Infomania

I've started a blog for work, & I'm training some colleagues too. I must be completely out of my mind.

I'm still a bit puzzled by the blog thing. I enjoy meeting people in person. In cyberspace, are people even real? And the relationships are very different; a bit detached? Intimate in a sort of anonymous way. It reminds me of backpacking in Europe. Friendly strangers, who shared such details, then moved on.  I like the connections - the people are real, by the way! And I like the way ideas float in & out of my head & end up on the screen for me to see later. And for you to see, I hope!

My array of blogs are meant to have individual themes run through them. This works to an extent, which might seem to contradict the words above. All a bit odd.

And as for information overload... I read on the Macquarie Dictionary site the word infomania is back, the meaning slightly altered. I think Arthur C Clark came up with that, in the 70s? He saw it as an obsession, a mania, & risky too.

It's got this strange pull, this blog thing. It's the modern pamphleteering, and oddly addictive. 

Use it carefully (ho ho), & you get a lot out of it.

Podcasts & Vodcasts

Just had an inspired professional development session. The topic was podcasts. Yes, they've been around for years, & I've even made one or two; but the difference here was Macintosh.

I'm biased I know, but the Mac is just effortless. The free software is so well integrated. It's just click, drag, drop, record (with the built-in gear), tidy up, share, done. 

These were the steps:

1... Photobooth to make a picture (one for the iPod, Wallace & Gromit might say). 2 clicks

2... Garageband to create a podcast episode. 3 clicks + file name.

3... Photo shows up within Garageband. 1 click, 2 drags to place in the podcast.

4... 1 click to start recording, 1 click to stop.

5... Give yourself 4 click-&-deletes to cut out the umms & ahhs. 

6... Drag voice track to make space for intro music.

7... Say, 6 clicks to find some music in Garageband (there are over 1,000 tracks, so you may need longer).

8... Export the podcast. 4 clicks + file name.

Finished. It's that easy. Go into Dick Smith's & try it. Take a small person & show them Photobooth. You'll crack up laughing.

(22 clicks, 2 file names typed, 1 photo, 1 recording.)

At the session, we used Photobooth's 'green screen' effect to put ourselves in Paris or on the Moon. We did a basic video podcast (a 'vodcast') using Photobooth, then edited a fancier one using iMovie. Far too many sound effects to play with!

Sidetrack: the instructor didn't like the new iMovie (V7) as much as the old iMovie HD (V6), I view I share with her. We agreed Apple is probably hoping we'll buy Final Cut Express if we get frustrated with iMovie. iMovie HD is now free to download (OSX 10.4 recommended). Final Cut Express is $A268.

I hear the old hands saying, that's all very well, oh yes, nice toys, silly frills, but is this effective, & I don't have time to play around I've got work to do etc. etc. etc.

Two quick replies. Of course, you have to have good content: logical arguments, facts checked, something worth saying. And of course, present it well. 

What would you choose, good spelling or poor? Clear or fuzzy? Colour or black & white? Animated or static? In fact, it's a no-brainer.

LibraryBytes: Transparency

LibraryBytes: One more L2 Thought ...

A quick thought on transparency: we are all newbies. Get used to it. Everything is so new, so get used to being surprised. Get used to saying, "that's cool - I didn't know you could do that!" Get used to SHARING.

The Web always was interactive...

The Phrase Web 2.0 is rubbish. It was invented as a promotional gimmick, trying to sound advanced, mysterious, "in". But the concepts behind it (interactivity, community, ease of sharing, etc.) are as old as the Internet. The Internet was invented in order to share information, remember?

The difference now is, we can share so much more easily, and share more things. And that IS exciting, and worth a new name. Hence: The Read/Write Web.

Sounds a bit like World-Wide Web? That's OK; we understand the global village now, we know deep down we're in it. And when we know deep down we're in the Read/Write Web, we won't need the phrase so much.

And by then the spin-doctors will have come up with a totally new (improved!) gimmick...

You read it here first!