Wikimedia Commons...

OK, the next wiki-adventure I went on was Wikimedia Commons. the site was just as easy and fun to go on as the Wikiquote site. Wikimedia Commons is a file repository the houses images, video clips and sounds for public use. Just down right sweet. Free things and in an area of free that I like too.

Naturally, the first area that I went to was the image area. There were old and new photos, animations, diagrams, maps and paintings. From here, the list goes on and on and on.

I did take a quick look in the sound area and did see that some classical music was available. Pronunciations were too.

I can see myself re-visiting this site and will also see about "donating" some images as well. Educational material in the dental field is somewhat limited, so it may help with their collection of images.

Think of the Web as a big bathroom wall. And everyone has a marker.

Looking at the projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, I found my first spark of interest - Wikiquote. Wikiquote is a collection of quotes from notable people. And of course, non-notable people as I soon found out. I'm definitely not a quoter, but I do know people that are. Maybe this is where they get some of their quotes from, but who knows. I guess I figured I'd take a look and see.

Initially looking at the site, it was pretty easy to navigate around. Sure I could look up quotes from highly respected people.... but that is so not me. I went into the anonymous area. After all, I prefer to see the odd ones that unknowns will have said.

OK, so there were a lot of really good, funny quotes to be able to pick a favorite one. Besides the title quote, here are two more:

• Better a smartass, than a dumbass.


• It's not cheating, it's creative sportsmanship.

The Commons......

I love images. They can be used to convey feelings, provide visual memories in your audience and even give subliminal messaging. Trying to locate something that I liked visually while following the rules of the game (no restrictions) was a little time consuming and tough to do. I did run across The Commons early in my search, but finding a picture that I wanted to use was the tough thing.

The Commons is a pilot project that involves the partnership of Flickr with The Library of Congress. From the enormous collection of photographs, The Library choose approximately 1,500 from each of two collections to show on Flickr.

According to the The Commons site, the program has two objectives. The first is to increase access to publicly-held photography collections. The second is to provide a way for the public to contribute information and knowledge. If you want more information on the Rights and Copyrights, then please visit this site.

So, the real question is whether I would contribute something wonderful to anyone and everyone. To allow them to use it as they choose, when they choose and how they choose?

Sure I would. Over the years, I have given orofacial anatomy tutorials that I have created, to any one that wanted them. They are publicly available online on both GTCC's dental websites and The Toothful Exchange. I have also given many clinical images to anyone that needed them. This includes students, faculty, other schools and to be used in textbooks. I think half the fun of making tutorials or taking clinical photographs is to share them with others.

The Thrill of the Embed.....

OK, so I actually had to look up the term embed just to make sure as to what I was to do. Once I got that straight, I realized I had done that yesterday with a video embedded into the Audio Sharing page in CMSimple.

Since the video embed was done, I started with the picture embed. Not too much issue with this one. Was easier to do it via the HTML code aspect of CMSimple. Since I was already in Photobucket, I played with the slide show thing and got that part done too.

And yes, I saved the best for last- the audio embedding. I didn't like ZShare yesterday and still have ill feelings towards it today. It will not let you embed audio files. Only videos. Odd application. And just think, I was the one that choose to use it..... hmmm..... I am starting to wonder about myself.

OK, this one is just odd.....

Coming up with an audio sharing application was interesting. The original one that I wanted to use was having issues with my Norton. So I decided on ZShare.

I really am not sure if I like this application at all. And yes, it worse than what I feel for CMSimple.

ZShare is bland, confusing to use, does not allow or at least I could not figure out how to link to other sites and it allows you to earn $ (this is typically a good thing) by downloaded your file to some sort of Yaboe account. I did not even want to go into that area if i was feeling so good about the ZShare. I have no idea as to how you invite friends, that's if you can, I have no idea who any other members are. As a matter of fact, I am not even sure where you go when you link to my ZShare profile.

The best thing is that I can delete my files once I am done with using it in this class.

This is really the first time that I have used Photobucket and moving around was quite easy. Uploading pictures and moving them into folders went well. Guess it would be a good site if I really wanted to share my disgusting dental photos with everyone or anyone.

I did like the fact that I can upload photos from so many different areas - from email, the cell phone, the web, etc.... Just never know when I will capture that web acclaimed photo that will be shown to the world.

It's not a site that I would use to share photos, but I can see that it would be an interesting site to look at the ones that everyone else in the world has placed there.

You Tubin....

I really don't have much experience with the You Tube thing. I have uploaded a few things, but mainly for this course. I do have a strange video or two on there as well.

