Virtual CSI

I know people have blogged about CSI and how the show used SL to solve a crime. On this weeks episode they mentioned that if you went to CBS.com you could join CSI:Second Life. When I went onto the CBS home page they had a "virtual" character of the show and a sign for CSI in Second Life. There was a video that said you can be "on the show and solve crimes in the virtual lab". The only problem is, that it said if you already had an account to click on the link below. When I did the link brought me to the SL homepage. I logged in but couldn't seem to find the page for CSI. Has anyone tried CSI:Second Life? If so how did you get there?

Also if anyone has The Movies...I can't seem to figure out how to make my own videos. I have built hte sey and created characters but they have been making the movies for me.

If you have any info on either I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Late Night Conversions

Hi Folks! If anyone is still having trouble converting/downloading videos from the internet try doing it late at night. The other day I thought I had downloaded a video when it appeared on my desktop, but when I went to import it into iMovie it wouldn't accept it. Michele suggested I try downloading again because sometimes glitches occur preventing a successful download. I tried again the following evening but kept running into different problems. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 1:00 a.m. I tried again, thinking the server might be less busy, and everything went smoothly. It might be a coincidence, but it sort of makes sense, too. Good luck with your work. See you on Saturday!

Editing Sound

Hi everybody! Christine and I found great sound clips for our movie from the suggestions on the blog...thanks for your help! We were wondering if anyone knew how to edit the clips to minimize the time they run for. We are finding the clips are are a little too long for the images. Any advice would be great. Thanks!

question about the final project

I was just wondering how long is everyone's final project going to be (roughly)?

Virtual Hills

Well I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I watch the Hills on MTV. Every week I see the commercials, that tell you to create your own avatar and join the game. So, I decided to muck around with it today. It caught my interest a little more than SL. I found it easier to teleport. They start you off with $1,000, and the clothes are very pricey, just like if you were living in LA . You can either follow clues to get more money, or use a credit card. Which I thought was crazy! 1$us = 150 MTV's I can just see teenagers asking their parents to use their credit cards.
To record on here all you have to do is hit ctrl+shift+g. It was easy enough for me to figure it out, I just have to figure out where to find it now! Anyway, for any of you who secretly watch MTV it is worth checking out. I definitely saw more people on here than on SL. Here is the site: Good luck!
http://www.vmtv.com/

Movie Maker and Different Songs

Hi,
Does anyone know how to add different songs in Movie Maker to the same video? We have one song on our video right now, but wanted to know if there was a way to add different songs to the same video? Do I also have to try and add different clips, or can we take a whole song and shorten it some how? Any help is appreciated!!
Thanks

Couldn't parse it

Hello everyone! I was wondering if someone can help me with the following: I downloaded a video from YouTube and converted it using vixy.net. When I went to drag the downloaded video into iMovie I got an error message saying 'the file could not be imported because "Quick Time couldn't parse it: 2048" What the heck does that mean? And how can I get around it?

Adding Sound

Hi everybody! Christine and I are continuing with our project and were looking for some ideas on how to add short segments from songs and sound clips/effects to remix into our video (we are making it on iMovie). We already got one song off of iTunes, but were looking to just get clips from songs and effects. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to get these? We heard about the program Garage Band and were going to start there. Any other advice would be great! Thanks!

very cool machine/reflection of culture

take a look at this video i just found while poking around www.futureofthebook.org/blog



Bit.Fall - MyVideo

Another Second Life TV siting

While watching one of my favorite sitcoms, The Office, one of the characters has signed up for a second life account. The character, Dwight, in second life was flying around and set up his own company (Second Second Life).

Review of CSI:NY and cbs.com

I watched the episode of CSI:NY last night and I thought it was really interesting how they tracked down suspects using Second Life. I never realized how popular this SL really was until now. I would really like to know how the detective had such an easy time controlling his avatar when this was the first time he ever used the program. He wasn't walking into any walls. Thats TV for you. LOL!

Did anyone have a chance to go to cbs.com and solve the case? I was going to do it last night but it was way too late by the time the show ended. Maybe I will try it out today.

For anybody who did not watch, you can go to cbs.com and help solve this particular case using Second Life.
http://alpha.cbs.com/primetime/csi_ny/second_life/

virtual worlds conference in london

another article from the WIRED online magazine that posted an article link from today: X|Media|Lab London "Virtual Worlds" In Partnership with Virtual Worlds Forum Europe

if anybody wants to go beyond the class with their "digital media initiative", here's a virtual worlds forum to get together with other innovators for possible commercial applications and more:

hot link

oops! forgot to add my new blogging avatar "beagle boss"!

