Monthly Archives: June 2009

Jun 16 2009

links for 2009-06-15

Jun 15 2009

Technology as Equalizer

Yesterday, at the Gibson Gallery in Amherstburg, we recognized the top photographs in the Annual Exhibition of Student Digital Photography.  As you can see from the photograph from one of the display rooms, we had pretty much a full house.  Our biggest competitors were the incredible weather and the Red Bull Air Races.

Since its inception, we keep adding new things to the mix to try and make the experience educational, enjoyable, and informational, particularly to the public that’s visiting.  The original exhibit was great but since that time we’re gone to a standard size of photo, insisting on a standard mounting, and most recently requiring the students to submit a short write up about what it was that they were shooting and why it was memorable for them. 

The final step proves to be to valuable.  We get to see what goes on in the mind of the student as they’re posting the photograph.  The display is unique in that students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 are on display next to each other.  In education, very seldom do we get a chance to see student work in that fashion.  While the written descriptions do show the results of education in the older students, it is overshadowed by the images themselves.  Just as much thought and planning goes into the images taken by the younger students as happens in the older ones.  What’s especially nice is having the opportunity to sidle up to one of them and have them tell you what their picture is about. 

There is such great pride in their stories about their pictures.

Digital photography also provides the great equalizer.  As I said in my remarks to the group assembled, the written descriptions may vary, but make sure to appreciate the lighting, angles, and planning that all of the students put into their efforts. 

With a digital camera, the playing field is pretty level.  I hope that all of these budding photographers continue in their efforts to use digital media for self-expression.

More from the Exhibition is available here.

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Jun 15 2009

links for 2009-06-14

Jun 14 2009

Textbooks

I spent some time reading and pondering Seth Godin’s blog post entitled Textbook Rant this morning.  There is no doubt about his position and I find myself agreeing with much of his message.

I’ll be upfront here and indicate that I have a Computer Science background.  I learned to program in Grade 11 and 12 and we had a textbook for the course.  It dealt with programming in Watfor and WATFIV, University of Waterloo‘s take on the Fortran IV programming languages.  At university, we did a lot of programming and I have the purchased books on my bookshelves to remind me of those times.  With the exception of a couple of reference books, the spines remain uncracked.

So, fast forward 5 years to my first teaching position, and I had the same textbook that I had used in Grade 11 at my disposal.  We did have to distribute them to the students because we used a classroom as a stock room over the summer.  Other than pointing out that I knew the author on the first day of

A selection of programming language textbooks ...
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school, the textbooks stayed in lockers or remained at home for the course.  We used to teach the concepts by kinesthetic tracing activities that the students actually loved once they got over the “But, Sir, this is Computer Science, not Phys. Ed.”  The problems that were solved by the computer were far more difficult and interesting than the bland ones that were offered up in the text book.  By Grade 12, the students were creating their own problems of interest and then solving them.  The classes always did reasonably well in programming contests and I think it was because of an interest in solving unique and self-directed problems.  Plus, programming contest websites are a cornucopia of ideas.

I still teach – only this time at the University level – for those who would aspire to be Computer Studies teachers.  The first couple of times that I taught the course, it was directed by me using webpages with links to resources and articles of professional interest.  This past year, the course was suggested by me using a wiki where all of the students were editors.  The result was a large collaboration collection from the entire course.  The wiki will remain in place as they hopefully land teaching positions and I hope that it continues to be a source of inspiration and resource for them.  This year, we incorporated many elements of Web 2.0 into the course, and I can’t help but wonder how to do it with a traditional textbook approach.

Computer Studies and Computer Science teachers are nothing but innovative, creative, and resourceful.  Their courses should be that way as well.

More than the media chosen, as I look through my archives (I never throw anything away…), I can say that I’ve never taught the course the same way twice.  I was fearful, in the beginning, that the approach would be an academic “Death by Powerpoint” but I can only find one StarOffice Impress document in the archive.

For me, Mr. Godin’s post is a validation and my experiences are testimony that it can work – at least in the realm of Computer Studies.  We’ve seen the effect that social media has had on the traditional newpaper publishing giants.  The publishing industry has to be feeling the pressure of a bulls-eye on its back.

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Jun 14 2009

links for 2009-06-13

Jun 13 2009

Facebook Username

Well, midnight on Friday, June 12 has come and passed.  Leading up to this date, there were all kinds of forecasts of doom and gloom from the experts as Facebook launched its new initiative of providing usernames.  Leading up to this, the “experts” had reported.

  • accounts would only be available if you had over 1000 friends;
  • the Facebook servers would crash with all of this extra load;
  • your favourite and first choice username would be gone because someone else would grab it;
  • your favourite and first choice username would be gone because someone jumped your name;

None of the above happened for me.

