Podcast

The 2008 NMC Summer Conference, hosted at Princeton University, is coming up soon, so we thought it was a good time to have an NMC conversation with conference host, David Hopkins, Manager of the New Media Center at Princeton.

In our conversation, David has shared what this experience means for Princeton and an overview of what the “Conference Task Force” has been up to.

Nancy Reeves, Director of Member Services for NMC also joined our conversation. She let us know that registrations were on pace to set a record (this week we passed 500) and shared some details of the special events taking place at this year's conference.

Larry Johnson described a special feature just added - a pre-conference workshop on digital SLR photography with Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes and Don Henderson, our NMC Board member from Apple. Inc.

NMC CEO Larry Johnson was one of four leaders who presented testimony on the nature and state of virtual worlds Tuesday, April 1, before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Also presenting at the same hearing is Phillip Rosedale, founder of Linden Lab and the inventor of Second Life. For more information see Mr Pixel Goes to Washington and continue the conversation in our CommentPress published version of Larry's presented remarks. The video recording is now available: http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-ti-hrg.040108.VirtualWorld...

NMC's Larry Johnson, Rachel Smith, and Alan Levine were interviewed recently for a podcast now available on the Panlibus site. Speaking via telephone with Paul Miller in the UK, they shared the process and outcomes for the 2008 NMC Horizon Report .

NMC is quite honored, particularly since Miller's previous interviewee was Sir Tim Berners-Lee- what an act to follow!

Listen to the hour long podcast for the entire conversation.

Presentation from the 2007 NMC Symposium on Evolution of Communication

Many older learners still struggle to transition from traditional learning contexts to online environments that are becoming increasing prevalent in lifelong learning. Using technology to enrich online communication, educators are now better equipped to facilitate learner success by providing means for dialog, praxis, and visualization of ideas. This discussion will explore how advances in communication and social networking help bring essential elements of shared learning into online environments.

Assembling content for an online database project regarding hurricanes Katrina and Rita provides daily opportunities to assess personal and community losses throughout the Gulf Coast. It also puts one into contact with the vast array of documentation efforts flourishing along the coast, particularly New Orleans, which serves as this catastrophe’s “Ground Zero.” Each individual’s story constitutes one invaluable piece in the immense debris field stretching from Texas to Alabama. New Media drives the documentation of the tragedies and ongoing recoveries; similarly, New Media must assist in making these invaluable materials accessible to both web surfers and scholars.

Just back from New Orleans, Larry, Rachel, and Alan share their reflections on the 2007 New Orleans Regional NMC Conference at Tulane including reviews of the keynote sessions, their highlights from the program sessions, and memories of the special events, especially the Second Line parade. Mostly, this conference wove together cohesive themes of the power of digital storytelling, music, creativity, community, the capacity of human potential especially in face of events such as the post Katrina flooding of the city.

In a conference devoted to the wide and dazzling array of new media in relationship to intimate community life in New Orleans and elsewhere, much of what may be extended in the classroom, broadcast or global networks comes from original human forms of expression. The implications of which are: pre-modern forms of artistic communication still speak to us, old modern forms like radio offer time-tested models of extending oral tradition and traditional aesthetics, and new media at their best often aim to recreate and create anew community experiences that we may feel are lost when the market-drivenrush to new technology values form and efficiency over content.

Closing Plenary Keynote 2007 NMC Pachyderm Conference

Synergy is building in the Pachyderm user and development communities with Pachyderm’s entrance into the open-source realm. Linkages to other systems, new features, and innovative uses for the authoring tool are springing up from the community of developers. Looking ahead, key projects and initiatives are poised to pave an exciting future for Pachyderm. Nothing is set in stone, and you and the rest of the community can contribute, share, and change the future as Pachyderm moves ahead.

Thursday Luncheon Plenary Keynote for the 2007 NMC Pachyderm Conference

A brief lunchtime journey down a road less traveled by in order to illuminate “the way we do the things to do.” What do James Burke, Douglas Adams, and John Cowper Powys have to do with Pachyderm? More importantly, why are hard-boiled eggs often more useful than sledgehammers in the educational process?