I got my first post other than Brent’s. Read about it in the Digital Storytelling section.
In week four I was a bit frustrated with wordpress and then all of a sudden it worked. In week five my frustrations are back, not the fault of wordpress as much as it is of the operator.
Because I missed the first face-to-face class I did not get the opportunity to meet any of my classmates except for online. Last Tuesday evening was a great experience for me, the class was so full and everyone was learning from each other. We had a teacher from Taiwan join us. It was a pleasure to hear her perspective on blogging. She has the same fear as the rest of us. Her blog is http://colleen2007ucd.wordpress.com/ . Other students came up to me to introduce themselves and that was really nice.
In class I was trying to subscribe to blogs and discovered that Safari had a problems subscribing to so I used Firefox instead and it did a better job. I created an account with bloglines for my reader.
The university has a program called Arts in Medicine and every month a professional presents a topic related to art and medicine. I attended the program entitled What is synesthesia? Hearing colors! Tasting Shapes! I was interested in this program because sometimes I see color, shapes, and numbers and it is a subject that I want to research because I believe it may have an impact on educational products I will make in the future. I met with the Doctor several days after the presentation and we talked about synesthesia. I don’t have synesthesia but I have a very vivid imagination and the most interesting topic that came out of our meeting was about the state of minds when we are half asleep and half awake, we let our guard down and that seems to allow our subconscious to react in ways in normally would not. I interested in the possibilities of finding that state of mind during normal wake hours. Calm and meditation usually work for me.
I attended two classes on Endnote, a software tool for publishing and managing bibliographies, available for both the Mac and PC. Thomson ResearchSoft, the maker of Endnote provides a 30-day free trial of the software. The free trial can be found at http://www.endnote.com . Journeyed.com offers Endnote for $99.98 student edition. Thomson ResearchSoft has also created a web version called Endnoteweb, you can find it at http://www.endnoteweb.com . You can store and retrieve your bibliographies from anywhere as long as you have Internet access. The biggest difference between the desktop version and web version is that you cannot store PDF documents on the web version. After I had these classes I thought it would be a wonderful tool to keep my information organized from Brent’s class as well as from the rest of the program. It is an impressive tool and I suggest you visit the website and read about it.
I started reading a book this weekend that is required for my IT 5730: Video Editing & Multimedia class entitled “MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer” by Hillman Curtis. Hillman shares his experiences as a multimedia designer breaking them up into three sections-Process, Inspiration, and Practice. I’ve only made it through the Process section and I’m very pleased with his writing, the layout of the book, and his enthusiasm for designing New Media. I was inspired the entire time I was reading his book.
I got my iPhone $100 credit from Apple.
I roasted two sacks of chili and it took me an entire weekend. New Mexico had a difficult season and the price doubled per sack, but it’s worth it! I made chili rellenos for the first time. They were not the most visually appealing rellenos but they sure were tasty.
I just got the books and am curious to see how the book helps with the video editing. It is something I am very interested in since shooting video is always a very useful skill wherever we go. It could be time-consuming, though.
I’ve been sharing your frustrations with getting the RSS feeds, etc. to work or just doing it correctly. I keep telling myself that the persistence and patience will pay off!
I’ve only ever roasted a few green chilis at a time. I can’t imagine roasting a whole bag! I bet they were tasty.
Did you say your bringing chilli to our next class?
I’m looking forward to reading that book too. Kyle
This time of year always reminds me of green chili. My ex was from Sante Fe and his mother made the best green chili in the world. I miss the days hanging out with his family and eating green chili and corn bread with jalapenos. I also remember that you NEVER cut chilis without gloves on; did that once and will never do it again (my hands burned for 3 days). I am glad your rellenos were good! I know this comment didn’t have to do with technology, but thanks for reminding me of good times.
I read Hillmans book “On creating short films for the web” I can’t really say that it was the best I read, but helpful and inspiring in a way. I think that his las section on flash was great. All in all it’s a great way to start thinking more about the power of movement and how to use it to deliver a message, the technology involved and the mishaps that teach valuable lessons.
Carmella I really liked the way you present your blog, and the narrative about the latest events in your life.
I’m also frustrated with wordpress, I can’t get more than one rss feed to show. I had 8, now they’re on my google reader but I can’t add that either, I guess I’ll just post the website for it. aaarrgh!
Bye!
Love your iPhone pic that is so cool. I finally got a chance to go and play with the new iPod touches at the apple store and I want one so badly. Just think if our students had those iPods with the internet in class at all times how much more teachers could do with being connected at all times and not have to go into the lab to look one thing up. I know they would also cause problems with kids surfing, but I still think they are more good than bad.