FEED Validator

for Atom and RSS and KML

Congratulations!

This is a valid RSS feed.

Recommendations

This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.

line 68, column 0: content:encoded should not contain decoding attribute (27 occurrences) [help]
```
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embe ...
```
line 78, column 0: content:encoded should not contain loading attribute (26 occurrences) [help]
```
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embe ...
```
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-attachment-id attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-permalink attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-orig-file attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-orig-size attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-comments-opened attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-image-meta attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-image-title attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-image-description attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-image-caption attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-medium-file attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-large-file attribute (21 occurrences) [help]
line 101, column 0: content:encoded should not contain sizes attribute (17 occurrences) [help]
line 174, column 0: content:encoded should not contain data-secret attribute [help]
```
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cogdogblog wp-blo ...
```
line 174, column 0: content:encoded should not contain iframe tag (7 occurrences) [help]
```
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cogdogblog wp-blo ...
```
line 650, column 0: content:encoded should not contain script tag (5 occurrences) [help]
```
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cosocial-ca wp-bl ...
```
line 719, column 0: style attribute contains potentially dangerous content: max-height [help]

Source: http://cogdogblog.com/feed/rss2

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss"
xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#"
>
<channel>
<title>CogDogBlog</title>
<atom:link href="https://cogdogblog.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
<link>https://cogdogblog.com</link>
<description>Alan Levine barks about and plays with stuff here</description>
<lastBuildDate>Fri, 03 May 2024 14:50:09 +0000</lastBuildDate>
<language>en-US</language>
<sy:updatePeriod>
hourly </sy:updatePeriod>
<sy:updateFrequency>
1 </sy:updateFrequency>
<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.5</generator>
<image>
<url>https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/cropped-cogdog-sketch-color-32x32.png</url>
<title>CogDogBlog</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com</link>
<width>32</width>
<height>32</height>
</image>
<item>
<title>Why the World Would End Without Storytelling On the Web With DS106s</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/why-the-world-would-end-without-storytelling-on-the-web-with-ds106s/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/why-the-world-would-end-without-storytelling-on-the-web-with-ds106s/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2024 14:49:28 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Dog Tricks]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[dailycreate]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[ds106]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[tdc4494]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74247</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Today’s Daily Create made me do it! That listicle glorifying title would never have gotten past my clumsy on the keyboard fingertips. I was sent to Portent Title Generator to randomly generate a title about DS106. to put in a title. Yes, I deploy the Creative Tool No Artist or Writer Should be Without in May […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<a href="https://daily.ds106.us/tdc4494/">Today’s Daily Create</a> made me do it! That listicle glorifying title would never have gotten past my clumsy on the keyboard fingertips.
I was sent to <a href="https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker">Portent Title Generator</a> to randomly generate a title about DS106. to put in a title. Yes, I deploy the Creative Tool No Artist or Writer Should be Without in May 2024 (a textbox and a button) and the magic creativity of Artificial Bullshittery gave me a blog post title, and now I am supposed to write a post?
Heck look at the excessive use of plural and also the negligent absence of hashtags– “Portent” is not important.
This is not how we do things around here, and I refuse to comply. The answer is effing obvious for anyone who has been a part of, sniffed the history of, or just stood on the sidelines in mock confusion, about <a href="https://ds106.us/">DS106</a> now 13 years into to the web game, and sill kicking.
Protesting in old photos, non-generatively cropped out of the world by me. I won’t write blog posts with Generated Titles.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4570215578"><img decoding="async" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4070/4570215578_29b57704e7_b.jpg" alt="May Day Protest" width="1024" height="681" /></a>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4570215578">May Day Protest</a> (how effective was this in 2010?) flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared into the public domain using <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)</a></figcaption></figure>

