The personal site/blog/experiment of Chris Harrison, a web designer living and working in Augusta, GA.
It was inevitable that it would happen. PowerServe now has a blog.
Not much available in terms of content, yet. (Most of it comes from my own blog.) But we’re going to be adding articles, features over the coming weeks & months (as time permits) that will give readers a better idea of who we are and what we do. So, stay tuned, and subscribe to the RSS feed for updates!
As a geek, I take for granted the technology that I use on a daily basis. I read RSS feeds through FeedDemon several times during the day. I blog occasionally. I visit Wikipedia several times a week either to look up information or to make sure spammers aren’t screwing articles of interest to me. I also listen to a number of podcasts, such as Desiring God Radio and LostCasts. I use these technologies to stay abreast of the latest news, trends and technology out there that is important to me. Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis: these are all “tools” that would be extremely beneficial for use in Higher Education.
In preparing for my speech I learned a lot about new media technologies and their use in higher education and, frankly, I was surprised by what I learned.
Of the 35 colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia, only three had a publicly available (i.e. on the homepage, news or admissions page) RSS feed - Armstrong Atlantic University, University of West Georgia, and Darton College. Only two of the 35 schools had podcasts - Armstrong Atlantic University and Georgia College and State University.
Why aren’t schools taking advantage of these new technologies? Based on the feedback I received from workshop attendees it comes down to:
The good news is - many are in the process of implementing some or all of these tools into public and private portions of their website. This is good news for students, faculty and alumni alike.
By utilizing technology that is out there, and gaining in popularity, they can avoid having to play catch up once the general public “adopts” them.
We all fear something, be it death, snakes, spiders, etc. My fear is public speaking. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, though, “the only thing to fear is fear itself.”
I conquered my fear by giving a presentation at the Georgia Educational Advancement Council Summer Conference at Augusta State University this past Friday. I’m still amazed I agreed to speak at the engagement with so little time to prepare, but given the topic - New Media 101 (Blogs, Wikis, Chatrooms, and more) - I felt like I could handle it. In attendance at my workshop were 40-50 University System of Georgia employees from institutions all over the state. I had no idea what their depth of knowledge would be, no idea what the format of the discussion would be… I just showed up to do my best. A few minutes in, it was pretty evident that there would be a consistent back and forth between what I was presenting and questions from the attendees. This worked out perfectly.
I was worried going in about doing well, mis-speaking, getting something factually wrong, etc. - but in the end, I did okay. I built all of these “worse case scenarioes” up in my mind trying to defeat myself before I even got started. As my boss told me before going into this… “You’re the expert here. You know this stuff. You’re going to do alright.” And he was right.
I survived the presentation, got over my fears of speaking in public, and sent people on their way equipped with the knowledge I shared in my presentation. Thank God. 
If anyone’s interested, I have three free Download gift certificate codes to give away. The first three to post a comment will get a code emailed to them for use at any Burnlounge online store.
I’ve only just begun looking into it, but Burnlounge seems like a pretty novel concept. Billing itself as the world’s first “community-based digital download service”, Burnlounge lets you setup your own Music Stores, where you can earn BurnPoints (that can be used to purchase merchandise and music) or cash.
I mentioned this in the Godbit Forums, because I could definitely see it as a way churches could earn some extra money by creating their own Christian music store. (You can configure stores to feature particular artists, genres, etc.) But it certainly has its’ place for secular organizations and businesses as well.
The downsides are limited… There is a subscription fee structure in place. This vee varies from $29.95 a year to $429.95 a year depending on the package you went with. For some this might be cost-prohibitive. It also appears to be PC-only at this time. The store only advertises that it works with IE and Windows Media Player 9 installed. (I have tested the store out mostly within Firefox 1.5.0.4 and it seems to work okay.
Some examples of sites already hooked up with BurnLounge are:
I don’t have an immediate need to setup something like this, but some of clients at PowerServe might.
I knew today was “important” somehow. I graduated from Denbigh High School ten years ago today. On June 16, 1996, we were holding commencement exercises at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. If you had asked me then what I’d be doing now, I probably would have told you “working for the United Nations”. I was young and idealistic and fresh off a number of Model United Nations conferences. I didn’t know any better back then 
A reunion has been planned for August 11-13, with activities scheduled all weekend long. On Friday night there will be a Meet and Greet at Jillians at Waterside. On Saturday afternoon there will be a cookout at Newport News Park. On Saturday evening there will be an Adults-Only party at the American Legion Post in Denbigh. To close out the weekend, those who’d like to can meet to attend church services together, and meet for brunch afterwards.
If you’d like more information on the reunion activities, visit the Denbigh High School Class of 1996 Yahoo! Group.
It’s been an amazing week for the Harrison family - one filled with lots of new beginnings.
On June 8th we closed on our new home. It’s been an exciting five months as we have watched a barren lot turn into the beautiful home we now live in. With the help of family we moved in this past weekend. We’re still in the process of getting situated. (I fear this might take a while…) It’s exciting to have a place to call “home” once again. I loved our old house, but I’m glad we moved when we did.
On June 11th, Tyler turned six months old. It seems like just yesterday I was carrying him out of the delivery room. It’ll only be a matter of time before he’s graduating high school and I’m left scratching my heading wondering where the time has gone…
On Sunday, June 11th, I publicly professed my belief in Jesus Christ and was baptized before the congregation at Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church. It was one of the most humbling moments in my life, and one I certainly won’t forget. I had been thinking about getting baptized for quite some now, ever since I had been attending service at Dayspring Church with my friend (and coworker) Scott Villemain, but I was waiting on the “right moment”, if you will. That “right moment” certainly presented itself at an interesting time in our lives. Directly after I was baptized, Kim and I joined Trinity.
Last October, I blogged about the availability of the first Flock Developer Preview. After several months of silence, the Flock team just unveiled the first Public Beta (0.7) of Flock.
With the new release, Flock’s also inveiled a new site design (Nice work, Mr. Veloso.) What sets Flock apart from other browsers is the inclusion of “social” web services within the browser. The tight integration with del.icio.us and flickr and blogging are pretty sweet.
My initial impression of Flock was that it was a nice browser - and the social aspects of it definitely set it apart from Firefox and Internet Explorer - but I’m not sure how well the general public will take it. I’m not sure how I feel now.
Because it’s been quite some time since I last used Flock, I’ve decided to give Flock another try. We’ll see how it works out…
I just found out today that I’ll be making a presentation at the Georgia Education Advancement Council (GEAC) Summer Conference on the campus of Augusta State University next Friday. I’ll be speaking about “new” technology - blogs, wikis, podcasts, chats, etc. - and how they can improve an institution’s ability to communicate with alumni, prospective students, etc.
I’m looking forward to the opportunity.
Barring any unforseen problems, Kim and I will be the proud owners of a new home this afternoon. I’ve taken hundreds of pictures of it over the past few months, but today’s the day we’ll be able to finally call it “home”. Building a home has been more than a little stressful, but our Stephanie Kernaghan (our realtor); Rosemary and everyone at Medallion Homes (our builder); and Marsha Wilson at Augusta Mortgage Co. (our lender) have all been more than helpful. Having said that, posting might be sporadic over the next several days as we move into our new home.
The Second Beast - 11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
Maybe it’s just me, but 20th Century Fox’s glorification of evil has really got me bothered. Yes, the date happens to be 6-6-06, but did the studio really need to play up the whole 666 thing? I realize the movie “The Omen” is supposed to be about the birth of Damien, the Anti-Christ, but come on… Why go there?