You Can't Believe Everything You Read!

After doing some more reading about the New Literacies, I came across a great article entitled The New Literacies written by Zach Miners and Angela Pascopella. The article focused on the importance of ensuring that students are taking the time to read critically and evaluate materials when reading online. They spoke about studies that taught students about point of view and about closely examining information in the Internet. They used the following spoof sites:
www.zapatopi.net/treeoctopus
www.license.shorturl.com
www.malepregnancy.com
www.rythospital.com
www.ovaprima.org
All of these sites are quite interesting for adults and some are great to use with students. I used three of them to teach about knowing truth from fiction on the Internet. The kids loved it-and it taught them that you can't always believe everything you read.

Just a Friendly Reminder!

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to remind you that CSI:NY is on tonight at 10 and it will be the episode featuring Second Life!! Enjoy!

First post

Hi! Everybody

Here is my firt post on blog. I'm here with our classmate Innes. She was very heplful to show me many things about the fraps and movie maker. I was very nervous about this whole thing. I'll continuing mucking around.

The Movies - Take Two (Edited)

Okay, after playing with the SIMS for a bit and finding myself bored, I chose to buy The Movies, which is another simulation software but infinitely more entertaining. But for some reason after I installed the software onto my PC it would not load with the original disc. I tried uninstalling and installing it several times to no avail. I managed to be able to install it onto my laptop and open it up though. I have been mucking with it for the past week or so but can't seem to access the advanced movie making menu the manual tells me about. I am thinking maybe my package was corrupted somehow and am going to exchange it this week at BestBuy because I think I could actually use some screen captures from this for my movie. I am wondering though if anyone else has used this software and had similar experiences to help me troubleshoot before I exchange it.

Thanks.

Here's the edit.....Thanks to Michele for the info re: advanced scripting in The Movies. Tonight I reached that level. Woohoo!!!!

Another cool Manga article from WIRED mag:

READ THIS!

Manga America

This month's wired magazine features this amazing manga comic of the history of the medium itself. I highly recommend reading it. You can download the pdf from the below link. Print it out if you can - makes reading it a bit easier and you can really get a good look at the graphics that way. Don't forget to start at the last page and read backwards!
Download Here

One thing I found cool from this is that they claim Disney characters were a major influence on the stories and art style of Osami Tezuka, the so-called "God Of Manga."

What do you guys think?

SIMS on Court TV

I stayed home sick today and I was watching one of those court shows on television. One of the cases involved a thirteen year old boy who threw a mudball at his friend and accidentally hit the neighbors truck causing damage. The boy created an animated reinactment of the incident. They did not say what program he used but it looked like the SIMS. He created the scene showing how and where he threw the mudball. It demonstrated how his friend ducked as he threw it and instead hit the truck. The boy was trying to prove that he did not do this malicously. The judge was so impressed and so was I. I thought that this was a great idea on the boys part. This was jus another way to show how this type of animation could be used in today's world.

Webkinz

I know that someone had mentioned webkinz on the blog a while ago, but spent this weekend talking to a fifth grader about them. I found it extremely interesting that she spends at least an hour a day on this website. She told me that she now has 13 webkinz, and that on the site there are ways for the animals to work, shop, and play. I was so interested in the way that she was into this game, that I am borrowing her this week to see her in action on this game. I am very curious to see how much I can learn from her! I will take notes and share with anyone who wants to know more!!! As a teacher, I feel that it is important for use to stay up to date on what our students are interested in. For those of you who do not know anything about webkinz, here is the site. It is really cool to see all of the safeguards that they have set for children. Parents have access into their child's account. Ok. here is the link!
http://www.webkinz.com/SWF/TOUR/siteTour.html

Alice.Org trial

Okay...I hope this works...I finally opened up a YouTube account because I could not upload this project through the blogger...I created a little animated scene...It took me over an hour to create this and its only a few seconds...It is very time consuming because you have to create every function of the objects in the world template you choose...I would not consider doing my final transmedia project on this program but it was interesting to explore and it could be great for students to use in school for projects...Explore it yourself and see what you think...

Interesting "Second Life -Like" Links

Hello Everyone!

