Friday, December 26, 2008
Tricia's Flickr link
This might be confusing, so figured I would clarify...the link to my Flickr account that I added to my blogroll a couple of months ago wasn't working, so I re-added it. It shows up under my yahoo account in the bloglist -- scslibrarian1 -- in case anyone is looking.
Revisit your class expectations
Because my own blog was used as a chronicle of the construction going on in our school library, and I was trying to avoid posting things that I didn't want our school community reading, I posted my last blogpost -- the "revisited" comments -- on my own blog as comment under my very first blogpost. To find them, go to my blog, and scroll down to the first post and click on the comments button. Sorry for any confusion.
Tricia's experience with Second Life
As I read through the posts of some of our classmates, I can say that many of your thoughts resonate with me regarding our class excursion into Second Life. It wasn't as engaging as I expected, and left me feeling disappointed. I suspect that if I spent more time with it, I might get more "hooked", but unlike facebook, I didn't find an immediate draw that will make me want to go back. Some of my experiences were less than enjoyable -- like when my avatar accidentally "flashed" a group of people (though I checked repeatedly, I still don't know what I clicked that led to the sudden loss of clothing) -- others were moderately interesting, like the chance to fly over land and water to arrive at a new destination, and playing with features to change the appearance of my avatar-- while still more were somewhat humourous like my avatar's repeated banging headfirst into the wall at a geological center as I tried to navigate and "fly" out the window (I am glad avatars don't feel pain, or mine would have had quite a headache!) I was cautious about interacting with people -- especially after my unintentional flashing -- because of an awareness that I wasn't interacting with real people, but rather with the personas that people were projecting. I believe it was Lavie who made comment in one of our chat discussions during class that people often present themselves differently than they really are even on social networking sites, so SL isn't that much different from some platform like facebook. There is truth to that, but for me, seeing "people" as cartoon characters made the experience that much more surreal. Bottom line, I just didn't enjoy the experience that much and will probably not try it again.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Ghost Droppings- Roberts Office at Halloween
My co worker participated in a spin on "secret Santa" for Halloween and this is the result. His "Santa" decorated his office.
Home Office
This was my first attempt at creating video and uploading it to the net. As I went through the assignment list I realized that I had never posted to the class blog.
Home Office
Home Office
As you can see my home office is my dining table. From it I can see the activity in the road below which is generally very busy becaude it is the main parking lot for the city. Outside of the second window are two dead cedar trees - the perch of various local birds. The kiskadee is the most vocal and you can hear it quite distintly on the video.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
In this video I tried to depict life at the International House. The narration is short and more emphasis is made on visuals. Here is the link http://blip.tv/file/1483890
I would like to share the photos on my Flickr.com account http://www.flickr.com/photos/31210086@N02/
I would like to share my educational video. In this video a choir is learning a song on a foreign language. With one shot I tried to show the learning environment. Check it out on http://blip.tv/file/1600520/
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Bermuda Gombeys
Gombeys are a "crowd" of male dancers and musicians who appear on the streets of Bermuda on holidays, particularly Christmas, performing a unique dance form to the beat of drums. The basic origins of th edance form stem from West African tribal dance. West Indian, Native American, Military music , the Mummers and the slaves' conversion to Christianity were powerful influences on the Gombey dance in Bermuda as we know it today. 
Gombeys in Training
from The Bermuda Gombey by Louise Jackson
Gombeys in Training
Finding Fiction
My students continue to be challenged with finding books in the library. The following video which will be posted on the library web page will outline how the fiction books are arranged on the shelves.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Reservations regarding second life
It's an assignment for this course, which is the only reason I have decided to try it - but I must say I have reservations about second life. A very engaging concept, and I'm sure for many, entertaining activity. I am unconverted.
Several years ago, a guy I barely knew tried to convince me that second life was a glimpse into the future - it was what everyone would be doing, living vicariously through some invented incarnation of themselves. Eventually, we'd only communicate with one another via this interactive, fantasy-world.
