Week 14, the final week, it all comes down to this, my final blog post. Before I discuss what we learned this week, I would like to say its been a real journey learning about social media and web 2.0 as a whole. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, this week we discussed distance education and virtual schooling. Distance education has been around for a long time. I remember as a kid learning about students who lived in rural Australia and did all of their schooling via a phone call to a teacher in the city. Today, phone schooling is outdated. Students can now take courses online. My first experience with online classes was in high school. To be part of the school TV program, I had to take online classes over the summer. When I reached college, online education had a presence here as well. I've taken several of them because they're a great way to learn at my own speed without the need to commute to campus.
There's definitely a place for online education in the field of telecommunication and production. Programs like Photoshop or Final Cut Pro are constantly coming out with updates and new versions. With these new versions comes new functionality and greater creative power. Educating myself on these updates and additional functionality through virtual schooling allows me to stay on top of my work and improve the quality of my work.
Virtual Co-pilot
I chose this website because its a great example of distance education. This site contains hundred of tutorials on the special affects program, After Effects. By following these tutorials I can educate myself outside of the classroom.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
WEEK 13: Creating a Professional Web Presence
Lucky 13! This week we began creating professional web presences for ourselves using Google Sites, a new service launched by Google. The newest Google service allows amateur web developers, me, to create simple yet effective and professional looking websites in a fraction of the time it would take to code an equivalent site. Once you've logged in with your Google password, simply pick a template and begin editing using their GUI interface.
Creating a web presence is a must in the field of telecom. I work at a production house in St. Petersburg and the majority of our business comes in through traffic to the website. Clients want to see that you're tech savvy enough to create a polished site that showcases your work and exudes an air of professionalism. Sites that are poorly written, or difficult to navigate make clients uneasy and less likely to conduct business with your company.
Google Sites Help
I struggled a bit with different aspects of the Google Sites interface and the help section definitely came in handy. I would recommend this page for anyone who is looking to create a Google Site. The help section was easy to use and included a lot of information for such a new product.
Creating a web presence is a must in the field of telecom. I work at a production house in St. Petersburg and the majority of our business comes in through traffic to the website. Clients want to see that you're tech savvy enough to create a polished site that showcases your work and exudes an air of professionalism. Sites that are poorly written, or difficult to navigate make clients uneasy and less likely to conduct business with your company.
Google Sites Help
I struggled a bit with different aspects of the Google Sites interface and the help section definitely came in handy. I would recommend this page for anyone who is looking to create a Google Site. The help section was easy to use and included a lot of information for such a new product.
WEEK 12: Social Tools and Cloud Computing
This week we discussed cloud computing, or server based computing. Cloud computing allows users to work from any computer with internet access because the applications or files being used are hosted off of a server and able to be accessed online. Google Docs is an example of cloud computing. The alternative, Microsoft Office or Open Office is installed on your computer. However, with Google Docs, the applications are online and your files are also saved online. This means that anyone with permission to access the Google Doc can open it up anywhere and continue editing it. Industry-wide, we're seeing a move to cloud computing with more and more services and applications hosting files in the cloud.
Telecommunication relies on cloud computing to some degree. I will create Google Groups with Google Docs of scripts, schedules, and contact information for the cast and crew to keep them up to date. However, cloud computing does not yet have a data infrastructure that can support the bandwidth required to perform video editing/rendering from the cloud. Which means in the meantime, I'm forced to store hundreds of gigabytes of video footage on numerous cumbersome external hard drives. As far as I'm concerned, the cloud couldn't come soon enough.
The Cloud and Microsoft
This is a neat site created by microsoft highlighting cloud computing technology, both present and future. With Microsoft Office's move towards cloud computing, I expect to see many more companies following suit.
Telecommunication relies on cloud computing to some degree. I will create Google Groups with Google Docs of scripts, schedules, and contact information for the cast and crew to keep them up to date. However, cloud computing does not yet have a data infrastructure that can support the bandwidth required to perform video editing/rendering from the cloud. Which means in the meantime, I'm forced to store hundreds of gigabytes of video footage on numerous cumbersome external hard drives. As far as I'm concerned, the cloud couldn't come soon enough.
