BP17_2009113_Discussion Board_Virtual Worlds_Response

Retroactively posting Discussion Board entry to blog:

Week 3 - Discussion Board - Virtual Worlds

Van Manson wrote: 1.) – Field Trips: - a. The one area I truly like the thought of “Virtual Worlds” is in the realm of using them as a vessel to explore new and unreachable areas in the vain of a virtual field trip. Students of all ages are able to visit Europe, museums, islands, and any other destination imaginable all without leaving their seat in the classroom. That is truly awesome.

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

@Van - Taking a "field trip" through a virtual world - After visiting a location in a virtual world, what can I really say about the actual location it represents? I think about this whenever navigating through a virtual emulation of a real-world location. The broad strokes of structural objects and visual textures can be included, and sound effects can be added for ambiance in the setting. However, there is an extreme investment of time and effort needed to include realistic detail in a virtual world, and the limitations of the technology are that the virtual emulation will be an overview that barely approaches "real".

The successful field trip examples that I've seen in SecondLife have taken this inherent factor and used it to "represent" the location, without trying too hard to reproduce it. A university tour, showing the locations of all campus buildings, was useful because the dimensional relationships were practical usable information for the student to find their way in the real world. The details of the building materials or landscaping were non-critical to the information, so they were abstracted and minimized.

In contrast, a tour of Paris in SecondLife placed many of the distinctive historical sites unrealistically but conveniently close together, showing a menagerie of landmarks in a small area (surrounded, of course, by water). This seemed to me to be more of a showcase of the builder's skills in creating objects, and less of an accurate informational display about the featured area.

One virtual world aspect that I could appreciate is the sense of human-scale in relation to different 3D environments. Unfortunately, this is minimized by the tech needs of building within SecondLife as well as the user's ability to change the scale of their avatar.

Walking (virtually) past the digital Vietnam Memorial and realizing how far it extends, or walking (virtually) under the digital Arc de Triomph and realizing how tall it is in comparison to your human-sized avatar are valuable educational contexts provided by the dimensionality. To be able to perform the Tawaaf (circumambulation of the Ka'aba, walking around it seven times counter-clockwise) for a virtual Haaj in the SecondLife Islamic lands would be an important digital activity that most people could not do in real life. In contrast, the digital slave ship could not be made as small as its actual size - a significant aspect the virtual world was attempting to convey - because the standard avatars would not be able to enter it. Impressively large-scale real locations like Red Square in Moscow were truncated in size in their virtual representations, probably for practical navigation and rendering efficiency. And, the ability to be represented as a tiny fairy or a gigantic dragon takes the human-scale understanding out of the experience.

Being able to take on the native costumes and appropriate wardrobe of a virtual space - whether a different location on the globe, a different time in history, or a fantastic imaginary place - adds to the field trip visitor experience. Putting on a StarFleet uniform in the Star Trek Science Museum or wearing a virtual burka in the Islamic areas adds to the immersive effect.

In trying to reproduce details of a real-world site within the limitations of the technology, it is inevitable to have compromises of accuracy. Representing only key aspects of an area gives better communication of the VR intent. In the meantime, a virtual visitor can only experience the aspects of an emulated location that the builder has provided.


References: 
Discovery Education. (2008). Field Trip. [Clip art]. Copyright © 2000 Discovery.com, Inc. Originally published by Discovery.com, Inc. Clip art images Copyright © 1998 Mark A. Hicks. Originally published by Mark A. Hicks. Retrieved from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/fieldtrp.html
Discovery Education. (2008). Laptop Thinking. [Clip art]. Copyright © 2000 Discovery.com, Inc. Originally published by Discovery.com, Inc. Clip art images Copyright © 1998 Mark A. Hicks. Originally published by Mark A. Hicks. Retrieved from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/laptop3.html

BP16_2009113_BlogComment-KSReyes_diigo

Response to KSReyes posting a slideshare review of Diigo:

Social Bookmarking for Educators with Diigo

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Social Bookmarking for Educators with Diigo

View more presentations from jstearns.

