The NMC Symposium on Mashups
This Symposium is the eleventh in the NMC's Series of Online Symposia and will take place April 1-3, 2008 in both 3D and flat web environments.
The theme of this symposium draws from the 2008 Horizon Report and a pre-conference white paper to focus on topics of educational uses of mashups.
Look for recordings of sessions and links to presentation resources from the online program
2008 NMC Symposium on Mashups
The NMC Symposium on Mashups, the eleventh in the NMC’s series of online conferences, will itself be a mashup of venues, with sessions taking place in both the Adobe Connect 2D web environment and in the 3D virtual world of Second Life. All events in Second Life will also be streamed into Adobe Connect; participants will also be able to access Adobe Connect from within Second Life.
Special thanks to Adobe Systems, Inc. and LearningTimes, both NMC Corporate Partners, for their contributions and support for this Symposium!
Mashups, web applications that combine data from more than one source via a single, unified tool, are often about data visualization, but they can also be creative products of other kinds—indeed, the term “mashup” originates from the music industry — such as assorted film and music clips assembled into parodies of well-known productions, for instance.
Data mashups are powerful tools for navigating and visualizing datasets; understanding connections between different dimensions such as time, distance, and location; juxtaposing data from different sources to reveal new relationships; and other purposes. We will explore both the tools for generating mashups as well as the applications of them to teaching and learning.
The NMC Symposium on Mashups will explore all kinds of mashups—combinations of media, data, and visualization tools — from art and creative expression to mathematics to the weather.
Creative Commons licensed flickr photo by Lantzilla
Sessions, which will be conducted live, will incorporate a variety of visuals and rich media, and are generally about 45 minutes in length. About one-third to one-half that time will be devoted to dialog with participants using the chat and audio tools of the environment.
The Symposium is designed to encourage an examination of the ways mashups are being used in education and the arts, and to further explore both the positive and negative effects on learning, social interaction, creative self-expression, and more. The event will be conducted entirely online in the virtual world of Second Life. Sessions, which will be conducted live, will incorporate a variety of visuals and rich media, and are generally about 45 minutes in length, with about one-third to one-half that time devoted to dialog with participants using the audio tools of the environment.
Second Life® is a trademark of Linden Research, Inc. The NMC Symposium on Mashups is not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research.
Symposium Program
The NMC Symposium on Mashups will explore all kinds of mashups—combinations of media, data, and visualization tools — from art and creative expression to mathematics to the weather.
The conference format itself embodies the concept of mashups, as it will be a mashup of online venues: some sessions will be hosted in Adobe Connect, while others will take place in the virtual world of Second Life. Session materials will be presented in both venues, and the Second Life sessions will be streamed live into Adobe Connect. The conference will be supported by NMC Corporate Partner LearningTimes.
Join us for what promises to be an engaging, experimental, and informative gathering as we look at some of the educational implications and uses of mashups.
