TDC DS106: What is Silence?

The Daily Create: DS106

Silence is...

Silence is not a stranger
Or an enemy to sound
But waits for our attention
Before letting thoughts abound
For there we see without our eyes
The constitution of our soul
For there we hear without our ears
The song of our heart's goal.

DS106 Assignment Bank: Moving Object with Vine

I admit, I completely overlooked the Assignment Bank for this week so I'm just now putting something together. I selected the assignment of creating a Video using Vine

I had heard of Vine before but didn't really know what it was. I thought I would give it a try and I'm hoping to gain experience with any web tool I can - especially something that I can utilize down the road in an eLearning setting. Vine is an online and mobile tool where users can capture video and create loops. These loops can be uploaded to Twitter, Facebook, or even just on Vine.co

My son has a toy Caterpillar Backhoe that he is always leaving around the house. I keep finding myself tripping over it or accidentally kicking it. When this happens I, first wait for the pain to go away or my anger to subside, then joke about kicking the cat or tripping over the cat. Get it? Trip over the CAT?! A lame joke, I know, but hey we're happy...

Here's my first Vine loop called: Runaway CAT

Reading Response: Post-Modernity and a New Ethos

For this week’s response to Lankshear and Knoebel I would like to first contribute to the discussion on the transition from modern to post-modernity in regards to new literacies. Then I will comment on “new ethos”.

A Transition, Not A Break

Lankshear and Knoebel help set the stage for defining ‘new’ in terms of literacies by helping us understand that the transition from modernity to post-modernity is exactly that – a transition (Lankshear & Knoebel, p. 52).  They define postmodernity as “a transcendence, in which elements of an earlier state of affairs are carried over and reshaped to become parts of new configurations.” I wanted to share an experience that highlights this concept in a different way.

A couple years ago I decided to put together a family tree, realizing I couldn’t keep straight who my great-great grandparents were. So I registered with an online genealogy website and got to work. I was able to quickly find who my grandfather’s grandparents were including their birthdates, deathdates, and other relevant information. What I did not expect to find were some links to other “social” information about my ancestors. It turns out that the local newspaper for my great-great grandfather, The Mahoning Dispatch, used to print the social happenings of the residents of the various towns in the county. Luckily for me, the Library of Congress has a program for archiving local newspapers and the Mahoning Dispatch was one of them. Here is an example of one of the pages: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028473/1921-09-09/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1900&index=5&rows=20&words=Burgoyne&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=Ohio&date2=1922&proxtext=burgoyne&y=11&x=8&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

As you can see, the paper includes updates family ice cream socials, out-of-town guest visits, and even newborn announcements. This was like the Facebook of the 1920s - People reading about the trivial events of everyday citizens. To get that kind of information, people needed to volunteer it to the newspaper editor and then subscribe to the paper to read the results.  That newspaper clipping is almost 100 years old yet a century ago people still had interest in that kind of social information. What is different between then and now is the technology! According to Lankshear and Knoeble, “ideas and practices evolve rather than become displaced.” I think the emphasis is placed on the evolution of practice and the introduction of technology fuels that evolution.

A New Ethos

I enjoyed the reading of the text pertaining to new ethos with examples of Web 2.0. The internet has evolved from being just an information source to being a collaborative tool – a forum if you will. Today, users are a primary source of data. The example of Wikipedia is illustrates that notion completely. I remember college professors during my undergraduate degree cringing at the mere mention of Wikipedia in a classroom setting.

I believe there is an inherent danger that comes with such a high level of collaboration and that is the danger of the truth getting lost. I recall the last presidential election and the amount of rhetoric that was passed over social media. Facts, quotes, everything you can think of was thrown out into the cloud often without a tie to primary sources. When people mold their opinions based on knowledge that is unfounded the truth becomes subject to the majority or the sways of society. I think it’s important to recognize all of the factors that come with new and emerging technologies and how they contribute both positively and negatively to new literacies.

Digital Critique: How To Develop The Best Employee Training Through E-Learning

Digital Critique:
European Commission: How to develop the best employee training through E-Learning

 

 

My focal theme for this course is corporate eLearning, a theme I've maintained throughout the various courses my Master's program. In my search of digital stories I've noticed a deluge of videos promoting eLearning companies and their solutions. I find this an interesting observation and a sign of the importance of eLearning within enterprise business. Afterall, in a capitalistic economy, a presence of supply is an indication of demand.

 

Amidst the many promotional ad I found this short video produced by the European Commission specifically for the Tourism industry. In fact, the YouTube channel where this is found is the Tourism Business Portal with the video originating in the United Kingdom. The description of the video is as follows:

 

Discover the main characteristics of e-learning as well as the advantages that this training provides to workers in the sector. You will also learn how to identify a quality e-learning course.

I chose to share and evaluate this video for a few reasons. First, the European Commission, an intergovernmental organization, is telling the story to a vast audience and I wanted to examine the effectiveness of the message. And second, I want to highlight which content is present and which what is potentially missing. To do this evaluation, I draw upon Jason Ohler's "Assessment Traits" with specific attention to story, content understanding, and presentation and performance:

Story

The title of the video is How to develop the best employee training through E-Learning but the story is not much of a how-to. Instead, the story promotes tells of the advantages for implementing eLearning curriculum and lays out some of the different pedagogical formats of eLearning. The story is told in a visual display, almost like an animated powerpoint presentation, and contains text and illustrations with music in the background.