I found a couple of interesting sites for the younger set that I thought might be worth sharing:

www.kaneva.com
www.whyville.com

Both sites allow kids to create avatars and interact with others in a virutal world---kaneva seems to appeal to a more middle school crowd because it allows users to design their own "rooms," while whyville seems to be more for the upper elementary set. In whyville, users gain points for recuiting others to the site which then allows them access to different areas in the site. I was basically just able to stay in the "beach" area with my pass for the day. However, I was easily able to enter both sites after entering some basic information which was sort of unnerving because it made wonder if the other avatars I was encountering were actually children or adults. I wasn't able to figure out how to interact with anyone, but they were both pretty interesting sites to check out. Have fun!

Fanfiction

Thought all you Harry Potter fans
might enjoy this article that was in
Sunday's Star Ledger.

Google Earth machinima

Just when you all thought your mucking around period was drawing to a close, just thought I'd remind you of the potential of Google Earth for making short machinima...

Similarly to how you accessed Second Life, you’ll need to register and download the client software at: http://earth.google.com

You’ll find a tutorial on making movies with Google Earth here (as a side note, . You'll be using the free version of Google Earth rather than the Pro version described in this tutorial. So, instead of using the inbuilt google Earth Pro video recording functions, you'll need to use Fraps etc. instead to record your Google Earth movie clips, and then splice them together in your editor.

Some of the movies made by participants in workshops I've run using Google Earth movie-making include one very moving film of one woman's family's escape from a wartorn torn country and their travels as refugees around the world until finally settling in Canada. Other movies have explored favourite haunts of childhood (e.g., all the cricket grounds played on in one's hometown), or have remixed still and moving images to tell a funny story or retell an engaging children's story. I've also seen google Earth clips included in other movies as a small segment etc. (especially in music videos). So, muck around with Google Earth and see what you think (oh, nd don't forget to play with the viewing controls in the top right-hand corner of your client screen, either).

Who is fanfiction?

After reading chapter 4 and then exploring some fanfiction sites I began to wonder who is fanfiction? Before cable television and reruns it may have been easier to distinguish who the fans of Dallas where versus the fans of the O.C. but now anyone could have seen just about any of the tv shows listed (I realize fanfiction is about more than tv shows but it was what first got me thinking about the face behind the writing). What motivates a fan to write? What demographic writes the most?

quick video

still having trouble directly uploading videos to this blog, not sure why...

i quickly worked up another music video based on stills and clips from a recent school fundraiser event held at an apple orchard.

using video clips makes the work go faster! when you use only stills, you have to use more, and manipulate them in creative ways to keep the flow and interest going. using clips, the flow is provided for you.



since i couldn't upload to blogger directly, i chose to upload to photobucket. unlike youtube, i can set the access to "private" for my albums and videos. i didn't want total public access since there are images of kids in the video. after seeing the upload, though, i can't imagine actually being able to identify anyone from the video, since the quality is so poor (used quicktime). :-(

EDIT: I just switched video format to window media because quality was soooo much better!

anyway, a quick video--took about 3 hours to put together. my boss LOVED it!

GRRRRR.....total frustration at stupid mistake

UGH! Yesterday I go onto youtube and see in the header there a link to a machinima video. Click on it and see that it originated from a website so I follow the link there. It is from a series out of Hollywood made in machinima about a catastrophe attacking and this man thinking he is the only man left alive. I thought it was awesome and wanted to watch the whole series, there are about forty-one 15 minute episodes, but I forgot the name and the url and it isn't saved in my pc. I just spent an hour searching youtube, google, and machinima with every imaginable keyword and nothing. Lesson learned: always take notes of everything no matter how inconsequential, you may never know when you need it. If anyone has any idea what this series is please let me know. Each episode starts with the lead character saying, "My name is....." If I could remember his name I would probably be able to find it that way.

On another subject: Left a comment for those interested in SIMS vs. The Movies on The Movies posting from a week or two ago.

Tune in to CSI:NY on Oct. 24th!

This Wednesday on CSI:NY the show will begin with a dead woman dressed like an avatar-but will then move into the virtual world Second Life, where they are going to re-create New York City. The executive producer, Anthony E. Zuiker has stated, "Wednesday night's avatar-murder case will continue on the Web through February, then jump back to TV just in time for sweeps-not that the tech-unsavvy will miss anything." It is amazing to see how popular this virtual world has become! If your around, I would definitely check it out!

