wmrandth edu-tech feedreads

http://twitter.com/courosa/status/3368513766

 "Ad-Free Education Wikis from WetPaint no longer available - http://twurl.nl/wgdeu1 Booo, guess I finally have a reason to try pbworks."
- Alec Couros (@courosa)

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http://feeds.chronicle.com/~r/chronicle/wiredcampus/~3/sFX3XDKdC-k/

 Professors and students are hungrier than ever to use video in the classroom and in their research, but they still have trouble getting the materials they need. So says a just-released white paper "Video Use and Higher Education: Options for the Future." The paper pulls together the findings of the Video and Higher Education Project, an anecdotal study on video use in higher education paid for by the

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http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/g1rdqQdWCvg/

 A programmer finds that the Palm Pre's operating system webOS sends users' GPS location to Palm every day, along with data on which WebOS apps they use and for how long. The move triggers concerns over data collection on consumer behavior by handset makers.

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http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/iUPeCDrinQo/five-classic-ways-to-boost-your-note+taking

 If your note-taking skills are suffering from summertime rigor mortis, now's as good a time as any to throw a new technique into the mix. Let's take a look at some new and old tools for improving your ballpoint repertoire. Photo by JasonRogersFooDogGiraffeBee . The Cornell method This oldie is a highly-regarded, very common system that makes it especially easier to retain information. By reviewing things as you go, you might even get away with less studying. Divide your page into two columns. The left one (which could also just be the back of the previous page in your notebook) is narrower. You're going to jot larger ideas in this column: the 5-dollar-words and big bullet points. In the right column, you're going to take down as much information as possible. The right column is allowed to be messy, have pictures and tables—it's not necessarily organized. To some students, it's just regular notes. But as you go, record the main corresponding idea in the left column. Every so often, cover the detailed notes on the right and just examine the main points and new vocab. See how much you can recite and explain in your own words. Then remove your hand and see how you did. Depending on the teacher, you might do this during lulls in the discussion or after class. Some versions of the Cornell system leave the last few lines on each page for summarizing the whole page. Since what's on a given page doesn't necessarily group together nicely, I don't recommend doing it. But summarizing can help you with wading through piles of pages when studying time comes. For a more in-depth look at the Cornell method, take a look at our previous guide to taking study-worthy lecture notes . Go visual It's tough to enter a classroom with colored pencils and still expect your fellow students to take you seriously. But unless you try it, you'll never know if it works better for you. Forget the status-quo and try something visual. Color-code with different pens, pencils, and highlighters. You might not have seen a web-style map of ideas since elementary school, but mind-mapping is hailed as quite an efficient way to group data . It needn't even be a rigid classification system— anything is better than doodling in the margins. Switch mediums For how tech-savvy our generation is, I still see surprisingly few laptops in classrooms. Try it out a few times and see if you like it. Particularly, if you're the type who outlines, computers let you go back and organize information on-the-fly. Laptops also let you and your classmates AIM with real-time questions about the opposite sex the lecture. There are also programs made just for taking notes, sharing them, organizing them, etc. Wikipedia has a great table that compares them all, or you can take a look at Lifehacker reader's favorite note-taking tools . On the other hand, if you already use a laptop, try the pen-and-paper route again. Let loose a bit and see how that goes. Try scribbling out mistakes and drawing arrows everywhere. Or try one of the visual techniques above, most of which are difficult on a computer. Shorthand Notes are probably the only place in the classroom where internet slang is commendable. Trying some new shorthand is a really geeky way to slightly tweak your engravings and get you amped about taking notes again. Here are a few resources to get you started: A Guide to Alternative Handwriting and Shorthand Systems Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand My favorite method is called Teeline —anyone can look at this one and learn a few things. It's mostly based around removing unimportant letters and making complex letters easier to write quickly. Instead of converting entirely to shorthand, you might try translating just some of your most-frequently used words into a shorthand "language" that takes less time to write. If you're taking notes on the computer, supercharge your repetitive typing with tools like our very own text-replacement application Texter (Windows) or TextExpander (Mac). Don't Oh goodness! Don't take notes? How controversial! Well, it couldn't hurt to relax every once in a while. Especially in small classes and seminar situations, staying engaged through discussion and questions might do you better than scribbling every word. Here's another way to avoid taking notes: Record your lectures. Digital recorders can capture hours of audio. Sit back and just listen. After class, you can play it back at double- speed and take notes in half the time. Take that, engineers! The school-bound productivity nuts at weblog HackCollege will be joining us all week to offer their perspective on making the most of your Back to School regimen.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/henryjenkins/~3/DGMBcad0MUw/transmedia_storytelling_and_en.html

