So – the time had come for final projects and presentations in my New Media classes. And I have a whole new perspective on giving presentations…
For most of us – presenting in front of a crowd is like peeing with the door open. Some of us just can’t do it. Others of us can – somehow secure in the knowledge that the lack of privacy does not negate the requirement to do the deed!
But for some of us… for some of us – giving a presentation is like pooping with the door open. And NO ONE can do that…
So – next term I have a video class. Finally got word on what type of equipment to buy for the class. The instructor recommends a Canon HV20 High-Definition MiniDV. It has such features as: “it’s stylish [thank gawd! 'cause I was worried about my image!] .. and gives you the ultimate in HD video and digital photo quality with advanced features for the knowledgeable and demanding videographer.”
Hmmm … as I am an amateur in the videographer industry — I am wondering why I would spend over $1,000 to learn something I might not continue doing…
My usual default kicks in – I ask my friend the producer. Conversation went something like this:
Me: “Hey – I need a firewire video camera next semester – do you have one I can borrow?”
Him: “Nope, but my friend John has a camera that I always borrow, so I don’t see it being a problem (unless John’s dance recital is that evening…)” [the dance recital comment is a joke, not a funny one, but a joke]
Me: “… hmmm … “
Him: “Otherwise, buy one from [SECRET STORE I INTEND TO USE!], use it, and return it within 15 days for a full refund, no questions asked. I’ve always done that kind of stuff (although now, Future Shop has banned me from returns).
A friend, who makes documentaries, was hired to make a show on the sinking of a retired aircraft carrier in the US. They had put special cameras in crash boxes all over the ship; flight deck (upper and lower), the bridge, the bow, you get the idea. The day before they were to set off the explosives and sink that bad boy, he went to [SECRET STORE], bought a DV camera, put it in a PVC tube with clear plastic ends (parts from Home Depot), flew down to where they were sinking the aircraft carrier, and gaffer taped this thing to the tallest mast. After all was said and done, submarine and divers went down, they retrieved all the cameras, including the one bought at [SECRET STORE]. He took the DV tape out, put the camera back in the box, and when he got back to Vancouver, got himself a full refund. Turned out to be the best shot of all the cameras from its viewpoint atop the radio mast.”
… I LIKE this plan! Makes me feel like a evil genious !!! Bwa-ha-ha !!!
Alright – so try this one to amuse your children while traveling this holiday season!
Ingredients:
Take your video iPod.
Get this great product called a ‘Tadpole“.
Add on some great videos and let your child amuse themselves!
Portable, rechargeable and easy to x-change the videos on — have some fun with it!
I made two “Kidcast’s” and posted them to YouTube. One is me reading a book. The other is a “visual” of music.
BOOK:
‘Baby Ant has Stinky Pants’
by Sigmund Brouwer, Created by Don Sullivan, Illustrated by Sharon Dahl
VISUAL MUSIC:
‘I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas’
by Gayla Peevey
So – whatcha think?
Alternative title: Time Management and the Working Parent
Time is such an elusive little critter… It stands still, speeds up and is the master of all. So when it comes to having a family and a job – how can you make time work for you?
Here are some things I have found that help out – any other suggestions?
1 – Be Santa.
Make a list, check it twice. Don’t worry so much about the “naughty and nice” part. But checking off an item is just so… accomplishment!
2 – Parse it out.
Get some help from your family. Dad and junior can clean just as good as mom can (although you might have to continually explain to your 3 year old that the swiffer is for floors, not beds or windows…).
3 – “No one has ever died from dust bunnies.”
Many years ago I read a book called “Twenty Minutes a Day to a Greener Planet” (I think – can’t find it any more…). In it the author clearly stated that no one has ever died from dust bunnies. She provided wisdom such as:
“Do you housework on a work day – it will take 20 minutes on a Thursday or 2 hours on a Saturday.”
“At a restaurant, dishes really do clean themselves!”
4 – Ever considered delivery?
