Category Archives: Black Cloud

Conference Season – Digital Media and Learning

I’m in the process of slowly weaving various conferences into my teaching/studying/dog-walking schedule.

This Friday I’ll be participating in the Digital Media and Learning Conference in San Diego. I’m speaking as part of a session titled “Orality, Pedagogy, and New Media: How Children Develop Self-Awareness and Collective Consciousness.” I’m pasting the info below. Registration is closed, but if you’re heading down there anyways, drop me a line.

Orality, Pedagogy, and New Media: How Children Develop Self-Awareness and Collective Consciousness

Location: Room 4004

Chair: Antero Garcia (University of California, Los Angeles)

Participants: Antero Garcia (University of California, Los Angeles), Greg Niemeyer (University of California, Berkeley), Davida Herzl (Aclima), Dehanza Rogers (Cal State Northridge), Scott Ruston (Arizona State University, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication)

An analysis of the convergence of orality, pedagogy, and new media, this session looks at how new technologies are still rooted in oral culture and the implications of this distinction on pedagogy. Presenters will discuss and provide interactive opportunities around ways these themes tie into game play, literacy development, data aggregation, and DIY filmmaking. Alternate reality environmental game, the Black Cloud, will anchor part of this presentation and allow real-time prediction and aggregation opportunities for participants. Similarly, session participants will engage in cell-phone literacy demonstrations, help author a FlipCam documentary, and engage in traditional dialogue. Further, presenters will examine the role of radical transparency and collective eco-intelligence as they disrupt existing measuring systems. As social media proliferates and cell phones continue to overcome barriers within classrooms and informal learning environments, the role of orality within education continues to be disregarded. Reexamining new media’s emphasis of an oral culture through text messages, status updates, and twitter feeds, this interactive symposium provides analysis of orality as it plays out in gaming, cell phone applications in a high school context, data aggregation, and the role of documentary filmmaking. Looking into the connections between John Dewey and Walter Ong, this symposium and its interactive dialogue help guide practitioners and researchers towards expanded media and pedagogical opportunities through orality.

Further down the road, I’ll also be presenting with a group of friends at the Critical Teaching in Action Conference on March 13. The full program is not online yet.

The AERA schedule is up too, but I’m still figuring a few things out.

Patterns Towards Da Future

A paper I co-authored (and partially adapted from my work in a course about Dewey and democracy) was presented at the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Multimedia Conference in Beijing last week.

Though you (or your institution) will need a subscription to download it, the abstract (below) and the list of citations (linked) should give you a fair idea of where we went with this. If you’re interested, the actual paper can be found here.

ABSTRACT

The authors developed and tested a hyper-local air quality sensor network and a fictional game narrative to evaluate the pedagogical potential of Alternate Reality games for high school students in Los Angeles. This study examined how Deweyan concepts of learning can be applied to game play. The authors found that students developed a unique language to discuss real pollution issues within a fictional construct. Engaging in both civic engagement and educational rigor, student learning was situated in a framework of instruction John Dewey outlines as counter to traditional models of schooling. Despite limitations, including some authoritarian and competitive structures implicit in games, students found new reasons to communicate with real-world adults in verbal and written form. Game-based learning inspired substantial qualitative progress and high levels of engagement among students, compared to traditional teaching methods.

A Different Kind of Tech Talk

This Thursday, Mario Galindo (teaching English at West Adams) and I will be talking about technology use in the classroom. I’ll be focusing on the Black Cloud as an example of technology utilization in class settings. I realize I’ve already spoken about the Black Cloud all over the place, but I think this will be something different. The focus here will be for practicing classroom teachers and ways the Black Cloud (and technology in general) can be incorporated by even the most technophobic of educators. The flier is below and anyone interested in attending will be welcome. Hope to see you there.

Black Cloud MacArthur Stuff

Sheryl Grant wrote a useful overview of what transpired during Black Cloud Game 1.0. Read it here.

While you’re at it, you can check out video from the Humanities 2.o MLA Conference Panel over here.

Not much of an update, I realize. I hope to write about this in the next day or so. (For the record, I asked my students to give Manual Arts a grade and both classes were evenly split between Cs and Fs!)

Humanities 2.0

On Monday, I spoke briefly as part of a panel titled “Humanities 2.0: Participatory Learning in an Age of Technology” at the MLA conference in San Francisco. Along with Black Cloud collaborator Greg Niemeyer, the other panelists included Cathy Davidson, Howard Rhiengold, Todd Presner with Zita Nunes chairing the panel.

In addition to getting to hear updates about other MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition winners’ projects, the panel explored what kinds of educational opportunities are either afforded or compromised by technological advance (a distinction established by one’s individual disposition toward things like social networking … see below). Howard Rheingold (pictured speaking in the background above, his hat in the foreground) gave a useful overview of his Social Media Classroom. Meanwhile it is exciting to see the possibilities for collaboration with Todd Presner’s Hypercities mapping project. Aside from the collaborative aspects, I’m seeing direct in-classroom use with Hypercities; it is accessible enough for my students and can fit in nicely with the graffiti mapping they have done in the past.

