Introducing the Little Library 1.0

Finally, a full version of the Little Library is out in the wild! After extensive testing on multiple platforms in Beta 1 & 2 (and a lot of failure), the Little Library 1.0 is ready for a gig on the mainstage. Take it out for a spin. Expect automatic updates as feedback comes in.

Check out, fork, and modify the source code for the Little Library on Github.

You can also find out more about the Little Library at http://thelittlelibrary.com.

Mobile JWiki

On the side as of late I’ve been working with Tim Jore at Distant Shores Media to help them create ajaxy goodness for their MediaWiki-based site at http://door43.org that features free and open licensed contributed discipleship resources for everyone in every language, including an open Bible, open Bible School, open worship music, etc. Anyway, I’ve just released a new application for them that dynamically has the ability to turn their entire wiki into a mobile online/offline application.

So if you are using MediaWiki, or would like to mobilize someone else’s Web site or wiki, you can find the simple 1-2 pages of code here: https://github.com/rwadholm/Mobile-JWiki. The code can be put on any server anywhere (that supports PHP 5.3), and will create a mobile offline/online version of whatever site you point it  at (out of the box it works with MediaWiki) via PHP,  JQuery, JQuery Mobile, and HTML5 (and it works as well without javascript enabled, so for non-smartphones it’ll still serve up your mobile site just fine). Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but you could even use it to make your own mobile offline/online version of Wikipedia that’s hosted on your own server.

The real purpose, however, is to allow users of wikis in areas with spotty internet connectivity or expensive data plans to be able to learn on the go, using their phones, without a continually active internet connection.

The Little Library Beta 1 Release

The Beta 1 version of the Little Library application was release earlier today (to mild applause by my family). You can check it out here:

https://github.com/rwadholm/The-Little-Library-Beta

Follow the instructions on that page, and you too can be the proud owner of a test library! You’ll be doing the world a service by breaking things now so they don’t have to later. Please send any comments and feedback my way.

Some new features include syncing with other libraries (actually works now!), automatic creation of an online library, a three page End User License Agreement that quotes Patrick Henry, file validation (to avoid loading those pesky malware files onto your computer and in the cloud), optimized iOS page sizes, automatic thumbnails for any items that have images in them, and the ability to upload and view multiple files for every item in your library. This last feature allows you to use your library as a private Web server. You could host every file of a website you’ve made in one item, and when users click on the item–BING!! (not really “BING”, I actually prefer non-microsoft products), they’re at your hosted Web site. So you could share your library with them, they could make changes, share with you, and you can have a dynamic Website between friends. How lovely.

Beyond Web sites, you could include all of the Word documents, books, videos, audio and images you wanted to all in the same library item, so that you can serve up a college course, a series of videos, a compilation of songs, etc. all packaged together nicely. You’ve just got to make sure the content is owned by you (as in, you created it, or you found it with a Creative Commons license that allows you to share it). That’s because the End User License Agreement requires you to only upload and share Creative Commons or Public Domain or other similarly licensed content.

So you can think of the Little Library not as a file repository, but as a multi-device, peer-to-peer, distributed online/offline open content bazaar based on bleeding-edge technologies like JQuery Mobile, HTML5 WebStorage, and CouchDB. Although that is a bit wordy…

More to come.

Learning to Blog, Blogging to Learn

Last summer I finished an E-learning solution for highschool and college teachers who would like to learn how to use blogs as a part of their instruction. Videos, links to online resources, and walk-throughs are provided in this extensive (2-3 hour) self-directed tutorial website. Feel free to use these materials in any way you want (think of the content as open source, as well as the code).

Mo Learning

Mobile learning = mo learning. At least that’s what Teemu Arina has to say on the topic (see videos below).

Arina views the subject through the lense of learning spaces. Do we learn in cubes, or is learning open to the world — to the larger environments in which we actually find ourselves from day to day? Can mobile learning foster situated applicational learning better than more formal educational settings? From personal experience, I’d say “YES!”

While Arina focuses on the value of mobile learning as being in its ability to allow for greater social interaction, to connect people and ideas, to share conversations, and to connect the virtual world with physical contexts, I find myself turning instead to a different focus: mobile learning is real world learning. Situatedness really does have an impact on how well we can assimilate new information into our present schemas. And real-world contextual learning may allow for more authentic tasks and for the construction of new ways of thinking and acting, both socially and personally. Beyond this, at its heart all learning is mobile learning. People learn on the go. People learn as they are doing. In a way, traditional in-classroom learning could be considered one (limited) phase of mobile learning, because learning happens not only in the room itself, but in the hallway, in the dorm room, in the library, and on the way to work. People are thinking while they are being, and we are called human beings for a reason (one thing we know how to do well is be). While we are being we are becoming with the help of education (whether formal or informal). And becoming is situated across times and places. Learning spaces are living spaces and vice-versa.

One particular manifestation of mobile learning is learning while using modern mobile technologies (laptops, mobile phones, mp3 players, etc.). These tools help us to connect with other people and to situate our learning experiences in real world contexts. We are here. We need the knowledge here. We can apply the knowledge here. It seems an obvious conclusion that here is where we should learn. These tools bring our living and learning together here. Do we want people to learn only in a cube, or do we want them to be learning, to become in the here and now?