 Given the interest out there in transmedia or cross-media entertainment, I thought I would share the syllabus for the course I am teaching this fall at the University of Southern California. I am still shifting some details, as I deal with the scheduling of guest speakers, but all of the speakers listed have agreed to come. The readings are a good starter set for people wanting to do more thinking on this emerging area of research. I will be sharing reflections about the course material here throughout the fall, since I'm sure working through these readings in a class context is going to spark me to do some fresh thinking on the topic. I'd love to hear from others out there teaching transmedia or cross-media topics. If you know someone at USC who you think might want to take this class, let them know. I still have room for more students. Course Description and Outcomes: We now live at a moment where every story, image, brand, relationship plays itself out across the maximum number of media platforms, shaped top down by decisions made in corporate boardrooms and bottom up by decisions made in teenager's bedrooms. The concentrated ownership of media conglomerates increases the desirability of properties that can exploit "synergies" between different parts of the medium system and "maximize touch-points" with different niches of consumers. The result has been the push towards franchise-building in general and transmedia entertainment in particular. A transmedia story represents the integration of entertainment experiences across a range of different media platforms. A story like Heroes or Lost might spread from television into comics, the web, computer or alternate reality games, toys and other commodities, and so forth, picking up new consumers as it goes and allowing the most dedicated fans to drill deeper. The fans, in turn, may translate their interests in the franchise into concordances and wikipedia entries, fan fiction, vids, fan films, cosplay, game mods, and a range of other participatory practices that further extend the story world in new directions. Both the commercial and grassroots expansion of narrative universes contribute to a new mode of storytelling, one which is based on an encyclopedic expanse of information which gets put together differently by each individual consumer as well as processed collectively by social networks and online knowledge communities. The course is broken down into five basic units: "Foundations" offers an overview of the current movement towards transmedia or cross-platform entertainment; "Narrative Structures" introduces the basic toolkit available to contemporary storytellers, digging deeply into issues around seriality, and examining what it might mean to think of a story as a structure of information; "World Building" deals with what it means to think of contemporary media franchises in terms of "worlds" or "universes" which unfold across many different media systems; "Audience Matters" links transmedia storytelling to issues of audience engagement and in the process, considers how fans might contribute unofficial extensions to favorite media texts; and "Tracing the History of Transmedia" pulls back to consider key moments in the evolution of transmedia entertainment, moving from the late 19th century to the present. In this course, we will be exploring the phenomenon of transmedia storytelling through: • Critically examining commercial and grassroots texts which contribute to larger media franchises (mobisodes and webisodes, comics, games). • Developing a theoretical framework for understanding how storytelling works in this new environment with a particular emphasis upon issues of world building, cultural attractors, and cultural activators. • Tracing the historical context from which modern transmedia practices emerged, including consideration of the contributions of such key figures as P.T. Barnum, L. Frank Baum, Feuillade, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Cordwainer Smith, Walt Disney, George Lucas, DC and Marvel Comics, and Joss Whedon. • Exploring what transmedia approaches contribute to such key genres as science fiction, fantasy, horror, superhero, suspense, soap opera, teen and reality television. • Listening to cutting-edge thinkers from the media industry talk about the challenges and opportunities which transmedia entertainment offers, walking through cases of contemporary projects that have deployed cross-platform strategies. • Putting these ideas into action through working with a team of fellow students to develop and pitch transmedia strategies around an existing media property. Required Books: Pat Harrington and Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009), 636 pages. Kim Deitch, Alias the Cat ( New York: Pantheon, 2007), 136 pages. Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, Marvels (Marvel Comics, 2003), 216 pages. Kevin J. Anderson (ed.), Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (New York: Spectra, 1995), 416 pages. Joss Whedon, The Long Way Home (New York: Dark Horse, 2007), 136 pages. All additional readings will be provided through the Blackboard site for the class. Grading and Assignments: Commercial Extension Paper 20 percent Grassroots Extension Paper 20 percent Final Project - Franchise Development Project 40 percent Class Forums 20 percent In order to fully understand how transmedia entertainment works, students will be expected to immerse themselves into at least one major media franchise for the duration of the term. You should consume as many different instantiations (official and unofficial) of this franchise as you can and try to get an understanding of what each part contributes to the series as a whole. COMMERCIAL EXTENSION PAPER : For the first paper, you will be asked to write a 5-7 page essay examining one commercially produced media extension (comic, website, game, mobisode, amusement park attraction, etc.). You should try to address such issues as its relationship to the story world, its strategies for expanding the narrative, its deployment of the distinctive properties of its platform, its targeted audience, and its cultural attractors/activators. (Due Sept. 23)(20 Percent) GRASSROOTS EXTENSION PAPER : For the second paper, you will be asked to write a 5-7 page essay examining a fan-made extension (fan fiction, discussion list, video, etc.) and try to understand where the audience has sought to attach themselves to the franchise, what they add to the story world, how they respond to or route around the invitational strategies of the series, and how they reshape our understanding of the characters, plot or world of the original franchise. (Due Nov. 18) (20 Percent) FINAL PROJECT - FRANCHISE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT : Students will be organized into teams, which for the purpose of this exercise will function as transmedia companies. You should select a media property (a film, television series, comic book, novel, etc.) that you feel has the potential to become a successful transmedia franchise. In most cases, you will be looking for a property that has not yet added media extensions, though you could also look at a property that you feel has been mishandled in the past. By the end of the term, your team will be "pitching" this property. The pitch should include a briefing book that describes: 1) the core defining properties of the property 2) a description of the intended audience(s) 3) a discussion of the specific plans for each media platform you are going to deploy 4) an overall description for how you will seek to integrate the different media platforms to create a coherent world 5) a business plan which includes likely costs and revenue and the time table for rolling out the various media elements 6) parallel examples of other properties which have deployed the strategies being described The pitch itself will be a 20 minute group presentation, followed by 10 minutes of questioning. The presentation should give us a "taste" of what the property is like as well as to lay out some of the key elements that are identified in the briefing book. For an example of what these pitches might look like, watch the materials assembled at http://www.educationarcade.org/SiDA/videos , which shows how a similar activity was conducted at MIT. Each member of the team will be expected to develop expertise around a specific media platform as well as to contribute to the over-all strategies for spreading the property across media systems. The group will select its own team leader who will be responsible for contacts with the instructor and will coordinate the presentation. The team leader will be asked to provide feedback on what each team member contributed to the effort, while team members will be asked to provide an evaluation of how the team leader performed. Team Members will check in with the instructor on Week Ten and Week Fourteen to review their progress on the assignment. Presentation (Dec.7, 9) Briefing Book (Dec. 14) (40 Percent) CLASS FORUM : For each class session, students will be asked to contribute a substantive question or comments via the class forum on BlackBoard. Comments should reflect an understanding of the readings for that day as well as an attempt to formulate