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The most significant things I’ve learned this week have been snow-related. Have a quick look at the above YouTube video of me building an igloo. That took me 7 hours! Instead of getting all philosophical and talking about how good it felt to create something out of nothing and how I started to feel ‘at one’ with the snow, I’ll reflect on some practical considerations:

1. I should estimate how long things are likely to take before they start
2. The size of an igloo depends on the angle of the walls – easy to forget!
3. There are lots of different types of snow.
4. Igloos are actually quite warm!

I considered sleeping in it, but having worked on it for 7 hours straight every single muscle in my body hurt. I went in the bath, read my book and went to bed…

Here’s a brief overview of other stuff I’ve learned this week, broken down by category.

Tech

• Flocking.me allows you to search through your friends’ tweets only (via TechXAV)
• It’s possible to embed Flickr images and show any notes (as I did on my post Mac OSX apps I currently use). I used this script but you can also use Mbedr or this WordPress plugin.
• This is a cool flip-type clock screensaver for Mac OSX
• Mashable has a great post entitled iPhone Apps List 2010: 700+ Apps Reviewed by Category
• SnagIt, a great screen-capture app, is now available in beta for Mac OSX
• Pretty much everything you need to know in terms of how Google’s new Nexus One phone stacks up against the Motorola Droid and Apple iPhone can be found in this post at Mashable.
• Encoding.com looks like a rather useful way to transcode video so it’s in a suitable format for various mobile devices (via Mashable)
• Confused by what the ‘Semantic Web’ and ‘Web 3.0′ are? Try this video!
• Jay Cross posted links to Handy free online tools this week – including the rather useful-looking Rypple (for getting anonymous feedback)
• This Google page is very handy for showing people the various types of searches you can do and information you can find quickly and easily.
• I really, really want this iPhone stand that makes it look like an iMac!
• Chris Messina, only a few days younger than me, has celebrated his 29th birthday by announcing he’s going to work for Google. I suddenly feel a lot more confident about Google’s ‘openness’.
• Google Chrome extensions are now available for Mac (if you install the Developer build). I’m running several without slowdown! (via Mashable)
• CommonCraft have a new, rather useful, video about how to protect your online reputation (via @mtechman)
• It’s true, I wasn’t aware of these 60 educational game sites that you’ve probably never seen (via @datruss)
• Balsamiq is a nifty site to help you mock-up websites, iPhone apps and other digital stuff quickly and easiliy (via @nickdennis)
• Chris Brogan brought my attention to his Brief and informal Twitter etiquette guide.
• Swaggle.mobi allows you to send text messages (SMS) to groups. When they reply, it goes to the whole group (via @DanitaR)

Productivity & Inspiration

• 100 All-Time Best Productivity Tips for Working & Learning from Home
• Hurry Up and Wait (why slowing down is good for us, according to futurists consulted by GOOD)
• 23 ways to work less and achieve more (Dumb Little Man)
• The Happiness Project – one woman’s quest to make her life even happier following various guides (via BoingBoing)
• Benjamin Franklin’s 13-point plan for virtuous living (BoingBoing)
• How to focus your attention and avoid distractions (alternaview)
• 9 secret ways to persuade and influence people (Dumb Little Man)
• Seth Godin on why you should stop blaming other people and external circumstances from holding you back.

Academic

• I read about Tetrads on Harold Jarche’s blog and incorporated it into my Ed.D. thesis. He’s also got a useful post entitled Sharing tacit knowledge on how hierarchies aren’t great for emergent practices.
• MIT Press have free access to a series of journals on Youth, Identity & Digital Media.
• Wirearchy is “a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority based on information, knowledge, trust and credibility, enabled by interconnected people and technology” that is replacing hierarchies in forward-thinking organizations.
• Chris Lott has been on fire this week at Ruminate – first providing a neat summary of the current ‘openness’ debate (prompted by Google) and thenmaking some analogies between openness and the work of Umberto Eco. Great work, Chris!
• Stephen Downes talks about the difference between developing capacities versus delivering subjects in Questioning Pedagogy.
• Ben Grey, in a post which I’m more than likely to take inspiration from and emulate, has made explicit his educational philosophy. Much to agree with there!

Data, Design & Infographics

• Mashable on How Data Will Impact the Way We Do Business. We will know pretty much everything there is to know about ourselves soon…
• The subjective nature of visualization and its power as a political tool is outlined in Chart Wars (Infosthetics)
• FlowingData links to a great infographic showing how popular music has become louder in recent years through the use of compressors. I also really appreciated Nathan’s post on 11 ways to visualize changes over time.
• Chart Porn links to an infographic showing the History of the Book.
• Fast Company shows how some graphic designers have ditched the resume for an infographic about their career thus far (more at Cool Infographics). FC also have a post linking to Pentagram, where a faux psychologist will ‘analyse’ you to determine your font type (password = Character)
• Datavisualization.ch has a timeline of major events and trends (1750-2100). The infographic interested me less than the excellent use of Zoomorama.
• Spyre Studies has a great post talking about the anatomy of an infographics and how there are 5 steps to create a powerful visual.

Misc.

This made me laugh! (via Mashable)

• The Flickr blog highlighted some excellent pictures of ancient standing stones.
• BoingBoing commented on the ascendancy of the non-private person (who has nothing to lose). The BBC also has an interesting piece on How online life distorts privacy rights for all (expect a blog post on this issue soon!)
• GigaOM has a fantastic post on How to present like Steve Jobs. Did you know he spends 90 hours preparing a one-hour presentation?!
• The Future of Work is a very interesting presentation on how the whole workplace and concept of work has changed in the last 10 years.
• Academic Earth’s Media, Education and the Marketplace looks good – especially Henry Jenkins’ lecture on Media Literacy as a strategy for combatting moral panic (via @ewanmcintosh)

This resonated with me – via Jennifer Hagy @ indexed

• The ever-relevant and insightful Harold Jarche looks back at Seth Godin’s predictions for 2009 from 5 years ago (startlingly accurate) and his own from 2007, as well as looking forward to new and emerging business models.
• I love mashups and Best of Bootie 2009 absolutely rocks. Especially DJ Earworm’s United State of Pop 2009 (top 25 Billboard songs, mashed up!).
• Mashable reflects on ways social media has changed us. This post makes a lot of sense and I’m going to start to use the term ‘ambient intimacy’ to explain a lot of what goes on, online. It makes sense.

BBC News posted a great satellite photo of what Britain looked like without the Gulf Stream last week.

• There are some places in the world you’re just not allowed to go. This post on listverse (via @dougpete) highlights the ‘Top 10′ of these.
• Vicki Davis (aka Cool Cat Teacher) in a reflective and revealing post entitled Sojourner Truth outlines her recent struggles with blogging and celebrity.

Quotations

You’re only given a little spark of madness. You musn’t lose it. (Robin Williams)

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it. (Bob Hope)

(both via @gbmiii)

Posted: January 10th, 2010
Categories: Things I Learned This Week
Tags: academic, data, design, igloo, infographics, inspiration, links, Productivity, reading, snow, Technology, video, YouTube