About

Moving at the Speed of Creativity is a site I use to digitally document my own journey of learning and collaborate with other educators and lifelong learners around the globe. I focus primarily on issues related to engaged learning, digital storytelling, creativity, blended learning, appropriate uses of educational technologies, digital citizenship, and educational reform.

If you’re interested in contacting me about sharing a presentation or workshop for educators in your area in person or over video, a comprehensive list of presentation topics is available on handouts.wesfryer.com.

More info about me is available on my public Google profile page and my personal bio page. See my disclosure policy for additional information about my affiliations and stance on advertising on this blog. Please see the attribution guidance page for information if you are quoting or citing my work.

Wesley Fryer

Some technical stuff about my blog: (updated 5/6/2009)

My blog (this website) is powered by an updated version of the free Wordpress blogging engine. In July 2007 I updated my blog theme, I had previously used a slightly modified version of the “famous Kubrick” theme. Now I am using a modified version of the free Blue Wonder theme. The drop-down menus at the top are a feature of the Blue Wonder theme, each is a Wordpress “page” rather than post and they are organized under “parent” categories within Wordpress.

I’ve used various plug-ins since I started blogging with Wordpress, currently I’m using:

  1. AddThis Bookmarking Widget
  2. Advanced Search Lite (at bottom of my left sidebar)
  3. Akismet
  4. Comment Timeout
  5. Flickr Tag Cloud Widget
  6. No Revisions (required currently for WP 2.6 and Podpress compatibility)
  7. PodPress
  8. reCAPTCHA
  9. SimpleTags
  10. Simple Trackback Validation
  11. Subscribe To Comments
  12. This Day
  13. Wordpress Mobile Edition
  14. wp-cache

I am no longer using the sds_Talkr_Plugin (it appears to be no longer working for some reason) or the WordPress Database Backup. Instead I use my blog host’s pHpMyAdmin to download mySQL backups.

This configuration is presently working well to keep comment spam out, from time to time I’ve also used Spam Karma 2 but currently I’m not using it. I had some problems with PodPress in fall 2007 I couldn’t resolve which messed up my Podcast RSS feed, and I eventually switched to using FeedForAll to create that podcast feed. I continue to use Feedburner for 4 different feeds related to my blog: My primary feed for all posts, my podcast feed / channel, my blog comments, and a feed for educational technology related posts only. This latter feed is still available but I am basically deprecating it as it’s no longer linked from my blog sidebar.

I love the “widgets” feature of the latest Wordpress and use nine different text widgets in my left and right sidebars for additional content. I have considered cutting down on the number of external content links included here to improve loading speed for my blog pages, because I realize these are cumbersome for those viewing my blog on slower Internet connections. Currently I use embedded content for the following free services:

  1. my del.icio.us network badge
  2. my upcoming presentations and workshops (next 30 days) shared with RSS Calendar
  3. my recent publicly shared pictures in a Flickr badge
  4. my technorati blog widget
  5. feedburner generated chicklets and feed subscription links
  6. email subscription services from FeedBlitz
  7. 2 world clocks via clocklink.com
  8. live traffic feeds via FEEDJIT
  9. my Google Reader shared items
  10. A customized ShowYourself widget

My blog footer includes two important elements:

  1. my Creative Commons license
  2. my ClustrMap showing blog visitor statistics and locations (I pay the annual fee for more detailed stats.)

I provide additional attribution guidance for my blog in a static Wordpress page linked at both the top and bottom of every page.

In addition to blogging here regularly, I post once every two weeks on Fridays at TechLearning.com, and periodically on Google’s education blog, The Infinite Thinking Machine. I also periodically post on a Christian team blog, Eyes Right. My children are blogging periodically on Learning Signs, which I setup as a family learning blog.

Inspired by a blogger whose thoughts, work and writing style I admire, Dr. Lawrence Lessig, I periodically invite “guest bloggers” to take up the author’s chair here on “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” when I am offline. This is a fun way to infuse my blog with new ideas, share the fairly visible author’s chair which is this blog with others whose ideas I respect, and keep the content here dynamic for visitors and subscribers. Those guest blog posts are all archived within the category “guest blogger.”

If you want to contact me directly, my contact information (including my current Skype status) is available on my personal website.

If you are interested in starting your own blog, check out my presentation and workshop links related to “Safe Classroom Blogging.”

There are currently 20 responses to “About”

Join the conversation!

  1. 1 On September 10th, 2007, Vince said:

    Hey there,

    This is Vince from SocialRank.

    We’re launching a new Web 2.0 site dedicated to e-learning and we have started indexing your blog posts as part of our
    content filter.

    I’d like to send you an invite to a beta preview. Can you get back to me with your email address.

    Mine is vince@SocialRank.com

    Thanks
    Vince

  2. 2 On September 22nd, 2007, Wordpress configuration details and Mac applications » Moving at the Speed of Creativity said:

    [...] About [...]

  3. 3 On October 16th, 2007, Andrew Middleton said:

    Wes, you mentioned Lynne Bermark (?) from the Thornburg Center in a recent podcast and some research she has conducted about the speed with which people read images compared to text. Have you got a reference for that? It would be extremely useful to me.
    Many thanks

  4. 4 On October 16th, 2007, Wesley Fryer said:

    Certainly Andrew, her site is Harnessing the power of visual literacy! - Dr. Lynell Burmark.

  5. 5 On November 12th, 2007, Nicole said:

    Are you accepting advertising on your site speedofcreativity.org?

    Thank you,

    Nicole
    Marketing Manager
    ZTMC, INC.

  6. 6 On November 12th, 2007, Wesley Fryer said:

    No Nicole, I do not accept advertising.

  7. 7 On January 18th, 2008, Learning is Change. » Blog Archive » Vision for Everyone said:

    [...] like Wesley Fryer did for this post, I too will cross-post a [...]

