MacFound: Transforming Learning in the Digital Age

From the MacFound November 2009 Newsletter:

Today, as President Obama called for new efforts to reimagine and improve education in science and math, the MacArthur Foundation announced a $2 million open competition for creative ideas to transform learning using digital media. The competition seeks designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and others to build digital media experiences — the learning labs of the 21st Century — that help young people interact, share, build, tinker, and explore in new and innovative ways. Supported by a grant to the University of California at Irvine, the competition was planned and announced in partnership with National Lab Day, a movement to revitalize science, technology, engineering and math in schools that was highlighted today at a White House event.

The competition is designed to promote participatory learning, a form of learning connected to individual interests and passions, inherently social in nature, and occurring during hands-on, creative activities. Awards will be made in two categories: 21st Century Learning Lab Designers and Game Changers. A new component of the competition, Game Changers will provide awards for the creation of new game play experiences using Sony’s popular video game, LittleBigPlanet™. Sony will also donate 1000 PlayStation 3 consoles and copies of the game to libraries and community-based organizations in low-income communities.

The competition is part of MacArthur’s digital media and learning initiative, which seeks to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to education and other social institutions that must meet the needs of this and future generations.

MacArthur Foundation: The Power of Youth Voice: What Kids Learn When They Create with Digital Media

From the website: “This video was taken from a simulcast of a public forum designed to open discussion in the Philadelphia area to educators, parents, researchers, students, and community members about the potential of learning through engagement with digital media. To bring this conversation to a larger audience, the event was also broadcast in the virtual world of Second Life and available via streaming video, thanks to the simulcast services of Global Kids.The forum brought together experts in digital media and learning to share their research and experiences using digital media in and outside of the classroom. Speakers included:Renee Hobbs, Founder, Media Education Lab, Temple University Nichole Pinkard, Founder, Digital Youth Network and DePaul University professor Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Director, National Programs and Site Development, National Writing ProjectModerator: Connie Yowell, Director of Education, MacArthur Foundation. This event was hosted jointly by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the National Writing Project, and the MacArthur Foundation.”

more about “MacArthur Foundation: The Power of Yo…“, posted with vodpod

 

Library News: LexisNexis updates

A couple updates from LexisNexis:

1) University Wire is suspended in LexisNexis (recently covered in the Chronicle of Higher Ed.).  Alistair Morrison,  Product Manager of LexisNexis Academic wrote that, “We continue to be in contact with the distributor of University Wire.  Based on our discussions we are cautiously optimistic that updates will resume, though we have not been given a target date.  We provide more information as we learn it.”

I’ll keep you updated on this.

2) Added to LexisNexis: The new “Discover America’s Story” source is a collection of small town newspaper articles.

Discover America’s Story focuses on small-town, rural, and “LOCAL” articles and reports on what is happening in-town and in-county while providing a local point of view on bigger issues such as state, regional, national politics and world affairs. The product is rich with articles relevant to geographic locations often under-reported or overlooked by mainstream news coverage such as natural resources, agriculture, land use, water rights and farming. “Small-town” news, op-ed, business, arts, government and life in general are covered well, plus published legal notices and obituaries are included.

Independent Lens: OBJECTIFIED

WATCH OBJECTIFIED ON I.L. TUESDAY NIGHT!! From the website:

Look around you. Within five feet of you are dozens—if not hundreds—of manufactured products that you interact with every day. If you are at work, perhaps there is a laptop, a stapler, a No. 2 pencil, a paperclip, a mobile phone, a coffee mug, a pushpin or an ergonomic chair. At home there may be a flat-screen TV, a pair of boots, a razor or a kitchen utensil. All told, we each touch or otherwise interact with an average of 600 manufactured objects every day.

We rarely consider where the objects that populate our lives were made or who dreamed them up in the first place. Yet our relationship with the manmade objects around us is complex, sometimes conflicted and often profound.

OBJECTIFIED, by filmmaker Gary Hustwit, is the second installment in his trilogy on design (his first was Helvetica). OBJECTIFIED encourages us to stop and notice our surroundings and to think critically about creativity and consumption. Who makes all these objects, and why do they look and feel the way they do? How can good design make these things—and by extension our lives—better? What about the environment and the social and environmental costs associated with global manufacturing and planned obsolescence?

