Howdy.
I want to remember how to do this later, so I'll first write about signing up for Flikr. Due to the ghosts of my past (in this case the memory of Geocities), I have several Yahoo accounts. I'm trying to remember which I used for my last picture post. Alas. It only took me three tries.
Speaking of Geocities, I once had about a dozen free websites there. I'm still in mourning that all of those pixels have died. Fortunately, I have their clones safely stashed away in two digital bomb shelters where they will someday see the light of day again. May their less fortunate brothers rest in peace.
Back on track... (and now you see the real reason why I don't blog... I babble)... So we find a picture on Flickr and blog. I've done this, but in the spirit of doing it with a new attitude, here's my new thoughts:
I chose this picture because it was so violently colorful. As I looked more closely at the pic, I noticed the girl Sadie looks about three. That's the age I was when my older sisters started teaching me to read. I was reading on my own by age four. Little Golden Books were great. Of course I loved "The Monster at the End of This Book", but my favorite was "Lambert the Sheepish Lion." Or was it "The Tawny Scrawny Lion"? It was a lion book. Anyway, this picture reminded me of that.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Thing 3: Blogging about blogging
Well, since I already have a blog, I wanted to write about two things. First, I want to remind myself about the process of creating a blog, and second, possible applications for me. Unlike most of the class, I am not in a library, and probably won't ever be, but I may be back in the classroom.
How to make a blog
I went to blogger.com and realized it's the same as blogspot.com, a site where most of my friends who have blogs post. From there it is easy. It's easy to sign up for anything these days. Email, password, verification, clicking an "accept the terms" box, and voilà, I am a published author capable of spewing truth or lies, fiction or reality from the comfort of my couch. Oy. We really do need to teach children (and adults) how to discern between credible and non-credible sources.
I could type nonsense, such as "The President just gave a wedgie to the Vice President" and someone could potentially be quoting me. Oh, and with that sentence, I could also be getting an FBI file. HI FEDS!!!
I'm already following the class blog.
Potential uses for me and blogs getting chummy
When I taught, I made a big ol' site for my classes. I'd post the daily journal entry, but I'd hard-code it in html. This is just the short-cut version. I could use blogs like that, and people could rss-follow me. Poor, bored souls. I could make students blog, but I have mixed feelings about that, and really do think they should spend as much time learning as they do posting. With the growing narcissism of the upcoming generations, I worry they put too much stock in their own thoughts. Hmmm... I could use the blog how I'm using it here; I could write about what was learned, whether what I learned or what I taught. I suppose this may be a different way of doing what I did with the website, and a way much more fluid and malleable. I'll have to think on this.
How to make a blog
I went to blogger.com and realized it's the same as blogspot.com, a site where most of my friends who have blogs post. From there it is easy. It's easy to sign up for anything these days. Email, password, verification, clicking an "accept the terms" box, and voilà, I am a published author capable of spewing truth or lies, fiction or reality from the comfort of my couch. Oy. We really do need to teach children (and adults) how to discern between credible and non-credible sources.
I could type nonsense, such as "The President just gave a wedgie to the Vice President" and someone could potentially be quoting me. Oh, and with that sentence, I could also be getting an FBI file. HI FEDS!!!
I'm already following the class blog.
Potential uses for me and blogs getting chummy
When I taught, I made a big ol' site for my classes. I'd post the daily journal entry, but I'd hard-code it in html. This is just the short-cut version. I could use blogs like that, and people could rss-follow me. Poor, bored souls. I could make students blog, but I have mixed feelings about that, and really do think they should spend as much time learning as they do posting. With the growing narcissism of the upcoming generations, I worry they put too much stock in their own thoughts. Hmmm... I could use the blog how I'm using it here; I could write about what was learned, whether what I learned or what I taught. I suppose this may be a different way of doing what I did with the website, and a way much more fluid and malleable. I'll have to think on this.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 - I ain't redoing these
Thing 1: Make a blog and respond to the 7.5 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners.
I'm working on my attitude. That's something I need to improve. I wasn't always a resistant learner, but I think I have become one. Well, I do love learning, but I have started becoming selective. I think it is good for me to recognize this. Sometimes when I'm stressed it takes me some time to warm up to an idea, but it happens. Like with biochemistry. I've learned far more after the class. So, here I am taking more responsibility for my actions. And so, this blog becomes part of my toolbox. Hmmm, I guess I am redoing Thing 1. Alas. :-) This time, Learning 2.0 becomes my forest of adventure, and I'm not resisting the path.
