Let's Get Visual: Visual Communication with Smartphones, Getty's Open Content, Art Everywhere and Visual Perception Research

Let's Get Visual....

It difficult to imagine a world without Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, Pinterest or Facebook photo-sharing.  According to a press release from ABI Research in 2012, over one billion cameras were shipped in smartphones and tablets.  Never before has it been this easy to shoot and share pictures and video clips in-the-moment.   Why talk on the phone for twenty minutes with one person when you can share a (visual) moment with your entire extended family and network of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances with just one touch?

We are communicating in ways that were not possible a decade ago.

Qmee, a online search rewards company, put together an infographic to show what transpires on-line in just 60 seconds. 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. 20 million photos are viewed on flickr. 104,000 photos are shared on snapchat, and 3,600 photos are uploaded every second to Instagram.

Credit: Qmee

According to a 2012 study published by the Pew Internet & American Life project, 46% of adult Internet users took pictures or videos and posted them on line. 41% reported that they found photos or videos online, and then re-posted them to share with others.  If you have a Facebook account, you know that there are people who delight in taking digital content sharing to the next level. Websites such as the Programmable Web's Mashup Dashboard and Know Your Meme are examples of this trend. 

Getty Museum's Open Content Program

The Getty Museum recently launched the Open Content Program with a release of about 4,600 high-resolution images of all public domain artworks in the museum's collection, free for anyone to use, modify, or publish.  The Getty plans to release more images in the future. The images can be accessed via the Getty Search Gateway. 

Here is the motivation behind the release of Getty's digital content:

"Why open content?  Why now?  The Getty was founded on the conviction that understanding art makes the world a better place, and sharing our digital resources is the natural extension of that belief.  This move is also an educational imperative.  Artists, students, teachers, writers, and countless others rely on artwork images to learn, tell stories, exchange ideas, and feed their own creativity.  In its discussion of open content, the most recent Horizon Report, Museum Edition stated "it is now the mark-and social responsibility-of world class institutions to develop and share fee cultural and educational resources."" 


It will be interesting to see how this trend unfolds.  We are now past the clip-art era.

Art Everywhere

"Its all about flooding our streets with art this summer, and turning the UK into the world's largest art gallery" -Richard Reed

Art Everywhere was launched in the UK on August 12th and ends on August 25th of this year (2013).  The art is on display in public spaces on thousands of billboards and digital screens across the UK,  as well as on buses and cabs.  The art was chosen by the public, and the project was funded by the project's sponsors and donations.  

Photos of the artwork chosen for the Art Everywhere exhibition, along with related information about each selection, can be viewed on the Art Everywhere website. Richard Reed, who spearheaded Art Everywhere, provides an overview in the video below:

All of the Art Everywhere posters can come to life with when viewed through a smartphone. Using the free Blippar app, the viewer can scan the poster with the smartphone's camera to access more information about the artwork.  Viewers are encouraged to enter the Art Everywhere photo competition by taking pictures of the outdoor exhibition to win a camera, daily prizes.

Art Everywhere's partners include the Reed Page Foundation, the ArtFund, Tate, Posterscope, Vizeum, 101/   EasyArt, Blippar, Arts Media People, Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor, JCDecaux, Ocean, and Primesight

Neuroscience Research: Visual Perception Process

"The brain is plastic for life" .-Michael Merzenich*

There have been concerns that the internet and new technologies might have a significant impact, good or bad, on the human brain and child development, as discussed by a panel held at the University of Colorado Annual Conference on World Affairs.  

The good news is that neuroscientists have new technologies to explore how the brain works. We have evidence to support that our brains have more plasticity as we age than previously thought. Since the technology use in brain research is so new, it might be a while before we will know what exactly happens when our brains are "on the internet".

Theories of how the brain functions are changing as new discoveries are made. One example of this is the work of Dr. Randy Bruno, a neuroscientist at Columbia University's Kalvi Institute for Brain Science.  He has discovered that in rats, signals about sensory information are processed simultaneously in two parts of the cortex, as separate circuits.  The upper layers of the cortex might be integrating sensation with context or experience, as described in the following video:

Dr. Bruno's research aims to understand how experience causes structural changes in the brain. His research shows that neuronal connections between the thalamus and the cortex are very plastic and responsive. Although he studies brain functioning in rats, the cortical systems are similar to other mammals, including humans.

