Academic Aesthetic

This session won out over my other choices because it’s a forum, not a lecture. It’s being moderated by Kate Cave and Bob Cave.

They want to record this. I asked if they would be podcasting it – they just might. If they do, I’ll be sure to link to the file.

First a brief presentation, they’re emphasizing the brevity. This could easily turn into a full lecture session if they didn’t want the forum setting. That’s not a complaint.

Kids people can be rude. Is your cell phone on vibrate or off?

“Fear of strangers has instilled a lack of civility in our children.” I disagree. I don’t think it’s kids who are afraid of strangers.

This could quickly turn into a “those darn kids” gripe fest. I hope it doesn’t.

UPDATE: It didn’t.

This session is being presented by the masterful Will Richardson, who is always worth seeing. When I walked in he told me I didn’t need to be here (my ego inflates once more), but since it hasn’t been that long since I switched from strictly audio to mostly video I’m sure there’s more for me to learn.

I’m not the only one using a wiki for my notes: weblogged.wikispaces.com will take you to the handouts for all of his sessions.

Showing off podcasts – Radio Willow Web and Princeton Review Vocab Minute.

iTalk, iRiver, and other podcast recording toys. Some people have different definitions on the word “inexpensive,” but at least we can still use our phones.

Audacity, that wonder of free, open source recording software.

If I find one new resource in a session, it’s worth my time. Podomatic is that resource.

Onto the video – Will Richardson has a REALLY nice camera. No external mic jack, but nice nonetheless.

Youtube can RECORD video? Wow. I may need to play with that some more.

Izzy Video teaches how to make videos.

Smart Recorder is for SmartBoard presentations, but it’s free and works on Mac & Windows. Could screencasts be in my future as well? :)

I taught Will about zamzar.com.  Down, ego!  DOWN! :D

Hall Davidson is a great presenter – forgive me if I blog this presentation with short concise sentences or sentence fragments.

The world is shrinking – “long distance” is no longer a big deal.

“The most dramatic shrinking is between imagination and reality.”

“If you do something all the time, the medium becomes invisible to you.”

The old “I’m taking your picture and putting it in my presentation.” bit.  It’s worth repeating.

Kids will tear up the format we give them.  We need to make that relevant.

Still no working wifi, except for Hall who had his set up special.

“We share more than just data.”

I left a little early, but only so I could get to Will Richardson‘s first session without participating in the “running of the bulls” that one might expect.

You know you’ve gone to a lot of tech conferences when Hall Davidson (he took my picture, but he took LOTS of pictures) and Will Richardson (he promised to cancel his session that was competing with my own … I’m sure he was joking … I think.) both recognize you.  That being said, I still wish we had a few more of these within driving distance of where I live.

My only gripe so far is that the free wifi which MICCA brags about pioneering seems to have gone down.  The signal taunts me, occasionally jumping from one bar to a full signal, but even at full strength it isn’t really letting me connect to the outside world.

Mr. Richardson showed me an external card from Verizon that gives him wifi almost anywhere, even when no one else has access.  To be honest, I’d invest in that of these conferences were a more regular occurrence for me.

I’m not worried about my own presentation, though.  Granted, my first choice is to show off the free resources wiki, but if I can’t get online I have a PowerPoint with the same info and if that falls through I’ve got al the slides on my iPod.  If I need more than a “Plan C,” then it’s not my job to fix the problem.

While I was typing they were presenting awards to the students who won the annual art contest.  Every year it’s nice to see some of the stuff that students are capable of churning out using tools that didn’t exist 20 years ago when I was their age.

I feel old now.