market with the corporate training market. Each phase of consolidation will be accompanied by rapid price escalation.

3. Others in the CMS space (e.g., Angel, Desire2Learn) will redouble their commitment to service–who but their current customers can really sell to the newly disenfranchised? (or) How can relatively small companies resist the urge to divert resources to sales and growth? Service may suffer, but there’s nowhere for the current customer to go so they will stay during turbulent expansion.

Sysinternals Freeware - RootkitRevealer

This is a Windows NT based Rootkit hunter called Rootkit Revealer. It is not open source software, and it runs only on Windows, but it does not cost anything. I got it because I am trying to emulate all of the security tools I have on my Linux boxen in my Windows environment for free. It’s not an easy task. Rootkits are ways that crackers use to get into your system and control it. You don’t want a rootkit installed, and you often don’t know if one is present without help. This provides that help. You could think of it as a highly specialized virus scanner. rootkits–

Sysinternals Freeware - RootkitRevealer
Introduction

RootkitRevealer is an advanced patent-pending root kit detection utility. It runs on Windows NT 4 and higher and its output lists Registry and file system API discrepancies that may indicate the presence of a user-mode or kernel-mode rootkit. RootkitRevealer successfully detects all persistent rootkits published at www.rootkit.com, including AFX, Vanquish and HackerDefender (note: RootkitRevealer is not intended to detect rootkits like Fu that don’t attempt to hide their files or registry keys). If you use it to identify the presence of a rootkit please let us know!

Princeton offers Vodcasts of Lectures

Well, I can’t say that it’s an original idea, but the big P is likely to follow through on this idea of free Vodcasting of lectures. I hope that Rider groks what’s going on and asks me to make some percentage of lectures available from here as well.

Princeton to Offer Free “Vodcasts” of Lectures on Web

Princeton University (NJ) has added “vodcasts” - shared videos that can be watched using Apple Inc.’s iTunes - to the podcasts, or downloadable sound files, it already offers on its Web-based University Channel. The service makes academic lectures and events available to the public via the Web. Apple recently introduced vodcasting technology in conjunction with the video-enabled iPod as a way of sharing video files over iTunes. Subscribers are notified when podcasts and vodcasts are available directly on the website or for downloading onto a computer. Both options are free of charge.