Vanity Search 2

Every so often I do search my own name on different web browsers.  I do this because it is a lesson I teach in my own classroom and figure I should practice what I preach.  It usually only happens twice a year but I feel like it is still good to see exactly what the public perspective is of you when searching for a new job especially.   Those that are in my circle of friends and family know what is important.  But what if you are tagged in a post that isn't becoming or flattering?  Would you want to know?  I don't know if you could actually remove it but you could go to that social media site and "untag" yourself at least.  I'd like to clarify that I don't really have a fear of anything, yet I check it every so often much like I do my credit scores and ratings.  Remember Farmville?  If you didn't tend to your crops there was always something that would destroy it if you weren't watching.  Well, I simply like to make sure I tend to all things that could hurt or harm me or my family in any way.  

My newest search has changed my online presence a little.  Mostly, it has updated with my newest posts, tweets and some activities.  Since I have also been to several professional developments, those also show as activity.  

I would venture to say that my footprint does better represent me because it is showing continued growth academically.  I love to learn and believe that my posts express that.  Personally, I feel like I am on hiatus due to academic and professional development for work.   In that respect, my personal feed or footprint is currently non-existent.  

As far as changing my footprint, I will continue to live my life as I normally would.  Of course, like most, I would like to be more successful in my career and would love for that to be a contributing factor to my footprint.  More importantly, I will post or share things that I feel are beneficial or helpful to others.  I won't just "look" for something to post in order to increase or change my digital footprint.  As far as changing anything that is already there, I don't have anything that bothers me or that I feel I should be concerned about.  So no removals or changes are needed. Really, I simply want to be remembered for the relationships that I have with people and with my students.  Not just who I am behind a keyboard and what I can regurgitate to others.  In closing, it is important to me, for people to feel and know that I care.  I will continue to monitor and add to my digital footprint because that is a natural course of life for me.  It will change because I live, not live to change my footprint.  

Aggregating Adventure

So, I'll admit, when reading our assignment titled "Aggregating Adventure" I was at first puzzled.  I suppose I wasn't sure what to expect and after the first read, I still didn't know exactly.  I begin clicking on links and soon discovered I knew exactly what they were.  Now, I have never heard of Netvibes or Protopage, but this is what I have referred to as a bookmark manager or dashboard.  That is just my own terminology and have no idea if anyone would ever know what I was referring to if I used those.

I have used www.getwapps.com until they have evidently shut down.  The downside, all of my bookmarks and saved sites shut down with them.  I put in many hours and organizational efforts into perfecting my dashboard using their site.  I was so disappointed when I realized they were no longer in working order.  RIP GetWapps.

I've also tried and used Diigo for some time.  It's a little different because it is more of a list much like the bookmarks on your browser.  In my opinion from use over time, it serves it's purpose but lacks in the ability to personalize your page.  It's like having an apartment you can't decorate.  It serves the purpose but brings little pleasure to use.

Then there is booky.io which allows some customization.   It is sparsely decorated white pages with bits of colors that you can choose for Category headings.  So, in my case I have categories like Web browsers, GAFE sites, Bills etc.  These are basically the headers instead of tabs for the things I use most.  I have it set up, but can't say that I love it.  Just a little plain for me.  One thing I like about booky.io is that it is free and the developers actually ask for input.  They are currently trying to set up a file service for sharing links with friends (or maybe different accounts for all of us teachers!)  I don't know about the rest of you but I think I have seven different gmail accounts for various things.  (One being a junk account for all those forms you have to fill out that get sold off to other companies.)

Next I tried Atavi.com, it seems much like Protopages yet more polished.  It took me a few tries to get this one figured out.  It sort of reminds me of a mash up of a Google Sheet and Facebook because the tabs are at the bottom of the page (which is why it took me a few tries to figure it out!)  But the graphics and backgrounds are customized and look like large boxes (or you can make lists.)  I made groups or tabs and honestly didn't see them at first.   I like it but but haven't put a lot of effort into getting it just the way I like it yet.  Here are some screenshots from Atavi.  Please see the bottom left where the tabs are to help you get the idea of the layout.

