Hello students.
It seems only fair that I complete the blog posts that I assign you. My name is Kim and I'll be your instructor this semester if you are in EN112 section 1, 2 or 3 at BMCC in Spring 2011.
This is my second semester teaching at BMCC after moving to the Soo from Minnesota. I am an Ohio native and ended up in this area after I married my husband who has worked for the hospital in the Soo for the last decade. My husband and I have a 15 month old puppy, a cat, and a large tank of fish.
In my spare time, which is almost non-existent, I like to watch old television shows, work out, eat ethnic foods, and play on Facebook. I also am a huge Renaissance festie. I own quite a bit of garb and like to have an excuse to wear it. I am thinking about getting involved with the madrigals next winter.
I have been teaching writing classes off and on since Fall 1999. I love to use technology in the classroom when appropriate. I actually had a class website since my first semester of teaching. I actually coded it in HTML, if you can believe that. I still sometimes work in code to fix things in Moodle :)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Reflections on the Supreme Court nominations process
Today in class I assigned students to look at some older articles that were in my old copies of The Week and do some analysis. I picked the article "Kagan: Why the questions on her sexuality?" from a May 28, 2010 magazine. Although the Senate approved her back in August, the question still remains - what good comes from questioning the sexual orientation of a potential supreme court justice?
Andrew Sullivan argues that since the president can take gender and ethic background into account than "why is sexual orientation out of bounds of even inquiry?" He continues to his argument that to take sexual identity off the table when other aspects of human identity are fair game is somehow "offensive". But I wonder how questions of human identity play into politics. Just because I'm a woman does not make me a feminist. Just because I'm a christian does not make me conservative. To assume that personal convictions and beliefs cross over into my professional life and supersede all else is not logical. Most of us juggle many hats that require multiple perspectives.
In fact I wonder how much the Senate digging into a person's background really helps the process. I'm not arguing that we should dump the checks and balances, but rather be a little more realistic with what topics are focused on. Waldman in his online editorial piece points out that using a past as a predictor of the future and what Kagan will be like and do on the bench is kind of pointless. Perhaps the Supreme Court should be more concerned about character than determining a political stance on a myriad of potential issues.
Andrew Sullivan argues that since the president can take gender and ethic background into account than "why is sexual orientation out of bounds of even inquiry?" He continues to his argument that to take sexual identity off the table when other aspects of human identity are fair game is somehow "offensive". But I wonder how questions of human identity play into politics. Just because I'm a woman does not make me a feminist. Just because I'm a christian does not make me conservative. To assume that personal convictions and beliefs cross over into my professional life and supersede all else is not logical. Most of us juggle many hats that require multiple perspectives.
In fact I wonder how much the Senate digging into a person's background really helps the process. I'm not arguing that we should dump the checks and balances, but rather be a little more realistic with what topics are focused on. Waldman in his online editorial piece points out that using a past as a predictor of the future and what Kagan will be like and do on the bench is kind of pointless. Perhaps the Supreme Court should be more concerned about character than determining a political stance on a myriad of potential issues.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Stay strong in the struggle
To my students:
Do not be harsh on yourself if you are having difficulty with blogging. There is a learning curve whenever you learn a new skill. Do not evaluate your learning based on how quickly others are mastering this new skill; evaluate yourself on your effort and where you are today versus where you were the first day of the term.
We have been talking some about what a blog is during class. The fact that blogs are in reverse chronological order with the newest post first. That blogs should contribute to the conversation by either continuing the conversation (from another source) or contributing new information. Anton Zuiker posted a blog entry that shows the anatomy of a blog that you might find helpful.
My purpose in assigning you to write a blog was for you to learn while doing. Your blog should be veiwed as a sandbox: A place to play, create, and show off your learning. Feel free to change your blog's look or topic as you wish. Your grade is based on your effort and learning experience.
Do not be harsh on yourself if you are having difficulty with blogging. There is a learning curve whenever you learn a new skill. Do not evaluate your learning based on how quickly others are mastering this new skill; evaluate yourself on your effort and where you are today versus where you were the first day of the term.
We have been talking some about what a blog is during class. The fact that blogs are in reverse chronological order with the newest post first. That blogs should contribute to the conversation by either continuing the conversation (from another source) or contributing new information. Anton Zuiker posted a blog entry that shows the anatomy of a blog that you might find helpful.
My purpose in assigning you to write a blog was for you to learn while doing. Your blog should be veiwed as a sandbox: A place to play, create, and show off your learning. Feel free to change your blog's look or topic as you wish. Your grade is based on your effort and learning experience.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Considering citizenship
As many of you know, I recently moved to Michigan. I live in a boarder town where I can (and do) cross a bridge and find myself in another country. I attend church in Canada. I workout at the Chi Mukwa Community Center and teach at Bay Mills Community College in the land of the Ojibwe. I find myself pondering what it means to be a citizen.
People talk about being a "global citizen" or a "citizen of the world". In school we have to take citizenship tests, and we get recognized as being a "good citizen". We are suppose to "exercise" our citizenship by voting. But what about those of us who have multiple citizenships? Or what if our citizenship that is not recognized by others?
This article attempts to present both sides of one example of this issue: citizens of the Iroquois Nation wish to travel using their own passports rather than US passports.
Questions to blog about:
People talk about being a "global citizen" or a "citizen of the world". In school we have to take citizenship tests, and we get recognized as being a "good citizen". We are suppose to "exercise" our citizenship by voting. But what about those of us who have multiple citizenships? Or what if our citizenship that is not recognized by others?
