Do I Look Any Different to You?
By RR | February 7, 2010
This last week included two major milestones for me: first, my tenure vote went through at the department level. This marks the end of a long and exacting journey of teaching, scholarship, and service to the university. More of these to come, of course, but it’s good to feel validated in my efforts at Grand Valley.
The second milestone is my switch over to a Macbook Pro. This blog is getting a little narcissistic in its continued focus on my Windows to Mac shift, but I am going to risk another post on the topic. So far, I am very, very pleased with the new Mac. Here are some of my favorite parts so far:
- Design. Slim, shiny, and sleek. I could never understand why the PC clones out there couldn’t design anything approaching the Mac. Now I’m beginning to realize just how well-crafted this computer is. The back-lit keyboard is super responsive, nearly silent, and only minimally raised above the deck of the computer. The touch pad is huge and well-placed. Nothing sticks out of the back or sides–the USB ports are inset and the DVD/CD optical drive is a simple slot. Everything is in its right place.
- Speed. I understand that Mac recently switched to Intel processors; this means that this machine really, really cooks. It boots in about ten seconds and the programs nearly leap off the screen. I know that this will slow as I add programs, but for now, I’m happy with the lightning-quick response time.
- OSX. I was pretty worried about making the transition to a new interface, but OSX is pretty intuitive. I’m still thinking in terms of Windows, essentially translating Mac components into Windows language (the DOCK is essentially the QUICK LAUNCH), but it’s easier than I thought. I’m not sure I’ll ever be as accomplished on OSX as Windows, but only time will tell
- Software bundle. Looking forward to trying Garageband and iMovie sometime soon. I have already noticed that iTunes works much better (and faster) on the Mac than it did on my PC. Everything else is looking good, with the notable exception of Microsoft Office for Mac (2008). As a huge fan of Office 2007, I was disappointed to see that many of its features and functions (such as the ribbon and compare documents) are not really integrated into the Mac version. I picked up a copy of Parallels and am still thinking about doing all word processing in Windows, but that seems like a pain to me. I may just have to deal with the more meager offerings of Mac Office until something better comes along.
- Functionality. There are a few minor irritations, like the lack of forward delete (who wants to use two buttons for this?) and the absence of right-click functions, but overall, I think I’ll like some of the additional functionality (easy program installation and removal) and more drag-and-drop options. Everything does seem to be less accessible, but then again, everything works, so I may not need to access programs as often.
That’s it for now. I promise no more posts on this topic. At least for a few days.
Categories: News | Tags: mac | No Comments »
Mac(k)ing the Transition
By RR | January 25, 2010
Just how embedded is Windows in my cognitive process? This is an interesting question–and one that I will answer firsthand when my new Macbook Pro arrives in a week or two. I know that the right-click is a big part of the way that I operate online and offline. I may end up getting a two-button mouse for this reason. But just how else the Windows interface has permeated my thinking?
I do know that this is going to be a big transition. I need to clean up my old laptop, turn it back in, and then start plugging new apps into the Mac. Here are a few Windows programs I am hoping to retain via Parallels:
- Adobe Pagemaker for editing web graphics and images
- Adobe Premier CS4 for video editing, if the processor can handle it
- Adobe Acrobat for creating PDFs, unless Mac makes something comparable or better
- Macromedia Fireworks, for vector-based graphics
- Snagit for grabbing screenshots. I think this is available for Mac, but why pay for it twice?
There are also a bunch of little applications that I’ve grown quite fond of over the years.
- Filezilla for easy FTP access to my blog is available for Mac, though I may have to pay for the newest version
- Handbrake, a convenient tool for video conversion, is also available for Mac
- Dropbox for file syncing and backup is also available for Mac (yes!)
I’m pleased to think that I won’t be using Internet Explorer much anymore, though I’ve heard mixed things about Safari. I’ll likely stick with Firefox for web browsing, though I may also try Google Chrome for Mac. For word processing, the Mac will have Office for Mac. I don’t think Mac even tries to compete with Word. Might be nice to get a license for Final Cut Pro sooner or later.
Lastly, I’m looking forward to the design. I’ve been spending time with the strictly functional for far too long. Time to bring in some beauty.