Shopping for food is time consuming. There are all sorts of services that deliver right to your door! Currently I am trying out spud.ca (Small Potatoes Urban Delivery). They provide organic produce and deliver a box to your door. You can take “seasonal” selections or check specific items off.
Heck – they even offer free delivery on most orders!
5 – Shop before hand – online.
Target your shopping experience! Shop before hand, online. Get an idea of the items you want to try out/on. Then go to the store or get it delivered.
My two recent online purchases were:
Text books for school. Shopped chapters.ca (notice I stuck with a Canadian distributor – saves border hassle!). Free delivery for orders above a certain $. Ships in 24 hours. Received in 3 days.
Total time spent book shopping: 16.5 minutes.
I needed a winter jacket. Tried shopping online at several stores – some had truly horrible navigation and item information (note to merchants – online shopping also serves a time-management purpose but we still come to the store!). I ended up at mec.ca. Was fast and efficient (thanks largely to the great and specific descriptions of the items – even told me how long the jacket was!). Narrowed my choices to three coats. Checked the store inventory online – they were all in-stock. Went to the store 30 minutes before they closed. Went straight to my items of choice and tried all three on. Got the blue one.
Total time spent jacket shopping: 29 minutes.
I am still analyzing the financials figures on all this – but so far it looks like a benefit – both in time and money. And sanity – never discount sanity!
… like Mastercard says – extra time to build a great choo-choo track is simply priceless…
“You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.”
Bonnie Prudden
Alright – so this weeks writing assignment was “the FAQs”. And that got me to wondering… what is a “FAQ”?
The loverly Wikipedia (fountain of knowledge that it is!) offered this up:
“The FAQ is an Internet textual tradition originating from a combination of mailing list-laziness plus speculation and a separate technical and political need within NASA in the early 1980s. The first FAQ developed over several pre-Web years starting from 1982 when storage was expensive. On the SPACE mailing list, the presumption was that new users would ftp archived past messages. In practice, this never happened. Instead, the dynamic on mailing lists was for users to speculate rather than use very basic original sources … Repeating the “right” answers becomes tedious. … The acronym FAQ was developed in 1983 by Eugene Miya of NASA for the SPACE mailing list. The format was then picked up on other mailing lists. Posting frequency changed to monthly, and finally weekly and daily across a variety of mailing lists and newsgroups.
Usability experts Jakob Nielsen and Steve Krug (in Don’t Make Me Think) have mentioned … that too often these FAQs are written from an internal vantage point in place of putting true thought into the user’s perspective and what information typical users may want and need.”
—–
Ah ha! I thought so! Anytime I have ever tried to use a “FAQ” it was always “gobble-de-gook”. Or a quick out for a really bad web site…
And has anyone else noticed that the acronym is the word? FAQs vs facts??
… OMG! …
What if Eugene is actually the inventor of “txt speak”??? The godfather of SMS?? Should we revere or loathe him?
4col this tng is evrywhr! I jst want to esc! Maybe it’s a gnr8n tng…
u cn ask “hru?” and say “gb”. U cn even lol !
wtf?? … i gtg … tlk-2-u-l8r
Confession: it appears I am not a natural blogger…
Sure – it started out all fun and glory. But when it comes to staying on topic – alas I am adrift…
Follow along if you will.
First up – what’s with all the menu choices?
My Account – My Dashboard – New Post – Press This – Blog Info
I am pretty technically suave and intuitive. So it came as a mild surprise to realize I have noooo clue about a very large number of ‘blog things’ available to me. And I am not exploring them…
Even with ‘Dashboard’ – there is much ‘otherness’ to discover! Yet I don’t… I remain on the outside of this blogging world.
“WHAT THE BLOG IS GOING ON?”
I decided I needed to research this a bit – went back to the definition of a blog.
Well – it all starts right there – it’s a noun AND a verb!! ‘Blog’ is the website and the act of maintaining or adding content.
… so finding the definition didn’t really help me …
I found some online articles re: “Introduction to Blogging”.