Thing 2: Usernames and passwords and gmail
Already had a gmail account. Actually, two. I have my reasons for multiple accounts :-) But with passwords, I have a set I rotate through. I have passwords for financial accounts and personal stuff, and I have simple passwords for accounts I don't care about.
I'm terrible at changing passwords frequently. I also can't manage terribly complex passwords. I do like what they do in the FACT center though, and use replacement letters. Here's a "replacement" alphabet @bcd3fgh1jklmn0pqr5tuvwxyz - notice the vowels aeio and the letter s are replaced. So, if "fact password" (not an actual password at FACT) is a password, it becomes f@ctp@55w0rd That's as complex as I get.
So, I went to the Microsoft Online Safety site and checked out the safety of my passwords. I don't use symbols much, so I know it's not the most secure. Both of my regular passwords rate as medium. The password f@ctp@55w0rd rated as a strong. The one I use for my junk accounts (for most of the ones I'll be using) rated weak. It's short.
Now, on to more entertaining apps!
I'm working on my attitude. That's something I need to improve. I wasn't always a resistant learner, but I think I have become one. Well, I do love learning, but I have started becoming selective. I think it is good for me to recognize this. Sometimes when I'm stressed it takes me some time to warm up to an idea, but it happens. Like with biochemistry. I've learned far more after the class. So, here I am taking more responsibility for my actions. And so, this blog becomes part of my toolbox. Hmmm, I guess I am redoing Thing 1. Alas. :-) This time, Learning 2.0 becomes my forest of adventure, and I'm not resisting the path.
Thing 2: Usernames and passwords and gmail
Already had a gmail account. Actually, two. I have my reasons for multiple accounts :-) But with passwords, I have a set I rotate through. I have passwords for financial accounts and personal stuff, and I have simple passwords for accounts I don't care about.
I'm terrible at changing passwords frequently. I also can't manage terribly complex passwords. I do like what they do in the FACT center though, and use replacement letters. Here's a "replacement" alphabet @bcd3fgh1jklmn0pqr5tuvwxyz - notice the vowels aeio and the letter s are replaced. So, if "fact password" (not an actual password at FACT) is a password, it becomes f@ctp@55w0rd That's as complex as I get.
So, I went to the Microsoft Online Safety site and checked out the safety of my passwords. I don't use symbols much, so I know it's not the most secure. Both of my regular passwords rate as medium. The password f@ctp@55w0rd rated as a strong. The one I use for my junk accounts (for most of the ones I'll be using) rated weak. It's short.
Now, on to more entertaining apps!
Starting over... kind of
Being honest, I must say I didn't want to blog. I have two issues here, and one is that I believe blogs to be a waste of my time. Hold on... before you write this off as a complaint, remember the title is "starting over." I am not a fan of blogs because they're so much like diaries and journals with two major differences. First, blogs are public, and anything I would write in a journal is intended to be personal. Second, blogs are electronic, and therefore even more ephemeral than paper. One glitch, one "delete" hit, one forgotten password and it's the equivalent of a fire. I love written words for their privacy and permanence, and therefore, have been fighting the notion of the blog.
It's time I stop fighting.
I am convincing myself this is not a journal, but serves another purpose. And because this is tied into the Learning 2.0 site, I have figured it out... for now. I will use this blog as a shortcut to the tools covered in Learning 2.0, with shortcut instructions meant just for me.
So, to do this justice, I must start over. I will be using the blog as a notepad, scribbling in the margins of my life as I learn the tools. I do this in hope that it will be useful when I need to revisit the tools. And maybe, just maybe, I'll through in a personal thought whe I feel up to it.
It's time I stop fighting.
I am convincing myself this is not a journal, but serves another purpose. And because this is tied into the Learning 2.0 site, I have figured it out... for now. I will use this blog as a shortcut to the tools covered in Learning 2.0, with shortcut instructions meant just for me.
