Where did all my pictures go?!

Shame on me. I'm so disappointed in myself right now. I've been utilizing my social media sites (MySpace and Facebook) to house my pictures. Not a bad plan, except that they changed the formatting. I can't move pictures from those sites into my NEW flickr account.

So why, oh why, have I never used a free photo sharing site? I had pictures stored on a desktop computer that died. Those are gone. I put pictures on MySpace that are now gone. Literally gone, all I see are ? where pictures used to be. I have pictures on Facebook that are from my various escapades and they are STUCK in Facebook.

My daughter used Flickr and she told me how cool it was. But, she's young and not so bright. Right? Absolutely wrong. My digital native daughter should have been a bit more forceful with her mother. I would have had my Flickr account and not lost all my precious pictures. Deep sigh.

The past is the past and it's time to look forward to the future. Get over what I've lost and look to what I'll gain. So why in the world would I choose Flickr over Picasa and Shutterfly? I honestly thought I'd select Picasa because it popped up when I signed up for my Google Reader account. I even reviewed Shutterfly to see how that looked. But, when I looked at the upload features on my phone - there was the answer. Flickr was preloaded. Decision made. Yes, I probably should have done a tad bit more research. But, in my defense, my phone is my camera.

I started loading pictures into Flickr and became completely wrapped up in loading the pictures I had on my old laptop. The next thing I know, seven hours have passed. It was fun looking through my memories once again. I had the most fun adding pictures to the map! Now I have a challenge to go through and scan pictures from when my family was stationed at other bases and the fun places we went.  I still need to work on my Flickr page and make sure I have pictures tagged and in the proper set.

I believe it can be used in an educational setting when doing research for a school paper. You can search through your friends and see if they've been to a location. Then you have someone with first hand knowledge. Not only that, you'll have brand new media to preview and use. I need to work on my tags and get them all set. As I was working through this assignment I kept thinking about the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, MD. It's the IAM's educational facility and in my other class I really talked it up. I want to share that set of pictures with everyone in my class. :)

Enjoy flipping through my memories!!

Update: I created a slide show through SlideRocket. I hope you enjoy.

Delicious!

Ok, so maybe that should read as del.icio.us. Or perhaps not, after all that spelling is so 2007 and we are clearly in 2011. :-) I opted for delicious and I'm still working on getting it all together.

This week's assignment was to dive into social bookmarking. I had seen the "share this" for Facebook, Twitter, Diig as well as del.icio.us but didn't see a point in the bookmarking aspect. Usually, when I get a new computer I just transfer all my information over and wa-la, no problem. But, there have been times that I was away from home and I've needed to get to a bookmarked item and I couldn't because it doesn't come up on web search. (Companies are so weird with their intranet sites!)

Even with that prior experience, I honestly didn't see the point in bookmarking my bookmarks on a site. That is, until I was reading Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, by Will Richardson. In Chapter 6 he described the point I was missing. Imagining the Internet as a giant library, the way to link to applicable sites could work best when users set the tags and NOT the developers of the sites. It was through that mental picture that it came together.

If I want to find the most bookmarked page (and possibly, the most useful) for writing a paper in proper APA style I would go to "Home" and then on the right side, type in, "APA." Once I hit enter it gives me the most recent entries, but I'd prefer to have the most popular, so I click on popular and it re-orders the results. What is interesting to me is that it didn't give me the most bookmarked item first. But, when looking at how many bookmarked a site, I could see which one is the most beneficial to me. I don't like "bots" creating my bibliography. It doesn't matter how many times I do a research paper, I always have to refer to the Internet for examples so I can write it properly. I want to do the work - not just feed info into a bot. Of course, the fact that I'm not retaining the information leads me to wonder why I don't just go the bot route? But I digress...

