CogBlogged from ‘July, 2011’

As an ed tech blogger, there seem to be 2 things to blog about recently- Why Google Plus is The Greatest Thing Since _____ or Why Google Plus is Just Another Wave Fantasy. ‘Scuse me while I sit on the fence and see. A major problem with this technology is it is missing a funky theme song, I think Billy Preston is appropriate A huge obstacle for Google that twitter and Facebook did not have is that when the latter started, there was not a whole lot really like it. What Google does now has to stand up to comparison, and make, IMHO, a better case for why it is essential to someone already immersed in another social network. Maybe it is Hangouts or Sparks or Kibbles, but it seems Google is more aimed at Google types, not Moms an Uncle Bubbas. Don;t get me wrong, there are some great [...]

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by D’Arcy Norman My last tactical effort to solicit items for the StoryBox had a good number of reads and tweets– and I got nothing sent in. And in talking to some friends, I figured (once again, lather, rinse, repeat), I am doing it wrong. Asking people to share a digital file that “represents this time to them” is a tough assignment, believe me, if a friend like Cheryl Colan struggles with it, I am on the left sign of the graphic above. Here is the easy version. Don’t think about it, just grap a photo, make an audio recording, shoot a short video of whatever you are doing, or where-ever you are. Just send me something that is not posted elsewhere in the internet, and send me something you created. Like what you had for lunch today, the essential Twitter [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Each week I provide a collection of useful statistics for my road trip… well, useful to me. Number of days on the road: 15 Miles Driven: 1568 Number of States driven in: 4 Money spent on gas: $371.23 (cheapest so far $3.49/gallon in Wyoming) Photos posted: 389 Nights Spent in Hotels: 4 (3 for paid work in Golden) Number of rainy nights spent camping: 1 Friend Homes Visited: 3 (5 if friends include relatives) Amount of music @pumpkiny gave me on DVD (20 Gb!) Number of Jacobsen Cousins, spouses, kids visited (7 not counting dogs) Number of new dogs met: 9 Number of Thunderstorms driven/camped trough (feels like 25) Number of friends known online met for first time: 1 (thanks Nate!) Number of things shared in StoryBox: 97 (where are your contributions?) Number of Storybox Public Appearances: 7 Boxes of [...]

While traveling, I am missing out on most of the wild antics going on in ds106 where there appears to be hostile class takeovers, student revolts, and a lot of name tossing going on. It’s no wonder what the MOOC people hardly mention this class, as it fits no mold any online open course has used before, or any course for that matter. But it bears saying that the rallying cry, “ds106 4LIFE” is not a throw away phrase. It does mean, that if things get rocky, you just don’t bail, and increment an integer– you stay in the game. “For Life” is not “For Life until the wind blows the other way” – it is FOR LIFE. And it works both ways- I have little actual understanding about what is going on between the various permutations of Dr O’Blivion and family nor what actually Jim Groom is up to. [...]

Yesterday, my cousin and I were watching a bit of early silent films on TV, and I mentioned something about it being a very different form of film than modern. David went on to highlight the use of a single camera, not moving. He then mentioned that when he was working on his PhD in Education (1970 from Arizona State University, and yes, he remains a die hard Sun Devils fan) — that he did some work in educational technology, I think he even said he worked on a “minor”. That made me curious about what was “cutting edge” back then. He talked about video, and how he did some early stop motion video with humongous cameras. David also described things people were doing with printed text in making texts or activities that had a non-linear design (if you answer this, go to page X). Yeah, print. And this was [...]

I have had a tremendous time visiting with my cousins Lorrie and David at their home in Laramie. We call each other “cousins” though technically David is my Dad;s cousin, but whatever the term really is– “cousin” just works. It’s hard pressed to think of more lively, story-filled, warm people as these two, and their 6 kids and various family tree extensions from there on. However, I was determined to try and pin Lorrie down to share some stories from a childhood and time I always found fascinating- her family was a performing act in carnivals in the 1950-1960s, the old style kind of life where they spent their summers travelling up and down the east coast, sometimes in the midwest to perform their high dive act. Lorrie did more than oblige, she told me an hours worth of stories of this life and times; I will share some excerpts [...]

cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by SpreadTheMagic C’mon folks, I have been politely asking, nudging, nagging, and frankly, INTERNET YOU ARE LETTING ME DOWN on participating in my StoryBox Project. The imperial gloves are coming off, cause the excuses are poop. I’m out here on the road, going town to town with my open PirateBox, setting up easy ways for you to add even if you do not cross paths with me ( as easy as emailing me an attachment). Are you all to busy filling in your Google+ circles? I need your help. I will repeat my plea. I… NEED… YOUR…. HELP! To be fair, a number of folks (a small number) (a less than digits on two paws number) have stepped up to the plate, and to them, I express my gratitude and vow they will be spared the next rounds of TNT. [...]

I’m relaxing in a coffee shop in Golden, Colorado, checking the ds106 streams and missing the creative play. Seeing Jim’s efforts made me wonder if I could whip one together ove lunch. Since I am traveling, I was thinking maybe one of my photos might be a start point… Then I remembered Dr Garcia’s comment on my sunset photo of Castle Rock and said yeah, that movie. So I searched flickr via compfight and found this beauty of the scene: cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by lindsayloveshermac Bringing it into PhotoShop, I looked to colorize it, and under Image — Adjustments — Channel Mixer I played with sliders to give it a green eerie hue. I then noticed under the same menu HDR Toning, which must be new in CS5. I used the Photorealistic High Contrast setting which gave it a lot more pop. I then [...]

I’m in Golden, Colorado for three days, doing work for a project needing photography of town and interviews with key city developers and citizens. It is a dynamic place full of active people, and the mountains around town provide more than nice rocks to look at; they do seem to be a key component of the life here. Many people have recommended the views from one of the mesas (to the east) or the mountains (to the west), so I decided it was time to dust off the Gigapan and see fi I can render some scenes that might be of value to the project. (plus it would get me some much needed exercise). So this morning I was hiking up the trail to South Table Mesa, which in the morning light did provide a stunning view of the entire town. I was also treated at the top to the [...]