Flickr Do!

I started using Flickr several years ago in order to share photos and friends with family more easily. Since Facebook has developed their photo storage and sharing Flickr has become less necessary for my personal use. Instead, I have started to post photos to my account for the Sutliff Cider Company. I work there on weekends in the tasting room and manage their website where I have a slideshow posted from the Flickr photos. I feel the slideshow is a much more effective and attractive way to show the photos as compared to just having a grid of photos on the site.

Our New Sign!

Our New Sign!
Originally uploaded by hickstr

Here is the new sign for the Sutliff Cider Company, my weekend escape from campus. Check us out at www.sutliffcider.com for our hours and events (I'm also the webmaster for the site :).

Comments please

Being able to comment openly on the web has transformed the way many sites and industries orient themselves to the public. Governments and school districts post possible changes for public opinion. Individuals look for feedback on possible purchases. Newspapers debate whether the comments; negative, positive, and ignorant, deserve attention on their sites. In the correct context commenting can be fruitful and freeing so I feel that it is important for online communities

Just as most research journals are moving online to allow for easier dissemination and commentary I feel that benefits students who may be writing online too. The ability to have a community aid in the instruction of peers can be very powerful if done well.

I have chosen to follow three of the colleagues with whom I work most closely. Mostly out of interest and comfort. We rarely have the chance to spend much time together out of the office or see each other through our writing so it's fun to interact with them on the web. As for my tags, most just refer to key terms in each of my posts in order to help keep them organized.

Wiki Work

I haven't found much use for wiki's in my work except if I'm looking for a quick answer to something that I don't need a reference for. For example, when booking music for campus I often times check out a wiki page about a band to see if they are active or have changed members.

Personally, I've had it on my list to create a page in Wikipedia for my dad. He was a world-ranked boxer in the early 1970's and my goal is to create a page for him and send it to him as a birthday present. Considering his birthday is now two weeks away, I don't think I'm going to get to it this year.

Google Docs = really good friend

Over the past year (even before Coe's Google conversion) I started using Google Docs and Calendar for on-campus projects. I originally used Calendar because it was easier to add and edit events while it also allowed me to share it with others. This came in handy because the Student Activities Committee (SAC) has at least one, if not two or three, events each week. The students and I were able to post all the information for the event (performer's hotel info, phone number, location, etc.) in one central place where the entire group could access and edit.

Now, with the ability to attach Google Documents to events, we can sign contracts electronically and attach them to the events without ever having to print out a piece of paper. It also saves on time too. It's great to have all that you need in one document that is attached to one event on a calendar that everyone can see and edit.

Our latest foray into Google Docs has involved creating forms. The form feature is great because it has an easy to use interface that allows us to develop online forms (mostly for feedback purposes in our case) in a quick manner. The best part is that all of the information gets dumped into a spreadsheet that we can all manipulate!

Overall, the integration of the different Google Apps is killer for what I do on a daily basis.

What isn't interesting about Web 2.0?

Who would have ever imagined that high school reunions would slowly start to die after 2010 due to Facebook? Who would have thought that flu outbreaks could be tracked by analyzing what people are searching for on the web? And I don't think anyone could have imagined that we would interact with our idols, enemies, politicians, and celebrities directly through a bird-themed website.

Web 2.0 is upon us and what interests me most is the speed in which information can be distributed while being interactive/collaborative at the same time. For example, I read the blog The Consumerist on a daily basis and due to their ability to reach a large population on the Internet many people get their consumer horror stories resolved quickly via many Web 2.0 avenues such as YouTube and Twitter due to other readers' tips and advice. This is a prime example of how people can connect over similar interests or passions to make life better for everyone as a whole. Now, that's not the case for every blog but that's an entirely different discussion.

I enjoy connecting with others so I use Web 2.0 to gather news and information that I can use to share with my friends, colleagues, and family.

First post

How unoriginal is that title? From my experience though, I think at least 50% of new blogs have that as the title of their first post. Just sayin...

To be honest, I deleted Lisa's email detailing this program because I assumed it was an interesting workshop that was mainly geared toward faculty using specific technology in the classroom. Not until a colleague asked me if I signed up to win an iPad did I fish it out of the archive and read it fully. Lisa, please accept my apology.

While the iPad is a very nice incentive, working through these tasks with some other colleagues will be the best reward (and I'm sure that's an objective Lisa would like to meet). I look forward to this program and stretching my brain a bit.