• get a coffee together and just chat
• have lunch together
• just listen to each other (to be kind, to learn, to understand)
• reframe your purpose (or your intentions)
• brainstorm together
• go to happy hour (always a favorite!)
• do what you can to be helpful

I have a couple things to add to that list. The first is… collaborate! Complete a little project of any kind together. Work related, or outside of work – collaborate on something you share in common. It helps almost any relationship to have a common goal. Working toward a common goal over time strengthens our bonds, and achieving a shared goal gives everyone the warm fuzzies.

And the last thing is: Show up. Take an interest. Attend a colleague’s public talk, birthday, award ceremony, launch event, or, ahem!, their workshop.   Check in. Drop by to see how your colleague is doing. If you hear about an illness, new pet, accolade, etc., ask how things are going. Offer to take a walk or have lunch. Steal some little moments to show support and friendship. It goes a long way.

One final note: Write6x6 is relationship-building. Reading your posts, whether I had time to comment or not, I feel I know you all a bit better. Thank you so much, participants, for sharing your reflections over the last six weeks.

I was trying to introduce them to the idea that sometimes you aren’t aware when you don’t know something. And that in class they should work to become aware of what they don’t know (conscious of incompetence), and then practice until they became skilled at something previously unknown (conscious & competent).

One student’s explanation of unconscious incompetence: “When you didn’t even know something was a thing.”

When I am in a situation I find difficult, if I’m honest, there is usually something I don’t know, and it’s impacting my ability to skillfully handle the difficulty. I find it useful to try and identify what I’m unconscious of and see if it’s a skill I need to build. I’ve started thinking of the quadrants as a model of learning progression, starting with ignorance and ending with the mastery of a skill:

1. Unconscious Incompetence: You are unaware of the skill and your lack of proficiency
2. Conscious Incompetence: You are aware of the skill and your lack of proficiency
3. Consciously Competent: You are able to use that skill, but only with effort
4. Unconsciously Competent: Performing the skill becomes automatic

Learning model illustration by Matt Kissick

If I can become aware of a skill that I lack, this model is the way out of a difficult situation, though often over time, since practice is usually required to become consciously competent. Still, it really helps in terms of moving forward. Maybe you can use it, too.

OK, they’re all standing, but you don’t have to. This is what a Sync-Up looks like.

When I first accepted my job as an Instructional Media Developer at GCC, I was coming from a web development environment that had embraced the idea of the Daily Stand-Up. Nothing did more to help me feel like I was part of something bigger than myself than those daily, lightning-fast meetings my team held to check in with one another. In my new role, I immediately missed this sense of working together toward a shared goal. I felt alone in a silo.

If I could bring anything from the outside world into the Maricopa Community Colleges, it would be a regular Sync-Up. (Literally standing up is difficult or impossible for some people, so I don’t want to call it a Stand-Up. And for some of our teams or committees, daily is too much.) But being truly accountable to and in sync with your coworkers is something I still miss from my last job.

So what is a Sync-Up? It’s a very short meeting, no more than 15 minutes. The people doing the work are the ones who speak, though interested parties might attend as observers. Each contributing person provides 3 pieces of information when it’s their turn to speak:

1. What they’ve accomplished toward shared goals since the last Sync-Up
2. What they commit to accomplishing between now and the next Sync-Up
3. Any obstacles they foresee that could get in the way

When not speaking it’s everyone’s job to listen closely. Specifically, to listen for points of connection to your own work, and for areas where you may be able to help. If you can help remove someone else’s obstacle you let them know, and then you’ll both collaborate after the Sync-Up – you don’t derail the meeting discussing the solution while everyone waits.

This is not a status report. Each person considers the audience – the rest of their team – and makes sure they discuss accomplishments, plans, and obstacles in a way that is meaningful to their team. The purpose is to assure that each team member’s activity is aligned and progressing the team as a whole toward successful and timely completion of their goal. In my experience, it’s empowering to Sync-Up daily when a team is working together on a well-defined project. 

