MyStudyBar launched.

The first resource is the latest version of MyStudyBar, a suite of open source and freeware applications to support learners with literacy difficulties. The latest version is available for Windows XP and Windows Vista/7. There are some great new apps including Balabolka which converts text into individual audio files (MP3), Orato, an easy to use text-to-speech app and Stamina a touch typing tutor. To find out more and download your free copy of MyStudyBar, go to: www.eduapps.org

March Hares: Spring Snippets

Google Apps Marketplace
Allowing third parties to sell/distribute products and services for Google Apps, which offers extra functionality for users of Google Apps Education
Your Inbox: Getting More Social
As the world strives for greater ‘data, information and knowledge exchange’, email will become enriched with information pulled from the web
Google Wave Update: Latest Developments and New Applications
Changes inlcude the inclusion of read-only, restore and ‘email notifications’ features
New Visualisation Tool for Public Datasets from Google
Compare fertility rates across the world and unemployment levels across Europe with this new Google tool

Top Threats to Cloud Computing
A report to assist organizations in making educated risk management decisions regarding their cloud adoption strategies
7 Things You Should Know about Mobile IT
Two-page Educause summary exploring the hype around mobile technologies and their use in education
Read All About It? Sources of News in the 21^st Century
Study reveals that 61% of Americans now get some of their news online, though local TV stations are still the commonest source

Online Resources
Bandcamp: Online Space for Musicians
Create a free website for your band or future solo career; upload audio, lyrics, images, everything you need to display and share your music
Pro-Con List: Weigh both Sides of the Argument Online
A simple but powerful tool to simplify information, organise arguments and construct the underlying bones of an effective essay or a successful presentation
Pivot: An Alternative Way to Navigate the Web
A powerful new discovery tool that provides an innovative method of organising and browsing data online

JISC Legal Roundup
JISC Legal cover copyright issues for multimedia repositories, wifi networks and announce the release of an e-Safety guidance video
JISC Conference 2010
Held from the 12-13th of April in London, this year’s theme is “Technology at the Heart of Education and Research”; (free) places going fast!
JISC Grant Funding 3/1: Distributed Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Submit proposals to implement technical work to widen the range of functionality VLEs can provide in an interoperable way
JISC Podcast: The Financing of Higher Education
Nicola Dandridge Chief Executive of Universities UK and Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics LSE, give their views on the financing of higher education
JISC Podcast: 2010 Conference Keynote Talks Green ICT
Bill St. Arnaud shares his thoughts on the importance of greening technology for colleges and universities.

MyStudyBar Unleashed!

Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. In 2006, 28% of teens ages 12-17 and young adults ages 18-29 were bloggers, but by 2009 the numbers had dropped to 14% of teens and 15% of young adults. During the same period, the percentage of online adults over thirty who were bloggers rose from 7% blogging in 2006 to 11% in 2009.

Much of the drop in blogging among younger internet users may be attributable to changes in social network use by teens and young adults. Nearly three quarters (73%) of online teens and an equal number (72%) of young adults use social network sites. By contrast, older adults have not kept pace; some 40% of adults 30 and older use the social sites in the fall of 2009.

Additionally, teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers – just 8% of online teens 12-17 say they ever use Twitter, a percentage similar to the number who use virtual worlds. This puts Twitter far down the list of popular online activities for teens and stands in stark contrast to their record of being early adopters of nearly every online activity.

However, even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. “We often look to younger generations to see where technology use might be headed in the future,” Lenhart noted. “People under 30 have often been in the vanguard of internet and cell-phone use, and it will be interesting to see how much of their enthusiasm for new gadgets is a time-of-life issue, and how much will ripple through the broader culture in the coming years.”

New survey results also show that among adults 18 and older, Facebook has taken over as the social network of choice; 73% of adult profile owners use Facebook, 48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% use LinkedIn. “Blogging appears to have lost its luster for many young users,” said Amanda Lenhart. “The fad stage is over for teens and young adults and the move to Facebook — which lacks a specific tool for blogging within the network — may have contributed to the decline of blogging among young adults and teens.”

Lenhart also pointed out that many of the functions that blogging served for teens in the mid-2000s for communicating about their lives and updating their activities for their friends have become central activities on social networking sites like Facebook. “Microblogging and status updating on social networks have replaced old-style ‘macro-blogging’ for many teens and adults.”

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