Hello all!
So, as I said at the end of last week, this past week was very busy for me. Monday through Friday I was at Florida High from 8am-8pm running band camp by myself. That left little time to get things accomplished for this class and my change management class. Although stressful, I got it all done. This upcoming week is going to be even worse because in addition to week 2 of band camp, pre planning for the high school I teach at that is 45 minutes away begins. So I will be running back and forth.
This week I really enjoyed the produsage project. I was not able to officially finish it until today, but I enjoyed the experience overall. It forced me to think outside of my math lesson plan box. I chose a topic in sociology and it can be seen here. I thought it would be easy to find applications for the Web 2.0 tools I have been playing with throughout the semester, but it was more difficult than I initially thought. I completely forgot that we posted out knowledge sharing and tracking projects for the entire class to see, so when I posted my produsage one for the class, I checked out comments on that one. While I have very much enjoyed the content of this class, I am very excited for this upcoming week to be the last. Just one semester left until graduation!
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Google Slides Q&A Feature
Hello all!
As I was working on my produsage project, I came across a feature that I never knew existed: Q&A during the presentation. You can check out my project here which has screenshots of this feature in Appendix C. Basically, the presenter turns on the Q&A mode during the presentation and shares a link to the Q&A forum with the audience. The audience then types the link into their phone or computer and is in the forum. At any point during the presentation, the audience can type questions in that will appear to the presenter. The presenter sees the question and can choose to answer it then, project it for the entire room to see, or save it for later.
Another cool feature of this is that other audience members can up/down vote questions which helps the presenter pick the ones that are most desired. For example, if they are presenting to a huge lecture hall, it is hard to sift through all of the questions. But, if people are liking the questions they have, it is easier for the presenter to see what is most important. I wish I had known about this feature when I had given presentations in the past. It would have helped a lot with interacting with the audience and getting past the boring "Questions?" slide just slapped onto to the end. For anyone giving a presentation or assigning a presentation assignment to a group of students, I definitely suggest using this feature.
As I was working on my produsage project, I came across a feature that I never knew existed: Q&A during the presentation. You can check out my project here which has screenshots of this feature in Appendix C. Basically, the presenter turns on the Q&A mode during the presentation and shares a link to the Q&A forum with the audience. The audience then types the link into their phone or computer and is in the forum. At any point during the presentation, the audience can type questions in that will appear to the presenter. The presenter sees the question and can choose to answer it then, project it for the entire room to see, or save it for later.
Another cool feature of this is that other audience members can up/down vote questions which helps the presenter pick the ones that are most desired. For example, if they are presenting to a huge lecture hall, it is hard to sift through all of the questions. But, if people are liking the questions they have, it is easier for the presenter to see what is most important. I wish I had known about this feature when I had given presentations in the past. It would have helped a lot with interacting with the audience and getting past the boring "Questions?" slide just slapped onto to the end. For anyone giving a presentation or assigning a presentation assignment to a group of students, I definitely suggest using this feature.
Friday, July 28, 2017
Using Groupme to Plan for Band Camp
Hello all!
So this past week was the first of two weeks of band camp. This is the week where I ran things myself while the band director was in London, so there was a lot of things that needed to be done. Earlier in the week I talked about the system I made for teaching. It went really well and by the last day, the kids had a great fundamental understanding of how to march.
In the evenings, I wouldn't communicate with leadership on the Groupme app which I spoke about in a previous post. It was amazing because I was able to talk with different groups about how things went and their thoughts on what could be done differently to make things better, all from laying in bed. I already had a new appreciation for this app, but this past week has made me gain a larger one.
So this past week was the first of two weeks of band camp. This is the week where I ran things myself while the band director was in London, so there was a lot of things that needed to be done. Earlier in the week I talked about the system I made for teaching. It went really well and by the last day, the kids had a great fundamental understanding of how to march.
In the evenings, I wouldn't communicate with leadership on the Groupme app which I spoke about in a previous post. It was amazing because I was able to talk with different groups about how things went and their thoughts on what could be done differently to make things better, all from laying in bed. I already had a new appreciation for this app, but this past week has made me gain a larger one.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Applying Instructional Design to Band Camp
Hello all!
Today was the first day of a two week band camp, where I am the color guard instructor. The band director is studying abroad in London this week, so running things is left to me. This week is solely based on marching fundamentals. There is no music or drill yet. Normally, the leaders are just told to break up with their sections and teach. This led to leaders fighting over the "better" way to teach, and other leaders just standing in the background.
To help address these issues, I broke things up a little differently. I assigned each leader 2-3 band members to teach. They will work with those specific people all week, and only come together as a big band at the end. This helped with really getting down into the details because the leaders no only have to look at 2-3 people.
