Happy birthday to me!
Archive for the ‘ds106’ Category
Birthday 2012!
Thursday, May 24th, 2012A Voyage At A Young Age: A Video Daily Create
Thursday, May 24th, 2012Today’s Daily Create 136
Harrowing Night
Thursday, May 24th, 2012
The Sunset before "Harrowing Night"
Given that my mine is currently overrun with a variety of creatures and is imperfectly defended, I have been working on the higher reaches of the space, having protected myself by breaking the access via the construction bridge from below. My current goal is to close in the sky-high view panorama window, thereby sealing the mine from unintended external access. However, fascinated as I was by the colours of the setting sun, I waited far too long to vacate the recently-installed construction scaffold on the outside window. Before I knew it, it was too dark to make my way off the perilous structure and back to the security of my nearby mining hut. I was able to create gaps in the scaffold at either end (it was still attached to the sheer cliff face), and resolved myself to wait out the rising of the sun.
That I am still here to tell this tale the next morning is the shortened conclusion to the experience. However, the cold from the high altitude (snow is prevalent), the grunts and cries of nearby monsters, the darkness of the night, the onset of drowsiness (normally, I pass the night by sleeping), and my vertigo-fueled apprehension of falling made for a very traumatic ordeal.
Still Alive the Next Morning after the "Harrowing Night"
The Legend of Hector
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012First week of camp and we’re already telling our stories. Today’s daily create was to tell a family legend to our other campers. My family, like most, is a little nuts and filled with crazy stories. I flip-flopped between the secret ingredient my Granddad used in his BBQ sauce (spit, by the way) and this one…Hector.
I won’t rehash the story…you get to watch it.
I will, however, add to the legend of Hector by telling a tale about my cousin Matt. At some point in the legend of Hector, Matt and my Uncle Jerry were in the basement near the double doors and when it came time to leave Matt’s shirt got caught on my Uncle’s belt buckle. He bolted up the stairs thinking that Hector had reached out to grab him. I laugh about this now but, make no mistake, Hector scared the daylights out of all the grandchildren more than once.
Resources used:
- iMovie ’11
- Flickr Image
- MacPro
- Blue Snowball Microphone
- The delightfully deranged creativity of my grandmother
Potential of You and Me
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012This is what I see on my keyboard while listening to #ds106radio from work. Tripper Harrison is spinning some lovely today through the Magic Macguffin PA system.
Camp and Summer Goals
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012A quick post… I’ve got a few goals for my summer at Camp that may take me slightly off the beaten path from the rest of the campers. I guess that’s one of the great things about being a DS106 graduate: I can set my own assignment schedule!
I want to focus on video and audio assignments, particularly the latter, because I’m quite weak in the audio department. My talents lie in the visual/design and the written world, and I think my blog reflects that; you don’t see much of those assignments.
Camping Pod by Sheep"R"Us
Click here to see this image on Flickr.
Also, I plan to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo in June and August, and I would like to do more traditional artwork–painting, that is to say. I’ve discovered a real passion for painting this year, and my foray isn’t entirely separate from DS106. I really allowed myself to embrace the artist within me after the Summer of Oblivion. I felt myself come alive during that time like I had not felt in a while, and I finally accepted that creativity is an essential part of my life–not just writing, but all kinds of creativity.
Separate from DS106, I’d like to work in exercise and The Daily Create as part of my daily routine. I’ve successfully added 750words.com into my schedule, so it’s time to take the next step.
Off to Summer Camp
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012This summer in addition to my regular duties at the University of Mary Washington I’m also pleased to announce that I will be a camp counselor at Camp Magic Macguffin. For the summer iteration of ds106, Martha Burtis and Alan Levine are rethinking how the course is structured to mix things up a bit and I’m really excited. Last year the summer course was built around the narrative of Dr. Oblivion from Videodrome and ended with a massacre at a cabin (amongst other odd side narratives). This year my understanding is that the entire mountain has been swept clean and a new and happy place for students was built in its place.
As a camp counselor I have the unique privilege of following a select group of students, commenting on their work, encouraging, mentoring, advising, and just being a part of the daily life at camp. It’s a great model for open classes! I’m taking on the persona of “Sgt. Pepperstrong” however I’m going to continue to blog about my work here (I already have way too many personalities to add another). You’ll be seeing more ds106 work from me as well as highlights from the summer course appear here. We’ll also be congregating in Google Hangouts as well as building a virtual camp in Minecraft! Sound like fun? There’s still time to sign up and get involved. It might just be the motivation you need to get excited about learning online again and building out a professional learning network. I can’t begin to describe what it has done for my career!
