Play In Mines

October 20, 2011 By

Minecraft.

Creeper

The Face of Minecraft

I feel guilty posting about a game that costs money to purchase (though there is a free version), but the hours you put into playing it will make it feel like you got a deal. Also, this isn’t a typical video game, in that it doesn’t cost $300+ for the console and $60+ for the actual game.  If you are reading this post, you can play this game. It’s available in Pocket Edition, playable on your Android, for $6.99  as well as its original format on the PC for $21.99 (Windows, Mac & Linux).  If don’t mind missing out on the fancier features, you can always play it for free in your browser!

What makes Minecraft great? Well, while the game itself is fun and frankly addictive, the community that has sprung up around the game is fun and impressive.  Even the de facto official Wiki is run by volunteers.  There are also thriving forums all over the internet full of active members who create their own mods for the game and share them with others.  You can get everything from a mini-map to new skins for your world and yourself.

However, what I feel makes Minecraft truly fun is its multi-player aspect.  There are many open servers available to the public (though care must be taken to avoid griefers and unsuitable mining mates), though I’ve found it far more rewarding to play on a  private server with friends.  In fact, my favorite place to mine is on a server that a summer class put together.

Besides, who doesn’t get a sense of satisfaction out of building something like this:

Minecraft Creation: Falling Water

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

Or this:

NES Sprites

NES Sprites

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Audio Resources on the Web

September 22, 2011 By

Over the summer, I took a variety of interesting classes.  The most interesting was a Computer Science course called Digital Storytelling.  One week of assignments had to do with creating audio narratives.  I expected these projects to be challenging, not only because I don’t think strongly in terms of sound, but also because I didn’t know of many sites on the web that offered sound bites freely available for use (see: Creative Commons).  Thankfully, my professors had taken it upon themselves to solve this problem for us and compile a useful list of websites.

Ear buds

Sounds by Fey Ilyas on Flickr

If you’re not taking a music course or something like Digital Storytelling where the professor is directly asking you to for some kind of audio work, you might find that a bit of audio spruces up an otherwise visual-only presentation (think PowerPoint, or a video project).  You might be surprised!

Here are the resources:

Freesound.org — A site that aims to create a “huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps,” and is all available under the Creative Commons license.

Free Music Archive — The FMA is directed by the WFMU, “the most renowned freeform radio station in America,” and was created out of the belief that the radio has always been a venue to offer free public access to new music and should continue to do so.  However, this purpose is often undermined by licenses that were not made in (and could not predict) the digital era.  Here at FMA, you will find great mp3s you can feel good about downloading.

ccMixter — This is a self-described “community music remixing site featuring remixes and samples licensed under Creative Commons licenses.” Here you’ll find the opportunity to be endlessly creative and mingle with fellow music lovers.

Internet Archive — The Internet Archive is a fascinating place that I have yet to really explore.  The IA is attempting to create an Internet library in an age and space where sites and sounds are ephemeral.  Content that appears on a site one day may be completely different the next.  This is a great stop for more than just audio.

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Collective Collaboration

September 13, 2011 By

These are notes we took at the DTLT office yesterday while brainstorming ideas for 2 courses we have the opportunity to create for the Spring Semester under the American Studies discipline of the History Department at UMW. But yesterday we did things differently. Rather than simply erasing the whiteboard and writing down our ideas, we fired up the video camera and started broadcasting on DTLT Today feed. I sent out the invitation for folks to collaborate with us by joining the chat and brainstorming live in realtime with our office.

We had people everywhere from Arkansas and California to Canada jump into the chat and start giving us ideas. It was a ton of fun and while live broadcasting is nothing new, this was an example where the technology had gotten out of the way to the point where we felt comfortable saying “Let’s turn it on and invite others”. It was living, it was real, and it worked. We got a lot of great ideas from that session and I know we’ll do this again.

Collaboration doesn’t have to be a roundtable discussion between you and your coworkers. It doesn’t even have to be a Google Doc with your network. It can be a personal, intimate live broadcasted conversation. Services like Google Hangout would even add the element of audio and video to the people participating with you. It’s an amazing time to be working as a collective.

Filed Under: DTLT Blogs Tagged With:

Digital Whitman

September 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Walt Whitman & his rebel soldier friend,1865

This fall, students in Mara Scanlon and Brady Earnhart’s Digital Whitman class are collaborating with students at three other universities to explore the life and work of Walt Whitman. Students at each school will be investigating a different aspect of Whitman’s life, with the UMW class focusing on Whitman’s time in the South during the Civil War. Students at New York City College of Technology (CUNY) and NYU will focus their investigation on Whitman’s relationship with the city of New York. Meanwhile, at Rutgers University, students will be explore the poet’s late career, when he spent his final decades in Camden, New Jersey.

The entire cohort will build a digital presence for their work, sharing their discoveries and collaborating on projects. Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project will result in a persistent online repository of primary source materials from particular locations that Whitman inhabited.

UMW Class Website: http://marywash.lookingforwhitman.org/

Looking for Whitman Site: http://lookingforwhitman.org

Photo by bobster855 on Flickr

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Flattening the Classroom: Buiding Collaborative Learning Environments (ELI Online Focus Session)

August 19, 2009 By
Recurring Event
First start: 2009-09-23 EDT
Duration: 86400
Where: Online in Adobe Connect Environment
Event Status: confirmed
Event Description: Join ELI September 23–24 for "Flattening the Classroom: Building Collaborative Learning Environments," the 2009 ELI Online Fall Focus Session. Hosted in Adobe Connect, this virtual event will be much more than just a "usual" online seminar. You’ll exchange ideas and collaborate interactively with the ELI community—all without leaving your campus. You'll also receive all the resources and guided activities you need to help frame discussion and organize team events. UMW Faculty interested in attending should contact Martha Burtis (mburtis@umw.edu). Details: http://net.educause.edu/elix09
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