What Face do you put on?

I am loving the incredibly rich conversations I have had lately about the colliding of worlds Facebook is bringing about for people. So many faculty, technologists, family, friends, etc. have all mentioned or brought up recently the idea of identity.

I'll use my mom as an example, hopefully she won't mind - she's on FB so most my "Friends" see her anyway. Here she is as a college President who, my entire life, would never even go to the grocery store in sweats or take out her trash in anything less than "acceptable" dress. Literally, and sometimes we lived as far away as 30 minutes from her schools. She always said as an administrator you never know who you will bump into. So imagine my surprise when she took the plunge into Facebook. She has had fun connecting with old friends, current friends, my friends, my brother's friends, and wait....even her collegues. That is where her questions started coming up...her Chancellor is a "Friend" and recently commented at a live meeting..."I've seen Linda's grandchildren!" Her worlds have suddenly collided.

Are "worlds" colliding? Or are we redefining our "worlds"? I think we are redefining. Our students perceive relationships very differently than Baby Boomers who have historically had very different personas. Non-millennials are attempting to place their perception of self, their clearly defined relationships, inside and environment like Facebook. A dilemma poignantly illustrated here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs All the while Millennials are forming their perceptions of self and of relationships in FB. For younger generations there are no "borders" being crossed as those borders look very different from their perspective.

A comment recently made to me by a colleague suggested a possible exception...what, she said, of when the "Dean of Admissions" Googles students to consider admitting them to their college and there are posts of "sexual harassment" or something...she said "sexual harassment is sexual harassment" it will affect their decision regardless what generation they are. We've seen it happen already time and again.

To this I suggest two thoughts..first, when that "Dean of Admissions" is no longer a Baby Boomer but a Millennial it will not matter, because they will be seeing these references from a very different perspective. Currently, we are inflicting Baby Boomer perspectives on Millennial frameworks. The current "Deans of Admissions" and other non-Millennial decision makers need to practice that which we preach. Not all "resources" are valid resources. As teachers, we do not accept, Wikipedia for example, as a valid source for reliable information. Why on earth, would anyone accept Facebook comments, or blog posts, as a valid source for major decisions?

What Face do you wear? Might you consider a new look?

Technology over the generations

A week ago when the husband and I took the iPhone plunge I excitedly loaded my phone with apps, songs, music, videos, and yes....a couple of episode's of my son's favorite tv show - Bunnytown and Little Einsteins. Today, I decided was the day.

We had spent a very busy day at grandma's house and my 2 year old had charmed her and her friends, he was happy and easy all day. So for the 30 minute drive home I decided he deserved a treat. While sitting at a traffic light I whipped out the iPhone, instantly started up an episode of Bunnytown and handed him the phone. He grabbed it...looked at it a minute then me...I said "go ahead, watch, its a whole episode" he turned it horizontal to view it properly and proceeded to giggle away and watch the whole ride home.

I watched through the rear view mirror; I started to ponder the reality of this and was blown away! When I was his age (oh my goodness I've turned into one of those old people!!) but seriously in the span of my lifetime (mid-thirties btw) we went from black & white tv and rotary phones to tv on a 3 inch phone in your car?

Let's throw grandma into this scenario and, wow, it boggles the mind doesn't it? Ok, I'll be more specific - no such thing as TV, phones that require a local operator to connect you to your neighbor that you ask for by name to....downloading your favorite tv shows to a tiny handheld phone that can seemlessly play where ever you are! Dang!

I'm sure 30+ years ago we couldn't of dreamed such a reality...makes me marvel at where we'll be when my son is watching his son in the rearview mirror!

I Flip for my Mino

I purchased a Flip video camera a couple weeks ago and took it along with me to Colorado. I decided to go with the Flip from the suggestion of Lisa Young who owns one and Alisa Cooper, who did a summer project on videos. I officially love this thing! First of all it is so compact and easy to use. I was able to keep it in my pocket and whip it out for short video clips on horseback! The software that comes with it is so easy to use its amazing! I even had to call on their tech support via email and they responded in a timely manner and got my problem solved in seconds. I just need a mini tripod and I'm set! I seriously recommend this camera! If you are looking for professional quality video then this isn't for you but if your looking to get into grassroots video for your work or home then its a bargain. My only complaint is the zoom does not refocus but for under $200 and ease of use you can't beat it! If you're at PV - check with Brian H, I believe he has a few for check out use - he or Sam can show you how it works!
Sample video: windygap96 @ Windy Gap

Time Lapse?

I came across a free and fun little application to take time lapse images using a web cam or your built in iSight camera on standard Macs.  This software lets you set up how many images or still photos to take and the duration time.  For example you can record an event and schedule the software to take a snap shot every 3 seconds.  You also have control over the frame rate of the final video.  I like to use 10 frames per second, but you will have to play around to get your desired result.  When the event is over, the software complies the images into a movie file, that you can export to the web, upload to YouTube, or insert into your blog.

