Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Online-Only Class: The Shortest Lecture You'll Ever Attend

Class,

Welcome. I am about to invite you to the shortest class that you'll probably ever attend. I have been working to produce an interesting interactive experience, or at least an unconventional one based heavily in Web 2.0 tools. I've encountered a few challenges that have been educational for me and I'll discuss those with you in class.

I'll begin by mentioning that I produced about 45 minutes of video content to deliver to you as an online lecture. Doesn't sound short, does it?

In fact, though, it will be very short, because I'm going to deliver less than ten minutes of this information due to encoding limits. I'd like to propose that you download the original 700MB file, but I'm really not so cruel.

LECTURE

So, I'm going to ask you to watch two short videos that were reduced to very low quality to facilitate speedy upload.



The first short upload.



The second short upload.

Once you've watched these videos, I'd like you to register your attendance at class by adding a comment to this blog post. Please include your first name in the comment, so that I know you've been here, and also include the link to your blog (the link that you should have emailed to me by now).

CLASS EXERCISE

The next thing that I'd like you to do is watch the following tutorial video. It contains instructions for how to create a spreadsheet that you'll use to keep track of your list of terminology. Essentially, you are taking the first steps toward building a small relational database. The very first steps. Don't worry, it's not so bad.




NEWS ITEMS

Finally, I'd like you to read the following two news articles about the New York Times website. After reading them, I'd like you to give them some thought and make some short comments about them -- by phone. Yes, I'd like you to call a phone number that I'll be sending you by email and follow the instructions it gives you to leave a short voicemail message.

Times 'Updates' Make Clark Hoyt Want to URL

At Times 'Hack Day,' Geeks Are Invited to Make a Newspaper Work on the Web

In the message, please start by stating your name, then leave a short comment -- no longer than two minutes -- offering a brief response about the articles, or asking any questions that come to mind after reading them. I know this is wide open and unusual, but part of the point is to create some multimedia content.

YOU'RE DONE

Now, just as after a normal class, all you have to do is wait for your homework assignment to come on Friday. If you want to get a jump on other work, know that I will expect you to collect five new words for your terminology list, as well as to add one new article to your blog.

Class dismissed!

17 comments:

  1. Anna
    http://anakuta.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Present!

    Shortest class indeed. :-)

    http://infodesign09.blogspot.com/

    Oscar C.

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  3. This is Kin Wa Lam.
    Here is my blog,
    http://elephantkingdom.blogspot.com/

    Actually, I am not too understand what I need to do. However, I try my best to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Karolina
    http://karolinajamula.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Grace
    http://infodesignclass-gracesix.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sam Hoh

    http://saminfoweb.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good Evening Professor Neely,

    http://cliftonmuhammad.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Just out of curiosity, where did you film this at? Just wonder about the background. I do agree with the "sometimes less choices are better" idea. When there is too much freedom on this kind of blogging tool, it's only going to create a mess for non-designers. Besides, even from the same template, depending on the individual's likes and dislikes, the look and feel of the blogger can still be very different.
    The rule is still fair and remained controlled.


    http://chloe6328.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Giselle

    Love the background reminds me of work. Here is the link to my blog.

    http://gcanino.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Eduardo
    interesting class with video clips
    http://eduardo-webtechnologyblog.blogspot.com/

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  12. Kenson Clarke

    http://kclarkeid09.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  13. Denzil Rowe

    http://designorperish.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lana Delgadillo

    http://infodesign-lanad.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Taka Nishimura

    http://origamisky.blogspot.com/

    Where did you take your video by the way?
    The background painting is unique.
    At college?

    Taka

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks to everyone for participating in this class with its unusual format. For those who asked questions about the background in the video -- it's actually part of one of my paintings. I thought it would be good to have something colorful to keep your attention and interest as I lectured. I'm glad to hear that it may have contributed something to the user experience.

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  17. I have been visiting various blogs for my term papers writing research. I have found your blog to be quite useful. Keep updating your blog with valuable information... Regards

    ReplyDelete