The first virtual war?

In 2000, Estonia declared internet access a fundamental human right of its citizens. Free wireless abounds, citizens have digital identity cards and do much of their banking and other activities online.


It is also the site of what has been described as the world's first virtual war. Since April, Estonia's computer networks have experienced waves of sustained attack causing servers to crash and bringing many services to a stand still.

In an era where we are putting more and more of our public service information online and creating civic access pathways that pivot on internet access, 'denial of service' and other attacks move from annoying to dangerous. If I couldn't access my online banking or get into my email, life would get pretty ugly pretty fast.

How to work better

A4 photocopy of Peter Fischli and David Weiss's
How to work better (1991), as photographed by the author in his studio
Photograph: Ryan Gander © the artists

Ruby pseudo wants a word

We're always trying to write about kids and what's going on with them. What kinds of digital technologies do they use in their daily lives? What are they thinking? What aren't they thinking? Is Prensky right? Are they 'digital natives'? I can't count how many times i've lain awake at night worrying about all this...

Ruby Pseudo just goes and asks them! Here's her amazing blog. Highly recommended!

Scratch

If you're interested in creating interactive stories, videos or art, this might be the software for you. Developed at MIT's Media Lab, Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create cool stuff without having to have a preexisting grasp of programming language.

Download it here for free and have fun.


There's a video tutorial so easy to follow that i made an animated movie while i watched.

nmc 2007 Summer Conference

The 2007 nmc summer conference is coming up soon - June 6 - 9 in Indianapolis:

"The NMC Summer Conference is a one-of-a-kind event, attracting an audience of highly skilled campus professionals who are very knowledgeable about and interested in the integration of emerging technologies into teaching, learning, and creative expression".


Very exciting to see Scott Pagano on the programme!

His official biography:

As filmmaker, motion designer, and spatial reconstructionist, Scott Pagano creates moving image content utilizing shards of architecture, disfunction, and futurism. With influences ranging from minimal painting to cinema, his work offers a re-envisioned perspective on the graphic stratas that saturate our visual perception. His meticulously constructed abstract artworks push the boundaries of audio-visual composition and process using a dynamic mix of cinematographic and synthetic imagery.

Citizenship education - literacy

A couple of weekends ago I went to the 2007 Citized International Conference on Citizenship Education held at The Centre for Research and Teaching in Civics at the University of Sydney. Loads in interesting people, including Dr. Libby Tudball from Monash University brought together around the theme of citenship eduation. Audrey Osler gave a really interesting and, for some, challenging presentation on cosmopolitan citizenship. Sir Bernard Crick, credited with the construction of the UK's humanist citizenship curriculum, gave a spirited account of the development of the curriculum.





Listening and watching the range of presentations brought it home to me how important a discussion of literacy, texts and textual practices is for any concept of an active and participatory citizenry.

You are here

A lot of us are thinking through issues of narratives of the self in local and global sites. This book by Katharine Harmon has been helping me think through these issues from a fresh perspective. It is a beautiful book, both visually and in what it allows me to think about.



Another 'you are here' project is here. It uses surveillance cameras to track pathways through a public space. This one is "You are Here, 2004", created from "Six networked firewire video cameras, flat-panel display, PC computer, custom software".

It's on again!

The United Kingdom Literacy Association's (UKLA) Annual International Conference is looming once again - 6th to 8th July 2007. This year it is being held in Swansea. In a time when we are increasingly aware of the pace of change and the almost timeless nature of the challenges we face as educators, the theme of 'reflexivity, renewal and regeneration' is timely.

The UKLA's SIG around Digital Literacies is hosting a PGR student symposium foregrounding cutting edge work in the field by new academics. More information on this to come.

Brian26's flickr site for this and more photos of Swansea.

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've blogged.

While not blogging, I have moved continents and universities - from the UK to Australia; from University of Plymouth to University of South Australia.

More to come...

wikipedia and barbie

Wikipedia is continuing to grow exponentially, both challenging and exciting us. I have just been reading about Barbie. If you haven't had a look, you should. An amazingly comprehensive overview of her development, evolutions and make-overs and her cultural impact. Did you know, for instance, that she has been both a palentologist and tourist in her time (as well as, of course, astronaut, vet, rock star and firefighter)??

There's a lot to be said for the power of wikis to enable collaborative work across space and place.

And a further note on Barbie - the amazing Simon Tyszko has Suicide Bomber Barbie depicted on his site - more evidence of the way this iconic doll is hijacked as a mechanism to critically reflect on key contemporary issues.