Thing 13: Reflection

Thing 13 is REFLECTION. Write a post reflecting on your 13 Things for Writers experience. Please write a meaty post--multimedia if possible--reflecting on some or all of the following questions:

• Did this turn out to be what you expected when you started?
• Were you already familiar with any of these "things"? For example, did you already have a Twitter account? Or were they mostly new?
• Did your Wordle of your blog give you any insights?
• Which was your favorite post?
• Did you discover anything new that could be helpful in your day-to-day activities?
• Did you discover anything new that you think you might use in your Life After Coe?
• How did you feel about "self-discovering" as opposed to having specific due dates created by the professor?

I'll be reading and commenting on these after the due date, April 8. Hope you found this assignment useful and satisfying.

Thing 12: Word Clouds

You've probably seen word clouds on various websites. They make a visual image of the words that are used--on a particular website or in a particular document. Words that are used most often become more visually prominent--they're BIGGER. This can help you see which themes are repeated most often.

Often, we can get some great insights from looking at word clouds. For example, look at these cool word clouds of presidential inaugural speeches.

Word clouds can be made using the website Wordle. Luckily, you don't have to create an account or pay to use it. You'll just need to save it to the "public gallery," where your word cloud will get its own URL and embed code. Here's the word cloud for 13 Things for Writers:

You can also make a word cloud of any document. Here's Gorgias's "Helen" speech (if you've taken Rhetorical Theory, you may remember it!) I just copied the text from a website and pasted it into the Wordle box.

I couldn't resist comparing this speech with Socrates' long discourse on "rhetoric" and "flattery" from the dialogue we read in Rhetorical Theory.

Isn't it interesting how "Body" is bigger in Socrates' explanation? "Soul" is in both. And the word "persuasion" never comes up in Socrates. Hmm.

If you haven't taken Rhetorical Theory yet, you're in for some fun.

Discovery Exercise:

Create a word cloud of your 13 things blog and embed the code into the blog. Then copy and paste the text of something else--something you've written, or a text you've become familiar with recently. Embed the code for that into the blog, too.

Did these word clouds give you any insight about the documents/sites? Which words are most prominent? Did this visual representation of words bring any thoughts that you didn't get from reading? How might you use this in professional life? Or is it just a fun toy?

Thing 11: Visual Thesaurus

The word is right there on the tip of your tongue...but you just can't make it come out! You've got lots of other words that mean something close...but just not the right word.

You need a visual thesaurus. A visual thesaurus shows you all the synonyms to your word, plus, with a click of the mouse allows you to drill deeper into one of the related words, and then see all of the synonyms to THAT word. Somewhere in that exercise, you'll find the perfect word.

The Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus is actually a commercial tool, with a limited free interface. Even with it's limitations (you'll have to click "try" when you first start, and you'll be limited to a handful of drill downs) the tool is rich. Enter a word you'd like to explore, and you'll get a pop up application with all the related words, plus definitions of your original word. Click any of the related words, and get a new view. You can print with the free trial, but you won't be able to save your word searches or share them. A membership will cost $19.95/year. Also worth noting is the information included on the main website: a word of the day section, a blog feed written by writers talking about writing, featured word lists, lesson plans and more.

Other visual thesuarus tools to try:

• Visiwords: very similar to The Visual Thesaurus, but not quite as robust: you don't get the drill-down functions, and you'll have to decode the color codes to determine meanings based on word type (nouns have a purple background)
• Lexipedia: again, very similar in visuals, but this one, in my humble opinion, is a bit easier to read than Visiwords. I like this one the best. Mouse-over tips help you decipher color coding, and you can show or hide different word forms (keep nouns, hide verbs when applicable).
• The benefit that both Visiwords and Lexipedia have over The Visual Thesaurus is that they are free (open source).

Discovery Exercise:

• Choose a word or two from a recent post, and enter them into the visual thesaurus of your choice. Do you come up with any useful alternatives? List the words you like best, along with their definitions.

