Penn State’s Digital Ecosystem

I just attended an afternoon talk on the topic of the digital tools that are available to the Penn State community hosted by Cole Camplese (my director) and Bart Pursell (of Schreyer’s.) The presentation focused on Blogs@PSU and Wikispaces, two facets of the entire media publishing ecosystem that is being grown at the University.  While there were a whole lot of numbers, facts and figures being shared with us today, the analyses put forth by both presenters were really enlightening.  As an example, I was surprised to learn that so much of the activity on the Arts & Architecture blogs has taken the form of commentary – which was attributed to critiques of fellow-students’ work as well as other materials posted for this purpose by faculty.  

Harrisburg’s New Media Commons

Penn State Harrisburg is about to open the doors to its brand new Media Commons space.  Located in room 112 of the Library, just past the main entrance and circulation desk, the Media Commons is now in a highly visible corner of a busy campus resource.

The new Media Commons features three 27″ Apple iMac computers loaded with software for editing video, audio and images.  It also houses two WhisperRoom recording booths that offer one-stop sound capture in a quiet space – for both you and for library patrons – via built-in computers and microphones.

Check out all that the new Media Commons has to offer to the Harrisburg community in the coming days.  For more information about the MC Harrisburg, contact Mike Lackey or Nick Smerker.

Will Wright, Game Developer TV Producer

Will Wright, of SimCity fame, has embarked on his very own augmented reality game (ARG) project called Bar Karma.  Partnering with Current TV, Mr. Wright is asking audience members to submit their own storyboards and scripts via an online community each week.  Winning entries will be turned into the next episode each time, allowing the viewers to take control of the direction of the entire series.

I turned this up on ARGNet while researching for the upcoming MC Tailgate and think it really holds potential for the classroom, too.  Imagine a semester long series of videos created by vote, with teams in the course submitting a storyboard per week to be voted on for each short installment.  When thought of as a “creative writing” exercise, you can see the immediate value so much practice would bring to the development of stronger storytelling skills.

Remembering the Learning Curve

So, I do a lot of blogging and have worked with a variety of platforms over the years, from Blogger to TypePad to WordPress to Tumblr.  However, using this Movable Type installation has again reminded me what it’s like to be on the outside looking in with a technology.  It’s JUST similar enough to what I know to send me careening down the wrong paths for large swaths of time.  All I wanted to do was install my own Blip.fm widget (which I did, mostly successfully) in the sidebar.  The act of doing so was a good reminder of what my clients feel like when learning something I consider entirely old hat…and an opportunity to practice my patience on myself!

The iPadification of Mac

It was inevitable, really.  The brave, new, multitouch-capable world pioneered by the iPhone and polished by the iPad was going to become a reality of the venerable Mac.  We had seen patent applications proving Apple was leaning this direction and we are all quite familiar with the glass trackpads that have been adorning MacBooks since 2008, eventually becoming their own peripheral, the Magic Trackpad.  However, with Apple’s recent Back to Mac event, the tide has begun to come in with force.

Not only did we receive a clear statement that the iPad has begun influencing future Mac development straight from Steve, we also saw a preview of Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) that features a number of iOS elements, an upcoming Mac App Store, full-screen modes on the iLife ’11 suite that mimic the iPad.  More importantly (and most lust-worthy) was the introduction of an entirely flash storage-based MacBook Air.  With the new software changes coming down the pipeline – and with the all new 11″ model coming in at just $1000 – you can see a future where your Mac is nearly as thin as your tablet and serves to be a like-minded back up and loading dock when you aren’t lounging on the couch in a more casual habit form.

If I could justify replacing that 2008 MacBook of mine, I would get started on this future today. 

(From my Case for the iPad blog.)