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.