Now that I can see the potential, I can definitely see how it could help in a classroom setting. I think we should set a tag for our class and when we do find something of interest, add that tag. By doing that our instructor will have information for his next class and it could be continually built on. Actually, not just by THIS class, but for the COURSE. Yeah, lots of emphasis - but I'm an emphasis kinda person. :)

I can see where my tags can make a difference. Adding the word cloud just emphasizes what the main words are, it could help determine the best tag for your site or blog.

Hmmmm, I need to work on not using "just" so often. 

I'm now excited at the possibilities ahead for delicious and tagging! 

RSS - Really Simple Syndication

Many years ago, when I was still learning the ins and outs of the Internet, Yahoo.com was the premier search engine for me. I had a "My Yahoo," page and it worked really well. I enjoyed seeing the daily news and updates that I was interested in. I still surfed the web for more information - but it kept me updated! When Google came around, I switched my loyalties.

Through Google, I created my own news aggregator. It was and still is wonderful! It searches for stories on the following items for me: Local news for my city and state, Machinists, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, AirTran, Delta, and Alaska Airlines. I search for the airlines because they are all (except AirTran and Delta) airlines in my Local Lodge. I want to be up-to-date on anything at our airlines. Station closures, possible openings and hirings, just basic information that can help us through our different 'struggles.'

Now, through the most recent assignment, I have advanced to the Google Reader. I am still learning the best way to utilize the reader and most importantly, to share it with my classmates (or anyone else interested in what I'm interested in). I've had a gmail account for almost four years and I'm still enjoying the Google brand and the inner workings of it. The Reader encouraged me to create a Google profile (thought I had one) and to describe certain things about myself. So, I gave that a go. 

Now? I still can't quite figure out how to share my Reader list. And that is rather frustrating. The good thing is that while I was creating a Google profile, it showed linking to PicassaWeb. (Good to note for an upcoming lesson) 

After I created my Reader, with profile, I set out to find that lovely little RSS symbol. But, web pages that I frequently visit are not RSS equipped. I e-mailed the web master (a friend of mine) and asked him if he could add it. He told me he had previously tried to figure it out, but was unable to do so. He asked for my help and I literally laughed out loud. Seriously? Me??? Help??? Hello!?! I am a digital immigrant and I'm trying my best to understand how to muddle through this stuff! But, there must be an answer on the web... right? Lo and behold, there it is. A WIKI!!! I sent him a link and told him that I had no clue how to write html or any sort of web-based language. After he read it, he thought it would be "easy," to write. (Once I get the hang of sharing... you'll be able to see that in my Reader feed)

As an educational tool, it seems the Reader would be an excellent addition for updated information available on the web. Imagine if we were still on the weekly news cycle by the weekly paper? Or even the 5pm news? Or the daily paper? Thanks to Ted Turner's CNN we have dedicated news channels (I'm not goin there on the Faux News). But, that's not good enough for the Information Age! We want it now, at our convenience, and without any unnecessary pop up ads or videos. If I want commercials, I'll watch TV! Oops, I digress... I don't think the attacks on labor in WI, IN, OH... would have had the impact a week later. 

"As we went to press, Governor Walker, was struggling with a state budget with only one recourse in his mind. He would need to renegotiate contracts with Wisconsin public worker unions." HA! Thankfully, we have Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, Yelp... in addition, there were moment-to-moment updates available online through the various news outlets. Thanks to the Reader, I will only have one place to go for my daily news - and the only ads I will see are the ones I choose to click. The Reader, while making the world smaller,  is making our contacts and ability to motivate - much greater. 

I'm going to go ahead and post this. But, I'll be updating it once I get that sharing figured out!

****Update**** I figured it out! I hope you enjoy. My Google Reader shared stories.

****Update**** Even more so... check out the left side of the page, you can view portions of my Reader easily through my Blog. I set the layout so you could see who I am, read my previous Blogs, subscribe, follow and then my Reader feeds. 

Word Clouds

This is going to be a rather short post but I just had to share my word cloud! I've seen it done and I wondered how it was done. I'll probably play with it a little bit more in the future. I used Wordle and was able to save the cloud as a pdf to iphoto. I hope you like it!

