An Eye For Annai

Lovely animation with Jon Klassen illustrations.

Dancing Russian Men Animation

Like the texture & simplicity of this mixed with type.

Maine, July 2011

Kids as Creators, Not Just Consumers

At the ReadWriteWeb2WAY Summit held in New York June 13-14, Andres Monroy-Hernandez, a PhD Candidate at MIT and creator of the online community around the programming language SCRATCH asks, "how can we empower kids to be builders and makers?"
READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

Watch ReadWriteWeb2WAY Summit

CHECK OUT SCRATCH HERE.

Games For Change June 20-22 2011, #G4C2011

NOTES
There are some inspiring people working to change the world with games that create social action.
The Games For Change festival site calls them the "most socially conscious and geekiest do-gooders in the gaming arena".
Watch the lovely geeks here on G4C2011 LIVESTREAM.
You can read The BLOG here.

A nice @STORIFY of Jesse Schells' keynote here by @devonsmith.
#socialMFA

CLOSING KEYNOTE: Prior to starting Schell Games in 2004, Jesse was the Creative Director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, where he worked and played for seven years as designer, programmer and manager on several projects for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest, as well as on Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer game for kids.
FOLLOW: @jesseschell

sets up a PEACE VS WAR opinion scorecard:
PEACE= catharsis, control, no more race/language barriers?, see others POV
WAR= violence comes easily, desensitation to violence, videogames train you to kill, humans inherently racist?
Talks about how Sesame Street allowed him access to diversity.
Books referenced: Grand Theft Childhood, A Theory Of Fun by Ralph Koster, The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman

He also played this video of Fred Rogers defending PBS to the US Senate. Very touching remarks about the importance of acknowledging chlidrens' feelings.



JUNE 22, 2011
LIVESTREAM BLOGGING:
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN FUSIONS by Diane Rees here.


JUNE 21, 2011
PANEL/Games and Cultural Spaces:
Live Blog Notes from Games for Change by Amy Sample Ward
The speakers for this panel were Tracy Fullerton-Electronics Arts Game Innovation Lab, Ruth Cohen-American Museum of Natural History, Elaine Charnov-The New York Public Library, Jason Eppink-Museum of Moving Image, and Syed Salahuddin-Babycastles
Read her BLOG notes here.
FOLLOW: @amyrsward moderates a #4change #commbuild chat each month
Next: July 21st, 2011
archived chats here.

Social Commerce

"According to the 2011 Social Commerce Study from Shop.org, purchase behavior fueled by social media is on the rise:

• "42% of US online adults follow a retailer via Facebook, Twitter or blog
• Average US adult follows 6 retailers; and does do primarily for special deals (58%) – other top reasons were for new product news (49%) and to participate in promotional contest and events (39%)
• 28% of Facebook users have purchased something online via a Facebook link"

It all makes sense, of course. We all should be able to purchase products and services in the same stream where we recommend them (or warn people off). Or put another way, if recommendations from family and friends are amongst the most trusted sources for purchase decision then putting those recommendations right on the store shelf makes sense." - John Bell, The Digital Influence Mapping Project
YOU CAN READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

"Inevitably, Facebook will play a significant role either by embedding storefronts in the social network or by connecting Facebook to every sell-point available." -John Bell

READ "The Key Trends in Social Commerce" by Lauren Fischer here.

EMOTIONAL BRANDING

I like this presentation from the folks at VisceralBusiness.com.
You can follow Anne McCrossan (@Annemcx) a founding partner and "tribal linchpin type and TEDster who lives in Wimbledon." 



I really dig the music too.

MAINE, June, 2011

#BEA PUBLISHING TRENDS 2011

NOTES:

http://mandyhubbard.livejournal.com/250104.html

http://greenhouseliterary.com/index.php/site/comments/the_buzz_of_summer/

SUMMER OF APPS.  ;  )

Digital Literacy & Collaborating: SKYPE 1 With The Awesome Class 62, Heidi Siwak & Ian Chia

Heidi Siwak (21 Century Classroom: The Amaryillis) and Class 62 are currently working on an Augmented Reality App for the iphone with Ian Chia (Felicity From Thin Air) from Australia. They are documenting the entire process so all can learn here.