This article attempts to present both sides of one example of this issue: citizens of the Iroquois Nation wish to travel using their own passports rather than US passports.
Questions to blog about:
- Why is it so important for members of this nation to travel under their own passports?
- Government is for the protection of its citizens -- what are the disadvantages and advantages of tribal passport use vs. US passports?
- Considering terrorism, identity theft, and other dangers, make an argument about whether or not tribes should issue passports for their citizens.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Questions on privacy
This year I decided to do something new with my composition classes. I've decided to incorporate blogs. Although I am aware of many people that have used blogs for years with their writing students and I genuinely like using technology with my classes, I always used technology in other ways in my classroom.
This year I decided to take the plunge for a number of reasons. The textbook we are using is Mike Palmquest's Joining the Conversation which emphasizes the interplay among texts and the relationship and dialogue that takes place between writers and readers. Naturally, online space allows writers a readership and access to a community of writers that have similar interests.
Another advantage of blogging over other forms of technology I could add to the classroom was the notion of personal space. I want my students to have a space that is "theirs" where they can play with technology, explore various communities and find their own voice. Learning how to write academic papers is an important life skill, but I would position it is not the best or only way to teach critical thinking, argumentation, research or even attribution. It is possible teaching these skills as merely an academic exercise may not promote easy skill transference to other situations (writing or otherwise). There is something amazing about having strangers read your writing especially when they leave feedback. For good or ill it creates a "real" learning situation that it is difficult to replicate with classroom-based exercises.
However, there are also drawbacks to requiring this real-world activity in a classroom. One that concerns me most are issues of privacy. I asked my students to create accounts with blogger (aka Google). I have had a blogger account for many years, long before Blogger was bought out by Google, and I have had a Google account for almost as many years. However most of my students did not have Google accounts, and I discovered the many safe-guards Google has put in place to ensure real people are signing up for accounts ---like requiring a phone number--- causes me to pause. We tell our students not to have their phones out or ringers on yet now I require one for instruction? Is it a reasonable expectation that students will have cell phones? And if they do, will they want to give their numbers to Google?
I honestly believe that experimenting with a blog is advantageous, but students also have rights to privacy. I personally have never had a problem with spam coming from Google; I have no reason to doubt their privacy policy. Google has many tools that I may use with my writing classes so having an account will be helpful in many ways. Is there a way to get around this need for a phone number or a generic phone number the whole class could use (perhaps google voice account on my end)? This is something I need to research.
This year I decided to take the plunge for a number of reasons. The textbook we are using is Mike Palmquest's Joining the Conversation which emphasizes the interplay among texts and the relationship and dialogue that takes place between writers and readers. Naturally, online space allows writers a readership and access to a community of writers that have similar interests.
Another advantage of blogging over other forms of technology I could add to the classroom was the notion of personal space. I want my students to have a space that is "theirs" where they can play with technology, explore various communities and find their own voice. Learning how to write academic papers is an important life skill, but I would position it is not the best or only way to teach critical thinking, argumentation, research or even attribution. It is possible teaching these skills as merely an academic exercise may not promote easy skill transference to other situations (writing or otherwise). There is something amazing about having strangers read your writing especially when they leave feedback. For good or ill it creates a "real" learning situation that it is difficult to replicate with classroom-based exercises.
However, there are also drawbacks to requiring this real-world activity in a classroom. One that concerns me most are issues of privacy. I asked my students to create accounts with blogger (aka Google). I have had a blogger account for many years, long before Blogger was bought out by Google, and I have had a Google account for almost as many years. However most of my students did not have Google accounts, and I discovered the many safe-guards Google has put in place to ensure real people are signing up for accounts ---like requiring a phone number--- causes me to pause. We tell our students not to have their phones out or ringers on yet now I require one for instruction? Is it a reasonable expectation that students will have cell phones? And if they do, will they want to give their numbers to Google?
I honestly believe that experimenting with a blog is advantageous, but students also have rights to privacy. I personally have never had a problem with spam coming from Google; I have no reason to doubt their privacy policy. Google has many tools that I may use with my writing classes so having an account will be helpful in many ways. Is there a way to get around this need for a phone number or a generic phone number the whole class could use (perhaps google voice account on my end)? This is something I need to research.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Belly flops with new media
The largest digital writing assignment I've ever created was the biggest flop. So let me share with you what I did, what happened and what I'd do differently.
**Group Instructions Project**
I was teaching a couple of sections of Professional and Technical Writing. A course requirement was a group project and instructions lend themselves naturally to a group assignment because of the complexity of creating an object, writing instructions, using illustrations, testing the final instructions on potential users, etc. The problem was I had five students that for legitimate reasons missed class frequently. I thought I had a perfect set of circumstances to try a distance-learning group project that used digital writing. I asked each potential member if they would be willing to do an online group and all agreed to participate.
''The assignment''
The assignment, in my mind at least, was straight-forward. They were to create a wiki using the U of M's wiki system that would explain to someone that hadn't used wikis before 1) what a wiki is 2) how to create a wiki 3) how to edit a wiki and 4) important issues that new users should consider before contributing or using a wiki. Group members didn't have to come to class (since their group had members in my morning and afternoon class) but they were expected to post each class period on the discussion board I created to divide up work and report back to the group to their progress. My assignment sheet was as clear as I could make it and about triple the length of my assignment sheet for the "traditional" assignment.
''What happened''
Absolutely nothing. The students obviously didn't really read the assignment sheet. Even when I sent emails to the group members reminding them to introduce themselves on the discussion board only one or two of them did so. More than a week into a two week project a few of them came to see me not understanding what a wiki was or why it was important for them to know.
