Highlights for Childre... er, CLAMmers

From Morguefile.com

Your colleagues blogs form a network of rich resources to help you as you work toward refining your digital and cultural literacies this term. The links to the right ---> will take you to the blogs of the other members of your community of scholars. Visit them. Check out their posts. Post comments. Ask questions. Share ideas.

Here are a few examples of your classmates work from which you might draw instruction or inspiration:

• Your Colleague Karen (http://cuinbelgium.blogspot.com/http://cuinbelgium.blogspot.com/) has already taken lots of photos, without waiting for specific instructions on "what" to shoot. This will come in handy for her later. So, follow her lead - take lots of digital snaps and lots of b-roll video. You can always get rid of footage you have, but you can't add footage you don't.
• CLAM Alum Keith McGregor remembered to have someone help him shoot, so he could be in some of his pics. (http://abrilliantexpedition.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-of-elderlyand-some.html) I always forget to do that!
• CLAM Alum Zach Cerny took some unusual photos that later added some unique flavor to his projects: http://zachcerny-clamchowder.blogspot.com/2009/07/spring-break-pics.html
• Your Colleague Elizabeth posted a really cool video about the rise of social media at her cleverly named entry, "A Facebook in the Crowd": http://elizabethbarcus.blogspot.com/2011/01/face-book-in-crowd.html
• Your Colleagues Ellen & Robert have good examples of the photo editing exercise in conventional format; Patty & Leigh both have horrendously messy huge photos (OK I exaggerate a bit here, for effect) that illustrate just how many pixels lives are saved by responsible photo editing.
• CLAM Alum Jennifer McAmis used Picasa as a way to keep and organize her pics - and to keep handy for posting and project building: http://jennmcamis-clam.blogspot.com/2010/04/pictures-while-you-wait.html. Others have used similar photo sites like Flickr, etc.

New Kids in the Soup!

Welcome to our new CAAH 201 (CLAM) students -  - Spring 2010 is here! Soon, new blogs will be listed in the column at the right and a new crop of bloggers will become part of a growing network of Clemson students who are critically engaging cultures in interesting, inspiring and provocative ways!

I will be posting some general comments here each week - answering questions, sharing tips, and highlighting some of the work from our CLAM students' blogs. Check back often, and, as the new blogs appear in the column at teh right, explore some of the work our CLAMmers are doing across the globe. (For now, you can still enjoy the ground-breaking work from our pilot CLAMmers.)

So... FIRST TIP! Students, you will be posting digital photos often to your blog, so this first tip is one you will put to use early and often. Don't post more picture than you need! A size of 800 x 600 with a resolution of 72 dpi is plenty! (OK - 96 dpi if you got a Mac.) Let Tommy's Joynt help explain...

I've posted two pics below of a cool restaurant in San Francisco. Do you notice any difference?

The first one is untouched exactly as it was downloaded from my iPhone. Go ahead, click it. HUGE Picture! Over a 1.2 MEG!*

The second one is the same photo - but reduced to 800x600 in size with a resolution of 72 dpi. perfect size for web viewing and only a fraction of the size - only 140k! (and a fraction of the upload/download time!)

Of course, I saved the smaller pic under a new name so I could keep the higher res photo for later use. This tip will save you lots of time in posting, so practice it early and often. (Deeper teaching on this subject will come later in the course - but this tip you need now!) You can do this in any photo editing program. I use PhotoShop on my lab computer, PaintShopPro on my home computer and GIMP on my laptop.

Don't have a digital image editing software? GIMP is free! Get a copy here now: http://www.gimp.org/

Welcome to the blogosphere, new CLAMmers! I'm looking forward to seeing your work on these blogs.


*(1.2M uploaded - conerted to 285k by blogger - still twice as long to download, and ten times as long to upload.)

Around the World in 80 jpgs, mpgs, avis, etc.

Most students from the pilot program of Cultural Literacies Across Media have posted their final digital projects (or links to them) on their blogs. (Check out the links to students' blogs at the right of this frame.) The remaining projects will be available soon, as well.

CLAM students will display their work via "Digital Posters" at the Study Abroad Welcoome Back Reception on September 22 in the Flour Daniel Atrium on the campus of Clemson University. (See invitation here.) Several students will be on-hand to talk about their photography, videography, digital editing and other aspects of their cultural engagement.

Students are also joining the Facebook Group "Clemson University Study Abroad" to discuss their experiences. Plans are in the works for a related YouTube Channel as well. I encourage you to view the students' projects in some of these media (blogs, YouTube, Facebook, at the Study Abroad Reception, etc.) and learn more about their experience in the Study Abroad Program and in Cultural Literacies Across Media.

(image courtesy of AarinFreePhoto.com)