Teacher Video

Hey everyone-
I was just "mucking" around in youtube and I found some videos about teachers. I am typing the URL for one of them...not sure how to put a link but I will try. If not look up the guy, Taylor Mali, he's good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU
Did it work?
Lauren

Remix #3- photoshopping

After reading chapter 4, I started to realize how many of my favorite shows use photoshopping as a tool for comedy. The show that stuck out the most was The Colbert Report. I had never noticed the use of these techniques on the show before. If anyone watches that or the daily show, keep your eye open for these literacy remixes.

Let the Creator Beware!

When chatting with Michele I mentioned some copyright issues that I was facing and she asked that I relay them to you. So, the following is an excerpt from my journal regarding same:

"I read a lot about copyright and found out that basically all Fanfic violates copyright laws. Scary! So, I got to work to see how all this applied to me and my project.After much searching I finally found what I needed to know about copyright restrictions and the specific guidelines I needed to apply to my “FAIR USE” video specifically regarding portion limitations."

This is the web site you should visit to explore items pertaining to this issue.:
Sanford Copyright

Sorry to squelch all your creative juices but we don't want the copyright policeman down on us!

How are you all doing regarding this issue?

P.S. Michele I did it! I followed your HTML lesson and created a direct link.

Have read the article "Enter Here: Personal Narrative and Digital Storytelling" and want to say that this short little article shows an example of how to masterfully weave what we are learning of New Literacies into the classroom setting. I enjoyed it and can see how it can be remixed to be used in various settings. I suggest you don't miss this one! It puts all this into perspective.

digital remix with a purpose

my husband alerted me to this article in the ny times the other day:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/us/15net.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(link only viable for a week or so)

apparently militant islamic messages are being digitally remixed into flashy music videos for training and/or recruiting purposes.

Suprisingly...A Fanfiction Fan

I finished reading Ch4 and decided to give fanfic a try. I checked out fanfiction.net for the first time and I must admit…I liked it! I also checked out fictionalley.org and even godawful.net. I am not a big TV fan but I do love Law & Order. There were tons of stories related to the show. How cool! I am not one to really write my own stories and post them I thought it would be great for my students. I teach 8th grade English and fanfic would really allow them to express their creativity. Has anyone had their students post onto fanfic? How did it go? I assume some parents might not approve?

Book Recomendation

I just started reading one of the books from Michele's rec list: Everything Bad Is Good For You by Steven Johnson.
I've only read the first chapter and I would highly recommend it. He really makes some interesting points about educational value in video games. Check it out if you can.

Fictional Blog

Hi everyone,
Bailey and I are working on creating a fictional blog for the second part of our project and have some questions. Does anyone know if people viewing the blog are able to see our email address? Also does anyone have any suggestions as to how make the blog as anonymous as possible.
Thank you for your help,
Christine & Bailey

New Website

Thought this might be interesting to some of y'all.
Check out this article about a new website that will be streaming live video of the everyday lives of participants. No editing...just raw...potentially very boring...daily footage. What do you guys think of this use of technology?
ARTICLE LINK

Toyota Tundra Commercial

While writing my previous post, this commercial came on TV. So I youtubed it and here it is....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeTAppWqWbQ&mode=related&search=

windows movie maker in other classes

For another MSU grad course, my group had to create a sample "news program" for a 3rd-4th grade kindergarten class and incorporate technology into it. So, while everyone else just did a power point and acted theres out, I suggested to my group to create ours in wmm. Since i've been mucking around with it for 2 months it was quiet easy to put together a newscast. We just recorded ourselves, got some pics and videos online and put them all together. We presented it last week and our professor loved it and it stood out. Also, it would be really easy and fun assignment for elementary students to create. So, i recommend using the technology we learn in this class in others.

Machinima Awards

Hello everyone! I just spent some time looking through the winners of the 2007 Machinima Awards and found some really incredible works of art. I truly enjoyed "Snow Witch" and thought that the images were really beautiful, while the narrator's tone was haunting. In viewing some other machinima, I was reminded of the discussions we had earlier in class about how machinima is democratizing access to the tools needed to create movies, and distribution of this new art form. Although we already watched parts of it in class, "Machinima! with Officer Dan" provided a great summary of the evolution of machinima from Quake Films to now. It is amazing that this chapter in film-making is barely a decade old! Even though I am truly an "outsider" when it comes to the world of gaming (Super Mario Brothers is about the extent of my knowledge), machinima has sparked my interest in finding out more about the gaming world so that I can have a better appreciation for the work that is being done by machinima artists today.