This is not a planning meeting where a team breaks down all the steps to complete a project. That type of planning meeting usually needs more than 15 minutes. But once you’ve laid out the tasks that need to be done to achieve a goal, regular Sync-Ups are magic for keeping your group energized and on task.

This is what regular Sync-Ups can accomplish (from Bill Hoberecht of Pinnacle Projects in his post The Daily Stand-Up Meeting – A Core Practice for Self-Organizing Teams):

• An explicit reinforcement of the commitment by each team member to accomplish a goal
• A means of dynamically adjusting the work by each team member to accomplish the goal
• A daily synchronization between team members, informing team mates of work activities, progress and issues
• A method of cross-checking progress with team mates
• An accountability mechanism that has each team member accountable to other team members for their responsibilities
• A visible demonstration of the ability of the team to self-manage their project responsibilities

The main benefit I experienced from the Sync-Up meeting style was confidence. I was confident I knew what was going on with my team and our shared goals. I was certain what I should be doing next. I knew who could and would help me out of a jam. I knew how my efforts fit into the whole. I was positive my workgroup would succeed, and I usually knew exactly when we’d achieve our goal. I knew my work was valued. I knew what my teammates needed and how I could help. 

I miss feeling this way every week and hope to find ways of recapturing this sense of shared purpose within my GCC community of collaborators. 

Sian (left) and Merry (right) at SCC Tech Talks 2017

On January 27, I attended TechTalks at SCC and watched Geology faculty Sian Proctor and Merry Wilson present their talk Video Investigations: Students Presenting Their Understanding of Our World. From their abstract (scroll down the linked page a bit to read it in full):

Video investigations are a unique way of having students demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of complex topics and establish accountability in an online learning environment.

 I love this idea for assessment in an online class. Merry assigns 4 video investigations per semester, while Sian assigns them weekly. Their students:

• receive specific guidelines for each assigned video investigation
• see an example video made by the instructor
• get a link to the free Screencast-O-Matic.com
• do not need to be given instructions on how to make a screencast – they figure it out on their own
• create 1- to 5-minute videos to show knowledge, demonstrate mastery or reflect on course topics
• embed their videos into Canvas Discussions to share with the rest of their class

Photo of presentation slide on the Design of Video Investigations

Sian and Merry had some goals in mind when they designed the video investigation assignment. One goal was having a way to be sure the students were actually the ones submitting the work in an online environment. A video submission goes beyond plagiarism detection via Turnitin, because you are hearing the student’s own voice, and possibly even seeing the student via webcam. Another goal was to cut down on grading time. You can grade a 5-minute video in 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how much feedback you write per student. Other goals included increasing student engagement and learning retention.

Being top-notch scientists, Sian and Merry gathered data about their students before and after introducing video investigations into the courses they teach. If my memory is accurate, they found students tend to report they enjoyed the topics where video investigations were assigned more than the topics that did not involve a video investigation. Students also felt more of a sense of community, because they saw and heard each others’ faces and voices as they shared their videos. The process of creating video also built up the students’ information literacy skills over the course of the semester.

Photo of presentation slide on Engagement and Literacy

I’ve used video in the classroom as a student and as an adjunct, and I can confirm that having students produce short videos is an excellent learning and engagement tool. If you would like to learn more, reach out to Sian and Merry, or contact me in the Center for Teaching, Learning and Engagement for more information.

Still behind on Write 6×6 posts, but not giving up.

People this past week have been writing about kindness, and the opportunity to be vulnerable, as it relates to their work in teaching and learning. Ann Riley wrote about noticing the connection between kindness and vulnerability and challenged us to be the first make eye contact and to say hello as we walk around campus. That’s a challenge I issued to myself at the start of the semester this year. 

Often when I smile and say hello to someone I don’t know, I am ignored. And that’s ok. It doesn’t feel great, but I know that I tried and will try again.

Just as often, I receive a silent smile back, or maybe a returned “hello” or “good morning.” That’s nice and makes me smile.

