When Memes Attack

Shell Oil's recent social media campaign to promote Arctic drilling "Let's Go" received some unexpected pushback. Also, they do not seem to be editing the results. At least not yet...

Here are some highlights:

  

  

 

Knowing when to say when: Are links in blogs good things?

I just read this article by Terry Freedman, and it got me wondering about how many links are good to include in a blog entry.

I link a lot in my graphic novel blog, because I am trying to give people opportunities to gather more information about a subject. I figure if they want to skip a link, they can and should. There's no law that says they have to follow every path they see. But then do folks navigate away and end up not reading what you originally posted?

Any thoughts out there (in your copious spare time)?


In the meantime, here is a picture of a threatening toddler. Enjoy!

Technology Review #3: Quickmeme

According to the Merriam Webster's Dictionary and Wikipedia, a meme is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." Memes are things that are largely fleeting, such as people speaking like Austin Powers or wearing friendship bracelets or posting lolcats online.

As Ann has pointed out, there is a great site cataloging memes called Know Your Meme, but there are also a number of sites where you can go in and make your own memes. One of these is Quickmeme.

Quickmeme is a place where there are premade images that you can go in and edit with your own captions. As you will see pretty soon, it is pretty easy to do.

 I just made that.

Some of the meme entries would probably go over the heads of many younger students so I probably would not use the site with elementary students. Also, I probably would not use the site in school, in part because I could see students easily goofing off with it. I do think it would be great for a homework or extra credit activity. I could even see having a "best meme" contest for content area classes on a specific text or topic.

I just made that, too.

You can sign up for Quickmeme, though you do not have to. Mostly I did so I could easy find and download my work there. I could not save images immediately from their website once I made them anonymously, so I opened an account so all my images were saved in a group.

The pros of this site are that it is pretty easy to use, quick for making, finding and sharing images, and it is funny. There is a constant "best of" queue on the front page of the site, and you can sort through individual images to see all the entries there are.

The cons are that the content can be "adult." I am using quotation marks because most of the humor is quite juvenile, though there are things like casual drinking and smoking that are probably best not connected to instruction as routine practices with younger people who are not of legal age for such activity. Some adult supervision seems required.

 I just... Aw, you get the picture.

Because the pictures themselves are basically empty canvases, I could see lots of content connections. These memes could show up in all kinds of classes, such as:

Algebra

English Literature

Government/Social Studies

Chemistry

Spanish/Foreign Language

 In case you have not noticed, making these memes can be addictive. Go try out Quickmeme yourself!

Text Set Collection #2: Making Media Presentations

• How to Create Your Own Podcast: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

http://radio.about.com/od/createyourownpodcast/ss/How-to-Create-Your-Own-Podcast-Make-Your-Own-Talk-Show-Music-Program-or-Audio-Stream_2.htm

This article provides a number of useful sites and resources for making your own digital audio recording spiffy and available to share in a variety of formats.

For: All ages

• How to Create a Podcast Video Tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hrBbczS9I0

A pretty elementary walk-through for making, editing, posting, and sharing  a podcast. It also helps with working with Audacity and Wordpress. It also is very helpful in terms of sharing helpful podcast sites.

For: All ages

• Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

A free audio editing and recording program. It is a great resource for splicing together sounds.  Pretty much the cheapest and easiest way to edit sound files.

For: All ages

• Masher

http://www.masher.com/

A free, online video mash-up site. It allows you to use their library of clips, images, and music to make your own original videos. Allows you to easily share and imbed videos.

For: All ages, though I would use supervision

• Animoto

http://animoto.com/

Another free online, movie/slideshow maker. This one allows you to add music as well. It looks very crisp, professional, and clean. The website worked way better for me in Internet Explorer than in Firefox. I think this would be a good place to make a video slideshow for a book talk or a book/story response project.

For: All ages, as far as I can tell

• How to Make a Movie with Movie Maker Tutorial Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOcnV0UpIG4

A video walk-through of how to make a movie using MS Movie Maker, which is a free program you can download for PCs. It takes a little getting used to but it can be a quick and easy program to use once you get the hang of it.

For: All ages

• How to Create a Project in iMovie

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Project-in-iMovie-08

For Apple users, a relatively bare bones step by step set of instructions to make an iMovie. It is supposed to be so easy a child could do it.

For: All ages

• xtranormal

http://www.xtranormal.com/

A relatively easy way to take your words and make an animated movie. The site requires you to sign up and create an account,which is free. More options, like additional characters and settings are available if you want to get a paid account. There are also options for educators, including class sets of subscriptions.