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/11063218003"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/3735/11063218003_f6a1a13130_b.jpg" alt="STOP THE PINES" width="1024" height="683" /></a>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/11063218003">STOP THE PINES</a> (“another failed protest”) flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">Creative Commons (BY) license</a></figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/51839942075"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51839942075_d86149344e_b.jpg" alt="Howling My Innocence" width="1024" height="768" /></a>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/51839942075">Howling My Innocence</a> (Felix protesting his innocence despite being surrounded by incriminating evidence) flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared into the public domain using <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)</a></figcaption></figure>
But this counts for the <a href="https://daily.ds106.us/">DS106 Daily Create</a>, if anyone is counting, Maybe Todd Conaway is?
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/32837289970">Look at these Arizona Paid Protestors</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared into the public domain using <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)</a> I bet they are going to be paid again in 2024.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="74249" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/why-the-world-would-end-without-storytelling-on-the-web-with-ds106s/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k.jpg" data-orig-size="2048,1293" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Alan Levine","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"This photo by Alan Levine has been placed into the Public Domain using Creative Commons CC0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicd","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="32837289970_453bdd63dc_k" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k-760x480.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k-1280x808.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="808" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k-1280x808.jpg" alt="A herd of maybe 60 elk stand closely together on a flat level space with a forested mountain/hill behind. To the photographer, it resembled a protest mob." class="wp-image-74249" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k-1280x808.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k-760x480.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k-1536x970.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/32837289970_453bdd63dc_k.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/why-the-world-would-end-without-storytelling-on-the-web-with-ds106s/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>Where Did/Will Everyone Go?</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/where-did-will-everyone-go/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/where-did-will-everyone-go/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2024 06:15:25 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Rants]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reclaiming Your Web]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fediverse]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74238</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There is a myth. Cue the string section. That there was once a place for all to gather, share, be festive, develop new connections, every course a hashtag, topple a few governments, people power. Then came an evil billionaire who ruined it all, those who gathered were cast out, a diaspora. No end. Yes the […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
There is a myth. Cue the string section. 
That there was once a place for all to gather, share, be festive, develop new connections, every course a hashtag, topple a few governments, people power. 
Then came an evil billionaire who ruined it all, those who gathered were cast out, a <a href="https://blog.edtechie.net/twitter/30-years-of-ed-tech-2023-twitter-diaspora/">diaspora</a>.
No end.
Yes the Musky One was/is a horrible scourge, but all he did was hasten a decline. The birdhouse he bought was already uwinding in the mid 2010s with more algorithim cruft, more ads, more malfeasents. <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2016/12/year-of-the-d-o-g/">In my 2016 year end post</a>, having been one of the world’s stupefied witness to the script of a reaility show election right out of the Black Mirror
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
My primary social space, Twitter, for many of my friends is now a place to avoid, or quit. People are <a href="http://mastodon.social/">huddling in other new spaces</a> or just poising to exit.
“This is beginning to be the end of Twitter for me. Nothing we say here matters and it is all a waste of time.
— Intrepidteacher (@intrepidteacher) <a href="https://twitter.com/intrepidteacher/status/811595298057240576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2016</a>
<cite><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2016/12/year-of-the-d-o-g/">https://cogdogblog.com/2016/12/year-of-the-d-o-g/</a></cite></blockquote>
It’s too simple, too convenient to scapegoat it all on that smelly tyrant, the reason for the dispersion is we dispersed. And it’s not a platform thing, it’s that thing in our hands.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img data-attachment-id="74239" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/where-did-will-everyone-go/where/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/where.gif" data-orig-size="1000,516" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="where" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/where-760x392.gif" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/where.gif" decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/where.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-74239" width="840" height="433"/></figure>
Think of all the messaging places your attention goes into. It’s not a criticism, I am there too. 
There’s no turning it back. I did make my best attempt at the OER24 conference, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0yYfVwfh6E">in my end of conference Gasta session</a>. Heck I sported a nifty t-shirt. I was serious!
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cogdogblog wp-block-embed-cogdogblog"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="iKNU9o4y8Z"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/03/get-federated-got-gasta/">Get Federated Got Gasta-Ed</a></blockquote><iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="“Get Federated Got Gasta-Ed” — CogDogBlog" src="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/03/get-federated-got-gasta/embed/#?secret=CWcbohaHV9#?secret=iKNU9o4y8Z" data-secret="iKNU9o4y8Z" width="600" height="338" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
</div></figure>
Still, it’s not really an answer, there are no technical solutions. I did see a that conference when people would put their contact slides up,”You can find me on X, Threads, Mastodon, Blusky, Purple Onion Peel” (okay I wen to far).
Frankly for me, I am not interested in being in all the spaces. <a href="https://cosocial.ca/@cogdog/112277013114117268">One is enough</a>. I can accept a good amount OMO. 
Accept the distributed, disaggregated ness of it all. And really stop looking external for the place, and get back, get back, jojo, to that place you used to blog.
Of course, my advice is just for me, go seek the One Tent to Rule Them All. There never was a single place and there sure as heck will not be.
(swoon of the string section here)
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Reprise / Coda / Forgotten Stuff</h2>
I left many things out that were in my brain at one point. One is that what we have here is <a href="https://library.osu.edu/site/40stories/2020/01/05/we-have-met-the-enemy/">a classic Pogo problem</a>, a reference I guess few know, and I won’t ask ChadGPT to barf out flowery text to elucidate. I made this long ago for maybe a presentation or likely just to make bird noises in the bird place that once had another name:
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-attachment-id="74245" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/where-did-will-everyone-go/twitter-pogo-3/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/twitter-pogo.jpg" data-orig-size="500,651" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="twitter-pogo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="With apologies– no thanks to Walt Kelly, most likely a violation, but I cling to my rught to do parody.
" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/twitter-pogo.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/twitter-pogo.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="500" height="651" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/twitter-pogo.jpg" alt="Comic style book cover, at bottom is a fuzzy hair character staring into a all mirror, what he sees makes his hat fly off. Behind the mirror a large bird squawks at him and in bottom left the heads of two old men are just staring. The large text at top is "Twitter: We have met the problem and it is us"" class="wp-image-74245"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">With apologies– no thanks to Walt Kelly, most likely a violation, but I cling to my rught to do parody.</figcaption></figure></div>
But more, I left out a large bit of my own part in this, plus seeing a decline o almos evaporation of views and comments here on the old blog. I get a fraction of the former and a fraction of a fraction of the latter. It’s no surprise that people have taken their publishing to the newsletter format, where i gets shoved into inboxes.
Not that attention is my purpose or goal, but really, there is so much more stuff out there, that we are swimming in it. But heck, a small but of validation goes a long way, and I don’t see much by some heart click icon. I was not just bird thing, but the et al, that have pulled attention to other places (do people still talk about an “attention economy”?).
Also rare, yet treasured even more thes days, are comments in my flickr stream. I forget this has been noy only an outlet for my photographic habit, still noting that composing a photograph is an act of deletion of everything in the world outside the frame. Whereas spitting at a GenAI image is an act of dumping the soup of everything into a frame.
I digress. 
And thus, in the next fill in the blank span of ime, I’m rethinking where I spend my attention budget.
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: My photo of a conference venue in Canberra, Australia, 2007. At the time, I was raving about the potential of a silly networking app named after birds. <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/1634189528">Lecture Hall</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared into the public domain using <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)</a>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="74242" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/where-did-will-everyone-go/1634189528_eed0203acd_h/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h.jpg" data-orig-size="1600,1200" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="1634189528_eed0203acd_h" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h-760x570.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h-1280x960.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="960" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h-1280x960.jpg" alt="Large empty auditoriun except for one lonely man in front center row, his name is Alex." class="wp-image-74242" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h-1280x960.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h-760x570.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1634189528_eed0203acd_h.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/where-did-will-everyone-go/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>98 on the Dad Scale</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/dad-scale/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/dad-scale/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2024 01:35:14 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Memories]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[dad]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74230</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Me and Dad were but 5 days apart on the birthday calendar, aand today, were he here, I’d be calling to tease and say, “How is 98 feel Dad?” There’d be that pause and a throaty left, with something like in reply, “Not bad at all, Junior.” I had a good round of memory sifting […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Me and Dad were but 5 days apart on the birthday calendar, aand today, were he here, I’d be calling to tease and say, “How is 98 feel Dad?”
There’d be that pause and a throaty left, with something like in reply, “Not bad at all, Junior.”
I had a good round of memory sifting a month ago when I took Cori to visit my home grounds Baltimore. My sister Judy hauled out a box of mostly unlabeled photos my dad’s mom had left her. We had lots of laughs and a number of puzzles trying to figure out who some of the photos were.
Those three of Dad in this post’s feature photo was him as a playful kid on likely an Atlantic City, New Jersey Beach, the middle also there with his younger sister, Eve, and their mother on the boardwalk– Dad maybe looking a little uncomfortable, and the one on the right, the dapper look likely in his high school or college days.
There’s much to be imagined, trying to guess where they were, or on what occasions. With no fact checking, we could just enjoy the vintage scenes.
My Dad’s family seemed to have done a lot with them, there were photos of them in front of an old propeller plane, maybe going to Florida to meet relatives, photos in parks or orchards. The assortment of photos is just whats left, in no way proportional to the places and times spent. 
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-attachment-id="74232" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/dad-scale/img_9745-large/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9745-Large.jpeg" data-orig-size="1280,1193" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 14 Pro","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1712264860","copyright":"","focal_length":"2.22","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9745-Large" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9745-Large-760x708.jpeg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9745-Large.jpeg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="1193" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9745-Large.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-74232" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9745-Large.jpeg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9745-Large-760x708.jpeg 760w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Levine Family, left to right , Dad as a teen?, his sister Eve, his Mom (my grandmother) glancing askance, his Dad (my grandfather I never knew) looking very Dad-like.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-attachment-id="74233" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/dad-scale/img_9752-large/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9752-Large.jpeg" data-orig-size="1280,921" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 14 Pro","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1712265579","copyright":"","focal_length":"2.22","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9752-Large" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9752-Large-760x547.jpeg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9752-Large.jpeg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="921" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9752-Large.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-74233" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9752-Large.jpeg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9752-Large-760x547.jpeg 760w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The family house on Ridgewood Avenue in Baltimore, labeled 1949. My parents moved in Dad’s parents when my grandfather passed away. We moved away when I was 2, so only memories in old family photos and silent movies.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-attachment-id="74234" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/dad-scale/img_9755-large/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9755-Large.jpeg" data-orig-size="1280,964" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 14 Pro","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1712265764","copyright":"","focal_length":"2.22","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_9755-Large" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9755-Large-760x572.jpeg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9755-Large.jpeg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="964" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9755-Large.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-74234" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9755-Large.jpeg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_9755-Large-760x572.jpeg 760w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">My dad and his dads, all the dads. What do we know from the scene? We can only imagine</figcaption></figure>
