Video or Still

Posted on November 20, 2007 by Alvin Trusty

In the last couple of weeks I have had several parents ask me about video and still cameras.  Most of them want to capture their kids as they grow up.  The question involves how much money to spend on a video or still camera.  Is it more important to have a good video camera or a digital still camera?

Here’s the simple answer.  Get a good digital SLR still camera.  The Canon Rebel XT (most popular camera on Flickr) is down to $500.  With a good camera and some practice, you can get some good pictures of your family and friends.  You can print them or carry them around with you on your MP3 player.  You can share them using any number of free online services.

Video is much more complicated.  Most friends or even family members do not want to sit down and watch an hour of your kids at Disneyland.  On the other hand, if you take 500 pictures during your vacation, you can probably identify 50 of them that will be interesting enough to print and slide into an album.  Your friends or family can quickly flip through that taking as little or as much time as desired.

For the long, complicated answer, you should ask Rappold.  He does a lot of both.

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OEA says “No” to Facebook/MySpace

Posted on November 19, 2007 by Alvin Trusty

According to eSchool News, The Ohio Education Association is recommending that Ohio school teachers not create Facebook or MySpace accounts.

The article describes three questionable accounts in MySpace which were supposedly created by Ohio teachers.

It may be difficult to determine who has created the accounts.  They could be impostor accounts created by students. 

I can see the next directive from the OEA.  It will be about blogs, Flickr, YouTube and Skype.  Then we will be told to stop using anything Web 2.0. 

I share a lot of information with my students, but I keep my personal life (and theirs) out of it.  None of these technologies would be problematic if everyone used common sense.  It is a shame that a few teachers have not behaved as teachers should.  Even without social networks, these teachers are likely to get in trouble.

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Google Map Drag

Posted on November 18, 2007 by Alvin Trusty

I was using Google Maps to find out how far it was from my house to Cleveland.  Normally, Google Maps will stick to four lane highways if possible.  From experience, I know it’s quicker to take the state routes from Fremont to Findlay.  Now Google maps will let me make modifications to my route simply by dragging a point on the route to a new point.

googlemapdrag.png

Above, I dragged the Perrysburg point of the route down to Fostoria.  Google Maps recalculates my trip based on this new travel requirement.  You can let Google give you the basic route and then tweak the itinerary to pass through specific places that might be off the beaten path.

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Mark Twain on Copyright Pirates

Posted on November 17, 2007 by Alvin Trusty

One hundred years later, and pirates are still a problem.  I found this article pointing to a New York Times document written by Mark Twain in 1906.  At the time, copyright protection lasted 42 years.  Twain knew his works would be popular after that time, even if he were to die before it elapsed.  According to Twain, the pirates were the publishers who could continue to use he older material for free if the copyright had expired.  Here is my favorite quote:

And, as Twain once noted, while authors die, “publishers” don’t. For their efforts, Twain called them “pirates,” for they did as true pirates do: “take” things that aren’t “theirs” and profit from it.

Mark Twain was looking out for his kids.  He wanted copyright to continue to pay them royalties even if he were long gone.  He said the grandkids could fend for themselves, but his own kids should be able to profit from their father’s work.

He came up with a scheme that he thought might extend the copyright life of his creations.  He re-wrote his original books half a page at a time.  On the other half of each page in the book were parts of his autobiography.  The autobiography parts were previously unpublished.  Together, he thought the combination would create a new work and thus protect his classics from falling into the public domain.

Notice we wasn’t worried about individuals copying his work.  He consider the publishers to be the real pirates.  I have to wonder what he would think of the RIAA and MPAA today.

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Check your blog’s reading level

Posted on November 16, 2007 by Alvin Trusty

If you are trying to write a blog for an audience at a certain grade level, check your blog’s reading level.

I don’t know how scientific this process is.  I did blog about another tool back in February.  Try the text statistics at UsingEnglish for more detail than “junior high school.”

It looks like I am writing at the junior high level.  Most of the blogs I read are at the same level.  eSchool News is reported to be written for the Genius.

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