Video Search Tool

VideoSurf is a new metasearch tool for online video resources that searches such sites as Hulu, CNN, Metacafe, ESPN, and Comedy Central. (Hopefully, they'll add more in the future!) It bases its searches on visual identification as opposed to only relying on text to locate a source. It also allows users to navigate through results to find "the specific scenes, people or moments they most want to see". This may be a wonderful tool for locating video for instruction and educational purposes as well as providing new ways of accessing this medium for research purposes.

Some news...

Some interesting things have come up in the context of data and the control of the data now that more and more data is stored "in the cloud."

• Student sues Amazon.com (seeking class-action status) for the removal of a purchased book from his Kindle, rendering his class notes useless;
• Thoughts on Amazon.com and it's "control" over purchased data, and implications;
• FCC looks at Apple's App Store and practices on approving and removing apps;
• Podcast of Talk of the Nation segment: "Who Really Owns Your Data?" (mp3, transcript)

All have relate to things we need to keep in mind as we start using more and more of the Web in our learning environments.

YouTube EDU and TeacherTube Brings Free Education to the Masses

YouTube has released a new sub-site called YouTube EDU aggregating thousands of free lectures from over a hundred universities across the country, including MIT, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and many more.


Another online community that provides the sharing of instructional videos is called TeacherTube. Their goal is to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill.

Radio Brings Great Learning to Portable Electronic Devices

I've long thought that This American Life (by WBEZ Public Radio in Chicago) provides an incredible opportunity for students to better understand how different issues affect real people. On face value, Economics, Business, Psychology, Sociology, Education, Science, Literature, Poetry...all are represented in one of the best radio shows ever created. All current shows, and most of the past shows (if not all) are available from their archives.

Note: I've heard the host of This American Life, Ira Glass, is a fan of RadioLab (from WNYC in New York). I figured if my favorite radio host likes something, I should check it out. These two shows have got to be the best information/education shows on radio. Check out RadioLab's show on the evolution of reproduction...very funny and very informative.