Tags and Categories as Content Containers

anthropology, finding my path, web design View Comments
Sep 282008

I have a lot on my plate these days. I’m editing one of my novels. I just finished the Beginner level of the online drawing program I’ve been working through for the past couple of months. I’ve finally decided to put myself through an intensive study of knowledge management and information architecture.

I’m also trying to move back to the original Rebecca Thomas Designs website.

The original site was structured to meet the needs of the person I was when I started blogging. Each of my interests had their own blog, blocked off by Multiply. The design was clean, simple, able to be appropriate, regardless of which blog you were looking at.

The problem came when my focus changed, and the multiple blogs no longer reflected the person I realized was hiding in here. The person I am is a blend of teacher, content creator, and leader/coach; and now I want my blog to reflect that.

It would seem like some of the old blogs could just be re-purposed to fit this new me…but I want something more complicated. I want all of my blog entries to show up in the main blog, but leave people the option to see only the topics they want within these three major spheres of my life (preferably without the pain that comes with managing a blog broken apart by Multiply).

A couple of weeks ago, I started playing with FriendFeed and Yahoo Pipes to create a pair of all-in-one stops for Dead Bunny. Using tags and categories in his blog, Delicious, goodreads, Twitter and YouTube, I’ve pulled together an easy-to-use lifestream. It was fairly simple to put together, and running Yahoo Pipes through Feedburner has already allowed people to take advantage of subscribing to Dead Bunny’s content and getting it emailed to them. My next step is to figure out how to pull it into my original blog, and then to create a specific corner for him on the original website.

I’m already looking at creating a Yahoo Pipe for my design content. It’s really forcing me to think about how I use websites and tags to present and organize my work.

Even more importantly, I’m also starting to look at this as a means to pull together some sort of portfolio. I may have to build a few to reflect my work in different contexts, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.

In short, tags and categories can be used through FriendFeed and Yahoo Pipes (or other lifestreaming/mash-up tools) to create focused streams of your content. You can also use Yahoo Pipes to pull together information on topics that you’re researching.

Posted by Rebecca at 10:08 am

Learning from cartoons

animation, teaching View Comments
Sep 272008

On Dinosaur King this morning, Rex defined “savannah” in a way that was reminiscent of Magi-Nation. Seriously, what is keeping that show from the E/I label? (Best guess: episode length)

It did make me think about M.A.S.K., as it often does, and I got to wondering about what I learned from episodes (not the PSAs at the end of each episode- I really liked preachy cartoons, didn’t I?). It was things like- apple seeds contain trace amounts of a poisonous substance, how two-way mirrors work, bullet trains are the fastest on earth.

You know…useful stuff! *grin*

Posted by Rebecca at 10:04 am

Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss

books View Comments
Sep 202008

Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss
author: Danica McKellar
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2008/09/18
date added: 2008/09/20
shelves: borrowed, education, math-activities
review:

Posted by Rebecca at 11:25 am

Reminiscing about my constructivist background

education View Comments
Sep 152008

I’m now taking (It’s probably more fair to call what I’m doing “auditing”, as I’m trying to squeeze in what I can of the required readings and activities around my already bursting schedule.) a connectivism course led by George Siemens and Stephen Downes that’s really looking more to explore in real time connectivism in an asynchronous setting.

Naturally, one of the early questions popping up is the difference between connectivism and constructivism. I’m taking this class because my periodic research on connectivism has often left me wondering the same thing. I’ve seen connectivism as connecting prior learning to what I’m now learning. Sort of a “How does this fit with what I already know” approach. Going through this week’s readings, I’m finding that my interpretation may really be too shallow.

Of course, I’m learning I may also be incorrect in my interpretation of constructivism. Constructivism was one of the educational theories presented to us my first semester in my teacher prep program. We were all encouraged to figure out which theory (or blend of theories) best fit how we learned and how we taught. Amazingly, I felt drawn to constructivism. It just seemed to fit with my emerging career in museum education and how I worked with students and developing programs.

Even this morning, as I sit here working on the next set of Dead Bunny videos, I’m really looking to build on what a student already knows to help them understand that video’s skill.

ack to the point, connectivism isn’t about making connections within the student to help them learn. It’s about creating connections outside the student, to create feedback loops that help cement the idea for the student. I wonder, though, if that really does create the right atmosphere for skill and concept mastery. It will be interesting to read and watch.

Posted by Rebecca at 9:30 am

Good twin, bad twin

character development View Comments
Sep 132008

I think I’m starting to wrap my mind around the whole hero-villain dichotomy. It took a sci-fi/fantasy author, a manga-ka, and watching it play out in front of me, but I think I’m getting it.

The hero and villain have to be similar in order to understand each other well enough to be able to predict and plan for each other’s moves in their cat-and-mouse game. But they have to be fundamentally different on some level to be at odds. This provides the conflict, the imbalance, that drives the story.

It actually works this way in real life, too. I once had two managers who had worldviews that made sense to them, but also had agendas that were so similar that they ended up at cross-purposes, which led to a lot of drama that didn’t end particularly well.

The hero and villain have to have some balance to really drive each other’s actions while maintaining their separate motivations.

Posted by Rebecca at 8:33 am

How to Write a Children's Book and Get It Published

books View Comments
Sep 122008

How to Write a Children's Book and Get It Published
author: Barbara Seuling
name: Rebecca
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at: 2008/09/12
date added: 2008/09/12
shelves: borrowed, childrens-books, writing
review:
It’s basic, so it’s good for someone just thinking about writing, but it’s also outdated…sometimes in a very obvious painful way.

For me, it wasn’t the best book. I found more useful, relevant information through various children’s writing websites.

Posted by Rebecca at 9:47 am

Vampire Knight, Volume 5

books View Comments
Sep 062008

Vampire Knight, Volume 5
author: Matsuri Hino
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/09/06
date added: 2008/09/06
shelves: i-own, manga
review:

Posted by Rebecca at 10:14 pm

Finding what's important

finding my path View Comments
Sep 012008

My computer’s power supply was fried by a freak power surge a few months ago. I got it back not too long ago, and have been shifting everything from the computer I was borrowing back to the external drive so I can access it with my own computer.

This morning, I plugged the drive back into my computer, and discovered my computer can’t even see the drive. It gave me an error message telling me how to mount it to my computer, but that didn’t work. So, I”m sitting here with a drive full of data I can’t access. I’m still working on fixing it, but it’s led to a small problem. Today, I was planning on cleaning up my resumes and sending one out. But guess where my resumes are?

Really, I should feel very frustrated right now. I’m having to take what’s on my LinkedIn profile and reshape it into a pair of resumes that define my career. But I’m not frustrated at all. This is a chance to “start fresh” to an extent. It’s a chance to think about what’s been really important in my career, what’s really stuck with me, and then revise my resume to reflect that.

This is a blessing when you really think about it. How often are you forced into thinking about what’s really mattered to you during your career?

Posted by Rebecca at 12:08 pm
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