Making a sambo

Amazing what a granddad and grandson can knock out of rotten food!!!!!

Test Powerpoint video

This video is not the powerpoint video as I couldn’t upload it from Dingle due to frustratingly slow connection/upload speed

Recording for the film industry

 

 

The method for recording and storing film footage has changed out of all recognition over a period of 100 years. 

In the initial stages 35 mm celluloid film was the format employed. This along with the equipment used proved limited and cumbersome. Due to the inordinate costs involved access was limited to a privileged  few. However with the introduction of 8 mm cine film and a smaller cine camera in the 1930’s this all changed. Reduced costs and a growing market meant greater access for more people. It still, however, remained largely out of reach for the working classes.

This all changed in the 50’s with the launch of the analogue Hi-8 video tape and an affordable hand held camcorder. Access for the general public now became a reality. This spawned the birth of the ubiquitous home movie.

With improving technologies camcorders and recording formats continued to evolve. Primarily the size and cost shrunk while quality improved.  This was demonstrated by the emergence of the Mini DV tape which also, for the first time, recorded in a Digital format. Today the industry has adopted DSLR cameras, the SDHC card (Secure Digital High Capacity) and the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) which can record  over a 100,000 times that of the celluloid film. The use of wireless technology, which is now gaining traction, directly links the camera to the users computer, tablet or smart-phone making the need for remote storage obsolete. Based on emerging and future technologies, what lies ahead for the industry is anybodies guess but be assured that it will be a million miles from the pioneering days of film making.

The end result of this metamorphosis is a proliferation of dubious material across the social medias.

 

 

Creativity – It’s Our Future

Creativity – It’s Our Future

By Trevor Bailey, Director of WW Education   

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

Einstein understood the importance of the imagination and his words remind us of where human creativity has taken us – and will continue to take us. Creativity is essential to innovation. And innovation gives us the new technologies and products that will drive the global economy forward.

How important is creativity to our future? A recent study conducted by Adobe in the U.S., “Creativity and Education: Why It Matters,” showed that 90 per cent of US professionals believe that unlocking creativity is essential to economic growth and that it is valuable to society. The study also highlighted a growing awareness, especially among professionals, that creativity and creative thinking deserve a bigger role in education. In fact, 88 per cent of U.S. professionals surveyed believe that creativity should be built into standard curricula. Today, companies are realizing the importance of the creative process in the workplace. They are looking for employees who can do more than specific tasks—they want employees who can also think differently and be innovative. To be successful, students need an education that emphasizes communication, collaboration and creativity.

With the challenges the world is facing today in our global economy, in our environment, and in social issues, the need for creative ideas has never been greater. That is why we are aligning our work to help students and educators realize the power of creativity and self-expression by providing digital tools, vibrant communities, resources, curricula, certifications and platforms that showcase student success. To better prepare our students for the challenges of today, we must graduate thinkers of tomorrow. Here at Adobe we believe creativity is no longer an elective; it’s the future.

Originally posted on the Adobe blog ‘UK and Ireland channel news’ on September 24, 2013. It may be accessed here.

Interactive Education

How to make education interactive: digital technology, web and creative tips to engage students

Original article by Jenny Beswick (published 17^th October, 2013, accessed via: http://memeburn.com/2013/10/how-to-make-education-interactive-digital-technology-web-and-creative-tips-to-engage-students/)

Technology is constantly redefining education, and not only does it provide teachers, parents, and students with a steady stream of new resources it also transforms the way our society stores, processes, and transmits information.

Technologies change the way we think and plays a key role in determining what we think about. As invention gives rise to new branches of knowledge, it drives education in new directions. Past innovations ranging from the codex to the internet have left indelible marks upon the academic world, and there can be no doubt future innovations will continue to alter the face of education in years to come. But as advancements in digital technology accelerate, as they have been in recent years, educators often struggle to implement the latest tech tools into their lessons. Fortunately though, today it is easier than ever to bring digital technology into the classroom and make courses interactive.

