The Click Heard Round the World

They Set Us Up the Bomb: Police Repression, Bomb Threats, & Digital Democracy in Ukraine

Today was so strange I don't even know where to start.

I'm in Ivano-Frankivsk, a small city in Western Ukraine, where I was brought by the US Embassy to lead some trainings in digital media for local NGOs.  I've done a few of these technology trainings for civil society organizations around the world, and had not really thought of our conference as being in any way controversial or threatening.

But I guess at least one person felt threatened, because shortly after I finished my first workshop, we received a bomb threat on the building.

"Making" as a Learning Methodology: Flow States and Risk

I'm participating in a MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) put on by Mozilla called "Teach the Web" for the next couple of months.  It seems like a good way to get exposed to new tools and new approaches to teaching digital literacies to our youth at the Academy and beyond.

This week's assignment is to blog about one of several prompts. The one I have chosen is :

What is the advantage of making as learning over traditional “forward facing” pedagogies? Disadvantages?

As someone coming at the Maker Movement as mostly an outsider, I'm perhaps not the best person to respond to this prompt.  That said, I have implemented a number of maker experiences in youth programs I have run, and done a small number of Maker / DIY / craft projects of my own over the years.

One of the advantages of making as learning that I observe is the kind of "lean in" engagement I experience and see in young people when doing a maker project.  They are totally focused and on-task when they have decided to create something, to the exclusion of all outside input and realities.  They get to be in a "flow state" where time is experienced differently, and the entire universe collapses into the one activity and goal.

Cal Academy Teens Launch Environmental Social Media Campaign: "Put A Cap on Plastic Use"

I'm happy to share the news that yesterday a group of teens, as a result of their participation in a California Academy of Sciences program, launched a social media campaign to educate the public about plastic waste. Called "Put a Cap on Plastic Use," their campaign focuses on three social media tools:

• An Instagram Photo Challenge for the month of May (#reduceplasticuse and #maychallenge)
• A Facebook Page to get information and show your support
• A YouTube Channel where they have uploaded a campaign video, a photo challenge invitation, and three upcycling craft projects

Here's their stirring call to action, that's brimming with youthful idealism and energy.

 

These iPhone Emoji are SO GAY

I don't know if this was worth updating my iPhone to the latest OS, but these gay emoji are super cute.

Kawaii!

Make Your Own Pulp Magazine Cover!

How much do I love the "Pulp-o-Matic" pulp magazine cover creator?  So so much!

Thank you, "Professor Cornelius Zappencackler in the Experimental Research District of Retropolis" -- aka Bradley W. Schenck, artist and web developer!  You are part of what makes the internet so damn awesome.

Make your own here!

I Am an Antenna: My Silhouette and Signal at the SF MOMA

I loved the techno-political installation at the SF MOMA called "Frequency and Volume" by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.  

A fantastic antenna juts out of the 5th floor of the museum, beaming in radio signals to a 4th floor gallery.  In that darkened room, you pass before three projectors casting huge silhouettes onto one wall.  Each sillouette, depending on where you stand and how close to the wall, triggers a particular radio frequency and plays it in the room.  A crowd of people walking around creats a caucophony of sound and static that is bewildering. But three or four people's movements and corresponding sound-scape is hypnotic.

Apparently it's a statement about repression and control by the Mexican government of radio transmissions.  I found it very evocative of how the body can be a receiver, a transmitter and an amplifier of signal. 

If you are a geeky artsy person, definitely check this out at the SF MOMA.  Closes February 3!

The Best Seat in the House: Building a Virtual Audience for a Swing Dance Competition

A few months ago my team at Yehoodi.com began an audacious plan to broadcast live on the internet the International Lindy Hop Championships in DC, the most prestigious dance competition in the lindy hop world.

This was a big first for the swing dance community.  While other lindy dance contests have been live streamed before (notably the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown in New Orleans), this was the first time a major international lindy hop competition has had a full broadcast schedule organized alongside it.

When we were asked by the ILHC organizers to do an internet broadcast from DC, we knew that we wanted to create a unique online experience that would totally amaze everyone involved. Anyone can turn on a webcam and broadcast to ustream nowawadays.  We wanted to create something truly memorable and deeply engaging.

So I and my co-hosts from Yehoodi, Manu Smith and Nicole Zuckerman, began planning our show. Here's my breakdown on how we prepared to produce this live broadcast, how it went, and what made it special.

"SwingNation" #2 featuring Valerie Salstrom on Getting Kids into Swing (video)

 

Here's episode number two of the "SwingNation" live web talk show, featuring my buddies Spuds, Zuckerpunch and myself, talking about all the happenings in the world of swing.

While not without its rocky patches, I think overall the show went well.  The highlight for me was the chance to get to talk to Ms. Valerie Salstrom, an awesome lindy hopper and balboa dancer as well as the leader of a great program to expose young people to swing dancing in the Cleveland area called the "Junior Jitterbuggers."  As someone who works with kids and who dances, its great to see how she approaches her work and how she spread the love of lindy to the next generation.  Clearly she is accomplishing her mission, since she managed to send six enthusiastic kids to DC to complete in the Juniors Division at ILHC!

The rant by Nikolas Lloyd on jam circles and subsequent discussion I thought was interesting.  And of course, everyone loves "The Swing."

Check it all out here.

Going to DC to Host a Live Broadcast of the International Lindy Hop Championships!

I'm excited to report that from August 24-26 I will be in Washington DC to host a live internet broadcast of the International Lindy Hop Championships, along with my awesome co-hosts Nicole Zuckerman and Manu Smith.  This is the first time an international swing competition of this kind has been live broadcast in this way.  So we are super honored to be invited by the organizers of ILHC to produce this with them.

This is a natural step in the impressive growth of the international lindy hop movement from small pockets of dancers in a handful of countries to tens of thousands of lindy enthusiasts from all over the world.  The Herrang Swing Dance Camp in Sweden boasts attendance from people from more than 50 countries, from Estonia to South Africa.  

While several hundred people will travel to ILHC to compete and participate, there are thousands more that wish they could be there.  So hopefully our internet broadcast will help them to feel the excitement of the competitions, pitting the best dancers from around the world against each other in a variety of divisions and formats.  

Watch Spuds, Nicole and I in Episode #1 of "SwingNation" Lindy Talk Show (video)

 

Here is the first episode of the "SwingNation" lindy talk show, hosted by Manu "Spuds" Smith, Nicole "Zuckerpunch" Zuckerman, and myself. On the plus side: Hurray! We got through our first episode, after months of planning! We managed to cram into our one hour show some important news from the lindy scene ( Frankie100 in 2014!), an interview with the always awesome Tena Morales from Houston, and some of our favorite videos from the past couple of weeks.

Okay now to bitch: Yeah we know our audio is super low volume.  We'll make sure and fix this for future shows.  And we are pretty stiff and uncomfortable for the first 15 minutes of the show, fidgeting and looking all the wrong ways.

Kudos to our production crew Jim and Frank for putting out fires and helping us figure out how to do a live broadcast.  And thanks to our understanding live audience for your encouragement, feedback and witty banter.  

We've proven that it can be done.  Now we can work on making our show as awesome as possible!