Pillows for A Good Cause

This summer my friend Rebecca, founder and designer of SOWN, asked a few designer-friends to participate in a charity event. Using her strategy, of using old feed bags, we all designed and created pillows. You can see my design and the whole series. The pillows will be sold at the Piecing it Together Foundation website.

Upcoming events

Gretchen Rinnert and I are in the process of co-writing a paper, Interactive Tools and Online Communities that Support Media Literacy. Our abstract has been very well received thus far, with acceptance to the MeCCSA 2010 Conference in London (January 6) which will explore "Media, Communication, Policy and Practice."

As well as The Society for Applied Learning Technology's conference (March 3) New Learning Technologies

We are hoping that one of these conferences will manifest an opportunity for publication.

from twitter

love it

Alternative formats for conferences

While at NC State I participated in planning a graduate symposium. Denise Gonzales Crisp encouraged our graduate class to keep the idea of a symposium in mind, versus a traditional conference. It took me a while to get my mind around what the differences really were as I had not been to many conferences myself. Now, as a professor, my time spent at conferences is increasing. What makes a good conference? And what makes a bad conference? Are there alternatives that really work? What do you do if one person from the audience dominants the conversation and what they have to say just really isn't that interesting? It happens. How do you balance speaking times? Pecha Kucha is an interesting option, but certainly doesn't work for everything. I realize I am posing more questions than answers here, but I'm at a hotel after a conference and my brain is in a fairly mushy state.

This article by Valerie Casey explores some of these issues in a more coherent manner.

Now to skip the conference dinner and seek out a cool local joint. I am 'conferenced' out.

Upcoming events

October 7th I will be presenting my research, Teen Independent Learning Online: Visual Literacy Tools for Assessing Credibility, to an Interaction Design class taught by Professor Rebecca Tegtmeyer at Michigan State University. I look forward to presenting my explorations regarding credibility in the online environment as well as asking the students some questioning regarding their own online research habits and perspectives.

November 5th I will also be presenting Teen Independent Learning Online: Visual Literacy Tools for Assessing Credibility, at the International Digital Media and Art Association’s 7th annual conference. I'm looking forward to the iDMa conference -- the keynote speaker is Tom Kelley of IDEO.

A few pivotal videos

During my thesis explorations, I came across many videos that helped shape my opinions, ideas and design work. It sure is a pain to cite videos in bibliographies!

Here are some of my favorites:
Sex, Lies and Photoshop.
Why magazines should let readers know if images have been retouched.
BY: Jessie Epstein

The 21st-Century Librarian
School librarians like Stephanie Rosalia have transformed into multi-faceted information specialists who guide students through the flood of digital information that confronts them on a daily basis.

Dove Evolution



Media Smarts:Kids Learn How to Navigate the Multimedia World
BY: The Edutopia Foundation


Eeny Teeny Maya Mo - Simpsons Episode

clip: 4:14 - 6:32

Thesis = Finished

Yes, this post is about 4 months late, but I've been busy! I would still like to share my final thesis explorations. Below you will find three videos simulating each scenario that constituted my final project: Teen Independent Learning Online: Visual Literacy Tools for Assessing Credibility. I will not post the full text, but if you are interested please contact me.

Main Researchable Question:
How can online interfaces encourage students to analyze, interpret and judge the credibility of visual language?

Scenario One:
What aspects of visual language and originating sources inform and educate students to the credibility of information?

Thesis: Study One from marty on Vimeo.

Scenario Two:
What online activities encourage students to critically analyze the visual language they view, create or alter in informal learning environments?

Thesis: Study Two from marty on Vimeo.

Scenario Three:
In what ways does understanding the history of an image inform a student’s ability to critically analyze visual language?

Thesis: Study Three from marty on Vimeo.

I am currently taking a step back from the project and thinking about where I would like to take it. There was only so much I could cover during the 9 months allocated for my thesis project, so I have many threads that need to be followed, untangled and explored.

transition

from jessica helfand at design observer.

"Your education will not end the day you graduate: on the contrary, what you're doing is learning how to learn, and how to think, and how to visualize the ideas that percolate in your brain. So here's what you do: never stop thinking. Never stop asking questions. Never, never stop reading, looking, imagining what else can be done. And don’t be afraid to start small. You’ll get there, eventually..."

Props to Microsoft, say wha?

Well, I never thought this day would come. I have had a typically infuriating day attempting to write in Microsoft Word. (This is not the unexpected experience) "No, don't make this a list!" "YES, just return, NO number! NO bullet!" Ok, so this probably sounds familiar to all you designers out there. This is not the software for visual thinkers. Amidst this torture, I was sent an email about an exciting addition to Microsoft. My brain crush, Danah Boyd, has just joined Microsoft's New England Research & Development Center. Danah has done great research in the area of teens and online culture (to name a few). Her research has served as a major foundation for my thesis work. It will be interesting to see the mark she makes at Microsoft.

After hearing the news about Danah, I was feeling better about my lost hours from my Word debacle this morning. And to top it off, I just came across a video called Microsoft Sustainability. It's a speculative video from Microsoft that is pretty amazing. So many ideas packed into this 5 minute video. You can see so much potential for education applications. I particularly love the brief extension in the garden!