QR Codes are two-dimensional bar codes hat contain any alphanumeric text and often feature URLs that direct users to sites where they can learn about an object or place (a practice known as “mobile tagging”). Codes can provide tracking information for products in industry, routing data on a mailing label, or contact information on a business card.

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses the electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to transmit signals. RFID systems can be used just about anywhere, from clothing tags to missiles to pet tags to food — anywhere that a unique identification system is needed. The tag can carry information as simple as a pet owners name and address or the cleaning instruction on a sweater to as complex as instructions on how to assemble a car. Some auto manufacturers use RFID systems to move cars through an assembly line. At each successive stage of production, the RFID tag tells the computers what the next step of automated assembly is.

November 3
Collaborative Editing Tools
11:00am – 12:00pm
Bass Library L01 (lower level of the library)
In recent years a number of very powerful tools have become available to enable collaborative work and collaborative writing and editing. Scott Matheson, Web Manager at the Yale University Library, will talk about the work the Library has begun recently with Sharepoint, a collaboration tool from Microsoft, to make documents and lists available to workgroups. The tool is flexible and integrates well with existing desktop tools like Outlook, Excel and Word. See how you can use some of the tools in Sharepoint (also available from Yale ITS) to work with groups on editing documents and tracking lists.

Michael Farina, Senior Lector in Italian, will discuss a number of collaborative text editing tools beyond the Library’s Sharepoint software. He will introduce a number of alternatives and solutions for collaborative writing, including TextFlow, DocVerse, EtherPad, doingText, WriteWith, WriteBoard, and TokBox. Alternatives such as these have finally allowed us to move beyond sharing documents through email for the coordination and editing of collaborative writing and co-authored articles.

There are several new online presentation tools to choose from. Here is a short list:

Prezi is a zooming presentation editor. The creators liken it to sketches on a digital napkin. It’s visualization and storytelling without slides. It’s an entirely Flash-based app that lets you break away from the slide-by-slide approach of most presentations. Instead, it allows you to create non-linear presentations where you can zoom in and out of a visual map containing words, links, images, videos, etc.

Some other presentation tools: SlideRocket, Empressor, Zoho Show, and Pachyderm.

Pam Patterson and Robin Ladouceur of the Instructional Technology Group will demo.

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.

Eric Gordon of Emerson College and Joe Murphy of the Science Library will present.

Adobe® Acrobat® Connect™ Pro is the next generation of web conferencing software that enables individuals, universities, and small businesses to instantly communicate and collaborate through easy-to-use, easy-to-access online personal meeting rooms. John Graves and Trip Kirkpatrick of the Center for Language Study will demo.

Last year, the Center for Language Study (a Collaborative Learning
Center partner) was approached by the Council on Latin American and
Iberian Studies to collaborate on offering Nahuatl, an indigenous
Mesoamerican language, to Yale students but the program lacked a local
instructor. Our first means of conducting this course was a
less-than-ideal hybrid solution involving Elluminate and Skype
videoconferencing. This year, we are using Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro and
are thus far much more satisfied. In this presentation, Trip Kirkpatrick
and John Graves from the CLS will discuss AACP and its uses not just for
distance learning but also for myriad other distance participatory
experiences. You are welcome before the session to get an overview of
AACP’s features at http://meet-test.its.yale.edu/yale_adobe_how_to.

The CLS would like to thank the Council on Latin American and Iberian
Studies as well as Educational Technologies and the Windows Systems
group at ITS for their support in using and paying for AACP.

Matt Regan of the Instructional Technology Group will describe the new Media Checkout System available to students through Bass Library. He will show the audience examples of cameras, video cameras, and digital voice recorders available for checkout. Caroly Caizzi of the Visual Resources Collection will talk about best practices for shooting video.

Photosynth is an application that allows you to take a bunch of photos of the same scene or object and stitch them all together into one big interactive 3D viewing experience that you can share with anyone on the web.

Stacey Maples of the Map Collection will present.