Featuring interviews with some of the world’s preeminent industrial and product designers, OBJECTIFIED is an exploration of the process at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who reexamine, reevaluate and reinvent our manufactured environment daily. It is about personal expression, identity, consumerism and sustainability. What can we learn about who we are and who we want to be from the objects with which we surround ourselves?

more about “Independent Lens . OBJECTIFIED | Inde…“, posted with vodpod

 

ECREA: Worlds of Journalism data available

From the ECREA listserv 11/22/09:

WORLDS OF JOURNALISMS, FIRST DATA AVAILABLE

First comparative data from the Worlds of Journalisms project is now available for download from the project web site. The Worlds of Journalisms study set out to compare journalism cultures across nations, news organizations and professional milieus. Another major goal was to identify the driving forces behind still existing differences in journalistic cultures. The data is based on interviews with 1800 journalists working for 356 news organizations in 18 countries.

The study is one of the largest collaborative endeavors of journalism scholars from different countries. These countries include: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda and the United States.

——————————————————————
Dr. Thomas Hanitzsch
Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research
University of Zurich
Andreasstrasse 15
8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Tel. +41 (0)44 635 20 41
Fax +41 (0)44 634 49 34

“Worlds of Journalisms” Project
www.worldsofjournalisms.org

Vote for: Green Guerillas & Farm Sanctuary

Well, I did!  It appears in each category, people who sign in get three votes (I voted for Farm Sanctuary under the “Animal Rights” section).  Somehow I signed in using my WordPress Account — you can use existing accounts to sign in.   If you have trouble, contact the G.G.s (info, below).  CLICK HERE TO VOTE. Here is the Green Guerrillas call for votes:

Calling All Our Supporters!

Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective has entered Free Range Studio’s Youtopia contest to get help making an online movie about the environmental impact(s) of natural gas exploration and exploitation.

Free Range Studios created The Meatrix and The Story of Stuff.  We are hoping that by teaming up with them, we can get as many people as possible informed and involved in an issue that affects 31 states!  Click here to find out how many gas wells are in YOUR backyard.  For more information on natural gas exploration and exploitation… check out Green Guerrillas’ Blog on changents.com.

WE ARE JUST 100 VOTES AWAY FROM #1 FOR THE ENTIRE CONTEST… can you believe it? Detailed instructions on HOW to vote

For those of you who have not yet voted, here is our proposal:

Natural Gas… clean enough to drink?
Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective c/o Southern Tier Advocacy & Mitigation Project, Incorporated – Non-Profit – Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective organizes broad-based constituencies to re-think fossil fuel dependency and challenge false solutions to climate justice. We reveal the role mainstream media plays in promoting sweat shops over sustainable style, genetically modified crops over locally-grown organic foods, and pollution and prisons over sustainability and social change. We want help creating an online movie that challenges natural gas as a transition fuel and exposes the irreversible environmental damage that drilling in the Marcellus Shale (our backyard) will have on our air, soil, and water, threatening animal, human, and plant life for many generations to come.

Yes… to   VOTE RIGHT NOW  you will need to either create a free UserVoice account… or vote using an existing account with FaceBook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Myspace, WordPress, Blogger, AOL, or a variety of other providers.

For those of you who already have VOTED for us, WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP TO SPREAD THE WORD!   There are a few things you can do to help us continue to build our momentum and encourage more support:
(1) ADD A COMMENT!

• “Green Guerrillas are a creative, powerful group of youth. I met them at the Dream Reborn conference in 2008. They drove all the way to Memphis from upstate NY in a van – total commitment to transforming the world and uplifting our planet.”

• “This group of kids is absolutely amazing. You would not believe their dedication to sustainability and AWESOME media-making! It is an inspiration to follow their story and watch their videos. Plus, they KNOW what the deal is about natural gas drilling and more importantly, can explain the dangers in terms everyone can understand and agree with!”

• “Green Guerrillas are the most groundbreaking, visionary, holistic group of youth, or political organization in general, period. They connect all the issues together, they see the big picture, and the embody what they talk about. They are the true grassroots, not some big NGO… and they deserve your support. Spread the word!”

• “Green Guerrillas, you’ve only just begun! you make an ole man reaffirm his faith in youngfolks as change-agents. Right On!”

(2) TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, You Tube, Google, Yahoo, WordPress, and ALL OTHER Social Networking Sites to VOTE FOR GGs!
(3) ENCOURAGE YOUR FAMILY, YOUR NEIGHBORS, YOUR CO-WORKERS, and the YOUTH in our communities  to join us in this LOVE FEST FOR ALL LIFE!  VOTE TODAY!