Things I liked with regards to You Tube include being able to alter the theme and font colors, allowing for some degree of customization. I guess it's nice that you can give some profile information as well. I just need to copy paste from all my other profiles. Uploading videos is easy to do too.

The linking to my other accounts was not happening on my end or using my brain. Maybe someone else can figure that one out.

Cups of Stuff.....

OK, so I am "making" some more accounts. I have a cup full of them now. I think I really need to move each to it's own cup and label it so I can keep all of them straight.

I took the short road to the video sharing account- I will use You Tube, since we have already have used it in this class.

The picture sharing thing is new to me. I tend to just email a picture if I want someone to see one. Who wants to see my photos anyway?

The audio sharing thing is just down right odd. I created an account with SoundBoard. No problem there. Problem does come up when all of a sudden my Norton Security says the site has issues. Sweet. I will not return to the site and you will notice that I did not give you a link to the site......

Next I tried ZShare- seems to be really bland in appearance. Probably nicer if you upgrade to the Premium account. And I don't have any earthly idea on how "Friends" are added or see my files. At least Norton did not pick up any issues with the site.

I did upload one file into each of the newer accounts, just to have something in the "cups". As for the linking to the other accounts....... hmm.....

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

As I sit and think about this semester’s course I can say that it’s easier to classify things into the good, the bad and the ugly. Some of the classifications are note as clear, since as time has gone on, adjustments within the course have occurred.

Not following the lead of the title, I’ll start with the ugly… not saying that things in the course have been ugly, I think that I will first define the term ugly. Ugly refers to those things that I consider not being high on my list of favorite. I am so accustomed to providing a detailed syllabus to my own students; I like being given guidance as to where the course will take me as the semester continues. This has improved within the early weeks of the course and it helped me see where the journey will take me. The other ugly deals with the number of emails that were circulating in the beginning of the course. Let’s just say that it was, hmmm….. Shocking. The battery on the Blackberry was draining so fast that it had to be charged every day. I’m just glad that the number is now more manageable. I now need to figure out an easy method of keeping track of which classmate’s assignment I have looked at and which I have rated.

Moving into the bad, I will look at those things that I consider okay about the course. Yep, neutral for me - I can take them or leave them. They did give me exposure to something that I may not have done before and allowed me additional knowledge that I would not have had without exposure from taking this class. I’m just not sure if I will use them in the future.

The first is using CMSimple. I am just not a fan of the application and I will leave it at that. I am not a writer either – blogging is not for me. With this in mind, the wiki-things are okay. I have used them before; I am just not a writer / author to desire to provide any input into the writings. With all this in mind, I have now more accounts that it is becoming fun trying to keep them all straight.

Like everything in life, talking about the good, things I have enjoyed, is the easiest to write about. Most likely, everyone will say that they have enjoyed exposure to using Wordle. Great application. I also enjoyed having to re-do my logo as well. Since the logo was not considered to instill a feeling of Web 2.0, it allowed me to find another software application that I will continue to use in the future (Logo Maker).

Second Life was a totally new application for me. Yes, it can be a little confusing trying to figure out “the rules”, but it provides a world / application that I have never been exposed to.

One of my favorite “assignments” of the course was the Introduction Video and the Web 2.0 Talk with Granny. This is where I am the most comfortable, since it allows my little brain to run free.

Overall, the course is going well. I feel better now than the first week and do look forward to see where we go from here.

Digg Account.....

Just finished setting up my Digg account. Had heard of the site, but never actually been on it.

Set up my profile, added a little about myself (can't add to much, so that's actually nice), uploaded a photo and "added" one friend.

Part of the assignment was to add 10 links including tags (of which I have no idea how to do the tag thing). Adding the links was an easy process. Just was not sure as to what to add, so I added some of the profiles that I have recently created as a result of this course. Naturally, I will have to find out about the tag thing.

I did spend a little time looking around on Digg. Was great to see that I could customize the topics so that I could avoid having to look through things I really don't want to read about. I did find an interesting article on a psychiatrist that charges an hourly rate to have sex with a patient..... he en billed BCBS for the "therapy". Just odd. Now I wonder if BCBS paid the submission or if the patient paid her co-pay or has meet her deductible.

Anyways, my Digg name is rjfoster03 and you can "friend-me" via my Gmail acoount - rickfoster03@gmail.com

Wikipedia profiling.....

I started and finished my profile page on Wikipedia. To make it easier on what to put in there, I used some of the information that I have on my Introduction page in the Web 2.0 course.

Formatting was not too bad. It did get a little confusing when I was indenting, but once I actually figured out that I don't have to use
between each indent, i was free to go and play some more.

