Well, I had a look at YouTube, Metacafe and Google videos to decide which would be the best platform to publish my diving videos on so others can comment on them, add them to their own video lists and suggest other good diving spots that I can check out.

You Tube seems to have lots to offer and is very well known and widely used. I like that you can create your own video channel and share your url. You can also create playlists, which means I can group my videos into seperate lists. For example I could create a scuba diving list, a 4-wheel driving list and another list for my quadracopter videos.  For others to be able to post comments, add to favourites etc. they will need to create their own YouTube channel, but it's really easy to do and hopefully they will upload their own diving videos so I can learn about new dive spots to checkout.  I also like that I can set an option to connect to my other social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter and select the activities I want to share. For example when I upload a video it will automatically be uploaded to my Fac ebook page.  I also like the look of the interface and found it really easy to navigate between the various features e.g., my Channel, Playlists, browse videos ec. By default I can upload videos up to 15 mins duration (approx. 20mb) and this can be extended if it's not enough. But I prefer to keep my videos short because I think they are boring if they are too long. There are about 8 different video formats I can use, but I will probably only need mpeg4 so that's cool.

Next I checked out Metacafe. It has lots of the same features as YouTube. You create your own channel, you can share videos to Facebook and Twitter and you can add comments. I didn't find a way to create separate playlists and I noticed the maximum file upload was 2gb. It also supports lots of different video formats most I've never heard of!  I created an account and uploaded a test video and the whole process was really easy. But when I tried to view others videos they took a long time to load, even a short 1 minute video and I get getting a "buffering message". I'm not sure if that is something to do with Metacafe or my Internet. But the videos seemed to load much faster using YouTube.  I also couldn't work out how to add a video to my favourists list. The instructions siad to simply click on the "add to favouritses" link shown below each vdeo...but I couldn't see this link anywhere. I tried a couple of different videso but still no add to favourites link visiable.  Humm...I don't think Metacfe is going to suit my purposes. After I uploaded my test video I received an email from Metacafe advising t had uploaded successfully and has been sent to thei "review panel for apporval". I guess it's good that they review content before they let you publish it, but my videos are just a record of my personal dives and I on't want to be hassled by any review process. Maybe this site is a bit too classy for my needs.

Finally I looked at Google Videos.  It's not really a video sharing site, it's a video search facility. You can search for any type of video and when you find one there are tools to "like" share on Facebook or Twitter etc. But I couldn't see anything anywhere about uploading your own videos. It appears that the videos I found in the search are all uploaded to sites like YouTube, or on commercial sites like AnimalDiscovery.com and then they can be found using Google video.

So the winner is.......... YouTube!  Check out My Channel

My text book for EDN113 arrived and I've already read chapter 1. I like that this book focuses on "meaningful learning" rather than on technologies. The authors state "In order for meaningful learning to occur, the task that students pursue should engage active, constructive, intentional, authentic and coporative activities" (p. 2).  I wasn't sure what all these terms meant, but the book goes on to explain each of these attributes (see pages 3 - 5). I liked the discintion between learning from technology and learning with technology (pages. 5 & 6) and that technology should not be used to simply deliver information, but should be used by students to support knowledge construction an vehicles for students to present their ideas and understanding to demonstrate what they have learnt. There was a lot of information I didn't understand, but I assume as I learn more it will make more sense. I will probably have to re-read the chapter again and maybe discuss some of the content with my peers to see what they took away from Chapter 1.

I've completed my Home page and About me page and checked the marking rubric to make sure I've covered everything. I watched the week 2 lecture today and it confirmed that I am on the right track so far! I've identified my social context - Scuba diving, and the issue I want to resolve and how social media can help me resolve it - sharing my scuba diving videos with friends, family and other diving enthusiasts. And I've identified 3 social media technologies which I am currently exploring - YouTube, Mtacafe and Google Videos.  So I'm off to find out which one I like best. Come back and read my next post to find out which one I selected. Bye for now!  

