The TWAIN blog

I have been an avid user of Facebook since it went public in 2006. Originally it was designed only for college use to link students together at Harvard. Back in 2004, the social network was linking only Harvard, Stanford, and Yale in a way to create a “living yearbook”. I remember reading about it in an article when it was originally title The Facebook and its address was thefacebook.com. From 2004 to 2006, it was only open to college students and accounts were generated based on students having an email address recognized in the system. It was impossible to get in on it unless you had that @edu address.

In 2006, the site opened up to allow non-university users and the floodgates opened. I joined up when I read it allowed us all to have access and I have been keeping up with friends, family, colleagues, old church youth group pals, former students, and so on ever since. My network consists of over 400 “friends” and I post videos, links, blogs, notes, games, etc. in what I consider a living blog.

It is different in many ways to this blog because of the instant response it generates. I get more response to a funny video post there than any post I generate here. Instant-gratification! I don’t have to Twitter that I posted a new blog post either. I don’t have to publicize my new posts there because it auto-feeds my note to the entire network.

I see colleagues in my profession with profiles on the site but they don’t seem to take full advantage of what Facebook offers. Some have it set to receive and feed their Twitters and/or Plurks. But to me that seems like it isn’t proactive enough. It seems like it is just another feeder for the same information. There isn’t interaction in the same way as a blog itself. There doesn’t seem to be the two-way or even 30-way communication when something is shared with commentary on the timeline.

I wonder if people are still adjusting to Facebook and take it way too seriously?

I don’t see it as a professional tool though I do see how it can be used that way. I see it as a way to share the things I find in my daily web travels. From the interesting to the sublime, there are some really interesting things to share on the web. I keep my commentary to a minimum and let the conversation build from the social circles I have developed over the years.

It is blogging-lite! It’s crass and baudy at times but I think it keeps it interesting. I get comments asking me where I find such odd items to post and I share how I harness the web with so many tools. I still get to teach my former students and co-workers but it isn’t planned. It’s live conversation taking place on the timeline.

My hope is that more people take advantage of the possibilities to use Facebook in a way that reaches out beyond streaming what they post on other timeline tools like Twitter and Plurk. Integrate some fun into your timeline! Share a funny YouTube video you found and start a discussion on why it made you laugh. Talk about the social activities you engage in outside your professional world. Take pictures of what is in your yard or something interesting you found in your town. Yes, be concerned about social media professionalism but don’t be stodgy!

It’s okay to have fun every now and then. Anyone else enjoying Facebook?

My profile is http://www.facebook.com/mrjadkins. Stop by for some fun!

I thought I would take some time to post about interesting things I am seeing around the web lately and in print. I feel pretty “plugged-in” to resources about technology, pop culture, and learning. I visit my regular daily sites and StumbleUpon others to meet an exploratory urge.

I read an article in T.H.E. Journal tonight about an online tool called Saywire.com that proposes an interesting idea of creating a safe social networking tool for teachers and students. A district in Hillburn, NY is already using this tool to reach out to elementary students, as the article describes in T.H.E. Journal (see link above). The district uses the environment to teach students about the safe use of online social networking. I really like this quote: “[James] Yap (the director of instructional technology and data management for the Ramapo Central School District) began rolling the tool out to 500 Ramapo teachers and students in grades 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9. By focusing on younger students, the district can use the system’s controlled environment to teach proper use and behavior in web-based communities.”

Learning by immersion?!!? Also, interesting to read that this district is in its third year of a Second Life initiative for its middle school. I recommend you read the article this month in T.H.E. Journal magazine or go online.

Pico Projection from Syndiant Technology. And great news from Governor Rick Perry’s office here in Texas about this company and the development of micro-projection devices.

iCloud gives me chills in good and bad ways. I think the idea of a web-OS belongs to the heavy hitters. I wonder who will buy out iCloud first? I also wonder if you can have more than three different apps or windows open at the same time on this iCloud? I read today that the new Microsoft OS Standard edition will only allow 3 windows open at once. I guess they didn’t copy Apple’s “Spaces” concept in this new OS.

SkyTone released specs on a $100 netbook that runs the Google Android OS. It seems everyone has an operating system these days. How about I just make my own?

And finally, this little gem deserves posting here as well. I posted it on my Facebook wall today. It is footage from a Sprint HD slow motion camera that films 1,000 frames per second. Stunning visuals! I wonder how long until this technology makes it to Sprint phone?

One last share item – A Tumblr page I love to check out. This Szymon person posts the most amazing visual advertisements and sculpture ads on his Tumblr. Very interesting visual images used in international advertising.

I thought I was done but I have one last ramble. This site lists the 100 Most Iconic Viral Videos and I really think a re-imagining of them with TCEA members could be a fun idea for the conference for this year. I think a viral-video campaign for TCEA could be a good promotional tool. I watch that video of Susan Boyle singing on stage and wonder how easy would it be to recreate with a recognized TCEA (male) face spliced into it and getting Simon’s reaction??

Could be fun….. anyone? anyone?