1. amalthea13

    Sometimes the Photo Doesn't Work Out

    by
    How can time move so quickly, every moment so rich in experience and meaning? Sometimes, the beauty in a single moment is overwhelming. While I was sitting in my garden this week, a hummingbird joined me for a brief moment, drinking from the flowers. The sunlight filtered through the tall flowers and glinted off the colorful feathers as he swifty moved from bud to bud. The beauty in this single moment was captivating and stunning at the same time. An attempt to get a photo proved to be in vain,
  2. amalthea13

    Sometimes the Photo Doesn't Work Out

    by
    How can time move so quickly, every moment so rich in experience and meaning? Sometimes, the beauty in a single moment is overwhelming. While I was sitting in my garden this week, a hummingbird joined me for a brief moment, drinking from the flowers. The sunlight filtered through the tall flowers and glinted off the colorful feathers as he swifty moved from bud to bud. The beauty in this single moment was captivating and stunning at the same time. An attempt to get a photo proved to be in vain,
  3. whcalhoun

    The Physics of Remix

    by

    A Reflection on Week 4 of INTE 5340


    I guess every week is going to have something competing for my time. My marching band performed this weekend, and I was kept busy all week with the details (not to mention the marching itself on the Fourth). I thought I kept up with the course pretty well considering. Playing music this week made me think a lot about music as remix: composing, producing, performing, recording, are all remix practices.

    I'm thinking again about the next school year, and about all the instructional materials I'm constantly designing and tinkering with. Of course, this is remix as well. I steal shamelessly from the Internet and from my fellow teachers. I watch how students respond, and re-remix accordingly. The concept of remix allows me to see more clearly how my students, using remix techniques, could improve their ability to "speak" or "write" physics , and I'm eager to try some ideas. I'll be remixing, of course, from materials that already work for me.

    I posted the following:

    I would give myself a 10/10 for the week. I really put a lot into my Design AB assignment, and learned a lot. As I did last week, I enjoyed reading Lankshear & Knobel, and now I see everything around me as remix!

  4. mitchellwoll

    Week 4 Reflection: Whoa, We’re Halfway There!

    by
    To quote Bon Jovi:
    “Whoa, we’re half way there,
    Whoa, livin’ on a prayer!”
    We’ve already conquered four weeks of class with another four to go. I have to admit that I have felt very flustered by double-time pace of this course. But it has been very rewarding!

    This week was about remixes. In my reading response, I summarized what Lankshear and Knoble describe as remixes. Essentially, they could be nearly any type of cultural artifact. Today, the internet is a huge resource for these types of remix artifacts. Yet, in my response, I ask whether remixing can also lead to decay in the quality of said artifacts.

    I didn’t give an answer in my response, hoping to prompt some classmates' responses. But, I think quality is very subjective. Whether art or music is getting “better” lies in the eye, and ear of the beholder. Lankshear and Knoble say that remixing progresses culture. And again, whether we are progressing “the right way” is also subjective.

    Nevertheless, I think remixing has progressed culture the right way, overall. Yes, we may have what we consider bad music, or bad art, or bad film, etc. yet – talking big picture – culturally we have less violence, and more freedoms than ever in human history. Remixes in cultural artifacts has also lead to remixes in thought, and changes in the zeitgeist (sorry, I had a chance to use the word, so I did) for the betterment of all peoples. Right now, we’re at our best remix!

    For my design assignment this week, I created a minimalistic book cover for the book I selected to read throughout this Summer semester in conjunction with New Literacties. Unfortunately, I’m finding it more difficult to relate the two books, as I noted in my reading response. What I did relate again translates to the idea of remixes changing people’s thought. Pressfield uses quotes from ancient Greek figures, remixing them to push his philosophy. This has been done throughout history in literature, as well as politics. Whether by outright quoting major figures, or adopting their ideas, political thought has changed, and progressed by being remixed.

    Finally, my critique this week was of a character summary video profiling Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow. Now, this doesn’t have the major effects on culture as I was explaining, but it was a well-constructed video that explained the character Jon Snow extremely well. I started to wonder if creating videos like this would be a good substitute for book reports. I mentioned this to another student who critiqued a character video about Severus Snape from the Harry Potter movies/books.

    Creating these videos could fulfill the students’ reading comprehension curriculum, while also teaching them to be literate in video editing. Still, this relies heavily on movie adaptations, and students could get away with not actually reading the books.

