Headless ds106 Week 2

It’s the end of week 2 in Headless #ds106, time to take stock of how my learning and experiences have connected with DS106. This week I talked about DS106 a lot in face to face and online communities, I did three Daily Creates, and I thought about all of the Daily Creates and planned how I might participate.

The theme this week was Getting Through Bootcamp / Personal Cyber Infrastructure. Many of the suggested activities are ones that I have explored over the past six months as I have been actively managing my digital footprint. I have a blog, and have explored ways to sort and present my idea so I spent my time on the Daily Creates.

When I first heard about the @DailyCreates I thought they were a good idea but I didn’t have time to participate. This summer Karen Young explored the Daily Creates in our Post Etmooc Blog Reading Group and I decided to give them a try.

I was surprised at how resistant to being creative on demand I was the first few times I tried the Daily Create. The perfectionist in me stepped in and everything took much longer than the 15-20 minute suggested time commitment. When I took less time, I struggled with posting work that was not polished and perfect. I also initially resisted creating a Flickr account, although I take a lot of photos, I have only been sharing them on my blog, not via any type of photo sharing community.

I did three daily creates this week. I love reading about the DailyCreate just after I get into work and thinking about how I can participate.

On September 2nd I recorded this Digital Story of my Key Chain for tdc603. I still remember the feeling of freedom when I got rid of all of the old keys that were cluttering up my key chain, I am still proud of how few keys I carry.

On September 3rd I created this Headless Self-Portrait for TDC604. It was a challenge for a few reasons. I had to get Paris to help me by taking the photos, and teach her how to take photos without moving the camera. And I used the Gimp, I don’t use the Gimp very often, and although I know it will do what I need it to do, I usually find it frustrating to figure out how to do it. I used this assignment to remind myself how to use layers in the Gimp, and how to move the layers and adjust the colours.

On September 4th I took several different photos for TDC605 and ended up submitting this one. I love the idea of finding Calm in Chaos, especially since I work downtown and go past several large construction sites every day. I initially planned to take my photo for TDC605 on my walk home, where I look out over Victoria golf course with the North Saskatchewan River and the University of Alberta in the background. But I didn’t have my camera along and I wasn’t very happy with the photo I took with my iPad. I took a few other photos on the way home, then I took this great photo of one of my favourite gardens a few blocks from my house and I knew I had my photo.

I wonder what next week in DS106 will bring…