Short blogz.
I forgot that a blog does not necessarily have to be lon in content to be a blog. Maybe this is why I have problems writing something regularly is because I think that I always have to attempt a treatise on some specific subject in order for it to be worthwhile. There is some truth to this, but it still doesn’t change the validity of a short blog entry.
And so, I will continue to blog in earnest, but briefly.
Interesting…I am STILL #1
I am still the number one person in the ‘Ramon Lazo’ category on Google. The first entry is rl:ID blog — THIS blog.
My latest portfolio is sitting on design2.ramonlazo.net. I haven’t been able to use SEF on it yet. It’s still buggy and frankly, a headache to clean up properly. I’ll eventually get it up and running and when it does, design2 should begin having higher ratings.
We’ll see… In the meantime, I may start using this blog to start talking about all the technical stuff I’ve learned. We’ll see about that too.
I’ve changed….
New changes for the new year on this site.
Firstly, this here website is using a brand new template design called the 640 Magazine Template. It’s meant to mimic the templates used by most of the online newspapers: New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, etc… It is a very CLEAN and SLEEK template that doesn’t mess around with fancy stuff. It’s straight up black and white for maximum comprehension and uses serif fonts to give the page a little bit of class…at least I think so. I played around with the stylesheets to copy the New York Times in terms of font-size, colours for the hover effect, line-height, etc. I think I did a pretty good job and I’m satisfied that this site is readable.
Secondly, the rl:ID portfolio has changed as well. The template has changed to something that looks like this website but most importantly, I’ve decided to migrate away from Wordpress and move to Joomla 1.5 . The main reason is because of a component called JPortfolio. For the most part, I moved to Joomla just so I could use this component because I think that Joomla 1.5 and this component are going to be easier to administer in the future as my portfolio content scales.
Joomla is really an industrial strength CMS — really, it’s always been that, but relative to Wordpress and the way it handles lots of content, Joomla wins out. I’m not going to go into a full-bore, detailed review of JPortfolio but suffice it to say that, for the most part, this component gives me all the control and organizational functions that I needed to get a bunch of disparate content together in one place under an overriding umbrella of sorts.
I’m really happy with the way things turned out, but I must say it was A LOT OF WORK. I didn’t realize that I had so much stuff and so many things were of different media types: websites, instructional design media using Captivate and Camtasia, videos, Flash products, writing examples, Power Points, etc… Instructional design and development really is a dynamic field and requires a lot of us to do a lot of different things during the course of our careers. Maybe this is why what we do is misunderstood (or is that the other way around, where BECAUSE we are misunderstood, we have to do a lot of things…). Hmmm…maybe the next blog will be an article about that.
Onward and upward then. The economy is recovering nicely but the jobs and job potential are lagging behind with most estimates showing at least a 6 month lag to the beginning of job growth in most areas of the United States and with California lagging FAR BEHIND with at least 18 months prior to the beginning of decent recovery. Oh man…what a wait.
BTW…I’m STILL UNEMPLOYED and looking for that next great gig. Hopefully, this gig will be better than the last and afford me the opportunity to learn new stuff or even better, the let me do what I was trained to do and push the edge of learning. We…shall…see.
In any case, my portfolio site and blog site kicks butt.
Time to change the website!
Seems like right now is a good time to change the face of good old rl:ID. Time for a *happier* look and so that is why the reason for all this.
You’ll all have to excuse the look of this site for the next couple of days as I move things around. Ultimately, this spot will look nicer and become easier to use as well as have new stuff like I’ve been promising all these months.
Stay tuned and give me a call if you have a job opening.
Funny cat:
Happy New Year!!
- The time for change is here, now, in America.
It’s going to be a fascinating and marvelous New Year: Dems are in power, Obama seems to be heading in the right direction in terms of fixing the financial mess we’re in and currently I am looking for a new instructional design job.
Yes…my time with the Silicon Valley startup is done. It’s was fun while it lasted and I learned a lot of new things and even won that video award. THAT is truly a resume gem if there ever was one and deservedly so… Everyone on the team worked hard on it and we were all under extreme pressure to get it done at the highest possible quality.
In any case, now is the time for me to update this site and finally upload a few things of distinction. So…onwards and upwards for 2009 for everyone and expect the site to change a little bit in the coming weeks. Things to look out for: a piece on e-portfolios with a little bit of multimedia thrown in, LOTS of new videos, some technical writing pieces and a few more pieces of standalone training (Captivate, Camtasia, etc…). Now that I have a little time, I can probably delve into new WordPress thingies for this site (I simply ADORE 2.7.1 and the improved back-end functionality — ANYONE can run a kick-ass site from the new control panel).
