Online Multimedia Library from LEARN NC and UNC Chapel Hill for K-12 and higher

Learn N.C. has a wealth of on-line resources for educators, students, and parents. I particularly like the on-line multimedia library. Below are links to resources for the following topics, obtained through the "tag cloud" on the multimedia library site.

Here are the direct links:
4-H clubs Agra American Indians American Indian towns Angkor animals archaeology architecture artAsia Bali Bangkok beaches birds boat Buddhism Cambodia carvings children Colombia colonialcostumes deities demons drawings Ecuador Emerald Buddha Temple excavations families farming fishing flowers food forests geography girls grass Green 'N' Growing Hanoi Hanuman Hinduism history houses illustrations India Indonesia Jaipur Jodhpur John White Khmer kings labor
landforms landscapes maps markets men's work Mexico monkeys monuments mountains murals musicMysore national parks Nepal North Carolina Occaneechi paintings palaces performance RamaRamayana Ravana religion rice rivers rural life salt marshes sandstone Sita snakes Southeast Asiatechnology temples Thailand theaters tourism
transportation trees turkey Ubud urban life Utah Vietnam Vietnam War Virginia water women women's work

LEARN NC is led by a number of knowledgable staff and consultants.

The website is worth exploring for a while!

Take a wlook

FireFly Game for Microsoft Surface: Demo by Carbonated Games; A look at a Multi-touch from Next Window

Watch the video clip to see more about Firefly game that was developed by Carbonated Games to take advantage of Microsoft's multi-touch enabled Surface table computer system. The game is in demo form only.For more information, see the article from Gaming Today.

For those of you who need multi-touch before you can get your hands on the Surface, you might be interested in NextWindow's multi-touch display, recently demonstrated at an expo:



Here are links to touch-screen project prototypes I worked on for HCI and Ubicomp classes I took in 2007:
poetry picture share photo-globe explorer

Link to post: Reflecting about Interaction-Updated

If you are interested in interaction and technology, I've updated my "Reflecting about Interaction" posts on my TSHWI (Technology-Supported Human-world Interaction) blog. I've embedded a couple of video clips that show how body movements interact with music applications. One is an interactive music wall, and the other is a staircase that senses people's movements and plays music and sounds as they move.

You might also be interested in my latest post about Johnny Chung Lee and his Wii hacks. "I wish I could be Johnny Chung Lee for a Day!"

Mind Habits Update

I previously had a demo of one of the interactive games from MindHabits on this blog, but it no longer is available. The newer MindHabits on-line demo includes several games.

From the MindHabits website:

"Montreal-based MindHabits develops science-based videogames designed to help players reduce stress and build self-confidence. Founded on social intelligence research by Dr. Mark Baldwin at McGill University, these stress busting, confidence boosting games use simple, fun-to-play exercises that help players develop and maintain a more positive state of mind."

MindHabits allows you to adjust the faces that you see on the screen:

"Click the “Game Options” button and try moving the “neighbourhood” slider back and forth until you find a mix of faces that matches where you live as closely as possible."

Here is a screen shot of one of the MindHabits games:

The MindHabits games are evidenced-based:

Stephane D. Dandeneau, Mark W. Baldwin, Jodene R. Baccus, and Maya Sakellaropoulo, Jens C. Pruessner (2007), Cutting Stress Off at the Pass: Reducing Vigilance and Responsiveness to Social Threat by Manipulation of Attention (pdf) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2007, Vol. 93, No. 4, 651–666 American Psychological Association 0022-3514/07/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.93.4.651

Via Tech Psych: Accessible Learning through Entertainment and Recreation - Resources for free or low cost games and applications

The people at Simply Entertainment/ 7-128 Software, make "mainstream, family-friendly, computer games that are designed from the ground up to be accessible to gamers with a variety of special needs, including: blindness, low vision, color blindness, deafness, and motion impairment".

They recently added a free on-line service for people searching for free or low-cost accessible computer games suitable for learning or rehabilitative environments.

According to the website, the Accessible Learning through Entertainment and Recreation service provides the following useful information:

• Where to get those games, at low cost, or for free
• What to look for in selecting those games, quickly and with fewer costly mistakes
• How to apply those games to your learning objectives, without a lot of mystery
• Who to go to for free help

"This information will be updated over the course of 2008, especially the growing series of How To articles."

Another resource on the Simply Entertainment/1-129 Software website is a section dedicated to links to 25 highest-rated websites that focus on games that are accessible for people who are blind. Many of the linked websites offer free on-line games.

Thanks to John Bannick and his colleagues at 7-128!

Touch Screen Interaction and Usability in Public Spaces: Link

If you are interested in what is happening with interactive displays in public spaces, you can find a description of the technology used at the Ballantyne Village center in Charlotte, N.C., along with video clips and my critique, on the Technology Supported Human-World Interaction blog.

Its a great concept, but as you can see from the unedited video clips of my frustrating interactions with large touch screen displays, there is much more work to be done in this arena.