The Radio #ds106 phenomenon has totally changed how I think of social presence in a course experience. There is something magic (and yet not magic) about a bunch of people coming together to play and collaborate in various forms, just for shits and giggles. It’s awesome in so many ways.
It’s also a little like living in science fiction.
I put some links together to serve as conversation fodder for the #ds106 session on Photography, coming up on February 1.
Given that I’m not really a photographer (I just play one on the internet) it’s hopefully going to be more of a class discussion about photography and philosophy, rather than an hour of me blabbing over Skype about stuff…
I’m moving my stuff to a new server. Things may be kind of flaky in the mean time. I’m sure you’ll find something else to entertain yourself until my stuff is properly moved.
** and… done. ** if you can see this, then my domain has properly finished pointing at the shiny server bunker of MediaTemple
One of the things I’ve been thinking about with regards to personal cyberinfrastructure, is where to draw the line defining where an individual should be focusing their energy.
The #ds106 model draws the line just above the LAMP stack. But that’s an arbitrary selection. It could just as easily be pushed down to the hardware level - students will acquire (or build, or design) a server and then install (or build, or design) an operating system etc…
In the spirit of sharing process, ala Cogdog, here’s how I did it. It’s pretty complicated.
This video was shot in one take (no script, just kinda winging it), using my iPhone4 as video camera, resting on a plastic stand on my desk in the basement. To do this, I pressed the “record” button on the phone. The video was brought into iMovie ‘09, via the magical wondrousness of a USB cable, and some photos were dragged over from Aperture (I used a trackpad for this, but any pointing device supported by MacOSX would likely suffice). Export the file as HD movie, and upload to teh youtuber, slowly, via the fugly web interface.
Relax. This isn’t a navel-gazing retrospective. It’s an effort at editing my photo library.
I took some time last night to go through the photos I shot in 2010, to find ones that were good. I do this long after taking them, to distance from the emotional connection - it’s easy to think a photo’s good if it’s of family member etc… if you like the content or moment. But I try to go through on a second (and third, and fourth) pass to find ones that are good on their own. I started doing this delayed review after watching an interview with Gary Winogrand, where he mentioned that he doesn’t even develop film for at least a year after he shoots it, to separate himself from the emotion of the moment.
5 hours worth of mouse activity on my computer at work, while putting the finishing touches on my MSc thesis research proposal, ethics application, and supporting documents. Dark spots are where the mouse stopped moving (the big blob must be where I was doing a bunch of typing or something). Lines are where the mouse moved. Light circles are clicks.
I’ve been trying to find ways to reduce the amount of information about me that’s tracked every time I do anything online. I don’t like that every piece of activity is tracked, analyzed, and sold. I’ve said over and over, that if any government or agency had proposed tracking this much data on every citizen, there would be an uproar. But we just shrug it off when it’s done by the big online properties.
a series of composite images, produced from my 2010/365photos daily photo project. Each month was composited separately, and then a composite for the entire year was produced from the monthlies.
wherein I likely get added to a few more watch lists… the article is specifically about corruption of the political process in the US, but since we are tied so closely to them, much applies here as well.
on the shift in power from democracy to corporations:
> The complete surrendering of power, however, to corporate interests means that those of us who seek nonviolent yet profound change have no one within the power elite we can trust for support. The corporate coup has ossified the structures of power. It has obliterated all checks on corporate malfeasance. It has left us stripped of the tools of mass organization that once nudged the system forward toward justice.
One of the things I’ve been thinking about with regards to personal cyberinfrastructure, is where to draw the line defining where an individual should be focusing their energy.