WDIL September Newsletter

Dear WDIL'ers

As Summer wanes and Autumn settles in, good things are happening at WDIL. Our membership stands at 92 strong, and is growing daily. Great new content is filling our pages, and we've added some fine new features. Please take a few moments to check out the latest contributions by your peers, and please keep them coming.

New Developments:

We're pleased to announce several new features:

Topics:
(aka Adopt-a-Keyword, aka Annotated Keywords):  Is there a particular part of the field you are excited about? information design? constructivism? visualization? accessibility? usability? Make it a Topic on wdil.org. What's a Topic? It's a page on WDIL dedicated to a keyword, with an introductory article, written by you, followed by all the content tagged with that keyword. It's a way to share your knowledge, and follow a particular professional interest. In the Topics section, click "Add a new topic", then select a keyword from the menu or add a new one (lower case works best). If someone else has already added the Topic you're passionate about, contribute to it by leaving a comment. We've enabled an email notification system on comments to foster discussion.

WDIL this!
In the Resources section you'll find the WDIL this! bookmarklet link. Simply drag it to your browser's bookmarks bar, and then when you find resources on the web, click it to add those resources to WDIL. You'll still need to log in, but the Title and URL fields will already be filled in for you. All you'll need to do is add the abstract, description, and keywords.

Email Notification of Comments
We're hoping this will facilitate more comments and conversation. You should now receive an email when someone comments on something you posted to WDIL, or replies on-site to a comment you have left.

Delete-for-up-to-15-minutes-after-posting-unless-someone-has-already-left-a-comment
Phew! That's a mouthful, but hopefully you get the picture: You're tired, or not quite yourself, and you suddenly wish you hadn't posted what you just posted. Now, you can delete it for up to 15 minutes unless someone has already left a comment on it. Note: this doesn't apply to comments themselves-please think before commenting!

Addthis! bookmark button.
Share WDIL pages on social bookmarking sites. Clicking the button pops up a window with loads of bookmarking sites. Just click the one you want, and you are good to go.

Thank you for being part of WDIL.org

Best Regards,

Ted Koterwas
WDIL.org Community Manager

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Latest Content:

Ology

This site by the American Museum of Natural History has lots of little online activities about a variety of science fields "archaeology," "marine biology," etc. It also has a feature that lets you collect Ology cards that are found around the site if you join the community.

Microscope Imaging Station

Living things are beautiful, especially under the microscope.

Exploratorium Internet2 Gateway

The Exploratorium's portal site to web resources it has developed which are offered in high-resolution, broadband-enhanced versions for schools and museums connected to Internet2.

virtual worlds

Virtual worlds provide compelling places for people to learn through social interactions and through experimentation with objects and phenomena not possible in the real world

Web3D.org: the Web3D Consortium

Official site for the open standards Web3D group. The site is a resource for developers of Web3D technologies as well as those interested in developing content with tools and technologies which use these standards. Downloadable SDKs and other tools for X3D, jx3D, Ajax3D, VRML, GeoVRML, hAnim, and other Web3D standards are available.

The Research Channel

Webcast video community site with links to broadband video resources, webcasts, multicast video, etc from researchers in different domains.

High Performance Networking

High performance data communications networks are in use by educational and research institutions and organizations. What are they? Who has access to them? How are they accessed? What are people doing with them? What kind of learning scenarios are possible through their use?

Marketing Advice for Non-Profits

Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog shares advice and tips for successfully marketing your non-profit organization online.

Infed.org: The Informal Education Homepage

An encyclopedia of the theory and practice of informal education, lifelong learning, and social action.

How We Learn: Research, News & Perspectives

Blog about Learning, with a focus on cognitive, sociocultural, developmental, and neurobiological research

Science of Gardening

Like all great endeavors, gardening is both a science and an art. Whether you’re growing carnivorous plants, cash crops, or giant pumpkins—or even if you’re just trying to keep a few houseplants alive—see how the plants we tend feed our bodies, our minds, and our senses.

Science of Music

What is music? Is birdsong music? How about the tap-tap-tap of a hammer, or the wail of a creaking door? Is playing a garbage can different than playing a drum? Explore the science of music with us, through these online exhibits, movies, and questions. Along the way, you can compose, mix, dance, drum, experiment, and above all…listen.

social media optimization

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is the practice of increasing the probability that people will pass along your message, website, or product through online social networks, and content sharing Websites.

community building

Online Community Building has evolved since the days of forums, messageboards, listserves, and chatrooms. Blogs and Social Software create new types of communities which are decentralized and require additional community building strategies. Centralized communities are still thriving, however, and the community building strategies developed around forums and older forms of online communities still apply, and can be adapted to new communities.

Listen: Making Sense of Sound

Listen:Making Sense of Sound website takes visitors into the worlds of 5 Listening Guides, people with highly developed listening skills, and provides Online Activities for visitors to develop their own abilities to listen deeply and carefully.

Typetester screen font explorer

Typetester enables you to explore and compare the look and feel of multiple fonts in real time, with control over css font properties.

Flashcard Exchange

Flashcard Exchange enables users to create, study, and share flashcards.

SEO Tutorial, Tools, and Checklist

The Webconfs.com SEO Toolset provides a free tutorial, a number of free tools, and a checklist for optimizing websites for search engines.

Recommended Web Developer Tools

Recommendations for tools to have in your web development toolkit.

Clark Aldrich's Blog on Simulations, Games and Learning

You Can't Learn to Lead from an Inspirational Story or Ride a Bicycle From Google is Clark Aldrich's Blog on simulations, games and learning