DROPBOX

I started using dropbox to collaborate in one of my classes and I find it very helpful. My classmate created a  shared folder and invited me. It has been very interesting to use it, not only for the class project but in general. I can access my photos and my folders from any computer. I am still learning the different features but so far I like it. I can buy more storage capacity if I need it but for now it's fine.

USING SKYPE ALONG WITH CAMTASIA

I was preparing to do an interview via  skype to possibly present it to my class for a presentation I was making on virtual worlds. I had the questions written on paper. I had downloaded Camtasia to record the video conference. I tried recording my skype conversaton with a friend so I could make sure it worked well.

Everything was so perfect until the exact time that I made the decision to use headphones during the interview. BIG MISTAKE! I ended my interview after 30 minutes of great conversation. The person I was interviewing was a TV and radio host so her voice was great. When I went to listen to the recording I couldn't heard her voice. I panicked! It turns out that using the headphones meant that Camtasia did not record her voice!!  At the end of the day there was nothing I could do to get the recording to work.

I learned from this experience that in order to use things properly:

• Try the tools and software several times in advance. 
• Do not try to get fancy when you are going to be nervous trying to keep an interview going.

FACEBOOK, WHERE IS MY GROUP PAGE?

I was exploring the different things you can do with Facebook. I created a Facebook group for which I uploaded one picture from my library. Then, I made some of my friends members of the group and gave them administrator rights.

At some point I received a message from Facebook saying my group page had been converted into a community page.   I started getting very confused because now there were two pages for my group - one that was a "group" page and another community page that people could only "like."

Then, things got even more confusing when one of the administrators created an event in the community page instead of the facebook page I had created for the group. The problem was that the people that were members of the page didn't know about the event because it was on the community page.

I tried to fix it, but we haven't had an event since the change, so I don't know if this is still causing a problem. Next time, I will try to decide what is that I really need and then create it or maybe let the people involved switch to the right page and ignore the other one.  I also might consider sending an email to all the members of the group telling them to just look at the community page, and then I can close the group page to avoid confusion.

NOTHING TO TWEET

I like twitter but I find that it is very difficult to tweet to a group of strangers that might not even care about my tweets. Since I opened my twitter account I have about 15 people following me. I checked some of them and I have a few that I know but the rest are just people that are advertising some type of products, and all that they want is to have me follow them back.

I am not sure if I am using twitter properly. I read my Ecuadorian news in twitter, check some of the twitter postings from the people or organizations I think are interesting. I also read the postings of my classmates, but other than that I hardly post anything.

There are things that I would like to retweet but the people I would like to read them are not using twitter. I hope one day the community that I know gets to use twitter or maybe I can suggest to them that they use twitter, and that could be another Tech stewardship project.

TYPE WITH ME CONFUSION

I have not been writing on my blog for a while but I had some topics that I wanted to write about like experiencing Type With Me. I will describe the approach I took and what are the things I would change if I work with with Type With Me again.

I added my message to the Type With Me file that was created for the purpose of writing a thank you letter to one of the guest speakers in our class. I didn't feel very comfortable having to type directly into the online message file so my approach was to write it on a word document and then copy and paste it. I guess this is fine, even though when you look at the recording you can see how everybody's ideas were developing and mine just suddenly appeared. 

We had some time allocated during class to edit the group's messages and condense them into one letter. It was chaos at the beginning, since everyone had different ideas and it was hard to come to an agreement of who will be in charge of which part. Everybody just started editing at the same time and words were disappearing and appearing on the screen. The good thing is that somehow we managed to do it successfully and it was a fun activity.

These are some things that are important to consider when using Type With Me, based on the experience I had:

• To avoid chaos, when you work with a group, especially online, you should state very clear instructions before hand.
• Explain the purpose and expectations of the document.
• Divide the document in sections and assign each section to a group.
• While the idea is collaborating all together, you shouldn't have everybody editing at the same time.
• Work on some structure for the ideas that will be included in the document.

I really enjoyed my experience with Type With Me and I will definitely use it in the future. This is a great tool for collaboration but I need to explore more how I can use it properly with a group. I just wrote a few tips that I consider important but I need to reflect and try using the tool a little bit more.

LIVE SECOND LIFE TALK SHOW

Tonight I let my avatar experience her first live talk show in Second Life, "Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe."  Paisley Beebe hosts avatars who come on the show to talk about the work they are doing in SL.  They talked about health, music, and art.  It was quite interesting even though I had some problems with the sound (there was an echo).  I had trouble finding a good seat because the room filled up so quickly!!

I found it interesting to think that many of these people are artists and musicians in real life, yet somehow having a radio show with the real-life people speaking about their lives would not be as interesting, but a SL show with avatars speaking transports you to another level of interaction.  You can chat with the avatars and interact in a way you couldn't through a simple radio show.   The avatars also can express real-life gestures like clapping during the show.  Even the interviewees can use gestures while they are answering questions.  What does SL gives to the user that any other web 2.0 interface does not give?  Is it a new market for artists to get their work known?

These are some of the pictures I took during the show.  Guess which one I am? :)

MR. CALIXTO AND THE SPIDER

Last week while I was visiting Help Island Public in Second Life, I experienced and observed three different interactions:

1. An avatar in the shape of a huge spider was talking or I would say... kind of bullying another avatar named Calixto.

2. Some avatars were having a conversation about whether voice masking was ok on second life.

3. I received an email from an avatar who had offered to help me earlier and who I had responded "no, thanks" because I had to leave.

I was wondering about each of these interactions and I came up with these questions:

1. Is the look of your avatar a reflection of who you would like to be? What would you gain from being more powerful than other avatars?  Why would someone go on Second Life to bully another avatar?  What motivates them to do that?  Are they trying to compensate for something in their own life?

2. Why would you use voice masking if people don't even know who you are or what you look like in real life?  

3. Could the people that offer help to the point of sending an email after you log off be predators? Or are they simply people trying to be extremely helpful?

PRESIDENTIAL TWEETING

On September 30th, Ecuador lived through a crisis. There were police riots and the president was held by the police for several hours, ending with a thirty minute gun battle to rescue the president.   All of this was updated in the presidential twitter account. 

While this was happening, the presidential facebook page was overflowing with messages of support for democracy. I couldn't believe what was happening. You didn't need to be present in Ecuador... holding a flag and demonstrating on the streets to show your support. You just needed to have a facebook page and keep checking your twitter account for updates on the crisis.

As a result of this commotion, the presidents of the country members of the Union of South American Nations - UNASUR - held an emergency meeting in Argentina to talk about the crisis in Ecuador. The meeting lasted for an hour and a half.  It was then that the group of presidents decided that for future emergency meetings they will use technology and they will have virtual meetings so they don't have to fly so far for such a short meeting. 

Various presidents already use social media.  In times of crisis, I found out from this experience that the best way to keep updated is via twitter.