Online Language Learning Comparison Chart (PDF) orginally posted on HRC Blog, created by me

I recently recreated a comparison chart for my work of 4 different free (to a point) online language learning websites. The sites in this chart are Livemocha, Busuu.com, Mango Languages, and Hello-Hello.  If you want to see the chart, click on this link to view and save:

https://blogs.princeton.edu/hrc/compare_online_lang_software.pdf

If you want to read more from the site this chart was posted (we have lots of education technology posts that focus on the Humanities), click on the link below:

https://blogs.princeton.edu/hrc/

Enjoy!

Cooliris is a company that first received attention by making a Firefox plug-in that allowed for you to view images on a 3D wall that you could easily scroll through instead of clicking through pages of photos. This layout made it natural and easier to view a bulk of photos. I first used this plug-in to view my image search results on Google. Now Cooliris has unveiled Cooliris Express, a web based version of this plug-in that allows for you to add your photos and videos to a 3D wall and you can embed it into your blog, Twitter post, Facebook post, or website. This would be great for a presentation of a portfolio or for a presentation in class (thinking Art History as an example). You can also pull photos from other places (I’m thinking CC licensed photos on Flickr for a class presentation). Below is a step by step on how to create your own 3D photo/video wall and share it (no account registration required).

1. Go to http://www.cooliris.com/express/

2. Click on the Create Your Own 3D Wall button.

3. In the Source tab under options, choose the place you will be getting your photos from (Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, RSS Feed)

4. Based off of the source, you can then tweak your wall to what you exactly want to show on the wall. For Example, with Fickr, you can import by tags, a users photostream, etc. Picasa you can choose a certain album).

5. Click OK in the source tab once you chose your filters. Your wall will populate with a preview of photos/videos. If it’s not correct, change your source settings.

6. Click the Next Button at the top.

7. You can change the appearance of the background of the 3D wall. You can also choose how many rows you want to display on the wall. The default of 3 is fine. You can check or uncheck the features of allowing the wall to have a search button or an embed button.

8. Click the Next Button at the top.

9. Choose where you want to post the wall. If can be Twitter, Facebook, a blog (WordPress, Blogger, Typepad), or your own site. Cooliris will provide you with the code. Just copy and paste it.

I hope this helps and I hope you use this tool in very unique ways!

PS My cooliris Express wall:  http://bit.ly/7GXm0o

Hi All,

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been really active in Twitter and I find that I am spending more time sharing ideas and super short tutorials there than at this blog. I will try to be more diligent in posting more often to this blog. If you would like to view some of my latest screencasts, you can find them up on http://www.screencast.com (or the link on the right hand side).  I also tweet when I put out a new screencast. If you want to, follow me on Twitter. I hope all is well!

I recently had to export data (data in a table) from a PDF file and into an Excel format (or a format Excel can open) to edit the data. The format I chose to save the file was XML (Table in Excel Spreadsheet- go to Save As in Adobe PDF Reader, this will be an option to save the file). When I opened it in Excel, I received this error:

“Problems During Load
Problems came up in the following areas during load:

Tables”

I noticed the tags where not properly closed out in the XML file. So I used an HTML editor (in this case, Dreamweaver) to find the tag errors. I noticed either a < would be in a space where the data was, and most times, these tags would have validation errors.

I copied the text and did a find and replace (pasting the text into the find text box and replacing the text with nothing). If the XML file did not load in Excel, I tried to load it in Open Office. If it loaded, I saved it as an Excel Spreadsheet. If it did not load, I tried to run the XML file in Firefox to find which lines still had validation errors and repeated the HTML editor steps.  I saved it in Excel because I had a macros to run that combined all the sheets into one sheet (found it here on Yahoo! Answers).

So if you find this error with an XML file in Excel, it maybe that your tags are not properly closed out or configured. I hope this helps!

I have been working on a project that requires to have Arabic text in a flash website. The issue is that every time we add Arabic text, some of the letters get flipped when we export the movie (.swf file). Here is a work around that my boss (Ben) discovered. It uses actionscript and html code. Here are the steps below:

1. Create a text file with all the Arabic text you want to put into the fla file. Use HTML markup to create paragraphs, texts aligns etc. At the beginning of each line, you will write this actionscript code: instance_name=”html text”;

For example:
about_me_text = “<p><b style=’font-size:200%;’>About Me</b><p><br />“;

about_me_text += “<p>Author: Me<br>Department of Me Studies<br>Myself University <br></p><br >”;
about_me_text += “<p>More text<br></p><br >”;

Note: When you add an extra line, make sure your actionscript code has a + in it.

