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educational technology, eLearning & emerging technology

You know a technology has arrived when it has Brady Representation.

Via Mashable, I’ve just discovered a brand new social community called “The Greg Brady Project” run by none other than Greg himself:

“My friends call me Barry. From time to time I also hear the name Greg. Yeah, as in Greg Brady. The Brady Bunch represents a fun time in my life. But it’s only part of the story. There’s more to say and that’s what The Greg Brady Project is all about - a place to say it. So, I’ve invited some friends to join me and share their perspectives on the Brady’s, the 70’s and just about everything else.”

Above and beyond the nostalgia trip you’re immediately transported upon, what’s really impressive about this site is the depth and extent to which Barry Williams (aka Greg) has embraced emerging technology.

There is a Flickr stream, a video streaming area (using Brightcove), commenting functionality, quick links to submit pages or posts to Del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati Favorites and Magnol.ia, a list of the most recent BlogLog visitors, and impressively an entire social networking framework underlying it all, which offers substantial interoperability with more widely known systems.

As Barry himself explains:

…you can also create a ‘My Networks’ page which lets you import and access your other social networks like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn without ever leaving The Greg Brady Project Community. In the ‘Friends’ section, you can import all of your friends across social networks and message them. You can even access your community content and friends from your mobile phone. It’s exciting times. Come and join me and my friends.

Interestingly the site is powered by Wordpress, meaning the GBP team opted to go open source for their technical framework - at least for a portion of the site.

I wonder if this could be interpreted as a vote of support for the open source movement by the Man himself? It would certainly make for endless promotional opportunities. Just think of the potential taglines: Greg Brady Loves Open Source.

I’d make that a shirt personally.

NB: It should be said I haven’t read anywhere that he is an advocate for open source, I’m just indulging in some harmless supposition.

If you’re into technology and grew up in the 70s this site gives you motivation twice over to drop by for a look: once for the Bradyesque trip down memory lane and another to check out the technical implementation.

Visit “The Greg Brady Project” at: http://www.thegregbradyproject.com

I’ve recently posted the latest in the procession of viral Common Craft videos that have exploded onto the online video scene over the last 6 months, which covers online Photosharing. In the interest of thoroughness I wanted to include the previous versions as well.

Each video is designed to introduce a specific aspect of social software or emerging technology in a way that is free from abbreviations, geek-speak and techno-babbling. It’s gentle on tech, yet comprehensive on substance.

Interestingly enough the videos don’t feature a person or even a computer. It’s all presented by scraps of paper, hand gestures, and an extraordinary amount of ingenuity.

Common Craft has released several videos, each of which are featured and quoted below.

RSS in Plain English

“We made this video for our friends (and yours) that haven’t yet felt the power of our friend the RSS reader. We want to convert people and if you know someone who would love RSS and hasn’t yet tried it, point them here for 3.5 minutes.”

Wikis in Plain English

“We made this video because wiki web sites are easy to use, but hard to describe. We hope to turn you on to a better way to plan a camping trip, or create the next Wikipedia.”

Social Networking in Plain English

“We made this video for people who wonder why social networking sites are so popular. We think one reason is because they help to solve a real world problem.”

Social Bookmarking in Plain English

“We made this video because we want people to see the power of social bookmarking and how it makes web pages easy to remember, organize and share.”

Blogs in Plain English

“We made this 3 minute video for people who wonder why blogs are such a big deal.If you’re a blogger who wants people to understand why you have a blog and how it works, this video is for you.”