Category Archives: social media

The tag is the soul of the Internet

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cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by giulia.forsythe

She raced up the steps to the top of the parking garage. She knew the perfect spot to catch the last gasp of the sun as it set upon Seattle from her location at the university campus.

As she climbed the stairs she pulled out her mobile phone, readying the camera. At the spot she was anticipating to take the photo a tall figure stood, elbows raised. She was not alone in her mission to catch the sunset. It was a man about her age, slightly taller. He was holding his mobile phone, steadying it as he tried to get the autofocus to shift its attention on the spectacular view.

Brushing aside her usual trepidation around new people she walked up next to him. Although he was attractive, that alone would not be good reason to trust him. She pushed out thoughts of bad horror films set in parking garages; getting the perfect shot was more important than paranoia or embarrassment and he was standing in the exact perfect spot. Besides, it was about the art. They were mobile phone photographers, hunting for beauty. Capturing. Sharing.

As she took her shot, he glanced at her.

“Are you going to tweet this?” he asked.

“ha, yeah, probably through instagram,” she replied.

“it’s breathtaking isn’t it?

She despised small talk but it was breathtaking and she had to agree. Her enthusiasm was bolstered by the beautiful view. She thought of all the sunsets she had watched in her life. Some romantic, some heart breaking; a full range of emotions and memories swept through her. This was the first sunset she could remember that was merely an introduction, a first meeting.

“I’m going to tag it #SeattleSunset” she mused aloud, not really to him but more as a note to herself.

“I have a lot of adjectives I’d like to use too. Tags are imperfect. So many ways to describe a moment. How can you tag a summer breeze?”

She glanced at him sideways, not able to tell if he was being facetious or solemnly serious, “#summerbreeze?” she quipped, “I read that The tag is the soul of the internet, you know. Clive Thompson said instagram is like that poem, Thirteen ways to look at a Blackbird. I can’t stop thinking about that”

She finished uploading her gorgeous sunset to instagram and tagged it #SeattleSunset.

“I read Collision Detection too. Heh. Well, I guess you and Clive have got a point,” he said, “Oh, dear. I’m late. Best be on my way,” and with that, he gave a huge smile, turned and walked away.

She stood there and stared at his back for a moment. Two small pieces of paper slipped out from the folder he was holding under his arm and floated silently to the concrete floor. A small breath of air came out of her mouth, but no sound. She watched him disappear.

She turned on her heel and walked in the other direction towards the other staircase, to go down to the second level to her parked car.

Later that evening when she scanned through her instagram feed, she came upon her Seattle sunset photo again. Impulsively she clicked the #SeattleSunset tag which brought her to a set of 158 pictures all tagged the same.

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by giulia.forsythe
So many images of the same stunning sun, multiple perspectives, one tag. Skies of red, yellow, purple, blue and gold with intense fluttered clouds were framed by dark silhouetted trees, deciduous and conifers; buildings, from the space needle to low flat strip malls; horizons ranged from very high to very low or non-existent. They all shared that one desire to capture that Seattle sunset and now were linked through their tag.

Would her parking garage rooftop co-conspirator be among them? She couldn’t decide if she should look really intently with that purpose.

If it was meant to be, their tags would align again in the future, she figured.

The tag is the soul of the internet.

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Notes:

I am sad to report this is a complete work of fiction but I do need to give special thanks to @injenuity for her Flash Fiction inspiration (which I just may make a DS106 assignment because I like it so much) and her instagram photo of a Seattle sunset and her subsequent tweets.

I have tagged this as Visual Assignment 272: Picturing Prufrock, because my drawing is an illustration of a poem, just not specifically T.S. Elliot’s poem. I am taking the assignment in the broadest sense. Artistic license!

How DS106 Changed My Life

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Having exhausted everyone in my physical proximity, I was sitting around this weekend just hoping someone would ask me about DS106.

#ds106 folk help me out. @ & I need short video clips telling me what made #ds106 special, powerful, fun, different etc. Anyone?
November 19, 2011 9:20 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@twoodwar
Tom Woodward




Oh, Tom, I’m so glad you asked:

This is the second animation that I’ve tried using this method. The first one was last week for Dave Cormier’s #change11 session on Rhizomatic Learning.