Finally a two of the guys stepped up and took some leadership (grades are great motivators). They got the project divided up and one created the wiki and emailed his group with the link. But the group never became a group - they all did their segments of the project but didn't touch others sections even when their were obvious errors. They all claimed work as individuals and none of them did the posts that I required three times a week.
''What I would change''
If I were doing this assignment again I would require an initial face-to-face meeting with me to discuss the project, the objective and the requirements with the group. I would make individual points for participating in a timely manner as well as group points for having their work done so usability testing could occur. Not having them meet face to face was my largest mistake as a teacher, but I thought the introductions post and the post I asked them to do about their interests and strengths/weaknesses would start the conversation sufficiently. I failed to realize that EVERYTHING has to be for points in an online environment otherwise students see it as optional. Even when it is as important as communicating with their group, many students don't see communication as logically necessary.
If you want to see their final project it's at https://wiki.umn.edu/view/Main/Towar003.
**Group Instructions Project**
I was teaching a couple of sections of Professional and Technical Writing. A course requirement was a group project and instructions lend themselves naturally to a group assignment because of the complexity of creating an object, writing instructions, using illustrations, testing the final instructions on potential users, etc. The problem was I had five students that for legitimate reasons missed class frequently. I thought I had a perfect set of circumstances to try a distance-learning group project that used digital writing. I asked each potential member if they would be willing to do an online group and all agreed to participate.
''The assignment''
The assignment, in my mind at least, was straight-forward. They were to create a wiki using the U of M's wiki system that would explain to someone that hadn't used wikis before 1) what a wiki is 2) how to create a wiki 3) how to edit a wiki and 4) important issues that new users should consider before contributing or using a wiki. Group members didn't have to come to class (since their group had members in my morning and afternoon class) but they were expected to post each class period on the discussion board I created to divide up work and report back to the group to their progress. My assignment sheet was as clear as I could make it and about triple the length of my assignment sheet for the "traditional" assignment.
''What happened''
Absolutely nothing. The students obviously didn't really read the assignment sheet. Even when I sent emails to the group members reminding them to introduce themselves on the discussion board only one or two of them did so. More than a week into a two week project a few of them came to see me not understanding what a wiki was or why it was important for them to know.
Finally a two of the guys stepped up and took some leadership (grades are great motivators). They got the project divided up and one created the wiki and emailed his group with the link. But the group never became a group - they all did their segments of the project but didn't touch others sections even when their were obvious errors. They all claimed work as individuals and none of them did the posts that I required three times a week.
''What I would change''
If I were doing this assignment again I would require an initial face-to-face meeting with me to discuss the project, the objective and the requirements with the group. I would make individual points for participating in a timely manner as well as group points for having their work done so usability testing could occur. Not having them meet face to face was my largest mistake as a teacher, but I thought the introductions post and the post I asked them to do about their interests and strengths/weaknesses would start the conversation sufficiently. I failed to realize that EVERYTHING has to be for points in an online environment otherwise students see it as optional. Even when it is as important as communicating with their group, many students don't see communication as logically necessary.
If you want to see their final project it's at https://wiki.umn.edu/view/Main/Towar003.
Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church
Here is one of the photos I found that I would have included in my slideshow. This is my church back home, affectionately known as Church of the Holy Oil Can :)
Playing with Flickr
A few classes ago we were suppose to make some flickr slideshows and I hadn't had a chance to play around. So today (eek! I know how horrible this is) I did the assignment.
The only thing is I feel somehow not right downloading other people's photos when I don't have to. If I set them up as my favorites I can make a nice slideshow out of them (I did a show of University Circle in Cleveland) but I can't post them anywhere. Since I missed the chance to show them off in class I don't really see a reason to use other people's pictures. I will include one of the pictures I found, and would have used in a minute.
The only thing is I feel somehow not right downloading other people's photos when I don't have to. If I set them up as my favorites I can make a nice slideshow out of them (I did a show of University Circle in Cleveland) but I can't post them anywhere. Since I missed the chance to show them off in class I don't really see a reason to use other people's pictures. I will include one of the pictures I found, and would have used in a minute.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Wikis and group projects
Group projects are often dreaded by students who simply view them as extra work because it seems that more often than not you have a slacker among you. As a teacher, group projects can be hard to administer as you are not only teaching the subject matter, but also how to work with people, manage time, effectively criticize, divide responsibilities, etc.
Technologies can help but can also hinder the learning process. There is the learning curve and issue of access to the technology. There is the group vision that needs to be created and maintained throughout a project which can be harder to figure out when working remotely from each other. There also can be a lot more "big brother" going on when a teacher (and anyone else) can see who's been doing what and when.
Scott set up a wiki for our group project: a resource for Middle School teachers that would like to teach reader's theatre using technology. It sounds really cool, but I'm totally the novice in this and feel slightly out of my element as I try to figure out what I can possibly do to help... eeekkk! Working on a wiki with a subject area novice, Scott is brave. I'd like to do some interviews - maybe as podcasts (or perhaps vlogs) - with teachers that are currently using podcasting in their classrooms. I think it would be especially useful if we actually had middle school teachers to interview. Wonder where I can find some of those?
Technologies can help but can also hinder the learning process. There is the learning curve and issue of access to the technology. There is the group vision that needs to be created and maintained throughout a project which can be harder to figure out when working remotely from each other. There also can be a lot more "big brother" going on when a teacher (and anyone else) can see who's been doing what and when.
