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Let’s call this idea “BirdApp” and make it for the iPhone (or any location-aware handheld computer with internet access). Update: Apparently I didn’t get this posted soon enough. There’s already an iPhone bird guide App called iBird. It doesn’t include the Shazam-like option to help identify birds by their song, but it does include wiki-pages for birds, and info uploaded to ebird.com.

Identify Birds

BirdApp users would be able to use their iPhone or mobile device to identify birds,

• By Location: BirdApp matches the user’s GPS coordinates to return a list of ‘likely’ birds, so the user doesn’t have to wade through descriptions of birds that only live on the other side of the world. In other words, penguins won’t be on the default list of birds near Boston. However, because many birds are migratory the list is adjustable, so users have the option of including more exotic birds.
• By Song: Hear a birdsong, but can’t identify it? Whistle or hum it into the iPhone microphone and BirdApp will check it against an online database (similar to Shazam). BirdApp returns a list of possible bird matches sorted by likelihood (number of sightings in geographical area, similarity to tone, etc.)

BirdApp returns a list of potential matches with thumbnail image, short description, and likely locations. Clicking on an image brings up multiple images (from Google images?), a song sound file to match the birdsong, more detailed descriptions of the birds, details to look for, number of that species’ sightings in the area (Google map with markers) etc. 

Log Bird Sightings

Once the bird is identified, BirdApp users can log their sightings. The GPS coordinates, time, and date are automatically logged. The user can manually enter the number of birds. This information then appears on the map.

Contribute to Community

Logged information is uploaded to the online database. Based on the uploaded information, related information is displayed (other birds to look for — mates, offspring, prey, predators, etc.). The logged data is incorporated into the database (according to best practices/protocol for such databases). In this way, users directly contribute to the birding community, the local community, and the scientific community.

Yesterday morning, at -6° F, the 30-minute bike commute to my office was cold. 

While it’s only 15-20 minutes on warm days on my fixed gear, my winter bike — a mid-80’s Kona mountain bike with Nokian Hakkapeliitta 106 studded tires on it is a much slower ride, especially in the frozen dry slush. 

So I bundled up in my red Santa snow suit, two pairs of socks, neck gaiter, ski goggles, my winter “bomber” helmet, and mitts — I left my Trek Lobster gloves, which are wearing thin in the lobster-tips, at home and opted for a recently-found 40g  thinsulate mittens with fleece gloves velcroed inside. They’re great mittens (a great design!) that keep my hands warm in most conditions, but they didn’t work for biking. They are so thick that it’s hard to grip the handlebars, and air must get in through the seams at the finger and thumb tips because although for the most part my hands stayed warm, my fingertips (mostly thumbtips) suffered. 

I’m now on a quest for “extreme-cold” (20° F to -20° F) finger protection. I’ve read that battery-heated gloves work on palms, but not fingers. I can’t imagine any non-heated gloves would keep my fingers warm, and thicker mitts are too thick. What I’ve discovered from long-time winter bikers (besides the bus ;-) are pogies. 

Based on bikies‘ response and my own research, I think I’ll go get some pogies (oversized mittens that attach to the handlebars — a very clever idea that blocks wind and allows the use of thinner gloves, and dexterity to operate brakes and gears, etc.).

Now I just need to decide which ones. As usual for me, budget is an issue. Here’s what I’ve found so far (by price):

• Gallon Jug Pogies (comment #22) (~$6/pr)
• Cabela’s Handlebar mittens (for my ATB) ($20/pr)
• Climitts ($36/pr) (has anyone tried these?)

and the unaffordable:

• Moose Mitts ($60/pr)
• Bar Mitts (for drop bars) ($65/pr)
• Apocalypse Design Bike Toasties ($84/pr)
• Dogwood Design Pogies ($90/pr)
• Expedition Pogies ($200/pr)

Maybe I’ll try making the gallon-jug ones over winter break (when I’m tired of assembling my dissertation)

Mobile technology is a panacea* for learning, and warrants a full rethinking of how we structure public education. This is a strong statement, but one that I feel deserves consideration.

Where We Learn

            A major game-changer in learning (but less so in formal education) was the development of the Internet – a series of networks developed to facilitate the sharing of information from research centers with each other, then with businesses, schools, and ‘average citizens’ (who could afford a computer and internet service). The paradigm of teacher as knowledge expert began to disappear when schools and students began to have access to the cumulative knowledge available via the Internet. The paradigm of textbook as knowledge content is not far behind.

            Mobile technology also changes the game, by offering access to the collected knowledge of the Internet, available 24/7 – whenever questions arise. Instead of waiting until the next day to ask the teacher a question about a topic that catches their immediate interest, or waiting until the next month or year when a unit touching on the topic in question is taught at school, students can look it up with an Internet-accessible device in their pocket. If they don’t have the time to do an Internet search, they might take a picture of the item in question with the built-in camera, tag it, and look it up later.

