Welcome to Ai MN 16 Things

Have you ever thought, ”Oh Hell's Bells, I wish I had time to learn more about Flickr, wikis, Twitter or [enter the name of any of the kazillion other Web 2.0 tools available out there]?” Well, this is your chance to take the time to focus on your personal and professional development around Web 2.0 tools. Just think how AWESOME it’s gonna be to explore these tools and figure out ways to use them in your scholarly pursuits, professional development, with your personal Web sites, or in a myriad of other ways.

Yeah, I know!!!

Who Can Participate
This program is open to all students, faculty and staff of The Art Institutes International Minnesota. Everyone from experienced Web 2.0 users to novices, as well as everyone in between, are invited to join. This is self-paced, self-directed and all kinda crazy/sexy/fun!!!

How It Works
You are in charge of your learning in this program. We have identified the 16 Things for you to do over the course of the program, but you decide when you do them—and the amount of time you spend and the depth of your exploration. Each of the 16 Things can take as little as an hour or as much time as you want to dedicate. You document your participation by setting up and maintaining a blog (Thing 1).

Each Thing will show you one or more Web tools. These Web 2.0 tools are bringing users in touch with the entire world through social networking, video, audio, communication and collaboration sites. We have found many places for you to explore, experiment with, and think about creative ways to use in your school work and professional life. Participation in Ai MN 16 Things allows you to take the time to explore and enjoy these tools.

Even if you think you know all about all of the tools in Ai MN 16 Things, we still encourage you to join the program. We have added Challenge sections to many of the Things to really punish your imagination and push you to your emotional limits. Besides, it wouldn’t kill you to learn more about any (or even all) of these tools, now would it? As my fourth grade teacher used tell me, “You don’t know everything mister”. And, excepting for a particularly good run I had in the fall 1982, I have to admit, she was correct.

Throughout this program, we will learn from you through your obsessive, compulsive and insightful blogging about your discoveries. It’s a win-win, right?

Read on, MacDuff!!! Registration occurs as part of Thing 1.


Tutorial Format
Each Thing begins with a brief explanation of a new Web 2.0 topic or tool, followed by a numbered list of activities related to the tool. These exercises give you the background you need to understand the tools you're learning about. Don't skip them!

That last sentence bears repeating: Don't skip them!

When you have done the items in each list, you comment or post to your blog. (You will learn how to set up a blog in Thing 1.) Your blog is the tool to communicate your reactions, new-found skills, ideas, questions, and favorite Web sites to the other Ai MN participants and is how your completion of all 16 Things is documented.

I can see you're pretty eager to get started on this, but I suggest you read this and this to learn a little more about the 16 Things and Web 2.0.


Why are you looking at me like that?

Oh, I'm sorry. I guessed I just assumed.

If you are unfamiliar with what Web 2.0 is, check out the video “Web 2.0…The Machine is Us/ing Us” below for a great overview.

[As a personal aside, if you don’t like the accompanying music in the video, try syncing up “Tropicana” or “Tacobel Canon” by Ratatat and watch it like that.]

See what I mean?

Oh yeah. That’s what I’m talking about.