Thing # 4 part 2 Flickr Download

This is how an image looks when the blog entry is created from within Flickr. In this case, I used the blogger plug in to send this image from my Photostream to my blog and it created this page at the same time.  This kind of combination of tasks [Photo edit and blogging] lends itself well to the teacher or student who either uses and iOS device like the iPad or and Android device that does not maintain a file system.  Without the file system the importing of photos becomes problematic.

When addressing Information Communication Technology (ICT) equity in our schools, I would like to think a combination of writing and inserting images would help promote technologies in locations of limited access.  Image a chemistry class that has a camera and a computer.  The class could post photos of the experiment in flickr under a joint account.  The each student could send an image to their blog and write up the lab report using the class computer.  That would provide equal access to each member if the class.


jeepenhanced, a photo by Viking Photography on Flickr.

Thing # 6 RSS feeds

Thing # 6 RSS Feed

The promise of high speed broadband connectivity and mobile devices like tablets, smartphones and iPads is that we can be connected to our global world in real time.  What does that look like?

I imagine streams of news reports as they happen.  Text, video, photos, and audio streams that engage us in the latest developments.  I imagine, it would be like a magazine but moving and with the latest information, constantly updating. I imagine, it would entertain as much as it would inform. I should be able to "clip" sources and save them in scrape book of sorts.  I should imagine I'd enjoy sharing the best ones with friends.

What would that look like?

For one example, think Rich Site Summary (RSS).  RSS is a quick summary of websites coded in a fast language called XML. That is technobabble which describes a website being deigned to send a summary of content out on the Internet for a Reader to pick up and present in a quick line of text. The viewer can then choose to jump to the host webpage and view the whole page.  For example, I want to keep up on the latest trends in higher education, specifically in MOOCs.   So I subscribe to an RSS feed from The Chronicle of Higher Education.  When their webmaster adds new content, I receive a quick summary of the new article (RSS) that grabs my attention and makes me want to double click on the title and read, see, view, or listen to new content.

To get started all you need is an RSS reader like Netvibes. Here are two screen shots of my Netvibes reader.

 This shot captures the big picture with easy to follow windows from the six RSS feeds that I am currently following.  These windows could be gadgets like the weather data in the top left corner, news articles, or email.

You could also choose to use a simple chronologically organized index of new feeds. This is good when you just want the latest news. This can also be your home page for your favorite browser.

How do I use RSS feeds?

I am glad you asked.

I like to read from my iPad and as a graduate student who works in technology and enjoys photography and psychology, I use a more versatile reader than Netvibes as my go to RSS reader. I prefer ZITE.  It is available only for IOS and Android. Arguably it is an intelligent reader.  You let Zite know if you like an article with thumbs up or down.  Topics you like increase, while topics you don't like decrease. If you love a topic, you can select a heart.  I have almost twenty topics or sites selected. This summer, I received mostly RSS feeds from Nikon, Photography, DSLR, and Atlantic Monthly.  Now that I am back in school, I see more feeds from researchers, educational sites, and psychology peer review articles.  I spend at least an hour each night reading about what interests me.  Zite has a link to send your favorite RSS feeds to Twitter, Email, or save in Evernote. Working with Evernote is almost as important as the artificial intelligence aspect offered by Zite. It lets me grab and cite informative articles and file them in a searchable manner.  When I am working on a paper or need a quick reference in class I can easily locate the article first saw as an RSS feed in Zite. Now that is efficient.  My only regret, is that Zite is not available in Windows (yet).

What else is there?

Microsoft Outlook has a great RSS reader.  You can read RSS clips just like email.

FlipBoard (IOS) a wonderful magazine style reader.  Flipboard works best if you chose magazines or newspapers as sources as opposed to topics like Critical Thinking.

DailyNews (IOS) a good news MashUP from API and Reuters. I like this one on my iPhone.

