Announcing TonyVincent.net

TonyVincent.net is online! While learninginhand.com covers the world of learning with tools that fit in students' and teachers' hands, TonyVincent.net focuses on online and digital technologies. Here are just some of the topics TonyVincent.net will cover: online publishing, Google Earth, digital video, RSS feeds, Wikipedia, information literacy, free software, and Web 2.0 services. These "internety" topics and handheld computing will often overlap and probably give me headaches when trying to figure out on to which site to post the content.

Currently, TonyVincent.net features a blog and forums. Unlike the learninginhand site where I use Dreamweaver to upload an HTML file for each page, TonyVincent.net uses a content management system (Drupal for those who want to know this kind of stuff). What does that exactly mean? With Drupal I'll be able to organize content on TonyVincent.net with just a couple of mouse clicks. Once there's more content, I will to have TonyVincent.net sorted by subject area. Posting in blog-format is a great convenience for the blogger, but it isn't so great for a reader who wants information on one topic. So watch for site organization and features to be added in the future. You can also look forward to layout changes and lots of tweaks as I improve the site.

As Dale pointed out in a blog comment, it takes some effort to keep up with all of the content I provide online. If you really want to keep up on everything I post, subscribe to my RSS feeds:

• Learning in Hand Blog: Handheld computing, podcasting, and iPods
  http://feeds.feedburner.com/learninginhand
• Learning in Hand Forums: Discussions about handheld computing, podcasting, and iPods
  http//feeds.feedburner.com/forums
• TonyVincent.net: Education & Technology for Teachers
  http://tonyvincent.net/?q=rss.xml
• Soft Reset Podcast: The podcast for those using handhelds in education
  http://feeds.feedburner.com/SoftReset
• Our City Podcast: Learn about cities from the kids who live there
  http://feeds.feedburner.com/OurCity
• Learning in Hand: iPods Podcast: Using iPods for teaching and learning
  http://vincent.libsyn.com/rss
• TonyVincent.info: My online scrapbook of what I'm finding or doing online
  http://tonyvincent.info/rss

Now here's the beauty of RSS: subscribe with a service like Bloglines or Google Reader, and you don't have to visit each source individually. Just subscribe to the RSS feeds and log into Bloglines each day to see what's new. Many teachers have asked for step-by-step directions for subscribing with Bloglines. Jump on over to my post, Subscribe to Sites with Bloglines, at TonyVincent.net for help. I hope TonyVincent.net will also provide you with help, resources, news, lessons, strategies, and guidance for years to come...

Our City Podcast: Interactive Map

Our City Podcast has a new feature: an interactive map. I used the new My Maps feature of Google Maps. The map has a marker for each episode of Our City Podcast. Click a marker and information about that podcast episode is displayed. Click the link inside the info bubble and you are taken to the episode's show notes where you can listen. Each time the podcast is updated, I'll also update the map. Recent episodes are indicated by a red marker. Notice you can zoom in and out using the controls on the left. You can also click the drag your mouse to move the map. Pretty cool, huh?

As you can see on the map, there are several episodes from Illinois, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania (probably because of the podcasting workshops and conference sessions I've conducted in those locations). I'd love to receive episodes from more states and more countries! Many resources are provided to help you create the recording. You can subscribe in iTunes by clicking here.

For those interested in making their own maps: You can start your own by clicking Google Map's My Maps tab. A free Google account is required.

Update: Embedding the map into this blog and into the Our City page worked for Firefox and Safari users. However, Internet Explorer users could not access either page. I removed the embedded maps until I can figure out how to get it to work in all browsers. [Embedding the map into a webpage is not the simplest of tasks. I used these instructions to help me embed the Our City Podcast map.]