Colin Rhinesmith

Well, this blog’s back from break to share the exciting news that our course video from last semester, “Re-Imagining Boston City Hall Plaza Using Second Life,” just made it onto the front page at Boston.com under the “Your Videos” section. The exposure has generated over 2,500 views of the video on YouTube so far. And there’s some good discussion about how people feel about the real life Boston City Hall Plaza and using virtual worlds, like Second Life, to re-imagine our public spaces.

Watch the video and join the discussion.

Emerson College, Grad School, Internet, Second Life, Virtual Worlds, Web Video

In reviewing T. L. Taylor’s Play Between Worlds for a reading response assignment, I started to think about the language we use to talk about social web tools. Our choice of words can have an enormous impact on whether or not people choose to adopt new technologies. As in any form of persuasive argument, framing is key.

If we focus on the tools first, and not the potential social benefits, we miss an opportunity. But if we instead focus on the potential social benefits first, and the tools second, people might be more willing to explore these new technologies. For example, if we say that “people are finding jobs on Linkedin” and not, “Linkedin is a social networking tool” people, particularly those looking for work, might be more willing to explore Linkedin if they had not previously.

An article in today’s Chronicle online, titled “Educators Are Split About the Viability of Second Life” reports that the New Media Consortium asked educators to respond to the following question, “What is the future of Second Life?” However, if the question was asked this way, “What is the future of education in virtual worlds?” The survey results might have been different. Even for those unfamiliar with virtual worlds, the question implies that learning is taking place there.

I took this for granted last semester during a discussion about Jared Lanier’s Digital Maoism. But as I read more online and hear more people talking about their reactions to new technologies, it reminds that, again, that in any form of persuasion, framing is key.

Education, Emerson College, Grad School, Internet, Media Education, Second Life, Social Networking Tools, Web 2.0 in Education

I just returned from an exciting meeting with three other grad students and two new media faculty, Eric Gordon and John Craig Freeman, at Emerson College. The purpose was to get together and discuss how we might envision a location-based/networked forum for sharing our work and connecting on related projects.

The majority of grad students in the group are looking at issues related to Second Life and other sociable web platforms. I am particularly interested in how physical community media centers are using networked technology to connect and empower their communities (see blog). And our two faculty members are exploring a number of related issues, including the use of networked technology to augment live humanities events (see previous post).

Tonight was the first in a series of bi-monthly gatherings to explore common threads across each of our work and build a community of support for new media grads, moving forward (which I am very excited about). We spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how exactly to classify the work we’re all doing. We all agreed that each of our research interests skim across many related disciplines, but does not quite fit into any single discipline.

So we threw out a number of “terms” to see which might best describe our work collectively. One idea in particular seemed to catch on with the group. That was Net-Locality, an area that Eric Gordon has been exploring. We agreed that we’d sit with it and continue our conversation online.

With this group, I’m most excited about the opportunity to collaborate with other grad students and faculty on related topics and to learn from each other. I look forward to seeing what happens.

Education, Emerson College, Grad School, Social Networking Tools

My fellow Emerson grad, Ryan McGrady recently started blogging over at the Center for Citizen Media. Look for his upcoming series on Citizen Media Business Issues. Congrats, Ryan!

Citizen Media, Emerson College, Grad School

Over at Community Media in Transition, I’m beginning to focus in on my research topic for this year. Here’s a bit from a recent post:

“Over the past year, I’ve been exploring online, and talking with community media workers about, a variety of “web 2.0″ tools being used at Community Media Centers. Blogs, podcasts, wikis, social bookmarking, video mapping, and other social media platforms have generated much interest and discussion around which tools are most relevant to their center’s work and community’s needs.

Out of all of these areas, participatory Internet video seems to be the most exciting and relevant discussion most directly related to the medium of PEG access TV. So, I’ll be moving towards developing a framework upon which to further investigate, provide context, and invite feedback on the uses and narratives (e.g., YouTube v. Public Access TV debate, etc.) surrounding the implementation of participatory web video at community media centers.”

I’ve also posted a number of questions that I hope will generate some response and, more importantly, discussion around this topic. To learn more, visit Community Media in Transition.

Community Media, Emerson College, Grad School, PEGTV, Web Video

In a previous post, I mentioned a course that I was designing for the fall. At that point, the emphasis for the Directed Study included an examination of how the mission of University relates to Fair Use of digital media in education. Since then, my adviser, Eric Gordon and I decided to shift focus a bit to consider the question “What does it mean to be fair?” in this context.

I’ve updated the course wiki. The wiki is still closed, but I moved the Proposal to the front page so it is accessible to the public. The course will include a podcast series and blog that will archive research for the project. I’m looking forward to this course and to launching my thesis in the fall. It’s going to be a busy semester!

Education, Fair Use, Grad School, Intellectual Property, Law, Media Education

Photo by Gene Koo available under a Creative Commons license.