The Cloud and Microsoft
This is a neat site created by microsoft highlighting cloud computing technology, both present and future. With Microsoft Office's move towards cloud computing, I expect to see many more companies following suit.
WEEK 11: Open Source Software
This week we learned all about open source software. Open source software is any piece of software "for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed with or without modification". This means that most open source software has a thriving community of developers who are constantly working to improve the software and continuously release new updates. One of the best parts about open source software is that its free. Most software that exists today has an open source equivalent, such as Microsoft Office and Open Office or Photoshop and Gimp.
Open source software is quite valuable in the telecom field as most of the required software is absurdly expensive. Final Cut Pro is nearly $1000 on its own, so any opportunity to exchange a piece of software like that for a free open source equivalent is welcomed. However there aren't any editing programs to my knowledge that are open source. There are however, open source equivalents to other production software. Final Draft, a script writing program, has an open source equivalent called Celtx.
This is a great example of a piece of open source software designed for the video production industry. Its the open source alternative to the script writing program Final Draft and its supported by an amazing team of developers and distributed online for free.
WEEK 10: Spring Break
We didn't have any class this week. I went to Key West to scout for a movie instead.
WEEK 9: The Sound of...Podcasting
This week we wrapped up Learning Entries #2, blogs 6 through 9, and at the same time, cross the two thirds mark of the semester. I've learned a lot so far in this course about design, web presence, and web 2.0 as a whole. However, not until this week did we really discuss audio, an often overlooked yet equally important part of any presentation. Our assignment for this week was to create a podcast, or an audio recording. I created my podcast in Apple's Garageband, a program that allows users to create both podcasts and music. Being completely new to podcasts, mine was very simple. It was nothing more than a glorified sound recording from my Macbook Pro. Once I'd finished my recording and exported it as an MP3 it was time to embed it into my learning blog, which I did using a site called SoundCloud, which I'll discuss in greater detail at the bottom of this post.
Audio, as I mentioned earlier, is an often overlooked element of video, yet immensely important. Audiences are far more likely to forgive poor video if there is quality audio, than they are to forgive poor audio if there is quality video. The most important elements of a film, or any video production, are often revealed within the audio, via dialog or off-camera sounds. Learning to use audio software, such as Garageband or Soundtrack Pro, is vital to any video production as the audio will make or break your production.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a fantastic resource for uploading podcasts, music, or foley work for a production and sharing it with fellow cast, crew, or just classmates. The process of uploading my podcast to having a link I could share with anyone I wanted to, took less than 5 minutes, and I was even able to embed my podcast right into my blog.
Audio, as I mentioned earlier, is an often overlooked element of video, yet immensely important. Audiences are far more likely to forgive poor video if there is quality audio, than they are to forgive poor audio if there is quality video. The most important elements of a film, or any video production, are often revealed within the audio, via dialog or off-camera sounds. Learning to use audio software, such as Garageband or Soundtrack Pro, is vital to any video production as the audio will make or break your production.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a fantastic resource for uploading podcasts, music, or foley work for a production and sharing it with fellow cast, crew, or just classmates. The process of uploading my podcast to having a link I could share with anyone I wanted to, took less than 5 minutes, and I was even able to embed my podcast right into my blog.
WEEK 7: Visual Literacy
In week 7 we continued our work on Photoshop tutorial activity. I finished early so I began to work on my visual literacy Photoshop project. The visual literacy project requires us to incorporate several images into a larger image using what we've learned in Photoshop. I chose to bring the phone booth and guard into the Grand Canyon image.
Photoshop plays a large role in Telecommunications. Its used to create and edit graphics to be included in pictures and videos. However, Photoshop is nothing without a solid foundation in visual literacy. Every week I see my classmates in my telecom classes deliver technically sound productions, but completely visually illiterate. Without the ability to convey meaning in an organized and visually pleasing manner, a production, no matter how technical it is, lacks professionalism and cannot convey meaning.