Scott set up a wiki for our group project: a resource for Middle School teachers that would like to teach reader's theatre using technology. It sounds really cool, but I'm totally the novice in this and feel slightly out of my element as I try to figure out what I can possibly do to help... eeekkk! Working on a wiki with a subject area novice, Scott is brave. I'd like to do some interviews - maybe as podcasts (or perhaps vlogs) - with teachers that are currently using podcasting in their classrooms. I think it would be especially useful if we actually had middle school teachers to interview. Wonder where I can find some of those?
Inspiration and other digital notetaking tools
I'm not a fan of digital brainstorming and organizational tools. I'm sure they work for someone, but to-date they haven't worked for me. Back in 2001 I tried a few attempts at computer-based notebooks that allowed a user to create outlines and notes and stories. Exporting them to MS Word was close to impossible and most of my writing (not that it was a tremendous amount) got stranded on these third-party apps.
Later I tried some programs like OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle. They seemed to be user friendly- but I didn't seem to have an idea in my head as to what I would do with them! So they sat on the computer unused.
Another C&I class wanted us to use Inspiration to put up our ideas. It was horrid. I think I perspired more than I was inspired trying to understand how to use the system. I never did figure out why you'd want to write on the lines.
This semester I decided to try Compendium because of the orientation videos we saw in class. There is still a steep learning curve and I really need to view the videos to figure out how do some basic things, but it appears to be useful in a way that other notetaking/mapping tools are not. I'm going to try to take the time to use it as a tool for my planning for a research project and see if it can be useful for me.
I'm still not sold on the idea of digital planning tools ... a steep learning curve makes them impractical for use in the classroom. With the current whiteboard technology that will allow students to draw, type and share in real-time, I'm wondering if the time for these software apps is past.
Later I tried some programs like OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle. They seemed to be user friendly- but I didn't seem to have an idea in my head as to what I would do with them! So they sat on the computer unused.
Another C&I class wanted us to use Inspiration to put up our ideas. It was horrid. I think I perspired more than I was inspired trying to understand how to use the system. I never did figure out why you'd want to write on the lines.
This semester I decided to try Compendium because of the orientation videos we saw in class. There is still a steep learning curve and I really need to view the videos to figure out how do some basic things, but it appears to be useful in a way that other notetaking/mapping tools are not. I'm going to try to take the time to use it as a tool for my planning for a research project and see if it can be useful for me.
I'm still not sold on the idea of digital planning tools ... a steep learning curve makes them impractical for use in the classroom. With the current whiteboard technology that will allow students to draw, type and share in real-time, I'm wondering if the time for these software apps is past.
True confessions of a college researcher
We were asked to talk a little about our methods as a researcher and what databases we use, how we determine validity/credibility and how we organize it for writing.
*Takes deep breath* I'm not much of a library person. I like libraries in theory well enough, but they just aren't very convenient. They are for some things (I mean I go to the Roseville Library/Dunn Bros. at least 3 times a week) - to grab a new mystery, rent a video, to study away from your apartment, and grab a cup of coffee. However, my local library does NOT have the academic sources that I need.
And I guess I'm just lazy. I don't want to travel a half hour to go to the U's library only to discover what I thought I needed isn't really useful, is lost, or someone else has checked it out before me. I adore full text. My search strategies are biased toward not having to change out of my Eeyore slippers and fuzzy pajama pants on a Saturday.
How do I research then? My absolutely favorite search engines are things like Educational Full Text and Google Scholar (GS). Google scholar might raise a few eyebrows, but I often can get better sources faster using GS and changing my key words because I can look at the articles to see if they are relevant. Also the U has a find it feature that allows me to get articles that aren't available for everyone but that are through the U. Advanced features allow me to sort limiting by year or by being a peer-reviewed source. Sometimes I find that I can get through GS what I can't get through the U due to broken links or paper-only availability.
What about needing a book? I actually do break down and go to the library for some things, but a portion of the time I buy used books online. Shipped right to your door many times for less than you might think. And there are never any overdue notices, fines or recalls!
How do I organize information? Sadly I'm not completely digital native - I usually cut and paste sections of text (and page numbers) into a Word document. I then open another document where I write the paper itself. I'll copy over direct quotes from my source text but most of the time I'll paraphrase from my source text and delete the source text as it is incorporated. This way I know that I haven't plagiarized and can see what material I still plan on incorporating, Many times I will make some book marks of online sources so I can get back to information easily.
I have not used de.lico.us but I am interested in perhaps using it in the future. I'm not sure i would be sharing my bookmarks with many people - who would be that interested? - but perhaps I will see uses for it once I start using it.
*Takes deep breath* I'm not much of a library person. I like libraries in theory well enough, but they just aren't very convenient. They are for some things (I mean I go to the Roseville Library/Dunn Bros. at least 3 times a week) - to grab a new mystery, rent a video, to study away from your apartment, and grab a cup of coffee. However, my local library does NOT have the academic sources that I need.
And I guess I'm just lazy. I don't want to travel a half hour to go to the U's library only to discover what I thought I needed isn't really useful, is lost, or someone else has checked it out before me. I adore full text. My search strategies are biased toward not having to change out of my Eeyore slippers and fuzzy pajama pants on a Saturday.
How do I research then? My absolutely favorite search engines are things like Educational Full Text and Google Scholar (GS). Google scholar might raise a few eyebrows, but I often can get better sources faster using GS and changing my key words because I can look at the articles to see if they are relevant. Also the U has a find it feature that allows me to get articles that aren't available for everyone but that are through the U. Advanced features allow me to sort limiting by year or by being a peer-reviewed source. Sometimes I find that I can get through GS what I can't get through the U due to broken links or paper-only availability.