News Bento (Windows 8) Bento has many categories like Zite, but it is not intelligent, for now it does not learn from your habits. Paris Review, ArsTecnica, Harvard Business Review, Engaget, and Huffington Post are favorites of mine in News Bento.

Bing News (Windows 8) similar to News Bento but with more actual news, less editorials.  Bing News has lots of video feeds as well. This is a great place to get video of breaking news.

 

Collaboration is a key factor in meaningful learning.  Any good RSS reader can deliver quality information tailored to your needs.  The best ones anticipate your mood and offer social networking tools to quickly share with your friends and colleagues.

Thing # 5 Photos with Mashups and Flickr

Lets have more fun with Flickr and web 2.0 tools by third party programmers that link the qualities of Flickr's large data base of photographs with some interesting and valuable effects.  For example, you could take a photograph and draw the outline of a jigsaw puzzle over the image as if your photo were a puzzle.

Do you get picture? Now a clever person could work that picture into a power point as the teaser slide that asks "do you get the picture?"

So check out this cool option. This tool, Spell With Flickr,  lets you select a photo of a letter from Flickr's data base.  You can spell out a word or just use one letter.




A mashup is a term coined by hackers about twenty years ago to describe a site that is composed of feeds from at least two distict sources.  Much like this page that uses photos from flickr composed by Mashups.com and delivered by Blogspot.

Mashable dot com is a site that lists 100+ tools for flickr users.  With a little imagination and an educator's eye, most of these tools can easily be ported into the classroom.  I was amazed at how fast I could make Mashups spell the word mashups in a jpg.

Flickr is so popular now-a-days that if you can imagine it, there is probably a tool that can make it happen.

The last word on flickr is "remember a picture is worth a thousand words"

Thing # 4 Exploring Flickr

We continue using photographs by adding a Web 2.0 tool perfect for the task "flicker"  Once designed as a component in a game, flickr became more valuable and popular than the game. Flickr serves both professional and armature. As an educator what I find most gratifying is that fact that a photographer and tag their photo as part of the Creative Commons licensing.  This simple gesture shares this valuable tool with every educator and student at no cost. It makes attainable the notion that a picture is worth a thousand words.

I recall the moment when I picked up my iPad and went to http://flickr.com/photos/102066657@N06 and saw my photos on line.  I was excited to work that I had created out there on the Internet for everyone to see. I dashed into the next room and proudly told my daughter to go to flickr and search for "teal Jeep."  She found images of hundreds of vintage jeeps.  At the top left corner were my two photos of a teal jeep at Rock Port, Texas.   What excitement did I feel? I felt un-imaginable pride.

This second feature is call "tag" and flickr lets you use them to identify your photos.  You can use as many tags per photo as you feel necessary.  This helps the educator create meaningful presentations by illustrating concepts for students.  A thousand words can be spared by the employment of a picture. You create sets and collections of stock photos in your account.  By thematically breaking down the groupings you in effect create a searchable library of ready to use images. The richer your use of tags, sets, and collections the easier it will be to locate useful images quickly. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/102066657@N06/9792217336/

I created a collection of stock photos.  Then I inserted sets of photos.  Each set is based around a theme like Jeeps or Churches.  Then each photo is tagged with additional clarity. 

Some of the issues I face is that fact that flickr is not supporting RAW or NEFF images at this time.  Since I typically use RAW images because they are more detailed when making custom adjustments in Photoshop or LightRoom.  Since I then convert the touched up image to the smaller jpeg file format before positing online.

Using the Blogger interface, you can move images from flickr to a blog like this one easily.  As I had mentioned before, a person who does not own a computer can access images over the Internet and post them in blogs or Google Docs using public access computers.  It is important for educators to promote digital literacy using these tools.

Thing # 3 Working with photos

Thing # 3 Upload photos.

I took these random photos from an un sorted gallery in my Light room 5 collection. They have not been tagged and processed yet. I converted then from RAW files to jpg and dropped the size by 33%.


