I love this assignment by Brian Short (which he blogged here) inspired by this assignment by UMW #ds106 internaut Charles . So I tried a few, and I am giving myself two more stars cause I can 😉
I wonder who is gonna find the joke in that last one.
2 stars (that’s 18 now, need to get 20 done before sundown)
Inspired by Andy Forgrave—as I so regularly have been recently—I tried my hand at an animated ds106zone trading card. I cooked up a quick 4 star example of the animated movie trading card assignment for the beginning of many ds106zone trading cards. You better believe that I, like Andy, will be coming back to this one. I used my own card template, but Andy’s is much better so when I have time I will be re-doing his vertical template, as well as create a landscape version. I’ll save them both as an XCF card template file for GIMP for anyone to use. What’s more, it may come in useful alongside this tutorial for how you can approach this assignment using GIMP.
4 stars (that’s 16 if you round up, baby!)
This is an easy on inspired by Katy Chase, who did an Invaders-inspired version of the Warhol Something assignment. I haven’t done it yet, so I figured what the hell! I simply cropped out an image of the “alien” from the Twilight Zone episode “The Invaders” (you can see it to the right), and then I ran in through this LunaPic Warhol effect site, and BAM! Just be sure to right-click on the image and save it to your computer to upload it on your site.
Eventually I am gonna try and animate each of the 9 image with there various Warhol-inspired colors, but that will be a design assignment for next week, cause I gotta move.
2 Stars Easy as pie!
Riffing on Brian Bennett’s awesome version on the “Graphic Gift” assignment, I downloaded his template and put in the reveal moment for of the classic “The Invaders” episode for a quick three stars (recommended):
This was pretty simple (standing on the shoulders of giants is allowed 😉 ), I just opened Brian’s clipart-high.xcf file in GIMP, and then imported the screenshot of the US Airforce as another layer.
After that, I dragged the layer with the TV transparency to the top.
Then, I made sure the US Airforce image layer was selected and scaled it to fit in the transparency area cleanly by going to Layer–>Scale and changin the size dimensions.
Now, after doing that I got the idea of animating a GIF in that space, which led me to this and earned me 3 and a half more stars (that makes 8 and half counting my “Real-life 8-bit art” submission 😉 I made the following GIF, see how here.
And then merged each of the nine layers of the GIF with a copy of the vintage template layer. Here is what I mean. I duplicated the layer of guys sitting around the TV nine times and put each one above a layer of the alien I animated.
I then went to Layer–>Merge Down while selecting the layer above the alien (namely the guys around the TV). I merged each of the TV layers on top of each of the aliens.
After that, I saved the image as a GIF. Just be sure you scale the original animated GIF you import to map with the vintage image so that the two are roughly the same size. Trying to scale each layer image for size individually will quickly become a pain in the ass.
And, here is the final product:
8-bit cannon and redcoat
I’m just sitting down to catch up on the 20 stars of visual assignments and the 10 stars of design assignments I have to do by Sunday. The first week of #ds106 is always a tour-de-force, and I’m just getting settled a bit with the setup, the feeds, the syndication bus, etc. But it was easier than ever this time around thanks to the seemingly boundless support and genius of Tim Owens. This class is firing on all cylinders! Less than three days to get 26 students up and running with their own domains, not to mention blogging, tweeting, tagging, and wrapping their head around the distributed syndication bus—that’s pretty amazing when you think about it, but it’s becoming par for the course when it comes to #ds106. This course rocks!
Anyway, I’ve been carrying a camera around to make sure I do the Daily Creates (no cellphone for me, so I need to go out of my way to create, unlike all you lazy ass smart phoners 😉 ) and it just so happens I was at the multicultural night at my son’s elementary school. The table my family set up about Italy (forza Italia!) was in front of a huge, rather cool mosaic of the Revolutionary War history of Fredericksburg. I took my camera out and started snapping some shots, only to realize just how much this “real-life” art has in common with the popular 8-bit art of the digital world. So not only did I take some fun pictures in the “real-world,” but I created a new visual assignment called “Real-life 8-bit Art.” The description is as follows:
8-bit art is all the rage right now, and what is so compelling about it is that it’s all around us. Find or create 8-bit art in your real-world environment and photograph it so that you can share it here and actually get credit! Free yourself of the prison that is your computer, find 8-bit art in nature and release your inner-hippie.
I like that the assignment is open ended, take a picture or use something in nature (or your house, etc.) to create 8-bit art in the ral-world. Now some of you might be saying, “Hey, WTF?” How can you just take images of a stupid mosaic and call it an assignment?’ Well, I can do it because this is #ds106, and you can do it too, dammit. Let’s go, stop feeding of the masses, and create something already.
