joanvinallcox's posterous

Playing with the Opera Browser

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:29:54 -0800

For all of you who are visually oriented, look at this tab bar with multiple tabs.

Remember what the one you want now looks like, but not its name?

See the handle bars in the middle? Pull them down.

And now you can see all the tabbed sites. You can close with the same handlebars.

Neat, eh?
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
http://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/

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Second Last Class - Seeing Early Results

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:42:54 -0800

I've been teaching a course called Oral Rhetoric, a course where I work with students on their public speaking, both in face-to-face situations and in creating online audio recordings. Yesterday was the second last class and we spent most of the class time listening to their second last assignment, a commercial/pitch to advertise their final assignment - a story of theirs that they create a recording of and post online. The recordings of their pitches we heard were wonderful, and why wouldn't they be. These students have spent all their lives listening to radio and tv commercials. They might not have Gladwell's 10,000 hours of commercial-listening to gain expertise, but they do have hours and hours of soaking in just how persuasion works.

Over the term, I asked them to read about and practice two kinds of rhetorical skills:

traditional -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_Speech

current -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_%28public_relations%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word especially In Business
http://www.heapr.com/#l=web&q=[%22Sound+Bites%22+]&p=[[1,1]] An interesting new search engine showing many links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch
- http://mashable.com/2009/03/31/pitchtv/
- http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/08/how-to-craft-killer-elevator-pitch-that.html

Both the traditional and the current forms of rhetoric were in evidence in the pitches we listened to, but what really thrilled me were the spontaneous responses. We're using PBWorks for our course container and it allows comments on pages. At the bottom of the Pitch page, was a conversation, a series of comments praising many of the pitches. I was thrilled because I had been trying to develop a Community of Practice approach in the course. After almost every presentation or posting of student work, I asked students to describe their own experiences while doing their own presentation/recording and to give positive feedback to at least three of their classmates. This was an assignment and posted on a weekly Discussions page on the course wiki. I wanted them to learn from each other, and to get used to learning from colleagues as a way to continue learning in their futures. The responses in the Comments section of the Pitch page were an unrequired, spontaneous manifestation of giving each other feedback. What that says to me is that some of the students have developed the habit of responding, and could recognize the technical possibilities (the Comment space at the bottom of the page) for sharing those responses. They have both the communication and the digital know-how.

Makes me happy

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD (905)
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning

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Frosty Morning

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:39:12 -0800

Winter approaches.

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca

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Mid-November Outside of Toronto

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:26:23 -0800

It's unseasonably warm but delightful weather.

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca

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Fallen Leaves

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:58:00 -0800

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca

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Do They REALLY Think We Read it All!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:18:24 -0800

Check the page number at the bottom.

Joan Vinall-Cox
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning

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The Ghost of my Youth guards me this Halloween

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:42:00 -0700

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca

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Last Night at the HPCA Meeting

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:25:26 -0700

I'm a member of a freelancers' association know as the Halton Peel Communicators Association and last night we put on a a social media workshop. It was fun even though I didn't get to sit in on the other three workshop leaders' presentations. Check out Donna's report on hers here - http://trafcom.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/linkedin-101-for-entrepreneurs-and-business-professionals.html, and Sue's here - http://getitwrite.ca/2009/10/29/twitter-tips-hpca-session/ Rob's may come later.

In an unthinking moment I had agreed to cover audio and video on the web, and the closer we got to the workshop, the more I began to fret. I've had more frustration than success with iMovie and GarageBand, and I've never used MovieMaker or SoundRecorder. I won't say I panicked, but I did regret agreeing.

Donna Papacosta blogged recently on leaving your comfort zone - http://trafcom.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/leaving-your-comfort-zone.html - and as an organizer of the evening, she had put me squarely in that position. I was not in my comfort zone. Why oh why hadn't I asked to do the Twitter presentation, I groused to myself, or the blogging one, or even the one on LinkedIn. But no-o-o, I had to say "yes" to audio and video.

It turned out to be pretty good. The day before, still out of my comfort zone, I made a list of the things I did know how to do with audio and video on the web. Turns out people were delighted to learn how to embed videos and audio clips into Facebook or their blogs. They were also happy to find out that they could make little animated videos at Animoto - http://animoto.com/ - just by uploading photos. They found screencasting interesting and looked at the Twitter-associated tool Screenr, - http://screenr.com/ - and some examples of what I've done with Jing - http://www.jingproject.com/ In fact, you can see a collection of the links I referred to in my JNthWEB wiki here - http://jnthweb.pbworks.com/MultiModal

So it was a good night, a night where I discovered that my audience was happy to learn a number of ways to play with audio and video online, and I was happy to share what I knew with them!

