A gift of the season:
http://animoto.com/play/AeWmJ4rJZbMAaTWJ8dwiUw
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
Merry Midwinter Celebration!
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
Category: Uncategorized
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
Suddenly No 3G! But the Rogers Help Line was Excellent
I had an interesting experience. Yesterday when I tried to use 3G all I got was "Searching.." The same today – and I got worried because my parents call my iPhone, not my home number, when they have emergencies. I did some searching and checking FAQs but couldn't find anything relevant.
It took me a while on the Rogers site to find a Rogers' phone number to call. When I said the various words to get to the right line, a recording told me there would be a 15 minute wait. However, my call got answered by a live, and quite pleasant, person immediately. He got me to go into my Settings and turn off my wireless. Then in Settings, to click on "General" and, at the bottom of that, click on "Reset" and again, the red "Reset" button.
The screen went black and then, finally, showed the Apple logo. It took a while, which he explained was a good sign because it indicated it was repairing itself.
Now it's back to normal, and I'm getting my calls and messages. The Rogers help line was excellent. Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD – joanvc@jnthweb.caJNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
Halton Peel Communicators Association – http://www.hpcaonline.org/
Ice, a Frosting of Snow, and a Green Surviver
Weird Plagiarism
Something strange is happening. At least two of my blog posts have had the language mangled and been re-published in LiveJournal and In Windows Live. My name was left in on what looks like a badly translated & re-translated version of what I originally wrote. I find this very strange, and annoying.
Has this happened to anyone else? What's the mechanism and the motivation? Here are some screenshots and links: How I found out –
Here's what was published in LiveJournal & a link to my original post – https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/mad-women-what-the-1960s-sounded-like/ 
Here's the Comment blocked unless you join LiveJournal
Here's the Windows Live post and my original one – https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/last-night-at-the-hpca-meeting/ 
Again, I can't comment unless I get an account in Windows Live, which I won't do.
This is what they have in common, sort of–
Can anyone please explain, or point me to an explanation?
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD – joanvc@jnthweb.caJNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
Halton Peel Communicators Association – http://www.hpcaonline.org/
Early Morning Curriculum Design
Sometimes I wake up in the dark and my mind begins to chatter. Sometimes I worry about painful things, but often I can redirect my stream of words into ideas, sentences that are planning rather than fretting. So at 5:00 I lay restlessly and thought about a new course I'm planning, about scripting and audio and documentaries culminating in podcasts. After I'd heard the furnace kick in and felt the air a little warmer, I got up and made some notes. Good ideas, if I do say so myself, including wondering if I should ask the students to learn a little about how the brain deals with sound as part of their thinking about audience. With that as an excuse, I woke up my computer and started googling. Many search terms, many sites briefly checked and rejected – and then a HIT! – http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/Listening-A-Powerful-Skill/The-Science-of-Listening/History-and-Overview-of-Listening/91/
I find the information clearly presented and it appears to be up-to-date. I especially love the use of the same video clip with different sounds to illustrate the affective impact of sound – http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/Listening-A-Powerful-Skill/The-Science-of-Listening/Learning-Through-Listening-in-the-Digital-World/How-New-Technologies-are-Changing-our-View-of-What-Listening-is/Helicopter-Videos/264/
Although it is aimed at teachers, especially those who teach dyslexic and/or disabled students, the information is valuable for a more general audience, in my opinion.
A little further exploring of this extensive and very rich site, and I discover that it advocate a Universal Design for Learning (or UDL). http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html
I quickly bookmark these sites (and write up this post) and wrench myself away from exploring further (later!) so I can get on with my planned day. (Sometimes insomnia can be valuable;->)
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD – joanvc@jnthweb.ca
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
Dr. Draw at Hugh’s Room
An amazing performance in a great venue with delicious food and richly companionable friends. Wonderful!
Hugh’s Room – http://www.hughsroom.com/ – worth a trip to Toronto
Dr. Draw – http://maplemusic.com/artists/drd/default.asp – think Russian, gypsy, happy Jimi Hendrix – throbs through your body and fills your mind!
