tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89028639077298969902024-03-18T20:57:36.414-07:00subTechst...vitamins for the mindJason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-20104933599660609182011-06-21T13:13:00.000-07:002011-06-21T13:39:32.758-07:00Speaking at ISTE, Tuesday @ 3:45, Room 113<span style="font-weight: bold;">Hello everyone!<br /><br />Speaking at ISTE</span><br />A few of you inquired, so I am posting the details about when I speak at ISTE:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Presentation Title</span>: <span style="font-style: italic;">New Media, New Students, New Literacies, New Citizens - Transforming education through digital creativity</span> (...they may have shortened the title on me; look for something close to this)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When</span>: Tuesday, June 28th, afternoon- 3:45 - 4:45<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Where</span>: Room 113 B&C at the convention center<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Where I am writing</span><br /><ul><li>I am still writing for <a href="http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/blog.cfm">The Committed Sardine/21st Century Fluency Project blog</a><br /></li><li>I am just starting a regular column about online learning/teaching for Moodle; check their site in a few weeks<br /></li><li>I just started a regular column of sorts on digital literacy for the Educational Technology and Change Journal (<a href="http://etcjournal.com/2011/06/17/whither-writing-instruction-in-the-21st-century/">read the first installment, <span style="font-style: italic;">Whiter Writing Instruction in the 21st Century?</span></a>)</li><li>This fall I will begin a series of articles for <a href="http://www.cilc.org">CILC</a> (Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration)<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Why I am writing<br /></span><ul><li>I can't stop myself.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">New books?<br /></span>Yes, I am co-authoring a book called <span style="font-style: italic;">Learning from Leonardo </span>that will be out in late fall. It is all about what Leonardo da Vinci can teach us about how to thrive during our digital renaissance. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span></span>Where I might be writing - what do you think of theStreet.com?<br /></span>I am mulling over an offer by theStreet.com to become a technology contributor, essentially a regular columnist. It's quite a commitment. Any feelings about the importance of theStreet.com in the greater world of ideas?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Where else am I speaking? </span><br />Great year coming up- Prague, Bangkok, Milan... check jasonOhler.com for more details.<br /><br />See you at ISTE!<br /><br />Jason<br />jasonohler@gmail.comJason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-87030627922352238452011-02-19T11:52:00.000-08:002011-02-19T12:20:14.374-08:00New Ed Leadership article: Character Education for the Digital AgeHello subTechst readers-<br /><br />I continue to do most of my blog writing for <a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blog.cfm">the Committed Sardine Blog</a>, but thought you would like to know about my article about digital citizenship and character education in the new issue of Educational Leadership. It echoes a number of points from my latest book, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/25b4h4j">Digital Community, Digital Citizen</a>.<br /> <br /> You can read “Character Education for the Digital Age- Should We Teach Our Kids to Have Two Lives or One?” in Ed Leadership at: <a href="http://ow.ly/3On3S">http://ow.ly/3On3S</a><br /> <br /> Feel free to forward this to anyone you wish.<br /><br />PS- Next book, due out hopefully by the holidays, is <span style="font-style: italic;">Learning from Leonardo: Creative Innovation in an Age of Global Digital Transformation</span>. My co-author is Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts, award-winning documentarian and Leonardo Da Vinci historian.<br /> <br /> Regards-<br /> <br /> Jason<br /> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <div class="moz-signature"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman, Times, serif;">--<br /> <big><span style="font-size:-1;"><big><small>Dr. Jason Ohler, digital humanist // <a send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.jasonohler.com/">www.jasonOhler.com</a> <br /> Professor Emeritus, Educational Technology, University of Alaska<br /> <br /> Author, <a send="true" href="http://tinyurl.com/25b4h4j">Digital Community, Digital Citizen</a></small></big></span></big></span></div>Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-24791330846665020882010-09-24T11:17:00.000-07:002010-09-25T13:32:25.149-07:00New book: Digital Community, Digital CitizenHello readers-<br /><br />Even though I have shifted my blog writing to the Committed Sardine, I thought I would send out an announcement about my new book about digital citizenship, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/25b4h4j">Digital Community, Digital Citizen</a> (Corwin Press). The official announcement appears below. Feel free to pass it on.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A note about availability</span>. My book has been going in and out of stock due to demand. If the Amazon posting shows "3-4 weeks for delivery," know that typically it ships within a week.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Excerpts available for blogs and newsletters</span>. <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/wordFiles/PreambleDigitalCitizenship.doc">You can download and use the Preamble of the book, titled "Our Choice for Our Children: Two Lives or One?</a>" I am happy to provide other excerpts as well.<br /><br />----<br /><br />Announcing <a href="http://tinyurl.com/25b4h4j">Digital Community, Digital Citizen</a> (Corwin Press, 2010)<br /><br />Digital Community, Digital Community <span>(Corwin Press) looks at the rise of digital communities, the evolution of citizenship (local, global and digital), the complications (and opportunities) arising from kids communicating in cyberspace and how education can help prepare students for a world that will need them to use technology effectively, creatively and wisely.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Topics addressed</span>: character education for digital kids, how school boards need to respond to everything from sexting to cyberbullying, how to help teachers and students "see" the technology that has become invisible to them and make wise choices about its use.<br /><br /><a href="http://tinyurl.com/25b4h4j">It’s available on Amazon</a>. I also maintain<a href="http://tinyurl.com/2767vfq"> a wiki about digital citizenship</a>. After visiting it, if you decide you would like to be a contributor, just send me an email (jasonOhler@gmail.com).<br /><br />Excerpts are available for reprinting (in newsletters, blogs). You can download the book's Preamble, which addresses the question "<a href="http://tinyurl.com/2bp7nus">Our Choice for Our Children: Two Lives or One?</a>"<br /><br />If you would like more to reprint than this please let me know.<br /><br />Kind regards-<br /><br />Jason<br /><br /></span> <div class="moz-signature"><span>--<br /><big><span style=""><big><small>Dr. Jason Ohler, digital humanist // www.jasonOhler.com<br />Professor Emeritus, Educational Technology, University of Alaska<br /><br />Author, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/25b4h4j">Digital Community, Digital Citizen</a></small></big></span></big></span></div> --Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-84739843218813455502009-11-05T06:30:00.000-08:002009-11-05T06:43:18.278-08:00One-to-One Laptop Computing Works - But You Have to Use Authentic Assessment to See It<p>In my last posting I included a link to my Infosavvy blog article about my evaluation of a one-to-one laptop program. The posting was fine, but the link was wrong. Here is the posting in its entirety so you don't have to link anywhere to read it. Apologies.<br /></p><p>Recently I completed an evaluation of a one-to-one laptop program involving over 12,000 students in over 100 schools. The results? <strong>Standardized test scores show mixed results, but student engagement is through the roof.</strong> In addition, student behavior issues are down, student interest in their communities is up, parental involvement increased and students extended their school day by continuing their work at home on their laptops. And because I used focused conversations with teachers and administrators involved in the project, rather than strict quantitative analysis of standardized test scores, I saw many things I would not have seen otherwise, like the following:</p> <ul><li>teachers could truly differentiate instruction for the first time</li><li>mainstreaming special needs students became more effective</li><li>students could actually show many more of the multiple intelligences we have heard so much about</li><li>students developed a more professional attitude toward using digital technology</li><li>teachers and parents enjoyed improved communication, largely because parents were more involved in what was going on at school</li></ul> <p>But darn, there are those pesky standardized test scores, trying to validate an NCLB approach to testing in an un-NCLB world. Clearly we are using the wrong measurements to see the changes in education - especially the ones that work - that could be all around us.<br /></p> <p><strong>Bottom line:</strong></p> <ul><li><strong>Re-engage</strong>. Re-engagement is the first step toward reinvolving students in school. Laptops, wireless connectivity and teachers who understand what to do with these tools make that happen.</li><li><strong>Assess in context</strong>. Testing outside of any meaningful applied context will give you results that don’t map to the real world. We need new forms of assessment that honor how kids learn.</li></ul> <p>Want to know more about the study? Email me (jasonohler@gmail.com), or the project coordinator, Steve Nelson (snelson@aasb.org) from Alaska Association of School Boards, who directed this project.</p> <p>I will write more about this at a later date, but for now I thought you might like to hear some good news.</p>Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-17545241202718231352009-10-31T10:13:00.000-07:002009-11-01T11:20:22.363-08:00I Have Moved to InfosavvyWhere have I been? Writing for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Infosavvy</span> Group.<br /><br />I was asked to be a contributing editor for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Infosavvy's</span> blog, the Committed Sardine, and I was happy to oblige. Our blog receives about 10,000 hits per week, and we have a click through rate of about 5 times the average.<br /><br />I will be posting here now and again to direct you to the two main sources of my writings: my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">TechWit</span> column, and my Committed Sardine blog postings.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Who is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Infosavvy</span>?<br /></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Infosavvy</span> members are speakers, writers, teachers, trainers, researchers and consultants in the field of the effective, creative and wise use of technology. Although our focus tends to be on education, we also work with business, government, community organizations - anyone who wants to bring perspective and results to the use of technology.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.infosavvygroup.com/">Please come to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Infosavvy</span> site and look around</a>. You can read more about us and what we do, and also <a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blog.cfm">visit the Committed Sardine blog</a>.<br /><br />Here is a list of places to go to read recent work:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">TechWit</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://juneauempire.com/stories/101109/nei_503560698.shtml">From Reading Books to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Veading</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Vooks</span></a> - October 2009<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">----<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Committe</span> Sardine Blog</span><br /><br /></span>Links provided below are for the last two weeks only. Feel free to <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blog.cfm">go directly to the blog site</a> to read all postings.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My Favorite:</span> <a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=369">One to One Laptop Computing Works - But You Have to Use Authentic Assessment to Understand That</a> - October 16, 2009. This is based on my assessment of the impacts of one to one programs on classroom culture, engagement and literacy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Other postings....