an issue that we can explore through class discussions or with the visiting speakers. (20 Percent) Class Schedule: *Guest Speakers are tentative, subject to availability. Shifts in speakers and thus topics and readings may occur after the semester starts. Part One: Foundations Week 1 August 24: Transmedia Storytelling 101 Henry Jenkins, "Transmedia Storytelling 101" Confessions of an Aca-Fan, http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html Henry Jenkins, "Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmeda Storytelling," Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006), pp. 93-130. Geoff Long, "What Is Transmedia Storytelling", Transmedia Storytelling: Business, Aesthetics and Production at the Jim Henson Company , http://cms.mit.edu/research/theses.php , pp. 13-69. August 26 Intertextual Commodities? P. David Marshall, "The New Intertextual Commodity" in Dan Harries (ed.) The New Media Book (London: BFI, 2002), pp. 69-81. Derek Johnson, "Intelligent Design or Godless Universe? The Creative Challenges of World Building and Franchise Development," Franchising Media Worlds: Content Networks and The Collaborative Production of Culture, PhD Dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2009. pp.170-279. Watch: Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy Week 2 August 31: Media Mix in Japan Anne Allison, "Pokemon: Getting Monsters and Communicating Capitalism," Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), pp. 192-233. David Buckingham and Julian Sefton-Green, "Structure, Agency and Pedagogy in Children's Media Culture" In Joseph Tobin (ed.) Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), pp. 12-33. Mizuko Ito, "Gender Dynamics of the Japanese Media Mix," Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming (Cambridge, MIT, 2008), pp. 97-110. September 2: Toys and Tales Jeff Gomez, "Creating Blockbuster Worlds" (unpublished) Henry Jenkins, "Talking Transmedia: An Interview with Starlight Runner's Jeff Gomez," Confessions of an Aca-Fan , http://www.henryjenkins.org/2008/05/an_interview_with_starlight_ru.html Mark Federman, "What is the Meaning of the Medium is the Message," http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage.htm Guest Speakers: Jeff Gomez, Starlight Runner Jordan Greenhill, DivX Week 3 September 7 is the Labor Day holiday September 9: Transmedia Branding Faris Yacob, "I Believe Children are the Future," http://www.slideshare.net/NigelG/ipa-thesis-i-believe-the-children-are-our-future Henry Jenkins, "How Transmedia Storytelling Begat Transmedia Planning...", Confessions of an Aca-Fan , http://henryjenkins.org/2006/12/how_transmedia_storytelling_be.html http://henryjenkins.org/2006/12/ how_transmedia_storytelling_be_1.html Guest Speaker: Faris Yacob, McCann Erickson New York Week 4 September 14 Heroes and Alchemists: The New Storytelling The 9th Wonders , Chapters 1-9 http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/novels_library.shtml?novel=9 Henry Jenkins, "We Had So Many Stories to Tell': The Heroes Comics as Transmedia Storytelling," Confessions of an Aca-Fan , http://henryjenkins.org/2007/12/we_had_so_many_stories_to_tell.html Carolyn Handler Miller, Digital Storytelling: A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment (Amsterdam: Focal Press, 2006), "Using a Transmedia Approach", pp. 149-164 (Rec.) Guest Speakers: Mauricio Mota, Mark Warshaw, Here Come the Alchemists Part Two: Narrative Structures September 16: Seriality Angela Ndalianis, Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004), "Polycentrism and Seriality: (Neo-)Baroque Narrative Formation," pp. 31-70. Jason Mittell, "All in the Game: The Wire , Serial Storytelling and Procedural Logic" (Harrington and Wardrip- Fruin, pp. 429-438. Watch: The Wire http:// www.amazon.com/Wire-Complete-Fourth-Season/dp/B000QXDJLI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvdqid=1197321529&sr=8-1 "Young Prop Joe" "Bunk and McNulty" "Young Omar" Jennifer Haywood, Consuming Pleasures: Active Audiences and Serial Fictions from Dickens to Soap Opera (University of Kentucky Press, 1997), "Mutual Friends: The Development of the Mass Serial," pp. 21-51. (rec) Week 5 September 21: Soaps Go Transmedia Sharon Marie Ross, "Managing Millennials: Teen Expectations of Tele-Participation," Beyond the Box: Television and the Internet (London: Blackwell, 2008), pp. 124-172. Sam Ford, "From Oakdale Confidential to L.A. Diaries : Transmedia Storytelling for ATWT," As the World Turns in a Convergence Culture (Master's Thesis), pp. 141-162. Louisa Stein, "Playing Dress Up: Digital Fashion and Game Extensions of Televisual Experience in Gossip Girl 's Second Life," Cinema Journal , pp. 116-122. Watch: Gossip Girl: Tales From the Upper East Side http://www.cwtv.com/thecw/gossip-girl-tales-from-the-upper-east-side LA Diaries http://www.cbs.com/daytime/specials/la_diaries/ episodes.php September 23: Creating Alternate Realities Christy Dena, "Emerging Participatory Culture Practices: Player-Created Tiers in Alternate Reality Games," Convergence , February 2008, pp. 41-58. Jane McGonigal, Why I Love Bees: A Case Study in Collective Intelligence Gaming." Ecologies of Play . Ed. Katie Salen. