Art House Co-op

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Art House Co-op is one of those projects/organizations/concepts that I wish I had thought of myself!!! (If you guys can think of ways we could improve on the model, I'd TOTALLY be interested in starting our own.) They started in Atlanta (yay!) but recently moved to New York, which makes me kind of sad. But their location is only a small part of their identity, though, because their projects are web-driven initiatives. Basically they come up with assignments and projects, and people anywhere can submit work. Then they create catalogs, exhibitions, online galleries, etc. to share that work. The assignments are quirky and fun, and they appear to have a LOT of participants. I think this is interesting to look at as an art/teaching (combined) practice. Seriously, wish I had thought of it.

I think I'm going to do the Sketchbook Project as a small way to keep my self accountable for making stuff once I finish school. :) AND look! They're interested in working with educators who want their students to participate. You could do that... or you could just use some of their projects as inspiration for your own lessons, etc.

Also, I'm loving their website. Great incorporation of images, illustrations, artwork. They seem a little focused on money/prices/payment (my one gripe), but still an intriguing concept. Please love this with me.

Kent and miguel are doing a great job!

First post

Going Low-Tech: MFA in Paper Maché

I have recently been obsessed with the art programs at Portland State University. They have a fascinating MFA in Social Practice, which they describe as "a program that encourages students to develop and utilize their artistic skills to engage in society." Here's the link to their blog. But it seems like some of the students there have felt a need to return to the roots of traditional, messy, hands-on, object-oriented artmaking and have started MFA in Paper Maché. I'm not sure if it's a class offered there or more of an independent collective, but check out their blog. It made me think of you guys and the feeling of missing artmaking while studying all this theory. Check out this post with their manifesto. To me, it sounds like they've approached object-based artmaking through a social practice of collective learning.

Is it too late to change my thesis? Can we start something like this here? Pretty please? :)

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Time for VIDEO!!!

Tonight in class we're talking about iMovie and learning about the next project assignment. I've collected some iMovie tutorials and online video resources here to help you.

General Video Resource

My favorite resource, Mashable, has this article: Video Toolbox: 150+ Online Video Tools and Resources.

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With sections on Live Video Communications, Online Video Editors, Online Video Converters, Video Sharing, Video Hosting, Video Organization and Management, Vidcasts and Vlogging, Video Mashups, Mobile video apps, Video Search, Online Video Downloading Services, and Miscellaneous Tools, there's lots of useful sites and links.

iMovie Tutorials

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The latest version of iMovie is iMovie09; this is the version on the school computers. But a lot of people like the older iMovie HD version better. I've tried to collect some resources for both.

From Apple:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie - iMovie 09
http://www.apple.com/support/ilife/tutorials/imovie/ - iMovieHD

From UTAustin:
http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/imovie08/ - iMovie08
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/graphics/imoviehd/ - iMovieHD
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/graphics/imovie/1create.html - iMovie (general?)

Manuals you can download:
http://communitystories.pbworks.com/f/iMovie+HD_tutorial.pdf - iMovieHD manual
http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/cio/file17748.pdf - iMovie09 manual

For more, just google "imovie 09 tutorial" or "imovie hd tutorial."

Download iMovie HD
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL319

Cooper-Hewitt: lesson plans!

I've heard GREAT things about the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's educator resources and lesson plans. Just thought I'd share in case you guys can use them for inspiration or resources! :)

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Directions to HPAC

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Don't forget that class is at the Hyde Park Art Center tomorrow tonight. I have to get there earlier in the afternoon to take some photos for my thesis, so I won't be able to meet you to go down there. So here are directions. Perhaps you can coordinate amongst yourselves to meet up and travel together?

Here's the Art Center's Getting Here page. You'll find good driving directions there if you plan to drive.

By Bus
This is probably easiest! The #6 Jackson Park Express bus has a stop in the loop right near campus at State and Monroe. CTA trip planner says there's a bus departing the State/Monroe stop at 5:27 pm, arriving at Cornell and E. Hyde Park at 5:53 pm. Here's the Google map/trip planner for this route.

Just a tip: when the bus gets off Lake Shore Drive, you'll soon go under some train tracks and then run parallel to them for a little while; then, just after the bus goes BACK UNDER the train tracks, that's your stop - Cornell. There's a BP gas station on the left, and just beyond that is the Art Center (brick building with the word ART painted real huge on the side).

