Mojiti: YouTube + Wiki

Hi all,

so after viewing the video that Karen posted, I followed its production back to yet another video service: http://mojiti.com/

this one is cool bc it allows viewers to comment on top of the video...collectivizing the product and response. my sense is that this might be a great tool to use for peer feedback...I'll try it and let you all know.

jamie

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

a few blog-related items

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/

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.

websites as graphs

http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

You can make a graph of this blog or any site.

Assemblages

(brought to you by Honda)

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

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.

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.)

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.

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?

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.

syllabus meeting next week

Hi all, I'd like to plan a syllabus meeting for next week on Tues., Wed. or Thurs...preferences for the meeting?

UPDATE: In terms of the meeting, let's plan to meet next Friday at 2pm at QC in KP708.

Essays about objects

Hi all,

I'm able to post again. So, here's the question I asked in my comment to Jrc's post: Are any of you planning to assign articles discussing the digital objects you examine? For example, a critical essay on YouTube or MySpace. And if so, do you have suggestions?

These are the forums I'm planning to use, and the ways I'm planning to use them:

Our class blog: You will be expected to either post or comment on someone else’s posts at least twice a week. Each week two people will volunteer to create a post commenting on the assigned readings and/or projects and everyone else in the class will be expected to comment in response.

MySpace: Everyone in the class is expected to have a MySpace account. If you have a pre-exisiting account, you are welcome to use it or create a new one. Your MySpace page will function as your journal and as a means for us to connect as a class on-line.

Blackboard and Discussion Board: On blackboard you will find the class syllabus, all class documents, information about assignments, and important links. You will also be expected to contribute to the Discussion Board, which will be used for the pragmatic and technical components of the class. Please check blackboard several times a week to keep up with announcements. (Or I may use MySpace for announcements-- haven't decided.)

Microsoft Word: Everyone is expected to submit papers in Microsoft word. Papers will be submitted by handing in your flash drive. Throughout the semester we will experiment with how to link texts, import images, and implement the various nifty features of Word. You should create a class folder in Word that will contain all your documents. Do not discard anything you write for this class. You may want to use it in revised form for your final portfolio.

The above is from the rough draft of my syllabus; if any of you would like to see it, please let me know and I'll email it.

Thanks,
KW

Cyber 110 and Myspace

A few thoughts on my evolving plans for Cyber 110 this spring regarding myspace. (I plan to post other thoughts on a separate entry.)

1. I'm going to have all the the students either create alternative "student" profiles or create their first profiles for the site. Then we're all going to "friend" each other, and put up pics :). The "interface" for the course has our faces, and we will all "see" each other in the same place, which is more pleasing than blackboard.

2. I'm going to assign a time to instant message "chat" with them once a month, just one on one with me, in order to assess their perspectives and comments and questions about the course.

3. I'm going to require that the students post a new blog every week. I'm going to post the requirements for the entries on my page, as my own "blogs," but which will really be a message board to the students. Each week, the students will write the equivelent of at least a page, and then they will also revise their blog from the previous week in terms of sentence structure. This will allow them the opportunity to "draft" one week (and focus on production and writing) and then "tighten" the following week. This will also get them in the habit of revision, and hopefully after a few weeks they'll notice how their thinking itself evolves, and thus understand somewhat organically the necessity for revision.

4. I'm going to do group chats, if possible, through the myspace instant message. I'm going to try and do this instead of Google, which needs Windows as far as I can tell.

5. I'm going to also assign students to respond to each other's weekly posts. They will simply respond to something -- one or two things, in one concise and reflective paragraph -- that someone else wrote. It will not have to be as long as the blog they themselves write.

6. I'm going to use Blackboard primarily for course readings that need to be scanned. I have to admit, I'm trying to re-think scanning anything at all. It doesn't look right, somehow, to see paper online. One needs the words glowing. The majority of the course communication will be on myspace. I think this site works fairly well for this.

7. I'm excited about the possibilities of combining a "social" space with an "intellectual" space. I'm hoping that they will inform each other; in other words, that their "work" will seem "funner" and their play will grow more reflective. Like the text message assignment, I see my role here in part as one that merges or combines their impulses to communicate with certain organizational skills and analytical reflections. But I must go to them, to where they are -- and even if myspace is a bit old school, it works a helluva lot better than blackboard.