But I feel like the real opportunities are when I see something I can do. When I ask someone with a confused expression if I can help, and I end up spending five minutes walking them to the right building and finding out someone’s name or what they’re here to study. Or when I open a door for someone loaded down with books, and see that they look surprised and grateful.

A lot of students tend to open doors for me, and I always express my gratitude. But I am really enjoying when I find a true opportunity to be on a stranger’s side. I feel like I have to be very observant and alert in order to make it happen. 

So far this semester, instead of just helping students find the room they say they’re looking for, I’ve made sure several of them know how to search the GCC website to find their teachers’ office location and office hours. I taught one student how to read the campus map. I helped a Muslim woman locate a few private options for one of her daily prayers. I made time to get to know an older gentleman who I see regularly on campus. 

I’m feeling that so much of the time, it’s easy to focus on my own immediate goal, where I’m going, what I need to do next. But it’s so much more rewarding to observe the people in close proximity and look for opportunities to be on their side for a few minutes. And this is a daily choice. Whether I’ll be on my side only, or let go of what I need at a certain moment to make sure I’m on their side when they could use a hand. Focusing only on myself makes me feel like a drone. Being on their side makes me feel like a human being.

Choose A Side by Ross Malpass

The suggested first week’s post is to write about what inspires us to do what we do at GCC. That’s what I’m doing.

I’m the Instructional Media Developer at GCC. I work in the Center for Teaching, Learning and Engagement. Our mission is to be a professional development resource for Faculty and Staff. And my job is to help Faculty and Staff professionally develop by helping them to create instructional multimedia. That can be anything from writing, handouts, spreadsheets, audio recordings, video, pretty graphics or flyers, infographics, interactive animations of one format or another, and the list goes on!

So what inspires me to do what I do is: Faculty or Staff with a message they want to deliver to our students in an engaging way.

Elsewhere, and this is just an example of uninspiring multimedia, I’ve seen people try flipping the classroom by recording hour-long lectures from the back of the classroom and posting them into Canvas. The shot is stationary, the sound is awful because it includes all the rustling generated by the students closest to the camera, and the instructor and whiteboard look tiny and can barely be seen. That’s not the kind of thing that inspires me.

Could you watch a scene like this, with barely intelligible audio, for an hour?

Photo: Broad run algebra class by James H Dunning

But here at GCC, I work with Faculty and Staff who are very motivated to help our students succeed. When someone like that comes in with a specific goal, it’s very inspiring to me, and I’ll dig deep to provide the know-how.

Academic advisor Isaac Torres notices students don’t understand the difference between Advisement and Counseling:

Adjunct ESL Faculty member Elizabeth Macdonald realizes her students need help getting their children off to a good start in Arizona’s public schools:

Psychology faculty Dr. Patricia Lavigne wants to encourage psychology students to join Psi Beta without personally making a pitch to every class during the first week of school:

There are so many inspirational faculty and staff at GCC who go an extra mile to help students and engage them in the learning process. You motivate me to do what I do, especially when you tell me your dreams, schemes, wild ideas and if-onlys, and then let me help you make them a reality. Bring in the thing you want to improve and let’s partner up to make it better.

If you haven’t done this already, now is a great time to experience a Canvas course through the eyes of a mobile student. Learn what works and what doesn’t by enrolling in Mobile Series: Heart Attack of the Canvas Mobile Minions! (Valentine Edition). This one-week course given by Canvas facilitators Ryan Seilhamer and Biray Seitz will engage and delight you while giving you a thorough grounding in what it’s like to access course content using a mobile device. The course began February 7, but it’s not too late to catch up. I participated in this course last October and it was incredibly fun without being overly demanding of my time. I highly recommend you enroll now!

How could I not share this bag o’ gold with my #Western106 pardners? Next time you have 15 minutes to kick around, watch this instead of lookin’ at the tumbleweeds blowin’ around. It’s worth your time.

It speaks directly to the relevance of storytelling in this here digital age. But also in any age. We are all storytellers, every single human out there. And the more we flex our story muscles, the better we get at putting our ideas out there and contributing something unique and meaningful to our culture and the world.