I find it interesting that Rhizomatic Learning has 300 views and two “likes” whereas this DS106 video has only had 30 views and already has 5 “likes” and 3 comments. I realize we shouldn’t conflate mouse clicks with engagement but this is a good example of how I feel the DS106 community is so encouraging and enthusiastic.

What I meant to mention in the video was the essential role of commenting. My first post was just two drawings, no text. The comments caused me to revisit the post and write out context and process. Luckily, Tim and Alan have already touched upon this in their videos.

And maybe you will too? There’s always time to tell the world about how much you love DS106!

Technical notes:

[Yes, I used an iPad but please be aware: I partially despise the things.]

I used the Taptrix Brushes app to do the drawing, which records your brush strokes as you draw. I have been mostly using AutoDesk SketchBook Pro for most of the work in my Visual Practice. I use a pogo stylus. The hardest part is erasing and redrawing because it does not do frame-by-frame animation, just records everything you do.

I do NOT enjoy the process of drawing, exporting “Actions” via email. [EMAIL?It's 2011, why am I EMAILING!?]
Then I have to extract the .zip file into a .brushes file, open the file on the desktop Brushes App (free download). Then export to MOV. Then Import into iMovie. Alas, this is Life With an iPad, where moving content is notoriously painful.

I feel like I help sell these infernal devices every time I do a drawing on one, so I must tell you: it is not all rosy. It takes patience and tenacity.

I used PhotoBooth to record the video and just watched the animation as I read. (This is why I missed the key important bit about comments) Finally I brought the whole thing into iMovie. I confess I also despise iMovie 8 and up so I’m still using iMovie HD (v. 6?). I had to export the thing about 4 times before I got the settings correct. YouTube wants wide screen but Brushes exports 800×600.

Overall I’m pleased. I wouldn’t mind (hint, hint) if someone took the drawing part and did their own audio since I find my volume is low. [REMIX!]
I tried to get the smooth voice of @scottlo to do it, but alas he’s too busy dissecting his teaching.


cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by giulia.forsythe

Rhizome Remix

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This week’s #change11 facilitator is Dave Cormier, talking about Rhizomatic Learning – Why We Learn. I saw him present at the University of Guelph #eportfolio week earlier this year.

I know that as the Manager, Web Communications and Innovations at Prince Edward Island University he is well versed in the pragmatist view of a bureaucratic policy maker. Ah, but you don’t have dig too deep below that job title to see that Dave is also a husband, father, French philosopher-citer, teacher, @gsiemens-contrarian, coffee-science hobbyest and nomadic, rhizomatic learner. Perhaps even a #socialartist?

Leslie Lindballe went on ds106radio a couple weeks ago, did some rhizome reading and reflecting live on the air. The following week Dave presented in Alec Couros‘ ECI831 class and I downloaded the video, listened to it on my mobile and did a little bit of drawing.

My Animated Doodle about Rhizomatic Learning

I like it for my first real try. But. Do you know what it really needs?

Someone to say something.
Narrate this thing!
Sing to it!
Play the guitar, ukelele! Or didgeridoo! Or piano!
Just make some sense of it. (if any is to be found!?)

So, I’m issuing a remix challenge. Record some audio for my doodle: using your PC, Mac, mobile, soundcloud, YouTube, etc. (your tool of choice, etc.), while watching the video and post it here for me. Or download the video using MPEG StreamClip and do whatever you like to it! (Update: I’ve made a version without audio for easier remixing)

Of course, feel free to take your own nomadic rhizomatic learning path. Cuz that’s cool too.

Some of my fave nomads: Leslie and Alan Levine (hopefully GNA Garcia) are joining me in a G+ hangout Wednesday November 9, 2pm EST to talk to Dave about Deleuzian, Rhizomatic Nomadic Learning. I think Tim Owens will be there (yaay!) and we *might* also be on DTLT Today. (Please join us if you can!)

