Tweet away the sadness

I was listening to what? NPR as usual, because that is my favorite thing in the car or at a desk to mildly distract my from what I'm supposed to be doing. If they had stock I would buy some, instead I just give them my credit card number to keep my conscience clean.

Anyway there was an interesting story about how a journalist whose mother was dying, he's an NPR regular on the network. He tweeted in real time about the experience of being by her side, basically waiting for her to pass.

I know I text as a nervous twitch when real life is a bit uncomfortable, know I text my boyfriend and sister a lot more when I am under stress or in a stressful situation. "At a job interview. Argh hate waiting." "Boss just yelled at me OMG" Those texts are private however, well I hope they are ;) because I've been hearing a good deal about the gvt monitoring our phones lol

In any event I was thinking how twitter or a blog can feel cathartic like writing a journal. You don't see the people who are, you don't ever have to look them in the eye. They do however leave comments which is kind of like your journal answering back to you, but its not because they are real people. I knew an undergrad a few years ago who posted a play by play or an affair she had with a married man. She was offended that his wife found the blog, and claimed it was an intrusion of her privacy for the wife to read it. There were assumed nicknames, but it was a public blog for all to see. It is not a journal and it is NOT private. Are some people confused about that?

I just wonder about the role of privacy and how our views of it are changing the more our every thought can be published. It would not seem strange to read about that man's dying mother in a memoir, but somehow the play by play on Twitter feels intrusive to me. It seems to have helped him cope with a sad event, I don't mean to be judgmental, there is nothing necessarily wrong with it. Its just that I wonder where the personal line is and how t is being redefined by these tools?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/30/206987575/Scott-Simon-On-Sharing-His-Mothers-Final-Moments-On-Twitter 

Personal is personal

http://www.today.com/news/tv-reporter-fired-over-blog-didnt-think-it-would-come-6C10791942

Here is a story about a woman who was fired from her reporting job over her personal blog. I really think there will be more clearly deined laws about this in the future. It is freedom of speech to have an opinion and be  ahuman outside of one's job. Unless you are saying something a la Paula Deen about longing for the good old slave days, people should just be allowed to be themselves.

It is an odd intersection of the personal and private on the web. If half the silly jokes I make with my friends were published I am sure no one would hire me ;)
FYI this is why my real FB and other personal web personas have my puppy as my profile pic and an assumed name! lol

Discount Degree

Here is the link to a segment I saw on the news.

 http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50151769n

It talks about the fact that Georgia Tech is offering an online Master Degree in Computer Science for only $7,000. Wow and its about time. This service and this price point could open up the opportunity advanced degrees to a huge new audience.

Affordability of higher education is a huge issue for many people in our country (undergrad and grad)  As a teacher I know that I had to wait for years to get tuition reimbursement and at one class at a time I would be 40 before I got my Masters, if it were not for loans. 
Older teachers tell me how cheap their Masters (and undergrad) was years ago and that it almost is not worth it from a financial standpoint today. Though I think it is absolutely necessary from a pedagogical point of view.
I think that more education is necessary for many of us in a changing world, we need to keep up and if we are going to well in our professions advanced degrees are often a necessity.

Yeah Georia tech and I hope others will follow suit- good schools that are not in it for the profit ;)

Graphics overload?

Normally I avoid websites, web tools with over bearing graphics and what seems like too much info.
If it was not for homework purposes I never would have checked out this mash up madness, crazy feeds.

However, after a few days of exploration, I am finding they are not as offensive as I formerly believed. The brain adjusts and I am finding lots of actually useful and interesting info out there :) I think learnist may become part of my regular lesson planning brainstorming process for the year.

Surprised!

Response to post

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web? Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings? Why or why not?

On the Web the judgement of expertise is often a bit more effort than in a face to face setting. The tools and cues I use to judge are different, but the judgements are based on the same criteria. 

In an online community we do not have the social cues that often tell us subconsciously how educated or intelligent a person is. Whether we admit it or not a person's clothes, accent, the way they carry themselves, physical gestures and a variety of other little things help us create an opinion of whether we can trust them, as people or as sources of information. In one sense it is liberating to not have the potential prejudices and judgements. But these cues have to be replaced by something to tell us if they are trustworthy. 

