Daily Archives

6 June 2011

New Björk

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Björk

I really needn’t say too much more than that.

I will, though. I’ll start with this quote from The Guardian:

“The Modern Things” […] playfully posits the theory that technology has always existed, waiting in mountains for humans to catch up. In fact, Björk has always seemed like an artist who’s been waiting for technology to catch up with her. Finally, it seems to have done so.”

(1. I love “The Modern Things“, one of my all-time favorites.) The new album, Biophilia will be taking the form of a collection of iPad mini-apps, one for each track. (2. Yes, Björk is releasing her album on the iPad.) Not content to just put out a static package of music, Björk will also be releasing evolving content during the lifespan of the album – and every single track can be remixed and reconfigured via games and other creative means. (3. Not just an iPad gimmick but a project that takes advantage of the iPad’s living nature.) The new release will even be toured with iPads in the band, as they are used to mix the songs on stage – when we aren’t too busy playing the “gameleste”, an instrument Björk commissioned from an Icelandic artist. (4. See 2 and, also, holy shit.)

björk: road to crystalline from Björk on Vimeo.

Because who doesn’t want to listen to Björk’s new album on a road trip…with Björk?

I know I can’t wait. There will even be a video directed by Gondry to kick things off, we’ve been told.

The World of Tomorrow

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We will become advanced enough to put arithmetic, math, science and any other subject into an interesting game.

A student response to how schools will be different in 2015. I guess the limitation is not resource-based but just a matter of evolving our educators’ mental faculties to support such concepts. Of course, nothing tops this hopeful prediction:

You might be able to stay at home and take all classes at home while teachers and other school staff go to school building and have several monitors monitoring each student, checking their work, grading tests, teaching classes through video chat or a handheld smart board.

All kidding aside, it is telling that some students were hoping for improvements as simple as accessible computers that are “fast enough” in their dream of 2015. Or that some students expect that in 4 years, we’ll all be teaching programs like Word or PowerPoint. Having just come from a private Liberal Arts school with an education program that has its undergrads teaching 1st graders how to use WordPress, it’s important to remember that access to technology is in NO way equal.
And that we all want to stay home.

Social Media Done Right

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I may be hyper-sensitive to the correct usage of Facebook as a social marketing tool because of the new MC Facebook Page, but regardless, I thought this was a cool project:

240721_10150208914137121_104830362120_7488517_2000343_o.jpgCollege of IST has introduced a game whereby students are asked to identify the locations in which this little lion (cue Mumford and Sons) is photographed.  The story is that he’s the Nittany Lion’s younger brother and is touring campus this week.  Students are also being given the opportunity to name the mascot.  My favorite so far?  Lulz Lion.