I learned this:
- content is the reason for a blog
- content must be regularly updated (or no one will visit it)
- a blog consists of “posts” (or entries)
- it is “the way” to promote an interactive website
“Wouldn’t it be nice if the readers of a website could leave comments, tips or impressions about the site or a specific article? With blogs, they can! Posting comments is one of the most exciting features of blogs.”
(*note: I had no idea that blogs were so damn altruistic!*)
There are even “Things Bloggers Need To Know” which include things like ‘blogroll’, ‘trackbacks’ and ‘pingbacks’, ‘Post Slugs’ and ‘Excerpt’.
Blogging Tips:
1 – Post regularly
2 – Stick to a few specific genres
3 – Don’t add ‘subscribe’ and ‘vote’ everywhere
4 – Use a clean and simple theme (if possible)
5 – Enjoy. Blog for fun and comment on other peoples’ blog.
** many thanks to Wikipedia and WordPress for being the top google choices on the topic of blogging! **
And the moral of this particular tale? Well – it ain’t no Aesop’s fable… Could be that this cold has really beat me down… Could be because midterms are here… Could be I lack the ‘explore the blog world’ genetic coding… But I think I might just be old…
At this precise moment in time – I just want to express blatant indifference and blog off…
O k a y …
So my blog a bit back – the one about copyright and all? Turns out the PTB (Powers That Be) obviously have REALLY good metadata searches! Who knew that my class project would attract mega-corporation attention! If feel so SPECIAL!
The video clip I made (an animated comment on childcare) fromthe movie “Ice Age II – The Meltdown” has been pulled and I got this notification from YouTube.
… I have been pulled from YouTube …
… oh the shame of it all …
YouTube | Broadcast Yourself:
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation claiming that this material is infringing:
Ice Age II – Kiddie camp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN40GaasLAU
Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.
If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.
Be aware that there may be adverse legal consequences in your country if you make a false or bad faith allegation of copyright infringement by using this process.Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.
Ok – so I am writing this blog for my New Media Communications class.
Therefore, I am responsible for the content. Thus, if I want to post the little video clip I made I should know what the rules on copyright for web usage are.
… the conversation went something like this…
I called my friend (he works in the film industry – producer kinda level):
Me: “Hey, I am working on a blog for class and I need to get some info on how copyright on the web works out”
Him: <you’re too young to read this part>
Me: “…lovely story – so how do I get the info?”
Him: “Is it for educational use?”
Me: “Yup”
Him: “Is it Disney?”
Me: “Nope”.
Him: “Go for it.”
Now, as you might notice, this doesn’t actually answer my question on video usage and copyright on the web — further research (and no doubt blogging) required I do believe…
From Wikipedia:
Copyright is a set of exclusive rights that regulate the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally “the rights to copy” an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. The symbol for copyright is “©”, and in some jurisdictions may alternatively be written as either (c) or (C).
Copyright may subsist in a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms or “works”. These include poems, theses, plays, and other literary works, movies, choreographic works (dances, ballets, etc.), musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television broadcasts of live and other performances, and, in some jurisdictions, industrial designs. Designs or industrial designs may have separate or overlapping laws applied to them in some jurisdictions. Copyright is one of the laws covered by the umbrella term intellectual property.
Copyright law covers only the form or manner in which ideas or information have been manifested, the “form of material expression”. It is not designed or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work. For example, the copyright which subsists in relation to a Mickey Mouse cartoon prohibits unauthorized parties from distributing copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works which copy or mimic Disney’s particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of artistic works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are sufficiently different to not be deemed imitative of the original. In some jurisdictions, copyright law provides scope for satirical or interpretive works which themselves may be copyrighted. Other laws may impose legal restrictions on reproduction or use where copyright does not – such as trademarks and patents.
Copyright laws are standardized through international conventions such as the Berne Convention in some countries and are required by international organizations such as European Union or World Trade Organization from their member states.
