The following is an explanation of how to embed YouTube videos onto your blog.
The following is another video tutorial of how to embed a Flicker Badge to your blog
Monday, May 25, 2009
Tutorial 7 - Assisstive Technology
"Assisstive technology refers to a broad range of devices, services, strategies, and practices that are conceived applied to ameliorate the problems faced by individuals who have disabilities" (Cook and Hussey, 2000). Assisstive technology hence includes a wide range of things to help an individual engage in an activity. When we think of assisstive technology, it is not necessarily 'high tech' equipment. It can be very simple devices such as a keyboard that is bright yellow for visually impaired people.
In this tutorial we had two people come to talk to us and show us a range of assisstive technologies. One of the pieces of equipment introduced was a 'talking tin.' This was intitially designed to help people with a visual impairment to identify their tinned food. Hence TALKING TINS. However these devices have many more uses around the home or in the classroom. You can record a message on them and then play back the message. There were two models of the talking tin. One was a yellow model that cold hold a 10 second message and a red model that could hold 30 seconds of multiple messages. The yellow model cost $18 and red model costs $24 from Star Education.
Clients who have sustained a traumatic brain injury can use these to increase their functional capacity. They or someone else can record steps of a task on the talking tin and then the TBI client can replay the steps as many times as he or she like. Due to their condition they quite often have memory problems so the talking tin assists them to complete a task.
There are many types of assisstive technology!! Check out www.star-educational.co.nz to look at more devices and maybe even get yourself one!
Happy browsing technology friends :)
In this tutorial we had two people come to talk to us and show us a range of assisstive technologies. One of the pieces of equipment introduced was a 'talking tin.' This was intitially designed to help people with a visual impairment to identify their tinned food. Hence TALKING TINS. However these devices have many more uses around the home or in the classroom. You can record a message on them and then play back the message. There were two models of the talking tin. One was a yellow model that cold hold a 10 second message and a red model that could hold 30 seconds of multiple messages. The yellow model cost $18 and red model costs $24 from Star Education.
Clients who have sustained a traumatic brain injury can use these to increase their functional capacity. They or someone else can record steps of a task on the talking tin and then the TBI client can replay the steps as many times as he or she like. Due to their condition they quite often have memory problems so the talking tin assists them to complete a task.
There are many types of assisstive technology!! Check out www.star-educational.co.nz to look at more devices and maybe even get yourself one!
Happy browsing technology friends :)
Tutorial 6 - The internet and online communities
Online communities are communities that reflect a community in the real world but instead, are on the internet. These online communities are a great way to connect with people and get information rapidly.
I decided to join the Mojozone which is an online community that has been established, for people to share information about rock climbing and bouldering in New Zealand. The website is www.mojozone.co.nz if anyone would like to check it out.
This community allows people to gain a lot of information about climbing and bouldering in New Zealand. Latest news items, articles that have been written, information about the different crags around NZ, a forum and access to other links that are related. This is a very interactive site as people can contribute enormously. People's contribution to this site is what makes it effective. There is a large forum that has several categories from general info, to information about crags, upcoming events, access issues, training and injuries, gear and also a category for people who are looking for a climbing buddy.
People choose to contribute to this community because it allows them to gain a lot of information in a short amount of time and over great distances. Because this community is based on climbing all over New Zealand, it allows people to gain information about crags and events in their own area as well as else where in New Zealand if they wish to go on a trip. The ease of this online community is very beneficial. It also allows people to gain information about a crag before going there so that they know what sort of gear to take and what to look out for, for example, whether you need to gain permission from land owner to gain access to a crag, or whether to look out for some dodgy bolting. The spread of the information via this online is rapid.
The following is an example of a topic being discussed under the 'crag' category;
"Has anyone got any idea s to the climbability/ boulderabilty of the limestone karst out pukekohe way? there is a caving business run out there (Nikau Cave) and google earth returns some cool looking valleys. I dont imagine im the first one to question whether its worth climbing as its pretty close to Auckland, i think about 90mins by the caving site, anyway, heres few links in what ive found, any info would be good, otherwise il probably just go for scenic drive with the zoom lense... These guys talk about a 100 ft cliffs..."
