Blog Posts

do what you love

I just found this Holstee Manifesto Lifecycle video. So good.

The Holstee Manifesto Lifecycle Video from Holstee on Vimeo.

so go out and start creating.

life is short.

Ghostery - protecting your privacy online

I’ve been using the Ghostery extension in both Chrome and Safari for awhile now. It sniffs the web pages and blocks requests for the douchey stuff that tries to track you online. It lets the good stuff through, but prevents all of the creepiness from executing. It also reports on how many tracking items are attempting to worm their way through it on each page you visit. Eye opening.

It’s free. Runs in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and IE. There’s also a custom browser for use on iOS, but I haven’t tried it yet.

on a blog as a deadman's switch

I’ve been thinking about what would happen to my online stuff, when I eventually kick off (hopefully not for several decades, but still…). This whole Reclaim stuff would mean that my online artifacts would disappear rather abruptly. That’s partially mitigated through things like the newly-minted Hippie Hosting Co-op, but what happens to my various account info? How would I hand that off, and send a message after, well, you know…

That’s where the idea of the internet deadman’s switch comes in. A bit of code that monitors for signs of life from me, and after I stop doing stuff it assumes I’ve kicked off, waits a predetermined period of time, tries to nudge me by email, and then sends off an email to my family.

a week in playa del carmen

My niece got married on the beach in Playa del Carmen last week, so we tagged along. So nice.

The bride asked me to photograph the wedding, but my DSLR is a bit under the weather. I wound up shooting it on a borrowed DSLR - the first real DSLR photos I’ve shot in about a year. I need to pull mine out of the basement and get it back in working order again. I still haven’t seen the photos, but the ceremony was beautiful and fun. I think my fave shot of the entire thing might have been a quick Instagram I shot on my phone, though…

Hippie Hosting Co-op

If you’re seeing this, the move is complete. My site is now powered by the freshly-hatched Hippie Hosting Co-op, thanks to Timmmmmmmyboy (Tim Owens) for getting the ball rolling.

I’m sure more info about the co-op will be coming soon. I’m making the move to help test things out and see how it will handle adding users. Once things are settled, I’ll be closing my MediaTemple hosting package and transferring the balance into the server hosting package used by the HHC (which is also hosted on MediaTemple, so I’m not really leaving MT - they’re fracking AWESOME web hosts. Glad to be with them!)

Ben Cowie on introducing first-year geoscience students to the primary scientific literature in a large classroom setting

What a fantastic series of posts by Dr. Ben Cowie, a geology prof here at the UofC. He worked with his first-year undergrads, on going to primary research lit, rather than just settling for teh wikarpedia.

• Part 1: the motivation and desire to initiate this program
• Part 2: the implementation of the work
• Part 3: details of how the students handled the material and what the most commonly used strategies were for the students

so good. so happy he’s teaching here at UCalgary, and that he’s blogging the stuff he’s doing.

wesch on blogging etc...

It was not an isolated incident. As other professors he met described their plans to follow his example, he suspected their classes would also flop. “They would just be inspired to use blogs and Twitter and technology, but the No. 1 thing that was missing from it was a sense of purpose.”

(emphasis mine)

You can’t just bolt on techy techtech and be a good and innovative teacher (or student). There has to be a reason. A purpose. A genuine, authentic need to use a tool or technique. Otherwise it’s just distracting busywork. Sometimes, no techytechtech is the best way to do something.

Hockeyheart

An awesome documentary on finding what you enjoy, and being brave enough to step up and learn. Even better, it was written, produced, directed, and stars my bestest friend Kim Faires as part of the NUTV Doc School program on campus. So good.

the man who lived on his bike

THE MAN WHO LIVED ON HIS BIKE from Guillaume Blanchet on Vimeo.

so good. I need to ride hands-free more. Haven’t really done that since I was a kid…

via a tweet from Momentum Magazine:

The Man Who Lived on His #Bike shar.es/fher2

— Momentum Magazine (@MomentumMag) February 2, 2012

a day in the life of @dlnorman

I tried an experiment, where I took a photo every hour on the hour (or as close to it as I could manage/remember) to see what documenting a full day might look like. It was surprisingly fun to do. Might make an interesting @ds106 daily create project…

powerpoint vs. interpretive dance

So, I was stuck in a long meeting, absorbing endless slides in a powerpoint deck. And I vented something onto Twitter, as I apparently do.

@TedTheSith responded:

Heh, @dlnorman, stuck in a Powerpoint rut? Seen this yet? #TED on.ted.com/AFxg

— Teddy (@TedtheSith) January 25, 2012

In workshops, I often joke about doing stuff by interpretive dance instead of powerpoint. Turns out, that’s not a bad idea after all. Awesome.

the only engaging ad is no ad at all

Instagram’s CEO, talking about the awesome plans for ramping up ads in their service:

“I think the advertising experience is going to be extremely engaging,” Systrom said. “It’s much harder with text,” but Instagram offers photos, and brand names such as Audi, Kate Spade, and Burberry have joined Instagram.

“They’re sharing pictures of products and the message of their brands. That shows we’re at the beginning of what will come with brands,” he said.

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