By Metra
The Metra Electric Line is also fairly easy. You'd get on at the Millennium Station - the entrance is just outside the Cultural Center's steps (on the Randolph side). You go underground to get there (follow the signs). Board the train, and you pay a Metra guy that comes around once the train starts moving. There's a train that departs Millennium Station at 5:30 pm and arrives at the 51st/53rd Street (Hyde Park) stop at 5:44 pm. When you exit the station, turn right, and across the street you'll see the BP gas station... HPAC is just beyond that! Here's the Metra itinerary for this route.

Make your own movie with Xtranormal

I just learned about this site, Xtranormal, on another blog. You can make movies online - very simple. Could be cool to explore narrative with students. Scroll down to see their sample movie about Napoleon. :)

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Scary or cool?

Check out this CNN article, "Why Games Will Take Over Our Lives." I'm kind of scared about my life being fully plugged in and monitored by corporations. Calling it a game does not make it less creepy. What do you think? And, yeah yeah, Miguel, I still love Google. I guess my line in the sand falls somewhere between Google's tracking my internet activity and Proctor and Gamble tracking my toothbrushing. ;)

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And now, a self-serving post...

I could use your feedback on something for my thesis. See these two frames below? I'm making some frames with labels on the sides. I'm going to photograph teaching artists "in action" with these frames, the idea being that they have these shifting identities that frame how their work can be viewed.

SO HERE'S THE QUESTION: Which is more readable -- the text facing outward or inward (i.e., does it make more sense to have the upside-down label be on the top or bottom part of the frame)?? Pretty please comment with whether you think A or B is the more readable version. Thank you so much!!!

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PS - Check out Big Think!

Maybe everyone in the world already knows about this site except me, but just in case you haven't come across Big Think, you should check it out. They interview experts about all sorts of interesting and relevant (or random) questions and topics.

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What is art and what is not?

Here's a video from Big Think about what is art. I really like this guy's articulation of attentiveness as a core element.

School of the Future

While it may sound all cutting edge and high tech, the School of the Future is actually a rather grassroots project organized by teaching artists in New York. They are creating an alternative "school" in a public park this summer. Each curriculum developed for the school is an art project.

So, it doesn't necessarily tie in with the other kinds of technology resources we've been sharing on this blog and talking about in class, but the project reminds me of some of the work that Stockyard Institute does (which we'll be discussing in class tomorrow). I'm personally interested in it because of my thesis topic (teaching artists and the relationships between their teaching and art practices). In other words, it's an exciting project and good to know about even if it has nothing to do with Cyberped. Check it out! :)

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Mashable: the Social Media Guide

I guess I'm on a social media kick... I discovered Mashable when I was researching options for creating the Art Education departmental website last summer (what is now our Ning site). The LISTS pages have all sorts of resources and reviews of various sites and tools by category. It's worth browsing!

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Social Media: Fad or Revolution?

Our recent Techno Teach-in presentations have me thinking about social networking and social media. Did you know that social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the web? Learn this and other interesting facts in this video:

Inside the Mind of Google

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After some conversation in class last week about Google taking over the world (and how I'm going to convince Miguel of the amazingness of iGoogle and gmail if it's the last thing I do), I wanted to share a link to this CNBC Original I caught part of a few weeks ago: "Inside the Mind of Google." Check out the website for a fun quiz to test your Google IQ (question 3 is particularly funny).

The piece is long, but I'm embedding the Hulu video of it here... let's see if this works! :)

Free online software alternatives!

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Check out this blog post, " 7 Essential multimedia tools and their free alternatives," originally posted on a blog called 10,000 Words: Where Journalism and Technology Meet. There are some great resources listed that you might be able to use in a classroom if you don't have access to expensive software.

A few upcoming events...

I thought these upcoming events might be of interest to you:

First, through SAIC Career Services, a workshop on March 4 about promoting your work online through websites and social networking. You probably got an email about it, here's the blurb:

Website & Online Networking Workshop
March 4 (Thursday) 4:15 to 5:45 pm

Ryan Education Center Studio A in the Art Institute's Modern Wing

If you don't have a website, learn how to get online quickly and easily. If you do have one, learn how to make it more effective using web development tools.

Special Guest: Jesse Seay, Assistant Professor of Audio Arts and Acoustics at Columbia College and SAIC MFA alumna, will show how she has integrated her website into her art practice: http://www.jesseseay.com.

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Go here to RSVP for the workshop if you're interested! I know it's kinda jumping ahead by looking at website development (which we're doing later in the semester), but the social networking aspect could have a very timely connection to our first few Techno Teach-Ins on that subject.

