So there is a new photograph based technology around: the photo synth. Currently it is not available for private use, although CNN recently got their hands on it. Photo synth essentially takes various photos and stitches them together. This technology is much like the panorama shot which is available on most digital cameras; however, you don’t need to line up the pictures as well. If you misalign a digital camera shot the picture can be botched fairly easily. This photo synth can also meld photos from different cameras together.
In fact it can meld hundreds of photos together if put to the task. However, in order to attempt this, a place where hundreds of people were was needed. How about 2.8 million? CNN tried to conduct a large scale experiment on January 20th, 2009 while President Obama was being sworn in. When Obama put his hand on the bible people were supposed to all take a picture and then send that picture into CNN. Photo synth is a computer program that you load pictures into and then it finds the common ground in between them and turns them into a navigable space, a 3d world. As time allows they have been building and building this virtual space. All of the photos are seamless. While navigability could be improved, it is quite intriguing.
The “photo” can be viewed here: http://photosynth.net/inauguration.aspx
Material from this blog was derived from the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Creating a classroom recommendation list by using a in class blog
As an English teacher I am always giving my students recommendations of books to read for their AR or for their personal interest. Often this suggestion is followed up by a look of, “Yeah right, why would I like anything you suggested, you give me homework.’ Instead of doing standard book reviews in your class where minimal time is spent in the production of props and everything is thrown in the garbage afterwards, why not create a long lasting blog. This way the students can easily access the blog and get recommendations from their peers instead of a big bad adult. You could even post pictures of the covers along with the blog. For ease of use a common ranking system could be used (good enough to read again, okay, don’t pick up this book). Also the books could be lumped into genres or pinpointed by certain key words (ex: baseball, action, best friends, etc- similar to how videos are searched for on Youtube). Having a blog of this sort would make it virtual, interactive, searchable, and from their peers.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Studying video games
When considering technology and the study of it seems like video games always get the short end of the stick. Video games have been a scapegoat of American parents for a couple decades now; although we should look at how video games have been an asset to society. I think it would be captivating and educational to do a unit on the history of video games in a high school arts classroom. Video games provide a basis for examining story telling, technology development, intermedium story telling, world making, and creating a personal story through a virtual world.
Video games have served as a catalyst for the expansion of the computer. In “Vide Games: Behind the Fun” by The History Channel points out that we do not need 32 bits of color for word processing or spread sheets. All the way from the first video game, called Space War and invented on the MIT campus for fun through Second Life, humans have sought out virtual worlds where their persona can be altered. In some current cases there have been divorces as a result of a virtual world occurrence. People have invested emotional energy into these worlds making the line between virtual and real blur. This unit could cover specific elements of technology (for instance motion capture), could consider the ethical decisions made during game production, or could follow the interactive story lines of some of the more popular games. The unit could be culminated with a series of observations on various consoles from various points of the evolution of video games. Some people might need some convincing, but I guarantee the students would be engaged.
Video games have served as a catalyst for the expansion of the computer. In “Vide Games: Behind the Fun” by The History Channel points out that we do not need 32 bits of color for word processing or spread sheets. All the way from the first video game, called Space War and invented on the MIT campus for fun through Second Life, humans have sought out virtual worlds where their persona can be altered. In some current cases there have been divorces as a result of a virtual world occurrence. People have invested emotional energy into these worlds making the line between virtual and real blur. This unit could cover specific elements of technology (for instance motion capture), could consider the ethical decisions made during game production, or could follow the interactive story lines of some of the more popular games. The unit could be culminated with a series of observations on various consoles from various points of the evolution of video games. Some people might need some convincing, but I guarantee the students would be engaged.
New Media and the Obama Administration
After record fund raising and unprecedented organization via the internet during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, it only makes sense that he continues using this successful tool as the president. President Obama has dedicated his administration to the use of new media by appointing the first ever Director of New Media, Macon Phillips. New media technology will allow for what Obama calls “the most transparent presidential administration ever.” Moving into the White House, the new administration found the computer equipment to be quite outdated. Obama’s spokesman Bill Burton said, “It’s kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari.” Obama himself gets to keep a Blackberry throughout his presidency, except this one has been built by the NSA to have advanced security from hackers. Obama also wants to spend a significant portion of the proposed stimulus package to renovate/modernize 10,000 schools and expand the access of broadband internet to more Americans and American businesses.
As someone who advocates the use of New Media, the Obama administration is building and maintaining the new Whitehouse.gov site. There are fun things to do on the site, such as the presidential slideshow and the White House quiz. However, there are also aspects which are built to meet the three goals of the administration: communication, transparency, and participation. There is an aim to keep communication consistent and up to date. The webpage includes presidential blogs and the weekly presidential address (which can be uploaded as a podcast). Using the internet as a tool, transparency is more accessible than ever. All executive orders, proclamations, and intended spending can be viewed on the whitehouse.gov website. When (or if) the presidents economic stimulus package has passed, all spending will be posted to recovery.gov for public scrutiny, a website set up solely for that purpose. If one prefers all updates (proclamations, executive orders) can be had through the emailing service. The general American public is encouraged to participate as well. Participation can be had through the educating of oneself through linking to various cabinet sites or brushing up on our history. It can be had through usaservice.org, a website where people our locally linked to volunteer projects near to them. Another easy way to be involved is through the email suggestion/questions option on the site. For instance I suggested periodically featuring polls on the website as a way to increase the interaction of the American people with the Executive branch.
