Reflecting and other information

Reflecting:

I feel that this project as a whole was a great learning process on how to research and to find new ways of getting the information that was needed for this project.  I had a lot of fun looking and reading about Hawaii and hoping that one day I can go and visit the sites that I mentioned in my project.  What I really liked about this project was that we had the freedom to choose whatever topic that we wanted to pick that would interest us the most.  It did make the project more fun and I was more interested in working on this project since this is a place that I have wanted to visit for awhile, instead of a teacher giving me a topic that I know nothing about or don't even care about.


Other information:


The four required elements that I used were:

1. Notetaking Tool - Diigo
2. Social Bookmarks - Delicious
3. Electronic Communication Tool -  ask-an-expert, tried it, but it did not work.
4. Productivity Tool - PowerPoint

I think that the next time I approach this project that i will start earlier on getting my resources and look through them so that I will not have a lot of the same information. That is the main problem that i encountered with this project is that I had a lot of good information, but it was all the same and did not realize it until I started to work on my final project.  Then I had to take more time to go back and re-look through the same information of sources that I looked in earlier to cut down on duplicating the same information.  Also I might narrow down my topic and focus on just on island instead of all of Hawaii because there was a lot of information about each of the 8 main islands that I was not able to cover because my presentation would have been way more than just 30 slides.

The main difference that I can see with personal inquiry as an adult and a child is the idea of setting goals and being able to make your own decisions.  As an adult you are your own boss, while when you are a child you have to do what your parents or guardians or even what teachers say and you are not really able to argue with them without getting into trouble.  When you are an adult you can see more of what you want for your future by what you want to study in college to what kind of job you want, where to live, who to marry and many other choices. While as a child, i feel that you get told exactly what to do and you have to do it, if you want to or not.  You basically have no choice to say yes as a child be to do the chore or whatever it is or you will probably get in trouble for not listening to doing what you were told or even asked to do.

Waving

I have finished my PowerPoint presentation.  You can view my PowerPoint at the following address:
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/aSGuest86135-832265-hawaii/

I chose pictures from some of the websites and also from Yahoo Images.  I have never used authorstream before, but it was a website that I can across when I was looking for ways to upload a PowerPoint presentation.  Once I uploaded my PowerPoint on authorstream, all I had to do was sign up.  Also this is a free site and its easy to upload a presentation and to get the link to put on a website. When you click the link above you can either download the PowerPoint presentation, click the public view or just view the presentation in the view that comes up.  Also once you get to the presentation on authorsteam to go to the next page click the arrows next to the number of the slide you are on in the left hand corner.  You can also make the PowerPoint full screen by clicking the box next to the menu button.

I was looking at the four criteria on the class website:

Purpose: I want to inform my audience about Hawaii without the two-way communication. I feel that with the blog that the comment section helps to communicate between the audience and me.  My audience can ask questions about my presentation and i can answer then through the blog and I can even ask my audience questions.
Channels: With the authorsteam website, it makes it really easy to provide my classmates and other people on this site to view my presentation.  The website gives me the options to give the website address out, but I can also post my presentation to twitter and facebook.
Format: I figured the easiest way to present the information that I collect3ed would be in a PowerPoint presentation.  I chose pictures that i felt would go with the PowerPoint.  I also thought about what kind of questions or information I would like to know about Hawaii and chose the information that I thought was appropriate.  I chose a background that would catch someones eye when they are looking at the website, but be to bold.  I also tried to pick a background that would go with Hawaii.
Sharing: I have put the URL for my presentation on my blog.  I can communicate with people through the comment section about my presentation.  I can even put my contact information on my blog, so people can send me an e-mail if they don't want their comments or questions to be seen.

A little more weaving then wrapping

After I have gone through all of my resources to see what information that I needed, I have finally narrowed down to what sources that i need to answer all of the questions that need answered. 

Below is a revised list of my resources that I am using for my final project.

Title	Format	Keep	Not Used
Volcanoes	Book		X
Guide to the Oceans	Book		X
Marine Geology	Book		X
Fun with the Family: Hawaii	Book		X
Parks and Plates	Book		X
Pearl Harbor in Perspective	Book		X
Volcanoes of the N.P. Hawaii	Book	X
Home & Away	Mag	X
Home & Away	Mag	X
USS Arizona Memorial	Book		X
Amazing U.S. Geography	Book	X
http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/04/03_hawaii.html	Website		X
http://www.50states.com/hawaii.htm	Website	X
http://www.enjoyhawaiivacations.com/FactsaboutHawaii.html	Website	X
http://www.traveltohawaiireviewed.com/articles/facts-about-hawaii.html	Website	X
http://www.ehow.com/facts_4741265_facts-hawaii-weather.html	Website		X
http://www.traveltohawaiireviewed.com/articles/best-time-to-travel-to-hawaii.html	Website	X
Hawaii: Celebrate the states	Book		X
Hawaii: Facts and symbols	Book		X
Exploring Lost Hawaii	Book	X
Hawaii	Book		X
United States: Hawaii	Book	X
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_in_popular_culture# A_partial_list_of_movies_and_television_shows_filmed _in_Hawaii	Website	X
http://www.wheretostayusa.com/hawaii/	Website	X
http://www.hawaiiactivities.com/	Website	X
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii	Website	X

Wrapping

I finally have all of the information that I need for my final project to answer the question. 