Primarily, the time in the panel Greg and I had was spent discussing and describing the work done via the Black Cloud game. However, my thoughts wandered throughout the discussions. From a critical perspective, I imagine Humanities 2.0 as an opportunity to get things right for our students. In imagining a 1.0 version of the Humanities, I imagine a privileged topography not all that accessible to my segregated students of color. In this sense, I would hope for Humanities 2.0, and its laborious steps toward the embrace of technology, to actually treat these students respectfully. Literally, it is an opportunity to restore humanity in the Humanities. I say that not to be pedantic but from a Freirean critique of disenfranchised, static learning models. In her opening remarks, Cathy Davidson helped expand the notion of Humanities 2.0 beyond simply an endorsement or utilization of technology; she discussed “humanistic attention to race, class, and gender.” For us to think of a more inclusive Humanities, H2O will need to start here.

A few days prior to the conference, I sat in an airport plagued by holiday travel conditions and read two short texts, both appropriate to the discussion of the H2O.

Walter Mosely’s Life Out Of Context helps expand notions of genre and accessibility for the Humanities. For instance, Mosley turns to the often-overlooked value of science fiction as a place of possibilities:

This form of fiction has many different ways of pulling us out of our everyday mindsets and putting us into contemplative modes. For instance, a book of this sort might move your consciousness fifty years into the future or a hundred years back. From that point of view, we can look back (or forward) at ourselves with the imposed objectivity of a removed narrator.

In discussing educational inequality with my students, our community of learners often gets to a place of increasing frustration and finds difficulty finding the steps toward actually changing the reality of unequal schooling. The notion of projection is one that I think helps unravel the limitations within the present day. The Ecotopias that the students created at the end of the LA iteration of the Black Cloud, for instance, remind students about actions they need to take now in order to realize their role as agents of change.

The second text read in the Burbank airport, Charles Homer Haskins’ The Rise of Universities traces the 12th and 13th century lineage of the modern-day higher education system. An entertaining overview, I am drawn to the role that students were placed within these early academies and parallels to their role in schools today. Describing the text of a student manual for early German university students, Haskins writes:

When the young man arrives he registers for Ulm; his parents are in moderate circumstances; he has come to study. He is then duly hazed after the German fashion, which treats the candidate as an unclean beast with horns and tusks which must be removed by officious fellow-students, who also hear his confession of sin and fix as the penance a good dinner for the crowd.

As we generally think of the networks of people and information made more readily accessible when discussion all things 2.0, I continue to dwell on the fact that this gate continues to remain shut for my students (I realize this issue is making me sound like a broken record on this blog); their cell phones and MySpaces the horns and tusks to be removed by “officious” schooling professionals. Yes, the Black Cloud members temporarily jumped over this obstacle via Twitter, but I get nothing but raised eyebrows and annoyed huffs when discussing cell phone use and social networking with the skeptics in the secondary education world.

A general curmudgeon-ish comment that was voiced at the end of the panel was in regards to the lack of “critical thinking” that is sacrificed in exchange for online, social activities. That is, ‘Those blogs and forums and videos and images are neat, but kids aren’t really thinking all that hard, are they?’ I get frustrated by comments like this as they feel like they come from a person only limitedly, skeptically experiencing what these new medias are offering. A brief analysis of this discussion as it took place in the panel can be found here. Jame Paul Gee’s breakdown of Pokemon in Situated Language and Learning helps demonstrate the complex systems and thinking involved by video games and networking and all of those things some educators see as wastes of time. Similarly, when addressing this question at the MLA conference, I mentioned that the educational system in general – at least in my context as a high school English teacher – doesn’t promote critical thinking skills. Standardized testing, high school exit exams, and the general low expectations our school system places on students encourages a minimum of critical thinking.

Finally, another commentor at the panel mentioned that in a college course she taught, she found limited success in implementing forums. Students simply weren’t posting regularly without it being a course requirement. This, too, is a challenge answered by Gee. Forums are “affinity spaces” for a community with an invested interest in furthering expertise. As a student, I’m not going to post on a forum unless I have a personal interest in giving and taking away from the discussion. Even if your course is about popular culture students will not participate unless they are actively engaged in the material. This is one of the key problems with the occasional classrooms I observe: just because you, as the teacher, are bringing in hip-hop or a popular TV show does not mean your students are going to engage beyond the minimum amount that they do on a regular basis. Unless students see themselves as participants with a specific purpose and motivation, forums, blogs, and other social networking becomes simply another hoop to be jumped through.

McKenzie Wark points toward the “Hacker Class” as including anyone involved in creating intellectual property. I imagine this as the critical and “legitimate” route for my students to become participants in humanities and academia in general. However, I also think of the multiple definitions entailed in “hack”: to gain both illegitimate access to something as well as to be seen in a pejorative light as creator of lowbrow work. Sure, both of these are definitions beyond the intentions of Wark’s original label. They are, though, useful in seeing the way a larger stream of poor students of color will be viewed in the post-secondary landscape.

