Podcast Review.

The Culture Catch is a podcast that is in a interview format. It's hosted by Dusty Wright, who interviews important and creative people from the world of music, movies, theater and other venues. 

The great thing about The Culture Catch Podcast is that Dusty Wright interviews people in a setting they're comfortable in. When he's interviewing a musician, for example, the latest episode I watched is with guitarist Derek Trucks, there are guitars hanging on the wall behind them, and they're in a Gibson guitar store. It gives a really comfortable feel to the interview, and has a conversation-like feeling. That for me is the best set up of the podcast- it's a window into something the audience would otherwise never get to experience.

The other thing I like about the set up is that it is broken up by the musician playing, or a clip from the actor's movie.

I think the idea for the Culture Catch is to have smart, intelligent creative professionals on, and to have that caliber of a conversation with them, and they really nail it right on the head. The host is so informed and articulate, and every celebrity I've watched on the show is worthwhile and loves what they do, and is good at what they do.

Here's a clip of the podcast just so you can get a hint of what I'm talking about (it takes a minute to start up):

Slide Share!

Making this slide share was a really great experience! I love the technology. The mind mapping wasn't so helpful this time around- I didn't feel I really needed it, the power point process is so...linear. It just didn't work for me this time.

While I kind of feel like the process is restrictive, I like power points, maybe for that reason- you don't really have to worry about being flashy or doing really crazy things. Power point is more about presenting the facts, but in a visually pleasing way.

I didn't like the flow chart for the same reason- it felt so much like the power point, very linear. So it would have taken me less time to think quickly about how I wanted the power point to flow, and some possible rearranging, which is very easy with power point, than it did to make the flow chart. In the future for this kind of a project, I wouldn't use it. Maybe if it was something very intricate and detailed. I did however, find the flow chart much easier to use, and possibly more valuable for the future than the mind mapping.

FATP:
Form: Slide show!
Audience: Comm class, those concerned over oil spill response.
Topic: A group formed through social media's response to oil spill. 
Purpose:To inform on the viability of combining social media with conventional tactics.

Flow Chart:

Mind Map:

 Final product!

POB

View more presentations from cecker01.

Before/After.

Ok so for my before/after, I used Picnik, because I just did my screencast on Gimp, and to be honest I've never really used Picnik before, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about-- and now I get it. I really like it!

First, I messed around with the exposure. I gave the picture more contrast, because it was so bland looking. I also nudged the exposure to make it a little brighter, but not so much that it would look overexposed.

Then I saturated it just a twinge, and made it look a little more tan, away from the blue-ish color.

After that, I was pretty much finished with it, I just did the before and after framing. I didn't want to mess with it so much that it looked weird or very, very digitally handled.

(double click this picture to reach my flickr account)


Making the photo a Creative Commons was so easy, I did it just like it showed on EdVibes. Very simple. Also sharing it and getting the HTML was self explanatory. I chose the attribution-non commercial- no derivatives CC because  I didn't want anyone to be able to use derivative works based upon my work (even though there are currently none) and I certainly didn't want anyone using it for commercial purposes. And of course I wanted credit for my work. I figured out which I wanted to use by looking at this.

Gimp Screencast.

I really liked Gimp, especially as a less expensive version of Photoshop, which I'm spoiled with since the SMC computers in Trumper have it. When I'm at home, I really only have the basic, basic photo editing software, so Gimp is a nice thing to be able to mess around with and have fun with.

The only thing I didn't like so much about Gimp was that it felt kind of bulky if that makes any sense, it wasn't super easy to use right off the bat- a little slow to change the photo (although that could just be my computer) and manuvering the paintbrush is difficult. It's hard to use with any sort of precision.

But Gimp has some really great aspects, and I love love love the flip tool. I can't tell you how many times it's saved me when I was working on something journalistically-minded.

Don't mind that my screencast gets cut off at the end, I wasn't saying anything important! Haha and if you were wondering, I used Jing for the screencast, which I also really liked! It was difficult to get the dimensions right, so that was the downside.

You can click on the link to make the screencast bigger and easier to see!

Here's the link.
 

Google Docs.

So in the interest of full disclosure, I have used google docs before, but only with people sending them to me. The previous photo editor at The Observer used them all the time to list out our assignments. So that is as far as my Google Docs knowledge went before this assignment.

http://docs.google.com/

So, since I didn't really know too much about Google Docs, I headed to (where else) wikipedia. The entry says the site is, "a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users."

One of the things I really liked was that google docs offers a mobile phone application that can be accessed from, for instance, an iPhone. Also it's very organized- documents are easy to arrange as you will and easily found with the search function.

I really like how you can create the document through the site, and you don't have to create it on your computer and then upload it. You can create it and then save it to your account.

Not only can you create free form documents, or you can use a template to create a family budget, a resume (which could be helpful for us- they have like four different kinds) a personal budget (which I KNOW would be super helpful for me) an invoice, a research paper and a to do list.

All of these are great options for Google Docs to have, because the ability for multiple people to be able to see it and add to and change all of these could potentially be very helpful, and very easy.