Words cannot express our heartfelt appreciation for everyone’s support!  Many Thanks!

BLESSINGS!
Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective

ps… if you did not get this message in HTML, use this URL to get more information and support Green Guerrillas and VOTE: http://changents.com/change-agents/green-guerrillas/action_requests/51637

pps… YES, we are available to help you to figure out HOW to cast your vote for us… contact us by email (info@stamp-cny.org), or phone (607-277-2122).

MediaPost: Measurement: Newspaper readers or circulation

Loechner, J. (2009, November 23). Measurement: Newspaper Readers or Circulation? MediaPost Publications. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117854

From the research summary of Scarborough’s study, “The analysis of Scarborough audience data not only indicated that newspapers are being read by a majority of adults in print and online, but also that these Integrated Newspaper Audiences continue to attract educated, affluent readers.”

CPJ: Free Speech Protection Act

Mahoney, R. (2009, November 16). Free Speech Protection Act could slow ‘libel tourism’. Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from http://cpj.org/blog/2009/11/free-speech-protection-act-libel-tourism.php

Looks at the issue of ‘libel tourism’ including pending legislation in the U.S. on the state and federal levels.

see also:

Bright, A. (2009, November 20). Is Britain Putting an End to Libel Tourism? Citizen Media Law Project. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2009/britain-putting-end-libel-tourism

NYT: Media companies move from marketing to P.R.

Barnes, B. (2009, November 22). Ad Budget Tight? Call the P.R. Machine. The New York Times. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/business/media/22steal.html?_r=1

An excerpt:

..don’t think that Hollywood believes it can get by with less promotion [given drastic cuts to marketing budgets]. This, after all, is the place that perfected the hard sell. As studios cut “paid media” (newspaper ads, television spots and billboards) they are leaning more heavily on armies of publicists generating what they call “earned media,” free coverage in magazines, newspapers, TV outlets and blogs.

MediaPost: HuffPo increases advertising

Mermigas, D. (2009, November 20). Huffington Post Increases Advertising, Revenue Streams. MediaPost blogs: Diane Mermigas on media. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117833

Examines the “Advertising 3.0″ efforts of the successful media company.

News Media and the Law, Fall 2009

I copied the TOC — it links to the RCFP site:

	COMMENTARY	Jack Nelson was a journalist   Reporters Committee co-founder championed a federal shield law, but didn’t see it passed
	FEATURE	Who is a “journalist?”   And why does it matter?
	FEATURE	Expanding Exemptions   The U.S. Supreme Court will decide two First Amendment cases that challenge whether campaign finance and animal cruelty laws unfairly restrict the media.
	FEATURE	Congress moves forward on shield bill details   Internet journalists would be covered under the new definition of journalist
	FEATURE	When journalism and activism collide   Obtaining press credentials can establish a reporter’s intent
	FEATURE	Media Matters   Classification as news media plays favorably in records access cases
Confidentiality/Privilege
	FEATURE	Unmasking the identities of online commenters   Newspapers struggle to decide when to fight subpoenas, when to comply
	APPRECIATION	Jack Nelson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Reporters Committee co-founder, dies at 80
Freedom of Information
	FEATURE	Congress, White House exempt abuse photos from FOIA   The images depicting abuse and mistreatment by U.S. troops abroad are shielded from release with a last-minute legislative maneuver.
	FEATURE	Federal Reserve locks vault on bailout records   Three public records suits challenge denials of records requests
	FEATURE	Law schools step in to help maintain sunshine   Clinics spring up to help those who want access to government records and meetings
	FEATURE	Illinois revises transparency laws on heels of scandal   Media advocates say updates more procedural than substantive
Prior Restraints
	FEATURE	Attorney general to limit state secrets privilege
	FEATURE	Taking secrecy to extremes   Judges push court closure to the limits, but appeals await
	FEATURE	Still Keeping Secrets   Court uncloaks documents in church abuse suits
Libel
	FEATURE	Anti-SLAPP saves the day   State laws protect journalists from unwieldy attorney fees
Broadcasting
	FEATURE	Networks say new FCC policies are indecent   Lawsuits challenge commission’s restrictions on fleeting profanities
Newsgathering
	FEATURE	Laptop search policy still a concern for journalists
	SIDEBAR	Only journalists need visas for short-term business travel
Open & Shut
	O&S	Open & Shut   A collection of notable quotations
	CITES	Sources & Citations

Poynter: Public TV &Radio increase local investigative coverate

Tenore,, M. J. (2009, November 20). Public TV, Radio Stations to Increase Local Investigative Coverage as Columbia Report Advised. PoynterOnline. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=173444

Brilliant! For all the new models I’ve heard, this one excites me.  I’m also interested in the participatory widgets such as HuffPo’s Impact.

