RSS Feed

Well I had a good laugh at myself.  Thinking that RSS Feed was new to me I was about to set out and figure out how to do this – I see benefits in RSS for me!  So I asked a friend to help me download an RSS Feed.  She asked me if I had a gmail account and wanted to see it.  She pointed out the “little windows” in my Google Reader account that show other blogs I am following and said that I was doing RSS Feed already!  LOL, I thought I was just following other blogs – that’s RSS FeedJ   I am actually doing something of my choice that is a Web 2.0 tool before it is taught to me!  I am so happy to hear this.  I feel a bit more with it now.

(I will mention this – now I can read everyone’s blogs and I am feeling really infeariour!  OMG  Everyone in this class is like a pro already.  I have made great gains in my learning for Web 2.0 but it still looks like a beginner blog compared to everyone else.  I see that this is why Aaron gave us all of the blog addresses on that one easy download but I did not understand that to find all of the blogs I had to go to Reader!  I just thought I was not successful loading the blogs on my Reader and did not want to tell anyone.  So I just followed those who are on blogger.)

I have learned that an RSS Feed is Rich Site Summary and it streams blogs of interest to me that I have subscribed to.  I can look at the blog when I wish on my computer.  The Feed is shown on my Google Reader as the beginning few lines to the blog.  http://youtu.be/0klgLsSxGsU

So instead of me taking time to search blogs I am interested in for new stuff, RSS will send the blog to me when something new happens on the blog I subscribe too.  Not so much wasted time for me!

Will Richardson is right to get excited about this Web 2.0 tool.   

The thing I like about “subscribing” to blogs is that it is text but visual too.  Other blogs I subscribe to are of my choice and interest (not like junk mail) and they have images, links, videos, podcasts, etc.  It’s like a Web 2.0 party of tools that come to me and I get a glimps of it before I click to see if I want to view the whole blog.

I will continue to use gmail and my blog so it makes sense for me to stick with Google Reader even though there are other variations of RSS Feed out there.

Blogs

I think this is my most favourite thing in Web 2.0 – blogging!  I love to journal and reflect to begin with but now I can do that and add links, embed, make a video or voicethread and many other things so that my reflection is multisensory. 

I started to use Edublog at the start of the course because it was suppose to be easy to use but, of course, I found it difficult.  I want to try it for school purposes later.   For this course though Blogger was easy to use.  Not the prettiest but I like my template.  It suits me right now – Keeping It Simple to learn from!

I don’t follow famous names but I like to follow bloggers with nice sites that art about art especially. I will follow educator sites but I prefer ones that are more visual rather than lots of text and academic looking.  In the blogging world I go for esthetics, nice visuals.

Some of the blogs I like to follow are:

Nosy Crow is cute and not too cluttery. 

Drawn is the hottest blog site for art at this moment.  I hope I can embed this but check out “Dumb Was To Die” and scroll to end of blog luclatulippe -  it is about safety around trains. 

I subscribe to Artful Blogging as a way to inspire my art and to motive me in getting a blog or webpage for my art.  I really want to share my art on the internet regardless of copyright worries.  But that is for Christmas time excitement.

 

Luc Latulippe's Blog for my "blog"

Luc Latulippe's Blog

Tweety

Twit?  Whenever I hear the word “Twitter” I think of Roald Dalh’s story “The Twits”!  Just had to say it!

Twitter.  I don’t really get it.  Maybe I am too patient but Twitter seems so demanding.  I don’t want to or need to know the information going around that very instant.  (I think RRS is more my style but more about that another blog.)  Twitter feels like a gossip place to me.  It just doesn’t feel as professional or something. 

I have started Twittering at the beginning of this course.  I follow Cory Doctorow, Books n Company, Penguin, local artist friends and peers for 477.  Fiona Fraser has the best Tweets out of the people I follow so far.  Thanks Fiona!  Fiona’s tweets are not terribly often and are relevant to my learning.