"The key is to be actively engaged in a task and that there be meaningful elaboration on the information taken in at higher levels in order to maintain associations between different pieces of information. Such active engagement, as opposed to passive acquisition of what we experience with our senses, may enhance changes in the brain." - Randy Bruno*

From what I can see, it might be good for us to accessing the web via smartphones to engage in social visual communication activities.  If we are excited by a visually-based experience, and share it with others, or if we take in visual information and use it to create a mashup, and send it out for others to enjoy, our brains are actively engaged. If the neuroscientists are right, we aren't really wasting our time online.  

We are growing dendrites!

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The Fantastic Plastic Brain*
The Kavli Foundation, 7/12

Study Advances New Theory of How the Brain Is Wired
Claudia Wallace, Columbia University Research, 6/27/13

The Internet and the Human Brain Panel (Video-1 hour, 14 minutes)
University of Colorado Annual Conference on World Affairs

Instagram at the Museum: Communicating the Museum Experience through Social Photo Sharing Alexandra Weilenmann, Thomas Hillman, Beata Junselius, CHI 2013, ACM

Open Content, An Idea Whose Time Has Come
James Cuno, The Getty Iris, 8/12/13

Getty Search Gateway

Horizon Report 2012 Museum Edition





Blippar Brings World's Largest Art Exhibition 'Art Everywhere' to Life
Blippar News Release, 8/8/13

Art Everywhere turns UK's streets into world's largest art show
Caroline Davies, The Guardian, 8/8/13

The Rise of Visual Socialization
The Halo Group Effect, 2013

The Unstoppable Trend of Visual Communications
David Amerland, HP InputOutput, 2/11/12

The Rise of Visual Social Media
Ekaterina Walter, Fast Company, 8/28/12

Research Modules: Next Generation Mobile Devices, ABI Research

Mashup Dashboard, Programmable Web

Know Your Meme

Prancercise video memes 

This Brain Discovery May Overturn a Century-Old Theory
Ben Thomas, Scientific American Blog, 8/8/13

Little Digits Counting and Early Math App, by Cowly Owl - Chris O'Shea

Fun with Early Math:  App by Chris O'Shea - Cowly Owl

Chris O'Shea is an artist and designer who uses technology in creative, playful ways. Over the past year or so, he's devoted some of his attention to designing engaging iPad apps and digital toys.  Below is a video of his Little Digits app in action:


Little Digits from Cowly Owl on Vimeo.

Here is the information from the Vimeo site:

"Little Digits is a fun educational app that teaches children about numbers by putting a new spin on finger counting. Using the iPad multi-touch screen, Little Digits displays number characters by detecting how many fingers you put down.  Children can learn to associate the number on the screen with the number of fingers they place down, whilst enjoying the unique characters and animations of the Little Digits world...They are also games that introduce small addition and subtraction calculations, where you can work out the answer using the same multi-touch finger detection."

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Cowly Owl
Chris O'Shea's Website
My iPad Pinterest Board

Surface Tablet vs. iPad Video, via SAY Media

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Apple iPad
Microsoft Surface Tablet
SAY Media

Stantum Update: Innovative Tablet and Mobile Tech; Tablets Push Leap Towards Interactive Multimedia "Textbooks"

Step into a school and you might notice that older desktop computers have been replaced by an assortment of portable devices.   In many cases, students still carry around book bags that contain an assortment of textbooks, binders, worksheets, along with something digital.  

So what is that "something digital"?   

In some  cases, it might be a school-issued laptop or net-book.  In other cases, it could be an iPad, an e-reader, or another sort of tablet.  In other cases, it could be whatever the student brings to school, as part of a "BYOD" (Bring Your Own Device) experiment.

No one has yet figured all out, but many people, from a number of disciplines, are trying!

Stantum is an example of a company that has an interest in the use of innovative technology for education.  Stantum develops multi-touch technology for mobile devices, including tablets, and follows trends in education closely. 

I've had the opportunity speak with Guillaume Largillier, Stantum's co-founder and CSO on several occasions, most recently in late October.  I'm happy to say that Stantum looks like it will be making some important inroads in education.  

Why? 

Stantum is aware that as educational institutions, K-12 and above, leave textbooks behind, there will be an enormous need for devices that will seamlessly support teaching and learning, all around the world.  Guillaume spoke of  developments in countries such as South Korea, France, Turkey, Thailand, Columbia, Argentina, and China to adopt digital textbooks. Some of these countries have initiated pilot programs using some sort of tablet or mobile devices, or plan to do so in the very near future.


