For this activity we were asked to spend some time researching DNS and explain it in a creative way.  I chose to create a mini YouTube based lecture.  Enjoy.

In terms of resources I mostly depended on my own knowledge about DNS.  That said the following resources were also helpful:

• Wikipedia Article on DNS
• About.com Article on DNS

The nuts and bolts of putting this artifact together contained a few steps and peices of software.  First, I created a PowerPoint Presentation to serve as the visual component of my presentation. Second, I jotted down a basic outline of what to talk about. Third, I activated screen capture software (http://applian.com/replay-video-capture/) and put the PowerPoint into presentation mode. Fourth, I spoke extemporaneously about the topics on my outline.  Last, I uploaded the video to my YouTube channel and set it to a creative commons attribution licence.

As to why I went this route…it was what I was familiar with.  The technical process is the same way I record lectures for my online classes.  It could have been better if I added a few oral citations, but overall not bad for a 30 minute project.

For this activity we had to learn a little about the different HTML Tags uses.  We then had to go out into the real world and take pictures of items that linked up.  Here is my list and descriptions.

• <div>:  I chose a shelf…it divides my plates and glassware.

• <blockquote>: Words of others…I chose some kind words from past students (cited of course).

• <p>: Paragraphs are basically extended chunks of info on a single topic.  The back of a product box fits the bill.

• <ol>: The nutrition facts of some minute rice are basically an ordered list.

• <ul>Okay bear with me here…ul unordered bulleted list…wine rack = bullets, wine is in no specific order 😉

• <li> Lunch Meat is the only “list item” I need.

• <nav>: My iPhone’s navigation links me to a tasty burger joint.

• <menu>: Or I could stay home and order something off this takeout “menu”

• <span>: Okay it’s a stretch (hehe) but I think it fits.

• <time>: IT IS A CLOCK.  Ironically it does not work.

• <q>: I feel like less products have short promotional quotes on them these days.  Alas I found one.

• <img> : Image of my 2012 speech and debate squad

In this lesson we were asked to evaluate several text editors.  I was a little biased going into it as one of the options was the program I used to use when I coded back in college.

In the lesson I took a look at the following 3 text editors.

• Notepad++ 
• ConTEXT
• E Text Editor

After spending a little time playing and researching I came to understand–and confirm my bias–that notepad++ was the far superior player.  First it seems that “ConText” is no longer being actively developed.  The last stable version is almost 5 years old. “E Text Editor” on the other hand has some interesting features, but is not as open source as I would like from an editor.

There are a few things I really like about Notepad++.  First is there open source policy.  Notepad++ operates under a “GNU General Public License” making their software truly open and free.  Second I like how light weight the app is.  It is small simple and gets the job done. Third are the features.  While there are too many to list here I really dug the tabbed documents, and the way it sorts and organizes html files.

Below is my second post as part of the P2PU School of Webcraft Webmaking 101 challenge.

The assignment called for us to create a basic web page by hand.  In the era of CMS systems its strange to think that at one point this is how all pages were made.  It was a bit of a challenge to write this out by hand as I have notoriously bad penmanship.  If I keep things in all caps, it usually works out okay.  I took two attempts to get something that actually looks like it might work.

As part of the Webmaking 101 challenge I am writing a little blog post about myself.

I grew up in the the Southern California town of Redlands.  After spending several years working in the IT consulting industry, I made the decision to return to school and complete my education.  Upon graduating from Humboldt State University,  I made the decision to continue on in my education and pursue advanced degrees in Communication Studies.

The Communication studies discipline is diverse and as I have continued my education I have found many interests in it. From those interests I have followed three key research focuses: teaching special populations of students, social movement studies, and the use of computer-mediated communication in education.

I currently work at both Chico State and Butte Community College.  One of the things I enjoy about teaching at two institutions is the variety of classes I get to facilitate. This semester I am teaching Argumentation and Debate, Small Group Communication, Intercultural Communication, and intercollegiate Speech and Debate.

 

I am currently working on a project exploring the use of Open Badges for Butte College.  As a result I will be participating in some MOOCs.  I will be using this blog for some of those projects.