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Glossary of 'Social Software' terms in education

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Tag Cloud

Definition:A tag cloud (or weighted list in visual design) can be used as a visual depiction of content tags used on a website. Particularly used on blogs. Often, more frequently used tags are depicted in a larger font or otherwise emphasised, while the displayed order is generally alphabetical. Thus both finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible. Selecting a single tag within a tag cloud will generally lead to a collection of items that are associated with that tag.

Use in Education:Overwrite use here

Link to Example:http://mingus.tvu.ac.uk/~andy/main/?page_id=58

TeacherTube

Definition: A video access site not unlike YouTube.  "After beta testing for almost two months, TeacherTube officially launched on March 6, 2007". Not sure what security is in place to ensure that only educational content is uploaded - but for the time being, there's some nice stuff up there.

Use in Education: Various. See example below

Link to Example: http://www.teachertube.com/

Technorati

Definition: Technorati monitors the Blogosphere. It constantly trawls the web for updated and new blogs and is a great way to find out what is being said on any topic - including individuals.

Use in Education: Could be fun to search on the name of your college, town, favourite band etc to get a snapshot of what people are saying - pedagogic value may need some thought (!)

Link to Example: http://www.technorati.com

TWiT

Definition: Overwrite definition here

Use in Education: Overwrite use here

Link to Example: Overwrite link here

Twitter

Definition: From The Times Online: "It’s a free online service that’s a cross between MySpace and a blog, but works on your mobile. The theme is “What are you doing?” Look at the homepage, and you’ll see thousands of people from all over the world answering the question with things such as “Just gonna cycle to the shops to buy wine” (Swanlike, Cambridge), or “Getting ready to go to new playwriting class” (imtboo, Seattle). Does this sound pointless? Hush. It’s the next big thing." http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1666489.ece

Use in Education: Cannot think of any ... "Twitter evangelists are desperate to find ways that it's useful, claiming it could have prevented the Virginia Tech massacre, can warn about earthquakes and could replace blogging in Africa. Because what Africa needs now is... more blogs." (Times)

Link to Example: http://twitter.com/

Twittervision

Definition: A world map which shows twitters (see above) as they happen, live.

Use in Education: Geography??? As I write this, there are a lot of people active in Japan, but the script is in Japanese! I left it running and have just seen traffic info flashed up in Singapore, and the BBC are sending out current news info.

Link to Example: http://twittervision.com/

Type Pad

Definition: A commercial blog hosting site. "TypePad is the premier blogging service for professionals, hosting many of the world’s most popular blogs and small business websites." Smooth, professional looking site. Apparently easy to use.

Use in Education: For marketing purposes; for students to compare free and commercial sites

Link to Example: http://featured.typepad.com/blogs/2007/05/httpdavidmcmill.html