This is just a test post to make sure my blog tag (ioe13) for posts to, for, and about Dr. David Wiley‘s Canvas Network course: Introduction to Openness in Education is working as expected.
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Category Archives: open
Introductory Post: Openness in Education Course
My name is Jeff Giddens. I’ve enrolled in Dr. David Wiley‘s intriguing Canvas Network course: Introduction to Openness in Education. This will serve as my introductory post for the course.
By the way:
I discovered the beautiful image of the fence post by using Search Creative Commons. Doing so allowed me to locate a Flickr photostream maintained by Jim Mead.
Forget Adobe CS2, Get GIMP Instead
When I awoke yesterday morning there was a rumor bouncing around the internet that Adobe was giving away Creative Suite 2. Well, according to Adrian Kingsley-Hughes from Forbes, all that speculation was unfounded. I hope there aren’t a lot of people upset about this turn of events. If folks are heartbroken, they shouldn’t be. Although Adobe makes killer graphics software, there’s a great alternative to Adobe’s product that works on all computer platforms.
GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program) does amazing work. This versatile application is powerful, has a consistently helpful community of users, and is FREE. In fact, GIMP has been free from the beginning. Rather than moping about Adobe CS2. Download and install GIMP and get started making and editing graphics with the satisfaction of knowing you can do it without spending a cent.
Happy GNU Year
Does the software that you use respect your freedom? GNU does. It’s an operating system that is free.
Sounds Good to Me: Audacity 2.0
I can’t believe I missed this. Audacity 2.0 (for Windows, Mac, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems) launched on March 13th! I’ve been so swamped with making a living that this long awaited development passed right by me and I didn’t even notice. Thank goodness thenextcorner over at Hacker News was kind enough to make a post about the topic. If you’re looking for a reliable (no-cost) means of audio editing. Audacity is well worth exploring.
I promptly downloaded and installed Audacity 2.0 and played with it for a little while. I was pleasantly surprised with how easily I was able to import different flavors of audio into the application. I also checked out the built-in help and related tutorials. I think users will appreciate all of the improvements.
Python Counterstrike: Squirrel Ambush
Kurt Grandis, a soft-spoken software engineer from North Carolina, delivered a humorous and informative presentation at PyCon 2012. PyCon is the largest annual gathering for the community using and developing the open-source Python programming language. During the course of his presentation, Militarizing Your Backyard with Python: Computer Vision and the Squirrel Hordes, Kurt describes how participating in citizen science (ala the Backyard Bird Count) led him to use Python to tap into computer vision libraries and build an automated sentry water cannon capable of soaking bushy-tailed backyard bandits.
Related Resources:
- Kurt mentions OpenCV in his presentation. What is it? The Wikipedia entry for OpenCV (or Open Source Computer Vision Library) states that it “is a library of programming functions mainly aimed at real time computer vision.”
- He also talks about support vector machines (SVM) as a means of analyzing images so as to recognize and distinguish bird shapes from squirrel shapes.
- Canny edge detection also comes into play.
- NumPy (also mentioned in the presentation) is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python.
Come On In, We’re Open: Open Education Week
It’s Open Education Week!
The League of (Extraordinary) Movable Type
I was exploring Explore GitHub when the title of Adam Stacoviak and Wynn Netherland‘s auditory offering, The Changelog Podcast, caught my eye. I saw, with great delight, that the guest of Episode 0.7.4 was Micah Rich from The League of Moveable Type speaking about open source typography.
Related Resources:
- Typophile.com is a must-visit site for anyone fascinated with fonts.
- Be sure to check out Lettercase, Micah’s minimalist font manager.
- During the podcast, Micha mentioned that he was in awe of the work of Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones. Go to Typography.com and you can certainly see why he’s impressed.
So Many eBooks, So Little Time!
Wandering around Project Gutenberg when everyone else is asleep is like having an entire library to explore. It’s a guilty pleasure I abandon myself to without the least bit of remorse. The last time I was nosing around, I found Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and Sagas (published in 1909) by the noted British historian H. A. Guerber. The book contains stirring accounts of the intrigues among the Norse gods, denizens of a universe they were doomed to destroy in a tragic last battle. Along with stories, readers will delight in fascinating images like the one below: a wondrous depiction of a giant with a flaming sword by John Charles Dollman, an English painter and illustrator.
Related Resources:
- Be sure to take a peek at Project Gutenberg’s richly illustrated version of The Story of the Greeks.
- The Online Books Page also has a wonderful collection of links to other examples of Guerber’s works.
- Not to be outdone, the Internet Archive also contains a number of ebooks worthy of exploring.
Show the Internet Archive Some Love
If you haven’t visited or explored the Internet Archive, Valentine’s Day is a perfect time to start. Grab your significant other, cuddle up, and search the Archive using the term romance. You’ll find quite a few gems–images, audio, and even movies that are now in the public domain. One public domain movie that’s full of laughter and love is the 1936 American screwball comedy My Man Godfrey starring the dashing William Powell and the beautiful Carole Lombard. The film is #44 on the American Film Institute‘s list of the 100 funniest comedies. This cinematic production is a treat and is sure to inspire more than a few hugs and kisses.
If you enjoy the Internet Archive, show some love by making a donation to support its work.
Related Resources: Other ginchy public domain movies to watch with your crush include:
- Cyrano De Bergerac
- Buster Keaton’s riotous and sweet Parlor, Bedroom and Bath
- His Girl Friday