This post is as tangential as the twisted web path it took to get there. The ending is at Allen Smith’s Web-A-Sketch, a detailed description and parts list for how he hooked up some motors to an original Etch-A-Sketch and made it so anyone could remotely control it via a web interface.

To me it seems that for multimedia developers, making a web version of the classic Etch-A-Sketch, is the equivalent to the command-line programmer’s “Hello World” effort. I even did my own in Macromedia Director/Shockwave as “Maricop-A Sketch”.

But this is more about these sorts of web trinkets than about the breadth of weblogs and how I ended up at Allen’s Gadgeteer trying to draw circles (the rest of the story…)

A little bit of echo to Brian’s analysis of our conference ending session on RSS and Learning Objects. You can find the paper there as well as a hefty 6 Mb PowerPoint (if I have time, I will at least post a MS mangled HTML version), plus there is a streaming quicktime version too.

There seemed (from the front of the room) a buzz of interest and people were at least sitting forward in their chairs instead of snoozing. Stephen took in good humour our reference to “the oracle.” And hats off for Michelle for playing the part of “Lora” and showing up to the presentation.

I really hope people can go back and start on the same discovery of the power of RSS for staying in tune first with information in their interest area, and then thinking about how it can be integrated into their online materials and/or use of learning objects (no matter what defintion you can slap on them)

I regret having to rush right out at the close of the session to try and dash to the airport for a 2:00 flight. A small tip for Vancouver Travelers- forget the pokey Airporter Bus (it was 20 minues late when I gave up) that makes a billion stops. I was able to grab a cab and get to the airport in 25 minutes (thanks to a silent but agressive driver) with a risky 2 hour window to stroll through US Customs.

But then…

Friday, last homestretch of the conference.

Collaborative Usability Evaluations with IDEA Online
Rachel Smith

(Comment- this is a very cool, Carl Berger “cooooool”, resource. Sign up, submit designs, and join their evaluation group. The system itself is well designed)

Asked for hand raises of faculty, staff, who designs online content or learning objects. Then… asked for who had professional training in interface design (one hand raise).

Hence reason for the IDEA Online project – a web site resource for getting feedback on interface design from any submitted site. Currently has 60 members.

Started as paper based checklist… ended up being 60 pages! Seemed more efficient to move online.