New Media Consortium RSS

Eight Basic Voice Recording Tips

cclark2 — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:35:50 -0700

Many of us have no trouble seeing that a photo is dark, small, or out of focus -- yet we settle for poor sound quality because we’re not sure what to look for or what we can do about it. This article provides strategies for improving the quality of audio recordings.

W8R.COM

Cybersemiotician — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:12:13 -0700

My blog is here: W8R.COM

NMC Launches iTunes U Site

Samantha Adams — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:02:12 -0700

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

The NMC is pleased to announce the NMC iTunes U Collection. This site is home to nearly a decade's worth of content — all of it completely free and easy to find. We’re utilizing iTunes U to package and distribute all sorts of NMC media in forms that are both familiar and useful for educators and students. For example, every NMC publication, every keynote from dozens of NMC events, every NMC Horizon Report, plus podcasts, webinar archives, workshops, papers, conference programs, and communiqués are now all available at iTunes U > New Media Consortium.

Going forward, the iTunes U site will act as the official NMC content archives, and you can expect our catalog of publications, videos, keynotes, and webinars to continue to grow all the time. Wondering what that website was that Vint Cerf mentioned at the 2011 Summer Conference? The NMC iTunes U Collection is waiting for you.

Wish you had a compelling NMC Horizon Report presentation? Why not download the one the NMC staff uses as a starting point? Want a copy of that paper published by the NMC on visual literacy? It’s there too — and all of it is free and licensed for sharing under Creative Commons!

Begin building your own NMC library now at iTunes U!

> Launch the NMC’s iTunes U site

The NMC Announces New Horizon Report Series of Regional Analyses

Samantha Adams — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 02:38:43 -0700

Under the umbrella of the NMC Horizon Report, The NMC has launched the Technology Outlook, a new series of regional analyses aimed specifically at understanding both local and global differences in technology uptake, as well as the current and future state of education in different parts of the world. These publications are a product of collaborations between the NMC and innovative organizations across the world that seek to leverage the well-known medium of the NMC Horizon Report to bring important research, trends, and challenges in their regions to light. The Technology Outlook series furthers the NMC's goal of driving innovation in every part of the world.

The first report in this new series, Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education 2011-2016 is being released today at the annual Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C 2011) in Leeds, England. Co-sponsored by the JISC Innovation Support Centres (CETIS and UKOLN), this Technology Outlook explores the impact of emerging technologies on teaching, learning, research, and information management in UK tertiary education over the next five years, as identified by the Horizon.JISC advisory board. That group of experts is comprised of an international body of knowledgeable individuals, all highly regarded in their fields representing a range of diverse perspectives across the learning sector. The work that produced the report can be viewed at http://jisc.wiki.nmc.org.

The NMC plans to continue the series with Technology Outlooks for Singapore and the surrounding region, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa in 2012. In the long term, additional reports are also planned for Latin America, Central Europe, and India.

> Download Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education 2011-2016

Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education

Samantha Adams — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:57:15 -0700

Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education 2011-2016 is the first report in a new series of NMC Horizon Report Regional Analyses. Co-sponsored by the JISC Innovation Support Centres (CETIS and UKOLN), this Technology Outlook explores the impact of emerging technologies on teaching, learning, research or information management in UK tertiary education over the next five years, as identified by the Horizon.JISC advisory board. That group of experts is comprised of an international body of knowledgeable individuals, all highly regarded in their fields representing a range of diverse perspectives across the learning sector. View the work that produced the report at http://jisc.wiki.nmc.org.

Download Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education 2011-2016 (A4) (664 kb, 25 pp)

Digital Media Academy Equipment Sale

Samantha Adams — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:12:29 -0700

All summer long, we've heard that one of the most exciting things about starting a brand new school year is the opportunity to start fresh with new ideas and new tools to implement them. That's why we're so excited to let you know that NMC corporate partner, Digital Media Academy, is holding a major equipment sale so that you can more easily bring those ideas to life.

