Centennial

Can Web-Browsing Keep Your Brain Young?

2008-12-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

Studies at UCLA show some evidence that Internet searching activates more areas of the brain than ordinary text reading. There may be a link between increased brain activity of this kind and the reduction of brain decline through aging. At least it's a good excuse to keep surfing.

Friends, Romans, Fire Up Your Google Earth

2008-11-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a neat overlay for Google Earth. It is Ancient Rome as it appeared around 320 AD at the height of its grandeur and when it had a population of one million. 7,000 buildings are represented including all the famous public structures.
To access it, navigate to Rome, then in Galleries check the Ancient Rome box. The CCVI network machines can handle the heavy duty computing required, but it works better with a faster computer.
See this story about the background of the project.

Are You Biased?

2008-11-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

The U.S. election has highlighted issues of racial and minority biases. There is research evidence we may be unconsciously biased towards members of minorities. It is possible there are both evolutionary and cultural reasons for this. Read the background article and then take a test from Harvard to see whether you could be subconsciously biased.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

2008-10-23T08:08:00.001-07:00

Atlantic writer Nicholas Carr worries that the Internet is changing how we read at a deep psycho-neural level. There seems to be evidence that the brain modifies itself to create thinking patterns that are implicit in the type of reading we do. The author takes this as a bad thing, and feels that "deep reading" abilities will suffer.
However all may not be lost. There is research suggesting that Web surfing , especially in older individuals, enhances decision-making and complex reasoning.
You pay your money and take your choice.

NoodleTools on Steroids

2008-10-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

Noodletools has added Notecards, a powerful Web 2.0 feature that make it an excellent organizational tool for writing essays as well as citing them.
Key Features:

Access from any computer via a Web browser
Capture any digital information (e.g., quotes, images, diagrams, tables) from the Web
Link your notes to your sources to avoid accidental plagiarism
Create notes of your own ideas not linked to any source
Label notecards with multiple “tags” so you can identify concepts or facts
Search tags to view and organize notes in multiple ways
Use your browser’s search mechanism to locate notecards by keyword
View, arrange and organize notecards quickly and easily

Drag individual cards into clusters to develop a main idea
Order cards within clusters to develop a logical argument
Share notecards with classmates or instructors

Full instructions are available from Noodletools Help or Library staff

Students and Multitasking

2008-10-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

Students who can perform multiple tasks, particularly on a computer, are a relatively recent phenomenon. Some recent research indicates multitasking is detrimental to intellectual performance. Check out this review article from National Public Radio (U.S.)

Delicious bookmarks

2008-10-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

Delicious is a "social bookmarking web service" After signing up, you can save your bookmarks to the Delicious server where they are accessible from any Web accessible computer. The bookmarks can be "tagged" with "freely chosen keywords". Your list of bookmarks can be shared with friends or colleagues or distributed by RSS blog technology.See this link for more details on how it works.

Google Notebook

2007-04-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

Google Notebook could be a useful homework tool. It is a web-based applet that allows you to save selections from web pages and organize them. After saving, the Notebook can be accessed from any web enabled computer. Web research performed and saved at school can be retrieved at home for further use, or vice versa.To use the applet you must sign up for a free Google account. (The account will give you access to many of Google's other tools) On a library computer, after you have a Google account, go to the Google home page (http://www.google.ca/) and log in. Then go to Notebook (www.google.com/notebook). Then open another iteration of the IE browser. You can do research on that browser and select and copy the information you want. Then use ALT-TAB to return to Notebook and paste your information.On a home computer you can download the Notebook plugin that will provide easier one-click access to the Notebook.

FURL

2007-04-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

If you use computers in two or more locations, for example school and home, it can be handy to have access to your Web favourites from any computer. The Web application FURL can provide this service. A free sign-up (http://www.furl.org/) gives you an account that can be accessed from any Web enabled computer. When you find a web page or site you would like to mark as a bookmark or favourite, you simply log into FURL and save the page. You can also download a toolbar that allows one-click additions. You can add extra value to your selections, because FURL allows you to add subjects and key words . As you build a set of favourites over time, they will be searchable within FURL by the terms you used to enrich the record. You can also import your favourites list from a browser like Internet Explorer