Digital Commons at Penn State

Over the past few months we have been looking for an inexpensive easy to use video recorder that offers us up the best image quality and works within the digital commons software environment. During the course of that time I have had the chance to use three new video recorders that all price within the same range of $180 – $250. All of these camera’s shoot to a solid-state memory medium and can be transferred directly into the computer faster than real time. The following are my impressions of those three cameras as well as what I would grade them in the following categories, image quality, features, & ease of use. My grades for these categories are based off of what I would expect to find on a camera at this price range.

Samsung SC-MX20 Camcorder
Price: $224.00
Image Quality: 2 out of 5
Features: 4 out of 5
Ease of use: 4 out of 5

On Friday and Saturday, November 7th-8th at Penn State Schuylkill campus, Teaching and Learning with Technology will be hosting the Digital Commons Tailgate, the first of a series of community-designed unconferences* aimed at exploring all aspects of digital media in teaching and learning. Topics include (but are certainly not limited to) ePortfolio, digital literacy, and design and assessment of multimedia projects, and will delve into both pedagogy and technology. Sessions will be driven by attendees and everyone's expertise will enrich the conversation. Our goal will be to collectively develop a series of best practices which will inform how we all use digital media in the classroom.

If you were able to attend the Learning Design Summer Camp this August, you'll be familiar with how this event will be run. Creativity and conversation are paramount, and the mood is intended to be relaxed but intellectually stimulating. Since this is a Fall weekend we're going with a Tailgate theme, so expect lots of good food, and dress appropriately (i.e. however you want!).

You are invited to attended this free two-day event starting with an optional day of workshops and dinner on Friday November 7th, with the main conference sessions on Saturday November 8th.

You are also invited to help design the conference! Check out the wiki at: http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/wiki/Digital_Commons_Tailgate. Anyone with a PSU access account can edit this. So if you have an idea for a session, or you want to expand on what's already been suggested, just hit the [edit] button.

Please pass this invitation along to any faculty who may be interested in this opportunity!

To register, simply jump to the Registration section of the wiki and add your name to the list.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.

* Unconference @ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference

Camera mapping is a technique I first learned about at the NAB Show 2008 in Las Vegas. After seeing the technique demonstrated I immediately recognized the power of knowing such a technique and decided to commit myself to learning the skills necessary to achieve it. If you haven't heard about Camera Mapping or Camera Projection I will illustrate what it is and how it works.

Camera mapping is a process where we can use a simple photograph and turn it 3d, this allows us to setup camera movements and fly around this life like 3d image without the expense of all the rigging that would be necessary to create such shots in the real world. Camera Mapping is used extensively in Television and Feature Film production as a cost effective way to create background mattes, and establishing shots among other things. The process requires extensive use of Adobe Photoshop and some basic 3D, in my case I used Cinema 4D as the 3D application.

The Digital Commons team recently sat down with Dr. Matt Jackson of the College of Communications to discuss copyright law, Fair Use, TEACH Act, and their impact on teaching and learning, especially as it concerns student and faculty use of multimedia. Dr. Jackson has done extensive research on issues of copyright, and provides many examples and fields questions from the DC team which help to clarify an often intimidating subject.

Attendees: Dr. Matt Jackson, Chris Millet, Allan Gyorke, Hannah Sloan, Ryan Wetzel, Matt Frank, Tim Perry, Justin Miller