VanishingPoint

Getting Frustrated with Either Edublogs or Mobile Blogging

I don't know how many of you mobile blog (using a smartphone to write and post thoughts) but I do more often than not... I just can't seem to find the time (or energy) to blog once I arrive home, and often I am much too busy at work to break away to blog for a few minutes. Also, I admit it, I would rather read a few pages in a book than blog at lunch unless I have something really pressing on my mind. In all honesty, right now I am sitting in the bathroom monitoring my almost 2 year old in his bath while trying to get this post out. You can see why I might want to leverage the power and resources of my iPhone to post while I am waiting for a meeting to start, or sitting waiting for an oil change, or on a train, etc... however, for the last 3 weeks I have been cut off from posting a mobile entry and just today I got an answer to why... Let's go back to July 4th.  I posted using the WordPress iPhone app right from my phone just after watching a fireworks display.  Shortly there after, the Wordpress application stopped connecting to my blog... needless to say I was unhappy.  I did all of the usual trouble shooting... checked my blog, checked the app, reinstalled the app, and then I went to the developers website (automattic itself), and low and behold a number of folks were having the same issue... so many in fact that right now on their main page are this post, and this one. So, I did what any good techie would, I tested a different app to see if it would connect. While I was sitting in the oil change shop, I downloaded Blogpress for the iPhone. and Viola! I have aconnection to my blog again... (and I can post multiple pictures to boot!) So, I was off blogging again... until last week Saturday... then BlogPress stopped connecting to my blog.  I checked their forums, and found a couple of references to connection issues, but no real fixes.  I was tempted to download another iPhone blogging application (iBlogger $9.99), but I was concerned that I would have the same issue... I even began thinking that it might be edublogs.org itself. So I started doing a bit of investigation that way... Running through edublogs.org support site, I got no returns from queries there... Then I checked the forums and the last post referencing mobile blogging was 8 months ago, with "coming soon we are working on making that better" as the result. So, I created a new discussion with my specific issue, and within a few hours Sue Waters replied that edublogs.org needed to turn off XMLRPC access because of stability issues... I am not sure what that means, however, right now, I cannot get to edublogs, so I am getting concerned. Update: edublogs was going through an update which provided a new dashboard... that is why the service was up and down while I was creating this post.  (yet another reason I use a blogging client and do NOT prefer to post directly online.) Still not XMLPRC support... and therefore no mobile blogging...

A Dream Becomes A Reality

"One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind." Forty years ago on June 16th, history was made.  I was only 7 months old when the lunar landing was made, but it inspired many many dreams that I had and still have today.  Talk about a time of inspiration.  I remember when I was 7 or 8 and "wall murals" (basically giant wall paper scenes) were "in fashion," one entire side of my room was turned into the lunar surface looking back onto the Earth in all of the beautiful blue and green glory. Over the last week I have been learning more and more about the lunar mission.  The goals and dreams of the mission, the challenges, I have even been witness to the launch and landing replayed in real-time.  What an amazing achievement.  Here are a few resources that have come in handy for me if you are looking to get a fix for your astronaut jones... We Choose the Moon Live Blog of the Moon Landing Moon in Google Earth 40 Year Anniversary Lunar Landing Edition (Video Compilation by Crunchgear) For those of you who are skeptics, or know skeptics of the lunar landing, Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter just sent back the first pictures of the landing sites... Really skeptics... REALLY? time to find another conspiracy theory... What an amazing time we live in.  The fact that 40 years ago we could "beam" images back from the moon (or even land on it) to today where we can relive those moments in real time courtesy of technology... think of what the next 40 years will hold.  For those educators out there who will be teaching lessons with this material, I would love for you to drop a line on what you are doing.  If I can help in any way working to tie our schools together in a collaborative project on the Lunar Missions please let me know.