This is written by someone who has come across some limestone rocks out Pukekohe way and is wondering whether anyone else has been out to investigate whether it is climbable in terms of the strength of the rock and prospect holds.
With any online community there are always ethical issues surrounding the use of it. With Mojozone you can create your own user name, this is the name you go by when posting information. This means that people can have a lack of identity and if something went wrong because of the information they provided, they can escape accountability because they are essentialy anonymous. Althought there are a lot of people in this community, it is still small enough that people know who each other is, as you meet them out at the crags.
Although this online community is beneficial in getting information quickly and from a variety of sources it can not completely provide what some aspects of what the traditional communities. can. Because you can not see the people face to face there is less personal interaction. Being in a traditional climbing community allows you to interact with your peers, doing and talking about what you all enjoy it a familiar atmosphere. It is all good about talking about it, but it is the act of DOING that is the achievement of the community and being surrounded in the climbing atmosphere. That you can only get from traditional communities.
So although online communities are great they should not by any means completely replace traditional communities.
I decided to join the Mojozone which is an online community that has been established, for people to share information about rock climbing and bouldering in New Zealand. The website is www.mojozone.co.nz if anyone would like to check it out.
This community allows people to gain a lot of information about climbing and bouldering in New Zealand. Latest news items, articles that have been written, information about the different crags around NZ, a forum and access to other links that are related. This is a very interactive site as people can contribute enormously. People's contribution to this site is what makes it effective. There is a large forum that has several categories from general info, to information about crags, upcoming events, access issues, training and injuries, gear and also a category for people who are looking for a climbing buddy.
People choose to contribute to this community because it allows them to gain a lot of information in a short amount of time and over great distances. Because this community is based on climbing all over New Zealand, it allows people to gain information about crags and events in their own area as well as else where in New Zealand if they wish to go on a trip. The ease of this online community is very beneficial. It also allows people to gain information about a crag before going there so that they know what sort of gear to take and what to look out for, for example, whether you need to gain permission from land owner to gain access to a crag, or whether to look out for some dodgy bolting. The spread of the information via this online is rapid.
The following is an example of a topic being discussed under the 'crag' category;
"Has anyone got any idea s to the climbability/ boulderabilty of the limestone karst out pukekohe way? there is a caving business run out there (Nikau Cave) and google earth returns some cool looking valleys. I dont imagine im the first one to question whether its worth climbing as its pretty close to Auckland, i think about 90mins by the caving site, anyway, heres few links in what ive found, any info would be good, otherwise il probably just go for scenic drive with the zoom lense... These guys talk about a 100 ft cliffs..."
This is written by someone who has come across some limestone rocks out Pukekohe way and is wondering whether anyone else has been out to investigate whether it is climbable in terms of the strength of the rock and prospect holds.
With any online community there are always ethical issues surrounding the use of it. With Mojozone you can create your own user name, this is the name you go by when posting information. This means that people can have a lack of identity and if something went wrong because of the information they provided, they can escape accountability because they are essentialy anonymous. Althought there are a lot of people in this community, it is still small enough that people know who each other is, as you meet them out at the crags.
Although this online community is beneficial in getting information quickly and from a variety of sources it can not completely provide what some aspects of what the traditional communities. can. Because you can not see the people face to face there is less personal interaction. Being in a traditional climbing community allows you to interact with your peers, doing and talking about what you all enjoy it a familiar atmosphere. It is all good about talking about it, but it is the act of DOING that is the achievement of the community and being surrounded in the climbing atmosphere. That you can only get from traditional communities.
So although online communities are great they should not by any means completely replace traditional communities.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tutorial Four & Five - Video Production Sessions
In these tutorials we looked at video production looked at filming techniques, how to use a video camera, the use of a storyboard to plan a video and finally editing the shots to make a complete and effective video.
In tutorial 4 we got to play with editing on the computer. Several scenes of a monkey walking the corridors needed to be cut and blended together to make a realistic and good short video that had consistency. We also uploaded a soundtrack to it.
Once we had learned how to use a film camera and practiced filming shots we got to have a go at creating a short video about overcoming adversity.
