openonline — Camp Magic MacGuffin

Archive for the ‘openonline’ Category

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.

Posted in counselor, ds106, Hatchet Jack Stuff, MacGuffin, magicmacguffin, openonline | Comments Off on Hatchet Jack Talks about the Web as a Bowl of Mush

water sprinkler, memorial day weekend (Taken with Instagram at…

Saturday, May 26th, 2012

water sprinkler, memorial day weekend (Taken with Instagram at Salem Fields Community)

Posted in magicmacguffin, openonline | Comments Off on water sprinkler, memorial day weekend (Taken with Instagram at…

The Wall

Saturday, May 26th, 2012

I’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.

Posted in Art, Daily Create Assignment, drawing, ds106, magicmacguffin, openonline, The Wall, wall | Comments Off on The Wall

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.

Posted in animate GIF, ds106, magicmacguffin, openonline, Second Life | Comments Off on Jumping GIF

In case of midlife crisis, break glass.

Saturday, May 26th, 2012

In case of midlife crisis, break glass.

Posted in counselor, magicmacguffin, openonline | Comments Off on In case of midlife crisis, break glass.

Retention Pains

Saturday, May 26th, 2012

One of the pluses of teaching in the upper grades, as I did for ten years, is that retention is not an issue you face. The only time I ever considered retaining a student was a sweet boy who had not had glasses for many years and, we realized in fifth grade, had hearing issues so he had not been able to access most of his schooling. We didn’t end up retaining him but did require summer school. (Not a perfect solution but retention would not have been either.)

As a first grade teacher the possibility of retention is something I face more often. This year, however, was the first time I’ve seriously considered it for a student. He is young, a June birthday, and struggling academically. He is also very mature for his age, a factor that ultimately made me argue against retention and he will be going on to second grade. I hope that is the right decision for him.

At the end of that day, my brilliant colleague wrote about our retention committee. Her thoughts are, as always, well worth reading but this question struck me hard:

Would it give a student confidence and build them up or would it send the message that her hard work was being rewarded by being held back?

A couple of days later I read a piece by Diane Ravitch on this same topic. Her post is titled, Is School Retention Child Abuse? so you can see her thoughts. Again it is worth reading. She writes about the school psychologists’ perspective on retention and it isn’t pretty.

My colleague’s question and Ravitch’s thoughts are driving my stand on retention. I have been against it (not across the board but in general) for years and now I feel more strongly.

Posted in bunk4, magicmacguffin, openonline | Comments Off on Retention Pains

Taken with Instagram at Super Target

Friday, May 25th, 2012

Taken with Instagram at Super Target

Posted in magicmacguffin, openonline | Comments Off on Taken with Instagram at Super Target

"The value of knowing history is very clearly seen during election times when politicians reinterpret…"

Friday, May 25th, 2012

““The value of knowing history is very clearly seen during election times when politicians reinterpret and redefine it to suit their needs.””

– @shauser on Twitter
http://twitter.com/shauser

Posted in magicmacguffin, openonline | Comments Off on "The value of knowing history is very clearly seen during election times when politicians reinterpret…"

First DS106 Post

Friday, May 25th, 2012

I 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.