The focus for 2015

I learnt some important things while Producing for ABC Open

• how to run a workshop
• how to teach
• the key elements of storytelling
• which apps work best for digital storytelling on mobile devices

These skills are sharpened by 20 years of experience making documentaries, TV commercials, corporate and community videos. I like to think that now, I'm well rounded.

Between 2009-14,  I've worked on staff with Parks and Wildlife, Screen Territory and the MAGNT, Desert Knowledge Australia and ABC Open. I've seen the rise of the social web from within. I've seen social media policies rewritten. I've seen what works.

In 2015, I'm a gun for hire. Digital Storytelling workshops for mobile devices are currently very popular. But don't let that confine your imagination. Give me a call to discuss what I can do for you.

Kind regards,

David Nixon

transmediant@gmail.com

Wadeye Digital Storytelling Workshop Review

Wadeye mobile media workshop from David Nixon on Vimeo.

'Goodbye'

Goodbye from David Nixon on Vimeo.

Made for the 2014 Lens Flair 24 hour film festival in my home town of Alice Springs:
• produce a (less than) 5 minute film in 24 hours
• include several items from the List of Special Things
lensflairalicesprings.com.au/

This version of the film is different to the one submitted to the festival; Cy has added missing images, I've massaged them into place, Cy has added credits, and I've fiddled with the sound mix and mastering.

Some things are the same however: the instagram images are from the exhibition 'Verisimilitude' : a gallery of haunted, melodic and abject images, curated by Navid Dixon. 

This film was shot on an iPhone 5s using Filmic Pro. Edited on an iPad 2 then an iPad Air using Pinnacle Studio. 

Cy Starkman and I have collaborated before: vimeo.com/album/2952252

Thank you to all the Instagrammers and Musicians who contributed to this film.

Music in order of appearance:
• Hen Ogledo by Lee Patterson
• Raptor Lovers by Trokai
• Quiver by James Beaudreau
• The Sun Is Scheduled To Come Out Tomorrow by Chris Zabriskie
• I Am A Man Who Will Fight For Your Honour by Chris Zabriskie

Writing 'Goodbye'

Writing 'Goodbye' from David Nixon on Vimeo.

While waiting for Cy Starkman to finish the script for the film we were making for the LensFlair 24hour film festival, I amused myself by shooting this film.

After the event, I showed him what I had edited. His reaction was priceless - as if I'd held a mirror to his most intimate moment, up for him to see. 

I invited him to narrate it: to share his thoughts on the process of writing poetry. Instead, he used snippets of the voice over we later recorded for the film, to good effect.

This film was shot on an iPhone 5 using FilmicPro, an X-shot monopod and Glif, and an iStabilizer table dolly. It was edited on an iPad in two stages: the pictures were edited in iMovie, then the audio edit and credits were edited in Pinnacle Studio.

The music was created by Josh Woodward and sourced from the freemusicarchive.org

The colour of motion

As you scroll through the length of the film, you can watch the narrative arc unfold in colour swatches. http://thecolorsofmotion.com/films

Using colour for emotional impact

Good blog about using colour for emotional impact in film making.

http://blog.storyandheart.com/blog/2014/9/29/grade-for-purpose-color-as-a-visual-language

What makes a hero?

Totally awesome and gorgeous explanation of the 'Hero's Journey' story cycle
What makes a hero? TedEd resources here

Mapping Media to the Common Core

And here.



Mapping Media to the Common Core » What do you want to CREATE today?

iPad Media Camp

Lots to learn here David



iPad Media Camp | hands-on workshops for iPad wielding educators!

Fibre on a copper budget

Self serving 'independent study' released today has me shouting profanities at the radio. All you have to do to save a few billion dollars and still deliver fibre is change the termination box inside the user's premise.

Watch this 20 minute video presentation

Bloom's 'Digital' Taxonomy

Since its publication in 1956, Bloom's Taxonomy has been a foundation of most modern education systems. While the overarching principles have remained the same, changes in understanding, experience and technology have seen the Taxonomy take on a number of different forms, for a number of different purposes and applications.

The below overview shows the progression of Bloom's Taxonomy, how each thinking skill applies in practice, and examples of activities using digital tools.