As far as using this in my classroom, I know my students are too young to do this.  As Will Richardson states in his book the “lesson is this: Think about Twitter for yourself first.”  I think that has become my rule for all of the social web stuff we are learning.  I need to try it out first and play with it.  Eventually things sift down and I develop an understanding of what works for me.  Twitter is something I will continue to try but it will be limited to the things (art, education and books) I want to be informed about.  I am not into keeping informed about the last word about an election or hockey negotiations (even union negotiations!)

Twitter, or Instagrams or any microblogging for education purposes, for me is about my learning and about what is out there that I can try in my teaching practice for more meaningful student learning.

I need to play with hash tags more in this journey or sicial networking and Twitter.  I also need to link my Twitter account to my Google account to make this journey easier.  I really dislike having to take the time to log into all my different accounts.  I know from our hangout talks on Google that I can add Twitter to my google account.  I just need to take the time to do that now.

I feel that RRS is going to meet my needs though ...

 

Bibliography

Richardson, Will. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand  Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, 2010. Print.

"SaphiraForums :: Eragon's adventure continues... - View topic - the twits." SaphiraForums :: Eragon's adventure continues... - Index page. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. http://www.saphiraforums.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7026

 "12 Steps to Creating a Successful Twitter Chat - SocialTimes." SocialTimes - Your Social Media Source. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. http://socialtimes.com/creating-a-successful-twitter-chat_b87662

 

How much information should we put out 'there' about ourselves?

I find this a really tough question because anything you put out there is information that can be used to make you vulnerable.  Put your date of birth – personal and could lend that last bit of info to tap into your financial accounts.  Show your birthday party pictures (with or without text) and that may be enough info too?  Making connections within conversations about something you are discussing in your online book club gives a bit of information about you.  I am not sure how much to “clam up” on information on the information highway.  I am a very open person when with people face to face.  May be that is my balance – I am so out going in real life that I keep myself quiet in the not face to face world.

 

I like to think that no matter what sphere I am in – socially real or socially online – I like to be known as a good person.  I have a lot of empathy for anyone who is teased or hurting inside.  I like a ‘clean’ life.  I don’t like to be worrying about how I have made others feel if I had been cruel.  So if I share something it can’t be too gossipy.  I know that sometimes those kinds of things hurt more than cutting yourself (when your knife slips from cutting that carrot for example, don’t want to get to crazy here!).

How much information about us already exists about there?

Okay.  So how much does exist about me out there?  I will Google that now.

Wow!  Janice Parker, the name, seems to be associated to a lot of creative people!  Landscape architect, dancer, even another librarian in Calgary!

http://janiceparker.co.uk/privatedancer/about/

There is not one image of me when I Googled my name online!  That’s fine by me.

So this is what it has me thinking … why do I want to create a blog to reflect on in the future?  I will be putting my pretty personal thoughts there to share with others!  So I have changed my mind about blogging my reflections on art or education.  Journaling on a word document for my own reading and reflection is what I will do.

How do we manage our digital footprint?

Managing my digital footprint for me is not to Facebook.  I know that does not make me safe but I think it takes away a big area of vulnerability.  I also do not tend to purchase things online so that means that financial information about me is not out there. 

I don’t feel that I have to be tapped into everything so I can be socially connected.  I feel more socially connected by going out with friends for a latte.  I don’t give little bits of myself online so I can keep in touch with as many friends as possible.  I give all of my attention and time to the few friends I have.

What strategies do you use to teach your students to manage their own digital footprints?

I have done this through bullying prevention, and more recently, with my Wikispace and voicethread as I am getting students to engage in interacting with others (other school mates) online.  I talk to them about what they should not give as information online and them I pose inquiries or examples of instances where someone has given information online and let them discuss how that information can be used.  I also inform them that what goes online – Facebook and other spaces – stays online.  So if they don’t want to embarrass themselves in the future then don’t put it on the internet.  I think they get it even though the future is hardly a reality to them right now.

According to a Pew Research Center report written in 2010, “… 71 percent of social networking users aged 18 to 29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online.”  Further the article claims that the older the user is the more freely they will share information.  Taking a survey of my students in two schools ( approximately 360 students between the ages of 5 and 11) I have found that the privacy settings are quite open.  They share their birthdays, post personal details of their life and actively search for “friends” on Facebook.   I should note that about 100 of these students are registered with Facebook.  So, tell me who are these people that suddenly get more private at the age of 18?  I really see the need for teaching safe online use too after taking a recent ERASE course.