Happy day of birth, old man! I always think of you smiling best on that Ocean City beach. You are 98 on the timeline scale, I can always hear your voice back there.
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: A college of old family photos seen at my sister’s home, just captured with quickly as snapshots on the phone. Photos of old photos.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="74236" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/dad-scale/dad-3x/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="dad-3x" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x-760x428.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x-1280x720.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x-1280x720.jpg" alt="3 yellow ageda photos, on left a smiling boy on a beach, in the middle a mom and two childen on a boardwalk, on the right, a man in suit, with foot up on a step, smoking a pipe" class="wp-image-74236" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x-1280x720.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x-760x428.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dad-3x.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/05/dad-scale/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>Out of the Gray A 2X McPhee Crossing</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/gray-mcphee-crossing/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/gray-mcphee-crossing/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Apr 2024 04:21:49 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Random Musing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[webserendipity]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74212</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I never thought I’d learn something from dumping paint. Once upon a time when I was living in Arizona, I decided to do the right thing and dispose of my cans left over paint. The Gila County dump had a special collection day for disposing of paint, so I arrived with my box of various […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
I never thought I’d learn something from dumping paint. 
Once upon a time when I was living in Arizona, I decided to do the right thing and dispose of my cans left over paint. The Gila County dump had a special collection day for disposing of paint, so I arrived with my box of various cans. I had no idea how paint was disposed, but its chemicals, so I imagined some kind of special container.
As it turns out, the three men standing around a large open vat gave me a lesson. They do not dispose paint, they just dump all those cans of Violet Indulgence, Daytona Salmon, California Haze etc together to produce… grey. All of the variety of colors mix dumped together produce what I called Highway Gray. And they told me they use this lovely color to paint over grafitti on highway bridges etc. All the colors mix to neutral.
Despite all of the bemoaning death of the web and cries of enshittification (which I echo), still on an almost daily basis, I experience the weirdest kind of accidental connections, what I have always called <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/tag/webserendipity">web serendipity</a>, that are seemingly statistically improbable. Stuff you could not generate from a mechanism that mixes all of the internet together to a vat of grey goo.
Now about John McPhee.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-attachment-id="74213" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/gray-mcphee-crossing/basin-range/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/basin-range.jpg" data-orig-size="1400,1050" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.78","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 14 Pro","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1713295538","copyright":"","focal_length":"6.86","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="basin-range" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/basin-range-760x570.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/basin-range-1280x960.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="960" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/basin-range-1280x960.jpg" alt="Paperback book titled Basin and Range by John McPhee sits on a wood grained table, three fingers of a hand vover the bottom part of the book" class="wp-image-74213" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/basin-range-1280x960.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/basin-range-760x570.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/basin-range.jpg 1400w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">My photo of my own book, eventually to be uploaded to flickr to bear a CC0 license.</figcaption></figure>
Sometime in my graduate school years in the Geology program at Arizona State University, I came across McPhee’s first book of geology and geologists, <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Basin-Range-John-McPhee/dp/0374516901">Basin and Range</a>. It’s both an insight into the formations and landforms of the western US, a province in the sense of a region, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basin_and_Range_Province">a name for that topography used in Geology</a>. But McPhee’s style is narrative through people, as he spends time in the field with geologists studying the region.
More storytelling than textbook. It’s about the people who make this their work, passion.
A morsel I always remember is McPhee’s describing that any time you see a golf course, its an effort anywhere in the world to replicate the geomorphology of Scotland.
I’ve had that book on my shelves a long time, but it might have been since the mid 1980s that I read it.
Books, like geology, sometimes just sit quietly for long stretches of time.
Yet, in one week, random links from two different social media entities, brought me back to the book. Both of these readings are from individual blogs. Both of them resonate with beautiful, crafted writing that is more than statistically stringing together text by some probability distribution. Both reference John McPhee.
First up is <a href="https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/death-is-a-feature/">Death is a Feature</a> by Doc Searls, that someone (maybe Tim Bray?) posted in Mastodon. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Searls">Searls is in the class of early web wizards</a>, maybe one of the first group of early bloggers. 
As a great writer, notice the opening sentence (an exercise left for the one or two blog readers). It does not indicate where it is going.
The theme is that life, well and everything, comes from death:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
To explain why life needs death, answer this: what do plastic, wood, limestone, paint, travertine, marble, asphalt, oil, coal, stalactites, peat, stalagmites, cotton, wool, chert, cement, nearly all food, all gas, and most electric services have in common?
They are all products of death. They are remains of living things or made from them.
Consider this fact: about a quarter of all the world’s sedimentary rock is limestone, dolomite and other carbonate rocks: remains of beings that were once alive. The Dolomites of Italy, the Rock of Gibraltar, the summit of Mt. Everest, all products of death.
<cite><a href="https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/death-is-a-feature/">https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/death-is-a-feature/</a></cite></blockquote>
He goes on to use a quote from McPhee’s Annals of the Former World that iron, the basis of the modern age, came from dead things, the very first life forms of anaerobic bacteria that added oxygen to the atmosphere, allowing dissolved iron elements to become oxidized to produce the banded iron formations from which the civilization is still building from. “More than ninety percent of the iron ever mined in the world has come from Precambrian banded-iron formations.”
I had never read Annals of the Former World, so I was curious (as I always do when I can hover a link and see where it goes), and aimed to find what would likely be this book on McPhee’s own site, see <a href="http://www.johnmcphee.com/annals.htm">http://www.johnmcphee.com/annals.htm</a>
Except…
That link lands you on one of thos domain squatting sites, with links to tempt you ro various click bait web pages <a href="https://sedoparking.com/">under a domain parking sludge pile</a>. 
If I read Searls right, from this link death, there should be something that arises from it. I go looking.
He does not seem to have his own site anymore, the most common find is <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/author/johnmcphee">a page on his publisher’s site</a>. I bust out the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/johnmcphee.com">Wayback machine to see whither the johnmcphee.com site went</a>. Sure enough, I can find around 2013, his domain was set to redirect to his current site at macmillan.com. Another domain of one’s own bit the dust.
I can find <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110514191113/http://www.johnmcphee.com/">McPhee’s own site back around 2011</a>, and the archive looks like it can be traced back to 2000, a very old school style site.
My link chasing deflects from <a href="https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/death-is-a-feature/">the brilliant read the Searls provides</a>, he takes us on his own McPhee-ist tour of more geologic examples of how much of our world has come from what died, and a pessimistic view of how the “modern” world seems to be just burning itself out.
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
On the economic side, we spend down the planet’s principal, and fail to invest toward interest that pays off for the planet’s species. That the principal we spend has been in the planet’s vaults for millions or billions of years, and in some cases cannot be replaced, is of little concern to those spending it, which is roughly all of us.
<cite>https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/death-is-a-feature/</cite></blockquote>
I leave it to any readers left to find the strong closing. This man can write, in colors that are far from Highway Goo Gray.
So I had that one nice throwback to McPhee. I thought I was done.
But then, for some reason I fail to remember, I actually logged back into Twitter (the platform I will only call Twitter), I think because I got a notification of a DM from my good friend Antonio (ciao! I owe you a reply!). I hardly look there any more, I just log out and leave it.
As weird luck goes, I spotted in my timeline (I guess the algorithm can deliver, but I wont give it credit), I saw a tweet (that’s what they are) from Nate Angell referencing maybe what is one of the most brain stirring bits of writing I have looked at in a while. This is <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/openings">On Opening Essays, Conference Talks, and Jam Jars</a> by someone named Maggie Appleton, with an alluring subtitle “How to open pieces of narrative non-fiction writing, conference talks, and sticky jars”.
Again, and fitting her concept, the opening grabs me in:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
Most of the narrative non-fiction opinion pieces I read online do not grip me in the first sentence. People often start pieces somewhere sensible, but boring. Like the chronological start of a story.
…
The beginning is almost never the most compelling or important part. It’s just the bit you thought of first, based on your subjective chronology.
Or far worse, people begin at The Beginning Of Time. Invoking paleolithic people is an overplayed way to convince us your topic is cosmically important.
…
Another bad way to start a piece of writing is with a statement of what you’re going to write about, followed by a definition.
…
“Bad” is obviously subjective and contextual here. I find up-front outlines and definitions dull for narrative non-fiction writing. But they’re standard practice for technical documentation and academic papers. Signposting what you’re going to write about is good, but starting with an exhaustive list of definitions is extremely boring.
To be clear, I make these mistakes too. I am a mediocre opener trying to become a good opener. Opening well isn’t just about snapping up someone’s attention and keeping them reading for a few lines. You can’t write good openings without having good ideas, good arguments, good structure, and good storytelling skills. Everything hangs off that starting point, so it’s worth learning how to nail it.
<cite><a href="https://maggieappleton.com/openings">https://maggieappleton.com/openings</a></cite></blockquote>
When I went to grab a quote, I swore I would not grab a swath, yet I did anyhow. Each of those “…” in my quote above is an example Appelton includes, and what makes her argument strong is the clear examples and non examples of “good openers”.
And she hits as well on openers for presentations, yup.
This all flickers back to the days when I did stuff on digital/web storytelling and made so much of the power of the opening. 
If you are amongst the dwindling few who do not want to outsource their writing chops to ChadGPT I can’t urge you enough to stop reading my ramblings, and bookmark, absorb, and share madly this essay. It has something for everybody.
And then Appleton brings in John McPhee. Just a mention, a link to his <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Draft_No_4/2gQ6DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">Draft No. 4 On the Writing Process</a>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
The long-awaited guide to writing long-form nonfiction by the legendary author and teacher. 
Draft No. 4 is a master class on the writer’s craft. John McPhee shares insights he has gathered over his long career, and has refined while teaching at Princeton University, where he has nurtured some of the most highly regarded writers of our time. He discusses structure, diction and tone, observing that ‘readers are not supposed to notice the structure. It is meant to be about as visible as someone’s bones’. This book is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from reporting to drafting to revising—and revising and revising.
</blockquote>
I feel now I need to fill out my John McPhee shelf, because Basin and Range has some good company out there.
This all would not have been rekindled if not for two acts of link curiosity, and as usual, following the links upstream.
<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/author/johnmcphee">McPhee’s writing</a>, <a href="https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/death-is-a-feature/">Searls’ writing</a>, <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/openings">Appleton’s writing</a>… all rise above the cruft of investing in Highway Grey for a world of much richer colors. Oh if you want a sample of McPhee’s craft, some university student somewhere probably has <a href="https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcphee.pdf">a PDF tucked away in their web directory</a>.
Thanks, weird internet happenstance.
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: I could not find a photo I took when I turned in my paint, so I found my own photo from a time I did use gray paint on my old deck.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/35388187921"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4211/35388187921_0dc9f62f7a_b.jpg" alt="Paint Tools" width="1024" height="768" /></a>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/35388187921">Paint Tools</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared into the public domain using <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)</a></figcaption></figure>

