As we consider the New Trier ipad roll out for some classes in Fall 2012...

Is it worth considering how "green" the ipads really are?  Will we be constantly upgrading our technology and dumping the old stuff into landfills?


Is the possibility of a paperless classroom ecologically sound? According to a UK Guardian Environmental blog, no one is really certain.


Tom Dowdall (Greenpeace International) describes how difficult this is to assess:

"Replacing laptop/desktop use with iPad use will use less energy, but most users will buy this in addition to a laptop, smart phone and other gadgets…
It's also very hard to answer whether digital media is more green/sustainable than traditional media. There are many studies but again it depends on the weight you give to different factors" (CO2 only, emissions, resources use, toxics etc.)

In a New York Times piece "How Green is My iPad?", writers  Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris delve into more detail on materials, manufacture, transportation, reading, and disposal in comparing print books and ereaders.

Some shocking facts:

• One e-reader requires the extraction of 33 pounds of minerals.
• One e-reader also requires 79 gallons of water to produce its batteries and printed wiring boards.
• The manufacture of one e-reader requires  100 kilowatt hours of fossil fuels, resulting in 66 lbs. CO2

Transportation ,  disposal and health considerations make the ereader even less ecologically friendly.  I like what Goleman and Norris suggest:

"All in all, the most ecologically virtuous way to read a book starts by walking to your local library."

Everything is a Remix: Parts 1 -2 -3 -4

Everything is a Remix is produced by Kirby Ferguson, a New York-based filmmaker. This site is a companion piece to the four-part video series.

Watch Part I


Watch Part II

Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Watch Part III: Creativity

Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Watch Part IV: Copy, Transform, Combine

Everything is a Remix Part 4 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

New Twitter Has Now Completed its Rollout

See New Twitter tips which includes embedding tweets and also keyboard shortcuts:

Here's a Tweet about how powerful Twitter is becoming; it's not really a social network so much as it is an organizer of information around topics/interests:

Six lessons from Social Media Week bit.ly/AuEwQ4 (via Poynter)

— PBS MediaShift (@PBSMediaShift) February 16, 2012

Librarian Deborah Lazar: "100 Days for Haiti" Raises $14,000

New Trier Librarian at the Northfield Campus worked to raise funds to help Haiti Libraries.


"Lazar has been to Haiti twice now, once before the earthquake when she visited a school in Petit-Goâve that a New Trier employee’s father started in 1952 and the high school was helping to rebuild. She plans another visit this summer to see the new temporary library building. “It’s been more than two years since the earthquake, and this effort will keep Haiti in people’s minds for a time,” she said. “Rebuilding doesn’t happen quickly.”
Read the story!

Congratulations ....one person can make a difference.

TED Talk called “Defend Our Freedom To Share (Or Why SOPA is a Bad Idea)

Shirky summarizes the evolution of online content law leading up to the Stop Online Piracy Act and its sister bill, the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). He tells how the two controversial bills were preceded by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and Audio Home Recording Act of 1992.

Shirky not only explains what SOPA and PIPA want to do, but also serves as a call to action for opponents of the legislation to preserve their ability to share, remix, and discuss.

Learn more about digital rights management and privacy issues

Libraries and individuals are spending money on ebooks and other digital files which they may no longer have access to (because we technically don't own them) in the decades to come because of the current user agreements with Amazon and other vendors. We are all locked into these proprietary "ecosystems" of ipad, Kindle, Nook, etc.  Amazon is the clear leader currently and Amazon knows everything the library patrons are checking out! A private company now has this data for the first time ever: this is not what we're accustomed to because libraries have always prized patron privacy.

Must see interview with Sarah Houghton, Librarian-in-Black from the School Library Monthly Blog:

Save the Date

Exciting professional development opportunity:

ISTE UNPLUGGED - HOME via kwout