Thing #9: (Not So) Randomly Generated Images

While working on the "Thing," I found the image the above on comicstripgenerator.com and was reminded of Vader's iconic line, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."  At the same time, I was reminded of an image I had seen once of Darth Vader as a substitute teacher*.  So, I played with the idea of "What if Darth Vader was a teacher?" and this little comic strip (and the one after the jump) were the results.

Thing #8: All Mashed Up

I have to admit:  The discovery exercise for this "thing" was the most fun I've had so far.  As you can see above, I used Spell with Flickr to create a banner of Flickr images spelling out my blog's title.  I also played with several of the "Flickr toys" at BigHugeLabs and produced several different pieces.  Take a look after the jump!

Thing #7: Fun with Flickr & Photo Sharing

Since this is a technology class, I decided to share a photo of some technology I've been working on lately.  This photo is the rather untidy interior of an HP Pavilion XT914 Desktop Tower.  Although antiquated today, it's Pentium 3 processor clocked at 800MHz, 256 MB PC100 RAM, 30GB Hard Drive, and 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive were state of the art in 2000.  It does still run, and has the original installation of the Windows 98 Second Editon Operating System.

Thing #6: Tools of Web 2.0 - UStream.tv

UStream.tv is a video-broadcast site for everyone. All you need to get started are a webcam and a fast Internet connection. What makes UStream different from, say, Youtube or Vimeo, is that the videos are live streams with integrated user chat and interactivity which can be archived for later viewing. UStream users can watch your public broadcast in real-time or choose to watch your archived footage later. In fact, the best way I can think to describe UStream is that it is like a public TiVo for your live webcasts.

Actually, it might be more effective to just tell you through a UStream webcast:

A placeholder until I embed the UStream webcast.

Thing #5: Perspectives on Web 2.0/School 2.0

After reading the Wikipedia article and the "Web 2.0 is not about versions or betas" article on Read Write Web, I think the key to reconciling all the disparate views on what defines "Web 2.0" is that it is participatory rather than passive.  Nearly all the definitions I read agree on this point.  I like to think of it this way:  In the "Web 1.0" paradigm, the Internet was the world's largest library.  You logged on, could "check out" web pages, but there was "no talking in the library:" interactions with others was kept to a minimum.  In "Web 2.0" the Internet is a high school reunion.  You log on and can catch up with old friends, see what they have been up to, and even meet some people you never knew before.