]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/gray-mcphee-crossing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>Late to the Blog: #OER24, Conferences and Everything But the Presentations</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/everything-but-presentations/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/everything-but-presentations/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:30:37 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Conferencing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Rants]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[OER24]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74194</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Surely I am not alone in wondering if time has been following the same portal as lost socks. But it has been— checking the calendar and not doing the math– a “while” since I left the venue for the OER24 conference in Cork, Ireland. Secret tip: Whenever possible, skip the automated transportation and walk. Even […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Surely I am not alone in wondering if time has been following the same portal as lost socks. But it has been— checking the calendar and not doing the math– a “while” since I left the venue for the <a href="https://www.oer2024.co.uk/">OER24 conference in Cork, Ireland</a>. 
Secret tip: Whenever possible, skip the automated transportation and walk. Even if it takes an hour.
I’m scratching my head at the days when I’d be blogging from the conference, or madly on the way home, or at least the day I got back. I’m now old and slow? But <a href="https://mastodon.social/@magsamond/112185946184321204">it like looks I believe Mags Amond</a> has been <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tjAun_as3spgmvzy5f_o5sOHDHuWsiRG8Aq6kfnAJpo/edit?usp=sharing">tracking post conference blog posts in a Google Doc</a>, and number 18 was just 3 days ago. Late is in the eye of the excuse maker.
So time to stop blogging about not blogging.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Thanks OEGlobal!</h2>
I was rather fortunate my organization, OE Global organized its in person staff meeting 5 days prior to and in the same location as the OER24 conference. The OER[0-9][0-9] Conferences (how about some regex humor) was and this year, confirmed as a conference I’d go to whenever possible. I was on a four year cycle, the first one I attended was 2014 in Newcastle followed by 2018 in Bristol. The frequency dial was sped it to 2 years with 2020 online, 2022 the online side of hybrid, and now 2024. Tada! Is 2026 my next?
The why for why I think this conference is great? Partly the size (~200 or less attendees), but more than that the energy and the people who go. I said a few times at a large conference you might find 10-15% of the attendees who seemed like they were doing the same stuff or the same interests you are, but at OERxx it also seems like way at the top end of the percentage scale. It’s also the approach the conference organizers ALT-C takes, it feels grass roots, so its more like a community gathering than an ego preening fest.
Hardly a quantitative diagnosis, but that’s how they have felt to me.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Key Keynotes</h2>
I’m sure the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tjAun_as3spgmvzy5f_o5sOHDHuWsiRG8Aq6kfnAJpo/edit?usp=sharing">18 preceding #OER24 blog posts</a> have covered the two fabulous keynotes, and I am a bit biased in knowing both presenters as long time colleagues and friends. What I do want to point out, is how humanly and in an engaging manner, gave more than a presentation, but something to be experienced. Something more than the presentation slides.
For the opening, Rajiv Jhangiani wrapped his usually well-crafted big picture messages in a warm bit of storytelling. In “Betwixt fairy tales and dystopian futures” he riffed with the flavor of the local scene, but more than that, provided a powerful storytelling practice of leading us along and then catching us in a turn that ran counter to our expectations, unwinding the original story to dig deeper. It was brilliant, and even. more so being in the room. 
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="OER24 Keynote: Betwixt fairy tales and dystopian futures by Dr Rajiv Jhangiani" width="1600" height="900" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kz5OFUrMCP8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div></figure>
I was fortunate to chat with Rajiv before and he hinted at how he recasted the presentation a few days before while visiting Tom Farrelly, the joy of making a video on Tom’s kitchen table with an iPhone and some rigged lights.
No Sora needed for storytelling.
Also, it was typical Rajiv to open with a heartfelt dedication to our friend Irwin Devries.
Not that there is any topping, but the one/two combo of OEER24 keynotes with Catherine Cronin and Laura Czernowicz on day two was another high point of this conference.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cosocial-ca wp-block-embed-cosocial-ca"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe src="https://cosocial.ca/@cogdog/112172774226250738/embed" class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="800" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://cosocial.ca/embed.js" async="async"></script>
</div></figure>
Their opening (<a href="https://bit.ly/oer24-crossroads">follow in the slides</a>) grabbed us with their (adorable) childhood photos from the 1960s, then mid adult years in the 1990s, and jumping to today, with what they were doing paired with what the world was doing. An unexpected small bit that stayed with me was how they charted the latter with world population in 1960 of 3 billion and CO2 levels in the low 317ppm to today where the world has 8.1 billion humans and CO2 levels of 442ppm.
That is jarring, making clear in more detail, the polycrisis state.
What I appreciate in their keynote was that we in the audience were part of it, not just to be shown slides. I love the 3 people thought reflection in the beginning (a nod to Kate Bowles), the calls for responses to questions, and the asking of the audience to dwell on What could we do right now?
Kudos too for their being more to the presentation- in Catherine’s followup blog post, you have access to <a href="https://bit.ly/oer24-crossroads">the slides</a>, <a href="https://altc.alt.ac.uk/blog/2024/03/oer24-the-future-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/">the essay version of the keynote</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_SjjZYiTE8,">the video to rewatch</a>, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gqYS_WArtXG5zigtAa6MITI-wvNfvvfUhLqmTimWNiQ/edit#gid=0">an editable resource lis</a>t as an invitation to add more, plus a synthesis of the audience responses for the what could we do right now question.
This was, for me, a fantastic demonstration of a presentation being something to experience and participate in, not just a slideshow, and something that has a coda or more to interact with after.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Spaces in Between Schedule Slots</h2>
I so appreciate having the generous times between sessions, including lunches, for not only conversation, but information conversation. Yes, in my first conferences I was too much of a nervous kid to talk to people I did not know, or ask questions, but that’s a powerful part of the experience, and OER24 provided this well. 
Just saying hello to the person behind you waiting for coffee or saying hello to a person you do not know opens opportunity, more than just hanging out with the colleagues you work with. The first morning I wanted just to say hello to Lawrie Phipps, who was standing by the entrance, not knowing that he was actually doing a bit of welcoming and guiding for people entering the refreshment space. It turned out a great way to meet all the people Lawrie knew as well.
Another opportunity that the conference presented, that I appreciate, was being on the campus of <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.mtu.ie/about-mtu/our-campuses/mtu-bishopstown-campus/" target="_blank">Munster Technological University (MTU).</a> Conferences can grow to force them to be at convention centers, but you cannot beat the influence of being on a real campus. Hardly anything is memorable about a conference center, but that feel of the open courtyard and being in classrooms for sessions, and walking down hallways seeing learning spaces, makes a difference.
And then there was the time spent walking through that campus from the large session venue to other buildings- walking is such a great way to meet people, learn about projects. I’ve been influenced on the <a href="https://medium.com/techczech/moving-events-online-part-1-challenges-why-are-not-more-events-taking-place-online-a1b94533649c">writing by Dominik Lukes about the affordances of physical conference spaces</a> such as hallways that we do not often think about when doing events online.
In the last block of the schedule, I was delayed getting to a workshop, and peeking in the door, I saw it was likely not something I could jump into. That became an opportunity to for coffee and casual conversation with Maren Deepwell and Meredith Fiero where we hatched a future idea that (shhhh) involves radio, and a wild conversation with Bryan Mathers where we debated the upside down (or was it inverted) conference session format.
You might aim to maximize a conference experience but stuffing yourself in as many presentations as you can, but siotting one out for open conversation (not reading email) is extremely valuable.
I recall after one session on the walk to lunch, being so caught up in talking to the presenter of a session that I forgot to put my hood up and got to lunch all wet. That is what conversation should be like.
OER24 also provided a balance of after conference options, one night a hosted reception but there was in other nights the times for individual reflection, group dinners, and activities like the pub night honoring for Martin Weller.
Social time is also connection time.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Hello Back Channels</h2>
In another era there was a healthy set of ongoing conversations, session sharing, with both conference attendees and people not there. I forgot the tool, it had some kind of bird icon <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f609.png" alt="😉" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> There’s still a healthy, distributed amount in multiple places (I know people lament the lost one, but hey, <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/03/get-federated-got-gasta/">I had a suggestion</a>, but who listens to me?).
A lot happens in messaging apps.
The conference did offer Slack as a “backchannel”- there was a good amount of introductions and hellos, but I have to grumble that 90% of it was presenters offering links to their slides. There was not a whole lot of conversation.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Oh Yes, Presentations</h2>