Access to collective knowledge is shifting. Schools are no longer the major arenas of education. But this shift goes well beyond distance education, where student desks are merely housed at a home computer. If developed and structured well, and built around the use of mobile technology, schooling can become more than anywhere, anytime learning – indeed it can become everywhere, every-time learning.

How We Learn

            It’s not difficult to argue that mobile learning aligns historically and more naturally with how we have typically learned. Sociocultural and experiential theorists have been linking what we know, and how we know with the day-to-day and moment-to-moment events in our lives and the communities we participate in. What mobile technology adds is a tremendous increase in the convenience of accessing those communities, and options to increase the numbers and broaden the scope of communities (family, affinity, occupational, etc.).

Local Play and Design

            My research interests focus on learning through the exploration of local communities via the playing and design of mobile games and tours. This two-headed approach to learning draws on the benefits of experiential learning through interactive narratives (local tours and games) that others have designed, and design learning through the creation and refinement of interactive narratives for others to experience.

            I focus on local communities because learning begins with our bodies’ physical and emotional experiences – our families, friends, and communities – which are the root components of citizenship, which is the charge of public education. One of the advantages of mobile access to the Internet is that it allows and even encourages a following up on natural curiosity, so sharing and comparisons of knowledge and understandings about the items and experiences of the human condition(s) can easily move far beyond our local communities. This can aid in the understanding of, tolerance of, and even acceptance of diverse cultures and beliefs in ways that the classroom education that has been typical in the U.S. cannot match.

*What Needs To Be Done

            Like all panaceas, this cure-all is not yet realizable. There are huge questions of accessibility and universality that need to be answered, as well as issues of controlling and administering students (arguably, the biggest problem in some schools). The ‘digital divide’ is shrinking from where it was when the term was coined, but it is still significant. Although it may seem like it in some malls and streets of cities across the U.S., not everyone has an iPhone. However, if the growth and pervasiveness of mobile technology continues as it has, we may not far from a time when such devices are as universal as televisions, paper, or that most ubiquitous of learning tools, the pencil. We should begin to prepare public education for this next era of learning by creating and refining local design experiments utilizing mobile technologies for civic learning.

Disclaimer: This probably won’t actually fix the car industry, but it makes sense to me as a direction.We’ve got a great mass of industry still left in the U.S. but they’re making products that do not make sense in the economically- and energy-challenged world that we’re living in. My not-especially-brilliant-but-sensible idea is to convert them to green:

1. Stop making cars until current inventory is sold. Sell them as cheap as possible. While they’re being sold. Keep paying assembly workers, but pay them to meet and come up with better ideas, and to be trained. This will cut costs because there will not be raw materials being used. Obviously, this will affect some of the industries that supply parts to the big three. Get them in the room around the table, and ask for their input and ideas as well.
2. Meanwhile, engineers need to finalize plans and ramp up for the next generation of vehicles (and supply lines). If I were benevolent dictator, I’d make a requirement for x-billion dollar loan than they partner up with greener technologies like:
   • Tesla
   • Zap
   • Vectrix
   • and that guy who’s developing the air-powered motor (Engineair of Australia)
3. Recognizing that electric or air-powered vehicles might not arrive next month (but they might, if we’re really serious), when existing inventory is gone, start making new versions of only the most efficient vehicle in each class. In other words, the big three put all their best technologies into only one vehicle each of the following classes, which they will put out to compete with the other 2 companies: 2-passenger, 4-passenger, 6-passenger, 8-passenger, 4×4 SUV, 10-14 passenger, bus, panel truck, etc. There can still be options and accessories for them (paint, upholstery, etc.) but the line would be incredibly simplified and standardized — following, in many ways, the Apple computer models.
4. Convert the factories that are not making these vehicles into factories that make windmills, solar panels, buses or trains or some of the next generation vehicles (in #2).
5. Any assembly workers who don’t keep their jobs get 2-years of technical or state college paid for (with a stipend for living). If they go into green technologies, they get 4-years paid for.

