CUNY Academic Commons

In April I ran some tests-of-concept for my Multimedia Competition Site during three different graphics-oriented contests: Catalog Production using big PDF files from two dozen countries; Web E-Commerce Production from a similar group of schools;  Video Production and Digital Photography from 18 New York City high schools. I’ve also brainstormed the idea with teachers, administrators […]

  I’ve been searching for a rating system that I can adapt for multimedia competitions. My problem is that most rating scripts tag an item with only a single criterion. I need at least four rubrics — preferably n — for serious educational contests. Instead of a typical five-point scale, I’d prefer a more analog slider to […]

GameSalad is a desktop video game authoring tool simple enough for casual users. The authoring software only works on beefy Intel Macs running OS X 10.6 but the games can be distributed on-line and even sold for cash through the Mac iStore.  Dan Caldwell, a singer/songwriter science teacher from Utica, NY, develops science games for elementary […]

This visualization of the digital media future (from Corning Glass) sparks a lot of discussion: pervasive TV, surface computing, digital signage, architectural video, even flexible OLED at 4:29. How does the lecture and the essay compete in this world?

Technology sucks the profit out of every business it touches. Michael DeGusta recently published an analysis of U.S. recorded music sales using data from the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA). He starts with a popular chart posted by mega-consultants Bain & Co. and fixes the numbers for inflation and population. The corrected chart is titled The Real […]

How do we judge students’ digitally-created content? Are we teaching Photoshop or photography, Final Cut or filmmaking? We always say that it’s the application that’s important, not the technology, but don’t we reflexively dismiss work that has an important message but comes carried in a sloppy format? One of the arguments for using old technology […]

Working in the graphics field, I get involved in many competitions that showcase student learning in sports-like contests. The Annual Citywide Graphic Arts Competition has categories for Digital Photography, Desktop Publishing & Design, Web Site Design, Powerpoint Presentation, Student Filmmaking and Digital Video Production. Other programs test Print Catalog Design and Production, eCommerce Web Site Development and […]