Categories: News | Tags: mac | 3 Comments »
New Macbook Pro Coming My Way (Hopefully)
By RR | January 24, 2010
Maybe it was the Wii. Something about the slick, user-friendly package and interface of the Wii may have finally pushed me to get a new Macbook instead of a Windows machine. Or maybe it was the disheartening prospect of another mid-level Dell laptop, running the problematic Windows Vista. Maybe it was how my old laptop crashed multiple times and slowly disintegrated over the past three years.
Or, I just want to be on the cool side of the Mac/PC commercials.
Whatever the case, I am now joining the Mac universe, pending approval by university IT. I am looking forward to really learning the operating system, which I’ve used occasionally but never expertly. I’m also anticipating iLife software bundle making video and audio production easier. I know the single-piece case will last longer and be more resistant to cracks than my current laptop. And, I’m hoping to keep all of my Windows software by running Parallels on a partition.
All that said, I hope there are a few Mac versions of software favorites I’ve accumulated over the years–little applications such as Snagit, Total Video Converter, Handbrake, Camstudio, and Filezilla. No sense switching to Windows every time I want to use these.
In any case, if you see a 1999 CR-V with an Obama sticker and an Apple icon in a GVSU parking lot, it will probably be me.
Categories: News | Tags: mac | No Comments »
Turn Your Computer into a Streaming Media Server with Orb
By RR | January 17, 2010
Video is hard. Okay, pointing a camcorder at your nephews as they open yet another Star Wars Lego set is not hard. It’s what you do afterwards that gets challenging. In days before hard drive camcorders, you had to transfer your footage to your computer in real time, typically from a small tape called a MiniDV. This meant that 40 minutes of footage equaled 40 minutes of capture time. Now, with hard drives built right into cameras (my Canon is a smallish 40 GB), you can simply drag the files you need from the camcorder to the computer.
But that’s the least of your concerns. Once you get your movie onto the computer, you need to use video editing software to edit your project and export it to a playable format. Editing is a pain: I use Adobe CS4, a pricey, high-end editor that does what I want it to do (once I figure it out). There are also plain jane editors out there, and a huge number of mid-range software packages. The best of this software will export to nearly any format–.wmv, .flv, .mov, .mpeg, or DVD–in multiple resolutions. But you have to know what is going to work best for your needs.
Then, once you have a format, you need to find someplace to host your video, assuming you are uploading it and not just burning a DVD, which itself can require considerable expertise. Now, you need to pay attention to the format that sites require (mostly Flash, but some are picky about this), the length of your video, and the all-important factor, size. Very few sites allow for both unlimited length and unlimited size. Bandwidth is also important: some sites restrict the amount of traffic your videos can receive. Finally, some sites offer “progressive download,” as opposed to true streaming, requiring viewers to wait for the video to finish buffering before they can view it.
Sigh. Like I said, video is hard. Much, much different than audio. Put the CD in, rip it to MP3, and you are done. Or, download the MP3 from iTunes. About the only hard part of audio on the web is figuring out which one of your computers is authorized to play which iTunes files.
Okay–back to video. Orb seems to solve a number of the above problems. If you are willing to dedicate an old desktop or laptop to your media, Orb might be just the fit for you. Here’s how it works: you install the software on your computer, it finds all of your music, video, and images automatically, and then, provided you leave your computer on and online, you can access all of your media via the web. You can also invite others to view your media with no plugins required. And it looks like you can embed your stuff, too. A couple of quick caveats: your video does need to be in flash format, or it won’t work.
Since I routinely record videos of over 40 minutes and over 1 GB in size, Orb may be a good solution.
Categories: Multimedia | Tags: Orb | 1 Comment »
The Wii Generation
By RR | January 7, 2010
I’ve got an old Atari 2600 and about 50 games sitting in my basement. Not too long ago, I hooked it up and played for a few hours with some 30-something friends. And as bad as the graphics are, the games were still fun to revisit, at least for a little while. Nostalgia, no doubt, played a role: I remember playing all of these games in the 1980s. But another big part of Atari was the kind of community it promoted–gaming was a sort of social interaction with friends and families.
