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Barcamp Jonesboro 2010

Brandon — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:56:40 +0000

I will be attending Barcamp Jonesboro 2010! I am very excited to participate in the many discussions about the web and social media.

What is Barcamp?

A BarCamp is an “unconference” – an open, participatory event where the attendees are the presenters. The first BarCamp was held in Palo Alto, Ca., in 2005. Since then more than 350 cities on six continents have hosted BarCamps. The first BarCamps focused on early-stage web applications, open-source technologies, and open data formats; but the format has been adapted to serve a variety of other industries and issues, including public transit, health care, real estate and political organizing.

If you are in the Jonesboro Arkansas area get registered and I will see you there!

Why tabs are on top in Firefox 4

Brandon — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:04:18 +0000

In the Firefox 4 nightly builds, and in Firefox 4 Beta 1, we are changing the default tab position so that tabs are on top. This is a preference that users can change by right clicking on any of their toolbars. Moving the default tab position is obviously a significant and to some extent controversial change to the Firefox UI, which is why we made the video above to help explain our rationale.

Contributors who are active in the Mozilla community will know that this debate literally goes back for years. So in some respects this video will serve as quick summary of all of the different arguments both for an against the change. But the more interesting part isn’t about looking back, it’s about looking forward. Recently modern browsers have been transitioning to placing tops on top, and that decision isn’t arbitrary, it isn’t about fashion. The change to placing tabs on top isn’t about one browser versus another browser, it’s about the evolution of the Web as a platform. Read the rest at Alex Faaborg’s Blog.

Red Apple Inn located in Heber Springs Arkansas

Brandon — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:46:28 +0000

I enjoyed my stay here during our Superintendent’s Retreat. The inn has free WiFi, nice rooms, beautiful scenery, and a golf course.
Red Apple Inn website is here.

The Future of News

Brandon — Mon, 17 May 2010 04:52:27 +0000

A discussion of the future of news with Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine, Steve Coll of the New America Foundation (ex of the Washington Post) and John Sturm of the Newspaper Association of America:

Read the full story on the BuzzMachine

This is Bullshit. (Lecture by Jeff Jarvis)

Brandon — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:43:51 +0000

Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine gave a lecture about how lectures are outmoded forms on education and news. Listening to his talk I remembered being in Junior High School feeling like I was getting the cookie cutter education that Jeff talks about in this video.

I like when he pointed out that in this age of information at our fingertips, learning memorisation is a waste. I believe Jeff is correct. If you can find the facts and conduct research on your own doesn’t that show you have truly learned something? Jeff also talks about how standardized tests are not needed. I will never forget the day when we stopped reading literary works in twelfth grade literature class to get ready for the test coming up at the end of the year. I often wonder what great stories I could have read.

Interview With David Paterson

Brandon — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:51:55 +0000

David Paterson is the screenwriter and producer of the film “Bridge to Terabithia”. David was one of our presenters at the Arkansas Filmmakers Workshop 2010 in Hot Springs Arkansas. The local Arkansas’ students watched the film and had a Q&A with David Paterson afterward. David sat down with me and talked about the story behind “Bridge to Terabithia”, offered advice to young filmmakers and artists, and gave us some information on some of his upcoming projects.

Thank you again David.
Katherine Paterson’s website can be found here.

Interview With Suzi Yoonessi

Brandon — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:30:20 +0000

The Arkansas Filmmakers Workshop was held February 18th-20th 2010 in Hot Springs Arkansas. The venue was the historical Arlington Hotel. Suzi Yoonessi was one of the presenters that conducted workshops for film and design students from local schools in Arkansas. Suzi took time to sit down with me and talk about her upcoming movie she directed “Dear Lemon Lima” and give some advice to young filmmakers.

Thank you again Suzi.

Connect with Suzi:
Movie Site
Twitter
Facebook Group