What about needing a book? I actually do break down and go to the library for some things, but a portion of the time I buy used books online. Shipped right to your door many times for less than you might think. And there are never any overdue notices, fines or recalls!
How do I organize information? Sadly I'm not completely digital native - I usually cut and paste sections of text (and page numbers) into a Word document. I then open another document where I write the paper itself. I'll copy over direct quotes from my source text but most of the time I'll paraphrase from my source text and delete the source text as it is incorporated. This way I know that I haven't plagiarized and can see what material I still plan on incorporating, Many times I will make some book marks of online sources so I can get back to information easily.
I have not used de.lico.us but I am interested in perhaps using it in the future. I'm not sure i would be sharing my bookmarks with many people - who would be that interested? - but perhaps I will see uses for it once I start using it.
Watching all the balls drop
Supposedly successful people are able to juggle many things at once. I used to be fairly good at the juggling act, but now I'm trying something new --- it is called letting all the balls drop. This blog is one of the many balls attacking me. Perhaps referring to these balls as bludgers trying to knock me to the ground is a more accurate (and colorful) description.
I've been doing a lot of playing around with Moodle for presenting in class. The next week's debate sounds like it is going to be fun. I've downloaded so many new pieces of software recently to try out I'm getting confused what does what. Let me look into them and then I will post a little review of what I've downloaded and if I'm going to keep it.
I've been doing a lot of playing around with Moodle for presenting in class. The next week's debate sounds like it is going to be fun. I've downloaded so many new pieces of software recently to try out I'm getting confused what does what. Let me look into them and then I will post a little review of what I've downloaded and if I'm going to keep it.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Vlog about things on a stick
This vlog is from last year but it shows how easy it can be to create a relatively informative/entertaining vlog pretty easily. Someone just went to the state fair and video recorded all the things on a stick he could and edited them together with a little music. I like the different voices - it shows the differences in ages, cultures, and ethnicities. People working there and those merely visiting the fair were represented. The unguarded comments are pretty entertaining.
The audience for this vlog would be people that might attend the state fair or people that are simply amazed by the crazy stuff that is sold at fairs - I mean who would deep fry a candy bar? There must be a lot of us. Food network and shows like Iron Chef do fairly well.
I'm not sure that I would really do anything differently - except perhaps label the items being described. Some of the people are hard to understand. There are some pretty grainy shots that could have used a second take, but all in all this is a fun way to waste time. :)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Still an uproar
Things are still not back to normal at Neopets. People are still flooding staff with angry messages. The boards still show how much people are not pleased with their pets. I was looking through all the changes last night and I think I got off easy. My pets really weren't changed too much others pets are really not cute anymore and the mutant pets aren't really ugly.
Many are calling for Neopets to give us a choice in what our pets look like. People are getting more sophisticated with their means of complaint. They are now calling for everyone to send in feedback about specifically what they don't like. Banners are being placed on many accounts telling the powers that be that we really wanted a choice. Neopets has told us that having the 44 pets in 2 ways times the numbers of colors and poses would be too much for the servers. Many of us would just like a vote on what the "main" look would be. Some of these new pets are just ugly. :(
Here is an example of the before and after look. The thing to note is that to have a royal pet owners have purchased a 1,750,000 np paintbrush for the privilege.
Many are calling for Neopets to give us a choice in what our pets look like. People are getting more sophisticated with their means of complaint. They are now calling for everyone to send in feedback about specifically what they don't like. Banners are being placed on many accounts telling the powers that be that we really wanted a choice. Neopets has told us that having the 44 pets in 2 ways times the numbers of colors and poses would be too much for the servers. Many of us would just like a vote on what the "main" look would be. Some of these new pets are just ugly. :(
Here is an example of the before and after look. The thing to note is that to have a royal pet owners have purchased a 1,750,000 np paintbrush for the privilege.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
More on the protest
More developments. It seems there is now a petition with over 700 signatures against the new layout. I have copy-pasted the petition explanation below.
"Hello Neopians. Once your name appears on the list, please pick up the banner below to SHOW that you signed the petition! (THIS IS MORE OF A LIST OF PEOPLE WHO HATE NEOPETS BETA, NOT SO MUCH A PETITION!) The disgusting neopets Beta is ruining coding, and is hard to manage. I mean the layout is cool, but I'd like the old neopets back.
Top Three Reasons to Sign:
1. It's ruining our HTML and CSS!
2. The pets are HIDEOUS!
3. It's hard to find stuff on the new layout!
Those in favour of signing the petition (we know petitions don't work, but I have nothing better to do with my time) neomail ME! AND ONLY ME! Just click the neomail button to sign! I will put your username up! Thanks for the support! "
More information about the petition for Neopets players
As well as the petition there are also players trying to get out information about what the changes exactly are like. The graphic below links to a petpage that shows various redraws of pets and paint jobs. I find this information very useful although I'm really hoping that some of the really ugly ones will get redrawn.
"Hello Neopians. Once your name appears on the list, please pick up the banner below to SHOW that you signed the petition! (THIS IS MORE OF A LIST OF PEOPLE WHO HATE NEOPETS BETA, NOT SO MUCH A PETITION!) The disgusting neopets Beta is ruining coding, and is hard to manage. I mean the layout is cool, but I'd like the old neopets back.