During our conversation, Guilluame pointed out that Stantum is involved in developing durable components and tablets made from materials that can withstand the knocking about that sometimes happens when handled by young hands.  

Unlike the iPad, the tablets will not need a rugged, more expensive case, so it is likely that the cost to schools will be lower.  Since the tablets are open to most operating systems, they are likely to be easier for school IT administrators to deploy, update, and maintain.


A bit about the technology:    

Stantum's Interpolated Voltage Sensing Matrix (IVSM) technology supports 10 simultaneous touches and can handle touch and stylus input at the same time. It "knows" if it has been touched by a finger and can disregard a palm.  This is a good feature to have if a tablet is used young people.  

Earlier this year, Stantum announced its partnership with NISSHA, a company based in Japan, and unveiled its newest development, Fine Touch Z Technology, powered by IVSM.  It can support Windows and Android operating systems.  It has a fast scanning engine, high-resolution handwriting input, and does not produce ghost or masking effects.  (See video below).

One appealing feature of this technology is that it provides has low power consumption. This is a plus when considering the need students to have a device that has an extended battery life. 


Fine Touch Z from Stantum on Vimeo.

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A leap towards interactive digital "textbooks":

Although students have been accessing educational content in digital form on computers and through educational television programming for a long time, textbooks and paper-based assignments have been major tools used in school to transmit the curriculum.  

The tools are changing as we move to a digital, multimedia world of communication, collaboration, knowledge sharing, teaching, learning, and creating.  There are many questions to consider.

• What sort of digital content will replace traditional textbooks?
• Who will create this content? 
• Will traditional textbook publishers simply transform textbooks into slightly more interactive versions of the ho-hum content students love to hate?
• How will digital interaction change the way everyone learns?  How will this be measured?
• How will teachers and students be provided with opportunities to create new ways of sharing knowledge?
• How will usability and accessibility concerns be addressed, for students, teachers - and family members, given that digital content will be accessed both in and outside of school?
• What sort of software systems will need to be developed?
• What sort of infrastructure will be needed to support this influx of online activity and transfer of large data files -  at schools, in homes, and in communities?
• How will the technological ecology support learning, given multiple devices, interactive whiteboards and other interactive surfaces? 

With change, there is usually confusion as old ways are set aside and people explore new options.  

Apple is making some inroads with the iPad, providing educators (and students) to create interactive books with the free iBooks Author program. Some schools have 1-1 laptop programs in place, and provide access to educational content through more traditional course management systems or web-based activities that accompany existing textbooks.  Schools are signing up for resources such as Google in Education and Microsoft Partners in Learning.  

If you are looking for some resources about the rapid increase in interest and adoption of interactive digital textbooks, not just in the U.S., but around the world, take a look at my recent blog post,  "Got Interactive (Multimedia) Textbooks Inside Your iPad or Tablet?  Lots of Resources!".  In the post, I provide a wealth of links to information from the LEAD commission, the FCC's Digital Textbook Playbook, and more.  

You might also want to take a look at Audrey Watters' article, The Truth About Tablets: Educators are getting iPads and e-readers into students'hands--but it's not easy, which was published online in the School Library Journal earlier this year.

For a global perspective, read Alex Wukman's article, World Bank Begins Global Digital Textbook Initiative 

It wouldn't hurt to learn more about what the textbook publishers have in mind.  For that reason, I've put together a sample of resources about interactive digital content from major educational media and textbook publishing organizations:

DISCOVERY EDUCATION
Techbooks
In the following video, students and teachers from an elementary school in Winston-Salem give their reviews of the new Discovery Education Science Techbook.  Students can access the Discovery Techbook via the web.  In this video, students interact with the content using traditional desktop computers as well as interactive whiteboards.  Techbooks are designed to work on tablets or laptops, too.  At :39, a first grade teacher explains exactly why she likes the science techbook:

"...everything is right here at your hands, it is interesting to the kids, they love to watch the videos, and you can take it further - beyond than that, and everything is done for you, it is just really helpful. It even has the prep, the content review, and it is all aligned to the curriculum." -Laurie Moran

Discovery Education Science Techbook from Judy Uhrig on Vimeo.