</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=450">The Rise of the International Student</a> - October 30, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=398">The Bad Schools Syndrome</a> - October 25, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=422">Using Cell Phones in History Class</a> - October 24, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=382">Pew, the Internet and You</a> - October 21, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=389"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Blabberize</span> - It's a Good Way to Decompress</a> - October 20, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=377">Florida School Allows Cell Phones in Class</a> - October 20, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=348"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Capscreen</span> - Text and Video Mixing It Up Again</a> - October 16, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=369">One to One Laptop Computing Works - But You Have to Use Authentic Assessment to Understand That</a> - October 16, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=345">I Screen, You Screen, We All Screen</a> - October 15, 2009<br /><br />See you at <a href="http://www.infosavvygroup.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Infosavvy</span></a>.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-34520025521668646482009-06-29T10:42:00.000-07:002009-06-29T11:13:48.888-07:00Iran becomes iRan - censorship meets connectivityRevolutions are so much about connectivity. We can see an army advancing from miles away and prepare to meet them at the gate. But electronic messages quietly ooze through leaky political borders no matter how hard the status quo tries to stop them.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3f3zPIegymULnfmm0nYSbGJibzYaeWF93KKSU6c3bByIT2-CeYm7EbRQXA8blyowmD8RD2k_DI-B5XDBUSe5s_RIb7HXmjv9NjX4iYEFKgrpze4aFNFA4-aDfuDEefASp5t9UDdqYNWg/s1600-h/texting-78413242.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3f3zPIegymULnfmm0nYSbGJibzYaeWF93KKSU6c3bByIT2-CeYm7EbRQXA8blyowmD8RD2k_DI-B5XDBUSe5s_RIb7HXmjv9NjX4iYEFKgrpze4aFNFA4-aDfuDEefASp5t9UDdqYNWg/s200/texting-78413242.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352808448344279106" border="1" /></a>The 1979 Iran revolution is often called the cassette revolution because it was the mass production of cassettes illegally smuggled into Iran that brought about the Shah’s downfall and put the current regime in power. From Bretton’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">International Relations in the Nuclear Age</span> (1986):<br /><blockquote>In 1979 the Shah of Iran with the aid of a highly efficient brutal secret police, seemed firmly in control of all means of internal and external communications in Iran. Yet highly inflammatory revolutionary messages demanding his overthrow, taped in exile by his principal opponent the Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomenei, reached the masses. Smuggled by cassette into Iran, there reproduced and distributed en masse, the Ayatollah’s the word eventually triggered a popular uprising, forcing the Shah’s departing.<br /></blockquote>Fast forward to now, when bulky cassette players are replaced with sleek cell phones. Although the government tried to stop the bloggers, tweeters and everyone else plugged into the great international data cloud, the world learned once again that there is simply no stopping connectivity. With so many ways to connect, and so many info savvy, motivated people willing to speak, radio free Internet filled the ether waves. All that was required to change world perception was for a few bloggers to let us all know that the official word and the word on the street were very different. In the iPod age, Iran became iRan.<br /><br />What’s our take away? That if an all out, government sponsored assault on the Internet could not bring it to its knees, then certainly it will never leave our shores, our schools, or our childrens' lives. That while internet lock down in K-12 schools is enticing and plays well in the press, it is rarely effective. This leaves us with a clear choice: no matter what kind of filtering we may wish to impose in schools, we need to couple digital skill training with wisdom building if we are going to teach students how to manage their lives in the infosphere. If we don’t like what is on YouTube, let’s teach them how to create stuff we would like to see there. If we think blogging is dangerous and superfluous, then let’s teach them how to make it safe and relevant. Like water that crosses borders, information flows around any rocks in its path. Let’s teach our students how to navigate that water critically, creatively and with a sense of humanity that will serve us all well.<br /><br />For more information about the role electronic media played in recent events in Iran, see Jon Bernstein’s report: <a href="http://jonbernstein.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/irans-internet-revolution-the-backstory/">Iran - the Backstory</a><br /><br />Image from a paid Clipart subscription.<br /><br />Cross-posted with <a href="http://committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=85">InfoSavvy</a>.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-9242003646779518042009-05-24T12:44:00.000-07:002009-05-25T10:56:48.729-07:00Blogfolios for teachers<span style="font-weight: bold;">Blog + portfolio = blogfolio</span><br />I have had the pleasure of teaching technology infusion in a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program for a number of years. During this fifteen-month intensive program, students complete coursework as well as spend a year working with a mentor teacher in a classroom. At the end of the program, students receive both a teaching credential and a Master's degree.<br /><br />As part of the technology infusion coursework, each student creates a "blogfolio" that serves as both a work repository and reflection venue throughout the year. The work they create includes digital stories, documentaries, slide presentations, diagrams and artwork, podcasts, screen casts, lesson plans, units of instruction and essays. A typical blogfolio entry consists of a reflective text piece, which includes links to media that students have posted on the web using services such as YouTube, SlideShare and Google Docs.<br /><br />Recently Academe published an article about my use of blogfolios in teacher education. What follows is an excerpt. Below the excerpt you will find links to the entire article as well as to this year's class blogfolio website, which provides links to all student blogfolios.<br /><br />"Blogging has deservedly gained a reputation as the Web 2.0 tool with a thousand and one uses. My experience as a technology instructor in the master’s program for secondary school teachers at the University of Alaska Southeast bears this out. My students, who are preparing to teach subjects from art to physics in public schools, use blogging to develop their portfolios and coordinate the teaching resources they find. In addition, many use it with their own students in their work as teachers." <br /><br /><p>"All the work that students produce during the year is either posted to or cited on their blogfolios. Links typically lead to projects they have posted through free media hosting services. Students are encouraged to visit one another’s blogfolios throughout the year for ideas, inspiration, and conversation."</p><p style="font-weight: bold;">Links</p><ul><li> <a href="http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2009/MJ/Feat/ohle.htm">Read the entire article on the Academe website</a>.</li><li><a href="http://matuas2008.blogspot.com/">Visit the MAT Educational Technology class blog site</a>, which provides links to all student blogfolios.</li></ul>Or if you are on a limited time budget and would like to visit just one student blogfolio, I recommend that you <a href="http://bethanywaggoner.blogspot.com/">visit the blogfolio created by art student Bethany Waggoner</a>.<br /><p></p>Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-71589417344709106432009-04-08T13:15:00.000-07:002009-04-10T13:35:01.912-07:00Critical Thinking and Media Literacy 2.0Recently I had the pleasure of helping to design <a href="http://psy700spring2009.blogspot.com/">a critical thinking course for Fielding Graduate University’s Ph.D. program in Media Psychology</a>. It is the first course that students take as they enter the program, and is actually a half course that happens quickly over ten weeks in a kind of compressed time. During that 10 weeks students need to begin developing the critical thinking skills and structured suspicion necessary to peel back the layers of the media onion in order to begin to understand the nature of media bias and persuasion.<br /><br />In this course, critical thinking roughly equates to media literacy. There are two periods of modern media literacy, each of which corresponds to plateaus in technology. They are described below.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Media Literacy 1.0</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">- the era of mass media</span><br />In a sentence, Media Literacy 1.0 concerns the ability to identify and evaluate the techniques of media persuasion. It arose during the era of one-to-many mass media (radio, TV, print) in response to the concern that media companies and advertisers were trying to persuade us to think in certain ways and buy specific products. We were a captive audience with no way to talk back to the media that was talking to us. The emphasis in ML 1.0 was on protecting ourselves as media consumers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Media Literacy 2.0 - the era of digital participation</span><br />In a sentence, Media Literacy 2.0 concerns the ability to identify, evaluate and apply the techniques of media persuasion. Note the addition of the word “apply.”<br /><br />All of the earlier concerns of Media Literacy 1.0 are still in play, but now we expect students to “write effective media.” Media 2.0 began sometime during the past ten years, during which hardware and software became inexpensive and the web became universal, allowing anyone to create a news blog, radio station or TV channel.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Writing media helps us to read it</span><br />There is no better way to understand media persuasion than to create media. It allows students to lift the hood, so to speak, and see the internal workings of media production that conspire to do one thing above all others: make media appear effortless, harmless and natural. (The application aspect of media literacy is addressed in other courses within the Ph.D. program.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Feel free to mine the course for resources</span><br />If you are interested in how this course views critical thinking, you are welcome to mine the course for ideas and resources. <a href="http://psy700spring2009.blogspot.com/">Just go to the course site and look around</a>. Pay particular attention to the weekly topics on the right hand side, which include urban legends, musical persuasion, manipulation through word smithing, consumer psychology, media gate keeping and the impact of social media.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Effectively, creatively, wisely</span><br />The goal is always to have students use technology effectively, creatively and wisely. Becoming media literate demands all three.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-6049418255673484222009-03-12T14:51:00.000-07:002009-03-12T16:30:34.303-07:00Alternatives to web lockdown in educationRight now most schools respond to the Internet with lockdown. Given the stories about kids, inappropriate material and the potential for harm, fear is understandable.<br /><br />But this approach comes with a price, namely, it will force students to cultivate their personal learning networks outside school, where they can use web tools they understand to pursue personal and professional goals that they design. As the gap between what students learn within and outside school continues to grow, school, with its lockdown, minimal access to technology and severely antiquated approach to learning, will seem less and less relevant.<br /><br />There are other approaches to consider. If we don’t like what we see on YouTube, then let’s help our students create the best stuff there. If we look askance at blogging because it seems irrelevant or harmful, then let’s show kids how to write blogs that are relevant and helpful. If we want them to understand the risks and opportunities of digital citizenship, then let’s talk to them about appropriate virtual behavior, and then follow up by giving them opportunities to practice what they learn, and reap the consequences of not honoring the trust given to them.<br /><br />And if this is simply not permissible, then let's at least involve parents in the conversation and ask what they want. Would they rather have schools step into the fray or keep out? And if they don't trust schools to manage this situation, can we blend what students do at home, where parents have some influence, with what they do at school? It brings a whole new meaning to the word "homework."<br /><br />Whatever we do, let’s stand ready to help students process whatever happens. Right now lockdown gives them no opportunities to do this.