Top Three Reasons to Sign:
1. It's ruining our HTML and CSS!
2. The pets are HIDEOUS!
3. It's hard to find stuff on the new layout!
Those in favour of signing the petition (we know petitions don't work, but I have nothing better to do with my time) neomail ME! AND ONLY ME! Just click the neomail button to sign! I will put your username up! Thanks for the support! "
More information about the petition for Neopets players
As well as the petition there are also players trying to get out information about what the changes exactly are like. The graphic below links to a petpage that shows various redraws of pets and paint jobs. I find this information very useful although I'm really hoping that some of the really ugly ones will get redrawn.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Community in protest
Neopets has decided to radically change their user interface. Not only did they change the look, feel, and navigational system but they also redrew many of the pets. This change came out of the blue. In the past we have received warning and were even able to vote on what a new pet would look like. This time it was BAM – in the morning things were normal, in the afternoon everything was changed.
People are not impressed – actually pissed is probably a better term. Some of the new pets are ugly. In fact my beloved biscuit chomby looks extremely vectorized. She’s just not cute and the cookies are all angular. Not all the redraws are bad, but the suddenness and the enevitable glitches are causing people to protest in many ways. People are threatening to leave Neopets, others are saying they will quit premium, and still others are making pests of themselves on the discussion boards complaining about everything. I am interested in how so many people threaten to take their ball and go home. It would seem to me that voicing our opinions through putting in error reports and suggestions will have more success as paying members. They wouldn’t want to disenfranchise their customer base (the adults who are long-term players that will pay for premium). Young children will join and leave in droves, but the adults are the core of the community. It seems that others don’t see it my way because even members of my guild have decided to cancel premium after less than 24 hours of the new system. It will be interesting how this all shakes out.
People are not impressed – actually pissed is probably a better term. Some of the new pets are ugly. In fact my beloved biscuit chomby looks extremely vectorized. She’s just not cute and the cookies are all angular. Not all the redraws are bad, but the suddenness and the enevitable glitches are causing people to protest in many ways. People are threatening to leave Neopets, others are saying they will quit premium, and still others are making pests of themselves on the discussion boards complaining about everything. I am interested in how so many people threaten to take their ball and go home. It would seem to me that voicing our opinions through putting in error reports and suggestions will have more success as paying members. They wouldn’t want to disenfranchise their customer base (the adults who are long-term players that will pay for premium). Young children will join and leave in droves, but the adults are the core of the community. It seems that others don’t see it my way because even members of my guild have decided to cancel premium after less than 24 hours of the new system. It will be interesting how this all shakes out.
Measure of membership
My year anniversary with the guild was in February. Somewhere in that time I’ve managed to move from a newcomer to an old timer in AGW. Still I find myself feeling new when new people join the guild that everyone else seems to know that I don’t. AGW is my first guild that I have ever been actively involved with. Most of my guildies have been involved in other guilds and have previous relationships developed. New people come into the guild and although they are new they may have more deeply established relationships with particular members of the guild than me. I find it an interesting dichotomy of being old yet newer than many.
I have started to keep an eye out for new members based on people posting they are looking for guilds on the discussion boards. A few weeks ago I found someone who was posting they were looking for a guild and it sounded like he was describing us. I sent him a message and he ended up joining. The exciting thing is how well he has ended up fitting in our guild. This makes me happy because he’s happy and because it means that I am evaluating our guild culture appropriately. He and I have ended up talking via IM quite a bit and it has been fun getting to know him individually as well as part of the group (it is fun to watch Grey’s Anatomy and chat about the stupidity of the characters).
Since the start of this project our guild leader has redone membership ranks. Ranks are designed to be a measurement of activity. Originally rank was determined by number of posts. New people could quickly move up the ranks by getting involved with discussions. After the guild was around for awhile this system wasn’t working so well. Some guild members have chosen to leave the guild to join another and then come back (for example some guilds battle other guilds and one of our members likes to battle so he hops in and out of our guild as the wars begin and end), some have had account problems causing them to lose their status, and finally people that were active and have 2000 posts can disappear and still have a high rank.
To fix this problem ranks were changed to reflect overall activity in the last month. People can be ranked as daily, weekly, monthly or vacationing. The expectation is that everyone should be weekly (show up 2-3 times a week) but real life sometimes gets in the way so the other ranks exist for temporary issues. I never have a problem because I chat everyday, but it has dramatically changed who’s what rank. It also makes you aware of the expectations of the community. If your rank is not weekly you are not eligible to participate in giveaways and fun events – many people only show up when events are going on to collect the goodies and then disappear again.
Just how active am I in the guild? If you take my number of posts divided by my number of days in the guild I average at 9 a day. I don’t know whether to be sad or proud. LOL
I have started to keep an eye out for new members based on people posting they are looking for guilds on the discussion boards. A few weeks ago I found someone who was posting they were looking for a guild and it sounded like he was describing us. I sent him a message and he ended up joining. The exciting thing is how well he has ended up fitting in our guild. This makes me happy because he’s happy and because it means that I am evaluating our guild culture appropriately. He and I have ended up talking via IM quite a bit and it has been fun getting to know him individually as well as part of the group (it is fun to watch Grey’s Anatomy and chat about the stupidity of the characters).
Since the start of this project our guild leader has redone membership ranks. Ranks are designed to be a measurement of activity. Originally rank was determined by number of posts. New people could quickly move up the ranks by getting involved with discussions. After the guild was around for awhile this system wasn’t working so well. Some guild members have chosen to leave the guild to join another and then come back (for example some guilds battle other guilds and one of our members likes to battle so he hops in and out of our guild as the wars begin and end), some have had account problems causing them to lose their status, and finally people that were active and have 2000 posts can disappear and still have a high rank.
