Twitter Updates

You returning Seattle Swift readers may have noticed I added Twitter Updates to my right-hand gadget column. Twitter is yet another social networking site where users simply type or text what they are doing or thinking at any time. I decided to add Twitter Updates to my blog to spare my close friends and family from an incessant stream of running commentary from me about what I am up to. I will try to keep my Twitter as up-to-date as possible, so feel free to check out those updates if I don't have any new blog posts!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

That's right, for all of you astute returning Seattle Swift readers, I have changed the name of my blog. Or rather, finally synced the title of my blog with my URL. I was unhappy with "The Bluest Skies," though I love the song and wholeheartedly agree, I didn't think it unique enough and it didn't really express my blog's purpose. So now I am Seattle Swift. Cheers!

Pandora Radio

My favorite new Web tool is Pandora Radio. It's a free, online radio that plays songs you want to hear based on your music preferences. You start by typing in a song or artist and then Pandora picks a song based on similar music types. You rate whether you like the song or not, and Pandora narrows in on what you want to listen to. When you give a song a thumbs down, it immediately skips to a new song. I found the radio is not great for artists you know really well, unless you want to hear only other songs you know really well. But it's perfect if you like a particular group and want to find similar music. You can see below I typed "Third Eye Blind" and got some great music choices from Pandora - all songs that I love. So cool!

New Toy for Bloggers

So the past couple of days I've heard quite a bit about word clouds - programs that take your text and pull out the most commonly used words and create... a word cloud! I discovered a fun one at wordle.net and made one for Seattle Swift. If you are a blogger, or just want to try it out for your Web site or block of text, check it out - it's fun!

The Joy of Podcasts

So I think I am probably the last person in the U.S., maybe the world, to discover how cool podcasts are. The coolest part being that they are free (at least in iTunes). They also download faster than music and movies. Not to mention there is a plethora of podcasts from tons of radio and television stations available through iTunes alone. So I have been frenetically subscribing to podcasts, including the Best of YouTube, NPR: Story of the Day, This American Life, and more.

My favorite so far is NPR: Car Talk. Car Talk has been around forever (since "dinosaurs roamed the Earth" as they say on their Web site), but I guess I never really paid attention or stopped to listen. But these guys, brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi, are hilarious!

In the most recent Car Talk podcast, they explained in their thick Boston accents that Volvo drivers are generally crazy because they have purchased a Volvo for good, logical reasons and so feel entitled to drive crazily. A lady also called in because her three year old son had stuck a golf ball in her car's exhaust pipe and she wanted Tom and Ray's opinion whether the golf ball could shoot out of the exhaust like a bullet. Apparently, no. This radio show is entertaining, informative, and great for a good laugh, especially if you can listen while working on something tedious that simply has to get done.

Anyone have any podcasts to recommend? And anyone else a fan of Car Talk?

Really Simple Syndication

Or RSS as I learned a few days ago. RSS News Feeds are yet another way the Web allows people to post information, promote programs, and network with individuals. I am now responsible for publishing the RSS News Feed for NGCP; check it out:
http://rss.psctlt.org/ngcp.xml

Exploring Second Life

As I mentioned in my previous post, another way NGCP will be expanding in Web 2.0 is by building an island in Second Life. I have spent some time during the past few weeks creating an avatar, shopping for clothes in Second Life, flying, and exploring the many resources and educational opportunities available in Second Life. The expanse of Second Life islands and place to "teleport" is, I admit, overwhelming. I needed a little help finding places to travel, things to do, and stores to shop for clothes. Apparently if you stay in your "newbie" clothes, other avatars will make snide remarks (a little like Real Life, I suppose)!

When I heard of Second Life for the first time a year or so ago, I was initially turned off. It seemed like another avenue for people to disconnect themselves from the real world. But as I explore SL, I realize there are significant educational opportunities as well as opportunities to meet people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. You can visit places in Second Life you might never be able to see in Real Life. Anyway, a basic membership is free, so I encourage you to try it out and spend a little time exploring.

