Cloud Spotting

Gazing Skyward

The cloud.  For the uninitiated, you may be thinking of a collection of moisture cruising around in our lower atmosphere.  What do you see in the above picture?  I see a large animal on it's back.  What I certainly do not see is an intangible storage drive that can be accessed on multiple devices across the entire globe.  

Who Runs the Cloud?

There are several companies that maintain cloud services. Microsoft runs the OneDrive.  Google of course has the Google Drive.  Dropbox is another popular option.  With so many to choose from, we have been presented with a bit of a comparison that can help the pickiest of users decide which is best for them.  If you are new to the age, such as myself, perhaps a simpler choice will help.  Steve Dotto will walk you through two popular options: 

Searching For an Answer

After reviewing the options, I have decided to move forward with Google Drive.  It is simple, and there is another great feature:  Google documents.  Instead of using an "office program" who shall remain anonymous, Google documents offers what I believe to be the best thing since dot-matrix printers:  the research tool.  A simple tool that is accessed from the tools menu, the research tool will allow you to enhance your document without ever changing tabs on your browser.  Writing about kittens?  Why not throw in a quote from a Siamese aficionado!  A list of quotes will appear, and you can have your favorite inserted into your document, already cited in the style of your choice (between MLA and APA)!  When my kitty narrative has saved, I can share it with groups, or individuals in my contacts.  And since it is cloud based, I can pull it up on my phone!

Searches on Google have now been infinitely expanded in my eyes.  Changing your syntax and exploring options on the engine can vastly improve your results:

Takeaways:

• Get out there, and get on the cloud
• Try Google Docs before using that "other guy"
• Enhance your searches with sharper language
• Be a scholar!

Visual Literacy and Depth

Going Deeper

This week, we find ourselves posed with the task of creating a deeper visual message.  I found a photo of myself in Babil Province, Iraq, when we were tasked with training an Iraqi army commando group.  With everything that has developed recently, I think back now and realize that half of the men we were training probably did not care at the time.  I bet they wish they took it a little more serious. 

Reflecting on literacy. 

I have learned this week to try and make this blog more presentable to the viewer by:

• Continuing to use standard fonts; nothing flashy
• Stick to white on black, it is more eye pleasing
• Never use centered text, it is difficult to read
• Use bullets when making multiple points!

There is something special in being able to send a deep message to someone, even if it is from a non-monetized blog.  

Digital Literacies

Sending a message through image.

Now that we see a play on the Ned Stark meme and feel every bit of that -20 wind chill, please realize that we have communicated in digital literacy.  Or I at least attempted to.  The latest trend of communication in this fashion was highlighted by Doug Belshaw in this gem of a TEDx Talk:

Will be become tech-illiterate?

As Belshaw explained the progression of everyday technology, he highlights those who are being left behind.  As we get older, and technology becomes newer, our newest generations become far more advanced with technology, as it is in their hands since birth.  I recall Christmas two years ago, when my then 3-year-old nephew received a "toy" tablet. Mind you, this is a working tablet, that allows children to play games, while at the same time learning basic arithmetic and alphabet related activities.  Shortly there after, he is picking up his mother's iPhone and calling his grandmother.  He was three!  

How far will it go?

This laptop I am typing this on will be a brick in five years, stripped of it's internal gold plating and copper, laying in a dump somewhere, taking 3.4 million years to decompose.  What will human beings consider the "latest technology" three generations from now, when we are all gone?  Pop up holograms, when all you have to do is think about finding directions to the hover board store?

Fair Use and Copyright

What's ours is theirs?

The Stanford Fair Use and Copyright Center has shown us this week that there is no solid definition to the term "Fair Use".  It has become apparent that years of litigation has tried to define the term for us, but there is still some greyscale left to cover.  

What does Fair Use mean to us?

Fair Use allows portions of copyrighted material to be used for educational purposes, such as criticism or commenting upon.  In fact, Fair Use of copyrighted material will be instrumental in our creative processes for multimedia publications.  Without Fair Use, there be no parody, no ability to criticize literary works, and certainly no viral videos.  Having the right to Fair Use is the catalyst for our upcoming creativity.

Copyright and wrong.

Anything tangible can be copyrighted.  That being said, copyrights are extended to just about everything except human thought and ideas.  With the scope of Fair Use being pretty limited, it would be wrong of me to use an entire work of another without permission.  Going against a copyright could bring into play accusations of plagiarism.  I have always wondered what would constitute going against a copyright, and know I know.  Use only portions of a work for a transformative purpose, and make sure to give credit!

photo from www.flicker.com, licensed for Fair Use

Journalism and Multimedia Applications

Feeding the News to Everyone, Every Where

Kevin Moser

These days, the media goal is to send their message to people across the globe.  The world is not a place of newspapers, switchboards, and the Pony Express.  Journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, etc.., have the ability to reach out and satisfy a customer in Karachi, let alone the daily subscriber in Gloucester, or the 57 year reader on Staten Island.  The tools available for media outlets today are simply incredible.  Breaking news leaves an iPad in the hands of  a Times reporter standing on 33rd street, bounces off of a few satellites, and lands on your smartphone 1,031 miles away in Des Moines in less than two seconds.  Think Marconi ever thought that to be possible?

A long time ago, in a galaxy...right around the corner?

Think of the advancements in the last thirty years.  Cell phones at best were half the size of a cinder block.  Car phones took up half of a Mercedes Benz trunk.  Journalists had to scramble to keep up with a story.  Now, Twitter reporting has become faster than the news media itself.  I myself was reading updates on Twitter and learning what was going on in Ferguson, MO, during the riots faster than the events could unfold on television.  Do I think journalists, pseudo-reporters, and iReporters have the ability to utilize multimedia in order to feed us the happenings?  Absolutely.

Photo courtesy of earthobservatory.nasa.gov