To fix this problem ranks were changed to reflect overall activity in the last month. People can be ranked as daily, weekly, monthly or vacationing. The expectation is that everyone should be weekly (show up 2-3 times a week) but real life sometimes gets in the way so the other ranks exist for temporary issues. I never have a problem because I chat everyday, but it has dramatically changed who’s what rank. It also makes you aware of the expectations of the community. If your rank is not weekly you are not eligible to participate in giveaways and fun events – many people only show up when events are going on to collect the goodies and then disappear again.
Just how active am I in the guild? If you take my number of posts divided by my number of days in the guild I average at 9 a day. I don’t know whether to be sad or proud. LOL
Hanging out on the premium discussion boards
One way to measure the commitment that someone has to Neopets is by determining whether they are premium members. Premium members means that the person is addicted enough … erm, committed enough to pay for the privilege of not having ads on the site. I decided to go get premium when the ads started to talk at me! Grrrr.
Premium membership also gets the user other perks like an email address, random events of neopoints and items, a scratchcard on Fridays, and access to the superwiz – a way to look up the lowest prices of items in other users’ shops. Because I play so often these features are completely worth the 20 cents a day that the service costs. Another feature of premium are the premium discussion boards. Everyone on the site has access to discussion boards, but the premium boards are restricted to only paying members making them mostly adults who can afford the service. This makes the premium boards a lot more useful and less prone to teenagers looking for a boyfriend or pointless boards begging for items and points.
I visited the premium boards originally because I discovered that they had a board for people to post pets that were up for adoption. I had been lurking on that board for more than a month when I started to visit other boards that commonly appeared. Most people that are premium are tied into the Neopet community in a number of ways. Many belong to guilds as well as being actively involved on a board or two of their choice. What I’ve discovered is that many sub-communities have formed on the premium boards that overlap with one another. They have people that watch for over-inflated items (where people are trying to raise the prices of an item inappropriately), a group that talks about the stock market, another that talks about training pets, lending pets (for avatars), quest help, buy/sell/trade board, restock chat, etc. all have loyal followings. There are people that hang out a lot on the charter board where I’ve gotten so I recognize their usernames.
Discussion groups have evolved on a bunch of the boards premium and regular. There is also a discussion group called the OLDPD that I have lurked on, on-and-off for years. They are currently on their 3945th board. (Boards go kaboom after 30 pages – or around 500 posts.) They formed during the Lost Desert Plot in 2005 and it is still going strong. OLDPD was an abbreviation for “Obsessive Lost Desert Plot Disorder, ” but since that has been over for ages they now say it means the Obsessive Latest Darn Plot Disorder. This is just another example of how the community has managed to form and maintain itself even when there isn’t a plot going on to discuss (like right now). Makes me realize that Neopets is much more than just a site with pets and games.
Premium membership also gets the user other perks like an email address, random events of neopoints and items, a scratchcard on Fridays, and access to the superwiz – a way to look up the lowest prices of items in other users’ shops. Because I play so often these features are completely worth the 20 cents a day that the service costs. Another feature of premium are the premium discussion boards. Everyone on the site has access to discussion boards, but the premium boards are restricted to only paying members making them mostly adults who can afford the service. This makes the premium boards a lot more useful and less prone to teenagers looking for a boyfriend or pointless boards begging for items and points.
I visited the premium boards originally because I discovered that they had a board for people to post pets that were up for adoption. I had been lurking on that board for more than a month when I started to visit other boards that commonly appeared. Most people that are premium are tied into the Neopet community in a number of ways. Many belong to guilds as well as being actively involved on a board or two of their choice. What I’ve discovered is that many sub-communities have formed on the premium boards that overlap with one another. They have people that watch for over-inflated items (where people are trying to raise the prices of an item inappropriately), a group that talks about the stock market, another that talks about training pets, lending pets (for avatars), quest help, buy/sell/trade board, restock chat, etc. all have loyal followings. There are people that hang out a lot on the charter board where I’ve gotten so I recognize their usernames.
Discussion groups have evolved on a bunch of the boards premium and regular. There is also a discussion group called the OLDPD that I have lurked on, on-and-off for years. They are currently on their 3945th board. (Boards go kaboom after 30 pages – or around 500 posts.) They formed during the Lost Desert Plot in 2005 and it is still going strong. OLDPD was an abbreviation for “Obsessive Lost Desert Plot Disorder, ” but since that has been over for ages they now say it means the Obsessive Latest Darn Plot Disorder. This is just another example of how the community has managed to form and maintain itself even when there isn’t a plot going on to discuss (like right now). Makes me realize that Neopets is much more than just a site with pets and games.
And 5 hours later
I am, admittedly, not big on phone calls. There is nothing wrong with them per se. I’m just the type of person where it never occurs to me to call people. The phone has become a functional object – an object for community maintenance rather than community formation. I talk with old friends occasionally, my boyfriend on a scheduled basis, and my family members as news occurs. Ideally the phone is a scheduling device to find out if we are still meeting for breakfast or to find out if someone wants to hang out on the weekend.
One of our members runs an event where the main character has disappeared. It is a mystery and I had to cause trouble. So when I saw my guildmate online I had to ping her to find out if I could add to the chaos. She did something that no one has done before (and I’ve IMed with lots of guildies), she asked to switch mediums to the phone because it was easier for her to talk than type. Five hours later, when both of our cordless phones started to beep we hung up.
