CogBlogged from ‘March, 2011’

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by misterbisson “Curating” web content has been a medium flying buzzword over the last year. I’m not going to wade into the definitions or the tension from the museum quarter. For irony, on searching flickr cc images for “curator”, the image above is of a curator at the Shovel Museum (did you know there was such a thing?). There is something about shovels…. What is this “web curating”? There is curated.by, Qrait– described as: A realtime curation platform designed to fulfill the needs of content curators and reduce information overload for the rest of us…. Real-time filtering isn’t curation, it’s filtering. Qrait lets you combine real-time filtering and your own personal touch to create something of value that people trust. If I understand correctly, it is filtering plus picking. Again I reserve no judgement about whether this is or not [...]

I had an enjoyable day attending the MEC 2011 Conference at Arizona State University (an ed tech conference that is in its 31st year). Part of the thrill was returning to the campus I spent 1987-1991 as a graduate student. Much has changed, but many things are the same. I was glad to track down one of my old grad school room-mates who is now a prof in the department we studied (Yo Dr. Biff! Bring your fishing rod up to the Strawberry). The conference opened with a great keynote by Karen Cator, the Director of the Office of Technology at the US Department of Education. One can only imagine the scale of responsibility at that level, so it is even more impressive that she seems so genuine / real in person, and you can see her teacher experience in the way she talks. cc licensed ( BY ) flickr [...]

For all their analysis of my e-mail, Google has zeroed in on my interests: For a click of the link, you can find the magic product to stop my annoying bark

When I reflect back on being on the web for 17 years, I feel old and pathetically nostalgic. But then, a pinch of web serendipity buoys my up past the oosphere. It keeps happening again and again, the internet feels on one hand truly infinite in breadth and odd crannies, and then pulled to human scale again by a small act of connection. Chance. Why did I turn left and not right? why did I take the stairs and not the elevator? There’s no answer. A few weekends ago, I was enjoying a magically beautiful weekend in San Francisco, and after a lovely lunch in Sausalito, just happened to walk out to the waters edge to see this guy: cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog He was calmly doing what seemed impossible, assembling these improbable balancing acts– and under extremely windy conditions. I honestly spent about [...]

cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by Zellaby Radio is old and new again with free form ds106 radio, but today, today, today, took it to a whole new level. One of the best parts of this experience has been making new connections, and one I have really dug has been Scott Lo’s reports from Japan, he is is Japan’s first podcaster at Tokyo Calling. Tokyo was more than calling or even rocking and rolling yesterday, Scott was tweeting news of the first shakes of the big earthquake the rumbled Japan, several times. Many of his marveled at his calling it “mild”, not surprising considering his smooth radio voice and professional production he has brought to our mix. Today he broke into the Friday cover songs asking if it was okay to give us a live report– hell yeah! I immediately thought this was worth capturing. [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Capture Queen ™ I find myself surprised to see people expecting rules and structure when not explicitly there- are we that “trained” to act by rules and expect rule makers? Huh? I am talking about the Daily Shoot, man. Frequent CDB readers will know I am an addict to the daily camer assignments- I’ve done 432 of ‘em (hey, did you know you get your own gallery on THEIR site? cool!) I love the challenge, and have ventured that is a supreme model of informal learning, of learning by doing, of working the 10,000 hour gig. But I hear whinging (maybe I have muttered it myself) when assignments are repeated, even people saying it has caused them to quit. For example water- it was featured in number 9, number 51, number 293, number 479. Keep in mind that just because YOU [...]

Thanks to the glory of keyword search and random related videos linking, today I found the new theme song for CogDogBlog– I can hear your toes tapping to this song by comedian Sean Morey, but just so you can enjoy it more, I put some energy into transcribing it. I am your dog and I think you’re neat I like to chew on your antiques I bark like crazy when you come in Then I make love to your shin I’m here through thick and thin I’m your dog I see your keys, let’s go go go I stick my head out the window I jump up on your friends and dance After I’m done sniffing their pants I’m just into romance I’m your dog If my nose is wet, I’m a healthy dog If the carpet’s wet, I get the hell out of dodge I go outside take a [...]

Thanks to Martin Weller, I was tipped off to today’s flickr blog theme as being D is for Dalmatian. Of course, given my favorite of favorite lost/found/lost/found dogs, I had to take a peek. Interestingly, I spotted 53212 photos found by searching on “dalmatian” sorted by interestingness (well I did not actually count, I used the numbers at the bottom) Of those, some 4515 are licensed creative commons- that is a whopping 8.5% of the total. The road to openness and sharing is a long slow uphill climb. Or maybe I should try my “glass is already 8.5% full” attitude? Among the few is “The Perfect Dog” cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by J. Chris Vaughan And I knew one who was just as perfect to me– cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog There is something… metaphorical…. about making bread. We are rich in quotations about it A quotation at the right moment is like bread to the famished –The Talmud quotes Think about it. You can just go out and buy mass produce, processed stuff– cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by nchoz Or, with the most basic and inexpensive of elements- flour, water, yeast, sugar — and manual effort — make your own. It feels like magic. There is something to about that process of reworking, the kneading, of using your hands, of touching the substance of food you make– that speaks to me more than just about the bread, but larger, for an approach to the things we do (or try to do). Bread is about being active: Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it [...]

With some irony, during one of my longer flights recently, I watched two different old classics about men being the last living things. I’d previously seen the more modern version I am Legend with Will Smith, but had read that it pales next to the original it was based on, Vincent Price’s Last Man on Earth. I had downloaded it from the Internet Archive, but it is also available in full length on YouTube (along with the weirdness of pre-movie adds for Scott Walker- “last Republican on Earth”?). A bit from the trailer Okay, being a movie from 1964, the effects are cheesy. The “infected” are lumbering vampires, who seem to be easily fended off with a 2×4. There is the creepiness of the lead character’s former best friend moaning “Morgan… Morgan” as the zombie/vampire tries every night to bust in the house. But what is there is the created [...]