Digital Media and Learning Competition Blog

Cat in the Stack

Cathy Davidson's HASTAC blog on the interface of anything.

Check out all the great things happening with the Digital Media and Learning Competition winners at http://www.dmlcompetition.net/blog/

Social networking theorist and practitioner Fred Stutzman, a member of our HASTAC/MacArthur DML Competition team, is working with the winners to create a public blog of the ongoing progress and activity of the winning projects. Check it out!

Here's a sampling:

Henry Jenkins blogs the Hogwarts Dance Party

Recently, Henry Jenkins joined DML Winners Global Kids for an event in Teen Second Life entitled “The Hogwarts Dance Party of Good and Evil.” He’s blogged about his experience, highlighting the educational aspects of the event.

Jenkins writes: “Some of you may have seen the virtual documentary they produced on the Ugandan child soldiers, for example, or may be aware of their excellent advice on the educational use of Second Life.

Well, they invited me back for a return engagement — what they billed as the Hogwarts Dance Party of Good and Evil — this time focused around Harry Potter fandom and what it may tell us about the new media literacies. There’s an extensive discussion of Harry Potter in Convergence Culture and ever since, I’ve found myself speaking to Harry Potter fan conventions — including the Witching Hour in Salem, Phoenix Rising in New Orleans, and the upcoming Portus in Dallas. I am also featured in the documentary, We Are Wizards, which is currently making its way on the festival circuit.”

You can find more pictures of the events on Flickr.

May 19th, 2008 - Posted in DML, HASTAC, MacArthur, RezEd | | 0 Comments

Check out SSBxFab Flickr albums

Over at the SSBx Fab Blog, Joe Santiago writes:

“There’s alot of photos that have yet to make the SSBxFab blog, so I created a flickr stream with various pictures from the first few months here.

SSBxFab is still in phase 1. We’re doing fundraising and program development for Phase 2 (which will be in a permanent space, with more machines, including ones that will allow us to work with metal), and also working on projects to prove the viability and demand for community based design and manufacturing that is environmentally conscious.

Our Design Fellows have gotten the ball rolling on some great projects, and we’ve also seen some great excitement and participation from youth and adults in the community.

Below are some photo albums from the SSBxFab Flickr stream, showing some initial work with making furniture from scraps, doing laser etching for printmaking, and teaching basic electronics to kids in the neighborhood. Stay tuned for photo and video updates on other exciting projects, including concrete mold making for the South Bronx Greenway, urban irrigation pumps for NYC Greenstreets, rapid-protoyped wind harnessing devices, and solar powered robotics!”

He includes the following pictures:

ssbxfab.org - SSBxFab Flickr albums

May 16th, 2008 - Posted in DML, HASTAC, MacArthur, Media, SSBx Fab Lab | | 0 Comments

Over 230 Join RezEd Beta

Via Amira at the Global Kids Update:

“Over 230 members have participated in the BETA of REZED since it launched two weeks ago, creating new discussions and groups for K-8 educators, language learning, gender in virtual worlds, and more.

Create one for your own interest or community.”

Congrats to DML winner RezEd on the success of their new website!

May 8th, 2008 - Posted in DML, HASTAC, RezEd | | 0 Comments

More Well Goodness, ca. 1999

DML Winner Howard Rheingold has uploaded some more footage from a very early Well meetup. Its a trip to watch - I like Howard’s Costume (about 3/4 of the way in).

May 5th, 2008 - Posted in HASTAC, MacArthur, Media, SMVC | | 0 Comments

Mobile Music Networks at Carnegie Hall

From DML Winner Perry Cook:

“Once we found out that we had won the MacArthur DML grant, we pretty much immediately set out to design the speaker systems we described in our proposal. As our project title, “Mobile Music Laboratory,” implies, the main hardware goal is to make a large number of truly portable multi-channel audio systems, including the audio interface, amplifiers, and speakers all in one portable case.

We worked really hard designing and specifying the cases, buying all the components, and building them along with a number of the PLOrk-expert graduate students. We were (just barely) able to make eight new “DeLoreans” (so named because the cases are made of brushed aluminum) in time for the premiere of Dan’s “Silicon/Carbon: An Anti-Concerto Grosso” with the American Composer’s Orchestra in Carnegie Hall on April 27th.

Check out some images of the speakers, and half of our band on stage with the ACO in Carnegie Hall, along with a favorable review from the New York Times. Thanks MacArthur Foundation! Wait until you see what we can do with dozens of these.”

See the NY Times Review

May 4th, 2008 - Posted in DML, HASTAC, MacArthur, Media, Mobile Music Networks | | 0 Comments

Global Kids - From Myspace to Hip Hop Symposium

Over at the Global Kids blog, Barry Jacobs has summarized teen reactions to the “From Myspace to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth” forum. He writes:

“On April 23, 2008, 39 youth in Teen Second Life participated in the 2.5 hour public forum, “From Myspace to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth.” It addressed how digital technologies and new media are changing the way that young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life, presented by Common Sense Media, the MacArthur Foundation and the Stanford University School of Education.”