This Christmas, our family got a Nintendo Wii. Nintendo, I think, has recaptured the spirit of the original game consoles by making it easy and fun for people to play together. Game concepts are simple, for the most part, and the graphics are pretty limited. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is getting together with friends, firing up Wii sports or Wii Fitness, and having a blast. Designing your own Mii (avatar) is part of this, too: Wii lets you put a very human face (your own) on gaming.
There is a cultural lament about video games and their detrimental effect on kids today. Cultural conservatives routinely blame video games for violent, anti-social behavior among adolescents. No doubt, some games seem to promote violence, and there are even some tentative studies linking violent behavior to violent video games. But when I sit down to play Lego Star Wars with my four-year-old or challenge my wife to “Advanced Step” Aerobics (I rule), there is also something good going on. Something that those conservatives have been grousing about for years: family time.
Nintendo realizes this. So does Walmart, given its recent advertisements for the Wii, which feature families playing games together.
All of this to say that when my four-year-old grows up, he may owe a thing or two to video games–and not just fine motor skills. His sense of family and his memories of together time will involve, I am sure, video games. And that is not a bad thing.
Categories: News | Tags: wii | 1 Comment »
Some of my Favorite Sites and Tools, 2009
By RR | December 20, 2009
It’s the end of the year, and, depending on how you count, the end of a decade. That means it’s time for a little reflection on things gone by. Cue Auld Lang Syne, and take a look at some of my favorite sites and services. Not all were created in 2009, but all were new to me this year, and all are important to me on a daily basis.
- One big phenomenon in 2009 has been the emergence of online backup/sync services. My favorite of these is Dropbox. Dropbox does two things very, very well: first, it stores your files on the web automatically. Just install the minimal software, designate a Dropbox folder, and Dropbox will keep a backup on the web–up to 2 GB for free, and reasonable rates after that. The second really cool thing Dropbox does is sync files between computers, so that my files on my home laptop match those of my work desktop, provided Dropbox is installed on each. No more confusion over versions, and no more fear of crashing.
- Twitter has been everywhere this year, and while I think it is a flash in the pan (just like the Beatles or the Internet!), I do like Tweetdeck, a nice little app for keeping all of your tweets in a row. You can search tweets more readily, keep posted on search results, respond to other tweets, and more, all from a single window.
- By far my favorite desktop search is a tool called Everything by Voidtools. I have tried desktop search tools before, including the one made by Google, but they all hog a ton of processing power by continuously running in the background. Everything, miraculously, does not, and it is fast, fast, fast on search results. I have found countless lost files this year, thanks to this handy little tool.
- The best customized portal out there, in my opinion, is iGoogle. iGoogle actually hearkens back to the days when America Online and Yahoo! dominated the web–the idea was that everytime you accessed the web, the company would give you its content too, though you could customize the content as you saw fit. Google has the same idea, but it is much better in its execution. iGoogle is truly customizable–third party developers have created a ton of applications that draw in content from the web. My iGoogle page provides Google Reader feeds, NY Times headlines, an iframe with Grooveshark inside, my Gmail inbox, a sticky note reminder, and a Facebook feed. Lots of stuff I really want. Not so much I don’t want, like stories about Hillary Duff.
- Another fairly new phenomenon on the web is the streaming media library. Again, there are options galore for this sort of thing, but my favorite is Grooveshark, a streaming music library that will play just about any music you can think of. If you are familiar with Pandora, another excellent service, Grooveshark is very similar, but unlike Pandora, it does not limit you to listening to a set sequence of music that sounds like the stuff you like. In other words, search for it, find it, play it. You are free to upload your own music to add to the library if you choose, but it is not required. I listen to Grooveshark at work, and at home, and I’m guessing there is an iPod app coming.
- The best online presentation tool, in my opinion, is the newcomer Prezi, which reinvents tired PowerPoint presentations. Essentially, PowerPoint runs on the notion that information is linear in nature, proceeding from point A to point B. Prezi, on the other hand, allows you to organize content in a spatial nature, connecting ideas in far more realistic and dynamic ways. And, it’s free. I’m eager to see how Prezi develops in the future, but even in its early state, it is impressive.
