tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90944763660862185072024-02-06T23:32:11.622-03:00Feeling Learning and ReadingHere you will find my thoughts and responses to whatever it is I'm learning or reading at the moment. As I teach English as a Foreign Language, occasionally you'll be able to read some of my thoughts on that as well.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-61788703624264976552019-12-17T23:53:00.000-03:002019-12-17T23:55:25.931-03:00Los Renglones torcidos de Dios de Torcuato Luna de Tena<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Una detective de nombre inglés ingresa en un hospital psiquiátrico de
España de la mano de un hombre al que no volverá a ver vivo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span>
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Ese es el principio de una novela extraña, apasionante y a la vez
turbadora; exagerada e inverosímil por momentos; un policial decididamente
diferente.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span>
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Dos historias encierra el texto para mí. Una la de una dama que va cayendo
en lo más profundo de su enfermedad, con un final que no me termina de cerrar.
Otra, la de una pobre mujer, amada y admirada pero condenada al fin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span>
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Si bien la novela no me termina de gustar, debo confesar que leí sus casi
500 páginas en sólo tres días, lo que me hace pensar que tan mal no estará….Me
gustan las anticipaciones que hace el narrador, como pistas en una pesquisa,
sólo que referidas a síntomas de enfermedades. Cómo maneja el suspenso (si bien
el gran climax al que llega cae malograda y estrepitosamente en el anteúltimo
capítulo a mi gusto). Y ese misterio inicial –de quién es la mano que la
acompaña, y por qué no volverá a ver vivo a ese hombre. También me gusta el
juego de nombres de la protagonista: Alice Gould la investigadora, Alicia de
Almenares la interna.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span>
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Y todos esos otros renglones torcidos de Dios….una metáfora tan hermosa
como triste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-83543863141695900572019-12-05T06:59:00.000-03:002019-12-05T06:59:16.692-03:00Ácido sulfúrico<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Ácido sulfúrico de Amélie Nothomb no es un libro fácil. El ácido del título
corroe la trama y sus personajes de principio a fin. Es una distopía que no
pone en el centro a la política y las instituciones sino al entretenimiento y
las masas. No impone un nuevo orden social a sus personajes, salvo a aquéllos
que deben “jugar” en el reality “Concentración”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Pannonique, la heroína, se convierte en líder casi sin darse cuenta. Cuando
lo descubre, se siente con poder para salvar a todos, aunque luego descubre que
no es así. Pannonique es de pocas pero fulgurantes palabras. Se niega a ceder
lo que aún le queda: su dignidad, su nombre. Y aunque en un principio pensé,
recordando aquel famoso discurso de Julieta Montesco (quien se pregunta qué hay
en un nombre, si una rosa con cualquier otro nombre olería igual de dulce) que
su actitud era de terquedad, luego me dí cuenta de que son dos situaciones muy
diferentes. Julieta ama a aquél que lleva el nombre de su enemigo, y sin
embargo no es su enemigo. Pannonique ha pasado por el intento de eliminar su
identidad al haberle sido dado un código, un nombre que no le pertenece, aunque
sea tan único como ella. No es el nombre lo que está en juego, sino lo que
representa. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Las masas, como en un teatro del absurdo, replican exageradamente lo que
ocurre con los realities: son devorados por algunos -aquí por una gran mayoría-
y ocupan gran lugar en la prensa. Y cuanto más la prensa se rasga las
vestiduras instando a que no lo miren y cesen las crueldades (la prensa también
puede cambiar de opinión en el relato), más se agranda la cantidad de
espectadores y la fruición con que miran Concentración.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Concentración que replica los campos de concentración nazis; que concentra
gran cantidad de gente en un espacio híper-reducido; que concentra la acción en
la brutalidad; que nos fuerza a concentrarnos y pensar para sentir lo que los
protagonistas están viviendo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">El estilo de Nothomb es desnudo, frío, diferente. Introduce temas que luego
parece no retomar. Hay que hacer un esfuerzo para adentrarse en la historia con
profundidad, porque las palabras y las descripciones no abundan. Como no
abundan las acciones ni las palabras en el juego para los jugadores, quienes
podrían estar reviviendo el mismo día todos los días, tanta es la rutina. Hasta
que aparece Zdena y sus chocolates, el recuerdo de los campos de concentración
y las técnicas para no deshumanizarse por completo. ¿Es Concentración un
reflejo de parte de nuestra sociedad? Quizás.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-37714493332607092642015-11-19T17:46:00.001-03:002015-11-19T17:46:28.721-03:002015: math learning and readingThese were years of intense math study and not much thinking about anything else (other than I got my degree in language teaching). I'm not very advanced in math but I feel I've learned a lot and I've developed an interest that wasn't always there. Recently I've started reading again like I used to (mostly fiction) and I've taken a few MOOCs as well -the one I'm currently taking is on learning how to learn. So I feel quite active mentally again.<br />
<br />
I'm reading my first Umberto Eco book, El cementerio de Praga (Prague cemetery) and I'm really enjoying it. I don't always remember what's gone on very well because there's so many people involved but I enjoy it while I read it. The main character makes me chuckle with all his bigotry (which I feel is just a tease from Eco, it's all so exaggerated). One other thing I like about it is that there's one "big" mystery that encompasses all the book but there's a lot of action during the book so I want to get to the end to have the mystery revealed but while I get there it's very interesting.<br />
<br />
I'm also reading "The Siege" by Helen Dunmore and I've actually stopped for a while because it got to be a bit too painful. It's about a family during the Leningrad siege and we're well into the winter now so food is scarce and it's very cold and there are bombings and fire. The characters are very human to me and maybe that's why I can't go on reading it for now as they're suffering so much.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-44756302566529932242012-02-11T16:56:00.000-03:002012-02-11T16:56:15.439-03:00Hello again -and miaow!OK -so I haven't blogged for a long time and my life has changed. A major change has been a career change.I'm not teaching anymore, but majoring in chemistry; my first, introductory, course started a week ago. And I've felt like writing here again.<br />