After the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings finishing at about 11:00pm, I had the option to stay up to midnight and claim my username or go to bed.  I opted for the latter.  I actually could see a big load put on the servers and just didn’t want to be part of it.  Surely my name would be there in the morning.  After all, other than me, who else would want to be “dougpete”.

I did wake up normally and logged in to see how badly Bubby was beating me in Word Twist and the top of the screen had the reminder that user names were available.  So, I decided to grab mine.  Facebook was kind enough to offer some alternatives which I chose to ignore.  There was an open field to type your desired name which would be where someone would jump your name.  I entered my “dougpete” and it’s now mine.

So, now what?

I checked out http://www.facebook.com/dougpete/ and had to login to actually see it.  Wow, this isn’t working out well.  I flipped over to Twitter and did a search for “Facebook“.  After all, with all the hubbub, surely the world is talking or complaining or bragging or …  And they were.  There’s a constant stream of people bragging about their new usernames.

Ah Magoo, you’ve done it again.

What the heck did I miss?  There didn’t appear to be anything necessary to set up.  Perhaps I have an issue with my privacy settings.  I messed around with a bunch of them to no avail.  However, under the Search option, there is a check box to create a search profile.  Checked it, and I’m in.

search

The result is both an inside Facebook and outside Facebook search page result for http://www.facebook.com/dougpete.  That’s what it’s supposed to be – I’m happy.

Profile

At this point, this new username (or vanity URL) allows one to be easier found by those who would be searching.  Kind of cool, I guess.  What it does do is allow for the extension of your name or brand and to include that in your suite of tools that establish a consistent online presence.  I had thought that right off the bat, the first place to start would be the ability to log in using the name but that’s not happening at present.

Time will tell whether Facebook adds addition functionality to the username.

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Jun 13 2009

links for 2009-06-12

Jun 12 2009

Radio Becomes Social

Over the past while, I’ve picked up a couple of Twitter friends, namely @pcornqueen and @paulina1.  Like many of the people that become part of my network, I could walk by them on the street and probably never recognize them.  Essentially, they are avatars who contribute to my social network online and provide me with weather reports as typically the weather from them (Western Michigan) hits us (Southern Ontario) about 3 hours later.  It’s actually a hoot to track.

As a hobby, they have hooked up with @markbaars who is an interesting new media type of person from The Netherlands.  (His weather reports don’t concern me!)  This hobby is internet radio.  Now, internet radio isn’t new; there are great stations that broadcast over the broadband for free so that you can listen anywhere that you’re connected.  However, this internet radio station has an intriguing twist.

IJoyRadio broadcasts over the internet and has an interesting collection of disk jockeys and formats.  Its collection of disk jockeys is growing and each bring their own particular passion for musical genres to the broadband waves.

A broadcasting center at a TV Studio in Olympi...
Image via Wikipedia

pcornqueen plays oldies and paulina1 plays music from the 80s.  As you look at the other jockeys, you’ll see an interesting, non-consistent collection of interests.  It seems like this radio station allows you a forum to play the music that you have a particular passion with.

What’s more intriguing though is that, as you’re listening, you can open a chat window and enter into a conversation with the disk jockeys as their show plays.  The schedule isn’t full and so the shows are also rerun later in the week and the disk jockeys are there again to chat along with their fans.  IJoyRadio has a presence on Twitter and MySpace, and by themselves, they just are interesting uses of the particular media.  But, putting it all together, it forms an interesting presentation for the consumer.  Unlike traditional radio, you’re no longer just a listener – you can become an active participant.  Heck, you can even put in your requests through the chat – I asked pcornqueen to play “Signs” by the Five Man Electrical Band, one of my all time favourite songs, she found it and played it.

In a day and age where we see new social media startups daily, this one is different.  Instead of something new, they’re mixing tried, true and reliable media forms to create something new by themselves.  We talk about the need for our students to embrace the future and get ready for new things.  These folks are doing it now – live and also recorded for later playback.  It’s an interesting peek into the future of what might be with some interesting twists.

Since it’s broadcasting world-wide with no apparent fixed home, the laws and rules that govern traditional radio don’t necessarily apply here.  Not all of the shows are what a governed media would call “PG” so note that not all of the shows are appropriate for all age groups.  Of interest is listening to the skills and confidence of these amateur radio disk jockeys.  Each edition of their shows demonstrates a more polished and confident approach to broadcasting.

With blogging and podcasting, anyone with a computer can become a citizen journalist.  Add radio to the mix and you too can become a modern day social DJ.

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Jun 12 2009

links for 2009-06-11