    I'm excited to see what the next half of Digital Storytelling has to offer. So far, this first half has really reshaped the way I look at people's creations. Really, nothing is completely original. And that's okay. It's all the same, just through different filters called our minds, and remixed.

  5. anniemelzer

    Chasing Time

    by
    This week flew by as I struggled to maintain my school/work/life balance.  As fun and relaxing as holidays are supposed to be, it doesn’t always mean having nothing to do.  I attempted to compensate for my lack of time this week by completing my assignments early on in the week. I finally have my Mac… More Chasing Time
  6. ekeating

    Week 4 Reflection

    by
    Week 4 Reflection

    How well do you feel you completed the requirements of the week’s assignments?
    This week I feel like I completed most of the assignments well.  It took me a long time to find a digital story I wanted to critique but in the end I was happy with what I found and critiqued.  I was not happy with my daily creates, I am not a good artist and was frustrated there wasn’t a wider variety this week.  The one I did today could have been really cool if I knew how to Photoshop better. 

    What gave you trouble? What did you enjoy most? What did you learn?

    I didn’t have much that gave me trouble other than I couldn’t decide which story to critique.  I spent at least 2-3 hours searching through knowyourmeme.com and political remixes and lost track of time.  I eventually found a cool beginners Photoshop contest on worth1000.com that caught my eye, and I blogged about here.  (I have to admit, I was a little saddened by the fact that no one liked my Vacation reference!)  I enjoyed mixing up the critique guidelines, it was refreshing to use other criteria.  However, I did have a hard time figuring out how to fit some of the digital stories I found with the new literacy dimensions. 


    I learned a lot this week from Lanskhear and Knobel as well as googling different remixes Lankshear and Knobel mention.  I had never thought about remixing in the terms they discuss.  Whenever I heard the term remix previously, I would think of a song that was redone or changed at a school dance.  It opened a whole new world to me!  I struggled with the part on remixes replacing the written word, as I discussed here, but discussions with classmates made me realize everything still starts with the written word: movies come from books or a screen play, music comes from written lyrics, etc.      

    What would you do differently? What questions to you have?

    One thing I keep forgetting to do that other classmates do, is tweet to the person whose blog I comment on.  A few people have done that for me and it helps me remember who has commented and on which thing.  However, I have a hard time expressing what I want to say in the 140 characters, still working on that!

    What are some of the larger issues surrounding your work?

    This week my issues revolved around the lack of knowledge around photoshopping and image manipulation as I mentioned before.  I know how to do basic things like cropping, changing filters

    (only because the app does it for me) and collages but I would like to learn more skills.  I was also limited this week because I only have my school computer with me on vacation and the software is limited (no photo manipulation software, no Windows movie maker, etc.  It was also frustrating because my computer is in safety mode and it wouldn’t let me watch 60% of the You Tube videos on knowyourmeme.com.


    Score: 10/10

  7. anniemelzer

    Changing perspectives

    by
    For todays TDC I had to use a photo to show something upside-down.  I took this picture when I was on a roller coaster called the Jack Rabbit.  I went to this amusement park last month when I visited Ohio for the first time since I have moved to Denver.  The Amusement Park is Called Kennywood… More Changing perspectives
  8. rmsalas72

    Week 4. Reflection

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    I enjoyed deeply this week’s activities and reading. From the reading I learned about popular everyday remixing practices I am ashamed I was unaware of. Like making machinima videos or fan fiction short movies, It was interesting exploring the sites, understanding the production requirements, and watching different videos and images to select which one to […]
  9. kirklunsford

    Reflections of Immersion: Week 4 Reflective Practice INTE 5340 Digital Storytelling

    by
    Week 4 Collage

    Introduction

    As part of the educational discourse in digital storytelling each week, I will conduct a reflective practice self assessment. These ‘reflections’ will serve as both formative and summative assessment to the learning goals of the course INTE 5340.

    See learning goals in the INTE 5340 syllabus. See DS106 syllabus.

    Requirements and Production



    The Daily Create (x2)
    Ms Kitty Stop Moving tdc1269
    High Tide at Torrey Pines tdc1271

    DS106 Assignment Bank (Design)
    What Do Creative Humans Do In School?