Of course, there were presentations. Wrestling with which ones to pick from tracks. 
My conference goal is to learn what I do not know and from people I may not know. I often try a method of picking a session in a topic that seems of least interest from people I do not know. I always get something unexpected out of that strategy.
OER24 has a format for breakout sessions with blocks of four fifteen minutes presentations with an extra fifteen minutes for q&a for all sessions. The conference venue of classrooms with long tight rows turned out to be a positive feature, as it was not really feasible to session hop, so it ended up encouraging at least most of us it seemed, to stay in a room for all four sessions.
The last discussion round was mostly dynamic in the sessions I picked, and I saw at least two or three times that some presentations that seemed like they might not have overlap actually did, and it manifested itself in the discussions.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/10167211675"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/3774/10167211675_3986530141_b.jpg" alt="These Slides Are Dangerous" width="1024" height="683" /></a>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/10167211675">These Slides Are Dangerous</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">Creative Commons (BY) license</a></figcaption></figure>
I do have to harp a bit about presentations. A lot of presenters did not make good use of that short window. I saw way way way too many dense word slides and read scripts. What ever happened to the ideas of <a href="https://www.presentationzen.com/">Presentation Zen</a>? I have to wonder about all this effort to travel for a conference, and what gets communicated in a slide talk is something I could read in a blog post.
As I saw in the keynotes, and yes, they get to be keynotes by developing effective communications skills, a presentation should be an experience. As an audience member, what am I getting out of being in the same room as the presenter, if I am getting just spoken information? It’s not about being a performer or showpersonship, but how do you use the presence (presenter and audience in the room?).
I reach back for Kathy Sierra (blog long gone) writing in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150217030423/http://seriouspony.com/blog/2013/10/4/presentation-skills-considered-harmful">Presentation Skills Considered Harmful</a> her approach of crafting a presentation as a user experience for the audience.
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
When you design for a user experience, you quit focusing on your skills and start focusing on their skills. What experience can you help them have? Can you give them a more powerful perspective? Can you give them a new idea with immediate implementation steps they can’t wait to work on? Can you give them a clear way to finally explain something to others that they’ve been feeling but could not articulate? Can you give them a new tip or trick that has such a high-payoff it feels like a superpower? Can you give them knowledge and insight into a tough topic, so they can have more interesting, high-resolution conversations in the hallway?
And now we’re truly at the heart of what matters most in a presentation. Look at the previous paragraph of experiences you can help them have. What’s the common thread? It’s not really about the user experience they have during your presentation. Like your presentation, their experience of it is also just the enabler for something bigger. Because what matters most is NOT the UX but the POST-UX UX. What happens after and as a result of the user experience? The best software and product designers know this. The best game designers know this. The best authors know this. The best filmmakers know this. What happens after what happens happens?
When they walk away from the user experience, then what? Are they different? Are they a little smarter? Are they a little more energized? Are they a little more capable? Are they a little more likely to talk to others about it?
</blockquote>
That’s certainly what Catherine and Laura did in their keynote
I look for the hook at the start, and not a bullet list of objectives. I want to be drawn in, I want to be riled or revved up, I want to join your cause, or take your course, or try your software. So if you are presenting about a project you did, a vide you produced, a course you created, my simple advice (once called by someone Levine’s Law) — Start with the &#*#ing Demo! Don’t spend time on your vita or the history of your department, or the timeline– show me something! Please!
Maybe my expectations are out of alignment or unrealistic, but please, SHOW more than you TELL. Like Rajiv’s keynote, create an arc for your story, it’s not just information to push out on people.
I have to say I saw more than I’d like to see of underwhelming slideshows… but most at least made up for that in the 15 minute of time for conversation.
For me, I’d rather have the time spent on conversation and the time spent on talking over word slide to be inverted.
As if I have any say.
I must credit OER24 and being on the home turf for Tom Farrelly that the Gasta sessions are a fantastic lift for the last slot. I’m not going to talk about <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/03/get-federated-got-gasta/">my silliness on Gasta</a>, but I encourage anyone if they have a chance to sign up to do one. I encourage you to use it as an opportunity to break out of the normal slide talk mode.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conferences: Everything But the Presentations</h2>
Hey, is anyone still reading? I have a bit of a rationale to this long whinge post. Maybe. I wanted to indicate that there is so much that is valuable in the OER24 conference experience that is outside of the presenting slides to people trapped in chairs. I attempted a bit of Venn-splanation, that likely fails on many fronts
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://www.classtools.net/Venn/202404-PowerpointZZZMysteryFood39fTXN8"><img data-attachment-id="74200" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/everything-but-presentations/screen-shot-256/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-scaled.jpg" data-orig-size="2560,1208" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Screen-Shot-256" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-760x359.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-1280x604.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="604" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-1280x604.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-74200" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-1280x604.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-760x359.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-1536x725.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-256-2048x967.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Slapped together with <a href="https://www.classtools.net/Venn/index.php">Classtools Venn Diagram maker</a></figcaption></figure>
If it needs a caption, I am suggesting what most I think would agree, the conferences are much more than presentations– what is that much more that intersects?
Why am I asking? Well, the planning is in works for the <a href="https://conference.oeglobal.org/2024/">OE Global Conference, November 2024 in Brisbane Australia</a>. My first year working for OEGlobal, 2020, there was this pandemic thing, so the conference, like all others, was forced online. A huge takeaway for me was hearing from how many people it was the first time they were able to be part of this conference. And in 2021 there was an online version followed by in 2022 <a href="https://conference.oeglobal.org/2021/">an in person counterpart held in Nantes, France</a>. As it turned out I was one of many who could not travel due to COVID.
I sought to institute <a href="https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2022/">an “AND” conference approach</a>, not a hybrid one that tries to make it an online conference, but providing other ways of participating if you were “Not in Nantes” (live web streams from Nantes, a few Twitter Spaces live audio chats, asynchronous activities in our online community). The community space offered <a href="https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2022/in-nantes/73">info on the sessions in Nantes</a>, a place for <a href="https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2022/not-in-nantes/75">“Not in Nantes” Unconference style activities</a>, and the <a href="https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2022/interact/76">Interaction Zone as a middle space</a>.