Down Town



The Teal Building

 

 

Chalk paintings of ISTE leaders at the San Antonio Convention

 
 

 

 

Summer in Sugar Land, greens, reds, blues...

 

 Mentorship is important. Here one generation passes on seamanship to a new generation. Are they thinking safety or "just got the keys"

These three I choose to show ways to set a mood by lighting.  The sheet music is to "Simple Gifts"

 

Thing # 2 Blogging

Thing # 2 Blogging

The power of ideas is what sets sentient beings apart from other creatures. The power to reflect and develop upon ideas in one's own mind is a step toward critical thinking.  The power to articulate your ideas and foment thought separates the learned among us. I was thinking about how I would advance a discussion on blogging last Sunday, when I chanced upon the second rally in America's Cup. 

 

Imagine if you will two giant sailing boats racing off San Francisco, in the bay. One powered by the money and technology behind Oracle data bases and the equally formidable backers under the banner of New Zealand. What impressed me and captured my attention was the incredible photography. HD or 1080p has really changed what we see in the world.  On my modest flat screen TV, I could see white drops of sea foam and mist blowing across sails. I could see sheets of water sheeting across polished red and black decks. to my surprise,  I noticed that both boats were out of the water.  They were sailing or flying on wings, Hydrofoils to be more exact. Their hulls were balanced on the tips of foils like a ballerina balanced one her toes. From center of giant her sail loomed upward constructed like an airplane's wing but lying on its side.  Everywhere I looked I saw high tech technology. 

 

Blogging is about sharing ideas and processing thought.  Its not about the information, it is about how the blogger processes and pontificates on the data streaming in their head.  Oracle won the rally, New Zealand came in second and low tech came in every other position.  Americas Cup had 30,000 recorded data points! She sailed at 42 knots! and won because her "tactician" John Kosyecki know how to process all that data in his head as he choose the line that would steal the most wind from New Zealand and put him 9 seconds ahead at the finish.

 

 

Now, how do we instill that kind or higher level thinking in our students?  What framework puts all those technologies together in the same hull?  How do I lead this disruption into innovation in education? How was TPACK applied when teaching those technologies for the first time?   

 

 

To make a difference blogging needs to be fun! You should enjoy blogging. pick a time of the day that works.  Setting short routine goals can help build a life long habit. Don't try and "finish" the blog, it should never be finished.  Sip some coffee, put on the fire place screen saver on your iPad and begin writing. Like every accomplished athlete knows,  practice makes perfect.  Practice builds muscle memory and the process gets easier. In time, you will be excited to come to the computer and share your ideas.  You'll explored with metaphors and "ah ha" moments.

 

 

I have started countless blogs, and I have tried equally countless blog engines.  I love working with the versatility of Weebly, which is more of a website with a blog attachment than it is a blog site.  On the other hand, BlogSpot has a simple clean easy to setup interface.  When typing, the interface is simple and clean.  I can easily focus my attention on the writing.  But I miss the use of photography that Weebly affords me. I can and will use images as I have done here, but the artistry will be the challenge.

 

In this blog spot, I choose the picture template.  This allowed me to use the darker backgrounds I am know for and to substitute the template background with one of my photos. I choose a photo I took and later photo shopped of a my tablet and green stylus.  Notice Reed Geertsen's table on higher level thinking in the tablet's display.  The banner across the top is a Photoshop banner I made to celebrate the first day of school this year.  Laptop one to one is its theme. I wanted these two elements to be a scaffold to support my ideas as we journey this semester down the Blog Super Highway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo from: http://oracle-team-usa.americascup.com/news/5359/oracle-team-usa-to-regroup-return-to-race-course-Thursday

Geertsen, R. H. (2003) Rethinking Thinking about Higher-Level Thinking. Teaching Sociology, Vol. 31. No. 1 (Jan, 2003), pp.1-19. American Sociological Society.