Environmental Literacy and Transmedia curriculum

Here is a link to the curriculum I wrote for a class that uses transmedia delivery and project-based learning as a major part of the classroom structure. It is an exciting course and I can not wait for the new school year. If you are interested, or have ideas, or would like the materials/resources and other items I have for the course, please give a holler. I want to make this course the best it can be for the students as well as using the concepts of transmedia in the classroom.

Here is the link and also trying below to see if it embeds - issuu.com/docwho2100/docs/environ_lite_and_transmedia_edu

I am also playing with Issuu - an online publishing tool - let me know what you think about Issuu as well!!!!

Open publication - Free publishing - More transmedia

Slow steps to setting up transmedia class

Whew – trying to jump back on the work horse after being away for three week is not easy – especially when, as with any large family, there were many ups and downs during the family visit.

On the work front – I am working on figuring out how to use these portable Nova devices we have to integrate into the environmental science / transmedia course as well as learning Moodle to use as the learning management system (LMS) for the course delivery/content. My dream is using something more like an iPad (anyone know of any grants I just want one classroom set, nothing tooooo big ;) I will not have a print textbook, rather a set of digital materials as well as the approach that students will be finding much of the information and bringing it to the class rather than I am just spoon feeding them.

This is, IMO, a very important piece of some "transmedia-like" systems. The content comes from multiple places, and is generated as much by the user as the guide/puppetmaster/teacher/creator, etc. Students can learn how to research and locate content, how to determine if it is valid, how to visualize and communicate this content and how to give and receive feedback to aid in editing.

Lofty goals, now if I can just make it work.

Sorry I've been MIA

ok yes I am still bad for updating - currently in AZ on 3 week vacation so I am all off on my routine, which means the transmedia resources is not being updated, my writing is not been worked on, and so on

on the plus side - enjoying the vacation and getting lots of ideas for when back

did add a few items to www.transmediaresources.com and also working on presentation for transmedia for July 17th conference - hooray

plus there are a few projects peeps should check out

Western X (awesome show that is coming) www.westernxtheshow.com/ and twitter.com/WesternXTheShow

3Way TV (great webseries and more may be coming) http://www.3waytv.tv/ and http://twitter.com/3WayTV

Socks Inc. New ARG/transmedia/what the bleep is this project coming soon - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jimbabb/socks-inc-an-alternate-reality-game and http://twitter.com/Socks_Inc

oh and today is social Media day - and started a facebook group for transmedia resources

Interesting app and story possibility

tumbled across this article - techcrunch.com/2010/06/07/stickybits-pepsi/

What hit me was the line from the article "The next person to scan that barcode sees your message and can leave their own. So objects with no IP addresses, like a case of cheese at a farmer’s market in Boulder, Colorado or a Twix bar in Kenya can unlock their own stories."

Of course use the word story and mix in the social nature of Stickybits and well... Is this a new form of geocaching? You can have a stickybit barcode on your hidden cache and when people find it, well, the story goes from there...

and yes the transmedia storytelling possibilities pop up in my head too.

AAAGGGGG so much stuff, so much to do, so little time to play

some intereting links and videos

an olio odd assortment

www.maya.com/the-feed/what-is-information-architecture - neat videos about information and information architecture


www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/newshour-oil-widget-2-including-spillcam.html - a live feed and possible tally of how much oil is being spilled in the gulf
www.youtube.com/mayanmaya#p/u/0/9G8P0YWd_kU - interesting look at the change coming to the Internet

This one is cool :P Go Potato Power - www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/thinking-tech/pepsis-chip-factories-run-on-potato-water/4278/?tag=content;col1

More on fanfiction

Another interesting article - so derivative works - more legit these days??

www.techdirt.com/articles/20100524/0041319542.shtml

Augmented reality Classroom demo

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE I am so psyched, just finished my last augmented reality demo for my classes and I am so excited at how well it went. I used the GE smart grid example and the United States Post Office example and the students loved it. Plus mentioned QR codes such as what entertainment weekly did with its summer movie preview, how real estate and others are using QR codes as well as the Microsoft Tag - the students asked lot of questions, three are doing visual literacy projects now using the concept and I got them to think about ways to expand their job skills and where this technology might be used.

