Before this reading, I'd never really done anything with a podcast. Many of my friends use podcasts to get certain shows or movies that they haven't been able to successfully torrent. Podcasting sounds like an awesome way to get information and share it, especially in a classroom enviornment where access to certain readings may be difficult. Lamb and Johnston write "
Because podcasts are so easy to make, they’re a great way to promote technology among reluctant teachers." I agree with this statement. I think, in a world where technology is becoming more and more a successful way to teach children, it's important for older teachers to know about this technology and how to use it. It sounds like podcasts is can be a great learning experience for not only students but teachers as well. I'm not sure if podcasting sounds like something I would be interested in. I think it would be nice to have access to podcasts of certain professors so I could go back and review what was said, but as far as using a podcast in my own time-- I think I would only use them in an academic setting.
As a musician, and a member of the Music Department's recording staff, podcasts could be incredibly useful for getting music from our Music Department out to prospective students. Lamb and Johnston mention a program called "Audacity" under their section about select software. Audacity is the current program the recording studio uses to edit musical ensembles. Podcasts could be great resource in showcasing our musicians and the music they are capable of creating. Podcasts could also be used as a learning tool in many of the music classes as a way of helping students understand the music they're learning about, or expected to produce.
I think a raido show would show more discretion in what/who they were allowed to have producing a show. Not everyone has access to their own personal radio show whereas Podcasts are easily accessible to anyone. I also think that radio shows would be much more conscious and aware of their audience than Podcasts would be. The repercussions for a raido show offending someone are far more trecherous than the consequences of an individual offending someone via their Podcast. A raido show has to be conscious of the fact that what they say/do will reflect on their station and the other people involved in putting the show together. People creating a Podcast for their own use, or to get their own opinion out, don't have to worry so much about audience.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Disrupting Intellectual Properties
Throughout my research of intellectual property, one of the things that constantly crops up is the issue of technology and distribution, which is talked about in this article. How do you control the rights to a certain author's work when that work is constantly being reproduced and distributed through various different technologies? The ability of copyright to truly protect the artist is, in reality, very limited-- an issue that can be prominently seen on websites where artists can post their work online, such as Deviantart. In this article, the author's write "Françoise Meltzer traces the emergence of the concept of individual ownership of texts back to a single moment in European history: 'John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government (1690) are the paradigm of the European notion that an individual’s work and the fruits of his labor are his own property.'" I thought this little piece of history, and the continuing paragraph, very interesting. I hadn't realized how far back "this is my piece of work" went.
For me personally, it is very daunting to think about writing a collaborative piece. It's not just because I may or may not be protective of my work as -mine-, but more that I'm just not a very social person, and it is sometimes difficult for me to verbally express an idea to people. From my perspective, if I were one of these authors working on this piece, I most definitely would have had a difficult time writing this collaboratively. I feel like, in order for a piece to have genuine clarity and flow, it would be easiest to assign one voice to the piece-- essentially the "head" author. But I know that, in the reality of wiki's, that's not the way it works. Everyone must work together, combining their own individual voices to create that overall flow and clarity.
For me personally, it is very daunting to think about writing a collaborative piece. It's not just because I may or may not be protective of my work as -mine-, but more that I'm just not a very social person, and it is sometimes difficult for me to verbally express an idea to people. From my perspective, if I were one of these authors working on this piece, I most definitely would have had a difficult time writing this collaboratively. I feel like, in order for a piece to have genuine clarity and flow, it would be easiest to assign one voice to the piece-- essentially the "head" author. But I know that, in the reality of wiki's, that's not the way it works. Everyone must work together, combining their own individual voices to create that overall flow and clarity.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Wiki Lore and Politics
Before reading Martin and Dusenberry's piece "Wiki Lore and Politics", I knew much of the theory behind wiki's, but had never actually participated or collaborated on one. I can see how wiki's can be very useful, obviously wikipedia has been doing quite well. I agree with some of Martin and Dusenberrry's drawbacks, most effectively the fact that ones writing essentially does not remain their own writing. One of Martin's students said "“Although there are many benefits to the wiki, I see one drawback: No one's thoughts and entries stay untouched by others. The purity of an initial entry can be completely disturbed by another's desire to make changes. But this can also be a good thing.” I can see how that would be something very bad. As writers, we have our own thoughts, our own way of expressing the flow of those thoughts, and there will always be a pride in those thoughts and the words we choose to express them. When you put those thoughts down in an environment where other people can insert their own take on those thoughts, it's natural to get defensive, paranoid, and generally be uncomfortable with the situation.
The wiki as a community for similar thoughts and ideas is a definite positive. I almost feel like a wiki would work better through the anonymity of the general Internet rather than in a classroom setting where the paranoia can lead to finger pointing and friction between people IRL. Competition is another roadblock that Dusenberry brought up, and I see how that would be more of the case in a situation where students are interacting with each other rather than through a more discreet medium. It's easier to be competitive when you can place a face and name to the people you feel you are competing against.
