Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tutorial 7: Assistive Technology
Assistive technology is "any item, piece of equipment or product system whether aquired commercially or off the shelf, modified or customised that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities" (Cook & Hussey, 2000).
A Clevy Keyboard is a brightly coloured keyboard, with different colours for different keys. It has been designed to be ideal for children to use when learning about writing and computer skills. It allows children to get used to using a computer more easily. The keys on this keyboard are larger than normal making them easier for a child with motor control issues to use. The coloured keys also make it ideal for children with visual impairments to use. They keyboard is very sturdy so it can withstand bangs and knocks.
Features:
• keytops 4 times larger than standard
• lowercase charactors easily recognised by children
• sturdy construction
• cheerful colours making it attractive for kids to use
• a lower number of keytops to reduce confusion
• vertical layout of keytops
• Clevy function keys tool CD, install on your PC to use the function keys with the Clevy keyboard
(Star Educational, n.d.).
A keyboard glove is available to protect the board from dirt and dust. A keygaurd is also available for children with motor skill issues in order to prevent them from hitting two keys at once.
The keyboard can be connected to both PC's and MacsThis product costs $140.
References:
Cook, A.M., & Hussey, S.M. (2000). Assistive technologies: principles and practice. St Louis: Mosby
'Star Educational'. (n.d.). Retrieved on 21 May, 2009, from 200http://www.star-educational.co.nz/view_details.php?detail=true&cat=73&subcat=&id=170
A Clevy Keyboard is a brightly coloured keyboard, with different colours for different keys. It has been designed to be ideal for children to use when learning about writing and computer skills. It allows children to get used to using a computer more easily. The keys on this keyboard are larger than normal making them easier for a child with motor control issues to use. The coloured keys also make it ideal for children with visual impairments to use. They keyboard is very sturdy so it can withstand bangs and knocks.
Features:
• keytops 4 times larger than standard
• lowercase charactors easily recognised by children
• sturdy construction
• cheerful colours making it attractive for kids to use
• a lower number of keytops to reduce confusion
• vertical layout of keytops
• Clevy function keys tool CD, install on your PC to use the function keys with the Clevy keyboard
(Star Educational, n.d.).
A keyboard glove is available to protect the board from dirt and dust. A keygaurd is also available for children with motor skill issues in order to prevent them from hitting two keys at once.
The keyboard can be connected to both PC's and MacsThis product costs $140.
References:
Cook, A.M., & Hussey, S.M. (2000). Assistive technologies: principles and practice. St Louis: Mosby
'Star Educational'. (n.d.). Retrieved on 21 May, 2009, from 200http://www.star-educational.co.nz/view_details.php?detail=true&cat=73&subcat=&id=170
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Tutorial 6: Online Communities
In class over the last few weeks we have been looking at Online Communities. I have chosen to look at one about travel called Travel Blog (http://www.travelblog.org/). This community focus's on peoples travel experiences around the world. It offers people the chance to share photos, videos and their experiences through blogs. Essentialy it is a travel diary. It allows you to link family members and friends to your blog and let them know everytime you add a new post. You can also track your travel using maps and flags. This makes it a highly interactive site. Travel Blog is a free service which makes it great for travellers and its so easy to use!
I believe that people contribute to Travel Blog as a way to share their excitement about their trip. It is a way to keep in touch with friends and family who may be on the other side of the world to you and not miss anybody out! It saves on time as it means you don't have to write individual emails to everyone (although this does de-personalise things a bit). I also think people who use Travel Blog are seeking a way to share travel experiences and offer advice to people who are thinking of travelling in the future.
This is an excerpt from someones travel blog:
"We left for the Vietnamese border the next morning. It was a long drive - 5 hours, we crossed the border with no problems and within 45 mins we arrived at Chau Doc. The afternoon was spent on a riverboat cruise and we saw floating fishing villagers at work.
We arrived at a small place where, after a nerve jangling walk across a rickety wooden bridge we met with some local children. They were keen to strip us of sweets, pens and when these were depleted - cash."
Any online community has ethical issues. Travel Blog definately has ethical issues to do with identity. People can identify them how they wish, so you could have people claiming to be someone else or using a false name. Although you can choose directly who view your posts, blogs can be made public for anyone to see and therefore someone could gain information about you or where you are and use this in an unethical manner.
