The Finale

I started this class not knowing what to expect, and never expecting to accomplish the things I have. I have done things in this class I never thought possible. When I finally learned how to upload my videos to Youtube and embed them on my site, I couldn't believe what I had done. I took the same videos and sent them to all my friends on Facebook and was amazed at the responses I received, I was thrilled. I had a bit of a set back half way through the semester when I broke my thumb drive, but I think I recovered nicely. I hope to keep my momentum going even though with this upcoming break I plan on steering clear of computers all together. My three online classes this semester have been tough, and I plan on taking a respit. I have enjoyed this class the most out of the three because it has really tested my ability and I think I have done okay considering my start.

The Remix

The video interview that Steven Colbert does with Lawerence Lessig was very interesting but I like the remixes better. Colbert hits it on the head when he says that Congress needs to deal with the bigger problems in the country before taking its time to fix the outdated copyright laws. Who cares if people add some music and fun to a plan old interview, as long as they aren't selling it what's the big deal? I understand Lessig's frustrations with the big online sites and how they could be profiting off of other's work but there are some more important things going on in the world, and isn't this topic the whole point of the small claims court?

A New Member of the Facebook Generation

When asked how online life will change how I do things in my own life like work and play I have to say it already has. In college I have to say the Internet controls my life. Taking three online classes I eat, sleep, and breath the Internet. Three years ago when I started taking classes online learning was just starting and now I take every class online, only because they offer everything online and only a few classes are actually happening on site. The Internet can be an adjustment and has taken some getting used to but now that I am here I can say I am doing fine.

The Longest Tail Ever!!

I am one of those people that absolutely love online shopping, and if I had a never ending supply of money this might become a problem but since that isn't the case I can control myself. I have been buying my text books on Amazon.com for as long as I have been in college so I know all about there "people who ordered this also ordered this" scheme and I can say I have been sucked in to it a time or two. This part of online marketing is very effective for the company that uses it. If your shopping online and you buy one item and this pops up it saves the shopper time searching for a related item which is a handy little tool for those that don't have a lot of time to look. I think as long as it is effective for online companies like Amazon they will keep using it and us online shoppers will keep considering the options given to us.

Podcasts My First Experience

I have never listened to a podcast before today, and after today I think I will keep listening. When I got my ipod for my birthday two years ago I didn't even know what a podcast was and currently on my ipod I don't have a single one, but I think that is about to change. I found podcasts on anything from parenting tips to celebrity gossip. And they were all free, what's better than free? I now have subscriptions to multiple podcasts, and I am sorry it took me so long to discover them.

Adventures Outside

My First Ever Video Blog

Hans Rosling and his Presentation

After watching that presentation I am very nervous about how mine is going to turn out. Rosling has a very good understanding of the technology he is using, and he uses it so well. His work with the computer not only makes his presentation visually pleasing, but it actually helps the audience pay attention to what he is saying. I have never learned so much about the population of our world. Every point he made was carefully executed with his use of technology and in the end I was fascinated. The elements of his presentation were not only his slides but how he made the data pop for him when he got to the point he was trying to make. I hope I can apply that to my own presentation. His use of graphs and charts were so good, the only thing I am nervous about is how long that probably took him, and the fact that time really isn't on my side.

The Kindle 2

My first experience with a kindle was this summer when my teenage brother-in-law brought one home from school for the summer, I had never seen one before and could not understand the concept. Where had real books gone? After watching the video of the new Kindle 2 I am amazed with what it is capable of doing, but still I would not fork out the $300, and buy one.

I am caught between the two sides of this whole lawsuit. I can see how both parties are right, and wrong. Audio books are a big part of the reading world, and if the Kindle 2 can do the same thing but not have to pay the royalties why wouldn't the company take advantage of that. And of course the authors are going to disagree with this because they aren't getting their cut. It is hard to say who is right when it comes to this issue, everyone wants their piece of the craze that is the ebook. It's all about the money, not the wonderful books inside these machines.