Struggling for Significance

There are some things that you hate to admit... Being wrong... Occassionally being right... That you liked Millie Vanillie or Vanilla Ice... Or if you are and educational technology advocate that you cannot come to an agreement or find a compelling significance to change from the old standards :0| Today, I had a great time working with my direct counterparts in my district to discuss the merits and limitations of two online resources: Google (docs and sites) and Zoho suite (office suite, wiki and Zoho Business which pulls them all together in a nice dashboardrd package). Effectively for about 3 1/2 hours we discused the applications and possibilities for time investment as classroom resources, our own personal use, the future direction of our district, and the possible Microsoft alternative with the launch of the Tech Preview on Office 2010 yesterday. Some background: As a district we make a significant yearly investment (~$140k) in Microsoft applications. Additionally, this summer we are undergoing a Novell to Microsoft NOS transition to better position us for planned future application and platform enhancents. All of these initiatives seem to be both driving us toward a client based application platform as well as toward a desired cloud based environment. Especially if we begin to realize our planning for a 1:1 computing environment for our staff and 13,000 students. Lowering costs by moving to a cloud based office application suite will help offset the increased hardware need to satisify 1:1... Our goal for the day was to end up with a strong enough argument to choose one platform (Google or Zoho) and commit to it's a group for our collaborative use for the next two years. This coupled with a strong desire to have a flexible enough environment that will allow for our sharing outside of the group via a wiki type interface with other members of our community (faculty, staff, and possibly students) on an as needed basis. The last part of the challenge was/is to have a relatively secure enough environment to share some material that may be considered sensitive by some, irrelevant by others, and critical by a few... While the discussions themselves were great, I was left disappointed that even I struggled to be able to make a full committment to an online resource. I was even more frustrated that some of counterparts were only willing to invest time in a limited subset of applications as opposed to committing fully to a suite in a completely collaborative environment. I was especially saddened because some of the arguments each of us used (myself included) were the same arguments we struggle against when working with faculty and staff in general regarding technology and change: don't want to complicate things by adding "more," I don't need another email account, let's keep this simple, I don't have time to learn all of this... blah, blah, blah... What I am struggling with is the fact that if we (the people looking to drive dynamic change within our curriculum's and the ones responsible for leading the way into learning centers leveraging technology) cannot move ourselves from the "known" (Office Suite) to the somewhat "unknown" a fully collaborative environment leveraging outstanding web-based applications, how can we ever expect to help move a hesitant, reluctant, faculty and students into this arena?  Is there a compelling enough reason to leverage these technologies on a full-time basis for educational and personal use, or is there not?  Are gravity and fear of change enough to overcome compelling reason? Can you preach without practice? What will be a significant enough factor that will influence this change? Will Richardson's post on "Tinkering with Utopia" hit home today after my experience.  His reflections of Phillip Schlechty’s book “Leading for Learning: How to Transform Schools into Learning Organizations” make me concerned about change in the educational arena overall.

Schlechty refers to past efforts at reform as “tinkering toward utopia” and says that if we continue to introduce change at the edges, we’ll continue to spin our wheels.

I know I am just taking a snippet of Will's thoughts and the actual direction for his post are divergent from mine, but there are definite undercurrents of change happening in education today... However, in practice I fear those currents are having the overall impact of canceling each other out. I question whether we can possibly learn as leaders to begin to really align some of those currents to become mutually beneficial to effect the real change that Will and many others are looking towards. Are we spinning our wheels? Photo "graffiti struggle" from zen on Flickr -- Post From My iPhone

Quiet Times

So, I find myself in a local oil change place waiting for the obvious and a radiator flush with Noah asleep in my arms. I can't think of a place that I would rather be... Maybe it's is because I am half way through the "Big 40" (no I am not 45, I will be 41 in November) or I am just feeling sentimental, but I am finding myself thinking more and more about family. The need for cohesiveness, the need to be connected, the need for a bond that is real and shared by all members beyond mutual carpooling or "honey did's".  This summer has been different for me.  While I am still working throughout the summer, I am taking much more time off than I usually do... Over a typical summer I spend 350-400 hours working over the 10 week summer vacation... unfortunately, this also includes 1-2 week completely off for a much needed rest, so if you do the math, the remaining 8 weeks or so I am working about 45-55 hours a week.... Not so much bonding time there with the family you can imagine.  I don't really know what made the difference this year, whether it was the fact that my family and I did not really plan a big vacation, my wife signed me up to be a coach for Joshua's baseball team, the fact that I have two sons now, and just for sanity sake (both hers and mine) I need to rescue Trish more... of maybe, I am just getting old... But what ever it is, I am finding that I am making a connection with my family in ways I have not been able to before. I can say confidently that there is one difference that I am very conscious of: I am MUCH happier when I do NOT have a expectation of getting "something" done.  You can replace "something" with anything you want: 'getting all the yard work done,' 'finishing the painting,' 'going to "X" by a certain time,' 'reading,' 'working, or doing work for my job,' 'getting the boys to bed on-time,' etc.  Once I have an expectation, I am NOT happy with delays or "waiting" or not being able to finish the "task" because I "need" to do something else first or someone else wants me to finish something in an order different from how I imagine it should go... whatever that expectation is that I have created in my mind becomes the overriding rule to my mood, happiness, sense of accomplishment, you pick the positive adjective here... While I know that this is happening, and I cannot consciously stop it once it is in motion, at least I am aware of it, and can leverage this to work toward being in the moment and really happy doing anything that comes before me more often than not. That said, I am by no means perfect at recognition or at moderating my attitude once I become cognizant of my "expectations," but just being aware helps me to keep from setting those false expectations in the first place... this in-turn really frees me up to really enjoy living in the moment as opposed to looking towards something else or back on what didn't happen when it was "supposed" to... Those "quiet times" that I am experiencing are become more and more frequent and much more rewarding for me and my family.  I still stay plugged in to the works and all of its demands on my time, and my "required" obligations, but i am getting to spend more quality time enjoying my family. How has this translated into practice you might be asking:

