Over Sharing

9 Replies

I just read a post by a new blogger at our school, sharing this post by Charlie Booker about over-sharing. As a notorious over-sharer I felt obligated to respond in some way. To be fair, Booker does admit that as a writer he understands the value of sharing thoughts and ideas. How could he not as he makes his living writing a weekly column? His biggest qualm is with automatic sharing services on every app out there.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for sharing thoughts, no matter how banal (as every column I have ever written rather sadly proves). Humans will always babble. If someone wants to tweet that they can’t decide whether to wear blue socks or brown socks, then fair enough. But when sharing becomes automated, I get the heebie-jeebies.

He goes on to say

Online, you play at being yourself. Apply that pressure of public performance to private, inconsequential actions – such as listening to songs in the comfort of your own room – and what happens, exactly?

I am not sure I “play at being myself” any more online than I do in real life, but that is a different post. I also don’t feel that listening to songs in the comfort of my own room is an inconsequential action, but I am weird like that! I will assume, for the purpose of this post, it is agreed and understood that Booker values and understands voluntary sharing of meaningful ideas and thoughts. I will not share my thoughts on the value of blogging or sharing content in this post. This leaves me wondering if I even need to defend the sort of automated sharing that gives Booker the heebie-jeebies.

I am a sucker for meaningless lists of data I consume. I love my list of music on Last.Fm. I drool over the books I have read over at Library Thing, so I couldn’t help but blush when I read this:

It’ll only get worse. Here’s what I am listening to on Spotify. This is the page of the book I am reading. I am currently watching the 43rd minute of a Will Ferrell movie. And I’m not telling you this stuff. The software is. I am a character in The Sims. Hover the cursor over my head and watch that stat feed scroll.

I get what he is saying, that when these shared acts becoming automated, take away from their authenticity. In fact I agree, I do not like any automated Tweets or messages. I don’t need to know how far you ran, unless you are telling me in some kind of context. However, what I want to push back on a little is the idea that we are always sharing meaningless data to strangers who don’t care. The idea of a network or community is that you do know these people. They are not strangers. You hope that they share their lives with you in order to enrich your life. A network should be a reciprocal arrangement. It is a relationship. If this is not the case and you feel members are strangers than why are they there? A network is only as meaningful as you allow it to be. If it is filled with noise from strangers, there is no one to blame but yourself. If members of your network are not enriching your life then you need to prune them out. Secondly, the things we share-what we listen to, what we read and/or watch, can only help strengthen ties with people who do care. These meaningless pieces of data, at last for me, are the glue that keep my network together.

I can’t count how many people I have met through conversations after I tweeted that I like this song or am reading that book. Media/art bring people together and binds them. I know I can trust a person if they are as obsessed with Elliott Smith as I am. You love HST or Charles Bukowsi? Let’s talk more. I like think of his last line:

You know how annoying it is when you’re sitting on the train with a magazine and the person sitting beside you starts reading over your shoulder? Welcome to every single moment of your future.

More like this: You know how amazing it is when you’re sitting on the train with a magazine and your friend sitting beside you starts talking about how they also love what you are read.

But what do I know, I am a compulsive over-sharer. Did I tell you, by the way, that I just started reading Columbine by David Cullen, or and I just discovered this band called Of Monster and Men through some friends on Facebook. What do you think? Have you read it? Heard of them? Can you share your thoughts and give me suggestions?

I never actually defended the automation of updates…oh yeah…now that I think about it, no! I don’t like it either. Share and share often, but do it with awareness.

Stain What You Find

10 Replies

Last time I did this, some amazing things occurred. It was January 31st, 2011 and I had just finished my first 31 days of a 365 Daily Shoot- an exercise where you try to take a photograph everyday for a year. I was following “assignments” from The Daily Shoot (a now defunct website) and was quite pleased with my pics. I shared a quick post on my blog about the fact that I had finished my first month.

A few days later, Zac Chase told me that he had shared my pics with one of his English classes. The next week resulted in a somersault of poetry and music across continents. You can read about the events here and here. If you didn’t read about this story last year, I recommend you take a few minutes and read through the posts and comments. It was a truly inspirational week of cool free flowing organic events.