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008), pp. 199-228. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.199 Dave Szulborski, "Puppetmastering: Creating a Game" and "Puppetmastering: Running a Game," This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming (New York: New Fiction, 2005), pp. 207-284. Guest Speaker: Evan Jones, Stitch Media COMMERCIAL EXTENSION PROJECT DUE Week 6 September 28: Speaking of Serials Kim Deitch, Alias the Cat (New York: Pantheon, 2007) (Required Book) David Kalat, "The Long Arm of Fantomas" (Harrington and Wardrip-Fruin), pp. 211-225. September 30: The Unfolding Text Neil Perryman, " Doctor Who and the Convergence of Media: A Case Study in Transmedia Storytelling," Convergence , February 2008, pp. 21-40. Lance Perkin,"Truths Universally Acknowledged: How the 'Rules' of Doctor Who Affect the Writing," (Harrington and Wardrip-Fruin), pp. 13-24. Matt Hills, "Absent Epic, Implied Story Arcs, and Variations on a Narrative Theme: Doctor Who (2005) as Cult/Mainstream TV," (Harrington and Wardrip- Fruin), pp. 333-343. Part Three: World-Building Week 7 October 5: Migratory Characters William Uricchio and Roberta E. Pearson, "I'm Not Fooled By That Cheap Disguise," in Roberta E. Pearson, The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to A Superhero and His Media (New York: Routledge, 1991), pp. 182-213. Will Brooker, "Establishing the Brand: Year One," Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon (London: Continuium, 2001), pp. 36-67. Bob Kane, "The Legend of the Batman" (1938) and Bob Kane, "The Origins of the Batman," (1948) in Dennis O'Neil (ed.) The Secret Origins of the DC Superheroes (New York: DC, 1976), pp. 36-50. Bob Kane, "The First Batman" (1956) and Dennis O'Neil, "There Is No Hope in Crime Alley," (1978) The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told (New York: DC, 1988). Guest Speaker: Geoffrey Long, GAMBIT October 7: World Building in Comics Matthew J. Pustz, Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1999), pp. 129-133. Jason Bainbridge, "Worlds Within Worlds: The Role of Superheroes in the Marvel and DC Universe," Angela Ndalianis (ed.), The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero (New York: Routledge, 2008) pp. 64-85. Sam Ford and Henry Jenkins, "Managing Multiplicity in Superhero Comics," (Harrington and Wardrip- Fruin), pp. 303-313. Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, Marvels (New York: Marvel Comics, 1993) (Required Book) Alec Austin, "Hybrid Expectations, Expectations Across Media, CMS Thesis, pp. 97-127. Week 8 October 12: Who Watches the Watchman? Stuart Moulthrop, "See the Strings: Watchmen and the Under-Language of Media" (Harrington and Wardrip-Fruin), pp. 287-303. Watch: NBS Nightly News With Ted Philips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5cInmK6LQ&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=878F6464EEBE32F9&index=10 The Keene Act and YOU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkWGZ1G7TAE&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=878F6464EEBE32 Saturday Morning Watchmen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w Guest Speaker: Alex McDowell, Production Designer, Watchmen October 14: World Building in Science Fiction Walter Jon Williams, "In What Universe?" (Harrington and Wardrip-Fruin), pp. 25-32. George R.R. Martin, "On the Wild Cards Novels," in Pat Harrington and Wardrip- Fruin (eds.) Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007). Cordwainer Smith, "The Dead Lady of Clown Town," and "The Ballad of Lost C'mell," J. J. Pierce (ed.) The Best of Cordwainer Smith (New York: Del Rey, 1975), pp. 124-209, pp. 315-337. Week 9 October 19: Launching a New World David Lavery, " Lost and Long-Form Television Narrative" (Harrington and Wardrip-Fruin), pp. 313-323. Guest Speaker: Jesse Alexander, Executive Producer, Year One October 21: Transmedia and Social Change TBA Guest Speaker: Bram Pitoyo, Wild Alchemy Part Four: Audiences Week 10 October 26: The Logic of Engagement Ivan Askwith, "The Expanded Television Text, "Five Logics of Engagement,"; " Lost at Televisions' Crossroads," Television 2.0: Reconceptualizing TV as an Engagement Medium , CMS thesis, pp. 51-150. Guest Speaker: Ivan Askwith, Big Space Ship October 28: Expanding the Audience Kim Moses and Ian Sander, selections from Ghost Whisperer: The Spirit Guide (New York: Titan Books, 2008). Guest Speaker: Kim Moses, Executive Producer, The Ghost Whisperer Week 11 November 2: Fan Productivity Jesse Walker, "Remixing Television: Francesca Coppa on the Vidding Underground," Reason , August/September 2008, http://www.reason.com/news/show/127432.html Francesca Coppa, "Women, Star Trek , and the Early Development of Fannish Vidding," Transformative Works and Cultures (2008), http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/44/64 Bud Caddell, "Becoming a Mad-Man," http://drop.io/becomingamadman November 4: The Encyclopedic Impulse Janet Murray, "Digital Environments are Encyclopedic," Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 83-90. Bob Rehak, "That Which Survives: Star Trek 's Design Network in Fandom and Franchise" (Unpublished), pp. 2-79. Robert V. Kozinets, "Inno-Tribes: Star Trek as Wikimedia" Consumer Tribes (London: Butterworth- Heinemann, 2007), pp. 194-209. Watch: Star Trek: Phase II "In Harms Way" http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/episodes.html Week 12 November 9: The Power of Details Kristin Thompson, "Not Your Father's Tolkien" and "Interactive Middle Earth," The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), pp.53-74, p. 224-256 C.S. Lewis, "On Stories," Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (New York: Harvest, 2002), pp. 3-21. November 11: Ephemeral Fascinations Michael Bonesteel, "Henry Darger's Search for the Grail in the Guise of a Celesttial Child" (Harrington and Wardrip- Fruin), pp. 253-267. Amelie Hastie, "The Collector: Material Histories, Colleen Moore's Dollhouse, and Ephemeral Recollection," Cupboards of Curiosity: Women, Recollection, and Film History (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007), pp. 19-72. Week 13 November 16 Independent Horrors James Castonguay, "The Political Economy of the Indie Blockbuster: Fandom, Intermediality, and The Blair Witch Project," in Sarah L. Higley and Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (eds.) Nothing That Is: Milllennial Cinema and the Blair Witch Controversies (Detroit: Wayne State University, 2004), pp. 65-86. The Blair Witch Project Website http://www.blairwitch.com/ Head Trauma Website http://www.headtraumamovie.com/ Guest Speaker: Lance Weiller, Head Trauma Part Five: Tracing the History of Transmedia November 18: Before the Rainbow Neil Harris, "The Operational Aesthetic," Humbug: The Art of P.T. Barnum (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973), pp. 59-90. Mark Evan Swartz, "A Novel Enchantment," Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939 ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), pp. 161-172. Week 14 November 23: What Uncle Walt Taught Us J.P. Telotte, Disney TV (Detroit: Wayne State, 2004), pp. 1-91. Karal Ann Marling, "Imagineering the Disney Theme Parks," in Karal Ann Marling (ed.) Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance (Montreal: Centre Canadian d'Architecture, 1997), pp. 29-178. (Rec.) November 25: Franchises and Attractions Henry Jenkins, "The Pleasure of Pirates And What It Tells Us About World Building in Branded Entertainment", Confessions of an Aca-Fan, http://henryjenkins.org/2007/06/forced_simplicity_and_the_crit.html Don Carson, "Environmental Storytelling: Creating Immersive 3D Worlds Using Lessons Learned from the Theme Park industry," Gamasutra , http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20000301/carson_pfv.htm Week 15 November 30: Lessons From Lucas Jonathon Gray, "Learning to Use the Force: Star Wars Toys and Their Films," Show Sold Separately (Forthcoming), pp. 232-247. Will Brooker, Using the Force: Creativity, Community and Star Wars Fans (New York: Continuum, 2002), "The Fan Betrayed," pp. 79-99, "Canon," pp. 101-114. Kevin J. Anderson (ed.), Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (New York: Spectra, 1995) (Required Book) December 2: Across the Whedonverse Tanya Krzywinska, "Arachne Challenges Minerva: The Spinning Out of Long Narrative in World of Warcraft and Buffy the Vampire Slayer " (Harrington and Wardrip- Fruin), pp. 385-399. Joss Whedon, The Long Way Home (New York: Dark Horse, 2007) (Required Book) Watch: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog December 7 Student Presentations December 9 Student Presentations