Another thing I did, was break all of the fundamentals up into modules. The leader much get their group passed off with one module before moving on to the next. I like the way that I broke up the modules, but as the leaders pointed out, more direction and detail is needed. Next year, I will print each module on it's own piece of paper with every little thing that they need to look out for. I might do it for tomorrow, but camp runs 8 am to 8 pm so time is limited. I will update later in the week with how this teaching method and break down is going.
Today was the first day of a two week band camp, where I am the color guard instructor. The band director is studying abroad in London this week, so running things is left to me. This week is solely based on marching fundamentals. There is no music or drill yet. Normally, the leaders are just told to break up with their sections and teach. This led to leaders fighting over the "better" way to teach, and other leaders just standing in the background.
To help address these issues, I broke things up a little differently. I assigned each leader 2-3 band members to teach. They will work with those specific people all week, and only come together as a big band at the end. This helped with really getting down into the details because the leaders no only have to look at 2-3 people.
Another thing I did, was break all of the fundamentals up into modules. The leader much get their group passed off with one module before moving on to the next. I like the way that I broke up the modules, but as the leaders pointed out, more direction and detail is needed. Next year, I will print each module on it's own piece of paper with every little thing that they need to look out for. I might do it for tomorrow, but camp runs 8 am to 8 pm so time is limited. I will update later in the week with how this teaching method and break down is going.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Reflection on Week 4
Hello all!
This week was not too bad workload wise, but the knowledge tracking and sharing project was intimidating. Even though I am a teacher, I struggle with recording my voice and videos of myself. I can talk in persona all day long but when it comes to recording myself, I clam up. One of the most annoying things was I would talk for a minute and in the last sentence majority stumble and have to start over.I did enjoy the discussion and Twitter feed this week.
Tomorrow I start band camp from 8am-8pm, all the way through Friday. I am worried about how much time I will be able to find to get things done throughout the week. The following week is the same thing, and the start of pre-planning for school, so i am even more nervous for that week. This is the part of the summer I have been dreading, simply for being able to find time. I love band camp, and I enjoy this class, I am just not sure how both at the same time will work out. I am taking another class on change management right now too so needless to say, this is gonna be a crazy last two weeks of the semester.
This week was not too bad workload wise, but the knowledge tracking and sharing project was intimidating. Even though I am a teacher, I struggle with recording my voice and videos of myself. I can talk in persona all day long but when it comes to recording myself, I clam up. One of the most annoying things was I would talk for a minute and in the last sentence majority stumble and have to start over.I did enjoy the discussion and Twitter feed this week.
Tomorrow I start band camp from 8am-8pm, all the way through Friday. I am worried about how much time I will be able to find to get things done throughout the week. The following week is the same thing, and the start of pre-planning for school, so i am even more nervous for that week. This is the part of the summer I have been dreading, simply for being able to find time. I love band camp, and I enjoy this class, I am just not sure how both at the same time will work out. I am taking another class on change management right now too so needless to say, this is gonna be a crazy last two weeks of the semester.
Groupme, an app for communication
Hello all!
I just wanted to tell you all about an app I use to talk with my marching band students at Florida High. It is much like other communication apps. The nice part about it is, you do not need someone's phone number to connect, and it doesn't show your phone number when you connect. This makes it perfect for teacher student interactions.
One of the things I really like about it, is that it is that it has a lot of other useful functionalities. You can set up calendar events to remind people of things. Once you set up a calendar event, there is a place where you click yes or no. So for volunteer activities it's great. You can also start a poll. So, when deciding where to eat, instead of hand raising, you can just start a poll in group me that everyone can quickly answer.
The app also stores a gallery, so when kids share photos from football games they are all there and easy to access, you did not have to scroll through the entire chat. This is the same with large documents too. Instead of sending an image of a permission form, you can send the actual word document or pdf that can be printed. Overall, it is a great app and I suggest that you use it if you have a team that you need to communicate with.
I just wanted to tell you all about an app I use to talk with my marching band students at Florida High. It is much like other communication apps. The nice part about it is, you do not need someone's phone number to connect, and it doesn't show your phone number when you connect. This makes it perfect for teacher student interactions.
One of the things I really like about it, is that it is that it has a lot of other useful functionalities. You can set up calendar events to remind people of things. Once you set up a calendar event, there is a place where you click yes or no. So for volunteer activities it's great. You can also start a poll. So, when deciding where to eat, instead of hand raising, you can just start a poll in group me that everyone can quickly answer.
The app also stores a gallery, so when kids share photos from football games they are all there and easy to access, you did not have to scroll through the entire chat. This is the same with large documents too. Instead of sending an image of a permission form, you can send the actual word document or pdf that can be printed. Overall, it is a great app and I suggest that you use it if you have a team that you need to communicate with.
Friday, July 21, 2017
Designing a Marching Band Show over the Web
Hello all!
