Inside View

First Mention of Blogs: 2 Aug 99

THE FIRST MAINSTREAM PUBLICATION to mention the word "blogs" was The New York Times on August 2, 1999. While blogging has receded as a touchpoint for everyday discussion, services like WordPress continue offering compelling reasons to host content on the open internet instead of behind closed apps such as Instagram and Facebook.

Respecting Twitter's AI more than YouTube's

ACCORDING TO TWITTER, I am interested in items I like, retweet, or comment upon. According to YouTube, I'm interested in things that lead to the highest paid advertisements. Facebook's [algorithm] has lost its way, totally subordinating Facebook Group activity for mindless emotive musings of my friends. I count on Instagram to serve me advertisements of things I try to buy locally.

Learning Vicariously @chris_byrne @Johntierney_

ELEVEN YEARS AGO, I abandoned Twitter as a firehose and started using it as a list-based process. I follow people on lists and dive into content based on hashtags or recommendations. Both Chris Byrne and John Tierney continue to be proof-positive that rewards follow people who share.

That's @otter_ai hooking directly into @roamresearch h/t @dvargas92495

You're reading a blog post that I made by using the Otter.AI speech-to-text service. Others have done that before--this time I've got a second brain working to create this post, thanks to David Vargas (above).

Collaborating with Content Creators Using @airtable

I HAVE AN OBSERVER (pictured) who watches most of what I create during our emergency remote teaching sessions on our kitchen table. And I have collaborators online who use Airtable while iterating their content into distinct channels. This blog post is my first attempt to see if it's possible to use mobile phones to dynamically track media texts as they evolve from PowerPoint decks to Spotify segments to embedded content on LinkedIn and short videos on Twitter. Along the way the recorded content will percolate up onto YouTube and WordPress for review by a leading author and for reuse by younger students following similar academic programmes.

This is a skunkworks project and content won't be in place until June 3, 2021.

Getting Ideas from @vincenthaywood via @johnpeavoy

I'M GETTING A SLOW START to 2021 but that means having time to read a Twitter thread containing clever time-saving tips from Vincent Hayward. I've an opinion on several of Vincent's ideas.

I'm Smarter After Importing h/t @readwiseio @inoreader

I TRY TO WORK SMARTER by adopting intelligent routines. Perhaps the most important routine I've adopted involves using Readwise behind the scenes to import highlights from things I've read. I started reading wiser because I wanted to squelch FOMO.

First Touch Surface Book

WE HAVE A COMMUNAL Surface Book now. I used it for 35 minutes during the first five hours of its life in the house. The remainder of the time the laptop was detached from its screen and used by Mia (13) with its pen to draw with the excellent app Leonardo.

Six Things I Do When Teaching Remotely

I EXPECT TO CONTINUE teaching third level students in a hybrid fashion for the rest of my days. Looking at my current teaching methods, I realise I use six rather unique technologies while delivering course material to a mix of creative media, digital animation, and game art design students.

Continue to be impressed by @otter_ai

I KNOW IT'S important to offer more than one way of consuming educational material and that's why I'm trying to perfect a workflow that ensures I've a quick-hitting text version of my course materials.