• In general, do you use a thesaurus when writing? Have you ever had any problems using one (for example, you found out later that the word you chose wasn't exactly what you had in mind . . . )
• Play around with the thesaurus for a while and see if you discover--or rediscover--any great words. Sometimes simple ones are the best. Try: say, play, word, table, time . . . Share a couple words you searched and a couple synonyms you found. And/or comment on the connections between words.
• Are you a word nerd?

Thing 10: Copyright and the Web

Thing 10: Creative Commons

Have you ever found a great photo on the Web and used it in a PowerPoint, on a blog, or even in a print publication you were making? Did you feel guilty about it? I know I have! We're not technically supposed to use someone's work without their permission, but, getting permission can be time consuming, and besides, what if the creators don't mind?

The people at Creative Commons have given creators of original works an option to give their works a Creative Commons license. This license allows people to use their works, always with attribution, sometimes with other optional stipulations.

Watch the videos below:







Now visit the Creative Commons website for an overview of the CC philosophy and the different licenses creators may choose for their works. Also, CC licenses aren't just for photos: they can be used with video, music, writing, scientific research, anything that would normally be covered under a copyright license!

I've been amazed at how often I see the Creative Commons license now that I'm aware of it.

Discovery Exercise:

• Watch the videos
• Visit and explore the Creative Commons website
• Post your thoughts about Creative Commons. Does CC seem like a good idea? What projects would you LIKE to share with other writers--for them to "remix and reuse"? Are there any writing projects you've created that you would NOT want to share?
  

Thing 9: Google Reader

There are a lot of websites out there, and most of us have certain websites that we check regularly. Now that we are all "following" different colleagues' blogs, we have even more websites to check. What if you could check for updates of all your favorite blogs, online newspapers and other regularly-updated sites by visiting one simple page? That's the beauty of RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication. You may have noticed that some of your favorite websites have little orange icons that look like this:

This orange RSS icon lets you know that you can subscribe to the website using a news reader such as Google Reader or Bloglines. You simply have to create an account* with one of these news readers and then start adding websites that have RSS feeds. Watch this Common Craft video to learn more about RSS feeds and Google Reader:



Your job for Thing 9

is to sign up for a Google Reader account, add the blogs of the classmates you're following, plus at least 3 other blogs, online newspapers, or websites to your reader. Chances are, some of the websites you already visit a lot have RSS feeds available. Post about your experiences with Google Reader or Bloglines, if you think you would use it, and how you could use it professionally.

Here's how to set it up:

Go to Google.com

1. From the "more" drop down on the left-hand top of the page, select "Reader"
2. Now, go to your favorite, regularly-updated website (see some suggestions below) and find the RSS feed icon (shown above...usually orange, but not always). Click it. You'll be asked if you want to add the feed to your Google Reader or your Google Homepage. Choose Reader.
3. Repeat step 3 for other newsfeeds/blogs/sites.
4. You can also add blogs by clicking on "add a subscription" at the top left corner and copying in the URL of the blog.
5. Now instead of going to all these sites daily to read what's new, you go to Google reader (log in on your gmail account) and the news comes to you!

Here are some sites with RSS feeds to get you started:
Cedar Rapids Gazette (look for the RSS icon on the right-hand side column, about half-way down--you can also get news delivered to your phone, etc.
The New York Times RSS index--Tons of different RSS feeds for every interest!
NPR's RSS index

After you have your Google reader set up, write a post reflecting on your experience with RSS feeds and news readers. How might it be useful professionally?

Thing 7: Twitter

You heard all about it during the uprisings in northern Africa--and you learned that it was a great way to share important information with the world.

No longer is Twitter mainly used to let the world know what you had for breakfast: surgeons use it to instruct medical students and educate the public, journalists use it to let their followers preview stories, politicians use it to update their constituents, the Red Cross uses it share emergency information and educational leaders use it to share new ideas and engage in dialogues with interested "followers."