Really cool right?
Well that's how Ian rolls. Ian is a friend I met on twitter. I met Heidi there too, and introduced her to Ian (This is why I love twitter-it's one giant loopy circle). When I saw that they were collaborating I offered my support as a visual storyteller.

So we will be skyping about the project tomorrow May 11, 2011 (now today). I'm a night owl of sorts. Okay, I'm definitely a night owl.

Having created many picture books, toys & games for kids I wanted to offer some inspiration and a rough outline about how I create images. This is the my process. (I'm actually doing it this evening as I write this! I'm at stage 5)

1. DEFINE THE PROJECT

What are you making. Who will be involved? If you are collaborating, which you are, define the roles each person will play, and I do mean PLAY.  ;  )  Bring a sense of FUN & WONDER into what you make. I find the best things are made from FUN, WONDER & LOVE. Maybe you LOVE color (like me) let the color take center stage. Don't be afraid to fail. EXPERIMENT.

2. GATHER INSPIRATION

This is a really fun stage, one of my favorites (besides mixing color). You can call it research, but I call it treasure hunting. Look around at what other people have created. If you are making comic book, collect images of a comic books. You are making an App so I imagine you have looked at many APPS and decided what you like. Think critically about what you have collected. Why does it appeal to you? What is working? How could they have made it more memorable? I collect things according to what I instantly like. Don't think too much while treasure hunting. Go with your gut. Then look and find out why you chose this particular image. You might be really surprised!

3. SKETCH, SKETCH, SKETCH

This is a time to PLAY! I DRAW A LOT! You are taking photos so photograph lots of things from different angles. HAVE FUN. Don't THINK too much here either. Enjoy the process of creating. LET GO. FEEL FREE, PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT. Often "mistakes" become what you like most.

4. MAKE A PROTOTYPE

Make your images the same size they will appear on your product. If you are making a book jacket that's 8" X 8", that will look very different than an image that is the size of a postage stamp. What has impact? Put everything up on a wall and stare at it. Go away, do something else. Come back with fresh eyes and see what you think about your creations. Has something shifted? Do you still like the same ones? Do you see new connections between images? Do certain things go together naturally? Do certain images create a visual narrative/story when placed next to each other?

5. DECIDE WHAT IS WORKING
TAKE WHAT WORKS AND MAKE A NEW IMAGE. Sometimes this can go through many stages with many revisions. Sometimes you get it just right the very first time (cool when this happens). One never knows with creativity. KEEP AT IT. Get opinions. Sometimes you stare at things so long you don't see THEM anymore. This is the great thing about collaboration. Everyone brings something to the table. Don't be afraid to share ideas. Ideas create more ideas. Something will click.

6. REVISE YOUR PROTOTYPE

Choose & combine the images you think work best. Why do they work? Look closely, refine your image in photoshop or another program. Get a consensus from the group (another great quality of collboration). It's PRODUCTION TIME! Decide who will work on what piece. If someone has strong text skills make them the type editor. maybe someone is great with photoshop or color. Work as a team.

7. HAVE FUN! 

Finish your project. WRAP IT UP! Nothing is ever finsihed perfectly. I have learned many things from failures. When I look at things I created years ago, I always find things I wish I would have changed. It will not be "perfect" but it will be yours! Enjoy the process more than the product. Creativity is a place you can return to time and time again. BE PROUD OF YOUR CREATION!

YOU GUYS ROCK! You have to have a certain amount of BRAVERY to be creative. You are putting ideas out into the world. That can be scary but it is really SATISFYING TOO! Very cool.
It looks like you guys have the BRAVERY PART down.

BRAVO & Kudos to Ian & Heidi. Thanks for the opportunity to share.

I'm happy to respond to any questions & comments from y'all. Send an email, tweet me, facebook me. Connect.
That's what CREATIVITY IS ALL ABOUT.  Can't wait to see what you come up with.
:  )

LINKS:
SKYPE IN THE CLASSROOM
WIKI FOR CLASS 62