Some brief, fun takeaways (in no particular order) – or teasers to get you to go watch:

• embrace your history
• simple, effective, irresistible
• instill hope
• 5 types of storyteller

Git along, little #ds106ers! Please blog your own reactions. Did you learn anything? Did the presentation help you remember something you already knew?

Inspiration

A Western that I do really like is True Grit. I like the 1969 film and the 2010 version.

There is a scene where Mattie and LeBoeuf watch from a cliff as “Rooster” Cogburn takes on Ned Pepper and gang (watch the scene dubbed “Bold talk for a one-eyed fat man” from 1969 and 2010). I wouldn’t say this is my favorite or least favorite scene. But a brief shot in the 1969 version, where Rooster rides through a wide shot, firing his rifle, that always reminds me of Eadweard Muybridge‘s often-giffed study of motion of a horse and rider.

Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion, 1878

The sequence is set to motion using these frames, originally taken from Eadweard Muybridge’s Human and Animal Locomotion series, (plate 626, thoroughbred bay mare “Annie G.” galloping) published 1887 by the University of Pennsylvania

Result

So I decided to make an animated GIF of that scene, which doesn’t work as well as the Muybridge photographs because of all the timber. I think the horse’s motion works quite well though, and even the shooting.

Process

The GIF was easy and quick to make using the new-to-me giphy.com. All I needed to do was paste in the URL of the movie clip on YouTube. There was a little bit of trial and error with the start and endpoint sliders. Eventually I found it easier to enter 00:38 as the start point after pausing on that spot on the YouTube video, rather than try to hit a specific point using the giphy slider. For duration, I made guesses, starting with entering .3 seconds and eventually settling on .5. I captioned the GIF using the “Subtitle” choice on the text tool. Then I used giphy’s Advanced tab to download the GIF to my computer. From there, I uploaded it to my blog post so that it’s mine-all-mine.

But I also tagged it #western106 on giphy and assume it will remain available there for at least awhile: http://giphy.com/gifs/western106-10HUe8Wvn5VuO4

As a kid, I never really enjoyed watching an actual Western. I remember feeling bored. And I don’t have any memories of a plot I understood. I didn’t care for guns, shooting, clouds of dust or men with menace on their faces. I didn’t find a reason to stay tuned.

Probably the first piece of media of the Western genre that I connected with emotionally was the one-minute PSA “The Crying Indian,” part of the Ad Council’s Keep America Beautiful campaign.

Given that this ad came out when I was around 3 years old, it’s probably the first “Western” I remember seeing. I think it probably colored my reaction to actual westerns and their often shallow portrayals of Native Americans (and women). I remember feeling like I couldn’t be seeing the whole story. And because of that, I couldn’t lose myself and just enjoy the story. I mistrusted the Western. Even more so after learning that even the hero I had connected with, “Iron Eyes Cody,” wasn’t a Native American at all, but rather a son of Sicilian immigrants with a wig and a lapse of integrity.

Growing up in Phoenix, my childhood relationship to the Western was even more muddled because of  locally iconic The Wallace and Ladmo Show. Instead of watching real Westerns, I watched Bill Thompson’s Nasty Brothers short films, where the Western genre was parodied and mashed up with other things like comic book heroes and Marx brothers-style slapstick:

These shorts, shot before I was born and aired regularly on local TV, formed my main impression of the Western genre. And that’s totally messed up.

The first Western I really enjoyed as a kid was a Space Western/Space Opera you may have heard of:

Over time I’ve come to understand the whole good guys wear the white hat/bad guys wear the black hat thing is prominent in Westerns. And that many many iconic film scenes are recreated from Western forbears. But I don’t know the origins of those images – where they came from first. I know I could research and find out, and that people will probably think I’m being lazy for not already knowing such stuff. It’s just never been a priority to me to find out.

A few years back my husband orchestrated an experience for me and a few of our friends who, for one reason or another, had mostly grown up without the pervasive influence of movies and television, and especially of science fiction. He had us watch a series of classic scifi films in chronological order of when they were released. We did this over a period of weeks.