Personal Narrative & Digital Storytelling

I just finished the article titled "Enter Here: Personal Narrative and Digital Storytelling" and, as a teacher in an urban district, I found it amazing and also slightly idealistic. I would love to allow my students to create a similar project. They need to have more pride in where they have been and where they plan to go. However, like the school mentioned in the article, technology is not one of our strong points. We share laptops that are rarely useful. This article is enlightening because it shows that amazing and creative things can be done despite socio economic status and location. I loved it!
I started Ch 4 the other day and I am going to finish it tonight after Kelly's blog. Fanfiction, etc. has always intimidated me probably due to my lack of knowledge. Hopefully this chapter will help and maybe I can use it to bring more technology into my classroom and lessons.

Flickr.com

I had read in Chapter 3 about Flickr.com. I just went on the site and really liked it. I teach Kindergarten so I am constantly going to google images to find pictures to put next to text in the classroom for my students whom are emergent readers. Flickr is a great resource for this as well. It is really cool because the images are very different. There are photographs, hand drawn artwork etc.. It is also very interesting because you can see how other people respond to and interpret the various pictures that are displayed.

Importing own video clips to iMovie

I have gone to iMovie Help, but it hasn't helped. I am trying to import video clips from a camcorder into iMovie but it keeps saying there is no camera connected. I have checked the instructions a dozen times: I am plugged into the right port, I have clicked on "camera" and "play", I have clicked import, I have unplugged and replugged. Does anyone have any idea why iMovie doesn't detect the camera or if I can approach this in a different way?

For your viewing pleasure

This year's European Machinima awards have just been announced. I know some of you are having trouble coming up with a storyline and watching awhole bunch of excellent-quality machinima might help. My advice for you storyline is not to be too ambitious in what you want to tell. You could also create just the first episode in an as-yet-unrealized series, too (see Machinima Island for ideas here). Speaking of Machinima Island, the developers are crowd-sourcing plotlines and calling for suggestions from you here. This might be another way to get your storylines flowing.



Interestingly enough, Hugh Hancock and John Ingram have just published, Machinima for Dummies and strongly recommend beginning with an actual storyline script for machinima (and other) movie making after you've spent some time mucking around with resources, so perhaps this might be the next for some of you.

NEA-"Educators Got Game"

I have to be honest, I have always heard a lot of negatives about children playing video games or computer games. Actually pretty much all negatives. It was pretty interesting to find that on the cover of the October issue of NEA Today they had an article called "Educators Got Game". It was refreshing to read how educators are using video and computer games in their classroom and how their students are learning from them. Its a quick and easy read if anyone is interested and I felt as though it really applied to this class and why we are learning to use these programs. Enjoy!

http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0710/trythis.html

I'm a fan of fanfiction!!

After reading Chapter 4: New Literacies as Remix, the section on Fanfiction really captured my attention. As I read through the examples provided in the text and learned about the different types of fanfiction, I was interested in visiting the site, fanfiction.net, just out of curiosity. Well, let me tell you, what I thought was going to be a few minutes of exploration turned into two hours!!! When I first entered the site, I was able to select from a few categories, movies, tv shows, comics, games, etc. I decided to view the tv show category and was I was searching for a tv show that I am a loyal fan of considering it is important to know all the characters and the story line to fully understand the fanfic writing. As I scrolled through the GIGANTIC list, I was soooo excited to find "Days of Our Lives." I am a huge fan (which is sad, considering what this show has come to) but I do watch it almost every day. Well I decided to read the most recent story. It consisted of eight chapters and I truly enjoyed it! It was amazing how they took the story line and created a story of their own using dialogue that matched the characters perfectly. After I read that one, I had to read several more and ended up with a headache from the computer, but it was worth it! =) Honestly, if you have a favorite tv show or movie I do recommend that you visit this site on your free time!

In re: To JackieK's comment

I have also started the double journal entry and appear to be doing it the same way as Jackie but would also find it helpful for an example if at all possible! Thanks!

Double-Entry Journal Question

I started doing my double-entry journal on all of the programs I have researched and played around in. I have been giving step by step instructions on the things I have been doing and trying to give a reflection about each one with regard to resources and readings. I think I am on the right track but an example would really help. Michelle, Is it possible that you could post an example on the blogger or on blackboard that we could just refer to? (Even if it is just a page). It would really help to see one in order to make sure I am on board and I am sure other people in class would find it helpful. THANKS!!!!