<br />
No formulae, not enough chemistry experience yet to say anything very interesting about it except that I'm enjoying the new course...So I thought I'd start over by sharing a figure that keeps coming back to me even though I can't really apprehend it in its entirety: Schroedinger's cat. Kitty is a metaphor, ok, but a powerful one. And I love cats, so the name has been haunting me for a while. And then I thought -well, wouldn't it be a good bridge between my past as a language teacher and my present as a science/chemistry student? Besides, it reminds me too much of that cat we know so well, the one from Cheshire with the bulk of toothpaste in his basket :D<br />
<br />
So let's go down a different hole now, and listen to some language and science videos about Schroedinger's kittycat.... (I promise there's humour...and if you're interested in metaphors the first video will be interesting).<br />
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Wait for it........<br />
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I hope you like this new turn in the road :))))) <br />
<br />Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-13538938293977704152011-03-31T19:10:00.000-03:002011-03-31T19:10:12.322-03:00ConnectionsI've just finished reading <em>The boy in the striped pijamas </em>and was very touched by it. I won't write about the plot but about the internal connections I'm making...<br />
<br />
First the film <em>Inglorious Basterds</em> came to mind, probably because of the historical theme and the historical license in it. Now I'm also reminded of <em>Los sirvientes </em>because of how strong my feelings for the story are.<br />
<br />
I haven't written here in a while, and this is all I can write right now but I wanted to share it.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-9833565321569955372011-03-22T20:55:00.002-03:002011-03-22T20:55:16.853-03:00Steven Pinker on individual and mutual knowledge<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3-son3EJTrU?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3-son3EJTrU?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-38733504810002473962011-03-16T11:15:00.000-03:002011-03-16T11:15:28.898-03:00The birth of a word -TED talk<!--copy and paste--><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/DebRoy_2011-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/DebRoy-2011.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1092&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word;year=2011;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;theme=how_we_learn;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=words_about_words;event=TED2011;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/DebRoy_2011-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/DebRoy-2011.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1092&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word;year=2011;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;theme=how_we_learn;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=words_about_words;event=TED2011;"></embed></object>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-63180808895089260322010-09-25T16:51:00.000-03:002010-09-25T16:51:44.330-03:00Post-War daysI'm reading "La cripta de los Capuchinos" by Joseph Roth and it's giving me a much clearer and personal picture of a regime change than I used it have.<br />
<br />
I grew up reading Empress Sissi's stories, and I never thought of Austria in a different way except for the current Austria. In SL I live in post-war Berlin (1929) and I get that picture, but I'd never put things together as I'm doing now by reading this novel.<br />
<br />
It must have been such a big change, so confusing to live after WWI...that now I get why it's called world war.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-31096941929410029512010-08-30T02:45:00.002-03:002010-08-30T02:45:57.426-03:00Some examples of art that took my breath away...<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14535429" width="400" height="290" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/14535429">Art in our lives</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3198610">Beatriz Lupiano</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-10637815099563625802010-08-22T22:18:00.000-03:002010-08-22T22:18:31.210-03:00EmotionsWhat moves us? I think as I walk the UWA Winthrop displays in Second Life. The entries for the contest need to fulfill only one condition: to take our breath away.<br />
<br />
It seems simple enough as a concept, and yet as I look at the various entries I wonder why some skilfully created pieces don't make me feel much (while I appreciate their design and excellent craftmanship) while others just do take my breath away...<br />
<br />
I don't have the answer. But I suppose all art is like that. Why do I like the abstract pieces by Kandinsky better than Miro's? What's different? Well, a lot but that's not it...there's something inside that tickles when I see one and not the other...<br />
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Just things I ponder on.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-76750964683466159052010-07-03T15:24:00.000-03:002010-07-03T15:24:17.549-03:00ImpressionsI've been in Second Life for a little over two months now and I'm enjoying it terribly.<br />
I explore, take photos, build, learn and I've recently started to moderate a conversation class in English.<br />
<br />
One thing that really strikes me is the strong presence of Italian-speaking sims and groups, especially when it comes to the arts, and how passionate they are. I like that a lot.<br />
<br />
Another gem is the 1920s Berlin project, conducted single-handedly by an amazing woman/female avatar.<br />
<br />