The wiki as a community for similar thoughts and ideas is a definite positive. I almost feel like a wiki would work better through the anonymity of the general Internet rather than in a classroom setting where the paranoia can lead to finger pointing and friction between people IRL. Competition is another roadblock that Dusenberry brought up, and I see how that would be more of the case in a situation where students are interacting with each other rather than through a more discreet medium. It's easier to be competitive when you can place a face and name to the people you feel you are competing against.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Public Domain
Public Domain is anything that does not fall under copyright. Things that fall under public domain are things that before 1922, things that have expired copyright, products of the United States government, and things created for public use.
Public domain itself is a copyrighted term.
http://llr.lls.edu/volumes/v36-issue1/martin-original1.pdf
http://www.law.duke.edu/pd/papers/lange_background.pdf
Copyright expires after 70 years after the death of the composer.
Does content, or "how good a work is", come into affect when talking about copyright or public domain? Think of blogs out there that are copyrighted under the creative commons license.
http://www.law.duke.edu/pd/papers/lange_background.pdf
Things to look at: trademarks, how different public domain is internationally, once in public domain is it possible to go back into copyright, current lawsuits/cases involving public domain--Disney "Is Mickey Mouse public domain yet?".
This group consists of Royce, Ansley and Carrie.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Blogging and the Internet
I've basically spent the past week of class in awe at how fast technology has taken over our lives. The internet recently celebrated its 40th birthday. In 40 years think of all the advancements made with the help of the internet. How well do you feel the internet has aged?
It's amazing the resources that are now available for students to utilize-- both in their everyday lives as well as in the classroom. I picked this first picture because I feel like it represents that merging of lives. Students can now check their facebook, youtube, or email in a classroom setting. Some of these things, such as youtube, are even being used to teach in that classroom. I find it fascinating the way technology brings different things together. Which brings me to my second picture...
Facebook: Linked in.
It seems everyone has one. Your friends, your parents, your professors, old high school teachers-- everyone has a facebook and everyone wants to know what's going on in each others' lives. As far as technology goes, I feel facebook is something that will be very hard to ever "pull the plug" on. It used to be the only way facebook would let you delete your account was if you deleted every wall post, picture, comment, note, or anything left on yours, or any of your friends, profiles. When you actually set in on that endeavor, you realize just how "link" everything is.
This third image is called "Fashioning Technology". This is another area where I see a merging of lives. Fashion, and the fashion industry, has always held a niche as being the commanders of what's going to be new and trendy. Now, though, technology comes into play, and when designing the next "big thing" you have to take into consideration: how well will this product look with an ipod attached to it? Can you still wear this outfit and walk around with headphones on? Technology plays such a huge role, that even the fashion industry is getting it's part. Designer headphones, colorful ipods or cellphones, discreet accessories to carry around your po
rtable technology in-- all of these are things that wouldn't have been given a first thought to even twenty years ago!
Takayoshi and Selfe-- Multimodality
Throughout their piece "Multimodality", Takyoshi and Selfe argue that the current classroom situation is out-of-date and needs to be updated to include facets of the new generation. They focus on roadblocks teachers from the "landscape of print" seem to encounter while teaching their students about multimodality, or "texts that incorporate words, images,and sound." I particularly agreed with point three made by Takyoshi and Selfe: "The authoring of compositions that include still images,animations, video, and audio—although intellectually demanding and time consuming—is also engaging." Text has a lot to offer, but I feel that, because we are a society that is so 'plugged in', it is much easier for students to learn and to be interested in topics that are presented to them using a medium they are comfortable and familiar with. I do not believe that any less stress should be emphasized on how important text and writing is, but I do think that it is easier for students to learn when they don't really feel like it's work. In our society, words and text are usually associated with boring lectures, or hard school work. When that same information is delivered in a different manner, it becomes more engaging and interesting to the students.
That is a topic I gathered from Daley's piece as well: students learn more when they are engaged, and they are engaged more when they are processing audio/visual elements in conjunction with text.
Walker/Nardi-- Why We Blog
I am a blogger. I have been since November of 2003. That's six years of my life that has been chronicled on a webpage somewhere, sitting as a jumble of mass code. As a blogger, and someone who has been active in the blogging community for many years (given my age) I feel like Walker and Nardi give too much credit to the blogging medium. It has been my experience that the majority of people who blog are trolling attention whores who use the anonymity of the internet to make as much noise as possible.
That being said, I see where the work we are doing in this classroom certainly fits in with Walker and Nardi's very small sample group. Because we as an upper educational classroom have created these blogs for the purpose of pursing knowledge in the medium of that classroom, it is unlikely much trolling or attention mongering will be going on here. I feel such is the case for the sample group chosen by Walker and Nardi. Their sample group was comprised of mostly people who are either in the process of, or already have, obtained a degree of somesorts. As a classroom, I feel we fall into the category of "blogging as a community". We are all here for the same reason, and though we may all have different opinions, we are all here to communicate our thoughts on a universal topic.
That is a topic I gathered from Daley's piece as well: students learn more when they are engaged, and they are engaged more when they are processing audio/visual elements in conjunction with text.
