Web Apps for Back to School
Who likes to lug around those big heavy textbooks?
Not me, that’s for sure.
Frederic Lardinois of ReadWriteWeb provides some web applications and plug-in extensions to help reduce the number of books and resources you need to carry.
Citations from Hell
Zotero helps you cite in the following formats:
- American Medical Association
- American Political Science Association
- American Psychological Association
- American Sociological Association
- Chicago Manual of Style (Author-Date format)
- Chicago Manual of Style (Full Note with Bibliography)
- Chicago Manual of Style (Note with Bibliography)
EasyBib sticks to the more popular a formats such as MLA an APA, and converts between the two.
Imagine the automation possible with tools like OttoBib, which gives you a book citation using an ISBN number alone.
Students Collaborating?
If you’re really fancy about your summaries you can use Evernet, which lets you upload photos of the blackboard right into your notes.
Google Notebookis similar to Microsoft Word, but allows natural online collaboration. There are plenty of times we miss something the Prof said, but this way you can have several students taking notes on the same lecture.
But many students are not famous for their collaboration. In the rare chance that they do, such as with moots, other online office suites from Google and Zoho might be useful.
Organizational Skills
I’m the guy who does everything - every public speaker, every event, and I want to eventually do every competition. At the tuition rate I’m paying I want the most of my law school experience, and don’t want to be holed up trying to cram as much as I can.
I already use Google Calendar to keep track of things, but Remember the Milk is an additional tool that can be used in conjunction with it to prioritze tasks. You can synchronize Remember the Milk with your Gmail, iPhone, Blackberry, Twitter, and more.
Ratings Professors
Most law students know Rate My Professor from their undergrad studies (law in Canada is usually after one degree, or at least several years of study). There’s also Professor Performance, which is increasing in popularity. I’ve checked, and many of my law professors are evaluted on these sites.
Be fair, but kind and generous when conducting these evaluations. Keep in mind that one day someone will likely be evaluating you on one of the many professional evaluation sites like Lawyer Ratingz and CanLaw that are popping up.
Daydream Efficiently
Looking to daydream in class, or procrastinate on those readings?
Minimize your wasted time with Meebo, which allows you to integrate several Instant Messaging accounts simultaneously.
My Recommendation
ReadWriteWeb provides a whole slew of other web apps that students can use.
My biggest distraction in class is looking up legal definitions. Because Black’s Law Dictionary is too bulky to bring to every class, I tend to use a combination of free online legal dictionaries and other sources.
My new favorite toy is Ubuiquity, a beta Firefox extension that allows quick, in-browser command prompts including quick definitions and Wikipedia entries. It also allows you to quickly Digg pages, take screenshots, map locations, and translate text.
Of course all these features are available on other sites and applications, but it’s the speed and efficiency that Ubiquity allows that makes it useful.
There are also custom command prompts available, and many further developments that can be expected from this application as it expands.
Keep Your Fingers Crossed
Armed with all your online toys you’ll be more organized and efficient than ever before for the new school year. Learning productivity software now, while you are in school, will make you that much more of an efficient professional once you start practicing.
Now let’s just hope your computer doesn’t crash.
Cross-Posted from Law is Cool.
Social Media When Time = Money
Lawyers are notorious for efficient use of their time, more so than any other professional, because with the billable hour their time really is money.
The American Bar Association revealed in the Septmeber 2008 issue of the ABA Journal that the majority of lawyers are still reluctant to adopt new web technology.
The survey, based on responses from approximately 850 lawyers nationwide, shows that websites and e-mail newsletters are still the digital way that most attorneys stay current with the news. A small minority reports reading blogs; but actually creating a blog is something the geeky lawyer down the hall—or, more likely, across town—is into.
Sam Glover of Lawyerist demonstrates that social media does not necessarily need to take more time than other networking techniques.
Networking takes time, whether that networking takes the form of a bar association event, a happy hour with colleagues, or online social networking. Just like “regular,” offline networking, time spent networking online is up to the person doing the networking online. Networking online is “real” marketing. It should be a necessary part of your job, not just frivolous web surfing.