And the immense potential for teaching and meeting interesting people. Some friends have told me their experiences in SL have not been all that good and I believe them, but fortunately it's not my case. I think getting involved in activities is one of the key factors to enjoying SL. So far I've had only one nasty situation, with someone inviting me to participate in an orgy -I made it clear I wasn't into that, and when he insisted I just left. I know that's not what SL is about and I've found really nice people with whom I enjoy spending time frequently.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile I continue teaching in real life (first life), face to face, and getting ready to teach online. I'm learning to speak Dutch, I plurk....but I'm not reading as much as I'd like to. I miss being engrossed in a good novel. I am, however, listening to music a lot, especially jazz and classical, which is what I like best. Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-13852153398199105262010-06-24T04:27:00.000-03:002010-06-24T04:27:38.405-03:00Things on my mind these days...<object data="http://flixtime.com/static/flowplayer/flowplayer.commercial.swf" height="306" id="_53972859" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://flixtime.com/static/flowplayer/flowplayer.commercial.swf" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value='config={"key":"#$b4de518c01b8d16b413","playlist":[{"url":"http://s3.flixtime.com/video/00/09/08/77/e3d6e77b9f5828c3f6d41b3d32e403mlZoNnKcrSHu6keD73Yy/__sys__/player/things_on_my_mind_these_days.jpg?rnd=9a38b"},{"url":"http://s3.flixtime.com/video/00/09/08/77/e3d6e77b9f5828c3f6d41b3d32e403mlZoNnKcrSHu6keD73Yy/__sys__/preview/things_on_my_mind_these_days.mp4","autoBuffering":false,"bufferLength":2,"autoPlay":false,"scaling":"fit","details":{"date":"","creator":""},"provider":"pseudo"}],"plugins":{"flex":{"url":"http://flixtime.com/static/flowplayer/buttons_flex.swf","type":"classLibrary"},"controls":{"url":"http://flixtime.com/static/flowplayer/flowplayer.controls-skinless.swf","skin":"flex","autoHide":"never","hideDelay":1000,"stop":true},"pseudo":{"url":"http://flixtime.com/static/flowplayer/flowplayer.pseudostreaming.swf","queryString":"%3Fstart%3D%24%7Bstart%7D%26rnd%3D0.5636646456832747"}},"clip":{}}' /></object>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-54980042000351925352010-06-14T15:04:00.000-03:002010-06-14T15:04:25.466-03:00Today's quote<blockquote style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand</span></b></blockquote> <b>Bodie Thoene</b>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-32473600665827476272010-05-28T16:55:00.001-03:002010-05-28T16:56:02.609-03:00Informal learningI've been wanting to write about this topic for a while now...<br />
<br />
I remember reading about informal learning during my training, and not really grasping the concept; I'd find it difficult to envisage the shape it would take, especially.<br />
I'm now listening to an interview (well, listening and watching...attending) in Second Life and it finally prompted me to come here and express my thoughts and feelings...Because it is in Second life (SL) that I've finally understood the value and the concept of informal language learning.<br />
<br />
<br />
In SL there are informal learning programs (yes...bordering on oxymoron, I know!); for example, Virtlantis holds tea-time sessions from Monday to Friday where you can speak in English and there are no preset topics. There's also a "teach me -teach you" program where people interested in learning and/or practising other languages can pair up with someone interested in their language (for example: I'd like to practise my German and a German speaker would like to learn English or Spanish -then we can pair up).<br />
<br />
But SL offers cultural and linguistic informal learning opportunities with no previous organisation as well ,and that's one of the things I love the most about it. I visited a Japanese tea house and spent about two hours speaking in English with a geisha apprentice; during the conversation I learned some Japanese words...I wanted to thank her in her own language and so I asked, then I started using it -she also named the different stages in her learning in Japanese and explained what they consisted in. I saved the chat log and now can consult it if I don't remember. All the words came up out of curiosity...just like when I meet one of my seconda lingua group mates: he's Italian and so we speak in Italian but when I don't know how to say something I ask (first I guess!! If he understands sometimes I let it be some other times I want to know and ask). Italianiamo is the project we both belong to and where we met, and it's also a space for informal learning. Our coordinator is a teacher, but the activities involve creating and filming a story in SL in Italian. Group members are both native speakers and non-native speakers with an intermediate level of proficiency as the threshold. We discuss plot, characters, scenery, create the dialogs....all in Italian.<br />
<br />
<br />
I love all these opportunities -what I notice after reading my own post here is that informal learning seems to require a high degree of involvement, you need to take an active role (or at least that's the way I'm doing it). I could probably count the number of times I've said "I asked" and get quite a high number!!!Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-4977650921451318112010-05-22T22:44:00.002-03:002010-05-22T22:45:52.601-03:00Thoughts...I'm reading about Edupunk and it's very interesting..."Introducing Edupunk" by Leslie Madsen Brooks and "The Glass Bees" post by Reverend on May 25,2008 at bavatuesdays.<br />
<br />
J.L. De Diego's column continues to interest me like the first day. His <a href="http://www.eldia.com.ar/edis/20100516/revistadomingo75.htm">Sunday piece</a> touches on old-school teachers in Argentina after his memory of a mentor that passed away earlier this year.<br />
<br />
And here's a quote related to what I'm reading: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>"There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the <i>"practice of freedom"</i>, the means by which men and women deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world." (Jane Thompson following up on Paulo Freire)</blockquote><br />
In the teaching of English, it's easy to forget the wider educational process, or so it seems to me...sometimes, if we're not teaching at school but at language schools or having private students, it is all too easy to leave bullying and integration and segregation issues aside or undealt with. I think of myself as an educator first and a teacher of English then. Raising awareness in our students as to the socio-cultural forces shaping their lives and cultures and helping them to become active agents in the process is very important to me.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-53658267331375487202010-05-17T18:38:00.000-03:002010-05-17T18:38:39.469-03:00A month in Second LifeCertainly a lot is taking place...I've been trained to start teaching online at Myngle (I already love the idea and the atmosphere) and I've been learning more about Second Life and how to make things there. Sometimes silly things come to mind: I wanted to make a ring and necklace the other day; I managed to make objects that resembled them...and then I wanted to wear them.<br />
<br />
But how? There was no opening in the necklace and the ring and fingers are very small to aim well in order to slide the ring into the finger. Later that same day I took a class on nanoprims and we made jewellery. I got lost somewhere so I only finished some rings, a diamond, a ruby, and an unadorned necklace.<br />
