Blogging 101

After about 5 days of “blogging” I have learned some new things, but still have some questions. I am excited about having a blog, because I don’t think that I would have started a blog without the extra push from this course.
Question 1: How did I end up with 2 accounts? Somehow I have two accounts and there are 2 Eirins following the class blog. You can tell because there are 2 different profile pictures. I can’t figure out how to put them together.
Question 2: What happened to the RSS feeds? When I was first experimenting with the RSS feed buttons, I was just pushing the button and apparently “subscribing” to the feeds or sites. Then I learned that I actually had to subscribe to the feed reader. But those original sites are not there. Where did they go?
Some things that make blogs better…
- Shorter posts. Some of my posts are a little intimidating. I think readers would not want to commit to so much work.
- Bulleted lists, graphics and even embedded videos make the blogs interesting.
- The blog name. I have started following 27 blogs to keep up with the different electronic journals in the class. Some blogs, like “crystal’s web 2.0 summer 2009 blog” or “sri’s web 2.0 journal” are a lot easier to remember, while the other names make it difficult to remember whose is whose.Looking at other blogs out there, people use them for many different purposes. I appreciate those that have actual usable information. Gifted crafters post project ideas and directions on blogs, complete with patterns, photos and even videos. Accomplished cooks also blog about new recipes, and different foods they are cooking. Those blogs that people use to write about their normal, everyday life need to have something extra to make it interesting.

Fourth of July...in the digital age

My sister, brother and I are spending time together this weekend on St. George Island. My new husband and I, my sister, her husband, her 2 and a half year old daughter and her dog, and my 24 year old brother are taking our first vacation together without our parents.
Up until about 5 years ago, going to St. George was an adventure. We would fill coolers with groceries in Tallahassee; we would let everyone know that we would be unreachable and then we would disengage. We never knew what was happening off of the island, and we didn’t really care either. It was great, but it was a little difficult to catch up when we returned.
As we ate our breakfast this morning, I noticed how different it is today. We were listening to a new band my brother had downloaded onto his I-pod. My brother-in-law checked Facebook on his laptop, using the wireless network at the beach house. He checked in with neighbors and friends in Tampa and caught up with family in Miami. My husband and brother watched clips of the first days of the Tour de France on my brother’s Mac. Then my husband checked in to his online strategy game that he has been playing for almost a year with people all over the world. My sister had already checked her email and the top stories of the morning so she cut up the watermelon while I finished my coffee getting ready to work on EME 6635. Before they left for the beach, my niece and I watched a short Clifford video on YouTube.
It may seem disappointing that we are at the beach on a beautiful day and we are still plugged in. But, we have maintained a balance with technology. Since we were wireless, we were able to be in the same room. At times our web use added to our conversations like how Lance is doing in the race or how the fireworks were at home. The distractions were mild and accepted.
I think that as new technologies are introduced and become easier to use and gain access to, it is important that we use them to enhance our lives, not weaken or diminish. Gone are the days of pasty skin and blue eyeballs from being in front of the computer for hours at a time.
Now, I am alone working on my school work, at the beach! Before I would have missed out on the whole weekend, but now, I am just missing out on a short time at the beach before lunch and nap time.
When the family gets back we are going to start preparing for our belated cookout. My parents are coming down with the charcoal. We have burgers, hot dogs and veggies to grill as well as green salad and potato salad to make. I told my sister that while I had brought the potatoes and onion, and she had the mayo, I didn’t have a recipe for potato salad. To which she responded, “We have 3 laptops and the Internet, we can do anything!”

Sometimes the lead, mostly a member of the pack...

My prior experiences in Web 2.0 technologies have been broad, but limited. It started when I joined Facebook. My family had traveled to Peru for a month and when we came home, my 23 year old brother stayed to travel in other countries. He encouraged us to join Facebook, which he was already using to communicate with his friends and post photos and updates of his travels. It met our needs to keep in touch with him and was easy to use. We began sharing updates with each other and then branched out to our own friend groups, and then it exploded. Not only have I reconnected with over 200 friends, I have also saved 150 square feet of rainforest, advertised community events and created a group for teachers to plan together over the summer.
Skype was introduced to our family when my cousin moved to London and we found this program allowed us to talk to each other without paying long distance. When my niece was born in Tampa, we used Skype to stay in touch and look and listen to the new baby.
As with most changes and innovations, I am a slow and steady learner. I want to learn things that will make something easier or better. I am not interested in learning every new technology that’s available. This definitely makes me a follower in most areas.
In working on projects, I have learned about Wikispaces and Adobe Captivate and participated in live chats on Blackboard and Wiki. In these projects I am being introduced to new technologies and learning from others. As I learn new information, I try to incorporate it into my personal life and introduce it to my coworkers. In small areas of my life, I am an expert in comparison to other people and I share my knowledge when possible.
As I have progressed through my degree program at FSU, I have learned more about the interactivity of the web and experimented with different programs. I have definitely become an expert in using discussion boards and have used that experience in organizing the group of teachers. As we organized the group we decided on goals we wanted to accomplish and agreed on how we would use the group. This is similar to how our professors communicate objectives for a class and the expectations for participation.

My First Post

Here we go! I am writing my first post on my first blog. I look forward to learning all the features of the blog-o-sphere.