One thing I do is google the source to see who they are, what their education was and if they are an accepted member of the community of knowledge. If someone is  a professor at Colombia or has run a business in the subject area for years,  then it is safe to say they are trustworthy. I will also google the site to see if it is trustworthy- is it journalism? punditry? a free for all? a part of an established and trustworthy community of knowledge? 

 If there is no information on the person, then one can use context clues to see whether they understand the domain they are speaking about. Often in the communities I notice people prefacing their remarks but stating their qualifications in the area. I have also done this after a lecture/speech, to see if the person speaking had the expertise to be trussed. However googling a real life person is more rare in my own experience. 

Same judgements- different tools :) 

Other tablets

Here is article in the New York times about the google tablet that is comparable to the ipad mini. It is less expensive and apparently is pretty interesting. It has its own app store and there is a textbook feature, which is a great for students.


http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/google-debuts-an-updated-nexus-7-tablet/?ref=technology&_r=0 

I think one this my ipad has that tablet doesn't is the fact all my other technology is now Apple. It is great to have the same format, visual tools and habits across my technology. I also think there is something fun and special about the Apple store. When I drop my phone and the front cracks, there is a place to bring it and a person who really knows the products to help. I really think that the i-things have developed the physical culture around them that humans like. I remember when my pc broke, I brought it to Best Buy, they sent it out somewhere- it was all very impersonal and the people on staff seemed pretty clueless about what could be wrong.

When I drop and break my ipod, I go in and get a new one (yeah warranty) then my music is quickly synced again from my lap top.

Much like the online community, it needs a physical connection to be very successful. The personal experience of the store, and ease of use make it an easier choice for a lot of us.

I would like to see the other products and see how they work though.

Its not Tuesday and other things ;)

So I just tried to sign in for the webinar and wondered why the link didn't work. Alas it is Wednesday ;)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/24/204621796/ONLINE-REWARDS 

So this is a link to a news story today about how online marketers ( and tech makers) keep Skinner's theories of unexpected rewards in mind when making products for human use. It seems that my desire for a "like" button in blackboard is not my fault, it can attributed to science that know how much I like to get my likes.

Another reason to incorporate these technologies into teaching, o promote the crack like addiction to learning and the random reinforcement. Makes me want to learn more about educational gaming!

Ipad

I have decided that I need an Ipad to be an active member of the web 2.0 world. The school I am going to teach at had an Ipad cart we can use in class. I wanted a tablet and since the school is using the Ipad and i LOOOVE my Macbook I am off to the store.

The only question is Ipad mini or full size?
Hmmm more to follow...

FACEBOOK

Stop updating and revamping my facebook page. I don't like it. It seems like just when I get used to where to find my stuff, they move it. Also do not appreciate all the weird pop up ads lately. Made a wedding comment now am being barraged by wedding dress/bridesmaid ads.

We should also be allowed to keep our old page as it was ;) then i'd be happy

Week 4 prompt

How do issues such as authorship, copyright and open access impact your desire, ability and willingness to engage in produsage, both personally and professionally?


I think they are always a worry in mind because I do not understand the laws completely. I also do not think all the details of how and who to attribute intellectual property in a global environement are ironed out yet.
 I know I always hated music sharing sites because it is theft. As a musician with lots of musician/composer friends I think that we need to know whose work we are using, they deserve credit and compensation because it is not entertainment to them it is a profession. Most musicians are not rich and need the money ;) even people with Grammies have to have day jobs sometimes.

I often worry where or if I am infringing on someone's copyright. For the moment I am using things only for educational purposes, but would like a better grasp of content laws/sharing before I enter the grownup world as I call it. Maybe I will care greatly when I have prodused something of personal or professional value? One must have one's work/time/ideas acknowledged in some way.

It does not affect my desire or willingness to take part in produsage, but it makes me a bit wary and gives me the desire to be careful.

Goodbye Barbie

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/07/17/202417282/KIDS-GOTH-BARBIE

Here is a link to a story I heard on NPR in the car. This is the new coolest toy apparently. Since I dont teach elementary school anymore I do not know what the little girls are saying is the new cool toy. I do have a niece, who cried when I gave her a Barbie 6 pack for Christmas. She doesn't like dolls, thinks they are scary, and doesnt even want to be friends with what she calls "Princess Girls" Love her, unrelated to topic just though it was funny.

