A little bit of a Design Blitz

A little bit of a Design Blitz

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 27, 2015

Typography & Symbols Studio Two Three is a wonderful community print shop located in Scott’s Addition. They offer a variety of classes, from hand lettering to lithography. They’ve been known to use a steamroller to print giant maps of Richmond. … Continue reading →
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Everyone changes in The Village: a #prisoner106 design assignment

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 26, 2015

The Village library is full of some entertaining and suspenseful reads. It’s important to have hobbies and materials that keep our minds busy. We recently had several donations of “I Can Read” books all from different Community members. Odd. I … Continue reading →
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Wish you were here!: a #Prisoner106 design assignment

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 26, 2015

Design Week in The Village kept me busy. I took on the Postcards from a Magical Place (#363) assignment. If I followed directions, I would’ve designed both the front AND back of a postcard. I only designed the front. Why … Continue reading →
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A plea for help

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 24, 2015

The raging headache I’m experiencing could be a result of my social conversion therapy or perhaps it’s a result of the design assignment I’m currently working on. I’m trying to make a vintage postcard. I’ve been following this tutorial on … Continue reading →
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Make it a-MAZE-ing: a Prisoner106 adventure

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 22, 2015

Like Bill, I opted to try out the maze design assignment. After reading the assignment details, I knew I wanted to do something with the Village map. I printed out a couple of copies thinking I might hand draw a … Continue reading →
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Spoiler Alert: A story in four icons

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 22, 2015

Here’s a four icon telling of “It’s Your Funeral.” In this episode, we learn a few things: (1) No. 6 is very active. (2) Kosho looks AWESOME! This is exercise I fully support. (3) No. 6 demonstrates some really human … Continue reading →
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Campy camp posters: A Prisoner106 project

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 19, 2015

I never went to summer camp. I didn’t have friends that went to summer camp. For a while I thought summer camp was just something that existed in tween/YA books to move the plot along. Parents were out of the … Continue reading →
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GIFable moments from The Prisoner

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 15, 2015

It’s way past curfew and for some reason the sleepy time music isn’t playing in my bungalow. The lights are a little dim too. Perhaps this is a consequence for not earning all of my work credits last week. Might … Continue reading →
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Adventures in Audio: A summary of week 1 in Prisoner106

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 15, 2015

Geoff recently observed that The Prisoner would’ve been an excellent radio drama. I read his post after I watched (or listened) to a few episodes while doing inventory in the library. One would, of course, miss the bold, visual aesthetics … Continue reading →
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‘Exhibition’ is a hard word to say: a Village message (a Prisoner activity)

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 14, 2015

In preparation for the upcoming Arts & Crafts Exhibition, I headed over to Communications to make the morning Village announcement. Finally. I thought Council would never consent to another Arts & Crafts Exhibition after the great unpleasantness (thanks for nothing, … Continue reading →
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Changing the story (a Prisoner106 activity)

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 12, 2015

I confess that I haven’t done my Village morning announcement yet. How does it start? What do I say? Can I fake a British accent? The answer to the last question is no. I’ve really been overthinking the assignment. But … Continue reading →
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GIFable Memories

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 6, 2015

I was gone for a while. I can’t say where I went. I can’t say for how long I was gone. I can only say that there was no Internet. Luckily I had files on my computer, so I was … Continue reading →
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Be seeing you.

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
June 29, 2015

“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own!” — Number 6 And so it begins.
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It’s hard to write a witty title when you know nothing about The Prisoner

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
May 22, 2015

Summer vacation is almost here, and I’ve got plans. Big plans. Some of those plans involve working a little bit–tending to stuff in the library and co-teaching some Scratch/Makey Makey camps with Carolyn. A lot of those plans include kicking … Continue reading →
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A #networkedcourse

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
May 20, 2015

The summer of 2012 was transformational. The summer Olympics were held in London, England. The US witnessed one of the hottest summers on record. The Curiosity Rover landed on Mars. Carley Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” was the official summer … Continue reading →
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I’ve been away from #DS106 too long