<br /><br />Let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06522310652237964522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-30715057590421626002009-03-01T20:09:00.000-08:002009-03-01T20:22:45.928-08:00Orchestrating the Media Collage- Digital literacy in an era of new mediaHere is some grist for the mill for those of you leading initiatives in the area of 21st century skills and digital literacy. Educational Leadership magazine recently published an article of mine titled <span style="font-style: italic;">Orchestrating the Media Collage</span>. It has the following subtitle:<br /><ul><li>“Being able to read and write multiple forms of media and integrate them into a <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfeCh62bGUtIme2jq_dzIKibT9pgGrzCW5a0ey_A462eYpzRffCspabqMq6pqYzFYvTipdjw7J26YaOmG_rj_TJ1eAtMySVpDum3k3n0H6nv0TRYboEjeyfFqM4pCFvzC1sN9yhc8gja4/s1600-h/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 131px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfeCh62bGUtIme2jq_dzIKibT9pgGrzCW5a0ey_A462eYpzRffCspabqMq6pqYzFYvTipdjw7J26YaOmG_rj_TJ1eAtMySVpDum3k3n0H6nv0TRYboEjeyfFqM4pCFvzC1sN9yhc8gja4/s200/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308440863035411154" border="0" /></a>meaningful whole is the new hallmark of literacy.”</li></ul>The article provides an overview of the nature of digital literacy, as well as eight guidelines that can help teachers, parents and policy makers promote the crucial skills associated with digital literacy.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Orchestrating_the_Media_Collage.aspx">Read Orchestrating the Media Collage</a> at the Educational Leadership site.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-13439626640624781882009-02-06T07:53:00.000-08:002009-02-07T10:30:27.606-08:00The Greening of the Digital Landscape<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">[subTechst publishes a column 3 times/year. Feel free to republish it in any venue you wish. Contact jason (jasonohler@gmail.com) for more info.]</span></span><br /><br />Suddenly everyone’s favorite color is green. Not the color of money and envy but of their antithesis – environmental embarrassment. We are slowly awakening from our high technology revolution the way we do from an engaging movie, shedding our suspended disbelief to rediscover the world around us. What we see is that our relentless push for change has come with a price tag, namely the generation of a mortifying amount of computer generated landfill.<br /><br />Much of today’s green concern about computing focuses on energy conservation and more efficient, earth friendly ways to discard yesterday’s model. But almost none of it focuses on a lifestyle change we have quietly embraced that expects us to upgrade every two years. After all, our throw-away culture is also our economic engine, unrelenting in its desire to make room for the new at the expense of the previous. It is built upon faster, lighter, cheaper…always with a shorter half-life.<br /><br />The result is that we are generating piles of old gear that has no reasonable expectation of use beyond its very short life cycle. If you are 40 you have probably already had and discarded at least a half dozen computers, not to mention numerous television sets and other now quaint digital memorabilia. Sure, you gave your last laptop to your niece, who will no doubt get a few year’s use of it. But eventually not even the indigent will take it because it is, basically, useless.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Operation Seek and Discard</span><br />I got to see this first hand recently when I volunteered to head up Operation Seek and Discard. Our mission was to search every nook and cranny in my University of Alaska office building for defunct technology that was resting in some out-of-sight-out-of-mind place. For one week, myself and a brave cadre of colleagues spelunked under desks, in closets, in filing cabinets long ago locked, and managed to scare up enough obsolete tech to sink a mainframe. It turns out that a lot of the defunct gear was hiding in plain sight on people’s shelves and desks. We had just learned to ignore it, the way we had learned to ignore the water cooler that hadn’t been filled in years.<br /><br />At the end of the week, the dispossessed pieces of tech were gathered in a pile in the center of a large room, forming a collage of hulking desktop computers, low resolution cameras, VHS players and a mishmash of cords and cables that held it all together the way spaghetti holds together a fine Italian meal. People would come by and stare before shaking their heads and saying, “Remember when we would sell our own kids for one of those things,” pointing to a color printer the size of a small refrigerator. “Now we can’t give them away.” Alas, we can’t give our kids away either.<br /><br />As I stared at all the obsolete tech silently huddled together doing the dance of the digitally dead I felt a mixture of guilt, sadness and denial. After all, I was one of the digitally hopeful who helped convince the forces of the industrial age to walk out on to the leading edge, only to watch the edge sprint away from us at gigaspeeds. The pursuit of staying current quickly became inevitable but impossible. This mess was my mess.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A New Kind of Obsolescence</span><br />So much of this comes as a surprise because the digital age has so drastically redefined the concept of obsolescence. Cars with seized engines and rusted out frames are still good for parts. In fact, we have junkyards dedicated to their utility. But that isn’t how the digital age works. Most of the stuff we had to get rid of in Operation Seek and Discard worked just fine. The only problem with it is that it was… sloooowwww. And because it was slow, it had become incompatible with the faster technology everyone else was using.<br /><br />The good news for our institution was that it did a good job of wringing every last drop out of technology that the public would allow. After all, the public will be the first to criticize an educational institution running last year’s gear. But the bad news is also the good news. Despite anyone’s best efforts, the digital age seems destined to generate landfill by the truckload. This could change. If the public demanded laptops made out of spare parts and recycled cardboard I am sure the engineering community could rise to the challenge. But I don’t see that happening soon. And it’s not just institutions that make a mess – we do it too. We wouldn’t dream of making our kids use slow computers running yesterday’s operating system. It’s the digital age equivalent of not feeding our children.<br /><br />At the end of the Operation Seek and Discard I had created two piles. The first was stuff that we would either melt down for scrap, donate to the local gun club for target practice or ship off to state surplus. That is, anything that was over three years old. The second much smaller pile consisted of stuff we might actually use. While much of pile two was on the cusp of obsolescence, there was one piece of technology that had been around for 30 years and still had another 30 years left in it: the upright Royal vacuum cleaner. The custodian claimed that.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What's Next?</span><br />What do we make of all this? Surely schools can’t live with yesterday’s processor speeds. It’s downright irresponsible. And they can’t continue to force students to stare at fuzzy screens. That’s inhumane. So we wait for some social movement, some enterprising green company, some funded mandate from the government that will make green computing truly possible. When it comes perhaps it will allow us to at least reuse our computer casings, inserting new innards as they become available. Perhaps it will entail a new approach to creating computers that makes their constituent parts truly recoverable and useful. Or maybe it will drive us to create computers that are comprised of so little that it won’t matter.<br /><br />But in the meantime, we live with our mess, teaching the science of ecology as a game of catch-up in a world that is exploding with efforts to turn third world nations into first world competitors, complete with the purchasing power that entails. And while we wait for the other shoe drop in many countries embracing a digital lifestyle, we approach our own future like we do the federal deficit, once again passing the buck on to our children.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-85743742116026405202008-10-06T01:37:00.000-07:002008-10-06T10:39:52.260-07:00Web 3.0 - The Semantic Web Cometh<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>subTechst offers a free column service for bloggers, publishers or anyone wanting vitamins for the mind because they are concerned about their information diet. Publish subTechst at will.<br /><br />subTechst comes out three times a year: fall, winter, spring.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">subTechst column, fall 2008. </span>This fall’s column is out and is titled, “<a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/pdfs/Web3-SemanticWebCometh.pdf">Web 3.0 - The Semantic Web Cometh- What Happens When the Read-Write Web Begins to Think</a>?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Article overview</span><br />Make no mistake. Web 2.0, as important as it is, will seem like a minor plateau on the journey to the Semantic Web, also known as Web 3.0.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">From info tease to overload. </span>The Semantic Web will do many things. But above all it will address one of the most important question on the minds of the cyber savvy, summarized by the following quote by Credo, from <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/thenwhat">Then What?</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">What happens when we ask a simple question and get so much information that we can’t sort through it, let alone evaluate its trustworthiness?</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(from <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/thenwhat">Then What? Everyone's Guide to Living, Learning and Having Fun in the Digital Age</a>)</span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">The illusion of knowledge.</span> After all, if you are like most people, when you condu<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlIb8KNVkclsdIpUqvlZMOb7G8TuHx_G8UvxF9sZWR6XS-xe0aFeq7RDpgL3R09vKJgv_8mcp0R3-fEVjGTyOiWpCfObEgZwt3kv97bfwr2y3_SWF7S37daX912iNZpYLZ3QhnEGQb2XA/s1600-h/semanticWebTooMuch.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlIb8KNVkclsdIpUqvlZMOb7G8TuHx_G8UvxF9sZWR6XS-xe0aFeq7RDpgL3R09vKJgv_8mcp0R3-fEVjGTyOiWpCfObEgZwt3kv97bfwr2y3_SWF7S37daX912iNZpYLZ3QhnEGQb2XA/s200/semanticWebTooMuch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253959443616230914" border="0" /></a>ct a Google search you get a gazillion hits and read the first ten. You walk away with the illusion of knowing something. This is at least ineffective and potentially very dangerous.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Producing reports, rather than finding pages. </span>In one vision of a well-developed semantic web, a search returns a multimedia report rather than a list of hits. The report draws from many sources, including websites, articles, book chapters, blog dialogue, YouTube presentations, cell phone memory, virtual reality resources—anything that is accessible by the rules of Web 3.0. The information in the report – which may be very wiki-like in structure - would be compared, collated and synthesized in a basic way, presenting points of agreement and disagreement, and perhaps evaluating these in light of political positions or contrasting research. The information would also be personalized, alerting us to personal and even local resources based on our profiles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">More time participating rather than searching. </span>Ideally, the Semantic Web reduces the amount of time we spend searching and sifting so that we can spend more time thinking and participating.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Web 3.0 is a truly unique development.</span> For the first time in the history of educational technology in the digital age, we can see a foundational change far enough in advance to actually plan for it. We can actually help direct Web 3.0 in advance of its arrival.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download the article. </span>Want to know more? Download the article, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/pdfs/Web3-SemanticWebCometh.pdf">Web 3.0 - The Semantic Web Cometh- What Happens When the Read-Write Web Begins to Think?</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pass it on. </span>Feel free to publish this article in whole or in part, and pass it on to anyone else to do the same.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spread the word:</span> <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/pdfs/Web3-SemanticWebCometh.pdf">The Semantic Web Cometh</a>.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-64956301382081384502008-04-21T16:37:00.000-07:002008-12-08T22:24:53.630-08:00Wired yes...but inspired?We may be wired, but are we inspired? Or, to put it more poetically:<br /><br />After you're blogged, twittered and flattened<br />And are ready to jump into the fray<br />You're still left with the age-old question<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Just what was it you wanted to say?</span><br /><br />If I had to sum up the digital age in education in one sentence it would be: Finally, we all get to tell our own stories in our way using the tools that best suit how we learn, create and communicate.