YAY - and this was on a Friday, before the memorial day three day weekend and the students were engaged the whole period - YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Ok links - Microsoft tag - tag.microsoft.com/consumer/index.aspx

GE smart Grid (ge.ecomagination.com) and the direct AR demo - ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality

USPS AR demo -www.prioritymail.com/simulator.asp

Berlin artist use of QR code/tag - sweza.com/graffyard/)

Real estate -realestate.about.com/od/realestatewebsites/a/qr_codes_realty_2.htm

Entertainment Weekly QR Code Use (one student had a blackberry and we actually went through how to do this - www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3iceae27f23a68f24b57814675c300d2d8

MIA - but back soon

ok so been incredibly busy and swamped with lots of projects - will howver be finished with many of these projects and have them in hand as summer schedule approaches, which means can get back to writing stuff here and at transmedia in education and the transmedia necessity ratings and transmedia story maps and the resource site and all those other wonderful things like the transmedia narrative developing with others - just be patient, pleaseeeee

and ohhhh - finally got a domain name and host server, so should have that up in the next month - give or take, take or give

alright off to work on more projects

Transmedia documentary

has anyone done a documentary on transmedia using transmedia structure? That would be a cool project and a fun venture to work on/create. Hmmm, how might one start that project????

Ok that sounds really awesome to me

Fanfiction and Transmedia

I have a side interest in transmedia type narratives and one of the "pieces" in the transmedia world is engaging fans and fanfiction sorta falls into that - that said - a couple of interesting articles have been making their rounds - - starting with
www.deusexmachinatio.com/2010/05/fanfiction-threat-or-menace.html
a great article linking fanfiction and transmedia

one side note is many authors/creators are now taking the stance of working with fans, kinda, via "fanfiction is to be licensed as derivative, noncommercial fiction under the Creative Commons umbrella." (from http://www.jim-butcher.com/news/000354.php)

Intteresting development for fanfiction...

but some more info if you want to follow this more and if anyone else has links or resources on this topic, transmedia or just wants to talk about the topics and such - please share.

www.jim-butcher.com/news/000354.php - author Jim Butcher's Take

www.mercedeslackey.com/news.html - Author Mercedes lackey take

voyagesoftheartemis.blogspot.com/2010/05/fan-fiction-and-moral-conundrums.html - author Diana Gabaldon take


www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/05/faq-fanfic.html - Charlie Stross's take

Do people have other resources, ideas????

Transmedia definition discussion

INteresting blog article on defining transmedia here www.giantmice.com/archives/2010/04/towards-a-definition-of-transmedia/

I've been commenting and good discussion growing from comments

Literal Video Versions

OK - just had these shown to me - they are funny, I remember sneaking out to the living room, putting a blanket over me and the tv to hide the glow and watching Friday Night Videos and saying ooo how cool is that - now these are remade and I love the creativity and ingenuity - what a great writing exercise to have freedom but must stay within the confines of the video and the melody - I think it would be fun to write one - can't sing, but could write

So far this one is one of my favorites - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA - total eclipse of the heart hehehehe

Rating Transmedia

Read a nice article at www.thewrap.com/blog-entry/critical-shortfall-who-rates-transmedia-15492

and left the following comment

great article and a topic I have been wondering about myself for quite some time - rating/evaluating transmedia (archiving and the lasting ability of these projects is another topic I think a lot about). Rating/evaluating come in two forms - one is related to access (one might argue success is a touchy word) - as you mention how many people view the transmedia, how many people view a portion of the transmedia and how many people UNDERSTAND the whole story.

Then there is another area, one I started a small rating concept for (more as an attempt to work through the ideas than as trying to say, as you point out, oh I am qualified and an expert - I am neither IMO) - but that is rating the necessity of each piece to understanding/experiencing the whole and thus the true transmedia nature of project.

I think a grid of ratings are needed for any transmedia project and then each person can look at the number that best fits what he/she wants for that experience (is it total number seeing any piece, how many made it all the way through, how necessary were the pieces to understanding the story, how many people bought this or that, etc).

I would maybe suggest a transmedia project dictates a more involved list of metrics and that anyone getting into a project of this sort should accept they will need to consider that, and put into place a number of metric measures fro the getgo....

A look at a different sort of outcome from privacy loss

Interesting ideas and article

www.mediapost.com/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=126013

Treme (nola) and Transmedia and newspapers

Caught this article about index/nonfiction as story - niemanstoryboard.us/2010/04/13/from-treme-to-the-911-commission-report-index-as-story/

which led me to the show's web site - www.hbo.com/treme/index.html

and to this article - www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2010/04/hbos_treme_explained_do_you_kn.html (which has a place readers can share comments - more interaction)

What I like about this

First, as a general awesome link between a fiction and non-fiction source - cool!!!!

Second, it is a way for newspapers to find a place to jump back into places where they seem to be dying.

Third, what a great way to teach culture, geography, social studies and such

I do not have HBO so still waiting to see Treme (I am looking to see if it is online yet...) - but I can see from the official site there are some transmedial elements and potential for even more - how many people might start to really look into this time period and place (I already have as I write some stories that take place in Nola and from general time period).

This is an example of how I think transmedia can be used in education!!!!!!!

