We did it!
We all survived the first week of bootcamp and ds106! YAY.
So far I am really enjoying the class and I am excited to see what we will be doing in the coming weeks. Let me just say that some of you have some crazy awesome video making skills (shoutout to Amber and Jennifer ) and I’d be lying if I wasn’t totally jealous of you!
Anywho, I should probably reflect on my first week of ds106, since really that’s what this post is about.
Review on Weekly Media:
First up, we were asked to review 4 pieces of media and pick out the “nuggets” that stood out to us. Overall I really enjoyed the three videos and the sheet of rules. Below you will find a more details account of my opinions on this week’s media.
1. Robert Hughes. To be honest, this video was pretty difficult for me to get through. However, I thought it was interesting how the author said that art is trying to get adults to have a complex relationship with the world, as children do. In this, I believe Mr. Hughes is saying that children are much more free-flowing and willing to let whatever comes to mind, come out in some form of art. Whereas, adults are more strict and structured and creativity for adults is not as complex as it is for children, who build and build upon what they are doing. Adults tend to perform the task at hand, and call it a day. Another interesting point he brings up is that the basic goal of art is to make the world whole and comprehensive. I don’t believe I have a true appreciation for art. Sure I can look at a picture and say “that’s pretty/not pretty/what is happening here?” but I don’t really feel that I can delve into a piece of art and feel what the artist felt as s/he made it. I feel that Mr. Hughes is saying that the main objective in art is to make the world more appreciative and educated on what is going on in the creative atmosphere. I wish I could say I understood it more. UMM.. did any of that just make sense?
2. This video by Stephen Johnson is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before! I only have one word to describe my reaction too it: WOW. I was completely blown away by this video and Mr. Johnson’s drawing abilities with a dry-erase marker! I love how he said that ideas need time to develop and that they need to “mingle” and to be shared among others in order to grow and deepen. I completely agree with his point that the use of technology allows us to find our “missing pieces.” Social Media allows for people to work across states, nations, and even continents, through the use of a computer. Sharing ideas is all about expanding our knowledge and helping others with their goals.
3. I LOVE the whole idea behind Ted Talks! So I knew Kelli Anderson‘s video was going to be good. But what I didn’t realize, was how good it was going to be! My mind was blown by everything she did, but that wedding invitation was just out of control! Seriously, who ever thought that someone could make music with paper! I love when Kelli said, ” [There are] hidden talents [in] everyday things” and “go mess with the rational.” It’s really amazing what people can do with everyday objects.
4. Reading through John Cage‘s “Rules for Student’s and Teachers” was refreshing. I have a type-A personality and sometimes doing creative things is a stretch for me, because I get focused on something being “perfect.” I think rule 8 shows that side of me and I need to work on having a “creative flow” and not analyzing everything all the time.
Daily Create of the week:
So I’ve made Vlogs before for my personal blog. But I still get a bit nervous before filming. I cannot stand to hear my voice (It sounds so different to me), but I think most people feel that way about their own voice, so it’s good to know I’m not alone. I think when I posted my video there were quite a few already posted. I watched some and I thought everyone (of the one’s I watched) were really good! Hope y’all liked my story 
Social Media Links:
Twitter
Flickr
Youtube
SoundCloud
Twitter Introduction:
(Picture from flickr)
https://twitter.com/kncrotty/status/291012584566571008
Update: I’ve tried everything with this twitter url and can’t get it to show.
About me page:
Here is the link with my About me page!
First week reflection:
So this week was kinda crazy, to say the least! I felt pretty good about how things were going, I got everything setup, then I realized that it was all for my main domain name, not the ds106 website 
BOO! Luckily our AWESOME professor @cogdog helped me out and got me straight. WHEW!I had a few other issues with embedding links in my first post, but luckily with a little more advice from @cogdog I quickly fixed the problem.
WIth my other blog, I use blogger, so wordpress is so different and a bit of a challenge for me. I am glad I get the opportunity to work with it though. I SO appreciate the tutorials on how to set everything up and get started! So helpful. While at times I was frustrated, I know that I will be able to learn a lot from this course and not all of it will be hard (or at least I hope not!).
I am excited about all the different projects we will have in the class. I am excited about being able to create different things using my computer and become more proficient with different online and computer programs. I am dreading feeling completely and utterly overwhelmed. I hope to avoid that feeling at all costs, but I know certain times in this semester are going to be just too much to handle and so I’m just going to have to work through it, the best I can.
Well it seems I’m still having issues with embedding links. Tried to embed the first twitter post, using the instructions and it would not work at all. So I had to take a screenshot of it.
Alrighty, I am signing off for now! I’ll check back in soon though, don’t miss me too much 
Kaitlyn
You are doing awesome so far, Kaitlyn.
I do what you to know how to embed the tweet- its not having there that matters as much as knowing how to. But I would need to know more what the problem is (I can guess).
What you need is the URL for that single tweet which you can find by clicking the link on the date stamp or https://twitter.com/kncrotty/status/291012584566571008
This is the URL that should be alone on the line (it might work here in the comment, I am not sire)
https://twitter.com/kncrotty/status/291012584566571008
If all you see when you publish is the URL, there is a chance that the formatting is messing with it. Copy it and then delete it from your blog editor, write something like “insert tweet here”
Then click the “text” button in the top right of your editor. This puts you in the mode where you see all the HTML markup that formats your page. Find the place where you see that “insert tweet here” and delete it.
Then paste that URL for the tweet alone on tis line.
You can click back to the visual editor, but when you publish it should be embedded.
Give it a try>
(I can see the comment automatically makes it a link, you dont want that, sorry)
Alright. So I get how to embed the media. But I am getting, what you described in your comment. Anytime I put the link in, it shows up as just the URL. I did what you suggested as far as entering into the text page and it’s still showing up with just the URL. I even cut and pasted the whole post into the text section, which ended up resulting in all my hyperlinks disappearing and me having to re-enter them.
As you can see I am still just getting the URL for the twitter introduction. If you can offer any other insight, I’d gladly take it. I appreciate your help.
You had an awesome first week in Bootcamp; and for all the things that you struggled with, they are the ways you learn things by doing… I guarantee that it will pay off in the long run of the semester. I am happy to see you have Blogger experience. AT a conceptual level, the two platforms do the same thing, but yes, the mechanics are different. Blogger is fine, but WordPress is more powerful and you can do many things not possible in Blogger.
I like to see that you are using hyperlinks; these are essential in web writing to connect what you are writing to sources or related content. What I really like is the conversational language you are using here, keep going there. You will want to use the category set up I mentioned last week; this post, for example, ought to be in a category called “Weekly Reflections” or “This week in ds106″ or “Stuff My Professor Makes Me Write Each Week” (I dont care what you call it), but they will make it easy to have one link that points to all your reflections at the end of the semester.
You made great insights into the videos, especially the Hughes one. I choose it because it is a bit hard to unravel, and your identifying the benefit of a child like approach to creativity. This how class will be a chance to ask what art of storytelling is rather than me trying to act like I can tell you. It is all a question we will explore together.
I’m glad you enjoyed the Johnson video – you should know that he is not doing the drawing, these are done by a group of artists who sketch out the animations based on a recorded talk. We will get a chance to learn more about this in the next few weeks from a colleague who does this kind fo visual notetaking.
Don;t sweat the twitter embed thing, you did what I wanted to and tried. If you really are determined, let me know, and we can set up a time when you can share your screen and I can watch exactly what you are doing, but it sounds like to me you did everything correctly.
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