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-n0IkYGehp6QNzEeVRljblQEzdRLCdGS3HcEfwoDYhaOc-EFOtdCYoYWYSzgkw1g9TPEMywGyFAcbYIvJ2GXQ7mZP0Cnxv2P2e-epNhROBwv7WB7gAGZW7a1zOEwp74nx7CtAjpz5v7w/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-n0IkYGehp6QNzEeVRljblQEzdRLCdGS3HcEfwoDYhaOc-EFOtdCYoYWYSzgkw1g9TPEMywGyFAcbYIvJ2GXQ7mZP0Cnxv2P2e-epNhROBwv7WB7gAGZW7a1zOEwp74nx7CtAjpz5v7w/s320/Picture+1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191847388875828994" border="0" /></a><br />Given the variety of tools and modes of expression available to us, just what is it we want to say? Let me look at this through some of my activities during just the past few weeks, which found me in a number of classrooms working with students and teachers in new media narrative projects. These projects are very typical:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fifth graders at Klukwan elementary, in Klukwan, Alaska</span>. The students created "conversation stories" between themselves and someone else from a different culture they had been studying in order to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in "the global village. "</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Third graders at Joy Elementary school in Fairbanks, Alaska</span>. This is part of an NSF grant to combine exploration of the impacts of climate change and digital storytelling. The goal is to combine the power of story and critical thinking into an integrated approach to learning and expression.</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Language apprentices at the Klukwan Community Center</span>. The focus of their project is to give digital voice to their efforts to preserve their native language, Tlingit, which currently has a life expectancy of ten to twenty years.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">The power is in the story, not the tools...</span><br />In each case, students used either iMovie or MovieMaker (roughly iMovie's equivalent on the PC) to combine recorded voice, original artwork and photographs into an origin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLSEaGxK-H1zs7QQAVAv1gAxRAXY5oe33wbAsqjejrm0BslLBXhd-7_G7L7DOpIfrX8uYVccAb70eVWJRw31sgy6FjL2D5uE3gDzMlZjXQs-D92uv3d6l_OO7H5KBYHWcbJzEb8f1mtD0/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLSEaGxK-H1zs7QQAVAv1gAxRAXY5oe33wbAsqjejrm0BslLBXhd-7_G7L7DOpIfrX8uYVccAb70eVWJRw31sgy6FjL2D5uE3gDzMlZjXQs-D92uv3d6l_OO7H5KBYHWcbJzEb8f1mtD0/s320/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191855841371467538" border="0" vspace="10" /></a>al authentic narrative. Students reflected, wrote, recorded, listened, rewrote, and re-recorded until their narrative was synthesized, clear, and compelling. Then they added images that helped tell their story.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Something magical happens when students listen to their writing, rather than just reading it. </span>They hear things they just can't hear through the typical writing process. And they modify things they wouldn't have otherwise.<br /><br />So, what did all of these students have to say? Beyond the details, which always vary widely from one project to the next, students all said basically this: I have a voice, and a story to tell, about the land, my culture, myself and my hopes and concerns for the future. My story is based on what I learn through observation, study, participation and reflection. And I am telling my story using a language that is important to me, the language of new media, so that others might understand what I see.<br /><br />As always, more at: <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/storytelling">jasonohler.com/storytelling </a>and, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/beyondessays">jasonohler.com/beyondessays</a>.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-20364395684627455162008-04-11T09:33:00.000-07:002008-04-11T09:40:32.488-07:00Of blogfolios and metaphors<span style="font-weight: bold;">Be the online anthropologist</span><br />Some worry about their blog traffic. I say don't worry- just be an anthropologist. Then no matter what happens, it is always interesting, always revealing about people and how they connect. What I love about blogging is that we reveal who we are in such fascinating ways.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Early online community studies<br /></span>From 1988 to 1994 I conducted an assessment of an online conferencing community as an anthropologist might. The conferencing software was text-based (by the way, try telling a young person that there was a time when there was "nothing to click on" and watch them stare back in disbelief). My study started before the Internet was around, and ended just as it was coming on board. Many interesting findings emerged in this study, including:<br /><ul><li>The main reason people entered the conferencing system and stayed was to meet new people, make new friends and sustain the new relationships they created.</li><li>Successful online conferencing was largely a matter of metaphor. Pick the metaphor that works for your conference and refer to it within the course of conversation.</li></ul><b>Blogfolios and metaphors</b><br />A blog can be anything from a debating venue to a newspaper to...you name it. They are incredibly flexible. For instance, my distance graduate education students create a blog as a portfolio- a blogfolio. The portfolio is their metaphor. They post media on YouTube and SlideShare, documents on Google Docs, and then link to these within their blogfolio reflections. I leave it up to them how much conversation they want on their portfolios. You can get to their blogs through <a href="http://mat2007distance.blogspot.com/"> our class blog</a>.<br /><br />So, if the metaphor for your blog is a party at your house, and you expect a lot of people, then low traffic might concern you. If it is a drop-in center, where people come and go, then there is no reason for concern. The important thing is having the party!<br /><br />jason<br />jasonohler.comJason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-53936476838161380892008-02-01T19:39:00.002-08:002008-12-08T22:24:54.277-08:00Screasels, Googling under Web 3.0, smart badges, building a village under your house and more....<span style="font-weight: bold;">Announcement - subTechst now offers a free column service</span>! It is used by organizations for newsletters, blogs and other media venues.<br /><br />The most recent column: <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/wordFiles/subTechstColumns/subTechst-Philosopher-1-2008.doc">What's Next in Ed Tech? Becoming Your Favorite Philosopher</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/publications/subtechstColumn.cfm">See all columns</a><br /><br />====<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">WEB 3.0 Watch<br /><br /></span><strong>What drives Web 3.0, the "semantic" web? </strong><strong></strong><strong><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">One thing is our intense need to deal with <span style="font-weight: bold;">info overload</span> and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">cognitive dissonance</span> it causes. Web 3.0 does so by analyzing the information for us and presenting it in a way that is relevant to each of us personally.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Consider your average Google Search</span>. Say you are searching for information on "global warming" ... let's compare and contrast Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 responses...<br /><br /></span> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Web 2.0 yields</span>: thousands of web hits, leaving you to paw through them, determin</span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">e their reliability, re</span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">concile their inconsistencies, figure out what to do next. </span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIixaJzat4nRAlZbclHJUDRIz6mA66a1_2fgr1hpm7d-APKAe62YxHyD3XAiT-aHfxCh-mOe94T13J-CmGEyXTFz9mMQkGY3QFdlSAcGjkvmk3mbZDIpxT7LpM7QDOSmkSzF0FXR4avFs/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 113px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIixaJzat4nRAlZbclHJUDRIz6mA66a1_2fgr1hpm7d-APKAe62YxHyD3XAiT-aHfxCh-mOe94T13J-CmGEyXTFz9mMQkGY3QFdlSAcGjkvmk3mbZDIpxT7LpM7QDOSmkSzF0FXR4avFs/s200/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162224204716008322" border="0" /></a><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Even if you hav</span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">e the tools to do these things, who's got the time? Be honest- do you ever look beyond the first 20 to 30 hits you get in a Google search? </span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">May the buyer beware.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Web 3.0 yields:</span> a single report or story, perhaps wikish, that synthesizes the thousands of hits, compares and contrasts them and identifies possible ways to resolve inconsistencies. The raw material of the report will include not only web material, but also a number of info sources plugged into the web, including book chapters, lectures on YouTube, Second Life events, TV shows, information stored on your personal computer, PowerPoint presos, to name but a few.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Web 3.0 knows a lot about you</span>. And because it does, it will tell you about the following:<br /></span></strong><ul><li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">blogs, discussion groups even paid experts and vendors who can shed more light on global warming or offer tools to help you in your quest</span></strong></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">assessment of where political candidates stand on issues related to global warming<br /></span></li><li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">lectures, experts and TV programming available to you locally</span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">how you can play a role in</span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"> your community to address </span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">global warming that is very community specific, drawing on services like Google Earth and local news</span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">local groups and individuals who are interested global warming and how to reach them</span></strong></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">stores in your area that feature earth friendly products</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">information feeds that will constantly update your report</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">and lots more<br /></span></li></ul><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Everything by us contains our bias. </span>Eventually Web 3.0 will be so intelligent that it will identify strands of bias </span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">in the information it synthesizes </span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">(republican vs. democrat / pro-development vs. pro-environment / informed vs. just plain dumb). You will even be able to tell Google to organize the information it retrieves so that it supports or challenges a particular position.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Who will control the world? </span>Revisionist history will be created by whoever writes the code, and whoever pays them to do so. We will trust our Web 3.0 reports because we have to. Because we will not have time not to. They will become the truth, when actually they embody only one story about our world that has been told to us from a perspective we prescribed. Media mediating.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Web 3.0 is PIMC: </span></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxf90Ju7crLI_6iyG1wZ20hevKo4-QbOSfdSOpusGB1aS0zib8OZ1fGHIo0Jshq6NrrtIFevxKYbW4rjTSna_69DGQkYttmpidTsa3syh7uUjuMDhfzm9lbFAEwXt_G9ojx4NLlXqr3xM/s1600-h/Web3-PIMC.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxf90Ju7crLI_6iyG1wZ20hevKo4-QbOSfdSOpusGB1aS0zib8OZ1fGHIo0Jshq6NrrtIFevxKYbW4rjTSna_69DGQkYttmpidTsa3syh7uUjuMDhfzm9lbFAEwXt_G9ojx4NLlXqr3xM/s200/Web3-PIMC.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162529396502127570" border="0" /></a><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Personal</span> (connected in a just-for-you kind of way to the communities you are or could be part of)<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Intelligent</span> (self-referential, self-synthesizing, self-organizing)</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Multimodal</span> (using many kinds of media, appealing to many ways of learning, allowing for many kinds of access, input and output)</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Comprehensive</span> (drawing on the entire universe of information, which it continually updates)<br /></li></ul>We are our wiki.<br /><br />----------------<span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6ae8GRmFLbkgfxHgIjZQ-oVXzt-zokSYH0NOigUVYs8FCNQQN4E0SgcZKsoZz-hoGbTH5dKHtZmRvoG_gUtLgQ3ZlEyxGAY53nDfWDOEv7BKJzCFXIMJtmib4_tepgSCvqSWlaChGhQ/s1600-h/sunMoon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6ae8GRmFLbkgfxHgIjZQ-oVXzt-zokSYH0NOigUVYs8FCNQQN4E0SgcZKsoZz-hoGbTH5dKHtZmRvoG_gUtLgQ3ZlEyxGAY53nDfWDOEv7BKJzCFXIMJtmib4_tepgSCvqSWlaChGhQ/s200/sunMoon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162225849688482706" border="0" /></a><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />A real picture?