<br />
Last night I wanted to finish my work -when the necklace was done it hit me: another teacher had said it's not really 3D but 2D so.....you can place items through your body. Voilà!!! I fitted the necklace (now attached to a diamond) and of course sent copies to some friends.<br />
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We're still working on the machinima project in italianiamo -we had a dress rehearsal/impro last week and it was fun! It was in Alice in Wonderland.<br />
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Just to show the variety...Alice in Wonderland's lands hosts the WDT group and on 15th a new exhibition opened in one of the caves. My!!! Very raw, very appealing and shocking! "The Dark side of the Avatar" is not an easy exhibition -it goes deep into the artists soul to search for their "internal monster". I saw it unfinished just the day before it opened and then yesterday and it was so different!! My word for it is<span style="background-color: #a64d79; color: #666666;"> </span><b style="background-color: #a64d79; color: black;">RAW</b><span style="background-color: #a64d79; color: #666666;">.</span><br />
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I'm still amazed at how much there is available in SL...Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-46136653186891674362010-05-10T09:00:00.002-03:002010-05-10T09:03:03.272-03:00Many livesHere's a preview of a PicLit I made last month (you can click and see the full text version and the site, which is very nice).<br />
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<a href="http://www.piclits.com/viewpoem.aspx?PoemId=42376"><img alt="PicLit from PicLits.com" src="http://www.piclits.com/piclit-image/0/42/42376.png" style="background-image: url("http://www.piclits.com/assets/images/piclit-thumb-background.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; padding: 31px 8px 15px 10px;" suppress-context-menu="true" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.piclits.com/viewpoem.aspx?PoemId=42376" style="padding-left: 4px;">See the full PicLit at PicLits.com</a><br />
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And just like with PicLits, and as it was in January and February...busy days learning. I joined Second Life in order to attend the IATEFL LT-SIG's Pre Conference event (PCE) and I'm addicted to it now! Or curious, mesmerized, full of glee...I used to think places like SL were designed for you to spend money and gossip. It turns out there's a lot you can do socially and educationally, too.<br />
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Some female friends have told me that they had uncomfortable experiences with male users, but fortunately it wasn't my case (probably because I joined for a specific event attended by people with similar interests to mine). So far I've joined a Medieval role-play (I'm not a villager yet so I think I might use the character for my journey Journal blog for a while...the poor lady travelled from Aquitaine to Artstonia all by herself!!!<br />
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I'm now learning to build and create things (apart from the tutorials available I've met really nice people who've explained to me lots of useful things for my SL. My belt had rotated and today I finally managed to place it back in its proper position (if you think it's silly...have a go at it!).<br />
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I've also joined <a href="http://italianiamo.wordpress.com/">italianiamo</a> , a group to practise Italian through drama: we discussed characters and a plot line first, and last time we started trying out costumes and getting props ready. Then our coordinator will make a machinima (a sort of mini-film) but we still need to work on the dialogues. I get to be Medusa; here's a tentative look:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2YV2p1eaHGpua3ul12dhL2iV-qeUfYlFmxkL9GOvcwxJM8o1P9W_pEpxmoyzJfke0LEAxxqffx_d9E8PVIpIxKSvkVCz9MWoKAtamLtBmhMN31TM30k_4qJW6ZL8AfP8c6ycjWP3IReg/s1600/second+stage+medusa+final+non+impostor_001-cropped.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2YV2p1eaHGpua3ul12dhL2iV-qeUfYlFmxkL9GOvcwxJM8o1P9W_pEpxmoyzJfke0LEAxxqffx_d9E8PVIpIxKSvkVCz9MWoKAtamLtBmhMN31TM30k_4qJW6ZL8AfP8c6ycjWP3IReg/s320/second+stage+medusa+final+non+impostor_001-cropped.png" /></a></div><br />
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The plot requires her to have a magic snake egg (we're hoping to manage to turn her hair into snakes...), so I thought that was a perfect opportunity for me to try out what I'd learned (even with keyboard shortcuts!). Here's an egg from scratch:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ZbRpa9MMww22tJEw2e-qmzaCmW1OsQaDBzGsq_8Jwgwl2Iaikj-hKwT14bsk1kYT5IYhmiXNP3y62VNX5d3k8R10Y4ckMbBPvqjDFoQXPyeHCqlAygBvjaMRFJhPU1HIVfY-HgmoCLL9/s1600/snake+egg+orange+from+scratch_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ZbRpa9MMww22tJEw2e-qmzaCmW1OsQaDBzGsq_8Jwgwl2Iaikj-hKwT14bsk1kYT5IYhmiXNP3y62VNX5d3k8R10Y4ckMbBPvqjDFoQXPyeHCqlAygBvjaMRFJhPU1HIVfY-HgmoCLL9/s320/snake+egg+orange+from+scratch_001.png" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhafdYFE7wZAZcEi96yFLBCp_bth66INVgHrCymwzeJ_1XtfELauuKuKsKU4_a9kGRWr0E0ACTCBZVnMc-9DUPsm0xLLNmxKZFoB9Sj7OAmyrPuGI_eSM2hN482Z7-L-zRoUO9i26UGLv/s1600/textured+green+snake+egg_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhafdYFE7wZAZcEi96yFLBCp_bth66INVgHrCymwzeJ_1XtfELauuKuKsKU4_a9kGRWr0E0ACTCBZVnMc-9DUPsm0xLLNmxKZFoB9Sj7OAmyrPuGI_eSM2hN482Z7-L-zRoUO9i26UGLv/s200/textured+green+snake+egg_001.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2fS2T0sq-ZqkuBaJL-nzvN3LrIlQv_tAy7z_D8bu4I6s1uHW8P61QlAhZkGW9tMCT6pitPzCTOiDuZLoeD9Lg8o9U3w3r3BJcRB4rjBDDrO9J0sz8j9vBlEOxYTe3hjJIu9kaFLvgeAD/s1600/pink+snake+egg_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2fS2T0sq-ZqkuBaJL-nzvN3LrIlQv_tAy7z_D8bu4I6s1uHW8P61QlAhZkGW9tMCT6pitPzCTOiDuZLoeD9Lg8o9U3w3r3BJcRB4rjBDDrO9J0sz8j9vBlEOxYTe3hjJIu9kaFLvgeAD/s320/pink+snake+egg_001.png" /></a></div><br />
And some others I edited<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhczrbaz89chNVU_m7wQX5bEf1aP_cVUeuH2i8FTd7HvY5X-UhROddu1G5WLm_CuRHgYp2l6eyf1fBS9E2hBRZJiyTPuvIWnpQ5j0kEZhG_IN0tGGffLmoSVu3C6gTCewPAUgXP3IwEwh3x/s1600/shiny+pink+snake+egg_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhczrbaz89chNVU_m7wQX5bEf1aP_cVUeuH2i8FTd7HvY5X-UhROddu1G5WLm_CuRHgYp2l6eyf1fBS9E2hBRZJiyTPuvIWnpQ5j0kEZhG_IN0tGGffLmoSVu3C6gTCewPAUgXP3IwEwh3x/s200/shiny+pink+snake+egg_001.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47aAsWiFWToeVZE8yWm-R-cKqKF1zYv6eCML74RlGDQh18ALPmD9giM6IMS4I4KUsV5MN76SrThAkW0nx1IxOUKgif2j6JLFy2VOGXRVzGrr9PqL-RsYzmLhW0RVV387fe3aKor0iJ2IE/s1600/emerald+snake+egg_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47aAsWiFWToeVZE8yWm-R-cKqKF1zYv6eCML74RlGDQh18ALPmD9giM6IMS4I4KUsV5MN76SrThAkW0nx1IxOUKgif2j6JLFy2VOGXRVzGrr9PqL-RsYzmLhW0RVV387fe3aKor0iJ2IE/s320/emerald+snake+egg_001.png" /></a></div>There's so much to do and so much to learn!! I'd love to create choreographies for avatars in SL...but it'll come in good time; in the meantime I continue teaching, meeting my friends in Plurk, meeting great people every week, exploring, learning...(origami's a bit neglected, true...).<br />