Get your printable hi-res version at https://www.fractuslearning.com/2014/08/18/blooms-digital-taxonomy-overview/

Beyond Knowing Facts, How Do We Get to a Deeper Level of Learning?

As educators across the country continue to examine the best ways of teaching and learning, a new lexicon is beginning to emerge that describes one particular approach —deeper learning. The phrase implies a rich learning experience for students that allows them to really dig into a subject and understand it in a way that requires more than just memorizing facts.

The elements that make up this approach are not necessarily new — great teachers have been employing these tactics for years. But now there’s a movement to codify the different pieces that define the deeper learning approach, and to spread the knowledge from teacher to teacher, school to school in the form of a Deeper Learning MOOC (massive open online course), organized by a group of schools, non-profits, and sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation.

Read more at MindShift: blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/02/how-do-we-create-rich-learning-opportunities-for-all-students

MOOC lecture archive: http://dlmooc.deeper-learning.org/live/archives/

The Ultimate DIY Product Photography Tutorials

Are you running an online shop and want to display your products in the most appealing manner? Are you considering hiring a professional photographer for that purpose? Well, if your answer is yes, we would request you to first take a look at this compilation where we are sharing 40 excellent tutorials that will teach you how to shoot perfect product photos for your online shop. After going through these tutorials you will not need the help of any professional photographer.

Read more: http://www.smashingapps.com/2014/08/18/the-ultimate-diy-product-photography-tutorials-for-your-online-shop.html#ixzz3BALRacHv

Peer to peer network app allows group chat

FireChat is a group chat application that works without cell service

Read more at http://gigaom.com/2014/08/21/firechats-new-update-makes-it-easier-for-burners-to-chat-their-friends-in-the-wifi-less-desert/

RØDE microphone for smartphones and tablets

Highly recommended although I wish the cable were another metre longer 

http://www.smartlav.com/

Inexpensive boxes could help bring mobile coverage to the billion people who lack it

The innovation comes in a gray box roughly the size of a microwave oven. It has solar panels on the outside to power cellular equipment inside, along with the software for management functions like billing and analytics. Secure the box somewhere and link it via satellite to a voice-over-IP network, and you’re ready to open shop as a mobile service provider. 

Read more at www.technologyreview.com/lists/innovators-under-35/2014/humanitarian/kurtis-heimerl

Mobilise Your Workplace

By example, the transformative power of digital media in the workplace. If you'd like to talk about mobilising your business, leave a comment below.

http://www.zdnet.com/plumber-flushes-away-paper-blockage-with-mobility-tools-7000032412/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral

Four ways to prepare literary stories for oral telling

Four ways to prepare literary stories for oral telling | Limor's Storytelling Agora

The Table of Truth: Re-imagining the Dinner Table as a Digital Media Storytelling Tool

This idea melds the classroom, debate, dining and digital tools over a dinner table which, as far as we can tell, is the first that digitally records, captures, inspires, and transmits stories.

Read more at Flip the Media

How to tell a story that stands out in the digital age

There are a lot of reasons this story works very well in the digital age. Generalising these into lessons to apply to all stories in the digital age, I find four:

1. The story is really unique and unexpected. Unexpected content is one of the three ingredients for a successful viral according to Kevin Allocca in his great TED talk on what makes videos go viral on YouTube, a lesson that also works for other forms of content.
2. The story is told in the public space, in ‘active communities’. The streets, Facebook, general media: all the places where the story happens are easily accessible for most people and designed to foster discussion. Unlike your own website or Tuesday night discussion group people come to these places for stories and are, therefore, more likely to respond to them.
3. The story is about the audience. The most important lesson I took from Nancy Duarte’s brilliant book Resonate is to treat your audience as a hero whenever you tell them something. People should not only be involved and directly addressed, it should be their story, the thing they are telling, to make it stand out. People usually listen to themselves.
4. The story helps create real life connections, has a physical component. The most heavily discussed issue in Leuven, I believe each great story in the digital age needs a physical element to really turn people from simply interested into highly enthusiastic.

Read more at The Museum of the Future

Mobile survey software

Survey Anyplace enables anybody to create appealing surveys for tablets and smartphones. It makes response rates go up, and helps companies tune their offerings to increase customer satisfaction and revenue.