Download the Conference Program (572k PDF)
Session Times - all sessions are listed in US Pacific Time
Find your local time at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
Tuesday, April 1
| 5:30 – 7:30 pm | Opening Reception in Second Life |
Wednesday, April 2
| 9:00 – 9:45 am |
Mashing It Up at a Big University |
| 10:15 – 11:00 am |
Keynote Presentation: The Future is a Monstrous and Marvelous Mashup |
| 11:30 am – 12:15 pm |
Learning From the Mashup: Are We Blending Our Future, or Throwing Our Future in the Blender? |
| 2:00 – 2:45 pm | Mashup Contest at UPenn: Copyright and Free Culture Adobe Connect Presentation: watch recording Anu Vedantham and Peter Decherney, University of Pennsylvania |
| 3:15 – 4:00 pm | The Salamander Project Second Life Presentation: watch recording Jonathan Richter, University of Oregon |
| 4:30 – 5:15 pm | Confessions of a Mashup Un-Artist Second Life Presentation: watch recording Brian Lamb, University of British Columbia |
Thursday, April 3
| 9:00 - 9:45 am | Mashups in Second Life Second Life Presentation: watch recording Eric Hackathorm, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hilary Mason, Johnson and Wales University |
| 10:15 – 11:00 am | Keynote Presentation: Educational Uses of Mashups Adobe Connect Presentation: watch recording Susan Smith Nash, BeyondUtopia |
| 11:30 am – 12:15 pm | Information Visualization Using Mashups and Web 2.0 Tools Adobe Connect Presentation: watch recording Jill Tinsley, University of Arizona |
| 2:00 – 2:45 pm | Welcome to the People’s Republic of Non-Programistan Adobe Connect Presentation: watch recording Tom Woodward and Jim Groom, University of Richmond |
| 3:15 – 4:00 pm | Mashup Video Movie Screening Second Life Presentation: watch recording Join us as we review a variety of mashup videos. |
| 4:30 – 5:15 pm | Mash Up Your Creative Tools: Art in Second Life™ Second Life Presentation: watch recording Don Whitacker, Second Life Sculptor & Designer |
Keynote Presenters
Opening Keynote Presentation by
Wayne Hodgins
Strategic Futurist, Director of Worldwide Learning Strategies, Autodesk Inc.
Wayne has long said that the ability to learn and apply the right stuff faster is the only sustainable competitive advantage there is for any of us. As a preeminent authority on hot trends and companies in the converging space of technology, standards, knowledge creation, creativity and learning, Wayne spends his days (and nights) wandering and pondering as he scours the world for trends and technologies most of us will not see for the next 18 months to 10 years. His track record for identifying useful technologies, and seeing their resultant trends and directions in learning and human performance that no one else does, combined with his gift for articulating them with more passion and enthusiasm than most have ever witnessed, has earned him a well-deserved label for a (sometimes over-used term): Visionary.
In his role as Director of Worldwide Learning Strategies at Autodesk , Wayne Hodgins is the chief architect and strategic futurist responsible for increasing human performance (employees, partners and customers) through what he refers to as Learnativity .
As Past President of CEdMA and now Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Computer Education Managers Association (CEdMA), he champions the continuous quest of the Association's vision to be the hardware and software vendor force shaping excellence in education, training and learning. Mr. Hodgins is also the President and co-founder of the Learnativity Alliance which works at the intersection of learning, productivity, creativity and activity and is the inflection point of the New Learning Economy.
Mr. Hodgins sits on advisory boards for many industry and government groups, commissions and associations in Canada, USA, Latin America, Asia and Europe and is frequently sought out to lead major industry wide task forces. Recent ones include the Certified Technical Trainer (CTT) program that has been adopted by hardware and software vendors and the professional training community as the standard for assessing instructional skills in technical training and the Learning Architectures and Learning Object (LALO) task force which sets standards for skills, learning objects and learning architecture. Mr. Hodgins is currently the elected Chair of the IEEE P 1484 Standards Working Group for Learning Object Metadata and was most recently asked to be the Special Advisor and Strategic Futurist for the recently formed Commission on Technology and Adult Learning. This commission was jointly formed by the American Society of Training & Development (ASTD) and the National Governors' Association (NGA) in February 2000 and asked Wayne to develop their Vision Paper Into the Future.
Due to his unique blend of skills, experience and perspectives, Wayne is one of the most highly sought after speakers in the industry and typically manages to deliver as many as 100 keynotes and featured presentations to groups worldwide. For examples of recent presentations and much more highly valuable information in these areas please see the Speaking Notes 2000 and other sections at www.learnativity.com
Closing Keynote Presentation by
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
BeyondUtopia
Involved in the development and administration of online courses and programs since the early 1990s, Susan Smith Nash has made a point to share her experience as well as her research through her websites, weblogs and podcasts.
