Keeping track of online resources is challenging. Whether it is an
infographic to share with your class,
or something amusing to show a friend, sometimes you just can't find that great website that you were sure you bookmarked (or marked as a "favourite") when
you go to look for it. The problem is that we often use several computers or other devices a day to access the web, and because each web browser on each
device creates a separate bookmarks list, we end up with a half dozen lists to check … not very convenient.
A Better Way
Finally, more than
fifteen years after the "world
wide web" hit the mainstream, keeping track of bookmarks of web pages across several machines is becoming easier. Third-party services like
Xmarks which synchronize bookmark lists between devices have been around for several years. Now some web browsers have
bookmarks synching built in, like Mozilla Firefox through
Firefox Sync and Safari through
iCloud.
An alternative to synchronizing bookmarks is to use a "cloud-based" service where each person's bookmarks are stored privately in a central location on the
Internet, and accessed by them from any computer. Bookmarks in a cloud-based service can also be easily shared, and many people do, earning this way of
organizing web page addresses the moniker "
social bookmarking." Ease of access to my
bookmarks and ease of sharing them with colleagues are the main reasons that I chose a cloud-based method over synchronization, and the tool I use is
called
Diigo.
Organizing website bookmarks with Diigo
Diigo has many useful features which I will write about in the coming weeks, but the best way to get started is to use Diigo to remember your favourite
websites. After
creating a Diigo Account,
choose a tool to make
recording and recalling websites smoother by integrating it with your web browser. I like using the Diigo Toolbar with the Firefox web browser, but there are tools for many platforms including Apple
products and Android.
When you are reading a web page you want to remember, choose "Bookmark this Page" from the blue "d" Diigo menu button (
) beside the address bar. In the window that opens you can enter information about the page like key word "tags" to categorize your bookmarks, or you can
leave everything blank and just click save to record just the address and title of the page.
Once you have marked pages with Diigo that list is available to you from any device, either through the Diigo Toolbar, or directly with any web browser by
signing in on the Diigo website. Most of my bookmarks are marked private at this point because I am still
new to the tool, but you can get a sense of how a bookmarks list in Diigo might be accessed by looking at a list that a couple of us in the math department
have begun to assemble recently at
http://groups.diigo.com/group/uhs_math.
Touching a SMART Board is the same as pressing the left mouse button at that location. This allows you to click buttons or drag objects in any program like
you would when sitting at the computer. To use the right mouse button, press the right button on the tool tray to make the next touch on the screen a right
click or drag. To type short amounts of text, press the left button on the tool tray to display the onscreen keyboard. The tray button actions can be
modified in the SMART Control Panel to function as a middle mouse button or a "floating mouse" for programs where hovering the mouse without clicking is
important.
The Ink Layer is like a huge acetate stretched over the whole screen which you can use to draw on top of any program. First, start the SMART Board Tools.
This is found under START > All Programs > SMART Technologies > SMART Product Drivers > SMART Board Tools (
), but you can drag this link to your desktop to make it easier to find. After the tools are started, picking up any pen from the tray will add the Ink
Layer frame around the screen. While this frame is showing you cannot interact with the underlying program, but you can use the pens to mark-up the screen.
The Ink Layer has three buttons in the upper right corner to clear the Ink Layer, copy a screenshot to SMART Notebook to keep a record, and close the ink
layer.
Some programs like Microsoft Office and SMART Ideas are "SMART Aware," meaning that they recognize input from the SMART Board as more than just mouse
actions. When SMART Board Tools are running and you use a SMART Aware program, picking up a pen from the tray will not add the Ink Layer frame, but instead
writing will be captured directly by the program. One advantage is that you can still interact with the program. Different SMART Aware programs can use ink
in different ways. In Microsoft Office, ink is captured temporarily, and can be added more permanently to documents and presentations by clicking the
"Insert as Image" (
) or "Insert as Text" (
)buttons in the Aware Tools bar. You will also be prompted to add the ink as an image when you close the program or presentation.
SMART Notebook has a Transparent Background mode (
) which removes the usual toolbars, tabs, and white background to allow you to see and interact with other programs. SMART Notebook objects (like the
circle in the example at the right) are still visible. Text, graphics, and hyperlinks can be added to the Notebook page by dragging them from the
underlying program to any SMART Notebook object. Picking up a pen captures writing in the smart notebook page.
Open SMART Notebook, then right click the toolbar, and drag the video camera icon to your toolbar. Click that buttion to open SMART
Recorder.
Press the red button to begin recording. The down arrow beside the record button will control whether SMART Recorder will record the whole
screen, or just part of it along with your audio.
When finished, press the square stop button. You can choose where to save your video file.
If audio is not correctly recorded, double click the speaker icon in the system tray (lower right corner of the screen) to adjust audio
properties. Make sure the microphone is checked as a recording source, and that the volume is not zero.
