Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Academic Aesthetic Podcast 90

My last podcast was all about the DIY movement, and I suppose this is a continuation of that.

I've been building web pages since the early days of Tripod.com. My first attempts were the moderately ugly templates that free hosts often provide, but as I learned more HTML, Javascript, CSS code, and changed servers more times than I care to remember, I was able to do more customization.

Now I've taken the next step and found a web host that gives me unlimited MySQL databases. MySQL databases, in an oversimplified nutshell, are things that sit around quietly in the background and make your blogs, wikis, and message boards so dynamic and, well, usable.

Of course I'm still in the process of moving in. WordPress has a feature that allows me to import all of my posts and comments from Blogger, but I still want to tweak the code here and there to make it look more like it belongs to an art teacher.

Once that's done, I'll be a little mad with power, I think. I mean, I've got more space and bandwidth than I've ever had before. I can install ANYTHING on this server, and just might.

So what should I play with next? I'm already toying with a Moodle install for my Art Club (provided it doesn't get me sued), but what else? Should I install a wiki? How about a forum or image gallery? I'd really like to have your input on this before I do anything like devoting hours of effort into a forum that no one uses or a wiki that no one edits.

Send me a message!And speaking of input, I'm still looking for audio comments to use in my 100th podcast. All you need is a microphone and this link, which makes it very easy to do. With only 10 episodes before the big event I'm starting to get some comments rolling in, but I want more! Don't forget that you can also promote your own blog or podcast in your recording.

And of course this is my first podcast of the month, so if you like what you've been hearing I'd love it if you voted for me on Podcast Alley. C'mon, you know you want to. They ask for an email address to prevent voter fraud, but I've never gotten spam because of them.

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