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
March 14, 2015

An explanation for the following will come. Maybe even tomorrow. But right now, this is what I have in response to Talky Tina’s demands. It’s a half-assed animated GIF. The strobe effect IS NOT INTENTIONAL. I’ve managed to forget how … Continue reading →
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Things I’ve made. People I’ve met: a mid-summer summary

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
July 9, 2014

Constructing Modern Knowledge is underway, and this tweet from @DesignMakeTeach (or Josh) pretty much sums up my current emotional state. Tonight on #makered chat we talk about how we all wish we were at #cmk14 — Design Make Teach (@DesignMakeTeach) … Continue reading →
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Where is Hatchet Jack?: a project incomplete (animated GIF challenge #5)

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
August 6, 2013

It’s likely that Hatchet Jack isn’t missing at all. Maybe he’s been around. Or maybe not. Maybe he’s still sitting along atop the freezing cold peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Who knows. I miss a lot of tweets and internet … Continue reading →
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DS106: it just makes sense

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
August 5, 2013

DS106 makes sense. Running with bulls does not. But running with bulls is exactly what’s going to be happening near Richmond August 24th. Fools. I found some archival footage from the bull runs in Pamplona, Spain at Archive.org. I downloaded … Continue reading →
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Watch out for that horse, Jim: GIF challenge #2

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
August 4, 2013

How on EARTH did I miss the #DS106 GIF challenge in preparation for headless DS106, which begins August 26th? I blame my absence from Twitter. But August is only 3 days in, so it’s easy to join the challenge without … Continue reading →
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Summer Songs

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
June 17, 2013

If Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” was last summer’s “song of summer,” this summer’s tune has to be Icona Pop’s “I Love It.” To honor that, I made this: The project stems from the DS106 assignment “Character/Genre Song Mashup” … Continue reading →
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Was Matthew Weiner a Twilight Zone Fan?

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
June 8, 2013

I’m fairly confident that the origins of Don Draper started with Martin Sloan from the Twilight Zone’s “Walking Distance” (S1E5) Martin Sloan is an ad man in New York City. Don Draper is an ad man in New York City. … Continue reading →
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What if Don Draper read feminist literature

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
June 7, 2013

This one was for fun. In “Man with a Plan” (S6E7 of Mad Men), Don Draper leaves his mistress in a hotel rool, and refuses to tell her when he’ll return. She’s puzzled, but willing to play along in Don’s … Continue reading →
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When ideas don’t turn out

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
June 7, 2013

I’m almost embarrassed to write up this post and put it out there. But I’m trying to practice working in the open even if that work is a total failure. Process counts, right? Right. Like most DS106zoners, I watched “Eye … Continue reading →
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1 story / 4 icons

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
May 29, 2013

Last year I recommended Zone One for the upper school’s 2012-13 summer reading list. It did not reappear on the 2013-14 reading list. “The kids didn’t like it,” I heard. “Not enough zombies,” they said. “It’s a thinking wo/man’s zombie … Continue reading →
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Conform to the norm

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
May 28, 2013

A single purpose. A single norm. A single approach. A single entity of people. A single virtue. A single morality. A single frame of reference. A single philosophy of government. “The State” sounds like an awful place to live. The … Continue reading →
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Making light of addictive personalities

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
May 28, 2013

I’m a real jerk for poking fun of alcoholism. But here it is all the same. The woman: Lindsay Lohan. The quote: lyrics from “Plastic Jesus,” an American folk song by (according to Wikipedia) Ed Rush and George Cromarty. The … Continue reading →
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From naval gazing to action (or cranking out some mediocre visual assignments)

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
May 27, 2013

The weekend was spent in Roanoke, Virginia, where I presented a program on 3D printing at the public library. I like Roanoke. It reminds me of Charlottesville, but without all of the pretentiousness. It’s got good food, good drinks, lovely … Continue reading →
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Collector’s Item: Talky Tina Trading Card

by mlbarker

| Syndicated
May 27, 2013

I got up early this morning to catch up on some DS106zone readings. Inspired by some great projects like Andy Forgrave’s DS106zone trading card, I decided that the laundry could wait. It’s time to attempt some art, dammit. At 5:30 … Continue reading →
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