Month: March 2008

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe has brought its expertise in digital image editing to “the cloud”. It now offers a browser-based application – Photoshop Express. The service not only provides powerful image editing capabilities, but also the opportunity to store up to 2 GB worth of images. This screen shot may give you some feel for the tools – left column.

Adobe Express Interface

I have read concerns in another blog related to the user agreement.

Sharing Your Photos

As part of registering for the Service and creating an account, Adobe may require you to create a user name (“User Name”) and user-specific URL, such as xxx.photoshop.com (“Personal URL”). The Service allows you to share Your Content that you upload to your account in the following ways: (a) by using the “Gallery” function to publicly share Your Content on the “Gallery” site of the Service, (b) by using the “email” function to send an email containing a URL link to Your Content, and (c) by using the “Link” function and the “Embed” function to include a link or embed Your Content on a web page. Please note that when you share Your Content, your User Name and Personal URL is made public, and recipients may in the future be able to share Your Content with others, add Your Content to their own accounts, and make photographic prints of Your Content. Adobe may revoke the right to use that URL for any reason deemed appropriate by Adobe in its sole discretion by giving you at least thirty days’ prior notice of such revocation, except in the event your URL or content therein is determined by Adobe in its sole discretion to contain infringing or illegal content or content that otherwise violates these Additional Terms or the General Terms. In such event, Adobe reserves the right to revoke the right to use your URL immediately without notice. Adobe owns and retains all right, title and interest in the use of “Adobe,” “Photoshop,” “Photoshop Express” or other Adobe property in association with a user’s Personal URL.

I have been trying to decide if any of this agreement bothers me. I think Adobe is just warning me that they are not responsible for how others may use my images. I would use this service for images I wanted to make public in much the same way I make images available on Flickr. I understand that I must accept the possibility that my online storage opportunity may be terminated, but I should have 30 days to deal with this situation if I must. Nothing here that seems too negative. I doubt my images have commercial value and I typically am trying to offer my images to others who may find some educational value in a few of my pictures.

As suggested in the user agreement, some images are available at http://grabe.photoshop.com.

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Social Sites and Self Control

I probably did some stupid things when I was a college student (according to my wife). Let’s just say I did. I wonder if I would have the good sense to not compound the stupidity by sharing my accomplishments with the rest of the world.

There seem to be case after case in which young people give in to the temptation to “share something stupid”. Here is but another example.

The University of North Dakota has long used the Sioux name as a representation of the university, i.e., “Fighting Sioux”. The mascot issue is the focus of a great controversy here now involving the NCAA. My intent is not to discuss this issue, but I note this situation to set the context for my remarks about student online behavior. For the record, there is no “mascot” (unlike say Florida State), but the name is associated with the athletic teams and does appear on “sports gear”.

Recently, the Gamma Phi Beta sorority had a cowboy-theme party that somehow morphed into a party in which participants dressed as Indian “maidens” and “warriors” with paint, loin cloths, etc. Photos made their way to the web and eventually the story broke in the local paper. Inappropriate anywhere, and certainly inappropriate and damaging within an environment that promotes sensitivity to specific issues of this type.

Given the “affordances” (sorry, I just returned from a conference and while terms such as this typically annoy me, this is a situation in which the term is useful) of social networking opportunities, are such examples unavoidable? I am guessing so. Poor judgment and lack of self control (under the influence) are unavoidable. Combine these realities and this is what you get.

Hold the students responsible? Absolutely! College is about learning to be responsible. You can’t seriously ask to be treated as a responsible adult and not accept the consequences of such a request.

My wife talks to future teachers in her classes about this situation all of the time. The challenge is how to get students to listen.

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Worst Teacher

OK – I realize that I am from North Dakota and I should expect to see some things that are a little different while walking the streets after dark in New York. Perhaps some rough looking characters, women of the evening, or even patrons of the theater. This sign I did not expect. I admit this is a tougher neighborhood than I normally experience. My students simply don’t show for class. Buy a sign? Some students must really not like their teacher.

worst teacher sign

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Read the fine print!

I select convention sessions to attend based on session titles (and how many blocks I must walk if the session is another hotel). Participatory media is a phrase that now attracts my attention.

