Global Eyes

September 2-26, 2008
Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University
Reception September 25, 5:00 pm

“Global Eyes” explores ecological, social, and political issues in imaginative and innovative ways through a variety of digital works created by digital artists from over 30 countries. Global Eyes was originally exhibited during SIGGRAPH 2007, the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques held in August 2007 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA. From over 660 submissions, 91 works were chosen for Global Eyes by a prestigious international jury, and this show is a subset of the original exhibition.

The ACM SIGGRAPH Traveling Art Show helps expose people around the world to the art collected at the SIGGRAPH annual conference's art shows. The show travels for two years after the conference, stopping at universities, festivals, and museums.

Converge magazine

A colleague turned me on to this exciting magazine called Converge: Education Technology News. From its Web site:

Converge magazine provides strategy and leadership for technology use in K-12 and higher education. Senior policy makers in education utilize Converge for articles on proven, effective educational methods and models for the 21st century and beyond.

I ordered a free print subscription immediately and will be making my way through its free online archives in my copious free time (heh). I noticed that the topic list and article links touch on community service and service learning as well. Can't wait to dig in, but I wanted to be sure to share the goods!

Internet for Everyone

Today, I began my official active involvement with Internet for Everyone, "a national initiative of public interest, civic and industry groups that are working to see that the Internet continues to drive U.S. economic growth and prosperity.

We believe every American must be connected to a fast, affordable, and open Internet to serve as an active citizen in a 21st-century democracy and to prosper in today’s economy. High-speed Internet is no longer a luxury; it’s a lifeline for all Americans. Our broad alliance is working together to see that our nation's leaders adopt a national plan to bring open, high-speed Internet connections into every home, at a price all of us can afford.

For more information, contact us at contact@internetforeveryone.org." (from Web site)

I'll be sharing more information here as the broadband policy is developed and the action plan is prepared for implementation.

The One is Us

Over the next couple of weeks, I am preparing to present at a statewide foster care conference in Nashville. My topic is "Teens and the Web" and I have the responsibility of presenting the most critical Web-related information and insights that I can to a group of parents who foster children who have been taken into state custody due to family neglect or abuse. I have a prepared presentation that I created years ago and try to keep updated as technology develops and it focuses mainly on safety issues. I highlight potential danger and equip parents with tools to prevent it. Last year, I presented to over 100 parents who were all eager to learn and ran out of time during my 90 minute presentation. This year, I get three hours and two chances to make my pitch. I've been wondering how to fill the second 90 minutes (assuming I give the poor souls a break for a sip of water and a trip to the restroom!) and what is the most valuable information I can impart to them.

I've decided that I want to present to them the positive, exhilarating aspects of the Web and why it's so important to ensure access and literacy/fluency NOW while teens are in the care of adults with the resources to provide them. There is no group of youth at greater risk of falling into the chasm of the Digital Divide nor in greater need of the empowerment of technology than these children who face transitioning into adulthood and out of the care of family. I can't imagine being 20 years old in this day and age and not knowing how to manage online banking and billpay, locating resources for housing, food and utilities, educational opportunity and general connectedness to the society which has been taken over by Internet technology. How do I impart to them the urgency of this need?

For starters, I'm going to show this video from TED.com by Kevin Kelly which talks about the first 5,000 days of the Web and forecasts the changes in the next 5,000 days. It's critical viewing for anyone who plans on living at least another ten or fifteen years. Imagine being 20 and having a probable 50 years in which one must become educated, make a living, raise a family without the technological resources many of us take for granted today. I want these parents--many of whom will be perpetual parents (of course, all parents are, but you know what I mean) since they will refresh their households with children as those they have now will mature into adulthood--to not just know the importance of connection for these children, but to have the tools and inspiration to connect them at home. I want to replace their fear of the Web with passion and inspiration that they can instill in their children for learning, growth and development in the exciting world of academic technology. And to do that, I will give them a magical mystery tour of the best sites I know on the Web for teens and young adults.

I would love to have any suggestions from readers and welcome them either in the comments section or by email to digiTenn@gmail.com.

TED.com and I-tunes U

I have spent considerable time spinning my wheels at TED.com ("Ideas worth spreading"), which offers free access to "inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers" to the general public. It's like attending the granddaddy of all conferences on every topic you love whenever you want!

I've been thinking about the power of this type of digital media production in both academic and community settings. I'm sure there are programs out there doing this, and I'm sure I'd not be the first to think of it, but wouldn't it be great if a community could call upon its high school or university to have students come out and record digitally events like poetry readings, lectures, dramatic and musical performances, etc. and make them available in a TED-like format to the community and the world-at-large? Even better, the students can train community members to record their own events and have a lending library of portable equipment.

It would be easy to tie this in to the Governor's Challenge Podcasting Tournament hosted by the Digital Media Sandbox Consortium (better hurry if you want to be a judge!) and to manage it through I-tunes U. Have you checked out I-tunes U? To find it, go into your I-tunes Store and check the left hand side of the screen for a link. East Tennessee State University has a particularly stellar collection of digital media available there.

If anyone is aware of similar academic technology programs that are tied to community, I'd love to hear about them.