Then, at the end we watched Mars Attacks!, and we laughed and guffawed our way through probably as many movie references as you can pack into a single film without your head exploding.

And I’m guessing I’m going to have that sort of an experience delving into Western106. I’m looking forward to it.

Don’t know who made this GIF, found it here.

So yeah, this post is a week late. That’s the way it had to be. Not going to fake where I’m starting from.

So I had an idea today to creatively express gratitude for teachers that I’ve loved.

I had the idea while washing my armpits in an effort not to smell bad for the next couple hours until I bathe properly.

My brain began flashing all those lovable teachers through my mind:

Mrs. Pickering, who read my third grade class a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle story every afternoon.

Mr. John Goodpaster, my sixth grade teacher who intervened so compassionately the day my best friend told me ‘I don’t care if you die today’ and broke my heart during a spat.

Mr. John Dant, my high-school junior year obnoxious-paisley-tie-wearing English teacher, whose only final exam question, ‘Define what it is to be human,’ terrified, intrigued and motivated us from the first day of class.

Ms. Merry Wilson, my college geology teacher, who added test questions that required more critical thinking just to challenge me. And who gave the best lecture I’ve ever witnessed on how the natural weathering of rocks provides our bodies with salt and potassium, concluding that we are evolutionarily predisposed to need margaritas and chips after a day of field work.

And there are more. And what struck me is that even though we may not keep in touch or indeed ever meet again after I’ve left their classroom, when I think of them, what I feel is genuinely love. Some of them I’ve already made an effort to tell about the impact they’ve had on my life. But today suddenly I wanted to work on a little shout-out to my teachers to express my gratitude. And that’s part one of this post, now done.

On to part two.

It also occurred to me that teachers come in many forms, including the wonderful fiction authors who’ve influenced me but who I’ll probably never meet.

Standing with the soap still in hand, I though of one author particularly, Neil Gaiman, who taught me about ideas with his Sandman story ‘Calliope‘. Reflecting on people asking him ‘where do you get your ideas?,’ he wrote: You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.

Turning off the water, I thought ‘I just had an idea and noticed I’d done it.’

So this is my thanks to Neil Gaiman for teaching me that it’s not so much about having an idea as it is about doing the work to create something. Even something as little as this silly blog post.

I’m also adding a WICF category to my blog, ‘where ideas come from.’ Because after a while deliberately trying to notice when and where my head serves up an idea, I think it will be amusing to peer back at such an odd collection of places and times. And the ideas will be there waiting if I forgot them and need one again.

Grid view

List view

On my birthday I woke to a beautiful fog at 6:30 am. My husband and I took the most peaceful morning walk. Fog is so rare in Phoenix, we savored the dreamlike quality of muted sound, the stillness of the morning such a wonder. The palm trees on this vacant lot, formerly a trailer park, were an eerie, oddly peaceful juxtaposition with the thick fog.  It’s a birthday moment I will definitely remember.

Just a quick screenshot from #mONkEyhouse106 in Camp Magic MacGuffin. I’m still mostly hopeless in Minecraft but my bunk mates built an entire tree house. Not everyone came to tonight’s social but those who did learned a ton! Led by Andrew Forgrave, we managed to add basic bunks for everyone, and some nice torches for light, and we began adding on more tree branches while dear Shannon forged ahead alone making a spiral staircase that runs up the trunk of our giant tree from the deck level to the top. At some point Kathleen and I learned how to rid pigs (in our tree!). Unfortunately neither of us could get back OFF so we kind of messed up the house for awhile, but it’s all back in order now, and the pork chops were delicious. Shout out to Tim for turning day to night and doing a few teleportations of lost campers. And to camp director Alan who managed to join our social for a few minutes before heading to dinner – come back and visit anytime!

I recorded this just before hitting the bunk bed in my cabin at Camp Magic MacGuffin, a family legend about my dad. I saw him pick up a handful of dirt and crush it into a rock. I have the rock to this day. You might say that makes this Doo Wop Girl gullible, but I say I have a life enriched by my imagination and an incredible family story.

