All Blog Comments

hguhf - Full Interview: Mills Kelly on Lying About the Past

hguhf — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:19:38 +0000

Great post, Your article shows tells me you must have a lot of background in this topic. Can you direct me to other articles about this? I will recommend this article to my friends as well. Keep it up.

Seo Dubai - Spark 136 – January 30 & February 2, 2011

Seo Dubai — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:20:16 +0000

this post show the highest storage rate of the web site but the youtube is a biggest server to upload your pics and videos on the page or store in to the Seo Dubai site after signing in as you have aan account

العاب تلبيس بنات - Full Interview: David McCandless on Information Design

العاب تلبيس بنات — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:27:49 +0000

I'm more excited about seeing the data visualization results than the Oscars.

gamesonliney8 - Spark 165 – December 11 & 14, 2011

gamesonliney8 — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:43:20 +0000

http://www.kizi.bz play game now everyone

Kizi - Full Interview: David McCandless on Information Design

Kizi — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 07:56:59 +0000

thank your share info

Lorraine Pace - Full Interview: Mills Kelly on Lying About the Past

Lorraine Pace — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:35:29 +0000

Promote lies? This is unethical and not a good example. I disagree with the nature of this assignment. Why encourage students to add to the already unreliablepool of information. It could be encouraging a negative skill that they might use in another area of their life. They would have no control over who it could indirectly harm and it would be on line forever. Instead ,why not choose questionable information and have them critically analyze it by doing research to proove whether it (or even parts of e.g. an article) is true or not.

Darsha - Full Interview: Carlos Bueno on Teaching Kids Code Through Metaphor

Darsha — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:05:52 +0000

I was really happy to hear this interview today! I am an artist and I teach DIY electronics to youth and adults in order to encourage experimentation with everyday machines. I think this book is a wonderful idea - I agree, with the language and literacy comparisons made here - language is best learned when when someone is young. I think that kids (and adults) can do amazing things if they are empowered. I believe that empowerment can come from obtaining practical skills with tools with can lead to understanding how to troubleshoot, repair, deconstruct, rebuild, repurpose and (re)invent our machine world. By presenting kids early-on with the basic ideas and concepts that make up the foundation of digital technology today will put them on a path where they can break the rules and be creative with it in the future.

Bill Belsey - Full Interview: Mills Kelly on Lying About the Past

Bill Belsey — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 19:14:02 +0000

Hi Nora and all, FYI, for many years now I have had my grade five students explore the idea of information validation on the Internet by lying on purpose. Please visit our project at http://www.isthatafact.net. Sincerely, Bill Belsey Teacher "Canada's Coolest Class!" http://www.coolclass.ca Springbank Middle School

kate daley - Full Interview: Mills Kelly on Lying About the Past

kate daley — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:25:15 +0000

What an interesting way to excite people about history - as a tour operator I am always looking for new ways to involve people in part of the history we try to show about Cuba. It is a struggle because very few of our guests, who are usually well-educated and well-informed, know very much about their own country's history, and usually have just the stories they seem to have read in history books in grade school. So Alfred burned the cakes, Richard killed the princes, Columbus discovered America, And yes they don't evaluate the information they receive on the web and at least look at who is saying what - so Chavez is dying, Fidel is gaga (although only the same age bracket as the Queen). But I think that we are all lazy about it - who reads labels? Thank you for the programme - it was a good reminder for me to look hard at my sources when I create the little history lectures we give and also to check up on what the museum guides are saying yet again.

Shannon Henry - Point-of-View Video Glasses

Shannon Henry — Thu, 7 Jun 2012 06:12:47 +0000

After hearing about these glasses on the Spark podcast I've just ordered a pair. I'm a maker who has created a handful of video tutorials, and I think these will make the whole process about a thousand times easier! I generally either work with my arms wrapped around the camera and mini-tripod to get a straight-on view of my hands (awkward) or set up a tripod with the camera looking over my shoulder (decent, but sometimes too far away from the action). I love the idea of being able to dispense with the tripod entirely... just set up the lighting, put on the glasses, and do my thing. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this ends up being a use for them that really takes off.

Carlos Bueno - Full Interview: Carlos Bueno on Teaching Kids Code Through Metaphor

Carlos Bueno — Wed, 6 Jun 2012 18:45:13 +0000

Hi, author here. People are so used to seeing "programming" as a complete discipline presented to adults, that seeing only bits and pieces of it presented to kids seems wrong and incomplete. Think about it this way. No one expects a three-year-old to read. But on her toys and books are all the letters of the alphabet. Why? Because it gets her familiar with the shapes and sounds, even if she's not ready to use them as an adult would. Ipsum isn't about teaching kids to program directly; there's only one or two tastes of actual coding in the book. It's about exposing them to how programmers think. As you say, numeracy depends on literacy, and programming depends on both. I'm just putting the "alphabet" in front of kids early. And you never know -- kids can do amazing things if you let them.

