Daily Create #140. Take a picture that represents quickness or motion. #ds106 (Taken with instagram)
Archive for the ‘ds106’ Category
Daily Create #140. Take a picture that represents quickness or…
Sunday, May 27th, 2012First Day at Camp Magic Macguffin
Sunday, May 27th, 2012When my parents first sent me away to summer camp I was less than impressed. I cried for two weeks beforehand but even my 13 year-old antics made no difference. I was still sent – and I really can’t blame my parents, I needed to get away from some of my friends at the time! I didn’t send a single letter home in the two weeks that I was away – my poor parents had no idea what to expect when they picked me up and, I suspect, feared the worst. Luckily, I loved it and returned for at least 10 more summers! I am hoping to send more letters “home” from Camp Magic Macguffin this summer.
I have just caught up on this week’s Daily Creates that deal with photos. Videos should be an upcoming cabin activity!
These critters have nightly pool parties in our pond and are often available for a photo-op. This photo was taken with a borrowed htc One phone – its not nearly as clear as my iPhone pictures.
I know that I was supposed to trace my face but all my attempts were really pathetic so I resorted to using the sketch effect in the free photo editing app Be Funky.
Finally, here’s my representation of the moon photo. Funny how all cameras have flashes but I find pictures taken without a flash are much better. I’m hoping that the snow effect looks like stars or space debris!
Three Wolf Moon
Sunday, May 27th, 2012
For today’s Daily Create which asks us to represent the moon somehow, I immediately thought of the Three Moon Wolf shirt, which is an internet phenomenon that Tom Woodward turned me onto more than a year ago. In short, the Amazon page for this somewhat cheesy t-shirt design has become the inspiration for a comment campaign that has earned this piece of clothing a kind of internet cult status. According to many the shirt has magical qualities that are bestowed to any who wear it. This mythology around the Three Wolf Moon shirt was born out of the more than 2400 product reviews, add to that 48,000 users voting on the comment narrative and you have a pretty compelling example of freeform participatory storytelling. And after all that the shirt still has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon. It’s one of those fascinating cases where the most unlikeliest of stories plays out in the comment fields of a seemingly unremarkable item on a commercial site.
This is the web’s greatest Moon.
And then there is Paul Bond’s Keith Moon which hit the mark for me.
Hatchet Jack Talks about the Web as a Bowl of Mush
Saturday, May 26th, 2012
Flickr image by cogdogblog
Gardner Campbell has a nice beard. So does Hatchet Jack and that makes us compadres. Gardner Campbell also don’t like face lifts and ol” Hatchet Jack is not really into the boutique facial look and plastics either. So Jack likes Gardner.
But Jack thinks the internet is like a bowl of mush. Now it ain’t the mush whats important, its the dang bowl. Cuz during our lifetimes of travel, and lord knows Hatchet Jack has wandered, we come acrost many a campsite and many a companions. And some enemies too. Now all them folks have something to offer. Bullets or food or drink and for the better of those options you’ll be wanting a bowl to put that stuff in so you can eat it.
Ya can’t be lookin a gift horse in the mouth, and sometimes ya will want to organize the mush. That is if ya can’t stands the beef mixed up with the beans. And if you carefully place the stuff in yer bowl, and use yer fork, if ya got one, or yer knife to kinda move stuff around, you can divide it up so the stuff don’t get all mixed up. Now Hatchet Jack prefers it all mixed up, and heaps of it, so a bowl works just fine. No need for a plate or a platter or what have ya. Christ, Jack feels lucky to have a damn bowl at all cuz for many years he didn’t have one and eatin’ off yer pants or a plank of wood gets a bit messy.
So, having yer own bowl is important as you travel about. A good bowl that you can paint yer own colors and carve yer name in! A good sharp hatchet also helps cuz ya never know who might come try to take yer saddle or yer bowl. You’ll be wanting to chop their frickin hand off if they try that and a hatchet work great for that sort of thing. That is what Hatchet Jack thinks.
The Wall
Saturday, May 26th, 2012I’ve lived in my apartment for two years and I have yet to put anything up on the walls in my room. I tried to hang to some frames on the wall with those adhesive hooks but, I think the combination of the old plaster walls and paint led to nothing sticking very well. So here I am, going on my third year at the apartment with empty white walls.