- Design matters, but many of us are amateurs. Enter Color Scheme Designer, an amazing design tool that helps you create color palletes for all matters of digital design. I use this tool to find complimentary colors for this site and three or four others. My favorite feature is the way I can lift color codes directly from this site to Photoshop or whatever I’m using for design.
- This goes against everything I believe in, but I have to give some props to Microsoft Word 2007. This program is so much improved over previous incarnations that it is hard to describe in an abbreviated post. Best of all is the new ribbon feature, which lets users access the tools they want to use without pulling down menus and submenus. Adding formatting tools to the right-click menus is another huge plus. And the templates for designing documents are sharp and easy to use. Everything about it, so far, is impressive. By the way, GVSU students and faculty, did you know you can get a cheap version of Microsoft Office 2007 at the GVSU software hub? I got my copy of Office 2007 for about ten bucks.
- There are other honorable mentions (Aviary audio suite, Google Lit Trips, Viddler) that I use less frequently, and there are certainly razzies (Blackboard NG, the Michigan Department of Education site), but not enough time to mention them here.
Categories: Cloud Computing, News, Web 2.0 | Tags: favorites | 1 Comment »
Library as Social Network, Version 2.0
By RR | December 16, 2009
Yesterday, I went to the first meeting of the library planning committee. The meeting was informative and inspiring: the new library, or more accurately the Mary Idema Pew Library and Information Commons, is going to be amazing. If you have not seen the video introducing the library, it’s worth taking a look:
The SHW Group is the architectural firm behind this design; at the meeting yesterday we met three of their representatives who gave us an in-depth presentation on the new library. As both the video and the presentation makes clear, this exciting new space will emphasize both technology and collaboration. I think that the way in which students collaborate is also worth thinking about, particularly in terms of the software or web interface for our databases and collections.
It seems clear that students collaborate more than ever before, and that the space of the library will allow for all kinds of collaborative combinations. It would be great, too, if they could access information in a way that allows them to share it quickly and conveniently. No doubt, students use a range of technologies to do this already: they email each other documents, text each other about meetings, discuss ideas via Facebook, and more. Why not develop a system that allows all of this to happen from a single location?
So, here’s my idea again–the shared information network. It’s like Facebook or Myspace, but the library isn’t just creating a Facebook page. It would be developing a system that gives students all of the affordances of Facebook and more. Students and faculty would be able to:
- create shared folders for collaborative documents and collaborative bibliographies
- contribute bibliographies to the library index, tagging it for future users
- add up-to-the-minute sources to bibliographies
- format and save bibliographies with a single click
- communicate with group members via email or video chat
- submit documents to the Writing Center for review, to a GVSU faculty member, or even to Turnitin.com
So, imagine a faculty member assembling a thorough bibliography on a topic, and then making the bibliography (full text) available to the students in her course. Or contributing her bibliography to the library index, so a student searching for quality sources will have the professor’s bibliography to peruse. Or imagine a collaborative group of four students working on a PowerPoint presentation–three from the library and one from home. The student at home has a video interface and can access/edit the presentation that is being created, along with contributing resources to the collective, running bibliography.
My idea for how all of this would look is here:
Could this kind of thing be developed? Would it be helpful? I don’t know the answers to these questions. But it is exciting to think about.
Categories: Cloud Computing, News, Web 2.0 | Tags: Library | 1 Comment »
Best. Podcasts. Ever.
By RR | December 10, 2009
With apologies to the exceptional students in previous sections of my Teaching Literature course, I would say that the most recent batch of podcasts are the best to date. When I began the YA! Cast project in 2006, my students and I had roughly the same expertise with Audacity and other recording software. Not much. Three years later, that has clearly changed: students are much, much better with software than I ever was. Now, they could teach me how to use it.
I have a bright class this semester, no doubt about it. But I also think that students are better with this technology simply because it has been around longer and has been taught earlier–perhaps as early as middle school. In any case, three of these exceptional podcasts are worth highlighting here: Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers and Punkzilla by Adam Rapp, and Doing It by Melvin Burgess.