This online community holds advantages over a normal, everyday community (eg. the people in your neighbourhood), as it allows for communication from all areas of the world that have internet access! It also allows for you to communicate with a large number of people at once, rather than just a few. This can also be seen as a disadvantage though as it does not allow for face to face communication. Blogs can be impersonal and when something is written, not spoken, it can be hard to see where the emphasis is, eg. what the writer found most exciting, or most interesting.
Overall, Travel Blog is a great tool to communicate with people all around the world. I would definately consider using it myself when I go overseas!
I believe that people contribute to Travel Blog as a way to share their excitement about their trip. It is a way to keep in touch with friends and family who may be on the other side of the world to you and not miss anybody out! It saves on time as it means you don't have to write individual emails to everyone (although this does de-personalise things a bit). I also think people who use Travel Blog are seeking a way to share travel experiences and offer advice to people who are thinking of travelling in the future.
This is an excerpt from someones travel blog:
"We left for the Vietnamese border the next morning. It was a long drive - 5 hours, we crossed the border with no problems and within 45 mins we arrived at Chau Doc. The afternoon was spent on a riverboat cruise and we saw floating fishing villagers at work.
We arrived at a small place where, after a nerve jangling walk across a rickety wooden bridge we met with some local children. They were keen to strip us of sweets, pens and when these were depleted - cash."
Any online community has ethical issues. Travel Blog definately has ethical issues to do with identity. People can identify them how they wish, so you could have people claiming to be someone else or using a false name. Although you can choose directly who view your posts, blogs can be made public for anyone to see and therefore someone could gain information about you or where you are and use this in an unethical manner.
This online community holds advantages over a normal, everyday community (eg. the people in your neighbourhood), as it allows for communication from all areas of the world that have internet access! It also allows for you to communicate with a large number of people at once, rather than just a few. This can also be seen as a disadvantage though as it does not allow for face to face communication. Blogs can be impersonal and when something is written, not spoken, it can be hard to see where the emphasis is, eg. what the writer found most exciting, or most interesting.
Overall, Travel Blog is a great tool to communicate with people all around the world. I would definately consider using it myself when I go overseas!
Tutorial 5: Storyboarding and Planning
As part of my Participation in Occupation 1 class we got into groups and created our own short film (see next post). Planning was an essential part of creating our short film. We needed to know what our storyline was, who was going to act and who was going to film. Among other things we also needed to know how to use a video camera.
To create these films we used a storyboard to plan the plot of the film. Storyboards were used by Sergei Eisenstein, in the very beginnings of cinema. Walt Disney and his staff created the storyboard system in 1928 to enable the making of his films. A storyboard is the plan of what the finished film will look like. We used storyboards so that when we began filming, everyone in our group knew what needed to be done. It saved us time and made it a lot easier to know what shots needed to be filmed.
By planning our short film before we began filming we saved a lot of time. We also avoided any arguments as everyone knew what the plan was from the beginning.
To create these films we used a storyboard to plan the plot of the film. Storyboards were used by Sergei Eisenstein, in the very beginnings of cinema. Walt Disney and his staff created the storyboard system in 1928 to enable the making of his films. A storyboard is the plan of what the finished film will look like. We used storyboards so that when we began filming, everyone in our group knew what needed to be done. It saved us time and made it a lot easier to know what shots needed to be filmed.
By planning our short film before we began filming we saved a lot of time. We also avoided any arguments as everyone knew what the plan was from the beginning.
Tutorial 4: YouTube
YouTube was founded in 2005 and is the leading website in online video. In 2006, it was purchased by Google.
Services offered by Google:
Services offered by Google:
- Set up your own account
- Upload videos to share with the world
- View other peoples videos
- Create videos on your mobile phone and upload them to YouTube
- View videos on YouTube from your phone
- Upload YouTube videos onto your personal website or blog
- You can comment on other peoples videos
- Streams (chat with others on YouTube)
- You can add captions to your videos
- On YouTubes homepage you can see lists of videos currently being viewed, 'featured' videos, and, if you have your own account, videos reccommended for you (based on videos you have already watched)
- You can connect with friends over YouTube and see what videos they watch and recommend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