TDC: The Story of a Photo
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012After putting together The Daily Create earlier this year I’ve been lucky to have Alan Levine refining the backend of the site and loading up a bunch of assignments. The semester got so busy I didn’t end up participating all that much but decided to jump back in yesterday, and I’m glad I did. Yesterday was a video assignment to tell a story about an old photo. What I love about these types of assignments is that you get to see an intimate moment of the other ds106 participants as they tell a story on camera. I only wish we could figure out the Youtube feed, for some reason there are massive delays for some folks and even my video is still on available on the TDC site a day later.
In any case it gave me an opportunity to pull out one of many embarrassing photos from my childhood and talk on camera, plus I got to play around with the video feature of our shiny new camera. Here’s what I submitted:
Hatchet Jack Layin’ Down the Law
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
I’ve been thinking about how I need to run the cabin. What is acceptable behavior and what is not? I have a few ideas of course cuz I done this before. But I am curious just how others might be restricting, or allowing, behaviors of the campers.
I have thought about my mom, and how she raised me. Tall as the redwoods and all that. I have thought about the role if structure in my life and how I have been fighting rules and getting in a word of trouble as a result. What is an old man to do with a pack of rascal campers?
I started a list of some rules I have been thinking about. Pretty strict and strait forward. No jumping on the bunks and stuff like that. I am looking for ideas from other experienced campers and staff members. Reaching out for help is ol’ Hatchet Jack.
Here is where some of my early ideas are. Feel free to add some you think are useful. I best get some ground rules set up before them campers take over, right?
Back to Photography
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012Some folks who have only been a part of my network since I began working in instructional technology might not realize my BA is in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design. Since Longwood didn’t have a full Graphic Design program, only a concentration, it meant I was exposed to a wide variety of art forms during my years as an art major, which was awesome. The two standouts for me that had nothing to do with a computer were Screen-printing and Photography. In fact I loved the photography course so much I ended up taking a few advanced courses as electives. These were all traditional black and white photography classes taught using manual cameras and learning the ropes of developing your own film and exposing prints in a dark room.
Even back in 2003 the writing was on the wall for the digital occupation of the photo world. All color photography courses were taught with the film being developed elsewhere and scanned in to a computer due to the high cost of the materials and complex work to develop on your own. I don’t know if they’ve moved completely digital yet, but I imagine it’s only a matter of time before buying the film and materials become too difficult and the line between understanding the original artform and what it has become is crossed (my graphic design courses were completely digital for example as no one in their right mind still practices the art without the help of Adobe CS).
All this to bring me back to last week when some equipment DTLT purchased came in. We own one DSLR already that I’ve never played with, but decided to expand to a second camera kit with a few different lenses. We bought a Canon T3i with a 50mm f1.4 lens and an 11~16mm aspherical wide angle lens along with a 580EX II flash and bag. I picked them up from our secretary on Friday and decided to take them home for the weekend for some “testing”. It’s been like falling in love all over again.
I can remember never knowing what a photo would look like until I dropped the paper into the bath of chemicals and waited. Did I develop the film properly? Had I exposed it long enough? Too long? Were the tongs I was using going to smudge the damn paper and ruin an awesome print? All of these things are no longer an issue as I can simply look at an LCD and immediately see what worked and what didn’t. With a basic 4GB card we had in the office I can take hundreds of photos (did I mention I bought my film in bulk and rolled it into empty canisters, 24 photos at a time? Uphill both ways?). After a weekend of playing I can see why the 50mm lives up to its reputation. It’s amazing to have a tool in your hands that allows you to see the world in a different way. I’m also starting to see how having a good camera pushes you to publish more. My Flickr photostream has been buzzing with new photos all weekend and I’m pretty darn proud of how much of it I love. I think Andy Rush said it best:
@timmmmyboy I love seeing the results of a technology tool meeting up with your creative abilities. #whatitsallabout #godtlt
@rushaw
Andy Rush
Here is a small selection of some of the shots I’ve grabbed so far of my daughter and around the office. I’m sure there’s more to come as time goes on.
