Its been a while since I posted and it seems I've been knee deep in google! Yes, ok I use it for my email and docs, recently maps (been improving the functionality of the creative maps, awesome btw, post to come) and Youtuube. So without further-a-do... is that how you type that expression?... anyway!
Google is also integrated into my teaching through sharing resources digitally on google docs, to them submitting visual research through blogger. Today a colleague suspected you could use a google (word) doc as a live wiki, I was intirgued and we got the students to input their email address (hence not great quality to read) but we'd not seen how it works.
As you can see from the video you can see how it flickers as with different colour tags which are the different students collaborating on a timeline of research into how we have got to our digital world of today... when zuckerberg invented facebook to when logie baird invented the tele (ok majority are now plasma's as opposed to cathode ray tube).
But to watch it live (the colleges servers and ageing laptops just about survived created a beautiful collaborative document and such a fast, vast resource (ok didint ask to double checkl their sources of data, much in the same respect as a wiki) of info that created such debate that the tutuor could just reflect on to point out the shortening of technological development cycles (there is a better description for it) and key dates etc.
Infographics
Is there a way to track the amount of individual user input into the document other than colour coding each users text? I can imagine a tree diagram to represent the contrasting majorities of users input. I mean its useful in that you can track which user is doing what and who is adding the most useful data, but can we data mine their input?
Anyhow, I can imagine this technique has been done much already and we're hardly new, but I had to record it as it looked so good their collaboration and I'd love anyfeedback as if it is possible to translate this input technique into stats that can be made into infographics (not for the 'eye candy' novelty, though intriguing to innovate, but to assess, evaluate the students learning. Give Curriculum Leaders/Verifiers a clean-sweep-perception to aid the arbitary quantification of un-easy quantifiable currency of creative understanding. Ok, maybe not as deep as the whole of creativity, but still.
Google Teaching
Map the Psychogeography
Walk: Poem Pictures 2010 is a beautifully bound and lovely exploration/combination of words and drawings from Ian Mcmillan & Iain Nicholls.
I love these, a visual map, dialogue of their local area. very abstract, quirky collection of drawings and words combined. There are a few and suggest you try contact the creators to see if they have made any more books. Really plays with the space like Mallarme and abstract.
Concrete Poetry. They also eloquently describe their process.
Ian used to say as young lad ' "I'm going in the garden to think"
The garden didnt really help the thinking, though it was more the walking helped and still helps my creative process. Thinking somehow doesnt feel like the right word, its a kind of drifting or dreaming. Somehow the mind is going for a walk as well as the legs'
Ian Mcmillan, http://www.ian-mcmillan.co.uk
Related articles
- My back-to-front life | Ian McMillan (guardian.co.uk)
- An Anxiety-Powered Map (psfk.com)
- Mormon Concrete Poetry (motleyvision.org)
World at Work
Schaik of restruct org
Z33 - Hasselt - 27 June till 25 September 2009
The project “World At Work” will be presented for the first time as physical machine in real space at the exhibition "Work Now" at the art center Z33 in Hasselt (Belgium).
The 2008/2009 Impakt Online Exhibition shows World at Work
The project the "World at Work" rediscovers the earth as ‘Time Machine’. Its rotation around
its own axis gives us our days and its course around the sun determines our earthly year. To achieve a higher degree of accuracy in organizing their life, humans divided one day in 24 hours and a year in 12 months. The acceleration of transport and information on a global scale, the introduction of time-zones became necessary at the end of the 19th century.
With "World at Work" we project the amount of inhabitants per time-zone onto the earth as ‘Time Machine’. By assuming that the average working day around the world is from 9.00am to 5.00 pm, we come to the conclusion that there is a strong imbalance in the distribution of workforce. One can almost talk about a day and night on earth.
The world as ‘Time Machine’ is visualized by its course around the sun (together with its three neighbour planets) and its spinning around its own axis. On top of its self-rotation a graph with the amount of inhabitants is projected. The third element of the visualisation is the addition of all the working population of one global working day and shows how many people are
working, relaxing or sleeping.
This visualisation is shown either in real time, or can be released and speeded up at the users will. All three parts of the visualisation are interconnected as programmed clockwork that shows time by mimicking reality.
Client: Impakt Online
Design Team: Theo Deutinger, Romuald Dehio, Stefan Prins
Programming: Michael van Schaik/restruct.org
credits to: Romuald Dehio, Stefan Prins and Michael van Schaik - restruct.org
with special thanks to: Michael Impakt Online & Sabine Niederer , Erling Haverkamp -
Imatech and Ronald van der Groef - Overwijn TS
Grid Designer Tool
Life Map
He charts his life between ages 6 and 24 with a revealing honesty of family. Great work looking at the self with the varying rainbow colours changing in scale on the top in these warm vibrant colours of his creative side each colour representing a discipline Drawing, Reading, Singing and further progressing in his Academic studies to Graphic Design, 3d modelling, then to MFA Advertising, Print, Ambient Music.
Then the subtle gradaution creating sublime salience of light blue to dark in the 'Non Academic' of Mechanics, Physics progressing to Code Art probably influenced by John Maeda no doubt, Info Viz.
The very bottom has a good reflection of life mentioning joining Boy Scouts, School Captain, Troop Leader, Mothers Illness, Relationships.
The Very Top if all this wasnt enough he has room to slip in more info of his geographic location over these years. But dont forget there is still room on the right to add to his life from now onwards...
Brilliant Multiple Subjective Map.
The Whirl - Ways of Meaning
Watch 'The Whirl' clicking here
(video was embeded but but was slow to load)
Why visual language can help us deal with the information age.
He talks about some of the cognitive challenges of the information age, and why visual language is an important tool for dealing with them. Also talking about how information is non linear today, hence visual maps of non-linear information connected in multidirectional, interdisciplinary, 'open' meanings of communication.
Take the cadburys gorilla, is there a meaning?