Gene Koo announced yesterday that Hub2 will be launched this fall at Emerson College in collaboration with the City of Boston. Here’s a bit from the post:

I’m excited to announce that my colleague Eric Gordon and I will be teaching a new, experimental class at Emerson College on exploring, imagining, and building civic places in real and virtual spaces. The class was born of an idea hatched by the City of Boston to develop vibrant, virtual civic spaces. And what better way to foster civic life than to invite members of the community to build it for themselves?”

I am particularly excited about this announcement not only because I am registered for the course but because I hope to be assisting Gene and Eric in some capacity during the semester. Gene writes

Much like CyberOne, there will be a “traditional” class, taught by Eric, and an “open” class, taught by myself. The two classes will run in tandem, with the two groups collaborating on a continuous basis. Here is the description of my class. The flyer explains what the class is about; here is what it is not.

He also adds that the course is currently available at a reduced rate in order “to make the class accessible to as many Boston organizations and individuals as possible.”

As with CyberOne, I look forward to seeing how it develops and to participate in the course, and with the project, as a whole.

Education, Emerson College, Grad School, Second Life

I’ve been working on a first pass at my directed study proposal for the fall. Here it is:

“Digital media, the Internet and copyright law present growing challenges to educators and academic institutions working to share access to teaching and learning resources inside and outside the classroom. But what is a classroom in the digital age? Where does the classroom begin and end when online learning materials become increasingly accessible through open, walled, and semi-walled gardens? This course will examine these and other questions, including:

• What is the mission of University?
• What are recommended Fair Use guidelines and best practices for educators and students in the digital age?
• What software platforms are being used and developed to encourage online sharing of educational materials while balancing the rights of copyright owners and concerns of academic institutions?

To investigate these issues, the course will be divided into three sections to further explore recent scholarship and innovative educational initiatives related to the topics above. The final project will result in a 25 page research paper. In conducting research for this study, the course will include a directed study blog incorporating del.icio.us links (and this wiki) to allow the instructor and the public at-large to participate in a collaborative learning environment.”

The wiki for the directed study is closed, but I will be setting up a blog which will be open for participation. More soon . . .

A2K, Copyright, Education, Emerson College, Grad School, Law, Media Arts, Open Access

I’m finished with my first year of graduate school at Emerson College. It was a great start to what I think will be an even better second year based on a number of projects that I’m looking forward to working on.

I’m writing this post to help me organize some of the stuff going on. Let’s take a crack at it here:

Community Media in Transition

The response to my graduate thesis blog and wiki has been very positive so far. I’ve done some preliminary research there into some of the topics I’ll be exploring for the project. The best thing about it is that folks in access are participating. The thesis has not been formulated yet because I am waiting to see what happens through these participatory platforms (blog, wiki, del.icio.us, etc.) and, more importantly, the people using them to help inform the direction of the project.

Rather than walking into the project with an idea of what I think it should be, I’m learning from other folks in access to help me organize the most important topics. This has been extremely helpful in a way that I don’t think would be possible without the web.

Open Media Publishing in Online Learning Environments

I’ll be working on a directed study in the fall on the topic of open source media publishing tools in online learning environments. My short-term goals include laying out some of the key concepts and ideas building on the work that others have already established in this area. I will be putting together a syllabus and annotated bibliography for the course which I’ll be working on under the guidance of Eric Gordon at Emerson College.

The Open Media Library project that Dean Jansen has spearheaded, along with the overwhelming response from the academic, public media and other non-profit communities has made me really excited to explore the possibilities of a cross-institutional open source platform for e-media sharing.

Dean and I will be presenting a demo of the Open Media Library at the Video, Education and Open Content conference at Columbia U. on May 23. I’m looking forward to meeting and learning from other folks working in this space to help inform the project.

The Place of Social Media

Eric Gordon is writing a book titled, “The Place of Social Media” to explore how sociable media platforms are impacting everyday (real) life. I’ll be working with him over the summer as a research assistant to set-up a blog and podcast for the book. I’m really looking forward to contributing to this project and learning from Eric and his experience in the process.

Jalapenos, Basil, Cilantro, and Tomatoes

I’m also pretty excited about my indoor herb and veggie garden. I’m looking forward to growing and eating them.

Collaborative Media, Community Media, Education, Emerson College, Grad School, Open Access, Open Source, Public Access TV, Social Networking Tools

“Final Preparations for Final Project (Location)“

Aubree and I presented our final project, “The Visual Artist in Second Life” in class and in Second Life this afternoon for our last Studies in Digital Media and Culture class. I took the picture above of the two of us late last night as we were finishing up our artist hut installation in Artropolis (SLurl).

We began our presentation today by joining other students from our class in Second Life at the hut’s location. Inside the hut, students had a chance to walk around and see pictures featuring different aspects of the project. Aubree talked about the hut and the photos and I walked the class through the final project site.

It was fun to join our classmates in Second Life today. It provided another layer of experience related to topics within our ethnography project. I’d like to thank both Craig Freeman and Jeff Lipsky for their participation in this project and for sharing their experiences as visual artists in Second Life.

Emerson College, Grad School, Second Life, Web 2.0 in Education