Been so busy with work, home, dog, commute, and visitors from other-space that I have thoroughly neglected this space. With that as my excuse, and I am sticking with it, consider this a mini-post to touch on some educational/technology topics that have been filling my days to brimming over.

• Using Drupal to rapidly prototype a site on a cultural competency curriculum.
• Learned (and love) Django for Tomorrow Unlimited.
• Digging Eclipse with PyDev, Subclipse, and Mylyn (formerly Mylar).
• Pro bono consulting on Hella Delicious. Further evidence that good content is what really matters.
• VC keeps calling for Plone/Zope/Zeo/Apache help on the Jehle/Reny economics site.
• Putting together QA process with folks at CCNMTL.
• Nursing faculty are loving podcasts.
• Recently re-read the Foundation series. I miss Isaac, and am thankful that I can spend time with him through his works.
• Currently reading The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt & Thomas.

In cleaning my house, I found an early copy of the Digital Tour of Poughkeepsie DVD I produced with Leonard Nevarez at Vassar over the last three years. I hope to post some clips, stills, and a write-up describing the project, its goals, and the techniques we used to get it done.

I added Google AdSense code to these pages today. I don’t expect to monetize much from this site, but who knows. Is it selling out? Maybe, but only if I get paid. I tried to make them unobtrusive without violating the terms of service. For a few minutes, until I read the service agreement carefully, the ads showed up only if you clicked on right-hand window shade. If you don’t want to see the ads, I recommend that you use any number of RSS readers to browse this site. I don’t plan on putting ads in there.

Last time I blogged with any kind of regularity (for about 25 seconds, or ten posts) ended when I accepted the Media Cloisters curatorship at Vassar College. It was a one year appointment that stretched into 3 years and 8 months of the most productive and engaging work I have ever done. I mentored marvelous students (Sorry, you all deserve links. Send them to me, and I will put them up. Or find them.), worked with faculty (See above.), had great colleagues (See above.), took on unexpected roles, played roller-hockey, and got a puppy, π.

Last week, I started working at Columbia University. I am attached to the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching & Learning, and I work out of the Armory at 168th Street, supporting the faculty at the Columbia University Medical Center.

A resolution I have made is to start documenting what I am reading and thinking about educational technology. To date, I have no formal training in this area. I have relied on instinct to get me this far. I don’t think that will cut it, especially if I hope to pursue an advanced degree.