While on blackboard I saw an item that caught my attention under the services section.
It was entitled "Copyright and the TEACH Act." I thought I would explore it and found the link did not connect so I went directly to ALA and found this link: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=academic&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=49656#newc
It deals with distance ed. and copyright and though confusing was very interesting and hits upon some issue which we all should be aware of.

The Movies

Well, I have tried messing around on Second Life and found myself unable to drive and staring at concrete quite a bit every time I tried to land after flying. I will not give up and I will learn to drive if it kills my character. On the other hand, after speaking to Dr. Knobel, I purchased a game called "The Movies" at Besy Buy for $20. Basically you can create your own sets, actors, movies, etc. I played around with the tutorial at this point. I feel like I am so far behind so I'm trying not to freak out! I will let you know more about the program as I learn about it myself. Wish Me Luck!

P.S. Has anyone used this before?

Alice.Org

I downloaded Alice just to muck around. It teaches you to create an evironment using animation. I went through a few of the tutorials and decided to make a little 3D story of my own. I was able to put a little something together but I felt it was very time consuming to start from scratch. My story is very amature but I'm happy I explored it. However, I am having difficulty posting it to the blog. Any suggestions? Has anyone else explored this program? If so, What did you think of it?

Digital Remix

After reading the article Colin and Michelle wrote online about Digital Remix (http://geocities.com/lanbeltalks/remix.pdf) , I have been thinking about how much digital remix applies to my life experiences. I never thought about things like photoshop or commercials as remixes. Also, it's interesting to think that everytime someone reads a book, or views a website, that experience is a remix because people experience things differently and will look at both with new and differnt eyes than the last.
Hybridization of the remixes represents so much creative and interpretive capability. If students are able to combine video game characters with digital storytelling, it demonstrates an ability to connect characters with representative music, and take literal and factual comprehension so far by connecting characters and plot with music, images, etc. There is so much potential for incorporating this into the classroom and using remixes as lesson extensions and creative options for students. I hope that I am able to transfer even a small amount of the things I am learning about effectively and appropriately into my lessons.

Try This (Converting YouTube Videos)

These are the steps I followed to copy videos from YouTube: Go to vixy.net, cut/paste the URL from the YouTube video you want to download to vixy. Choose the type of conversion you require (AVI for Windows, MOV for Mac, etc.), click Start. The video will download, then you can drag it to your movie editor. Good Luck!

I Did IT!

I kept trying to download youtube videos using vixy net and finally was successful with one of the videos. It seems to be working only on certain videos. Theresa-try a different video, see if that helps. Woo-hoo!! :)

You Tube Videos

I can feel Lauren's pain. I have been trying over and over again to convert you tube videos. I tried keepvid, and I downloaded the converter but the videos are not opening. I also tried vixy.net and I was only able to here the audio piece of it. What am I doing wrong?? I have been at this for about a week now!!! HELP!?!?!

new music video

here it is--using stills and video clips all taken by us. fun to do, but still no real content, message, or script. the next one will focus on telling a story, i promise!



paris 1900 is also done! d2 finished it and we'll upload it later today, hopefully

downloading youtube videos

I attempted to download a video today and ran across a dilema. I got it from youtube, to keepvid and onto my desktop without a problem. Then I had to download a converter from the internet. I did that but when I tried to access it on my desktop it kept telling me I needed another update/download which I agreed to. It told me the download would take 55 minutes. That seems crazy. Anyway, my point here is that I am a little nervous about downloading all the this stuff onto my computer. My computer has noticably slowed down after downloading Second LIfe and I am afraid to download anything else. But...I need to pass the class :) Anyone else having this dilema? Suggestions?

free-culture

ok...just read the free-culture ch 4 and 5. it is so hard to read on a computer....need it in my hands...ok i digress. is what we are doig considered a form of piracy? taking images from the internet. is it ok, because it is part of the public domain?
I think there are very fine lines that get crossed very easily.
also, did anyone hear of the flicker case with the girl. a company took her image..and used it in their ad. is that piracy?
has anyone heard how it endedup. It was on CNN about 2 weeks ago.
:)

my video embedded on someone's webpage!

anybody have good french? my little video "Paris 1900" has been embedded on a web page! check it out here:link

what does it say???

