A Complete Guide to Microblogging with Tumblr
"Think of Tumblr as micro-blogging on steroids (technically, it's called 'tumblelogging'). Whereas Twitter and similar services limit posts to 140 characters or less, Tumblr lets you post updates of any length, although it’s best suited to short-format posts. Tumblr bridges the gap between full-blown blog and micro-blog.
Tumblr is also an option for designers and creative people, because it gives you complete control over the look of your tumblelog. It also offers great opportunities for theme designers..."
(Cameron Chapman, 22 July 2010, Smashing Magazine)
Fig. Jenna Anne "What you need to know about Tumblr" Uploaded by JustKidding1026 on 12 Dec 2010.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Open journalism: the newspaper is moving beyond a newspaper
"If the story of the Three Little Pigs broke today, how would a modern newspaper cover it? That's the concept behind a new TV ad for The Guardian, the newspaper's first major TV spot for 25 years.
The spot launches a campaign to promote the paper's 'open journalism' approach – its name for the way in which it is attempting to involve its readership in not just commenting on stories, but contributing to and even determining its news agenda. 'Open is our operating system, a way of doing things that is based on a belief in the open exchange of information, ideas and opinions and its power to bring about change,' said Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of Guardian and MediaGuardian publisher Guardian News & Media. 'The campaign is designed to bring that philosophy to life for new and existing readers.'
The launch ad examines the way in which the tale of the Three Little Pigs might be covered by The Guardian today, with all the different forms of content and different channels that implies. It also seeks to get over the way in which stories develop over time as new facts come to light and the effect of social media on switching the focus of coverage and debate.
An epic two-minute version (shown above) debuted on Channel 4 last night.
Comparisons will inevitably be made with 1986's classic Points of View by BMP (indeed the Guardian itself has said that the new ad is a 'nod' to the old one. They share an endline: The Whole Picture).
But while Points of View got over its message succintly and elegantly, Three Little Pigs is less focussed, less pithy. This can be seen as a reflection of the changing nature of media – newspapers are now less about relating THE story and more about acting as a platform for multiple strands around a topic to be explored by multiple participants, including the readers themselves, in real time. But it makes for a less memorable piece of advertising storytelling.
'The aim is to reach progressive audiences and show them why they should spend time with us,' according to Andrew Miller, chief executive of the Guardian's parent company Guardian Media Group. But you have to wonder whether such progressive types would not be aware of what the Guardian is doing anyway? The ad will probably make existing Guardian readers feel better about themselves, but will its slightly daunting complexity attract many new ones?"
(Patrick Burgoyne, 1 March 2012, Creative Review)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
First Monday: one of the first openly accessible, peer-reviewed journals on the Internet
"First Monday is one of the first openly accessible, peer-reviewed journals on the Internet, solely devoted to the Internet. Since its start in May 1996, First Monday has published 1,119 papers in 179 issues, written by 1,437 different authors. In addition, a number of special issues have appeared as well as podcasts at http://www.firstmondaypodcast.org/. First Monday is indexed in Communication Abstracts, Computer & Communications Security Abstracts, DoIS, eGranary Digital Library, INSPEC, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, LISA, PAIS, and other services. First Monday's ISSN is 1396-0466."
(First Monday, 1995-2011)
Fig.1 "Ceiling Cat is watching you".
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Visual Directions: reflective writing (and the design process)
"Reflection is an ongoing process of thinking about your development in relation to your work. Reflective writing is both a record (description) and a review (analysis and evaluation) of your work. Reflective practice is a 'sorting out/clarifying process' (Moon 2004) giving you new perspectives on yourself and your work."
(University of the Arts London)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
E-learning 2.0: content is used rather than read and resembles language or conversation rather than a book or a manual
"What happens when online learning software ceases to be a type of content-consumption tool, where learning is 'delivered,' and becomes more like a content-authoring tool, where learning is created? The model of e-learning as being a type of content, produced by publishers, organized and structured into courses, and consumed by students, is turned on its head. Insofar as there is content, it is used rather than read- and is, in any case, more likely to be produced by students than courseware authors. And insofar as there is structure, it is more likely to resemble a language or a conversation rather than a book or a manual.
The e-learning application, therefore, begins to look very much like a blogging tool. It represents one node in a web of content, connected to other nodes and content creation services used by other students. It becomes, not an institutional or corporate application, but a personal learning center, where content is reused and remixed according to the student's own needs and interests. It becomes, indeed, not a single application, but a collection of interoperating applications-an environment rather than a system.
It also begins to look like a personal portfolio tool. The idea here is that students will have their own personal place to create and showcase their own work. Some e-portfolio applications, such as ELGG, have already been created. IMS Global as put together an e-portfolio specification. 'The portfolio can provide an opportunity to demonstrate one's ability to collect, organize, interpret and reflect on documents and sources of information. It is also a tool for continuing professional development, encouraging individuals to take responsibility for and demonstrate the results of their own learning'."
(Stephen Downes, 17 October 2005)
Fig.1 Andrey Nepomnyaschev, 'Six Seconds', LooksLikeGoodDesign.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
