BuzzLion for the week of September 9

Posted on September 14, 2007 
Filed Under BuzzLion

Fall is in the air, and so is technology innovation, so here is the BuzzLion for the week of September 9….

Chris Millet gives an update on new additions to the Digital Commons Website. .

“We’ve launched a new Tutorials and FAQ section to the site. There’s a ton of great information both for beginners and advanced users. We’ll continue to evolve the content and functionality of these areas, so check back regularly.”

Elizabeth Pyatt shows us how to ensure Web colors look great on both a Mac and a Windows computer.

“It’s not perfect, but since I’ve done it, I’ve been able to see some of the weirder color changes between platforms (warm tones are especially dangerous for some reason), and have been able to find decent compromise colors.”

Cole Camplese believes that the new Apple iPod Touch has strong higher ed potential.

“We’ve been thinking and looking at the role mobility plays in education for quite some time now … I was the PI on an HP grant several years ago (maybe 5) that asked us to look at this exact topic. The tools were lame then and didn’t allow us to do the things we envisioned — they aren’t now. Couple that with the close to 250 sections of courses with an iTunes U space and it is easy to see that the time is right for a portable access device to an ever-increasing sea of digital academic content.”

If you never heard of Studiocode, Allan Gyorke invites you to take a look at Studiocode: A Tool for Coding Video Data for Analysis, Research, Transcription, and More.

“In the Fall of 2006, I was asked to investigate a tool called Studiocode. It’s tool that lets you play a video and tag the video with keywords. Later, you can go back and quickly call up instances where those keywords applied or intersected. For example, if you’re doing research on body language within classroom lectures, you could video record several class sessions and then create keywords like “nodding”, “crossed arms”, “leaning forward”, “doodling”, “writing on whiteboard”, “student presentations”, etc… Later, you could search through all of the video recordings and watch a movie of all cases where students were doodling while the instructor is writing on the whiteboard or when students are nodding during presentations by other students.”

Chris Stubbs discovered an interesting side-effect to the Facebook phenomenon.

“The decrease can be attributed to a smaller freshman class and being unable to use Facebook to invite potential members to greek events, Interfraternity Council President (IFC) Grant Miller said….

….Say again? Greek numbers are suffering because of Facebook?

Dave Stong tells us about a great idea in film making and wonders if Penn State should become involved”.

“On May 10, 2008 sites around the world will videoconference to show films, speakers, and music. The films are political. They show lives of people who live on the other side of borders. Films like Noujaime’s Control Room.

This has the potential of coming off like a sappy Coke commercial; but like any art, doing something good involves risks; taking the risk may produce something that touches people. Hopefully an intelligent media group right here at Penn State can figure out how to stream this stuff onto the HUB lawn, Shwab Auditorium, or the side of a local garage. Hopefully too, some Penn State media people can create and submit something notable.”

Think holodecks are just science-fiction inventions from Star Trek? Brett Bixler says they are very real….well……sort of real. They do exist in virtual worlds, though, and have educational potential.

“Holodecks are devices that can create a scene in Second Life at the push of a button. Great for setting up stages with different scenes, learning environments where you need to change he scene around the students quickly, etc. Very useful of your land and/or prim space is limited!”

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