For those of you that do not know, I am the color guard instructor at Florida High. Band camp starts next week and there is a lot to coordinate. One of the biggest things that is a summer long project is designing the halftime show performed during football games. Designing a show involves a few people. The band director sets the course for the show, the type of show that she wants, the story she wants to tell, the message she wants to send. All show designers coordinate on this part, but she starts it. Then there is the composer who writes out music. He currently lives in Ohio so all communication is done over the web. The next piece is the drill writer. He lives in South Carolina, so once again, lots of online communication. Finally there is me, the choreographer.
All four of us must work together throughout the summer to perfect the show. Another obstacle we ran into this summer, the band director is in London. So we are all four in very different places. Sometimes we use Google Chat to communicate, and sometimes skype. We use Google Docs when developing the story so we can all edit it together. We use dropbox to share the music. We use YouTube to share the choreography. Texting is usually a big component, but with the director in London, these tools and email have been essential. It is crazy to me to think how smoothly this all operates almost effortlessly. This is something that 10 years ago never could have happened in this way. Until taking this course, I did not even realize how powerful these tools really are. They have brought us together to create this story for the kids. Excited to see what other tools I stumble upon without even realizing it.
For those of you that do not know, I am the color guard instructor at Florida High. Band camp starts next week and there is a lot to coordinate. One of the biggest things that is a summer long project is designing the halftime show performed during football games. Designing a show involves a few people. The band director sets the course for the show, the type of show that she wants, the story she wants to tell, the message she wants to send. All show designers coordinate on this part, but she starts it. Then there is the composer who writes out music. He currently lives in Ohio so all communication is done over the web. The next piece is the drill writer. He lives in South Carolina, so once again, lots of online communication. Finally there is me, the choreographer.
All four of us must work together throughout the summer to perfect the show. Another obstacle we ran into this summer, the band director is in London. So we are all four in very different places. Sometimes we use Google Chat to communicate, and sometimes skype. We use Google Docs when developing the story so we can all edit it together. We use dropbox to share the music. We use YouTube to share the choreography. Texting is usually a big component, but with the director in London, these tools and email have been essential. It is crazy to me to think how smoothly this all operates almost effortlessly. This is something that 10 years ago never could have happened in this way. Until taking this course, I did not even realize how powerful these tools really are. They have brought us together to create this story for the kids. Excited to see what other tools I stumble upon without even realizing it.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Facebook live, YouTube live, Instagram live, Everything live!
Hello all!
I was just on the phone with my father, and he brought up YouTube live. I was confused because I did not realize YouTube had constant live videos. When the presidential inauguration was going on, I used YouTube's live news channels like CNN and Fox News to air it in my classroom for my students to watch. But, I did not realize it was a constant thing. My father had me search "space station live" and wow at the videos I found. I would try to link here but because they change constantly, I just suggest searching it for yourself. It is really fascinating!
This wave of live streaming for the everyday user has become a phenomenon over the past year. Pages I follow on Instagram constantly have live feeds going, especially my friends. On Facebook, ads have now become "live". I was confused because a woman I did not know or recognize was curling her hair on my news feed. I clicked on the video to realize it was a live ad.
This accessibility for everyone to create a live video has benefits and drawbacks. There are people out there abusing live by putting harmful videos out there, but for the most part, it is a great way for companies and gurus to show you what they are dong in the moment. It catches your attention because it is happening right then and there. There is a certain appeal that catches my interest more than if the video was prerecorded. What do you all think about _______ live?
I was just on the phone with my father, and he brought up YouTube live. I was confused because I did not realize YouTube had constant live videos. When the presidential inauguration was going on, I used YouTube's live news channels like CNN and Fox News to air it in my classroom for my students to watch. But, I did not realize it was a constant thing. My father had me search "space station live" and wow at the videos I found. I would try to link here but because they change constantly, I just suggest searching it for yourself. It is really fascinating!
This wave of live streaming for the everyday user has become a phenomenon over the past year. Pages I follow on Instagram constantly have live feeds going, especially my friends. On Facebook, ads have now become "live". I was confused because a woman I did not know or recognize was curling her hair on my news feed. I clicked on the video to realize it was a live ad.
This accessibility for everyone to create a live video has benefits and drawbacks. There are people out there abusing live by putting harmful videos out there, but for the most part, it is a great way for companies and gurus to show you what they are dong in the moment. It catches your attention because it is happening right then and there. There is a certain appeal that catches my interest more than if the video was prerecorded. What do you all think about _______ live?
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Week 3 Reflection: The halfway point
Hello all!
When I started this class I initially thought that I would not like blogging, or Twitter, or Reddit. However, after a few weeks of use, I have found that they aren't that bad. Blogging is almost therapeutic because I am able to get my thoughts out there without being interuppted in a debate about them with someone. I used Reddit for my community observation paper and really liked it because I felt like my posts were being appreciated. I could see the votes and comments and it really felt like a community.
Twitter is okay overall. I do not like the limiting characters because I am a long-winded person. But, it is helping me think about how to out my thoughts into a clear and concise package.