Before we started filming, we drew up a storyboard to assist with the filming. A storyboard is a shot by shot plan of the video you wish to create. This helped us to draw out the entire video and each individual shot. This meant that we weren't spending a long period of time filming as we had already decided on the shot. What the shot was going to be of and whether it was going to be a close up, panning, etc. This is also meant that editing became easier because everything was in sequence.
We created a short video about 'overcoming adversity.' After we edited the video we converted it into a Quicktime file so that we could upload it to Youtube. Youtube is an online community where people can upload videos onto the net via this site. People can share the videos whether they be music, comedy, educational or whatever your heart desires so long as it is within the realm of Youtubes terms and conditions. People can rate your video out of 5 stars and can see how many times it has been viewed. Youtube also allows you to share these videos to other online communities such as facebook and myspace.
If you wish to view the video you it can be viewed in the previous post or by going to Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H7U-QdTLK4
Enjoy!
In tutorial 4 we got to play with editing on the computer. Several scenes of a monkey walking the corridors needed to be cut and blended together to make a realistic and good short video that had consistency. We also uploaded a soundtrack to it.
Once we had learned how to use a film camera and practiced filming shots we got to have a go at creating a short video about overcoming adversity.
Before we started filming, we drew up a storyboard to assist with the filming. A storyboard is a shot by shot plan of the video you wish to create. This helped us to draw out the entire video and each individual shot. This meant that we weren't spending a long period of time filming as we had already decided on the shot. What the shot was going to be of and whether it was going to be a close up, panning, etc. This is also meant that editing became easier because everything was in sequence.
We created a short video about 'overcoming adversity.' After we edited the video we converted it into a Quicktime file so that we could upload it to Youtube. Youtube is an online community where people can upload videos onto the net via this site. People can share the videos whether they be music, comedy, educational or whatever your heart desires so long as it is within the realm of Youtubes terms and conditions. People can rate your video out of 5 stars and can see how many times it has been viewed. Youtube also allows you to share these videos to other online communities such as facebook and myspace.
If you wish to view the video you it can be viewed in the previous post or by going to Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/wat
Enjoy!
Tutorial Three - Blog Creation Tasks
One of the classes that we do as a second year Occupational Therapy Student is 'Participation in Occupation 1' For this class we started up our own blogs (which you are currently reading) using blogger.com which is one of many blog hosts.
So what is a blog really? Well, it is basically a website that you can write stuff on, on a continuous basis. This allows readers to get new information about the blog's subject. Readers can comment on items that you have posted. Thus, it can be a way of connecting people to similar interests. You can also post photos onto your blog. If your photos are already on the web, such as on Flickr, then Blogger allows you to make a link between the two.
Blogger allows you to publish your thoughts, engage your family and friends and have complete control over it! You can choose to delete any comments that people may have left, you can control who can access and write on your blog and it let's you find people and blogs that share your interests. You can choose your own template, customize colours, fonts and layout of the page.
And if you thought that was exciting, there is one more service that blogger offers for the techno savvy people out there. GO MOBILE! Yes, you can send photos and text straight to your blog via you mobile.
If one may feel the need to spice it up a little you can try another blog host such as 'Blogsome.'
Enjoy Blogging people!
So what is a blog really? Well, it is basically a website that you can write stuff on, on a continuous basis. This allows readers to get new information about the blog's subject. Readers can comment on items that you have posted. Thus, it can be a way of connecting people to similar interests. You can also post photos onto your blog. If your photos are already on the web, such as on Flickr, then Blogger allows you to make a link between the two.
Blogger allows you to publish your thoughts, engage your family and friends and have complete control over it! You can choose to delete any comments that people may have left, you can control who can access and write on your blog and it let's you find people and blogs that share your interests. You can choose your own template, customize colours, fonts and layout of the page.
And if you thought that was exciting, there is one more service that blogger offers for the techno savvy people out there. GO MOBILE! Yes, you can send photos and text straight to your blog via you mobile.
If one may feel the need to spice it up a little you can try another blog host such as 'Blogsome.'
Enjoy Blogging people!
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Great Getaway
The Great Getaway is a short film that we made about overcoming adversity during tutorial 5. The people that took part in this film were NICOLE, Lisa, Chrissy, Karen, Claire and myself. I may be a thief but at least I am very smart thief (or so I thought) :P
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