</span></span><br /><span><br />I don't know. I don't even know if this is astronomically possible. But by god it's gorgeous.<br /></span><span><br />Click pic to enlarge.<br /></span><br /><br />---------<br /><br /><strong>TECHST MESSAGES...</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> news bits from the tEcosystem...</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 131px;" src="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><strong></strong><br /><strong></strong><span style="font-weight: bold;">Quotables</span><br /><br />"Wisdom is turning hindsight into foresight."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/resources/quotes.cfm">Discover more quotables</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My current favorite cool Web 2.1 tool?</span><br /><a href="http://voicethread.com/"><br />Voice Thread</a>. It allows you to create a slide show or story, and add your voice and annotation. Immensely easy to use, fun and useful.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What's web 2.1?</span> Web 2.0 + art the 4th R. It is web 2.0 plus the integration of non-text information (pics, music, animation, et al) as an integral part of message conveyance, rather than an afterthought. <strong></strong><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><strong>Neologisms<br /></strong><ul><li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">screasel</span>. Screen + easel = screasel. It is the primary digital tool or locus of creativity for creating anything in the digital age, including images, music composition, dance animation...whatever. Screens became screasels when they went from read-only (first 50 years of TV) to write-possible (computers, cell phones, et. al.) Example: "Kids see screens as communication monitors as well as easels upon and through which to create original work of all kinds. They see them as screasels."<br /></span></strong></li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">wikish</span>. Of or relating to a wiki. Also, anything that is an open, evolving, cumulative compendium of thought that is subject to on-going modification. "Our approach to product development was wikish in that all ideas were important and became part of our vision for the future that could change and be reconceived at any moment." Non-wikish? Anything fixed and hierarchical.<br /></li></ul>--- -- ---<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvNegmnQ2TioY-aJZ8DXL5pMTiFy3qcUpjqpYHajqMLEYwaHyoiHHYn8RomM-dn8kZt7gmN6wibBXrnx0obvpSzp_tXqAEvfu1fXlir6PsxI_0B443n1EnZZfMcjJINr3ctj1vWpXk9Y/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvNegmnQ2TioY-aJZ8DXL5pMTiFy3qcUpjqpYHajqMLEYwaHyoiHHYn8RomM-dn8kZt7gmN6wibBXrnx0obvpSzp_tXqAEvfu1fXlir6PsxI_0B443n1EnZZfMcjJINr3ctj1vWpXk9Y/s200/Picture+3.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162241302980813762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Screasels - they're everywhere. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span><span>In this pic, a couple is watching a movie (screasel 1) of a group of children watching a girl on TV (screasel 2) who is using a cell phone and a computer (screasels 3 and 4)</span><span>.<br /><br /></span><span>Click pic to enlarge.</span><br /><span><br /><br />How many screasels do you have in your life?<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">--- -- ---<br /><br />Nielson and Digimarc team up to track Net content<br /><br /></span>The Nielsen Co. and digital rights management company Digimarc Corp. are launching a new service that will monitor and manage media content across the Web, enabling media companies to track their content throughout the Internet using digital watermarking and fingerprinting technology.<br /><br />In addition, it will allow content companies, peer-to-peer services, social networks and user generated content sites to manage and monetize online media streams.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bottom line:</span> they will watch everything we do, and feed it back to us in the form of highly personalized market pitches.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i1dd5aa717be9441905980cf97865d54d">Read more</a><br /><br /><strong></strong>--- -- ---<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Virtual writers picket virtual NBC in Second Life<br /></span><br />It had to happen. Imagine a family reunion in Second Life. Or parent teacher conferences. Or a blind date. Or just about anything.<br /><br /><a href="http://community.livejournal.com/wga_supporters/148951.html?style=mine#cutid1">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Man creates life-size medieval village underneath his house<br /></span><span><br />I wish I thought of doing that. But who's got the time?<br /><br />A 57-year-old former insurance broker from northern Italy apparently had the time. Inspired by a childhood vision, he created a medieval village underneath his house that occupies 300,000 cubic feet and includes nine opulent ornate temples on five levels that are linked by hundreds of meters of richly decorated tunnels. It certainly wins the subTechst "basement of the month" prize.<br /><br />Cyberhoax or reality wonder? If the latter, then it just goes to show that not all the really cool stuff in the world is digital.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=495538&in_page_id=1811">Read more</a><br /></span><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Smart Badges track human behavior</span><br /><br />MIT researchers used conference badges to collect data on people's interactions and visualize the social network. Imagine having these at a party. Or a business negotiation. Or a trial. TMI? Not if you want to win.<br /><br />Remember- eventually all information we collect feeds into Web 3.0, including info from smart badges. Are we sure we are okay with that? (Does it matter if we're not?)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20129/?nlid=842&a=f">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">NASA seeks to build a MMOLG </span><br /><br />(MMOLG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Learning Game, though you probably knew that already).<br /><br />NASA wants to use it to deliver NASA relevant content through innovative applications of technologies to enhance education in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).<br /><br />NASA obviously isn't playing around about games.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fbo.gov/spg/NASA/GSFC/OPDC20220/MMORFI/SynopsisR.html">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New high level group seeks to understand digital kids</span><br /><br />Former Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell has a new job: digital hygienist. He wants a federal task force to study the impact of digital technology on kids. It actually looks promising, but we can be sure it will help not just parents and educators, but also marketers and everyone else who wants to understand the young consumer mind.<br /><br />Read about it, then write your congressperson. Or email them, blog them, or send them a YouTube link to you ranting about it. A piece of advice: don't sing.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6524776.html">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A truly ingenious marketing move<br /><br /></span><span>Motion captures audience</span> because we naturally watch what moves. How else do we know how the story ends?<br /><br />This is a truly unique approach to engaging users in your website. Consider this version 1.0 of a concept that will certainly evolve.<br /><br /><a href="http://producten.hema.nl/">Watch</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Top ten tech flops</span><br /><br />At the top of the list? Toto Toilets, with heated seats that caught on fire. Use your imagination, but don't tell me about it.<br /><br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.tech_flops.fortune/index.html">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">MacArthur Foundation's digital learning study</span><br /><br />The MacArthur Foundation launched a five-year, $50 million digital media and learning initiative in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life.<br /><br />As always, MacArthur is "enlightening" the way.<br /><br /><a href="http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/c.enJLKQNlFiG/b.2029199/k.BFC9/Home.htm">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wikis and avatars are improving education</span><br /><br />So says this U.S. News and World Report article.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/e-learning/2008/01/10/new-answers-for-e-learning.html">Read more<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></a><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The most influential media writing of 2007</span><br /><br />According to John Bracken's readers.<br /><br /><a href="http://bracken.wordpress.com/2007/12/20/the-most-influential-media-writing-of-2007/">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Top ideas of 2007</span><br /><br />According to the New York Times.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09Intro-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In some classrooms, IMming is an assignment</span><br /><br />Many teachers who catch students instant messaging during class tell them to stop and finish their assignments. But in some classrooms, instant messaging is the assignment, as educators use the medium to teach everything from recognizing colloquialisms to writing for a particular audience.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2007/09/12/02im.h01.html">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Second Life traveling tips<br /><br /></span>Second Life on less than 5 Linden a day, as well as a wonderful compendium of esoteric and solid advice for traveling in Second Life.<br /><br /><a href="http://travelingavatar.quickanddirtytips.com/five-quick-tips-for-second-life.aspx">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The future of marketing? Getting to know you inside and out</span><br /><br />The ability of new media to monitor what consumers are doing — like keeping track of which Web sites they visit — is fueling the interest in behavioral targeting.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/business/media/15adcol.html">Read more</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-63084312266360769542007-10-29T12:15:00.000-07:002008-12-08T22:24:55.162-08:00inter-avi communication in the virtual galaxy, smobs and dumbiuses, social networking pre-web, sleep walking art, and more...<span style="font-weight: bold;">Digital Storytelling in the Classroom now shipping</span>! To find out more, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/dstbook">go to the Corwin Press site</a>. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMRFXhgDOC-75OkZQKZBs9esIt-r_TtebFHoUXw0twFaQCgkcSHkgVHeDC-nhpk9qa8GWzaDVoZfnZ2tOcSgs2b9l3ltsmCmR6eFonkA9JQMZ67q9S03qZDL0icrWjYTBALFfyzyIfNM/s1600-h/digitalStorytellingBookCoverSmall-v2.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMRFXhgDOC-75OkZQKZBs9esIt-r_TtebFHoUXw0twFaQCgkcSHkgVHeDC-nhpk9qa8GWzaDVoZfnZ2tOcSgs2b9l3ltsmCmR6eFonkA9JQMZ67q9S03qZDL0icrWjYTBALFfyzyIfNM/s320/digitalStorytellingBookCoverSmall-v2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5110654704061485586" border="0" /></a>The book begins with "Twenty Revelations about Digital Storytelling in Education." We are up to revelation 15. You are invited to visit previous journal entries to read the first fourteen.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Revelation #15: Digital stories allow digital natives to pursue academic content in their own language. </span></span><br /><br /><strong>Book excerpt</strong>: "Students inhabit a largely oral and digital world, then sit in classrooms where the printed word is the primary medium in play. Digital storytelling allows students to express content-area understanding in ways that are familiar. I have seen digital stories that do everything from explain math, science, and literature concepts to illuminate the interior landscapes of cultural, artistic, and personal perspective."<br /><br />----------------<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLAJ0LqiYYrCEu4f75ECYy5VFQiB5JS6efQuCJUKeONyyGulZm3_IcT9YlSovXSXYpTpH1Fc3zTQ0micTBTWJYzjGKDO-MjHduFA_I2G8sTc_KKXSC0jGcOvWz2R7R7Z2Bs8WOfA47Fs/s1600-h/ClayAggressiveDriverEvenSmaller.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLAJ0LqiYYrCEu4f75ECYy5VFQiB5JS6efQuCJUKeONyyGulZm3_IcT9YlSovXSXYpTpH1Fc3zTQ0micTBTWJYzjGKDO-MjHduFA_I2G8sTc_KKXSC0jGcOvWz2R7R7Z2Bs8WOfA47Fs/s200/ClayAggressiveDriverEvenSmaller.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126859350169394738" border="0" /></a><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">A real road sign</span><br /><br />A picture take</span><span>n by photographer <a href="mailto:claygood302@hotmail.com">Clay Good</a> somewhere in the Catskills. It should appear at every on-ramp</span><span> to the information highway.<br /><br /><br /><br />Click on the photo to enlarge.<br /></span><br />---------<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The social networks in 1990 – forward to the past<br /><br /></span>The online environment has always been a social network to me, even before the Internet became a household word. I was emailing, maintaining BITNET listservs and using USENET in the early 80s. (Those of you under 40 will need to ask an AARP member about this).