Viaspire - Define.Innovate.Maximize.

The Social Media Landscape for the Classroom 2.0

We mentioned last week that we spoke at the CASBO CBO Symposium on Social Media - Using new technology to deliver information to staff, students and the public.The session was very beneficial to school business officials who have opportunities and challenges presented with how and when to leverage social media to reach, inform and engage.

Much like we reported in our presentation, there are so many opportunities and tools available that understanding what tools and services are out there right now is a great first step alone.

Today, we learned of an excellent mind map created by teacher, Jesper Isaksson (@swedishteacher) E-Learning and Web 2.0 Tools for Schools, which organizationally displays what's available for teachers and digital learners in the realm of Classroom 2.0.

Special thanks to @web20classroom for raising awareness about yet another great mindmap of organized Web 2.0 tools for education.

If you are in education, tell us how you are using social media to help you in your job and in your professional development. Sharing with us, will help bring more awareness to the possibilities and opportunities many in education are looking for right now.

We are interested in your thoughts and findings. - Give us a shout on Twitter too - @Viaspire, #socmedfored, #education2_0, #ed20.

Leveraging Social Media in Education

We'll be presenting today at the CASBO CBO Symposium 2009 in a special breakout session on Social Media - Using new technolgoy to deliver information to staff, students and the public. In conducting some field research for our presentation, we came across a couple of videos, we think provide further insight on how digital learners and teachers today interact and engage in online communities, co-collaboration, user-generated content and constant conversation.

Digital World: Teachers Today

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

A Vision of Students Today
By Digital Enthnography at Kansas State University

You and Your UX Team Of One

UX Team Of One @ IA Summit 2008

View more documents from Leah Buley.

Is Email Dead in the Era of Facebook, Twitter & the iPhone?

Clara Shih, author of "The Facebook Era," examines the question is email dead in the era of Facebook, Twitter and the iPhone? With eight billion minutes being spent on Facebook a day, people are not only logging in, they are engaged and communicating actively there. So what role does email play going forward? Watch this BNET video to learn more:

Also, be sure to take BNET's poll: What’s the Etiquette for Social Media and the Workplace? Give them your insight.

FLF 10.30.2009 - Procrastination

I guess it wouldn't be hard to imagine that I actually came across this great video short story while procrastinating on a Thursday afternoon. While I am surprised that a creative would describe Procrastination as finding the perfect pen, making a cup of tea, or looking out the window, the message itself is - if you are doing anything outside of getting at the heart of the task, well, um, you are procrastinating.

Now, I feel this may fly in the face of the creative process, because many "bird walks" can lead to a perfect and innovative solution, it's just that these bird walks are a detour to the direct, bee-line approach.

What's your thoughts? I know we've posted on how to be more productive, but does this video "tell it like it is" or give the creative process, a little bit of a bad name.

Is procrastination part of your process? Do you get to get to your expected outcomes regardless of these diversions or not? Do they help you explore or avoid? Are you sabotaging your success or a deadline because of that cup of tea? How can procrastination work for you and against you?

Watch this video and see what you think!

Video by John Kelly

Lessons Learned from Project Managers - "Focus on the User"

BNET talks to project heads from GM, Nokia, Mehtod and Facebook to find out what they consider "lessons learned" from working on high-stakes projects.

What I loved about each response was that the "user" was an influential factor in each take-away.

The perfect enemy is the enemy of the deadline.
"When you’re late, nothing happens ...and you’re not learning anything [from your customers]."
— Bill Wallace, engineering group manager for GM’s Volt battery

Always know whose problem you’re solving.
"Never forget who your customer is. Make that person real — it’s the key to getting the best product and keeping the team motivated... Bring in actual users so they can tell you early on, “I don’t know what this button does.”
— Lisa Waits, Nokia’s director of corporate business development

Make sure you’re talking to the right people.
"The right people weren’t talking together enough [to look at a customer / product challenge holistically]. People often get into silos in their heads..."
— Josh Handy, head of industrial design at Method

Ask yourself, “Is this necessary?”
"We have ideas on how we can help users communicate better, but we’re not always sure how well they will work. We do tons of testing for every little change to the page. One thing I know now, which I wish I had learned earlier in my career, is how to prevent “feature creep.” You have to be able to recognize when you’re inventing a feature that duplicates another or only adds unnecessary complexity."
— Peter Deng, product manager at Facebook

View full article: Lessons from the Worlds Best Project Managers >>

A Perspective on Twitter Analytics

Twitter Analytics

View more presentations from Stephen Dann.

Seeking Answers on the Perfect Design Width for Websites?

We are asked this question all of the time - "What is the perfect design width for our Website?" Thanks to several great articles on this issue there are some great answers, but I also like to counsel our clients, designers and developers that like all aspects of the Website, you gotta know who's coming to your site specifically. You need to make your Website accommodating and accessible.Google Analytics, WebTrends, (Adobe) Omniture and even your old Web server logs will tell you some very insightful information on who's viewing and how they are doing so.

This article, Is There a Perfect Web Design Width?, by Five Fingers Coding, shows great statistics on a more universal scale from W3Counter where the optimal design size is trending.

For more on this topic, also read some articles from the past:

• Design for Browser Size — Not Screen Size
  
• Screen Resolution and Page Layout
• Don't use the statistics defence as a reason to exclude people from your content
• Screen Resolution Statistics - W3Counter

iPhone Apps Doin' It Right - What's Trending

There are so many Top 10 iPhone app posts out there, but in Smashing Magazine style, this post is highly useful and gives great examples of iPhone apps doing it right. The apps featured model the innovation of the iPhone itself. They reflect simple, yet cutting-edge design trends that enhance the usability and experience of this mobile lifestyle device.

Check out this great article, iPhone App Design Trends for more...

Other iPhone apps, I'd also like to give credit to for good functional iPhone design are:

- Chipotle (iTunes)

- Starbucks (iTunes)

- MiniBooks (iTunes)

- IXpenseIt (iTunes)

- Sherwin Williams Color Snap (iTunes)

Following Web Design Lifecycle - Wireframes before Visual Design

This is a quick post on a great article addressing why wire frames need to come before the visual design phase. Check out Pathfinder's article, Developing Good Wireframes Ahead of Visual Design. It addresses why preparing wire frames first, before expressing the ideas visually in design comps is critical to the success of your Web project:

Wireframes...

• Focus the [scope and] conversation
• Create a path toward better design
• Allow for choices to be driven by users' needs
• Save time
• Save money

Read more >>

Now for a great time lapse of the process from wire frame to website - an awesome video.