Mashups and RSS

I had no idea what mashups were until this class. Makes sense. On Lisa’s computer we looked at one mashup that allows you to see genocide in Darfur as it happens. Disturbing, and makes it very real in a way that the odd newspaper article does not.

I highly enjoyed For Sale By Owner which allows you to click on the US map for real estate for sale. Easy to use and I just wish we had it for Canada.

I had another bit of fun with the mashup awards site. Check out the visual headlines. Very cool. I see that many mashups combine Google Maps or Google Earth with something else (Flickr).

In terms of educational applications, mashups would be great for sharing research. For example, you could combine a map of Canada from Google Maps with school library webcats, or literacy levels, or (heaven forbid) standardized tests, or drop out rates, or % of students enrolled in higher level mathematics courses.

Having students access mashups is valuable in that it helps make the information more real (Darfur example above). Having students create mashups would be an incredible process for those learners. They would be creating new understandings for themselves and their audience, building their multi literacy skills and experience. I have worked with several gifted children who wold both love to investigate mashups and create their own.

RSS is a funny little orange button I see all over the place. My basic understanding is that you sign up to receive notification when your favourite blog or site is updated, thereby making your online time more efficient. I have never used one, though I can see the benefits, especially for us busy folk who need to keep tabs on many things. I also understand from Sandra, that you need an aggregator ( I just love these terms) to help with all this.

I think I need to spend a wee bit more time with RSS before attempting to introduce it to students. Then again, maybe some of them could teach me:)