This is what I see on my keyboard while listening to #ds106radio from work. Tripper Harrison is spinning some lovely today through the Magic Macguffin PA system.

Fortunately this joke arrived in my inbox two days ago courtesy of my mom. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had a joke to tell!

Looks like rat turds. There will be panic!

What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?!

big hair, big glasses, big smile

Michael encouraged me to share the rocker chick photo of myself that I thought would make him laugh, but I have no idea where it is, so instead I scanned this one, which is, I have to say, the biggest my hair ever got, and don’t you love my nerdy glasses? I really had it all going for me.

I’m supposed to be introducing myself and instead I’m sort of riffing off Michael’s post. I think that’s okay – you’ll get to know me as we go along.

Michael talked about those moments in life where so much is happening, and you’re taking it all in and really feeling those momentous shifts, and time slows down or speeds up in a way that those periods of time become distorted. High school is everyone’s forever ago, and your kids were born a few weeks ago even if they’re on their own way into high school.

And then there are some moments that get frozen, or repeat, or echo through time.

I went on a month-long trip through Great Britain, courtesy of my mom, the summer after I graduated from high school. I guess when you spend that amount of time away from your normal life, without the same responsibilities and daily grind, and when you spend those days making epic memories, well, those things tend to reverberate around in your personal space-time continuum. Back in 1987 during that month of travel, I saw so many places that have a lot more known (to me anyway) human history than anywhere in the United States. One place in particular stuck out as pretty incredible to see with my own eyes, and that was Stonehenge. It knocked the wind out of me when I saw it in person. I was just awestruck at the almost tangible feeling of how long it’s been there.

I’ve always been grateful to my mom for making that experience possible for me. I was really excited to take her to visit some of the same places I saw in 1987 when we went to Great Britain together this summer, 24 years later.

But my mom had a knee injury during our second week that kept both of us from doing any traveling at all for about two weeks during our trip. We shared the experience of being scared at facing an unknown medical problem in a foreign health care system. We shared stress and frustration and a slow healing process, too. We felt happy and lucky to be together no matter where we were and what was happening. But we were both a little crushed that we didn’t get to see many of the things we had planned together.

On our last travel weekend, we managed to rent a wheelchair, and Mom braved the long train and bus trips, and we went to see Bath and then Stonehenge together. When I saw Stonehenge from the bus window I burst into tears. It felt like such an epic journey just to get back there, and such a privilege to share it with my mom. Goosebump city.

Why am I writing about this? I guess Michael’s post makes me a little sad that I don’t have kids of my own, but it also reminded me there are plenty of wonderful experiences and memories for me with the family and friends that I do have.

Mom and me at Stonehenge, 2011, yes the British wheelchair came with the plaid blanket

Oh, and you better believe I wheeled Mom all around the monument as I babbled out every single thing I could remember about it from art history and British history courses.

victory photo at Stonehenge, 2011 - smaller hair, smaller glasses, bigger hips... but still fabulous

Most of the students within our Study Abroad program are in Paris right now. Two students, my mother being one of them, chose not to go to Paris, and it was my duty to stay behind and lead them on an excursion somewhere in the UK instead. So today the three of us went to York. We had a blast, and some of the sillier travel flubs that my mother and I made will likely wind up as funny stories for #ds106radio in a while.

We spent most of the day wandering around York’s city center and enjoying ourselves. When we got back to Nottingham my mom made up this dessert, pictured above, from ingredients obtained while exploring York, and she decided to call it a York Biscuit. Here is how to make one:

Go to York. Walk up the Shambles to the Little Shambles Tea Room, have an English breakfast for lunch, and then go out into the open air market near the butcher shop and buy some locally grown fresh strawberries and some clotted cream. Tip the purple man so he will move. Have Constantine direct you to York Minster and have a look around inside. Note the health benefits of bile beans. Take a walk on a fortress wall. Enjoy afternoon tea at Betty’s, and buy Chocolate Orange Crisps on your way out. Take all purchased food home with you.

Once home, top a Chocolate Orange Crisp with a generous portion of clotted cream, then top with strawberries, and you have a York Biscuit.