I noted this label for a 12:30 session and found that I was unable to get close to the door let alone gain entrance to the 40 person room. Perhaps folks are attracted when the speakers are Howard Gardner, Henry Jenkins and Carrie James. Who schedules this collection in a 40 person room? Division G needs more members so their sessions can be scheduled in larger rooms.

I tried the label again at 2:15 and had no difficulty finding a seat. There are probably several lessons here, but let me save comments on what such lessons might be until later. This session ended up considering adolescent media production in what I would regard as specialized and dedicated environments. The session featured presentations by “media literacy” types. I use the the word “types” from the amused perspective of sometimes being “typed” myself. At a generic level, it is true that I am a “psychologist” and hanging with my high school friends in rural Iowa it is interesting the reaction that this label generates. No, we are not all Freudians! In fact, potentially the most common application of Freudian interpretation is probably practiced by “media types”. Anyway, it is important to allow professionals their strange language and customs. “Poemness” was a new term for me, but hey, it is probably a couple of papers or presentations or possibly even a book for you. Such is the academic game.

This second session examined adolescent media production and used as a focus several impressive programs (Youth Radio, Reel Works, In Progress, Poetry For The People). The “subtext” for these programs is visible (note the effort to share the language of this culture) from terminology used to describe benefits and experiences – empowerment, social justice, identity development, marginalized youth.

What strikes me about the ideas you encounter at a conference like AERA is how broadly folks see concepts such as technology integration and participatory media. Our own writing about such topics assumes applications in core content areas and typical schools. Others view learning much more broadly both in terms of content and location.

So, I did not read the fine print and I did not look for “names” I recognized, but I did encounter some examples I could appreciate and some applications I endorse. An observation Cindy made in returning from Russia occurred to me. I think we think other educational systems focus on fact learning and neglect the development of creativity and other forms of higher order thinking. This is our explanation for international comparisons on NAEP exams (or similar international comparisons). To the contrary, creative projects are common in the student experiences we have observed in China, Japan, and now Russia. The opportunity for creative projects is somehow accommodated despite less impressive budgets. The participatory examples I have noted here were generated outside of traditional educational environments. Why is that?

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A visit to the mother ship

We are in New York for the American Educational Research Association convention. I can’t say that I have anything new to report on the research front at this time.

At the end of the day, we walked to the Apple store on 5th avenue. We visit Apple stores on a regular basis, but the appearance of this New York store is unique and familiar to the Apple faithful. This had to be the busiest Apple store I have visited. Before I am accused of being a fan-boy, I should say I made no purchase.

Cindy at Apple, NY

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Excitedly – Happily

Today, the Grand Forks Herald has an article on Cindy’s podcasting grant. The core idea is to offer customized content for English Language Learners new to Grand Forks and often the United States. The iPods allow students to experience digital audio and video content appropriate to their classroom and language needs. The mobility of the ipods allow them to work with the content anytime AND to share the content with family members. The story does a nice job of explaining core ideas from the grant

Excitedly, happily? “The journalist who wrote the story used these terms to characterize the narrative,” Grabe said, excitedly!

Not that I have given a lot of interviews, but I can’t imagine any journalist describing my style of interaction in this fashion. Cindy on the other hand generates this reaction. 😉

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Media Future – A Business Analysis

Knowledge@Wharton offers an interesting analysis of what appears to be a competition between experts and amateurs as information providers. The piece notes many of the sources I have cited in previous posts (e.g. Revenge of the Experts, Cult of the Amateur).

The analysis notes that despite recent criticism of user generated content money is still moving toward sites that cultivate the generation of user content (e.g., News Corp purchase of MySpace). The Wharton analysis offers comments from business professionals reaching a variety of conclusions. Among the comments, the recognition that the desired for vetted information is one motivation and the desire to express one’s opinion is another (my interpretation).

Some conclusions:

Ultimately, the tug of war between professional and user-generated content will be resolved by their business models.

…

The problem: It’s unclear whether consumers will pay for content — no matter how good it is.

“The big challenge is the economic problem. What funded the traditional content model is falling apart,” says Whitehouse. “Ideally, I see Internet content being a blend of professional and amateur content, but how do we develop an economic model that supports both?” (Kendall Whitehouse, senior director of IT at Wharton)

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