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In 1990</span>, I began a multi-year virtual community study of an in-house computer conferencing system called PortaCom. The study turned out to be my dissertation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1990 was pre-web</span>:<br /><ul><li>nothing to click on</li><li>everything in text</li><li>mainframe dial-in access only</li><li>terse error messages<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sapes will be sapes. </span>Yet, what I found then is still true now. People joined online communities to do primarily the following things:<ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">expand social networks…</span> meet new people, make new friends, connect with others they could not otherwise<br /></li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">engage in behaviors that they could not in RL… </span>including the good (talking to people more honestly more often), the bad (cussing people out in virtual public), and the ugly (being rude just because and otherwise getting in touch with the adolescent within)</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">build mutually beneficial communities…</span> to do things like teach classes, buy and sell things, plan events, work on joint projects, help find and exchange resources, achieve critical mass surrounding issues by forming e-coalitions</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">------------<br /><br />social networking neologism<br /><br />interlational</span> - a neologism (a new word) that emerged from my online community study, meaning "<span style="font-style: italic;">across social boundaries</span>."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Usage</span><span>:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>"This act of interlational communication was facilitated by a lack of social cues within the computer conference."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Back story</span>: One day I was observing a group of high school students and their teacher who were sitting in the same room while communicating within a computer conference. Face-to-face, I heard a student address his teacher as "Mr. Smith," while within the computer conference he called his teacher by his first name. The lack of social cues encouraged the student to cross "social lata" and address his teacher more familiarly.<br /><br />----------------<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAnYkUfEQMuejhipP6Ii2GpCXGtLHAOAhC58P63ygTIgP__4wOK8NkqaDoKFalw_CYG6nruU3i-oHm4-gsMOimVZCnd1ijVNUyc6BrRA19G_ag1qEJuS59srfZ0UZX9sU8_QBG1c9kgg/s1600-h/essayToCollage.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAnYkUfEQMuejhipP6Ii2GpCXGtLHAOAhC58P63ygTIgP__4wOK8NkqaDoKFalw_CYG6nruU3i-oHm4-gsMOimVZCnd1ijVNUyc6BrRA19G_ag1qEJuS59srfZ0UZX9sU8_QBG1c9kgg/s200/essayToCollage.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126862584279768642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">New literacy: </span><span>media collage</span><span>. The shift from text centrism to media collage captured in a slide.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jasonohler/art4th-r-beyond-words-10-2007">View entire "Beyond Words" presentation</a>, from which this slide was taken.<br /><br /><br />Click on slide to enlarge.</span><br /><br />----------------<br /><br /><strong>TECHST MESSAGES...</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> news bits from the tEcosystem...</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 131px;" src="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><strong></strong><br /><strong><a style="font-weight: normal;" href="http://www.wirednextfest.com/inform/schedule_of_events.php"></a></strong><span style="font-weight: bold;">Quotables</span><br /><br />"I link therefore I am."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/resources/quotes.cfm">Discover more quotables</a>.<br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><strong>More neologisms<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Besides <span style="font-weight: bold;">interlational </span>(see above): </span> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></strong><ul><li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">smob</span>: smart + mob = smob. Isn't "smart mob" an oxymoron? </span> </strong></li><br /><li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">dumbius</span>: see below.</span></strong></li></ul><strong>Origin of dumbius. <span style="font-weight: normal;">If there is such a thing as a smart mob, can there also be a dumb genius? Universities are full of them. They are called "dumbiuses." Singular is dumbius (DUM-ee-uhs). Say it aloud fast to clarify its true meaning.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Usage</span>: "Bobbi's sure a genius when it comes to understanding the theory of relativity, but what a dumbius when it comes to making rude noises at a social gathering."</span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />What's a smart mob?</span> According to Howard Rheingold (one of my favorite chroniclers of things digital), smart mob refers to a group demonstration or collective action fueled by information and communication technologies. As it is often used, it implies a spontaneous gathering facilitated by hand-held technology, though this is probably more accurately referred to as a "flash mob." Given that mobs are rarely planned, either can do. Purists may want to combine them to create another neologism, "flart mob," given that "smash mob" has so many unpleasant implications.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">smob in wide use</span>. Smob is the name of a band, a programming term, even an acronym for such worldly things as "student member of the board," and "</span></strong><span class="copy">Swiss Study Group for Morbid Obesity." And dumbius appears to be someone's screen name. So, use both with care.</span><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><strong>Free Tutorial: <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jasonohler/i-s-t-e-standard-v-i-human-legal-ethical-concerns">ISTE Teacher Standard VI</a>, via SlideShare.net.<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />ISTE</span> = International Society for Technology in Education.<br /><br />I<span style="font-weight: bold;">STE Teacher Standard VI </span>addresses the legal, ethical and human issues surrounding the uses of technology in education.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">ISTE </span>is the flagship organization for developing technology standards for K-12 education. Within its standards for teachers, students and administrators are standards that address the social impacts of technology. This tutorial addresses standards in this area for all three groups, while focusing on the standards for teachers.</span> <span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></strong><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Inter-avi communication<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhRMX7sEgJsaH_4TtfODCt7McOtD9fTAbUbSvNecNB0iSXdb8HebUr1M2vhGSa3O7CnL7nz3tB4r0bnTRswDivKb8GAJQH7E6T7YI1BLzb11xDXE2Ka_1ElbW2pVQeCMAvNqnBWqI27s/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhRMX7sEgJsaH_4TtfODCt7McOtD9fTAbUbSvNecNB0iSXdb8HebUr1M2vhGSa3O7CnL7nz3tB4r0bnTRswDivKb8GAJQH7E6T7YI1BLzb11xDXE2Ka_1ElbW2pVQeCMAvNqnBWqI27s/s320/Picture+3.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126847689333186034" border="0" /></a>Imagine not being able to exchange email with someone because you use Thunderbird and she uses Outlook. Or not being able to see a web page because it was only written for Firefox.<br /><br />That is where the virtual galaxy is now. Currently there is no straightforward way for avi's from, e.g., Second Life and World of War Craft, to talk to each other or exchange information.<br /><br />But that could change. <a href="http://www.news.com/Tech-titans-seek-virtual-world-interoperability/2100-1043_3-6213148.html">Read all about it</a>.<br /><br />Think of it as cross-cultural communication in the virtual domain. Or as a serious step toward The Matrix. Techies call it "interoperability."<br /><br /><strong></strong>--- -- ---<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Report I am reading: </span><a href="http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/pdf/online_nation.pdf">Online Nation</a> by the Sloan Consortium.<br /><br />Sloan has done it again. This is a great report that provides a 2006 snapshot of the state of online learning in higher education in the U.S.<br /><br />Interesting findings:<br /><ul><li>During the last 5 years, online learning has grown 9.7%, compared with just 1.8% growth in overall student population.</li><li>Nearly 20% of all higher ed students in 2006 were taking an online course.</li></ul>--- -- ---<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sleep walking art?</span><br />You mean, art that someone creates while sleeping?<br /><br />Yes. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/7017059.stm">Read all about it</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVR9fIpi1QWx43xuHj9IRZKROdBZ026GGsV3QFxZnBoLt6j0jeVGkVcCYgHLOieICjR39KLFfUmQvwGww_gxBnWLuEWOI-9ZOZR-z3GzYRlBkuGHRLrAXil0h32hjdC2X2xWbxpQ6Qeqs/s1600-h/ATT00009.jpg"><br /></a>Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-19720117637379958722007-09-15T20:58:00.000-07:002008-12-08T22:24:55.584-08:00Story thinking, truck art, how ads effect, robots understand jokes, the world beyond essays...and more<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Digital Storytelling in the Classroom now shipping</span>! To find out more, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/dstbook">go to the Corwin Press site</a>. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMRFXhgDOC-75OkZQKZBs9esIt-r_TtebFHoUXw0twFaQCgkcSHkgVHeDC-nhpk9qa8GWzaDVoZfnZ2tOcSgs2b9l3ltsmCmR6eFonkA9JQMZ67q9S03qZDL0icrWjYTBALFfyzyIfNM/s1600-h/digitalStorytellingBookCoverSmall-v2.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMRFXhgDOC-75OkZQKZBs9esIt-r_TtebFHoUXw0twFaQCgkcSHkgVHeDC-nhpk9qa8GWzaDVoZfnZ2tOcSgs2b9l3ltsmCmR6eFonkA9JQMZ67q9S03qZDL0icrWjYTBALFfyzyIfNM/s320/digitalStorytellingBookCoverSmall-v2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5110654704061485586" border="0" /></a>The book begins with "Twenty Revelations about Digital Storytelling in Education." We are up to revelation 14. You are invited to visit previous journal entries to read the first thirteen.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Revelation #14: Combining storytelling and critical thinking defines an important pedagogical frontier</span></span><br /><br /><strong>Book excerpt</strong>: "Story’s structure and rhythm, as well as the emotional involvement it encourages, can help us remember important information that might be forgotten if it is delivered to us in the form of reports, lectures, or isolated bits of information…<span style="font-weight: bold;"> But stories can be dangerous</span>. Because engaging with stories demands that we ‘willingly suspend our disbelief’ (Coleridge, 1817), we let our guard down and tend to consume the story experience with little critical assessment...Clearly we need to blend the power and engagement of storytelling with the skills and perspective that insight and critical assessment offer.<br /><br />----------------<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How Ads Effect</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pierce and feed the neocortex simultaneously</span>. The power of so many advertisements is their ability to pierce the neocortex, while feeding it at the same time. In other words, ads need to get past your critical mind to make an emotional connection with you subconscious, while at the same time giving you good reasons to buy something, should you need to justify your purchase to yourself or others. The following diagrams depicts this:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKZfBZ8YSEH6TzZq25mzpmBT9y1DjeD_hhJYQhmOAKE2kWku_veeFgPmox67Ld6soUqEM85dYpaRFTIboIA0Vu4QQFD_ahdeMs_OmiUhrg14GOIbvx2Y7PVUWib6VxLwBnu7ofEaCdy0/s1600-h/Slide1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKZfBZ8YSEH6TzZq25mzpmBT9y1DjeD_hhJYQhmOAKE2kWku_veeFgPmox67Ld6soUqEM85dYpaRFTIboIA0Vu4QQFD_ahdeMs_OmiUhrg14GOIbvx2Y7PVUWib6VxLwBnu7ofEaCdy0/s320/Slide1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5110882260018762306" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> -> Click on the image to enlarge it.</span><br /><br />----------------<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >New resources via jasonohler.com</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beyond Essays: </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">How we show what we know in the digital age.</span> Being literate means being able to consume and produce the media forms of the day, what<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vtnKwyzMTYaUG1YJiWVHfT_L0jcmjuyCAi2ZWYlV03ndC_1fQlJLuldS-3n-oYFRB-LjXBPpJoiF31kGJYutwnNAXXQ4FBz7BfLweNajYtbNkAxc_sTaVk6awhPy_2KKM0Ngz5k9cHQ/s1600-h/literacyDef.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vtnKwyzMTYaUG1YJiWVHfT_L0jcmjuyCAi2ZWYlV03ndC_1fQlJLuldS-3n-oYFRB-LjXBPpJoiF31kGJYutwnNAXXQ4FBz7BfLweNajYtbNkAxc_sTaVk6awhPy_2KKM0Ngz5k9cHQ/s320/literacyDef.