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I love teaching, and I love the way I'm teaching now -seeing my 7-year-old learner progress with such enthusiasm is exhilarating.<br />
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I'm also taking care of the Cross-cultural ELT Ning (we make a good team), soon to be Cross-cultural LT, as not all the teachers teach English (some don't even teach a language). But we all want to connect and share with other cultures, and we'd like to give our students that opportunity as well. Fantastic people there too.<br />
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In RL -or life away from the screen...good things are happening too. But my head is spinning and buzzing with all the new ideas and excitement that life is at the moment...I'll be able to reflect and analyze later.<br />
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For now I just enjoy it :-)Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-29284892358329491382010-04-29T05:28:00.000-03:002010-04-29T05:28:41.009-03:00A month full of events and exciting thingsI haven't written much this month -but I hope I'll be able to articulate some thoughts arising from this busy month soon -my head's buzzing and spinning at the moment with all the new things I've started to have a go at and take part in (for example in Second Life).<br />
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Today I missed the first day of the Problem Solving with Smithsonian experts Part 2 -I hope they'll make some of the recordings available...<br />
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Last week I attended the 2nd Virtual Round Table Conference -completely online and completely amazing!!!! Day 1 started at 6am for me and day 2 at 4am and I didn't even care. All the sessions were fantastic (I missed some because they were concurrent but they will be available at the VRT).<br />
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I'm full of exclamations!! Reflections and descriptions will have to wait, I'm afraid...<br />
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In the meantime, if you can read Spanish or have an accurate translating tool, please consider reading the latest article in J.L. de Diego's column: <a href="http://www.eldia.com.ar/noticia.aspx?idnoticia=250343&voto=si&link=http://www.eldia.com.ar/edis/20100424/opinion3.htm">"¿Para qué sirve? </a><br />
It's an interesting opinion article on education, technology and the "how-to" mentality, motivation and the role of abstract problems, the arts and humanities (as opposed to more practical, instrumental knowledge).<br />
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And to give you just an idea of the places I've been to these days, here's a couple of photos (they'll probably have more to do in my other blog -Journey journal, though). Hope you enjoy them:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkxl4967nL-C6gorY_QyA0DWtILg3uPwqjj7IW3KC6DCTIxQAUZLqekC-MT3drVDGvCaK_iFkwn8KsErF88C3elKEVVCnWdJMezH7_P2jVMnyMcYg7CLXIgddJlDg1CyFMrHys2dafLs5/s1600/Snapshot+-Medieval+Wanderer+in+the+Arctic_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkxl4967nL-C6gorY_QyA0DWtILg3uPwqjj7IW3KC6DCTIxQAUZLqekC-MT3drVDGvCaK_iFkwn8KsErF88C3elKEVVCnWdJMezH7_P2jVMnyMcYg7CLXIgddJlDg1CyFMrHys2dafLs5/s1600/Snapshot+-Medieval+Wanderer+in+the+Arctic_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkxl4967nL-C6gorY_QyA0DWtILg3uPwqjj7IW3KC6DCTIxQAUZLqekC-MT3drVDGvCaK_iFkwn8KsErF88C3elKEVVCnWdJMezH7_P2jVMnyMcYg7CLXIgddJlDg1CyFMrHys2dafLs5/s1600/Snapshot+-Medieval+Wanderer+in+the+Arctic_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkxl4967nL-C6gorY_QyA0DWtILg3uPwqjj7IW3KC6DCTIxQAUZLqekC-MT3drVDGvCaK_iFkwn8KsErF88C3elKEVVCnWdJMezH7_P2jVMnyMcYg7CLXIgddJlDg1CyFMrHys2dafLs5/s320/Snapshot+-Medieval+Wanderer+in+the+Arctic_001.png" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdcx8pugiCnjcLpwENPTVCdnU4SksubC1biOD8Fpu0QQVMttKyQu5s32YBkoB4FOUCDvBfdupiYRGeWYRSc2vSeayG6-4hGt4POB97K5c2smGUJgp-rDn7_PUwt8y4S9RYhaIyg69ZOyY/s1600/Snapshot+-Medieval+Wanderer+castle+in+the+Roman+empire_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdcx8pugiCnjcLpwENPTVCdnU4SksubC1biOD8Fpu0QQVMttKyQu5s32YBkoB4FOUCDvBfdupiYRGeWYRSc2vSeayG6-4hGt4POB97K5c2smGUJgp-rDn7_PUwt8y4S9RYhaIyg69ZOyY/s320/Snapshot+-Medieval+Wanderer+castle+in+the+Roman+empire_001.png" /></a></div>Medieval Wanderer on the grounds of a Roman Castle (amazing place!) and, above this second photo, <br />
Medieval Wanderer in Alaska (great view and really cozy inside!)<br />
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<span id="goog_1457059828"></span><span id="goog_1457059829"></span>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-71274769223814755352010-04-13T01:48:00.000-03:002010-04-13T01:48:51.200-03:00Online LearningAfter the exciting IATEFL LT-SIG PCE in Second Life, here's some more exciting sessions to look forward to:<br />
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<a href="http://www.smithsonianconference.org/expert/welcome-day1/">Welcome to Day 1: Understanding the American Experience</a> (online conference "Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts")<br />
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And some photos from the SL PCE event -left to right, top to bottom: Scott Thornbury's session x2 (the second one with a Mermaid that stayed with us for a mysterious few minutes), Mark Pegrum's session and Stephen Bax's session. My mind's still buzzing to talk about the experience (just building my avatar was thrilling!) so this time I'll let the images speak...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4nvbLWBckAT6dxm4SK59TNog2Ds3bx9Xqic8-Rnm3UT5_FDhEZw7nhzdW4FZgm32w1335PfE9EASGk4waMK0rzpDdIfpZBnS-HL0Yl9r87n08jMeYg2LtZjTp9x8LRcVHtWlVW48JaDW/s1600/Snapshot+scott_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4nvbLWBckAT6dxm4SK59TNog2Ds3bx9Xqic8-Rnm3UT5_FDhEZw7nhzdW4FZgm32w1335PfE9EASGk4waMK0rzpDdIfpZBnS-HL0Yl9r87n08jMeYg2LtZjTp9x8LRcVHtWlVW48JaDW/s200/Snapshot+scott_007.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg27N_Um-C8euLI6LjTvRjibJp9ihoVfySdM7hvfhtjpeMq9M6eTD69rBh65UB3UutRAWqe-UHubY3CyI92dCkbkreC8PiGPLKunC-mggh3YSLddBj0cAnCUc3DoYyPzJhY5bFBdYgACcrn/s1600/Snapshot+session3_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg27N_Um-C8euLI6LjTvRjibJp9ihoVfySdM7hvfhtjpeMq9M6eTD69rBh65UB3UutRAWqe-UHubY3CyI92dCkbkreC8PiGPLKunC-mggh3YSLddBj0cAnCUc3DoYyPzJhY5bFBdYgACcrn/s200/Snapshot+session3_002.