Here are some great tips for making your lesson plans more entertaining, engaging, and relevant to students growing up in this digital age:

Video conferencing

Video conferencing programs like Skype and iChat are amazing tools for teachers today as they allow students to explore new worlds without leaving the classroom. Teachers can arrange for guest speakers to appear to give short presentations about their jobs as doctors, engineers, or musicians and because they will not need to physically come into the classroom, many professionals will be much more likely to accept the offer and recommend this form of educational teaching to others.

What is also great is video chatting can also connect students with their peers around the world and this interactive fun learning makes well for language lessons. There was an article on Mashable about how video chat is creating a global classroom, this is a good read and it is amazing to know there are 30,000 classroom videoconferencing systems in the USA alone.

 

Digital Geography

Google Earth is undoubtedly the most powerful geography-teaching tool ever invented. By taking students for a digital spin around the world, they can learn about everything from political boundaries to topography, and even take a street view tour of their own schools.

So as a teacher think about the wider scope and how it can benefit students in the long run.

Podcasts

Podcasts can make for great supplementary lessons. Assign them for homework and quiz students about them the next day. They are guaranteed to be far more interesting than most traditional homework assignments, will get students digitally active, and can serve as great resources for students with visual impairments.

Video streaming

What student doesn’t love watching a movie in class? YouTube and the countless educational websites online today are great resources for teachers, and can help educator’s present information in exciting and engaging ways. A video, which is a simple example of how video interactive works well in education is available here

Real-time analysis

Real time analysis can be produced from your school website. Make sure as a teacher that you know all about the web management of your school – that the website you have has analytics installed. Once you have access to your analytics, you can then enter the real time mode to see exactly what is happening on web page. What you want to do is set up educational class content on a web page, where you have video tutorials that teaches the student away from the classroom, ask your students to visit this page for resources, and you can then track in real time which topics they are visiting and what areas of interest you need to improve your teaching on. The same can be done with YouTube, which has analytics attached to it. Create video content on lessons and monitor how many views you get and the audience it is attracting.

Interactive education games

Gamification is an important new trend in the tech world that has recently inspired a vast range of technologies and software. The idea is that people are highly motivated by technologies that transform mundane tasks into games. Countless programs have been developed in subjects ranging from science to art, which get students excited about learning by presenting them with educational games. Check out the gamification education infographic.

Multimedia presentations

Songs, video clips, PowerPoint presentations, short animations, and high-resolution photographs are great ways to get students engaged with classroom material. Whether students give presentations to their peers or teachers utilize them for their own lessons, multimedia presentations are powerful learning tools. Another great tool is Animoto, sign up to this interactive video making app and website and get the students making presentations through video; it’s fun, creative and educational.

Technology allows educators to make old lessons relevant to a new generation. The use of cutting edge tools in the classroom can also spark passions that lead students to eventually make technological innovations of their own. But perhaps best of all, digital tools simply make it easier for teachers to hold their pupils’ attention. So the benefits of technology are obvious, the only question that remains is why you aren’t using them in your classroom yet.

gun sight letter O

gun sight web 0325, a photo by Aniar O Thuaidh on Flickr.

FIRST LINK FROM TWITTER TO WORDPRESS

Sustainable Community Television

The viability of running a community TV service in a rural area can prove to be problematic. By using voluntary work,  donations and contributions from the community, these projects can be fraught with obstacles. They include accessing funding, sustainability, resources and training. A structured approach needs to be used if it is to be a success.

To overcome these obstacles a provisional steering committee should be elected .It should come from an initial public meeting discussing the feasibility of such a project. This provides the basic foundation for progress. A clear mission statement, a list of objectives and goals need to be set out clearly. The project must also endeavour to have a substantial input by the community. This will ensure that they have certain amount of ownership of the project.  It also creates a trust between the station and the community it serves. On-going training of volunteers is also essential to maintain their motivation and forward momentum.

After the initial structure has been put in place the steering committee needs to make way for a formal committee. This should reflect the community itself and include sporting, cultural etc. organizations from within the community.

In conclusion and in order to create a sustainable and vibrant community TV station it is essential that the building blocks are concretely positioned. This will ensure that the project does not fail but will create a sustainable and fruitful endeavour.