He looks at Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, claims that once you set yourself up you need only 10-15 min. a day for maintenance.
Well here’s a tip to reduce that time even further.
With Ping.fm, you can simultaneously update several networks, including social media sites and blogs.
If you install plug-ins, you can further disseminate your information by either distributing your blog posts across your network, or collect your web content like status updates and transform them into blog entries using their custom url feature.
Essentially you have set up several mirrors on over a dozen sites that are already optimized. Keep your privacy settings on the lowest level for the best effect.
The trick here is to use social media as a push medium, and not spend hours daydreaming looking at all your associates’ vacation photos.
Using this technique for several months consistently will increase the likelihood that personal content you are interested in placing on the web will take top ranking. You will be able to stay in touch with family, friends, and potential clients with minimal effort.
Best of all, you’ll come across as a social media pro, and nobody will know how little effort it really took.
h/t Devin Johnston of Robson Hall for the heads up on ping.fm
Cross-Posted from Law is Cool.
The big big money opportunity for social media and marketing
I’m not a marketer. Really not a marketer. I’ve just been to a supermarket and I saw hot cross buns. I had a moments panic thinking it was Easter already. No, someone just thinks they will will make 5p profit on each of those 4 packets of buns x the number of outlets. No, I just don’t get it. We will eat lots more if you make us wait for another 7 months.
Though I am not a marketer, I am into organizations. Pay me some money and I would be so pleased to play organizational detective and find out who dreams up selling hot cross buns in the middle of summer and whether anyone double checks if it is profitable or not. And if it was profitable and I was completely wrong, I would come back bubbling to tell you.
So let me regale you now with what I have just worked out about the value of brands and what I think is the big-time opportunity for social media consultancy. This is a comment I wrote on Oleg’s blog. If you want the mechanics of viral marketing/spam, go there.
I am going to cross-post my comment here and then unwrap the big opportunity at the bottom of the post.
In brief, maybe we need to stop sinking money into outdated brand ideas?
Olegs, this is a useful catalog and I will relink on to a British site. In fact I will repost this whole comment. I think the [viral marketing] methods you list miss the point of social media and head towards nuisance messages. The trick is to think through the community and conversations that people have about a product.
When a life insurance salesman asks you about your friends, your intent is not to gain a reward but to bring a friend closer to you.
When Obama asks you to ’send to a friend’, you are motivated to have your choice of candidate win. Unless I dislike them a lot, I don’t send Obama messages to known hard-core Republicans!
Social media works when we facilitate the conversations people want to have and the communities they want to build.
Let’s illustrate with Marriot who have a site for “frequent stayers”. I won’t stay with Marriott again until I have access to a site like that because my experience there was awful. But if there are old hands who will steer me on how to interact with the chain so that I get the safe haven when I travel, I might reconsider. In return, I could advise on non- Mariott hotels particularly in small town UK and some of the more far flung reaches of the world where I have hung out.
Can Marriott accept their role as giving me a safe haven? If they just want to sell me a bed, then they will not let me use their website to pass on useful tips whether they are about their own hotel or others.
It is quite interesting because if satisfaction is guaranteed, then a business does not need social media. Nor will they be scared of it. If satisfaction is NOT guaranteed, they will be scared of social media, but oh, how they need you and me to communicate directly about the work-arounds that make their offering acceptable.
Social media is a revolution! It blows away an important ‘barrier to entry’ - the hypocrisy and myth that large companies and institutions have been able to weave around their products and services. This all feels negative - can’t end here.
Let’s take another tourist example. Let’s say you are traveling to Zimbabwe. In the olden days, you asked around to see if you know anyone who knows the place. If you cannot get recommendations for a local place, you stay at a chain like Holiday Inn. In the days of social media, if you are traveling to Zimbabwe, you go to a social media site with a brand and you get the information. What has happened in a blink of an eye is that the value of brands like Holiday Inn have evaporated and being replaced with LinkedIn, for example !!!!(is that why I pay their membership fee?).
