Many classroom teachers are in schools that do not have the facilities to host or store student or teacher work online. For those teachers, what are the easy to use and cheap alternatives? There are a number of online sites and services that offer free or cheap online resources for educators for web hosting, disk storage, photo galleries, online calendars, email and collaboration. Many of these are free or at mimimal cost, but some only offer one of these features. Dotmac [.Mac] accounts offer all of these services, but at a cost. While not specifically designed for education, how useful are .Mac accounts for educators? The linked presentation [in both Keynote & PDF] outlines what dotmac offers, other alternatives and what I would like to see it offer for educators. The links below will give you many other resources and opinions about .Mac accounts.
Click here to download .Mac Accounts in the Classroom: An Evaluation [.pdf]
Apple Resources
What does .Mac offer? http://www.apple.com/dotmac/
Apple Support http://www.apple.com/support/dotmac/
Dotmac Tips http://www.mac.com/web/en/Tips/Tips.html
Dotmac Discussions http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=116
Dotmac FAQs http://www.mac.com/1/mac_faq.html
. Mac Features
Web gallery http://www.apple.com/dotmac/webgallery.html
Website Hosting http://www.apple.com/dotmac/iweb.html
IMAP Mail http://www.apple.com/dotmac/mail.html
Back to My Mac http://www.apple.com/dotmac/backtomymac.html
Sync http://www.apple.com/dotmac/sync.html
iDisk http://www.apple.com/dotmac/idisk.html
Groups http://www.apple.com/dotmac/groups.html
Backup http://www.apple.com/dotmac/backup.html
10GB Storage http://www.apple.com/dotmac/storage.html
.Mac Quick Guides
Getting Started with .Mac http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/start/index.html
Getting Your Website Started http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/start/share.html
Start Sharing Your Photos http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/start/photocast.html
A Web Gallery Example http://gallery.mac.com/emily_parker#gallery
Learning How to Backup http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/start/backup.html
Learn How to Sync Now http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/start/sync.html
Share a file with iDisk http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/start/idisk.html
Create a Group http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/start/groups.html
Mastering .Mac
Web Publishing http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/Modules/dmPicturesMovies_index.html
.Mac Mail http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/Modules/dmMail_index.html
Syncing http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/Modules/dmSynchronizing_index.html
Backup http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/Modules/dmBackup3_index.html
Groups http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/Modules/qg_dmGroup_t1.html
iDisk http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/Modules/dmStoringFiles_index.html
iCal http://www.mac.com/1/learningcenter/Modules/dmCalendar_index.html
Other Resources
Taking Control of .Mac http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx/TakeControl/dot-mac.html [Free 24 page sample]
or buy electronically for $15 USD http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/dot-mac.html
Top 5 Shareware resources for getting more out of .mac http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=686518
Dotmac podcast audio downloads http://www.tuaw.com/2006/12/14/dotmac-offers-podcast-pack-audio-downloads/
How to activate .Mac Mail Junk folder
http://apple-project.com/files/15c8a8b25ecf8fdf65192886fc6126fc-71.html
Make your own Dotmac An open source replacement for .Mac [No idea how well these work]
http://code.google.com/p/dotmac/
http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/mac/2002/08/09/homemade_dotmac.html
http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/mac/2003/02/04/homemade_dot_mac.html
http://freshmeat.net/projects/dotmac/
http://5thirtyone.com/archives/741
http://www.tnpi.net/wiki/Do_It_Yourself_.Mac
http://www.allocinit.net/apps/dotmacenabler
Having your own domain name on Dotmac
http://tech.propeller.com/story/2008/01/12/iweb-with-your-won-domain-name-and-dot-mac
http://homepage.mac.com/cherrypop/iblog/C1900478167/E1963581976/index.html
http://apple-project.com/files/f1c9cff16d01a44d55f132bcc13cc2b5-37.html
User Views
http://mashable.com/2008/02/02/dotmac-why-is-apple-still-neglecting-the-web/
hhttp://www.apple.com/dotmac/profiles/