Finally, I tried Netvibes without much success.  The reason for my lack of enthusiasm about this site was because I don't follow RSS feeds.  It is possible that at some point in my life when I have more time I will need this.  Now however, it will just make me feel more behind and bogged down.  I struggled with getting through the creation part because it seemed to need the RSS feed info.  I looked at the public sites for samples.  Many were not working or had broken links.  The disaster relief sample that was given to us in our assignment was a little heartbreaking yet wonderful that this site could give hope and help people.  I think it was a clever use of free technology.

Protopages which was what our entire class seemed to like most was definitely user friendly.  It was easy to access, easy to customize, easy to understand.  Therefore, usable.  Here is a link to my Protopage.  Also, here is a link to a Protopage I made for my Newsletter class as I was brainstorming how I will get assignments and information out to the students.  Deadlines are an issue and I want them to all have access to any of the information as quickly as possible.  Please see Protopage VAHS newsletter  I would like to use this as a quick lesson for my students just to show them the different types of bookmarking managers that are available.  I am happy with this learned information and will definitely use it to keep myself organized and information available at a quick click of the mouse.

YouTube Adventure

I use YouTube often.  I use it for my own learning and sometimes I use YouTube and EdPuzzle
combined to get information to my students.  YouTube, the site, has basically anything you could need to know.  It's kind of my go-to technology when I need information and understanding quick.  Did you know that "YouTuber" is actually considered a real profession?  My kids watch YouTube for gaming hacks or how to level up on a particular game.  I usually only watch for learning.

In the school setting I have many different playlists.  Several different YouTubes for each of the skills I teach.  This is very convenient because year after year, you don't have to reinvent how to teach our current technology.  Of course some of them become outdated and I can't find exactly what I like or want to teach.  If I can't use snippets of each, I end up creating my own.

This week I found several 2.0 technologies that I would like to use when fall rolls around.  I decided to make a playlist based on the videos that I thought I could incorporate into my lessons.  Having a playlist is a safe way to keep these videos until I can go back and watch them again, take notes or work along with the video.

I've been comfortable with YouTube for an extended period of time however it was nice to have enough time to go and view more video's and update myself on those technologies.

Twitter Adventure Continued

Most of my Twitter use is for work, professional development and continued learning.  Approximately 1 out 8 tweets are truly personal tweets.  So, needless to say I don't normally use many apps to tweet to Twitter.  I looked at my  phone and much to my twenty year old sons dismay I have approximately 150 ?  apps on my phone.  Not to mention the 98 missed calls and 57,000 unread emails.   Someday I will get to all those!   You know you want to see that mess.

I'll save you the boredom of seeing all my screens but most of them are in folders, so 8 pages full of folders of apps.  Hey, being a teacher-librarian, you never know when you will need something.  I have the boy scout mentality of always being prepared.  

As you get further in, you can see I am a little overboard but I always have almost anything I need!  

The apps that I am aware that can post to Twitter are all of the UnderArmour apps.  "Map My Ride", "Map My Run", "Map My Walk" and then the main one, "My Fitness Pal".  However all of these things are private to me.  Maybe because I am ashamed that I run a twenty minute mile and don't really need everyone in Twitter land to know that!  

I also have a YouTube app.  That also will post to Twitter, but I've only done that once or twice from my phone.  

Again, most of my tweets are for industry learning so that isn't something I would find from an app on my phone. I will however keep a closer eye on what apps that I already have that do work with Twitter.  I will not only be more aware, but consider new ways to tweet information that is interesting.  (My miles per hour is NOT interesting at all!) 