TEDxDartmouth-Brian Kennedy: Visual Literacy: Why We Need It!
It's a long video, but it deals a lot with visual literacy and why its important to, well, everything. Kennedy discusses the many applications and contexts of visual literacy. He goes on to discuss the history of visual literacy before the era of literacy, beginning with cave paintings.
Photoshop plays a large role in Telecommunications. Its used to create and edit graphics to be included in pictures and videos. However, Photoshop is nothing without a solid foundation in visual literacy. Every week I see my classmates in my telecom classes deliver technically sound productions, but completely visually illiterate. Without the ability to convey meaning in an organized and visually pleasing manner, a production, no matter how technical it is, lacks professionalism and cannot convey meaning.
TEDxDartmouth-Brian Kennedy: Visual Literacy: Why We Need It!
It's a long video, but it deals a lot with visual literacy and why its important to, well, everything. Kennedy discusses the many applications and contexts of visual literacy. He goes on to discuss the history of visual literacy before the era of literacy, beginning with cave paintings.
WEEK 8: Digital Storytelling
In week 8 we learned about digital storytelling. We focused on online technologies that specialize in digital storytelling such as Animoto and iMovie. I created a slideshow about my little sister, Sophie using Animoto. Animoto is an online web 2.0 tool that allows users to upload pictures, and now video, to their site. Upon uploading, users are then able to choose a video style and music to accompany the slideshow that Animoto creates.
Sites like Animoto are useful on more of a consumer end. From a professional standpoint, Animoto does not offer enough control over the video to use for clients. However, I sent my Animoto video out to relatives and they loved it. All in all, its a useful tool, but too simple to be used professionally in a Telecom setting.
Prezi
I chose Prezi as my resource for this week's topic of digital storytelling. Prezi is a similar resource to Powerpoint, but entirely online and easily accessible from anywhere. The site allows a great deal of customization and makes more visually interesting presentations. Overall, Prezi is a top notch web 2.0 tool for presentations and digital storytelling.
Sites like Animoto are useful on more of a consumer end. From a professional standpoint, Animoto does not offer enough control over the video to use for clients. However, I sent my Animoto video out to relatives and they loved it. All in all, its a useful tool, but too simple to be used professionally in a Telecom setting.
Prezi
I chose Prezi as my resource for this week's topic of digital storytelling. Prezi is a similar resource to Powerpoint, but entirely online and easily accessible from anywhere. The site allows a great deal of customization and makes more visually interesting presentations. Overall, Prezi is a top notch web 2.0 tool for presentations and digital storytelling.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
EXTRA POST 3: Podcast
For this blog post we were required to create a podcast, or audio recording and attach it to our post. I chose to create a SoundCloud account and upload my podcast track to that site. The test podcast I created is embedded below. Enjoy!
Austin Gilmour - Podcast by gilmoursa
Podcasts are a useful way to stay up to date with current technology in the production field. Movies are constantly being produced and podcasts such as Kevin Smith's Smodcast are great resources for breaking production news.
Austin Gilmour - Podcast by gilmoursa
Podcasts are a useful way to stay up to date with current technology in the production field. Movies are constantly being produced and podcasts such as Kevin Smith's Smodcast are great resources for breaking production news.
WEEK 6: Media and Information Literacy
Week 6 was a discussion of media, visual, and information literacy. Visual literacy is the ability to convey information through design, or
In Telecommunications, visual literacy is one of the main goals of every production. My major focuses almost entirely on visual literacy and telling a story through images. Being able to interpret and make sense of information presented is vital to delivering a finished product to clients.
Photoshop Tuts
I chose the above resource because it proved very useful for the visual literacy project. The site offers numerous photoshop tutorials and has helped me out of a bind on several occasions.