Each year, the Digital Media Academy buys brand new gear for the summer sessions – and now that summer is ending, that equipment is available for purchase. But, we encourage you to act fast because quantities are extremely limited and their like-new equipment will go fast. Get an incredible deal on a gently used MacBook Pro or a professional Sony camera.

About the Digital Media Academy
The Digital Media Academy (DMA) is a nationally-recognized organization offering hands-on learning experiences in a broad range of digital media technologies. DMA offers summer camps for kids and teens and Pro-Series courses for adult-learners. Founded in 2001 by a group from Stanford University, DMA is best known for its premier summer programs hosted at prestigious destination campuses, such as Stanford University, Harvard University and the University of Texas. In addition to its summer programs, DMA provides on-site training to schools and companies and offers workshops throughout the year at its training facility in Campbell, California. DMA’s teen and adult courses are accredited by Stanford University Continuing Studies and offered for optional Stanford Continuing Studies credit. Instructors include nationally-known industry experts, master teachers and award-winning creative professionals.

Vote Challenged Based Learning for SXSWi

Samantha Adams — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:45:45 -0700

Vote for Challenge Based Learning

By now, much of the NMC Community is familiar with Challenge Based Learning (CBL). We published a report on the CBL pilot in 2009, and we're in the midst of finishing a follow-up study of the implementation phase. CBL draws from the best aspects of project- and problem-based learning while integrating emerging technologies, and it's a project were extremely proud to be a part of. This new learning approach has the proven capacity to transform the current education system into a model that is more engaging, effective, and inclusive. That change is already well underway, and now we need your help to propel it even further.

We've been involved in countless CBL presentations, where we've spoken to educators about the powerful results. Now, we have an opportunity to disseminate what we've learned to a broader audience at South By Southwest Interactive -- a renowned festival in Austin that attracts thousands of technology enthusiasts and change agents from all over the world. We have submitted a CBL workshop to be considered for the official SXSWi schedule, and we need your votes to make it into the line-up.

Please take a second to vote for our CBL workshop here: go.nmc.org/vote-cbl.

Then help us spread the word by tweeting this or making it your Facebook status:

Vote for @NMCorg Challenge Based Learning Workshop at #SXSWi to support real change in education: http://go.nmc.org/vote-CBL #NMCorg

Below is the official description of our workshop:

Challenge Based Learning (CBL) is an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that encourages students to leverage the technology they use in their daily lives to solve pressing global problems, such as reducing carbon footprints and helping nations recover from natural disasters. While this new concept has proven successful in inciting more active, authentic learning in K-12 education, it is also highly applicable and scalable to businesses, community organizations, and other group settings. Using iPads, laptops, and specialized apps, teams can manage and track their projects, launch related events, create videos and other challenge visuals, interact with each other remotely, and more. The power of technology brings each challenge and solution to life, allowing for easier collaboration, discovery and dissemination. Learn CBL firsthand from a team of educators who have successfully implemented it. Workshop attendees will frame a series of challenges, discover new technical resources, brainstorm solutions to local and global issues and start implementing them.

Want to receive news and updates on CBL? "Like" the official CBL Facebook page.

Pay It Forward Friday

Samantha Adams — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:10:50 -0700

The NMC recently launched a social media experiment as part of its role in the HP Catalyst Initiative, a community of nearly 100 schools, universities, and NGOs around the globe. The experiment, which we call "Pay It Forward Friday," was aimed at understanding more about the ways information disseminates across social networks to grow communities.

The idea behind the experiment was simple: to provide the “most-connected” members of a community — defined as those with the most Facebook friends — an easy incentive to help expand the community, and to quantify the effect as it happened. To accomplish this, two fans of the HP Catalyst Facebook page were invited to help cultivate the community via posts across their social networks (in Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels) that encouraged people to “Like” the HP Catalyst page. To build motivation, for each “Like” received during their designated “Friday,” a small cash donation would be made to the charity of their choice.

