ScreencastOmatic isn't automatic

My attempts to post a screencast in my blog have been a real case of trial-and-error. Mostly error. I seem to have at least two screencast accounts, each with a different one of the two videos (actually, one is a PowerPoint turned into a Jing video) that I have put together so far. Never the twain shall meet, unless I can figure out how to combine the accounts. This has been a frustrating effort to put into practice what, theoretically seems do-able. Update: A call to a tech person at screencast.com provided the answer I had been looking for: I had an account on ScreencastOmatic, another one on screencast.com and a third on Jing. I had thought the first two were one-in-the same, and now know that screencast.com is the one that provides cloud storage for Jing.

In preview mode, the video I included in my blog this time is just a placeholder, so I am going to publish this, and see if that turns the icon into an actual video. I have my doubts. This hasn't been my shining hour in terms of understanding technology.

I tried to use Jing to capture a very crudely assembled PowerPoint, which consists of just three photos I took while I was cross-country skiing at Beaver Island State Park, with some random music behind each. A bonus was when my husband woke up and started making his morning coffee while I recorded. The morning sounds were almost louder than the tinny music audio I had assembled and captured with my laptop's built-in microphone. It's funny. Kind of like making a campfire by rubbing two sticks together, compared to pushing a button and turning your furnace on.

The funny thing about Jing and PowerPoint - they don't go together very well. You have to define the capture area to frame the upcoming slideshow, then launch PowerPoint and execute the command "play slideshow"all while the 3-2-1countdown is going on. It's a juggling act that was never meant to be! Uploading a continuous video should be easier, I hope, than launching a program that I have a tenuous grasp on, at best.

Other aspects of this learning module that I'll write about in coming days should be a lot more upbeat, but here's an initial entry for Learning Module 3.




Now - to some of the other experiences in Learning Module 3: Efficient and Effective Searching/21st Century skills.

DOMAIN NAMES: I learned the process of registering a domain, the costs and the importance of creativity in conceptualizing the name as a marketing strategy for getting visitors to your Web site. I see this process as demystifying one of the steps to becoming your own boss in business, by taking a business concept and figuring out how to bring customers to your virtual doorstep.

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING: I never even knew this process existed. Before learning about how to collect, organize manage and post bookmarks, I did not realize that research resources could be shared in this way with academic colleagues. It is a great tool to build portability of your own resources— not as cumbersome as having a list of favorites that is specific to your own computer — and a great way to share things you've learned and gain insights from others' postings of their bookmarks.

SEARCH ENGINES: I learned that it's advisable to use more than one search engine to get the most reliable and complete results because, for example, even though search engines such as AOL and Netscape both use Google's database for their searches, additional content may be provided by the search engine, producing different results for the same query. I also was surprised to learn the extent to which Google, my favorite search engine, can collect information on me from the digital footprint I leave via gmail account, blogger account and Google searches. On the plus side, I also learned that Google has an advanced search function that allows you to determine parameters specific to your desired search, including the ability to search exclusively for PDFs, as well as a Scholar Search which, regrettably, turned up many articles in abstract form, for which you would have to pay extra to see the entire text.

DEEP WEB SEARCHES: This was an interesting lesson, once I was fully able to access the resources of the NCCC Library. At first, my barcode number was not activated in such a way as to permit entry into the library's databases. Once I got my temporary library barcode, a whole new world was revealed - with access to well-researched, thoughtful articles that would take days for me to study and fully understand. The ability to do an advanced search into academic topics was something I never thought possible on the Web. I previously was content to see what my search engine served up, make the best of it, then go to an actual physical library and look up periodicals or books. This is an awesome resource I plan to explore more fully.

DISCUSSION 5: Digital footprint: Once again, the discussion among my classmates was informative, in terms of students' research and their life experiences, and how the two relate. I especially liked the discussion about the quiz we took to see what the Web knew about us — and how large our digital footprint actually was. People were surprised that they found in Spokeo online evidence of who they are related to, what jobs they have and where they live, plus income and tax levels and the assessed value of their homes! Quite interesting, too, were comments about how much to post on Facebook.