Anyway it appear this new Monster anorexic Barbie is all the rage. What caught my attention was that it has on ongoing webisodes that bring the dolls to life. They are not just a toy, they are a narration and a tale to tell. When we were little we had Doctor Barbie, Cowgirl Barbie etc and I think there may have been a cartoon, but it was never very popular.

I think it is interesting that the popularity of a physical old fashioned toy is being bolstered by an internet based show.
I went to the website and there are one way games, shows and apps. I think they may really benefit from a more interactive site where the girls could discuss, have input and explore the toys.

http://www.mattel.com/our-sites

Wikitastic

My wikispace
The project made me think of ways to use this type of tool at work in new ways. I started just making the project for class, but now I think it will be an anchor project for my first year of French teaching. It turned out to be very interesting and I think I would like to have done this in my own HS french classes many years ago.

In addition I asked the director of my summer program if it would alright if the instructors started a wiki-lesson plan bank where we can mutually correct and make suggestions for improvement.

Awesome!

Week 3 response to prompt

My summer job is teaching High School foreign exchange students at a local university. We have students from Italy, Spain,France, China and Turkey. While we have a lesson and idea sharing platform, it is not a multiple user tool. It is a lot of one way street of ideas with one or two comments below the posts or in emails. 

We all have different expertise and perspectives. For example the teacher next to me taught in Chine for 2 years, I taught in France and some others work with New Jersey's large Hispanic populations. 

It would be very interesting to post these plans in an interactive way where we could add suggestions to differentiate the various groups. For example pronunciation issues, words that resemble curses in each language. I was told not to use the word shabby with my Chinese kids- not sure what it means but apparently its not a good word choice. 

This would allow us to better serve our students and develop our skills in different areas. 
I just may initiate it if the director approves. We would need one central coordinator I think just to organize and sort through the info. The more seasoned teachers may not be terribly interested in sharing because they may think they know enough already. I think it may be fun. 

Integration

So I am using my summer students as guinea pigs for my new tools. A little background info here. I teach at a summer exchange program for European High School students. They are from France, Italy, Spain and Turkey. The kids are here to learn English and more about America.

 They are all armed with smart phones and wifi, so I figured why not integrate some technology into our class. Its not really 100% web 2.0, possiblt web 1.5 at this point if that even exists. I used some online polling sites to get instant feedback. Tried www.socrative.com and it is a great tool.

In addition used Youtube videos of real estate house tours to create a project comparing American homes, to their homes.


Pretty good
No one looked bored ;)

Child Labor-Where are the women?

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/technology-workers-are-young-really-young/?ref=technology

This article is interesting in 2 ways. The average age of the technology industry workers are younger than other companies, and there are less women.

It makes sense that younger workers would be more into new technologies, and possibly have degrees and expertise in technology that did not exist ten years ago. I wonder why there are so few women compared to men? I know fields like engineering have a lower female rate or participation. I wonder what factors lead to this?

Food for thought and future exploration

response to week 2 prompt

How might the concept of produsage be applied in your life (personal and/or professional) as it stands today? Are you already a produser? If yes, what do you do? If no, why not?

I find that I already am involved in produsage. I have participated in online groups about ed reform, used the web to help create a mutual educative community with colleagues and people in the communities where I work. They have been informal and formal. We have shared ideas, information, created real life events from our produsaging and solved problems. 

I would like to bring this to the next level by learning how to engage my students in meaningful produsage interactions this year. The last time I was involved with HS and university level of students was years ago, and Web 2.0 was not even on my radar. I will be teaching HS this year and look forward to creating an interactive learning community, where we create share and grow as a group. 

Tweet like an Egyptian

Forgive the pun I know it is serious business.

First of all I have such admiration for anyone who has the strength to stand up for what they believe in, especially if they can do it in a nonviolent way. I have a good Turkish friend who was posting her photos to Facebook in Taksim square. I learned more from her than I did from the NY times who seemed to the think people were simply protesting an urban planning project in the beginning.

The 7th chapter of the Shirky book was exceedingly relevant to our lives on Earth in these past few months, especially for Turks and Egyptians. (and those who care about them too!)

I found it very interesting to read that the Egyptian government- if it is still being called that- has taken to the Tweet and the FB posting to counter the protest this time around. Perhaps they learned of their power from the initial revolution a few years ago.