Actually, the hardest point is coming up with 10 formatting items in the editing. I am not even sure as to how many I actually did. Ten different formatting changes is tough, unless you are trying to beat the small amount of text to death.

Hmmm.... I wonder how many I actually did?

1. Bold


2. Heading size


3. Italics


4. Spacing


5. Indent


6. Indent in again


7. "Triple indent


8. Link to jpeg file


9. Internal link


10. External links

Sweet. That's 10.

Wikipedia profile

Second Life.....

So, I got to explore Second Life for the first time.... the initial landing in the program put me in an area that did not have anyone else walking around. After learning to walk, run and fly, I decided to attempt to modify my appearance. Was able to change the shirt, hair and eyes, but could not do much with my hair. It could get longer and spiky, but not able to make it less or change the color. I did end up losing a shoe and had to walk around with only one on. Good thing I had the sock still.

Finally figured out how to get to Paris and did see people hanging out. Did meet up with a classmate and then got teleported to the classes meeting place.

Good to learn some of the basics of SL at the class meeting. Will help if and when I return to SL.

I can see some use of SL with regards to education, but I can see that I will not be able to use it in my situation. The hardware required will limit the number of students that can participate in it's use. Some still have only dial-up connections, some only with older units and some with no computer at all.

I had never heard of SL, but the overall exposure to SL was interesting to say the least. I will probably visit a little more in the future, but I don't think the SL thing is for me.

Web 2.0 with Granny

Ok, so I did things a little different with my explanation of Web 2.0 to Granny.  Since I was off of school today, I figured I wanted to play a little.  Longer route to get the assignment done, but more like me than writing.....

Weekly Blog...

Anyone on this site

Not being in or from a business world, the concept of crowd sources would have never come to mind. After reading the article and seeing how the term and process works, I realize that I had used this technique in my own little world. If I could have only thought of the term before the rightful owner did. I could have been in Wikipedia.......

A few years ago, I needed to come up with name for a website that I was in the process of developing. Coming up with the name was the tough thing - I needed something that would capture the feel of the site that I was trying to obtain.

So, what better way to get some help- I had 90ish students that could be used as a somewhat known crowd. I listed the sites description, the overall objective of the site and more importantly, the feel or look that I was trying to obtain.

The submissions were listed as they were submitted and had to be submitted within a given time frame. The top three choices would be selected by another crowd and then the overall crowd would choose the site's name.

Naturally, students love being rewarded for their effort. The top three names would receive a unique wood tooth. The name that would be selected as the site's name would get another unique wood tooth and be given credit on the website.

The benefits of crowdsourcing for me included little cost, fast resolution, unlimited talent and no issue with employee contracts, etc....

In reality, it worked perfectly in my situation.

As for the educational setting that I am in and having people doing work on a massive scale, there are some issues that can arise from this. One is that some students will not get involved with the work. And there are always those that want to do the least amount of work for the best possible grade, trying to come up with something that will "pay" equally will be an issue. Yes, grades are something that has to be given in my world. And although everyone thinks they deserve the highest grade for the amount of work / time they put in, they don't because in reality, they did not put in anything.

End of the Week....

So, it is Saturday and the snow is everywhere. Actually my favorite time of the year- cold is great, but the snow makes it perfect.

Have enjoyed this week better than the first week. More structured for me with a travel plan given.

The video work is something I really liked since it allowed me to show some creativity in it. True, i tend to like to make videos look better, but with different guidelines, it was good to do.

Also enjoyed the youtube videos that we critiqued. I am not a writer, editor or deep in nature, but I did find both of them to be inspiring and thought provoking.

The first Week....

So, this is the first entry of my blog..... and since I should look at the first week of this course, I will get right to it.

Go to my CMSimple site - http://www.tropicalteachers.com/web2.0/2010sp/r2f/

Have a look around. It will give you a general idea of what I thought about the first week of class.

I am usually a laid back, low key, odd individual. But the number of emails that went through the BlackBerry actually got on my nerves enough to stress me. Shocking since I am such an email orientated person. I tend to over email my own students to keep them abreast of things that are coming up, etc. Maybe it was the fact that all the replies were coming through the BB. Now that I think about it, I realize that I don't hear back from most of my students, so I am the emailer and not the emailee.

I am also a syllabus person, whether I am this way naturally or not. It is what I have been raised to be. I have become used to giving guidance as to what will be expected, what will be done over time and how everyone will get there. Having no syllabus, no schedule of topics was a little unnerving for me.

I like puzzles, but I really like knowing what I will be doing to get the puzzle completed.