Video Production Session (wk5)

Youtube is such an amazing tool. I personally can not get enough of it, i am constantly discovering new videos. My fave's would have to be epic fails and bbc talking animals.. hilarious! Along with copious others. Youtube is a site were people can upload, share and view a whole range of videos for free. An amazing tool that is so widely used, a place to discover all kinds of things.

Drawing from my own fieldwork placement last year, i was in a special needs school working with children with a whole range of disabilities. the therapists with in this setting used youtube to see what tools other practicing occupational therapists were using seeing new equipment.

Video Production Session (wk 4)

It was an interesting experience creating short film. Despite it only being 30seconds long, there was still a significant amount of work that went into it. Great thought went into every little detail of the film, i cant even imagine how long it would take to put together a full length top quality feature film! In a group of about eight, we all put our heads together to come up with a movie idea based on the concept of over coming adversity. we came up with the idea of copying the TV add about "leaving your mates at home" when drinking. this advert is aimed at promoting responsible drinking and over coming irresponsible drinking. In order to portray this we came up with the idea of turning our fingers into different characteristics that people may display when they are drunk; for example the angry drunk or the sick drunk.

Story boarding assisted us in doing this as it gave us an idea of what setting we could do for each character which we then drew up on a piece of paper and made the back drop. This worked well! we then had to sequence together the captured images and edit it so that it ran through like a film, it even had a backing track! Wow, impressive.

Completion

And sadly this day had finally dawned on me when i have to say good bye to the wonderful world of blogging! Although it was not exactly a strength of mine there is certainly something very therapeutic about blogging and i think i am growing more fond of it! I have enjoyed sharing briefly with you my learning experiences. Till next time!

Assistive technology

• Technology meant to provide help in performing a task, whether general or specific. Assistive technology for the web includes braille keyboards, audio browsers which read web pages, or alternative entry devices such as a mouth-stick.

www.joedolson.com/glossary.php

my interpretation of this definition is that its the things we use to make our lives easier. these "things" are pieces of technology that have been designed specifically to assist in a certain activity.

the following link is to a piece of technology i found particularly interesting so check it out and see what you think! 

http://kidcomputers.com/go_index.php?l=product_detail&maintpl=simple&p=Kids_Cybernet_Station_All-In-One_Computer&ez=  

its so exciting to see all the advances in technology around us everyday. And whats even more exciting is that these new discoveries are being used to help facilitate individuals with disabilities who are unable to manage themselves. who know what will be next!

The internet and online communities

An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted number of people can initiate posts, such as Weblogs. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars.

I am going to be looking at:

http://www.facebook.com

http://www.stumbleupon.com/home/

http://www.trademe.co.nz/

Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. 

facebook is a very interactive site were you are always able to post a comment, like a status or instant message people whenever you please. It has become such a popular tool now days, ther is only a very few people i know who DONT have an account. peaople contribute to the site by sharing status updates, adding links to something they may like or updating photos. there is so much one can do on facebook!people that choose to join acebook immediately become connected with a whole range of people, from you best friend, to someone you havent seen since primary school. It is a place were people seek friendship, interaction and connections between a whole lot of people who love doing that exactly!

StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click  Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of over 15 million other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like () automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend. (http://www.stumbleupon.com/aboutus/ )

In 1999, young computer consultant Sam Morgan founded Trade Me. It was a novel concept: people sending money to sellers they've never met, for goods they've never seen.

Fed up with other websites that offered poor usability and didn't cater well to Kiwis, Sam single-handedly built the site and ran it out of his small Wellington flat. Within two days, the site had twenty registered users. (http://www.trademe.co.nz/About-Trade-Me/Our-Story)

within these communities there are a range of ethical issues that can arise, such as breach of privacy, giving out details, having no control over what you recieve through the site just to name a few. despite measures that have been put in place to prevent the wrong use of these commuunities, people still need to be mindful of the potential dangers in them.

These online communities are quite different to the traditional types of networks, these ones you can be on the other side of the world you you can still be fully in touch with whats going on and communicate effectively with others.