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0pt9-QSK0flOEf7ahE09nkaH-q9R5hLPMIxFY255s3Z0471ufcj8cnXnugY-Uahp6_PXcs-6XOmVtIsmjwlfgxfweBWeBC9-7WyyAB-W6XjThgjKN399wBKF_ps7CNxTQcJE-iIboe6d/s1600/Snapshot+scott_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0pt9-QSK0flOEf7ahE09nkaH-q9R5hLPMIxFY255s3Z0471ufcj8cnXnugY-Uahp6_PXcs-6XOmVtIsmjwlfgxfweBWeBC9-7WyyAB-W6XjThgjKN399wBKF_ps7CNxTQcJE-iIboe6d/s200/Snapshot+scott_003.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXYMb2WHjAmJfM9qd9Yu_UeBjJavQ7t960YejK6Y1ZUUIZHcf7YkGZVKSv2TS3KLBuCbn2f1TwkzQ3ovOZN6wjsh8UpEC7gDojC4MCFsdQIVk8DVxFI7bTFEQ3SmFau4J4ydr4aqTFfnw/s1600/Snapshot+mark+pegrum_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXYMb2WHjAmJfM9qd9Yu_UeBjJavQ7t960YejK6Y1ZUUIZHcf7YkGZVKSv2TS3KLBuCbn2f1TwkzQ3ovOZN6wjsh8UpEC7gDojC4MCFsdQIVk8DVxFI7bTFEQ3SmFau4J4ydr4aqTFfnw/s200/Snapshot+mark+pegrum_003.png" width="200" /></a>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-28731714306722134352010-03-31T19:13:00.000-03:002010-03-31T19:13:06.940-03:00Yesterday's thoughtI was walking down the street thinking about my upcoming dance class and McLuhan crossed my mind -I wonder how he'd describe the Web 2.0 world in terms of human's extensions (I should add I was feeling lazy and had begun wondering whether I'd actually make it to class or if I could find a nice program to replicate dancing).Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-42639295040143903612010-03-24T16:44:00.001-03:002010-03-24T16:50:19.027-03:00Skating, dancing, learning about cultureIt's been a while since I last wrote here, and my last post was different. I think I needed to take some distance from all the reflections about learning -this summer was pretty intense in terms of learning and thinking, and just enjoy another aspect of my life. I love dancing and music, and the Winter Olympics had just finished. I love to watch figure skating but I'm seldom able to -and, as if by fate, on the closing day of Vancouver 2010, I turned on the TV and caught the two wonderful performances you can see featured in my Glogster. <br />
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I've just finished watching a video about the <a href="http://www.lakotalife.org/">Lakota</a> way of life that one of the members of the <a href="http://crossculturalelt.ning.com/">Crosscultural ELT Ning Network </a>(which I help to manage) uploaded and found it very interesting and wondered why I hadn't heard of them before. I also wondered about my own culture, and the aboriginal cultures of what politically is now my country and why I know so little about them (basically names and where they settled originally). I'm sure my own culture must have its positive side -all things do, but I doubt it'll be as rich and simple at the same time as that of communities like the Lakotas.<br />
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Values and virtues like generosity, fortitude, generosity, bravery, wisdom, balance...does the culture I belong to value those as much as the Lakotas? Probably not -but why? And what values does my culture uphold really? I'm tempted to point towards an Argentina movie called <i><b>"Nueve Reinas" (Nine Queens)</b></i> and say that it embodies all the more salient features of my culture.<br />
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But wait!<br />
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The movie is about two conmen, and it certainly feels very Argentinian (there was an American version of it of which I only managed to watch the first 15 minutes) so there is some essence captured there. But surely we're not all conmen? Nicholas Cage's <b><i>Matchstick men</i></b> comes to mind -it's also about conmen but they are different.<br />
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Fine, then, so each culture perhaps has conmen with very particular styles -but how do the rest of the members feel about that kind of life? Do they accept it because they don't think there's anything they can do to change it? Do they reject it actively? Do they live and let live?<br />
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Cultural issues are never one-layered in my view. They have lots of angles and nooks and crannies and they're flexible and changing, they overlap with those of other cultures sometimes...and I find it difficult to step aside and be a non-judgemental observer; probably because culture is a part of me, of everyone. culture is beliefs and values but also how we live our everyday lives, all the little things we do each day, like washing the dishes or greeting people or...Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-50008897696362137272010-03-12T15:39:00.003-03:002010-03-24T16:18:22.934-03:00An aside...After a busy summer with courses and reflections, I thought it would be nice to have here another aspect of my life that makes me happy, and that is dancing. I danced for a number of years (always as an amateur) and over a year ago I stopped and didn't think I'd be able to dance again. But I can, and I have, so I made this Glogster to share my joy -and if you missed the gala at the end of the winter olympics, here's your chance to watch some amazing figure skating!!! If you prefer to see it in full, please <a href="http://biaglogster.glogster.com/back-to-dancing/">click here</a><br />
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<iframe src= "http://www.glogster.com/glog.php?glog_id=6072241&scale=100" width="960" height="1300" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" style="overflow: hidden;"></iframe>Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-60992929123613597202010-03-03T14:56:00.001-03:002010-03-10T13:27:41.864-03:00Thoughts after listening to L. Lessig on fair use, copyright and online videoOn Thursday 25, thanks to OpenVideoAlliance, I watched live a very interesting conference that Lawrence Lessig was giving at Harvard School on "Fair use, politics and online video". <br />
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After having attended a few webinars an other online presentations, I've taken to taking down notes pretty much in the same way as when I'm in the same room as the presenter. My comments here will come from what I remember and what I wrote down during the talk and will have, of course, been sifted through the filter of my own interpretation.<br />
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The first thing that caught my attention was the word<span style="color: #0b5394;"> <b>PASSIVITY</b>. </span><br />
