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    ASL Interpreting: A Cognitively Complex Challenge

    CNY-RID Meeting. Feb 4. Six challenges now face ASL interpreters. These were outlined by Dr. Dennis Cokely (Director of the ASL interpretation program at Northeastern University) in the video presentation of the Region 1 Conference meeting at Albany, NY, “What’s in your knapsack”. Not sure if I have organized the 6 correctly as we couldn’t see the slides and he didn’t list them as he spoke. 1. Values. Have they been lost? Not all change is growth; not all movement is forward.What’s the meaningful common cause? 2. Relationships. Pivotal changes…

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    iStethoscope Pro: mLearning in Healthcare

    “Experts are saying the software is a major advance in medical technology and enables doctors in remote areas to access specialist advice.” Read more  I read this with careful contemplation. I try to think how this device can be used to supplement other means to improve healthcare. It would be interesting to find out more about how it is used in practice. I don’t have an iPhone, yet, maybe, because I’m a poor doctoral student. This doesn’t stop me from being curious about the possibilities of what mobile, and any…

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    5 Questions …

    from Dr. Jackie Orr’s course last night. We were warned that her instructional goal may make us uncomfortable — cognitive dissonance brings about change/growth.  1. What happens to theory/thinking (the practice of thought; something we “do”) when the body is taken seriously or as central animate space? 2. How has a focus on “difference”/multiplicity troubled everything in contemporary theory? (how has decentralization of western civilization affected contemp theory, from philosophy to feminist theory…) 3. Where does the renewed attention to marginalized histories and popular memories lead us when trying to…

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    Theater and Twitter

    (Image source: http://to.pbs.org/dPjzea) I had a taste tonight of what it was like to watch theater on TV and tweet. Verdict: I couldn’t do it — very well, that is. I had my laptop  and Downton Abbey in full view before me on HDTV. I tweeted, maybe only twice during the show. The action was unfolding much too furiously on TV for moi to tweet and watch the episode together. No, multitasking was not possible and an undeserved injustice to a fine program like Downton Abbey, a Masterpiece (literally!) where…

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    Automatic Captioning & Automatic Timing from Google

    I had a pleasant surprise today as I was researching how social media technology supported d/D participation. As of November 2009, Google offers automatic captioning (uses the same voice recognition algorithms in Google Voice to automatically generate captions for video) and automatic timing service (attach a script without time codes and Google will do the rest for you!) in YouTube. So, if I watch a Spanish video on YouTube, I can simply click on the cc button and have Google transcribe it into English or any of the 51 language…

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    Just keep writing

    I’m beginning to understand what dissertation-writing is about. As students reach this “terminal” stage in academic pursuit, the challenge is for students to identify/find their own problems, or set their own assignment topic (as opposed to instructors giving you a topic; although sometimes, it may not happen that way, :)). Write a gigantic long essay. Once it is approved and graded by a committee of experts, it passes for defense. The student then gets her PhD. As in creative pursuits, the greatest challenge is in problem-finding. Once a student gets…

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    Unaffiliated Sites

    Last night, I locked up my blog for security.The downside of social media. http://movie-ozone.com.- This site on movie review claims I’m a fellow blogger along with medical doctors researching dementia and fishing enthusiasts. I would not mind someone following my blog if I know who they are. However, there is no name or contact information on their site. Any writer on the blogosphere with the intent to share knowledge does not go about nameless, without even a pseudonym. There is a blogger’s code of conduct. http://pingywebedition.somee.com/ – This site has…

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    Bruno Mars Performs ‘Grenade’

    Not many pop singers-songwriters today capture my attention. To me, they are either not “singing” (but talking gibberish) or their voices are drowned by all the digitization. Not to mention some who absolutely have zero talent but think their lives are worth beaming to the world as entertainment. Ouch, sarcastic much, ;-P. I am sure some doctoral student must be studying these media trends right now, LOL. But this Bruno Mars, methinks he is talented. Thanks Ellen! (Yes, The Ellen Show). “I’d catch a grenade for love”, anyone else thought…

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    Performance Studies in the Electronic Age

    I came across this conference call for paper through a Twitterer I follow: Internet Research 12.0 – Performance and Participation is the 12th annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), an international association for students and scholars in any discipline in the field of of Internet studies.  Internet Research 12.0: Performance and Participation will provide a space for interdisciplinary researchers to reflect on, describe, interrogate, challenge, and stake new claims to various performance and participation issues, including: * Creative performances and digital arts * Participatory culture and participatory…

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    Paulo Freire, Boal, hooks…

    More names to get acquainted with. Wish I know how to speed-read! Just lugged 10 books back from the Bird Lib. The librarian even placed them in a bag for me. Wow! The library is spiffing up not just physically. R sent me a paper she had co-authored on a title I had envisioned for a possible project. But of course, my research will extend their study. I will develop a new perspective to the topic as an instructional design research student doing interdisciplinary work. She also sent me links…

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    Teacher, how art thou?

    The Gates Foundation’s preliminary findings on the measures of effective teaching is out. The study is based on the premise that teachers matter, highlighting the major role of teachers in effecting learning. Herein lies my conflict with the philosophy of instructional design: no matter what blueprint you may have, it may not achieve results because you cannot be sure how a teacher implements the plan in the classroom or virtually. I’ve seen that with my own eyes, and been there myself as a teacher for years. I’ve watched great teachers…

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    Funneling Down

    I feel like I’m plunging deeper into the funnel, from a broad topic to an increasingly narrower focus (I think this metaphor came from Sari Biklen’s book on writing a qual research dissertation). What a blessing in disguise not doing my original topic is! I realize I’m a pretty intuitive person. I sensed from writing that 10-11 pages of my first proposal (a lot of hard work it was) that something was not going right. Abandoning it was hard. Not having support after thinking I had it was even harder.…