The Kirsner List

Sites that Pay for Film and Video: From Scott Kirsner
(Editor, CinemaTech)
"New revenue opportunities are emerging with the recent boom in video viewing on the Web. On this chart, I've tried to list the Web sites that are most likely to help filmmakers and independent video producers make money from their work. (This isn't a comprehensive list.) I've ranked the sites subjectively, based on how much traffic and buzz they've been attracting, and also how likely it seems that a video producer would actually manage to earn a significant return by posting a video there. (Media companies with large libraries have a wider range of options for monetizing their content, including Apple's iTunes Music Store, Movielink, and Vongo.)"

Flip the Script - Don't Ban Technology, Incorporate It

techLEARNING.com has an article about how schools are using cell phones in their curriculum instead of banning them.
For example: "Three middle schools and three charter schools in Brooklyn, New York, started a pilot program in direct opposition of New York City's public schools' cell phone ban. The schools gave 2,500 free cell phones to students, preloaded with 130 minutes of talk time. Students will be rewarded with additional minutes in return for good behavior, attendance, homework, and test scores. Teachers, meanwhile, can send text messages to students to remind them of assignments or upcoming exams. The $2 million program was funded by private donors through the Fund for Public Schools."

Lifehacker How To: DIY Gorillapod

How To: DIY Gorillapod, the Anywhere Tripod: "A savvy photographer at DIY web site Instructables details how he built his own anywhere tripod mimicking previously mentioned Gorillapod on-the-cheap. Using a few bucks worth of materials ranging from segmented hose to a couple nuts and bolts, the DIY Gorillapod is well within the reach of the beginning DIYer. It's still unclear whether or not the DIY version can handle the true gorilla functionality of the original, like wrapping around objects, but it's a promising start. For a slightly different take, check out this DIY wire Gorillapod, or use practically the same materials to build a third hand for your tinkering needs."

$10,000 Scholarship for Students

AskAsia.org is offering several $10,000 Scholarships to students who address the theme "It's a Big World - What Can We Learn From Each Other?"

High School students can either write an essay or enter in the multimedia category.

"Multimedia Category:
Multimedia entries must address the following question in 6 minutes or less:

Identify a global problem or challenge and create an in-depth video or animation feature that includes ALL of the following:

1. The problem or challenge and how it affects your life as an individual, as a member of your local community and/or as a global citizen.

2. An examination of the problem in an international context, preferably by exploring how the problem also affects individuals and communities in another country

Be sure to support your assertions with evidence that you have identified through research. Cite all sources as they are used in the multimedia piece, as well as in a complete bibliography of works cited and consulted. You may only include video clips, images, or music that you have created or obtained permission to use, and they must be properly credited as well.

Please Note: Multimedia entries can be video or animation, but PowerPoint or audio entries are not allowed."

Winners also get an all expenses paid trip to NYC in November 2008 to get their award. The deadline for the online application/upload is Thursday, June 12.

Everyone's Talking About...

This week I spotted this technology in an article on Wired, but I've also found articles on Techlearning and, of course, Cnet. So, I did what any modern girl would do and searched Flickr Photos and found one Flickr Group - called the ChumbyChums.

The object of my infatuation is a Chumby. It's been available for less than a year. Once I saw the company site, I remembered that I'd heard about it about 6 months ago, went on the site and didn't see anything to get excited about. But I was only seeing it then as an out-of-the-box tech toy.

Turns out it's customizable in many ways...which means it could very well be a great tool for teaching. (It connects to your wi-fi network, has a touch screen and runs widgets from all the major sites. Some blogs are also saying it has an accelerometer inside and maybe even a built in GPS? But you can also take the electronics out of the casing and hotwire your Chumby to things like a small engine or embed it inside a teddy bear.)

Anyone want to hack together a Chumby, a Tonka Truck, and a Camera and have some fun geomapping the neighborhood? What other ways would you, could you use it in your digital classroom?

(By the way, my guess is Melissa's been getting a lot of hits lately.)

Lifehacker: Stitch Photos into Panoramas with Free Software

"You can get decent photos out of a standard, consumer-grade digital camera, but a little post-processing can turn them into fantastic wide-angle landscapes. You don't need to be one of those people who can explain the concept of lateral chromatic aberration to get truly eye-catching digital pictures. With a few shutter clicks and some free, cross-platform software, you can easily mesh standard digi-cam shots into true landscapes, fix one photo's deficiencies with another, and create layered photo collages. Let's take a look at how to use the free, open source application Hugin to make two basic kinds of panoramas."

Read More Here...

Flickr Adds Video

From the official Blog:
Video! Video! Video! The rumours are true and “soon” is now. We’re thrilled to introduce video on Flickr. If you’re a pro member, you can now share videos up to 90 glorious seconds in your photostream.

90 seconds? While this might seem like an arbitrary limit, we thought long and hard about how video would complement the flickrverse. If you’ve memorized the Community Guidelines, you know that Flickr is all about sharing photos that you yourself have taken. Video will be no different and so what quickly bubbled up was the idea of “long photos,” of capturing slices of life to share.

Hopefully this doesn't mean that schools will all close down Flickr access like they've done with YouTube (hassle) and Myspace (helpful - although anyone can get around blocks).

My New Playground

We have a student who needs their own, individual project. So I'm building a series of exercises that will allow him to explore some of the issues going on in his life - inspired by the film Tarnation. Part of the plan is to have him use the built-in camera on one of our iMacs to make a self-portrait using stop motion. So I went hunting to find an example and found this instead...Boinx Software - iStopMotion 2 - Examples

Fun stuff. Now I have lots of ideas for projects for all ages!

Using Music and Sound Across Curriculum (iTunes or GarageBand or...)

Really nice article over at Techlearning: Teaching With Tunes: 21 Ideas for Incorporating Music Throughout the Curriculum. Here's just a couple of my favorites

2. Cultural Studies As a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, I discovered the incredible sounds of Andean folk music or musica folklorica. It was an eye, or should I say ear-opening experience. In the study of world geography, indigenous music should be required listening. With labels like Putumayo and National Geographic Music, bossa nova, Delta blues, Mongolian throat singing, tango, and the "voices of forgotten worlds" are only a download away.

4. Fieldwork When the ivory-billed woodpecker was allegedly sighted in the Honey Island Swamp, Cornell University sent down a team of ornithologists who specialized in bioacoustics. For them, the best way to find the elusive "God Bird" was to listen closely. Have your young field biologists conduct their own research using cameras, binoculars, note pads, and microphones. Or, record your own sounds from the field and then have your students describe what they hear. They could even create a symphony of found sounds.

9. Math How do we visualize math? What do patterns sound like? Where does spatial reasoning and harmony intersect? Supposedly, there are any number of mathematical concepts inherent in music—being a humanities kind of guy, I only calculate a few. From proportions and frequency to counting and fractals, break out your slide rule and trombone and then measure out a smokin' hot number...

13. Public Speaking More so than spiders, snakes, and even heights, public speaking is our number one fear. It's also one of the most valuable skills in the workplace. While kids are sometimes reluctant to "stand and deliver" a book report or speech, give them "Mr. Microphone" and a melody, and watch as their inhibitions waft away. With The Who and U2 as role models, have your young orators practice their body language, inflection, and voice projection live, on stage and in concert!