The unprecedented availability of this information could be used in various aspects of a Language Arts classroom (not to mention it is a virtual goldmine for our coworkers in the Social Studies realm). For editorial writing the students can have direct access to the administration or the administration’s documents for citing noteworthy information. I often do current events that could now use actual documents instead of the secondary news sources, while also paying close attention to the careful wording of the document. In a New Media unit you could use this as an example of how the internet allows mass and fairly intimate communication. Perhaps the students could even debate of how communication could be improved and then submit it as a suggestion to the administration. It is exciting to see a president who is not only going to be using these tools to increase his own communication, but those of the American people as well.
www.whitehouse.gov
www.recovery.gov
www.usaservice.org
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/
As someone who advocates the use of New Media, the Obama administration is building and maintaining the new Whitehouse.gov site. There are fun things to do on the site, such as the presidential slideshow and the White House quiz. However, there are also aspects which are built to meet the three goals of the administration: communication, transparency, and participation. There is an aim to keep communication consistent and up to date. The webpage includes presidential blogs and the weekly presidential address (which can be uploaded as a podcast). Using the internet as a tool, transparency is more accessible than ever. All executive orders, proclamations, and intended spending can be viewed on the whitehouse.gov website. When (or if) the presidents economic stimulus package has passed, all spending will be posted to recovery.gov for public scrutiny, a website set up solely for that purpose. If one prefers all updates (proclamations, executive orders) can be had through the emailing service. The general American public is encouraged to participate as well. Participation can be had through the educating of oneself through linking to various cabinet sites or brushing up on our history. It can be had through usaservice.org, a website where people our locally linked to volunteer projects near to them. Another easy way to be involved is through the email suggestion/questions option on the site. For instance I suggested periodically featuring polls on the website as a way to increase the interaction of the American people with the Executive branch.
The unprecedented availability of this information could be used in various aspects of a Language Arts classroom (not to mention it is a virtual goldmine for our coworkers in the Social Studies realm). For editorial writing the students can have direct access to the administration or the administration’s documents for citing noteworthy information. I often do current events that could now use actual documents instead of the secondary news sources, while also paying close attention to the careful wording of the document. In a New Media unit you could use this as an example of how the internet allows mass and fairly intimate communication. Perhaps the students could even debate of how communication could be improved and then submit it as a suggestion to the administration. It is exciting to see a president who is not only going to be using these tools to increase his own communication, but those of the American people as well.
www.whitehouse.gov
www.recovery.gov
www.usaservice.org
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Fiction Plus One- Going Digitally Beyond the Book
One thing that teachers try to do, hope to do, is have students take the lesson beyond the book, beyond the classroom. Teachers can use the current digital technology to allow students a creative production and publishing assignment. Instead of the standard posterboard presentation, why not create a deleted scene movie for a novel. You might not even need any extra equipment. The video can most likely be shot with a student’s cell phone and emailed to a computer for editing in the computer lab. Students can be creative and go outside the boundaries of the normal classroom presentation. A movie could have a few students (3-5). After completing the movie the kids could publish their video on Youtube or even as a feature on your school website (certain copyright precautions may have to be taken).
Not every student is going to be an actor, editor, and camera operator. Open up possibilities that match up with other types of learners. A soundtrack to the book, a photo montage via cell phone, creating a board game, creating original songs and recording them, writing an extra chapter, etcetera. All of these options have the potential to be published. One could almost look at this option as a virtual hallway in which anyone can visit. The communication devices that have been created over the last five years do not only transmit verbal communication, but artistic communication as well. We (teachers) should capitalize on the technology and the current trend in teenage communication.
Not every student is going to be an actor, editor, and camera operator. Open up possibilities that match up with other types of learners. A soundtrack to the book, a photo montage via cell phone, creating a board game, creating original songs and recording them, writing an extra chapter, etcetera. All of these options have the potential to be published. One could almost look at this option as a virtual hallway in which anyone can visit. The communication devices that have been created over the last five years do not only transmit verbal communication, but artistic communication as well. We (teachers) should capitalize on the technology and the current trend in teenage communication.
Monday, January 19, 2009
One good part about the interactive nature of the internet is the ability to place a visual to a lecture without any delay. In my creative writing course I do current events because the real world is ripe with ideas and inspiration. Currently we do these only verbally. Periodically I will walk over to the 3’ by 3’ world map that I have hanging up on the west wall of my classroom. Just think of the ways that I might improve this segment with the use of Google Earth.
