2/13/07

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

And by Empire, I mean computers, and by computers I mean Digital Media, which our chapter is about!

Oh, joy of joys!

Multimedia is ultimately, bling-bling for your computer. It is literally defined as the combination of text, color, graphics, digital manipulation of photographs and music, presentation capabilities and production. I am completely sure that we are ALL familiar with Digital Media, if you happen to be that random anomaly that isn't familiar with digital media, please get help.

To summarize. The sections that explain the broad concept of digital media are completely irrelevant, and would've saved a few trees had they not been printed, because everyone and their mother know, or have experienced digital media.

CBT we should all be familiar with, also, because we grew up with it. We are all using it now in the form of SAM...God damn you SAM... and, since our introduction to macintosh's in kindergarten we have been subconsciously trained to use computers.

The next section was about e-books and references, which I found pretty cool. I subscribe to pop-sci and they recently had an article about e-books. It is a very nifty technology that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on. Though, I do prefer hard copies while reading. Back-light's don't agree with my eyes too much, as it gives me a massive headache after a while.

They say that in order to learn a new word you have to use it meaningfully seven times. So, from 4pm Tuesday until 4pm Wednesday, I shall use the word "edutainment" seven times. Its funny how lazy our culture has become that we can't "educational entertainment" because it has too many syllables. To each his own. But its a cool concept that I know I've been introduced too. Oregon Trail for example. I learned how all about the historical trail, while being entertained for hours on end trying to keep my entire party alive. Educational entertainment at its best.

The rest of of the chapter explains how these technologies can be used in curriculum, but honestly, its telling us everything we already know. We have the unique experience of growing up in a technological boom. The generation of the authors of this book didn't grow up here, granted, they probably developed most of the technology.

Apparently the next section of our blog deals with what we've learned over the course of the past week. Honestly for me, it hasn't been much. I wish that I could've gotten some start on the training for MS word, because I hear that there are obscurities that I should be aware of. I had planned on coming in some time in the week, but have not had the time. I've had too much music and service stuff going on to find a good block of time to start. But, I did enjoy the Google activity, as it opened up a few new ways for me to use search engines.

"Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder. "

Your liberal yet independent idiot,

-T