Technical Sidenotes

I’ve been wanting to try animation for a while now but have gotten in the comfortable groove of using AutoDeskSketchBookPro and not Brushes, which will record your brush strokes on the iPad to make a movie. However, in light of Tim Owen‘s recent question: where is the change? and Nancy White‘s highly interactive and thought-engaging week about #socialartists, I decided to move out of my comfort zone, try Brushes again and do a little animation. Resolution could be better. Anyone know what export settings I should use from iMovie!? It goes in sharp and comes out fuzzy :( Audio: mixed in some CC music by Serge Seletskyy.

Atomic Enlightened Gadflies

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When I first read Michael Feldstein’s post about DS106: Can Enlightenment Scale, I sincerely believed that when he used the term gadfly he actually meant it as a compliment.


cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by t_buchtele

In teacher’s college, we were asked to write a philosophy of education statement. I kid you not, this was mine:

I want to be a gadfly to help awaken the “slow and dimwitted horse”, to question the status quo, to help change the education system.

I guess the thing about DS106 (to me) is that it does not purport to be an overarching answer to everything but an invitation to start asking questions through artistic inquiry.

Feldstein writes, “I’m looking for a large enough lever to move the world” and I immediately remembered Zack Dowell’s early post about DS106 and scalability: We’re Chained to the World, and We All Gotta Pull….

While it may seem like the open participants are zealots (#4LIFE!!!), there is a lot of examination going on. The radio helped make that reflection even more fluid. It served as an open channel for ongoing external speech problem solving with multiple channels for feedback.

Hey, I work at a university, NO, of course, I don’t think we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and “walk away from a structure that has done good for over a thousand years”. I do think we owe it to ourselves to notice the gadflies disturbing the status quo and look for new solutions to old buildings.

If Plato wrote that Socrates considered himself a gadfly I dare say Jim Groom et al are in good company.

Critical reflection is scalable. Enlightened gadflies can multiply as fast as good ideas.


Do Atoms Scale? cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by giulia.forsythe

Reverend Billy’s #contactcon choir

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As Jim Groom documented, he, Grant Potter and GNA Garcia broadcasted #ds106radio from ContactCon in NYC this week.


The Free Network at ContactCon cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by grant.potter

I was reading petervan’s post Cry for Freedom and it reminded me that I had archived a bit of Reverend Billy’s “closing preach where he made 200 attendees softly sing “we are the 99%” and dubbing it with some gospell’ish sermon.”

Not seeing it online anywhere else, I figure it’s worth filling in more small gaps.

I’m not entirely sure of everything he is saying, so I took artistic license.
Reverend Billy at ContactCon – We are the 99percent

We are the 99 percent [refrain]

the children
of the children
of the children
of the children
of the children
of the children
of the children

we need to think 7 generations in the future

here
now
true tomorrow

our dreams
our thoughts
our relationships
our talking

7 generations of waiting
we’re here #4life

[#4life!]

what do to here?

cross space time
srsly,
srsly love people

we have to start doing things
new things
make projects
make drafts
make blueprints

to give to each other
give them revolujah
give them revolujah
Revoluja!
Revoluja!

[make art, damnit]

Amen!

I wonder if the room had goosebumps?

I did.

[UPDATE: Reverend Billy is all theatrics. The religiosity seemed to sour some people but it's parody, all parody. I remember when his film, What Would Jesus Buy came out a few years ago. He would exorcise folks in WalMarts. Just like how more "real" news is delivered through a comedy program with Jon Stewart, sometimes the only way to reach the overstimulated masses is to get them through parody and hilarity.]

The Digital Scholar, Manga Version

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This week the Change11 Mooc is faciliated by Martin Weller and we are looking at The Digital Scholar.

His most recent post he tells us that his new book is finally available in open access.

And goes on to tell us that open access means:

  • open as in arms
  • open as in doors
  • open as in ended
Regarding open-ended:  ”If anyone wants to take the HTML version and create an Egyptian hieroglyphics version delivered via 1988 version of HyperCard – well, they can”
That made me laugh out loud.
Then I see that in the comments he chides that he is looking forward to the Manga version of his book.
Well, Martin, I’m all too happy to oblige. I present to you, page 1 of The Digital Scholar, Manga Version:


The Digital Scholar

Mobile Learning

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What does this set up in terms of ‘have’ and ‘have-not’?