warcraft world

http://www.apple.com/games/trailers/worldofwarcraft/trailer480.html

this is the trailer for the game....its short but cool

playing around in world of warcraft

I was mucking around in SL for awhile and it became a bit boring for me...i guess i'm so use to videogames that if im in a virtual world i need to be fighting something or trying to work to complete a mission. I started up an account on World of Warcraft and its going pretty well. You can do a free 10-day trial which is available on the website. worldofwarcraft.com
give it a try if you are more into video games and less into sims and SL.

an update on my video: it's coming along slowly, the process of recording via fraps is not that easy. I do not know if its my computer or what but it says to push f6 to record...sometimes it does and sometimes it does not. So, im still working out the bugs....if anyone is good at this please give me some tips!!!

Will

SL Article Link on MSU Front Page

Here is a link to the article from the front page of MSU's website about the increase of bullying in SL educational settings which includes a quote from an MSU professor. I think I will need to check out some of these education settings in SL. (And no, I am not related to the reporter Elizabeth Weiss McGolerick.)

technical glitches

i am trying to NOT freak out--my latest video seems trapped inside my computer and the editing software will not let it out!

I finished another music video Tuesday night, again with daughter2's collaboration. i was very pleased with the way the video clips and stills worked together throughout the piece. You guys may never get to see this one, though, unless i can figure out how to get it to open. I may try reinstalling the software on the weekend... Gosh, if you only knew the HOURS adn HOURS we spent on this! Stay calm!

I'm using Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0. everytime i try to open the file with the video, the application freezes. The video has not yet been exported or rendered or whatever you call it. If anybody has any suggestions, let me know!

photo above is a sneak preview of new video (optimistically assuming it is recoverable)

Journal

Okay, am I the only one who has not been very good about documenting all of this "mucking around"? I mean, I have kept some notes but they are not the greatest. Michele, I suppose this means I need to be more vigilant about this?

SUCCESS-FINALLY

Thanks Michele for the advice....Vixy.net rocks! I was able to finally convert the youtube video.

I know Theresa and Lauren were asking me how to convert: copy the URL, go to vixy.net and you can choose the format you want it to be converted into. And it does it--AMAZING!
Yahoo!

Workshop times and dates

Thanks for your patience while I finalized additional workshop times! I've just sent you an email with the following formal workshop dates and hours:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 3, 2007
Time: 1:00 – 3:00
Location: The ADP Center, University Hall, Room 1143 (this is our usual room)

Date: Saturday, Nov 17, 2007
Time: 1:00 – 3:00
Location: The ADP Center, Room 1143

There can be some flexibility on these hours, though--check your email for more details.

New Show on PBS

I just got an e-mail about a new show on PBS tonight called WIRED Science. It looks like it could be very interesting and explores a lot of issues involved with the integration of technology into everyday lives.

WIRED Science

Avatars on Law and Order

Last night's episode of Law and Order SVU was about a man kidnapping a girl he met in a game similar to Second Life, he was obsessed with her Avatar. Now that I know more about Avatars, SL and other things it seems like it is popping up everywhere.

Question about Double-Entry Journal

I have a question for anyone who can answer it. Are you guys including the "mucking" around you are doing in different programs in your double-entry journal or are we just suppose to talk about the program we are doing our final transmedia projects in?

Second Life - Finally!

Hello Everyone!

I finally had some time to play around on second life and found it to be a truly bizarre experience. As someone who basically only uses the internet to check email, download pictures and music, and check out the occasional youtube clip, I really can't imagine how people spend so much time playing this game! I also felt so weird creating my new "self" and every aspect of that new "self," down to actual physical dimensions--I wonder what people's choices reveal about them....mmmm...On a side note, I had a very interesting conversation with some of my second graders about their version of second life--webkinz--and not only were they able to describe in detail how the site works, they were also able to make connections between what they were doing on-line and what happened off-line in their own lives. For example, apparently there is a way to invite friends over in webkinz world for "playdates" and one student shared that she only invites friends to play in webkinz world if they are not "in a fight" with her at recess. It is amazing to think about the impact this type of digital interaction will have on the socialization habits and behaviors of students as they get older.

Here is my SL capturing attempt using the iShowU demo(sorry about the green box). That was a tough one for sure!

My Test

Here is a little something I put together in flash. I took an intro course in this program in the summer but am really getting the chance now to mess around with it. I'm thinking about creating my final project in this program. I haven't yet been successful in posting my attempt at an SL video. Maybe soon!

My Fishy