The results were immediate, substantial, and enormously positive. People resonated strongly with the “help us help others” nature of the campaign, and in just two days, the number of people in the community more than doubled — growth of 119%. Even more significant, the conceivable reach of the HP Catalyst page, defined as the friends of our friends, grew from 41,000 to 99,340 — an increase of 149%. These two results together indicate that the growth was primarily people who themselves had large social networks.

Each Pay It Forward Friday campaign lasted 24 hours — the span of a single Friday. In the first installment, Michael Furdyk, co-founder of non-profit TakingITGlobal, leveraged his social networks to produce new likes for the HP Catalyst Facebook page. TakingITGlobal has been instrumental in instilling leadership skills in youth to foster global action. The second Pay It Forward Friday campaign included social connector Janice Reese who "played" on behalf of the Electronic Document Scholarship Foundation — an organization that enables students to receive the education necessary to pursue careers in the document management and graphic communications industries, without financial burden. Partnering with connectors who share a similar passion for improving education helped ensure that the HP Catalyst Facebook page didn’t just garner new fans, but also active participants.

Community members were defined as those who explicitly chose to receive information about the project — the number of Facebook “Likes.” The success of the effort is easily documented. The growth of the HP Catalyst Community — which was greatest among those people with more than 1,000 Facebook friends — is explicitly reflected in the analytics surrounding new Facebook “likes,” which you can see in the detailed metrics below.

*These numbers are the tally of “known” Facebook connections. Due to privacy settings, we were only able to view 60% of the HP Catalyst friends’ pages, so these numbers are conservative estimates of the true reach; the actual numbers are likely to be much as 25% higher.

Watch this space, as interest in Pay it Forward Fridays is high and we definitely plan to run it again!

The NMC Launches Monthly e-Newsletter

Samantha Adams — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:07:40 -0700

We are excited to announce the launch of our latest e-publication: The NMC Pulse. Sent monthly to the NMC Community, The NMC Pulse keeps you up to speed on new events and videos, member perks, and the latest MIDEA news, while providing opportunities for you to get involved in our many initiatives and feature your own amazing projects. Plus, it allows us to consolidate all of our messaging into one monthly blast so we don't overwhelm your inboxes. It's free, it's open, and anyone can sign up to receive it.

Read this month's edition. Sign up for free here to receive future editions.

What's in a name?
If you've ever attended an NMC C-LAB meeting or Summer Conference, you may have overheard discussions about the NMC's goal to keep "the pulse" within the community. From analyzing new learning approaches to forecasting the impact of innovative technologies to participating in transformative global initiatives, we always want to keep the beat, and keep learning-focused institutions - and education - moving forward.

Want to be a part of the action?
As we are at the dawn of a new school year, we'll be including a special section in the upcoming September edition of The NMC Pulse, where we will feature news and events from NMC member institutions. So, if you are an NMC member looking to share your news, please shoot us an email by September 9, at communications@nmc.org, subject: The NMC Pulse.

Want to start receiving The NMC Pulse? Click here to enter your email address. All your contact info is kept 100% private - we take your privacy very seriously. We don't like eating SPAM and we sure don't like sending it.

Social Media and the Evolution of Writing

Samantha Adams — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:13:12 -0700

Like many writers, I attended university pursuing an English degree and (fingers crossed) a successful career in print media as a journalist or editor or columnist, etc. Back then, it was easier to distinguish yourself as a published writer because there was more of an accepted formula: write for your school’s newspaper or literary magazine, freelance for some local magazines, intern here and there…then go work for The New York Times, right?!

But, with the emergence of social media as the #1 form of creative expression, everyone shares the right to call themselves writers. In many eyes, slaving away on a 5,000-word article has become passé for young writers. Instead, all you need is 140 characters or an account on blogspot or tumblr. This is not going where you may think it is — I am not at all bitter or resentful. I did start off my career in print media, but just as I believe in the evolution of science, I believe strongly in the evolution of writing.