I have been trying always to interject some means of remote participation into in-person events. What I often find is when I say “ways to participate if you cannot be in person” many people almost always go to the problems of doing presentations online.
I too believe that online presentations are not always viable, you do not have the audience capture in those small rooms like we were in at Cork. When you are “home” for a conference, your attention is spread to all the other work, family, home activities. When your employer sends you to another country for a conference, you are going to be present because you are almost constrained to the physical space.
I keep asking- aren’t there more ways to participate in or experience a conference then having an audience listen to you talk over slides? That’s what I tried to outline above- that my conference experience at OER24 was more than about the presentations.
Help me out- how do I get more people on board with thinking of online activities that are not presenting? Is that always at the center?
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Feature Image: My photo, nothing was generated except for displaying the light that fell on my camera sensor. <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/36431240972">Bring Your Presentations!</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared into the public domain using <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)</a>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="74197" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/everything-but-presentations/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1.jpg" data-orig-size="2048,1536" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Alan Levine","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"This photo by Alan Levine has been placed into the Public Domain using Creative Commons CC0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicd","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="36431240972_8eabe9174c_k (1)" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1-760x570.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1-1280x960.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="960" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1-1280x960.jpg" alt="Exterior of a building entrance, the front glass door has plywood over it. The name in large text above is "Presentation Centre"" class="wp-image-74197" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1-1280x960.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1-760x570.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/36431240972_8eabe9174c_k-1.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/everything-but-presentations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>A Little Bit of CSS Shine for the Wayback Links</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/css-shine-wayback-links/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/css-shine-wayback-links/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2024 04:01:30 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[How To]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reclaiming Your Web]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74180</guid>
<description><![CDATA[More in the little web joys of selk tinkering. Rewards you never get by pouring your houghts into some packaged medium sized substack of a LinkedIn space. Self-stylin; as it were. Way back in the pre lock down era of January 2020 I added a little bit of CSS to this blog thang that put […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
More in the little web joys of selk tinkering. Rewards you never get by pouring your houghts into some packaged medium sized substack of a LinkedIn space. 
Self-stylin; as it were. 
Way back in the pre lock down era of January 2020 <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2020/01/signifying-wayback-links/">I added a little bit of CSS to this blog thang that put a small icon adjacent to any hyperlinks to the internet archive</a>. This is, as on an ongoing basis, I find more links other sites from here have bit the 404 dust or just have been clearcut by a discarding of entire sites. Iften when I am rummaging around the corners of CogDogBlog, I find old posts with missing feature images, malformed HTML, and more often than not– ye new dead links.
So it seemed worthy to have a visual indicaor of links to the <a href="https://web.archive.org/">Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine</a>. The CSS I used as based on some early 2000s stuff when I wanted to make clear links to PDFs or other file formats. So a nifty gizmo is you can create a CSS class that snags hyperlinks o specific sites. My style I added in 2020 used a little image stuffed in my server pile:
<pre class="crayon-plain-tag">a&#91;href*="web.archive.org/web"] {
padding: 0px 0 0px 22px;
background: transparent url(https://cogdogblog.com/images/social/archive.png) no-repeat center left;
}</pre>
There was nothing wrong with it, but as sometimes the internets spit out something you were not looking for, in Mastodon I was combing though the local feed of my instance at https://cosocial.ca/ . For some reason this caught my eye where this person was making clear their Wikipedia links. It was similar, but looked a bit more modern than mine, so I was curious to style my own styles.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cosocial-ca wp-block-embed-cosocial-ca"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe src="https://cosocial.ca/@wdenton/112277933140310545/embed" class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="800" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://cosocial.ca/embed.js" async="async"></script>
</div></figure>
I updated my CSS to use a svg icon that was a whopping 2k but also uses the :after subclass or whatever its called to append the icon after a link.
<pre class="crayon-plain-tag">a&#91;href*="web.archive.org/web"]:after {
content:url(https://cogdogblog.com/images/social/intenet-archive.svg);
display:inline-block;
margin-left:.25rem;
width:.8em
}</pre>
Could I have asked ChatGPT to do this for me? Of course, but why? Where’s the craft in that? Why prompt for stuff I can do? I want to keep the rusty code muscles limber. 
So what the beans does it do? Well, for an example, I recently was combing the Wayback for an Australian publication from the mid 2000s that I remember <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071010013146/http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial">an issue of the Knowledge Tree written by my colleague Nancy White</a>, (do you see what it does?) this maybe in the first days I got to know someone I was fortunate enough to work with, visit, and add to my friend circle. I emailed it to Nancy, and as one did often in those days, <a href="https://fullcirc.com/2024/04/18/once-upon-a-time-i-wrote-a-thing/">she blogged about it</a>.
For me, I like having this visual indicator of how much of a blog post I have managed to keep partly alive by nurturing the dead links with archived ones. You can see a lot of the icons on the oldest post I have with links to the Wayback machine, <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2003/11/blogging-in-2/">a 2003 moldy oldie on “Comment Blogging”</a> (what comes around, I might come back for that).
Not sure what this matters, but I derive small satisfaction in tinkering under the hood of the machine.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Update</h2>
As expected, ChatGPT (cheap 3.5 version) was first able to provide more or less what my old code did. <a href="https://chat.openai.com/share/1d582269-626f-436c-b3a6-08e35d79d1c2">When I asked it to improve to use the :after pseudo class it belched out an ugly blob of CSS</a>. I knew it would be a waste of time and <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/chatgpts-energy-use-per-query-9383b8654487">for 2 queries I expended 0.004kW of electricity</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: Mine. Human generated. My dad’s old shoe shine box. <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4444000793">Dad’s Shoe Box</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared into the public domain using <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)</a>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4444000793_fa23356770_c.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="74182" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/css-shine-wayback-links/4444000793_fa23356770_c/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4444000793_fa23356770_c.jpg" data-orig-size="799,532" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"CC-BY creative commons by attribution","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="4444000793_fa23356770_c" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4444000793_fa23356770_c-760x506.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4444000793_fa23356770_c.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="799" height="532" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4444000793_fa23356770_c.jpg" alt="A home built thin wood carrying box with rags and cans insider, and on top are two old tins of shoe polish." class="wp-image-74182" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4444000793_fa23356770_c.jpg 799w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4444000793_fa23356770_c-760x506.jpg 760w" sizes="(max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px" /></a></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/css-shine-wayback-links/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>the pulse of net.art</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/pulse-net-art/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/pulse-net-art/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:41:15 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[On Sharing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Random Musing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[renewmediaart]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74173</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It’s no surprise that Jay Hoffman writing about The Analog Web caught my eye, not for nostalgia, but something that circles forward. I’ve been following Jays History of the Web writing since, well I can’t remember when, and am pleased to see he has gotten federated. Of many points I could grab as a Gardner […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
It’s no surprise that Jay Hoffman <a href="https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-analog-web/">writing about The Analog Web</a> caught my eye, not for nostalgia, but something that circles forward. I’ve been following Jays <a href="https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/">History of the Web</a> writing since, well I can’t remember when, and am pleased to see <a href="https://mastodon.social/@Jayhoffmann">he has gotten federated</a>.
Of many points I could grab as <a href="https://yc-extend.ecampusontario.ca/activities/thought-vectors-and-nuggets/">a Gardner Campbell gold sprinkled “nugget”</a>, his mention of net.art clanged a neuron.
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
For instance, in the much earlier days of the web, a group of artists and writers found each other out amongst the nodes of the network. They began creating websites unified only by a shared interest in what could be achieved on the web. After a while, they gathered under the banner of Internet Art, or net.art for short. Their online creations ranged from hypertext poetry and avant garde stories to websites that extended performances into the real world or challenged the idea of what a website even was.
I refer, <a target="_blank" href="https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/net-art/" rel="noreferrer noopener">as I have before</a>, to Rachel Greene in reference to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/internet-art-softcover" rel="noreferrer noopener">her book about Net.art</a> and the importance of the movement:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
I refuse to let commercial interests dominate the history and perception of the net because I think they would exclude the most important and dynamic internal content – the aesthetic, creative, radical, political ideas and experiments
</blockquote>
<cite><a href="https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-analog-web/">https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-analog-web/</a></cite></blockquote>
On a whim in 2010, during a visit to the hallowed MIT grounds in Cambridge, I picked up some books in the MIT Bookstore.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4976313380"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4132/4976313380_0cc4fdf46a_b.jpg" alt="Books Scooped at MIT Press Store" width="1024" height="683" /></a>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4976313380">Books Scooped at MIT Press Store</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">Creative Commons (BY) license</a></figcaption></figure>