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5110706063280411186" border="0" /></a>ever they might be. For centuries this has meant media consisting primarily of words. But today's media forms consist of a good deal more than words: images, sounds, music, video, and much more. Putting them together requires media literacy. Doing so with expertise requires media fluency. <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/beyondessays">See the beyond essays website</a> for more.<br /></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beyond Words: the Multimedia Collage</span><span>, a </span><span>keynote</span> presentation built upon the material from the Beyond Essays website… <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/presentations/keynotes.cfm#beyondWords">described on keynote site</a><a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/presentations/keynotes.cfm#beyondWords">.</a></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Visualization resources</span>, about how images are being used to convey information that was once confined to text presentations… <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/resources/visualizationSites.cfm">available at the visualization web site</a>. Thanks to Mark Avnet.</li></ul><br />----------------<br /><br /><strong>TECHST MESSAGES...</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> news bits from the tEcosystem...</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 131px;" src="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New York Times’ Enters Distance Learning Market</span><br /><br />What's an outdated media source to do? Repackage what it has into learning materials.<br /><br />The New York Times on Thursday announced a major push into higher education — with new efforts to provide distance education, course content and social networking. A number of colleges are already either committed to using the new technologies or are in negotiations to start doing so, evidence of the strong power of the Times brand in academe.<br /><br /><a href="http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/07/nyt">read more...</a><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><strong>96 percent of teens use social-networking tools<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">No surprise there. But finally we have some statistics to back it up.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=7304">read more...</a> </span></strong><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><strong>Conference I wish I had attended: <a style="font-weight: normal;" href="http://www.wirednextfest.com/inform/schedule_of_events.php">WIRED' NextFest 2007 Education Day </a><br /></strong><br />--- -- ---<br /><strong>This issue's neologism</strong>: <span style="font-style: italic;"><strong>mediast </strong></span>(MEE-DEE-ist). One who creates, produces or works with media for a living or on an on-going basis.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Usage</span>: "Today's student is a mediast by default, using a number of media to create blogs, movies and other media forms." ... I forget who I said that to.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><strong>New fear I have</strong>: <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Robots understanding my jokes</span>. Well, at least someone…er, something…will. <a href="http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19526156.400?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19526156.400">Check out the New Scientist article</a>.<br /><br />--- -- ---<br /><strong>Cool art website I'm checking out</strong>: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Truck Art</span>. Artists turn 2D into 3D, this time on trucks. Or at least it appears that way. Could well be an elaborate PhotoShop ruse. Either way, quite something to behold. Here's an example. To see a bunch more, <a href="http://www.wltc.org/Documents/TruckArt.htm">look at the entire gallery</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVR9fIpi1QWx43xuHj9IRZKROdBZ026GGsV3QFxZnBoLt6j0jeVGkVcCYgHLOieICjR39KLFfUmQvwGww_gxBnWLuEWOI-9ZOZR-z3GzYRlBkuGHRLrAXil0h32hjdC2X2xWbxpQ6Qeqs/s1600-h/ATT00009.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVR9fIpi1QWx43xuHj9IRZKROdBZ026GGsV3QFxZnBoLt6j0jeVGkVcCYgHLOieICjR39KLFfUmQvwGww_gxBnWLuEWOI-9ZOZR-z3GzYRlBkuGHRLrAXil0h32hjdC2X2xWbxpQ6Qeqs/s320/ATT00009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5110653823593189874" border="0" /></a>Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-84509261327638075032007-06-21T22:07:00.001-07:002007-06-21T23:34:25.372-07:00Stories Help Us Remember, Web 3.0<strong>subTechst</strong> provides vitamins for the mind for those concerned about their information diet...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book229157">Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity</a> begins with the chapter entitled "Twenty Revelations about Digital Storytelling in Education." We are up to revelation 13 in this journal. You are invited to visit previous journal entries to read the first twelve.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Revelation #13: Stories help us remember. </span></span><br /><br /><strong>Book excerpt</strong>: "It was the practical value of storytelling that ultimately led me to see its utility as a learning tool. Story's structure and rhythm, as well as the emotional involvement it encourages, can help us remember important information that might be forgotten if it is delivered to us in the form of reports, lectures, or as isolated bits of information. It is precisely this quality of story, covered in detail in Part II of the book, that makes it so useful as an information organizer. While this quality has always been a hallmark of stories, it is particularly poignant now because we desperately need tools to navigate and coordinate the information that constantly overwhelms us. In many ways, story is the antidote to information overload."<br /><br />----------------<br /><br /><strong>TECHST MESSAGES...</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> news bits from the tEcosystem...</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 131px;" src="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>A Primer for the Immediate 21st Century, in 3 Steps</strong><br /><br />Are you pressed for time but need a big picture overview of the world according to Gates, Google and the other digiGiants who seem to be running the world? Then I recommend taking the following three steps:<br /><br /><strong>Step 1</strong>: <a href="http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic">Watch "Epic 2015,"</a> by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson. As far as new media goes, this is ancient (that is, already a few years old). But it's still an excellent, quick intro about how we are becoming embedded in the World Wide Web. I love showing it to audiences just to hear them gasp.<br /><br /><strong>Step 2</strong>: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/magazine/14publishing.html?ex=1305259200&en=c07443d368771bb8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss"> Read "Scan This Book,"</a> by Kevin Kelly. It places the world of words, books and ideas on a continuum stretching from many centuries ago to at least a few decades from now.<br /><br /><strong>Step 3</strong>: <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18911/"> Read "Second Earth,"</a> by Wade Roush. Google Earth and Second Life merge, and through our direct disconnection from the world of limitations we reconnect with it through the world of imagination.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>What's Web 3.0?</strong> The WWW is supposedly in its secondary incarnation, Web 2.0, which compels us to ask: What was Web 1.0 and what is Web 3.0?<br /><br />- Web 1.0: A library and store<br /><br />- Web 2.0: A social network and participatory commons<br /><br />- Web 3.0: An ecosystem<br /><br />More specifically, a "tEcosystem" (TEE-ko-sis-tem), an ecosystem created by humans, consisting of digital technology, connectivity and the communication they facilitate. The semantic, contextual web that is just now forming the basis of Web 3.0 will provide connections beneath the surface of our experience without our conscious direction, forming the subsystems necessary for a true ecosystem to develop. Web 3.0 is a big step away from our just using the Web and toward our actually becoming the Web.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>A Web 3.0 Primer in 4 Steps</strong>. Want a quick overview of Web 3.0 that will bring you more or less up to speed, at least for this week? Follow these four steps:<br /><br /><strong>Step 1</strong>: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_3">Read Wikipedia's Overview</a>. This is a great starting point.<br /><br /><strong>Step 2</strong>: <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-rdf-syntax-19990222/">Read W3C's technical description</a>. It's a difficult read for non-technicians, but read as much as you can until your brain grinds to a halt. Reading even a little will help you appreciate what is going on "under the hood."<br /><br /><strong>Step 3</strong>: <a href="http://sramanamitra.com/blog/572">Read Sramana Mitra's Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)</a>. It's an interesting perspective of where Web 3.0 is taking us.<br /><br /><strong>Step 4</strong>: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_3">Go back and read Wikipedia's Overview</a>, because it's already changed.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>What I'm composing</strong>: Would you like to hear – or download - my cell phone ring tone? It is the first 20 seconds of the third movement of a string quartet I produced on my now ancient synthesizer. This is all pre-GarageBand. Feel free to <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/music/musicExcerpts/quartetRingtoneExcerpt.mp3">download and use it</a>.<br /><br />More of my music, including waltzes, radio drama soundtracks, and swing jazz? <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/music"> Hear here</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>Conference I wish I had attended</strong>: <a href="http://www.gamesforchange.org/conference/2007/index.php">Games For Change Conference</a><br /><br />Check out Games for Change <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1487/serious_gaming_for_the_greater_.php?page=8"> Ga-Cha awards</a>. The 2007 Winner's Choice Award went to <a href="http://www.darfurisdying.com/">Darfur is Dying</a>. It was developed by students at the University of Southern California for the purpose of raising awareness about and providing a call to action concerning the genocide in Darfur.<br /><br /><strong>Why are games suddenly so important and so potentially useful in education?</strong> For many reasons. Here's one: they epitomize the successful blending of the two most important pedagogical tools in a teacher's toolkit: critical thinking and storytelling.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>Conference I wish I were attending</strong>: <a href="http://www-education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/corridor/">Robotics Educators Conference</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>This issue's neologism</strong>: <span style="font-style: italic;"><strong>digiBling</strong></span> (DIJ-ih-bling). The 4 Gig jump drive hanging from a lanyard slung around my neck is more than storage – it's jewelry.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>Cool art website I'm checking out</strong>: Artists turn 2D into 3D. Amazing.<br /><a href="http://www.2loop.com/3drooms.html">> See for yourself</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>New fear I have</strong>: That new technology will make it impossible for us to lie. It sounds great, until you realize that this covers everything, including telling people what you really think of how they dress, vote and even smell.<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2009229,00.html">> Commiserate with me</a>.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-42102157738137664992007-05-25T22:15:00.001-07:002007-05-29T14:04:02.753-07:00Students as heroes of their own stories...<span style="font-size:78%;">Excerpted from Jason's new book, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/digitalStoriesBook">Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity</a>...</span><br /><strong><br />Digital Storytelling in the Classroom</strong> (Corwin Press, due out in August, 2007) begins with the chapter "Twenty Revelations about Digital Storytelling in Education." We are up to revelation 12 in this journal. The first eleven can be found in previous journal issues.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Revelation #12: Students need to become heroes of their own learning stories as well as of the stories they tell with their own lives. </span></span><br /><br /><strong>Book excerpt</strong>: "Above all, stories become the cornerstone of constructivist learning, in which students become heroes of their own learning adventures. This happens academically, with students building stories around academic pursuits. But it also happens personally. As a teacher, one of the most powerful stories you can ask students to tell is the story of their future selves in which they become heroes of the lives they want to live. If they are not heroes of their lives, then they become victims of them."