Twitter Adventure

Twitter has grown enormously since it made it's debut in 2006.  I can remember teaching my Dad how to tweet as he covers local sports for several surrounding high schools.  He had a flip phone and in order to tweet scores for Friday night games, he would have to send a text to a code number in order to get it show up on the Twitter feed.  As a matter of fact, one of my first tweets was about teaching him to tweet.  Times have changed, Twitter has evolved.  More importantly, my use and knowledge of how to use this social networking platform for educational purposes has also evolved.

In the past I have used Tall Tweets for Twitter.  I coach tennis at the high school level.  In our area students mainly use Twitter and Snapchat to communicate.  Knowing this is how they prefer to communicate, I created a Twitter account explicitly to push information to and about my team.  They loved to be tweeted about with scores and other recognition.  Some of my tennis tweets were long, hence the need for Tall Tweets.   Tall Tweets allows for more than the normal 140 characters per tweet.

I also use Tweet Deck.  Tweet Deck allows me to go back and look at the tweets I have hearted on my feed.  Especially if I heart them while not at my desk or when I am multi-tasking.  For example, I had to wait in a doctors office, I checked my feed, saw interesting ideas that I didn't know anything about, didn't have time to read in depth at the moment, I hearted them.  Later, in the week I go back and look at my weekly activity, delve deeper and decide if this is something I want to know more about.  It basically is a way that I can bookmark interesting things for my continued learning and teaching experiences.

Also, to aide with coaching duties I used Buffer.  Buffer allows you to send out timed tweets.  I try to tweet when I know my kids will likely be able to see the information I push out.  Timing my tweets helped with that tremendously.  There are many different apps or sites that allow you to time or schedule your tweets.

This week I have been so involved with digging deeper into the depths of  Twitter land that I have found I was almost late with a few of my assignments.  EEK, addiction possibly? Maybe so!  Anyhow, being addicted to learning and continuing our own development can't be all that bad.

Using Twitter in the classroom is something I will definitely do mofe.  After reading and thinking about my classes, it would be so easy to push out reminders or thought provoking questions via Twitter.  It's the platform of choice for the kids that find their way into my room each day.   Why wouldn't I want to meet them on their own playground?   Last year I hosted a Twitter challenge on our campus where I posted a giant bingo card on the wall by my door.   All students were invited to play even if I didn't have them in my class.  There were challenges such as "tweet a pic of you with our campus Librarian".  This pushed the kids to get to the librarian, meet her, have small talk and ask for a picture with her.  There entire board was filled with activities like that.  It will be good to use again as an icebreaker at the first of the year with a few new fresh entries of course.  I will continue to find ways to connect kids to my classroom while incorporating learning, using Twitter.   Who doesn't want to learn and have fun doing it?

Vanity Search

I teach technology at the high school level.  Each year, in an effort to bring awareness to digital footprints, I have my students research themselves.  I watch in amazement as they laugh and share pictures of themselves from a simple Google search.  Most of our young adults use Snapchat for their social media platform.  I want to warn them that although they think these pictures are private, they may not be forever.  All it takes is for the company to sell and the pictures to be released. When signing up for an account, the fine print states they have access to the users photos.  So someday, when Googling your name, you may see some of your old Snaps.  Faces go pale and glow in the reflection of the classroom monitors.  Some exclaim that it's illegal but no, not really.  You signed up and agreed to their rules.  Long story short, in an effort to keep in tune with my own, I also periodically Google myself.

Now normally you won't find much about me by just throwing my married name in a Google search.  However, put my maiden name in there and you will find much more.  Most of the pictures found under my name are those of my student athletes.   I have coached tennis for the last three years and have often posted pictures of my players when they win a tournament or medal.  There is nothing shocking when you enter my name but I am surprised that there are pictures of some of my co-workers that are simply acquainted with me when you get the results.   There are articles from when I was a flower girl in the 1970's, well before most newspaper articles made it to internet searches.
For the most part there is nothing shocking.  Most of the pictures that show up are those that have posted on Facebook or Twitter by myself or our athletic booster club.  I think it is something that everyone should do periodically.

- Leigh Moreno