Now the thing I didn't like about it is that is wasn't quite as easy to use as it could be, kind of awkward in some tools...if that makes sense.

Also Google Doc's...doc's are easy to use, but not completely a replacement for word or powerpoint. But really good to use if you just want to do something simple with them.

All and all I really enjoyed getting to know Google docs more, and it's really easy to use and share- you can invite others, or simply get the link to email them your document.

ePortfolio, Complete.

My ePortfolio is finally complete. It was a pretty easy project, I had most of the essentials done very quickly. I did get tripped up on a few things- it wouldn't upload my picture files straight from my computer, so I had to take them from flickr or facebook so the file size wasn't so large. I think this ePortfolio will really be a valuable tool to me in the future, and something I will most definitely keep updating.

As much trouble as I had with mind mapping, in the long run it really did help me get started on my ePortfolio faster, and know exactly what I wanted to accomplish. It tripped me up at first on how to make pages (such as schools, resume, etc.) link to my main subject (education, work experience, respectively) but well worth it once I figured it out. It made the page feel fuller.

I also love the ability to feature a sampling of my photography work. Even if I one day use this site for job searching, I think it is good to show I have a hobby I am dedicated to, and it would allows an outside viewer to connect and understand something about me.

ePortfolio Mindmap.

Form: A website form using graphic design, photography and video.

Audience: Friends, family; mostly future employers, looking to learn more about me and my work experience.

Topic: About myself,my work and life experience.

Purpose: To inform employers about me, my creative ventures and previous work experience.

Click the popout icon in the bottom right corner to expand and view my mindmap.


Figuring out my ePortfolio ideas wasn't too difficult, since with previous assignments I have figured out what I want to display to the internet public. The link to previous student's pages helped immensely, and I'm sure it will in the creation process as well.

Understanding about mindmaps was easy. It's such a great, simple concept, and basically something I have already been doing in my writing for years. The Maximize the Power of Your Brain video with Tony Buzan was very helpful as well, and figuring out if I am left brained or right brained was very interesting as well- (one test said I was left brained, and one right. I guess I'm a good mix of both?)

I did however, find XMind mind mapping hard to use. It took me a while to understand how everything went together, and the control buttons were so small I kept accidentally clicking a different one. I was very frusterated and had to keep erasing work and starting over until I started over again. I didn't think it was very self evident to use, or easy even once I knew how to do it. I probably wouldn't use it as a tool after this class.

Setting Up Social.

Setting up my Diigo, Linkedin and social bookmarking websites has been interesting. It led me to the questions of "what is interesting enough to save?" and "What kind of things to I put up about myself that people will want to know?"

They were all easy enough to set up, and all the articles and media we read certainly showed us how easy they are to use and how to be best used, but it's tougher to decide on the information you want to include.

I decided to keep it organized and concise. That's the best way to keep track of things and clean cut always looks the best on websites like Linkedin.

Social (Networking) Studies.

Social networking and I have a complicated relationship. Some days, I just want to chuck my cell phone out the window, let the battery die on my computer and let the internet go. Pretend like it didn't happen while laying on a beach somewhere, or out in nature, out in the world actually talking to people. Face to face, not facebook to facebook.

Then of course, there are days where I check my facebook every five seconds, or inbetween every youtube video and tweet that says something like, "Man I love Starbucks frappuccino's!" or "I've watched five straight hours of Deadliest Catch! The Bering Sea is so BA!"

Needless to say, the world can survive without my constant useless updates and bizarre impulses to watch a baby panda sneeze over and over again.

There is a lot to be said about balance when it comes to social networking. It's definitely achievable. You have to find the sharing in it. There really is nothing like finding a hilarious youtube video and just sending it out in every possible direction.

A friend of mine calls this Twitter therapy. Taking feelings and just sending them out there, not knowing where they're going to land, if anyone is going to care, but just knowing that they're out, and you've expressed yourself is enough. Maybe it's as simple as an "AGHHHHHHHH" tweet or facebook status. Maybe you keep retweeting about the oil spill in the Gulf because you want the world to know how angry it makes you. Friends and family are no longer enough- everyone has to know. You are making a statement about yourself, and you don't care who finds it. Here I am, here are my thoughts.

Social bookmarking is interesting this way. I have a feeling that someday psychological studies will be done on what we think is important enough to save, rescued from the cast aways of the thousands of web pages we look at in a given week. Almost like a diary, really. You could go back to a certain day and know exactly what you were worried about, or what actress you thought was important, what youtube video made you laugh.

So called "Folksonomy" is part of this too. Our lives are expanding so that even our organizational systems have to change. We can no longer file things under one subject, because things have different angles and views now. It isn't just "photography", it's "California", "retro", "new age", "photoshopped", "polaroid"...you get the idea. Our worlds are expanding to fit our needs. Each one of these labels could be just as important as the most obvious of "photography".

It is so much easier for me to tag like this, because my mind works like the above diagram from the EdVibes article "What Why and How to Tag". Folksonomy is a perfect for me, because I constantly catagorize things in this web-like way.