Joan Vinall-Cox
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
Halton Peel Communicators Association - http://www.hpcaonline.org/

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"Digital Strangelove" - Essential for understanding the changes the web is bringing

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:54:45 -0700

It's brilliant. Watch it.
http://www.slideshare.net/DavidGillespie/digital-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-internet

Joan Vinall-Cox
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning

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Autumn Colors Near Toronto

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:30:44 -0700

Fall colours sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant.

Joan Vinall-Cox,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca

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Parking Lot in Autumn

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:27:41 -0700

Joan Vinall-Cox,
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning

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Fall

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:26:18 -0700

Joan Vinall-Cox
http://jnthweb.ca

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The Fun Theory

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:38:48 -0700

Joan Vinall-Cox
Social Media & Learning

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So many tools, so little time!

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:16:33 -0700

Yesterday while glancing through my Tweets, I stumbled across a request by @wmacphail to go to an address. Since I've always found his work interesting, I clicked. I ended up on an app he'd embedded in a course wiki, which let me talk to him and another guest. We were on tokbox - http://www.tokbox.com/ - a videochat tool.

I wish I had time to experiment with it. I hope people let me know how it works for them.

When I DMed @wmacphail my thanks for introducing me to tokbox, he sent me another link, showing me how LiveScribe works - http://www.livescribe.com/ - and I fell into equipment lust. I want one, but I'll have to save up first.

I wish I had time to experiment with it. I hope people let me know how it works for them.

Then my colleagues in the HPCA Google Group sent around an amusing video with robot-like characters made with Xtranormal - http://www.xtranormal.com/ - and this tool looked like fun.

I wish I had time to experiment with it. I hope people let me know how it works for them.

While scanning through my Posterous subscription to Steve Rubel's LifeStream this morning, - http://www.steverubel.com/google-preps-server-side-clipboard - I saw the link to the post about the Google Cloudboard - http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-cloudboard.html - and it looks very useful.

I hope I'll have time to experiment with it. I hope, when it becomes available, people will let me know how it works for them.

In my Inbox this morning, I found an invitation to Google Wave, and I'm so-o-o- curious, and so short of time!

I'm determined to have time to experiment with it. I hope people let me know how it works for them.

Joan Vinall-Cox
Social Media & Learning

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Getting Published Seminar - Brian Henry

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:49:00 -0700

I'll admit it; I tend to be hyper-critical of people trying to teach writing, but only because I've spent over 35 years doing so myself. So when I signed up myself and the young teen I'm mentoring to a seminar on how to get published, I had a cynical edge. I was prepared to spend from 10:00 to 4:00 on a Sunday closeted in a small room in the back of Toronto's World's Biggest Bookstore only because a colleague I respect spoke highly of Brian Henry's impact on her writing, and because the seminar fee was relatively low, aspiring writers being a frugal crowd.

It didn't start well. Just after 10:00, standing outside the locked doors of a store that didn't open till 11:00 on Sundays, directly in the wafting stream of pot smoke, with a 16 year old entrusted to me by her parents - I was having negative thoughts. Then I saw someone approaching the door from the inside; it was unlocked and we were escorted in.

We found our seats, and settled in. Within 10 minutes, I was won over. As a long time teacher, it was clear to me that Brian Henry knew both his stuff and how to manage a class. When participants focusing on their own specific questions interrupted, he answered clearly and then steered back to his (well) planned presentation with no show of irritation. I really enjoyed his sense of humour, and his passion for what he was teaching. Both my young friend and I found him easy to understand and we felt we learned what we needed to know for our next step in getting her novel published - how to write a query letter. Listening to an actual agent who is taking on authors was a bonus.

So thanks, Brian Henry - http://quick-brown-fox-canada.blogspot.com/ - and here's my recommendation to any aspiring writers in the GTA - sign up for one of his seminars - http://quick-brown-fox-canada.blogspot.com/search/label/*%20%20Brian%20Henry%27s%20schedule

Joan Vinall-Cox
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning

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Early October Colours in Southern Ontario

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:05:54 -0700

Walking on a cool grey day ...

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca

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Fall walk to coffee shop

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:54:49 -0700

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD,
Social Media Consultant
http://jnthweb.ca

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Learning my (non-technical) way

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:45:12 -0700

Alternate titles for my recent learning frenzy:

Feels so good after stopping banging my head against the wall
Arriving where I started and knowing the place for the first time (apologies to T. S. Eliot)

I have just spent most of three days figuring out how to fulfill a teaching commitment, one that I made before I figured out how to accomplish it. It has been a grueling but ultimately positive experience, at least so far.

