I’m in one of those struggles that most technology enthusiasts encounter from time to time, where the machine isn’t acting in a predictable way, and you’re trying to figure out how to wrestle it into submission, so that you can make it work for you. As a result, I’ll be going into today’s presentations for about 200 principals and central office administrators in Wichita, with only four hours of sleep. Not good!
It started a couple of days ago, when one of the web hosting companies that I use, updated their software. The update broke a couple of hacks that I have programmed into MediaWiki, which is what I use for my online handouts. While at home, on Sunday, I downloaded and installed the newest version of MediaWiki, and that solved most of the problems. However, one tool, that is one of my signature features of my online handouts, still did not work. MediaWiki has dramatically changed the way that certain things are done, and I can’t decipher it. I gave up last night, a little after mid-night, and am at it again, now at 4:00. That signature feature is one that today’s clients asked specifically for, since they’ll have a pretty robust wireless setup in the room I’ll be using.
So, I’m going to get back at it. By the time you read this, I’ll either have succeeded, or will have figured out a work-around. I’ll make it work, and plan to have a good day, with my friends in Kansas.
I also want to thank the folks from the Instructional Technology Department from the Wichita Public Schools for a wonderful evening of Italian Food and conversation.