Rrrrrandy - Spark 184 – June 3 & 6, 2012

Rrrrrandy — Wed, 6 Jun 2012 18:22:42 +0000

Nora: it is incredibly subtle, and mostly intuitive. One defines an area by not only the shops and cafes in it, but by the "type" of people that inhabit or frequent it. And that defining of type is based on some so many subtleties: fashion, age, and in Montreal language (something that also didn't seem reflected in the Livehood results; eg. Hochelaga-Maisoneuve, which is about as french as you'll find in Mtl, is related to areas predominately anglo). Still, Montreal is in an incredibly dynamic, fluid state right now (and I'm not talking about the protest marches or floods here), with new "hoods" and cool pockets developing rapidly. So something like this website could be very valuable IF it is developed further, and somehow integrates more subtle factors.

MW - Full Interview: Carlos Bueno on Teaching Kids Code Through Metaphor

MW — Wed, 6 Jun 2012 17:09:53 +0000

Another thought just struck me. Why do we assume that teaching thought in "critical thinking" somehow translates into being a good programmer? Does merely thinking like a programmer actually equate you with being a programmer? I'm not entirely certain this is the case.

MW - Full Interview: Carlos Bueno on Teaching Kids Code Through Metaphor

MW — Wed, 6 Jun 2012 16:51:18 +0000

This reminds me of something curious. For the life of me, I can't remember how I learned to code in the first place. It's strange because I actually do remember how I first learned to read, following the text with speed while a teacher read the same text aloud, connecting with the fact that 't-h-e' in that order was pronounced as the word "the" and the rest being more or less the same as that. But coding? I'm not sure. I just kind of downloaded Game Maker 3.1 one day when I was able twelve years old and things just sort of happened. I know what games I ultimately did end up making -- some based off preexisting code, others custom-written -- but the actual process by which I did sort things out is more or less a blur. I was probably using the block-interface more than I was using GML at the time, but that's the only guess I can wager. It's interesting that this idea of code education comes up again. I don't quite know what the educational establishment wants to do with teaching code. When I was still in high school, what it called "computer science" (coding in Turing and Java) and "computer engineering" (hardware and computer maintenance) were courses only offered after 9th grade. For the most part, even with stressed out and not-always-interested teachers, I would consider those courses to be effective enough. But, I can't really imagine teaching even basic programming to anyone under that age unless the kid shows genuine interest in it themselves. Even if programming is the "fourth r," it is still entirely and completely dependent on competency in the previous three.

Michelle Chan - Spark 184 – June 3 & 6, 2012

Michelle Chan — Tue, 5 Jun 2012 19:59:00 +0000

Found it amusing to see that the far suburbs of Laval and Brossard are listed amongst the "related" Livehoods for the downtown Concordia campus area showing how geographic proximity is not a pre-requisite for relatedness. My own Livehood (#4), by contrast, has most of its related 'hoods directly adjacent.

Michelle_Parise - Tech PSAs

Michelle_Parise — Tue, 5 Jun 2012 19:44:41 +0000

Good point!! Erring on the side of discretion is a pretty good idea no matter what in office emails!

Nora Young - Spark 184 – June 3 & 6, 2012

Nora Young — Mon, 4 Jun 2012 19:59:47 +0000

Super interesting, Rrrrrandy. It's a perfect illustration of the amount of informal 'local knowledge' we have about our communities. Remarkably subtle when you think about it.

Walt Sullivan - Spark 184 – June 3 & 6, 2012

Walt Sullivan — Sun, 3 Jun 2012 23:14:01 +0000

So, a selection of pocket protector-wearing WMA volunteers who were instructed to think Bad Thoughts were used to train the system to detect terrorists, some of whom think they\'re doing a Good Thing, becoming a martyr, heavenly rewards, etc. There\'s so much wrong with this idea that I\'m forced to ask: How do these people view homeopathy? Do they think?

Brent Martin - Spark 184 – June 3 & 6, 2012

Brent Martin — Sun, 3 Jun 2012 18:56:43 +0000

Scratch sounds very similar in approach to Max/MSP/Jitter.

Rrrrrandy - Spark 184 – June 3 & 6, 2012

Rrrrrandy — Sun, 3 Jun 2012 18:15:12 +0000

The Livehood analysis of Montreal is interesting and overall pretty accurate. EXCEPT in its division of MIle End into two separate Livehood's north and south (#5 and #37). Bernard and St. Viateur east of Parc is basically the same Livehood (hipster central) , whereas Bernard and Laurier west of Parc are another separate entity (chi-chi Outremont). The division really should run between east and west of Parc Ave. Or at least of Hutchison. And odd to see Petite Patrie and the Jean Talon Market areas separated into two distinct Livehoods. That is pretty much one hood populated by ex-Mile Enders and Plateau types who moved north to buy/rent cheaper digs. My two cents.