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- ZDNet Author Biography
Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there,...- more about Christopher Dawson »
ZDNet Resources
- So just what is a 21st Century Skill?
- We hear a lot about 21st Century Skills lately; I'm certainly guilty of using the phrase. There's a whole website devoted to building them (actually, there are thousands, but this one has the domain name www.21stcenturyskills.org). We also know that a lot of our kids don't have them...
- Tags: Student, 21CS, Ruby On Rails, Productivity, Domain Names, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Internet, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-12-03
- A new laptop for me is really all about the kids
- It's no secret that I want one of the new MacBook Pros. I've blogged about it. I promised Santa I'd be a good boy for the rest of my whole entire life if I could have one. I've explained all of the great new features to my...
- Tags: Apple MacBook, Laptop Computer, Computer, Apple MacBook Pro, Notebooks, Productivity, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-12-03
- AV on my Macs? Say it ain't so!
- As fellow ZDNet blogger, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, notes, Apple now recommends the use of antivirus software on your Mac. UGH. Really? The relative immunity of Macs to the plethora of malware floating about the Net has always been a selling point for the machines, especially in schools. ...
- Tags: Apple Macintosh, Malware, Cyberthreats, Desktops, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Viruses And Worms, Security, Hardware, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-12-03
- Soshiku=a reason for cell phones in school
- Soshiku, a website created by 17-year old Andrew Shaper, is a simple and elegant web-based tool for tracking school assignments. Launched this September, I stumbled across it via a note on Twitter and I have to say I'm completely impressed. According to the launch press release, ...
- Tags: Phone, Cell Phone, Assignment, Soshiku, Telecom & Utilities, E-mail, Web 2.0, Online Communications, Internet, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-12-03
- Talking is a good thing
- I had a great meeting with one of the elementary schools in my district today. The principal turned over most of a staff meeting to me today in part for some training and professional development, but largely for a discussion of technology in the district. I...
- Tags: District, Budgeting, Principal, Teacher, Financial Services, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-12-01
- Just what does it take to switch to desktop Linux (part 2)?
- At well over 300 talkbacks and counting, plenty of folks took my challenge (and my reader's challenge) to sort out just what it would take to switch from Windows to desktop Linux. Obviously, there was plenty of the standard Windows vs. Linux bickering, but there were also a lot...
- Tags: Desktop, Americans With Disabilities Act, Desktop Linux, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), Operating Systems, UNIX, Open Source, Remote Access, Software, Human Resources, Gender And Diversity, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-12-01
- Just what does it take to switch to desktop Linux (part 1)?
- Last week, when I asked "Are you sure you don't just want to use Ubuntu?" I received a record number of talkbacks, good, bad, and in between. One of the more interesting, though, came from reader ksheppard, who responded with a challenge: ...Here's a challenge to you: Make...
- Tags: Budgeting, Superintendent, Desktop Linux, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Desktops, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-30
- A back to school programming exercise
- For most of us in the States, we're getting back to work after four days of family and tryptophan. For the rest of the world, it's just plain Monday. Any way it goes, a lot of us could use something to get back in gear and could certainly...
- Tags: Python, Programming, Knight, Development Tools, Scripting Languages, Programming Languages, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-30
- Crappy economy = great time for open source in schools
- Not only is it budget time for me right now as we put together our FY10 plans, but it's also time to figure out how we're going to make it through the rest of FY09. Since so many people have lost jobs and/or homes recently, the state and town...
- Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Money, Hardware, Linux, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Document Management, Open Source, Tools & Techniques, UNIX, Operating Systems, Software, Microsoft Windows, Enterprise Software, Finance, Managerial Accounting, Management, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-27
- A quick Thanksgiving digression
- Here in the States, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and in between budgeting for FY10, trying to find areas of the FY09 budget to cut in preparation for trickle down effects from our state deficit, and redeveloping our websites, I'm going to be shuttling relatives from the airport and starting to cook....
