There's a really interesting discussion in the comments section of Gizmodo about the use of "Auto-tune" technology to modify and correct the vocals of pop artists on their albums. The most notorious user of Auto-tune is hip-hop artist T-Pain. But according to Time magazine the modern recording industry uses Auto-tune for pretty much every album….
Category: Information Society
YouTube as a research tool: all the knowledge of humanity in 3 minute chunks
The New York Times has an interesting article from a few days ago about how young people are using YouTube as their primary search engine for finding information on the internet. Entitled "At First, Funny Videos. Now, a Reference Tool," the report describes how kids are increasingly seeking all sorts of knowledge on this extremely…
Preparing youth for our rapidly changing times
Such a cool little video dramatizing how quickly our world is changing. My takeaway from this video is that educating youth to be effective citizens in the 21st century is less about cramming knowledge in their brains as much as preparing them with the right disposition to absorb new information, learn new skills, and effectively…
Bronx Rhymes: Documenting the history of hip-hop using new media
"Bronx Rhymes" is a project to preserve and present the history of hip-hop culture from its roots in the South Bronx. It combines several forms of new media in ways that honor the culture: Bronx Rhymes uncovers the history of Hip Hop in the borough by tagging historically important locations with rhymes. These rhymes illuminate…
“Raid Gaza!” game: social issue game with unintentionally appropriate banner ad?
On the website "New Grounds" there's a new Flash game about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict called "Raid Gaza!" Some might question the value of this kind of serious issue game, particularly now when the hospitals and morgues are filling with civilians and combatants from the latest flareup. I think "Raid Gaza!!" does succeed in presenting in…
Rafi on differing social media strategies of the Israeli Government
My buddy Rafi posts on his new blog Empathetics a very insightful commentary on how different branches of the Israeli government are using social media during this latest Gaza conflagration. In short, the Israeli military is employing the old "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" approach versus the Israeli diplomatic corps more…
Brooklyn Museum launches “1stFans”: socially networked museum membership
Will Cary, the membership manager at the Brooklyn Museum, announced earlier this month an interesting way for a wider population of people to support the Brooklyn Museum through their new "1stFan" program. Described as "socially networked museum membership," 1stFan provides a way for potentially hundreds more people to support the museum through an annual $20…
Casio adds 80s dayglo colors to retro calcu-watches
Some of you might remember my video review of the nerdtastic Casio 53W calcu-watch. Well now Casio has re-released the DBC32 series of calcu-watches in awesome dayglo colors. The lime green one is calling to me. Only $60 a pop. Collect them all! [From Gizmodo]
New Code helps teachers understand “Fair Use” of media materials in classroom
The Center for Social Media, the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, and the Media Education Lab have recently come out with a new “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education.“ While intended specifically for teachers in media literacy courses, there is a lot of useful information for educators of…
Making virtual pancakes at Parson’s “Playtech” open house (video)
Rafi and I checked out the "Playtech" open house at Parsons The New School for Design this afternoon, which was a lot of fun. The CDT Lab at Parsons organized "Playtech" to enable young people to check out some of the cool interactive games being developed by their grad students. Here's me playing a silly…