This article points out that social media is now a "mainstay' in politics in Egypt. It also points out that universal translators are helping to get the message out. I am not 100% sure of this point because every post I have tried to get translated on FB from Turkish is seriously deranged. They really dont get the syntax at all. I guess that is not the point. What was revolutionary 2 years ago is already part of the establishment. Fast change over and very intriguing.

I wonder if the Arabic translator tool is anymore effective than the Turkish one? I'm gonna go find out...


http://www.dw.de/social-media-use-evolving-in-egypt/a-16930251 

Wikipedia

So as I move way through the Shirky book I find myself with many questions about Wikipedia.
I know these multiply authored info tools can seem amazing, but I do wonder greatly about the integrity of the facts. As it says at the top of the Wikipedia page they have in essence a small staff, who cannot be policing the quality or the validity of the facts held within the site.

This can be annoying or at worst dangerous to have a factual seeming piece of info. Hmm... one of the many concerns.

I found a few examples of where the accuracy could be offensive or possible damaging.

 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/09/an-open-letter-to-wikipedia.html
Here the administrator of an article regarding this author's work told him he could not change the article, because the administrator needed more info to substantiate this claim. The administrator was either protecting a piece of gossip produced info or adhering to real factual standard. After reading the author's open letter I happen to think it was the former.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3193353/
In this one the National Institute of Health says that Wikipedia cannot be relied on as a tool for scientific reference. I am surprised that anyone would go to Wikipedia for medical advice, but still it is mildly disturbing that someone could and get some unreliable info.


I have read how wikipedia works and my untrained opinion so far is that it is lacking in scholarly checks and balances to ensure the integrity of its info. Hmmm

AP

So I decided to join a professional forum to be an onlooker and one in which to be a participant. I am transitioning from Music teaching to French teaching at the moment. And one day I will hopefully be making the transition into the instructional designer realm. I am also a musician, and thought about that as a forum as well.

These were my professional choices for communities. I decided to join an AP French Teacher community on the college board, because it seems that I will have a1 AP french class next year. I will be an onlooker for this community, since I am so new to this.

I am still in the process of deciding which community I would like to be an active participant in? I'm not an instructional designer, but I do want to spend August working on my online course design skills. Maybe I can join a music teacher one just so I can actively give content to the discussion. TBD ;)

Current TV

After reading the Bruns  article* I became curious about Current TV. I had heard about it over the years, having voted for Gore and loved a lot of his work it is funny I never was curious about his attempts at transforming media. I wondered how it was an interactive exercise in democracratic new and not just another cable news network. I also wondered why it failed, as I heard it was sold to Al Jazeera.

I read about it on wikipedia and it was interesting to see the facts of where it started and eventually ended. I never watched it so tried to find info about what made it interactive. Apparently the audience was invited to create short video segments that were used in broadcasts along with professional produced pieces.

Interesting concept. This could allow a way to have produsage materials vetted by professional journalists, with ethical guidelines and fact checking. I can see how viewers in the current news environment, would want something less commercial. I can also see the need for a non-biased news source in our country. I am not sure if this is 100% possible, and I think PBS and NPR are about as close as we get. But I do see how this concept could be interesting and add another dimension to world events.

I have a few Turkish friends who have been tweeting and facebooking the events they are seeing outside their doors this June. It was VERY different from what CNN and the evening news was reporting. Rogue journalism definitely has its merits and place in the evolving news world.

Wonder if someone else will take the Current TV attempt and improve it to be successful in the long term?



*Axel Bruns. "Towards Produsage: Futures for User-Led Content Production." In Proceedings: Cultural Attitudes towards Communication and Technology 2006, eds. Fay Sudweeks, Herbert Hrachovec, and Charles Ess. Perth: Murdoch University, 2006. 275-84.

Children's Book

My best friend wrote a children's book, she is a hobby writer. It is about a rat who plays the clarinet and broke his reed. Very entertaining to the music geeks in the world, and young aspiring music geeks as well ;)

She sent in around to publishers and amazingly got an offer the first week. The place marketed themselves as a publishing house, but were however subsidy publishers. They wanted her to pay to make her book instead of the other way around.

Found an article explaining the difference between self publishing and subsidy publishing as it is called.
http://www.writing-world.com/publish/selfpub.shtml 

I guess this would be a road for someone who really has a message they want to put out there? Or maybe just another internet scam to make money?

Hmmm... to be decided on that one