research-reference

cc:to me

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:11:30 +0100

CC:to me is one of those bookmarklets that "makes my head hurt"; there are so many things practitioners and their learners can do with it.

Why wasn't an idea as simple as this implemented earlier.

As its name suggests, it allows users to...

- email stuff to themselves via a bookmarklet;

- drag and drop text, images, videos and more from the web onto it;

cc:to me then emails them all flawlessly along with the link.

Currently free (sign up needed); pro accounts (coming soon) will bring goodies like multiple recipients (ideal for collaborative work) and more.

Find out more at http://cctome.com.

Glean Comparison Search

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:54:57 +0100

An Educational Research and Search Tool

Glean Comparison Search is a designed to help its users explicitly explore differing points of view about a topic, and through lessons, come to understand how their own confirmation bias might be impacting their research work.

Another useful Information Literacy Tool - The GLEAN Comparison Search engine is an online tool that allows learners to compare search results for "positive" and "negative" perspectives side-by-side. For example, if users search using the term "e-portfolio" they will be presented with lists of positive and negative terms. Clicking on those terms will change the results and give them quick comparison options.

Visit http://www.gleancomparisonsearch.org/index.php to find out more.

Google Inside Search • Playground

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:27:34 +0100

Welcome to the Search Playground. Feed your curiosity, test your search skills and explore topics in a whole new way.

Click on this link to be taken inside Google Search and into their Playground.

Here visitors can...

– feed their curiosity;

–test their search skills; and

–explore topics in a whole new way –

Packed with features that give visitors several new ways to play around with Google Search.

Take a closer look at http://www.google.com/insidesearch/fun.html.

Behold | Search High Quality Flickr Images

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:47:39 +0100

Behold is a visual image search engine for high quality creative commons images.

When learners create multimedia projects as part of their coursework, Learning Providers require them to use either Creative Commons or Public Domain images if they don't create their own images. This reinforces the point that they cannot just grab and re-use images without regard for Copyright.

Behold could help learners (and their practitioners) find quality images that meet the Creative Commons requirement.

Discover Behold’s potential at http://www.behold.cc/.

18 Usability Resources for Librarians

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:41:33 +0100

Many Librarians are engaged in...

Web design;
usability testing;
focus groups; and more...

...in an effort to deliver an engaging user experience (UX) to their visitors/learners.

If you’re finding out about and/or just learning about UX and/or you’re a seasoned pro the 18 articles, tools, websites, and blogs curated by iLibrarian will provide some useful insights.

Visit http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2011/18-usability-resources-for-librarians/ to read the full article.

Google Images with sorting

Mon, 09 May 2011 19:51:24 +0100

Introducing Google Images with sorting: now when you search for an image, you'll not only see images related to your search, you can also sort the results by subject.

Scrible

Sun, 08 May 2011 21:39:41 +0100

It was my Son, Ben Dalziel, who brought Scrible to my attention; it is free and, at the time of writing this, is in public beta (It went public on May 4th 2011).

Scrible's Basic Edition enables users, among other things, to...

Richly annotate web pages in multiple colours & styles

Save web research online & access it from anywhere

Use simple keywords to search full text of any saved research

Use tags to quickly and easily organize research by topic

Easily share annotated web research with others via email

In their words...

"Even though the world uses the Internet to research nearly everything for work, school and home (job postings, press releases, Wikipedia articles, medical info, etc.), most folks still use old-school ways of annotating, organizing and sharing online info (printing to mark by hand, copying/pasting into Word, etc.). It's archaic, laborious and a waste of time. We're changing that. We're bringing Web-based research into the Internet Era by empowering people to mark up web pages in the browser and manage and collaborate on them online. And that's just the start..."

Visit http://www.scrible.com/ to find out more.

Search. Explore. Experience – Apture

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:59:47 +0100

Apture gives users the power to search and explore rich content without leaving the current webpage, blog, VLE etc.

Install instantly;
free for publishers and users;
Used by the New York Times, Financial Times, Reuters, and thousands of sites - including mine at http://www.acljohn.com/.

Apture is changing the web browser experience. Apture’s award-winning products enable instantaneous access to information with its in-page search technology. Apture’s products not only let readers immediately find and explore contextual, relevant information from across the Web - in one window, they also increase site engagement.

Apture: Search. Explore. Experience. from Apture Inc on Vimeo.

Try it out on my website (link above) and/or visit http://www.apture.com/ to find out more and/or sign up and add Apture to your webpresence.

ookaboo

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 22:19:16 +0100

All pictures on Ookaboo are available free under public domain or Creative Commons and can be used on web sites and for coursework and other creative projects.

Ookaboo is an intelligent image search engine that uses the Semantic Web API to intelligently categorize your results.

Visitors can also browse topics...

that have been searched recently; or
that are most popular.

Images can be viewed in up to 4 different sizes and the provided HTML code allows users to directly link or embed the image(s) anywhere. e.g.

Picture of Avro Lancaster thanks to Stahlkocher from Wikimedia Commons and Ookaboo!

Visit http://ookaboo.com/o/pictures/ to find out more or to try it out.

Qwiki

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:07:01 +0100

Qwiki...

has just opened its doors to the general public after refining its system during closed beta;

is a web application that will change the way most of us search and consume information.

"Qwiki's goal is to forever improve the way people experience information."

In a sense, Qwiki is both a search engine and a curator for Wikipedia entries – and much more.

It will...

help visitors search for specific information;
collect the results in a visual list; and
create a video on the go summarizing those results – with computer generated female voice narration.

Users can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Literally.

The only way to get your head around this is to visit http://www.qwiki.com/ and try it out.