The Internet and Online Communities

Something that is of particular interest to me is Canoepolo A.K.A Kayakpolo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe_polo

Wikipedia gives a good background to canoepolo and how it is played. It gives you all the rules and the how goals are scored.

This information will be put on wikipedia for people to learn about and so people can spread the support for the sport.

http://www.canoepolo.org.nz/

Canoepolo New Zealand is a great site showing recent events in canoepolo.There are resources and ways to find out if there is a team in your area you can join.

It is set up to help people get involved in the sport and it shows them what them can get out of joining. Some people are named in this site, those who have gone far with the sport. This could create ethical problems around identity.

http://sites.google.com/site/mcpatransfer/

The Mainland Canoepolo association is a site which shows events happening within the South Island of New Zealand. It has a lot of information about the sport and those that have gone far playing it.

This site is good to see what sorts of competitions are set up in the South Island.

This video shows you what a game of canoepolo is like :)

Video Production Sessions Part 2

Youtube’s main service that it offers is entertainment. Youtube makes it easy to download videos in seconds and watch millions of different things from to funny jokes to beat boxers.

Youtube can also be a means of information, such as the wide range of How To videos that are online. These videos are a great tool for visual/aural learners.

Youtube in general is a great way to pass time when you’re bored as well!

An area of interest for me is people's everyday activities and how these vary. Here are some examples of a variety of activities from Youtube.

This video is of a homeless man that is asking for money and in turn giving some interesting entertainment...

This is a drum and bass beatboxer who is truely amazing at what he does, definitely worth checking out!

This is a porcupine who has decided he is most like a puppy, very cute and affectionate :)

This is something that would have taken much longer to set up than it did to film it. Plus I wouldn't want to be the one to clean it up!

This is a video of a person choosing a different approach to surfing a wave...

Enjoy!

Video Production Sessions

The task that was given to us was to make a 30 second film about overcoming diversity so we decided to focus on a physical disability of a classmate and the trouble she has walking to class at the polytechnic.

Because it is a silent film, we didn't have to worry about writing a script but we spent a bit of time working out how our storyboard would go and it became more defined during the filming.

It took a while to film and then perfect all the transitions but we think it really does show the point of our story.

Digital Imaging

Hardware and software I am familiar with using for digital imaging:

Hardware:

An external hard drive is a piece of hardware that allows a person to store information off their computer which leaves more space on their computer, making the computer faster as well as making it easier to share information between computers.

A pen drive is a small hand held device that plugs directly into your computer to store information. It is extremely easy to transfer information via a pen drive as it is small and no cords are involved.

A scanner is a great way to put photos and pictures onto your computer. It scans the item and stores it onto your computer.

Software:

Adobe photoshop is a commonly used device to fix photos. You can crop, change colours, change sizes and all sorts of high quality devices that can improve your photos and images.

 Finepix studio is used to upload photos directly from a digital camera. It allows the person to flick through the photos to let them chose the best ones and change them around to make them better photos.

 Windows media centre stores digital images and can be used on your computer to flick through photo albums so people can look at your photos from a trip away or exciting event.

Positives of digital camera:

Gives immediate view of picture taken, easy to delete and retain, can manipulate colours and textures etc, can print out with ease or upload to computer, don’t have to buy replacement films.

Negatives of digital camera:

Pictures often turn out better, in better focus and with good lighting, don’t have a million pictures on a memory stick, just a film roll and negatives.

Image can easily be captured on a digital camera and transferred onto the internet. When photos are uploaded to a site like facebook, where the person can be “tagged” in the photo, often people will come across photos they never knew were taken of themselves and may not necessarily approve of them being online for everyone to see.

A good example of photos being taken in relation to technology is Google Earth. When the van drives around the streets taking pictures, people can have their picture taken without knowledge. People that are having affairs get found out when the partner finds a picture of them or their car on Google Earth.

But is this a breach in privacy? Or just bad luck?

If a client is interested in digital imaging etc, then a therapeutic technique would be to use digital imaging while working on some sort of task the OT would like them to work towards.

Also the client could look at using different software such as adobe photoshop or paint to manipulate the image to their preference.

Using digital based technology to improve and enhance perception

http://www.wayfinding.net/ATdigital.htm