The Adventures of a Digital Sensei
Some of you might remember that I took an HTML5 and CSS3 training class at Noble Desktop a few months back. The class made me acutely aware of how important the newest version of HTML will be terms of web design, video streaming and mobile application development in the future. I came across the following HTML5 cheat sheets designed by InMotion Hosting and figured I would share these documents Continue reading “HTML5 Cheat Sheets”
One of the areas in new media that is experiencing phenomenal growth is mobile app development. Students see a large audience using smartphones and tablets, and as developers and entrepreneurs they want in on the market. I can’t blame them. I want in as well. Truth The money is good and the future for mobile devises is very strong. Due to the pressure of meeting my academic commitments I have been putting off training in mobile app development for the past year. Part of the issue was finding a quality school that teaches the material I needed at a reasonable price. This was Continue reading “Mobile App Training with AS3 and Adobe AIR”
In order to enhance the knowledge that I acquired in January when I took the WordPress theme design class at Noble Desktop, I decided to sign up for an HTML5 and CSS3 course. The industry is rapidly moving towards these new standards due to the advanced feature sets in HTML5 and CSS3 which allows for advanced animation, as well as for audio and video files to natively be supported in the browser without the need for third party plug-ins like Adobe’s Flash. While I didn’t feel like spending the money for the class, I needed to get up to speed on the new standards in order update the LaGuardia New Media curriculum, and to complete a much needed design update to my own web site. The class was once again held at Noble Desktop, and was once again, led by an amazing teacher named Victoria Torres. The two day course took us through the process of building an site from scratch using these new standards.
One of the unforeseen benefits of the class was that HTML 5 and CSS 3, when used in conjunction with a new mobile framework called PhoneGap, is becoming an excellent way of building mobile applications for both Android and iOS devises. PhoneGap was recently purchased by Adobe and was integrated into the latest version of Dreamweaver, release 5.5. This is a huge development for me since I can leverage our existing curriculum and begin to instruct students in the basics of mobile application develop by using PhoneGap.
In one of my earlier posts from a few months back I discussed how I took a group of my students to Noble Desktop to view a presentation on digital books and ePublishing. What I didn’t mention was that the following day I signed myself up for two of the courses the Noble Desktop offers on creating eBooks and digital magazines with the new tools available from Adobe. Well, I recently completed both classes and was highly impressed with the tools currently available. Adobe has made some interesting strides in creating software that will enable designers and writers to easily publish contents in numerous formats on multiple platforms.
I seriously think that I am addicted to sites like Groupon and Zozi. Since the wife and kids left for summer camp I have been buying trial memberships to about half a dozen places like Bikram Yoga and City Wing Tsun. Well yesterday I indulged myself in yet another of my secret desires, to become a world class DJ by taking an Introduction to Digital DJ’ing class at the Dubspot with DJ Reborn and DJ Spictacular.
I have always Continue reading “DJ Offbeat on the one and two!”
Today I took my HUW161 Web and Multimedia Design class to a talk on digital books and ePublishing held at Noble Desktop. The seminar was hosted by Dan Rodney, lead instructor and co-owner of Noble Desktop. Digital publishing has been attracting a great deal of attention as a result of all of the new ereaders and tablet devises that have been hitting the market. Amazon reported earlier this year that eBooks on the Kindle began outselling print books in 2010. In addition to books, magazines are moving to the iPad and other tablet as well. Adobe has just released a new digital publishing suite that companies such as Wired, Martha Stewart are using to create digital magazines for devices. Even more shocking is the fact that relatively unknown authors like Amanda Hocking, as well as more established writers like Barry Eisler are profiting from these new digital formats. It is going to be interesting to see how these new developments will impact upon traditional print media outlets. Digital publishing is hot and designers should be learning about it now. I think my students enjoyed the talk.
Over the winter term I took a two day advanced course in WordPress Theme customization at Noble Desktop. For all of the the non techies, WordPress is a popular open source content management system used by bloggers and web site owners around the world. The popularity of WordPress Continue reading “Training sir! What kind of training??? Wooooordpress training sir!!”
In the fall of 2008, Peter Katopes Vice President of Academic Affairs at LaGuardia Community College) appointed me to the CUNY wide Committee for Academic Technology (CAT). I was asked to act as LaGuardia’s representative on all issues pertaining to the use of advanced technology in support of pedagogy. This assignment required me to attend monthly meetings and frequent sub-committee sessions to vote on issues of how technology should be adopted throughout CUNY. In addition to helping to support CUNY’s overall vision, I acted as LaGuardia’s liaison to the CAT committee to insure that LaGuardia interests were fully represented. My involvement as a member of the CAT group required me to serve as a member on the CAT sub-committees for Blackboard and ePortfolio. I would like to believe that my participation was extremely valuable on these sub-committees due to my experience as LaGuardia’s initial Director of ePortfolio and my work with vendors like Concord and Blackboard to link disparate systems to support ePortfolio.
This summer I am taking courses at a variety of design schools in the area. Here is my most recent video editing reel that I completed at the School of Visual Arts in their weekend Final Cut Pro class. While I am experienced with Final Cut (been using it since version 1.0), I figured it is a good idea to brush up on Final Cut since I have been focusing more on web design topics lately. Plus I plan on Continue reading “Final Cut Pro Training – Basic edit reel”
It has been a long time since I have actually sat inside of a formal classroom as a student. I spend most of my time on the other side of the fence. However this summer has helped me better understand some of the challenges that my students must experience. Challenges with class availability. Challenges with scheduling conflicts. Challenges with learning a great deal of material in a finite amount of time. All of the things that I generally don’t have to Continue reading “2009 – Summer of Code”