Thing 7: Twitter

Read the article "Twittering, Not Frittering, Professional Development in 140 Characters" from Edutopia OR 10 High Fliers on Twitter from The Chronicle of Higher Education, and then create a Twitter account for yourself. If you're comfortable sharing with the world, set your account as "Public" (that way we can all find you on Twitter). If not, then you have to approve individual people to be your followers. Do a few Internet searches to find leaders in your area, and chances are that they will have a Twitter account. "Follow" at least three of them, post your Twitter name to your blog (mine is jcnesmith), and then let us know who you're following.

If you're interested in a particular topic, you can look for who's tweeting about it. Check out the "trends" box on the right side of twitter. If you tweet about a particular topic and want to make sure people interested in that topic find it, you can add a hash tag, like #writing or #oscars.

To post a link, use tinyurl to create a smaller version of the URL--so you won't use up those 140 characters.

I like to follow other writers . . . and some funny tweeters. Here is an example of some of the people I'm following:

• Wired magazine, which posts updates about tech (@wiredmag)
• Stephen Fry, the British actor and word nerd (@stephenfry)
• essayist Susan Orlean (@susanorlean)
• Local journalist Christophe Trappe (@CTrappe)
• children's book author Sarah Prineas (@SPrineas)
• and The Onion (nice to have 140 character laughs!) (@TheOnion)

I use my Twitter account to post writing-oriented thoughts, about articles I'm writing or things I've read.

If you want, you can have your twitter posts automatically posted to facebook. Just include the hash tag #fb at the end of your post.

Discovery Exercise

1. Create a Twitter account
2. Find at least 3 people to follow
3. Post a tweet about some writing project you're working on
4. Retweet a post or two from someone you're following
5. Post a link with a brief comment (use tinyurl)
6. Add Twitter to your blog (In your dashboard, click on Design tab, then "add gadget," and search for Twitter). This allows blog readers to quickly catch up on your tweets.
7. In your blog: Tell us who you're following
8. Reflect on your experience using/reading about Twitter. How do you see professionals using it? How do you see writers or PR people using it? Will you keep tweeting this term? (note that you can tweet from your phone . . . )

Thing 6: Following Blogs and tagging posts

Now that we have our blogs established, it's time to get connected and see what everyone else is doing.

For Thing 6, you'll be commenting on and following some of your classmates' blogs, in addition to tagging the posts you've created so far.

Choose at least three of your classmates' blogs (see the sidebar on the right), and comment on something on their blog--post, picture, twitter. Commenting on blogs allows us to ask questions of one another, make suggestions, or simply to reply to what has been written or posted.

1. Once you've commented, you should then follow those blogs
2. Find 2-3 other blogs that you'd like to follow--maybe about a topic you're interested in, or someone you found out about on Twitter. Take a look at the comments on those blogs.
3. Tag the posts you've created so far. Tagging allows you to categorize your posts, which is really helpful if you blog regularly. To "tag" your posts: go into your old posts by clicking "edit posts" on your dashboard. On the bottom of the edit box, you'll notice a place for labels. Create labels that will help readers find the post if they're looking for info on that topic. As you start to create labels, you can click "show all" if you have trouble remembering the name of your tags (tags and labels are the same thing). Note: I am really bad about tagging. Please be better than I am.
4. Post to your blog. Why do you think commenting is important in online communities? How might professional blog writers (someone writing a blog for an organization, for example) view comments--as helpful or annoyances? Finally, write a bit about the tags you chose for your blog.

Just for fun (optional):check out Technorati; Technorati is a search engine for blogs. According to Technorati's self-description:

Technorati.com indexes millions of blog posts in real time and surfaces them in seconds. The site has become the definitive source for the top stories, opinions, photos and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business. Technorati.com tracks not only the authority and influence of blogs, but also the most comprehensive and current index of who and what is most popular in the Blogosphere.

Scoll around - note the top risers or fastest fallers. Check out the top 100 or blogs with most recent posts. Technoriti ranks based on links compared to other blogs with similar content.