Monday 11 February 2013

Stuff from all over the place: #edcMOOC Artefacts

What edcMOOC represented to me, before the course began






Videoscribe: What edcMOOC looked like to me




My intro video for etMOOC


Tweetchat Survey





Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.







Always On: What is lost. Week 2

Digital Storytelling: Wow, We've Been Glassed





Saturday 9 February 2013

Spimal tap: harnessing blogjects of the future to save the world! #edcmooc

Much as "spime" and "blogject" sound like pretty out there notions, I think it is more a matter of application of technology to some already established concepts where objects transmit data in real time via social media or other platforms where data is broadcast to a wider audience, sometimes in another digital form. Some of us created a list of blogjects to add to the smogged out choking pigeons. We found tweeting plants, texting and tweeting house plantstweeting flies, tweeting birds

I'm fascinated by the idea of blogjects. I can think of some really apocalyptic visions where blogjects sing about our demise as it happens. (I don't think the world will come quite to this)

One really interesting project is "Time and Tide Bells" a permanent installation of 12 bells positioned at strategic locations around the UK, from urban centres to open stretches of coastline. "The rise of the water at high tide moves the clapper to strike the bell. Played by the movement of the waves, the bell creates a varying, gentle, musical pattern. As the effect of global warming increases and sea levels rise, the periods of bell strikes will become more and more frequent, and as the bell becomes submerged in the rising water the pitch will vary."




One of the bells is in Aberdyfi, Wales. This is partly to commemorate the legend of the Bells of Aberdyfi which tells of the submerged kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod. It is said that the bells of this lost kingdom can sometimes be heard ringing from beneath the estuary waters on still nights.

This is where art, science, mythology and environmentalism intersect. I think the bells would make great blogjects. I can think of some interesting ways the music could be broadcast online by the bells themselves, they could tweet and I'm sure they could post images and mp3 files to their own facebook site.

edcMOOC is really reinforcing the idea that technology must serve a useful purpose in all aspects of life, especially education. For me, it's about the getting of wisdom and using the tools to that end.





Friday 8 February 2013

WOW! They've glassed us! #edcmooc

A Day Made of Glass is a horrific vision for the future in my opinion. Corning's dystopic fantasy puts us in a glass prison, for profit. Screened off and distanced from real world experiences and genuine issues like biodiversity loss, deforestation, resource depletion and climate change, the take home message is WOW!

"Saving the Rainforest" was a slideshow I made for my friend Denis who is a passionate lover of nature and a dedicated wildlife warrior. When my little boy saw a movie about orangutans, he was obsessed with swinging on a monkey vine in a rainforest and when I asked Denis where one could be found, he directed us to the 5 acre remnant rainforest in Robertson NSW. It was the only patch of the huge rainforest not cut down by  European settlers in the early days of British colonisation of Australia. We found our vines, and with strict instructions from Denis to be very careful with them, we returned with best buddy George and the two boys spent hours swinging like monkeys. After our visits, Jonny, with no prompting by me, wrote a story about saving the trees and animals of the rainforest from woodcutters. WOW!

In my developing notion of digital storytelling, here are my tales of two forests, four children. 









This was my original version for Denis who says that in all his years as an environmental activist, this was his greatest achievement. It is my favourite digital story: the photos were taken on the many trips we have made to the forest. And I love the music.





And Corning's promo, for the record.



Thanks Denis, we need mentors.




Tuesday 5 February 2013

Sync or Sink? A digital tale about syncing with my fraingers and other MOOCers #edcmooc

The latest etMOOC adventure is digital storytelling. I tried 6 photos instead of 6 words. It actually only needs that  last image, the rest are pretty dull, but they are part of the story. The final one really says it all, I took it this week while exploring some of the issues I am encountering with connectivism. Have to sort out those png files with blogspot, they don't want to be transparent, gadget needs repaired. Don't you hate that?



MultiMOOCING





Hanging out




Supersizing the Convos on Forums




Synctubing





Talk talk talk talk