I teach a course that covers from speaking to a live audience to podcasting, and includes formal group presentations. I want my students to see how they look and sound in their presentations, and I used this as a excuse to buy something I've been coveting - a flip camcorder.

After years of experiencing the result of my "ready, fire, aim", approach to new experiences, I was smart enough to play with my flip a little before using it in class. I recorded a couple of minutes of various friends and then deleted the videos at their requests. I recorded a few seconds of plants (they don't request deletion of their images) moving in the wind. Transferred it to my laptop - directly using the flip-out USB, which automatically opens the flipshare screen, as seen below.

I glanced at the flipshare screen, got frustrated because I didn't immediately 'get' it and decided to put my short practice video on Vimeo. No problem!

So, feeling secure, off I went to class. I recruited volunteers to video each of the 3 presentations, retrieved my lovely new flip, and went home where I planned to upload each presentation to Vimeo and then embed each group's presentation on a wiki page private to them.

Then I encountered a series of "learning events":

Vimeo doesn't like really large files;
HD videos of approximately 15 minutes in length are really large files;
iMovie, which I have only limited experience with, didn't want to accept 15 minutes of HD video whole, no matter how many times I tried and how many times I watched bits and pieces of video tutorials;
iDVD, same experience, but after I had borrowed and set up my husband's Lacie DVD burner, with all kinds of wires to connect everywhichwhere;
I phoned my friendly expert and he tried to tell me how to convert HD to SD but I didn't know enough to understand his suggestions and he was at a meeting and had to disconnect;
He had also suggested YouTube and its private channels, and I forget why I thought that wouldn't work, probably file size and time length;
Google didn't help me, although it took time for me to figure that out;
Twitter people responded, suggesting Box, DropBox and YouSendIt I've used all 3 before and tried them out - same problem with large files, but the YouSendIt Pro trial looked possible.
My long-suffering husband let me send a video to him using YouSendIt Pro's Trial - it took over 2 hours to upload and over 1/2 hour to download - that didn't seem like a good idea to me;
My other responsibilities were suffering by now, but the idea of channels being private had finally met up with a vague memory of my flipshare screen
Unfortunately I had deleted the presentation videos from the camera;
Luckily I was able to retrieve them from their storage space on my computer;
Still avoiding the manual, I managed to create 3 separate channels and send the links by email to the members in each group (and to me for all three) - it still took hours to upload, but my emails to me appeared to demonstrate success: I could click on the image of the video and see it.

Now would be a good time to glance back to the beginning to see my alternate titles - they'll make sense now ;->

What I have learned:

Persistence is an important aspect of learning;
Large files are harder to move around;
HD video files are large;
Bloody-minded pride in completing tasks is an important support to learning;
Knowing some aspects of what you're buying, the difference is file size between HD and SD, for instance, is a wise approach, even if it blocks impulse buying;
A corollary - not all salespeople know much about what they're selling;
People are helpful, but ultimately you have to find the right set-up yourself.

I haven't yet heard from the students I sent the flipshare channel links to; keep your fingers crossed for me.

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/

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Gmail's Tasks, available too on the iPhone

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:47:05 -0700

Oh, and I almost forgot, you can add a Tasks app to the iPhone

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning

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Gmail's Tasks, and Why I Use It ((no gallery))

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:34:40 -0700

This morning I will assemble a newsletter that has been sent to me by email, an article at a time. I find gmail's Tasks invaluable in doing this.

In the image below, the Tasks link in the left sidebar has an arrow pointing out its position. It used to be in labs (the green lab jar at the top just to the right of your gmail address) but is now integrated.

Arrows also point to what its window looks like opened, and where you can click on the icon to minimize it.

Tasks can sit tidily out of the way bottom right, or, if you click on the bar icon, open in the Inbox window. If you click on the angled arrow icon, it opens as a separate window. Or you can close it altogether by clicking on the "X".

Here's where to find Tasks:

Here's what Tasks looks like close up:

Notice the "related email" links - When they come in to my inbox, I label the message, but I also go to More Actions menu and down to Add to Tasks for every related message, and there I have it, listed in Tasks with the relevant link! You can also see

Minimize, Separate Window, and Close icons at the top right
Actions menu bottom left for a number of possibilities

3 icons, bottom right, for adding another task, trashing, and going to a Tasks menu.

All-in-all a handy little tool!

(Now I can't put off working on the newsletter any longer ;-> and will go to work on it, using gmail's Tasks!)

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD
JNthWEB Consulting - http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning

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