On one hand, North America is a continent full of people who ‘have’ too much. Far too much. Shouldn’t we pay more for things? We have SO MUCH!

The problem, I think, is that our over-abundance over-shadows that there are millions of people in North America just scraping by; marginalized groups we tend to overlook.

What can we learn from Zoraini Wati Abas and Open University Malaysia?

Canadian Universities would be under huge scrutiny if they ever paid for the text plans for students to allow for SMS communication.

But what about those marginalized groups? Northern communities, new immigrants, Aboriginal groups, homeless, the working poor are all groups who slip through the cracks. Some of them live in third world conditions but they have to live with first world expenses.

There is such a diversity of need within the student population. How do we implement something that is fair and balanced?

Student loans are helpful but after the six-month grace period interest starts accruing. My Ontario Student Loan paid for my tuition, textbooks, rent, and day care. I’m still paying it off and at this rate it will take about 15 more years (at least). I am loathe to calculate the total cost of my education. What if I had to use my student loan to pay for exorbitant cell phone rates too? Because my class required it?

As Ontario aims to reach a 70% post-secondary attainment rate, we need to be looking at these non-traditional learners and ask ourselves where they are in terms of mobile learning.

Do they have cell phones? Are they old cell phones like my ancient mocked phone? How would they feel in a class where everyone else had a smart phone? Would they be at a clear disadvantage? Can they afford to send texts, surf the web, interact with their phones as we would hope?

In what circumstances are education providers expecting these learners to choose between groceries and a mobile device?

I wish I had more answers but I guess change comes from asking questions. And I have a lot of those.

I am the Morning DJ on DS106

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In the wee hours this morning, resident genius Grant Potter slipped into a 3 hour #snorecast. This is not unusual.

It’s a pillar in fact. If you do a #snorecast, you are truly epic. Right, GNA?

I'm not sure what's funnier: @'s silent #ds106radio #snorecast or that there's 5 people sleeping & listening to the silence.
September 17, 2011 9:30 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@giuliaforsythe
Giulia Forsythe


@ it's very zen, isn't it? Sounds of Silence by @, new LP expected in early 2012. #ds106radio
September 17, 2011 9:39 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@giuliaforsythe
Giulia Forsythe

And before I know it, David is on the radio playing Sounds of Silence (the Simon & Garfunkel version not the Grant Potter actual just Silence version).

The archive is lovely (I didn’t get the start of it); the recording starts a bit into the song.

@dkernohan sings Sound of Silence

David played one of his favourite songs and then mentioned that he had been discussing with Nigel, our NZ DJ (who also lives in the future) that the following song should absolutely be DS106′d (that’s a verb, right?)

I am the Morning DJ on DS106

Modified from Harry Chapin, W.O.L.D.

Hello Honey, it’s me
What did you think when you heard me back on the radio?
What did the kids say when they knew it was their long lost daddy-o?
Remember how we listened to the radio
And I said “That’s the place for be”
And how I got the job as an FM Jock the day you married me?
It was two kids and I was was into AM rock
But I just had to run around
It’s been eight years since I left you babe
Let me tell you ’bout what’s gone down

CHORUS

I am the morning DJ on DS106
Playing all the hits for you wherever you may be
The bright good-morning voice who’s heard but never seen
Feeling all of thirty-five going on thirteen

The drinking I did on my last big gig, it made my voice go low
They said that they liked the young sound when they let me go
So I drifted on down to Tulsa, Oklahoma to do me a late night show
Now I worked my way down home again, here to Boise, Idaho
That’s how this business goes

CHORUS

I been making extra money doing high school sock hops
I’m a big time guest MC
You should hear me talking to the little children
And listen what they say to me
I got a spot on the top of my head, just begging for a new toupee
And a tire around my gut from sitting on my butt
But it’s never gonna go away

Sometimes I get this crazy dream
That I just take off in my car
But you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are
I’ve been thinking that I should stop disk jockeying
And start that record store
Maybe I could settle down if you’d take me back once more

OK Honey, I see
I guess he’s better than me

I love it so much because our friends from the future in NZ, Japan, UK are often broadcasting when it is the very wee hours here in Canada. I often wake up to sets. I do so love my morning DJs on DS106.