Emerging Tech. 2 (comments)

I commented on ...

1) Jennifer Reece

2) Tiffany Pope

3) Taylor Hall

4) Julie Hofer

5) Kiley Stiller

Emerging Technology Numero Dos! : Digital Scrapbooking

1) My newest exploration of an emerging technology was digital scrapbooking.

2) Digital scrapbooking is a way to collect photos and create a scrapbook online. You simply upload photos onto a site of your choice, (I used digitalscrapbookingplace.com) and you can choose backgrounds, fonts, sayings, etc. to enhance your photos just like in a paper scrapbook. However, there are many benefits to digital scrapbooking. The first is there’s no mess! Since everything is online, you don’t have to worry about glue, scissors, ruining pictures, or clean up! You can fix everything right then and there. That way, if you are unhappy with your result, you can try something new. With digital scrapbooking, you can change the pictures that you use to make them black and white, tint them, or add a “Photoshopped” background to fancy it up a little. This method takes much less time than scrapbooking by hand, which is wonderful, since regular scrapbook can sometimes take months to complete ( I would know. :/ ) Since it is digital, you can store and save multiple copies of the scrapbook just with the click of a button. How convenient! The best part about this is that you can easily share your scrapbooks with friends and family by e-mailing them, or posting them to a webpage. This is great, because someone may work very hard on their scrapbook, only to see it sitting on a shelf until the next family reunion. Now all of your friends and family members can easily access your hard, artistic work, and look at great pictures from their home, and at no cost to them!

3) One of my friends actually told me about digital scrapbooking. I had never heard of it, or used it before. I Googled “digital scrapbooking” and it led me to the helpful site I mentioned before, www.digitalscrapbookingplace.com. This site was very user friendly, and had a lot of tips, and directions for using the site, and the technology. It also highlighted other users’ work, which I thought was nice. Once I started playing around with it, I was hooked. I downloaded “SmileBox” to my computer and made my very first scrapbook page. It wasn’t that great, but it was fun!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

4) Tips for using digital scrapbooking: Find a site that is free. Many sites charge you to make scrapbook pages, but I found several that were free. Try out pictures before you publish. Sometimes the pictures don’t look as great in the page itself. ☺

Fantastic Comments by MOI!

I commented on...
1) Allison Barker
2) Nina Gaither
3) Megan Wolfgram
4) Jennifer Reece
-and-
5) Clifton Young

(you're welcome. (: )

Podcastinggg.

Today, class, we are going to explore the popular emerging technology, podcasting.

I already sound like a teacher! HA!

I have briefly used podcasting in the past, with iTunes. In one of my biology classes, our professor allowed us access to IU's podcast system so we could have her lectures recorded to listen to later. This was INCREDIBLY helpful when it came to test time. It was a human biology class, which requires a lot of memorization, so it was nice to be able to hear the information again, and double check my notes. It proved to be very valuable by the end of the semester. 

Outside of sitting through boring lectures more than once, I haven't used podcasting. I was really unaware what it actually was until this assignment. Since I was ignorant to its offerings, I researched a little bit. The classroom wiki was helpful in guiding me to the right places.

The Gcast website taught me that podcasting is a type of audio recording that can be downloaded. People can use podcasting to hear a radio show, or the like, or they can even subscribe to a podcast, and get future podcast entries. They can find their favorite radio show, get updates about politics, news, the economy, share music, or even the latest on their favorite television show! This is a great way to share audio through the internet. It is easy to do, also. If you don't have the knowledge or the means to produce a fancy, professional podcast, you can do it over the phone! You can even create your very own podcast, and share your information and views about whatever you like! What a way to get creative!

After I read the tutorial about podcasting, I decided to experiment a little. No, I didn't make my own podcast, but I searched around for things I might be interested in. I was astonished at what I found! There was a channel for indie music, and it was awesome! I love indie music, and this was great. I also found a channel where the host updated everyone about this season of "Dancing with the Stars" (Hey, just wait. You're going to listen to it too, because I'm going to be on that show one day!) I thought this was great, since I can't afford a Tivo, I can just podcast! 

I felt the podcasting was very easy to use. Each site I visited had a tutorial, whether it be strictly literature, or a virtual tour. It was all easy to understand, and not put in "technical" terms, like some tutorials online are. 

I think that this technology will be very helpful to me. I mentioned that it was helpful before with academics, but now I see how it can be helpful with some of my hobbies and interests as well. 

Call me dorky, but I LOVE the Discovery Channel. On the podcast site, ClickCaster, there is a channel for the Discovery Channel, which podcasts a little differently; with video. My personal favorites are the "Cool Jobs" and the "Why? Tell Me Why!" podcasts. There's one that explain hiccups. I know you want to see that! Click
here to see all of the Discovery Channel's podcasts. Thought I should share. :o)

Another podcast site that I loved was Grammar Girl. Since I want to be an English teacher, I picture myself using this ALL the time! I'm not quite an English connoisseur yet, so I think I'll probably need some reference sometimes. Hey, no one's perfect! On this podcast channel, the narrator clears up and grammatical issues you might have. The great thing is, it poses questions that we deal with on a day to day basis. Not everything is complex, so you won't be sounding like Shakespeare when you are finished, you are just going to be speaking properly! This could be a great resource for my students, as well. Check it out, because it is awesome! 

The best way to use podcasting is to experiment, I would say. I never would have realized how useful this could be to me had I not looked around and experimented with it. You do not have to publish your own podcast for it to be useful either. Simply listening is good enough! After you visit the two sites I suggested, you can see how podcasting can be used in different ways. Hopefully it can be as useful to you as it will be to me! I'll never have to miss out on another episode of Dancing With the Stars AGAIN! :D

My del.icio.us Site

IT'S SO... delicious.

Walk to Cure Diabetes

Hi all,

I am participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes in October. I do this every year, and it is so much fun. All of my family participates, and often, many of my friends. This year, my sisters in Phi Mu decided to make a team! I'm so pumped. We are getting shirts made, so we're gonna be pretty legit. HA! Since I have Type 1 diabetes, this is pretty near and dear to me. I feel very passionately about raising money for this cause, because I know what the future holds. :) 

You can visit my fundraising site to see how far along I am with donations. You can also make a donation, or join my team! :) Check it out!

Click here!

My PB Wiki

http://laurenfigg.pbwiki.com/

Here's my wiki site. Take a look at my fine work. :)