For the community paper, I was initially going to write about DCI which is a somewhat professional marching band. But, when I tried to find a community to observe, I became displeased. I could not find one that I could really engage in. So, I changed it to another personal interest: makeup. I did not know what to expect when going in to interact with the makeup community, but I was pleasantly surprised. Users were responsive, kind, and polite. I got a sense that people actually cared about helping others out with tips and advice, and enjoyed the two week experience. I will definitely be checking out Reddit for future makeup tips and tricks. Now, this knowledge tracking paper, that's not going as smoothly so far but, more on that next week.
When I started this class I initially thought that I would not like blogging, or Twitter, or Reddit. However, after a few weeks of use, I have found that they aren't that bad. Blogging is almost therapeutic because I am able to get my thoughts out there without being interuppted in a debate about them with someone. I used Reddit for my community observation paper and really liked it because I felt like my posts were being appreciated. I could see the votes and comments and it really felt like a community.
Twitter is okay overall. I do not like the limiting characters because I am a long-winded person. But, it is helping me think about how to out my thoughts into a clear and concise package.
For the community paper, I was initially going to write about DCI which is a somewhat professional marching band. But, when I tried to find a community to observe, I became displeased. I could not find one that I could really engage in. So, I changed it to another personal interest: makeup. I did not know what to expect when going in to interact with the makeup community, but I was pleasantly surprised. Users were responsive, kind, and polite. I got a sense that people actually cared about helping others out with tips and advice, and enjoyed the two week experience. I will definitely be checking out Reddit for future makeup tips and tricks. Now, this knowledge tracking paper, that's not going as smoothly so far but, more on that next week.
Google Maps: Your in pocket guide to the best Restaraunts
Hello all!
For those of you who do not know, I am a high school teacher. This means that my lunches are limited to 25 minutes, and consist of cafeteria food, or food I bring myself. So, when I started my internship where I was allowed to leave to get lunch for up to an hour, I was elated. I decided to tryout Google maps search nearby feature to check out different places to eat. While on the app, I noticed that you could give live feedback on how busy a place was at that moment. Google used that information to display general "busy" times at a given place.
This is such a neat feature, because in addition to that, people are giving feedback that displays in the app along side these busy times. This is a feature that 20 years ago, did not exist. Google Maps is allowing users to interact in a way that never existed. You can get reviews and feedback from real people rather than reading a critics review in the newspaper. I started finding myself checking out these reviews before going anywhere to eat, and even at places such as my nail salon. Now, some of the feedback was a little extreme because of one person's personal bad experience, but overall it was great. I'm kind of sad that my internship is over now and I will no longer be able to use it as my in pocket guide to restaraunts.
For those of you who do not know, I am a high school teacher. This means that my lunches are limited to 25 minutes, and consist of cafeteria food, or food I bring myself. So, when I started my internship where I was allowed to leave to get lunch for up to an hour, I was elated. I decided to tryout Google maps search nearby feature to check out different places to eat. While on the app, I noticed that you could give live feedback on how busy a place was at that moment. Google used that information to display general "busy" times at a given place.
This is such a neat feature, because in addition to that, people are giving feedback that displays in the app along side these busy times. This is a feature that 20 years ago, did not exist. Google Maps is allowing users to interact in a way that never existed. You can get reviews and feedback from real people rather than reading a critics review in the newspaper. I started finding myself checking out these reviews before going anywhere to eat, and even at places such as my nail salon. Now, some of the feedback was a little extreme because of one person's personal bad experience, but overall it was great. I'm kind of sad that my internship is over now and I will no longer be able to use it as my in pocket guide to restaraunts.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Instagram Explore
Hello all!
I have been using Instagram for a while, but at first never really got into it. I did not like that every time you got on, it put you back at the top to look at the same posts in time order that you just looked at. They tried to fix that by putting the most interacted posts up first, but that still did not help very much. However, I discovered the “explore” feature and it has completely reinvented Instagram for me.
The explore feature is accessed when you click on the search magnify glass along the bottom. This allows you to search specific things (people, posts, hashtags, and location) or it also auto populates pictures and videos of things that it thinks you might be interested in. When these selected for you things first pop up, they include things in your area, things people you follow like, and things that it might think you like. But, when you start actually liking posts with hashtags attached to them, it displays things with those hashtags.
For example, I love westies, color guard, dance, and makeup. So, my explore feed is full of that stuff. The complicated part is that you might like something by a spam page that has other hashtags attached that you might not notice, that have nothing to do with the post itself. That doesn’t happen often though, and is easy to weed out. If you have, or started an Instagram, I definitely suggest trying this feature out because it is so entertaining.
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Net Neutrality
Hello all!