I posted my idea on the week 3 social resource ideas discussion forum and a couple of other students thought it would be a good social context. So I'm going to run with this idea.  Now I need to research 3 video sharing technologies to see which one would be most suitable. I thought I would look at YouTube first because it's so popular and I did a Google search using "video sharing" to see what other video sharing sites are available. I found a website called TopTen Reviews that had an article titled 2013 video sharing websites comparisons. The top 4 sites listed were, YouTube, Break, Metacafe and Google Videos. I've never heard of Break or Metacafe and I didn't realise Google had a video sharing facility.

First I had a quick look at the TopTen reviews:

• YouTube was rated number one and they commented "YouTube is the standard by which other services are measured. And it comes out on top" (The Verdict). So this is looking like a very good choice.
• A quick look at the Break review convinced me this was not the place to share my diving videos. The write up stated "The vast majority of the videos on Break are humorous, whether they are bloopers and blunders caught on video or scriped clips created by users" (para. 1) and under the Cons it said "The service lacks a large community, and a diverse viewer demographic". Definitely not the sort of site I'm looking for, and as the other sites seemed a better fit I didn't follow this one up any further.
• The Metacafe rev iew was quite glowing and so also looks promising. I'll have to investigate it further.
• Google Video also got a good write-up. It listed some of the pros as: a clean interface, a great search facility and practial features such as: rate, playlists and comment. 

So I'll do some more research on Metacafe ad Google video to compare ease of use and features before I decde which technology to use for my video sharing site.

I just had a thought. I love taking videos of my diving and 4 wheel driving adventures, maybe I could create a social space to share my videos with my friends and family. Maybe I could even share them with people I meet through the local dive shop and encourage them to share their videos, or vote on the ones they like best, or add comments about their diving experiences and local dive knowledge.  I wonder if this would be a suitable social event for Task 1? I think I'll post a question on the LMS to see if others think this would be suitable.

Well I did it! I have created my first website and my first blog post. Whoever thought I'd be able to do that?  Actually this is my 2nd website. I started using Jimdo but I didn't like the adverts on it and I couldn't get rid of them unless I paid to upgrade to the pro version so I decided to explore a different tool to see if I could find one with no advertising. It's a shame about the adverts because I really liked the diving picture I selected for header at the top of my page (my first eportfolio on Jimdo). However, I like webnode. It's easier to use then Jimdo and I have uploaded my own diving picture for the header (I took this picture from a video I took while diving the Swan wreck in Busselton, WA). 

It is the first week of uni and I've been exploring the LMS for my technology unit. There is lots of information and lots of unfamiliar terms so I hope I can sort it all out. Everything seems so foriegn to me so far, I only know how to use email, my phone, Facebook and taking videos. I've never created a website or a blog and I was feeling quite apprehensive about this unit until I had a look at the discussion forum and discovered there were lots of others students feeling the same way. It's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one feeling nervous! Everyone seems so helpful and supportive. I'm now starting to get really excited about this unit. 

The introduction video on the LMS gave me an overall view of what was included on it and I found it really helpful.  I also had a look at the Book video that Jenni posted in an annoucement, I found it really funny. I must say I never thought of a book as a new technology, but I guess it was way back then.

I haven't started reading the textbook yet as I've only just ordered it and I'm waiting for it to arrive in the post. I noticed there is a list of recommended readings for Task 1, and I'll have a look at it again and get started on the readings as soon as my textbook arrives. I watched the week 1 lecture. It was really easy to access the lecture via the link on the Lecture materials page. I don't know anything about authentic learning, but it sounds like we will have a lot of choices and decisions to make. I like the idea of "being willing to learn rather than waiting to be taught". 

Langwitches, 2009

The first task I had to do for this unit was to create a website and a blog. Which I've done! Yeah. Now I need to think of a social situation which could be supported by using social media. I'm still a bit confused about what I have to do for the social resource, but I see on the discussion forum that the tutors will be providing examples for us so I'll just wait and see.