Have you noticed that some people are explorers, and some are not?
The other day my husband was asking how he could get a hold of the Barbie breast implant video.
Okay. This was a little upsetting.
Not because he wants to see the video, but because he should’ve seen it already. He gets all the On Living By Learning articles via his Email subscription.
Now, those of you who are explorers will already have noticed that you can click on the hyperlinks, or blue text, to: a) find the video; and b) subscribe by Email to receive articles from On Living By Learning.
These hyperlinks are an obvious call to action that no one can miss; however, finding the video on an Emailed blog article requires a little more initiative. You have to click on the article title - which, while in blue text, doesn’t have the same recognizable hyperlink look. This takes you to the online blog post where you can easily view the video.
Explorers of the wired world tend to find this out for themselves.
They don’t just look at a web page and assume that’s all there is. They click around, finding mostly treasures, and only rarely a land mine.
Making the most of the wired world requires an exploring spirit and a sense of adventure.
Now, you might argue - like my hubby - that you don’t have time to follow online tangents. All right. I get it. We don’t all have the time to turn over every rock. We all have to make choices about how to allocate our most precious resource - our time.
So, I asked my husband how did he find the time to Email me this You Tube link? Dead silence.
Join the On Living By Learning Community
Are you curious about what the wired world has to offer? Would you like to find new online resources for yourself or your children? Can I help you figure out how to make sense out of so many bewildering choices?
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Post a Comment
For those of you who share my spirit of adventure, I challenge you to take the plunge and post a comment. Join our ongoing discussion of ways to share the wired world with your family.
It’s easy to comment, just click on the “Comments” hyperlink at the end of this blog post. Fill in your text in the empty box, and include your name and Email address. You can also include your own web address, if you have one. If you have a gravatar, it will upload automatically. If you don’t have one, a random image will be displayed. But, why not get your own gravatar?
Grab a Gravatar
Be original and grab a gravatar so that you can proudly display your own unique logo - whether it’s your photo or Bart Simpson’s - whenever you comment on any weblog.
What do you say?
Tell me, how do you share the wired world with your children? Have you found any online treasures or land mines? Can I help you find an online resource? What would you like to find?
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Dina Lynch Eisenberg 06.30.08 at 2:27 pm
Sandra, what a thoughtful article. Tearing around the blogoshere writing two blogs, I forgot that not everyone clicks at the blue underline.
I appreciate the reminder that if I want my readers to take the ride with me sometimes I gotta point out the way clearly.
Dina Lynch Eisenberg
ThisMarriageThing.com
Sandra Foyt 06.30.08 at 5:33 pm
Dina,
Thanks for visiting! I noticed that your gravatar and link back to your blog failed. Do you have a gravatar? If so, the link can fail if you don’t use the Email address that is linked with your gravatar.
Hope to “see” you again! Sandra
Karen 07.01.08 at 9:23 am
I hope my gravatar will show up!
I don’t always click through or go poking as much as I could, as my children often remind me. But I sure seem to waste enough time online anyway!
Sandra Foyt 07.01.08 at 9:43 am
Karen, I don’t see your gravatar. Just the automatically generated version. Is it possible that you didn’t post with the same Email address that you used to get your gravatar?
Karen 07.01.08 at 10:58 am
let’s try this again! I have my avatar, does it have me?
Sandra Foyt 07.01.08 at 11:55 am
Karen,
Your gravatar isn’t showing up, but don’t give up. Did you:
1. Go to http://en.gravatar.com to upload your picture? Did it look good in the preview?
2. When you posted your comment, did you use the Email address that you used when you signed up at gravatar.com?
Hoping we can figure this out –
Karen 07.01.08 at 12:49 pm
Did #1
Did #2
Upon revisiting the site, it appears like it may take 5 - 10 minutes upon first registering before the avatar is present. So, it’s definitely been that long now. Am I present?
Leapingfromthebox 07.01.08 at 12:51 pm
I bet I know what’s wrong. I’m using my real name instead of the name I chose for my ID.
Leapingfromthebox 07.01.08 at 12:59 pm
Well, I don’t understand it, Sandra. My leaping avatar is showing up when I do the check on it at gravatar.com. Maybe you have something not quite right on this end? It should just automatically show up here when I post if I’m using the correct name and email address, right?
Sandra Foyt 07.01.08 at 2:48 pm
Karen,
I’m truly stumped. I’ve looked through my comments and the gravatars do work, but I suspect there might be issues when there is a question as to what Email is associated with a blog address & gravatar.
By the way, I do see your Gravatar within my Manage Comments queue, so it’s especially perplexing that it doesn’t display on the actual comment.
Does your gravatar show up on other blogs? (Elferkid.com or Just Enough both have gravatars enabled.)
Well, it’s certainly frustrating exploring the wired frontiers, but that makes it all the more rewarding when we solve the problem, right?
Leapingfromthebox 07.01.08 at 4:19 pm
I just left a comment at Just Enough and it appears to look the same as here, some sort of purple kaleidoscope thingie. Maybe what I uploaded was too big? Although it shows up fine in my gravatar account. What a conundrum. Almost as frustrating as my argument with my bank this morning, although not nearly as financially worrisome!
Sandra Foyt 07.01.08 at 5:58 pm
So much more fun to worry about the little things!
Karen (karooch from Scraps of mind) 07.01.08 at 6:29 pm
Thanks Sandra, I’ve wanted to get the gravatar thing happening for some time but never got around to it. i appreciate the prompt.
Actually it was my daughter that introduced me to web technologies, not the other way around. She has been active on the web since the mid 90s and is now a web developer. So she’s the one giving me the advice.
Sandra Foyt 07.01.08 at 7:02 pm
Oh, this is too funny!
It looks like one Karen has succeed in getting the Leaping Gravatar to show, but now Karooch Karen’s gravatar is doing a now you see it, now you don’t act. The gravatar shows in the Recent Comments widget on the sidebar, but not with the actual comment.
Again, I suspect it’s an issue of what Email address is associated with the Gravatar and the Blog.
My son was having a problem getting his Gravatar to show, and part of the issue was that he had different passwords for his gravatar and Blogger blog. We reset the passwords so they match.
Actually, the practical aspect of a Gravatar is to have just one password that you can use for various applications, like your OpenId.
No more keeping a long list of passwords for every single online site!
And Karen Karoch, while you daughter may be the expert, I bet you’ll be finding new things to teach her about the web as well. It’s a limitless world of learning opportunities, best shared with friends and family.
Leapingfromthebox 07.02.08 at 5:23 pm
And I did nothing more to make it show. Perhaps it just needed a matter of several hours before the site got it pushed out and was publishing it where needed. We get so used to the web being instantaneous, but certain things do take more time.
Roberta 07.02.08 at 7:07 pm
Just FYI,
I got my RSS feed on another computer when I was on vacation and the hyperlinks did not show up in blue, or any other color. Might depend on the mail program? That made me realize I’d have to get creative with the links in my blog so everyone can find them regardless of their navigator/e-mail program etc.