Mapeas – Contextuaize Your Search Queries

Mapeas is a cool website that educators can use in their classrooms. It allows its users to Geographically look for content about certain topics. I love this tool for it contextualizes the content and renders it much more relevant.
 Mapeas is not an encyclopedia though it functions in the same way encyclopedias do and it is not a search engine for its search algorithm is not as sophisticated as search engines, i would rather call it a directory for news and stories all around the world connected to a specific geographical location.

How does Mapeas works ?

Mapeas is very simple to use and does not require any sign up or download. Just head over to Mapeas main page and click on any circle on the map to zoom-in on a location and select a story.

bear in mind that stories are provided by the Associated Press, AFP, ABC, NBC, and Fox. When you click on a post you will be directed to articles or videos for further reading.

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Mashpedia – educational real time encyclopedia

Mashpedia is another real time encyclopedia. It provides its users with information and content pulled from different sites. All it takes is entering a topic title to instantly get digital contents from several websites including : Wikipedia, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Books, Newspapers, and Magazines.
Mashpedia resembles Zoombo in that they both fetch their results from social websites. I really like these kinds of encyclopedias for they save you so much time you have lost if you were looking for information in each site separately.

Some features of Mashpedia

Here is a list of the main features that Mashpedia offers to its users:

• It is free to use
• It is simple and easy
• It renders search results instant and quick
• It lets you discover new, relevant content about your favorite topics and interests
• Mashpedia topics include : New Madia, Cloud Computing, iPhone, History ,a dn many more
• It allows you to get a multi-perspective vision and real-time context for every topic

I invite ll educators to give Mashpedia a try and see by themselves. I strongly think that Mashpedia can be very beneficial for both students and teachers. I also invite you to try the other search tools or encyclopedias i have already talked about namely : Zoombo  and Qwiki.

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zoombo – real time encyclopedia for educators

Zoombo is a real time encyclopedia. It is a perfect tool for educators looking for information about a specific topic. Zoombo search results are to the point and accurate and this is the reason why i am introducing it to you today.
Zoombo is definitely not a search engine but a tool that pulls its content from blogs, social networks, Flickr, Youtube, newspapers, news sites, and wikipedia.
Here is an excerpt about Zoombo taken from their official page:

Zomobo is a web application structured thematically around topics, like in an encyclopedia, enhanced with a set of features and interactive functions. It integrates contents loaded from different online sources under one single interface, providing a wide spectrum of digital contents and up-to-the-minute data. For every valid topic, Zomobo presents a list of modules with content loaded in real-time from multiple web services, categorized by media type or data source. By jumping modules, you'll find fresh data and digital media from Newspapers, Magazines, Blogs, Books, Wikipedia, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Social Answers and additional online resources

Some features of Zoobo

Here is a list of the main features that Zoombo offers to its users:

• It is free to use
• It is very simple
• It has user-friendly interface
• It pulls its results from several sites and blogs
• It offers a fun and engaging learning experience
• Access the freshest information and multimedia content about almost any subject, person, place or event in one single place

If you like this real time encyclopedia then you might also like to check Qwiki which is another type of ‘ encyclopedia ‘ that is very useful to educators.

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nachofoto – real time image search engine

Nachofoto is a real time image search engine. This post is, in fact is, an addition to the series of posts i have covered about educational image search engines. If you haven't had a look at these posts then i invite you to check :
1 Educational Image Search Engine Part 1
In this post i talked about : Google Image Search and Morgue File
2 Educational Image Search Engine Part 2
In this post i have talked about : Wylio and Edupic Graphical Resource.
3 Educational Image Search Engine Part 3
In this post  i have talked about : Yahoo Image Search, The World Images Kiosk, ImageBase, and Photo8.
Today i am presenting to you Nachofoto which is a great image search engine that is designed to bring you the best results from across the web using a sophisticated search algorithm. It covers queries about entities and events such as : celebrities, movies, tv, music artists, sports, politicians, products, the royal wedding, london olympics, japan earthquake.

How can i get started usng Nachofoto ?

Here is a short video tutorial to show you how you can use this cool web application

I invite educators to try this tool inside their classrooms and show their students how to use it . I am quite sure you will find it very beneficial.

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