I still think that WordPress is the bomb and Joomla continues to be my passion and oh yeah…still scratching my head about what Drupal is all about. I know that last comment will get me in trouble with all the Drupal heads, but still…why does Drupal, even at it’s very best, look like WordPress yet all the basic things that should/could/would do it a royal pain in the arse?
Funny bit: I called up a buddy the other day and we talked about Drupal. Seems his web development shop is pretty high on the Drupal now. When I was a web dev intern at this shop a few years ago ( in grad school), they didn’t know about CMS and Drupal until I turned them on to the concept and now apparently, a lot of the staff is now pretty heavily involved with it. A lot them are now Drupal developers and have taken up learning php in a significant way to make changes to their projects.
I can honestly say that I did bleed a tremendous amount trying to learn Drupal and, hell, this here site was once Drupal for at least a year and a half (thanks to Drupal for a high Google rating). But that all changed when I saw WordPress (synthesized chorus and shimmering bells here..). Now, I have known about WordPress for a while by that time but didn’t really get into the technical aspects of it, so I had very little understanding about how easy it can be to install and maintain it.
You see, I was having trouble upgrading Drupal and trying to do this made me nuts because Drupal is VERY DRUPAL — ya gots to do what Drupal wants you to do in order to get things done. This is clear in the way they use terminology, programming methodology, php classes….eckhh.. By this time in my adult life, I think I had quite enough of yet another scripting language and did not care to learn one more just so I can update the stupid template on my Drupal site. Now, this is not to say that I don’t know php…I do know php but ‘just enough’ so I can work with MySQL and the myriad templates, modules and new functions that a modern CMS can give you. Everyone who works with an out-of-the-box CMS knows that you have to know just a little bit of php and database to get by. It’s just that with Drupal you gotta be damn good with it to make it work the way you want.
Then WordPress…
Let me say that I did look at WordPress years earlier and that version was not easy to use: custom tags within your text, upgrade required FTP access and carefully uploading new files to overwrite old ones, dB connectivity was…weird.
Then WordPress grew up and BECAME EASIER TO USE! 
This is the key to getting people onboard with the CMS thing. It’s gotta be E-Z 2 USE. Easy to use.
WordPress is…easy to use. Granted, if you want to have your own website you have to know how to login to a CPanel type backend on a Linux server just to upload the free software onto your rented space and then unzip it into the file system and a couple of more techie type tricks to make it work. However, once it’s up and running, all of your upgrades and configuration (well…NEARLY all) will be from the front end. Currently WordPress seems to be making upgrades, tune-ups and add-ons easier with automated scripting. It’s almost a no-brainer.
In any case, I’m so into WordPress and managed to get my complexion back after the Drupal bloodletting. I am also into Joomla…but that’s for another blog.
Happy New Year y’all and if you got a need for an instructional designer like me…drop me a line.
1.20.2009
HOORAY! We won DevLearn 2008
Just a brief gloat on our recent achivement:
http://www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.1017
I would like to thank all the members of the Academy for…oops* wrong show.
Really, though…it was truly a team effort. All of the actors in the vid are real employess of LiveOps in Santa Clara, CA. We literally shot most of the footage in three days and all of the editing, post-production tweaking and Flash development were done primarily after-hours by employees in Santa Clara and Tempe, AZ. Our terrific Community Development team is a distributed unit with branches in the previously mentioned areas and Dayton, OH, and Denver, CO. This was distributed workforce in action, folks. Yes…you can collaborate on an AWARD WINNING VIDEO from great distances using technology (primarily voice conference, email and high-speed networking).
It was a great experience for me and sure to be something I will continue to do in the future.
The future of e-Learning will still continue to be video and the future of work is ROWE –> more on this on another blog.
Cool thing, though…this means that I can really say that I have worked on an Award winning video. Goes with the Gold Record on my wall for that Spearhead tune….:)
Video killed the Flash star….
I’ve been doing quite a bit of video work lately. Funny thing — my background prior to becoming an instructional designer was a recording engineer and then, later, a record producer. I got my Broadcast Communications degree (really, on my diploma it says Radio & Television) from San Francisco State University, one of the best programs in the country. I hadn’t shot much video in years — just making hit records with Spearhead and other bands and artists. However, I did have a background in it — I shot video for years and even learned how to direct a piece or two prior to becoming super serious about audio and recording.
In any case, this blog will talk about video and how I think this will shape e-learning. First of all, video is a very compelling medium for communication (do I really need to explain why…okay..YouTube). Video, historically has been the cornerstone for effective e-learning since closed circuit TV and later, Telecourses became available to higher ed in the 1960’s. Since then, e-learning has evolved into computer based learning, multimedia based learning (you remember CD-ROMS and *gasp* Zip drives??), web-based learning and now slightly back to multimedia with Flash being all the rage as well as cheap and easy to use ‘rapid e-learning development tools’ like Camtasia, Articulate and Captivate.