Before long, we have 3 mainstream companies competing with each other in the production and assembly of electric/hybrid scooters and cars, efficient buses and trucks, solar- and wind- powered charging stations (off-grid, on-grid, residential and small-business sized. Industry and other large-scale power needs might still be best met by the current energy industry — although they should go greener too.We also will have a large population going back to school for further training and development in green technologies. This will help infuse our schools with capital, and encourage them to focus more on sustainable practices.Next up, health-care… (maybe)

• High heat silicon spatulas – I had a great set a few years ago, but they disappeared about the time that a roommate moved out….
•  Nokian Hakkapelita 700X35 Bike Tire 106 Studs for winter biking. I think I only want one — for the front. That should keep me from going down and breaking my collar-bone. I’ll still fish-tail and have to spin to accelerate, but that’s the fun art of winter biking. I’ve got a pair of Nokian Hakkapelita tires on my Kona (26″) that I’ve been using so far this year, and they work amazingly at keeping me up. They just have such high rolling resistance that it’s like biking in sand — even on a plowed road. So I’d like to get a thinner Nokian for my fixed-gear (regular commuter) bike.Update: I’ll make do with the ones on my Kona.
• I need new Lobster Mitts for winter biking. The Nike mitts I bought, um, 3 years ago(?) have worn off whatever coating was on the fingers, and now cold aid gets through. I suppose I could just paint them with a flexible paint (acrylic?) to make them last another 2 seasons.Update: I think I’m going to get some pogies rather than mittens. See 12-23-08 post for more details.
• Also for winter biking, I want a face mask for my nose to neck. The trick is that it has to fit under or below the helmet. I’d like to be able to pull it down off my face for quick stops (without taking the helmet off), and then pull it back up over the nose. Ideally, this can be done on a goggle-friendly version.Update: I  found a cheap neck gaiter at Sierra Trading Post, so I no longer need this. Good thing I didn’t wait — it got cold out!
• A “warm-white” LED spotlight bulb to replace a regular dim-able incandescent bulb. These are probably too expensive still. But seriously, with a string of 35 LED christmas lights coming in at $8 at Home Depot, why isn’t that amount of LED lumens available in a screw-type bulb for less than $50? Update: Deal Extreme has the best deals that I’ve found for these.  
• Four hybrid AA NI-MH rechargeable batteries. A few years ago I was a duke of rechargeable batteries. I had about 40 of them, and always had 4 in the charger ready to replace any that died. I’m lazier now, and have fewer battery operated things, but I still have AA bike lights that die, and an AA razor (really good Panasonic! love it for travel!), and a few strings of AA LED christmas lights in the camp cabin, and a couple of Wii-motes, so I need some new hybrid NI-MH rechargeable batteries. I’ve purchased great batteries from Thomas Distributing with great satisfaction (cheap and good).
• Update: I found a pair for a great price. Insulated Sorel Rubber Boots. I no longer have a good pair of winter boots and my feet are reminding me of this. 
• A top-loading “laptop” carry-on bag. One that’s basically half the size of a regular carry-on wheeled bag, that slips onto the wheeled bag for rolling, that I can fit under the seat, and slide my laptop out of the edge of it w/o opening the whole thing. Bonus points if it stands on it’s edge, has a drink holder, and a boarding pass pocket. Update:  This may be more of a life-long quest for me than a good gift idea. I’ve looked at about 100 laptop bags, and can’t find any that I like. The Samsonite bags are very heavy, and don’t have great durability ratings. Here’s what I want
  • top-loading, but not a top-loader wit a zipper all around it
  • if flap-topped, secured with quick-buckles or snaps
  • needs to fit in overhead bin of regional jets, or better — under seat.
  • ideally sits upright rather than on side, with travel-mug holder or pocket
  • big enough to hold 15″ laptop and overnight clothes/toiletries (what I need if checked bag is lost)
  • soft enough to crush/flatten when not full (I have a laptop sleeve, so don’t actually need a “laptop” case, but maybe more of an “overnighter.”
  • slides onto, or hooks onto, my wheeled carry-on bag (ideally, I don’t want to check any luggage)

Here are a few that are close: 

•  
  • Eagle Creek Velocity small tote companion
  • High Sierra Carry On (cheapest)
  • Eagle Creek Centerline Flight Companion
  • Eagle Creek Tarmac (maybe the best choice for me — EC always makes great stuff, IMHO)

More coming…

I’m set to defend my dissertation this winter. Given administrative routing, bureaucratic wait-times, and committee member scheduling, I’d guess that mid-January, before the Spring semester starts, will be the time. I’ve diagrammed the outline for the dissertation here. All of the papers that constitute it have either been presented at refereed conferences.

Last week was the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) and National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) in Houston, TX (link). Proposed by Steve Camicia of Utah State, the symposium I was on included Simone Schweberof UW-Madison, Jeremy Stoddard from the College of William and Mary. The Discussant was Diana Hess of UW-Madison.This is a video of the slides I presented. Someday when I’m not working on finishing my final dissertation chapters, I’d like to do a proper “voice-over” version of my presentations, but until then Count Basie and others will have to provide backup to the visuals.

