Maria Shriver touts online tool for California-philes
By her own admission, Maria Shriver is not techy.
Confusing hardware for software and feeling like a fish out of water while speaking at the Adobe Max conference in San Francisco, California's first lady is seemingly more comfortable talking about education and history--anything other than technology.
Regardless, Shriver has lent her name and efforts to a rather sophisticated online educational tool for students of state history called "The California Legacy Trails." In my brief one-on-one interview with her, we talked about her inspiration for creating the program (Boston's Freedom Trail); who it's targeted for (the state's schoolchildren); and how the technology works (doesn't know, don't ask, couldn't tell you).
The program launched November 17 on the California Museum's Web site. Currently, there's only one "trail" to explore: that of notable women in California's history. As you click through the women's accomplishments and highlights on this flash-enabled site (Adobe is one of the sponsors), you can imagine how additional photographs, video, and snippets of text could one day be used to bring the past alive.
Furthermore, there are plans to work in all sorts of social features for student users: links to send to friends, message boards, and so on. Great ideas; just don't ask the first lady how the tech behind them work!
Kara is a video reporter for CNET News. She brings her years of broadcast experience and shrewd reporting skills to the CNET TV team. No technology angle is too small or obscure to explore, from major industry news to technology trends to newsmaker interviews. E-mail Kara. 