The recipient of collaboration and innovation awards for her work in developing innovative and high-quality online and hybrid programs that take advantage of the latest technologies, Nash has been involved with organizations and educational institutions involved in online education and training, as well as ground-floor online program development for the University of Oklahoma and has developed curriculum and programs for elearning (including mobile learning) for Florida Community College Jacksonville, the Literature Institute, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and Excelsior College.
Over the last 15 years, Nash has developed instructional content for textbooks, audio books (educational mp3 downloads), simulations and serious games, and video (downloadable educational video clips). Content includes Spanish and English language materials.
Having held administrative positions at Excelsior College and the University of Oklahoma, Susan currently holds a leadership position at Victoria Resources, a natural resources company. Her role involves research in innovative processes.
She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and has made presentations at prominent national conferences. Susan is involved with research into the best ways to use new techniques and technologies (Web 2.0, etc) for effective e-learning (and training).
Her latest book, Excellence in College Teaching and Learning: Classroom and Online Instruction, was co-authored with George Henderson and published in 2007. Leadership and the e-Learning Organization, was published in 2006. Nash is managing editor of Texture Press, and is also an editor with JELLO - Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects. Her edublog, e-Learning Queen (http://www.elearningqueen.com), has been nominated for several awards.
http://www.beyondutopia.com
edublog: http://www.elearningqueen.com
Closing Thoughts
Larry Johnson's Closing Remarks
After two action-packed days, some closing thoughts on this most remarkable event....
We’ve seen the tools used to create mashups, the techniques experts have used to make them sing, and the many ways they have been applied to learning and creative expression.
We’ve seen mashups that anyone can do, mashups that inspire us, and mashups that have made us think deeply about this enterprise we are engaged in.
I’m reminded of Wayne Hodgins’ keynote in which he urged us to remember that man could not fly until we realized that the secret was not in the flapping. His point was that we needed to look beyond the obvious, and after two days of thinking and experiencing this topic, I realize that my own frame for mashups has been all about wings flapping.
Now I can see their potential in a completely new way.
Every session pushed my understanding, first a little in this new direction, and then a little in that one, and over the course of the two days, I began to realize that this particular areas of new media is not just a creative form, although it is clearly that — it is a powerful communication form as well.
At the end of the first day, Brian Lamb, a complete newcomer to Second life, demonstrated that remarkably when he took us all to the very edge of the possible with how these techniques can be applied to learning — and in the process raised lots of questions among those in the audience about message, copyright, ownership. It made some of us a little nervous as we saw how this particular form of new media can be intensely moving and powerful.
Speaking for myself, that nervousness was born in the realization that I have no foundation to help me know how to teach in this way — I have as much to unlearn as I do to learn.
I’ve been focused on the flapping …
The session we ended the second day with, by Second Life artist and sculptor Don Whitaker, was equally as transformative. Don, speaking as much through his art as his words, showed how gracefully you can fly if you look for beauty beyond the obvious.
Earlier in the conference, Anu Vendantham and Peter Decherney had showed us what sorts of really fun things can happen when you give students the freedom to be creative. Presenters like Cole Camplese and Jill Tinsley, and our comrades Tom Woodward and Jim Groom showed us the many tools they use, and in the process they, and all our presenters, helped us to visualize our own flights.
I always look for that one important takeaway in an event like this, and in many ways, for this one it was the realization that mashups are about making the impossible possible, about rethinking creativity, and about reframing how we think about communication.
Those are all things that run deep in the NMC — and the ideas and values we’ve witnessed these past few days resonate with all of us, that much is obvious.
And so because of that, I can say that mashups will be on the NMC’s radar for a good time to come. While there are amazing things happening, my sense is even more amazing things are just over the horizon. The combination of the virtual and the real, of art and information, of video and music … the ways to blend them are growing more and more intuitive and natural.
We leave this symposium with much to think about. And these thoughts will, I hope, drive more conversation and more creativity. And I promise you the NMC will continue to try to shine a light on this work.
