The Dean of DigitalThe Dean of Digitalhttp://deanofdigital.com/blog/2011-02-08T05:05:44ZSquarespaceDigital Storytelling Goes Socialhttp://deanofdigital.com/blog/2011/2/7/digital-storytelling-goes-social.html[Your Name Here]2011-02-08T04:55:54Z2011-02-08T04:55:54ZI’ve just finished putting in a lot of work on a presentation on Web 2.0 resources for digital storytelling. I’ve found an amazing collection of 44 web links that you find very useful. I break these down into sites for preparing stories, finding images and resources, editing your production, sharing stories online and collaborative writing. Be sure to check out the wikis and link pages at the end of the article. To download my PowerPoint presentation, visit the handout page of my website by clicking here. You can also download a clickable PDF of the 44 links. I’m presenting this presentation at TCEA and a couple other places this spring. Enjoy!

Download the presentation here.

]]>Oregon Coast Photo Albumhttp://deanofdigital.com/blog/2010/5/28/oregon-coast-photo-album.html[Your Name Here]2010-05-28T05:54:00Z2010-05-28T05:54:00ZIn mid-May, we went to the central Oregon coast. The forecast was for rain most of the weekend, but after driving through torrential rains to get to the coast, the skies cleared at the ocean. We managed to dodge the rain showers most of the weekend. It was one of those magical experiences – the cleanest air and the most photogenic clouds. It really shows that as Ansel Adams said; photography is “the study of light”.  On our hikes and runs we saw beautiful rhododendrons in full bloom.

We went to Newport to attend the Brewer’s Festival at Rogue Ales brewery. “Brewer” was the brew masters black lab who got run over by a tractor at the brewery a few years ago. They hold a beer tasting/dog festival each year in honor of the canine. There are all kinds of dog games and contests and lots of good microbrews. If you ever get a chance to come to Oregon, be sure to check out our craft breweries.

Click here to enjoy the photos.

]]>Is this me?http://deanofdigital.com/blog/2010/4/20/is-this-me.html[Your Name Here]2010-04-20T13:47:42Z2010-04-20T13:47:42Z

This is my friend John Foster. I'm often mistaken for him. People often say "hi John" to me all the time. I usually just say "hi" back to them.

I uploaded this photo from my iPhone and published this entry to my blog using the SquareSpace iPhone app.

]]>Don’t buy that iPad just yet.http://deanofdigital.com/blog/2010/4/18/dont-buy-that-ipad-just-yet.html[Your Name Here]2010-04-19T03:40:12Z2010-04-19T03:40:12ZApple’s iPad is pretty cool. I had a chance to play with one the other day, but I’m holding off buying one for a bit because lots of other tablets are set to soon hit the market. These may be cheaper and more powerful than the iPad. Engadget announced that HP will be coming out with the HP Slate; a tablet that has more memory than the iPad and will be cheaper. It has many of the things that the iPad is missing, including a USB port, ability to run software (using Windows 7), ability to run Flash and the thing I like best… two (count em’; two) cameras. No word on if it can do multi-tasking or not; but that would be a big advantage over the iPad.

The choices for tablets might become kind of like the smart phone landscape. Apple’s iPhone is a beautiful device, but its closed architecture and Apple’s monolithic control over it are causing many people to look at Google’s Android phones. Google might introduce a tablet at around $300. At that price, it could kill off the Kindle and would be a great solution as the most economical electronic textbook device.

Web links:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/05/hp-slate-to-cost-549-have-1-6ghz-atom-z530-5-hour-battery/

You can listen to a podcast about this at Buzz Out Loud. http://podcast-files.cnet.com/podcast/cnet_buzzoutloud_040610.mp3

Watch HP's video at their blog: http://h20435.www2.hp.com/t5/Voodoo-Blog/HP-s-Slate-Device-Delivers-a-Holistic-Mobile-Experience/ba-p/54735

]]>Photography and Action Sportshttp://deanofdigital.com/blog/2010/3/31/photography-and-action-sports.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-31T22:43:44Z2010-03-31T22:43:44Z
Recently my family and I went to Bend, Oregon to do some cross-country skiing and snowboarding. The first day at Mount Bachelor it snowed most of the day. The next day we had five inches of powder and sunny skies. It was going to be a perfect day to take pictures. We were headed out for a ten mile cross-country ski trip. I knew it would be a drag to take along my big digital SLR camera. So, I clipped on my trusty little Canon PowerShot point-and-shoot camera. Below are some of the pictures I shot that day. You can see a whole album of the pictures on my “Latest Pics” page.

 

Now, I had my iPhone along, but that wouldn’t have given me the kind of quality I was able to get with my Canon. It got me to thinking that the battle of megapixels has pretty much been won. Even cell phone cameras can give you a couple of megapixels – enough for decent on screen resolution. What we really need to be concerned about is creative controls- how well can we control the exposure and focus? What’s the quality of the lens and how does the camera do in low light? Cell phone cameras don’t give you almost any control, while digital SLR’s give you a great deal. If you want to use one in the great outdoors, you put your camera (and sometimes yourself) at risk. So that’s why I use an inexpensive small camera while running or skiing.

I’ve held my camera in my hand on several road races, including the Portland and Austin Marathons. In some of the events the race organizers have posted my pictures on their web site. Here’s a couple of examples of my “in-race” photos:

 



So you serious photographers might want to think about bringing a point-and-shoot camera along on your more active activities and you cell-phone photographers might want to consider bringing along a “real” camera.

]]>New book publishedhttp://deanofdigital.com/blog/2010/3/29/new-book-published.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-29T05:50:51Z2010-03-29T05:50:51ZCheck out my new book "Award Winning Digital Storytelling Projects", published by Visions Technology. It has templates for 20 cross-curriculum digital stories. It also has lots of background info and resources.

]]>Welcome to my bloghttp://deanofdigital.com/blog/2010/3/28/welcome-to-my-blog.html[Your Name Here]2010-03-28T23:43:12Z2010-03-28T23:43:12ZHello and welcome to my blog. In this blog, I'll try to keep you up to date on my latest activities, thoughts and research. Hopefully, this site will serve as a great resource for all kinds of information on using digital media in and out of the classroom. I am doing a lot of work on digital storytelling, so there is a special section just on that topic.

You can also find more of my stuff at my web site www.arnieabrams.net

If you wish to order any of my books click here.

You and your friends can follow me on Facebook by clicking below: Dr. Arnie Abrams

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