And what an exciting evolution it is; we now get to interact with our readership in real time. The feedback we receive becomes part of the content, and therefore part of the art. Early 20th century philosopher and literary critic Walter Benjamin always believed that art should be a collaboration between the “consumers and producers.” Though he passed away long before Twitter and Facebook became prominent launching pads for new talent, I often wonder what he’d think. Or tweet.

So, here I am: one very lucky woman given the opportunity to be the director of communications for the coolest not-for-profit. Along with doing the traditional forms of writing, we engage our social media networks several times daily. Because this is such a new platform for organizations, institutions, and businesses alike, hardly anyone is an expert and everyone is learning by doing and experimenting (how refreshing!). From the biggies like Coca-Cola to your small neighborhood start-ups and boutiques, we’re all in it together. Sure, a few hundred thousand followers may separate us, but when it comes to writing the content, we all have the same questions.

I'm not an expert and I don’t have all the answers, but I do have lessons learned. For many of you, I’m probably not telling you anything new. But, I am sharing these tips below in hopes that you will, in turn, share your ideas. The NMC is all about paying it forward these days. Passing along knowledge gained is an important social responsibility.

Be a personality; not a business. As a community manager or social media coordinator for a business, we tend to feel the weight of the company on our shoulders. Remember, ad campaigns used to be the primary way businesses represented themselves, and those campaigns took a lot of money and time to perfect. As a single person reaching out to the Facebook and Twitter followers, always be professional but show your personality. You were hired in that position for a reason, so if you have a great sense of humor, for example, use that to your advantage. People feel more comfortable supporting businesses and organizations when they recognize that there is a human being on the other side.

Connect, collaborate, and listen. Don’t you hate that friend or colleague who is always asking you for favors but never reciprocates? Your organization’s social media presence shouldn’t be one-sided. Showing you care about other organizations with similar goals and the people that help make your organization thrive is so important. Those are the folks who will become your biggest social media champions. If you like someone’s article, share it with your networks. If a university is launching a cool new research project, “like” it and drive web traffic and support to their web site. Be the person who actively listens as much as you talk. If someone else reaches out to you to ask a question or even just to tell you they liked a post, respond to them. Just because we live in an increasingly digital world doesn’t mean common courtesy has departed us. A simple “thank you” goes a long way.

Adapt and experiment. What works for one organization may not work for another. Pay attention to other Facebook business and community pages, Twitter accounts, etc., and take notes on what you do and do not like. At your job, you’re a producer, but in all the other hours of your life, you’re a consumer. With the emergence of the Creative Commons, imitation is still the highest form of flattery. When something works for someone else, find a way to adapt it to your organization. But don’t be afraid to come up with your own whacky idea and see it through. As long as you carry it out tactfully, the worst that can happen is that you lose a few followers or the campaign quietly fades away. The NMC recently launched a new Facebook page for a special project, and gaining new “likes” for it was a slow process. I thought of an idea where we could partner with similar social connectors and non-profits and raise awareness and support for all of us. Thus, “Pay It Forward Friday” was born. On certain Fridays, for each new “like” this Facebook page receives, we donate $5 to a different charity. It’s only been going on for two weeks, but already the participation and engagement on the page has increased like crazy.

Got more ideas or feedback you’d like to share? We'd love to hear from you! communications@nmc.org.

Creative Commons Photos: Top by cambodia4kids.org; Bottom by TheGreatVermin

Workshop Videos

Samantha Adams — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:56:38 -0700

This spring, MIDEA hosted the workshop "iPads in the Museum" in San Antonio, Texas. Museum professionals from all over the country gathered to learn and discuss strategies for enhancing their digital exhibits, docent tours, and special programs with the blockbuster tablet that is the Apple iPad.

In case you missed it, we've archived recordings of the keynotes and panel discussions. For those of you who were there, these videos will be a good refresher and a helpful way to share what you learned with your colleagues. From best practices in HTML5 to embracing your "frabjous" (thank you, Holly Witchey!) -- we've got you covered.