Today is the day of action for net neutrality, so I thought it is only fitting that it is the topic of my blog post. I have been reading so many articles from different news sources, and the comments people have to go along with them. This has all turned into a huge political debate of republicans against liberals. The fact that the internet has gotten so big and widely popular so that this is even an issue is crazy to me. It makes me think back to one of Vanessa’s first comments about how only a few people accessed the internet and those that did could only read content, not contribute to it.
Now, everyone has access to the internet so, debates such as this one ensue. The big news sources are all saying the same things back and forth, but what I find interesting is reading through the comments people are making on these articles. A lot of them are using analogies to make their points, and some of them are easier to understand than what the news sources are spewing. I went on to Reddit to observe for my community paper, and the first thing that popped up was this long, slowly loading message seen below. Other websites are posting similar messages. What do you all think about net neutrality?
Today is the day of action for net neutrality, so I thought it is only fitting that it is the topic of my blog post. I have been reading so many articles from different news sources, and the comments people have to go along with them. This has all turned into a huge political debate of republicans against liberals. The fact that the internet has gotten so big and widely popular so that this is even an issue is crazy to me. It makes me think back to one of Vanessa’s first comments about how only a few people accessed the internet and those that did could only read content, not contribute to it.
Now, everyone has access to the internet so, debates such as this one ensue. The big news sources are all saying the same things back and forth, but what I find interesting is reading through the comments people are making on these articles. A lot of them are using analogies to make their points, and some of them are easier to understand than what the news sources are spewing. I went on to Reddit to observe for my community paper, and the first thing that popped up was this long, slowly loading message seen below. Other websites are posting similar messages. What do you all think about net neutrality?
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Reflection of the Class so Far
Hello all!
I cannot believe we are a third of the way through the class. This past two weeks has been a lot work that I have never experienced in a 6 week summer class before, but it's rewarding. I am definitely learning lot, and it is changing some of my views on things.
My favorite part has been how Raine and Wellman have talked about social networks extending past the computer. They way they explain it is so perfect and has made me gain an appreciation for the concept. It has also made me gain an appreciation for social media. I wrote in my last class on analytics about beauty gurus using social media to make a living. It really is fascinating how much can be done with it.
Another thing I have picked up on is how many people have negative thoughts about social media. It must be because of this class, because I am picking up on them a lot more. About 2 weeks before this class began, my mom started an instagram and really started getting into her facebook. Now, she is one of the first people to like everything and she is raving about it. Once she got passed her initial negative presumptions, she realized how they are a great way to stay in touch with all of these different groups of people.
The voicethread this week talked about context collapse and at the time I was riding with my boyfriend in his car while the audio played and the first thing he shouted out was oh yeah! Him and I both separate our different networks on to different social media sites. You can do things on some that you cannot do on others. This is one thing my mom picked up on as well. She found that she likes instagram better because it is short and concise. She does not like how long people's posts can get on facebook, and how political things get. It is so interesting to take this course and be able to see some of the things in the real world. Excited to see what is to come in the last 2/3.
I cannot believe we are a third of the way through the class. This past two weeks has been a lot work that I have never experienced in a 6 week summer class before, but it's rewarding. I am definitely learning lot, and it is changing some of my views on things.
My favorite part has been how Raine and Wellman have talked about social networks extending past the computer. They way they explain it is so perfect and has made me gain an appreciation for the concept. It has also made me gain an appreciation for social media. I wrote in my last class on analytics about beauty gurus using social media to make a living. It really is fascinating how much can be done with it.
Another thing I have picked up on is how many people have negative thoughts about social media. It must be because of this class, because I am picking up on them a lot more. About 2 weeks before this class began, my mom started an instagram and really started getting into her facebook. Now, she is one of the first people to like everything and she is raving about it. Once she got passed her initial negative presumptions, she realized how they are a great way to stay in touch with all of these different groups of people.
The voicethread this week talked about context collapse and at the time I was riding with my boyfriend in his car while the audio played and the first thing he shouted out was oh yeah! Him and I both separate our different networks on to different social media sites. You can do things on some that you cannot do on others. This is one thing my mom picked up on as well. She found that she likes instagram better because it is short and concise. She does not like how long people's posts can get on facebook, and how political things get. It is so interesting to take this course and be able to see some of the things in the real world. Excited to see what is to come in the last 2/3.
Friday, July 7, 2017
Reminiscing about YouTube
Hello all!
So, this week’s social media networks to check out included
YouTube. This happens to be a technology that I am very familiar with. I
started my own YouTube back in 2008 to share my color guard videos. I actively
tried different things to get more subscribers and watched hundreds of other
successful videos until I ruralized that I simply do not have video content
that is appealing to a large audience. So, I became happy with the following I
did have.
I got annoyed when Google decided to merge its platform with
YouTube a few years later. The look and feel of YouTube changed completely. The
myspace feel customization was no longer there and it kept asking me to change
my channel name of “wakullaguardgirl” to “Mallory”. But I already had over 100
subscribers and had grown attached to the name so I was very hesitant. I only
ended up caving when I got to college and had to use my gmail account which had
the address of wakullaguardgirl@gmail.com.