Fallen Angels Podcast. The Fallen Angels Podcast by Zach, Laura, Kelly, Cristina, and Jared is simply amazing. This group mixed in an enormous range of sound effects–news footage, explosions, footsteps, jungle noises, and more. The podcast movies really well from loud to soft and back again, and the voice reading is very convincing. Superb work.
I have not read Punkzilla by Adam Rapp, but this excellent podcast by Dan, Mike, Sara, Brett, and Katelyn makes me want to. 
Pay attention to the innovative use of overlapping voices, and the powerful pause that occurs at the end. Convincing reading of the main characters also makes this podcast come alive.
Finally, Ashley, Melanie, Jamie, Rebekka, and Jena produced a great podcast on Doing it by Melvin Burgess. This group manages to capture the humor of the book along with its, well, racier content. Listen to the way the podcast uses sound effects to indicate where a direct quotation occurs.
Update: These great new podcasts are just in time for the annual Edublog awards. Once again, YA! Cast is up for the best audio award (nod to Gail at Blogwalker). Of course, you can subscribe to YA! Cast via iTunes or this feed (via Odeo), or listen to all of my students’ streaming podcasts here.
Update: Whoops. Seems YA! Cast was nominated, but did not make the final cut somehow. Boo.
Categories: Courses, Multimedia | Tags: podcasts | 2 Comments »
Writing about War and its Aftermath: Some Early Thoughts
By RR | December 5, 2009
My sabbatical proposal just entered the final stage of the approval process, which means that it will hopefully be granted sometime in the near future. If so, I will spend my sabbatical beginning to research and write the story of Josephine Tucker and her family. As I’ve written here before, Josephine is a teenager from Sierra Leone (though she is Liberian by ethnicity). Jo and her sister, along with her Aunt Matilda and two cousins, Amie and Kadie, all came to Grand Rapids in the summer of 2005. My wife and I were involved in helping the family make the transition to life in West Michigan.
Jo is now a junior in high school, and she is the center of the book I hope to write–a young adult, multigenre retelling of her escape from Sierra Leone. I’m hoping that Jo and Matilda will both write significant portions of the story, and I’m beginning to think that an exchange of letters is a promising way to go. I plan on contributing found documents, third-person narratives to glue pieces together, and additional information to flesh out the story of the war. I envision the final book containing a range of perspectives, giving legitimacy to all of the voices involved, and capturing the voices and perspectives of those involved.
Sounds easy, right? I am daunted by the process and feel unworthy to undertake the task. After all, I have never been to Sierra Leone, unlike my friend Aaron, who lived in Sierra Leone during the brutal civil war of the 1990s. Still, I have many close friends who know as much as Aaron about the country, and who are more than willing to help me learn. And I can’t help but think that my anxiety about not knowing or experiencing enough will find its way into the book somehow, not as a liability, but as a common fear shared by many westerners who want to do the right thing but are afraid of looking the fool.
For now, I’m trying to read as much as I can on Sierra Leone. I’ve mentally written the first page of the book, though this too could change. And I’ve got a broad idea of some of the writing I’ll ask Jo and Matilda to do. I’ll keep rehearsing all of this in my head for a while.
I may even begin another blog about the writing process. I am hoping that I’ll be able to create a supplementary site IF the book gets picked up. I’d really like to archive the video interviews I’ll be doing with the family and others, supply more information on the war in Sierra Leone/Liberia, and perhaps even include some resources for teachers. That, of course, is a long way off.
Exciting. Terrifying. This is why I love my job.
Categories: News | Tags: jo | 2 Comments »
More on Prezi: My Vampire Literature Course, Conceptualized
By RR | December 2, 2009
I’ve been fiddling with Prezi these last few days, and I’ve gotten to know the software pretty well. It has a few holes: it would be nice to have the “place” tool light up when it is selected; importing audio would be a plus; the line tool needs to be more sophisticated; and a text editor (including linking) would improve this software considerably.
Still, I have to say that I love this new tool. It helps me think about the relationships between concepts in a way that a linear PowerPoint does not. I even think that using it helped me to articulate how the ideas in my English 330 class hang together. You can be the judge of that. Here is the semester overview prezi that I made:
Categories: Cloud Computing, Multimedia | Tags: prezi, vampire literature | 1 Comment »