Downloading Webcasts

Today I found a series of Webcasts on the Semantic Web sponsored by Semantic Universe. There are 7 so far in the series. Each one is about an hour in length. I am looking forward to viewing these presentations even though most of the information will be beyond the intro-level that I am providing in my presentation.

SIDLIT

I just submitted my presentation purposal for this summer's SIDLIT conference. I will be using the basic format from TechNet and the C2C video conference, but there are new, exciting developments being announced every week. The "semantic snowball" is starting to roll. Nova Spivack's definition of Web n.0 seems to be the most accurate I have seen:

• Web 1.0 was the first decade of the web (1990 - 1999)


• Web 2.0 was the second decade of the web (2000 - 2009)


• Web 1.0 was the first decade of the web (2010 - 2019)

Nice Email Regarding My C2C Presentation

I received the following email from one of the participants in the C2C VC last week. I have included an excerpt below:

Jim,


I very much appreciated your presentation last Friday at the C2C States hook-up. I thought your explanation was the clearest I had ever seen about all that is available on the web. Your graphics were clean and clear and I hope you will be able to make copies of them available to us. It seemed to me that there was more to that set of graphics than you could get aired Friday morning, so I would appreciate if you could send the complete folder. I am the newest of neophytes in this business and I am fascinated by all that can be used successfully.

I sent her the handout that I created which was an outline of the presentation including links to all the applications and additional information. I also attached a copy of the PPT, although it really needs narration to make a lot of sense.

Post Video Conference Reflection

It was an interesting experience. Attendance at all locations was sparse. We had the largest crowd at UCM due to the vocal jazz ensemble that followed me on the agenda. The reactions of these young college students to the somewhat techy information was exciting.

As with most first-time adventures, the VC was not without its glitches. The other sites were all using VC classrooms and PolyComm equipment. Mike Jeffries had the additional challenge of setting up a "mobile" site in the Union using a differnt vendor's product - LifeSize. We experienced a video dropout when switching back and forth between the PC to the camera. Another challenge was with the backlight coming from the windows causing the automatic feature of the camera to average the light input and create a very dark picture. Since most of the really important information came from the PowerPoint presentation on the PC, it was not a big issue.

Barb Carder from Extended Campus suggested that I submit my presentation for the Missouri Distance Learning Association (MODLA) Conference. It's too late for this year, but maybe next.

I am really glad that I used links to the various slides rather that just creating a sequential presentation. I provided more flexibility. As time was short, I was able to eliminate some of the non-essential slides without have to "click through" them. However, they asked me to email the presentation to share with the participants and I'm not sure they will be able to effectively navigate through the slides. I'll work on the presentation a little before I send it.

Checking out the equipment

I spent about an hour today working with Mike Jeffries checking out the VC equipment. One challenge will be setting up the equipment at the remote sites so that the image is large enough to adequately display my PowerPoint presentation. I will be using a wireless mic and I intend to use my wireless mouse as a "clicker" to progress through my presentation.

I might do some more work on the slides to ensure that the text on some of the captured images is large enough to be read.