This is a total revolution in business. Marketers who continue to build brands are robbing their shareholders. They need to build alliances with brands like LinkedIn and others . . .
. . and here I stop because I am in HR not marketing and I am more concerned with supply side uses of social media.
I think I may be onto something guys.
This is marketing, as opposed to selling. And it points to the valuation of the shares of big names too.
If you want to go really big in social media and marketing, look here for a niche. Maybe I should get out of HR and come and join you. Maybe I shouldn’t just send this to friends and get in a huddle?
What So.Me must the UK deliver in 2012?
What is our role in designing a first-class So.Me service for 2012?
Well, that is a real humdinger, isn’t?
- Firstly, who can even imagine what media will look like in 2012?
- Secondly, do we want a role? Are we opinion-makers or opinion-followers?
Apophenia took time off writing-up her PhD to describe what she would like NOW in the way of Olympics 2.0. I want pretty much the same (and I am not getting it). What do you think?
Apophenia is a serious commentator on new media, so check out her blog. “For you convenience” - to save you a click - here is a summary.
- We want “spliceable objects” that we can remix live for our own viewing pleasure!
- Coverage should be live not delayed (though we would like to replay too!)
- Every competitor should be covered so we can watch whom we please and switch from one view to another,
- The interface should allow us to follow a person or event.
Too much to ask?
Apophenia says she would be happy to have adverts. What she would lose happily are commentators adding ‘padding’ [my words]. We only want commentary if it adds an expert view of spectactular value.
I agree. What do you think?
Are we up to the task?
Addendum: Challenge from Chris. is this #So.Me or complex broadcasting? We want the ingredients to do our own mashups. Look at NY Times coverage. How much is user generated?
CALL FOR PAPERS FOR PhD-STUDENTS AND JUNIOR RESEARCHERS IN THE EU
QMSS-2 2008 Workshop »Communication Networks on the Web«
Sponsored by the European Science Foundation
Date: 18 – 19 December 2008
Location: University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School of Communications Research, Kloveniersburgwal 48, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Goal: The intensive use of new information and communication technologies, especially the web, by individuals and social actors generally has tremendously increased the availability of data and opportunities for data processing and analysis. This seminar will stress the value of taking appropriate theoretical perspectives and using appropriate analytic strategies in the study of (computer mediated) communication networks. The seminar will bring together leading researchers and young scientists from a range of disciplines to share knowledge and produce synergies that will define the research field.
Themes:
Main topics of the workshop
1. Communication networks on the web as a theoretical and methodological challenge
- conceptualization of communication processes on the web
- possibilities and problems of theoretically informed social network analysis
2. Social structures on the web
- emergence of social structures in communication networks on the web
- interactional and community dynamics
- social roles, collective action
3. Dynamics of communication on the web
- structure of citation and collaboration ties
- structure of content
- combination of two approaches
4. Measuring and collecting data for communication networks on the web
- methodologies for analyzing communication networks on the web
- collecting, parsing, coding data
- identification of actors and identification of content
Format: The workshop is organized as follows. For each of the main topics, a prominent researcher delivers an invited lecture. The junior participants present their papers, which are commented upon by the invited speakers, followed by a discussion with the other participants. The papers will be distributed to the participants before the start of the workshop. Altogether, the workshop will host 4 invited speakers and a maximum of 20 junior presenters.
Invited speakers
Prof. Noshir Contractor, Northwestern University, USA.
Prof. Loet Leydesdorff, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Prof. Mike Thelwall, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.
Howard Welser PhD, Ohio University, USA.
Submission: Papers specifying a research design or presenting (preliminary) results by postgraduate students or junior researchers addressing the above topics are invited. In addition to a presentation, active participation in the discussions is expected. An extended abstract of the paper is required for submission.
All papers should be prepared in electronic form. Detailed submission directions will be available at QMSS-2 web site http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/qmss/seminars/2008-social/index.shtml. Extended abstracts must be written in English and should be between 1,000 – 1,500 words. Notification of acceptance will be given by October 15.