  8. 8 On April 18th, 2008, glenn simonsen said:

    Hello Mr. Fryer,

    I listened to your Podcast30 on digital storytelling in the schools which I downloaded at Internet Archive. I’d be interested in getting your response to a podcast I made with a 14 yr/old Somali boy in which he tells stories from Africa. http://www.archive.org/details/HowToKillaLion

    In any case, thanks for your work and willingness to share it at archive.org.

    Glenn

  9. 9 On April 18th, 2008, Wesley Fryer said:

    Glenn: This is an amazing story by Mohamed Hassan Ahmed Hallane! Thank you so much for sharing it. I am glad you found some of my work on the Internet Archive. When I started podcasting I was publishing all my podcasts to the Internet Archive, but I had trouble with the CCPublisher application. I also learned the bandwidth usage for my podcast was not too large, so I started hosting my files on my own server. I need to give the Internet Archive and CCPublisher another try.

    What is the website address for your podcast? I’d like to hear more. Sounds like you are doing some great work. Again, thanks for sharing this.

  10. 10 On April 21st, 2008, glenn simonsen said:

    Thank you, Wesley, for the encourgement.

    I don’t have my own website and am grateful for your information here on how you’ve done yours. I’m not too tech-savvy and it does look intimidating. FYI, you don’t have to use CCPublisher anymore to upload at archive.org and it’s loads easier. I have a conglomeration of audio files posted there which can be found by searching “glenn simonsen”. They include podcasts; original music; ESL units specifically for KiRundi, Farsi, Maay-Maay, and Karen languages; poetry; folk music from places like Congo, Burma, Burundi; and readings from the New Testament in addition to some uncatagorizable files.

    Here’s another example: http://www.archive.org/details/GlennSimonsenRadioTinnitusvol1VoicesfromPascagoula
    That was my first podcast and I based it on interviews I did with people who lost their homes in Mississippi during Katrina.

    I’m working now at a pizza place and wish I could publish some (cheezy!)stories from there, but I kind of need to keep my job. There’s not much traffic to my stuff at internetarchive and I wish I knew what more to do with it. I appreciate your inspiring example. glenn

  11. 11 On September 12th, 2008, Marino Ceccotti said:

    Hello,

    I do not know if you’re aware of it, but the HTML code of your home page bears hundreds of invisible links to “medication” related websites. Look at the bottom of the code page. May be your site has been hijacked.

    Regards,

    Marino

  12. 12 On September 12th, 2008, Good morning, your Wordpress blog has been hacked » Moving at the Speed of Creativity said:

    [...] many thanks to Marino Ceccotti for his recent comment on my blog “about” page letting me know my Wordpress installation had been hacked. [...]

  13. 13 On November 2nd, 2008, gail desautels said:

    Wes - haven’t I bumped into you somewhere???? This blog is a goldmine - thank you for sharing - I love your handouts, and they are very timely! Yes, everyday brings a multitude of gifts ….. the most recent one today brought me here from Box of Tricks …. amazing how we can go around the world in a millisecond!!!!

  14. 14 On November 8th, 2008, Christine Davis said:

    Mr. Fryer,

    I read your blog many times per week and listen to your podcasts as well. I am an Art & Digital Media teacher in a Middle School in Pennsylvania. With digital media being so accessible (and popular) among our teens, I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of copyright-friendly resources for audio, video, photo and screencast content. Please visit the wiki I’ve developed for this purpose, feel free to JOIN the space and add your own favorite links.

    The address is http://digitalmediaresources.wikispaces.com

    Thank you for your inspiring ideas!

    Chris Davis

  15. 15 On December 28th, 2008, Jack said:

    Hi Wesley,

    I found your blog at the Edublog Award 2008 nominee list. Congrats! I am working on a community service project @ MIT university. We want to get kids to make videos about SAT vocabulary and create a free and more fun way to prep for the big test. You can view some sample videos at the website we’re using http://www.BrainyFlix.com.

    To encourage participation, we are going to run a contest and give out a small cash prize to the video that receives the most number of votes from viewers. We’ll start accepting video submissions on January 1, 2009.

    I was wondering if you would be willing to write a short post about our charity event. The more videos we receive, the more helpful we think we can be!

    Please let me know. If you have any hangups about doing so, I’d love the chance to address them. I can be reached at jack.yu.is@gmail.com.

    Thank you and have a happy new year!
    Jack

  16. 16 On February 27th, 2009, TExES study guide said:

    I read your blog. It is really informative and helpful. Thanks for this kind of blog.

  17. 17 On April 6th, 2009, Self-hosted Wordpress Blog Updates » Moving at the Speed of Creativity said:

    [...] About [...]

  18. 18 On April 11th, 2009, Anna said:

    Wow! I can’t believe I hadn’t stumbled upon your blog before! Terrific resource. I work on a number of ed tech projects throughout the Middle East. I will most certainly share your link with my colleagues, students, Twitter friends, etc. Thanks for the 2008 shout out to http://www.Curriki.org and http://www.FreeReading.net. Having working on both initiatives, it is so nice to see your support and thoughts around open education resources! Thanks and bravo! Anna

  19. 19 On May 13th, 2009, I can see for miles and miles . . . « Constructing Meaning said:

    [...] reminded me of a blog entry I read in January 2008 at Moving at the Speed of Creativity, written by Wesley Fryer. Wesley briefly follows the change path backward from NCLB to Dewey in pointing out that voices [...]

  20. 20 On May 25th, 2009, Education Quotation « Andrew B. Watt’s Blog said:

    [...] also worth watching on its own.  Initially from Moving at the Speed of Creativity, the blog of Wesley Fryer. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Sunday Webquest: CanossaThe “Blog” of [...]

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