Welcome to iLibrarian

Greg Ferenstein at Mashable blogs about How Social Gaming is Improving Education. The article discusses how schools are replacing textbook learning with social video games, and improving learning outcomes.

“Social gaming has a come a long way from the days when a dozen students would squint at a 10-inch screen of Oregon Trail. The 2000s seemed to be the decade of case studies: Bold educators willing to experiment with developing technologies. But now, the involvement of major funders, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, points to an industry that is on the cusp of freeing education from its 2D textbook prison.”

Richard Brooks at the Times Online reports that the British Library will offer over 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from its collection as free downloads this spring.

“Owners of the Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader device, will be able to view well known works by writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, as well as works by thousands of less famous authors.

The library’s ebook publishing project, funded by Microsoft, the computer giant, is the latest move in the mounting online battle over the future of books.”

Tom Walker writes for Powerusers about 10 Alternative Uses for WordPress. This useful post lists some exciting ways to make use of the open-source content management system. Here are his top five:

1. eCommerce
2. WordPress Wiki
3. Forum
4. Contact Manager
5. Job Board

Kathy Ishizuka at School Library Journal presents an article about People Who Need People: How 11 intrepid users get the most out of social media. The article is made up in entries by 11 contributors “from a publisher of multiplatform books and a passionate educator to an Internet pioneer and a children’s book author” who share the ways they make use of new media tools.

The folks at Educause have created another one of their helpful “7 Things” guides, this time discussing 7 Things You Should Know About Next-Generation Presentation Tools. New online presentation services such as Slideshare.net are covered in this article which answers the following questions:

1. What is it?
2. Who’s doing it?
3. How does it work?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Aliza Sherman at WebWorkerDaily takes a look at How to Use Location-based Social Networks For Business. As mobile tech become increasingly popular, organizations will want to learn about the benefits of location-based social networks like Foursquare. The article discusses the following ways to use such applications:

• Connecting
• Socializing
• Discovering
• Promoting

The Economist has a special report on social networking titled Privacy 2.0. The article explores the use of privacy controls within today’s hottest social networks.

“If there is one thing that could halt the ascent of social networks, it is the vexed question of privacy. This is controversial because it goes right to the heart of the social-networking business model. In order to attract users, sites need to offer ways for members to restrict the information about themselves that gets shared with a wider public. Without effective controls people would be reluctant to sign up. But if a site allows members to keep too much of their information private, there will be less traffic that can be turned into profit through advertising and various other means, so the network’s business will suffer.”

The folks at Online Universities.com have pulled together a list of the 50 Best Blogs for Education Leaders. This mega-list contains many interesting blogs which have been divided into the following categories:

• Education News
• Subject Specific
• Inspiration and Innovation
• Educational Policy
• Educational Technology
• E-Learning and Online Education

The team W3Avenue has posted a compilation of 40 Really Useful Tutorials You Should Have Read in January 2010. These quality tuts are culled from such well-known publications as A List Apart, Webdesigner Depot, Nettuts+, and more. Here are just a few of the featured articles:

• 55+ Most Wanted WordPress Tips, Tricks, and Hacks
• The Easiest Way to Build your First iPhone App
• How To Add a Flickr Gallery to Your WordPress Theme Without a Plugin
• How to Make all Browsers Render HTML5 Mark-up Correctly – Even IE6
• 10 Tips for Better Print Style Sheets
• CSS Transitions 101

The folks at Webdigi have posted a tutorial for Creating a Custom Facebook Fan Page on their PHP, Web and IT stuff blog. This detailed guide provides step-by-step instructions and code snippets for creating custom tabs, a carousel, and web forms on your Facebook fan page.

Karen Schweitzer writes for Digitizd about 15 Must-Have Web Apps for Students. There are many interesting programs listed here and most of them are available for free.

Matt Silverman at Mashable has some suggestions for How To: Build a More Beautiful Blog. If you’re looking to take your blog to the next level, you’ll want to check out this post which makes the following recommendations:

• Learn Some HTML
• Find the Right Template
• Be a Layout Sleuth
• Make It Your Own
• For the Non-Designer: Go Minimalist
• Need More Inspiration?

Inc. Magazine has created a guide to blogging, social networking, multimedia tools, and online reviews and opinions for businesses and organizations. Their Social Media Toolkit includes these 14 guides:

• Your 10-Step Guide to Blogging
• 8 Steps to Starting a Blog
• 10 Must Have Blog Techniques
• 8 Types of People That Belong on Twitter
• How to Banish Blog Spam
• How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business
• How to Advertise on Facebook
• 6 Social Networking Faux Pas
• How to Use Multimedia for Business Marketing
• Marketing Your Business on YouTube
• 6 Services to Help You With Mobile Marketing
• How to Take Advantage of Online Review and Answer Sites
• Take a Deep Breath
• 7 Secrets to Getting Positive Online Reviews

Mari Smith at the Social Media Examiner takes a look at How to Better Engage Facebook Fan Page ‘Fans’. This is part one of a two-part post. This first article covers the following areas, offering detailed recommendations with screenshots:

• Share Quality, Relevant Content – Daily
• How Often Should You Post?
• What to Post
• Sourcing Quality Content
• Cultivating Your Style
• Mix Up the Types of Posts
• Incite Comments

Sarah Houghton-Jan at the LibrarianinBlack presents 13 Ways (and 147 Tools) to Help Your Library Save Money on Technology. Here are her top five ways, be sure and check out the full post for all of the great tool suggestions.

1. Free Software for Public & Staff Computers
2. Free Security Software Suite
3. Free Staff Scheduling Software
4. Free Team Meeting Tools
5. Free Tech Support Tools