Beginning the Journey

The blogging tutorial opened up with a struggle to get connected to the Internet. Despite what we had been told, there was no Wi-Fi at De Anza High, where the tutorial was held, and most of us were forced to use the school computers. While everybody was attempting to connect, Don scanned our health insurance cards and photo IDs. 40 minutes of hassle later, everybody was connected to the Internet and the tutorial could begin in earnest.

Don started out by talking to us about how blogger works. First, he told us how to set up our blogger profiles (have a headshot photo and tell about yourself). Next, he talked to us about the toolbar when writing a post. We learned to always use Times font in regular size, justified. He told us about inserting images.

Don also told us about blogging daily. Each person is supposed to write a blog every night back east, in addition to posting after major events, such as dinner or meetings. He told us to squeeze in time to blog when waiting for laundry to finish or when riding on a train.

In the next part of the blog tutorial, Don told us about content. He gave us some examples of old blogs with atrocious spelling and grammar. He told us interesting anecdotes about how awful previous blogs had been. Don continued by showing us examples of good blogs. These were well written, grammatically correct, and easy to read. Don then gave us the assignment of writing a practice post. I wrote mine about what had happened in the blogging tutorial so far.

Next on the list: photographs. First Don went over naming protocols and posting the images to Mediafire. He also taught us a little bit about photoshop. We then took some practice photographs. As soon as I finished, I moved the fan to help with the stifling heat.

We finished up by listening to Don talk about responsibilities. He also told us about packing. Overall, despite the stifling heat, the day really covered the basics.