    Response to Lankshear & Knobel “New Literacies” chapter one and selected scholarship
    Ed Reform Remix: A Response to Lankshear & Knobel Ch 4


    Comment peer critiques (x2)

    Comment peer chapter one responses (x2)
    Response to Lankshear and Knoble’s New Literacies: Chapter Four

    (comment added here because comment awaiting moderation)

    “Emily,

    I too am interested to see how this copyright thing pans out. In fact I feel somewhat insecure about engaging in the activities in this course because of the remix requirements. I've done my best to state ownership of others where applicable and I'm certainly not making money off of anything. To that point, I really don't think there is much interest in enforcement of copyright unless someone has turned significant profits by use of the copyrighted works of others. And pretty much everyone engages in everyday remixes that technically may infringe on copyrights, but to the point as mentioned in LK text, remixes are and have always been part of our culture. Until recently people could for the most part engage freely in these remixes.”

    The Future = Mind Blowing...Chapter 4 Response

    Reflective summary

    Reflections of Immersion: Week 4 Reflective Practice INTE 5340 Digital Storytelling


    What was challenging?

    Week four was another challenging week! I’m still struggling to find life balance with the amount of professional and coursework I must complete each week. I really enjoy it all but I know I function best with more sleep and exercise. I will work on the schedule and limitations next week. The new critique format also through a wrench in the typical production I was used to each week. I also had to stretch to classify the remix I chose and in effect, remixed the remix by critique. There were also some additional conversations on Twitter that took time and place when I would be engaging in other production activities. I appreciated and thought all of the tweets were engaging and useful but definitely added another dimension of work / learning this week. Overall, the production exercises themselves were not too challenging but the time and place which production needed to take place was exhausting.

    What was most enjoyable?

    I think I really enjoyed the daily creates this week. The “art history in everyday” and “make a photo better” were fun to do. It was also enjoyable to see other classmates produce these daily creates. Some of these were also humorous. I found the humor much needed in the week and it also encouraged production.

    What was learned about the focal theme and what issues / questions have emerged?

    I really dug into the focal theme this week with both scholarship and Twitter conversations. I finished the audiobook by Ken Robinson, Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education, and listened to several chapters a couple of times for further understanding. When I synthesised this with the Lankshear and Knobel text some questions emerged: “When education is no longer relevant it brings up many questions as I think about the future of education and ‘new literacies.’ Such as, if public education is no longer relevant will we see more home-schooling and online alternative education? Will there be a massive privatization of education in order to seek relevance? Will some social classes be left out of home school or privatized education?”

    To me, the solution to ‘new literacies’ engagement and core education is to ‘remix’ subjects to include a multi-disciplinary and technological approach. However this requires curriculum to support this. This curriculum is unlikely because typical current curriculum is designed to support achievement on standardized tests. These tests are part of national and state governmental requirements. So before we can effectively change curriculum, the government requirements and societal values must change. Because change in this way is less likely, I believe people will turn to private schools to receive education enriched with multi-disciplinary approaches and relevant technologies.

    Points earned 10/10?

    I delivered everything with excellence and on time this week. I exhausted myself through thought and creativity. As I type the tips of my fingers hurt with each key depression. When I sleep I dream of ‘new literacies’ and education reform. When I wake, I awake to tweets about ds106 and scholarship. Total immersion has happened and it is as it should be at the end of the halfway point in the semester. The next step is to re-invigorate all of this into my daily life as I have hit possibly the most exhausting point of the semester in an eight week course. Realizing this as well as delivering this week I give myself 10/10.


    Citations
    New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning Third Ed by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel. McGraw-Hill Education 2011.

    Aronica, Lou; Robinson, Ken Ph.D. Creative Schools the Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education. 2015. Narr. Robinson, Ken Ph.D.
    Tantor Media. May 8, 2015. Accessed June 20, 2015. Digital File.
  10. thejasondunbar

    INTE 5340 – Week 4 Reflection

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    How well did I complete the requirements of the weekly assignments? Although I did not feel as engaged on social media as I was last week, I enjoyed the individual assignments. The ‘design’ assignment was challenging but fun. I was not happy with one of my Daily Create assignments so I elected to add one more […]
  11. lisadise

    Weekly reflection 4 – Halfway there!

    by
    It’s hard to believe that I’m halfway through my first graduate course already.  Time has really flown by, maybe it’s because I’m having so much fun with this course.  My professor is great, he is always present which is really hard to accomplish in an online course, I really like the learner-centered approach this course […]
  12. lishna68

    Photobomb TDC 2

    by
    Like Emily, I was holding out for a TDC but wasn't up for another drawing. So, I went back to the embed an old painting into a modern setting.  Photobombs are the thing these days. The clueless nature of the "bombee" makes the images funny. What w...
  13. burgoynem

    New Literacies Reading Response: Digital Remixing

    by

    Chapter 4: Lankshear and Knobel - Digital Remixing


    Anime Music Videos?!! Who are you and where are you taking me???