Then I found this cool site, Tagxedo... what fun!!

Web Conferencing Possibilities

The other day at work someone was talking about "skyping." I had a momentary personal giggle moment because using Skype has now become a verb. But, aside from my personal giggle moment, they were complaining about the connection on Skype. How the mouth would be moving but nothing was coming out. Similar to a 1960's Godzilla movie.

I explained that while Elluminate Live! did not provide the best picture, it did allow for a more synchronous experience and they could have three people use it for free. Particularly helpful with a family where you have children scattered to the winds. Although that is certainly not the optimum way to use the software, it is an option.

I could see using the software on a grander scale than just three people for free. Within my union, there is a hierarchy to follow: International (or Grand Lodge), District Lodge, Local Lodge and finally worksite. I could see a way to bring our union closer together by using this software.

For example, my contract becomes amendable on October 31st of 2012. Unfortunately, not all the stewards are able to make it to a strategic planning session or once the contract is ratified the inability to get to the contract explanation meeting. Having an Elluminate session would enable everyone to be on the same page (literally). The negotiators would be able to moderate the session, show a power point and even take a poll on whether something is "important." Most Local Lodge offices have internet access and having a camera is not a requirement. It would be nice, but certainly not required. They would be able to record the session and make it available for anyone not able to make the time slot set.

For an educational setting, I could see it used for online classes and even a way to bring other locations within the union together. The possibilities are endless. I'm looking forward to presenting some ideas to my District and moving the movement forward!!

Why Blogger?

When I was deciding which software to use, I thought I would view what I could. Imagine my surprise when I went to blogger.com and I was already logged in?! I looked at the date that I joined and tried to surmise what in the world I was doing in April of 2010. So far? I got nuttin.

But, I still went to a few sites but nothing really stood out to me outside of blogger. I liked the way blogger.com was affiliated with google and more specifically, with my gmail account. I love the fact that I can review my stats and see who has read my blog. Ok, maybe not really see who is viewing it - but the geek in me is fascinated by the fact that I've been read by people in US, Canada and Germany, that 46% of them own a Mac computer, and that PC users are not loyal to the Microsoft brand (only 21% use Internet Explorer). That may only interest me...

Overall, I've been having some fun with the blog. Today I added a background that more aptly fits my desert home. I don't think it really fits my blog... more searching is in the works for a background that works for me. Thanks for reading! Y'all have a great day. :-)

DC Memorials and Thoughts on Technology

Last week I was in Washington, DC for my union's annual Legislative Conference. On Monday afternoon we had some time to spare, and so with a few of my friends we went to see some memorials. There is something awe inspiring in seeing the Washington Monument reflected in the reflecting pool from the Lincoln Memorial. Oh wait, it was being worked on.

Has anyone paid much attention to the marble at the top of the steps to the Lincoln Memorial? It's a reminder that Martin Luther King, Jr. stood there and delivered his I Have a Dream speech. And as a trade unionist, it is worthy to recognize that he made that not only for civil rights but for jobs.

We went to The Wall as well. My uncle, Ronald W. Montgomery is on that wall. My father came home but my uncle did not. Every year I visit and every year I am overcome with emotion.

We also went to the FDR Memorial. My first visit was in the summer of 2009. In all my trips to DC I had never visited. THAT was a mistake. The quotes along the walls should be read by everyone. Particularly incoming Freshman members of Congress as well as any Trade Unionist. People just don't talk like that anymore - and we should.

We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

 They who select to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers call this a new order. This is not new and it is not order.

We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance and intolerance, and slavery, and war.


I just wanted to share some of the beauty I was able to experience. While it technically doesn't have a thing to do with Instructional Technology... I was taking those pictures with my phone and uploading them immediately to my Facebook page. I wanted my FB friends to experience it right along with me. It's only been in the last couple of years that I was able to do that. It's amazing how far technology has brought us. The world is infinitely smaller as a result of our increased technology.