Category Archives: General

General, Technology in the Arts

A New Twist on the Mobius Strip ~ Music

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A few years ago, I formed a music duo with a friend. We called ourselves Rosin and Reeds after our instrumentation – violin and clarinet,  and had a lot of fun playing together. Much of the music we played, we arranged since there is not a wealth of original music for this combination of instruments. We had the good fortune of performing live at some interesting venues.

Tonight I had a real flashback to the ‘duo days’. One of the pieces we enjoyed performing, composed by Mozart, was written in a particular way. There was actually only one page of music for a single melody line. We had two copies of the original part. The duet part was created by taking the page of music and turning it upsidedown (top to bottom). In essence, one player played the original melody while the second player was playing the original melody retrograde (backwards)  and inverted (upsidedown).

I came across a YouTube video tonight that demonstrated these same composing techniques (original solo, duet, retrograde, inversion) in a very effective visual format – pitch and rhythm punctuated with moving trackers, followed by all the variations and an interesting twist. A literal twist – a musical mobius strip.

JSB Mobius Strip

I will be sharing this video resource with the music teachers I know. Have a look and listen –  Crab Canon on a Möbius Strip by J. S. Bach on YouTube. Enjoy the music, enjoy the visuals.

~ Mark

General

Skype for iPhone/iPod Touch

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Goods news, and further to my August 12th post Skype in the Classroom, it is out – Skype for the iPhone and iPod Touch is now available in Canada. The free application is available on the Canadian iTunes store. A quick search for Skype will locate the application for you.

Skype allows you to make free wifi calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world. If you have paid for the Skype ‘out’ feature, you can call landlines and cell phones over wifi in the geographic area you paid to access. I have been using the North America package and it works great! See the Skype web site for details. Have an iPod Touch? – just add a mic or earphones/mic combo and you are good to go!

Now, think about all the curriculum applications!

Product details as listed on iTunes:

Picture 3
Picture 1
Picture 2

Have fun!

~ Mark

General

A New Journey

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This Labour Day weekend brings about a big change for our family as my oldest daughter starts university. Preparations for today have been occurring over the last number of months with a more intensive focus over the last 6 weeks or so.

Stephanie,


Study Hard

Learn Well

Make New First Impressions

Enjoy New Friends

Have Fun

Dream

Believe

Achieve

Be Yourself

Make a Difference


I am proud of you Stephanie. Live your dreams.

Love,

Dad

General, Links

Links: 2009-09-06

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Links: 2009 09 06 — Interesting Finds of the Week


1.  15 Great Gmail Sidebar Gadgets

2.  Cool websites, software and internet tips

3.  Publish and Share PDFs Online

4.  DropBox: backup, sync and sharing made easy

5.  50 Things Being ‘killed’ by the Internet

Enjoy the reading and learning!

~ Mark

General, Technology in Education

Impact: Media multitasking

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Media Multitasking:

Over the last week, I have come across a number of references to multitasking. In each case the viewpoints were exploring the impact of multitasking:

  • helpful or harmful?
  • productive or unproductive?
  • impact on concentration, learning
  • long term impact

I notice the rise of multitasking in myself. More often than not, I will have my laptop in hand while keeping an eye on a TV show or be flipping between various computer applications or tasks (or all of the above :-)). I think the tasks at hand are determining

  • when to multitask
  • identifying when it proves beneficial
  • how much
  • how long
  • what tasks

Certainly, I know from personal experience as you likely do, that there is a point of fragmentation that brings you to a state of inefficiency. In a more pressing state of fragmentation, one may be making errors as well. Being aware is this means I am being mindful of my work, work quality and productivity.

As we go further and further down this road of embracing more technology, and learning the incredible benefits that it can bring, we need to be mindful of using in the best possible ways. This means balanced life style and productive use  in work , social networking or entertainment. Putting my educator hat on, we need to address this issue as part of a healthy lifestyle and learning environment with our students. There are times for single focused concentration and times for multitasking. Making the right choice in a situation is important, and a good thing to learn.

This topic is definitely food for thought.

Related Reading

CNN:  Multitasking May be Harmful

US News:  Chronic Media Multitasking

Reuters:  Multitasking Doesn’t Work

Computer Weekly:  Media Multitasking Hurts Work Performance

Smart Brief:  SmartBrief News Release

~ Mark

General, Technology in Education, Technology in the Arts

What if Mozart had MIDI?

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After a professional development session this week, I was talking to one of our music teachers who does an excellent job of integrating technology into the regular band and vocal music course offerings. Classroom uses embrace composition, arranging, recording, sequencing, accompanying and theory instruction. Software packages used included packages for both Mac and Windows – Finale, Band in a Box, Garage Band and Sequel. This spun off into a conversation reminiscing about the ‘old days’ – meaning before MIDI, sound samples, loops, powerful notation software etc.

I told him about the WX5 MIDI wind instrument I had been playing over the summer (reaction = wow), he told me about new professional level sound samples he is using for some scoring work he is doing – cool.

As a technology user, it is easy to look at something as the next logical step of development. So yes, maybe a ‘cool’ factor to a new device or sound. Lets pause for a moment and step back. The changes in this technology area in the last dozen years is absolutely phenomenal = WOW.  Look at what you can do with  home/school level equipment and software. Truly amazing.

IMG_0100

Pictured above, are the WX5 MIDI wind instrument, an electric violin and an electric guitar equipped with a pitch to MIDI device.

