The TWAIN blog

A coworker shared this link with me from New York Times writer, David Pogue.

Pogue is one of my favorite podcasters because he shows off new technology in such a quick and humorous way. I highly recommend you visit iTunes to subscribe to his podcasts.’

The article is titled “Twittering Tips for Beginners” and it comes from David’s column in the NYT for January 15, 2009.

In his brief outline of the program, David provides some tips for the new user:

1) Don’t just go to the site. Use an app to monitor your Tweets (and yes, he explains what Tweets are!) or feed them to your phone.

2) There are public and private Tweets.

3) Don’t feel you must respond to every Tweet. Nor do you have to subscribe to everyone.

4) Don’t Tweet about what you are doing right now! Use this resource to post interesting questions, links, articles, discussions. People don’t care about the mundane experiences you are experiencing because they are experiencing their own. (Amen!)

He also relates some insight into how Twitter has been used for even some basic troubleshooting help on a computer.

It is a good article and it can be helpful to explain to the use of Twitter to a broader audience than just technology geeks. A good addition to this may be to also share the Common Craft video on Twitter.

In the past few weeks, I have found connections to my government through several tools I use online to connect to my own professional learning communities. I have not been into the political spectrum as much as a caring citizen should. I have taken government and politics for granted for many years – choosing to stay out of it and away from it. Even during the presidential campaigns, I chose to stay away from the debates and away from the news in general.

I don’t consider myself to be ignorant of the world around me. While I shy away from televised news, I have stayed in the loop through world news on my satellite radio, blogging, online discussions, and a few book recommendations.

All this to say, that now I am connecting to real time discussions about our government and processes through several resources posted online. Just this morning, I started following #dipnote which is the US Department of State on Twitter. I even went to their blog and signed up to receive RSS notifications of their blogs, comments, and video posts.

I have signed on and even posted on change.gov which is President-Elect Obama’s website for gathering input from all of us in the United States.

I guess the point of this post is to say that there are ways to reconnect to change. I am excited about the possibilities of the new President and the change I am already seeing in the communication plans. I am excited to see Web 2.0 embraced by not only the President but the different departments in our government. It is exciting to hear the discussion of these tools I have used for years and not to hear “what a waste of time” in the same sentence. I feel like we have been on the outside and the fringe for a while using these things only to be made fun of for trying.

Exciting times are not on their way. They are here now and we have an opportunity to share with others how they can reconnect with their own government and state agencies. We have the opportunity to show people in our lives how they can use Twitter, blogging, podcasting, RSS, etc. beyond just subscribing to educational resources for their classrooms. They can now connect to their world.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. If you are traveling, be safe!

I have been working out for almost a year now at a variation of gyms. In the larger city where I was, I had access to a large chain of gyms. I could throw a rock and hit 3 of them because they were on almost every corner. Now, I use two local gyms in the town where I live. I play racquetball at one and I have a weight trainer at the other. A nice variation is helpful.

But still, I can’t get a grip on handling calories and keeping data about my exercise routines. Heck, I have enough trouble remembering to drink a glass of water ever 90 minutes. I finally realized I should incorporate the technology tools I am in contact with daily to use for my health program. I have an iPhone for chrissakes!

So, I found a few and they have helped. Here are the ones that worked for me:

On Twitter, you can follow certain hashtags like #twit2fit and #fitness. These will send posts when someone posts to these channels.

On my iPhone, I use a resource from LIVEStrong but is really a connection to something called The Daily Plate. You can find it for free in the iPhone apps section. I like this tool because I can type in what I ate for a meal and it finds it through a Google-type of search engine. It then calculates my daily caloric intake and lets me know how many calories I have access to at each step in the day. When I exercise, it calculates that figure into how many calories I burned in the workout. Very helpful.

Another site I found today is called Gyminee and it seems like a similar site to Daily Plate. I see that on this one, you can enter your goals as well and it helps you plan on how to reach those goals.

While working out on an Elliptical, I watch iTunes podcasts on everything from the daily news (Anderson Cooper) to Cook’s Illustrated Simple Recipes (for some interesting dietary cooking). These are a nice break from just technology/education podcasts. The Elliptical is my place to break free from work and really focus my mind. Find a place in your gym or workout where you can “break out” as well.

The final help steps out of the digital side and into the real side. You need some real people in your life to nag you about your weight loss. Nagging isn’t the best thing in life; but it may be the best thing for your health.

Drink that water!

I love to post questions and answers on Fluther.com. This is a great site. You get points based on your questions and how many people respond. You also get points if people rate your questions or answers. What do you do with the points? Um….I dunno.

But I like to post questions there where I can get an answer. This blog doesn’t get much response. I learned this and have finally gotten over that fact. Fluther on the other hand, I get a lot of response. I tend to ask those questions that randomly stick in my head until I can figure it out or at least form a good opinion for what I think is the answer.

I posted a question to the Fluther community the other day: “In your lifetime, what has been your most positive learning experience?” I based this from the speech by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach at TechForum in what she asked students to answer. I thought maybe this was a good question to ask this community in Fluther.

I would post the answers below…but why??

They are posted on Fluther. Feel free to check them out. Post a response. Post a question.

Fluther. It is fun!

I have been playing with a really neat tool I found online called EverNote. One of my info-sources (Fluther.com) had a posted question about tools college students are using. An answer was the use of the tool called EverNote. Again, this is a cloud tool for posting those notes you need to find later.

http://evernote.com/

What I enjoy about this tool is that I can take snapshot photos and post those at notes. Often, I just need a visual cue to be my note. I could be in a store and want information on a product to see if I can order as a gift for someone else. With my phone, I can snapshot with the camera and post the note to access when I get home.

I can also record a voice note either on the site itself or through my phone. Being an iPhone user, I have a camera and voice recorder in one and they even offer a free app for Evernote. Within 2 clicks, I can post a new note that is accessible from my phone or from the web on any computer. Ever Note!

Great tool!