For: All age students

• So You Want to Get a Ph.D in the Humanities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obTNwPJvOI8

A sample xtranormal movie. A funny, mean teacher/student advising session. Also, a pretty good critique of academia. Learn about a student who wants to make a living writing about literature. And death. Also about the poor, put-upon, and jaded professor.

For: College students

• A sample video

I made this video for you to see how xtranormal can work. The site lets you save, download, and imbed video for free at least one time (but you have to pay afterward). Enjoy!

For: All age students

The Great Train Getaway
by: sterg

• Goanimate.com

http://goanimate.com/

An even easier way to make a video than xtranormal, though you can only make a one-minute long video without having to upgrade to a paid membership. Also, no sharing other than offering a link. And you have to pay to download your video. You have to register, and there is a choice of characters, setting, and style, just like xtranormal. They also have an educator option. Don't forget to save your work, because I accidentally hit the back button and lost all my work the first time :(

For: All age students

• A model goanimate video

http://goanimate.com/videos/0VccAVTNXbro/1

Here is a video I made using the program. I tried to demonstrate what it could do and how the site works.

For: All age students

GoAnimate.com: sbotzakis%27s+Animation by sbotzakis

So, you made a video and want to post it somewhere?

• YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/


The granddaddy of video hosting sites. It may be blocked at your school, but there are ways around that by typing https in your web address for example. You can post among the crazy cats, insane babies, and vloggers. Requires registration to post.


For: Most ages, though supervision  and previewing are advised

• Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/

A free video hosting site. It tends to be more academic than YouTube, though it has its share of silliness as well. Requires registration to post.

For: Most ages, though supervision  and previewing are advised

• Teachertube

http://www.teachertube.com/

A free video hosting site with a specialty for educators. It has lots of educational videos in many subject areas and you can join in the fun there and post for free. Also requires registration to post.

For: All ages, as far as I can tell. Some subject matter may be too intense for younger students.

Lessons I have Learned While Teaching This Class, Part 2

1. Commenting on Wordpress blogs is a more pleasant experience

2. I am beginning to HATE Captcha images

3. Falling behind in grading is no good at all

4.  Not having administrative support on your own computer makes it hard to load programs you need to make and model projects.

5. You guys are pretty smart, and I like reading your reflections very much!

6. I wish I did not feel like this so much lately:

7. We are more than halfway there! Hang in there!

Inanimate Alice

Inanimate Alice is an online novel, but it is also an experimental kind of writing. The authors call it transmedia, a combination of various media platforms. The story is told through a spoken narrative, images, cell phone calls, text messages, music, puzzles, snippets of language, video, and words. It is difficult to explain just how this experience works, but I enjoy seeing all the various media types weave a storyline that brings about some very visceral responses. Reading the story is sort of a combination of watching a movie, reading captions, solving puzzles, texting, and listening to a soundtrack. I recommend you go check it out and see what it's like for yourself.

So far there are four completed chapters, with each happening in a different country and with Alice encountering increasingly complicated (and I say scary) situations that she has to deal with. Similar to the Harry Potter books, Inanimate Alice follows the main character as she gets older and matures. I see no age limits for readers, though I think this is probably not a narrative for very young students. I have know people to share the site with third or fourth graders who really got into it.

The story is interactive in a few ways. There are puzzles and cell phone screens that readers have to manipulate to propel the narrative. You have to keep scrolling arrows as well. There is also a tool bar of sorts that is populated with scenes from the book as you go through the story, that way you can revisit or reread parts if you would like. 

The site is also full of teaching resources, providing some guidance of how such a text might be used with students. There are links to the new Common Core State Standards, downloadable activities, and a teaching packet. They also provide objects like this badge below, so you can "convey the fact that teachers there are engaged with the latest developments in digital storytelling."

 

There is no advertising on the site, and the makers only promote this story, which is free, and their work with others providing workshops for educators and online authors.

Three of the chapters are available in  Spanish, Italian, French, and German, so they could also be used with ESL or second language learners.It seems like they are trying to make this story rather multicultural. I wonder if it is too bourgeois though. Would your typical student relate to it?

So, go check out Inanimate Alice already!

Lessons I have learned while teaching this class so far

1. Reading and responding to 13 blog posts a day takes a long time, longer than teaching a daily summer school class.

2. I cannot keep up reading, writing a reflection for each chapter, and reading/responding to everyone's blog posts.


3. Some of my students are very web savvy already.

4. Some of my students are learning to be more web savvy.

5. Those Captcha prompts can be very difficult to read.

6. I am not a robot.