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Sharing Your Vacation Souvenirs

Submitted on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 09:48

Many families went away last week for the school holiday. If you are like me, you will have brought back a few souvenirs for you and your children to remember the holiday. (Slovakian Easter eggs are gorgeous!) No doubt you also brought back memories of wonderful holiday experiences. Even if you didn't go away, perhaps you had some new experiences here in Addis – checking out new restaurants or shops.

WikiTravel: a Free Online Travel Guide

Submitted on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 10:03

If you're a little nervous about contributing to an encyclopedia, here's another wiki site that's easy for anyone to add to. WikiTravel is an online travel guide with information about many places around the world. There's information about Ethiopia and Addis Ababa ...but it's not very detailed. It would be easy for anyone to add information about restaurants, shopping, sightseeing, etc. in our city (or any other location in Ethiopia you know well – or any places you've visited on your travels).

Wikis – The Culture of Collaboration

Submitted on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 09:59

Wikis were invented many years ago as a way for many people to contribute to a web page. Even with the rise of email, chat and social networking, wikis are useful systems for people to share information. The most widely used wiki is Wikipedia, an encyclopedia which anyone can contribute to – and many people do. I've done it & so have students from ICS.

Wifi and Mobile Phones: Danger to Children?

Submitted on Mon, 03/25/2013 - 12:57

Every now and again, a media storm arises regarding the danger (or lack thereof) to children from wireless data networks (wifi) and/or mobile phones. There's one brewing now, centered in Canada, and various people and organizations are warning of the dangers of wifi in schools.

There have been thousands of scientific studies that indicate that there are no real health risks from wifi. Below are a few quotes from reputable sources:

Free Online Services: You Are Not the Customer

Submitted on Thu, 03/14/2013 - 11:26

There's a cautionary tale online today: Google is shutting down a service that many people have used regularly, Google Reader. This was a service that let people use RSS feeds to get news they were interested in a kind of personalized news service. Google had ignored it, folded some of its tools into Google+, and now is closing it down.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Submitted on Thu, 03/14/2013 - 11:25

I intended to write at length about finding images that are free to use, but had recently written here about Creative Commons, so I posted that in my personal blog.

ICS Student Scores in International Computing Contest

Submitted on Thu, 02/28/2013 - 16:00

On Wednesday of this week, David Tofu (grade 10 student), was the first ICS student to compete in the University of Waterloo's computing competition. ICS has had students compete in the university's mathematics challenge for several year. But David is our first competitor in the programming contest. Looking at the results from last year, he might be the first competitor from all of Africa! We're awaiting results, but his initial scores are promising.

Computer Science and ICS

Submitted on Thu, 02/28/2013 - 15:58

Just this week, there have been a few big news items about education and computer science. Code.org launched a video ‘What they don't teach in schools’, in which various famous figures talked about the power of programing and how every student should have a chance to learn it.

Copyright Case Study: “Happy Birthday to You”

Submitted on Thu, 02/21/2013 - 13:14

Copyright is a confusing and complicated issue – and sometimes it seems to make no sense. Consider the classic “Happy Birthday” song. The song was written by two schoolteachers over a hundred years ago, butthe song is currently covered by copyright (owned by Warner Music Group) and requires a license to be performed in a public place. So you're OK if you sing the song in your own home, but if you sing it in a public restaurant or hotel you owe Warner Music Group (or ASCAP, who manages such licenses) a license fee.

Tech Tool: Creative Commons

Submitted on Thu, 02/21/2013 - 13:11

Creative Commons is an organization that promotes sharing, remixing and creation of media and information on the web. They are most well-known for their licenses: anyone can use and apply a CC license to their photographs, writings, videos, music, etc. These licenses give people permission to reuse the material in different ways: commercially or not, with changes (remix) or not, etc. The creator of the work chooses.