8. Over this break, I've experimented myself with keeping a blog on myspace. I've finally understood a lot more of what I suppose I've been teaching, as far as what the internet does to complicate or even reinforce identity, persona, the concept of the avatar. In the pulse of experimentation, I'm going to consider keeping my other myspace profile public, which it is currently. I think I can "own" it and still work my class; or, I think I can make my personal life work with my professional one, even if my personal one is somewhat constructed and organized around a kind of persona, a style of expression, something not quite me as "professor." I'm asking the students to do it, as students and as -- adults? -- and I think there's an element of practicing what I preach. I write a lot, I revise, I do analysis, I write about texts, I write in the first person personal -- all things I want them to master. Some of the entires are a little out of left field, though...one little suggestion from Duncan and Jamie might prod me into privacy. (I'll say this, though, the reader count is fairly astonishing. I have something like 30 friends and I get nearly 10-15 readers on the blog a day -- I started this thing at Christmas, and it just climbs, it's well well over 500 since Christmas!. I don't know why this is, but it's fascinating.)

At the same time, I'm NOT going to advertise that blog to the students, and I'm going to keep that myspace profile separate from the one that I use to interact with students. Compare: www.myspace.com/justinrogerscooper to www.myspace.com/jrcqueens .

What do you guys think?

A few more things...

More interesting things to peak at:

http://turbulence.org/works/html_butoh

http://www.multiplicity.it/#

http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/2007/01/07/snap-preview-art/

and of course, if you haven't already checked out the biggest "scandal" or most "talked about" "channel" on Youtube.com --Lonelygirl15, then you can go to youtube, myspace or to the lg15* url:

http://www.youtube.com/lonelygirl15

http://www.myspace.com/lonelygurl15

http://www.lonelygirl15.com/?p=150&play=1

Would love to hear from you all as well...soon.

j

Google, gmail and Blogspot.com

Have all incorporated...this means integrated features that make using gmail (& chat presumably) and blogger together an easy process...i am going to experiment now.

something to consider amongst ourselves is the techpendulum tendencies toward expansion and individuation and condensation and multi-featuring. We are obviously in a trend toward the condensed and multiply featured user object.

would love to hear from us all...j

Sourcing Digital Texts

Hi all,

so...here are some thoughts/places for readings for the syllabus and for us to explore:

http://www.altx.com/ Mark Amerika's online collect

http://www.eastgate.com/ReadingRoom.html the original publisher of hypertext lit.

http://english.ttu.edu/Kairos/ a great journal bc also concerned with Comp, Tech & pedagogy

http://www.uiowa.edu/~iareview/mainpages/tirwebhome.htm the journal for such e-literati-ish things

Also, to create a link on blog...1)highlight the desired text; 2)hit control+shift+a; and 3) enter URL

Looking forward to discoveries & syllabus ideas from all.

be well, jamie

Second Life

A friend recently told me about this site, Second Life, where people create alternate identities for themselves. It seems to be like a game, but not. Wikipedia has an informative article about it (apparently there are 2 million users). Is anyone familiar with it? I thought it might make for an interesting class discussion/assignment, but I haven't looked through the site yet.

CFP on Digital Archiving

Digital Archiving

This call for papers is for a proposed panel to be
held at (dis)junctions 2007: Malappropriation Nation
at the University of California Riverside’s 14th
Annual Humanities Graduate Conference on April 6-7,
2007.
Contributors are invited to submit critical works on
digital archiving. These papers can examine the roles
new media and new technologies play in the archiving
of literary texts. How does the translation of a text
from print culture into the digital realm effect its
reading and reception? How does it allow for a
re-imagining of the text? How does digital archiving
create a new mode of access to texts? What are the
tensions around the creation of such archives?

Abstracts of 250-300 words should be e-mailed to
helen.lovejoy@sbcglobal.net by January 5, 2007 (text
in the body of the message; please no attachments).
For more information, please visit the website at
http://english.ucr.edu/gsea/disjunctions/
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CFP@english.upenn.edu
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http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
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