The TWAIN blog

Today we tried to launch our new district website which has been giving me fits since I started migrating to the new server. I have invested a lot of work and personal time into it, knowing full well that a website is never 100% complete. I think I had it at about 90% complete Sunday night until Monday when I realized that the big three pages (pages with lots of online forms) had to be converted over. So I spent the day fixing those and completed the third one today.

We pulled the plug at noon which I consider like the show “Lost” to be “moving the island”. To move a site, you have to change the IP address through the Network Associates site which directs all www traffic. We followed the directions and was informed that it would take up to 72 hours to replicate through all the servers that make up the www.

This is normal. This is part of the protocols that define the structure of the web and I had informed my supervisors and all staff that this would be happening.

Then the abnormal happened. None of the external emails were delivered to us. Vendors were calling that their emails were being rejected. Then links to other pages shorted out. And people could see the new site on the outside of the district but inside we had a page error. I am sure other districts have all their links on their site for gradebook, attendance, sub finder, etc. So when those aren’t available, people freak.

Moving the island isn’t so easy.

Now we are reverting back to the old page to figure out the kinks. I am sort of happy this happened because of my stake in the website. I want it to be at 100% when it is released but I also know that the only way that will happen is to use my Spring Break vacation to do it. And I know that if I do that, I will burn out very quickly in this job and that will not be good for anyone. I did correct three major errors and a typo on the main site this afternoon before I went to workout, so today’s errors had a lighter side to them.

The hard part is to come when a new site is really released. When a new website goes into effect, the entire world-wide web gets to publicly view the gaps in our information structure. The floodgates open to a new perspective of a district’s public information profile. A new website isn’t just a pretty face, it’s a cold slap of reality.

I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t like publicized failure. I don’t like failure, really.

A few more quotes from the staff I took to TCEA:

“…I found that becoming immersed with other professionals in the digital world was exhilirating! Just watching everyone move about the conference with their various devices communicating and recharging gave me a true sense of what our students have been born into. After 20 years of attending various conferences in education, I found myself rediscovering the joys of connecting with others who are excited to try new ways of engaging their students. But that’s where the similarities between conferences from then and now end because today’s methods go “outside the box” in EVERY direction! What an eye-opener!! So many news ideas swirling around in my head!”

“I would tell [my campus staff] to get on their comfy slippers and commit some time to traveling through a few Web 2.0 links, so they can begin to see all of the possibilities for connecting with their students and colleagues (even parents) in new ways. I also believe the library can act as a “medium” for promoting Web 2.0 and supporting the staff/students.
I think that [our principal's] persistence in starting the school news broadcast has been a great catalyst for getting our teachers and students to get their feet wet with potential for podcasting and vodcasting.”

“I learned so much I am about to explode. I can’t get it all out of my head and use it fast enough.”

“TCEA is great. You can go and see new technologies that are coming out as well as current technology you have. You can attend the sessions or visit the booths of various companies and find new ways to use current equipment and well as get a chance to talk directly to the vendors to get answers to questions you may have. No matter who you are, there is something of interest to go to and new things to learn.”

“I felt that my brain was totally saturated with new ideas by the time I left. The excitement for using technology in my classes was very elevated and it was well worth going.”

Today is Friday and it marks the end of summer camp….er…um…..TCEA 2009. It is sad to see everyone packing up their belongings and leaving us! The big group is gone and there are just stragglers left behind hoping to get one last mug or T-shirt from the vendors. And I am not casting judgment on them as I am in that group as well!

I am sitting by myself in the Blogger’s Cafe right now. It is sad to see the table empty except for the power surge protectors and discarded vendor pamphlets. But, it is exciting for me to be able to work on a form I am sending to my district participants so I can get their input about this conference.

I just made it on Google Documents which embeds the form online and then generates the spreadsheet behind it to gather all the data. Next week, I get to share their experiences with the district leadership team and we can start building our framework for technology vision for our district. It is exciting and motivational to be part of this process from the ground floor.

Though I am using this form only to gather data from my district, I thought I might share it with you all in case you would like to generate a similar one for your district/campus.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pcJ_EAVrg90uwhN_UriPRUw

Only a few more sessions for me to attend followed by the keynote address by Dr. Robert Ballard. I confess that I am a Titanic geek and Dr. Ballard was the discoverer of this great ship at the bottom of the ocean. I am really looking forward to his session and am sure it will be a great close to this awesome conference.

And then, I will raid that exhibit hall for any crumbs and leftovers I can find!

Ciao!

I am taking a break from the excellent TCEA conference to discuss a news flash that appeared on my Twitter feed.

I believe I wrote about this concept of “whitespace” a few months ago and how it applies to some really cool technology. The concept derives from the broadband spectrum used for broadcast television and the cable network. Now as you may have heard, the cable companies are trying to push to a completely digital environment and out of the old analog television spectrum.

So…what happens to that old analog spectrum?

Several large technology corporations (including Google) have paired up to develop a new whitespace network plan. Google has been the biggest proponent for this. They want to return the American Broadcast System owned by the people back to the people.

If we all move to this new digital signal, these companies want to team together to transition that analog line into free wireless broadband signals. In other words, the line goes down and they have complete access to convert it to a new wireless broadband network into each home. The access will be wireless and accessible by any device.

Free?

Free because the network is owned by the people and for the people. Google has been on the front lines with the FCC about restoring this system back to the power of the people. In November, the FCC did approve to keep the spectrum open so that they could continue looking into establishing this idea.

Microsoft, Google, and Motorola are all working on this now. In June/July, when we finally make the switch – they can start developing the new system without us interfering on their datalines. I am sure we may have streaming Google Ads on our new wireless and broadband access, though.

But = wireless broadband access streaming on that old analog whitespace system? How cool is that? And does this mean wireless access redundancy in every neighborhood? How does this play out for CIPA and content filtering now?

Today marked the first day of open sessions and the exhibit hall at TCEA. I had a full schedule laid out on my cheat-sheet (which keeps me from pulling out the booklet), and I completely disregarded it. I ended up visiting the Exhibit Hall and then going to the Blogger Cafe.

But this morning was incredibly awesome! I was really blown away to hear my blog post from a few days ago read out loud to the audience. How incredible was that?!?! I thought it was really cool and my row of Kerrvillites seemed to enjoy it as well. What an honor.

I did attend the TEC-SIG luncheon later and heard the speaker share about how the mood we project reflects the mood of our environment. It wasn’t a technology training talk as we usually get; but it was about how we can serve our stakeholders better. It was that component of learning more about how we can serve than just providing more tools and resources for us to gawk at. I really appreciated this presentation for just that reason.

After this, I was asked to be interviewed for a segment on SchoolTube. I asked for Kari Rhame to interview me and she did. I was hoping to embed the video here tonight but it hasn’t been uploaded to SchoolTube.com yet.

All in all, a great day. I hope to get to my sessions tomorrow and to have a good workshop. Tomorrow I am presenting a workshop for three hours on Web 2.0 Tools and I am about to assemble the presentation right now.

Also – great seeing everyone. Thanks for the handshakes and hellos!