Author Archives: kaschwarting

Kate's weekly create

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Using the Phoster app I created this poster that compiles many of the verbs used on the Internet that play a role in the creation of identity online. Every action that “I” perform on the Internet builds a representation of my identity through the content attached to that action. Though I don’t believe it is always the “truest” representation of one’s identity it is still an identity and a way of portraying who we are or how we would like to be seen. I used different fonts and sizes because of the varying degree and ways that these actions may effect identity as well as the ability of different identities to exist.

 

Kate's weekly iPad reflection

The iPad has continued to prove useful with my daily activities. I find in general its just faster and easier to use then my laptop because I don’t have to be hunched over a desk all the time. I compose my powerpoint presentations on it now and was very happy with its ease of use. I also have been making more use of Evernote for note taking and storing webpages that I would like to refer to later on.  I started using the google app as well and was very happy with its perfect translation of what I was saying. I continue to explore art apps that I think would be handy for that aspect of my work. I have been trying out Autodesk 123D Sculpt+ and have found it to be a wonderful and intuitive environment that is very easy to work with and has great results and for me would be a good way to explore 3D work however it occasionally quits so saving work is a must! The main problem I have been having with the iPad this week is its judgment on what should be autocorrected. A number of its assumptions have been pretty disruptive in the fact that when I am typing a long paper or email things get changed with out me noticing until after the fact or it stops me and I have to go back and change it. I like that it gives me suggestions I just wish it didn’t change things with out me accepting the changes.

Kate's Pick for top 3 thesis from Cluetrain

1. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.

with the availability to fact check it is possible to instantly determine whether it is based on others experiences or other recordings of facts

2.There are two conversations going on. One inside the company. One with the market.

each have motives and desired out comes

3. We are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting.

Kate's Weekly Create

This week I wanted to continue with a post relating to community.  At first, I was going to create a website for the class I teach to provide a space to enhance a sense of “community” among the students. I started it but it is still a work in progress. I was inspired after seeing what others were doing to follow up on an idea I had had some time ago. I share many of my sketches and detail sections of some of my paintings that I use in animations on one of my Instagram accounts. I developed a strong sense of community with some of those I follow and those who follow me. We share tips, advice, and support. One asked me about my technique and if I had ever done a time-lapse of the process. At the time I had not, but I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to make one since in a way I feel like it is adding to the “community” I have built. I used both the iPad Air and my iPad mini, one to look at reference images and the other to record(really need a tripod or something for this otherwise just stacked things up and put the mini on top). The process was fairly easy and enjoyable, though there was some issues that came up when moving the file between apps. It was also to large to upload and required using my laptop. I recorded in the Hyperlapse app and easily transferred my video from one iPad to the other using Airdrop. I edited with iMovie app, though I wish it had more ways to edit contrast and light. Here it is part of it uploaded to YouTube, ( the initial drawing, masking, and painting) a watercolor time lapse based on an MRA image of the brain.

Watercolor Time-Lapse

Here is a still detail

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Kate's week 3 iPad Reflection

Its been 3 weeks since I started the journey with the iPad Air. It has maintained a place in my daily activities. I sill find moments when I say, ‘Oh, I can use the iPad for that!’. I started scanning old newspaper articles and papers into Evernote. I have been using my I pad frequently while I teach but really wish I had the ability to connect it to the projector so I could eliminate the need for my laptop on most days. I have also been using it for most writing assignments and notes. I recently got the QuickVoice app so I can ramble on about projects to myself and take notes on it later. In general it’s been a great experience so far. The only thing that continues to bother me is that in some apps and on some websites the touch sensitivity seems to be off and it takes too long to select or click on certain things. Also, while I have found apps that have promise in competing with photoshop I have yet to find something that competes or even attempts to compete with AfterEffects, which is what I primarily use for many projects. I will continue searching….

