Here are some shots in my Flickr account to give you an idea of this tool used in real time.

You can find them at my Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/techxas. Posting as we go now.

This year, I am laptop-less. In fact, I am only posting this using my room-mates’ laptop while he is partying somewhere downtown about now. I have spent the past few days at the nation’s largest technology educator conference without access to a portable computer. It has been frustrating on a few levels but really positive on many others.

I have been regulated to taking notes with PEN and PAPER!! Not only does this help me focus more on the speaker but it also gives me a greater chance to really PEOPLE WATCH. And people are amazing to watch in these large groups.

The most amazing thing to me is the use of the technology by our technology education peers that makes it appear to something similar to paparazzi stalking a star. The “heavy hitter” celebrities of the blog world are following each other and sitting in the front few rows. They then Twitter, Ustream, and even blog about what is happening while it is happening.

Now to the audience participating globally in the conference, I can see how helpful this is. Its opening the conference and discussion to others in the world wide classroom.

But to be in the room and watching - its really distracting! People aren’t just discussing the topics. They are discussing their plans for dinner. They are discussing their inside jokes. They are posting commentary about the commentary. Some try to be more witty than the previous post and the conversations jump off the topics into their own little satires.

In our keynote this morning, I had a woman sitting next to me who was posting her blog. She was in Twitter. She was also adding to a discussion in Ustream. Meanwhile, those of us around her were distracted by the screen of her laptop seeing as the lights were dimmed for the video playing of the keynote. I watched her post about her experiences, watched as she answered emails, watched as she twittered to her friends about what they were doing in other areas of the state.

I didn’t see much conversation about the keynote. I didn’t see her really noticing that her tick-tack clicking of her nails during the presentation was disrupting the crowd around her. I don’t think she cared. She was in the Web 2.0.

I left the keynote today with the idea to watch the audiences more than the presentations. And while many conversations were on task and on point, there was still this strange race to be the first to post the information. People are taking pictures, filming, streaming, and blogging it seems to be the first to post the content. They want to be the source for the information first. It reminds me of a favorite media-news site I check daily called Ain’t It Cool news. Media news is posted with a commentary section for each item. The first few posts are the people visiting the items to post “FIRST” so they can get the recognition of being noted as first-posters. Paparrazzi? Nope. Webucators! First to Tweet. First to UStream. First to Flickr!

My questions:

What happens when we allow the social networking on the computer overpower the social gathering?

When do we give up meeting and sharing ideas locally when we get together locally only to be sharing those ideas with people in other rooms, states, or countries?

What is are the new rules or etiquette guidelines for social networking in social gatherings? or Are there any?

Does the social network become the new society?

I close with this. I attended a “Twitter dinner” last night. This was a nice dinner joining people from the Twitter-verse together. The dinner was great and we got to talk to one another. We hugged and shared that common feeling of knowing that we are on the front-line. Its interesting to meet the people you don’t see everyday but are in the same boat as you and to greet them with a hug. First meeting in person and hugging each other because we are in the trenches as comrades.

The party was swelling and then circled about as a group. People began taking out cell phones and Twittering while we were in the group. Then they began talking about the Twitter conversations. The social gathering was now guided by the conversations taking place from people not in the room. The party was over for many of us at that point. It was like watching people talking about a party I wasn’t a part of in the party that I was a part of. I was in the room with these people but they were in a party taking place in their cell phones.

That’s just one issue with Twitter. I guess the other is that it is constantly down…..

Find me there - mradkins

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As of July 1, I will be the new Chief Technology Officer for the Kerrville ISD. I am currently in the process of packing my home up for a move to my new place. I have posted pics on my Flickr stream that should be showing up soon on this site.

I am really excited about the new job and role I will be taking on in Kerrville. I have always been routed to one campus in my previous roles. This new job is district-wide and I plan to be mobile for the most part of my job. “Have laptop, will travel!” I told my administrative team that I would prefer to be housed at the campuses rather than at the administration building.

This is also a new position for the district. They have had a tremendous technology support team for years! I met them and I agree. But in the past year, the technology planning committee challenged the administration to find a person to come in and help them learn to use the technology in the classroom. The teachers requested that this job be created so that they could take the learning to the level of application in their classes.

I am going in just the way I like it: without a plan and without a pre-conceived notion of what should be done. I want the teachers there to help me devise the best method for helping them learn and apply technology tools. How can we all learn together? We are all in this Web 2.0 world together and the tools will always be changing. I will be learning along with them and sharing as we work together.

I am really excited about the possibilities and for living in Kerrville. Its a population of about 20,000 which is different than all the other places I have lived. I think this difference is going to be the best thing for me!