I direct messaged to Kevin Hodgson this morning with more than a bit of attitude. Here is what I had to say. I know this might be taken amiss by some in my community, but right or wrong I feel it bears saying. I can live with the fallout. Realize. I mean no harm. I hope none is taken.  As always complaints about others is often a projection of one’s own fears. And BTW, don’t blame Kevin.

Here is his heartfelt zeega made from a collaborative song that he and Ronald and Sarah created.

 

Come On Through

Zeega is a new form of interactive media, enabling anyone to express themselves by easily combining media from the cloud. Make the web you want.

Loved the blank slides at the end and the consistent peephole imagery throughout. My problem is that I think as an audience we need to make better responses, ones that are more than just a single word or a perfunctory ‘plus’ or ‘like’ or ‘whatev’. Perhaps there are behind the scenes backchannel kudos being passed around. I hope so because I know how much work zeegas take. I am not sure praise is being lavished  so I just wanted you to know in a very specific way how I appreciated your work. A little consideration on others’ part might bring them to the same realization, “Jeez, look at all the work. I need to be grateful in manifold ways” So I say many thanks. I always learn from your zeegas. The layering of self-created media is exactly the kind of learning that we want our students to do as well. Zeega is a tool that develops repertoire. The more you use it, the deeper your repertoire gets. For example, I have moved from using others gifs exclusively toward making my own. You have moved from using others’ SoundClouds to using your own. This is my primary criterion for recommending tech adoption these days: does it build a learning repertoire? (Some tools that meet that criteria include: Pablo, Canva, Zeega, Tweetdeck, Screencastomatic, SnagIt, Vialogues, G+.)

I trust you feel your zeega time was well-spent. I think creating with zeega is an intrinsically valuable activity yet I am reminded of a Latin phrase that has occupied front of mind lately–“Corruptio optimi pessima” which, roughly translated means, “The corruption of what is best is the worst tragedy”. What we do online is supposed to be about extending time and space to each other, i.e. caring. To have the care of one’s hard work treated in an offhand way is ‘corruptio optimi pessima’. I don’t want to come off as holier than thou. I fail, too, but I hoope to remember to do better. I know this is a blindspot of mine, a weakness and inadequacy, but I need to know that people care about your work and I need them to demonstrate it. Perhaps if I did a better job of demonstrating these traits myself I would not feel so put upon. I will work on it.

I promise to do a better job of eating my own “dog food”.  The operative word is ‘better’, right? And you do better too by responding in specific ways to his and his collaborators’ hard work.