"the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image"We began the week with a tutorial on photoshop and its many different tools. The tutorial called for us to create an image with different types of athletic shoes. Additionally we learned about the visual literacy project and saw examples from previous years.
In Telecommunications, visual literacy is one of the main goals of every production. My major focuses almost entirely on visual literacy and telling a story through images. Being able to interpret and make sense of information presented is vital to delivering a finished product to clients.
Photoshop Tuts
I chose the above resource because it proved very useful for the visual literacy project. The site offers numerous photoshop tutorials and has helped me out of a bind on several occasions.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
WEEK 4: Copyright Law, Plagiarism, & Ethical Issues
Week 4 was a discussion of copyrights and the legal and ethical issues surrounding it. We began with a presentation on "Copyright & Issues in Education Technology". The presentation included copyright basics, what constitutes fair use, and educational technology issues.
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| Copyright |
We also learned about the 4 key guidelines to designing instructional media: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. This presentation was particularly useful for designing engaging and informative websites and articles. Additionally we also discussed what separates multimedia from hypermedia. The curriculum concluded with 2 quizzes, one on fair use and the other on design principles.
In Telecommunications, copyright law and fair use play a large role. The college of Journalism offers several courses devoted to these issues. Being able to discern what constitutes fair use and what pieces of media are legal to use is an important skill to learn and can make or break a career in the telecom field. I found this week to be particularly useful for my career.
I chose the above resource because it breaks down fair use law within the context of internet video. Internet video is quite possibly the fastest growing form of media and accounts for a large percentage of all online bandwidth. As the media form continues to gain in popularity learning the ins and outs of online video fair use is going to become increasingly more relevant.
WEEK 3: Web Technology
Week 3 we learned about Wikis. Wikipedia, the namesake of wikis, describes them as...
"A wiki (We used the EME 2040 Wiki to post links online to our individual class blogs. Week 3 also brought with it a discussion of video embedding and Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is the online trending of sites toward more increased user interaction. Web 2.0 sites/ˈwɪki/ WIK-ee) is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor"
"allow users to own, add, and share content collaboratively and interactively."Examples of Web 2.0 applications include: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Convore.
I chose Convore (above) because I believe it to be an apt representation of Web 2.0. Convore allows users to converse back and forth with one another in an instant messaging form without having to download additional software. Thus, Convore allows users an increased level of web interactivity representative of the Web 2.0 movement.
WEEK 2: Education Technology
In Week 2 we discussed Mac OS X, first with an orientation then with two follow up lessons. The initial orientation, or Lesson One, focused on learning what exactly Mac OS X was, powering a mac both on and off, and various on screen elements. We learned where the Desktop, Menu Bar, Dock, and Finder windows are located, and what they are exactly. Additionally, Lesson One focused on computing basics such as scaling windows, navigating a typical finder window, and using tools like the Dashboard and Expose.
Lesson Two focused on files and folders. We discussed file navigation, creating, and opening folders, and saving and renaming files. We also learned how to create aliases, or shortcuts for Windows users. Our assessment for Lesson Two was to create a folder with a Word document in it and make an alias for that folder.
Lesson Three discusses keyboard shortcuts within the Mac OS X operating system. Keyboard shortcuts allow for increased productivity because they are a faster alternative to navigating menu systems with a mouse.
Through my work in the Telecom department, I've become an experienced Mac and PC user, I was familiar with much of the content of Week 2. However, there were several things I learned that I had previously overlooked in my PC/Mac education. I learned both what aliases were, and how to create them. I also learned how to take screen caps on a Mac, a useful skill that I used in a previous blog post.
I chose the screen capturing link (above) because it represents a useful skill unique to the Mac. Mac OS X allows users the ability to customize the portion of the screen they wish to save and capture. This feature, unique to Mac computers, provides a distinct and time saving advantage to Mac users that PC users do not have. The link above also includes several videos illustrating the customizable screen capture feature in a more informative way than the link provided in the EME 2040 curriculum.
