BP12_20091115_Week 3 Researching and Blogging Web 2.0 Tools

This image was created by Jamie Sibley. Copyrighted by dipity.com.
The website that I found this week, is dipity.com. There are many great things that this site provides for the user. First, is the fact that a user can create a timeline about a variety of topics. I like the format of this site much better than other timeline sites I’ve tried in the past. On this site the timeline events can be used for a specific date, month, day and year. A user can also put a specific time to the event. Such as, when putting the day a person was born, an exact time can be used. When users sign up to use this tool, they automatically get their own url. For example, mine is www.dipity.com/jamiesibley. Another aspect I like about this application is that a user can share his timeline and upload it onto other applications, for your friends and/or family to see. Some of the applications a user can upload to are twitter, facebook, myspace, and stumbleupon. A user can also create and see others who are following them or who he is following. Others who are following can also comment on a timeline. I really like the fact that on this website a timeline can be viewed in 3 different ways. One is the traditional timeline, a flipbook, which the events are stacked on top of one another, and list, where the events are listed down the page. Since, people learn in different ways, why not have an application that allows them to create and view their timeline, that works best for them. A final aspect that I noticed and liked is that a person can add widgets to their timeline. This timeline application is very interactive and goes along with what we are learning about, the social aspects of the web.
I would incorporate the timeline website into my class by first having the students create timelines about themselves. This is a topic they have more understanding of so it should be a good way to begin. Other ways I would use dipity.com is with the Social Studies curriculum. History I think is many times understood better if one can see it through events that have happened at important times. Right now my class is learning about explorers that came to California and this would be a great tool to use to help them see that it was over a span of time that these explorers came to California and what things each one found while exploring the land. I would also use it as a cumulative project , to view the important events in California’s history over many chapters.