Think of the impact Bach or Mozart had on the world of music. I wonder what would have happened to music development if this equipment was available in their time or they were alive now. One thing for sure, they would have as much fun with technology as we are!!!

Just wondering ….

~ Mark

General, Tech, Web20

What’s in a Digital Footprint

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As we spend more and more time online, one leaves a digital footprint – digital connections to our name which are part of your online presence. 

Personas is a component of the metropathologies, currently on display at the MIT museum by the Social Media Group. It uses sophisticated natural language processing and the Internet to create a data portrait of one’s aggregated online personaliy. In effect, Personas shows you how the Internet sees you.

Here’s how it works:  You enter your name, first and last only, no middle initials, titles etc. and Personas will dig through the Internet to search for information and attempts to characterize the person by fitting the information against a predetermined set of categories that an algorithmic process created from the total data set found. Each step of the multi-stage process is visualized. The final result is the representation of the seemingly authoritative personal ‘online’ profile (based on the data set).

Personas is a great example of data mining to build profiles from extensive quantities of information. As amazing as this process is, it is also an example showing inconsistencies and inadvertent errors that occur, mainly due to the lack of ability to separate data from multiple owners of the same name. In other words, if I run the process using ‘Mark Carbone’ the final profile presented will be based on the collective data for all of the  people with the name ‘Mark Carbone’, not just me. 

The algorithm fits the collected data against 23 categories, so it’s fairly comprehensive.  The categories include one called ‘illegal’ and I would bet that this would make many of us squirm a little …  I road tested a few names, including my own and this category exists for all the names I tested. None the less, this is a great example a powerful data mining tool.

As an example the representation of ‘Mark Carbone’ looks like

 personas_example

 

This is a very interesting technology. Click here to try  your name.  I am sure you will enjoy checking out Personas.  Have fun with the profiler.

~ Mark

General

Tech and leisure time, what about Scrabble?

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In a recent post, Technology enhances leisure time , I shared my experience of technology changing our approach, success and enjoyment of solving crossword puzzles. I shared this particular example because it is a good example (in my mind) of how technology can have a positive impact on something that is seemingly unrelated.

After dialoguing with a number of people after the post, I was surprised at the reaction and I thought I would share an update. I was anticipating comments about moving the puzzle solving away from the ‘pure’ form. The theme of the reactions boiled down to one common thread:  Scrabble – I did not mention Scrabble in my post.

I love playing Scrabble and Scrabble like games (Lexulous, Wordscaper etc.) and they are absolutely right. Technology has changed the way people can be involved in a multitude of online recreational activities. I do not get a chance to enjoy a face to face game of Scrabble often enough, but I can play online every day – and I do!  

The technology provides a way to enjoy daily interaction with friends whether they live next door, another city or country,  or are travelers on the go for that matter. Plus, the technology expands the options and opportunities of communication.

I can:

  • play multiple games at once
  • multitask while playing
  • send notes back and forth within the games
  • play independent of other people’s schedules (asynchronous)
  • play in real time with options to chat on and/or have a video conversation (MSN, skype etc.)
  • play any where I have an internet connection
  • play via a mobile device

Playing word games with family and friends is a high light in each day that I treasure and technology enabled this possibility. Lucky me! Now, I am willing to bet that one of my friends played a Scrabble move while I was typing this post. I better go check 🙂

~ Mark

General, Technology in Education

Technology enhances leisure time

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My wife and I enjoy solving crossword puzzles together, particularly in the summer when it is nice to sit out on the back porch. I will be the first to admit that I am not particularly great at solving the crosswords, but will plug away at it. 

 

Crossw_C

One day we hit on a whole new approach to working on the crosswords that has made it a lot more fun for both of us. We recognized that the fun of working on a crossword was in the actual process of solving the puzzles. Rather than getting hung up, and perhaps frustrated, by not having enough ‘crossword knowledge’ at your fingertips, why not enhance your resources?  

We use internet searching to help us solve the puzzles.  I am sure that crossword purists would roll there eyes at the thought of this. However, this simple addition to our approach has really made a difference in the enjoyment level of working out a crossword solution. Our strategy is to complete as much of the puzzle as possible without any assistance, then we take turns trying to track down the missing clues using internet search engines. 

I like this for two reasons. First, it is a great way to try out the different search engines and compare results. Secondly, it keeps your search skills sharpened up as you weed through the information to solve the puzzle. A bonus is that we learn from each other as we compare strategies to locate information. All in all, this approach is a hit from our point of view.

Crossword time now means being outside,  time on the porch, coffee/tea, laptop and wireless internet connection and more fun solving the puzzles. Off to solve the next puzzle clue!

~ Mark

General

Technology & morning routines

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Earlier this week, an interesting article was published in the New York Times describing how technology has changed the morning routines of a Michigan State family. The article describes the transition from eating together with some family discussion to their typical morning today in their world today with email, social networking and text messaging. This change has certainly impacted their family time together and way they interact at the start of the day. Click here to view the original article.

Reading this article got me thinking about how technology has changed our family routines. In our house hold, we do try to eat together as much as possible. However, this change has happened in our house too. We have all changed our routines to accommodate that ‘reconnect’ with the online world before heading out for our day at work or school.

On a typical morning:

– I check work email on my blackberry, twitter and Facebook
– my wife checks email and Facebook
– my oldest daughter checks MSN, text messages and Facebook
– and my youngest daughter checks MSN and Facebook

before blasting out the door for the activities of the day. Certainly, this is a radical change from our routines compared to 4 or 5 years ago. How has technology impacted your morning routines? Leave a comment or send a tweet.

~ Mark