At OnlineColleges.net you’ll find links to tutorials for those interested in incorporating Twitter into their teaching.

They point out that “using Twitter in education has been all the buzz recently.  If you are ready to start using Twitter yourself and need a little help getting started or have already been using it and can use a little extra help, then these tutorials are just for you.”

The site has links to everything from how to set up a Twitter account to practical ideas for using Twitter in elearning.  It also includes links to video highlights showing how Twitter is being used in promoting education.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski hopes for formal Net Neutrality legislation to preserve a “free and open Internet.”  A new website, OpenInternet.gov will foster future discussion about the topic.  Mr Genachowski makes his case in a video at the site which explains the historic importance of the Internet and the need to continue its openness.  According to him,

“Broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications. This means they cannot block or degrade lawful traffic over their networks, or pick winners by favoring some content or applications over others in the connection to subscribers’ homes.

Nor can they disfavor an Internet service just because it competes with a similar service offered by that broadband provider. The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed.”

Mashable noted a few days ago that it is likely that Genachowski’s proposal will ultimately pass, as 3 of 5 voters on the FCC’s board have voiced support for Net Neutrality. “Nonetheless, it’s nice to see that the FCC has taken the proactive approach of explaining the importance of the issue to the public, and hopefully OpenInternet.gov will follow through on its promise to evolve and support more user engagement,” they said.

On Demand Books announced today that “Google has agreed to provide On Demand Books, LLC (ODB), the maker of the Espresso Book Machine® (EBM), with immediate access to over two million public-domain titles in the Google digital files.  This unprecedented number of reading options is in addition to the current 1.6 million titles already available directly to consumers via the Espresso Book Machine®.”

What Gutenberg’s press did for Europe in the 15th century, digitization and the Espresso Book Machine® will do for the world tomorrow, they say.

The Espresso Book Machine® is a small, patented high-speed automated book-making machine that can print, bind and trim a single-copy library-quality paperback book complete with a full-color paperback cover in a few minutes.  Why Espresso? “Espresso: something made to order, one at a time, at point of sale, quickly.”

They list the key benefits of On Demand Books:

1. Decentralizing the production and distribution of physical books.
2. The ability to offer bookstores, libraries, universities and other retailers, a virtually limitless digital inventory and a more efficient delivery of printed books.
3. Enabling self-published authors to have instant print distribution.
4. Bringing books to underdeveloped areas to encourage literacy.
5. Reducing the carbon footprint by matching supply with demand, eliminating returns and supply chain costs as well as unnecessary pulping of paper.

The Espresso machine can print about 145 pages per minute at a cost of about 1 cent per page.  The machine itself costs around $100,000.  On Demand Books sees it revolutionizing the distribution of books by decentralizing the marketplace for their distribution and giving libraries and bookstores a potentially unlimited inventory.

The machines are only available in a about a dozen locations now around the world, including the University of Michigan Shapiro Library in Ann Arbor, MI, and the Bibliotheca Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt.  By early 2010, On Demand Books hopes to have sold about 35 to 40 machines and the deal with Google should help the company reach its goal.  [via ReadWriteWeb]

You can see a video of how the machine works.

I’ve been using Facebook more lately as I have mentioned, so these reminders to guard my privacy were timely.

First, remember that over-sharing on the Net, especially on social networks designed to help us build and keep connections, is all too easy and not a good idea.  Be mindful of who can see your information and think about just what and how you want to share it.  For example, ReadWriteWeb asks, “did you know that 30% of today’s employers are using Facebook to vet potential employees prior to hiring?” (they use other networks, as well)  The question of whether information or photos may be detrimental to yourself or friends should be considered before posting.

There are many privacy controls which you should take the time to explore and seriously consider.  RWW recommends these simple precautions when using Facebook:

• Make a Friends list.  Click on “Friends” at the top of the Facebook homepage.  In the left-hand column, click “Friends” again under the “Lists” section.  Now you’ll see a button at the top that says “Create New List”.  Click it and name your list and pick members.  When you’ve finished making lists, you’ll be able to use them when selecting who can see what (or who can’t!) when configuring the security settings.
• Who can see what’s on your profile?  Use the Settings>Privacy>Profile page to decide and choose.
• Who can see your address and phone number?  Are you open to the world?
• Who can find you on Facebook via Search?  Use the “Search Visibility” drop-down box to make your selection.  Choose “Only Friends” for the most restrictive privacy.  That means only the people who you’ve already friended can find you in a Facebook search.
• Stop sharing personal info with unknown applications.  Using Facebook’s default settings, you’re unknowingly sharing personal information (and your friends’ info too!) with various Facebook applications and the developers who created them.  The problem is so bad that the ACLU recently created their own Facebook Quiz to demonstrate how much information an app has access to.

Ever since I noticed that my library has a number of ebooks in Adobe formats (ePub, PDF) that can be downloaded to a computer and read with Adobe Digital Editions, I have been seriously considering getting a compatible eReader so I can take them with me.  Unfortunately, the Kindle is not one of them.

The idea of an ebook reader is attractive to me for several reasons: 1) I like gadgets; 2) I like the idea of carrying around many books on one small device; 3) Every reader I have heard about lately has easy on the eyes eInk and you can adjust the font to suit your needs.  The latter has become more appealing to me as I age.  I can still read small paperback books but they strain my eyes and I much prefer a larger font.  I often get “large print” books from the library when they are available.

And mentioning the library — that is the biggest draw.  I read, or start to read, hundreds of books a year.  Inevitably, some just don’t appeal and I return them partially read to the library.  I really don’t want to buy all the books I think I might want to read.  Owning a book I am sure I want to read and keep is another matter.

TechCrunch notes that Google is challenging the proprietary Amazon Kindle line through several partnerships.  The most recent is with British Interead, bringing the same amount of ebooks to an online store outside the U.S. for the first time (where close to half a million of them are available for free).  Interead is behind the COOLERBOOKS ebook store.  The company also manufactures COOL-ER eReaders, “small, elegant ebook readers that kinda look like giant iPods and cost $249 in the United States.”

The COOL-ER uses E InkR, which gives a “like paper” display, replicating the experience of reading a book.  The reader uses power only for “page turns” which means that a “single charge lasts for 8000 pages and unlike a book, the electronic display allows you to change the text size to suit you!”  The Cool-ER has a bookstore with more than 750,000 titles and supports Adobe Digital Editions.  You can view the specs here.

Google first teamed up with Sony, adding about 1 million public domain books to the technology giant’s eBook Store which has both free and low-cost books.  Sony has several ebook readers that support the books I can download from my library, the newest one being the Reader Touch Edition ($299.99) which is “temporarily out of stock”.  It has a touch screen which is appealing to me.  There is a brief video on the site showing how it works.

A new Google map showing challenges to books in schools and libraries in the U.S. has been posted on the Banned Books Week website.

More than 120 challenges nationwide have occurred since the beginning of 2007.  The cases have been documented by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Kids’ Right to Read Project, which is sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship.  It is estimated that 70 to 80 percent of challenges are not reported.

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read.  This year’s events will occur from Sept. 26 through Oct. 3.  The website includes a state-by-state listing to help people find displays and events in their area.