The following text is the accepted symposium proposal, and paper descriptions. Mine’s #3.  Ideological struggles often find their way into the curriculum because the curriculum contains assumptions about what interpretation of reality is ‘legitimate’, ‘ good’, ‘true’, ‘neutral’, and ‘official’ (Apple, 2000). Theorists point to the connection between ideology and the curriculum in areas such as family (Turner-Vorbeck, 2006), community (Katriel & Nesher, 1986), nationalism (Anderson, 1991), patriotism (Westheimer, 2006), identity (Baxter, 2002), terrorism (XXX [blind], 2007), religion (XXX [blind], 2006), human migration (XXX [blind], 2007), and capitalism. Theorists have also described how curriculum promotes knowledge construction of concepts such as race (Foster, 2006; King, 2004), gender (Tetreault, 1986), and imperialism (Willinsky, 1998). It is no wonder that the curriculum is a tinderbox of controversy. 

The public school curriculum is a political statement that defines the public interest  (Pinar, 2003). The public interest is expressed by what perspectives and ideologies are included in the curriculum. What is or is not included in the social studies curriculum has been a perennial source of contention. Inclusion signals what is valued or in the public interest and exclusion signals what is not (Eisner, 2002). In sum, curriculum disputes are competitions between different ideologies concerning what is in the public interest. What should we include, or not, in the social studies curriculum in order to best serve our students and society? Nowhere is this question more contentious than in the teaching of controversial issues because educators decide whether and how controversial perspectives are included in curriculum. 

Because the public school curriculum is embedded in the ebbs and flows of the ideological struggles of society at large, the degree to which an issue in the curriculum is considered controversial also ebbs and flows. For example, the issue of the Japanese American Internment was once taught as a controversial issue, but now it is generally considered as a non-controversial issue. Gladwell (2000) describes large shifts in the political and ideological terrain of society as the ‘tipping’ of a scale. When a critical mass of society adopts a new ideology or the political landscape shifts, the scale tips toward change. Hess (2007) describes the categorization of an issue in the curriculum as controversial or non-controversial in a similar way. When a tip occurs in society, a controversial issue in the curriculum often follows suit. The curriculum reflects these tips by the degree to which students are encouraged to express varying perspectives. Issues that are tipped toward being non-controversial are ‘closed’ to more than one perspective, and issues that are tipped toward being controversial are ‘open’ to multiple perspectives. Disagreements over whether an issue is open or closed are central to many curriculum controversies.

The proposed symposium will stimulate conversation about the contemporary borderland where tips occur in the social studies curriculum. How do contexts such as shifting political and ideological landscapes tip the social studies curriculum toward being open or closed?  How do educators and curriculum developers decide what is and is not a controversial issue, or in other words, how can we know if a tip has occurred?  Can we know when a tip occurs? What is included in or excluded from the curriculum as a result of these tips? What influences do teachers have upon tips? Should teachers as gatekeepers (Thornton, 2005) always accommodate these tips? How do new technologies or social phenomenon influence these tips? How does local context influence whether an issue is considered opened or closed? Finally, what do these tips tell us about social studies education in a pluralistic democracy? 

Paper #1: Controversies surrounding the teaching of religion within the elementary public school curriculum.This paper discusses current controversies surrounding the teaching of religion within the elementary public school curriculum. Though widely viewed as fundamental to multiculturalism and important to understand in today’s world, religion, as a subject matter, is fraught with teaching dilemmas. Should teachers disclose their religious views? (And, is this kind of disclosure akin to or different from political disclosure, a topic which is much better documented in the research literature? See, for example, Hess, forthcoming.) Is teaching about Christianity equivalent to teaching about Judaism, Islam, Buddhism or Atheism–if so, why and if not, when? What social conditions ‘tip’ the contexts for controversies about the teaching of religion? Which contexts even matter? This paper uses the case of a Kindergarten teacher who taught a robust unit on religion–and not only the religions represented among her students–as the basis for discussing some of the thorny theoretical issues that plague pluralistic democracies.

Paper #2: Teaching in the tip: Using “educational” film to teach controversial historical events

This paper presents findings from a collective case study of two teachers’ use of documentary film to teach about controversial historical events: 1) the use of atomic weapons by the U.S. on Japan at the end of World War II using  Hiroshima (1995), and 2) the role of the U.S. in Vietnam using Letters Home from Vietnam (1987). The teachers’ practice with these films revealed a tension between their personal views about the “right” answer regarding the events and their goals for students and to engage openly with controversial events and issues, or what Hess (2007) refers to as “teaching in the tip.” Both teachers ask students to openly examine multiple perspectives on each event and take a position using evidence to support his/her stance. The activities the teachers construct and films they select, however, show that they are privileging (Hess, 2005) their own perspectives on the events. For example, one of the teachers asks students to take a position on the role of the U.S. in Vietnam, but during the viewing asks students to identify at least three compelling reasons why the U.S. was doomed to fail in Vietnam, thus establishing students “reading” of the event through the film, which served as the major source of evidence. The selection of the film was also used to privilege the teachers’ perspective. For example, the film Hiroshima includes reasons for and against the use of atomic weapons, but favors an anti-bomb message through the use of a powerful film of the destruction and interviews with Japanese survivors. The impact on students varied, but the teachers’ pedagogy and the films’ representations had a strong influence on the beliefs of students who didn’t have a position or who had little knowledge of the events prior to the activities. Students also struggled in identifying the perspectives of the films and of their teachers. The author utilizes and expands upon the concept of the “tip” to better understand what it looks like in terms of teacher practice, the role of teacher ideology in the selection and use of classroom media, and the impact on students’ beliefs about the events.

