eContent

Smart Video Collections

I've noticed a number of blog links back to Open Culture's "10 Signs of Intelligent Life at YouTube". This post reviews YouTube academic video courseware collections, but also bemoans the fact that YouTube makes it difficult to to self-discover academic content. My response ... use advanced search and life becomes quite easy. For instance ...

1. Google owns YouTube
2. Link to Video.Google.Com
3. Then select Advanced Video Search
4. Experiment by limiting search results using some of the options ...
   
   • select long duration (lectures tend to be longer)
     .. or ..
   • restrict the domain to video.google.com (avoids YouTube)
     .. or ..
   • select specific genre (take a look at the categories)
5. Here are some samples:
   
   • Query: Lecture and Long Duration
   • Query: Genre - Science / Tech and Long Duration

My long time blog readers may remember that earlier this year I created a screencast upon this very subject, Google Video, Your Training Search Engine.

Finally, Happy New Year! You may have noticed I had not posted for some time. I've been hiding out on the North Shore of Lake Superior (circa 1920 log cabin). My wife's and my Christmas present to the family was a cross-country ski trip "up north". Now many of you may consider Minnesota already "up north", but a native Minnesotan knows differently! The log cabin we rented sits within 10 yards of a 40 foot cliff down to Lake Superior. Here are some photos of God's Country:

1. The Northstar Nerd wearing knickers!
2. Pineknot Cabin
3. Looking to the Northeast
4. Looking to the Southwest
5. Erik, Molly and me
6. Lunch at the Coho Cafe ... after a 25k morning ski.

     

Merry Christmas!

It's early afternoon on Christmas day ... life is beginning to return to normal. Thank you for your support during 2007, and specifically my Run for China's Children. 35 children in China received the best present possible this year, a new school.

If your situation allows, please consider a pledge for the LingYun Dorm Project. Send a pledge via eMail to Rich Hoeg at rhoeg@comcast.net. Remember, not everyone in this world has equal access to learning. You'll note that none of my learning sites use Google Adwords. I support these learning efforts using my own resources; thus your donation to the LingYun Dorm Project is that much more appreciated. Donations in the USA are tax deductible.

In wrapping up 2007 I invite you to view the China Tomorrow Education Foundation's current newsletter, and the case study the foundation created covering the building of JiaYou's new school:

• CTEF Newsletter | Web Site
• JiaYou Case Study

Once again, thank you and Merry Christmas!
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PowerSHAPE - Free CAD Solution

Mr. Anonymous added some neat links yesterday to the Engineering Learning Wiki, PowerSHAPE-e. I was not aware of this CAD software, but the price makes it worth some research (i.e. free). Here are the links you'll need:

• Engineering Learning Wiki: Engineering Software Tools
  • PowerSHAPE-e
    • iTunes Tutorials
    • Video Tutorials

Remember, you can subscribe to wiki changes via RSS. I don't blog about all the additions!

Web 2.0 and Learning BarCamp in 2008??

I've been intrigued with Unconferences ever since I attended Wikimania at Harvard during the Summer of 2006. Although Wikimania was not strictly an unconference, I really appreciated the free flow of ideas, and the fact that much of the conference was unstructured. I've found that I learn much more from fellow participants, than formal presentations.

Recently I've been introduced to the concept of BarCamps. Quite frankly I'm intrigued with the idea of hosting a "Web 2.0 and Corporate Learning BarCamp in 2008". Here is a link from a BarCamp hosted in my home state of Minnesota earlier this year.  It will help you get the idea.

Anyone else interested ? Post a comment, or send me an email: rhoeg@comcast.net.
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Update posted on January 7, 2008: Feedback to this idea has been positive.  I've contacted some folks I know at both Stanford and Harvard with the goal of seeing if either of those organizations might be willing to provide space for such an event. As much as hosting a BarCamp in Minnesota might be easier for me, it's obvious that Boston or Silicon Valley would allow for better participation on the part of some key individuals.
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The Age of Speed

With as hectic as life becomes during the holiday season, take a few minutes and listen to this podcast from TechNation (NPR), The Age of Speed (Learning to Thrive in a Faster More Now World).

