The Student Leader Blog

Tania's College Site Picks: Local Travel (hopstop, google transit, ridethecity, and mizpee)

I love websites. I adore web 2.0. And I feel all warm and fuzzy inside whenever I can share a good site I found. Upon people's request, I've emailed them lists of my favorite sites and have been keeping my own list that requires quite a bit of scrolling to get down to the bottom. So this morning, I said to myself, why not share the goods with all of you? I've split up my list into categories, and every week until my list runs out, I'll post a category here. If you have any suggestion please let me know! An infinite list would be nice :)

Today's category is Local Travel:

www.hopstop.com (only available in select cities)

Get public transportation directions and estimated travel times, with delays taken into account. You can also get walking directions, private shuttles and ferries, and estimated cost and time for cab rides. If you're trying to decide which public transportation lines to use or get an apartment near, check out their customer ratings. You can also create an itinerary, save trips, browse the city's attractions, and get it all sent to your cell phone.

www.google.com/transit

Here you can get directions, maps, and schedules, and coverage in nearly all of the United States as well as internationally. You can't get some of the other cool stuff that HopStop offers, but it's just as useful for the basics and is offered in a lot more cities.

www.ridethecity.com

If you're one of the many New Yorkers trading your MetroCard in for a bike, RidetheCity is a perfect way for you to find the fastest and safest routes and to calculate travel times. Unfortunately, it's only available in New York right now.

www.mizpee.com

If your public transportation is anything like New York City's, then finding a decent bathroom in the station is out of the question. MizPee lists public restrooms and user ratings in many states and even in Europe. It even keeps track of whether you need to buy anything at the places listed. You can also search on your phone, save your favorite pee spots, suggest toilets, play toilet trivia, and find deals on everything from cafes to spas.

That's all for now, folks! Hope this has been helpful.

How to Cut Down Your Time Searching Online

The Internet is big and the amount of time you have is not. To get the most out of the few scraps of time that you do manage to salvage, stop searching for the information you need, and let it come to you. Having web tools like an RSS reader, topic alerts, and a personalized homepage is like having a personal secretary bring all of your reminders, correspondence, and handpicked news right to your desk, only it’s free and leaves no clutter in your office.

Your RSS reader (like Google Reader or FeedReader) will pull content from all of your favorite blogs and websites so you never have to visit them to check for updates. I wrote about these in a bit more detail in a past blog post.

Your alert system (like Google Alerts) will keep an unblinking eye out for any information on the web that is relevant to your or your group's interests, combing through blogs, websites, videos, groups, or whatever your specify.

And last but not least, you personalized homepage (like iGoogle and NetVibes) acts as your online hub and aggregates all of this information and more. By visiting just one page, you can see the latest updates to your reader, email, and personalized news. You can also use a widget like Jott.com to view your to do list and add new items as they come up, plus check the weather, browse your calendar, and see all your bookmarks so you don’t have to remember any new URLs. You can also create a personalized homepage specifically for your group so that everyone can add items, see updates, and have access to the same resources.

Sometimes Internet literacy means learning how to use fewer tools rather than more tools. The trick is to choose the tools that save you time, help your group members get on the same pag, and make you breath a sigh of relief.

Google Sites quickie tutorial/demo

Since I've never mentioned Google on this blog before, I've decided to dedicate today's post to a presentations of my favoritest new tool: Google Sites (sites.google.com).

Check it out here:

Google Sites Demo from Tania Dudina on Vimeo.

Oh... and I may have mentioned in the past some of the ways in which I've used Google Sites. Maybe.

Hope you find this helpful!

Saving money on textbooks and the question of why we are buying them.

The Fall semester will soon be approaching (or should I say encroaching?) and shopping lists will soon contain ISBN codes galore. As we all well know, textbook prices are often somewhere in the hundreds, and many of us never do crack those bad boys open after we shell out the cash for them.  So does all this makes sense?

