Dave Lester’s Finding America

Ranking America is one my new favorite blogs with a simple goal: to provide information about how the United States stands in global rankings. This is a great example of how academics can use blogs as a way of sharing an aggregate of research and information. Mark provides no commentary, only information. What makes America the best, or not? It’s a simple question that leads to some interesting discussions.

I’m excited to announce that the Edupunk session I’ve proposed for SXSW has been accepted! I’ll be moderating an all-star panel including Barbara Ganley, Gardner Campbell, Stephen Downes, and Jim Groom.

Following the inaugural WordCampEd that I organized in DC several months ago, I’ll be in Worcester, MA in February to speak at WordCampEd Northeast. There’s also one scheduled for Vancouver, Canada that I wish I could make it out to. The revolution has grown! If you’re interested in organizing one in your area, send me an email.

Last month Omeka received the Mellon Foundation’s award for Technology Collaboration from a prize committee including internet luminaries Vinton Cerf, often called the “father of the internet” and chief internet evangelist at Google, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, and others.  This is an enormous honor, and a testament to Omeka’s growth as a project.  As Dan Cohen recently noted, CHNM and Omeka have also been funded by the Kress Foundation for two grants that involve mobile technology and additional Omeka plugins.  Join us this upcoming Friday (1/16/09) for Q&A about hacking Omeka themes and plugins during our weekly developer chats on IRC.