<br /><br />----------------<br /><br /><strong>TECHST MESSAGES...</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> news bits from the tEcosystem...</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 131px;" src="http://www.jasonohler.com/imageLib/jFimage-withCopyright-v2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Reports I'm reading</strong>: Both are from the Pew Foundation, and both are excellent:<br /><br />- "A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users." 'Wondering who's using Web 2.0? This report will help answer your questions.<br /><a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/471/a-typology-of-information-and-communication-technology-users">> Read</a>.<br /><br />- "Wikipedia: When in Doubt, Multitudes Seek It Out." 'Wondering just how widespread the use of Wikipedia is? This report should help answer your questions. Be prepared to be surprised about the fact that it is in very wide use by the well-educated.<br /><a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/ideas/ideas_item.cfm?content_item_id=4133&content_type_id=18&issue_name=Society%20and%20the%20Internet&issue=10&page=18&WT.mc_id=04/30/2007">> Read</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>New Media I'm watching</strong>: The Machine is Us/ing Us, a YouTube short media collage about who we were, are, and are becoming in the world of Web 2.0.<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g">> Watch</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>What I'm composing</strong>: "Swing Thing." A simple, exploratory piece combining Logic, GarageBand and Garritan Native Instrument sounds. What's important here is that someone with average performance abilities like me can use digital tools to bring to life the music he hears with his mind's ear. A lack of motor skill needn't stop anyone from creating music.<br /><a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/music/swingthing1-2006.mp3">> Play</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>What I'm writing about</strong>:<br /><br />- <strong>Web 3.0</strong>. If Web 1.0 was a library and store, and Web 2.0 is a collaborative, participatory commons, then what is Web 3.0? More about this in a future subTechst issue.<br /><br />- <strong>The value added human being</strong>. For decades we have tried to digitally deconstruct people in one place and reconstruct them elsewhere, using email, video conferencing, Second Life… you name it. Whenever we engage in de-reconstruct, we detract from the face-to-face experience while simultaneously adding to it. Slowly we are reaching a tipping point, upon which two competing forces will try to balance: the value of being there vs. the value of not being there. Increasingly the value of not being there is not so much the convenience of not having to travel, but rather the digital depth and breadth we can add to someone's presence when we hold them at electronic arm's length.<br /><br />The value added human being…it seems like one inevitable path we will take as we merge local and distributed, carbon and silicon, synchronous and delayed.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>What I'm neologizing in this issue</strong>:<br /><br />- <strong>tEcoystem</strong>: the ecosystem created by humans consisting of digital technology, connectivity and the communication they facilitate.<br /><br />- <strong>de-reconstruct</strong>: the process of taking something apart and putting it back together. Feel free to drop the hyphen (dereconstruct) or combine the prefixes (dreconstruct). After all, it's just language.<br /><br /><strong>Note about new neologisms</strong>. tEcosystem (TEE-ko-sis-tem) is a neologism (a new word) but it is also an example of a neoalaghism (itself a neologism), which is a new word that uses one or more capital letters within it. I can only hope that after reading this you don't accuse me of logodaedaly.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>Cool art website I'm checking out</strong>: A lesson on perspective in art. Is it 2D, 3D? Both? Above all, it is done in a subway.<br /><a href="http://haha.nu/creative/perspective-art-at-a-subway/">> See for yourself</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>Digital storytelling conference I wish I were attending</strong>: DS2 in Aberystwyth, mid Wales, on 21 June.<br /><br />Speakers include:<br /><a href="http://www.photobus.co.uk/">- Daniel Meadows</a><br /><a href="http://murmurtoronto.ca/">- Shawn Micallef</a><br /><a href="http://www.allmylifeforsale.com/">- John Freyer</a><br /><br />BBC Wales is holding an innovative mobile phone storytelling project in the two days running up to the festival.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk/information/Digitalstorytelling.shtml">Read more details</a>.<br /><br />---<br /><strong>Jerry Springer show concept I'm considering</strong>: <span style="font-style: italic;">Kids from cross-platform families. </span><br /><br />Mom's married to a Mac, Dad does PC (or vice-versa), and kids are caught in the middle as the bickering goes ballistic. Are today's cross platform kids the hoodlums of tomorrow's tEcosytem?<br /><br />For those of you who don't know about the Jerry Springer Show, think of it as emotional gladiatorial combat in which participants use the truth about their private lives to beat the daylights out of each other…a fairly even mix of soap opera and professional wrestling match. The Jerry Springer Show is often referred to as "the worst show on television," yet enjoys incredible ratings, a fact that should keep media pundits guessing for years.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-47089285931906852252007-04-24T11:11:00.000-07:002007-05-26T14:09:05.356-07:00PowerPoint: Digital storytelling overview...Hello-<br /><br />A number of you from the Teaching, Technology and Learning workshop last Saturday (4/21/07) have requested a copy of my PowerPoint presentation about new media narrative and digital storytelling in education. I'm happy to provide access to it here for you, as well as the others who subscribe to this web journal. <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/powerpoints/Anchorage-4-07-OverviewDST.ppt">Click here to download it</a>.<br /><br />Also, many of the resources I referenced during the workshop are available through <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/storytelling">www.jasonohler.com/storytelling</a>. My new media narrative and digital storytelling resources are divided into three parts: <br /><br />- Storytelling, literacy and learning<br />- The art of storytelling<br />- Techniques and technology of digital storytelling<br /><br />If you can't find what you are looking for please let me know.<br /><br />Questions or comments?<br /><br />Kind regards.<br /><br />- JasonJason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-67027148370863272482007-04-19T21:13:00.000-07:002007-05-27T01:33:29.589-07:00Stories make sense out of the chaos of life...<strong>Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity</strong> (Corwin Press, due out in August, 2007) begins with the chapter "Twenty Revelations about Digital Storytelling in Education." We are up to revelation 11 in this journal. The first ten can be found in previous journal issues. [<a href="http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book229157"> Buy book</a> | <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/digitalStoriesBook">Read more about it</a> ]<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Revelation #11: Stories make sense out of what would otherwise be the on-going chaos of life.</span></span><br /><br />Stories are more than just good for us - they are essential to survival. I have come to believe that on a very basic level that feels biological to me, we need stories. Without them, life is just too overwhelming to piece together from scratch each day. Stories allow us to take snippets of life and put them together in ways that make it possible for us to learn and remember new things. They give communities coherence and our lives meaning. They make order out of what would otherwise be the ongoing chaos of life and help each of us create a sense of personal identity in relation to our communities and the world in which we live. <br /><br />In short, storytelling is far more than entertainment. It is a set of practical processes that can be adapted to a wide range of issues, both personal and professional.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-9654610595834623352007-03-24T22:47:00.000-07:002007-05-27T01:36:02.190-07:00Stories are much more than entertainment...<strong>Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity</strong> (Corwin Press, due out in August, 2007) begins with the chapter "Twenty Revelations about Digital Storytelling in Education." We are up to revelation 10 in this journal. The first nine can be found in previous journal issues. [<a href="http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book229157"> Buy book</a> | <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/digitalStoriesBook">Read more about it</a> ]<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Revelation #10: Story provides so much more than entertainment. It provides a powerful metaphor, framework and set of practical processes for resolving issues, educating ourselves, and pursuing our dreams. </span></span><br /><br />The same story structure that frames much of our popular media can be used to understand and resolve conflict, overcome obstacles and mine opportunities. <br /><br />We have the potential to become heroes of our own life stories in which learning is our quest and ignorance and fear are the dragons that need to be slain as we seek to resolve the issues that face us.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-13785702163760463642007-03-09T21:09:00.000-08:002007-05-26T13:29:15.352-07:00The attitude is the aptitude...<span style="font-size:78%;">Excerpted from Jason's new book, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/digitalStoriesBook">Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity</a>...</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Revelation #9: The attitude is the aptitude. </span></span><br /><br />Because billions of bits of data hit the Net each hour, and because radio, TV, newspaper, magazines and the rest of the media tecosystem contributors continue to crank like there's no tomorrow, life-long learning has become a pervasive, immediate and on-going lifestyle. <br /><br />The result is that the attitude has become the aptitude. <br /><br />That is, your attitude toward learning new things – as well as your willingness to let go of obsolete information – plays an important role in determining your aptitude and intelligence. Digital storytelling represents one of those areas that tests educators' attitudes about the evolution of learning, not only in terms of tools, but also in terms of the nature of literacy and the kinds of classroom communities they want to support.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-88129803314727105972007-01-28T09:35:00.000-08:002007-05-26T13:29:29.228-07:00Learning communities are storytelling communities...<span style="font-size:78%;">Excerpted from Jason's new book, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/digitalStoriesBook">Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity</a>...</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Revelation #8: Learning communities are primarily storytelling communities. </span></span><br /><br />That’s when another revelation hit me: learning communities are primarily storytelling communities. Stories permeate our social fabric and have the primary function of teaching others, whether formally or informally. When you get right down to it, much of the communication that transpires among people, whether in a classroom, an office, or a living room, consists of telling stories. <br /><br />I began to see and hear stories all around me, like a kind of social, emotional and psychological air we all breathed to stay alive. It become clear to me that our dependence on stories was deep and pervasive.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8902863907729896990.post-91944254905917264852007-01-27T11:42:00.000-08:002007-05-26T14:09:25.054-07:00Don't enable the technophile at the expense of the storyteller...<span style="font-size:78%;">Excerpted from Jason's new book, <a href="http://www.jasonohler.com/digitalStoriesBook">Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity</a>...</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Revelation #7: Don't enable the technophile at the expense of the storyteller. </span></span><br /><br />To make sure I didn't enable the technophile at the expense of the storyteller I began incorporating storytelling basics into every class in which telling a story was a focus. I even brought in an oral storyteller to help my students learn how to plan, write and tell stories in front of people in traditional fashion. <br /><br />I then helped my students transition from oral to digital stories, applying the tools in service of the story rather than vice versa. And lo, the quality of my students' digital stories rose dramatically. A result of this discovery is that I have included oral storytelling in my digital storytelling workshops whenever possible ever since.Jason Ohlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18077703902326942605noreply@blogger.com0