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HoverzineMay 21, 2012

Volume 1Issue 2

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Inside

Building your Content Stream - Third IterationWhat is happiness?Monologue 5/15User Testing Opportunities

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The Webmaster Diaries

Building your Content Stream - Third IterationThis week I was pretty excited when I published the first issue of the Hovercast, a compilationof a weeks worth of web posts. I announced the issue inside the stream of content for the May21 issue of the Hovercastwhich should come out either next Monday or Tuesday (my cut offdate is 5/21). Even as I am writing about the zine version of the Hovercast, Ive been thinkingthat I should call it the Hoverzine instead.

Ive published a lot of different things over the years, but this is the first time that its happenedbecause most of my theories about the flow content were coming true. I was able to consistentlycompose my writing inside Google Docs, publish it as a webpage or document, present it viaWeebly, and then share it via Facebook and Twitter. Once I was able to compile the articlesinto the Hovercast(Soon to be the Hoverzine), I had already scored my first victory. The zine is

only an exercise in curation, so by then most of my work had been done. Now Im watching tosee if the compilation has better traction that the same documents when they were published assingle-topic articles.

You caught me monologuing

This was also the first week when I was able to write a Monologue. I picture the monologueas a type of post-newspaper era version of the Note from the Editor that you might have onceread inside newspaper. However, when I write it I think of it as more like the monologue that talkshow hosts give at the beginning of their episode. Like when Conan OBrien cracks a few jokesabout current events.

My first monologue followed the same pattern. I brought up some odds and ends about thingsgoing on in the community which would normally be difficult to stretch out into a full standalonearticle. I also see the monologue as a way of referring back to my favorite articles, or maybe talkabout an idea I have for a future article.

These are my collections

My only remaining struggle has been with settling on a method of presenting the content thatI write. So far Ive been sticking with Weebly, but I really liked the idea of using Google Sites,and for a while it looked like Google Docs might be the way to go. Id prefer to cut out Weeblybecause it would be one less hop, but then Facebook and Twitter dont always pull in thepreview correctly when I reference the article as a webpage. I steered away from Google Sites

when I discovered that the embedded documents arent going to work on mobile devices (itdidnt work at all for my iPad, at least). At least with Weebly Im directing the reader to either theGoogle Doc (which should always work) or the contents activity feed (On Trello, which I knowworks on most devices).

The Hovercast has actually gone so well that Ive shifted the pages around in Weebly so thatthe homepage is now this weeks stream, and then previous streams are stored under an

Archive tab. I hid any references to other publications because it just seems like the Hovercastis my strongest content vehicle.

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These are my collections on Facebook

On Facebook, the Hovercast fan page is a silent partner to all of my other pages. I haveregularly been posting content on the Hovercast page, and then sharing those links with theother pages. This works pretty well, but I am not sure yet if there are downsides. For example,

if I am spoiling my stats tracking by moving things around so much. Also, when I share a linkseven times that creates duplicates around Facebook. Im not sure how that looks to people.

However, this helps to confirm my theory that Facebook could support two kinds of fan pages:One for the daily posts, and the other for longer, more long term articles. In other words,Shepherd Today and Hartland Today are my social media engines, while the Hovercast fanpage is my content engine. Both are needed, but only one will generate the majority of mycontent which goes into some kind of publication.

I have launched a sister fan page to the Shepherd Today called The Shepherd Journal. Mythinking is that Shepherd Today will continue to report on the more immediate news andinformation, while the Shepherd Journal will look farther ahead into the future with its stories.

Then, posts on the Shepherd Journal could be shared on the Shepherd Today. If things workout right, I will have increased the quality as well as the quantity of the content which is postedon Shepherd Today and built the foundation for a publication.

Google Currents

Speaking of publications, Ive also created a Google Currents version of the Hovercast. Ifyou go tothis address, you will be able to download Googles Currents app andsubscribe tothe Currents version of the Hovercast. Ive really enjoyed Google Currents because it allowsyou to import and then modify Google Docs that you have saved in your account. Up untilnow, I havent seen any tool that would allow you to import content andallow you to makemodifications before you publish it.

Google Drive

After I upgraded my Google Docs account to Google Drive, I discovered that when someonevisits your folder on Google Drive, they will see a navigation tree on the left and thumbnailrepresentations of your Google Docs on the right most prominent frame. So in other words itis now possible to organize your files into a folder and then allow your readers to browse themlike pages in a publication by sharing that folder and then distribiting the folders URL. Its notperfect, but I could see a lot of potential here.

