Episode 19 – Big Things in Small Packages
16 January, 2008 3 comments
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On our first podcast of the new year, we look at the rise of the small, cheap laptop and its significance for education and cultural sites. In addition to a full rundown of the latest news about the One Laptop Per Child project and its $188 XO laptop, we cover the wildly popular Asus Eee PC and the forthcoming Everex CloudBook, both costing under $400. In the news roundup we note the end of the line for Netscape, mention the darker alleyways of social networking, and congratulate ourselves for predicting the decline of Second Life. And at the end of the podcast we highlight a great new word processor for the Mac, a service to print out-of-print books, and the digitization of a gigantic medieval bible.
Links mentioned on the podcast:
One Laptop Per Child
Pixel Qi
Asus Eee PC
Everex CloudBook
Scrivener
Codex Gigas
Public Domain Books Reprints Service
THATPodcast
THATCamp
Running time: 45:48
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Mills Kelly
Meg Stewart : 31st January, 2008
You wondered why people might be listening to podcasts. Is it the iPod boom? Yes. Is it long commutes? Yes. But my main times for listening to podcsts are during my gym time and when walking the dog. I can easily multitask with the earbuds in. And with your podcast in particular, I am working since nearly everything you say is directly relevant to my job in instructional tehnology.
One other thing, I think that podcasts are enjoyable much the way listening to radio used to be enjoyable. Radio now is filled with ads and podcasts are not. Plus listening is another very critical way of taking information in, as opposed to reading a book/manuscript or watching a lecture.
Meg Stewart : 31st January, 2008
Oops, that last comment was about episode 20.
Derek : 8th February, 2008
I’ve just posted an episode of my teaching center’s podcast that’s relevant to Episode 19’s discussion of laptops in the classroom. In our podcast episode (http://blogs.vanderbilt.edu/cftpodcast), a biomedical engineering faculty member discusses ways in which he has his students use their laptops in his courses. Our engineering school has a laptop requirement, so all his students have very similar laptops.
As you guys mentioned in your podcast, once laptops get small enough and especially cheap enough, more and more students will likely have them available to bring to class. I think this engineering faculty member has some good ideas for making the most of situations like this.