Computers store information as binary digits. We frequently explain it like a light switch. A switch can be “on” or “off”. So that switch can store two values. We represent these as numbers. A zero is “off” and a one is “on.” This is a bit. If we put two bits together, we can store up to four values (00, 01, 10, 11). If we … Continue reading Details

I’ve been struggling lately with situations where we seem to be using technology for its own sake. Sometimes, it seems like we use technology just to show we’re using technology, or to show that we’re beeing innovative, or cutting edge. But sometimes, technology just makes things more complicated than they really need to be, or it provides a small benefit for an enormous cost of … Continue reading Because We Can

We’ve been using linear text for centuries. Ever since written language became — well — written, we’ve been stringing words together into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into stories or essays or arguments. It’s very familiar. Pick up a book. Start at page one. Read every word, in order, until you get to the end. It’s easy. About 45 years ago, people started … Continue reading Click Here

You’ve probably noticed that California is on fire. At the moment, there are ten active wildfires. Half a million acres have burned, claiming seven lives, destroying 1600 homes, and displacing almost a million people. Radio station KPBS in San Diego switched formats to 24-hour fire coverage last Sunday. The residents in their broadcast area needed timely, specific, detailed information that didn’t fit in the format … Continue reading The Spirit of Radio

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I needed to write about this. When you want to copy things from one place to another on the computer, copy/paste is a common way to get that done. I can copy some text out of an email and paste it into a Word document. Or I can copy some text from a web page and paste it … Continue reading Paste Special

The Linux Experiment continues, and I realized I haven’t provided an update in a couple weeks. I LOVE: Firefox. It works just as well as it does in Windows. Once I got Flash working, I haven’t had any trouble with it at all. Frankly, this surprised me a bit. I thought there would be more problems than there really are. Thunderbird. Same thing. It just … Continue reading Linux Project Status

We’re switching webmail systems in our district in a few weeks. We’ve been using OpenXchange for the last few years, but are switching to Squirrelmail because of its simplicity and extendability. We initially set up OpenXchange with the hopes of implementing a district-wide groupware solution, but the reluctance of some people to give up their Franklin planners, along with Microsoft Outlook’s inability to handle IMAP … Continue reading 21st Century Illiteracy

My favorite first grade teacher finally has a blog. I was talking with her about it a couple weeks ago, and it was interesting to hear why she wanted to blog. Her school district provides a web site creation tool. They can easily put announcements, homework, classroom rules, and schedule information online. They can choose the neat animated graphics that elementary schools seem to love. … Continue reading Why Blog?

Back in August, the National School Boards Association concluded that social networking isn’t so bad after all. The study that they commissioned found a significant disparity between the things students are doing online, the things schools are allowing, and the risks associated with participation in online social networks. The materials from an August 14 news briefing are also available online, and were used for the … Continue reading Social Networking in Schools

This is the third installment of my notes on using Linux as a desktop OS. You can catch up in the Desktop Linux category if you’re interested in the background. Real work kind of got in the way on Friday, and I found myself trying to do some things with OpenOffice on this new Linux box. Basically, the problem was this: I wanted to compare … Continue reading Almost Just Like

Are you going to the conference this year? If you have the time, immerse yourself in the content. Interact with the other participants and the presenters. Reflect on the things they’re talking about, and post about it on the conference site, or on your blog, or on my blog. The second annual K-12 Online Conference begins Monday, October 8, at midnight GMT. I know. i … Continue reading It's Conference Time

This is part 2 of my Linux journey. See what you’ve missed.  Ubuntu installed without any problems. Upon restarting, I logged in with the account I configured during the installation. The first order of business was fixing the video settings. I was stuck in 800×600 mode, because the installer didn’t correctly identify my video card. It took a little Googling to get it resolved, but … Continue reading So Far, So Good