Anyway, here are my images from the mosaic, I really kinda love them 😉
8-bit Horse
Tetris
8-bit Brit
8-bit George Washington
8-bit colonial house
8-bit Hugh Mercer
My daughter, the great Tessy, was featured in an image in the local newspaper, The Freelance-Star, given her prowess at picking local strawberries. What’s interesting is that there is a farm right in the middle of the city of Fredericksburg (Braehead Farm),that I had no idea existed until recently. Just when you think you have a small town figured out.
Earlier today I fired up ds106.tv to share my thoughts about ds106 with the 2013 Faculty Fellows program at the College of Wooster. The timing was right because I just started a Summer session of ds106 this Monday, and my head is spinning from the experience—it’s been more than a year since my last ds106 class. Coming back to the class gave me what I like to think is a more nuanced idea of the elements of community buttressed by a participatory, syndicated architecture that makes ds106 so awesome. The argument undergirding this presentation is that what’s unique and relevant about ds106 for teaching online, in particular, is that both the class and the larger community models the distributed, open principles that make the web so radical. So rather than aping a monolithic silo that happens to have a URL, like most LMSs and by extension xMOOCs, ds106 inhabits the ecosystem of the web that scales at the level of the individual learner. It was a fun presentation to give! And I hope the faculty at Wooster got something out of the discussion.
@jimgroom awesome session this morning. It led to a very lively discussion and kept the Fellows jazzed all day #fellows2013
— Jon Breitenbucher (@j_breitenbucher) May 22, 2013
A special thanks to Jon Breitenbucher for inviting me, and I can rest assured that Alan Levine‘s workshop and presentation on-site made up for any of my glaring omissions. It almost feels silly for me to talk ds106 remotely when the man who has ruled that class for the last year was there in-person. Nonetheless, I appreciate the opportunity, it helped me fine tune a number of thoughts that have been churning in my head around community and architecture as it relates to ds106, as well as how it might be applied more generally.
A few notes about the recording, I have to apologize I couldn’t include the more than 20 minute Q&A in the above video, but the recording I did was not able to capture the audio from the Google Hangout that was running parallel to ds106.tv. We’re working on that, but I do have to say I love working with the little makeshift studio at DTLT, this is the third recording I’ve done this week, and I am pretty sure there will be at least two more before the week ends 🙂
One final note about the video, at about 13:30 minutes the sounds bumps up a bit because the lapel microphone was moved, so please adjust accordingly.
In this broadcast of #ds106zone, Tim Owens and I sit down to talk about some basic concepts behind photo editing, such as layers and various other tools, as well as specific tools available, GIMP and Photoshop being the most prominent and powerful. After a little banter, we demonstrated GIMP bys howing how to add text to an image, demonstrated with Rod Serling and Agnes Moorehead from “The Invaders” below:
We also figured we would demonstrate how to create an animated GIF using MPEG Streamclip and GIMP, given the Twilight Zone GIF is the only required assignment this week.
This was a lot of fun, and I’m gonna see if we can’t manage a few more this week, as well as set up office hours through the ds106.tv broadcast video setup. So if you are into the broadcasts, tune-in to http://ds106.tv at 2 PM (EDT) on Tuesdays and Thursdays for sure, but also at random times throughout the week announced on Twitter.
At 2:00 PM (EDT) this afternoon, I sat down for a live broadcast at ds106.tv to give the class a rough overview of what to expect more generally from #ds106zone, as well as the specifics requirements for the week. I explained things like the ds106.us site, the daily create, the assignment bank, as well as where to find the UMW student blogs versus the general flow of posts from around the community. I also discussed the syllabus and the assignment bank in some detail. If you are looking for the traditional introduction, overview, and syllabus rationale, this might be a good video for you. I hint at discussing the visual and design assignments, but don’t cover that in this broadcast. I created a second video soon after this one in which Tim Owens and I introduce photo editing more broadly, as well as demonstrate a few basic process on GIMP.
Welcome to the ds106zone! Please read the following email in its entirety. Please note that all the assignments/tasks listed below are due no later than Sunday (5/26) night at midnight, though I can’t tell you enough that if you wait until Sunday to do them you will be screwed. Also, the Daily Create assignments need to be completed and published on the day they come out (hence the daily!). This week will be dedicated to the following things:
Please note that this class moves at a lightening fast pace, and if you don’t stop to look around once and a while it will pass you by. You can find the syllabus here.
