Australia's Cultural Portal

Glasses worn by Barry Humphries as Dame Edna, the Arts Centre's Performing Arts Collection

Do you guys know about this site? It was created by the federal government some years ago but it is quite a good one stop shop for leads on all kinds of performing arts including rock music, dance, circus, opera, theatre and comedy. The Arts Centre's collections are linked to some pages too which is always pleasing!

Some of the links are better than other (quite a few to Wikipedia) but it is definately worth keeping in mind. You can also search by audience (children, families and young people!) which can be handy.

Have a great weekend

Caz

Cool software

Hanna and Dan have forwarded on some great links to software we may be able to use to generate content for our VCN projects. They are:

• Kodu a new visual programming language used to create video games which are especially engaging for children as they use icon based language.
• Photosynth allows you to make a series of flat photographs into a immersive 3D experience.
• Google SketchUp7 kids have been using this one to create things on Dan's Indoor Laneway Project.

If you come across any other (or can think of some good uses for these ones) let me know!

Caz

Fast facts about teens and the Net

• According to a recent survey by America's Pew Research Centre close to 75% of teenagers see themselves not only as Web users but as content creators. There are lots of good facts and figures on this site about internet usage across the generations.
• Not long ago the Jewish Womens Archive in the US ran a program for a group of teenagers and this is what they noticed about their relationship with the Web.
• There is also lots of information online about the 'digital natives' and their preferred learning styles which makes interesting reading.

Enjoy!

Caz

Do you know TED?

If you don't you should introduce yourself! TED Ideas Worth Spreading centres around an annual conference which invites the world's most influential thinkers to speak on for 18 minutes on a topic of their choosing. Many of the resulting talks are available for viewing online including the always fascinating Clay Shirky on 'How Social Media Can Change History' and Tom Wujec on 3 ways the brain creates meaning.

Check it out.

Caz

Webquests

Day dress and jacket by Ungaro, 1966 Victoria & Albert Museum

I thought I'd start sending through some links to sites that are similar to FUSE. This one is the Webquests project set up nine British museums to provide greater access to their collections. The first thing that you will notice is that it is very SLOW. I have been on the site a few times and it is always the same. That being said, it provides some good ideas for presentation and layering of content.

I've checked out the V&A's 1960s design challenge (KS4 Art & Design), The Tate's Conceptual Art Debate (KS4 Art & Design) and The Wallace Collection Treasure Hunt (KS1 History). They all use the same template which makes things easy for the user and they all employ the same open ended qusetions requiring transformative and creative thinking.

If you have time check it out and I'll post any other examples I come across.

Caz