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Tuesday, February 27, 2007 |
The digital darkroom revealed.
Today while editing a podcast I stopped to record a bit of the on-screen action. I[base ']ve written before about the audio editing techniques used by the NPR pros make conversations sound clear and intelligible. I use the same methods on my podcasts, and I[base ']ve been meaning to show it. Today[base ']s two-and-a-half-minute screencast gives you a good idea how it works.
In this short example, I[base ']m talking to Partha Sundaram about something called SQM (pronounced [base ']squim[base ']). In the original version we both talk over each other a bit, and I repeat myself. In the final version each voice stands alone and the needless repetition is gone.
You don[base ']t need fancy editing software to do this. Although I[base ']m using Audition in this demo, I[base ']ve done the same kind of thing quite often in Audacity.
You do, however, need to put the voices onto separate channels. When it comes to telephone recording, I am a disciple of Doug Kaye and I use the gadget he recommends, the Telos One, to split the caller and callee onto left and right stereo channels. At $600 the Telos box clearly isn[base ']t for everyone, though, so I[base ']d be interested to hear about a more accessible way to achieve channel separation.
As I mention in the screencast, it[base ']s tedious to do this kind of editing. But it can go pretty fast once you get the hang of it. Since I review my podcasts anyway before publishing them, I[base ']ve decided it[base ']s worth the trouble to make them as clean and intelligible as I can quickly manage. Just like the pros do.
Or do they? I was driving home with my son last night, listening to Fresh Air [~] a great episode in which Terry Gross interviews Ira Glass about the new TV version of This American Life [~] and we were both struck by the absence of internal editing. When my son heard this bit [~] an extreme but not atypical example of the kind of verbal redundancy we heard throughout the show [~] he burst out laughing. I just found it puzzling. Is internal editing done only for certain shows and not for others? What rules govern when it is or isn[base ']t done?
6:28:53 PM  Google It!.
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Burgers Paid for by Mobile Phone - Mobility Matters!. There was an article in the BBC News Today entitled "Burgers Paid for by Mobile Phone." It basically outlines a system that is going into place in Japan that allows people to pay for their orders at McDonalds with a cell phone. This doesn't have much to do with instructional technology, I just think it is cool!
The article points out the benefits of a program like that for marketing and tracking consumer's. While I don't believe McDonald's isn't already tracking what is most popular, I do think that there is a lot of potential there.
I attended a Educause Webinar last week given by Ellen Wagner entitled "Mobility Matters: Why Learning Professionals Should Care." The seminar itself was great, packed with all sorts of great data and information. But what stood out to me was two points she made during the seminar.
1. Productivity and Immediacy
The point was made that a lot of times mobile learning is about immediacy. We want to get to the information anytime, anywhere. This in turn has the potential to turn many of those less productive times immediately into learning opportunities.
As I think about our burger scenario I see all sorts of potential for productivity. If customers can use their cell phones to pay for dinner, why not order it in the car on the way there, pay for it and pick it up all through an easy to use/easy to navigate web portal. The technology is certainly there. It would save the company money on production and certainly make us happier... I get my food faster! Win/Win! I imagine this won't be too far off.
2. Killer Applications
At one point in the presentation Ellen said something to the effect of "What is it that we can't do now that mobile [devices] will allow us to do better." She goes on to say that killer applications are the ones that are derived out of practice. The ones that chance our entire pedagogical approach because it just works better.
I think that we spend too much time making applications to do something we can already do in real life. I have reached a cross-roads of sorts in my digital life in which I realize a lot of what I am doing with technology is counterproductive because it takes longer. The point is to save time and increase learning, not spend hours making something that takes even more time for students to understand.
There are those applications out there that are going to revolutionize both education and the world, but we have to sort through dozens and dozens of apps that are just mimicking what we are already doing in real life.
(Original Article: http://www.edutechie.com/2007/02/burgers-paid-for-by-mobile-phone-mobility-matters/) [EDUCAUSE CONNECT blogs]
6:26:43 PM Google It!.
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China Treats Internet Addiction Very Seriously. eldavojohn writes "China has taken new extremes in preventing internet addiction in youths and is even offering boot camps to parents who want their child weaned from the electric teat. The article notes that 'no country has gone quite as far as China in embracing the theory that heavy Internet use should be defined as a mental disorder and mounting a public crusade against Internet addiction.' The article mentions the story of Sun Jiting who 'spends his days locked behind metal bars in this military-run installation, put there by his parents. The 17-year-old high school student is not allowed to communicate with friends back home, and his only companions are psychologists, nurses and other patients. Each morning at 6:30, he is jolted awake by a soldier in fatigues shouting, "This is for your own good!"' Sun found himself spending 15 hours or straight on the internet. Thanks to his parents' intervention and the treatment, he now has life mapped out until he's 84. "[Slashdot]
6:23:19 PM Google It!.
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Vista Worse For User Efficiency Than XP. erikvlie writes "Pfeiffer Consulting released a report on User Interface Friction, comparing Windows Vista/Aero with Windows XP and Mac OS X. The report concludes that Vista/Aero is worse in terms of desktop operations, menu latency, and mouse precision than XP [~] which was and still is said to be a lot worse on those measures than Mac OS X. The report was independently financed. The IT-Enquirer editor has read the report and summarized the most important findings." [Slashdot]
6:22:25 PM Google It!.
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MP3's Loss, Open Source's Gain. nadamsieee refers us to a piece up at Wired on the fallout from Microsoft's recent courtroom loss to Alcatel-Lucent over MP3 patents. From the article: "Alcatel-Lucent isn't the only winner in a federal jury's $1.52 billion patent infringement award against Microsoft this week. Other beneficiaries are the many rivals to the MP3 audio-compression format... Now, with a cloud over the de facto industry standard, companies that rely on MP3 may finally have sufficient motivation to move on. And that raises some tantalizing possibilities, including a real long shot: Open-source, royalty-free formats win."[Slashdot]
6:19:28 PM Google It!.
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Microsoft "SiteFinder" Quietly Raking It In. An anonymous reader writes in with the news, which isn't particularly new, that Microsoft's Internet Explorer sends typo domain names to a page of pay-per-click ads. In this endeavor Microsoft joins Charter and Earthlink in profiting from the dubious practice that Verisign pioneered but failed to make stick. The article is on a site whose audience is, among others, those who attempt to profit by typo-squatting, and its tone is just a bit petulant because individuals cannot hope to profit in this game on the scale Microsoft effortlessly achieves.[Slashdot]
6:17:18 PM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2007 Bruce Landon.
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