Paper #3: Into the Woods: Fear, Masculinity, and Video Games Hit the Trail

This paper discusses the introduction of a location-based handheld video game in the curriculum of a primitive deep woods summer camp for boys. Controversies simmer over this geography and outdoor curriculum. Stakeholders on both sides of the issue struggle over ideologies over human connections to the environment. This paper examines the game and the battle over a ‘tip’ toward technology in the social studies curriculum.

Played throughout a 4-day hiking trip, the Augmented Reality (AR) game triggered the display of place-specific just-in-time information leading campers through a game narrative “to save the camp” while directing them to explore areas on and off established trails. Findings indicate that the game narrative motivated deeper participation in the trip, and navigational assistance from the game’s Global Positioning System (GPS) eased players’ fears, reassuring them as they ventured beyond their comfort zone.

The study also raises issues regarding masculinity, environmentalism, and tradition, as embedded in the camp community culture. Foremost, as a video game at a “primitive” deep woods camp for boys that has no electricity and telephone, it bucks a culture that is sometimes disdainful of certain manifestations of technology (e.g. LED flashlights and high-tech garments are good, but iPods are bad). Additionally, in encouraging players to go off main trails in order to avoid enemy scouts, the game narrative contradicts a basic tenet of environmental Leave-No-Trace guidelines — to stay on trails.

Furthermore, while some boys attributed the addition of GPS and games to opening up the possibility of “more hard-core” trip, some felt the high-tech navigational aids (v.s map and compass on a typical trip) emasculated them. Finally, framing the hiking trip through a “silly” game narrative trivialized their experience.Beyond the culture of the camp, the video game-based curriculum broaches larger contentious questions. For example, do the ecological costs of the extra traffic off trail in the local mountains outweigh the pollution and gas costs to van the trip to a state park? Is this type of woods-based informal education safe enough in the nation’s current culture of fear where parents are reluctant to be disconnected from their children, even beyond the tether of the mobile phone, for 2-7 weeks? If this sort of place-based AR game makes for good learning, then where is the equity for families who cannot afford to send their kids to camps where it occurs?

Paper #4: Teaching the Japanese American Internment: A case of curriculum controversy

This paper examines the case study of a 2004 curriculum controversy over Leaving Our Homes, a sixth grade U.S. history curriculum. The curriculum claimed that the WWII internment of Japanese Americans was a grave mistake. This was the dominant interpretation in the community where the curriculum was taught, but the “wrongfulness claim” was challenged by a small group of parents who claimed that the internment was done out of military necessity and not a mistake. They pointed to a school district policy on controversial issues, which stated that all sides of a controversial issue must be included in the social studies curriculum. According to the challengers of the Leaving Our Homes curriculum, the issue of the wrongfulness of government actions against the Japanese American community was still controversial, and students should have been given information supporting a “military necessity” claim. To these parents, a tip toward excluding the ‘military necessity’ claim had not occurred. They cited government reactions after the attacks of September 11 and a New York Times bestselling book (Malkin, 2004) as an indication that society had not tipped, or in other words, the Japanese American Internment was still controversial. They demanded that the curriculum be revised to include their views. Although parents were not able to convince the school to change the “wrongfulness claim”, the curriculum was changed in substantial ways. Critical discourse analysis was used to interpret interviews with stakeholders on both sides of the controversy. Findings shed light on how a group with an unpopular ideology was able to make changes in the social studies curriculum. How do public schools in a liberal democracy react when some community members dispute whether a tip has occurred? How are competing ideologies concerning what is and is not a controversial issue negotiated? What claims can stakeholders such as students, parents, and educators make on deciding whether an issue in the social studies curriculum should be considered controversial?

I hate air travel. 

• Tuesday: Madison-> Minneapolis-> Sacramento 
• Wednesday: Sacramento-> Denver-> Houston
• Thursday: Houston-> Denver-> Sacramento

 and on Monday (after an all-to-brief Northern CA vacation)

• Sacramento-> Minneapolis-> Madison

Yes, I’d hate driving more. And, yes, it’s important enough to go to theses places that I put up with air travel, but honestly, I wish I’d checked out AmTrak fares…  

On Friday, November 7, at the Green Charter Schools Conference, I was invited to present on my research on place-based games in the “Outta-The-Box” Schools & Anywhere, Anytime Learning section.