First, a summary of the workshop:

Opening Keynote: Using the iPad with Group Tours, by Scott Sayre

Panel Discussion: MIDEA members iPad Projects in Progress

HTML5: What's the Big Deal? By Scott Sayre

Closing Keynote: iPads as a Catalyst for Museum Publishing, by Holly Witchey

2011 Sparky Award Winners Announced, People's Choice Contest Now Open

Nancy Reeves — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:04:43 -0700

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2011

For more information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
(202) 296-2296 x 121
jennifer [at] arl [dot] org

2011 SPARKY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED, PEOPLE’S CHOICE CONTEST NOW OPEN

Washington, DC – Four new student films on the importance of Open Access to research and data have been voted the best by a panel of new media experts, students, and librarians in “Open Up!”, the fourth annual Sparky Awards. Calling on students to articulate their support in a two-minute video, the contest has been embraced by campuses all over the world and has inspired imaginative expressions of student support for the potential of Open Access to foster creativity, innovation, and problem solving. The Sparky Awards are organized by SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.

This year’s winning videos highlight student views on how free, immediate, online access – plus the rights to reuse – the results of scholarly research is essential to the quality of student education, accelerates the discovery process, and has the potential to benefit society worldwide.

This year, the judges selected winners in three categories:

BEST LIVE ACTION: Breaking News: Open Access Wave Sweeps World (http://vimeo.com/24171277), produced by Joshua Goodman (University of Pretoria).
BEST ANIMATION: Free your Data (http://vimeo.com/24253452), produced by Nico Carver (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill).
BEST SPEECH: We’re In This Together (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxg67UER7dc), produced by Paula Seligson (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill).

Producers of each of the three winning entries will receive an iPad or iPhone along with a Sparky Award statuette.

“Special Merit” recognition is also being awarded to: Some Things Shouldn't Be in Halves (http://www.bu.edu/buniverse/view/?v=19iA0fOE), produced by Zack McGeehan, Olivia Kimmel, Dimitri Kouri and Jason Weitzman (Boston University). In this clip, students compare limited online access to wearing half a sock or having half a meal to eat.

Nico Carver, a Library Science Master’s student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and winner for Best Animation, used his video to express the importance of making endangered datasets available to researchers and the public – an issue he came to claim in working on the Data-at-Risk Inventory (http://www.ibiblio.org/data-at-risk/). “The Sparky Awards provided a perfect platform for me to communicate this vital message,” he said.

“This year’s entries drive home the fact that student concern for Open Access runs deep,” added Jennifer McLennan, Director of Programs and Operations for SPARC. “They support Open Access because they see it fundamentally tied to their success as students, to advancing research in general, and to translating the fruits of research into worldwide societal benefits. Students continue to herald change in scholarly communication in their own unique and compelling voice.”

The organizers now invite students, faculty, librarians, and others on campus to weigh in for their favorite in the Sparky People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award highlights all of the 2011 entries. The winner will also receive an iPad, iPhone, or iPod plus a personalized award certificate. To vote, visit http://www.sparkyawards.org. The deadline to vote for the People’s Choice Award is September 23, 2011.

The Sparky Awards are organized by SPARC and co-sponsored by: the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, Campus MovieFest, the Center for Social Media, the New Media Consortium (NMC), the Open Video Alliance, Penn Libraries, Students for Free Culture, the Student PIRGs, and SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition).

For full details, visit the Sparky Awards Web site at http://www.sparkyawards.org.

# # #

THE SPARKY AWARDS are organized and sponsored by SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), an alliance of academic libraries and research institutions working to build on the opportunities created by the networked digital environment to advance the conduct of scholarship. Membership in SPARC is open to libraries of all sizes. For more information, visit http://www.arl.org/sparc.

New English and Catalan Translations of The NMC Horizon Report > Edición Iberoamericana

Samantha Adams — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:15:59 -0700

The NMC Horizon Report > Edición Iberoamericana, a global research effort led by the NMC in collaboration with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), is now available in both English and Catalan. Originally released in late 2010, the report identifies the emerging technologies, key trends, and challenges that are impacting learning and creative inquiry in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.

