Tag: opensource

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Educators to Follow on Mastodon for Innovative Teaching Insights

I have been using Mastodon for almost six years. I continue to be amazed at the quality of discourse and the diverse community of educators and folks interested in education in the Fediverse. If you are a person who is accustomed to algorithm driven centralized social networks then Mastodon is going to seem a bit unusual at first. If you are WordPress user you can connect your blog to Mastodon with the ActivityPub plugin. You don’t need a blog to connect to Mastodon. You just need to create an account on anyone of dozens of Mastodon instances that exist around the world. One you are connected to an instance you can find other users and connect to them whether they are on your particular server instance or not.

Mastodon communications are driven by hashtags which many of you are already familiar with. Some of my favorites are #edtech

A toot on Mastodon is typically five hundred characters long. Like other microblogging platforms you may have used before brevity is prized but there’s more than enough space to get your information across and then you use hashtags to let your audience know what your toot is about.

Here’s a list of twenty-one educators currently using Mastodon.

Eric Sheninger – @esheninger@mastodon.social
Sandy Kendell – @SandyKendell@mastodon.education
Wesley Fryer – @wfryer@mastodon.cloud
Martin Dougiamas – @martin@openedtech.social
Alice Barr – @alicebarr@techhub.social
Miguel Guhlin – @mguhlin@mastodon.education
EdTech Group – @edtech@chirp.social
Clint LaLonde – @clintlalonde@mastodon.oeru.org
Doug Holton – https://mastodon.social/@dougholton
Anna Millis – @amills@mastodon.oeru.org
Open at Virginia Tech – @openatvt@fosstodon.org
SPARC – @sparc@mastodon.social
Project Gutenberg – @gutenberg_org@mastodon.social
Smithsonian Magazine – @Smithsonianmag@flipboard.com
Steven Beschloss – @StevenBeschloss@mastodon.social
Bill Fitzgerald = @funnymonkey@freeradical.zone
WikiEducation – @WikiEducation@wikis.world
CreativeCommons – @creativecommons@mastodon.social
Edutopia – @edutopia@mastodon.education
Cognitively Accessible Math – @geonz@mathstodon.xyz
NPR – @npr@mastodon.social
Open Source Science – @os-sci@mastodon.social

In conclusion, Mastodon offers a refreshing alternative to traditional, algorithm-driven social networks. Its decentralized nature and vibrant community provide an enriching environment for educators and those passionate about education. Whether you’re sharing your thoughts, discovering new ideas through hashtags, or connecting your WordPress blog with the ActivityPub plugin, Mastodon opens up a world of possibilities. Embrace the change and dive into meaningful conversations on this unique platform. Happy tooting!

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Two Years

It’s been two years since I retired or almost that long and in that space of time I’ve found time to do as much or more than I ever did before. Since January I have been writing for Opensource.com and today I found out that two of my interviews made it to the top ten interviews on the site for the first six months of the year. That’s gratifying but also humbling too. I remember praying a few years ago about finding a job where I could research and write and that is exactly what I am doing. Add to that I am part of a much larger whole. I am part of a team of selfless souls who make the community of moderators and content managers at Opensource.com.

In addition to my recent work with Opensource.com I’ve found lots of other ways to give back to the community. I’ve recently become involved in a local food pantry which is operated by Catholic Charities of Buffalo. The patrons come from around the Franklinville area and it too is an answered prayer although one of a more recent nature. My prayer life has deepened and I’m more relaxed most of the time than I ever have been. The open source community of which I am a part invites the humanitarian, compassionate and contemplative within me and I see it’s application everywhere. Recently I was given a chance to refurbish two ten year old computers and I installed Lubuntu, which is a version of Ubuntu Linux on them. Yesterday I was thinking that there might be an opportunity to help some lower income members of the community with these two older computers. Exactly how they might be deployed I’m not sure yet but there is an opportunity to give back in yet another way.

I’m grateful for each day. Peace.