2. Go to the layer you want to add the text. Add a text box.

3. Open up the actionscript window for that layer. Paste in your text (with the actionscript and html markup in step 1)

4. Click on the text box. In the text box properties choose Dynamic Text

5. In Dynamic Text, there is a an instance textbox. Type in the instance name in the actionscript code. For this example, that would be: about_me_text

6. Under Paragraph in the text properties, in Behavior choose Multiline.

7. Under Options in the Text Properties, type in the same instance name for the Variable text box. In this example it would be:  about_me_text. (You can copy and paste the text you enter in step 5).

8. Render your movie.

Note: You can change the color, font type, and size in the Text Properties menu too.

1. Open up Audacity. Load your audio clip.
2. Now use the cursor to scroll over the shortest silence period in your clip. This is where a label will be inserted to show a break in audio parts. You are measuring the time.
3. Look at the bottom of Audacity. You will see how long that silence period is.
4. Now select all your audio clip by clicking Control + A.
5. Now go to the Analyze menu.
6. Choose Silence Finder
7. In the minimum silence duration text box, type in the number you saw at the bottom of Audacity when you measured the shortest silence period in the clip.
8. Click OK
9. Now you will see a series of labels with a S. You can also manually enter labels (if the analyzer missed any spots) by clicking on the silence spot and pressing Control + B.
10. Now that all your silence spots are marked to break up the clips, go to File and choose Export Multiple.
11. Choose the format (wav, mp3), where to save it, how to name it, and choose Split based on labels.
12. Click OK.

(I originally wrote this for the HRC blog: http://blogs.princeton.edu/hrc)

Note: If you need to delete a label, click on the label and backspace until all the letters or numbers are erased, then click enter (while the label is still selected).

Recently I cropped pdfs so that they would be larger when I viewed them in the Kindle DX. I did not convert them into a mobi file. I just wanted the pdf as is (an image basically). When I cropped my pdf using Adobe Acrobat reader and saved it, I noticed that when I viewed it in the Kindle the cropped did not apply to the pdf and it appeared in the original format. So how did I save my cropped pdfs so that they appeared the way I wanted them (cropped) on The Kindle? Simple. I exported them as pngs and then recreated the pdf using the pngs I exported from the cropped pdf. Here’s the steps:

1. Go to Tools–> Advanced Editing–> Crop tool

2. Crop each page to the way you would like for it to appear in the Kindle DX (this is good to get rid of side notes).

3. Save the pdf.

4. Now go to File–>Export–>Image–>PNG

5. Create a folder to place the exported png files

6. Now with the same pdf open, go to File—>Create PDF—>Merge Files into Single PDF

7. Click on the Add Files button, choose Add Folders, and choose the folder you created that has the png files.

8. Click the Combine Files button at the bottom right.

9. Name the new pdf and save it.

I hope this helps!

With the semester starting soon, I have been toying with the idea of using a blog to send out changes of polices or practices to my students. I want to make sure I can communicate with them – instead of printing out paper and having them initial it every time a change is made (which seems wasteful and degrading) or putting receipts on email to see if it was read (which I detest).

I don’t want the blog to be a one way street. Sure, I would like for them to sign off that they read the new procedure in the comments section of the post, but I also want them to give me feedback and ideas on the changes. Maybe they see something from a students prospective and I did not consider or see before? Are student workers having the same issues with software, hardware, or patrons? Did something come up in an evening shift? Should we change the hours on the weekend for the lab? I want them to post it and share it. I will value it.

I also want it to be their one-stop place for anything related to their job. A link to the scheduling calendar for shifts, a link to a  live updated list of whats on reserve for the semester, email link for shift subs, a link to their online timesheets, etc.  with the sensitivity of the information, I would like to make the blog private (I know , it goes against the idea of a blog).  Why not use the social media that my students are already using to give them a voice and create a more productive and cohesive work environment. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

I have been recently working on a project that requires for us to take a pdf file (which is basically an image) and convert it into a file that the Kindle can use (as in search text, highlight and underline text). A MOBI file is ideal for a Kindle (a PRC- palm file works as well). I will share the workflow process that we developed (there is no easy or right way to convert these files) and what software we used.

1. OCR your PDF.

This great conversion tool by fivefilters.org allows for a person to enter in the RSS feed of their blog site (or any RSS from a site) and this tool creates a pdf newspaper (or newsletter) from the posts. If your posts have images, you can also set for the tool to include those images in the pdf. The images are not as clear as in the blog post, but it does add a nice touch to the pdf. When creating the pdf, you can also choose how the posts will show up. You can choose the posts to be arranged in ascending or descending order by date. If the RSS feed only has summaries and not the full text, you can set for the tool to grab the full text and include it in the pdf.  I would also recommend changing the title to make the pdf more personable and related to your blog brand (which you can do, by simply typing in the title textbox. ) All the features I just described can be accessed by clicking on the more options link. All you need to do is copy and paste the RSS feed url into the textbox and click Create PDF. The process was fast and simple. To learn more about the fivefilters.org tool, click the link below:

http://fivefilters.org/pdf-newspaper/