I was unconvinced to say the least, but also deeply disturbed that he would be so enthusiastic about shedding his um, "first" life identity and re-creating himself as another persona for strangers who were, presumably doing the same thing. Eventually, doesn't the "real" you emerge regardless of the manufactured-nature of self on second life?
Second Life may provide substantive research for an engaging sociological study and/or entertainment in the form of an escapist activity, however I do not think it serves as a literal replacement for human, in-person inter-activity. We still need to buy groceries, and do tangible "first" life activities.
The thing I find most exciting about second life is the possibility for human interaction on a completely different plane. I am a theatre artist, and I actually think second life may provide a useful foundation for developing novel "live" interactions. I don't think cyber-performance will replace in-person, live performance, though I also don't think they need compete. There are ways in which these various levels of "live" can synergize and create dynamic new experiences.
I prefer to fully engage in this first life, though I can understand and appreciate the enthusiasm for the second one too.
Several years ago, a guy I barely knew tried to convince me that second life was a glimpse into the future - it was what everyone would be doing, living vicariously through some invented incarnation of themselves. Eventually, we'd only communicate with one another via this interactive, fantasy-world.
I was unconvinced to say the least, but also deeply disturbed that he would be so enthusiastic about shedding his um, "first" life identity and re-creating himself as another persona for strangers who were, presumably doing the same thing. Eventually, doesn't the "real" you emerge regardless of the manufactured-nature of self on second life?
Second Life may provide substantive research for an engaging sociological study and/or entertainment in the form of an escapist activity, however I do not think it serves as a literal replacement for human, in-person inter-activity. We still need to buy groceries, and do tangible "first" life activities.
The thing I find most exciting about second life is the possibility for human interaction on a completely different plane. I am a theatre artist, and I actually think second life may provide a useful foundation for developing novel "live" interactions. I don't think cyber-performance will replace in-person, live performance, though I also don't think they need compete. There are ways in which these various levels of "live" can synergize and create dynamic new experiences.
I prefer to fully engage in this first life, though I can understand and appreciate the enthusiasm for the second one too.
My Take-Aways from Online Video and Social Media
In my first blog, regarding my course expectations, I mostly wrote about the opportunities in social media for marketing. I've learned lots about how to utilize different elements in order to get a message out to an audience. But I'm also glad that we learned about all of the exciting opportunities for education! I teach dance at Pace University, and as a dancer video is such an important part of capturing the history of the performing arts. With YouTube and other websites, anyone can view clips of all types of choreography. During this course I started a blog project with my dance students at Pace. It's a forum for us to share and discuss clips of choreography relating to the work we do in class. It has been so fun for me to get their comments, and to 'see' the work through their eyes through this blog conversation!
On the marketing end, I'm the head of a student organization here at TC (Student Advocates for the Arts, visit the link below!) and we use Facebook and a blog that we maintain as a website to inform our members. Over the holiday break, one of my projects for SAA is to create a video to let everyone know about our upcoming advocacy trips to Albany and DC. Video captures attention moreso than just an email (I hope!) and just seems to be a more personal message. I'm also going to rework our blog site (through Wordpress, although I wish we used Blogger now that I feel so comfortable with it) to include live feeds from other arts advocacy organizations to provide a better flow of up-to-date information.
I'm very glad that we've not only learned about all of these different avenues for online communication, but also that we've spent a lot of time through assignments actually using them. Although I've updated our student organization blog multiple times, I had no idea of all of the other ways to utilize a blog and all of the fun, interesting things I could do with it! I will definitely use all of these skills with Student Advocates for the Arts blog and with my classroom blog at Pace (I'm reworking my curriculum over the break to make use of the blog regularly). Thanks so much! Happy blogging to everyone (and have a great holiday)!
On the marketing end, I'm the head of a student organization here at TC (Student Advocates for the Arts, visit the link below!) and we use Facebook and a blog that we maintain as a website to inform our members. Over the holiday break, one of my projects for SAA is to create a video to let everyone know about our upcoming advocacy trips to Albany and DC. Video captures attention moreso than just an email (I hope!) and just seems to be a more personal message. I'm also going to rework our blog site (through Wordpress, although I wish we used Blogger now that I feel so comfortable with it) to include live feeds from other arts advocacy organizations to provide a better flow of up-to-date information.