Adage: Oprah’s move to cable

Steinberg, B. (2009, November 20). Will Oprah’s Move To Cable Dampen the ‘Oprah Effect’? Advertising Age – MediaWorks. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=140668

You Go Girl!  A paragraph from Steinberg’s article:

In a statement released Friday, Ms. Winfrey’s production company Harpo said she will continue doing her current show until Sept. 9, 2011, completing 25 seasons. Then she intends to “appear and participate in new programming” for Discovery’s Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN.

FIR  11/20/09 from Oprah.com

OnlineMediaDaily: YouTube Direct

Sullivan, L. (2009, November 17). YouTube Unveils Tool To Connect News Organizations With Citizen Journalists. Online Media Daily. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117490

Wow, what doesn’t Google do? Make toast? Walk on the moon? Create life? Here is Sullivan’s nutshell on YouTube Direct:

YouTube Direct, a sort of “virtual assignment desk,” allows traditional news agencies to tap into the content uploaded and housed on Google’s video site. News agencies and people who capture community events — from political campaign speeches to natural disasters — on their video camera led Google to create the tool.

 

StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening 2009

The National Day of Listening is November 27, 2009.  From the website:

On the day after Thanksgiving, set aside one hour to record a conversation with someone important to you. You can interview anyone you choose: an older relative, a friend, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood.

You can preserve the interview using recording equipment readily available in most homes, such as cell phones, tape recorders, computers, or even pen and paper. Our free Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide is easy to use and will prepare you and your interview partner to record a memorable conversation, no matter which recording method you choose.

Make a yearly tradition of listening to and preserving a loved one’s story. The stories you collect will become treasured keepsakes that grow more valuable with each passing generation.

Adage: Big media wars: Murdoch to quit Google?

Klaassen, A., & Ives, N. (2009, November 16). Media News: Why News Corp. and Murdoch Won’t Quit Google – Advertising Age – Digital. Adage.com. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=140537

From the “Big Media” playground:

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch created a furor last week when he suggested News Corp. would quit Google. And Google’s response was along the lines of “go ahead, make our day.” Bloggers and analysts rushed to show just how such a move would play out.

Commoner Letter: Kleinman (UMich Lib) testimonial

Domicone, A., & Kleinman, M. (2009, November 16). Commoner Letter #4: Molly Kleinman of the University of Michigan – Creative Commons. Commoner Letter. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/19158

Part of a series of testimonials / requests for support by advocates and CC users that illustrates the importance of the Creative Commons.

 

MediaPost: Kids TV ads; Nielsen sells trade titles

Goetzl, D. (2009, November 13). New Congressional Bill: Smackdown On Kids’ TV Ads. MediaPost Publications. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117407

Regarding the Healthy Kids Act, H.R. 4053 (pdf, GPO Access)

Siegel, F. (2009, November 11). Nielsen Sells Trade Titles, ‘Hollywood Reporter,’ ‘Adweek’ Group. MediaPost Publications. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117223

Free Press: LPFM Now!

Candace Clement just sent out an ote about the Local Community Radio Act.  She made the video, “to tell Washington why we need more local radio…” See FreePress’s page on Low Power FM Radio.

H.R. 1147 (pdf, GPO Access) & S. 592 (pdf, GPO Access)

more about “Free Press: media reform through educ…“, posted with vodpod

 

Variety: shield law expected to win approval

Harris, P. (2009, November 15). Shield law expected to win approval: Committee will meet Thursday about legislation. Variety. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011390.html?categoryId=14&cs=1&nid=2248

An excerpt:

The committee [Senate Judiciary] is slated to meet Thursday to approve a measure that would allow judges in certain cases to quash subpoenas for information concerning confidential sources. The provision is among several recent changes to the bill (S. 448), known as the Free Flow of Information Act, that are endorsed by a coalition of journalism organizations.

S. 448 (pdf, GPO access)

Senate Judiciary: Official business meeting notice & Summary