And so, while we pause for now, let’s take what we have learned here forward.
Let’s find ways to make these new ideas, these new techniques even more immediate, and the applications we find for them in learning even more passionate.
Thanks to all the presenters, to Learning Times, and to all of you for being part of this.
Mashup Videos
A collection of YouTube videos about mashups or examples of mashup video content.
Mashup Discussion Draft
As a leadup to the Symposium, we have published online the NMC Symposium on Mashup Discussion Draft as another publication in CommentPress format-- meaning that readers can attach comments, ask question for each paragraph of this white paper.
Help seed the ideas of discussion during the Symposium by posting comments today to this paper. Or add some examples, resources by tagging web sites in del.icio.us.
In addition, you can read the Data Mashups section of the 2008 NMC Horizon Report also online in CommentPress format.
Call for Proposals
The Call for Proposals for the Symposium on Mashups is now closed.
Creative Commons Licensed Flickr photo by leobard.
Symposium Format and Topics
The sympsoium will be conducted both online in the virtual world of Second Life, as well as in the Adobe Connect web environment, with support from LearningTimes. Sessions conducted in Second Life will be streamed into Adobe Connect during the session time.
Sessions, which will be conducted live, can incorporate a variety of visuals and rich media, and are generally about 45 minutes in length, with about one-third to one-half that time devoted to dialog with participants using the chat and audio tools of the environment.
Proposals are encouraged on the topic in any of the following areas, but this list is not exhaustive and selections are not limited to these categories:
- Tools and methods for creating educational mashups
- Projects which demonstrate creative use of data mashups
- New approaches to data visualizations based on mashups
- Strategies for encouraging development of mashups
- Applications of data mashups
This event is the eleventh in the ongoing series of specially focused online gatherings that explore new ideas and issues related to technology and learning. The NMC Series of Virtual Symposia is itself an exploration of emerging forms of collaboration and tools.
Registration
Please use our online form to submit your conference registration. To access the registration form, you must have or will need to create an account on the NMC web site. If you have an NMC web site account and have not already done so, log in now. Otherwise, you can create your own NMC account now that will allow you to submit your registration.
Be sure when logged in to edit your profile (via the My Account link on the left) so we have your correct mailing address, phone number, and contact information.
Conference activities take place in both the virtual world of Second Life and the Adobe Connect web environment. Sessions that take place in Second Life will be streamed into Adobe Connect. You will need a broadband internet connection and a relatively new computer to have an optimal experience (see system requirements). To register and to participate in the conference in Second Life, you will need a Second Life account, which you can now create at NMC and start in our new education focused NMC orientation experience.
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Once you are logged into your NMC web account... Register Now for
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Newcomer Orientation
If you plan to attend events and sessions in Second Life, be sure to sign up for one of the Newcomer Orientations in Second Life scheduled for Thursday, March 27. This orientation is strongly recommended for those who are new to Second Life. NMC staff will be on hand to answer questions and assist you in getting started, learning to move through the world, communicating through text and voice chat, and generally becoming more comfortable in the online environment. The orientation is offered twice—please choose the time that is more convenient for you. There is no set agenda; drop-ins are welcome, and you may spend as much or as little time as you need getting oriented.
Thursday, March 27
Newcomer Orientation I - 9:00 - 11:00 am Pacific time
Newcomer Orientation II - 3:00 - 5:00 pm Pacific time
To receive discounted registration rates, please register no later than midnight eastern time on Monday, March 24. Payments may be made by VISA, MasterCard, check or purchase order.
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Regular |
Late |
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| NMC Member | $125 | $149 |
| Non-Member | $149 | $199 |
Please send payments to:
New Media Consortium
6101 West Courtyard Dr.
Building One, Suite 100
Austin, TX 78730
*** please note this is a new address!
If you have any questions regarding registration, please send an email to Nancy Reeves at nancy@nmc.org or via phone at 512 445-4200.