I'm very glad that we've not only learned about all of these different avenues for online communication, but also that we've spent a lot of time through assignments actually using them. Although I've updated our student organization blog multiple times, I had no idea of all of the other ways to utilize a blog and all of the fun, interesting things I could do with it! I will definitely use all of these skills with Student Advocates for the Arts blog and with my classroom blog at Pace (I'm reworking my curriculum over the break to make use of the blog regularly). Thanks so much! Happy blogging to everyone (and have a great holiday)!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Shannon a.k.a. Liza Foxclaw in Second Life
I'm not sure about that name, Liza Foxclaw, but I just saw Liza Minnelli in concert and then Second Life chooses your last name for you...
This afternoon I tried Second Life for the third time, and I have to say I'm still not very hooked at all. I haven't found much to do other than walk around, and living in NYC provides a much better 'real life' walking around experience. I read the articles on the syllabus, and one of them mentions that one of Second Life's downfalls is its lack of engagement for first-time users (hmmm... 'OK, I'm here, so now what?...'). I guess my feelings so far are summed up in: why would I go to a bar in Second Life when I can do that in real life?
But I can see where this would be great for education, especially in creating an international setting. That said, as a child I was totally fascinated by the rest of the world. I had pen pals (back in the day before email :) from various different countries. If I was given the chance then to participate in some sort of international classroom, I would have jumped on it (I still would!). How exciting to think of that as an answer to 'the next best thing'? A virtual classroom, taking place in different replica countries in Second Life, with students from all backgrounds and cultures!! Sounds much more interesting than my 8th grade social studies class...
I found this wiki, Second Life in Education, that lists a bunch of different schools and organizations and the ways that they use Second Life. There are descriptions, screen shots, and links to visit in Second Life. It was really interesting to see all of the different ways institutions utilize this phenomena. For example, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard presents a course on persuasive argument in media space that meets in Second Life, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Second Life Island provides simulations of weather conditions like tsunamis, hurricanes, and melting glaciers. The wiki gives SLURLs, which I now know stands for Second Life URLs, so you can click and open in Second Life and transport to each of these places (do we call them places, this is confusing!..)
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses
Also, I found this article on museums in Second Life, which is interesting for me to read since my degree is Arts Administration.
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/papers/rothfarb/rothfarb.html
This afternoon I tried Second Life for the third time, and I have to say I'm still not very hooked at all. I haven't found much to do other than walk around, and living in NYC provides a much better 'real life' walking around experience. I read the articles on the syllabus, and one of them mentions that one of Second Life's downfalls is its lack of engagement for first-time users (hmmm... 'OK, I'm here, so now what?...'). I guess my feelings so far are summed up in: why would I go to a bar in Second Life when I can do that in real life?
But I can see where this would be great for education, especially in creating an international setting. That said, as a child I was totally fascinated by the rest of the world. I had pen pals (back in the day before email :) from various different countries. If I was given the chance then to participate in some sort of international classroom, I would have jumped on it (I still would!). How exciting to think of that as an answer to 'the next best thing'? A virtual classroom, taking place in different replica countries in Second Life, with students from all backgrounds and cultures!! Sounds much more interesting than my 8th grade social studies class...
I found this wiki, Second Life in Education, that lists a bunch of different schools and organizations and the ways that they use Second Life. There are descriptions, screen shots, and links to visit in Second Life. It was really interesting to see all of the different ways institutions utilize this phenomena. For example, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard presents a course on persuasive argument in media space that meets in Second Life, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Second Life Island provides simulations of weather conditions like tsunamis, hurricanes, and melting glaciers. The wiki gives SLURLs, which I now know stands for Second Life URLs, so you can click and open in Second Life and transport to each of these places (do we call them places, this is confusing!..)
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses
Also, I found this article on museums in Second Life, which is interesting for me to read since my degree is Arts Administration.
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/papers/rothfarb/rothfarb.html
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
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