Discovery Education Science Techbook Overview (Video)
Techbook for High School Science
Techbook for K-8 Science

PEARSON
Pearson's new interactive textbook for the iPad
"It is really going to revolutionize how we think about the classroom experience and what happens in the classroom in the way of learning, and what happens outside the classroom." -Joseph Levine, Author, Miller & Levine Biology

INKLING
Major Publisher Investment Advances Inkling as the Future of Digital Textbooks
Audrey Watters, ReadWrite, 3/22/11
"What makes Inkling’s apps unique is the fact that “content isn’t bound by pages or sections or chapters in the same linear fashion. Rather, it’s hierarchical, richly illustrated and augmented. It’s interactive. It’s social,” Watters writes. The digital versions include quizzes, interactive infographics, and a scrolling and searchable interface." -Matt MacInnis, Inkling

McGRAW-HILL RYERSON
McGraw-Hill Ryerson Launches New High School iBooks Textbooks
PRNewswire, 10/25/12

HARCOURT
Harcourt Interactive Textbooks (Produced by Vertex)


SOMEWHAT RELATED
The Truth About Tablets:  Educators are getting iPads and ereaders into students'hands--but it's not easy
Audry Watters, School Library Journal, 2/1/12

More Tablets, More Mobile, More Social. On The Media's The Facebook Show, Adobe's Social 'Metrics, not Myths' Campaign UPDATE2

I've been thinking about giants like Google and Facebook and how they have been slow to figure out how to adapt to the rapid adoption of mobile technologies, such as tablets and smartphones, among their users/ad viewers/consumers.  

Social media marketing is a somewhat uncharted territory, and the landscape is much different from the "push" media environment of television in days past.  

Here is what came across my path today on this topic:

This morning I was delighted to listen to "The Facebook Show". produced by On The Media.  I've embedded it below for your listening pleasure:

THE FACEBOOK SHOW



When I got home, I turned on the TV as I put away groceries, and viewed the Adobe's recent ad, "The Slap", which is meant to convince people that there is a way to measure the ROI  of ad campaigns utilizing social media.  It is part of the Metrics Not Myths series. 


I've embedded a few of the episode below.   (I'd rather see the creative effort focus on an anti-bullying campaign, but that is another story.)

Warning, watching these ads while contemplating digital media consultants and marketing buzzwords might be painful!    

"Today, we launched a brand new marketing campaign we’re calling “Metrics, not myths.” Our approach is to identify top myths about digital marketing that plague brands, agencies, chief marketing officers and CEOs and turn them on their head — with irony, humor, a provocative point of view and proof." - Adobe

The Slap

BS Detector


Buzzwords that get zapped:
Bigger picture, ripple effect, go for the key influencers, at the end of the day, halo effect, brand recognition, fine tune engagements, 360 view of the customer, cross segment synergies, likes, closed loop marketing, search, classification of our brand, SEO, click-through rates, make it go viral.....

Marketing is BS


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Behind the Scenes of Adobe's 'Metrics, Not Myths' Campaign
Time Moran, CMO.com 10/26/12
In Defense of Marketing
Ann Lewnes, Adobe CMO, 10/23/12
"There has never been a better time to be a marketer."
Adobe Study: Click Here: The State of Online Advertising (pdf) 
"Consumers rate Advertising/Marketing among the least valuable professions."
Metrics not Myths for your webinars
Guillaume Privat, Adobe Connect Blog, 10/25/12
Adobe Marketing Cloud
Webinar:  Creative matters: optimizing Facebook pages for brands (Adobe)
Guidebook:  A creative guide to Facebook Pages: Timeline for Brands (Adobe)
Previous Post: What Happens When Post-Mass Market Goes to Market?  Bob Garfield's insightful video, and more...

Interactive Technology from CHI 2012 Supporting Literacy, Storytelling, and Narrative

I spent the last several days at CHI 2012 and was so immersed in the experience, I held off blogging until I arrived home.  


I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the experience at CHI 2012, There was so much to see, hear, and touch, there were so many bright, creative people all around - I was on mind/sensory overload.  Omar L. Gallaga, the author of Digital Savant (Austin 360), attended the conference, and the quote below from his recent post nicely sums it up: "When your mind gets blown multiple times in a very short period of time, it begins to feel as is your brain is quickly rewiring itself to accept that the reality is that anything is possible and that the continual, pleasurable surprise of discovery is the new norm."


For this post, I'm sharing a few things that were presented at CHI 2012 that focus on literacy, storytelling, and narrative.  I'll share more in future posts.


