Fusion Finds

During Spring Break, my family traveled to Dallas, Texas to visit my husband’s sister and her family. We enjoyed touring the city’s World Aquarium. My daughter’s “assignment” was to select one animal from the aquarium to bring home to Missouri. She had to choose an animal based on its ability to survive in our habitat, as opposed to one she liked. No, the animals aren’t available for checkout. I was just once again using her as a guinea pig while preparing for my first digital storytelling workshop. Another part of her inquiry lesson was to collect video footage and provide narration. Below is our first digital story. Click the big triangle play button to stream the  video, or right-click on the Download link and choose “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download the video.

Download World Aquarium

The technicalities: Using Windows Movie Maker, we captured and cut the video. Then imported some images from our digital camera, and a few downloaded public domain images. After recording the narration, I added in some creative commons licensed music. The title and transition features polished off the project. Then I saved the project as “video for broadband (340 kbps)” in a Windows Media Video (wmv) format. I uploaded the wmv file to archive.org, where it was automatically converted into other formats and various file sizes (flash, mpeg4). I chose archive.org because it is free, and not blocked by our District’s filter. The flash version was the fastest to load, but too blocky for my daughter’s standards. The wmv file is the best quality, but a large file (better to download and not stream). It is the one I used for this blog post. But I’m guessing since this is a wmv file, it won’t play on all computers. Next we will publish a Voicethread version, and a then Photostory version. Please leave your recommendations, comments, or suggestions.

tag: edtech k12 Dallas World Aquarium digital storytelling Windows Movie Maker Creative Commons

The May 2007 edition of Technology & Learning featured an article entitled “Fingerprinting the Web,” in which illegal downloading, file-sharing, and copyright are mentioned. Fingerprinting refers to computer code embedded in on-line copyrighted work. This code surfs the Internet looking for any violations. Copyright violators will receive a bill, as opposed to being sued. Internet companies will be using this fingerprinting to track content usage. Just another reason to use Creative Commons when searching for content that you and your students can share, edit, and make available on-line.

This is an entertaining video, by Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University about copyright. (Yes, YouTube is blocked at school so you will have to view it at home.)

Technorati Tags: Technology+Learning fingerprinting copyright Creative+Commons Eric+Faden Bucknell+University

Image: Swirlyarts. Bride and Groom fingerprints. Swirlyarts’ photostream. 22 Jan 2007. 2 June 2007. http://flickr.com/photos/35516546@N00/365941100/.

Mr. Bob Dylan copyrighted that song in 1964, and it still rings true today in 2007. In the NY Times Magazine, Clive Johnson recently published an article. It brings us a day in the life of Jonathan Coulton, a musician who publishes his work on his blog. He uses online tools to sell and promote his music, instead of a record-label. One of the main points of the NY Times Magazine article is that the Internet has changed the relationship between an artist and his/her fans. Jonathan’s many fans post comments on his blog and he works diligently to reply to each one. The Internet has empowered artists and fans to connect, bypassing the music industry’s filter. The fans are finding new music without following the hype of mass marketing.

But what caught my eye is that on his blog a lot of his music is free and he allows other people to use it in their own creations. On the Music page of his blog you will find:

“All the songs on this page are … licensed Creative Commons - they are not copy protected in any way, so you can play them on whatever device you like. You can preview everything before you buy … Click the Info button next to a song to see lyrics, guitar chords, and (sometimes) a bit of explanation from me. You’ll also see stuff that other people have made based on that song, and you can submit your own video, short story, half-pony-half-monkey-monster sculpture, etc.”

For example on YouTube, fans have published music videos for Jonathan’s tunes, not something to be done with an original Matchbox Twenty song. Times they are a’changin. Anyone can publish anything in a matter of minutes on the Internet. Some of the podcasts I listen to include include “podsafe music,” which is music with a license that allows people to share, but requires credit be given to the artist. This is just another way the below-the-radar artist can start to build a fan base.

What does this mean to you as an educator? When implementing project-based learning, we often ask students to create publications in which they want to include music, (Sheryl Crow song) during their slideshow, or paste in an image from a copyrighted web page (Disney). When we post their work on-line to take advantage of that world wide audience, copyright rears its ugly head. Thus we find the joy in Creative Commons, a source for photos, videos, and music that you can share and remix.

In my summer workshop, Creative Commons and Copyright, we will discuss common classroom situations involving copyright. I will provide on-line resources to use as references when dealing with copyright issues. We will spend some time using Creative Commons to find media you can use with your students and even post on the Internet. We will also go through the easy steps of applying a Creative Commons license to your own published on-line work.

“Copyright, Ugh! Yuck. I can’t make sense of all that mumbo jumbo.”

True, copyright is not pretty. But as educators we must model appropriate copyright practices, as well as teach our students.

Image from DavidDennis’ photostream http://flickr.com/photos/davidden/202154977/ taken July 16, 2006.

Technorati Tags: Bob+Dylan copyright Creative+Commons Jonathan+Coulton NY+Times+Magazine Sheryl+Crow Disney Matchbox+Twenty pod-safe music images video artists