POSTED BY KS REYES AT 1:36 PM

BP15_2009113_BlogComment-PicksArtTricks_Repper

Response to PicksArtTricks review of Repper.com:

BP#12_2009/11/3_Web2.0tool_Repper

Repper http://repper.studioludens.com/

http://repper.studioludens.com/patterns/pattern_28D739D4-9B45-9CC3-F938-FAFA8F0D686B.jpg

Repper is a most amazing tool. It will take and make a pattern out of any image that you place into it. My example photo is of my printed name, Lori L. Pickering. The Repper tool will take a square section of your image and repeat it, making a beautiful pattern.

You can manipulate the design by moving your placement square or you may change the pattern type. It is surprising how different the patterns are. The section square may be moved and the patterns will morph into stunning and amazing designs.

You may embed your pattern into your social profile background.

All designs can be used publically under the Creative Commons license for non-commercial use.

You can follow Repper on Twitter or subscribe on your blog feed. In ETC, this would be a cool way to create blog pictures. It almost has a “hidden picture” feeling to it, because you will be amazed to see what the image originally is. It feels and looks like those extreme close up photos and when the camera is pulled back you are surprised the see that pattern was created from someone’s face!

I do have more to explore in Repper, but I am already thinking of cool ways to use this tool in the art class. First off, the idea of teaching the art principle of Repetition with this tool is a perfect fit. From simple to complex images, my students could create brilliant patterns for printed book covers in bookmaking. For patterns used in graphic design or web design, Repper is also a perfect fit. The students’ as well as the teacher’s imagination will be captured by the beautiful designs.

I even thought that by using a black and white line image or a hand drawn design, the pattern could be printed out and use as a coloring sheet for color themes, warms and cools.

I will be using this tool in my own artwork, lesson plans and my web-work. It is really fantastic!

BP14_2009113_BlogComment-CMatthies_Mutapic

Response to CMatthies review of Mutapic.com:

BP_20091115_NewWeb2.0_tool_post

Mutapic.com is a web 2.0 tool for art students or graphic design students. This tools takes two images and will morph them together. The application then has various tools that allow for manipulation of the morphed design, giving numerious outcomes for the possible design.













How one could use this in the classroom would be as a tool for a lesson on Logo Design. Students could use the images, shapes, icons or symbols available on the application or they could import new images to work with for their design. This lesson could be organized as small group or individually developed projects.
The small group approach would promote collaborative learning concepts and citizenship in the classroom. This lesson would extend beyond just that of design development, but socialization skills and teamwork. Concepts traditionally thought to be fostered in athletics. This lesson would also use technology applications that would foster skills the 21st century learner needs to be productive in our future society.

 cmykrgb said...

Mutapic is a very descriptive name in that this tool Mutates Pictures! YIKES! I think this tool could be a fun way to generate a visual mash-up of combined images, and a good randomized concept generator that can trigger design ideas to explore further.

I can see Mutapic being used illustrate both similarities and differences in the source pictures, and start discussions about how the ways that images are combined can change the meaning and impact of the result.

November 15, 2009 8:26 PM

BP11_2009112_Web2.0Tools_kuler

Review Web 2.0 Tools: kuler

http://kuler.adobe.com/

Kuler is a dynamic color-theme generator. It uses structured methods of color relationships and/or intuitive methods of visually choosing colors from an image or spectrum color wheel. The visual color information is easy for anyone to access, and very intuitive to use without knowing any code or specifications. The technical color information is useful cross-media data for print designers and web developers, and works well as a conversion tool between formats. 

Main sections of the kuler website include Themes, Create: From a Color and Create: From an Image. 

The community features let you browse the color themes posted by others for creative inspiration or share your own color themes with a team. Tags posted by the color theme creators make them keyword searchable. Comments and star ratings are enabled, and the number of downloads is tracked so that the themes can be ranked by popularity. There is even a Community Pulse area that visually shows the popularity of all colors by how many times they have been included in a theme.

There are many benefits of this free color-palette-generating service in that it is cross-platform (Mac or PC), cross-media (print or web), and it offers both visual and technical information for design and production. Kuler functions are also built into the InDesign CS4 and Illustrator CS4 applications of the Adobe Creative Suite software. A drawback of kuler is the need for a separate Adobe I.D. registration to use online, as well as a Flikr account to upload images because the Color Extraction feature can only access images uploaded to Flikr. Color Extraction has difficulty with CMYK-mode images, and this feature does not support color management, so associated color profiles of uploaded images will be ignored.


kuler could be used in a classroom lesson for design inspiration, print or web color gamut specification, or understanding relational color theory.