• Getting back to work, I am now taking 1-2 days partially or completely off each week (often Friday's to give me a 3 day weekend with my wife and boys).  Additionally, when I arrive home after work, I leave work behind, at least until the boys are asleep, and I have spent a little time with Trish, even if we are just sitting watching television. I work to be less strict about "bedtimes" for the boys over the summer as they are not forced to get up with me at 5am, but I still try to keep them from really hurting themselves due to lack of sleep... (Just because they can sleep til noon does not mean that I want them too...)
• In relation to my family, I am working to just "be" with the boys... to get lost in that sense of wonder and adventure that only a five year old and (almost) two year old can have and create in their minds and personal universe.  With my wife, I get lost in spending quiet time with her, and being open to sitting when I want to move, and moving when I want to sit.  I have always enjoyed going with her to stores (especially when I got my first data enabled smartphone and then my iPhone) not because I like shopping... frankly I hate it, but because I like being with her.  the iPhone just makes the waiting outside the dressing rooms more bearable (unless we are in Victoria Secret, then waiting is just fine... ;0) Ok, I couldn't resist... I know that was wrong, but I had to include it =0)
• In relation to the educational community I am part of, and enjoy... I am finding that really to find balance I don't need to unplug from everything I want to learn about... I just need to unplug from the community from time to time... This is not to be hurtful, or demeaning to those of you who really find solace in this wonderful group we run with... But, I am writing this as a suggestion to find a balance with your family, NOT this group...

These are only my rantings and feelings, however, many... many... people have told me and I am finding this to be a FACT not a perception... our children really DO GROW UP TOO FAST.  I can remember when Joshua (then 4) was wearing a shirt to go see Noah for the first time after Noah was born... Now Noah is almost 2 and wearing that same shirt... Where did the last two year go?  Joshua is starting kindegarten this fall.  I re,member when he was just coming for the first time to my school to attend pre-school classes when he was 3.  Joshuan is learning to ride a bike without training wheels, and Noah is trying to ride a tricycle... what happened to them crawling and needing help to do that.  Make no mistake, I am a very plugged in Dad.  I get my boys up just about every day, and I typically am the one that puts them to sleep.  I go to the doctor with them and to the movies, I play for hours with them, but I feel sometimes like they are growing everything I blink or am away from them for a few hours. Again, this is just my perspective, but I see MANY MANY education community members who are SO plugged in... So, so, SO, plugged into this wonderful community they actually provide / pass along MORE information, write more, participate more, twitter more, facebook more, during holidays, winter - spring - summer break and other times where school is out of session.  When I inquire about that, their typical response is, "that is the only time I can get caught up on what I want to "publish, share, contribute, read, write, meet up, you insert your reasoning here."  Frankly, intellictually, I completely understand those arguments, but I am finding more and more those "excuses" to be connected with a personal and pre-dominently virtual community to be hollow weighing it against the benefit and need of being connected with our families.  Spending time rolling down a hill with our children.  Getting lost playing "Indiana Jones" or even hide and seek.  Watching an ant hill, chasing "birdies" or squirrels. Spending time AT the store with our family as opposed to "getting through the store." Playing during "tub-time" as opposed to waiting to get them washed... Changing plans 10 times at the whim of a five year old, and then just walking or finding the "ice cream man." I honor and respect every one of you.  I have learned more from this community in the past few years than I have through most of my formal schooling... but right now I am thinking it is more important for you (and me) to be teaching our OWN children and more so learning from them how to enjoy life again.  If this feels heavy handed, I can't apologize at this time.  Maybe in the future when we are in the rat-race AGAIN I will beg for forgiveness, but as for now, I want to hear from you, I want to learn what you know, but I want it to be about empowering your own families, about great spots to spend time with your family, about what you are learning from letting go as opposed to being plugged in... Oops... time to go, there is a pillow fort / mountain that is calling my name. ~Scott

Fireworks and iPhone Photo Tools

We just got back for a really nice fireworks show in Barrington, IL. As with most fireworks shows, the wait until after dusk to start, and ours was no different in that regard. Trish, the boys and I arrived pre-dusk to select a prime location for viewing, and low and behold so did a couple hundred other would be watcher. Now since the show would not start for about 30 minutes, we brought glow sticks (the modern day sparklers) to occupy the boys attention. My ever present not wanting to miss a photo opportunity of the boys required me to pull put my iPhone to see what I could do to record the event and here is what I caught: Now while that is what the camera saw, it is definately now what my eyes viewed at the time... However, with a couple of tools for the iPhone, we can get a bit closer to what the image should look like. This is pretty cool huh? My favorite in iPhone editing tool is Photogene (iTunes Link), and a second great tool by the same developer is called NoiseBlaster (iTunes Link). Photogene allows for a plethora of editing and enhancing techniques while NoiseBlaster simply allows for exposure correction, and it's primary purpose of eliminating "noise" (color blotches) from a picture. While the picture would be best served to have had a flash, this is not a bad result from an in-phone image editing tool. -- Post From My iPhone 3Gs