Walking around Nottingham this 3rd July, I noticed someone had dropped and then abandoned this ice cream cone and thought it would make an interesting context for a street photo. I didn’t get it straight, but I didn’t try a second times since I was in the way of many pedestrians. I still love this image because it tells a story, and in a way, I kind of like the slight skew.

I’ve had a hard time keeping up with my faculty duties and #ds106, and unfortunately that has meant not keeping up with #ds106. My heart is with you, you incredible crazy community! I miss you all terribly. I will be trying to keep up a bit. We have no wifi in my classroom or I would try to broadcast one of my class discussions. I may try recording one if it doesn’t freak my students out too much.

Meanwhile, many apologies for my lack of comments on your work. We’ll see if I can begin again.

I will head out to Cardiff, Wales this weekend to see their storytelling museum and meet one of the original Capture Wales team; more on that forthcoming. For now, I’m due in class shortly so I’m off.

#ds106forlife

@DailyShoot – #ds592 – What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “deadline”? #ds106

This is actually the second thing I thought of, July first, my imminent departure for the United Kingdom, and all the things that must be completed before then.

The first thing I thought of was an EKG flatlined, the ultimate deadline. But I don’t have access to one for photography, so this calendar will have to do.

Smooth, flat, horizontal shapes give us a sense of stability and calm.

Vertical shapes are more exciting and more attractive. Vertical shapes rebel against the earth’s gravity. They imply energy and a reaching toward heights of the heavens.

Diagonal shapes are dynamic because they imply motion or tension.

The upper half of a picture is a place of freedom, happiness and triumph. Objects placed in the upper half often feel more spiritual & important. An object placed there has greater pictorial weight.

The center of the page is the most effective. It is the point of greatest attraction.

White or light backgrounds feel safer to us than dark backgrounds because we see well during the day and only poorly during the night.

We feel more scared looking at pointed shapes. We feel more secure or comforted looking at rounded shapes or curves.

The larger the object is in the picture, the stronger it feels.

We associate the same or similar colors much more strongly than we associate the same or similar shapes.

We notice contrasts. Contrasts enable us to see … through our associations and perceptions.

Try one or more of these out in your next design assignment. Pick on that supports your purpose or intent and incorporate it into your design work.

I kind of cheated, because most of the audio was recorded and mixed by a professional at a real studio back in 2001 (backstory and original audio clip here). Incidentally that was before I ever became a teacher. I don’t ever really sound like that in a college classroom.

All I did was drag that mp3 into a new GarageBand project, plug in my USB mic, and record myself saying “listen to your ds106 radio” on a new vocal track. To get the echo I added the Vocal Reflection to the recorded track. Then it was as simple as selecting Share > Send to iTunes from the menu bar. Since I had pre-set iTunes to import audio as a 64-bit stereo mp3, that’s what I got. In iTunes, I right-clicked the new file and chose Reveal in Finder, dragged it to my desktop and uploaded it at http://www.dropitto.me/ds106. I’ll be stoked if I actually hear it on #ds106radio!

I submitted this as a #ds106 design assignment. This is something I assign to my ART100 students, and I ask them to make it say something about them. Check out their examples. It can be a really fun thing to do. Take pictures of yourself, or your family, or even each other. You can also mix in objects, like metal parts, tools, natural objects, animals, even sketches. Use an image editor to mash up the body parts and objects, etc. Let it say something about your identity. Heck, use it as your avatar. You can make it as goofy or deep as you want.

Hope you like mine.

Oh, yeah, you can get help with the technical details from this great open source textbook that I use with my class, Digital Foundations: Intro to Media Design with Adobe Creative Suite. What you want is Chapter 9, which walks you through step by step with pictures. My link goes to Exercise 3, which is where the Exquisite Corpse instructions start – you’ll just have to ignore the bits about the double exposure layer they have underneath their body parts. Or you could scroll up to Exercise 1 and add the double exposure into your mix. I hope you try it. It takes some time but I think the results can really be worth your while.