Building Open Education Resources from the Botton Up
Hello to everyone at the Open Education Resources Free Seminar today in Brisbane. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there in person today, but for those who were there – and anyone else interested – my short presentation ‘Building Open Education Resources From the Bottom Up: How Student-Created Open Educational Resources Can Challenge Institutional Indifference‘ is embedded here:
My apologies for the few glaring typos in the slides – it’s a good argument against recording a presentation at 1am in the morning! Any comments, questions or thoughts either from folks at the seminar, or from anyone else, are most welcome!
Update: If you’re just after the powerpoint slides, you can now view or download them on Slideshare.
Spore, or: The Battleworm 4000 (and kids…)
So, there has been a lot of talk about Spore since it’s initial release almost a fortnight ago and since I’m in the middle of a series of lectures for our new gaming based unit in Communication Studies, I figured I should definitely try it out. I’m still thinking all of the logistics through, but one thing is clear from the outset: while Spore does have a win-condition (unlike The Sims which is basically endless), it’s not a game, it’s a toy. Or, rather, it’s not overly satisfying as a game (the gameplay is, to be frank, not all that exciting), but as a toy to build cellular organisms, new species and even space-faring civilisations, it’s absolutely brilliant. Also, even with the weirdest creatures, Spore makes everything cute. To justify that point, I’d like to introduce one of my species, the Battleworm 4000:
And make sure you watch the video all the way through to meet the kids! More on Spore, I’m sure, in the coming weeks …
Pew Videogames Study Shatters Myths About Teens and Gamers!
The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently released a very significant survey which really challenges many popular preconceptions and myths about videogames and the impact of game play on young people. One of the most important findings is that any stereotype of the typical video game player seems pretty much useless, because almost all American teens, in all their diversity, play videogames:
- Fully 97% of teens ages 12-17 play computer, web, portable, or console games.
- 50% of teens played games “yesterday.”
- 86% of teens play on a console like the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii.
- 73% play games on a desktop or a laptop computer.
- 60% use a portable gaming device like a Sony PlayStation Portable, a Nintendo DS, or a Game Boy.
- 48% use a cell phone or handheld organizer to play games.
- 99% of boys and 94% of girls play video games.
Nor is there one dominant gaming type or genre:
The five most popular games among American teens are Guitar Hero, Halo 3, Madden NFL, Solitaire, and Dance Dance Revolution. These games include rhythm games (Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution), puzzle/card games (Solitaire), and sports games.
Likewise, rather than being isolating, gaming is actually a primarily social experience for many teens:
For most teens, gaming is a social activity and a major component of their overall social experience. Teens play games in a variety of ways, including with others in person, with others online, and by themselves. Although most teens play games by themselves at least occasionally, just one-quarter (24%) of teens only play games alone, and the remaining three-quarters of teens play games with others at least some of the time.
- 65% of game-playing teens play with other people who are in the room with them.
- 27% play games with people who they connect with through the internet.
- 82% play games alone, although 71% of this group also plays with others.
It was also reassuring that most parents monitor what sort of games their kids play, at least in the earlier years, and most parents did not find any correlation between videogames and anti-social or violent behaviour in teens:
- 90% of parents say they always or sometimes know what games their children play.
- 72% say they always or sometimes check the ratings before their children are allowed to play a game.
- 46% of parents say they always or sometimes stop their kids from playing a game.
- 31% of parents say they always or sometimes play games with their children.
- 62% of parents of gamers say video games have no effect on their child one way or the other.
- 19% of parents of gamers say video games have a positive influence on their child.
- 13% of parents of gamers say video games have a negative influence on their child.
- 5% of parents of gamers say gaming has some negative influence/some positive influence, but it depends on the game.
One of the other major findings was that games tended to be played socially (ie with others) more than in isolation, and that gaming communities tended to make teens socially and politically active! If you’re in any way interested, I’d encourage you to look at the report yourself (PDF link); it’s already getting decent media coverage. Meanwhile, the BBC also reports that a huge study of EverQuest II players discovered that they were neither obese nor was their Body Mass Index (BMI) any higher than the norm (actually, it was a little lower).
[Photo: ‘I … Will Help … My Friends’ by _mpd_, CC BY NC SA.]