Bebo demise and archiving transmedia story

well if this is true - "AOL To Sell Or Close Bebo" on WEB SERIES NETWORK: www.webseriesnetwork.com/profiles/blogs/aol-to-sell-or-close-bebo

then it is another signal that certain elements of transmedia/crossmedia projects can easily be loss or transformed from original intent (what about all the wonderful things that happened on MySpace or livejournal or yahoo groups or I could continue as social networks and services rise and fall) - or would this mean recreating the event in the newest and latest social medium - which could mean relaunching a story every so once in a while - which could mean a writer/creator/manager has to invest a lot more in this type of project - which could have good and bad.....

Does this mean transmedia projects will always come back to haunt you or you will have to always carry them aroound - and does this mean lots more work for a writer/creator and will there be then a backlash of less enthusiasm and ohhhhhhhh what about all the wonderful things in contracts and so on on who gets paid to do what?????

Can of worms, opened once more....

Mobile Computing research

from www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/mobile_internet_report122009.html

The Mobile Internet Report

To receive a printed copy of The Mobile Internet Report, please contact your Morgan Stanley Representative. To purchase a copy, please click here.

For other Morgan Stanley Technology Research reports and presentations, please click here.

December 2009

Our global technology and telecom analysts set out to do a deep dive into the rapidly changing mobile Internet market. We wanted to create a data-rich, theme-based framework for thinking about how the market may develop. We intend to expand and edit the framework as the market evolves. A lot has changed since we published “The Internet Report” in 1995 on the web.

We decided to create The Mobile Internet Report largely in PowerPoint and publish it on the web, expecting that bits and pieces of it will be cut / pasted / redistributed and debated / dismissed / lauded. Our goal is to get our thoughts and data into the conversation about what may be the biggest technology trend ever, one that may help make us all more informed in ways that are unique to the web circa 2009, and beyond.

We present our thoughts in three ways:

1) “The Mobile Internet Report Setup”– a 92-slide presentation that excerpts highlights of the key themes from the report (This presentation is also available in Simplified Chinese - 移动互联网研究报告摘要).

2) “The Mobile Internet Report Key Themes” – a 659-slide presentation that drills down on thoughts covered in “The Mobile Internet Report” (Note that the presentation is 40MB and may take some time to download).

3) “The Mobile Internet Report” – a 424 page report which explores 8 major themes in depth and includes the two aforementioned slide presentations + related overview text (Note that the report is 50MB and may take some time to download. If you prefer to download individual themes of the report, please click here. This report is also available in Simplified Chinese - 移动互联网研究报告.)

Technology and computing changes - will the rest follow?

A few interesting articles lately have come out that should be watched and considered.

www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2010-03-31-1Aappworld31_CV_N.htm and www.pcworld.com/article/184876/mobile_internet_to_dominate_within_5_years_study.html

We see these changes creeping into culture - changes in how business is done, changes in how media is delivered and consumed and more....

It is an exciting time, it is a scary time, it is... change

Interactive Fiction, participatory culture and Transmedia Events - will we be left behind or late to the party

Interactive Fiction, participatory culture and Transmedia Events - will we be left behind or late to the party

The points brought out in this article - www.jokeandbiagio.com/indie-filmmakers-meet-interactive-fiction are really worth thinking about. It highlights how, in some ways, today is a very exciting time in media and also a very scary time. Things are changing, the world is changing, and a shift that began 10 years ago is really beginning to be felt.

We are living more and more, for better and for worse, in a participatory culture and people today want to not be passive consumers, they want to feel part of the experience. But is this a fad or something more, a true change?

And if there is a shift, will people be left behind? I remember playing "The Beast" or more accurately, trying to play. I found it frustrating and difficult as there always seemed to be someone there first, someone else was picked, someone else got to play, and I still was a passive observer. The down side to this rush to certain interactive and transmedia experiences is most of these events leave people behind.

There is this nasty two sided coin - the writers, creators, advertisers want lots of people to come and see and so on, but as you increase numbers, usually the event becomes a, well, Beast, and then people are left out, behind or become frustrated and turn away.

Then there is the difficulty of managing an event that has a "time". Sure you may be able to archive, but then, once again, you are a passive participant because you are late to the party. Even worse, how are these fictions and experiences being archived? Will we be able to keep up? Must we be constantly plugged in and tuned in to interact?

And, along the lines of the transmedia necessity rating I keep tinkering with, how much of the fiction/event/sources must we try and scoop up and experience to really "get" the story? Are we really ok if we don't participate? And what about the difference between a crossmedia product and a transmedia one?

And last - are we trading in certain types of stories in a rush to experience? Yes I separate the two because while you can argue everything is story (which I can go for) - there is a definite difference between a novel and an article and a forum board with people discussing a puzzle that reveals a little more about a universe. I like all of those, but how will they fit in this interactive culture?

I love april 1

check out the front page of wikipedia, Google, MSn and some others - I love this day in the tech world - hehehehehe