Keynote Speaker: Michael Wesch’s presentation Human Futures for Technology and Education was very well received and many were inspired by his work. New technologies have profound implications for education and force us to rethink how we teach, what we teach, and who we think we are teaching. (click on the play button in the movie frame)
Today begins the 2007 Future Technologies Conference in Madison. It will be a tough act to follow. Last year’s event was a tremendous success and I’m looking forward to this year’s events.
In addition to MIAD’s IT team, our Library Director Cynthia Lynch and Liberal Studies faculty member Leslie Fedorchuk will also be attending. Last year I was struck at multiple points throughout the conference that faculty and staff needed to be in those sessions learning the exact content I would later relay to them.
The impact for MIAD will continue to be big for our small school. People networking is just as important as a greater number of MIAD staff continue to exchange professional contacts within the state.
One new look to the 2007 conference will by my participation (as Co-Chair of the Internet2 WorkingGroup) moderating a session connecting the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) to Madison for a distance learning session on the Harlem Renaissance:
A multidisciplinary approach to teaching brings additional resources to the classroom and engages a wide variety of student interest. Sample the Harlem Renaissance program in which Langston Hughes’ poetry complements the visual art of Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence.
Learn about the K-12 science, math and art distance learning lessons from The Cleveland Museum of Art with links to topics such as armor, textiles, photography and natural dyes.
The presentation also includes information about a new university level course: A Survey of Non-Western Art offered by the CMA via Internet2 and will show examples of other Internet2 projects. The Presenter is Arielle Levine.  Today will be a perfect opportunity to hilight how the CMA uses Art to teach multiple subjects including math and science. In addition we will have our Internet2 K20 Workgroup Meeting. An outline to our Workgroup agenda:
Year in Review
Progress toward goals
Installation of 2007-2008 Workgroup chair(s)
Brainstorm goals for 2007-08 (plus Dec. 3, 07 Internet2 Day event)
Looking forward, many events in 07/08 regarding Internet2 may be shaped in a small way by the merger of Internet2 and the National Lambda Rail. It will indeed strengthen the ties to K12 and Higher Education and provide new research opportunities.
Tags: WiscNet, Future Technologies Conference, Madison, MIAD, Internet2, Cleveland Museum of Art, trends
While I will freely admit that I do not watch American Idol, it is no small feat that Carrie Underwood’s exclusive single from iTunes has broken the Billboard Top 10.
The first time a single available only on iTunes (no CDs from any music reseller — anywhere) debuts at number 6 after selling over 100,000 downloads. This is also an example of the changes in business known as The Long Tail written by Wired Magazine’s Chris Anderson. It proves how iPod sales are now changing the purchasing decisions of music fans.
Remember when the iTunes Music Store suffered a meltdown on Christmas day? Maybe some people still had a balance on their iTunes gift certificates last week.
Tags: iTunes, American Idol, The Long Tail, Billboard, Carrie Underwood, music store, trends
Lawrence Wright has written an amazing book that helps us understand al-Qaeda. His book The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11 is very well written and as a result very upsetting. This deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize.
Wright documents the wealth of the bin Laden’s family which provided Osama bin Laden the financial ability to forward his own view of the world through terrorism. Osama bin Laden promoted great myths of Islam defeating massive Soviet troops in Afghanistan to sell his vision…including the dreams of airplanes hitting buildings and his relationship with Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The Looming Tower uncovers frustrating examples of how the US government failed to stop the attacks on 9/11 even when small teams within our intelligence agencies had evidence of the coming attacks. But they were fighting each other. The CIA purposefully withheld evidence from the FBI. This shows how broken our intelligence systems were organized and how they failed America.
As you may know the well known television series WKRP in Cincinnati has been butchered due to copyright. And yes I am old enough to have watched this show growing up in Ohio…which made me feel good about the fact that every television show in America did not have to be about life in New York or LA. I also remember the 11 kids killed at The Who concert in Cincinnati back in December 1979…and the WKRP episode regarding the tragedy.
All the music played in the background of the show has been replaced by Muzak. Wired ran a story about the individual responsible for making all the changes.
Really shows how copyright limits our culture. This bothers me on many levels. If I did watch an episode and heard a song that struck a cord…I’d buy the damn thing on iTunes.
Technorati Tags: WKRP, copyright, music business