Bibliography

"About | Janice Parker." Janice Parker | Artist and Choreographer. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. http://janiceparker.co.uk/privatedancer/about/

Analyst, 2020 All Enterprise Apps Will Include Social Components: IDC. "Most Young People Do Care About Privacy, Reputation, Pew Says." Technology News, Tech Product Reviews, Research and Enterprise Analysis - News & Reviews - eWeek.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Most-Young-People-Do-Care-About-Privacy-Reputation-Pew-Says-470465/

 

Trying to put the pinterest link in again

Oh how I battle with myself at times about Facebooking! Most of the time I won’t even consider it but then there are the times when I get an invitation from a friend, someone I have not seen for sometime, and I want to start up Facebook. I then consider all of the things we would need to share on Facebook about one another and I quickly shut that idea down. Yes, I am cautious but I guess everyone has different life experiences and mine tells me not to do that. I decided to Google social networking sites to see what there was and found, surprise, “List of Social Networking Sites” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

 

I did not think of Pinterest as social networking!

Then I saw Flickr, and Blogger social communities on the Wiki list. There are sites there for deviantART, gays, politics, the jet set, religions and much more. I expected Facebook to be listed (and it is) with a couple of other sites! Oh, I see the LibraryThing there too. Of all of these I participate in Pinterest and watch what is in LibraryThing.

Library Thing is about me watching everything. I like to read the reviews, see what is popular, and things like that. I use it to check out books people recommend or are talking about. I follow a couple of my friends and they follow me. As soon as I added “steampunk” as one of my pin up interests I had a few other people suddenly follow me! Interesting. Largely I am a watcher of the sites and do not attempt to connect with other people. I talk about things I see on both social networking sites but that is in person or on the phone.

http://theblush.com/2012/05/09/pinsanity-pinterest/ After all, I would hate to get too obsessed with …

I hope I got my link in

Oh how I battle with myself at times about Facebooking! Most of the time I won’t even consider it but then there are the times when I get an invitation from a friend, someone I have not seen for sometime, and I want to start up Facebook. I then consider all of the things we would need to share on Facebook about one another and I quickly shut that idea down. Yes, I am cautious but I guess everyone has different life experiences and mine tells me not to do that. I decided to Google social networking sites to see what there was and found, surprise, “List of Social Networking Sites” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites I did not think of Pinterest as social networking! Then I saw Flickr, and Blogger social communities on the Wiki list. There are sites there for deviantART, gays, politics, the jet set, religions and much more. I expected Facebook to be listed (and it is) with a couple of other sites! Oh, I see the LibraryThing there too. Of all of these I participate in Pinterest and watch what is in LibraryThing. Library Thing is about me watching everything. I like to read the reviews, see what is popular, and things like that. I use it to check out books people recommend or are talking about. I follow a couple of my friends and they follow me. As soon as I added “steampunk” as one of my pin up interests I had a few other people suddenly follow me! Interesting. Largely I am a watcher of the sites and do not attempt to connect with other people. I talk about things I see on both social networking sites but that is in person or on the phone. http://theblush.com/2012/05/09/pinsanity-pinterest/ After all, I would hate to get too obsessed with …

embedded voicethread?

My Voice thread for Red Cedar book - Racing Home

Every second Tuesday evening I go to Books n Company to do this book and art thing with any students in the district interested in art and reading.  This was my second night and 17 kids from 4 different schools came to have fun!
Using the voicethread and putting my voice to it was harder than I thought.  I think if it is free I only get a short bit of time.  I will try posting this with the voicethread embedded and see if it works.
(If this works I am going to use this with 8 kids next Monday so they can do a short presentation on their continent.  I have high hopes!)

What is this thing ... Web 2.0 presentations?

