1981 broadcast on KRON San Francisco…reading newspapers online (with the exception of pictures, ads, and comics?

“it takes over 2 hours to receive the entire text of the newspaper over the phone and with an hourly use charge of $5 the new tele-paper won’t be much competition to the .20 cent street edition”

Networking and the internet (a network of computers) has been around a long time, but it wasn’t until around 1990 when Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web (yeah, notice it does not say Al Gore?). This guy could have been a ka-bajillionaire but instead insisted on non-proprietary and free. That’s how the web began, open source and available to all. Now with ads and special costly software, etc…the web isn’t so free…but everything is cyclical. People like to collaborate and share, opensource is awesome and what the web was meant to be. You can see the big push for open and free has always been there in the background, buzzing, even while people became millionaires with crappy browsers and software. Wordpress is an excellent example of the open and free web that Tim had a mind.
His idea started with his own lack of memory and too many notes.

he devised a piece of software that could, as he put it, keep “track of all the random associations one comes across in real life and brains are supposed to be so good at remembering but sometimes mine wouldn’t.” -TIME

Wow, from there to creating HTML, URLs, and the rules of http…don’t forget the first browser and server! Way to go Tim! From 1990 to 2009, in less than 19 years we’ve come a long way. I have students who were born after 1990, and have only known the world with the internet in it. Information at their fingertips is all they have known… I think Tim Berners-Lee is my web hero. Right next to the person who created bejeweled (j/k).
It’s interesting to see how far we have come. “Random associations”, that’s so interesting to me. In grad school I studied learning theory and there are so many ideas about how people learn. Ideas of the brain as a black box was big for a while. Information goes in and we don’t really know what happens then, hence a black box. Some say we build schemas, while we may not know everything, we have a these scaffolds that we build upon as our experience grows. Also, there is the idea of a rhizome. Knowledge is intertwined with everything you do, see and here in your life. Like a root, creeping and intertwining with anything in it’s path, sometimes you can’t even separate two plants because their roots are so intertwined. This rhizome idea brings me back to “random associations”. The “world wide web” lingo was used to show connections, like a spider web (or how properly networked of computers can look), but I see fault in that language. A spider web usually stands alone, lots of interconnections of course, but on it’s own. A rhizome on the other hand is interconnected with everything. Think of the root system of a large tree, interconnected and almost inseparable from the plants, grasses, and other trees around it.
Okay so the world wide rhizome (wwr?) doesn’t quite have the same ring to it but I like it. I’ll have to ponder this more later when I have more time…

Do you think you’re a problogger? Check out this site: Problogger.net
It’s a site created by Darren Rowse which is:

…dedicated to helping other bloggers learn the skills of blogging, share their own experiences and promote the blogging medium.”

But what I find really interesting, besides the great blogging tips, is the sites job section. Here you can find a job as a blog writer!

Like this one: NatureMade Sam-e Blogger! The value for 6 months of blogging? $5000 a month and a free laptop!
Or this one: Non-fiction Article Writers for Suite101.com. Looks like you could write about…well, anything!

Looking at several of these jobs, the pay ranges from $3.50 an article to, well $5000. You can make some nice spending cash or supplement your income pretty well.

A colleague and I were recently talking about English majors and wondering how the blogging (web) world has changed things. While I don’t think English as a major is going away, it is interesting to see that anyone who can write pretty well, and has some personal experience on a subject, can be a “writer” or “bwriter?”. Of course, writing a book and writing a blog are two different things, but I have seen some pretty savvy bloggers making a heck of a lot of money for not having a degree in Literature, English, or even in the field they are writing about. What it comes down to is that people want to know more about a subject and want to read about it in layman’s terms. The down and dirty, rather than the historical relevance and proper terminology (although blogging sites range from the bullet point methods, to videos, to everything you wanted to know about a subject). Think of it this way, the last time you wanted to know more about something, did you check out a book or did you do a quick google search and find the answer in 5 seconds?
Go, blog, share your experiences and knowledge, and hopefully, make some money!!

The Summer 2009 quarter at the college wrapped up last week. The quarter flew by and now a new one is upon us! That’s what’s so interesting about Ai, with quarters things go by so fast. I wonder at times what the students can retain in such a quick turnaround…things don’t have time to sink in? I say that, but I look at the walls and am so impressed by what they create and do. We have some awesome students as well as a few not so awesome ones. With portfolio based classes, the focus being less on tests and more on portfolios, most seem to prosper.

Today we had new student orientation and a packed campus. I am happy to say that Web Design & Interactive Media had 8 new students starting! I believe that puts us at about 32 students (my numbers may be off a bit). WDIM is always a small program, which is crazy since it’s the place where money is made right after college. I prefer to think of my students as part of an elite few, we only let the best in! Actually Ai Austin has reached over 800 students! This apparently is amazing in comparison to other new Ai campuses across the US and Canada. Our campus is growing so fast and we are busting at the seams. Wow, now that I think about it, WDIM makes only about less than 5% of that group?! Did I do my math right? Wow, that’s weird to think about. The new students seems eager and ready to go. Two were in the Associate’s program and the rest in the Bachelor’s. The ratio was pretty even between male and female. I like that I have a good group of females, ladies in technology rock!

Next week, classes start. Here is a list of the courses I am teaching:

• Digital Imaging I – 2 sections, I have already taught this class before, so I feel pretty comfortable repeating it, I will be making some changes though. This class revolves around learning image or graphic manipulation using Photoshop. Students from all programs can take it, and usually get a lot out of it.
• Digital Imaging II - 1 section, first time teaching it. I have support from the previous instructor (he moved on to other classes) so I am nervous, but feel confident since I have someone to talk to and answer questions. I feel I have some big shoes to fill since I know students really liked him, hopefully I will measure up with this new crowd. This class will focus on Photoshop technique and more in-depth digital compositing.
• Introduction to Scripting – 1 section, 3rd time teaching, or is it the fourth? Last quarter I felt like things went askew due to time management issues in class, I will need to work on that. This class focuses on learning the basics of XHTML, CSS and JavaScript (although, every quarter we usually don’t get to JS).
• Intermediate Scripting – 1 section, more advanced web design course. Here students use Dreamweaver to create websites and can incorporate their knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. I bring a client they work with to create a site. You can see last quarters client site here: Adrian and the Sickness (I apologize if this site gets changed, it is currently on a student server and will be on the real band site soon).
• Independent Study Portfolio II – ??? I am unsure if I am the adviser for this student, I guess I’ll find out Monday!
• Independent Study Digital Imaging III – ??? Again, heard it through the grape vine that I would be an adviser…but still unsure if this is true!

As you can see, this quarter I will be super busy! This week we didn’t have classes, so I took the time to work on revising and researching for my new courses. Of course, time flew by and I wish I had another 2 weeks to prepare. I am excited, I really do love teaching!