Community Scholarship - Donegal Hedgerow

Ever the junkie for the reality behind the buzz-words, I'm currently a fan of the community scholarship you can see in a great wee website called 'A Donegal Hedgerow'. This site takes one very simple idea and creates something big and beautiful from it.

Stuart Dunlop, an Irish naturalist, has created a whole site around a hedgerow in Donegal. Almost every day, Stewart walks up and down this hedgerow, photographing what he sees, identifying what he can, and recording information. The website has expanded into an important resource for naturalists all over the globe, and has both local people and experts writing in to identify plants and creatures that Stuart does not know. Rare species have been documented, new species discovered, and all this in an everyday hedgerow.

I think that this is the type of project that the BBC should be able to foster and explore. I could picture a TV series that follows Stuart Dunlop as he captures the small mysteries of a hedgerow over a year, while a website taps into and captures the wealth of wisdom in the community and in expert circles.

But for now you can explore Donegal Hedgerow and see what's blossomed open or sprouted wings since yesterday.

Is Pornotube better than Youtube?

The Blathernet Broadcasting Corporation's have just blogged on Why Pornotube is better than Youtube. Let me quickly say that the article rates Pornotube's interface, features and design as better than Youtube. They haven't rated the content. (That's their story and they're sticking to it.)

I think Pornotube's design etc is better than Youtube because individuals in the porn industry are the equivalent of the cowboys of the Wild West...they've always been out there, pushing the frontiers forward. The porn industry has always been ahead of the curve, they were the pioneers of how to make money from online content (creating new business models and secure means of payment), how to use webcams for...well ummm, interactive interaction...and they were way ahead in the video content curve. I'd be interested to read the results of the following anonymous survey on why people get broadband installed:

A so my kids can do their homework
B so I can improve my mind with great learning content
C so I can watch porn
D other

Porn may have provided a great impetus for some people to get broadband installed. It is an industry driven by people who want to make money from the vast worldwide market for its goods. And things that have worked for the porn industry often trickle over to the world of ordinary content. So before too long we'll probably have a nicely upgraded youtube website, the designers having learned from pornotube. And many youtube fans will delight in a new, more usable and efficient (and plain better-looking) website, without ever knowing where the model came from.

I don't like porn. In the early days of the net I resented the fact that an innocent search for information often led me to content I did not want to view. I'm delighted now I have search engines that will let me decide what type of content I want to be protected from. I think the porn industry has many terrible aspects to it, and can be an unhealthy or destructive influence on people's lives. But, just as those cowboys who saddled up and explored out west influenced the future of America, so too will the porn industry continue to influence our experience of the web. That's right. Even in learning institutions...

We don't need no education...

I've always been frustrated by the slow uptake of new learning technologies and methods in schools. The process of technology adaption in schools and learning institutions also frustrates me. It often involves a body taking an idea from a website such as myspace or youtube, spending years and much public money to create a 'safe' teacher's version, which fails on functionality, is old hat by the time it's delivered and doesn't allow the free interconnectedness of the Internet, which kids want. Then there's the negative views of parents...who either view the PC and Internet as a cheap nanny, or think their kids are gonna grow up to be serial killers because they have friends like 'darkangel666' who they've never met in the flesh.

so I'm really interested in a recent report by Demos (who describe themselves as being 'a think tank for everyday democracy (?)'). It documents how the digital generation use online space to build relationships and create original content. Schools and colleges are advised to adopt these new ways of sharing information, creating relationships and connecting. So instead of dismissing the likes of myspace, youtube and wikipedia, schools and colleges should use them as a means to getting their messages across more quickly and more effectively. Download and read a free PDF of the report here.

Donald Clarke has written a great blog about this report - check it out.

YouLearn Languages on YouTube

Ok. One of the last big projects I worked on was the BBC jam Irish commission. This project aims to teach Irish to NI kids aged 11-16. It's a big project, just about to hit beta delivery now. Launch date depends on the government's review of already existing content.

Being a BBC jam project, this web resource uses a lot of video. Some of the video use is non-linear, and pretty innovative. But since working on this project I've fallen in love with what youtube.com offers language learners: a direct link to a speaker of almost any language in the world. And it's not just passive participation - you can watch a video spoken in any language, and you can respond.

So instead of student being given a strange penpal in Spain, teacher could hook students up with a videopal anywhere in the world. Language classes involve the students recording and uploading their vodcasts, which are conversations - which anticipate a video response. The replay/pause functionality gives a student control over how they experience the conversation.

So lets get back to the Irish. There are around 6-7000 languages in the world. In the next big wave of language extinction, over half of today's languages will become extinct. That will happen in the next 50-100 years. Irish is one of the rare birds of the language world. But it is predicted to survive this first wave of extinction.