Web 2.0 presentation tools?  I had to Google it.  I found http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Presentation+Tools

And it listed about 20 tools for me to use!  I had no idea what this was or if I had even seen one.  I know 2 of the tools – animoto and voicethread – and have used them for learning purpose only.  Oh!  Google sites is a presentation tool!

Reading the outlines of the different tools I think I would also like to try MyPlick.  It apparently helps you to embed and I have problems with this on my blogging but to do this in a powerpoint would be cool.  I find powerpoints truly boring.  Yes I like the pictures but when presenters put lots of text I find I need to read it but at the same time the presenter is talking and I need to listen.  In my brain I would rather look than listen so I shut the presenter out then am lost when I go back to listening. 

I was exploring the Prezi site ( I was curious because a few people in class have mentioned this one) but the minimum age is 13.  I want 12 and under!  I want to spend time on finding and learning about something I can use with my students.

I am going back to voicethread so students can discuss things and draw on the screen.  The tutorial on “cooltoolsforschools” for voicethread is great!  The third video is the most important for getting the work done.  Then there is an embedding tutorial for embedding my voicethread that I will use for posting this on my blog.

Reading in the online environment

I still prefer to read a book in print over reading from an ereader or online.  I do not need to recharge it and is fun to share with others.  I like lending out my books.

Reading in the Web 2.0 world is okay.  About 3 years ago I still liked to print out assignments and readings but as I read more on the computer with CBC or email I find I do not print so much.  I might save it but even still I am choosing to read it from the computer.  Having a laptop helps too so that I can read from my computer in front of the fireplace with my hot chocolate. 

If the article I am reading is long, I may copy and paste the portion I wish to read onto a word doc then make it 14 font for easier reading.  Most articles seem too small in font to me.  Maybe that is age but it has become a preference for me to change the font size to 14.

If I am writing a paper and wish to proof read the paper I will print it out.  I don’t know why but I can concentrate on reading and scribbling corrections on the paper better this way.  Then I go back to the computer to make my corrections from my scribbled up page.

Having a couple or few windows open at a time so I can read and write on the computer is powerful.  I am an active reader, meaning as I read I like to write things down.  As I think while reading I like to scribble some of my thoughts and reading from the computer with a word doc open to write in at the same time makes this easier for me.  Reading from a book means I have pieces of paper sticking out and a pen or golf pencil in my book.  I suppose that is one reason why I like owning my books because I jot notes (and bend pages)! 

 

I do not have an ereader or ipad.  I think I will someday but I am waiting for the nice to settle down about which might be better to get.  I think an ipad will win because I can do more things with an ipad.  I am not into having tons of toys.  I would probably end up leaving my ereader at home and having my ipad with me when I want to read and my reading is on the ereader.  Or something like that.  It would also mean more login and password letters and number to memorize!  I am having a hard enough time with my new Visa PIN!

I don’t feel that I am the right person to promote this new kind of reading to my colleagues and students.  I have discussions sometimes with them about the use of ereaders, personal or school based.  For the most part friends seem excited about their personal ereaders but find that reading books that are not mainstream or popular are hard to come by.  There is not a real choice in ereaders for personal taste in ereader availability. 

Actually, I am curious now that I write this but I wonder about the books that I have recently read … How many of my books are available on ereaders?  The Help, yes.  The Black Tulip, no.  1982, no.  The Winter Palace, yes.  That Boy Red, no.  Racing Home, no.  Ice Storm, no. I Am Number Four, yes.  Gone, yes. The Hobbit, yes.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, yes.  Fathom, no.  Steampunk!, yes!  Peculiars, no.  So out of 13 books, I can get 7 of them in ereaders.  So half of my reading is still only in print.  Yes, that matters to me as I like to read different kinds of books.  Maybe this will be my way of seeing when books online are ready for me. As far as being a model or the person to promote and lead teachers in this area, I am not a leader.  I can honestly say this is not an area I want to be a leader in.  My main focus is to get students (and my friends) into reading.  What form that takes really does not matter to me.  Still, I like seeing what is going to happen with ereaders and online reading.   Personally, I think there is something better than ereaders still.  Sort of like when videos first came out.  Beta vs. VHS then bang they were taken out by DVDs.  It is fun to watch.

