visual aids

One of the things I see really changing because of the internet is our ability to think visually. Today I tried out Vizuwords. I think this may be on of the first Web 3.0 applications that I have used. I am definitely a word person, but I also find that I use visuals a lot to understand complex ideas. Vizuwords is a dictionary that uses a moving visual interface to show not jsut the word, but other words closely related to it and the nature of those relationships. I could spend lots of time there… I am thinking of ways to use it with my students. This article from Edutopia first pointed me to it, and there are other sites mentioned there that I am looking forward to playing with.

It occurs to me that it matters a lot HOW we explain things. It is more than just moving thoughts from inside the head to outside; it is interpreting and making sense of things in a particular way. I noticed that many people are put off by the kinds of “drive-by” display of new technologies that we tech enthusiasts tend to want to produce. I think we really have to start to care about getting our message out to people who are afraid of learning new technology. Thanks again to Jeff who introduced me to one of my new favorite reources: the CommonCraft Show. These guys do explanations that are very visually savvy and also audience savvy–they couldn’t be less intimidating! I was going to link to one of the ones I’ll use with my faculty, like the one on wikis or the one on social bookmarking, but first you should check out this one that contains potentially life-saving information?