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I've been so immersed in learning about the possibilities of the Web 2.0 that I no longer associate as easily as before the concept of technology with passivity. So the question that ensued was "who took it away?". Now we're talking; there was passivity, now there isn't so much -there's been a change. But how did that passivity come to be? Well, partly because creativity was being consumed (the Web has some great sites), but consuming ends there -it doesn't create. And so a context of [online] <b><span style="color: #0b5394;">CULTURAL CONSUMPTION</span></b> began to take shape.<br />
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Around 2004 this cultural passivity that technology had created and maintained for so long suffered a change because of -according to Lessig- a revival of the Reading and Writing (R/W) culture. Technology was now making it possible to <b style="color: #0b5394;">REMIX </b>content. One of the examples shown was mixing Anime with audio; another one, a video featuring political leaders mixed with a love song in the background. Lessig considers another big change took place in 2006 with YouTube. Of course. YouTube increased participation: now anyone could make a video and upload it, comment on other people's videos, email their friends with links to those videos...<br />
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And a<b><span style="color: #0b5394;"> REMIX CULTURE</span></b> emerged as a new kind of amateur culture.<br />
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Now, the topic of the talk was not participation in itself but discussing fair use and politics in relation to online video -amateur and professional. Lessig took us to the early <b><span style="color: #0b5394;">Disney productions</span></b>, which made use of works in the Public domain...PD was fine for Disney...that is, until Disney saw what could happen to their own productions and a<b><span style="color: #0b5394;"> Copyright Act </span></b>was passed so now "no one can do to Disney what Disney did to the Grimm brothers". And yet <b><span style="color: #0b5394;">Disney's "Little Einsteins"</span></b> today are taking classical music and remixing.<br />
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Lessig's talk opened up my eyes and mind to the concept of remixing. Until listening to him I hadn't considered remixing as creating; it was using other people's works and putting them together. <b>Period</b>. Legally and ethically, they were part of plagiarism or just plain copying to me.<br />
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Now I see it isn't. When I use Animoto, for example, and take some of my photos (or someone else's photos in the PD), select PD/CC licensed music to go with them and choose the order in which I want to use them, as well as whether I want a particular image or piece of a video clip to have more prominence, let the program manipulate the images and then I give that video a<span style="background-color: #6fa8dc; font-size: small;"> title </span>-I'm creating. The key for understanding this to me is the fact that I want to give my clip a title -if it were just putting together different works that someone else did and trying to make them pass as my own, why do I feel that choosing a title is so important? A title, as a category, is at the highest level of the <b><span style="color: #0b5394;">superstructure </span></b>of a work (text, video, anything) -most titles are not final until the whole work is finished. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">A title is mine</span></span>, it <span style="background-color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">embodies the synthesis</span> </span>of what I want to convey with my work. Semantically, and borrowing Van Dijk's terms, it is at the highest level of a text's <b><span style="color: #0b5394;">macrostructure.</span></b><br />
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When I'm asked to write essays and I'm not allowed to choose a title for it, I feel something's missing.<br />
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Lessig sees amateur remixing as celebrating freedom and reincorporating it. He stresses, however, the importance of the existence and enforcement of a copyright law -for professionals, for those who profit financially from their remixes using other people's works. He sees progress in this direction coming from the Court (in the US) but not from Congress.<br />
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Then he moves on to the issue of responsibility; who's responsible for making this change -from passivity back (or forward) to creating? Immediately after this Lessig cites the (real) example of a captain that was too drunk to run his ship to make the point that if you are there and do nothing, you are responsible too. The "good people" need to step up and do something -let go of the passivity and improper dependencies that destroy. <br />
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He encourages amateurs to use their talent and technology to see and change the dynamics by which creativity is being stifled. According to Lessig, copyright does no good when it limits amateur creativity and exhorts to create and enforce a copyright law that focuses on commercial entities that are using and profiting from amateur creativity.<br />
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He looks at <b><span style="color: #0b5394;">2 ways of remixing</span></b>: <b>(1)</b> the one used by (for example) G.Lucas for Star Wars: he reserves all rights for himself even if you created, for example, the music that went into your remix. That, Lessig says, is treating people not as creators but as "people doing stuff for you".<br />
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<b>Remix way #2 </b>gives the copyright to the remixers, thus treating them as creators and promoting more amateur creativity.<br />
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Now as I write this I ask myself: why is it so important to have amateur creativity? Isn't it enough to pick and choose from commercially available creations?<br />
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<b><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: large;">And I think of teaching.</span></b> I can go into my classroom and follow recipes time and time again, with different groups. Or I can see my students as individuals who, together with myself, form a particular group, with particular needs and interests, with feelings that change over the semester or the school year or even a week. I can remix the coursebook with them, I can ask them to think which part they want to change and why -what's useful, what could be tweaked to make it more interesting, what's fine as it is, what they'd like to bring in...<br />