Walker/Nardi-- Why We Blog
I am a blogger. I have been since November of 2003. That's six years of my life that has been chronicled on a webpage somewhere, sitting as a jumble of mass code. As a blogger, and someone who has been active in the blogging community for many years (given my age) I feel like Walker and Nardi give too much credit to the blogging medium. It has been my experience that the majority of people who blog are trolling attention whores who use the anonymity of the internet to make as much noise as possible.
That being said, I see where the work we are doing in this classroom certainly fits in with Walker and Nardi's very small sample group. Because we as an upper educational classroom have created these blogs for the purpose of pursing knowledge in the medium of that classroom, it is unlikely much trolling or attention mongering will be going on here. I feel such is the case for the sample group chosen by Walker and Nardi. Their sample group was comprised of mostly people who are either in the process of, or already have, obtained a degree of somesorts. As a classroom, I feel we fall into the category of "blogging as a community". We are all here for the same reason, and though we may all have different opinions, we are all here to communicate our thoughts on a universal topic.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Daley- Expanding the Concept of Literacy
I found this article incredibly interesting. As a communications major, I know the importance of media literacy as well as linear literacy, but I never looked at the concept of literacy in quite such a large and open way. I definitely believe that people should have a better understanding of multimedia, and I believe that understanding should come much sooner than college. As children, we are exposed to so much media: television, computer, billboards, radio, the internet etc. and we don't possess the tools to properly decipher and understand all these "screen" that was are exposed to on a daily basis.
I think part of the reason multimedia is essentially looked down on when compared to text is because of the fact that it's everywhere. When print and text were first coming into existence, the only people who could actually use the products (i.e newspapers) were those who were rich and could afford an education. Therefore, text developed this stigma that only intellectual people read because it's such a sign of status. I think we still hold onto that, and because multimedia is a facet in everyone's everyday lives, the academic community is less likely to see it as a means for education, as something that people need to be taught literacy in.
I really liked the comparison to old Italian schools trying to teach in Latin. Multimedia is definitely the mean we are most fluent in, and in some ways I do believe that traditional classroom lecturing is becoming more and more out-of-date. Think of all of your professors who now utilize powerpoint, or history professors using documentaries and movies, or even just the students themselves bringing in their laptops to take notes on. Multimedia opens up new doors to use to learn and explore a new way of education. Youtube videos, google documents, things that we as students take for granted in our everyday leisure can be great tools to use towards education, but we need to be a culture that is completely literate in the usage of these tools.
I also enjoyed reading about multimedia as a more social form of interacting with each other. More times than not, the creation of multimedia is not a private process; it is used to create and share ideas which allows for serendipitous results that may otherwise have been smothered in a less social means of creation.
As a society so deeply "plugged in", it seems a little ridiculous to look down on multimedia because of its prevalence outside the classroom. If anything, that should make us want to take a closer look and explore what it would take for us to truly understand, to become literate, in a mean that is so deeply ingrained in our lives. As I said earlier, though, I think that process should start well before university education, and should begin to be taught as early as possible. Otherwise our children will remain illiterate in the language of multimedia, but will most definitely continue to consume it. There are many dangers that arise from situations like that, and it makes our children more vulnerable to media attacks (such as cartoon advertising during their favorite television shows). If we, as adults and the previous generation, are going to be creating media to target our children, we should at least provide them with the right tools to defend themselves.
I think part of the reason multimedia is essentially looked down on when compared to text is because of the fact that it's everywhere. When print and text were first coming into existence, the only people who could actually use the products (i.e newspapers) were those who were rich and could afford an education. Therefore, text developed this stigma that only intellectual people read because it's such a sign of status. I think we still hold onto that, and because multimedia is a facet in everyone's everyday lives, the academic community is less likely to see it as a means for education, as something that people need to be taught literacy in.
I really liked the comparison to old Italian schools trying to teach in Latin. Multimedia is definitely the mean we are most fluent in, and in some ways I do believe that traditional classroom lecturing is becoming more and more out-of-date. Think of all of your professors who now utilize powerpoint, or history professors using documentaries and movies, or even just the students themselves bringing in their laptops to take notes on. Multimedia opens up new doors to use to learn and explore a new way of education. Youtube videos, google documents, things that we as students take for granted in our everyday leisure can be great tools to use towards education, but we need to be a culture that is completely literate in the usage of these tools.
I also enjoyed reading about multimedia as a more social form of interacting with each other. More times than not, the creation of multimedia is not a private process; it is used to create and share ideas which allows for serendipitous results that may otherwise have been smothered in a less social means of creation.
As a society so deeply "plugged in", it seems a little ridiculous to look down on multimedia because of its prevalence outside the classroom. If anything, that should make us want to take a closer look and explore what it would take for us to truly understand, to become literate, in a mean that is so deeply ingrained in our lives. As I said earlier, though, I think that process should start well before university education, and should begin to be taught as early as possible. Otherwise our children will remain illiterate in the language of multimedia, but will most definitely continue to consume it. There are many dangers that arise from situations like that, and it makes our children more vulnerable to media attacks (such as cartoon advertising during their favorite television shows). If we, as adults and the previous generation, are going to be creating media to target our children, we should at least provide them with the right tools to defend themselves.
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