Having a Smartboard or an easily accessible projector for this would help, but once the projector is set up it could be a quite beneficial exercise. Before my news segment I could pre-plot the locations of the story and then “tour” them as we cover the stories. Imagine how this would add to stories like Hurricane Katrina, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the airplane in the Hudson River, or a battle of the Iraq War. Any story location that had not been preplanned is just a clack of the keys away. Even finding sources that back up a story or facts that accompany a story would be very easy.
I also teach a segment on the 1862 Dakota uprising. Since Google Earth is a satellite photo I can take a shot of the fort and trace the different parts of the battles and how the different Dakota armies approached by using “thumb tacks”. Not to mention I can tracks how and where armies marched and interacted with other armies. The instantaneous navigability of Google Earth gives students a hand on visual to back up what might seem to be baseless words. This can help provide a more realistic idea of setting for a Language Arts student.
Having a Smartboard or an easily accessible projector for this would help, but once the projector is set up it could be a quite beneficial exercise. Before my news segment I could pre-plot the locations of the story and then “tour” them as we cover the stories. Imagine how this would add to stories like Hurricane Katrina, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the airplane in the Hudson River, or a battle of the Iraq War. Any story location that had not been preplanned is just a clack of the keys away. Even finding sources that back up a story or facts that accompany a story would be very easy.
I also teach a segment on the 1862 Dakota uprising. Since Google Earth is a satellite photo I can take a shot of the fort and trace the different parts of the battles and how the different Dakota armies approached by using “thumb tacks”. Not to mention I can tracks how and where armies marched and interacted with other armies. The instantaneous navigability of Google Earth gives students a hand on visual to back up what might seem to be baseless words. This can help provide a more realistic idea of setting for a Language Arts student.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sharing files- LARGE FILES
So as of recently I have been generating ideas of units or lessons for a Technology in English course in my high school. My brother, who is tech saavy, suggested that I listen to the TWIT (This Week In Technology) podcast. Upon listening to the first one I was happy to hear about Nine Inch Nails (NIN- a 90’s metal band) and their ongoing goal of reaching the audience by using technology. In the prior semester I did a presentation explaining how NIN has allowed the fans to interact with their material by editing songs, taking pictures at show, and using their songs as sound tracks for movies. The focus of the presentation was the world making and collective knowledge efforts of NIN’s “Year Zero” album.
NIN has now upped the bar once again. On their website they state that somehow there has been a “security breach” and 7 high definition camera shots/angles of their last tour have been released to the internet. They then imply that they want the audience to create music videos with the footage provided. There isn't just a few songs or scraps of footage either; there’s 400 GB of footage. This is available to anyone who wants it and can store it. I have the storage for it, although I will have to convert it, as I am a PC user. While some of NIN may not be appropriate for the high school classroom I definitely believe they can be used as an example of just how interactive nature of the internet has allowed fans of music to become closer with the artists. Now let’s make something clear, NIN and Trent Reznor are clearly exceptions to other copyright protected industry artists. In essence Reznor has given his fans infinite resources, saved on his own production costs, and received many videos in return. Perhaps if a clean song were found, an assignment for a video production class would be to construct a unique video from the stock footage. Possibilities are endless with 400 GB.
Here is a link to the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/
Here is a link to the NIN world: www.nin.com
Here is a link to the NIN footage: http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?52,378166
NIN has now upped the bar once again. On their website they state that somehow there has been a “security breach” and 7 high definition camera shots/angles of their last tour have been released to the internet. They then imply that they want the audience to create music videos with the footage provided. There isn't just a few songs or scraps of footage either; there’s 400 GB of footage. This is available to anyone who wants it and can store it. I have the storage for it, although I will have to convert it, as I am a PC user. While some of NIN may not be appropriate for the high school classroom I definitely believe they can be used as an example of just how interactive nature of the internet has allowed fans of music to become closer with the artists. Now let’s make something clear, NIN and Trent Reznor are clearly exceptions to other copyright protected industry artists. In essence Reznor has given his fans infinite resources, saved on his own production costs, and received many videos in return. Perhaps if a clean song were found, an assignment for a video production class would be to construct a unique video from the stock footage. Possibilities are endless with 400 GB.
Here is a link to the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/
Here is a link to the NIN world: www.nin.com
Here is a link to the NIN footage: http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?52,378166
Being appealing and knowledgable when teaching technology to teenagers
As a high school teacher I know that technology is a moving train and if I do not get on board (and stay there) that I will miss the train completely. How do you compete with students who have been born with high speed internet, Ipods, texting, etc.? Competing with the capabilities of students in technology may be impossible. There are so many different aspects, products, and angles that cannot be covered by one person. When teaching and using technology in a Language Arts classroom it is best to use discussion as a way to incorporate everyone's individual expertise, not to mention cover areas you may not have conceivably covered. As a teacher in a technology lesson I believe it is my duty to guide the discussion to meaningful conversation, as well as provide structure to conversations of individual pieces of technology (for instance, covering mp3 players before discussing IPODs). The only way to properly teach and use technology in the classroom can not be through the mastery teacher method, but as a dialogue between the students and the teacher.
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