    I had no idea, prior to now, that AMV even existed. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at all of the new vantage points that the internet is opening up to me. I did do a search for Maguma’s most notable AMV video titled, The Konoha Memory Book, and thought I would post it for those that might want to view:


     



    The authors used Maguma’s personal story and achievements as an example of digital remixing and how it shaped that particular. I respect the example and even admire the work that Maguma did even in the video above, despite the fact that Anime is not a genre that appeals to me.  I was also unaware that fanfiction existed or even some of the other examples provided such as modding, moshing, and machinima. However, what all of these have in common is the availability of technology that allows amateurs the ability to produce and share digital content or remixes. After reading the text, I realized that I’ve seen digital remixing manifested in other forms as well. Today, one can almost find an app or a website that allows them to do homemade audio and video recordings. I even have an app on my phone where my 3 year old can record his own voice and play it back in a number of different tones or sound effects. A year ago, my work had a sales conference and invited employees or departments to create a one minute video that somehow promotes one of our products. These videos were to be shown at the annual sales conference. Our team did a “remix” by recreating Jimmy Fallon’s Thank You Notes sketch but wrote the jokes to pertain to our own work environment. We were able to edit the video with a laugh track and audience sound effects to mimic the popular night host’s famous routine. We ended up winning first place!


    One thing that has stood out to me from the text, however, is, as the authors state, “the general principle of remix as a necessary condition for a robust and democratic culture” (Lankshear and Knobel, p. 97). I find this principle fascinating and can now see evidences of this throughout daily life. It’s true the culture is full of remixing – from the jokes we tell, to music, to even the type of fashion we adhere to.  Today, the popular look for men is the slick hairdo with the lumberjack beard. It’s like the 1950s and 1960s decided reunite in the 2010s.


    However, in pondering this principle two questions come to mind:


    1)      If remix is a necessary condition for culture, would the lack of remix lead to a lack of culture?


    2)      And somewhat related – to what extent can we use remix to shape or enhance culture?


    I’m not really sure how to begin with my first question or if that question is even relevant. Therefore, I’m going to let it float out into the cyberverse.


    I’m very intrigued by the second question though. I would like to provide some thought around it by addressing my focal theme and personal work situation. As a quick background, I work in a sales organization for a large network security company. I decided a few years ago that I wanted to pursue a different career path in instructional design / eLearning. I chose this path for a number of reasons  (all of which I won’t get into now) but mostly because I saw a need. In the fast paced technology industry, sales reps average less than 2 years at a company. Upon being hired, new reps are given a quota and a short timetable to hit that quota with product or policy training as an afterthought. The phrase “jumping in the deep end” is often used in this scenario.  As one can see, there is a major opportunity here for eLearning. Yet, there is another phrase that is also very common in my industry and that is “death by powerpoint.” The practices that we have today are ineffective or bland. I believe that remixing, in some form or another, when applied to training (with an eLearning component) can help change the culture that exists today. I’m not exactly sure how to do so but the hamster wheel in my mind is starting to turn. How can “death by powerpoint” be remixed into effective online learning?
    This one has definitely got me thinking.
  14. burgoynem

    Happy 4th of July!

    by

    It's been fun teaching my 3 year old all about what the 4th of July Holiday is all about. So while explaining, I drew this picture on a napkin for him.
     
     
    
     
    Of course, I also had to explain to him who Garfield is....
  15. lishna68

    Fireworks For Yeti – TDC

    by
    My dog Yeti hates the sound of real fireworks.So, I drew one on a napkin for her.She loved it.TDC Draw on a NapkinDraw a picture on a napkin for somebody you love and give it to them. Take a photo and show us?Upload your photo to flickr and tag it dail...
  16. jamesboneill

    Digital Critique 4 – A World Without Work

    by

    Article here - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/world-without-work/395294/#disqus_thread

    I’ll be using Jason Ohler’s ideas on how to construct a rubric for a digital critique.