A few days ago the Daily Create prompt led me to tracing my face using some paper and pencil. I enjoyed the process of drawing so much that I kept on drawing. I’ve always been a doodler (just take one look at my notebooks from classes) and I like drawing but, I’ve never been in the habit of consistently drawing. It is one of my regrets when I was younger that I did not pursue taking art lessons. I had some talent and interest but, it was never in the cards that I would pursue it. So what does this have to do with my blank walls? Well, I decided that I would use one of my walls as a collage wall of sorts. I’m going to start drawing and making things and hanging them up. The desire to see something on my walls will give me the push I need to start creating and letting things flow. Also, there is something about being able to see work and progress sitting in front of you that you just don’t get by viewing it on a screen or only in your mind. I consider the wall a temporary cork board of sorts, a place to get messy but, it doesn’t have to be permanent. So, lets make art dammit! I’ll post thing as they progress (and actually as of this post there are already new things up) and maybe if some of you have some wall space of your own you can follow suit.
Jumping GIF
Saturday, May 26th, 2012
After several attempts over the past few days, I feel I’m finally getting a sense of how to make animated GIFs that have smooth looping motion with an economical files size. This jumping GIF was pulled from a four second video capture at 4 frames per second. From the 16 frames that were created, only eight were used. I’ve discovered that an even number of frames will make turning the GIF into a texture file to be taken back in to Second Life is preferable. Incidently, using GIMP, I’ve set the delay rate between frames at 280 milliseconds.
Now that I’m getting a better handle on this process, I hope to be able to write up a useful tutorial with screen captures later this week.
The backdrop image is from Earle Berkey’s May 1951 cover of Startling Stories. It is apropos of nothing in particular other than trying to conform to the spaceflight aesthetic that seems to be emerging at the Always Be Reflecting parcel.
First DS106 Post
Friday, May 25th, 2012I decided to join DS106, first and foremost, because I want to learn more about using the web productively and digital storytelling.
I have been thinking about DS106 for some time, but I was reminded on Monday that I should jump in. I was doing an oral history interview on Rosie the Riveter / World War II Home Front for the Regional Oral History Office (ROHO) and the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park. The narrator discussed her experiences in Nursing School at the University of Michigan during the war. She saved enough money to attend nursing school after she worked for a year at a Westinghouse plant in Ohio, which made a part for B-24 bombers being built at Willow Run in Michigan. Similar to institutions nationwide the U of M nursing expanded quickly and students learned on the fly. She summed up learning in nursing school as, “See one, do one, teach one.”
I have seen many websites and I incorporate digital and web-based resources into my classes, but I need to do more. In order to learn more, I have to do more. I have to be uncomfortable and not skip the step of doing. In addition, I am fascinated to see how this experience of digital storytelling intersects with my knowledge on oral history and the narration of the past. I am used to recording stories and asking people to re-think and reflect on historical knowledge and narratives. I am not as comfortable, however, creating stories in digital formats and this should be a challenging and rewarding experience.
I have decided to focus on telling stories about my dog, Mazik. Mazik is Yiddish for a clever and mischievous child. The name was fitting and Mazik was a wonderful companion. After a bout with cancer, which afflicts many Boxers, Mazik died in September 2008. I am hoping what I produce in this class can re-frame Mazik’s story. In my head, the story is too often frozen in the veterinarian’s office when he was euthanized. That was one moment (which of course was inevitable) in what was a fantastic 10 years with Mazik. Memory is an active process and he does not have to be frozen (perhaps a poor word choice–no he was not cryogenically frozen) there. I am intrigued see how digital storytelling can affect the construction of memory.
Part of my thinking on this project was inspired by this short film, Last Minutes with ODEN. It won a Vimeo award 2010. It is a beautiful and heart wrenching film. I think it is an incredible documentary. One of the wonderful things about the web is that it allows a film like this to be distributed around the world.
Front of Trinkle Hall: An Image Daily Create
Friday, May 25th, 2012Today’s Daily Create 138
Three Chinese Officials in front of duPont Hall
Friday, May 25th, 2012
For today’s Daily Create I photoshopped in the Three Chinese Officals meme which actually doubles as a design assignment (3 stars—which is far too many for this!). I love the idea of three hovering Chinese government officials congregating in front of duPont wondering what’s going to come out of the epicenter of Teaching and Learning technologies next.
TDC137 & Digital Dreams
Friday, May 25th, 2012
Jim mentioned in Flickr comments for today’s daily create that my offering appeared to be more Second Life stuff imagery. The image of the face that I traced is actually from some old comic strip.
Jim’s comment was just the spark needed to put this video together.
I’m curious what people will make of this weirdness.
