RockMelt? Watch the video interview of the co-founders to learn more about the worlds newest web browser!

A quick glance at my morning newspaper- yes, the kind that involves paper and ink- brought to my attention that today is the first day that the RockMelt browser meets the world.


So what is special about RockMelt?  According to the RockMelt blog, the browser is built on Chromium, the same source code that fuels Google's Chrome. The biggest investment in RockMelt was $10  million dollars, from Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm.  Andreessen is also one of RockMelt's board of directors.  RockMelt is tightly integrated with Facebook, which is understandable, since Marc Andreessen is also on that company's board of directors.  (Marc Andreessen is the guy behind Netscape, one of the first popular browsers in the mid 1990's.)


Below is a video of an interview of the co-founders of RockMelt, who explain the reasons why browsers need to be re-invented to address social networking, "the cloud", and more.  





"Wherever you go on the Internet, RockMelt makes the Web a personal experience. Because RockMelt is the first browser you log into, it unlocks  your Web experience with your Facebook friends, your feeds, your favorite services, even your bookmarks and preferences. RockMelt is also the first browser to be fully backed by the cloud. This means you can access your personal browsing experience from anywhere, and you get quick updates from the people and sites that are important to you."  -RockMelt Blog


Promo Video:  RockMelt- Your Browser. Re-Imagined







For more information, visit the RockMelt website.  You can also sign up to get the browser at the website. The browser might be a little buggy, as it is a Beta version, and is still in development.

Technology and Education, a Temporal Approach -Link to Dan Sutch's article, plus info about FutureLab

I'm interested in topics related to school reform and how it impacts the intersection of education/learning and emerging/innovative interactive technologies.  There are many changes going on that will impact the future of education, and I thought I'd devote a post or two to this topic on the Interactive Multimedia Technology and TechPsych blogs.

Over the past few years, I've noticed that there is a re-occurring theme, sort of a self-perpetuating "myth" - or hope, that if we just could fire/tweak/transform- the teachers, and if we just had the right kind of technologies and applications at hand, the multiple problems of education would be solved.  Of course, we know it is much more complicated than throwing innovative technologies, teaching strategies, and new, "highly qualified" teachers into the educational mix!

On this note,  I'd like to share a link to an article written by Dan Sutch on the Flux blog, hosted by FutureLab. ( I've included some links to resources from the FuturLab website.  I've also added my own "2-cents" to the topic of technology and education reform, which can be found at the top of this blog under the "My 2-cents: Innovative Technologies, Education Reform, which is in draft form.)


In his article, Dan Sutch touches on some key problems facing education. Like the little boy in the children's book, the Emperor's New Clothes, he points out that the polarizing debates regarding education blind us to what we really need to think about- and understand.  

A Temporal View on the Aims of Education

Dan Sutch,  Flux (FutureLab)  October 7, 2010

Here are thee three "meta-functions" of education discussed in Dan's article:

• How the world is as it is. Which requires exploration of what is already known about the world: knowledge domains, histories, cultural differences etc.  [The past] This only makes sense in relation to how learners
• Understand their place in the world. This is a focus on the individual, their culture and context, their interests, knowledges and relationships etc. [The present] This then leads to a need to understand
• How they act within the world and how they can change it. This is about developing personal identities and agency, and the skills to enact them – for themselves, their communities and for wider global challenges. [The future]

By using this framework, it might be possible for us to generate meaningful ways to use technology to support the business/science/art of teaching and learning. This framework might be something for university-level teacher educators to consider.

RELATED AND SOMEWHAT RELATED

About Dan Sutch

"Dan's main research interests are in mobile learning, radical innovation and the role of the teacher in technology-rich learning environments. Dan’s current work involves investigating new models of innovation in the design and application of digital learning resources and the capacity of teachers to act as innovators in the use of digital learning resources."

Panel of Flux Contributors
I encourage you to take a look at the other people who contribute to Flux!  They are on the forefront of education and emerging technologies, and come from a wide range of disciplines.


About FutureLab
FutureLab is an organization located in the UK that focuses on "the way people learn through innovative technology and practice".   The FutureLab website has a wealth of information about interactive and immersive technologies that support- or have the potential to support- learning. 


FutureLab's Free Online Tools
One of many examples is Create-A-Scape:
"Create-A-Scape is a website that provides resources for creating digitally-enhanced learning experiences, using mobile technology to experience location-sensitive sounds and images that have been 'attached to' the local landscape. Can be used right across the curriculum with all age groups." -FutureLab


Links to FutureLab topics, from the home page of the FutureLab website:

• 14-19 
• 21st century skills 
• assessment 
• augmented reality 
• citizenship 
• collaboration 
• creativity
• curriculum 
• digital inclusion 
• digital media 
• family learning 
• futures 
• games
• health 
• informal learning 
• innovation
• innovative teaching 
• learner voice
• learning spaces 
• lifelong learning
• mobile/handheld 
• open source 
• personalisation
• pre-school 
• primary 
• secondary 
• skills 
• social software 
• thinking skills 
• user-centred design

Links to FutureLab's current projects:

• • Adult Informal Learning
  • Beyond Current Horizons
  • Create-A-Scape
  • Creativity in European Schools
  • Curriculum Innovation Network
  • Digital Participation
  • Dream Catcher
  • Education Eye
  • Enquiring Minds
  • Exploratree
  • Fizzees
  • Fountaineers
  • Games and Learning
  • Games-Based Experiences for Learning
  • Gaming in Families
  • Harnessing Technology
  • Home-School Relationships
  • Infocow
  • iTEC
  • Learning in Families
  • Learning Spaces
  • New Assessment Scenarios
  • Pedagogy 3.0
  • Power League
    • • Serious Games in Education
      • Technology-Supported Curriculum

Augmented Reality Eyeglasses: I AM geeky enough to make this fashion statement!

