Sunday, January 21, 2007

Maintaining the Digital Stronghold

So I have been trying to figure out the depth that I am intertwined with technology and its becoming somewhat of an addiction for me. Even though I can hardly keep the online content that I have up to date, I just keep developing more and more. Thank god I am completely uninterested in MySpace and that I shut down my message board.

Just for fun, I thought I would list the parts of my digital stronghold

Websites (I have either developed or maintain - or both):
www.modyland.com
www.saratogarugby.com
www.igrindstumps.com

Blogs (just ones that I am the administrator for, not ones to which I am registered poster):
The Sometimes Daily Mody Blog
Mody's Mets Blog
Saratoga Stampede Rugby Blog
Writers' Workshop Blog
Forms of Literature Blog

Podcasts
The ModCast (High School Classroom Blog)
The Stampede Cast (Saratoga Rugby)

Yahoogroups
(bold text = administrator, italics = moderator)
SaratogaRFC@yahoogroups.com
SaratogaWRFC@yahoogroups.com
AExperience@yahoogroups.com
HumanStruggle@yahoogroups.com
SRFC_7's@yahoogroups.com

BallstonRugby@yahoogroups.com
BallstonTrack@yahoogroups.com
SRFC_Officers@yahoogroups.com
UnionCollegeRugbyAlumni@yahoogroups.com
SaratogaFreeCycle@yahoogroups.com

WikiSpaces
(I created these for school)
American Experience
English 9 Mythology Library

YouTube Profiles (for school video projects)
RugbyThrilla

Add these to the fact that I have personalized my Google homepage, so I now have Google Calendar that is integrated with my wife's calendar so we can track each other's time commitments and it is starting to get almost surreal.

I also spend more and more time maintaining these places and it seems that as I do so, bringing about an actual team is the way to go. I am starting this experiment by adding two of my rugby team mates to my Saratoga Stampede Blog as registered team members, but I might also bring aboard students to help me run and develop school related blogs. Being that online publishing is really the next phase, it seems only natural that this is the direction that communication should be taught to students. While I have tried to introduce new programs like MovieMaker to students with uneven success, there is no denying the future presence of this technology and if it is going to be more useful that something like Salad Fingers is on YouTube (go ahead, do a search for him and see what I mean) then students need to learn how to appropriately project their opinions appropriately and with basis.

I am teaching a Staff Development on WikiSpaces and Blogs in about nine days and I am really starting to stress about it. It seems that the more I learn, the more that there is to learn. I felt like I had a good grip on what the web had to offer, and the more I dig, the more there is out there. Whew! I guess at least I am allowing myself time to write again, even if it is just for the sake of a semi-regular online journal.

1 comment:

Mr. H said...

Nicely done coach!! I hope your kids appreciate the energy and effort you are bringing to the progam!!! MrHistory360