TERMS I LEARNED:

LAST MILE: Delivering communications connectivity to retail customers - that closest connection that links your home computer to the Internet.

VERTICAL FORECLOSURE: A type of anticompetitive behavior in which a company purchases a supplier that supplies the company and several competitors with raw materials. The company then uses its leveralge over the supplier to receive a discount when it buys raw material and reduces quantity and raises prices when its competitors buy raw materials. This term was used in several of the articles about net neutrality and the unfair advantage some companies have.

ILEC: Incumbent local exchange carrier - companies that existed before the breakup of "Ma Bell." Usually used in laymen's terms to mean "telephone provider."

BOOLIAN OPERATOR: A conjunction, such as AND, OR and NOT, used in a logical expression. These terms, when used in a Internet search query, can specify which terms are to be included or excluded from the search results.

List of Life, Career, Media and Technology Skills required for the 21st Century:

LIFE AND CAREER: Skills needed:
To navigate and search on the Web effectively, gaining information for job searches, for entertainment, social communication and acquiring general and specific knowledge about the world. The goal of being a lifelong learner requires knowledge of the Internet. If you are doing a job search, and want to know more about a company, for example, you will want to know more about it than just the PR information the company puts on its home page. You need to be able to do deep web searches, find comments from customers, whistleblowers, if there are any, and to know about the research and development successes of the company in question, plus look at any scholarly research that may have been published about the company.

MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY: Skills needed include being able to upload videos, post photos, write blogs and share opinions about topics and fields of knowledge important to you, and to use apps that connect you to others with sound, images and words.

Developing "Insider's View" of the web

I am beginning to get an insider's view of how to navigate the Internet, effectively use my favorite browsers and learn about Web security, threats and how to protect against them. This is coming a long way for me, because previously, I didn't want anything to do with adjusting browser preferences, downloading applications, clearing the cache or dealing with security threats. It all seemed too technical and esoteric for me. Before these lessons, I'd try something technical and sometimes get frustrated to the point where I wanted to throw my computer out the window. Literally. Or pound my fist on the desktop. Ouch!

Now, I know what cookies and pop-ups are and how to manage them to achieve the level of privacy and security that's appropriate.

HOW THE INTERNET  WORKS:
There was a ton of new information in this learning module about how the Web is set up and what kinds of equipment and software and cataloging are actually involved in having your browser bring up a web page that is stored on a server somewhere far away. Reading about and watching videos on the function of routers, servers and other Internet infrastructure was fascinating.

I enjoyed the textbook tutorial on how to trace the number of "hops" from the home computer to the Cengage Web server. I use a Macbook, but for this exercise, I had to hop onto our family home computer, which has a Windows OS, to do this one. This kind of made cyberspace a bit more "concrete" to me, like finally understanding calculus (although that may never happen for me.)

 BASIC BROWSER FUNCTIONS:
Doing the Web Lab on browsers was very interesting. I didn't realize that browsers had security features built in, such as ad-tracking capability. I also wasn't aware that there's no support anymore for mac use of Internet Explorer. I also look forward to the course lessons on efficient and effective searching. I don't feel I have enough expertise to do really good research on the web and would like to strengthen my skills on that — it's really needed in everyday living!

The screencast web lab on basic browser functions was a challenge. Doing a tutorial that could explain these functions to others was a great way to learn it, myself. Here's the link to my screencast. Talk about security — I regretted using my own email inbox as a screen image — that didn't work out as I thought it would, but once I finished one "take," I didn't want to do the screencast again, for fear it would turn out worse!

http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cInVV3VXOa


ONLINE SHOPPING:
I have always been reluctant to shop online, and took a shot at it with a couple of sites that I felt very comfortable with, like Avon and Land's End. But in my browsing and shopping, I never even thought to look for "https" in the Web address or the little padlock icon to indicate a secure Web site. And I never noticed a highlighted green section that ensures the site has an extended validation certificate, as seen in the screen capture below, of "Twenty things I learned about browsers and the web."