Second, through AIC Teacher Programs, a program called "Teachers' Lounge - Lessons from the Studio" on Thursday, March 11. Here's the blurb on it:

What happens when educators expand the concept of the studio beyond that of a physical space where art is made to a broader experimental process of teaching and learning? The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) and the Art Institute of Chicago collaborate to explore how aspects of the studio experience such as investigation, experimentation, critique, and reflection translate to the classroom. What is effective studio teaching? How are teachers using this process to enhance student creativity and critical thinking skills? What can we learn about the creative process from examining artists’ studios?

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Check them out!

How To Add PowerPoint Presentations To Blogger

If you want to post your PowerPoint presentation to your blog, here's one way to do it. I've used Slideshare in the past, but other options exist too (anyone ever use Sribd?). Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

How To Add Power Point Presentations To Blogger

View more presentations from guest66ae43.

Who needs to leave the house to go to a museum?

An interesting article in the trib about Virtual Museums and their rising visitorship.

Chicago Tribune Article

Especially of note was the Museum of Online Museums site, maintained by a firm here in Chicago!

Mindmapping <--> Mindblowing

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If you're not familiar with mindmapping applications, check this one out at MindMeister. If you have John Ploof for thesis, you may see that he's a big fan of mindmapping (though he tends to do his with post-it notes). It's a great process for plotting out ideas and brainstorming, particularly at the beginning of a research process like a thesis! :) Just google mindmaps and you'll get a slew of different options.

This particular mindmap has an extra Cyberped bonus because it's a mindmap of online collaboration tools (and appears to be quite comprehensive!). Check it out for some other great categories of collaborative resources (file sharing, wikis, social networks, video conferencing, event scheduling, etc...).

Did you know we have a departmental Delicious list?

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I've been thinking (with great nostalgia) about your budding theses proposals and the process you are now beginning (and loving, no doubt) in Thesis I, and I wanted to share some resources that you might find helpful as you're brainstorming. This post is dedicated to the Delicious list that we've started for the department. It has a huge variety of bookmarks to potentially useful sites and studies, and they're tagged to help you sort through them. I'll be curious to see what you guys think of it. If you have any other sites that you think should be added, please share them here on the Ning!

RIP rss feed widget

Yeah, my wonder widget broke and died. And I decided that you guys probably wouldn't care if you had to click one extra time to see the class blogroll here on the actual blog instead of from within the Ning group. A short-lived experiment, oh well.

I fought the widget, and I won.

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I have been trying and trying to figure out how to make a widget for our Ning group that pulls the rss feeds of all your individual blogs (so you didn't have to, you know, click one more time to find the blogroll here on the class blog). I'm not sure it was really worth all the effort, but you can see what I came up with. It works like a collapsible outline, so click on your various blogs to see the posts below. It's kinda ugly, and pretty cumbersome, but it's the only widget creator I could get to work. I learned all about OPML files (something I'd never come across before) -- it's basically like a live outline or list of blog feeds. I used this site to turn my list of your blog feeds into a hosted OMPL file. Then I inserted the url it created for me into this widget creator. Once we all start posting more, if this thing doesn't work we can just get rid of it. But anyways, go play with the result of my many hours of labor (it really shouldn't have been so hard).

Skitch - So Sweet!

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If you find yourself taking screenshots a lot, this application is awesome. It is so easy and fast! It might come in handy for those of you who like posting pictures in your blogs. You just have to download the application at skitch.com and then open it whenever you want to take a screenshot or capture an image from another site. Then you can edit your shot, add various kinds of notations on it (arrows, circles, text, etc.), and upload the image. After a second, you can click on it to get the code to embed into your blog. I highly recommend!

Roll Call

Our blogroll is up with the links to your individual blogs that you submitted to the Ning site. I think we're still missing a couple, so please send me yours to add to the list. Also, if you change your blog URL, let me know so I can update our blogroll.

Please read each other's blogs and comment throughout the week. Don't forget to do two posts a week - one related to one of the assigned "readings" (i.e., websites or blogs listed for the week on the syllabus), and one of your own choosing. And of course feel free to post more often if you want! Happy blogging.

Now I will see if I can make a widget from scratch so your feeds all show up in one happy place in our Ning group (fingers crossed, this could crash and burn).

Welcome to Cyberpedagogy

Welcome to Cyberped!  For class, you all are asked to keep up a blog, so we (Ray and Meredith) will be doing one too.  We'll post on current trends, topics, issues, and events related to the course, as well as share some cool resources and websites for personal, educational, and professional use!  In general, Ray will post from the "Cyberped" name/account, and Meredith's posts will appear with her own name.  We'll read and comment on your posts each week, and we encourage you to comment on each other's blogs as well as ours!  Go team.