The Black Cloud is (Still) All Around Us

KCET Web Video about the Black Cloud:

We all know that air pollution is a major problem in Southern California. Last year, Los Angeles topped the American Lung Association’s list of cities with the worst air quality.

But air pollution levels vary depending on where you live. Students at Manual Arts High in South Los Angeles found this out by playing a game in their English class.

The Black Cloud Project is a game that a UC Berkeley professor and a high school English teacher created to help students understand global warming. Students at Manual Arts placed pollution sensors around their neighborhood in South Los Angeles and analyzed the data. They found that the carbon dioxide level in their classroom was ten times the normal amount, making it more polluted than the local gas station. Watch this week’s web exclusive video to find how the students at Manual Arts High fixed their CO2 dilemma.

Castles with Farley

“We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. …The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”

I’m sleeping at the beach. (It’s one of the few times I’m convinced to go. And though it’s a scientific fact that I cannot get sunburned, Rhea’s forced me to apply a thick coat of SPF 8 million. In any case, I’m here, dragging too many books, comics, and notepads to make any kind of leisurely affair out of the effort. After exhausting myself in setting up a makeshift office upon strewn towels and lawn chairs, I promptly nod off. I vaguely remember Kyoko whining about some sort of relationship problem to Rhea and hearing Farley say something about building a sand castle though changing his mind and making a generic homicide investigation style outline of a human body.)

Not sure how much time has passed, I awake to Kyoko: “That looks great, Farley!”
I hear a mischievous giggle from way off.

I brush some sand out of my hair and sit up: about 10 feet away from me she is laying there peacefully. Farley’s adding another clump of substance to her hips for good measure. I stand up and realize this woman is easily 12 feet tall. She’s got a stoic yet serene expression and she’s resting at Dockweiler Beach more comfortably than anyone else.

I walk over to where she wasn’t just minutes ago and admire the giddy enthusiasm Farley has for his new maiden. With a quick dash, he’s grabbed some seaweed and applying a healthy dose of au-natural pubic hair to the woman’s crotch and armpits. A flock of on-duty police officers stamp by and smile happily at the creation.

The fervor with which Farley dives into any activity is an infectious one. And while there were numerous escapades throughout July and August while we worked on the Black Cloud, I think a day at the beach and the temporal nature of art feels like a nice homage.

Bringing Cloudy to Life: A Photo Essay

As initial planning for the Los Angeles version of the Black Cloud Game unrolled, we knew very early on that the Black Cloud, in effigy, would dance at the game’s concluding celebration. Often times, what’s been great about the Black Cloud Game is coming up with ideas, concepts, and processes that are innovative and not necessarily worrying about how those ideas will actually be executed. Case in point, the Pufftron sensors and the Black Cloud Monitoring Network are so advanced technologically, that I constantly admire the hard work that goes into creating them. In regards to creating the Black Cloud persona – aka Cloudy McPufferson – there was always a sense that a costume would be ready for our final event. However, not until mid-July was someone selected as the official designer for the Cloudy costume. After making several inquiries and concluding the no one was available to complete the costume within the required time frame and budget, Rhea took it upon herself to create the costume. Below is a series of photos documenting Rhea’s design process.

Initial Planning and Storyboarding

Rhea sends out an email to the Black Cloud team as well as a series of source photos, sketches, and miscellaneous ideas.

 


Building the Form and Outline

Selecting a general attack strategy, Rhea converts her room into McPufferson Headquarters.

After rolling in sewing form, Rhea goes shopping for the initial materials to build the costume. Where do you go when you need to build a cloud of information? Home Depot of course.


This is one of two bags of batting that were used to give Cloudy volume. Cloudy will never be as muscular as I am, though.

 
Using a canvas base, a hoop-skirt based design is used for the Cloudy’s underlying form.

 

The top of Cloudy will be secured with a traditional hard hat. The inside of the hat seems a bit tricky. I don’t think this is how you wear it.

Pillow test.

Fabrics!

Rhea presents samples of possible Cloudy fabrics both in person and via email.


The Black Cloud Team looks, touches, and discusses the various options (lots of pictures were taken).

Very nice, Greg.

Eventually, 17 yards of this fabric were purchased.

Dying


A significant portion of the fabric used for the costume is hand dyed. Sadie looks concerned, as usual. Not pictured, Kevitron and Dorka helped dye and eventually sew part of Cloudy. Thanks!
Sewing and Building


The different cloud pieces are slowly layered onto the hoop form.


Hmmm … Cloudy’s nose is looking a bit too phallic. Eventually it seemed to blend in just fine. [For the record, Cloudy McPufferson is “androgynous and anomalous” as clarified by Laura.]


Cloudy has twenty-five eyes. They vary by five different colors. Currently it looks like he may be missing a few.

At Last


To a killer musical concoction, Cloudy McPufferson did indeed dance! Check out Cloudy’s last-minute built spats.

 

Although an occasionally frightening figure, Cloudy is a benevolent cloud. Thanks for bringing it to life, Rhea!