Holiday projects

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Dopplr

Perfect for planning holidays, Dopplr also allows users to share their travels with other users or just selected friends.

Home
Home

The idea behind Dopplr is that of folksonomy; the folks of the world create the information. So the people who have travelled to Melbourne  add in information about where to eat, where to get a great coffee, where to stay, you get the idea. Valuable for pre-trip planning, Dopplr is only as strong as the members make it.  

Dopplr tour
Dopplr tour

Once you have registered for Dopplr and entered details of an upcoming trip, Dopplr contacts you with tips on hotels, restaurants and other places of interest.

Keepaboo

Keepaboo makes capturing memories of your children easy. This Web 2.0 tool lets you ‘collect and preserve your child’s precious memories, view your child’s life in colorful (sic) online 3D books, and share with your family and friends.’

Keepaboo homepage
Keepaboo homepage
Keepaboo’s homepage says that you can ‘keep a diary, record milestones, track growth, add pictures and save quotes.’ The ability to share with selected family and friends is a wonderful way to share milestones, especially if there is a geographical distance between the child and extended family and friends.
There is a sample Keepaboo book shows what can be created; go to ‘view sample book’ on the homepage. Also, check out the Keepaboo FAQs.

ToonDoo

ToonDoo is another social networking/comic strip creator that has relevance to education but is also a lot of fun!

The best part about it is that the ‘toons’ use just one, two or three frames. Such a short toon means that students must really think about how to get their message across in three ideas. Applications for ToonDoo could include:

  • Book reviews
  • Demonstrating understanding of a historical event by using three key ideas
  • Writing Haiku poetry

And as users can select from multiple languages, there are endless uses for LOTE classes.

ToonDoo also have their own blog that gives examples of educational uses of ToonDoo. One example is to learn a new word each day and make a one frame toon that shows understanding. A great tool for literacy.

For teachers and parents worried about the content of the site, there is a ‘safe search filter’ which edits out any toons that have been flagged as inappropriate by other users. And toons and books do not have to be shared with other users if you prefer students to keep them private or share with friends only.

It is also simple to embed toons into blogs by simply clicking on the toon and dragging it into the blog. You can also save your toon to your computer and then copy it into Word, PowerPoint, etc.

ToonDoo also has ‘books’ where comics that are longer than three frames can be created. Books are perfect for story writing or longer presentations such as planets in the solar system.

ToonDoo has a range of images, props, backgrounds and effects that you can select from or you can upload your own pictures to incorporate into the toon or book.

ToonDoo also has a help wiki linked to its site and you can add features that you’d like to see on ToonDoo to their wishlist. If you would like to see how ToonDoo works, access this slideshare presentation which outlines the steps.

Have a look at this toon I created in about 5 minutes:

ToonDoo has a lot to offer educators and students. The use of the three frame toon means that students really need to identify the three most important points of any idea they are addressing. An excellent tool!

Totlol

Just in time for the holidays, but with educational applications too, comes the fabulous Web 2.0 resource Totlol.

Labelled YouTube for toddlers, Totlol uses videos from YouTube that have been selected by parents/educators as appropriate for children aged 6 months to grade school (primary school). Videos are then placed in a queue to be moderated by other Totlol members before they are uploaded and available for public viewing.

Parents or teachers that are still concerned about the possibility of inappropriate content can set filters, parent locks and timers (so that children do not watch videos for too long).

As with sites like Hakia, Totlol’s viability really depends on the community helping to build it by recommending videos to be added to the site. Totlol is a brilliant idea as there are so many useful and educational videos on YouTube, but YouTube users are meant to be aged 13 and up. Parents/educators worried abour questionable videos available on YouTube can now breathe a sigh of relief!

Thanks to Gerald Brown via IASL listserv for the heads up on this great resource.

Scrapblog

This is one for the holidays. Scrapblog is an online scrapbooking tool that lets you ‘create stunning multimedia scrapbooks. Share them online with family and friends and print them.’

Scrapblog homepage

Scrapblog homepage

Here is an example of what can be created. The rest is up to your imagination!

Great example of a Scrapblog

Great example of a Scrapblog

Please consider sharing your Scrapblog if you find the time to complete one over the holidays.

Mixbook

Of all the professional photobook printing services accessible via the Internet, Mixbook seems to be the complete package.
Mixbook
Mixbook

Mixbook allows you to import photos from your computer, Flickr, Picassa, Facebook, Yahoo! Search, PhotoBucket and SmugMug. You can also collaborate online with a friend to decide on picture selection and layout. As per many other Web 2.0 technologies, you can decide whether your book is open to everyone, just to friends or only you. Have a look at one public example below (it can be a little slow to load):

An example of an open (or shared or public) Mixbook photobook

An example of an open (or shared or public) Mixbook photobook

Although shipping (from the U.S) is not cheap, if you want to produce a professional looking bound book of your holiday memories, Mixbook is well worth investigating. However, you do not have to have your book printed. Mixbook hosts online photobooks for free. Again, the book can be open to everyone, friends, or just you.

There could be many and varied educational applications for a Mixbook photobook and students would really love to see their work published in a bound book. The coming break could be an ideal time to put together your own personal photobook. If you do get time to complete a photobook, we would love a comments on your thoughts.