A Visit to the GooglePlex

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThanks to the wonderful tour committee at BayNet I was able to make my second visit to the GooglePlex in Mountain View on Thursday evening.


The first time was a visit several years ago sponsored by CSLA Northern Region 4. It's my understanding that Google suspended tour groups for a while after that visit so I was pleasantly surprised when we were able to arrange this trip to the Google campus.


Katherine Bevcar arranged for a great speaker, Dan Russell, to talk about "Sensemaking."
Dan is a leader in the field of search in general and using Google specifically to best effect. On his blog, SearchReSearch, Dan regularly poses some very interesting search challenges.


By the end of his presentation, which included some interaction -- all participants were using laptops with the Chrome OS -- I realized a couple things: first, there's an awful lot going on at Google which even the most avid fan doesn't know about unless they are really digging, and second, there are many tools Google has developed to help us make sense of information for our selves and our patrons.


I'll just point to one of the sites Dan mentioned.


Google Insights for Search allows the user to find and compare various topics and how they have been searched over time. Search, for example, "turkey" and you will find (no great surprise) that it has a rhythm peaking each year in November. You can compare various terms in the same chart and see how they relate in interesting ways.

Google Apps for Education

Image via WikipediaA new book, Google Apps for Education: Building Knowledge in a Safe and Free Environment, co-written by San Francisco teacher librarian, Micah Melton, about Google apps for education is now available from Hi Willow Press. Micah's co-authors include David Loertscher and Roger Nevin and they wrote the entire book using various Google apps. As a matter of fact, Micah has never even seen Roger Nevin!
At a California School Library Association workshop in San Francisco on Saturday, Micah explained how he is working with teachers in his school to encourage them to use "cloud computing" to complete all sorts of school-related projects.
Many teachers at Redwood have also begun using Google apps such as Docs, Spreadsheets and Presentations with their students as well. There is a Google apps for education account set up for Redwood.

Related articles: Google Apps for Education Webinar Recordings (freetech4teachers.com)

Common Sense Media Video Teaches Media Literacy

I recently viewed a new video from Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media is "a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, [which] provide[s] trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume." Based in San Francisco, their website provides comprehensive information and reviews of all types of media including video games, Internet sites, movies, and even books.

They have teamed with Google to create this 7-minute video to remind parents about Internet safety and media literacy. It's a short but comprehensive overview of what kids need to know about Internet safety and using and creating content online.

Definitely worth a look.