Showing a series of inspiring, unusual and playful products, British branding and design guru Paul Bennett explains that design doesn’t have to be about grand gestures, but can solve small, universal and overlooked problems.

Download .avi file version here.

For a food loving person like myself a web tool called del.cio.us was too good an opportunity to miss!

Del.icio.us is a must have web tool called a social bookmarker. It radically changes the way you browse the web and share good links with other users.

Setting up a free account is very straight forward, but choose an username that you are happy to share with other people. Then download the del.icio.us software including buttons that will display on a google toolbar.

Everytime you find a useful website add it to your del.icio.us list. You need to give it one or more tag names. This will enable you to sort through all your links. If it is a popular site with other del.icio.us users you will be given a suggested list of how they have tagged it.

Why bother using Del.icio.us?
The main advantage of using del.icio.us over just using internet favourites or bookmarks, is that your del.icio.us list can be accessed as a web page wherever you are.
It is also possible to add your del.icio.us list to a personalised google homepage or onto a google desktop sidebar.
With a bit of fiddling around, you can add your list to a blog. You can see mine displayed as a cloud. The tags with the most links are in a larger font.
Lastly, you can share your list with other people. To view my list go to del.icio.us and type in the username communicty, or click here

Multimedia Resources
All the videos below can also be saved as file downloads from communICTy videos.

Download Title
Earth Hour – Turn your lights off for 1 hour on 29/3/8
global warming ad1 – So what if the affects of global warming will be irreversable in 30 years
global warming ad2 – What is the biggest threat we face in the world today
Global Wombat, All is One – Everything you need to know about how to get along on earth for the next million years.

Going Green.ppt – A presentation on green statistics and how to do your bit to save the planet.
[slideshare id=149923&doc=going-green-1193737361217716-3&w=425]

Notre Dame Sites
Going Green – an elanguages project with links to resources, forums and a poster activity.
ND Sheffield Environmental Site – Live webcams and weather station data

Global Footprint Quiz
Footprint quiz global – You can select any country in the world
Footprint quiz USA – A younger child version, more USA based

Green Online Games
Energy Hogs
funergy
Science Museum Games

Other Useful Sites
10 facts about renewable energy
Do the green thing
GlobalDimension.org resources on energy, climate and waste
GreenPeace EfficienCity
Oxfam, Climate Change Resources
Science Museum Energy Site
Solar Power Facts

Global Dates
29/03/08 – Earth Hour. People and organisations around the world are going to switch off their lights at 8pm local time. A great activity for your students to try at home. Also see video
22/04/08 – Earth Day. Some good teaching resources and Earth Day TV

In this deceptively casual talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that innovation isn’t just for professionals anymore. Passionate amateurs, using new tools, are creating products and paradigms that companies can’t. He describes the rising role of serious amateurs (”Pro-Ams,” as he calls them) through the story of the mountain bike.

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize — much less cultivate — the talents of many brilliant people. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: “If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk, please stop whatever you’re doing and watch it now.”

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of planet Earth made by Voyager 1 from a record distance, showing it against the vastness of space. It is also the title of a 1994 book by astronomer Carl Sagan that was inspired by the photo. In 2001, it was selected by space.com as one of the top ten space science photos.

This video illustrates part of his book.

This is one of the most useful tricks I know.  You can create a slide with images text etc and then save it as a .jpg file.  This has the added advantage of creating a smaller file size.  This can be a quick way to reduce huge images to something more manageable.

I also use this technique to create video storyboards.  We then import the images into Movie Maker, add a narration and hey presto a quick and easy way to create digital videos.  To see a set off lesson plans on this click here.