I was working for s<a href="https://www.nmc.org/">ome now defunct organzation</a> that had “new media” in its moniker, but actually did not know the stuff inside had this name of “net.art.” The books content was fully available (once) on a wiki, and all of the exhibits inside were of course visitable on the web.
In 2010.
Sometime much later, I took it on myself to run my own project to revisit the sites, collecting updates, archive links in a tumblr site (wow did I have a time remembering how to login and navigate tumblr-ville) a called <a href="https://re-new-media-art.tumblr.com/">(re) New Media Art</a>. 
Each entry included a screenshot, a link if it existed, if not, an internet archive link. Yup, <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2014/02/new-old-new-media-art/">I guess I blogged about it too</a> it looks like I did a thing with the tumblr RSS feed and ancient syndication trickery to republish them in my blog. <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/tag/renewmediaart/">My gosh it worked</a>, small pieces loosely taped together.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://re-new-media-art.tumblr.com/post/77885538452/life-sharing"><img data-attachment-id="74174" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/pulse-net-art/screen-shot-245/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245.jpg" data-orig-size="1994,1600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Screen-Shot-245" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245-760x610.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245-1280x1027.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="1027" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245-1280x1027.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-74174" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245-1280x1027.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245-760x610.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245-1536x1232.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-245.jpg 1994w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://re-new-media-art.tumblr.com/post/77885538452/life-sharing">My entry for a revisit to the Life Sharing project</a> from the original New Media Art book.</figcaption></figure>
I only got a portion of them done, well maybe only 6 yet another started, partly done CogDogBog
When I taught the Networked Narratives course, I did give my students <a href="https://make.arganee.world/thing/where-is-the-new-media-art-now/">an assignment to research the ones I had not completed, and generate the entry</a> for which they got credit – e.g see the “researched by” credit for the revisit to <a href="https://re-new-media-art.tumblr.com/post/170482679884">My Boyfriend Came Back from the War</a>. The <a href="https://re-new-media-art.tumblr.com/">four newest ones on the site</a> were done by students (and one by the venerable participant in everything @dogtrax).
The point here is Jay’s mention of net.art sent me back to look at my site, its still there, and just out of curiosity, I followed the original link for the Life Sharing site, where the domain itself is art <a href="http://0100101110101101.org/home/lifesharing/index.html">http://0100101110101101.org/home/lifesharing/index.html</a> to find a redirect… woah it is now part of <a href="https://anthology.rhizome.org/">a Rhizome exhibit of Net Art Anthology</a> that is much much better (more media and references) than my crappy tumblr.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://anthology.rhizome.org/life-sharing"><img data-attachment-id="74175" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/pulse-net-art/screen-shot-246/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-scaled.jpg" data-orig-size="2560,1464" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Screen-Shot-246" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-760x435.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-1280x732.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="732" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-1280x732.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-74175" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-1280x732.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-760x435.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-1536x879.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-246-2048x1172.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://anthology.rhizome.org/life-sharing">Net Art Anthology entry for Life Sharing</a> (well worth a scroll stroll)</figcaption></figure>
I have to see the whole Anthology is a rich trove of net.art. That is alive, with a pulse. That’s a lot because it is published in those old formats that still work. You want durability over the long haul? Stay with HTML.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cosocial-ca wp-block-embed-cosocial-ca"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe src="https://cosocial.ca/@cogdog/112283127204086377/embed" class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="800" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://cosocial.ca/embed.js" async="async"></script>
</div></figure>
One link leads to another to another (and Alan getting distracted!)
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: <a href="https://anthology.rhizome.org/simple-net-art-diagram">Simple Net Art Diagram</a> animated GIF by <a href="https://www.mtaa.net">MTAA</a>. The Net Art Anthology states it is licensed under a Creative Commons license” but<a href="https://www.mtaa.net/mtaaRR/off-line_art/snad.html"> the old school source page</a> indicates it is placed into the public domain using Creative Commons CC0. See Nate Angell! Some of us make the distinction clear!
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://anthology.rhizome.org/simple-net-art-diagram"><img data-attachment-id="74177" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/pulse-net-art/netartdiagram/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/netartdiagram.gif" data-orig-size="471,238" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="netartdiagram" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/netartdiagram.gif" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/netartdiagram.gif" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="471" height="238" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/netartdiagram.gif" alt="Animation of a diagram with lines connecting two old computers, like a network. A flashing icon in the middle hgas a label reading "The art happens here"" class="wp-image-74177"/></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/pulse-net-art/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>Blog Post Silly Polo</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/silly-polo/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/silly-polo/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 01:34:46 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Experiments]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fediverse]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[wordpress]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74164</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I hardly have to ask the internet (hey you!) to ignore me, but I am trying one more post as an ActivityPub enabled blog check the formatting when it goes out- this time I have changed the format of the posting to include a title intro, am added excerpt, and a stuffed in hashtag. Already […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
I hardly have to ask the internet (hey you!) to ignore me, but I am trying one more post as an <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/hello-activitypub-on/">ActivityPub enabled blog check</a> the formatting when it goes out- this time I have changed the format of the posting to include a title intro, am added excerpt, and a stuffed in hashtag.
Already some success as<a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/"> my last post did get Fedi-posted</a>, I can’r embed it as the link for it, as it should be, is the original post. 
But, when I <a href="https://cosocial.ca/@cogdog/112277013114117268">replied in Mastodon</a>, the comment came into the blog. And my reply from the blog also went back out.
So i am a federation of one person, 2 accounts, talking to myself. Hence the “silly polo” (I have been waiting to use <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3351769494">that public domain image</a>).
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3351769494">Wild West Polo, Coney Isl. (LOC)</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/library_of_congress">The Library of Congress</a> shared with <a href="https://flickr.com/commons/usage/">no copyright restriction (Flickr Commons)</a> modified me to have a top text of “@Topdog@CoGDogBlog.com Fediverse Posting Polo, Mastodon”. Kind of weird how I do not need to use GenAI to make pictures, eh?
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="74166" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/silly-polo/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b.jpg" data-orig-size="1200,865" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b-760x548.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="865" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b.jpg" alt="Vintage photo of men in floppy hats playing polo, the central player's pole is bent over like its made of rubber, like a clown toy." class="wp-image-74166" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b.jpg 1200w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cogsog-polo3351769494_f6a88b8684_b-760x548.jpg 760w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></a></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/silly-polo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>The Tiny of SPLOT</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:38:42 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Random Musing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[SPLOT]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[smallweb]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[splot]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74153</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I was thinking of the times when I would, now totally sounding naively, exalt about the bigness of the internet which today, which we pursue trendingness to be seen, noticed, affirmed, liked and re-liked. Who wants to spout out and not be heard? I come to celebrate today the small, unnoticed. One of my weirdest […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
I was thinking of the times when I would, now totally sounding naively, <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/albums/72157607752135967/">exalt about the bigness of the internet</a> which today, which we pursue trendingness to be seen, noticed, affirmed, liked and re-liked. Who wants to spout out and not be heard?
I come to celebrate today the small, unnoticed. One of my weirdest to describe efforts, now brown on the edges with aging, was ye old <a href="https://splot.ca/">SPLOTs</a> those hand crafted WordPress themes designed to let people build out sites for collecting/sharing content easily (well what passes for easy). 
One sign is that the internet is big enough for many things named the same– <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=splot+logo">I am not the first to latch on to a name</a>. Will the real SPLOT please stand up (all rise).
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=splot+logo"><img data-attachment-id="74156" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/screen-shot-237/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-237.jpg" data-orig-size="1426,1072" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Screen-Shot-237" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-237-760x571.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-237-1280x962.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="962" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-237-1280x962.jpg" alt="Google search results showing 6 different logos for 6 different web sites named "SPLOT". One is mine, splot.ca" class="wp-image-74156" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-237-1280x962.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-237-760x571.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-237.jpg 1426w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a></figure>
I’ve barely updated, added, tended to SPLOTs, but I do get glimmers of seeing them out in the wild. And even in person, like at the OER24 conference I got to see <a href="https://francesbell.com/">Frances Bell</a> who is most enthusiastic, gracious, appreciative with the use of two SPLOTs in the <a href="https://femedtech.net/">Femedtech web site</a>– so enthusiastic she gave me a SPLOT coffee mug!