THE AR WALKER, from NTT DoCoMo

Jason Sosa tweeted about the latest trend, the AR Walker, augmented reality for your glasses. This technology from NTT DoCoMo allows you to instantly access location-based information about the things around you. This would be very convenient for people walking about in urban areas, or for tourists. The system also provides easy access to other kinds of information. For example, if you look up towards the sky, you'll get weather information...beyond what you'd figure out on your own.

Of course, the fashionable get-up is in the prototype stage, so you won't be able be seen in public with the newest type of shades anytime soon. For more information, see the video below:


AR WALKER


RELATED

Augmented Reality On Your Glasses, Maps in Your Eyes, Aaron Saenz,  Singularity Hub.

DoCoMo shows prototype augmented reality display, Nick Barber, IDG News Service

LAYAR: Augmented Reality Browser (website)

Total Immersion's Partner Success Story: Demo Reel of AR&Co in Indonesia

Cross posted on The World Is My Interactive Interface blog.

Quick Link: 3M Invests in Perceptive Pixel, Jeff Han's Multitouch Tech Company

3M Invests in Perceptive Pixel

"3M, through its 3M New Ventures business, has invested in Perceptive Pixel Inc., a developer of advanced multi-touch solutions based in New York City. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.Founded by multi-touch pioneer Jeff Han in 2006, Perceptive Pixel is dedicated to the research, development and production of multi-touch interfaces for the knowledge worker. The company's hardware and software products enable users to manipulate complex datasets through a new class of intuitive, powerful and visually rich interface techniques. The combination of its technologies with those of 3M will create incredible new opportunities for both companies."

"To see Perceptive Pixel multi-touch solutions in action on 3M Projected Capacitive Technology, see the video at http://www.3m.com/touchPPI. For more information about 3M MicroTouch products, visit www.3M.com/touch. For an overview of popular touch technologies and terminology, visit www.touchtopics.com."

RELATED
3M Touchscreen Products and Systems

Catching up with multitouch pioneer Jef Han Ina Fried, Cnet 10/22/10

Jeff Han's 2006 Ted Talk



Jeff Han, 2007



Thanks to Seth Sandler for the link!

Child-Computer Interaction: A Featured Community at the Upcoming CHI 2011 Conference!

Last year, I attended CHI 2010 and participated in a workshop about the next generation of HCI and education.  It was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas with people from all over the world who are interested in emerging technologies, kids, and education.  I plan to attend CHI 2011 in Vancouver, Canada next May 7-11, and even though the conference is months away, I can barely wait.  The good news it that the Child-Computer Interaction community will have an important presence at the 2011 ACM CHI conference.  I wanted to share a little bit about this development on this blog. 

During CHI 2010, I signed up for the  "Designing for the iChild" course.  In one afternoon, I learned more than I had expected, especially the technique called "Layered Elaboration", a collaborative design strategy that involves inter-generational teams of children and adults.  

One of the leaders of this course was Allison Druin, Associate Professor and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland.  Dr. Druin's focus is in the area of child-computer interaction and how children can be meaningfully involved as partners in the design process.  

The quote below, found on the HCIL Children as Design Partners website, explains why this is so important:

"We have a chance to change technology, but more importantly we have a chance to change the life of a child. Every time a new technology enables a child to do something they never dreamed of, there are new possibilities for the future."  -Allison Druin

In my work as a school psychologist, I use technology with students quite often, especially when I'm at Wolfe, a program for students who have more complex disabilities, including severe autism.  I have been fortunate to have a new SMARTBoard at my fingertips, and access to the school's SMARTtable.  I learn from my students every day.

I believe that we are only at the "tip of the iceberg" with this sort of technology- and related applications such as the iPad and similar devices.   In my experience, well designed technologies and applications can open up a meaningful window to the world for children, teens, and others with disabilities.

Most of the information below was taking from the CHI 2011 conference website:

About the Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) community:

"At CHI, the CCI community will want to attract papers and contributions that represent real advances in the understanding of, or development and refinement of methods for, child computer interaction. It will also seek to unearth groundbreaking innovations addressing the needs, capabilities and preferences of children that have the potential to become reference works for developments in this field."

"By its very nature, The CCI community will have to be divergent in its thinking at CHI; it must also be about two of the mainstream CHI communities – engineering and design, but will potentially also be concerned with many of the communities of technologies (Smart devices, surfaces, mobile), of experiences (Play, Learning, Communication) and of methods (participatory design, evaluation)." ....

"Child Computer Interaction is a new community for CHI. It is a place for contributions where a method or a design is proposed that is especially suited to children and that could not sensibly be easily adapted for adults.  

We are keen to have contributions to all the usual CHI tracks but are also offering four special tracks for our own extra special community. These are:

• Child Partnership Projects (CPP): A design competition for teams that include children.

• Participatory Papers: Scholarly publications that are disseminated for children readers. (i.e. written in a different way)

• Lessons from the Trenches: Targeting industrial cases and experiences. A lively venue where experiences can be exchanged, and researchers can be exposed to the realities of industrial practice in this domain.

• Theatre pieces: High quality video contributions, available in a library after the conference, of methods that can be re used and learned from."

Child-Computer Interaction Chairs:
Janet C. Read
University of Central Lancashire
Panos Markopoulos
Eindhoven University of Techology
Allison Druin
University of Maryland
childcomputerinteraction@chi2010

RELATED
Walsh, G., Druin, A., Guha, ML, Foss, B., Golub, E., Hatley, L (2009)  [PDF] Layered Elaboration: A New Technique for Co-Design with Children.  ACM CHI 2009