Academic Technology Blog @ Broad

The latest Pew Internet & American Life study reports that half of all American adults are only occasional users of modern
information gadgetry, while 8% are avid participants in all that digital life has to offer.
Read the full report – A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users – here

At the end of the semester you may want to move messages from students in a particular course to a personal mail folder (.pst) in Outlook to save space in your mailbox. To do this:

1. On the File menu go to New, and then click Outlook Data File.
2. Choose Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) (the first choice) and click OK
3. In the File name box, type a name for the file, and then click OK.
4. In the Name box, type a display name for the .pst folder. (leave the rest as default)
5. Select any other options you want, and then click OK.

You can then move the emails into the new folder thus saving space in your mailbox.

Business Week has an article about INSEAD‘s journey into building and populating a virtual Second Life campus. This article is part of a larger special report on “Virtual Life”
(via Glenn Omura)

Howard Gardner has published a new book – Five Minds for the Future. Though traditionally a cognitive and educational psychologist, he ventures into the world of business in his new book which “looks at the intellectual approaches that managers and employees will need to function successfully in the 21st century.”

Click here for the review from the LA Times “Thinking twice, thrice …“

These directions apply to Sony Digital Audio Recorders that  come with the Digital Voice Editor Software

To transfer audio from recorder to computer:
Connect audio recorder via USB
Open “Digital Voice Editor” (could be on desktop or Start > Programs)
Click on “Execute Auto Save”
Click “OK” after AutoSave is successfully completed
On the upper right hand side, double click “My Documents” and either “ICD-MX20_bschool” or “ICD_MX20_MBA1” (if you are using a recorder from the faculty lab, your recorder may have a different name)
Click on the appropriate folder (most likely FOLDER01)
The file(s) will appear in the bottom right quadrant
To convert the file to .wav, right click on the file and then pull down “Save as type” to “WAV(auto-conversion)” then click Convert
You may want to choose another folder to save in (desktop? Or you could create a new folder in My Documents)

The next step to convert to mp3:
Open Audacity
Go to File > Open and open the .wav file.
Then go to File > Export as mp3**
Save to the appropriate folder
The conversion is complete, the .mp3 file is the one that should be posted on Angel.

**You may be asked to find the lame_enc.dll file.  If you have Camtasia, this file will be on your computer.  If not, send me an email and I can send you the file.

This is a great series of podcasts featuring interviews with: expert connected marketing academics, consultants and practitioners from around the world, providing valuable insight into the principles and practical uses of viral marketing, brand advocacy, buzz marketing, advergames, word of mouth marketing, live buzz marketing, blog marketing, buzzworthy PR and more. (from Connectedmarketing.org)

The latest issue of Wired magazine has many articles which address the idea of “radical transparency” in business. It has some great articles on how technology (specifically social technologies) are changing the way business gets done.

Event Date: April 2, 2007 Sasha Verhage, MSU alum and Design Lead for Google, will share observations of working in a fast-paced industry priding itself on “disruptive technologies.” His presentation will talk about his experiences at Google, Yahoo, and e-consultancies, introduce and clarify emerging trends and buzzwords, including Live Testing (also known as Bucket Testing), AJAX, Search Engine Optimization, and Open Content.

This talk is on April 2nd, Room 145 Com Arts from 4-5pm.

There is a new extension for Firefox that has the potential to be a great teaching tool if you use a lot of web pages in your lectures/courses. This extension gives you the ability to “mark up” web pages and adds a whiteboard to every webpage you visit.

http://www.firedoodle.com/

When you install Firedoodle, you add a whiteboard to every web page you visit using the Firefox Browser. This is great for reviews, jotting ideas, or just goofing off. You can also mark your place on looooong pages so if you need to leave and come back, you can easily pick up where you left off. It’s easy to use and you can even save your highlights or placemarks if you register so they don’t disappear when you close Firefox.

Deadline – June 11, 2007

Request for Proposals
The NASD Investor Education Foundation invites eligible organizations to submit competitive grant proposals for research and/or education projects that protect retail investors from fraud. Applicants are encouraged to establish partnerships that combine research and technical expertise with the ability to influence large audiences through highly credible communications vehicles and networks. Successful proposals might, for example,

• quantify the incidence of investment fraud in the United States, disaggregated by types of fraud and victim characteristics
• identify the characteristics of investment fraud perpetrators or victims
• uncover the mechanics of investment fraud and tactics used to deceive or pressure investors
• analyze why investors respond to scams and how they behave when confronted with financial loss
• help US investors recognize potential investment scams, including scams related to microcap stocks
• develop and test investor protection communications strategies that are effective in raising defenses against fraud
• improve awareness among organizations (e.g. community groups and their leaders) about affinity fraud and the unwitting role that such organizations sometimes play in scams
• encourage individuals to take precautions against fraud
• increase the reporting of investment fraud to public authorities

Project deliverables may include any combination of research reports, published papers and articles, communications tools, and turnkey programs. For education projects, applicants are encouraged to devise cost-effective ways of evaluating their efforts. Research proposals must have practical outcomes for individual investors, regulators, and nonprofit organizations active in the field of personal finance.

For more information – http://www.nasdfoundation.org/investor_protection07.asp