Responding to Wenger's Communities of Practice

Wenger’s writings on Communities of Practice took me some time to digest. I found the concept to be interesting when applied to the learning environment but I admit that this was a difficult reading for me.  I am curious to know how communities can interact with one another? Would that be considered a community with in a larger community or perhaps an ecosystem of coexisting overlapping communities of practice? I am also curious about how to make a community thrive. I recently read an article that claimed that we dedicate too much time to work related meetings (http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/01/didnt-need-take-hour.html)because we “waste” too much time with introductions, chit chat and not getting to the point, but Wenger disproves this and argues that this can be useful part of a working community of practice. I have seen this during my time working at the craft center. The main staff that work there have an extremely diverse background but function coherently. The staff assume different roles depending on their own competence.  Their job is to create successful and well managed events for students but like the claims managers discussed in the reading, requires so much more to function as a successful community of practice.

Week 2 iPad Reflection: What's in Kate's Bag?

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What’s in my bag? Well there are actually two bags that I’m including here: my laptop case/bag and my general bag I bring to class and work. Today I have:

  • iPad Air
  • iPad charger
  • Laptop
  • Samsung phone
  • Bamboo Tablet and usb cord
  • Bamboo Pen
  • Papers/quizes to to grade
  • Sketch book
  • 1 woodless pencil
  • 1 mechanical pencil
  • 4 pens
  • Keys
  • Wallet
  • Pocket screwdriver
  • Heavy duty staples
  • Receipts
  • Lists
  • Tissues
  • Hair brush
  • 1 bottle of water
  • 2 rocks

I can say over all I am carrying less than I was as an undergraduate because I can leave a lot of my books that are not digitized, a spare charger for my laptop and other supplies in my office. The iPad has also condensed how much I have to carry. Theoretically the receipts and lists could be converted though these need to go to someone who does not use an iPad so this becomes a problem when not everyone uses the same level of technology.  this also is a factor in the stack of papers I had to bring home from the class I teach. Though the students were allowed to do their in class assignment on a laptop or iPad and email it to me, many either do not have one or chose not to bring it. I plan to scan all of these into my iPad. I would not have to carry my laptop if I had a way to hook the iPad to a projector for my class and if I had an app on the iPad that was capable of competing with photoshop and aftereffects programs which would also eliminate the tablet.

I cannot live with out my cellphone, sketchbook and woodless pencil. My cellphone is still my preferred way of communicating with a lot of people. I like keeping it separate from my other devices and I only upgrade when necessary( hence the very old phone). My sketch book is a must! It never runs out of battery life and I take it everywhere whether it is the small one I am carrying today or the larger one I usually use, I always have one on hand. Though there are some great apps that claim to be sketchbooks and work really well, there is still nothing like a woodless pencil.

Most surprising thing? I don’t think it surprises me but it would probably go to the heavy duty staples and the rocks. The staples were part of a project I was working on and I left staple gun is in my office. I collect things like rocks that I find inspiring for my art that are small enough and I don’t feel a photo does justice.

Kate's Weekly iPad reflection

Let me start by saying I can’t believe I haven’t been using this more! My prior experience with most new technologies is that I wait until I have enough reasons that it will contribute to my daily life in a positive way before getting it.  That was the way I got my iPad mini last spring. At the time I needed a simple way to handle all my course materials for a class in Manhattan. The Mini seemed like the perfect match for the task and it was! I never had to fear not having my papers, reading assignments, and notes. It was also perfect for reading these texts or doing a rough draft of a email while on the train. However it’s major downfall for me was its small size though great for carrying was a problem for typing and I have considered remedying it with a separate keyboard. That inconvenience coupled with not commuting to Manhattan as much meant that the mini drifted back to my desk drawer. I never had the chance or the push to explore its capabilities.

Enter the  new iPad, which I am using to type this post. I have been using for 90 percent of my work load for the last week as well as in conjunction with my laptop. Since my main course this semester is teaching an introductory class it has been great for making notes of what I want to mention in class, write lesson plans and assignments. I use blackboard for the communications with the class and the app worked very well except when I lost Wifi connection it would freeze and have to be restarted. I needed to scan documents for their assignment and my scanner happened to break as I was scanning. I used the Scannable app instead. While I did not care for the quality of scanned images, it worked excellently on text and was a welcome relief from my broken scanner. I also liked the drive app so I could quickly share class documents and work between devices.