A note to Open, Online Participants: You can complete as much or as little of what’s listed above as you want. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email at [email protected] or a tweet at @jimgroom.
To start familiarizing yourself with the concepts behind ds106 and what the class is trying to accomplish we have a number of resources we expect you to check out.
First and foremost, Scott Lockman, a.k.a Scottlo, has already started a podcast wherein he is framing some of the larger ideas and assignments for the class, as well as preparing us all for the audio section of this course during the end of week two and through week 3. You will be expected to listen to his podcast regularly, which will be published here, as well as catch up on a background episode he has already published wherein he talks about the maverick radio storyteller Arch Obler as well as interviews me (Jim Groom) about what critical interrogation of the web ds106 might mean in terms of ds106:http://scottlo.com/?p=1519Not only are these podcasts required listening, you will be expected to blog about these podcasts.
Episdoe 1: “ds106zone LoDown 001”
tag: scottlocast
Additionally, you will need to read Gardner Campbell’s short article “A Personal Cyberinfrasstructure” as well as watch the presentation he gives on the topic of controlling your own domain at the Open Education conference in 2009 here:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lelmXaSibrc[/youtube]
Take notes on the topics he discusses that make you think about what it means to be creating your own spaces online. Write a reflection on this talk- how you do this us up to you; for now writing is okay, but in the future we expect you to use media, links, etc to express your thoughts. The main point of this reflection is to connect the concepts described by Campbell to your own experiences on the web, and project how this might play out as you develop your own online space for this class.
tag: personalcyberinfrastructure
Finally, you need to watch and review Mike Wesch’s talk on internet culture titled from “Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able: New Learning Environments for New Media Environment.” Wesch’s keynote delivered at UMW in May 2011 is directly relevant to what we are trying to accomplish in ds106. Take notes on the topics he discusses that make you think about what it means to be creating your own spaces online. Write a reflection on this talk. The main point of this reflection is to connect the concepts described by Wesch to your own experiences on the web, and project how this might play out as you develop your own online space for this class.
Part One of Wesch Presentation: http://vimeo.com/23913046
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23913046[/vimeo]
Part Two of Wesch Presentation: http://vimeo.com/23820500
The Daily Create (http://tdc.ds106.us/) For credit students need to do at least four times a week for the entire Summer session (that’s twenty Daily Creates!). The Daily Create is a way to help you regularly practice the particular form of digital media we are working on at that moment. For example, we will be focusing on digital photography and design for the first week and a half, so the Daily Creates will mirror that focus. As we move into audio and video the same will be true, and so on.
Today’s DailyCreate is linked below and it is required! http://tdc.ds106.us/welcome-to-the-ds106zone-take-a-photo-that-introduces-yourself-to-the-class/
The day’s Daily Create publishes everyday at 10 AM EDT. You can go directly to the site to find the day’s assignment or subscribe for a daily email (subscription form can be found here in the bottom right sidebar), or even follow TDC on twitter (https://twitter.com/ds106dc).
Your photo or design should be uploaded to your Flickr account and tagged appropriately, in Flickr that means one tage that says dailycreate and a second that reflects the day’s assignment, such as tdc498 for today’s TDC or tdc499 for tomorrow’s, etc. If it’s tagged correctly it will show up on the TDC assignment page for that day, if it isn’t it won’t and you will not get not credit for that particular TDC. Pro tip: you need to have at least five photos uploaded to Flickr and made public for them to make your account feed active. Anything less than five photos and your account won’t syndicate to the TDC. We recommend uploading at least five images from your computer immediately if you are new to Flickr.
You also need to Tweet your Daily Creates with a title, a link to the creation, and two hashtags: #dailycreate and the particular tag for that day’s daily create, for example todays will be #tdc498, tomorrow’s will be #tdc499, etc. You can find the specific tag for each day’s assignment in the assignment page’s URL: http://tdc.ds106.us/tdc498/. Additionally, if your work isn’t re-publishing in the assignment page from FLickr, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc., you can add your creation directly to that day’s TDC assignment by click on the “Add Your Response” button and filling out the form. Pretty slick, no?
Finally, you are strongly encouraged to add your own Daily Create assignment for the class to do, go here to share your brilliance and make us your creative slaves: http://tdc.ds106.us/suggestions/
Read more about TDC here: http://tdc.ds106.us/
This Blogging Tips guide provides you with an excellent overview of some of the formal elements of blogging. Specifically how to frame your voice, how to provide context, grab your readers attention, link! link! link!, incorporating media, etc. Following those guidelines is crucial to your success in ds106.