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/d9cO60_n89k/

 By now, most businesses and self-employed individuals know that they can use social media services like Twitter and Facebook to help themselves grow their customer base and (hopefully) make some money. But for most people, actually using these services presents a challenge. Granted, there is no shortage of social media ‘gurus’ who have blogged their tips, but when it comes to finding ongoing instruction from genuine experts, the pickings have been slim. Nick O’Neill , founder of the The Social Times , is looking to help. O’Neill is launching an educational program called the New Media School , which is setting out to help both companies and individuals most effectively take advantage of the businesses opportunities afforded by the web. The school’s first course is the Social Media Marketing Program , which entitles participants to a number of text guides as well as a series of video lectures led by a solid roster of industry veterans. Each lecture will be streamed live via Livestream , and students in the program will be able to submit questions live via an integrated chat box. The course will begin in about a week and a half. The school is charging $147 per month, and plans to offer new content on a rolling basis. For now, O’Neill is restricting the class size to 125. He explains that while the video lectures will be held via video stream (which presumably would have a much higher limit), he will be personally advising each participating company and indivdual through the course’s forums. There will also be virtual ‘office hours’ conducted through Livestream. O’Neill mentioned that he may consider offering alternative formats in the future (perhaps a video- only option without the one-on-one support), but the school is still in early stages so he’s eager to first see what people are interested in. Here’s a full list of the program’s instructors: Brad Feld - Co- Founder of Foundry Group and author of widely read venture capital blog Chris Bucchere - Founder of Social Collective Clara Shih - Author of “The Facebook Era” Craig Stoltz - Author of “Web 2.Oh… Really?”, one of Time.com’s Top 25 Blogs Dan Schawbel - Author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success” David Berkowitz - Director of Emerging Media Client Strategy for 360i, author of the blog Inside the Marketer’s Studio Debbie Weil - Author of “The Corporate Blogging Book” Don Steele - Vice President of Digital Marketing, MTV Networks Frank Gruber - AOL Product Strategist Evangelist Harper Reed - CTO at skinnyCorp, Co-Founder of Threadless Hiten Shah - Co-Founder of KISSmetrics Jake Brewer - Engagement Director of Sunlight Foundation Jesse Thomas - Founder of JESS3 Jared Goralnick - Founder of Set Consulting Joe Suh - Founder and CEO of myChurch John Bell - Managing Director of Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence and President of WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) Leslie Bradshaw - Director of Engagement, New Media Strategies Mike Lazerow - CEO and Founder, Buddy Media Mike Volpe - VP of Inbound Marketing, HubSpot Neil Patel - Co-Founder of KISSmetrics Shashi Bellamkonda - Head of Social Media Strategy, Network Solutions Tamar Weinberg - Author of “The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web” Ted Leonsis - Owner, Washington Capitals, Chairman of Revolution Money, and Vice Chairman Emritus of AOL Tim O’Shaughnessy - Co- Founder CEO, LivingSocial Victoria Ransom - Founder, Wildfire Interactive Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/MxjdBXGLryk/cousesmart_college_textbooks_on_your_iphone.php

 CourseSmart , a leading player in the budding eTextbook market, just released its first iPhone application . Thanks to this app, students can now access college textbooks they have leased from the company on their phones. CourseSmart currently offers over 7,000 eTextbooks and, in addition to the iPhone, also offers software for Macs and Windows PCs. CourseSmart notes that students at over 5,000 colleges have bought textbooks through the company. It is important to note, though, that while CourseSmart's textbooks are cheaper than hard copies, they also expire after 180 days. Sponsor With the Kindle DX , Amazon is obviously also making a big push for the adoption of electronic textbooks. While we haven't seen any new numbers lately, we also haven't heard anything new about schools adopting Amazon's eBook reader for the upcoming semester either. CourseSmart's books are not compatible with the Kindle. The App The iPhone app itself is a decent eBook reader, though it suffers from the fact that the textbooks haven't been formatted for the small screen. Also, while the company's desktop readers allow students to take notes, the iPhone app can only read those (notes are stored on CourseSmart's servers). Of course, the app really isn't meant as a student's only way to access the textbook, so these shortcomings can be forgiven. What's more important is that the app gives students an easy way to access their notes from anywhere. Thanks to the app's built-in search, it is also easy to quickly look up a fact. Try It If you want to give the app a try but don't want to lease a textbook, don't worry. CourseSmart includes a number of sample chapters from standard textbooks with the app. Discuss