Important dates:
September 1: Deadline for submission of the extended abstracts
October 15: Authors of accepted papers are notified
December 1: Submission of full papers (app. 4000 words)
Please send your abstract to Wouter de Nooy (w.denooy@uva.nl) and Gregor Petrič (gregor.petric@fdv.uni-lj.si).
Travel and accommodation:
Participants’ travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the QMSS 2 programme, provided that they come from or are working in one of the 17 countries who support QMSS 2. To check eligibility, see http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/qmss/countries/.
Language: The official language of the workshop will be English.
Organizers:
Dr. Gregor Petrič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Dr. Wouter de Nooy, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The European Science Foundation (ESF) provides a platform for its Member Organisations to advance European research and explore new directions for research at the European level. Established in 1974 as an independent non-governmental organisation, the ESF currently serves 75 Member Organisations across 30 countries.
Should Olympic competitors be allowed to blog?
I was shocked to see that Olympic competitors may not blog or even transmit photos down their mobile phones. It appears that professional journalists have a monopoly on news.
I am not comfortable with that.
- To take part in sport you have to cede your rights to your image and your history?
- We are propping up an industry with a monopoly - subsidizing them in effect?
- This is so old fashioned?
What do you think? What has the 2012 committee assumed about the review they will get from media organizations? Was this discussed openly?
Jailhouse Tips for Surviving Online
Being online is not unlike the prison underworld. It can be brutal, savage, and unforgiving, and requires street smarts to survive.
Sitting in your cell alone, or not being involved in the online space, is no longer an option. If you don’t participate personally, someone else will on your behalf. In the long-term you can expect identity theft (or simply mistaken identity), smear campaigns, and social ostracization.
Michael Allison, a recent PR grad in Canada, said,
Think of social media’s value in a way where you can’t not make time for it.
Even if you don’t go online your competitors will. With some disastrous consequences.
So let’s get started.
Get Affiliated
The lone sheep is in danger of the wolf.
- Chinese Proverb
Just like in jail, the person who doesn’t affiliate themselves with a powerful or influential group online is likely to get picked on. Unlike jail however, affiliations should not be racially based.
Professional groups and associations in your area of interest are always the best place to start. You have the added bonus of informal mentoring and networking from your peers. More importantly, they can help show you the ropes.
If you operate a blog, join a group aggregate. This has the added bonus of increasing your readership. Link to others in your collective, and you will see the link love flow. Your feed can potentially be reproduced on countless sites, expanding your influential exponentially.
Get Social
Online influence and presence is largely a matter of how well you are known, and how well you know others. Use social media sites to interact and familiarize yourself with persons and groups of interest.
Facebook is one of the more popular sites, and is increasing in usage even beyond the younger demographic that it started with. Businesses are clearly making their presence known on Facebook. But other sites offer more sophisticated and professional profiles, with LinkedIn topping the charts in popularity. Ziki is one of my new favourites because it imports your blog and podcast posts for you.
All the social media can get overwhelming at times. Use an RSS reader for your blogs. I use FriendFeed to keep track of tech-savvy contacts, because it groups updates from blogs, social media sites, and other sources.
Own Yourself
If you don’t claim your name online, someone else will claim it for you. Invest in purchasing your name url if you can afford it, i.e. www.omarha-redeye.com. You can create a personal site there, or simply redirect it anywhere you like. In a worst case scenario, a competitor may purchase your name simply to discredit you.
Posing as a competitor online is far too common a tactic. Use ClaimID to let people know which links are really yours, and which ones are posing as you or is someone with a similar name.
There are free strategies available to help you own your own name. Explore and see which work best for you.
Hired guns are available. Reputation Defender will try to protect you and remove slanderous content. But few malicious posters will willingly comply with these requests.
When to Call the Guards
Security online is worse than the most decrepit and neglected prison. The guards rarely come when you call, and usually aren’t very interested in what is going on.