Creating and Using Interactive Narratives: Reading and Writing Branching Comics 
The short video below provides a good overview of the project, which was presented at CHI 2012 during the Out of the Box" session, chaired by Shahram Izadi, of Microsoft Research USA

"We employ comics and combine paper with a multi-touch interface to explore an approach to reading and writing interactive narratives."
Dan Andrews and Chris Baber from the University of Birmingham (UK) 
Sergei Efremov and Mikhail Komorov from the Moscow State Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (Russia).


If you are interested in learning more about this process, take a look at the references that were reviewed in the paper about this creative, thoughtful work.

Tap & Play: An End User Toolkit for Authoring Interactive Pen and Paper Language Activities 
The following video was created several months before CHI 2012:




Tap & Play:  An End User Toolkit for Authoring Interactive Pen and Paper Language Activities
Ann Marie Piper, Nadir Weibel, James Hollan, 


The following video is related to the Textual Tinkerability paper, presented during the Literacy on the Margin session, chaired by Juan Pablo Hourcade, at CHI 2012:
 


Textual Tinkerability:  Encouraging Storytelling Behaviors to Foster Emergent Literacy    Angela Chang, Cynthia Breazeal, Fardad Faridi, Tom Roberts, Glorianna Davenport, Henry Lieberman, Nick Montfort, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


Related: TinkRBook: Shared Reading Interfaces for Storytelling (IDC 2011)
TinkRBook

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CHI 2012:  brain expanding bits of brilliance
Omar L. Gallaga, Digital Savant, 5/11/12


FYI:   I was one of the organizers for the EIST (Educational Interfaces, Software & Technology) workshop, held on May 5th and 6th. The participants came from all around the world to spend two days of presenting, sharing, and brainstorming.  Everyone worked hard to make the workshop a success. (I'll share more about EIST soon, but if you are curious, the above link will provide you with more information about the program and papers that were presented.) 

Digital Media and Learning: Video presentation by high schoolers, video of John Seely Brown's keynote at DML2012

This is a video of students from Morningside, Crenshaw, Rosevelt, Locke, and Manual Arts high schools in L.A. who presented a session on Education for a Digital Democracy at the recent Digital Media and Learning Conference. 

What I especially like about this presentation is the way the students highlighted the current state of technology in their urban schools, and what they have to say about their schools' policies regarding the use of personal technologies during the school day.

Digital Media and Learning Conference: Kids from Locke High from School Library JournalVimeo. on

Thanks to the School Library Journal and Scott McCloud for sharing this!

If you are interested in digital media/new media/multimedia and learning, take the time to view John Seely Brown's DML 2012 Keynote:
Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Learner in the 21st Century

DML2012 John Seely Brown Keynote from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.

PDF transcript of John Seely Brown's keynote

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Digital Media and Learning Hub

John Seely Brown's website

Book:  A New Culture of Learning:  Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change

Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown

GeekDad's Post: The Changing Nature of App Design for Kids (quick link)

The Changing Nature of App Design and Development for Kids
Daniel Donahoo, GEEKDAD, Wired,  1/16/12


"During 2011, I have observed a real push towards app development and digital design for children that is respectful and purposeful - not just a marketing and money making exercise." -Daniel Donahoo


I encourage you take the time to read Daniel Donahoo's thoughtful post!

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GeekDad Opinion:  We Need a Children's Apps Rating System
Daniel Donahoo, GEEKDAD, Wired, 12/11/10
Moms with Apps Workshop Summary
Moms with Apps, 12/4/11

Quick link: How to use game dynamics in the classroom, with good links, via Edudemic (Jeff Dunn)

How To Use Game Dynamics In The Classroom 


Although the article refers to the work of Liz Gross and her colleague(s) focusing on the use of game dynamics in a large university lecture class, there are links to a variety of interesting resources and posts that address games in education across many settings. This work is part of a research proposal for funding from the Digital Media + Learning competition.


RELATED 
Digital Media and Learning Conference 
March 1-13, 2012
UC Humanities Research Institute University of California, Irvine 
About the Conference (info from the DML website)

"The Digital Media and Learning Conference is an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub located at the UC Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine. The conference is meant to be an inclusive, international and annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in the field, focused on fostering interdisciplinary and participatory dialog and linking theory, empirical study, policy, and practice. The third annual conference – DML2012 – is organized around the theme “Beyond Educational Technology: Learning Innovations in a Connected World” and will be held between March 1-3, 2012 in San Francisco, California."