Sustainable Business Models: Issues & Trends Facing Visual Artists

But there’s a hugely expanded appetite for photography and with this comes new opportunities; the greatest obstacles to commercial expansion are the limits of our own imaginations and our fear of uncertainty. I see more and more brilliant business innovations, often sparked by young entrepreneurs with low overheads and little to lose.  Some of them are experiencing short-term success, some are not and it’s still too soon to judge which will sustain as the world moves forward.

Sustainable Business Models: Issues & Trends Facing Visual Artists

Awesome Accessories for iPhone Photography

Check this first:
8 Awesome Accessories for iPhone Photography
Then check these;
The iPhone suction mount

The Level Camera Cube

The Happy Helmet Bike Camera Mount

The Collapsible Camera Extender

The Monsterpod
The Camalapse

Turn your iPhone into a Hand-held Video Rig

The Dot iPhone Panorama Lens

The Glif: Minimalist iPhone Stand & Tripod Mount

The iPhone Swivl: Your Own Personal Camera Crew

The iPhone SLR Mount. Yes, it's really real.

Digital Time-Lapse Camera

The Olloclip 3-in-1 iPhone Lens
The iPhone Boom Mic
LED light for iPhone

Place-based Storytelling

"Placed-based storytelling enables a connection between the past and the present that enriches both; enriches our understanding of both. Not only in terms of how we view them, but especially in terms of how we use both the past and the present to guide us into the future." ~
Elizabeth Lay, Historiographer, Teacher
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org: Place-based Storytelling

Screen Australia: The Big Picture

Screen Australia staff will be visiting Darwin this month to hold a public information session on how the agency is focussing its efforts to promote, grow and support Australian storytelling.

The session will also be an opportunity to connect with the industry and find out more about the new programs and broader current policy issues.

An Alice Springs session will be held in the near future.

DARWIN

Wednesday 26 September 3.30–5.30pm
RSVP by Friday 21 September: darwin.rsvp@screenaustralia.gov.au

Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront, 7 Kitchener Drive, Darwin

Screen Australia

Games For Civic Participation, Social Causes, And Fun

"Games allow you to create a system that when people participate, they generate a story," says Jeff Watson, a proponent of "civic games"--play that’s not just for fun, but has some underlying social purpose. "When people participate, it’s a lot more powerful than someone telling them what to do."


Many nonprofits have adopted game playing, as they seek new and more engaging ways of reaching audiences. Now, many of the best ideas have been collated into an example-rich report available via Co.Exist:

Apps 101

What’s the Difference Between Native Apps and Web Apps? Native apps are built to work on to work on one platform (like the iPhone), not multiple platforms. To download a native app, you need to: 1. Go to the appropriate app store 2. Search for and locate the app 3. Download the app to your device. By contrast, Mobile Web apps are built to work across different platforms, allowing you to have one app that works on all smartphones and tablet devices. Rather than needing to go to an app store, you simply access the app through the Internet browser on your phone. No downloads needed. To access a web app, you need to: 1. Type in the app’s URL in your browser (or scan a QR code). That’s it. No downloads. No waiting. To expand a little more on this concept click here.

Mobile culture: why does it matter so much?

Guardian Professional

9 Apps For Editing Video On Your Smartphone

Just a few years ago creating your own movie would have required an expensive camcorder to shoot, and your own –- often expensive -– video editing equipment in order to polish your video into something you’d want to share with others.

Now most smartphones come with built-in video cameras that can often capture high-definition videos worthy of your 50-inch high-definition television. In addition to replacing the camcorder, your smartphone can also be used as a video editor....

9 Apps For Editing Video On Your Smartphone

Mobile Learning Toolkit

The result of my thesis project is a Mobile Learning Toolkit that is designed to empower trainers in Africa and other developing contexts to integrate mobile learning into their teaching.

The 98-page toolkit contains 15 mobile learning methods divided into 4 categories that trainers can choose from depending on their needs – whether they’re looking deliver content; assign tasks; gather feedback; or provide support to their training participants.

These methods have been designed to be as inclusive as possible, with most requiring only low end devices (basic mobile phones with voice calling and SMS capability), allowing interactive learning experiences to be delivered right to the Base of the Pyramid.

In addition to the methods, an overview of mobile learning is included in the beginning of the guidebook and a set of practical tools that allow the methods to be immediately put into practice. 

Jenni Parker