Which brings me to this post. January 31st! Last time I only made it 94 days and lost the thread. I was working with a DSLR l and now I am almost strictly working on my iPhone. I have sworn that this year will be different. I will do my best to make it all 365…sorry 366 days of 2012.

Take a look at the shots and meet me on the other side for a little reflection on the process of daily photography in general and this batch in particular.

Is it obvious that is has been raining here in Jakarta. The images do not lie. It has been grey and wet this January. But as you can see the days are highlighted with color and light as well. Once more, I am in love with this batch of photos. I wish I had time to take a few of the photos and expand them into a more auditory experience. I invite you to take these photos and add your meaning and experience to them, as Zac’s class did last year. Let’s see if anything comes of them this time around.

The Process:

We do not tell stories through images. The images tell our stories on their own. When collected and batched and examined, we can see patterns and narratives of our lives which we usually pass us by when we are busy with the act of actually living. By documenting at least one photograph everyday, we can look back and notice the thread of who we were by what we saw and what we chose to capture.

In addition to the dissection of our lives after the fact, taking a daily photograph has helped me look more closely at my life as I am living it. Take today for example. It was nearly 3:00 pm and I realized that I hadn’t looked closely enough at my day as it was passing me by. I took a break from rubric writing and forced myself out into our campus. I strolled about simply looking. Examining and looking for something interesting, something beautiful to capture. Here is what I found:

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Intrepid Flame

I was thinking about starting some kind of daily photo assignment with my students. I think they will find value in being able to document their lives in Flickr sets. They will appreciate the downtime to wander around campus learning how to “look” at the world. Need to think more about this. Any ideas? What to do something collaborative?

If you are not trying a dailyshoot I highly recommend giving it a try. I thought that not having the structure of The Daily Shoot would prove challenging, but I am enjoying he freedom to snap at will and sort through what I have for the pic at the end of the day. In other news, I have been trying to keep an eye on The Daily Create over at DS106.

Creativity is not some romantic magical muse that only a few people can access. Creativity is the ability to fully immerse yourself in the essence of life and stain what you find with pieces of your self. The only thing you need to do to be creative is to be alive. Open yourself up to experimentation and see what happens. It may feel silly or not important, but only when you say yes can to every shot will you find the spark you need.

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Intrepid Flame

Lightning Rod

14 Replies

One of the most difficult and frustrating aspects of my new job, (IT coach) is that because I am labeled the tech-guy, digital guru, all things- techno-digi- guy, I have become the lightning rod for all things related to technology. I sometimes feel like the spokesperson and sole defender of all things digital. I cannot count how many conversations I have everyday about tech, or the number of emails I get referencing the ideas presented in an article like this one. It’s worth a read. Go head. Take a few minutes. Read it.

We get it right? Life was different when this guy was younger. Big shock! I cannot think of any teacher working in the tech field that does not agree that kids need fresh air, that talking to each other is valuable, or as he put’s it, “The human connection in real time and space, is valuable.” I am just tired of the same old,” this or that,” argument. I have written on this topic before here and here. I am sure I will write about it again, but in the meantime I guess we continue responding to staff members who wish we could all be living in a logging village in BC in a calm and patient manner.

cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by Striking Photography by Bo

I don’t want to devalue the other side. I agree that it should be part of the edu-tech discussion, I want to move away from the idea of their being sides. It is a balancing act. Yes, kids are distracted. Yes, they are connected. Yes, they need guidance.Yes, we don’t know the answers. Yes, it is terrifying. Yes, it is exciting. Yes, nature is mind blowing. Yes, technology connects us in ways face-to-face never could. It is all happening. I don’t get why we have to say one is better than the other. Why we have to either be “tech savvy” or a Luddite.

I would rather worry about what it means to be human in the year 2012. That is who I am. This is where I am. Technology is part of my reality. I want to see what I can do with it and be aware of what it does to me. 1970’s British Columbia sounds great, but that ain’t me.

How do you handle being the spokesperson for all things tech? How do speak to people without getting defensive? How do not lose your mind explaining to people that you understand and appreciate life as much as they do, even though you know how to exist on and off line?