Alan Levine provides an excellent overview in the following video that helps you start setting up categories for your work, changing your blog title from My Blog to something meaningful, understanding the distinction between pages and posts, using the menus, understanding permalinks, and more. This video is a must for all you UMW students who are just getting up and running.http://youtu.be/XGRIvvDhzyc
Martha Burtis provides a screencast (linked below) that gives you an overview on how to create a post in a WordPress blog if you haven’t done so before. The video is a great overview, but the interface may be a bit different given this video was done almost a year ago: http://youtu.be/V8qD6mQWpQc?t=4m1s
Start it at 4:01
The Writing Up Assignments guide gives you a step-by-step guide for what is expected of you when you blog your assignments for this course. Tp get full-credit for your assignments, all these elements need to me met.
Follow the Embedding Media in WordPress explaining how to embed media in your WordPress posts and pages for a wide range of sites that can be reproduced cleanly in your blog posts.
Martha Burtis created an excellent tutorial for installing themes on your WordPress blog. It’s 17 minutes long, and gives you a comprehensive look at the possibilities. What’s more, you can search google for all sorts of tutorials, tips, etc., but to ensure your site’s security we recommend you using themes (and plugins) from the wordpress.org repository. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MuizN4oQZYU
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=MuizN4oQZYU[/youtube]
Plugins open a wide door to adding functionality to your site. You look for them and install them directly from inside your dashboard. You can find many lists of “best” plugins, but the best route is to experiment with them, and if they fail, delete ‘em .
As part of the blog setup process for ds106 we ask participants to learn more about [wordpress.org/extend/plugins WordPress plugins] by installing several of them on their sites (if they are a self hosted version of WordPress).
For an in-depth tutorial and screencast detailing how to install plugins on your WordPress blog, see this video (which is also below) by Martha Burtis:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA_ycobOlXE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qx47Y0Fiig[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtNRAR60w-s[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQDHz-ZjDoY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wckhTukgLvA[/youtube]
Read more about plugins here.
Also, UMW students can use this series of how to wordpress videos provided for UMW community members (UMW login required)
This week we will be focusing on Visual and Design assignments. You will need to complete 20 stars worth of visual assignments and 10 stars worth of design assignments (note that stars denote difficulty, not quality). Also, Animated GIF assignments qualify as both visual and design assignments. You cannot do the same assignment twice, and the only required assignment is the Twilight Zone Animated GIF. Also, the specifics for writing up an assignment post can be found here: Writing Up Assignments.Many of these assignments will require a photo editing software, you can see a wide range of free tools here. GIMP is an open source version of PhotoShop that is quite useful, but if you want to experiment with Photoshop the 30-day trial is free. I will be expecting you to ask me for help on Twitter about these assignments as they come up, but there are a ton of tools and resources on the web as well. To get your started, here is a tutorial for creating an Animated GIF using MPEG Streamclip and GIMP (both free tools).
Additionally, here is a tutorial for creating an animated GIF using Photoshop.
Finally, as part of this week’s assignments, and keeping with the ds106zone theme, on Tuesday, May 21st (tomorrow) at 2 PM, I will be introducing the visual and design assignment, providing some tips and recommendations, as well as airing the first ds106zone episode (all of which will be archived and shared soon after). Everyone will be required to base at least ten of the thirty stars worth of visual and design assignments due this week on the Twilight Zone episode “The Invaders” which you can both watch and download here:http://media.umw.edu/podcasts/ds106zone/twilight-zone-the-invaders
Additionally, don’t feel limited to “The Invaders” for your assignments, we invite you to explore the more than 150 episodes of Twilight Zone that were produced from 1959 through 1965. What more, there are a number of folks onTwitter who are using the hashtags #ds106zone and #episodes to share their favorite episodes if you need some ideas.
Happy hunting!
On Tuesday, May 21st at 2:00 PM I will be introducing some of the concepts and tools behind the visual and design portion of this class. I will demonstrate a few tools, take you through some work previous students have done, and give you some basic visual/design approaches to make it through a number of assignments. This will be streamed live at http://ds106.tv as well as archived and posted to ds106.us soon after the session if you can;t watch it real time.
On Thursday, May 23rd at 2:00 PM EST, join me in a Google Hangout to talk about how things are going. This will be an open office hour that will allow you to meet other ds106ers and get to know each other. I will be available to answer questions, too. The first 15 participants can participate via video. Others can listen in and participate in the chat. Alan and Martha will be Tweeting the URL for the Hangout right before it starts on Thursday afternoon, so keep your eye on Twitter.
Find out more about me here.