So..what’s next. I think it will be BACK to video because digital video production, editing and mastering has become affordable and accessible to more people than ever. Check this out: for ANYONE to come up with a very simple video is as easy as holding up your cellphone to whatever you are looking at and posting it on one of a number of Internet sites. Seriously…as long as people can see what it is that you are trying to tell them, it works.
So then, I believe that the next serious explosion of media development for e-learning will be video and will touch every aspect of the technology. For example, current video editing technology allows the use of multiple video formats, multiple audio formats, still images and Flash animations all in the same environment. This means that any type of training material can be created from a myriad of sources, quickly, easily and with transparency.
With that, check out my latest project on YouTube. This is an entry to the DevLearn2008 competition and we are trying to teach people about conservation practices in the office:
So…how does Flash figure in all this? As many instructional design people know, Flash is a very difficult medium to use in developing e-learning content. For the design houses that use Flash on a sophisticated level, this means a great understanding of the complexities and density of Flash and the dreaded Action Script. Most instructional designers have yet to have this skillset and the ones who do have it, seem to only do this and command high fees. For the rest of us, Flash is a way to create cartoons with some simple interactions and, let’s face it, to make the content look cool and hip.
Coolness and hipness relate completely to how well one does ActionScript. If you know ActionScript, this is great. If you don’t chances are that you won’t ever learn it and instead try to find a diffrent way to develop content or design the process and interactions but leave the actual hacking to a (relatively) high-priced American Flash developer or to their tremendously talented offshore brethren.
Modern video production on a small scale is cheap, easy to learn and is immediately compelling. There is no code monkeying and literally, what you can imagine and shoot is what you get. The large majority of educators will figure this out soon and quickly and development exclusively in Flash will no longer be a viable choice for e-learning content development.
WordCamp SF 2008 — I can’t wait
So, I went ahead and put up the WordCamp event on my calendar and now I am creating a post for this event.
I can’t wait. It’s the first time I’m going to this thing and the first time to visit the Mission Bay Campus. I think it will be fun. I also got a scholarship to go — the nice people at Auttomatic heard my pleas and granted my wish to go.
I’ve really gotten into the WordPress thing quite a bit since I moved my design over from Drupal a few months back. If anyone is looking for those posts, they’re gone. I figure enough people know how I feel about Drupal as a CMS and there’s no need to beat a dead fish anymore…
WordPress is a legit CMS: it keeps your information, it can change your information — basic CMS duties. Additionally, WordPress has awesome SEO capabilities — Drupal’s SEO really kicks ass and what makes searching for me on the Internet very easy. WordPress is comparable and has kept me in the Top 5 on Google searches since the move.
The coolest thing about WordPress for me is that is so easy to use. Just log in and type away. You don’t have to think about anything. This makes the stream of consciousness writing thing very easy to do. I don’t know about anyone else, but if I’m not motivated to write, I just won’t do it. Anything to make it easier for me to get my thoughts down on virtual paper is terrific.
Upgrade is easy on this thing and the latest version 2.6 is the best yet. It looks cool, easy to upgrade and just continues to expand. I love it.
Anyways….I hope to learn a lot from this event and get a pulse on what this part of tech thinks about WordPress and what else — anything else. It’ll just be good to be out that day hanging out with a bunch of geeks like me.
Adobe Photoshop online…and beyond…
(Ellipses…are fun…!)
San Jose Mercury News online reported early this morning that Adobe is getting into the online photo editing/hosting business with it’s new venture Photoshop Express.
The article thinks that this may be too little too late because of the other services that already exist on the Internet and who already have many, many subscribers — Flickr, Snapfish and Kodak Gallery. The difference this time is that Photoshop is a well-known brand and will be a big draw.
I haven’t checked out the site yet but I’m hoping that a lot of the ‘coolness’ of Photoshop will be translated into the site — filtering effects more extensive image correction tools.
As it relates to instructional design, all I can say is that this is but one more step towards de-centralizing our ability to do our jobs. The task of designing digital stuff is now possible from any location — on a laptop at a park, at a cybercafe, sneaking in a couple of minutes at a public terminal at a library or school, etc…
Companies like Adobe are moving towards what many of us think is the inevitability of the de-centralized workplace; that as long as there are places for us to park our stuff, develop our stuff and distribute our stuff on the Internet, we don’t have to remain tethered to one physical location. Furthermore, the physical medium and format of how we view and manipulate digital based media is changing what with LED monitors now becoming smaller, more portable and eventually, foldable. The last time foldable monitors logged into our consciousness was with a story over 5 years ago and we have yet to see a consumer version of this. In any case, the future is extremely promising for micro-technology with respect to how we view and interact with digital data.