I thought this was not professional so changed it to where my name appeared as
my name.
However, some good things have come with the evolution of
YouTube. My favorite newer feature is the YouTube playlists. YouTube has always
had playlists that you can create yourself, but now it will create playlists
for you that will autorun. It pulls information based on videos that you click
on, or songs that are similar to the one you type it. For example, if you type
in Shakira you will see the playlists that other users have created, but you
will also see a YouTube specific one that will change things up as it learns
which songs you skip and which you replay. It is really quite fascinating.
This learned
playlists feature is something that
has led me to want to get YouTube red. This
is a subscription service similar to Spotify and Pandora but for videos. Key
features that you do not already get are that you can turn off your screen or
go into another app while the video still plays in the background (not possible
on mobile without the subscription). The other feature is that it eliminates
ads completely. I love using YouTube for how to videos, but it gets annoying
when you go to watch something, and a 30 second ad pops up (something that did
not used to exist). The last feature that they think they are selling, but is
of no real interest to me is that they have their own YouTube red exclusive
content similar to the Netflix Original concept.
The subscription is only $10 a month and since I do not
currently have any music playing service
I think I will sign up for it and tell you all what I think here.
Meanwhile, while checking out my old YouTube page I found that I had a
photobucket linked to it and found this gem. Enjoy.
Radio Hosts ask Listeners to Tweet @ them
Hello all!
So on my way to my internship this morning, I was listening to the radio. I had it tuned in to one of the regular morning shows I listen to (mostly entertainment based). On this show, they constantly have callers on about various topics. The one I was listening to was what is something your child does that makes them a little strange? It is meant to be funny and people call in as well as text their line. However, one thing I never noticed until taking this class was them saying "tweet at us and include the hashtag "..." so we can read about your kids quirk!".
I thought to myself, wow, what a brilliant way to engage with their listeners. Since they can only have one caller on the phone at a time, it would be crazy to for them to try and answer every call, and sort through the good ones. But, with people tweeting at them, they could quickly read their listeners tweets about their kids, and read the good ones out on the radio. Occasionally they will try to contact the listener by calling them to get more of the story (because as well all know now, twitter has a very strict character limit. I was just so fascinated to see Web 2.0 social networks in the real-world integrated so effortlessly.
So on my way to my internship this morning, I was listening to the radio. I had it tuned in to one of the regular morning shows I listen to (mostly entertainment based). On this show, they constantly have callers on about various topics. The one I was listening to was what is something your child does that makes them a little strange? It is meant to be funny and people call in as well as text their line. However, one thing I never noticed until taking this class was them saying "tweet at us and include the hashtag "..." so we can read about your kids quirk!".
I thought to myself, wow, what a brilliant way to engage with their listeners. Since they can only have one caller on the phone at a time, it would be crazy to for them to try and answer every call, and sort through the good ones. But, with people tweeting at them, they could quickly read their listeners tweets about their kids, and read the good ones out on the radio. Occasionally they will try to contact the listener by calling them to get more of the story (because as well all know now, twitter has a very strict character limit. I was just so fascinated to see Web 2.0 social networks in the real-world integrated so effortlessly.
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Hashtags for your Children
Hello all!
So today I am going to be talking about something I have been seeing for a few years now. Hashtags for your children. Friends on my Facebook and Instagram have been putting hashtags on posts about their children (I am sure that they do it for their Twitters as well but I just started Twitter so I do not know). For example, if my parents were to write a post or upload a picture of me, they would add "#mallorymarie". I have noticed this format of first name, middle name to be the most common. Others I have seen play on the child's name like "#palmerpost".
At first I found this strange but realized that when you click on the hashtag, everything that has ever been written about the child appears. So, the parents are creating ways to quickly link all of the information together. Since this has only been a trend I have seen for about 5 years now, the kids are not old enough to explore the hashtag of themselves yet. I think it would be really interesting to see their reactions to this. Such a neat way to use hashtags for your personal life!
So today I am going to be talking about something I have been seeing for a few years now. Hashtags for your children. Friends on my Facebook and Instagram have been putting hashtags on posts about their children (I am sure that they do it for their Twitters as well but I just started Twitter so I do not know). For example, if my parents were to write a post or upload a picture of me, they would add "#mallorymarie". I have noticed this format of first name, middle name to be the most common. Others I have seen play on the child's name like "#palmerpost".
At first I found this strange but realized that when you click on the hashtag, everything that has ever been written about the child appears. So, the parents are creating ways to quickly link all of the information together. Since this has only been a trend I have seen for about 5 years now, the kids are not old enough to explore the hashtag of themselves yet. I think it would be really interesting to see their reactions to this. Such a neat way to use hashtags for your personal life!
