Making our government open, transparent and accessible"

The paper has a recap of some area communities and the effort to put public meeting information in digital format.

Franklin’s website includes Town Council meeting packets dating back to 2008. 

Assistant to the Town Administrator Maxine Kinhart said staff make electronic packets for councilors, so it is just one more step to post online. 

"We just did it as a convenience to the citizens," she said. "They’re all public records so we just put it all out there." 

Kinhart said the town made computers available for councilors to use at meetings, but they prefer to bring their own devices.

Read more: Towns look to go digital in putting documents online - Franklin, MA - Wicked Local Franklin http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x898128772/Towns-look-to-go-digital-in-putting-documents-online#ixzz2KUlUsWw9

The Franklin School Committee puts together an Adobe document package that contains the individual files for the agenda, action items, presentations, etc.

I am not aware of the Planning Board going digital. The problem there is with all the drafting documents. Some of those documents are huge and while it is possible to put them in digital format, the usability of viewing them online is not as good as simply holding the paper document.Some day!

from collaborative consumption to digital ghosts

As one who does spend a lot of time online, creating and sharing information, reputation capital is a concept that I understand. I am comfortable walking in real life and sharing what I see (pictures) and hear (text from meetings) online. While it may seem to some that this is all I do, there are limits. There are whole aspects of daily life that don't go online. There is no need to put those there, they shouldn't be drivers for my reputation.

What do you do online? How much of a digital trail do you create? Are you working on your reputation?

Spend 20 minutes and listen to Rachel Botsman talk about collaborative consumption.



One phrase I really like is "digital ghosts". How to reach them in an increasingly online world is a challenge.

Meeting to talk about the future of Franklin

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Meeting to talk about the future of Franklin

via Wicked Local Franklin News RSS by GateHouse Media, Inc. on 2/28/12

The public is invited to a workshop on the future of Franklin tomorrow night at 6. (Yes, that really is today - Wednesday, Feb 29)

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to Wicked Local Franklin News RSS using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

K12 Online Conference

The K12 Online Conference is around the corner. Here is a cool video clip teaser for the Digital Writers Workshop scheduled to be presented by Jackie Gerstein.



Find more videos like this on K12 Online Conference


What and when is the K12 Online Conference?

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. The 2009 conference theme is “Bridging the Divide.” This year’s conference begins with a pre-conference keynote by classroom teacher and international educator Kim Cofinothe week of November 30, 2009. The following two weeks, December 7-11 and December 14-17, over fifty presentations will be posted online to our conference blog and our conference Ning for participants to view, download, and discuss. Live Events in the form of three “Fireside Chats” are listed on the events page of our conference Ning and Facebook fan page, and live events will continue in 2010 through twice-monthly “K-12 Online Echo” webcasts on EdTechTalk. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during and after the conference as well as asynchronous conversations.  Over 122 presentations from 2008, 2007, and 2006 are available, along with archived live events. Follow the K12 Online Conference onTwitter and Facebook!

The K12 Online Conference website can be found here

Digital Storytelling

The folks at Common Craft have inspired some students to create an explanation of digital story telling that is done well.




This was originally posted on the Free Technology for Teachers blog here

More on digital story telling can be found here (including a step by step process)

The digital natives are restless

Wesley Fryer, writing on his blog "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" has a wonderful post this week:

These are my notes from Robyn Treyvaud’s workshop, “The Natives are Getting Restless: Growing Up and Learning in a Web 2.0 World” at the 21st Century Learning @ Hong Kong Conference on 18 September 2009. MY COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. Robyn is the author and owner of www.cybersafeworld.com. Her wiki on digital citizenship (created with WetPaint) is http://digicitizen-wiki.com.

You ca read the full post here.

There are two videos worth viewing within the post. One I have shared here previously. One is new to me and I will share here:




Recall the discussion at a recent School Committee meeting about limiting the electronic interactions between teachers and students.

What would you do to foster appropriate digital behavior?


Note: email subscribers should click through to view the video on the website.

Creativity should be a priority

TED always has interesting and thought provoking talks. This one is entertaining as well as thought provoking.

Enjoy!

Digital Learning - Part 2

As a follow up to yesterday's video on digital learning, here is another brief video out of the same Kansas State program with a similar powerful message (less than 2 minutes):





Note: The one sign that appears toward the end "Some have suggested that technology alone can save us? Who do we mean by "us"?

What do we want for our Franklin students?


The "we" is deliberate. We are all in this together. Together we can discuss and decide.

Digital Learning - What do we want for Franklin?

As we gear up for another discussion on grim finances and the sections of the taxpayers appear to be pitted against one another in a case of the "haves" vs. the "have-nots", the "fors" vs. the "against", I suggest we step back and discuss our priorities.

How do we enable an appropriate education for our children's digital future?

Spend four minutes of your time to view this:



This is a more pointed, that is education focused, version of the Web 2.0 explained that I shared here earlier.


What do we want for our Franklin students?


The "we" is deliberate. We are all in this together. Together we can discuss and decide.