And this begs the ultimate question: If we can do our work digitally from ANYWHERE, and at ANYTIME, then….when…do get to sleep?
Hmmm…
… ….
Course Conversion: class time to online and what it takes to do it succesfully
Consider this: you have three full years or 6 semesters of custom coursework that you have developed for your class in Speech and Communication Studies. You now have an opportunity to take this class to an online system. After you have followed most of the configuration and administration requirements for your institution, the next step then is to simply scan, type or cut and paste your existing coursework into the friendly learning management system (LMS) forms and editors. This is only partially true. You do have to find a way to transfer your coursework into the system, but it is critical that you understand that there are issues involved in moving your classroom based work to the online world.Current technology will allow you to quickly create coursework from your pre-existing material. However, even with careful planning, you must seriously consider a few things before delving into the process:
1.) Course conversion is not a one to one relationship. This means that regardless of the effectiveness of your classroom material in physical form, simply cutting and pasting or scanning your material may not be appropriate for an online presentation. For example, a paper-based assignment where the student must identify states of the union by coloring it in with crayon or magic marker and then handing it to the teacher for assessment will not necessarily work as an online activity. In it’s present form, the student must print out the activity, complete it and either turn it in to the teacher at the approriate time, or scan it into digital form and email it or upload it into the server. These are both completely acceptable ways of receiving instruction, however a more effective solution would be to create an online coloring book exercise that recreates the coloring process on paper. The downside of this is that unless you find an application that works with the LMS, this may not be possible unless you develop this application yourself (or with paid developers). This alternative will cost more money and time. Evaluate the worthiness of your classroom material as an online object prior to adding it to your list of content to be moved over to the LMS.
2.) The amount of work you must do to create new materials for the online course or to simply translate them over to the new system will take a long time. Some estimates place this at roughly one semester/quarter prior to deploying the course. Add to this the instruction that you must take in order to learn how to create the materials and you are now at nearly a whole academic year for training, planning and development. Give yourself MORE THAN ADEQUATE TIME to develop your course. Careful planning will increase your chances of a successful online course with few and more manageable technical errors. Superior time management and planning skills are key to comfort level during the development stage.
3.) During the planning stage, be mindful of the audience that will receive the course and their perceived technical ability. Remember that this is an ONLINE COURSE which requires the use of a computer to access the LMS. They must have the basic ability to operate a computer and to access the world wide web in order to see your coursework. Additionally, they may need to have other skills related to computer work and this will depend on the type of course you are creating and the type of activities you will include. For example, you may want your students to create a basic web page that they can post to the Internet as a way of establishing a user profile so that everyone can become acquainted. This activity requires that they understand HTML programming and that they may be able to do this with web development package such as DreamWeaver of Homesite and others. If this type of high-level programming is what you need in the course, then you must find a way to assess the class skill in HTML, or teach them this skill. Adding this type of activity to your course will add time to your development phase.
4.) During the development stage, be mindful of the evolution of your work and have colleagues review and critique your work as often as possible. In other words, avoid working on the course in a vacuum by relying only on your own internal guidelines and compass to assess the effectiveness of your work. It is important to have someone outside yourself or your own group review and evaluate the effectiveness of your course as early in the development process as possible. As a matter of fact, this critiquing process can actually begin during the planning process and continue in development. You will find that early review of the entire process will actually make the entire endeavour go quickly because potential errors and confusion can be addressed and fixed.
Additional Resources to support Course Conversion Processes:
- Teaching with Technology Today: Volume 8, Number 6(http://www.uwsa.edu/ttt/articles/garnham2.htm) – This article reports on the most significant observations from the Hybrid Course Project and provides “Lessons Learned” about hybrid course design. Highly Recommended Reading!!
- Lessons learned from teaching online journalism (http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/070612jensen/) – Commentary: A first-time instructor of online shares what he’s learned from his students this year. This article is anecdotal in nature and shows briefly what steps he took to create his online course and the results he observed with his students.
- Preparing E-Learners for Online Success (http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/sep2005/watkins.htm) – A brief but scholarly discussion on the demands of online technology for the students and teachers and strategies to use when planning your online course.
Slashdot
- Verizon Blocking 4chan February 8, 2010
- A Reflection on Sun Executive Payouts for Failure February 8, 2010
- Turns Out You Actually Can Be Bored To Death February 8, 2010
A List Apart
- Using SVG for Flexible, Scalable, and Fun Backgrounds, Part II January 26, 2010
- Using SVG For Flexible, Scalable, and Fun Backgrounds, Part I January 26, 2010
- The Survey, 2009 December 15, 2009
G4 Feed
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