Pages

darcynorman.net and Hugo

Themes, features, and the content pipeline behind the site.

Redesigning my browser homepage
A “blogroll” that uses my NetNewsWire subscriptions .opml file
A custom Hugo theme based on 1980s-era terminal displays
A page that lists all external links mentioned in the last 100 posts
Typeset - another theme with a more “typeset” look (which also has light, dark, “terminal”, and “hypercard” themes)
Standalone Comments - a self-contained comment management tool for use with static websites. It’s integrated with my Hugo website.
A shell script that uses pandoc to convert legacy .html content files (from process of exporting from WordPress) into .md files
Hugo Lightweight Search - a new API-driven search engine that runs on the server and is blazingly fast and scalable
Hugo Viz - a python script to visualize content posting over time (see example, using Google Antigravity and Claude Code)
An Obsidian plugin that renders Hugo shortcodes in Obsidian notes in Read view.¹

Obsidian and personal knowledge management

Plugins, scripts, templates, and views for the vault, plus the web tools that visualize it.

Mavericks is an exhibit curated by the Glenbow Museum, on the history of Alberta. The online version of the exhibit was created using Pachyderm, and I was the developer for the project. The online exhibit is used as part of the K12 curriculum in Calgary, and every grade 5 student in the city uses the website as part of their projects.

I was involved in the project as a Pachyderm developer, and worked with curators at the Glenbow to implement the web version of the exhibit (I did the authoring and publishing within Pachyderm, using content provided by the Glenbow). The web exhibit uses Flash - 2006 was a much different time.

MSc Thesis: A Case Study Using the Community of Inquiry Framework to Analyze Online Discussions in WordPress and Blackboard in a Graduate Course

January 1, 0001

Norman, D. (2013). A Case Study Using the Community of Inquiry Framework to Analyze Online Discussions in WordPress and Blackboard in a Graduate Course. (Master’s thesis, University of Calgary). Retrieved from https://darcynorman.net/thesis

TL;DR: students basically did what teacher asked them to do, without really caring what platform they were using.

Abstract:

Online discussions in a graduate level education course were compared using the Community of Inquiry framework and a Classroom Community survey within a mixed methods case study with concurrent triangulation of data sources. Discussion posts were published in two separate software applications: WordPress and Blackboard. Data collected included online discussion metadata, Community of Inquiry coding of online discussion content, survey responses from students, and an interview with the instructor to identify pedagogical decisions made in the design of the course. Content analysis of the discussion archives described differences in posts published to the two platforms, as well as differences in simultaneous indications of Community of Inquiry presences over time. Five new online discussion timeline visualization methods are presented. Key findings include an emphasis on pedagogical design over software selection in facilitating rich online discussions in the context of a graduate level course, although selection of software may provide signals to participants regarding the instructor’s expectations. Recommendations for reproducing similar research, identification of areas for future research, and recommendations for practice are provided.

Pachyderm

January 1, 0001

(2003-2006)

Pachyderm was a collaborative project, led by the New Media Consortium. It involved the development of a rich media authoring platform, which would be used to create online interactive presentations from museum collections and teaching materials.

From the NMC Pachyderm website:

Designed for people with little multimedia experience, Pachyderm is accessed through a web browser and is as easy to use as filling out a web form. Authors upload their own media (images, audio clips, and short video segments) and place them into pre-designed templates, which can play video and audio, link to other templates, zoom in on images, and more. Once the templates have been completed and linked together, the presentation is published and can then be downloaded and placed on the author’s website or on a CD or DVD ROM. Authors may also leave their presentations on the Pachyderm server and link directly to them there. The result is an attractive, interactive Flash-based multimedia presentation.
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Reclaiming Educational Technology

January 1, 0001

After the Open Education conference in 2014, an after-conference hackathon even was hosted at the University of Mary Washington. During that event, I was able to interview several edtech leaders (with the help of David Kernohan and Andy Rush) to capture some of their insights into their work in edtech.

The videos are available below, as well as audio versions in podcast form.

Interviews feature (in alphabetical order):

Audrey Watters - HackEducation.com
Ben Werdmuller - Cofounder, Known
Erin Richey - Cofounder, Known
Jim Groom - University of Mary Washington (now Reclaim Hosting)
Kin Lane - APIEvangelist.com
Martha Burtis - University of Mary Washington (but now at the Open CoLab at Plymouth State University)
Tim Owens - University of Mary Washington (now Reclaim Hosting)

Fostering a culture of innovation

Flexible and open

Higher ed and startup cultures

The business and politics of edtech

SciQ - Science Revealed K12 Portal

January 1, 0001

Built as a theme for CAREO, SciQ was launched as a way to provide access to digital resources within the context of the Alberta K12 provincial curriculum.

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