I purchased a new cell phone over the Thanksgiving weekend. It’s an android smart phone and I’m amazed at all of the great communication tools available on this digital device. The phone can access our class website, my email accounts and read and post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts from anywhere. The phone also has Google Maps and Google Earth access – allowing me to get voice directions if I get lost in my car as well as tell me how far away from a green I am on any golf course.
There are a number of apps to access information and news quickly – the QR scanner will launch a website, video, restaurant menu or beam my contact information quickly. I can take 5-meg resolution photographs and high-def videos using the built-in camera. These devices are so much more than just digital phones and the capacity to use these as learning and communication tools is in its infancy stages. The need to learn new skills to design for these devices is going to be a growing part of the digital art world. The use of QR codes is going to be a boom as this technology becomes more widespread. It is my prediction that 2011 will be the year of the QR code in advertising and design world. We’ll be working on some small format digital designs for smart devices in the coming months as well as creating our CAT Pickering QR Code tour of our wing of the building. I’m really excited by these new design challenges and you should be learning as much as you can about this technology. . I'm excited to see all of our returning students and to meet our new students. There have been a few changes to our lab over the summer. We have a new screen printing conveyor dryer. Our in-lab photo studio is in its first year and we have quite an array of new photographic equipment - two new digital cameras, several new backdrops, new lighting stands, a reflection board two new portrait lenses and a few technique books for us to try to learn from. My expectation is that our portrait images will continue to get better this year.
I have tried to revise our class site as well. There is now a forum page that I will be asking you to contribute towards two or three times a week. Feel free to use this space as a way to share anything that you find relating to our class. You can start your own threads - keep them business related as much as possible or use the off-topic area. The calendar page is more complete and I will post due dates for all assignments out to this calendar. One area that will be changing quite a bit is our links page - I'm going to be asking all of you to start using a web-based linking system called Diigo. Diigo is a social bookmarking site and it serves a number of purposes. It allows us to save our links to sets - so you as a Diigo user could save your links for every class or special interest you might have. It also allows you to join groups. The link above will lead you to our group page - but I strongly encourage you to set up all of your links using Diigo. This way if you have a computer problem or hard drive explosion - all of your links will be safely residing in Diigo. It's also a great way to find links about topics that interest you. Like Facebook or Twitter you can follow people with the same interests as you. My reason for changing from a basic list to this is that it saves a lot of time. You'll love Diigo once you get used to it. I have one really cool project for all of us to work on this year. That strange looking square above my head on the right is called a QR Code (QR=Quick Response). They are very popular in Japan and Europe and are just starting to surface in the U.S. These codes are similar to UPC codes you see on every product at a grocery store, only they are capable of holding a lot more information. They can be used to launch a variety of media - they can launch a web page, a YouTube video, a song in iTunes or just to send a simple text message with your contact information. The codes can be read with any smart phone or a laptop with a media cam. One goal I have for this year is to create a tour of CAT Pickering's CTE labs using QR Codes. When someone visits our building they will be able to launch a movie about any lab that has the QR code in their window. I look forward to a great year - I have only one request and that is you show up every day willing and hungry to learn. Do me and yourselves a favor - get enough sleep to be energized when you're in our room! |
Mr. TuckerMr. Tucker is in his 23rd year as the instructor for the Graphic Arts program. Prior to his teaching career he worked in the flexography industry for ten years and in quick printing for ten years. NEED HELP?Weebly Student Log-in Link
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