There are many ways that I could present this information. I could by do a:

• scrapbook to compile all of my information.
• journal to write out all of my research and then write down my questions and answer them.
• poster/banner - i could put a picture to each question and answer.

For my final project, I think that the best way to present all  of my information is to put it in a PowerPoint presentation.

Weaving

I have learned and found a lot of information on Hawaii. To help me to keep my resources organized, I have created a spreadsheet in Excel to help me to find all of my resources in one place without having to hunt all over the Internet to try to find the sites that I need.  Right now most of my resources that i have found I feel that they will all be useful to answer all of the questions that I have stated earlier in my blog.  I also feel that I may have too many resources that all have the same information, so I will have to sort through all of my resources again when I start figuring out what resources that i want for which questions. 

Below is a copy of my chart that I created in Excel to help my to keep track of all of my resources.

Title	Format	Keep	Not Used
Volcanoes	Book	X
Guide to the Oceans	Book	X
Marine Geology	Book		X
Fun with the Family: Hawaii	Book	X
Parks and Plates	Book		X
Pearl Harbor in Perspective	Book	X
Volcanoes of the N.P. Hawaii	Book	X
Home & Away	Mag	X
Home & Away	Mag	X
USS Arizona Memorial	Book	X
Amazing U.S. Geography	Book	X
http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/04/03_hawaii.html	Website	X
http://www.50states.com/hawaii.htm	Website	X
http://www.enjoyhawaiivacations.com/FactsaboutHawaii.html	Website	X
http://www.traveltohawaiireviewed.com/articles/facts-about-hawaii.html	Website	X
http://www.ehow.com/facts_4741265_facts-hawaii-weather.html	Website	X
http://www.traveltohawaiireviewed.com/articles/best-time-to-travel-to-hawaii.html	Website	X
Hawaii: Celebrate the states	Book	X
Hawaii: Facts and symbols	Book	X
Exploring Lost Hawaii	Book	X
Hawaii	Book	X
United States: Hawaii	Book	X

Wiggling

I just realized that in my last blog post that I gave the wrong name for one of the bookmark sites that I am using.  The correct name is diigo.com not diig.  Sorry for the confusion.

Now for wiggling.

I think before I get more overwhelmed than I already am, I am going to focus on my resources for right now.  I have looked at a lot of books and websites that look like that have good and accurate information.  So I need to get all of my information sorted and figure out what information is good to keep and use or what information is junk and that i need to get rid of it. 

To keep track of all of the information that I gather about Hawaii, for right now I am going to keep a record of my information in excel unless I find an easier place to keep track of my resources, so that i can make sure that i am not going to the same sites that I have already visited.  I am going to make three columns and say if this website or book is good or junk.  I am also going to keep my diigo and delicious accounts updated on websites that I feel are good sites, so that I can keep all of my sites in the same place.

Webbing

As i have started my searching for my answers about Hawaii, I have found a lot of information.  I have first started my search by going to my delicious account and then creating a diig account.  Both are the same thing, they are bookmarking sites where you can keep all of the sites that you want in one location instead of having to try to find them all the time and not being able to find them again.  I also went to yahoo.com and typed in Hawaii to see what websites there were that might be helpful in answering the questions that I have.  Most of the websites that i have looked at have a lot of useful information about Hawaii.  I have also gone to the library to see what books they have.  There are a lot of good books.  I have found several on the geology like volcanoes, ocean and other national parks in Hawaii.  There is also a book that has questions and answers about U.S. Geography that has some good questions and answers to them about Hawaii.  I have also have one on the Arizona Memorial.  I also found a book about different day tripos to take with the family.  I have several books on hold with the library as well that will hopefully be useful in my research as well.  Finally, I have talked with someone about their trip to Hawaii and got some information from them plus some books and magazines about Hawaii, the volcanoes and about Pearl Harbor that should be helpful.

From the websites and books that I have there is a lot of good information.  I have found the answers to many of my questions already.  Now I will start to narrow down the information that I have and try to see what sites and books will be the most helpful and useful in my research process.

Questions

As I have been thinking about Hawaii and what I already know about it, which is not much.  I have come up with a list of questions that I would like to find the answers to.  The questions that I have come up with so far are:

• Do they speak any other languages besides Hawaiian?
• What is the climate like?
• When is the best time or season to travel to Hawaii?
• What is the exchange rate?
• What are some places to visit?
• What kinds of natural disasters occur in Hawaii?
• When do the natural disasters usually occur?
• What is the main type of transportation?
• What kinds of activities do people do in Hawaii?
• What movies and TV shows are filmed in or around Hawaii?
• Where is the best place to stay?
• What is the cost of living in Hawaii?
• What is the educational system like?
• Do they have a year around school?
• What is the main religion?