The story being told is logical and informative but ultimately lacks an ethos that would make the story more meaningful to those watching. Because it looks like an animated powerpoint type of presentation without any narration or live images, its hard to make a personal connection to the message. Instead, it feels more like a video brochure/pamphlet of sorts.

Content Understanding

As for the content, the information presented is laid out very clearly and concisely. The graphics with text take the viewer on a logical course to understanding the importance of implementing eLearning within the company. There is also an outline of different eLearning formats that could be explored in more detail. The text was simple and did not bog down the viewer with too much reading. And the moving graphics guided the viewer to each point with good pacing so that the information came not too slowly and not too quickly.

The content was altogether easy to understand as there did not appear to be any outside distractions to take away from the message.

Presentation and Performance

Again, the video had the feel of an animated powerpoint. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily. The presentation was clean and organized with varying movements so that it wasn't always left to right. The background music added an interesting component but did not distract from the reading or graphics. The presentation was colorful and the text was large enough to read on the displace. For a short video, the message was laid out effectively and although it addressed the Tourism industry, the video could apply to any type of company contemplating an eLearning implementation. Certainly, the presentation had a professional look and feel which gave the content validity to the viewer.

What would I change?

Really, the only things I can find wrong with this digital story is the lack of potential. I pointed out earlier that it wasn't really a How-To. It was made for the Tourism industry but didn't feel like it was really tailored that area. I think a lot could have been done to make the story more compelling. It needed a human component, perhaps with video examples or testimonial. Not a lot research was done with an overall lack of statistics or empirical data. If I was a tourism executive, I would think that eLearning is a good idea from watching this video but I don't know if it would call me to action.

Digital Story Critique: The Importance of Roughhousing

Digital Critique:
The Importance of Roughhousing

My wife showed me this video and I had to share. It doesn't quite align with my focal them but it definitely hits home. As a father to two rambunctious young boys, I have enjoyed the time honored joy of roughhousing and hope to continue to do so. I roughhoused with my dad and I'm sure he roughhoused with his dad too. It seems as though many of my friends experienced the same thing growing up and, therefore, I assume everyone has roughhoused with their parents as kid. So if my assumptions are correct, why the need for a video promoting it?

"The Importance of Roughhousing" is a five minute video produced by the Youtube channel, The Art of Manliness. This particular channel contains a number of videos including topics such as How To Deal With A Patchy Beard, How To Develop A Manly Voice, and How To Smoke Brisket. It's a humorous video blog addressing...well...manly subjects. After seeing this video, I chose to critique it because 1) I thought it was well done and 2) because of the subject matter. The arguments made for roughhousing address several societal issues related to children today despite them being made in a humorous light-hearted video. The thing about comedy is that it sometimes permeates the truth.

I will evaluate the video on the following traits: research, media application, and originality - voice - creativity:

Research

This short video makes a compelling argument for how and why one should roughhouse with their kids. Although the video is generally humorous in nature, the points made by the presenter carry a more serious undertone. It's more than just a fun time for the kids; roughhousing contributes to the development of a child in multiple ways as laid out by the video presentation. As for research, however, I don't recall any specific citations for the studies referenced in the video. I hate to give this digital story low marks for research because of the lack of citation or sourcing because I find myself agreeing with many of the points made. It must be acknowledged though that much material on the internet comes without the proper research behind it - and this same material can mold people's opinions.

Media Application

The application of media to this digital story was completely appropriate and allowed the author to tell a story that was engaging and rich in content. What better way to illustrate roughhousing and all that goes with it than to compile video clips of examples and tutorials. The "how-to" instruction gave the video a professional feel and the editing allowed the story to be told seamlessly. Although, the video was professionally done, allowing the producer to incorporate both serious and humorous content.

Originality, Voice, Creativity

The Art of Manliness videos are fun to watch and touch a number of different types of topics. The star of each video is the same though he often takes on different personas. In this particular video, the voice is professional and instructive and takes a simple subject matter and makes it into something a little more serious. It's a fun and creative way discuss roughhousing in a manner that is not absurd yet not too uptight.

TDC: My Opening Line To My Latest Novel

Here is my contribution to today's Daily Create:

The only thing listening to my screams and my fists against the pine was the complete blackness that is found six feet below the earth's surface.

TDC: Pixar Story Spine

Here is a memoir for today's TDC using the famous Pixar Story Spine:

Once upon a time a mother had a two year old who had a lot of energy, a healthy curiosity, and a penchant for mischief.

Every day he ran, crawled, jumped, played and always looked for ways to get into things he shouldn't or find places he'd never been to before.

But, one day he learned how to climb...

Because of that he now had a desire to explore the world above him.

Because of that he searched for things to climb on in the house anywhere in the house from tables and chairs to sinks and countertops.

Because of that he discovered he could climb up the shelves in the pantry.

Until finally, he climbed up to the very top shelf of the pantry where he realized that he did not know how to climb down and was, therefore, stuck until someone could eventually come to his rescue.

And, ever since then he remembers to bring a chair or stool with him.