Technology – Page 8 – Silence and Voice

Facebook Owns You, Round 222

The New York Times picked up the Consumerist story about Facebook’s content ownership that they spell out in their terms of service.

Something does not feel right about this; Facebook owns it all if it is on their site?

Read their terms yourself, and make up your own mind. How much content do you want to give to Facebook in the name of collaborating with friends?

Perhaps on the flip side, in a connected world, ownership is always transferred to those who own the networks (think about how the NSA spies on US citizens or how emails we write at work are owned by the employer). Is Facebook really doing anything different?

PPOCCID Class Begins Tonight

I am teaching PPOCCID (Principles and Practices of Online Course Creation and Instructional Design) again beginning this evening. I made the syllabus available for anybody who wants to see / use it (comments and feedback are very welcome!).

One of the ongoing assignments for my students will be to blog:

Course Blogs

Reflective Practice is a critical aspect of teaching and learning, and a fundamental element of teaching online involves acquiring a comfort with technology to communicate and collaborate.

Online learning is a more networked experience than traditional face-to-face (F2F) learning. Thus, students are required to use a blog for this course. Students may use their own blog (if they have one) or create a new one (Blogger, WordPress.com, or elsewhere). Blog posts should be done at least once a week discussing some learning or a reaction to anything in the course.

Making at least two comments every week on other course attendee blogs is required.

Let me set an example for our first posting!

Focusing on Friends (vs. unfriending)

The New York Times (yes, I enjoy reading a paper newspaper in the morning over coffee) has an interesting article today, Friends, Until I Delete You. It was about protocols, or the lack thereof, regarding dropping / unfriending / blocking / unfollowing / defriending people on Facebook (and by default even on Twitter, my primary networking hub, as well as rss feeds and blogrolls). Getting a free Whopper from Burger King aside, this issue will only grow in discussion as the general trend toward Managing Multimembership increases.

I used to accept all invitations, though find it increasingly difficult to keep up and communicate with the people who I am really interested in following and engaging in ongoing discussions. Currently, I do not accept all invitations in Facebook or even return following in Twitter. Let’s face it, if I have not spoken to somebody since high school or college or for ten years, is there much evidence I really want to suddenly start now? There are often reasons why we lose touch (as well as some good reasons for begining again, I suppose).

I often do accept if the person appears interesting, but tastes and needs and wants do change and develop over time.

Don’t get me wrong, this issue is not necessarily a personal one; it is more a recognition that I have limited time and resources. I am simply not able or interested in following or reading people who, ultimately, do not meet the WIIFM? (What’s In It For Me?) factor. Very subjective, but then again what isn’t? (Ahh, I love qualitative research!)

I wish I have more time and energy, but there is a limit. Thus, instead of my own focusing on particulars about unfriending, I prefer to focus on following those who really make a difference in my life, work, and research.

WordPress “Press This” via the BlackBerry

I have blogged several times about my desire and struggle to be able to create blog posts from my BlackBerry. I am not satisfied with Postie or the built-in emailable blog posting capability of WordPress. Too many delays and punctuation and formatting issues to make them reliable solutions.

However, I think I may have found a solution in the recently upgraded WordPress 2.7 “Press This” feature.

Press This is a shortcut bookmark feature to save on a browser for fast blog postings when on a web page of interest. Instead of saving it to my desktop browser, I saved the link to my BlackBerry browser. I opened the bookmark on my phone, was given the most basic posting options, and this post is the result. Press This allows me to post directly to my blog without opening my blog’s full admin screen (which does not open on my BlackBerry due to all the coding and features there).

This is my second post using Press This, and I wanted to share this success with anybody out there who is also struggling to post to a WordPress blog from a BlackBerry.

Farewell, PC Magazine

I just received a postcard with my January issue of PC Magazine that the magazine will no longer have a print edition. Sad news indeed that this bastion of technology will no longer be available on the run, to be carried on the train or read in the park. Yes, it will still appear in an electronic edition, and while wireless and mobile devices are improving, this magazine has always been more oriented toward a general readership, and not the uber-cutting edge audience that has the newest and fastest devices that make it still available when and where wanted.

Perhaps I am just old-fashioned, but I like reading print in print, in a format where I can bring to places where wifi still does not reach. I like tearing out articles and slipping them near my pc or filing away.

Perhaps they are onto something that I have not caught up to yet? I do know that I do not yet subscribe to any online-only content, as I still perceive online content as being shared and free.

Let’s see if they can make this work, or if it is a last step before they cease completely.