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What is happiness?It turns out that humans are born with the need to seek out things that make us happy. Babies,for example, are born preferring sweet foods, smooth surfaces, and pretty faces. Later on its our

outlook on life that controls whether or not we are happy.

You are invited to join me in a free discussion about happiness inside an EduGuide Team athttp://www.eduguide.org.This short term discussion will use video and web resources to sparkdiscussion about this subject. Participants are also welcomed to share their thoughts abouthappiness.

Join the discussion bygoing here, or email me for more information at [email protected].

This discussion will also help me to test a new feature that we are currently working on for thewebsite.

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Monologue 5/15

About fifteen years ago, I might have called this a Letter from the Editor, given that I amaddressing my readers directly and writing in the first person. Ive called this a monologuebecause the whole concept of a Hovercast is modeled after the late night talk shows. Myfavorite lately has been Conan OBrien. Conan, Leno, and David Letterman all kick their showsoff with a monologue which pulls from current events.

My monologue wont be quite as sophisticated, nor as funny, but I think that it gives me thechance to tie everything that has been said--or, in some cases will be said--throughout theweek.

Be sure to check out my call for user testers in User Tester Opportunities. I have a couple offeatures coming up that could really use the feedback, and our user testing program is still newso just having a few people on board as user testers will help me to work out any kinks. If you

are interested but dont want to make a long-term commitment, thats perfectly okay. I will haveassignments which are both short- and long-term.

One of my properties is the Facebook fan page calledShepherd Today. It allows me to sharenews about upcoming events in my community. There is aSpaghetti Dinnerbeing put on by theShepherd Soccer Club on May 18. For details,read this flyer.

There is also a Health Fair coming up on May 19th. For more information,check out this flyer.

I just watched an interesting video on Google+. Teachers video bombed their students whilethe students were recording an interview about the end of the school year. The teachers wouldsneak into the background and begin dancing wildly while the student talked. Its great to see

teachers that arent afraid to have a little bit of fun. The video can be seenhere, and is the firstitem Ive added to my list of favorited links for the week. You can view that listhere.

On a more personal note, last night I was showing my daughter how easy it is to create acartoon on goanimate.com. As I demonstrated the process, I began to remember how easy itactually was to use the sites tools to create an animation. Through a little bit of extra fiddling, Iwas able to produce aquick animation that I wanted to share.

If I was really a talk show host, it would feel right to end my monologue by saying that I havea great show planned, but I really cant say that because I dont know what I will be writingduring the next few days. Ive had some ideas, but I never truly know what will be produced untilI sit down and start writing.

So, the best I can do is assure you that I will be sharing a lot of great stuff during the rest of theweek, and then sometime around next Monday or Tuesday I will be compiling the best articlesinto a collection.

Also, if youre interested in contributing to my weekly Hovercasts, please contact me [email protected] or like the fan page forHovercast on Facebook.

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User Testing OpportunitiesI am currently looking for people who would like to help out my organization by testing our

website and then giving feedback. I am looking for beta testers who are interested in tryingthings out every once in awhile and answering some quick questions, but I also have twoprojects in mind that are currently being worked on.

EduGuide Goals - We are currently in the process of revamping our goals system. Youcan currently try out the personal goal system on our website at EduGuide.org. Theupdate will include a cleaner design and some additional features. The new version ofgoals is scheduled to go live this month, and Im going to need 15-25 people who wouldbe able to spend some time testing it and then sending us their feedback. I might also beable to send you screenshots with questions to get your feedback before we go live.

EduGuide Mentoring Tool - We currently have a new feature in the design stageswhich would allow mentors, teachers, advisors, etc., to schedule and then engage instructured discussions with their students via the web. Id like to share some images with

a few testers just to get their input, but as we get close to launching Ill be looking forindividuals who want to go onto the live site and help me test.

Any time or feedback that you can give will help. If you want to take a look at the website andjust share some thoughts, the URL ishttp://www.eduguide.org.If you would like to be a betatester, join theEduGuide User Group (eGUG)on Facebook, or onEduGuides Website, oremail me at [email protected]:Web|Google Doc |Activity Feed|

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