Enriching Curricular Conversations Through Blogs

Ireland Here I Come

11 Replies

Several weeks ago, I applied to go to the Apple Distinguished Educator’s Global Institute in Cork, Ireland. Why did I do it? Same reason I applied for the ADE in the first place. I wanted to see if I could do it. I have written about my reservations and thoughts about corporate sponsored educational programs, and I know it is a heated debated online. Everyone has their own opinion about the merits of being “selected” by a huge corporation to do anything, much less educate kids. At the risk of hurting my street cred, although I am a bit embarrassed to say- I was pretty excited and proud to wake up to this email:

I am not vain or stupid (maybe I am a bit of both) enough to think that my acceptance is anything more than a chance to get some great PD and hang out with some pretty amazing educators. Ones I already know here in Asia, but more importantly, it is a great chance to meet some new Tweeps out there and expand my network with some face-to-face expereinces.

The best part is that I applied with a total “nothing to lose” attitude and it worked. See for yourself:

What have I been up to since my “branding” in Ho Chi Minh City last year at my ADE induction? That is the question right? What have I been doing to show that I am an Advocate, Advisor, Author, and Ambassador? What content have I authored online for others to learn from my expertise? Have I presented at local, regional or national educational events to share my school’s successes and promote ideas for improving education? You bet I have. Excuse my unorthodox voice, but I think that my passionate yet casual tone best illustrates my style and strengths.

I see myself as an emerging leader in the field of educational technology, but not in the sense that I am a traveling consultant disconnected from the front lines. No, my fires are lit in classrooms and schools, with students and teachers. I am in the business of igniting imaginations by showing what Apple technologies allow people to do. Sit back and let me take you for a ride…

As the new IT coach at my school in Jakarta, I have been instrumental in writing our vision statement as well as designing the proper steps to implement this vision into school wide, systematic, day-to-day action. We have designed- eHub: a new style of online environment where students and teachers use WordPress Blogs and Google Educational Applications to create, communicate, collaborate and connect as a learning community.

I have designed and taught a course called DC101 to help teachers make the shift to new 21st century realities. This six week course is an introduction to Digital Citizenship as well as basic digital storytelling concepts. We explore iLife software to help teachers find better ways to share the stories of their classrooms on our new blogs. This experience has been invaluable for me in terms of being an effective ambassador and teacher leader. We are also in the process of creating an Apple Regional Training Center, where we will have weekend workshops for our staff as well as other teachers in the area.

I have been active beyond our school walls. I was asked to be a cohort leader at the regional tech conference- Learning 2.011. Beyond leading the English cohort and leading several workshops on Design (Keynote) and network building, I presented a keynote presentation. I am currently on the planning committee for next year’s conference, working closely with several other regional ADEs to make 2012 the best conference yet. Furthermore, I presented at a local IB conference on the subject of Digital Storytelling and will be presenting at the 21Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong this February.
All of this is in addition to the cutting edge work I have been doing in my English classroom. I have Skyped in photographers/bloggers to help us understand the culture of Afghanistan, created collaborative digital stories, as well as guided students to learn to be confident online content creators and bloggers.

I hope that my ADE journals are up to date enough. I am not sure if a series of links like the ones I have added above are enough to give you a clear indication of who I am as a teacher, artist and technology enthusiast, but I hope you can see that I lead by example, that my passion is infectious and I love working with people, young and old. Don’t take my word for it. Google Jabiz Raisdana and follow the leads…see where you end up. I think you would agree I would be a valuable asset at Cork this summer.

My one minute video:

Even as I post this, I am asking myself why? Is it all just an exercise in ego? Maybe, maybe not. Isn’t all professionalism, interviewing, resumes, recruiting, branding all just a game we play to prove to others that we matter? Whatever the case, the game seems to be working for me at this time, so I will keep playing. I am just excited that I have reached a place in my career that I can say something like this, “Google Jabiz Raisdana and follow the leads…see where you end up.” and be confident that it is all good. So often we scare students into posting online, and how future employers and schools might crucify them for taking a picture with a beer can in the frame, but what I am here to say is that it can work in your advantage as well. If you carefully build your “brand” life story, portfolio, whatever you want to call it, then you can apply for things and dare people to just google you and know that what they find is who you are and what you do.

The important thing, however, the thing that I always keep in mind, is to keep the work as the most important part of what I do. Nothing matters, unless we can back up what we say with the effect our work has on kids, day in and day out in our classrooms.

So if you are going to Cork, drop me a line and let’s get the conversations going early.