Back in 2001 I became aware of the web site, Becoming Human, while I was working as an instructional designer at ICUS in Singapore. I quickly shared this site with the other designers on the team as I felt it was simply an excellent example of graphic design and interactive treatment. I was constantly on the look out for web sites that I felt could inspire and challenge the graphic designers and Flash programmers that were an integral part of the team at ICUS.

The site was created by the brilliant team at Terra Incognita Productions in Austin, Texas for the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. Terra Incognita Productions have created a superlative suite of web sites since 1998.

The Becoming Human web site features an interactive array of video, flash and audio based content. It includes interactive activities focused upon the evolution of the human species. The photography is rich and the illustrations are highly detailed. It is easily navigated and incorporates a glossary and links to relevant web sites.

This web site is not interactive in the Web 2.0 sense of the term yet it could certainly be enriched if a teacher of history or science links it to a blogging or wiki based activity that allows students to document and share their own observations of the embedded materials. The students could be inspired to create their own explorations of the human race by creating and publishing their own podcasts, vodcasts or Voicethread productions.

The BBC in Wales has created this excellent web site for use both at school and at home and is aimed primarily at children aged 7 to 11, their teachers and their parents. The emphasis is on facilitating experiential learning to help children enter the world of the Iron Age Celts at their level of understanding. It is a beautifully crafted site with engaging activities and delightful graphics.

It can support studies of the Vikings undertaken by students of History in NSW at Stage 4.

Michael Fitzpatrick has written an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald regarding the demise of email among the young. His reports indicates how SMS, or texting, in particular is favoured due to its response speed, privacy and personalisation. The report adds that this trend is also reaching mainstream age groups.

The Centre for Teaching History With Technology is a rich online resource for teachers that wish to converge their teaching of history with information technology. The web site features suggestions, activities, lesson plans and quizzes. It also incorporates dedicated pages that describe how blogs, wikis and podcasts can be utilised in the teaching and learning of history.

The Centre also sponsors the excellent Best of History Web Sites.

Flickr has just released version 3.0 of its uploader for both the Mac and Win platforms.

An excellent tool that allows batch uploading, tagging and commentary. You can also direct images to specific sets. You can alter the order of images via drag and drop. You can also work on another batch while one is in process. Via TUAW.