I found this write up in Wired, about Stephen G. Bucher’s Dailymonster, which includes a blog, a Flickr group, and now a book chock full of user participation. I find this blend of collaborative media very interesting, and can totally see it being used in other areas, especially education. Even though it combines print, it totally reminds me of an excellent “cross-platform” story telling presentation from Tejpaul Bhatia of Tej Media.
It’s a blot, it’s a blog, and now it’s a book. When Stefan G. Bucher transformed random inkblots into bug-eyed freaks and posted a new creation each day at dailymonster.com, visitors to the site began hallucinating — er, imagining — backstories for his drawings.
This iPhone band video brings electronica to a whole new level, which should make Brian Eno proud. Touch screen + mobile devices are obvious creative extensions for learning, art and music.
Just as the synthesizer did not push “real” instruments out of the picture, “iBand” instruments will find their place and compliment the scene, whether performing on stage. or mixing in an airport. Of course, I am sure neo-Kraftwerk artists like Danger and Daft Punk will have fun with the novelty for a little while.
Check out this Smash Magazine article on 10 Principles of Effective Web Design, which can really be applied to all aspects of design and especially eLearning. Here a few that I want to call out.
Highlights and thoughts
4. Strive for feature exposure – A colleague and I always (Jimmy B.) go back to conversation around the best ways of building form around function. What is your site and/or content’s objective? What do you want people to do? Is it obvious?
6. Strive for simplicity – Less is more” right, but do we actually apply it to our content? I would like to tie this back to principle #4. For the most part, every design element and object should align with the function. As mobile “just in time” content continues to become king, users only want what they need. Anything else is an obstacle or distraction.
Hey, is that Diigo?
So I just signed up for Diigo, a new way to annotate, highlight and bookmark any content on the web, (thanks Ed Tech), and while reading the article above, I started noticing the presence of Diigo notes with relevant and interesting perspectives. I am really excited about these types of tools and how they foster the “hive” collective intelligence that new web tools enable.
Thx to Epic-Fu, one of my favorite sources, for this one…
deletedimages.com – Where you can upload and share images that you would otherwise delete. I have to say I love this concept.
I share the same obscure photographic behavior of my grandfather, who would go to picnics and only take pictures of (up close) flower pedals and wood textures, instead of the ole’ fake smile family shots. Half photographer / half scientist, he was more interested in finding truth in the small and abstract details.
It is amazing what you can find when you lose the big picture and focus on things that you might otherwise overlook. People are loving deletedimages.com because it gives them a platform and permission to do so. Whether it be slightly blurred, accidentally cropped, or over/under-exposed, these images all have stories behind them. Don’t get me wrong, I totally see value in planned composition, and at the same time all things in life naturally have color, line and form, so an unplanned photo opens our eyes to an unintended perspective on the situation, which can be exactly what is needed sometimes.
<< For example, artists have been doing this for years. Check out the album cover for Washing Machine, Sonic Youth
I want to give a shout out to Seattle’s excellent 911 Media Arts Center, “a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting independent digital media artists in the creation and exhibition of their work.” As part of their mission, they provide “education, training and the dissemination of knowledge” through classes, workshops and web resources. Plus as an extra bonus, they are smack dab in the middle of the Seattle’s up and coming South Lake Union, which makes for a beautiful walk if you work downtown.
I am preparing for a business video shoot in Portland tomorrow, and they are hooking me up with extra audio goodies (mics, mixer). Special thanks to Jon Schwartz and Steve Vroom for their help. If you are like me and video is continually becoming a popular element in your training or other needs, resources like 911 Media are great places for knowledge transfer, as well as affordable, quality equipment to rent, which can be too expensive to buy.
Posted by badsquare 
Posted by badsquare 
Posted by badsquare 
