Hello Hello.
A few notes on blogs and their possibilities:
Screen Dump was a UK 'film festival' of works lifted from YouTube and other online videoblogs. (I wonder what kind of permissions they got from the makers.)
Here's some language from one of the organizers, posted on an experimental film listserv:
"This was partly driven by the observation that many of the first personal teenage bedroom videos posted on YouTube structurally but presumably unwittingly resemble the kind of videowork previously the domain of film and video artists...also...YouTube as resembling a kind of online open screening, an accessible and 'democratic' screening space. Another intriguing aspect was the possibility of taking the videos from the web browser to being projected 'full size' in a more conventional screening format in a more conventional screening space set up."
Info: http://www.cogcollective.co.uk/november/index.html
The program has now been recreated online and can be viewed at:
http://cogcollective.blogspot.com/2006/12/screen-dump-videos.html
In addition, here's an online curation of blog art:
http://blog-art.blogspot.com/
Thursday, January 25, 2007
more links (and how to keep track of them)
Here are a few links to material that might be useful:
1. Postsecret blog. An online community art project of sorts wherein anonymous people snail mail postcards revealing their secrets to the site's creator, who publishes a selection every week. The project has been so succesful that its been curated as exhibitions in galleries across the U.S., as well as converted into book form. As most of the featured postcards are a collage of text and image, I'm creating an assignment wherein students will each make a secret postcard, exchange it with one another without knowing its author, and complete a description/analysis writing exercise. Click here for audio clips of NPR interviews with the site creator, Frank Warren.
2. Gold-farming. A gold-farmer is an MMPORG player who "harvests" virtual objects that are useful within a game and sells them in exchange for real money, usually via Ebay. A gold-farmer is different from other game players in that s/he is repeating a particular move within a game to acquire a certain object for the primary purpose of making a cash earning. While there are individuals who run these services independently, the issue came to public attention when organizations were set up to provide these services, often paying low wages to its staff for long work hours. The bulk of these organizations are located in China, although the gold-farming industry is also exists in other "third-world" countries. This NYTimes article is a good introductory piece to the issue. A PhD student in UC San Diego is making a documentary of the issue. The preview, broadcast on Youtube, can be found here. Finally, this article, academic in nature, discusses the racialized narrative of the gold-farming issue.
3. Forgotten-NY. A website about no-longer existing or obscure landmarks/sites throughout the five boroughs. Potentially useful as a resource for the Neighborhood assignment, but I think it is especially fascinating given that the website creates a "space" for what is no longer materially there.
Conversely, thanks to advances in graphic design, we are growing more familiar with virtual models that help us envision what a certain place might possibly look like in the future. This Wired article illustrates this. Interestingly, parts of NYC are experiencing a proliferation of new luxury condominiums, as some of us can attest to in the neighborhoods we live. These condo units often find buyers before the structure is in place, and this technology is a widely used marketing tool that allows developers/agents to give a "virtual tour" of a product not yet completely in existence, for which people are willing to pay obscene amounts of money.
Finally, I've recently set up a del.icio.us account, a social bookmarking web service which is similar to the feature on your web browser, only its available to others. You can also create a network or community of. I'm still experimenting with it, but from what I gather, bookmarks are grouped according to tags. As such, I've labelled web sites that I've come across that might be useful for our course as "cyber110." I'm not implementing it in my teaching this semester, but I can see something like that as being a great tool for teaching web research, organizing, annotating and summarizing (there's a space where you're required to post a 'description' of the site you're bookmarking. Click here to access my del.icio.us account.
1. Postsecret blog. An online community art project of sorts wherein anonymous people snail mail postcards revealing their secrets to the site's creator, who publishes a selection every week. The project has been so succesful that its been curated as exhibitions in galleries across the U.S., as well as converted into book form. As most of the featured postcards are a collage of text and image, I'm creating an assignment wherein students will each make a secret postcard, exchange it with one another without knowing its author, and complete a description/analysis writing exercise. Click here for audio clips of NPR interviews with the site creator, Frank Warren.
2. Gold-farming. A gold-farmer is an MMPORG player who "harvests" virtual objects that are useful within a game and sells them in exchange for real money, usually via Ebay. A gold-farmer is different from other game players in that s/he is repeating a particular move within a game to acquire a certain object for the primary purpose of making a cash earning. While there are individuals who run these services independently, the issue came to public attention when organizations were set up to provide these services, often paying low wages to its staff for long work hours. The bulk of these organizations are located in China, although the gold-farming industry is also exists in other "third-world" countries. This NYTimes article is a good introductory piece to the issue. A PhD student in UC San Diego is making a documentary of the issue. The preview, broadcast on Youtube, can be found here. Finally, this article, academic in nature, discusses the racialized narrative of the gold-farming issue.
3. Forgotten-NY. A website about no-longer existing or obscure landmarks/sites throughout the five boroughs. Potentially useful as a resource for the Neighborhood assignment, but I think it is especially fascinating given that the website creates a "space" for what is no longer materially there.