Description: In The Age of Speed, Former Olympic speed skier and now author and consultant Vince Poscente shows us instead how to harness the power of speed for less stressful, less hectic lives. This doesn't necessary mean slowing down!

I've also added this podcast to my Innovation and Networked Economy Podcast Series.
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From UFO's to SixSigma

I'll admit ... it's a challenge.  I'm tempted to have fun for the rest of December and only post about important technical knowledge management items ... like flying saucers, or focus upon leisure time activities like SixSigma. After all, have you analyzed your holiday activities? Do your relatives understand the need to maintain all holiday processes in a "lean manner"?!

I give up, thus via Asiaing.Com I bring to you not one, but two great eBooks:

• How to Make the Most of a Flying Saucer Experience: Book | Web Site
  (or)
• Six Sigma for Quality and Production: Book | Lean Sigma Institute

Seriously, Asiaing.Com is one of my favorite eBook sites for providing links to legal and interesting eBooks. The number of books they review is amazing.
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Chistmas Sanity at the Ann Bean Mansion

Please pardon me if during this holiday season my posts don't focus as much on technical topics. Thus, how do you do to stay sane this time of year!? Here is how Molly and I addressed this issue. We both took Monday and Tuesday off, and escaped to the Ann Bean Mansion B&B. This is our Christmas present to each other ... two days of togetherness! In addition, we each have $100 to spend in the town of Stillwater, Minnesota. As I'm not much of a shopper, and there are no computer stores, I am challenged, but it's fun!

Our hosts, Jeremy and Erin, are fantastic. Even Jeremy's Dad gets into the act by painting some murals. Erin's breakfast was superb, and we enjoyed everyone's conversation.  I even learned a new technical term ... D.P.S.F. (doilies per square foot). This helps one avoid B&B's which are too frilly!

Once again, how do you stay sane during this Christmas season? Add a comment to this post and let us know!
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$457 Spent at Walgreens in N.J.

But not by me ... my credit card number was stolen and recreated for a woman named Jessica. I'm covered, but a few comments about the situation. My data was stolen during a recent business trip to New Jersey. When folks complain about the security of online shopping, all I can say (and have said for years) ... I prefer the online experience to the physical alternative of giving up my credit card at every "real world" business establishment.  On the web it takes a smart criminal to steal your data. At the local restaurant, anyone with a high school education and some minor training can steal your data. Here at the Hoeg family, I've trained my kids to never make an online purchase unless the url starts "httpS", and they can establish the validity of the vendor. Without the "S", I don't buy.

In the end, low tech did me in ....

In closing, I leave you with a photo of my youngest son's LAN Party (Wikipedia article) which was held Friday night.  I was impressed with the setup! Sorry about the photo being a bit fuzzy ... in total we had seven souped up systems churning data! I had never realized that the guys wore a single unit headphone to monitor the computer's audio ... and left the other ear for real world conversations!
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Merry Christmas from the Northstar Nerd

During this Christmas and Holiday Season, whatever your faith, I wish you the most blessed time with your friends and family. Here are a few photos of "Hoeg Hollow" with my holiday greetings. I also invite you to view some beautiful Chinese Christian folk art, including a Chinese Nativity created by my friend, He Qi.
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Google - The Next Big Thing

During this morning's drive to work I listened to a fascinating podcast from Business Week, Google's Next Big Dream. Here is a brief description:

"They call it cloud computing. The idea is to deliver incredible processing power to students, researchers, and entrepreneurs—while expanding Google’s footprint well beyond search, media, and advertising" or "supercomputing for everyone".

This podcast is extremely interesting, and thought provoking. Given the source is Business Week, the story is NOT delivered in geek speak. I recommend you spend the fifteen minutes required to listen:

Upon completion of the podcast, I used Google (what else!) and discovered some additional resources:

• Introduction to Problem Solving on Large Scale Clusters
  (free online course with videos and lecture notes)
  .
• Google's own Computer Science Curriculum Search Engine
  .
• Google Code Video Lectures
  (AJAX, C++, JAVA, Python and more)
  .
• Rich Hoeg's Drivetime Podcast Tutorial
  (how I listen to podcasts in my car)

I will definitely add these resources to the software engineering section of the engineering learning wiki.
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