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-attachment-id="74157" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/splot-mug/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot-mug.jpg" data-orig-size="1080,812" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="splot-mug" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot-mug-760x571.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot-mug.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1080" height="812" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot-mug.jpg" alt="Smiling an holding a cup with painted splotch design aside a smiling woman, who gave him the cup. They are standing in the hallway of some kind of conference venue." class="wp-image-74157" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot-mug.jpg 1080w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot-mug-760x571.jpg 760w" sizes="(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A SPLOT mug Frances Bell gifted me at OER24, thanks to Sheila Macneil for the photo, I can guess we would slap with a CC-BY linense.</figcaption></figure>
And this morning I got an email from Suzanne who manages the <a href="https://starscapes.openlcc.net/presentations/">Lansing Community College Starscapes site</a>, using <a href="https://github.com/cogdog/splotbox">SPLOTbox</a> for students to post/share media (images, videos, documents) describing projects shared at a college event promoting student creativity. 
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://starscapes.openlcc.net/category/spring-2024/"><img data-attachment-id="74162" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/screen-shot-238/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-scaled.jpg" data-orig-size="2560,1497" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Screen-Shot-238" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-760x444.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-1280x748.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1280" height="748" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-1280x748.jpg" alt="Starscapes features student innovation and creativity as a showcase for lansing Community College, 3 videos shown from the site for projects on Ultrssound Artifacts, Ergonomic in Sonography, and Tissue Harmonics" class="wp-image-74162" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-1280x748.jpg 1280w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-760x444.jpg 760w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-1536x898.jpg 1536w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-238-2048x1198.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://starscapes.openlcc.net/category/spring-2024/">Starscapes student projects submitted for 2024</a></figcaption></figure>
She reported for 2024 they have more submissions than before:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
Being able to offer StarScapes online has doubled the number of students who participate in the event. Right now we are trying to grow the in person event again, as that used to be the only option before the pandemic.
<cite>Suzanne B on use of Starscapes site</cite></blockquote>
It’s out there in the bigness of the internet, right?
I still feel <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/01/happily-splotic-metaphors-sadly-robotic/">compelled to built out image collector sites,</a> even if I am the lone contributor. <a href="https://sadlyrobotic.cogdogblog.com/">If anyone ever adds an image</a>, it will be noticed somewhere.
At one time I had the idea to make a SPLOT where people could upload text and then make it available to do blackout poetry, but evnetually someone came along and did this in a much better form, see <a href="https://emergepoems.com/">Emerge Poems</a> (that was likely you @dogtrax, great find).
In these days I am finding solace in the tiny over the big. At least that’s what I whisper to myself. Anyone else out there celebrating the tiny? There’s more of it than you think.
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: Modified my own image <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/16293878467">Those Peaks Are Tiny</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">Creative Commons (BY) license</a> to put the SPLOT logo I created inside the fingers, make it all CC BY and call it a day.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="74160" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c.jpg" data-orig-size="800,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"cc licensed ( BY-SA ) photo by Alan Levine","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c-760x570.jpg" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="600" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c.jpg" alt="Closeup of a thumb and forefinger with a blurry image of a mountain in the back, between the fingers is a logo that reads SPLOT" class="wp-image-74160" srcset="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c.jpg 800w, https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/splot16293878467_0b9bbb2452_c-760x570.jpg 760w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></a></figure>
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/the-tiny/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>Hello [Fedi] World, ActivityPub On</title>
<link>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/hello-activitypub-on/</link>
<comments>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/hello-activitypub-on/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CogDog The Blog]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 02:39:41 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Blog Pile]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fediverse]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[mastodon]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://cogdogblog.com/?p=74146</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There was a moment at the [brilliant] #OER24 conference keynote duo by Catherine Cronin and Laura Czernowicz “The future isn’t what it used to be: Open education at a crossroads” when they asked the audience to Menti respond to a question about what we should do as an action. Watching the responses roll by when […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
There was a moment at the [brilliant] <a href="https://catherinecronin.net/conferences/post-oer24-keynote/">#OER24 conference keynote duo by Catherine Cronin and Laura Czernowicz</a> “The future isn’t what it used to be: Open education at a crossroads” when they asked the audience to Menti respond to a question about what we should do as an action.
Watching the responses roll by when I saw one that said “Blog!” I leaned forward and tapped <a href="https://blog.edtechie.net/">Martin Weller</a> on the shoulder to whisper “I see you!”
Let’s say I have been slow on that front (as Martin keeps punding them out), I have still a draft on in my brain from the conference.
That’s not this one.
I am actually just attempting to open the blocked blog flow here, with just a little nothing note, that as of this post, this WordPress powered blog (so old fashioned, eh?) is now, err once again, pumping out the posts, when/if they actually happen, directly to the Fediverse, to Mastodon, via the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub/">ActivityPub plugin</a>.
Zzzzz. Hardly worth a blog post, is it?
Well I did a short run with it before it became part of the Automattic ship, back in maybe November 2022. it worked indeed publishing as an entity known as <code>@topdog@cogdogblog,com</code>, but for me, I was really looking for the means to publish to my existing Mastodon, after all it’s my stuff, and I want to reply to replies if there were anything, as me. 
I went down a different route, using <a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2022/11/gizmo-to-mastodon/">a duct taped approach of an IFTTT applet that listened to my blog’s RSS feed and posted to my Mastodon account</a> via a webhook. I’ve since made a batch of these, some to post stuff to Mastodon I have tagged in Pinboard, even having my flickr photos tagged with my dog’s name posted to his own Mastodon account (this approach got nicked when IFTTT took away the ability to use web hooks from the free accounts, and I have been moving some to make.com which is vastly more powerful service).
I like having stuff flow into my own stream, not some other one. Plus with these tools, I had some flexibility to customize the output, you know , my personal touch, like putting “Just CogDogBlogged:” before the title and slapping a hashtag on the end.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cosocial-ca wp-block-embed-cosocial-ca"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe src="https://cosocial.ca/@cogdog/112164819314566446/embed" class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="800" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://cosocial.ca/embed.js" async="async"></script>
</div></figure>
But I have been seeing more use of the WordPress plugin and mentions of more features. Just on a whim, last week, I added the ActivityPub plugin to the <a href="https://podcast.oeglobal.org/">OE Global Voices podcast site</a> I managed (on WordPress) just to see how easy it was to set up.
<a href="https://podcast.oeglobal.org/2024/04/11/voices-in-the-fediverse/">Dead easy</a>.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cosocial-ca wp-block-embed-cosocial-ca"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe src="https://cosocial.ca/@cogdog/112254927447474810/embed" class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="800" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://cosocial.ca/embed.js" async="async"></script>
</div></figure>
And then, one of those little things happen than remind me the human connections in this ginormous ball of web yarn is what makes it worth it.
I am fortunate that someone like Jon Udell follows my posts, and replies, and as its done, <a href="https://social.coop/@judell/112256574516011160">he mentions Matthias Pfefferle</a> who is the genius behind the plugin, and then Matthias is asking me questions about my set up for podcasting, and lets me know of a new audio feature coming out this week.
If somehow my spitting out a mention of a small experiment leads me to talking directly to the person who builds the software? well heck, that is something I would latch on to rather than foaming on about prompt engineering.
And hence, IU am thinking, why not set it up again here on the home blog, my roost since 2003. That’s something you don’t get cashing in your chips to blog on Wix or tossing it all into email newsletter platforms. I am of the dwindling mindset of those who not only want to own my own web corner and platform, I want to play with it, tinker, and pop the hood once in a while to admire the engine.
Well this was more than a Hello World thing to test how this will spawn out into the Fedivserse. But that is my human, far from efficient way to do things.
It will thus be spit out twice to the fediverse, using each approach. Like anyone cares about my repetition and redundancy.
Now that the blog gate is open, maybe more words can get out the door here.
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>
Featured Image: My own remix of Botticelli Birth of Venus as an homage to the blog loving <a href="https://bavatuesdays.com/">Jim Groom</a>, with the faces of the original DTLT team admiring his blog form.
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/13850105375"><img data-attachment-id="74149" data-permalink="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/hello-activitypub-on/13850105375_53397d78f9_o/" data-orig-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/13850105375_53397d78f9_o.png" data-orig-size="640,360" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="13850105375_53397d78f9_o" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/13850105375_53397d78f9_o.png" data-large-file="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/13850105375_53397d78f9_o.png" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://cogdogblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/13850105375_53397d78f9_o.png" alt="A remix of Botticelli's birth if venus, where the lass on the shell has the face of Jim Groom, a DS106 tshirt, and faces added to the onlookers of the other old DTLT team frim UMW" class="wp-image-74149"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/13850105375">Tell Me Again About My Blog!</a> flickr photo by <a href="https://flickr.com/people/cogdog">cogdogblog</a> shared under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">Creative Commons (BY) license</a></figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://cogdogblog.com/2024/04/hello-activitypub-on/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>

If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:

Download the "valid RSS" banner.
Upload the image to your own server. (This step is important. Please do not link directly to the image on this server.)
Add this HTML to your page (change the image src attribute if necessary):

<a href="http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//cogdogblog.com/feed/rss2"><img src="valid-rss-rogers.png" alt="[Valid RSS]" title="Validate my RSS feed" /></a>

If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:

http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//cogdogblog.com/feed/rss2

Home · About · News · Docs · Terms