    Story flow

    This was a great example of a story that did make you work to understand it, but was founded on ideas so accessible and engaging that it was easy to follow through it’s conceptual and hypothetical twists and turns.  This article should be required reading because it asks questions that don’t just concern the history of work (with a focus on America), but also the present atmosphere surrounding work and work/life balance in America as well as permutations of how the future of a “post-work society could look.

    Craftsmanship

    Concision is the story’s only weakness.  But its intentions are to take on a radical paradigm shift so it’s lack of brevity can be forgiven.  It was certainly crafted with care.  A personal and professional search for answers about where exactly personal and professional meet, intertwine, and subsume each other.  

    The story is very much based around a problem solving theme.  I think the most illuminating aspect is that most readers would not be able to name what the “problem” is.  Not because of the technical or esoteric nature, but because it’s something that is so accepted as a part of social/cultural expectations that it’s hard to identify it as possibly also being an aberration. 

    The pictures included in the article help lighten this type of heavy atmosphere. Each depicts a museum of the future where the artifacts of modern work are displayed.  They are humorous and profound at the same time and they help lighten the absurdity of the article. 

    Truth in Absurdity

    Absurdity is incredibly important here, as it’s also the topic I’ve chosen as a lens to explore and the reader has to pause and reflect on the absurdity of both “how we got here” as well as “where do we go?”  

  17. lisadise

    Dual citizenship – Daily create #3!

    by
    So I decided to do a third daily create this week because I really liked today’s challenge. The instructions were to raw something on a napkin and give it to someone.  Since it’s  July 4th and my son is a dual citizen I decided to draw him something.  Please forgive my spelling mistake, independence is […]
  18. edwyer10

    Happy 4th of July – Daily Create

    by
    Today’s Daily Create asks readers to draw something on a napkin. In honor of the 4th of July I drew the following: Couple things I noticed about myself while doing this project. Even though I’m extremely artistic, I do not own colored pencils!!! I was planning on coloring it in but no luck. I also […]
  19. whcalhoun

    A Tale of Momentum & Inertia

    by
    This is a fun little video from an animation studio called HouseSpecial that I like to show my physics students. Yes, it's about momentum, a physics concept, but it's also a dramatic and humorous story about gratitude, small-mindedness, and revenge. The story (spoiler alert) is that at the top of a mountain lives a giant rock-man who maintains the mountain. One day he makes a mistake, and the mistake threatens a village of humans down on the coast. The rock-man goes to great lengths to save the village, but his final move collapses the village church. The villagers attack mindlessly, annoying the rock-man, who responds by allowing the village to be destroyed. I am still amazed that such a powerful story can be told in so short a time (1:10 min).


    The computer-graphics animation has the look and feel of a video game. Video games have to employ the laws of physics to render physical interactions and motion believable. Yet video games find sly ways to break the laws of physics if needed for the sake of drama, or for the sake of the story. In addition, human perception does not always "see" in accordance with the laws of physics. For instance, how big is the full moon? If you hold your thumb up at arm's length to compare, you'll see that the moon is no larger than half your thumbnail. But in a video, if you render the full moon that actual size, it looks ridiculously small to your eye. Videos and photos using the image of the full moon end up making the moon quite large so it will be believable.

    I will show the video three or four times to my students. The first time is just to "see" it. The second time is to point out the obvious displays of momentum and inertia, and the use of physics in the animation. The third time is to review the story. Finally, I like to have them spot places where the laws of physics have been violated.

    I referred to Lankshear & Knobel's appendix to Chapter 4 in New Literacies about remix practices to examine this story.

    Though not a remix in the classic sense, this video animation uses the grammar of both movie and video game storytelling, so it is a remix in the expanded sense advocated by Lessig (2008). The animation studio is clearly using this video to promote their work, so it could be thought of as a projective configuration by an affinity of animators/programmers/storytellers, ultimately for proprietary gain. The quality is quite professional, and the humor is a little dark (no happy ending). The intention is probably to create a video that could "go viral," or at least gather a fan base that could go on to further remixing. In this way the studio could expand its reputation among fans as well as potential customers.

UMW Spring 2024 (Bond & Groom)

Welcome to Paul Bond and Jim Groom’s Spring 2024 ds106

Student Blogs

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