It’s Springtime in Springfield, IL!

Well almost. The weather still jumps around like crazy, but we haven’t seen a 30 degree day now in about a week. Yesterday afternoon, was absolutely beautiful outside, by far the best day of the year thus far so students were out playing around. I’ve got about two weeks to get some good shots for next year. Also yesterday afternoon, SAGE (Students Allied for a Greener Earth) brought in some talent to play a little concert on the quad. Unfortunately, my blog will not let me embed my photo slide show, but follow this link to see a few photos.

I also made the front page of the Central Illinois newspaper the State Journal Register. That’s me in the blue shirt and tie with my wonderful girlfriend, Jordan! Photo taken by Suzanne Schmid.

 

When is technology too much?

I subscribe to a blog called Faces of Web 2.0 ★ 21st Century Teachers and over the weekend they posted a very interesting video called 21st Century Classes. Recently, there have been a couple of universities that have decided to give iPhones to their incoming freshmen. I thought at first the idea was absurd, but then I realized when I came to UIS, they were “giving” us laptops as freshman. I mean, come on, a LAPTOP!?! Who could really turn that down… Little did we know that we had to pay for them through our fees for being in the honors program, but none-the-less, it wasn’t a $1500 lump sum that we would have to pay prior to starting college. It was nice to be able to take them to class for notes and blackboard and discussions and whatnot, but really…did they think that we wouldn’t mess around on them? I wasn’t much of an IM’er, but a lot of my friends were. The thing about college though is that while teachers want their students to succeed and will do whatever they can to help them, if a student just doesn’t care, then there’s not much ANYONE can do about it. Don’t get me wrong, the laptop was an awesome feature, as were the scholarships I got, but would I have chosen one school over another just because of the free perks? Not me, but others might.

Anyway…back on target…how would you feel about your university giving you a laptop upon entering as a freshman? Or an iPhone? Or both? Would students really use them for good, or is it just another tool for them to access the internet at all times and pay no attention during class? I believe if the students are truly interested in learning, they will use them the way the universities hope (plan?). It is a very interesting concept though. iPhone cost < Laptop cost…or is the long run, iPhone Bill >Laptop cost. Depends upon who pays the service bill? I love my iPhone, but I’m definitely glad I got a real computer.

 

Scene 7 2008 Survey Report

I got an email this morning from Adobe offering me a download for a Scene7 Survey Report for experience in Web 2.0 for 2008 and beyond. I haven’t really looked it through thoroughly, but it’s on my list for today. Sign up really quick and they’ll email you a link to download. Here are some highlights that I found.

• 360-degree spin is considered one of the most highly-effective features, yet it is underutilized today. Nearly 30 percent of respondents plan to add 360-degree spin in 2008 along with other top top-ranking features including: alternate views, user ratings, videos, blogs, product tours,online catalogs, personalized messaging, quick looks and personalized stores.
• Increased clicks or usage and increased conversions are the leading metrics used for evaluating enhancements; however, more than 40 percent of respondents measure the effectiveness of features based qualitative feedback and increased revenues
• Surprisingly low number of respondents for Education
• Effectiveness of user videos (p. 6)

It’s not a super comprehensive report, but it might offer support for integrating new features to your website for the upcoming year. Just thought I’d share it with you guys!

 

Talk about predicting the future…

So my post this morning about Dubai losing internet has come true here as well.  I cannot connect to the web server to edit any of the websites I’m working on right now…I haven’t been able to for the last hour.  I think it’s time for a lunch break and hopefully it’s back up when I return.

For those of you east of us here in Springfield, IL:  Watch your weather…it’s started snowing here!  We’re expected to get up to 10 inches this afternoon/evening.

 

Good things come for those who are good

A couple of friends of mine, Matt and Heather Wallace, posted on their blog today about how their podcasts made it into iTunes Personal Journals New and Notables section! Word on the street is that Steve Jobs, HIMSELF, contacted them personally and asked if they wouldn’t mind being on the new and notables board. Whether that has actually happened remains under speculation, but regardless, that’s great for them and I certainly look forward to their podcasts!

Read more about them on their blog A Couple of People and check out their new iTunes podcasts!

 

One thing I like about Illinois Winters

As much complaining as I do about Illinois in the winter time, there is one good thing that comes from it: The Sunsets. While they aren’t as beautiful as the ones I remember watching from the beach while growing up in Florida, they are still quite attractive. I wish I had my tripod with me to get better shots, but I think these captured the true colors of the sky (albeit a bit grainy at 1000 ISO).

The sky was a beautiful Salmon Pink color with a bit of purple.

It looks like the horizon is on fire with TRAC in the foreground

The way the clouds look and the color just behind the silhouettes of the treeline…gorgeous!

 

How-To Re-mat a picture frame

In conjunction with my post regarding the redesign of the Admissions Lobby, I thought I’d post a very simple how-to. It’s more for fun than anything, but I wanted to try my hand at a video technique I read about recently. Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think!

 

Oh, vacation!

Still on vacation. Down in the Keys! Just a couple more days and I’ll be back. I’ll blog about my two week vacation when I return. See you after the new year!!!

 

Shooting from the hip

So I have decided to blog about a photography technique that I enjoy shooting for the simple fact that you get some interesting photos. My lack of creativity kind of made me decide to shoot from a different perspective. Plus, I read an interesting article about it. But I didn’t necessarily agree with everything the author said, so I’m not going to link. It’s called shooting from the hip. Some people do it from the stomach, but I usually hold my camera at my side. It’s really easy to do, you just aim in the general direction, have your focus preset to something you feel is good, use a wider mm, and then shoot. You can use auto focus, but unless your lens is fast focusing, manual, preset focus is better. That’s all there is to it pretty much, but the results can range from beautiful to hilarious.

Kitty Cat

Not a great shot, but interesting

He’s so cute. I love his missing tooth. I might clean up the shadow on his face a bit, but the shot is great!

A little out of focus, but I love this shot!

Sure you might have to do some post-processing, but you can really get some excellent shots. I have plenty others like these, many that are better, but I wanted to post some that were more recent. Let me know what you think of this!

 

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

So this weekend, with the beginning of December, I decided to put up my Christmas tree. My girlfriend, Jordan and I decided to go on Friday after work and get a tree and then after CSF we were going to have the family come over and decorate. *For those of who that don’t know, our family is not our literal families, but rather our campus family…just to clarify. We went to Lowes on a tip from a co-worker of mine (here’s her blog - I do a lot of the photos for her) to pick out a suitable tree. We wanted to get a real one, but didn’t want to spend $40-$50 like other places were charging. We went with a 7 foot Douglas Pine, nice a plump and smells incredible! Nothing beats the smell of a fresh pine tree!

So we loaded it into the back of my car…or should I say backseat of my car…and came home. Needless to say, it was a little chilly out. I don’t know why people say that convertibles are not practical. You just have to get a little creative sometimes…haha!

This is me pulling in. See it fits.

After decorating for a little bit, I decided I needed more lights…so we ran to Meijer to get some more. And I bought the kids an ornament for our tree. I’ve always done that with my real family, and it’s a good tradition to have. Instead of spending TONS of money on Christmas presents, creating a family tradition by giving each member an ornament is nice. Family gets overlooked a lot nowadays.

No full shot of finished tree yet for some reason…I’ll get some tonight.

We got done decorating at like 12:30 finally, and we decided we still wanted to watch Blood Diamond. That was an excellent movie. I wasn’t crazy about Leo’s accent, but the movie was very well done and brought a very serious issue into public light. I highly suggest seeing that movie if you haven’t already. But then bed time finally at around 5:00 a.m…I’m sleepy.