 Here are a couple of links to learn more online shopping safety tips:
bbbonline.org
us-cert.gov
mcafee.com

SECURITY RISKS: The material in videos, reading, cyber lessons and Facebook posts all stressed the importance of taking strong measures to avoid malware, hacking, Internet fraud, scams and security holes and attempts at identity theft (phishing). Some methods include strong passwords, firewalls, reliable anti-virus protection and an awareness of what new risks develop and how to fight them. I learned to be much more proactive in protecting my data and identity on the Internet.

ONLINE RISKS TO KIDS:
This is a useful topic or guiding kids. Certain risks I was already aware of, but the new piece of info for me was the need to talk to teens about their "tone" or "courtesy" online. There's been a lot of talk about avoiding cyber-bullying, but I was not sensitive about the nuances of expression that could elicit unwanted Facebook responses. The information that stood out most to me was that kids "need to be told there's a broader audience than they think" for their online postings.
A useful link in this discussion is:
onlineonguard.com
 
DOMAIN NAMES:
Deciding on and registering a domain name for your website is one of the more interesting topics in this learning module. Naming your domain is a crucial part of branding your online business, and it's a creative and fun part of creating your online presence. Almost as exciting as naming your own rock band. (The band fun. won lots of Grammys recently, probably in part because of its name!) It should be catchy, memorable and capture the essence of what your business or service is all about. Research on this made me realize it's affordable, too. Now to just develop the know-how to do this!
Here's a link to a very basic explanation of how to get a domain name, and some other useful definitions:
http://www.domainsforbeginners.com/index.html

D4 DISCUSSION:
My classmates' comments are extremely well-written and well-researched — and I learn so much by reading them. I loved the interchanges about how your smart TV can spy on you,  how to avoid falling prey to online banking scams, as well as the many cutting edge security measures my fellow students are taking. All of this was very helpful for my own online experience. Tyler's post on 2/4 advising that companies hire their own hackers to find security holes was a good one. In a more recent post, on 2/11, Seth shared information about password managers such as lastpass, which safely and securely stores your passwords and enables easy completing of forms online through personal information, also stored securely. Jason's response to this was so true, "I am often feeling a little stuck in password hell." This is a problem most everyone has, and discussions with great questions and answers is a big part of the learning experience.

I am learning from feedback to contribute more liberally to the Facebook discussion, but I still would like to follow more closely and comment throughout the discussion period. I try to take my time completing the web labs and cyber lessons, and I don't seem to have as much time leftover for the Facebook discussion, which should be a very enjoyable part of the learning.

NEW TERMINOLOGY:

Here's my "Worldle," with a couple of the terms and their definitions that I learned this time out.

/Users/karenkeefe/Pictures/karen wordle.png
ROUTER: A specialized computer with multiple ports that connects Local Area Networks or LAN segments, or multiple LANs on a wide area network (WAN). A router keeps track of all the nodes (each computer or device) on a network and can determine the best route for a packet of information to take to its destination.

TRACERT UTILITY: This is a way to trace the number of stops or "hops" of a packet as it progresses from one Internet router to the next in the path of traveling from the sending computer to the destination computer. The tracert utility can test the path to a destination internet site to see if any problems exist with making a connection at a particular point along the route.


ENCRYPTION: The process of translating readable data into unreadable data in order to prevent unauthorized access or use. The encrypted data is decoded at its destination using a special key, which can be created, for a fee, by a certification authority. Encryption on an online shopping Web site prevents unauthorized access to personal data that people enter when they are purchasing from that site.

HUB: An inexpensive hardware device used to connect multiple nodes on the same network.