Just about to publish when I realized tht I do advocate  bit for books online!  TumbleReaders!  I tell people about them.  Especially the TAs but they find it too time consuming.  I also show students how to use our eresources.  Mostly Culture Grams and WorldBook online.  The teachers like it butmostly it is left for me to teach.  I have a feeling some of the teachers will start using more soon.   

bibliography

"Burnt and Bent | Preservation Underground." Duke University Libraries Blogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2012. http://blogs.library.duke.edu/preservation/2010/08/12/burnt-and-bent/.

 

Dueck, Adele.  "Racing Home: Amazon.ca: Adele Dueck: Books." Amazon.ca: Online shopping for Canadians - books, electronics, music, DVDs, software, video games & more. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2012. http://www.amazon.ca/Racing-Home-Adele-Dueck/dp/1550504509.

 

Ghomeshi, Jian. "1982: Amazon.ca: Jian Ghomeshi: Books." Amazon.ca: Online shopping for Canadians - books, electronics, music, DVDs, software, video games & more. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2012. http://www.amazon.ca/1982-Jian-Ghomeshi/dp/0670066486.

 

"READING | Online English Guru." Online English Guru | Web English Teacher | Improve Conversation in English| English for Business Communication | Spoken English. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2012. http://onlineenglishguru.com/blog/?p=169.

 

wikispaces are useful in the classroom

I recently started a Wikispace with a colleague for the purpose of having our perspective classes (grade 2/3) communicate online.  We want our students to learn net etiquette and how to communicate online while sharing their learning about First Nations Seven Sacred Teaching, First Nations art and the Carrier Language.

The site is private, for only the teachers involved and students involved to use.  Parents do not have access even!  I would share this with my LIBE 477 class but I am afraid that posting this slightly opens the privacy we desire!  We have been encouraged by our district to share what we are doing with other teachers in our district but no further than that range.

Our intentions for the Fall is that as students create their “animal” puppet from the seven sacred teachings, pictures will be posted and students will share their learning.  We are just in the learning about our assigned sacred animal and its virtue at this stage.  The kids are very excited about this.

One thing I was surprised at is that, in a recent survey, I learnt that of this class of 23 students, 3 have their own Facebook account, 12 others use their parents Facebook account and 4 students have their own gmail account!  Grade 2 and 3 students!

CBC - Doc Zone - Episode - Facebook Follies

CBC - Doc Zone - Episode - Facebook Follies

I know this social networking blog is early but you should see this!

Total # of Canadians that are on Facebook : 16 908 380 (Ranked 13th against all other countries – As of October 2011)

Total % of Canadian population that are on Facebook : 50.08% (Ranked 17th against all other countries ­- As of October 2011)

Total of Facebook users as of September 2011 : 800 Million  

Country with highest # of Facebook users : USA - 155 981 460 people (As of October 2011)

Country with lowest # of Facebook users : Vatican City -  20 people (As of October 2011)

Canadian average # of Facebook friends: 190 friends

Global average # of Facebook friends: 130 friends

Average amount of time Canadians spend on Facebook each month: 400 minutes

Daily active Facebook users in Canada : 9 Million

Minimum legal age for Facebook users : 13 years  (I wonder what the average under age is?)

Fastest growing Facebook user demographic : women 55 years +

Number of photos uploaded to Facebook daily : 250 Million (as of October 2011)

Found at: http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/facebook-follies.html  on November 1, 2012

Did you watch “Facebook Follies” on Doc Zone with Ann-Marie MacDonald?  It is in the archives now but it was posted on November 1, 2012 or on TV at 9:00pm tonight.  I helped be decide not to use Facebook.  I had signed up but have been lazy, reluctant, ??? at getting it going.  Now, after watching this documentary about social media, I will not engage in Facebook further.  It is “the cyber-crime” place on the computer.  I decided I will not be a part of this.

Go to CBC-TV to find this on Doc Zone.

It is one thing to share with others but the potential of what you do on Facebook has too far reaching problems whether you are naughty or nice on it.

Alternatively, I want to still set up a Web page to blog on mostly about my art.