I'm wondering, could technology - with current primitive tools like youtube.com - help support and promote minority languages? Check out MokongX3M, a young lad from Dublin, who decided to record himself talking as Gaeilge (in Irish). Although MokongX3M's hits are not among the giants of youtube.com, this lad has managed to get 8 video responses to his video - ranging from teens to middle-aged gents. This is the sort of learning conversations we could open up using youtube.com.

As usual...it's not just language learning via video conversations that are interesting me though...I'm big into the idea of using video mash-ups for language learning too...but more on that idea later in the week!

YouTube Video as an Interactive Learning Experience

Ok. Here's my new thing. YouTube Video as an Interactive Learning Experience.

Y-wha? Hmmm. Let me explain.

I love youtube. I love the fact that instead of sitting in a pub saying to my friends 'you remember that tv programme from when we were kids and there was this swan in it and it had a sad face and it would do nice things for people but no-one really loved him and he would cry at the end of every show and then the music would go Daaaah dah dah dah Daaaaah dah dah duuuuuhhhhh...'

I can go onto youtube, search for a clip of the same show, and then I can show my friends what I'm talking about, without looking like an eejit.

So I love youtube for that.

And I love youtube because even if no-one knows the town I come from (Castlederg), that instead of spending hours explaining the unique 'charms' of this village, I can simply tell people to youtube Castlederg, and let them explore our unique culture and humour...

And I love the way you can (naturally) comment on videos via messages...viewers can start a row, express delight/anger/hatred, or show their lack of spelling skills to other viewers. But the video reply mechanism is *fantastic*...and has many applications beyond just comedy.

To start, check out a fantastic viral ad campaign by BlendTec, called Will it Blend?

This campaign involves Blendtec showcasing the fantastic blending properties of their blender by doing a series of short videos showing objects being blended, including:

• ice (it blends to snow)


• cubic zircona crystals (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME)


• coke cans


• footballs


• lightbulbs


• ketchup bottles


• ipods


• golfclubs


• pickled pigs feet


• magnets...etc

There's a total of 38 videos for you to explore. Tom Dickson (the Man in the Lab Coat and goggles) will blend anything, and even does seasonal blends...such as Annoying Valentines Day presents...

But apart from this being a fantastically cheap viral marketing campaign, I love the way Blendtec have got people making video responses to their ads...check out:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NzXMKeUv8MU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY3KTU6l5io&watch_response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0uU3Pg2wKk&watch_response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBvQHSJ-Rss&watch_response (Will it Blend - the song)

Obviously a campaign like this has its dangers. I admit that the first image that popped into my head after Tom asked me Will it Blend? was of a frog. And I suspect quite a few of the Will it Blend? video responses are not suitable for broadcast...

But could this new interactive video experience be harnessed for learning? Instead of passive video content stuck up online where in trusty television style the presenter talks at the passive audience and rambles through the subject matter, not expecting or inviting content, could we use youtube to engage learners, to produce content that gets them out there, actively responding, creating a learning dialogue?

More thoughts on this tomorrow...when I get on to YouLearnLanguages via YouTube...

Recovery from London

Well...2 days back and only now am I able to disgorge the information I picked up from designertopia.

The conference was interesting and well-attended by tech-heads and creatives alike. I only attended one tech session, and that was enough for me, but it seemed to me plenty of tech-heads were engaged by the new Expression tools, and I'll know where to go to get more information.

The creative track was one long roller-coaster of content - from the very latest in emotion-detectors to participatory Design, crowd-sourced software and new marketing.

I found myself both horribly attracted to and repelled by the content of the Technocraft section, hosted by Marcus Fairs. Attracted to the likes of bit.fall - a gorgeous water feature that can form sheets of water pictures, much in the same way a
dot-matrix printer prints a picture. Catch a short (3 mins) documentary on bit.fall at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AICq53U3dl8.

Inspired by the potential of Shadow Monsters, brainchild of Philip Worthington. This set-up takes the images of people's bodies captured on camera and translates them into shadows on a screen...the cool bit is the addition of monster teeth, googly eyes and bristling fur. I could imagine this being used to great effect not just with the likes of children with learning difficulties, or younger kids, but also in big adult settings, such as concerts or night clubs. Made me want to get up and dance anyway! See http://www.worthersoriginal.com/viki/#page=shadowmonsters for more info.

But the presentation also repelled me because of the throwaway nature of many of the gadgets. Yes I understand that many of the objects were oh-so-clever, but many of them had no real function, and much of the audience's attention ended soon after an initial smirk, giggle or frown. I just wonder what the environmental ethics of the Technocraft movement are? Are the students encouraged to think not just of the passing reaction to their works, or to use recycled/natural/biodegradable/eco-friendly components in their designs? The answer to my question to Marcus Fairs is No.