Help and more information about Kuler is available at http://kuler.adobe.com/links/kuler_help.html

BP12_2009113_Web2.0Tools_pictaculous

Review Web 2.0 Tools: pictaculous

http://pictaculous.com/

As part of the Free For All series of posts on Creative Pro.com, Pariah Burke recently reviewed the color palette generator at Pictaculous.com, writing:

Generate Color Palettes from an Image

When I first saw this freebie, I nearly passed it by. It analyzes a photograph and generates a color palette file comprised of the colors complementary to those in the photo. "Eh," I thought. "Anyone can build a palette of colors in a few minutes with the Eyedropper tool and Color panel." In the interests of being thorough, however, I gave the Pictaculous palette generator a try, and it really surprised me with its utility.

I uploaded a photo of a pier at sunset, and within seconds Pictaculous returned a nice selection of five colors, along with related color suggestions from Kuler and ColourLovers. It then let me download a Photoshop .ACO swatch file. Try it yourself! (Burke)

So, I did try it myself. Pictaculous led me through kuler (reviewed here)  and on to ColourLover. While it seemed very simplistic, the connection from your own image to another person's themes was quick and easy with an immediate visual cue of the color groupings. The image could be directly uploaded without going through any other sites or using other tools, and the direct download of an Adobe Swatch File (in .aco format) took only a single click. The Share This Tool and Digg This buttons prompt the user to share this technology with others.

Thanks to Pariah Burke and CreativePro.com for posting these freebie creative tools.


References:
Burke, P. (2009, September 23). Free For All: Harvest These Freebies, CreativePro. Retrieved from http://www.creativepro.com/article/free-all-harvest-these-freebies

BP10_2009112_Flickr_lessons

Using Flickr in Educational settings


http://flickr.com/

In searching for classroom lessons related to Flickr.com, I found many good ideas for quickly and easily building slideshows of Flickr images based on key words, which could be used as an automated image backdrop for a lecture. While this is a simple way to build a rotating panel of images, it is risky because there would not be the opportunity to screen for incorrect tags or inappropriate images. This may cause a sudden and unexpected distraction from the presenter's flow to the audience, where the out-of-place image would disrupt rather than support the presentation. Also, this process relies on user tags being applied to images, which may not be available for some more esoteric or abstract keywords and topics.

If I was a teacher and if I had a classroom, I would try out some of the following lesson ideas using Flickr images:

• The obvious start is to have students create their own Flickr.com accounts, and upload their own images to share with their classmates and with the world!
• Another idea would be to have students search for posted Flickr images based on keyword topics from current study areas. Science and social studies may be easier to find images for, because there are many literal descriptive objects available to photograph. Math and philosophy topics may be more difficult to find images for, as the photographer would have to represent some kind of an association or analogy for these more abstract ideas.

I joined the group [One Letter] which has members post square photos that are single alphabet letters. These can be searched and sorted by character, and can be used as initials, as drop caps, and to build words in a ransom-note kind of style. There are several ways that this could be used in different academic areas:

• for photography, to take and post pictures of different letterforms to the One Letter group on Flickr.com, indicating the font if possible.
• for typography, identify the pictured typeface and determine its identifying features.
• for graphic design, compare photos of signage to photos of posters for text being used in a display context. Describe how the three-dimensional aspects add to the impact of the letterform as it is being used, as compared to a two-dimensional representation.
• for language arts, find an appropriate visual image to use as a title cap or chapter drop cap, so that the colors, style and context of the letter image contribute to the tone and feeling of the writing. Choose one best and worst example for each instance, pick letter that is a very good fit, and one that is not a good fit at all. Describe why the visual aspects of the letter image contribute to or detract from the written content.

http://www.typographykicksass.com/

This site uses the One Letter Flickr feed to dynamically build and visually represent typed messages. Users can submit a message that can be viewed privately and send it to an email address. If the message is tagged to be viewed by everyone, it is then added to the rotation of messages on display. This is an easy way to generate randomized letter-image phrases, but the messages are not screened so may be inappropriate for school or professional use.