Technological innovations are changing the ways young people learn. In innovative new environment-focused schools, students can attain knowledge and skills through mobile and wireless technology no matter where they are — in the classroom, in the field, or online. Through educational programs that utilize real-world situations, epistemic and augmented reality games, and place-based learning, students can connect with their community, gain an understanding of the local ecology, and engage in environmental planning simulations and significant projects. Green charter schools with student-centric learning are redefining what it means to be an educated person.           

My presentation was on “New Technologies for Local Learning.” This is the gist of it:  

I have no secret sources to back this up — it’s pure speculation. But at the last Apple press conference (iPod), Steve Jobs allowed that there were some unkept secrets that had been leaked. So I wonder if Apple’s planted a red herring with all these “leaked” pics and video of the notebooks that will be released tomorrow.

What if the a model was made that went in a different direction than what will be announced tomorrow, or an old rejected prototype was photographed and fed to the rumor mills?

What if tomorrow’s spotlight on notebooks brings products that look nothing at all like the “leaked” items?

Then Jobs would be able to stand on stage, and smile, because his audience thinks he’s going to announce what looks like a pretty boring upgrade, and he can announce something totally different, and deal a friendly blow to the rumor sites.

That would please him tremendously I think.

The other day I met with Mary Sisock, a doctoral student in Forestry here at UW-Madison. She’d been told to track me down and ask about using AR in her research. My initial thoughts were “how can AR be used in Forestry? — I don’t know…” and I wondered how fictional stories about real land motivating campers to hike could be applied there. It’s a big stretch.

But as I heard her explain her research — she wants to help landowners learn to be better stewards of their woodlands — I realized it hit the crux of my research, which is PBI (Place-Based Inquiry). The fact that I use Augmented Reality in PBI, is sort of happenstance, and secondary.Landowners (often) love their land. They have a Keatsian Romantic attachment to it (as I expect I would). Mary talked about going on tours of their land with them, and how proudly the landowners would recount the number of frog species, or point out the significance of various locations — “where my son shot his first buck” (or “fell out of a tree trying”).

This is what we figured she could do: 

• use a location-aware mobile application, like Platial’s Nearby App, that would let landowners map and geo-tag emotionally or historically significant trees and landmarks, while
• helping them learn and identify species they may not be familiar with
• helping them assess (count/tally) and map out assorted features — trees, animals, invasive species, etc. 

…that’s the field-based inquiry work, next comes the research:

• upload the field data, along with specs about the land (acreage, regional info, etc.) to a collective GIS database (cumulatively wiki-style, but with regional data), where it can be analyzed along with nearby data to give landowners research data about their land (”Based on your data, you have x % more Buckthorn than your neighbors, and x% more than recommended.”)
• Offer research lines and beginning info (”See <link> for more info on the invasive species Buckthorn and how it affects the rest of the ecosystem on your land…”).

They’d at least–

• have done the field research/count (good!), and 
• may go to the next step of internets research (and/or local extension) about some of the results, and 
• possibly to the next step of actively removing the Buckthorn (or applying other recommendations)

Throughout the process, they’d be engaging in first-rate Place-Based Inquiry, and building their own stories/narratives connecting themselves to the land via one more interaction/experience with the land. This makes them better environmentalists (albeit through capitalistic/selfish means — their legacy). So this is yet another idea for this Geo-tagging form of PBI.   

Last Spring, Gwen Drury contacted me about incorporating AR in the planning for a new Union South at the University of Wisconsin Madison.  Problem: The UW is redoing Union South to the tune of a couple million  bucks, and she wanted to know if AR could help them figure out how best to do that.  Solution: Was not available then (Jan. 2008) but is now. A PBI experience using a Remote Editor (or GPS) to mark and photograph “the best places of the UW” and indicate why the user thinks that. Consider a variation of some of the location-aware iPhone applications that are coming out these days. What if there were one by the UW (and every other campus) that featured a map of the campus, and the opportunity to survey the campus (place-specific questions) for a $5 gift certificate to the Union or some such incentive.The university could get great place-specific information to help them identify (and get rich qualitative and quantitative data) on what works and what doesn’t for the members of the campus community. This data can then be incorporated into their campus planning. It also gives the participants an opportunity to experience the campus in a much deeper way than typical.(Also a good way to give an independent campus tour). 

Just finished reading BIY, Bike-It-Yourself: Parking on the dane101 blog, and it referred to “duck-bill” bike racks as an economical and efficient style of rack made in-house at the UW-Madison. I hope that “duck-bill” refers to the style of rack in the photo here. If so, major kudos to the  folks who came up with it! It’s a fabulous rack!Why is it fabulous?