Here is a snapshot of my Second Life avatar standing in the Texas Alamo gardens for the International Society for Technology in Education Conference in San Antonio. Below is a snapshot of my avatar flying in front of the Alamo!



I graduated from Santa Clara a year before construction on the new library and learning commons was completed. But I can visit it in Second Life - my avatar is flying in for a view of the new library.


Lounging in a bean bag chair in the new Santa Clara University library.


Also on the Santa Clara Island is the de Saisset Art Museum, where you can view current art exhibitions. The current exhibit is Experience Teaches: Santa Clara University Art Faculty Exhibition, which celebrates artistic achievement of SCU Art and Art History faculty. Here is a snapshot of photographs from David Pace.


Santa Clara's distinctive Mission Church is also on the SCU Second Life Island. Below is a snapshot of the altar and ceiling of the church. Within the Mission Church, you can read a note card about the history of the Santa Clara mission, which dates back to 1777.

Charles White, Director of Mission Santa Clara, writes in the note card: "The ornate ceiling above the marble altar is an exact replica of Davila's ceiling of 1825. Pictured in the center is 'IHS' which is the Greek anagram for the Name of Jesus. Above that image is a now forbidden depiction of the Holy Trinity as three look-alike, co-equal bearded men. At the four corners of the ceiling of four 'Doctors of the Catholic Church': i.e., St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome." All information that I didn't know while I was at Santa Clara!

National Girls Collaborative Project

As of April 2008, I have been working for the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP). NGCP is a National Science Foundation funded grant that brings together organizations committed to informing girls and encouraging them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math - or STEM (catchy acronym, huh?). We do so by sharing resources, providing networking opportunities, and supporting existing programs.

Right now, we have ten Regional Collaboratives (from the Northwest, to Texas, to Florida, all the way up to Maine) that have been busy planning Kick-Off events and Forums, promoting STEM, and helping distribute NGCP mini-grants - small seed grants of $1,000 for collaborating organizations planning events like STEM summer camps and Expanding Your Horizons events. It has been incredible to talk with many of the Regional Collaborative leads and hear their enthusiasm for encouraging girls in STEM. I also love hearing about all of our successful mini-grants and seeing photos of the girls having a blast conducting science experiments, building robots, or designing computer games.

One exciting part of my job is promoting NGCP on the Web in a variety of ways. NGCP has a Facebook group, for instance, where we advertise events and resources available for STEM programs as well as individuals. The group now has over 150 members and we have a number of members who actively post relevant STEM information on the group wall. Another very cool part of my job is helping out with our monthly webcasts. We select presenters in STEM-related fields to talk about their programs and successes. Webcast participants log in online to view the live webcast while listening to the presentation over the phone.

Some other Web 2.0 projects in the works are an NGCP blog, Wikipedia page, and an NGCP Island in Second Life. I am learning that a lot of organizations and school programs are starved for resources, so it is a good feeling to provide them with free, valuable resources for helping girls pursue STEM. The opportunities for STEM programs to network through such Web mediums seems endless.

If you are on Facebook, join the NGCP group!

Dreaming of Volvos

One of my latest interests is designing vector images using Adobe Illustrator. I traced a photograph of a 1980s Volvo 242 that a friend then used for his shop's (Ballard Tire on Leary Way in Seattle) new business card. The card looks great and is very unique. I have since updated the Volvo I traced for him, changing the color to my own favorite color. It was exciting to draw the Volvo in Illustrator and see it come together and actually look like something real. I learned a lot as I went, and ended up redoing the wheels (my favorite part, and the most complicated).

I have also been working on translating my aunt's original Swift Asset Management, Inc. (that manages Swift assets, like Marvin Road Water Company) logo into a vector image. Thank you for the artistic inspiration, Karen! I'll post soon with the final version of the logo.

I would love more opportunities to create logos, images, etc. in Illustrator - so let me know if you need or want something and I can attempt to create it. I am also learning to build Web sites; requests are welcome.