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/jaBSpQLStzY/in-america-it-is-inc.html

 ( Image from the CC-licensed Flickr stream of onurkiyak ) Snip from an op-ed by Barbara Ehrenreich (!) in the New York Times , which examines the moral and social impact of ordinances against the publicly poor. The op-ed is based on a new study from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty which found that the number of ordinances against the "publicly poor" are rising. More American cities, according to the report, are enacting and enforcing laws against "the indigent." How do you know when someone is indigent? As a Las Vegas statute puts it, "An indigent person is a person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive" public assistance. That could be me before the blow-drying and eyeliner, and it's definitely Al Szekely at any time of day. A grizzled 62-year-old, he inhabits a wheelchair and is often found on G Street in Washington -- the city that is ultimately responsible for the bullet he took in the spine in Fu Bai, Vietnam, in 1972. He had been enjoying the luxury of an indoor bed until last December, when the police swept through the shelter in the middle of the night looking for men with outstanding warrants. It turned out that Mr. Szekely, who is an ordained minister and does not drink, do drugs or curse in front of ladies, did indeed have a warrant -- for not appearing in court to face a charge of "criminal trespassing" (for sleeping on a sidewalk in a Washington suburb). So he was dragged out of the shelter and put in jail. "Can you imagine?" asked Eric Sheptock, the homeless advocate (himself a shelter resident) who introduced me to Mr. Szekely. "They arrested a homeless man in a shelter for being homeless." Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor? (NYT via Ned Sublette) Read the report that was the inspiration for this op-ed, produced by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH): Homes Not Handcuffs -- List Of "Meanest Cities" Released , and here is a direct link to the document (PDF)

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http://www.profhacker.com/2009/08/10/two-quick-points-about-wikipedia/

 First, I wanted to point people to a forthcoming study that suggests that Wikipedia’s growth has slowed dramatically, and that the nature of its community is changing. (See this summary at New Scientist or this, more detailed one , at the project’s blog.) Research into wiki communities is fascinating stuff, and this paper will definitely be worth reading when the 2009 WikiSym proceedings are published. And, second, any discussion of Wikipedia lets me repeat a point that teachers and students tend to forget all too often: The problem with Wikipedia as a source in, say, a first-year course, isn’t that it’s sometimes inaccurate or incomplete compared to other general encyclopedias. What source isn’t? The real problem used to be that you couldn’t reliably access the page in the state that your student accessed it. Or, you could, but it was a pain, because you’d have to sort through the change log, and who has time for that? It’s 4 in the morning, and the papers are due back by 9am. Wikipedia thoughtfully introduced a feature a while back that, for my money, is its most underused feature: a permanent link to the current revision of any page. It’s always on the left-hand column, and it does exactly what the name suggests. If you-or your students-are really lazy, you can click the “Cite this page” link right underneath it and get full bibliographic information, plus citations in a variety of formats, ready for copy-and-paste. Beneath the jump, I’ve posted a screenshot with the super-double-top-secret location of these features. Screenshot powered by Skitch

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/freetech4teachers/cGEY/~3/g9_OwfGAZgo/forvo-hear-words-pronounced-by-native.html

 Forvo can best be described as an audio wiki for word pronunciations. One of the problems with learning to speak a language that is not phonetic is trying to figure out how to pronounce the words. Forvo hosts hundreds of recordings of word pronunciations by native speakers. Currently there are nearly 200 languages supported on Forvo. Along with word pronunciations, Forvo provides some basic demographic information about each language. Forvo's content is user supported and user generated so new pronunciations are added every day. Applications for Education Forvo is a good complimentary resource for foreign language teachers. Students can use Forvo as a study aid when they are away from the classroom. Forvo could also be a good complimentary tool to use in independent study courses. http://freetech4teachers.blogspot.com

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