Remarkable Remixes
The winners of Total Recut’s ‘What is Remix Challenge 2008’ competition are in, with many outstanding examples each showing strengths technical, political or just plain entertaining. For me, though, those that most directly engaged with the politics and practice of remix were the most inspirational; from the top ten, my favourite three were …
In second place in the competition, right on the boundary between the still and moving image, is “Composition” by Jata Haan:
Two things stood out for me with this video: firstly, that all the images, and music, Haan used were licensed under Creative Commons (more that 100 images); and secondly, that, quite literally, this remix showed that digital tools and creativity can bring previously static material to life! Also, as odd as it is, I quite like the Sydney Opera House.
A lot shorter, and in fifth place in the competition, is “Remix Culture” by Sylvia Koopman:
Koopman’s remix is short, pithy and directly to the point. It also highlights the joys and perils of fair use, when the the ratio of remix to credits is about 3:1! It’s worth noting that Koopman is still in high school and posts a lot her other remix work on YouTube. I think she must be one of those digital natives we keep hearing about! 😉
The last clip I want to mention is Ricardo Carrion’s ‘Remix Culture II’:
Carrion’s piece is probably the most useful in really “explaining” remix culture and certainly has some fun with older science footage and science fiction. As with many in the competition, though, I would have preferred more detailed credits on Coopman’s work. One of the missed opportunities with these remixes was the chance to have ready-to-click credits so that others could easily take a look at the source material and take a whirl at creatively remixing it themselves. I should add that DJ Le Clown’s ‘Xmas in New York City’ which won overall was certainly showed a lot of talent and is technically impressive; it’s just not in my favourites because the actual content remixed is largely unexciting to me (no, not a Sinatra fan, I’m afraid)! If you’re inspired to make your own remixes, take a look at the resources that Total Cut highlighted for entrants to this competition. Everything you need to get inspired, and started, is either above or right there! 🙂
Annotated Links of Interest: September 14th 2008
Links of interest for September 12th 2008 through September 14th 2008:
- YouTube bans terrorism training videos [SMH] – “Terrorist training videos will be banned from appearing on YouTube, under revised new guidelines being implemented by the popular video-sharing site. The Google-owned portal will ban footage that advertises terrorism or extremist causes and supporters of the change hope it will blunt al-Qaeda’s strong media online campaign.” [Via] I wonder what definition of ‘terrorism’ YouTube and Google will be using to enforce this rule?!
- Video Game Snapshots [Gamasutra – Persuasive Games] – Ian Bogost review the emerging design-your-own-videogame tools and suggests they might best be considered tools for personal and social communication rather than meaningful game design platforms. This is not so much a criticism as a look at computer games through the eyes (and rhetoric) of Web 2.0: “There is simply no magic box we can put in front of the world which, when a button is pressed, turns what it sees into a video game. … There are lots of things one can do with web-based game making services. One of them is to try to create hit games that generate ad revenue and earn public renown. Another is to create art games meant to characterize the human condition,… But perhaps the most interesting uses of these tools are the informal ones that so closely resemble snapshots in spirit and function.”
- Photoshop for Democracy Revisited: The Sarah Palin File [Confessions of an Aca/Fan] – Henry Jenkins takes a closer look at the various photoshopped versions of Sarah Palin making their way into US political discourse in the lead-up to the election. Some are flattering, some satirical, but all are participatory!
- Large Hadron Rap [YouTube] – Kate McAlpine’s outstanding rap explaining what the hell CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is actually supposed to be doing! Lyrics and downloadable version here.
You Should Be Reading: Art of the Title Sequence
Since I tend to post as many links as I do write more substantial posts these days, I thought I’d meet myself half way and start making posts about blogs I find useful and enjoyable and that you might like, too. For the first of these ‘you should be reading’ posts, I’d like to draw your attention to the Art of the Title Sequence. This blog is very focused, looking exclusively at the opening sequences of films and, occasionally, of television shows. Opening titles can often be very boring, but when done well they can be amazing works combining graphics, sound, symbolism and energy. Sure, the Bond films have made a cgi-artform out of their attempts to one-up the previous entry in the franchise (and I love the vector graphic cards from Casino Royale) but so many films have wonderful but woefully underappreciated title sequences, well worth examination on their own right. I know one of my favourite bits of my doctoral thesis was a look at the title sequences of the first two Spider-Man films. So, the Art of the Title Sequence brings a focused critical eye on the best (and primarily on the best; it’s too easy to pick apart weak titles) opening sequences out there. As a sample, here’s an excerpt from a recent post on The Mummy 3 (of which the titles are far and away the best bit):
What immediately comes to mind upon viewing these end titles as a stand alone consideration, is that there is great discipline in the master calligrapher’s graceful yet contrasting Chinese brush strokes. His magic carpet ride reminds one of Masaki Kobayashi’s “Hoichi the Earless”; only here the Chinese characters -and Kanji, respectively- become life-taking daggers rather than a life-saving shield. Too, I am reminded of splattered ink at the point of impact and the panning flight of a classic aircraft -both seen in the aforeposted “El Don,” in addition to owing an incalculable debt to the “3OO” end titles and, in a true sense, to Frank Miller.