I chose the screen capturing link (above) because it represents a useful skill unique to the Mac. Mac OS X allows users the ability to customize the portion of the screen they wish to save and capture. This feature, unique to Mac computers, provides a distinct and time saving advantage to Mac users that PC users do not have. The link above also includes several videos illustrating the customizable screen capture feature in a more informative way than the link provided in the EME 2040 curriculum.
WEEK 1: Course Introduction
In our first week of EME 2040: Introduction to Educational Technology, we discussed the "syllabus and other important introductory information including logging on to the blended learning environment". Week 1 consisted of confirming our email addresses, discussing course information, and updating our Moodle profiles with pictures. Additionally we were required to purchase a 1Gb flash drive, and create a gmail account.
As a Telecommunications major, I transfer data between multiple computers on a daily basis. Having a flash drive and gmail account that allow me to transfer data is crucial to my education and to my career. Both the email address and flash drive I owned before I began this course because they are so necessary for my day to day work.
I chose two online resources for this blog entry as there were not many specific topics covered in the first week, but rather broad concepts. The first link is to a flash drive I found on amazon.com. This link illustrates the inverse relationship between flash drive capacity and price. In recent years, flash drives have become increasingly more popular with their increased size and decreased price, illustrating the rise in data sharing through these portable drives. The second link is to gmail, representing the site where we are required to make accounts for this class. Gmail has come a long way over the past several years. Originally it was offered as an invitation-only Beta test with limited features and a limited storage capacity. Today Gmail is available to any one and everyone without the hassle of invitations.
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| Flash Drive |
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| Gmail Account |
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
EXTRA POST: Do Copyright Laws Stifle Creativity?
Lawrence Lessig, Stanford law professor and copyright activist, discusses examples of "mash-ups" or "remixes" and their influence on popular culture. He discusses the future of media and how copyright laws are out of date. I found this article on Youtube while surfing the ForaTv channel, a lecture series from the world's top universities. The video stood out to me because it explores copyright laws in a modern context and asks the question, are copyright laws outdated?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
EXTRA POST: Embed Video
This is a collection of Mac vs PC commercials embedded into my Blogger blog.
EXTRA POST: Mac vs. PC
Last week in my "Introduction to Educational Technology" Course, we discussed the difference between Mac computers and PCs, or personal computers. While there are many similarities between the two OSs, or operating systems, there are an equal number of differences.
Mac preferences, such as display, sound, log out and shut down, can be found in the top left corner of the desktop under the apple icon.
On a PC, running the Windows operating system, the preferences are found in the default location, the bottom left corner of the desktop. Windows integrates commonly used applications directly into the tool bar, whereas Mac separates the applications from the toolbar by placing them at the bottom of the screen.
Mastering both the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems will benefit me in my film career as I will be a more versatile candidate for any job. Several programs, such as Final Cut Pro, run exclusively in the Mac OS X operating system. Conversely, many large production houses run windows primarily, as the cost of maintaining and upgrading PCs is less expensive than Macs.
Looking beyond the basic knowledge we learned in last week, I began looking into selective screen capturing. In the Mac OS X operating system, this can be accomplished by pressing Command-Shift-4 and using the cross-hair to select the portion of the screen you would like to capture. The finished image is then saved to the desktop.
On a PC, running the Windows operating system, the preferences are found in the default location, the bottom left corner of the desktop. Windows integrates commonly used applications directly into the tool bar, whereas Mac separates the applications from the toolbar by placing them at the bottom of the screen.
Mastering both the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems will benefit me in my film career as I will be a more versatile candidate for any job. Several programs, such as Final Cut Pro, run exclusively in the Mac OS X operating system. Conversely, many large production houses run windows primarily, as the cost of maintaining and upgrading PCs is less expensive than Macs.
Looking beyond the basic knowledge we learned in last week, I began looking into selective screen capturing. In the Mac OS X operating system, this can be accomplished by pressing Command-Shift-4 and using the cross-hair to select the portion of the screen you would like to capture. The finished image is then saved to the desktop.
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