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Thursday, May 13, 2004

Coursework

I was doing some exploring of some of the things I've posted as coursework at OISE/UT and thought I'd refer to a couple of pages here. As much to have ready access to some fairly convoluted URLs, as anything else.

I made a series of tutorials last summer on how to produce multimedia files. Each of these sites has links to step-by-step screen caps of how to make videos.

Each link leads to a site with a "tutorial" for the application named: Adobe Premier, Helix Producer and Windows Media Encoder.

The reason for all of this, was a desire to provide a resource for educators who wanted to use these software applications to create and post files in each of the three types of files (Quick Time, Real, and Window Media) for audiences in the name of accessibility.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Cyborg Luddite

Last evening's closing keynote for the KMDI's Open Source Conference was a blast. It was especially cool to have the "professor's-eye view" of the proceedings in Toronto from my monitor in Victoria, B.C. You'll be able to see what I mean in a few weeks when the archives of the conference webcasts, including the closing keynote by Dr. Steve Mann are made available.

NOTE: Ron Baecker and Gale Moore, Peter Wolf and Kelly Rankin and the entire team of staff and volunteers of the conference did a marvelous job of presenting content and involving this "information and communication technology (ICT)"-based conference participant.

Special thanks as well to the conference moderators for their most able efforts on behalf of online participants over the three days.

Professor Mann is a pioneer in the field of wearable/implantable computers. He wrote a book, with my buddy Hal Niedzviecki, Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer. Visit this link for an interview with more on Hal's thoughts on "culture."

At one point in his presentation Professor Mann mentioned that he'd recently installed a windmill on the roof of his lab and joked that this had led to thinking about "disconnecting from the network" as some type of "cyborg luddite."

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Open Source Software -- Day 3

Another very interesting day of webcasts from the KMDI.

As I said during the 'cast, I'm especially impressed with how the technology has evolved over the course of the past few years.

It really is impressive that participants from across North America and around the world are able to "be" in Toronto to attend the conference via ePresence.

On a related note, I added myself to the list of "Attenders" at a wiki setup by one of the face-to-face participants of the conference, Daniel Allen

Monday, May 10, 2004

Open Source Software -- Day 2

Today again attending the webcast from the KMDI. This morning's talks have been on Open Source and business models.

Contrary to what you might intially think, there seems to be money made in businesses based on open source software. Indeed, it may be a competitive advantage.

New Interface

Blogger has put together a great new interface. You can't see it, but the interface used to make this post has evolved dramatically -- "over night."

Of course it wasn't instantaneous for those behind the scenes, but it was for the users of the interface when it was put on the servers over the weekend. Great stuff.

Because of the new interface, I know that this is the 345th post to this blog ;-)

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Open Source Conference

Today I'm attending the Open Source Confererence hosted by the KMDI @ the U of Toronto. It's being webcast and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend remotely.

The conference runs through Tuesday afternoon and first session has me very excited. I'll try to get my take on the highlights posted here.