- Tags: Web Site, Web Site Development, Web Technology, Food & Beverage, Internet, Manufacturing, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-26
- Mobiles for your users
- We all have users for whom a mobile phone of some sort makes a lot of sense. Our district has always either provided a phone or a moderate subsidy for key staff who need to stay in touch. Principals need to be reachable in case of emergencies with...
- Tags: District, Phone, Mobile, Telecom & Utilities, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-26
- Yes, Twitter really is worth the trouble
- Our resident student blogger, Zack Whittaker, asked a question this morning that caught my eye: "Twitter: is there any point?" My answer, as a growing devotee of Twitter and other bits of social media is, "Of course there's a point!" Even for Ed Tech, I maintain...
- Tags: Twitter, Chris Brogan, Education 2.0, Productivity, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-25
- Is Apple pricing itself out of education?
- Fellow blogger, Robin Harris, wrote an interesting piece on the costly touches to the new MacBooks (design process, LED backlighting, etc.). Steve's history of putting form before function - or price - comes at a particularly bad time. The worldwide economic crunch - heckuva job, Greenspan! -...
- Tags: Education, Apple MacBook, Apple Inc., Pricing Strategy, Steve, Netbooks, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-25
- Android netbooks? Wouldn't it be loverly?
- Once again, fellow blogger, Jason Perlow, has hit on a concept entirely useful to business users, but perhaps even more useful in education. The idea of an Android-based netbook isn't entirely new, Jason hits the nail on the head in his post: What we really should...
- Tags: Education, Developer, Google Inc., Novell OpenSuse, Jason Perlow, Android, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-24
- Are you sure you don't just want to use Ubuntu?
- The assistant superintendent came to me on Thursday with a very sad laptop; it was malware city, population 1. Although it's his own laptop, he uses it all the time for school-related work, so I was happy to fix it up for him. Well, not happy, exactly, but...
- Tags: Ubuntu, Dell Computer Corp., Malware, Hardware, Microsoft Windows XP, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Microsoft Windows, Viruses And Worms, Operating Systems, Software, Security, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-23
- Go ahead...Hang out on MySpace. Wait, what?
- The MacArthur Foundation just released a study suggesting that, not surprisingly, given the integration of social media into business and modern culture, the time kids spend with so-called new media, is generally neither wasted nor particularly harmful. In fact, as one of the lead researchers points out in the...
- Tags: Youth, Media, Social Media, MySpace, Barack Obama, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-21
- Ed Tech in a recession
- At the beginning of this week, I wrote about why the OLPC makes less sense than ever during a recession. Little green netbooks, though, aren't the only things that will get hit as the global economy tanks even further. Next year, our district is looking at a best...
- Tags: Recession, Hardware, Technology, Teacher, Productivity, Vertical Industries, Benefits, Enterprise Software, Software, Human Resources, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-21
- I really don't want to use Windows anymore
- Every week, more and more bits of malware seem to be making their way past commercial anti-virus, firewall anti-virus, and ISP anti-virus software. New patches and downloads abound, and I've still re-imaged 3 computers in the last 2 weeks due to massive infestations. This is to say nothing...
- Tags: Apple Macintosh, Antivirus, Malware, Computer, Microsoft Windows, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Productivity, Linux, Viruses And Worms, Operating Systems, Desktops, Security, Software, Hardware, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-19
- Diigo for education
- I posted several bookmarks via Diigo on Wednesday. Although I had planned to use delicious, I find the interface to be really kludgy, so I set about looking for another social bookmarking site. Although plenty of teachers in my district post lists of links on their blogs or...
- Tags: Education, Bookmark, Social Bookmarking, Teacher, Diigo, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-19
- Did Microsoft really kill OLPC?
- I posted a number of pieces Monday about OLPC and its XO laptop now for sale on Amazon in a reboot of the Give One Get One program, one of which declared that OLPC was dead. A year ago, that would have been worthy of a pretty serious flame...
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., One Laptop Per Child Project, Christopher Dawson
- Blog posts 2008-11-19
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