Legislation regarding online behaviour is usually rather antiquated. Politicians typically don’t know enough about technology, and don’t care enough to pass enough laws to regulate it.
Clear instances of threats of violence and intimidation should be reported to the authorities. Litigation is an option for clear cases of slander or libel.
And Finally, Relax
But the best protection is being surrounded with affiliates. There really is power in numbers when it comes to working online.
The one difference between prison and the Internet is that you can actually have clean fun on the Internet. Try not to worry too much about the bad guys once you cover all the bases, and go and enjoy yourself.
What do you think of McCain’s comment strategy?
Tell me, is McCain’s So.Me strategy legal in Europe?
According to this post
- supporters can cut-and-paste prepared comments
- to leave on opposition websites.
McCain webmasters check what is done.
Isn’t this posing as a ‘consumer’. The consumer may have left the comment but as a ‘hired hand’ and agent of the ‘vendor’??
Would this strategy now be illegal in Europe?
- Supporters win reward points
- for a chance to ride the campaign bus.
Update: Mashable defends McCain?
First report on using blogging to teach
Context
I’ve just started a post-grad class. Most of the students are international and are new to the UK and in 4 months they will write an external exam. I don’t set it - I just prepare them for it. So it is quite important, IMHO, that they get their writing skills up to scratch.
I obviously don’t want to spend my weekends marking and as I live out of town, I thought a good solution was to get them to blog. Regular writing up of notes would increase their confidence, raise their fluency, and help them network with each other in a strange city. And I could give them immediate feedback from 100 miles away.
Login rate
Only one had blogged before. In the first week, two students of 20 managed to get a public email address, wordpress account, contact me to be included as an author, find out how to blog, and post. It’s still a complicated business, isn’t it?
3 or so sent me a public email address and I invited them to join from within the blog, but that proved unfruitful.
6 or so had a public email address and joined up to wordpress. So I was able to add them in as authors during class.
So after one week 1 out of 10 were up and running and 3 out of ten had potential access. I am quite happy with these figures and will let you know when and if I get to 100%.
Quality of posts
The first student to get in and post is in IT, BTW. Her post on HRM was perfect. She wrote one paragraph and summarized the strategic position of her previous company and what it severe discontinuous competition in SaaS in Nigeria meant for recruiting the right staff and maintaining their loyalty.
The second student to get in delighted me by posting a series of experiments on how to post. This will greatly reassure the more timid who are terrified ‘they will do something wrong’. He had spoken to me after the first class and indicated that he didn’t really want to go back to his family business of insurance broking. I had reassured him that he could write about any industry. He picked video games. Inevitably the post wasn’t that good substantively but I am still delighted that he picked up the zeitgeist: write on something that interests you and learn from the conversation.
After one week
So after one week, I am beating the 1:9:90 ratio on a small group of international students who arrived in London two weeks ago. They are jet lagged, tired, befuddled and had barely heard of blogging before they arrived. Some had never heard of Gmail (though most have at least hear of Facebook or Orkut).
Their writing is good and playful.
Any predictions?
As to when I will get all 22 signed up and writing? And how many will cross-comment? And whether they will find each others’ comments useful?
And whether the college will find that the blogging has strengthened the community of students, and enhanced both their performance in other classes and their experience in London?
We need a future’s market here!
MediaCampLondon: Video
Highest Rated
- Social Media When Time = Money
(5 out of 5) - Jailhouse Tips for Surviving Online (5 out of 5)
- When Not to Say Sorry (5 out of 5)
- It’s The Brand Not The Personality Stupid (5 out of 5)
- Web Apps for Back to School (5 out of 5)
- The New Twitter (5 out of 5)
- You’re Not Paranoid, You Really Could Be Watched (5 out of 5)
- Facial Recognition Software, For Everyone (5 out of 5)
- The Godfather Ringtone
(4.75 out of 5) - Social media and HR strategy (4.5 out of 5)
- Social Media When Time = Money
-
-
Sponsors