The report has already been downloaded all over the world and has been the subject of countless presentations and campus discourse. The two new versions will extend the content to an even broader audience.

Download the English and Catalan translations.

NMC Announces 2011 Center of Excellence Awards

Samantha Adams — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:47:46 -0700

The NMC announced the recipients of the 2011 NMC Center of Excellence Award at this year's Summer Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the NMC and recognizes demonstrated excellence and outstanding achievement in the application of technology to learning or creative expression.

“The NMC Center of Excellence Awards celebrate the innovation and creativity that is part of the fabric of every member institution,” said NMC CEO Larry Johnson. “The NMC organizations recognized this year represent the best of our field, and each has had a tremendous history of accomplishment.”

Symbolized by a specially struck medallion suspended in a translucent obelisk, the NMC Center of Excellence Award has been designed purposefully to make it distinct from other award or recognition programs. Colleges do not compete for the award, nor is it granted within predefined categories. The selection process is based on the MacArthur Awards, and like that program, the nominators and others involved in the selection process remain anonymous as a core principle of the program. They are chosen from organizations both within and outside the NMC, and represent a considerable diversity of knowledge.

The 2011 NMC Center of Excellence Award recipients are:

Apple Education
Recognized for their significant contributions to the practice of teaching, to innovative pedagogy, and to making a real difference in the lives of students.

Full Sail University
Recognized for their extraordinary commitment to excellence in all aspects of new media production, creation, and pedagogy, and for the professional accomplishments of their graduates.

University of Southern California, Institute for Multimedia Literacy
Recognized for their leadership in new media, for their groundbreaking research, scholarly tools and publications, and for their commitment to the integration of new media across the curriculum.

“The selection committee had a tremendous task and did their job well,” Johnson stated at the NMC Center of Excellence Awards ceremony at the 2011 NMC Summer Conference when the awards were presented. “The 2011 recipients are all acknowledged leaders in the application of technology by any standard. The institutions recognized with the NMC Center of Excellence Award are a group that includes schools large and small, the well-endowed and the not-so-well-endowed; they represent the best of the NMC. Together and individually they exemplify the state of the art. Today’s recipients are worthy additions to that list.”

Download the full press release.

2011 NMC Five Minutes of Fame

Nancy Reeves — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:46:35 -0700

Five Minutes of Fame is a trademarked event allowing NMC academic members to show off their latest new media projects.

For this Five Minutes of Fame demonstration at the 2011 NMC Summer Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, selected NMC member organizations were given five minutes each to highlight innovations of all sorts, from multimedia and web-based projects, to course modules and newly invented or adapted tools, to student portfolios and collaborations with off-campus groups. In each fast-paced session, the audience saw numerous examples of the exciting work their NMC colleagues are doing.

2011 ARIS Global Game Jam
David Gagnon, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Bridging the Macro and Micro World with Blender and Some Legos™
Michael Reese, Johns Hopkins University

A Collaborative Augmented Reality Game for Your Mobile
Vivian Hsueh-Hua Che, Nanyang Technological University; Henry Been-Lirn Duh, National University of Singapore

Five Minutes, Five Apps: Sketches for a Scholar's Muse
Kate Borowske, Hamline University

Flow-ting Arguments: Adapting a Board Game to a Smart Board
John Hildreth, Radford College

Ideas, Challenges, Solutions!
Sue Bedard, Holly Ludgate, and Roxanne DeLeon - Full Sail University; Sharyn Gabriel, Orange County Public Schools and Full Sail University

Launch a Social Media Internship Program Today
Lisa Jansen, Meena Zio, and Lauren Kruse, Univeristy of Wisconsin - Madison

TweetMyPaper: An Experiment in Facebook Writing
Jared Bendis, Case Western Reserve University

Typo: The Game to Destroy All Grammar Errors
Elizabeth Pryatt, Pennsylvania State University