Conversely, thanks to advances in graphic design, we are growing more familiar with virtual models that help us envision what a certain place might possibly look like in the future. This Wired article illustrates this. Interestingly, parts of NYC are experiencing a proliferation of new luxury condominiums, as some of us can attest to in the neighborhoods we live. These condo units often find buyers before the structure is in place, and this technology is a widely used marketing tool that allows developers/agents to give a "virtual tour" of a product not yet completely in existence, for which people are willing to pay obscene amounts of money.
Finally, I've recently set up a del.icio.us account, a social bookmarking web service which is similar to the feature on your web browser, only its available to others. You can also create a network or community of. I'm still experimenting with it, but from what I gather, bookmarks are grouped according to tags. As such, I've labelled web sites that I've come across that might be useful for our course as "cyber110." I'm not implementing it in my teaching this semester, but I can see something like that as being a great tool for teaching web research, organizing, annotating and summarizing (there's a space where you're required to post a 'description' of the site you're bookmarking. Click here to access my del.icio.us account.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The Medium Is the Message
For those of you planning on using some of Marshall McLuhan's theories on global villages and the effects of digital technology and visual culture, this is a concise essay that distills some of his ideas into very clear, easily understood language.
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html
outside.in
I just found this site called outside.in that is a collection site for stories, news, blogs, etc. according to neighborhood. Might be a good tool to use with the neighborhood exercise you have discussed? Students could link their blog posts about their neighborhoods to this site, which gets into the idea of expanding one's reach in the digital realm, issues of navigation, etc.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Research sites
I'm getting a lot of these links from a helpful librarian friend. The previous post focused mostly on nations.
Here's a good site for particularized research engines:
Online Education Database (Also called Research Beyond Google.)
The Citation Machine: A Good Tool for Teaching Citation Online... (Or a shortcut?)
The Innovation Lab "The Nordic observation post for the technologies of the future"
and Media Education for the 21st Century: This has to do with a MacArthur project related to the title.
Henry Jenkins, a media education guy (?) has a blog with potentially useful stuff. (The most recent post is "Broadway Meets Reality TV"
Linking is fun! (I discovered it can't be done on my Safari Browser. I had to download FireFox. Internet Explorer should work too.)
Here's a good site for particularized research engines:
Online Education Database (Also called Research Beyond Google.)
The Citation Machine: A Good Tool for Teaching Citation Online... (Or a shortcut?)
The Innovation Lab "The Nordic observation post for the technologies of the future"
and Media Education for the 21st Century: This has to do with a MacArthur project related to the title.
Henry Jenkins, a media education guy (?) has a blog with potentially useful stuff. (The most recent post is "Broadway Meets Reality TV"
Linking is fun! (I discovered it can't be done on my Safari Browser. I had to download FireFox. Internet Explorer should work too.)
More sites for teaching
For statistical information and interesting facts:
Columbia International Affairs Online: http://www.ciaonet.org/
Nation Master for studying a country's stats in depth: NationMaster.com
Published by the U.N. on human development: Human Development Index
The Happy Planet Index (happiness based on ecology?)
BBC's article on above.
I haven't tried it out yet, but GapMinder has free software for making various graphs and charts to plot statistics.
Columbia International Affairs Online: http://www.ciaonet.org/
Nation Master for studying a country's stats in depth: NationMaster.com
Published by the U.N. on human development: Human Development Index
The Happy Planet Index (happiness based on ecology?)
BBC's article on above.
I haven't tried it out yet, but GapMinder has free software for making various graphs and charts to plot statistics.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
syllabus meeting next week II
UPDATE: In terms of the meeting, let's plan to meet next Friday at 2pm at QC in KP708.
Let's also plan to have a bit of show-and-tell with blog, myspace, etc set-ups for our classes. It would be great if we might all send out (and accept!) these links and invitations to one another's writing platforms in advance. any other thoughts or concerns that folk would like included?
Let's also plan to have a bit of show-and-tell with blog, myspace, etc set-ups for our classes. It would be great if we might all send out (and accept!) these links and invitations to one another's writing platforms in advance. any other thoughts or concerns that folk would like included?
DEPT laptop? Minimacs? What's available now?
Thanks for your email, Karen. We are in the middle of the purchase of the minimacs.... Translation: they will arrive during the semester but not at the beginning. So I recommend two options rather than the department laptop (though this is always an option). 1) Your own laptop...nothing more user friendly or available; or 2) Put in a regular AV request for a laptop for every class...this also amps up their demand, which in turn, makes an administrative case for more hardware and smart classrooms.
And remember that if you do wish to use the dept. laptop, sign up now, and check in with Ximena and Kim in terms of the schedule. Also...return in promptly for the next user. there are 10mins between our classes on the scheduling matrix, which means that you must return it in time for the next person to pick it up and get to class. so if you know who comes before and after you and where their classrooms are, crises can be avoided.
And remember that if you do wish to use the dept. laptop, sign up now, and check in with Ximena and Kim in terms of the schedule. Also...return in promptly for the next user. there are 10mins between our classes on the scheduling matrix, which means that you must return it in time for the next person to pick it up and get to class. so if you know who comes before and after you and where their classrooms are, crises can be avoided.
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