So what the heck happened that led to our phones finally time out our conversation? We were long overdue for creating personal bonds. We’ve both been part of the same online community for many, many months but had never talked privately. Because of our online community we had shared experiences, common interests, common friends, and a common culture. We just had tons to talk about and the conversation just snowballed into a conversation that bisected the personal, public and online lives. I discovered that she had actually read my blog (could have knocked me over with a feather) and had misunderstood some of my comments. This just reaffirms my hatred for blogs (a rant for another time). The thing is it wasn’t until hour 4 in our conversation that my blog even came up, even though she had found it offensive.
It seems like the building of trust is both corporate and individual. Although we all tell of personal happenings on a daily basis it seems that we don’t always have the individual trust required to confront someone when something seems off. I find this to be an interesting truth that deserves more time for reflection and analysis.
One of our members runs an event where the main character has disappeared. It is a mystery and I had to cause trouble. So when I saw my guildmate online I had to ping her to find out if I could add to the chaos. She did something that no one has done before (and I’ve IMed with lots of guildies), she asked to switch mediums to the phone because it was easier for her to talk than type. Five hours later, when both of our cordless phones started to beep we hung up.
So what the heck happened that led to our phones finally time out our conversation? We were long overdue for creating personal bonds. We’ve both been part of the same online community for many, many months but had never talked privately. Because of our online community we had shared experiences, common interests, common friends, and a common culture. We just had tons to talk about and the conversation just snowballed into a conversation that bisected the personal, public and online lives. I discovered that she had actually read my blog (could have knocked me over with a feather) and had misunderstood some of my comments. This just reaffirms my hatred for blogs (a rant for another time). The thing is it wasn’t until hour 4 in our conversation that my blog even came up, even though she had found it offensive.
It seems like the building of trust is both corporate and individual. Although we all tell of personal happenings on a daily basis it seems that we don’t always have the individual trust required to confront someone when something seems off. I find this to be an interesting truth that deserves more time for reflection and analysis.
Prepping for and attending a class in SL
Again I ventured into SL with slightly less dread. I decided that I wasn’t going to be the idiot that couldn’t find the classroom on Monday. I used the link that was provided to port myself to the educational island and started to explore.
The good news is I had procrastinated so long there was absolutely no one on the island because it was so late at night. I wandered around and found the lecture hall and various meeting areas. I even ventured far enough to find a cow and to find a building with a coffee maker and a grand piano. I tried to take a picture but I was too tired to figure it out. The good news was that by the end of my travels I was confident I wouldn’t make an idiot out of myself by failing to show up for class.
At class time I did something unique – I managed to be in 2 classes at once. The class I am in F2F was still meeting but I could keep SL running and keep an eye on what was going on in class and type a quick message while still following the general conversation in my F2F class. Pauses in conversation give the opportunity to scan the written conversation allowing me to participate in both places in a reasonable way. This of course isn’t ideal, but it was better than non-attendance in one class.
I really expected the chaos that ensued. Any class where you investigate new technology the class becomes more about the technology itself (IMHO) than about the subject of the day. I answered more questions about where I got my shoes and who I was than about any course material. The conversation went really fast and was not cohesive.
It was an experience – it is the first time I’ve ever been in class with a fox. The classroom experience in SL was anything but smooth. People had different Internet speeds causing the movie to finish at different times, conversation in groups was impossible, once people started to move getting attention to change instructions was chaotic, moving from place to place caused people to get lost, following the flying guy doesn’t work, and tables don’t seem to work as advertised. With that all said, the class was still fun in a novel sort of way. One of my classmates from my F2F class ended up hanging with me for almost an hour watching our antics; I think it is fair to say that it was an entertaining thing to watch.
My conclusion is the technology isn’t ready for education to occur in SL and we as students aren’t really ready for it either. Getting to know each other is hard enough online without using different names and avatars that you have to keep straight. Perhaps as students grow up with these environments and technology advances these environments will become very practical. But for now I will stick with environments where foxes don’t show up to class.
The good news is I had procrastinated so long there was absolutely no one on the island because it was so late at night. I wandered around and found the lecture hall and various meeting areas. I even ventured far enough to find a cow and to find a building with a coffee maker and a grand piano. I tried to take a picture but I was too tired to figure it out. The good news was that by the end of my travels I was confident I wouldn’t make an idiot out of myself by failing to show up for class.
At class time I did something unique – I managed to be in 2 classes at once. The class I am in F2F was still meeting but I could keep SL running and keep an eye on what was going on in class and type a quick message while still following the general conversation in my F2F class. Pauses in conversation give the opportunity to scan the written conversation allowing me to participate in both places in a reasonable way. This of course isn’t ideal, but it was better than non-attendance in one class.
I really expected the chaos that ensued. Any class where you investigate new technology the class becomes more about the technology itself (IMHO) than about the subject of the day. I answered more questions about where I got my shoes and who I was than about any course material. The conversation went really fast and was not cohesive.
It was an experience – it is the first time I’ve ever been in class with a fox. The classroom experience in SL was anything but smooth. People had different Internet speeds causing the movie to finish at different times, conversation in groups was impossible, once people started to move getting attention to change instructions was chaotic, moving from place to place caused people to get lost, following the flying guy doesn’t work, and tables don’t seem to work as advertised. With that all said, the class was still fun in a novel sort of way. One of my classmates from my F2F class ended up hanging with me for almost an hour watching our antics; I think it is fair to say that it was an entertaining thing to watch.
My conclusion is the technology isn’t ready for education to occur in SL and we as students aren’t really ready for it either. Getting to know each other is hard enough online without using different names and avatars that you have to keep straight. Perhaps as students grow up with these environments and technology advances these environments will become very practical. But for now I will stick with environments where foxes don’t show up to class.
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