Design Principles in Ancient Manuscripts

I really enjoyed looking at the ancient manuscripts from the British library for my introduction to Graphic design homework. I looked at the Lisbon Hebrew Bible and the Sherborne Missal. I can’t imagine how many hours and how many artists must have been used to create such intricate and precise manuscripts. Each used repetition of various colors such as gold and red to provide a common theme through the manuscript. I thought it interesting that even though I can’t read Hebrew, by noticing the artist’s use of contrast and repetition in the Lisbon Bible, I was able to determine when a new chapter or book began. In the Sherborn Misal, I was struck by the pages that contained the word for the Christmas Mass. They were the most decorated pages of the book. The grouping of so many intricate pictures helped the artist emphasize how important he felt these pages were. It is also interesting that the way that the artist used alignment in his design was to frame the pages and to create decorative dividers to create two distinct columns on each page.

Post Production Ramblings

• As a part of our digital multimedia course we were asked to work collaboratively to create PSA videos. The experience was overall a good one, even though there were some frustrations on the way. The pre-production went very smoothly. Early on we created a group wiki for the project. It turned out to be a great tool for brainstorming. We were able to build off each others' ideas, add relevant links and videos and basically come to a consensus as to what our project should be about.
• We then divided up the work, however, even then we worked as a group. For example, Jason wrote the script, but we each went through and revised it and made suggestions until we had the final version created. We even added the pre-production document to t he wiki so that we could all help in filling it out. The production process took us a little longer to figure out how best to accomplish it as a group. We ended up adding a page to our wiki so that we could all add the videos, pictures and audio files that we were each responsible for.
• One great tool that i used was google docs. I hadn't realized before that you can upload image and video files and then provide other people with a link so they can download the files as well. This was much easier than using emails and filling up everyone's email boxes. I did the initial editing and I used animoto to put together the pictures and videos that we had each contributed.
• Kristen then took that video and edited it further, removing shots that were too dark or unfocused and adding in the audio files that Kimberly had created. She sent us the proof and we all made suggestions as to how it could be cut down to the 60 second limit and what copyright info should be added. Finally, Kristen uploaded the final video to Youtube. The great thing about Youtube is that it is easy to upload files to it and it provided a simple embed code that can allow you to add the video to your blog or wiki.
• I am happy with how the PSA turned out. If we had more time I would probably redo the narration to make it a little louder, but other than that, I think it is very solid.
• Most of the footage we used in our video was taken by us, however we did get a few pictures from Flickr that had creative commons licenses. They were: Party Picture #1 by Flickr User Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos Party Picture #2 Creative Commons License by Flickr User The "Your fired" picture was from leighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com

P.S. On the right hand side of this page, you will see a label entitled Multimedia Video Technology Posts. If you click that link, you will see all of the required blog posts for this class. In addition, here is the link for my Ed Tech Google Site as well.

Post Production Ramblings

I have rewritten this post three times and I can't get it to keep the paragraph formatting. I will keep working on it, but if you see one big paragraph, know that it isn't on purpose. As a part of our digital multimedia course we were asked to work collaboratively to create PSA videos. The experience was overall a good one, even though there were some frustrations on the way. The pre-production went very smoothly. Early on we created a group wiki for the project. It turned out to be a great tool for brainstorming. We were able to build off each others' ideas, add relevant links and videos and basically come to a consensus as to what our project should be about. We then divided up the work, however, even then we worked as a group. For example, Jason wrote the script, but we each went through and revised it and made suggestions until we had the final version created. We even added the pre-production document to t he wiki so that we could all help in filling it out. The production process took us a little longer to figure out how best to accomplish it as a group. We ended up adding a page to our wiki so that we could all add the videos, pictures and audio files that we were each responsible for. One great tool that i used was google docs. I hadn't realized before that you can upload image and video files and then provide other people with a link so they can download the files as well. This was much easier than using emails and filling up everyone's email boxes. I did the initial editing and I used animoto to put together the pictures and videos that we had each contributed. Kristen then took that video and edited it further, removing shots that were too dark or unfocused and adding in the audio files that Kimberly had created. She sent us the proof and we all made suggestions as to how it could be cut down to the 60 second limit and what copyright info should be added. Finally, Kristen uploaded the final video to Youtube. The great thing about Youtube is that it is easy to upload files to it and it provided a simple embed code that can allow you to add the video to your blog or wiki. I am happy with how the PSA turned out. If we had more time I would probably redo the narration to make it a little louder, but other than that, I think it is very solid. Most of the footage we used in our video was taken by us, however we did get a few pictures from Flickr that had creative commons licenses. They were: Party Picture #1 by Flickr User Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos Party Picture #2 Creative Commons License by Flickr User The "Your fired" picture was from leighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com

Digital Footprints PSA

Wordles in the classroom

So I am going to have my students create wordles today and place them on their blogs. Unfortunately, I can't get the embed option to work so I found a work around. The directions are below, and here is a link to a screencast I made to teach them how to add their wordles to their blogs. "After you have created your wordle, press the "Open in Window" button. Press and hold Alt and "print screen." Open up Paint and paste the image onto the program. Then save the image in your network folder or flash drive as a jpeg file. Finally, go to your blog and place your wordle into a new blog post."

Value of Web Conferences in Online Education

I have not been able to attend a web conference yet during this course, but I have attended them for past courses. I have also watched one of the recorded conferences to gain some clarity on our week 2 assignment. I am glad that we have web conferences because as an online class, we would have absolutely no communications with our professors without them. This is critical because I have found that one of the weaknesses of taking my degree online is the amount of miscommuncation that can occur. I have found through the several courses I have taken that professors will often feel that they are giving clear simple directions, but many of my classmates as well as myself are very confused as to what to do. I think that comes from the fact that there is no face to face contact with our professors, so it is harder to get quick feedback for clarification. I communicate with many of my classmates through facebook and wikis and we are constantly trying to figure out what is expected of us in the program. Sometimes the technical difficulties are frustrating, but that is to be expected with technology.