Websites like Textbook Torrents and Chegg.com are saying heck no (though some more legally than others). Textbook Torrents, a site that allows students to share digital textbook files for free, has gotten quite a bit of attention lately, after publishers requested that it take down some of its listings. The site complied, but the debate over whether this is a new kind of piracy continues. Chegg offers a Netflix-like solution: renting textbooks for the semester and helping students save a whole bunch, provided you're okay with the fact that you can't highlight the pages. Some other alternatives include SwapTree.com and your school's library.

Oh yes, and NYPIRG is pushing for legislation forcing publishers to cut their textbook prices, but I feel that we're all missing the point here.
Maybe instead of persecuting an industry that's just trying to make money like the rest of us, we should start encouraging the industry to evolve.  Why is it that instructors are still assigning textbooks when the Internet is flooded with free information? Why is Wikipedia not considered a legitimate source of information by professors? Do millions of people check on textbook content to make sure it is factual? Maybe what needs to happen is for textbook publishers to wake up and start doing something more constructive, like charging schools a fee for aggregating class-specific information from online sources.

And I mean, come on! Why are we even talking about how expensive textbooks are when we should be talking about the fact that no one is reading them? NYPIRG recommends that teachers and students use old editions of books to save money, but wait a minute, isn't education about new information? And new information happens faster than even the latest edition of a textbook can handle. Even if the legislation does cut book costs down from $80 to $60... that's a $60 paperweight and another missed opportunity to get something deeper from your education.

Getting more bang for your $0 from Google Docs.

That's right; it's another Google dedicated post. And no, they're not paying me to go on and on about them (I wish). Rather than writing another ode to Google tools however; I'm going to share some tips I've picked up about getting the most out of a Google Doc (so that you too can come to truly appreciate it).

The first time I entered a collaborative doc, I was completely at a loss: "You mean I just write over other people's stuff?? It seems so... wrong." The answer is: it depends on the rules that each group creates. It helps to make sure they are prominent and clear. And remember, you can always see previous versions, so nothing is ever lost. Docs can be used for planning an event, deciding on the content of a promotional flyer, developing your group's constitution, or anything else your collective heart desires. So without further ado, I offer you:

Tania's Tips
- Pick the doc type that fits your needs:
    Document: editing and brainstorming
    Spreadsheet: tracking and categorizing
    Presentation: presentations
- Invite lots of collaborators.
- Have collaborators leave comments (Ctrl + M) and change their color by right-clicking the comment.
- Edit at the same time with your group and use the chat window to chat (way more fun).
- Throw in a table of contents so people don't get lost.
- Add links to other docs and reference materials.
- Know when to switch to a Wiki: docs are great for small groups and private collaboration, but Wikis are a better pick for larger, more involved projects.

Have more suggestions? Let me know, or...hey... start a Google Doc and send me an invitation :)

 

My latest love-affair: Google Sites

I've admired Google for a long time now: giggling like a school girl at its quirky sense of humor, blushing at how deeply it understands the contents of my inbox, and trembling with inspiration every time I see its creativity and ingenuity in action.

A little while ago, I discovered a new side of Google called Google Sites, and my feelings grew stronger. Google Sites is a free tool that allows you to build an intranet for your group, with lots of storage, a simple way for everyone to edit and collaborate, a blog feature, a task assignment feature, and widgets galore.

As of today, I have 5 Google Sites: (1) the first houses my college group's discussions, blank forms, and resources; (2) the second keeps my writing group's writing, reader feedback, and notes in one place; (3) my third is for a project I'm coordinating with goals, assignments, meeting agendas, minutes, and to do lists; (4) the fourth holds class readings, notes, syllabus, and an about page for the instructor and each student; and (5) the last is a site I'll be using in the Fall in my Freshman Orientation class to house resources and information, discussions, FAQs, and assignments.

In short, the possibilities are endless, and like all true love, it is completely free. I'm sorry for my gushing, but I'm not sorry for the way I feel. Though I am kinda sorry that I posted the following photo:

Organizing your web life with RSS and website updates.

RSS is generally symbolized by a button that looks like this:
and stands for Really Simple Syndication. Instead of going into an explanation of what it is, and how it works, I'm including a wonderful video by CommonCraft.com that tells the whole story MUCH better than I ever could.