I also tried a number of apps related to my art interests. I liked taking pictures with it and using its camera however it’s size and lack of grip made it difficult to take some pictures  and made me rather nervous it would drop (cameras used to have those handy cords to keep them tethered to the user’s neck).  I didn’t feel too comfortable having it out in the snow in case it got wet. It just felt too clunky though the quality was good.

I also gave the sketchbookx app a try and was very pleased with it. The iPad is the right size for me to do quick sketches and though it will never replace my paper and watercolors or photoshop, it has a lot of unique qualities and textures I’d like to explore further. I downloaded an app for animating that I will be experimenting with soon. I hope I can try a little astrophotographers as well by attaching the camera to my telescope. I had some luck with the mini last year in capturing the moon so we will see how it goes.

my weekly conclusion: this greatly streamlined my work for the week and made me feel more productive since it was easy to setback anywhere and get something done.

 

Kate's Weekly Create Post

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This is my creation of the week made with the iPad camera and sketchbookx app. I saw this group of ducks in the ice storm the other day and it reminded me of a community and how nicely they got along despite some of them not matching the rest. The caption was inspired by the thinking that one should not just use social media in the way it has been used all along but to find new ways to apply it to our community. Why not try quacking?

Kate Schwarting- Personal Introduction

Introduction

Hello, My name is Kate. I am originally from Saint James, NY. I am a graduate student in the theater department completing a masters in interdisciplinary arts. I did my undergraduate work at Stony Brook as well and majored in Geoscience, Studio Art and a minor in art history. Here is a link to some of my undergrad work from way back just to give you an idea how all these fields came together for me:

http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/ureca/feature/June2010.html

I currently work at the Craft Center on campus helping develop leisure activities for the students. I also help at the Paul Zuccaire Gallery and The Simons Center Gallery. I am the current artist in residence at CEWIT and am working on developing an installation that I hope to premiere this spring. I am interested in both science and art, but mostly on how these two fields can intersect. I think that the fundamental principles of art can be used to engage people in discussions about science including those that are complex and often deter some individuals from the subject. I think technology can play an intriguing role at this intersection. I am currently teaching an Intro to Visual Interpretation class. I am taking this course for several reasons. The first is to be able to disect the capabilities of these technologies and have that knowledge to apply to my work in the future. I also taking this to get more insight into the interaction between technologies and the classroom experience.  I am already seeing a multitude of ways I would love integrate some of these into the course I am teaching to better engage the students. I am also interested in the creation of identity through the use of social networks. I am pretty comfortable with technology though I am usually the one who has things go wrong with it, however I like finding solutions to these problems. I try to use it with purpose and have a reason for using it. I have played with some coding and hope that I can be proficient at using it with in my work in the near future. Outside of my work and studies, I like spending time with my pets including cats, ducks and a chinchilla and working with local animal rescue groups.

I am active on Facebook, 2 Instagram accounts, and Pinterest. I have a Twitter account but have not tweeted.

Technology is really apart of every aspect of my life considering I use glasses to to see properly and I would consider them a technology.

Thoughts on the readings

I found the reading very engaging especially because I can relate it to the class I am currently teaching. It is based on the students being able to interpret visuals and understand how to go about this. To be able to do this, it is essential that they be able to communicate what they see and to me harnessing the possiblities in social networks and disruptive technologies would make a class that needs discussions thrive.

In regards to Disruption + Innovation, I think the future is going to involve a collaborative environment between MOOC based learning and in class learning environments. I think this this hybrid can create an interesting learning experience for students and I find the discussion of the future of higher education to be very interesting.

Also, a few thoughts on the podcast we listened to in class. I felt it brought up the interesting topic of anonymity in social media. Anonymity gives the individual the ability to to say anything with out reprocussion. This has both negative and positive results. It can highlight areas of our society that still needs work or better understanding that are hard to face either either by the community or the individual posting it. Though many negative comments can hold a lot of weight socially, it is the individual that puts his/her name to post that takes ownership of the comment and can become a “community leader”.