Keynote: John Seely Brown 
Plenary Panelists: Eleizabeth Corcoran, Renaldo Lemos, Leslie Redd, and Constance M. Yowell 
Conference Committee: 
Diana Rhoten, Conference Chair
Tracy Fullerton:   Re-imagining Media for Learning Chair
Antero Garcia:   Innovations for Public Education Chair
Mitch Resnick:   Making, Tinkering and Remixing Chair
Mark Surman:    Democratizing Learning Innovation Chair
Jess Klein:   Democratizing Learning Innovation Co-Chair 


Thanks to Yasmine Kasbi for sharing the post on Google+!

Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn - an awesome book by Cathy "HASTAC" Davidson. (Her blog is awesome, too!)

Who is Cathy Davidson
According to her most recent bio, Cathy "served from 1998 until 2006 as the first Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University, where she worked with faculty to help create many programs, including the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the program in Information Science + Information Studies (ISIS).  She is the co-founder of is the co-founder of Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, HASTAC ("haystack"), a network of innovators dedicated to new forms of learning for the digital age.  She is also co-director of the $2 million annual HASTAC/John D. and Catherine T. MacAuthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition."


Here is Cathy's book: Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn
 

Note: I am almost finished with the book. Sadly, it went missing for several weeks, so I have about 50 more pages to read, now that it is found!   I didn't want to wait too long before writing my review, so I thought I'd highlight it here, since it will make a great read-or gift, for the holiday season!   It is well worth reading, as Cathy is a deep thinker who transcends disciplinary confines.


Here are a few Cathy Davidson's blog posts:
So What Again is HASTAC? Post #HASTAC2011 Reflections on a Network Founded on a Theory That's Practice 12/4/11
Why is the Information Age Without the Humanities Like the Industrial Revolution Without the Steam Engine? 1/24/10
Five Ways the Open Web Can Transform Higher Education
12/4/11


RELATED
HASTAC website, where you can discover a number of excellent blogs and interesting links.

Make and Share Your Games Online! Update: Game Creator and the Cartoon Network Website

I came a cross the Cartoon Network's Game Creator website a couple of years ago and thought I'd take a look at how it has grown since my last peek.  If you are a kid, educator, or parent, take a look at the updated links below. 


As I mentioned in a previous post, some educators might frown upon games and cartoon-related content.  The combination of games + cartoons might not be so bad, especially when the activity is something that can be shared in a social context.  By participating in the creation of digital games, young people are provided with skills that might just entice them to consider learning more about STEM-related fields.  (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)


About Game Creator
According to the website, the Cartoon Network's Game Creator is "an application that gives you the power to create your own action games and share them with the world. It leads you through a simple, six-step process and gives you a set of easy-to-use tools to customize your game however you wish. When you finish building a game, you can send it to Cartoon Network's game gallery for other fans to play and rate. The gallery makes it easy for you to play other people's games, rate them, sort them and even share them with your friends."


Ben 10 Game Creator
Parent Information   (Ben 10 Game Creator Website)
Clone Wars Game Creator
Parent Information (Clone Wars Game Creator)
Batman Game Creator
Parent Information (Batman Game Creator)
Game Creator Central

Cartoon Network

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Game Creators and Cartoon Network: More Games to Create, Play, and Share Online

Lynn Marentette, Interactive Multimedia Technology, 4/25/10

Ben 10 Alien Force Game Creator from Cartoon Network:  Social Game Creation Online for Kids!

Lynn Marentette, Interactive Multimedia Technology, 7/13/09

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MIXIT Video Creator  (Cartoon Network)

Cartoon Network International Sites

Flash Classroom Jeopardy Game Maker

10 Truths About Books and What They Have to Do With Video Games
James Paul Gee, 5/15/11
"There are 10 key truths we know about books. They happen to be equally true of other "meaning making technologies" like television and video games. Thus, in these 10 ways, books and video games are the same." -James Paul Gee

Designing Culture: Investigating the Link Between Technology and Culture, an interactive transmedia project by Anne Balsamo

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I use it as an on-line filing cabinet. When I learned about Anne Balsamo's recently published book, part of a larger interactive transmedia project, I decided that it warranted more than a "plug" and a quick link.


It warranted a shrine.
For this reason, I've embedded a number of videos and presentations from the project's website, along with a host of links.  Prepare to spend some time exploring her work over time!  It is food for reflection.