My own contribution to this post is encouragement to start using RSS readers asap, if you aren't already. For me, being a student leader (and a human being) has meant keeping track of lots of different blogs and websites for news, events, and information. RSS probably saves me at least a couple of hours a week of web surfing, and makes me feel nice and organized.

If you are following a site that doesn't offer RSS (though this is becoming increasingly rarer), you can also use a Firefox browser extension called Update Scanner

And suddenly the World Wide Web feels a little bit more manageable :)

Building a website for your organization - PART II

So you've got your web-building tools and your domain name. The only thing left is banging out the content of your website, and then you're good to go, right? Not so fast, speedy. Before you do so much as create a homepage, I highly recommend taking the time to plan out your brand new, baby www.

The first question you'll have to tackle is: who will be responsible for updating the content? You might be shouting "me, me, me!" but even the most dedicated student leaders don't stick around much longer than 4 years. For this reason, it's best to use a web-based tool (so that the website files aren't stuck at your apartment). And since student leadership is usually team focused, sharing the responsibility of the site's content is usually a good idea too. Collaborative websites (think Wikipedia) can be more useful, fast-paced, and a lot more fun.

Now that that's settled, decide on the goal of your site. Collaboration? Recruitment? Information? Or all that and more? Let this direct the style and the content.

Decide on how information will be distributed on the site. Some popular page choices are:
- News and updates
- Resources and information
- About us
- How to join
- Calendar of events
- Image/video gallery
- Forum
- Contact us

And last but not least, get people's reactions to the design and structure. No one will use your site if it isn't user-friendly, it doesn't matter how nice your font is. Make sure that all information is easy to find, that it's up-to-date, and that the whole thing is easy on the eyes too. Then spread the word and enjoy your new presence on the world wide web.

P.S. In case you didn't believe me when I said in my last post that everyone has a website, please take a look at kaacoo.com.

Building a website for your organization (for free) - PART I

It's 2008 and everyone from Staples to my friend Luke's cat seems to have a website. But before you start getting .com happy, figure out whether your organization really needs a website because frankly, the only thing worse than no website at all is a website that's built once and never updated (or visited) again.

Chances are that your website will be useful if:
- you need to store group relevant information in one easily accessible place (e.g. forms)
- your group has members that aren't always communicating with you and one another
- you have frequent updates to send to the whole group
- you want to recruit new members
- your group is centered around or really benefits from on going discussions between members.

There are lots of simple and free options available.
Personally, I like to use Weebly.com for free websites, but there are lots of others.  This is your best bet if you want your site to be versatile (e.g. blog + info pages + photo gallery) and easily accessible to all on the web.

If you don't need a blog, another fun and free option is making a Wiki space. These are particularly awesome if you want to let everyone collaborate on the content of the website (which I highly recommend).

If all you need is a blog, then check out Wordpress and Blogger.

And if you want the content of your site to be collaborative, versatile, but only accessible to your group members or college, then try making a Google site.

And, of course, you'll need a domain name (i.e. the thing that comes before the .com).
If you really want to keep the experience free, your domain name will most likely be followed by the web tool of your choice (e.g. mysite.wordpress.com). If you really want that mysite.com, you'll have to cough up around $10 per year for it (or go with a .info for as little as $3 per year). You can usually buy a domain from the site you choose or use an independent site like GoDaddy.com (my own fav).

I'll go over some tips on creating the site in my next post, but in the meanwhile, if you have any questions about starting a site using these web tools or have suggestions please let me know at TaniaDudina@gmail.com.

Jott: A personal secretary for your organization.

My new favorite toy is Jott.com. In case you're not familiar with it, it's a web tool that functions like a digital personal secretary. You can call it in the middle of the night (or while running from one class to another) and tell it to add an event to your calendar, an item to your to do list, an update to your twitter, or a reminder. It transcribes the message and sends to your group, yourself, or anywhere your busy heart desires. Jott has been saving me tons of time and sticky notes, and it's really fun pretending to have a secretary.

P.S. If you don't get the photo reference, ask Wikipedia about it.