So, to do this justice, I must start over. I will be using the blog as a notepad, scribbling in the margins of my life as I learn the tools. I do this in hope that it will be useful when I need to revisit the tools. And maybe, just maybe, I'll through in a personal thought whe I feel up to it.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Things 7 and 8 - Pictures and Books
Part of me wishes I had recorded the names of all the books I've read. Or even the number. Hundreds? Thousands? I have no idea. I read so many in elementary school and middle school that I would have a hard time re-creating the list. Good books are like good meals in that you may not remember what was consumed, but you remember it was pleasant, and the nourishment stays with you.
I've put into this librarything tool a few books that have shaped me in some form. I'll remember more later. IF you'd like to see some of the books that have shaped me, go to http://www.librarything.com/home/dyingember
Wiki-wiki WIKI
Oh yeah! I forgot to blog about wikis. It seems strange to me to blog about wikis. It's like Tweeting about Facebook. Sometimes I wonder about technology for the sake of technology. I know wikis are useful for collaborative work, but I find it doesn't fit my style well. I tend to work alone. I know that flies in the face of every constructivist dogma ever written, but I often find that the challenges of groupwork are not worth any benefit that may emerge. The whole concept of a group document is strange to me. Maybe it's the Ayn Rand in me, but I think where there is no ownership, there is no excellence.
With that said, back to the topic of wikis. The concept is decent, and it does serve its purpose. To open up a document to the masses seems strange. I know that wikis overcome the problem of emailing documents back and forth, but I suppose I'm a bit old-school. At least it's good to know that they exist, and knowing how to use them can't hurt anyone.
With that said, back to the topic of wikis. The concept is decent, and it does serve its purpose. To open up a document to the masses seems strange. I know that wikis overcome the problem of emailing documents back and forth, but I suppose I'm a bit old-school. At least it's good to know that they exist, and knowing how to use them can't hurt anyone.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
New Heights
I don't exactly suppose this picture is school library related... directly. Yes and no. It was created by a self-proclaimed "book eater" named Barca. It's a wonderful picture. The obvious concept is that reading makes people grow... makes them reach higher. That's not why I picked this picture though.
What I'm about to say will be really unpopular with this class. People go into Library Science stuff because they love reading. I know. I have sucked life out of many, many books in my day, and in my self-made monastery of academia find myself shelved with the greats. Dusty books line my walls and litter my nightstand. I read because I breathe. But all that should be no shock to this crowd. These are all book eaters here.
As I looked at the picture, I came to see a couple things that disturbed me. First, that paper podium only holds one. Reading isolates. Heads get so full of the dust of time and people and ground-up fairies that the senses get clogged. To read is to know solitude. I mean that in both positive and negative aspects of the word. It is a high and lonely plane, and the more books, the higher the tower grows.
Also, the words stood upon are the words of others. I remembered the day when I realized everything I wrote had roots elsewhere. Then I realized most everything I thought had roots elsewhere. Perhaps that's true of everyone, and better Socrates than soda commercials. But when you stand upon the great ones, it's easy to lose where you begin. A shaky stand of philosophy, literature, art, history, drama, passion and pain, and you do tend to lose yourself. But I still don't know if the individual soul is diminished or expanded by climbing the pillars of others' wisdom.
What I'm about to say will be really unpopular with this class. People go into Library Science stuff because they love reading. I know. I have sucked life out of many, many books in my day, and in my self-made monastery of academia find myself shelved with the greats. Dusty books line my walls and litter my nightstand. I read because I breathe. But all that should be no shock to this crowd. These are all book eaters here.
As I looked at the picture, I came to see a couple things that disturbed me. First, that paper podium only holds one. Reading isolates. Heads get so full of the dust of time and people and ground-up fairies that the senses get clogged. To read is to know solitude. I mean that in both positive and negative aspects of the word. It is a high and lonely plane, and the more books, the higher the tower grows.
Also, the words stood upon are the words of others. I remembered the day when I realized everything I wrote had roots elsewhere. Then I realized most everything I thought had roots elsewhere. Perhaps that's true of everyone, and better Socrates than soda commercials. But when you stand upon the great ones, it's easy to lose where you begin. A shaky stand of philosophy, literature, art, history, drama, passion and pain, and you do tend to lose yourself. But I still don't know if the individual soul is diminished or expanded by climbing the pillars of others' wisdom.
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