Reinventing libraries for ‘hanging out, messing around and geeking out’ — from CNN.com by Emanuella Grinberg

Excerpt:

The staff takes special pride in its mentor-led activities, offered in partnerships with various community organizations: a spoken word workshop, a video game program and a makerspace, or workshop, where teens create birdcages, duct tape wallets and other art projects.

It might be a library, but for 18-year-old Alexis Woodward, the atmosphere is more like a “family reunion,” she said.

“It’s always packed until it closes. Everybody goes to the library after school,” said Woodward, who began participating in the spoken word program when she was 14.

 

ReinventingLibraries-CNN-June2014

 

 

Anonymous artists turn school chalk dust into inspirational masterpieces — from psfk.com by Angeli Rafer

Examples:

 

Anonymous Artists Turn School Chalk Dust Into Inspirational Masterpieces

http://cdn.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/b0c8902b-e8e7-440b-9c6e-873205460bb0.jpg

 

 

 

Designer Alexandra Khitrova discovers a new career through her stunning fantasy concept art — from thisiscolossal.com

Example:

 

Designer Alexandra Khitrova Discovers a New Career through Her Stunning Fantasy Concept Art science fiction illustration fantasy digital

 

 

 

Rare mushroom photos reveal the visual diversity of fungi — from mymodernmet.com by Steve Axford, posted by Jenny Zhang

Example:

 

 

 

Photographer swims out to sea to capture spectacular storm shot — from mymodernmet.com by Jem Cresswell

 

 

Announcing [Smithsonian Magazine’s] 11th Annual Photo Contest Finalists
See our finalists, selected from over 50,000 entries, and vote for the Readers’ Choice winner

 

 

Photograph by Graham McGeorge (Jacksonville, Florida).
FINALIST: Natural World
McGeorge spent a quiet 6 hours trying to get the perfect image of
this eastern screech owl out of its nest. (Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, April 2013, Canon 1D Mark III)

 

App Ed Review

 

APPEdReview-April2014

 

From the About Us page (emphasis DSC):

App Ed Review is a free searchable database of educational app reviews designed to support classroom teachers finding and using apps effectively in their teaching practice. In its database, each app review includes:

  • A brief, original description of the app;
  • A classification of the app based on its purpose;
  • Three or more ideas for how the app could be used in the classroom;
  • A comprehensive app evaluation;
  • The app’s target audience;
  • Subject areas where the app can be used; and,
  • The cost of the app.

 

 

Also see the Global Education Database:

 

GlobalEducationDatabase-Feb2014

 

From the About Us page:

It’s our belief that digital technologies will utterly change the way education is delivered and consumed over the next decade. We also reckon that this large-scale disruption doesn’t come with an instruction manual. And we’d like GEDB to be part of the answer to that.

It’s the pulling together of a number of different ways in which all those involved in education (teachers, parents, administrators, students) can make some sense of the huge changes going on around them. So there’s consumer reviews of technologies, a forum for advice, an aggregation of the most important EdTech news and online courses for users to equip themselves with digital skills. Backed by a growing community on social media (here, here and here for starters).

It’s a fast-track to digital literacy in the education industry.

GEDB has been pulled together by California residents Jeff Dunn, co-founder of Edudemic, and Katie Dunn, the other Edudemic co-founder, and, across the Atlantic in London, Jimmy Leach, a former habitue of digital government and media circles.

 

 

Addendum:

Favorite educational iPad apps that are also on Android — from the Learning in Hand blog by Tony Vincent

 
 

Some artistic, fun items

From Beautiful Photos of Paddle Boarders Lit Up on the Ocean

For National Geographic’s latest Your Shot assignment, titled “Spontaneous Adventure,”
photographer Julia Cumes submitted a beautifully surreal photo of stand up paddle boarding at night (see above).

 

 

Surreal Photo Manipulations by Caras Ionut surreal digital conceptual

From Surreal Photo Manipulations by Caras Ionut  [thisiscolossal.com]

From with thanks to Paul Simbeck-Hampson for the Google+ item on this.

 

 

Add another dimension to your photos — from creativebloq.com

 

 

Also see:

– 40 beautifully crafted Stripes
– 120 Stripe presets, or “Styles”, to quickly select the right Stripe for any photo
– 62 stunning colors and 9 different shadings and blends for every Stripe
– Completely customize any Stripe by rotating, scaling, and moving them in 3D for an infinite number of possibilities
– Make every Stripe live perfectly in your photo by weaving the Stripes between different elements using the Masking feature
– Layer your Stripes using the ReStripe feature
– Share on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
– Browse amazing LoryStripes creations by artists like you in the Inspirations section, updated continuously

 

 

Light Painting Evolved: Introducing the Pixelstick— from thisiscolossal.com; in KickStarter mode at this point in time

 

Light Painting Evolved: Introducing the Pixelstick light painting light

 

Also see:

 

 

23 iPad alternatives to the book report — from ipadders.eu by Suzanne Lustenhouwer; with thanks to Jackie Gerstein for the tweet this.

Excerpt:

  1. If a journey was involved, draw a map with explanatory notes of significant places. (Google Earth, Notability, Showme)
  2. Dramatize a scene from the book. Write a script and have several rehearsals before performing it to the class or recording it. Include stage directions in your script. (Screenplay, iMoviePuppet Pals)
  3. Lead a small group discussion with other readers of the same book. Focus on a specific topic and report your group’s conclusion to the class. (Notability)

 

 

 

 

From DSC:
First, some resources:

Secondly, some thoughts:

Given the extremely fast/breathtaking pace that Steve Jobs had Apple run while he was alive, it’s difficult to sustain that pace over so many years.  He set some very tough and high expectations that are difficult to match.  So when an Apple TV or an iWatch isn’t released, we think nothing happened.  But there were some important things announced yesterday, including the biometric scanning situation, but I admit that I also felt a bit let down.