Obama and Hope

I did not realize an argument over this famous pic even existed. I  feel strangely out of the loop on this issue. I can understand both sides of the issue and sympathize with neither. The picture was on a public website, Fairey got it from Google Images so how was he supposed to know who took the picture in the first place. He isn't the first person to google a topic and use it to his advantage. How many times have I done that? Just last week I did the same thing for an assignment. Though there is a difference, I didn't make thousands of dollars of my flower picture, and he did. I guess that is why AP is in such an uproar, it's all about the money! If the now iconic picture hadn't of made a buck no one would care about who's it is, but since that isn't the case everyone wants a slice. Shouldn't they be worrying about more important things?

Now You Can Paint With Your Phone?

I am new to this topic. I have a simple cell phone where you can make calls, text and take pictures but I wasn't aware of these applications at all. Maybe it's because I have yet to see a real live iPhone. I have only seen them on television, so the idea that an artist can paint a masterpiece with it baffles me. I feel like sometimes I am stuck in the past with my dial up Internet and land line phone. There is so much technology that I have never experienced and this new digital art is cool but completely foreign to me.

Creative Commons? Is Anyone Else Confused??

I am reading the article about creative commons, and I guess it's a good thing I'm not an artist. You would need a whole legal team to understand what they are talking about. Not getting sued was never so complicated. The article gives the types of Creative Common License options out there, and it tries to put them in words that anyone can understand which is helpful, but I am still confused. Take this one for example

"Attribution - An Attribution license means creative works can be copied, distributed, displayed, or performed and derivative works can be created, provided that appropriate credit to the original copyright holder is given." Now when someone reads that,  they think hey I can take what someone else has done, hand it out, change it a little or a lot depending on what it is but it's okay because it's still their piece of work. HUH?? It's no wonder people are constantly quarreling over lyrics to a song. Like I said it's a good thing I am not in that profession.

The Next 5000 Days of the Web

I found Kevin's talk on the next 5000 days of the web to be very interesting. When it's put into the number of days it's been it really doesn't sound like a whole lot of time, but it is. The Internet has come so far in what seems like a short amount of time. Kevin mentioned that there are 55 trillion links a day used on the web, that number is huge! The other fact that grabbed me was that it uses 5% of the global electricity. That number doesn't sound so big but when you think about the fact that not the whole world uses the Internet it, it really is a big number. He gave some information that has already come true since 2007. The part about the phones not being part of the web at that time, and now everyone has access to the web with their cell phone. Technology has no limits.

My Wonderful, Always Fluffy Cloud

My cloud is mostly facebook, facebook, and some more facebook. No!! I’m not addicted or anything of the sort. I email, and search and shop too. I used to be quite the little online shopper but not so much anymore. I have never played a single game online or used whatever Flickr is. I mostly use the internet for school now. With all of my classes online I have to. Though I can honestly say there have been the times where blackboard comes down and face book goes up. I just can’t help myself.

            Five years ago the internet wasn’t even part of my everyday life, and I probably have five different email accounts that are in super overload because I would go so long not checking them and cannot remember the username or passwords. My Space and facebook were not even in my vocabulary. Online classes were non existent and now that is what my life has become.

            The future when it comes to technology is uncertain. I know for me I have at least 3 more years of school, and most of it will be experienced in the “cloud”. Then after college I plan on being a teacher and if the technology keeps going at this rate I’ll be teaching kindergartner's their ABC’s over skype chat while they sip their chocolate milks from the comfort of their own house. I am not sure what the future holds for me and my cloud, but I hope it’s always fluffy.

My New Anxiety

I have been freaking out about this class. Mainly because I live in rural Vt, and dial-up is all I can get at my home. How will I ever get all my work done, considering this is one of my three online classes. I will have to get a sitter and travel the twenty minutes to Newport to use the computers at school. I am eager to learn all about multimedia though even if my computer is from the dark ages. I hope that I manage okay, because I will graduate in the spring and I can't let dial up hold me back.