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November 21, 2005
cylender recordings: early 20th century music
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Check out "Ev'ry little bit" "Take me back to New York Town" dreamland. mockingbird and so many more!
Andrew B. Sterling and Harry von Tilzer, too
Posted by hag at 12:28 PM
November 17, 2005
P&P ECD notes
Dances from Pride & Prejudice
Notes, midi files, and directions for the 7 dances used in the 2005 Knightly P&P
Posted by hag at 11:24 AM
Flytop Pen
The Pen Gets a Whole Lot Mightier - New York Times
The toy is interesting, but what is also interesting is the way it integrates reading/writing/sound. The concept of silent and personal reading is, after all, fairly new. Are we seeing a return to a more oral/aural society? A different kind, though, one where memory/memorization is not key--the computer holds your memory...
the Fly Pentop Computer.
...
The Fly is so fat because it contains an AAA battery, a computer chip, a speaker and, mounted half an inch from the ballpoint tip, a tiny camera. For all of its educational, interactive tricks, the Fly pen requires special paper whose surface is imprinted with nearly invisible micro-dots. As you write, the pen always knows where it is on the page, thanks to those dot patterns and the camera that watches them go by.
...
incarnation, which is aimed at "tweens" (8 to 14 years old), no PC is required or desired; instead, you get crisp, instantaneous audio feedback from the pen's speaker.
STAGGERING possibilities await a pen that can read software right off the page as it moves, and the Fly package comes with a sparkling sampler. For example, as you tap countries on a world map, the pen pronounces their capitals or plays their national anthems. On a glossy, fold-out mini-poster of a disc jockey's setup, you can tap buttons to get music samples, or tap turntables to produce record-scratching sounds; then you can record your own compositions or compete, memory-game style, against other players. There's even a sheet of stickers that, when tapped, produce appropriate sound effects. (For my two elementary-schoolers, the belching mouth alone was good for 20 minutes of hilarity.)
The Fly also comes with something called Fly Open Paper: a sheaf of blank pages that permit a much more free-form range of creative activities. You indicate which program you want by writing its initials in a circle.
For example, in Notepad mode (draw an N in a circle), you can write up to three block-letter words at a time; the pen then reads back what you've written. In Scheduler (circled S), you can write "Tuesday 3:45 P.M. student council"; at the specified time, the pen will turn itself on and speak the appointment's name.
Then there's the Calculator (circled C), which is for nerds what "Pinocchio" is to wooden puppets. As you draw a set of calculator buttons, they come to life, speaking their own names when tapped and announcing the mathematical results ("one hundred sixty-nine, square root, equals thirteen").
Fly Tones (circled FT) is an unforgettable demonstration for both parents and children. You draw a piano keyboard, complete with black keys if you like - and then you can play it. You can even draw and operate buttons that change the instrument sound, adjust the tempo, record and play, and so on. Talk about brainstorming on a napkin!
These starter programs are stored in a white plastic cap on top of the pen. But the Fly can accommodate additional cartridges - sold separately, of course ($25 to $35 each).
Each comes with appropriate pads, sheaves or books of the specially printed paper. There are hits and misses among these add-ons (which include Spanish, math and spelling), but the good ones break some interesting new ground.
Fly Through Math, for example, is dedicated to multiplication and division. You write the digits of a math problem into the squares of the included graph paper. Like a watchful parent or teacher, the Fly's little voice-over elf comments immediately when, for example, you forget to carry the 1 or misplace a decimal point. This in-problem feedback is far more helpful than a computer program that just tells you that your final answer is wrong.
Then there's Fly Through Tests. From a Web site (flypentop.com), your sixth- through eighth-grader can download multiple-choice quizzes in PDF format that correspond to the chapters of specific popular published textbooks (math, science or social studies). You print them onto the blank paper that comes with this cartridge, and voilà: instant interactive tests, specific to the textbook you're using in class.
Fly isn't solely about academics. The original software cartridge includes games, jokes and even Easter eggs (secret features). You can also buy kits like Flyball (interactive baseball cards that let you manage a team), Fly Journal (a lockable diary with daily writing prompts) and Fly Friends (girlie activities pertaining to shopping, fashion and boys).
...goes on to describe some of the problems...
Posted by hag at 9:45 AM
November 10, 2005
The New Facebook Frenzy - News
Basic article about pros and cons of Facebook. I didn't realise you must use a .edu address to join.
Posted by hag at 6:25 PM
2 thoughts for the day
I. Sketchy Notes on Enduring Tropes (and pet peeves?) of adoption of emerging technologies:
1. recurring trope: confusing personal practice with general use -
"no one will want to x (read text on a computer screen, listen to a podcast, listen to music on a phone, etc.) so we shouldn't do it
[in this case "no one" = "I"]
2. (corollary of 1.?) recurring trope: culture clash
- assignment: put yourself out there on the blog!; consequence: get fired, get disciplined, get embarrassed 5 years later. It is the nature of the technology that only the things you don't want to lose are lost. When your understanding of appropriate and open conflicts with someone else's (and there is probably a correlation between a person's level of tolerance and their desire to object to other's actions) what happens?
3. people who use IT in education
"'THEY' don't understand the pedagogical value of emerging technology x. They think is is no different than technology y." (Well why the hell should they when you are using PowerPoint to demo it??)
4. "heard here first" or, Andy Warhol strikes again - notice how rapid pace of emerging technologies is paralleled by the positive frenzy to be the first to name the new. Google on podagogy.
5. online optimism and self-fulfilling prophecies: "he who says the most has the most to say"
5. and there was another one but 2 phone calls broke the train of thought and I've got to get back to preparing for class
II. Writing across the Disciplines/Curriculum/Community and podcasting:
for many, writing is hard, talking is easy. For understanding some things, sometimes reading is the better (faster?) vehicle, for others, audio. Will decisions related to which to use in a given educational setting be determined by the pedagogical value or by expediencey? (well duh) Will claims about which is "better" be made based on one or t'other? From scholarly books to articles to ??? (Also, books as a physical artefact are obviously not dead. But take fiction/fun-non-fiction and textbooks out of the mix? What's the health of what's left?) (Read any 17th century prose lately?)
Listening Across the Curriculum...
Posted by hag at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
November 8, 2005
18th century textile reproductions
Dur�n Textiles AB
Beautiful reproductions of 18th century textiles. Also check the bilder/pictures section. Some of the cottons will soon be carried by renaissancefabrics.net
Also see http://www.reproductionfabrics.com/
for some reproductions and "inspired by" fabrics.
Posted by hag at 9:06 AM
November 7, 2005
writing across the curriculum - wac - online journals
WAC and Writing Journals
From Colorado States WAC program
Posted by hag at 1:01 PM
ECD dance descriptions
List of Ball Dances
Descriptions of some familiar dances: click on dance name for specifics. No music.
Posted by hag at 9:49 AM
November 4, 2005
web 2.0
XML.com: Microformats and Web 2.0
Posted by hag at 4:19 PM
Google Print, current state
Official Google Blog: Preserving public domain books
Posted by hag at 11:44 AM
November 2, 2005
CTLDOC Wiki
Posted by hag at 9:46 AM