The software is called Gawker- This can be found at

http://gawker.sourceforge.net/Gawker.html

Speaking of Goodbye: Forget bittersweet its just painful

So I have this chest pain and while I've been having a lot of tests done these days poking, probing, x raying, this ill can't be seen; its the one you feel when your heart is breaking. No meds to cure.

Don't misunderstand, I am looking forward to new adventures at Mesa, truly, but right now its hard to see past the great people I've chosen to walk away from.

I have always said, PV has an exceptional, group of individuals working here; especially in the LTD and not to mention faculty. I had no idea four years ago when I started, that I would depend so much on other people. Its amazing when you work with fun, talented individuals how the world of opportunities open up to you; what we can accomplish together. All good things come from supportive bosses, a talented trainer, an exceptional artist & developer, whiz of a database wizard, and fun, clever network admins who help us play, amazing IT director, faculty willing to play and take risks, the list goes on.

Why would I leave? Its a good question & one I asked myself (a lot) when I got the offer. So I wrote my "Do I go" pro/cons list. My cons...as in the reasons to stay, were filled with people. In fact it was mostly people, it went on extensively with names. The pro side was filled with job opportunity items (sorry MC, I don't know you guys yet!) When it came down to it, the Con list was filled with the one thing I could not control...people staying.

I'm heartbroken to leave, its my roots, my home...but sometimes, even in a home you adore, for a million possible reasons, you'll find yourself hanging a "For Sale" sign out front. I just hope I'm leaving it in better condition then when I arrived, I know it did for me. For my own team, Sam, Chrystle, and Vanessa, ouch is all I can say, ouch.

Goodbye...

In about 21 hours I will be losing  a very good boss and friend to another college.  Yes another PVC employee jumps ship.  I am not saying it's not a better move for her, but I am saying she will be missed around PVC's campus.

Having worked with her for about 4 years and worked for her for the last 2 have been a great experience.  She never backs down from a challenge and she always knows how to squeeze the most out of my creativity to make a project that much better.

I have learned a lot from her over the years and hope to still collaborate with her on many district wide projects!  Remember ONE Maricopa!  We had many plans and ideas to take Instructional Technology to a new level on our campus, I am just sad that we ran out of time or never got the resources to start.  

Jen, I might not be next door anymore, or there to say "good night, see  ya tomorrow!"  but we shall collaborate, create, and continue to learn virtually.  

Take care friend,

Sam

AKA Hypnotoad

Another blow to user protections

I'm dismayed by a Judge's decision in the Viacom/Google-YouTube lawsuit. Yesterday a judged ruled in favor of Google turning over copies of all videos that were removed for any reason, IP addresses of all users, with log in id's, and viewing history, and...what I find particularly interesting, on page 23 of the ruling (.pdf posted by Wired) is the argument Viacom makes to challenge the term "Private." Viacom argues that if you post a video private but then refer to that url in a discussion forum you are giving up the rights to privacy, yet there is no definition of the boundries to that...so if I post my url on my email signature and send it out to say 50 people in my address book - all of whom I know btw - is that no longer "private" or if I post my URL on say....Twitter does that mean its no longer private although I only have say....47 followers all of whom I know? I was glad to see the Judge denied this claim - somewhat. She ruled they could have the "non-content" information of these videos. So I am thinking this means they can have user ID, IP addresses, how many times its been viewed and by what IP address and the tags and comments?? Although tags and comments may border on "content data."

Also, if you look to the end to the conclusions you'll see all the rulings and its clear Google worked hard to protect their stuff but looks to me like they put their users out to swim on their own! Now on one hand I can't really disagree with this...ultimately the blame should not fall on service providers short of negligence on their part should they choose to ignore laws being broken the ultimate fault should fall to the users who break the laws. On the other, I just find it frustrating that those law abiding citizens who like to post videos of their family vacations find refuge in YouTube suddenly are under the microscope for copyright infringement both in posting and viewing.

Overall I don't know about you but I find it unsettling. While I recognize privacy on the internet is a misnomer the truth is we all have some expectations of privacy in certain places - email, network storage, websites, etc. Is it too much to expect privacy in such places as YouTube? If it is too high an expectation, then truthfully, I have to agree with organizations such as...say, Maricopa CCD, who hesitate in forming alliances with Gmail and Apple iTunesU. Its a running joke in our district about how long the Google - district wide student email contract has been lingering in legal but now I see...and I can't blame them one bit!!

When are the companies like Viacom and the major Recording industry giants going to stop spending so much time and money on seeking retributions against their customers and start embracing the 21st century technology and find a way to make it work for everyone? Seems to me if they stop their "buy CD's" mantra and go where the users are - online - they may find bliss! I liken it to someone wanting to hang onto the 8-track cassette - come one- its time to move on! What do you think?