•  wide and tall slot for wheel
• “duck bill” (?) sticks out far enough for a U-lock or cable to attach to the frame and wheel. 
• reverse bike and you can secure the rear wheel and frame.
• rack does not scratch frame because it doesn’t require frame to lean against it. Also, by holding up bikes other bike won’t fall on my frame.
• plenty of space to fit between other bikes
• efficient use of space (double-sided). 

It is not as “pretty” of a rack as the inverted U-style racks that litter the space around the newly renovated Grainger Hall, but those inverted U-style racks don’t hold the bikes up well, so the bikes fall down and the place looks crappy — a perfect example of a committee design where no one was a biker. They look great when they’re empty. It is a design that looks and works much better than the angle racks where only bike wheels are held (unless the bike has fenders — those don’t fit and fall over).  Hopefully, we’ll see more of these “duck-bill” (if that is what they’re called) racks around campus (and the world!). 

So much fun following predictions for Apple’s “Let’s Rock!” event today. My pick is Job’s retirement. Here’s why: “In the phrase “Let’s Rock,” the rock symbolizes Job’s gravestone (we all should have clearly realized this when his obituary was released). It also hints at the iXcaliber sword in the stone that Arthur (aka Ives?) needs to pull out. It also explains the mysterious comment that “our stocks will temporarily drop this fall while we undergo a major product transition…” from the shareholders’ meeting this summer.

Arguably, Apple’s most major product is Jobs (Reality Distortion Field), and the transition to Ives and his toilet-smooth product design will cause investors to be wary temporarily, until they see how well it all flushes out.

It’s all very brilliant, and humorously understated in typical Apple fashion. And framed positively as a party — “Let’s rock!” Hopefully there will be new laptops unveiled (shipping immediately) as well because I really need one. Also on my wish list is an iPod Touch (phoneless) with GPS and camera that we can use to create our Augmented Reality Games for schools (so they don’t have to buy iPhones and 2-year phone contracts).

Apologies to myself and anyone else for the delay in updating this. Facebook now gets the daily status updates, and I’ve been knee-deep at camp all summer.Fall is quickly approaching, and I’m writing up the last bits of my dissertation, tightening up what I’ve already written and prepping a bunch of articles to submit to journals. I’m pretty sure I’m not doing it as effectively as I might be, but that’s all in the spirit of “good learning” (ie. from mistakes), right? I’ll get through it all.The big news, as far as my research interests are concerned, is that the iPhone has a dozen or so Apps for place-based, or location-contextualized reporting. This means that people can start making notes on specific places (geo-annotation). Time flies when you’re having fun, and when you’re ABD. Maybe I’ll be finished just as the whole iPhone craze fizzles (ha! no way, I’m finishing this year!). 

I’ve been working on my AERA presentations and actually touching up the papers that have been submitted. I’m not sure I can adjust the official versions, but I’ll try…In the meantime, there are copies available here: regardingjohn.com/papers.

Wifi Army is recently-developed FPS AR game that is reportedly going to work on the Google Android platform. Now, a First-Person-Shooter isn’t my dream Augmented Reality game, but having played laser tag last week, I have to admit that it might be fun.

It was the WYSI-WordPress plug-in. I disabled it and can now post.  SO, an interesting thing with WordPrress i sthat it only gives me about ten seconds of posting time before it freezes up an and doenslt let me type anymore. Ok, so this time it’s giving meThe trick, it seems, is to adjust the size of t 

The biggest announcement at Macworld San Francisco Keynote was not the MacBook Air. It was that the Google Maps “App” on the iPhone is now location-sensitive.

Press the “Location button” to the left of the Search button in the pic, and the map shows you where you are. It’s based on the triangulation of signals (cell phone towers and wireless hotspots), so if you’re in a wifi-heavy city, it should be somewhat accurate.

This is one step away from having a Location button in Google that lets you do a proximity search for, say, nearby coffee shops, restaurants, etc. — or…

• Place-Based Games
• Place-Based Narratives
• Place-Based Blogs
• Place-Based Pictures (ala Panoramio)

In other words, this is what I was talking about 2 years (and 3 days) ago here.

My prediction? Less than one year day from now yesterday (ie. I missed it when I wrote this post because I hadn’t updated my own iPhone, but it’s already there on the iPhone’s version of Google. See pic on left!) Google will add that Location button to their Search engine (based on wifi signals). In less than 2 years, it will be standard on all new mobile phones. By then we’ll also be adding local content via mobile devices. Imagine webquests that are also physical scavenger hunts, where you collect pictures of things on your mobile device — I bet it can be done now.

We need to continue developing games that take advantage of the Place-Based Inquiry (PBI) that this technology affords.

Google’s word on Maps is here.

I was sad to have lots of SPAM comments. I installed Bad Behavior.

Q: I have been blocked by Bad Behavior! What do I do?

