The big finale of the Mithun Olympics at Pier 56 includes the much anticipated Barbie Ski Jump. Each nation must fashion a means by which Barbie can successfully slide down an 8′ ramp and launch into the air, preferably performing death-defying acrobatics. Nations are judged based on length of jump, acrobatic performance, and style overall. Sean Conner, our MA in mechanical engineering, creates a Barbie Ice Block and dons her in medical tape. We think we’ve got a good shot for the Gold.
Re-Vision Labs has partnered with the innovative interdisciplinary program Three Degrees for the Digital Media and Learning Competition supported by the MacArthur Foundation. If the joint proposal is successful in securing a grant, Re-Vision Labs will create a participatory online platform to connect Three Degree’s interdisciplinary Climate Justice Seminar with host community partners in the high-Andes and other climate vulnerable communities around the globe. Please check out the entire proposal here—we are looking to find additional innovative and established partners within the competition to see whether our collaboration can be strengthened further.
Three Degrees, which is comprised of 25 graduate students from 15 different departments at the University of Washington, is researching how communities in the high-Andean regions of Ecuador will adapt to glacier retreat. At the completion of the 5-month seminar the graduate students will create climate adaptation assessments focusing upon 5-issue areas: health, food & water, security, equity, and justice. Currently, the seminar is in its first phase as pilot project.
A while ago I set out with a friendly face and additional one-member camera crew to ask random people in Seattle what “social media” meant to them. The purpose was to retrieve common sentiment regarding this popular phrase and improve my finesse with talking to strangers.
What struck me was that out of the 21 people who answered (9 short of a statistically significant sample size but my video-grapher was tired of following me around), a majority did not mention Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube. Instead, most interviewees used such personal deductive reasoning as:
“Well, social means group, not private, so the group? And media means newspapers and magazines and TV so magazines and reality shows?”
Perhaps. Social Media doesn’t yet seem to have the kind of ubiquitous definition as say, a fork. And that could be a reminder of how new and constantly evolving “social media” is – as well as, more importantly, how its purpose can be so indefinitely customized. Unlike a fork.
What was more interesting to me was that the teenagers I questioned were either dumbfounded or cynical. The former of which made me nervous, the latter suspicious.
For example, one young man in his late teens responded with a tirade about how social media was owned by 10 percent of major corporations which dictate what we wear and who we talk to and what we think.
“I follow my own social norms,” he said. He waved around a Smartphone during this passionate spiel, citing the “higher powers” he refused to succumb to. The higher powers of Apple? Cell towers? Yahweh?
Similarly, an eloquent but bitter street vendor selling his hand-bound journals glanced periodically at his cell phone while condemning the “popular interests” were “guided by Barnes and Noble” and its corporate counterparts.
While a charming middle-aged mom proudly asserted her relative fame on Facebook, most people were downright apologetic and or embarrassed about their use of social networking sites and mediums.
What was most interesting to me was how nearly everyone commented on the need for “face-to-face” interaction with regard to meeting and connecting with people. It seemed like they actually preferred this “old school” (as one man described it) method of engagement.
Are we just not aware that we’re using social media or are we in denial? I wonder which is more likely to hinder personal engagement efforts?
Michelle Chen of Of These Times, paints a skeptical picture of the microfinance industry and the detrimental effects of its presence…Microfinance supporters..start your engines!
Need the current scoop on education in the United States? Check out these links!
Week of December 28th, 2009 – January 1st, 2010
SKYPE: Skype is a software that allows over-the-internet voice and video chat between Skype users for free! It can also incorporate instant messaging, text messaging and calls to landlines. This versatile and user-friendly software has taken internet communication to a level of ease and accessibility. Like many useful technologies, there is great potential to use this software in the classroom for collaboration and the ePals section of the Skype software makes it easily possible for teachers and classrooms to connect to each other. Over-the-internet learning is a steadily growing market and integrating this useful and connective software in the classroom presents endless opportunities and creative outlets for students and educators alike.
Skype allows connectivity in the classroom in new and exciting ways!
1. What You Need: Written by an educator, this short article explains the necessary equipment, space, and permissions needed to set up Skype accounts for students, as well as precautions that should be considered.
2.History Comes To Life: An awesome example of how a teacher connected his history lesson plans with a expert in the field, a curator at a National Museum using Skype. (Yes, yes, this is in Canada.)
3.Virtual Field Trips: School field trips are not always an option due to budget, proximity, or other factors, but with Skype, students can take a live tour of a new place and ask questions about what they are seeing!
4. Interviews in (or out of) the Classroom: These high school students are studying broadcast journalism and use Skype to conduct interviews off campus. Pretty handy!
5. The More the Merrier: 50 great ideas on how to incorporate Skype in the classroom. These ideas stretch from lesson planning to parent-teacher conferences to learning a foreign language.
Check back for next week’s hot topic! Education is empowering. Enjoy the week & Happy New Year!
NGOs take advantage of new social networking and social media tools to disseminate information, tweet elected officials, and track progress during the conference.
Founded under a mission to “give everyone hope and a platform to act,” Hopenhagen, an interactive website that unites global participants around the Copenhagen conference, allows their collective voice to speak loudly and clearly.
Al Gore used the platform of the Copenhagen conference to introduce a new grassroots movement entitled ‘Repower America’ that will focus on garnering public support for Congressional approval of clean energy and climate legislation by Earth Day of 2010. The main focus of the campaign is an interactive wall where participants, celebrities, etc can post videos and photos representing their thoughts and feelings on climate legislation.
Three Degrees, which is comprised of 25 graduate students from 15 different departments at the University of Washington, is researching how communities in the high-Andean regions of Ecuador will adapt to glacier retreat. At the completion of the 5-month seminar the graduate students will create climate adaptation assessments focusing upon 5-issue areas: health, food & water, security, equity, and justice. Currently, the seminar is in its first phase as pilot project.