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Applying the Analysis of Social Networks to my Friends
Hello all!
After reading Part 1 of Networked, I decided to create a network of people I interact wit, and who is connected to who. I looked at three different groups of people that interact with frequently: marching chiefs, Tallahassee band directors, and my co-workers at Wakulla High School. In the book, Raine and Wellman talk about how drawing lines between people can get overwhelming, so I decided to see how cumbersome it would be with a small sample size of people (just a few from each group/network). Wow, it got messy real quick. It became very hard to see who was connected to who. Looking back now, it might have been better if I had drawn the names in a circle, and hen connected them instead of the list format. Either way, it became clear that the matrix format they suggested in the book would be the best so that was my next plan of action.
Once I put everything in the matrix, I color-coded the initials to match the ones from the list so I could really see how the connected line and matrix formats compared and differed. I like the matrix format better because I the information is more organized. The only plus with the connect line format is that you can really see how quickly all of these networks easily intertwine. The last thing I did when I had the matrix done was look at how many social connections each of my friends had with one another. In the matrix, I used the same 0, 1, 2 scale that Raine and Wellman used. When I counted these numbers up, I found that my more outgoing friends had more connections than my more secluded ones. Their network reach was much greater. Overall, I really enjoyed Part 1 of this book, and I am excited to see what else this class teaches me about Web 2.0 and networks.Saturday, July 1, 2017
Mobile phones expanding our everyday capabilities.
Hello all!
On this lovely Saturday, I am going go talk about mobile phones. So, I found it only fitting to type this on my mobile phone while sitting on the beach. I am currently reading the first chapter of Networked which has sparked a myriad of ideas. I will try to keep this as organized as possible.
First off, the authors, Lee Raine and Barry Wellman are talking a lot about individualism and how over the past few years, it has really come to the forefront. They talk about three revolutions: social network, the internet, and the mobile revolutions. I am going to talk about the mobile part. One thing that I am sure that all of us thought when mobile phones started to take off was about how landlines would start to become obsolete. If everyone has their own mobile phone, then why need a designated house landline? I know that some households still have them for important reasons, but overall, the takeover of mobile phones versus landlines has strengthened this idea of individualism.
Mobile smart phones have almost eliminated the need to physically talk for most people because of the ability to text and use social networks. I have a lot of friends that loathe talking on the phone. They would rather text or interact on a social media site.
As I sit here at the beach, I look around and see so many people on their phones and wonder what they are doing. I myself am writing this blog post. What are other people doing? Are they texting? Interacting with friends and strangers on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? Using the snapmap (see previous blog post) to catch up on what friends and strangers are doing around the world? Or maybe answering important work emails? The possibilities are endless and it really is fascinating.
I have found myself lately doing a lot of things from my phone. I have the Blackboard and Canvas apps to keep up with class. I have the Google drive app to keep up with any documents I may be working on with peers. I have voicethread to interact with peers. I have all of my social media apps to keep up with friends. I almost do not need a physical computer (although for big projects I would never give it up). So as I finish up here, I would encourage all of you reading to think about what apps you use on a daily basis that 5 years ago you would have never imagined existing.
On this lovely Saturday, I am going go talk about mobile phones. So, I found it only fitting to type this on my mobile phone while sitting on the beach. I am currently reading the first chapter of Networked which has sparked a myriad of ideas. I will try to keep this as organized as possible.
First off, the authors, Lee Raine and Barry Wellman are talking a lot about individualism and how over the past few years, it has really come to the forefront. They talk about three revolutions: social network, the internet, and the mobile revolutions. I am going to talk about the mobile part. One thing that I am sure that all of us thought when mobile phones started to take off was about how landlines would start to become obsolete. If everyone has their own mobile phone, then why need a designated house landline? I know that some households still have them for important reasons, but overall, the takeover of mobile phones versus landlines has strengthened this idea of individualism.
Mobile smart phones have almost eliminated the need to physically talk for most people because of the ability to text and use social networks. I have a lot of friends that loathe talking on the phone. They would rather text or interact on a social media site.
As I sit here at the beach, I look around and see so many people on their phones and wonder what they are doing. I myself am writing this blog post. What are other people doing? Are they texting? Interacting with friends and strangers on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? Using the snapmap (see previous blog post) to catch up on what friends and strangers are doing around the world? Or maybe answering important work emails? The possibilities are endless and it really is fascinating.
I have found myself lately doing a lot of things from my phone. I have the Blackboard and Canvas apps to keep up with class. I have the Google drive app to keep up with any documents I may be working on with peers. I have voicethread to interact with peers. I have all of my social media apps to keep up with friends. I almost do not need a physical computer (although for big projects I would never give it up). So as I finish up here, I would encourage all of you reading to think about what apps you use on a daily basis that 5 years ago you would have never imagined existing.
Friday, June 30, 2017
The Snapchat update that everyone is buzzing about
Hello all!