Fairfax Vs PerthNorg … sort of, anyway!
As Axel and Mark have noted, Brisbane will get its turn to debate the The Future of Journalism this Saturday at a one-day symposium bringing journos, media makers, academics, students and more together to debate the issues. If only it wasn’t 3,500kms away … I’d love to be there, and I doubt the Future of Journalism roadshow will be stopping in Perth any time soon. That said, I’m delighted that Perth citizen journalist and citizen media advocate Bronwen Clune will be presenting on Saturday, bring a little perspective from the West coast. In anticipation of that even, I thought it worth pointing out that earlier this month, in the wake of the news Fairfax was axing more than 500 of their staff, Bronwen (who is the creator of PerthNorg) wrote a provocative post entitled ‘A Letter to Love-Stricken Fairfax Journalists’ which asked whether Fairfax was actually the best place for committed journalists today:
If you are one of the journalists standing in a picket line outside The Age and SMH, I have to ask – do you realise how pathetic you look? … David Kirk has made you an offer and is calling for volunteers before compulsory redundancies. Your relationship is clearly strained and here he is giving you a dignified out and you choose to beg him to take you back? Where is your backbone, your fire, your passion for news? Has Fairfax got you so wrapped around its finger that you think the only way you can be a good journalist is to stay with it? Guess what – people produce good news outside of news corporations everyday. And you can too. Take the divorce settlement and learn to stand on your own feet again. You are better off investing in a relationship with your audience – you’ll find it infinitely more rewarding.
Clearly Bronwen wasn’t pulling her punches, and in the heated discussion which ensued the full spectrum of opinions were heard, from those in total agreement to those who completely disagree (with the oft-heard but fair question: where is the business model for citizen journalism?). However, for my money, the most interesting thread was when Fairfax journalist Nick Miller joined in. Miller, also originally from Perth, didn’t bring a knee-jerk reaction, but instead pointed out that journalists are well aware of what’s happening in the industry, but they still need jobs! An excerpt from Nick’s argument:
I get it. You’re on the forefront of digital journalism. You reckon everyone else should be here. Um… they’re not. Yet. And we’re yet to see any proof that this medium can financially support the extent of investigative journalism that mainstream media currently supports. … I challenge you to go through Perthnorg and remove every link to, and every reference to, a story that originated or was sourced in a Fairfax or WAN or News Ltd report (or wire story, which are paid for by mainstream media). Then see what you’ve got left. A lot of gossip, sure. And gossip is often the start of a news story. But it’s not news.
And:
I am passionate for news. And at Fairfax I have found an organisation that backs my quest for good investigative journalism with all the resources that that requires. Time, money, opportunity, logistical support, etc. The luxury of being able to say ”I didn’t file a thing today, but you should see what I’m working on”. I don’t see any online organisation in Australia that will support that kind of journalism – beyond simply giving it a place to be published. Therefore, I think it is the right thing to fight Fairfax in its attempt to reduce that support. I suggest the Norg concept is just as likely to be an online evolutionary dead end as Fairfax’s. We file for The Age online, too, after all. … The medium isn’t the issue. It’s the search for commercial support for the often highly uncommercial occupation of journalism.
While I agree that a lot of what appears on PerthNorg is more like a Digg-style take on other news sources, there is some original content in there (probably around the 10-15% mark, I’d estimate) but Nick does beg the big question of how any citizen journalism portal can support journalists financially (sure, there’s embedded advertising, but that’s more likely to pay the hosting bills and give a modest income to the site’s creator rather than anyone else creating content). Also noteworthy was the point made by another commentator that people employed by Fairfax Digital are not subject to the rights and conditions afforded even normal Fairfax Journalists, suggesting that even the digital portals for big media companies are becoming the cyber-sweatshops of the twenty-first century. There are, of course, a lot more issues at hand so I’m looking forward to hearing reports from the The Future of Journalism in Brisbane … I hope there are some optimistic answers about citizen journalism and mainstream media working together … and at least some people getting paid!
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