{"id":218,"date":"2013-05-28T21:21:27","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T02:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rockylouproductions.com\/blog_wp\/?p=218"},"modified":"2013-05-30T03:55:41","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T08:55:41","slug":"week-1-firehose-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockylouproductions.com\/blog_wp\/2013\/05\/28\/week-1-firehose-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 1 FIREHOSE Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ProfGroomFireHose_DS106\"<\/a>

DS106: What was I expecting? [Original Image from “Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham]<\/p><\/div>Oh my… What was I thinking when I decided to sign-up for this course? \u00a0I’m taking this class, DS106<\/a>, \u00a0as an open online student<\/a>, and I wasn’t expecting the level of work requested by the instructors<\/a> and the speed at which the material and assignments are rushing by during this summer version of the course. \u00a0I’m planning on doing what I can now and participating again during a future full semester course, hopefully this Fall.<\/p>\n

Although warned when first reading over the material that this was not something to take lightly, I was still not prepared. \u00a0My own enthusiasm has surprised me with wanting to fully absorb the material being taught, completing the assignments and taking the time to do them well, and my desire to interact with my fellow students \u00a0There is so much good information, as well as the technical skill learning, that I feel I just don’t have enough hours in the day to digest it all. \u00a0Writing up this weekly summary<\/a> is a huge job in and of itself. Any suggestions on how I might streamline the process? \u00a0Is this time well spent and appreciated by the instructors or my class mates if I’m just an open onliner?<\/p>\n

THE BLOG:<\/strong><\/span> I started late in the game (Thursday of week one) and creating my new blog site was the first hurdle. \u00a0I unsuccessfully attempted to create my first blog site with the RapidWeaver software I have been using for the last couple of years. \u00a0After hitting my head against the wall for a couple of hours I decided to try using WordPress, since it was being used for the UMW students anyway, and I knew I could get additional help if needed. \u00a0GREAT DECISION! \u00a0My web hosting site, BlueHost, had a simple script download option for WordPress that worked great once I got out of the way with my RapidWeaver obsession and let it do its thing.<\/p>\n

I liked and used the free 2012 theme that was offered. \u00a0Then customized it with the banner header and background color I use at my Rockylou Productions<\/a> website. (The tree logo was designed by my daughter Amber.) I love all of the\u00a0widgets and how easily I can update my pages and blog entries with WordPress from any computer or mobile device. I’ve used all of my Apple devices at some point, my iMac, iPad and iPhone. I watched the tutorial videos for week one on setting up your blog<\/a>, checked out the Embedding Media in Your Blog Tips<\/a> page\u00a0and happily followed all of the recommendations, as well as TalkyTina’s requirements<\/a> for becoming her “true friend”. \u00a0I will definitely be changing over my current blogging tool for Rockylou Productions to a WordPress template when I finish up the course. \u00a0I’m continually tweaking my DS106 blog design and pages (especially my About page<\/a>\u00a0as I learn more about its purpose and importance), and updating past posts with new links when it seems useful. I’m not happy with the Twitter feed formatting though, or the recent comments format in the sidebar. \u00a0I’ve seen some better formats on other blogs and will be asking for suggestions soon.<\/p>\n

GETTING SOCIAL:<\/strong><\/span> I’ve had a Twitter account, @rockylou22<\/a>, for at least 3 years and finally tweeted my first tweet this week. \u00a0YIPEE! Learning the proper\u00a0etiquette and how to\u00a0utilize\u00a0the hashtags correctly has been quite a learning curve. \u00a0I don’t think I’ve got it right yet since I don’t always see my posts at the #ds106 feed. I had my privacy settings to restrictive at first, but \u00a0I thought I fixed that. I’ve also had a Flickr account<\/a> for quite some time, but never posted anything until now, just used it to gather creative commons photographs for some of my video creations that I post to my YouTube channel<\/a>. \u00a0I not only created my SoundCloud<\/a> account, but uploaded a podcast that my daughter and I had created a few years ago to see how it worked. \u00a0(Link to the rest of the podcast series.<\/a> ) No issues there. Oh… and I almost forgot. \u00a0I created my gravatar too.<\/p>\n

DAILY CREATES:<\/strong><\/span> I’ve enjoyed playing with these, but since I’ve had to play catch up they are all posted to\u00a0<\/span>one blog page<\/a>. \u00a0But I’ll get into the swing of things this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daily Create Assignments:\u00a0Introducing Myself<\/a>,\u00a0Alien Rochelle<\/a>,\u00a0500th Daily Create Celebration<\/a>,\u00a0Life, Love & Laughter<\/a>\u00a0with my grandson,\u00a0iPad + Toes = FunFunFun<\/a><\/p>\n

VISUAL AND DESIGN ASSIGNMENTS:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Again, it’s unfortunate that I didn’t learn about the course sooner so that I had time to complete the required number of assignments. \u00a0I’m hoping when I have a whole week to work on them it will be different. But with a full-time day job as a Business\/Technology Opportunity Analyst at 3M, I’m not sure if I will be able to. If not, I’ve decided to prioritize those assignments I choose as enjoyable and worth while for me personally. \u00a0I’ve not had too many technical issues yet. \u00a0I’m pretty well versed in the technology needed to complete the assignments I’ve chosen so far.<\/span><\/p>\n