So today I am going to be talking snapchat's new update. For those of you that do not have snapchat, it is an application that allows you to send photos and videos to friends that "expire" after watching. I put expire in quotes because as we all know, nothing really goes away. In addition to sending things directly to friends, you can put things on your story that are viewable to the audience you select, and expire after 24 hours. At first this app was targeted for teens and young adults that wanted another way to keep in touch with friends. However, now major entertainment and news networks are sharing things on their own snapchat stories that are viewable to everyone. This mass story viewing lead to stories that everyone around the world could add to. So, during New Years there will be a New Years snapchat story share with everyone in the world. It is really quite interesting to watch.
Well, snapchat has added another feature called the snapmap. This feature taps into your phones location (as long as you tuned it on) and will show all of your friends where you are down to the exact address. The only way to not be seen is to turn off your location, or go into the snapmap and turn on "ghost mode". You can zoom out and see friends all over the world. Now, a lot of you might be thinking, how is this any different than just viewing their story? Well, an aspect of snapmap that did not already exist in some form is that you can see things people have uploaded to public stories all over the world! You just double click on any area and you will see snaps.
This feature of snapchat is really a two-sided coin. On one side, you get to explore all of these areas of the world in real-time from your living room couch. On the other side, if you are not careful, you are sharing your location with everyone which can be dangerous for children using the application. Currently, there are a lot of articles going around about this concern like this one posted by BBC. Others are a bit more comical like people finding their significant others cheating like the one talked about in this Daily Dot article.
I was skeptical about this update at first, but when I started playing with it, I became amazed. This is a piece of technology introduced to Web 2.0 that is seriously fascinating. For any of you that have snapchat, I definitely suggest checking it out.
So today I am going to be talking snapchat's new update. For those of you that do not have snapchat, it is an application that allows you to send photos and videos to friends that "expire" after watching. I put expire in quotes because as we all know, nothing really goes away. In addition to sending things directly to friends, you can put things on your story that are viewable to the audience you select, and expire after 24 hours. At first this app was targeted for teens and young adults that wanted another way to keep in touch with friends. However, now major entertainment and news networks are sharing things on their own snapchat stories that are viewable to everyone. This mass story viewing lead to stories that everyone around the world could add to. So, during New Years there will be a New Years snapchat story share with everyone in the world. It is really quite interesting to watch.
Well, snapchat has added another feature called the snapmap. This feature taps into your phones location (as long as you tuned it on) and will show all of your friends where you are down to the exact address. The only way to not be seen is to turn off your location, or go into the snapmap and turn on "ghost mode". You can zoom out and see friends all over the world. Now, a lot of you might be thinking, how is this any different than just viewing their story? Well, an aspect of snapmap that did not already exist in some form is that you can see things people have uploaded to public stories all over the world! You just double click on any area and you will see snaps.
This feature of snapchat is really a two-sided coin. On one side, you get to explore all of these areas of the world in real-time from your living room couch. On the other side, if you are not careful, you are sharing your location with everyone which can be dangerous for children using the application. Currently, there are a lot of articles going around about this concern like this one posted by BBC. Others are a bit more comical like people finding their significant others cheating like the one talked about in this Daily Dot article.
I was skeptical about this update at first, but when I started playing with it, I became amazed. This is a piece of technology introduced to Web 2.0 that is seriously fascinating. For any of you that have snapchat, I definitely suggest checking it out.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Twitter...woah
Hello all!
I have been sick the past few days so, today was the first day I really got to dive in to what the course was about. One of the first things I did was create a twitter. I am one of the hold-outs that was waiting until I had to get one. The sign-up process was pretty simple, but when I started to actually dive-in and play around with it, my face was similar to the picture on the right. I was not aware of how complex twitter is, and how much you can do with it. While still hesitant in how useful it will be for me, I am excited to explore it in-depth over the next 6 weeks.
The next thing I started looking into was what topics on social media I am going to investigate for my community paper. I am a color guard instructor at Florida High so I am pretty obsessed with marching band and it's culture. Currently, DCI is occurring which is kind of like a travel team for soccer or baseball. It is comprised of students no older than 21, and the minimum age can go as low as 14, depending on which corp you want to join. You can audition for any corp across the country, and regular practices begin around the end of April. Competitions start around now (the first one was just a few days ago) and the final World Championships is in the beginning of August. Participants in DCI spend the entire season with their corp, practicing every day and sleeping in random schools and churches across the country. Everyone has their favorite corp that they root for every year as well as the one that they dislike. So, I wanted to observe two different social media platforms that follow and give updates on DCI as a whole. I am considering watching one corp in particular, and then the DCI group as a whole, but I am still going back and forth on that one. I will update here when I have made a final decision on the group I will "lurk on" and the group I will interact with. Meanwhile, check out this cool video on "What is Drum Corps International?"
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