DESIGNING CULTURE     "Investigating the link between technology and culture, this transmedia project is realized as a print book, a dvd, and this interactive flash website ." -Designing Culture


"Anne Balsamo is a Professor of Communication in the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism and of Interactive Media in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. She is a co-founder of Onomy Labs, a Silicon Valley technology design and fabrication company that builds cultural technologies. Previously, she was a member of RED (Research on Experimental Documents), a collaborative research group at Xerox PARC that created experimental reading devices and new media genres. She is the author of Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women, also published by Duke University Press." -Designing Culture


Video Overview:

Designing Culture: the Technological Imagination at Work from Anne Balsamo on Vimeo.


BOOK
Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work
Anne Balsamo, Duke University Press, 2011


BLOG: Designing Culture


DVD (packaged with the book)
Women of the World Talk Back: Gendering the Technological Imagination


PUBLIC INTERACTIVE WALLS: Designing Technological Literacies -Interactive Wall Books "Interactive Wall Books are large-scale dynamic mixed-media documents"
Here are a few links to online versions of the wall books for your convenience: Episodes in the History of Reading, Part 1     Episodes in the History of Reading, Part II  Episodes in the History of Reading, Part 3     Deslizate En El Tiempo: Epsodios en la Historia de la Communicacion (Developed for the Children's Museum of Mexico City)  Science for All Ages

XFR: EXPERIMENTS IN THE FUTURE OF READING  A museum exhibit.
(The above link will take you to the Onomy website's version of the exhibit. The project version can be found on the Designing Culture website.)


MAPS: Mapping the Technological Imagination Spatial Documents.
Learning to Love The Questions - an interactive semantac map, for the online journal VECTORS
Where is the Museum? Mapping the Distributed Museum -presentation at Museums and the Web 2011
Ways of the Hand: Tinkering in the Digital Age -presentation at DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media conference, 2010
Working the Paradigm Shift: The Cultural Work of the Digital Humanities - presentation at the Digital Arts Conference, 2008


VIDEOS
Tools for the Asking

Anne Balsamo HASTAC Presentation 4_16_2010 from IML @ USC on Vimeo.


Gendering the Technological How a Robot Got its Groove


Cool Fusion: Designing Culture - Working the Paradigm Shift



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Reviews of Designing Culture by Lawrence Grossberg, Cathy N. Davidson, and John Seely Brown (Amazon.com site for the book)
Balsamo's New Book Details Technological Imagination at Work
Annenberg News, 8/10/11
HASTAC: Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advance Collaboratory


Anne Balsamo worked on the following project:
Tangible Interface for Viewing the Aids Quilt

"This project will develop an application that enables collaborative browsing of a database of images of panels of The AIDS Memorial Quilt that have been “virtually stitched together.”  The application will be used with Onomy Lab’s Tilty Table, a tangible interactive device that serves as a display surface for large-scaled images." -(info from Anne Balsamo's blog)

Quicklinks: Cute video about need for Google+, Spielburg on 3D, Tactile Pixels, Touch Screen Steering Wheel, and More

Here are a few interesting links  and a couple of videos.  Enjoy exploring!


Comic-Con 2011: Steven Spielberg Gives His Thoughts on 3D
Jason Barr, Collider, 7/22/11

Tactile Pixels Will Make It Easy To Read Braille on Touchscreens

Kwame Opam, Gizmodo, 7/9/11

Gestural Input on a Touch Screen Steering Wheel in the Media

Albrecht Schmidt, User Interface Engineering Blog, 7/17/11

Potential to improve some user experiences, using HTML 5
HCI 596 Course Blog, Iowa State University, 7/11/11


PBS Launches LearningMedia, a New Digital Repository for Educational Content
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 6/27/11


Link to Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK and Resources
Luis Cabrera, Surface Blog, 7/12/11


AI (Artificial Intelligence) Demonstrates Natural Learning, Applies New Skills To Civilization
Devin Coldewey, Tech Crunch, 7/13/11


21 Google+ Privacy Tips: the Ultimate Guide
Craid Kanalley, Huffington Post, 7/21/11


iPad K-12 Sales Outpace Mac Products
Ian Quillen, Education Week, 7/20/11


Wearable lab coat TV packs thousands of LEDs, heads for Burning Man
Zach Honig, Engaget, 7/13/11

(I'd like a job where I can do tech experiments, silly ones, too!)