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca
Consciousness and Aging
Saw this on http://robertpaterson.posterous.com/ and it resonated
It made me think of Phyllis Gotlieb’s Death’s Head
at 3 a.m. I run my tongue
around my teeth (take in a breath)
(give out a breath) take one more step
approaching death. my teeth are firm
and hard and white (take in a breath)
incisors bite and molars grind
(give out a breath) the body lying
next to mine is sweet and warm
I’ve hears that worms (take in a breath)
the coffin meat of human kind
and if they did I wouldn’t mind
that’s what I heard (take in a breath)
(and just in time) I think it’s all
a pack of lies. I know my flesh
will end in slime. the streets are mean
and full thieves. the children in
the sleeping rooms (give out a breath)
walk narrowly upon my heart
the animal beneath the cloth
submerged rises to any bait
of lust or fury, love or hate
(take in a breath) my orbic skull
is eminently frangible
so delicate a shell to keep
my brains from spillage still my breath
goes in and out and nearer death
and yet I seem to get to sleep
Most of Gotlieb’s poetry is free verse. Because of that I’d assumed this was, until a student in my poetry structure class insisted it was iambic tetrametre, and I heard the rhythm of breath, and the uneven gasping at hard awarenesses. Consciousness is difficult and painful.
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
Morning Frost & iPhone in Winter
My phone rang as I was walking. I pulled it out to answer and ran my finger across the bottom of the screen. Learned that touch screens don’t work when you’re wearing gloves.
Took off my purple gloves, called back, then took some pictures of the patterns in the morning frost.
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca
Web Communications (Almost Always) for Free
The other day I wrote up a collection of information for a non-profit starting to get into social media. Thought I might as well share it more broadly.
Blogs can be free – for example
- Blogger – https://www.blogger.com/start – It’s free and totally WYSIWYG, plus there’s lots of information on how to use it.
- WordPress.com – http://wordpress.com/ – A stronger more flexible host, that requires some know-how but is basically WYSIWYG. Again, tutorials and videos are available; use Google & search for them.
- Both of these require only people to learn how to use them and then to write, post pictures etc.
- You can also pay for experts to run blogs and for more expensive systems. I’d go for the simplest, that is, Blogger, if I were you.
Chat rooms,
- What do you want chat rooms for?
- If you just want a way for a group’s members to communicate, check out Google Groups – http://groups.google.com/?pli=1 – It’s free, email-based and asynchronous. People send to their Google Group and it goes to all the members, who can then reply if they want to.
- If you do want to talk to a small group all at the same time, you might try Skype – http://www.skype.com/ – also free
- There are other ways to set up chat rooms, too, but that’s a start.
Ask an expert forum,
- Probably you should just set up a FAQ on a wiki where people could share expertise.
Social networking site
- Ning is a very good free one – it does take time and expertise to set up and maintain – http://www.ning.com/
Webinar,
- I’ve never used Vyew – http://vyew.com/site/product/vyew-in-action/uses – but this could be what you want – again, someone would have to know or learn how to use it.
- I’ve attended webinars that were run with WebEx for literally thousands – http://www.webex.com/ – but it wasn’t entirely satisfying and it isn’t free.
- You might want to check with local podcaster and webinar producer Donna Papacosta – http://trafcom.com/services.html#webinars
Webcast,
- Again, what do you want it for?
- If for live webcasting, check out Ustream – http://www.ustream.tv/ – free, but time and expertise required
- If for presentations or tutorials, check out SlideShare for PowerPoints – http://www.slideshare.net/ – it’s free and only requires the creation and uploading of slide shows
- Screencasts are interesting – people get to see what’s on your screen and hear you speak – Jing – http://www.jingproject.com/ or Screenr – http://screenr.com/ – both are free but you have to learn a little to use them
- Also, if you create a video, you can upload it for free at a number of sites, including YouTube and Vimeo
- You might find VoiceThreads interesting too – http://voicethread.com/#home
Podcast,
- There’s lots on Google about podcasting, and it’s easy enough to add an audio file to a blog post – here’s some information – http://computer.howstuffworks.com/how-to-podcast.htm. There’s free recording software called Audacity – http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ – and lots of tutorials available on it. It takes a while to learn.
On-line seminars
- See webcasts
Almost all the costs for the ones I’ve mentioned are people-based – needing only expertise and/or time to learn
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
Halton Peel Communicators Association – http://www.hpcaonline.org/
Wolfram Alpha Surprises
Lately I've set my search field to search using heapr. I like it because it gives me Google search results, and beside that, a choice of search results from Twitter, WolframAlpha or Wikipedia. I tend to stick to WolframAlpha.
I find words fascinating so I checked out what WA offered me. Much to my surprise, it offered me –
rhyme!
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
Learning Living 