I think that Apple is being extremely cautious — afraid to mess up on anything, lest people will say, “See! Now that Steve’s gone, they can’t do it.”  Not that it matters, but I would urge them “to go hard with it,” forget about “the score,” and let the score take care of itself.  It’s ok not to hit a home run every time to bat. That’s something I think we all need to practice, given the current 180 mph environment that we live in.

 

 
 

TheAmazon-MarcosAntoniodeLimaFilho

 

The Amazon
By Marcos Antonio de Lima Filho | Master in Design | Federal University of Pernambuco – Brazil

This is a free book which is available in iBooks 3.0+ on the iPad and/or using iTunes on your computer.  Marcos designed this book to take advantage of all the interaction enabled by iPads.

156 images, 14 infographics, 18 galleries, 11 maps and 8 videos join with the text, which here is not the primary. Why? Because the nature is much too rich to be described only by words.  The Amazon seeks to take advantage of all the technology advancements enabled by the tablet.

Great work Marcos! Nice interactivity, use of digital audio and video, graphics, and more. Check it out!

 

 

 

 

IsSchoolEnoughPBSDotOrg-Sep32013

 

.

About the program (emphasis DSC):

Thanks to digital media, the Internet and new advances in understanding how students learn, educators are beginning to appreciate the importance of breaking out of the classroom and into the wider world. There’s a growing understanding that learning should not just be preparation for life, but is actually “life itself.”

Is School Enough? documents vivid examples of where new modes of learning and engagement are taking hold and flourishing. Featuring nationally recognized educators and researchers, Stephen Brown’s powerful stories show that when students have the opportunity to explore real interests and problems, they step up and perform at the highest level. This new approach reaches motivated students as well as kids that educators call “the bright and bored,” helping these learners tune in rather than drop out.

Is School Enough? introduces parents, educators, and everyone passionate about learning to:

• Students in Maine who work with veterinary experts and digital apps to prepare a new home for a retired circus elephant.
• Young people worldwide who use the online Harry Potter Alliance to launch meaningful social justice initiatives.
• A curious and creative teen who crafts her own educational experience based on her passion for natural healing and yoga.
• A young man in Oakland who produces state-of-the-art music videos to engage his community—and himself.

Through the voices of these inspired students and America’s foremost education thought leaders, Is School Enough? provides insight into an essential new understanding of what education can be in the 21st century. Is School Enough? is the second in a series of programs about kids, digital media and education. The first program, Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century explores students claiming digital media as a means of connecting, communicating, creating, and learning, while interpreting its importance and providing a window into 21st-century education.

 

Adobe launches a new learning service – KnowHow — from blogs.adobe.com; with thanks to Dr. Tony Karrer (@elearningPosts) for posting this on Twitter

Excerpt:

If you have been learning through video playlists and always thought:

  • Wouldn’t it be great it I could scribble notes on top of the video? <– From DSC: Idea for future “textbooks”?
  • Why not add text in the context of the video I am learning from? <– For future “textbooks”…?
  • Why can’t I go back and forth between videos easily?                     <– For future “textbooks”…?

You are not alone.

 

Also see:

 

AdobeKnowHow-August302013

 

 

 

From DSC:
I love multimedia because it enables me to craft a message using audio, video, text, graphics, and even animations.  The Internet extends the power of this communication by allowing that message to go forth 24 x 7 x 365 in multi-directional ways — even allowing others to join in the conversations and participate.

The following item made me reflect upon on how important this is becoming to business:

Excerpt:

How (and why) is Marketing Changing?
The first thing to understand about marketing today is that it’s all about shared experience. Consumer behavior is radically changing with respect to content consumption. No longer are people consuming most of their content on the TV, a newspaper, or even their computer. Rather, they are using a combination of channels:

 

 

From DSC:

  • Won’t this trend also impact students’ expectations/hopes/engagement?
  • What do we need to do to help youth build these skillsets?

 

 

Also related/see:

  • The rise, implications & benefits of the second screen — from newsworks.org.uk by Mark Challinor
    Telegraph Media Group’s director of mobile Mark Challinor says in this new era of second screens, news companies must create content that helps consumers to multi-task on multiple platforms with multiple devices.

Excerpt:
Watching television – or even reading a newspaper – with a smartphone and/or tablet device is becoming one of the most popular leisure activities of this “mobile age”. In turn, publishers such as ourselves are trying to find ways to capitalise on this somewhat new consumer behaviour of real-time interaction, which, more often than not, includes social media. This type of interaction, referred to as “the second screen” or “the companion device”, has become not just a latest hot topic of discussion all over social media blogs; it is a huge development for the mobile app industry and a target-rich environment for our advertisers.

  • Emerging markets’ second-screen boost with 1BN smart devices by 2014 — from rapidtvnews.com by Joseph O’Halloran
    Excerpt:
    New research by IDC has revealed that it won’t just be Western Europe and North America forming happy hunting grounds for second-screen services and applications. The analyst says it is clear that demand for smart connected devices is quickly shifting from developed to emerging markets and that by the end of 2014, global shipments of smart connected devices such as PCs, tablets, and smartphones will exceed surpass 1.7 billion units, with roughly one billion units delivered to emerging markets. The emerging markets are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% over the 2012-2017 forecast period, compared to the 7% CAGR expected in developed markets.
 
 
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