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I could go into the classroom and set myself onto autopilot.<br />
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Or I can go into the classroom and help students grow, think for themselves, and express their ideas and emotions, and prepare them to continue learning when I'm not around anymore, to become independent thinkers and interpret the world in their own way and be aware that they're doing so.<br />
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Prepare them to collaborate with others and appreciate the good in other people's artifacts. <br />
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To contribute to a more tolerant and inclusive culture and society.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-46703502073302068092010-02-23T13:41:00.001-03:002010-02-23T13:47:55.120-03:00On reading againI was feeling a little out of sorts this morning and stayed in bed. Officially, the EVO-TESOL courses finished on Sunday, but of course our minds don't stop there -nor have the meeting places disappeared.<br />
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And so, just like yesterday I was finally able to read a whole article from the Financial Times and a blog post response to it and a blog post on who made the best ESP teachers -professionals gone into teaching or teachers going into specialisation (I'm being reductionist here, the post went deeper than that) as well as a printed column by J.L. de Diego on cynicism...Just like yesterday I was able to read all that (something I hadn't been able to do on the past 6 weeks because I was more focused on doing things and then reflecting rather than on reading or listening to reflections and opinions and processing them) -today, it seems, I was ready to start reading the Keen vs Weinberger text debate from the online version of the Wall Street Journal (July 18, 2007) my fellow participants on the Multiliteracies course have been discussing these weeks.<br />
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I only got to page two before I wanted to come and write about it, which (I think) already says something about human nature. <br />
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So far Keen has explained his position -the topic being Web 2.0, and Weinberger has started to respond. Keen's argument seems to be taking an "either / or approach" so far: "Is Web 2.0 a dream or a nightmare?" "Is it a remix of Disney's Cinderella or of Kafka's Metamorphosis?" -I finally understood what "flattened"comes to mean in a context like this. Keen reminds us that there are arguments of great democratization in relation to Web 2.0. So flattened comes to mean "we are all equal in this new stage of the Web" (my emphasis), hence the democratization reference. I'd heard flat, flattened, and other derivations before in similar contexts but had never connected them to equality or democratic forces at work (granted, Keen uses it in a somewhat ironic way in my opinion, but that doesn't change the connection I've made in my mind).<br />
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And yet, if I go back to my childhood, I realize I should have connected it at once: I recall a local (Argentine) comic strip by <a href="http://www.quino.com.ar/index.php?id_news=&lang=en">Quino</a> called Mafalda. Mafalda is a precocious girl interested in political issues (she "lived" in the 60s and or 70s). She has a group of friends and one of them is called Liberty (well, Libertad). Liberty is an advocate of class and social struggle. In one strip she's explaining to Mafalda what her father's explained to her: that today (I'm quoting and translating rather freely both in language and interpretation, but trying to be true to the original); "Today", she says as she points to a wall in the street, "we're like these bricks -one on top of the other, the ones on top pressing on the others. But one day,"she goes on,"we'll be like this", and she gestures towards the cobbles on the road, "all at the same level, without anyone above us or oppressing us".<br />
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In the next frame we see a luxurious car drive by.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9094476366086218507.post-9961266280429166752010-02-15T23:15:00.003-03:002010-02-15T23:23:52.198-03:00Brainstorming<div style="padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msbea3/4361297850/" title="photo sharing"><img alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2670/4361297850_1db88b98fa.jpg" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msbea3/4361297850/">Brainstorming</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/msbea3/">Msbea3</a>.</span></div>Last week was an interesting one as we worked with audio on the digital materials preparation techniques course (I recorded myself reading one of Shakespeare's sonnets -I'm awful at reading poetry...). It was fun to choose some music tracks and mix it all down and the music helped to cover my flawed performance (trimming also helped!).<br />
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I enjoyed listening to the recordings made by the other participants -quite different in tone: a nonsense poem that I loved, a poem written by the participant herself -powerful and passionately read...<br />
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I also had a go at creating digital stories and that was a lot of fun too (my first script was lousy but I liked the voices I chose for the characters). The second story didn't have voices; it was a cartoon with speech bubbles and background music. Fun to choose as well. And it was lovely to read and watch other people's stories...I especially liked the feel of those created at Mixbook, but the Flickr 4-6-frame stories with no words were also nice. Simple is good too -and they may appear simple but some (if not all) demanded quite a lot of preparation. I remember two with more than one version where family members posed specifically for the various scenes. Storytelling has that power...it brings people together at various stages and in various ways.<br />
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I'm also quite involved in a crosscultural project and thrilled at the positive feedback and interest we've been getting from the people we're inviting to join. It's very exciting.<br />
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Last but not least, I've joined the Flickr group that Plurkers have and it's a real treat to get into Flickr and see everyone's photos. I like building galleries there too.<br />
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And I love having a PLN that's not only growing but getting stronger, more fun and affectionate each day.Beatriz Lupianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05636379922906341677noreply@blogger.com2