A: In extremely rare circumstances, Bad Behavior may block actual human visitors. Bad Behavior was designed to target robots, not people.

These “extremely rare circumstances” apparently hit a lot of folks (like me) just after my last post. And I’ve finally gotten around to dealing with it.

New posts coming…

For Rufus, really. Well, for our runs.

• Small? He’s good, doesn’t tug. He only needs guidance to remind him that we’re moving on.
• Reflective? To get to the dog park, we have a 1/4 mile run on an “unruly” residential street. There are no sidewalks, and drivers don’t drive the speed limit, so I’d like as much reflectivity as possible.
• Retractable? A nice thing about the retractable leashes is that they don’t flop all over the place because they don’t get slack. So Rufus rarely gets tripped up by them, like he does with conventional leashes. Also, when we’re in the dog park, they’re easier for me to deal with than conventional leashes.
• Tape? The corded leashes are corded only up to the last 2 feet, then they’re tape. The tape doesn’t get retracted into the leash, and when I run in the dog park (not using it) it whips against my hand and body and arm. That hurts sometimes, so I’d like a tape one that completely retracts into the casing.

So far, I haven’t been able to find a leash that has all these features (oh, and of course, I want a well-made, quality leash).

I have a few different instruments now, but no stands for them. I think I’d like 2 of these (Musicians Gear Tubular Guitar Stand). On sale now for $7.99. Of course, there are others out there that would be just as good and lovely,and although it’s been said that I’m picky, I rarely look a gift horse in the mouth.

There’s still time to give one and get one. I’d love to see one in person, and half expect to run into one at some coffeeshop some day (I’m in Madison after all, you’d think that the area around MIT would be the only other place to have more around).

I, of course, cannot afford one two (not after getting my iPhone at least), or I’d get some to give as christmas presents. Actually, if I had one I could see in person and take for a test drive, maybe I’d find the cash somewhere.

Running: I hadn’t mentioned it before, but I’ve been running for the past two months. I’m currently doing 30-45 minute runs every other day with Rufus at the dog park. One of these days I’ll bring a GPS unit and see what that is in miles.

Biking: I found a possible replacement frame for my 54cm Peugeot Bordeaux in the shape of 56cm Peugeot UO8. The bottom bracket on the Bordeaux is chewed up and probably not worth trying to find parts for/replace. And the headset is dished, so it’s given me a good life, but it might be time to recycle it on Craigslist. I haven’t taken the components off the UO8 yet, and am currently enjoying it as a geared bike, but I *do* miss the fixie ride, so it won’t be long before I convert it to a fixed gear.

Scholarship: (that’s an odd word for me to use. It feels pretentious).

• have a solid draft (I think) of my dissertation’s 2nd chapter/article (on place and ARGH). And am starting to work up my other chapters.
• submitted two proposals to ICLS 2008 in Utrecht this year. My first time for ICLS, so I’m not expecting anything to get in.
• two of my three proposals for AERA 2008 were accepted with good feedback on both, so I need to keep those in mind as I work on my dissertation.

School: different than Scholarship because it’s my Embodied Cognition class, that I was a bit unimpressed with at first, but am now loving because all the Psyc field we’ve done are affirming my Education-based theories. (See my PBI posts).
Rufus: He and Suki have started chewing up pillows, plastic bags, cardboard, etc. We’re wondering why. Theory: last year I bought him stuffed animals from the thrift store to destroy, but this year he just has bone. He’s a killer and needs to rip guts out. That’s our theory. So we bought a bagload of stuffed varmits yesterday. We’ll see.

House: Bought 2 face cord of split red oak (split into pretty big chunks, methinks). So we’re having fires in the fireplace 2-3 times a week. That cozifies the whole house. Speaking of cozy, I also found a big lovesac-style bag love seat that I’m afraid to leave on the floor now that the dogs have gotten chewy…

Video Games: To my amazing surprise, I’ve learned to really like two driving games. Well, one is really a crashing game (Burnout 2, which I’ve become pretty good at because, perhaps, it’s like pool in a way), and the other is sort of a crashing/jumping game too (ATV Offroad Fury). I still find Grand Turismo 3 and 4 to be tedious and boring, but maybe that’s because I still stink at them. Also Simpsons Road Rage (as Homer would say “BO-ring!), and Spyhunter (dumb). Still can’t afford/justify a Wii, even though I recognize that it’s the epitome of a social and active game, and that’s the kind of game that I’m most interested in.

Does anyone else wonder why Google chose to upgrade their email to IMAP the day before Apple released Leopard?

Hmm…

Ah, those MIT folks! In eLens they’ve done (and/or “are doing”) what I’ve been pushing for since this October 2005 post. Almost.

Based on visual tag recognition, the ELens application allows to read visual tags, locate them on a map, record and name information, browse and access content, reply to messages, set up groups, and c