Lab 4: RSS Readers

Week 4: RSS

• RSS Lab:

In this lab, you will learn about RSS feeds and technologies called readers or aggregators that use these feeds to collect information.

Objectives:

1. To explain what RSS feeds are.
2. To identify the variety of options available for a person to monitor RSS feeds.
3. To understand the utility and the drawbacks of RSS.
4. To demonstrate your ability to subscribe to RSS feeds using a reader of your choice.

The More You Know:

RSS Defined

The word RSS is an acronym that stands for Really Simple Syndication (or sometimes referred to as Rich Site Summary).  For a nice brief introduction to RSS, check out the resource below:

1. 7 Things You Should Know About RSS - from Educause

Mashup Readers:

Finally, in the spirit of one-stop-shopping, mashup readers have become quite popular.  Like web-readers, users establish accounts and can access their resources from any Internet-connected computer.  In addition, these sites allow for tabbed organization and mashing resources together.  Some examples include:

1. iGoogle
1. Mini-product Tour

2. PageFlakes
1. FAQ

3. Netvibes
1. Tour

As you can see, there is quite a variety of ways to monitor RSS feeds.  The key is to find one that you can easily incorporate into your daily regiments.

Your Performance Tasks:

For this lab, please complete the following tasks:

1. Explore each of the different options listed above.
2. Create a RSS page that you share with your instructor. Feel free to share it with your class members as well.
3. Add the following feeds to your page:
• Barkonline.blogspot.com
• CNN (www.cnn.com)
• Lansing State Journal (www.lsj.com)
• If you have gmail you can add your account and receive mail.
4. With this same reader, subscribe to at least 10 new feeds (at least one needs to be a blog) that appear to have frequent useful content updates related to a subject you are interested in. You will need to get crafty with your Googling!  Try searching for "your subject" and "blog" or "current events".
5. Check your feeds on a regular basis.
6. Take a screen shot of your RSS page once the feeds have been added (You will need to add this image to your Blog at the end of this week.)

Your blog post must include the following:

• Includes a screen dump of your RSS pages that:
• Has at least 10 new feeds including at least one blog
• Describes your experience of tracking changes to these pages routinely (for example, check your RSS page each day at the start of class and describe the differences in postings across those days)
• Describes what you have learned from the contents of the new feeds you have been tracking
• Describes how RSS feeds can simplify your life. 

Week 4: Hip Hop Heroes/Favorite Musical Act Posters

This week, you will create 3 Posters honoring your favorite musical act (for me that would be 2Pac). Your posters will consist of the following:

1. Simple yet attractive poster of your favorite artist. You must include some type of Photoshop filter, find a font on dafont.com (and save it to your computer), and eliminate unneeded white space in the background.
Examples:
https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=935&q=band+poster&oq=band+poster&gs_l=img.3..0l6j0i5l4.22698.24445.0.24828.11.11.0.0.0.0.200.996.7j3j1.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.zzhq3GLFqpo

2. Promotional Tour Poster. This must include a picture of the artist, their name, a date and time for the concert, venue (where the concert will take place), and any opening acts that may also be performing. If your artist is dead, you should bill this as a "comeback tour" or have the poster be for a cover band.
Examples:
https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=935&q=band+poster&oq=band+poster&gs_l=img.3..0l6j0i5l4.22698.24445.0.24828.11.11.0.0.0.0.200.996.7j3j1.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.zzhq3GLFqpo#hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Promotional+tour+poster&oq=Promotional+tour+poster&gs_l=img.3...140019.143914.0.144093.29.24.3.2.2.3.286.3421.0j18j4.22.0...0.0...1c.1.MuOQnhmxQPU&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d6a27a090be64012&biw=1280&bih=935

3. Poster that includes yourself -- have fun with this. The third poster must include you either performing with the artist or in the crowd. The picture should be an action photo of the artist performing.

Requirements:
1. Each poster must be 18 x 24, 300 ppi
2. Students must complete all three posters in a high quality fashion to receive points.
3. Post to your blog by Friday.

Week 3 Project: Anti-Bullying Posters

This week, you will create your own Anti-Bullying campaign. The best posters will be printed and placed around the school. Please use the following links to research other Anti-Bullying posters, logos, and slogans.

Anti-Bullying Posters

Anti-Bullying Logos

Anti-Bullying Slogans

Project Requirements:
1. Study the above links to spur your creativity.
2. Piggyback off an already used project or (even better) create your own.
3. Posters must be 11 x 17, 300 ppi.
4. Posters must encourage students to stop bullying or discourage them from bullying.
5. Must be visually stimulating.
6. You must make 3 posters and post them to your blog by the end of the week.
7. My committee will choose the winners and submit them to Mr. Johnson.

Lab 3: Visual Organizers

This week, you will complete two labs on 21Things4Students.net. These two labs will be covering free visual organizer software. 

Objectives:
1. Students will learn to use free visual organizer websites in order to create idea maps for two different scenarios.
2. Students will be able to take a screen shot of their work and paste it into photoshop for editing.
3. Students will be able to transfer this knowledge to their core classes.

Tasks:
1. Please follow the link to the Visual Organizer lab on 21Things.
2. Complete both the Fire Rescue assignment and the Cedar Point assignment (if you have done the Cedar Point assignment before, this time you need to map out rides at Soak City).
3. Use Gliffy for one organizer and bubble.us for the other.

Resources:
http://www.21things4students.net/21/visual-organizers/

Week 3: Constitution Day Poster

September 17th is Constitution Day.  In order to make the students of ERHS aware of the United States Constitution and its 27 amendments, you will be creating a poster highlighting either an article or amendment to the United States Constitution.

Please follow these guidelines:

1. Choose an article or an amendment to the US Constitution.

2. Create a poster that meets the following criteria:

      a. 8 x 10 and 300 ppi

      b. Highlights the article/amendment number 

      c. Describes the intent of the article/amendment

      d. Includes at least one photo that illustrates the article/amendment. Use a creative commons search to find this image or take your own picture.

      e. Includes the text: Constitution Day, September 17, 2011

3. When creating this poster, keep in mind that it will be printed in black and white and needs to be visually appealing when printed.

4. Post your completed poster to your blog by the end of class.

5. Save your final poster as a jpg and print (if you do not follow this instruction and it overloads my printer, your grade will go down).

6. Remember, each week, your projects should be getting better and your skills in Photoshop should show improvement.

Lab 2: Creative Commons

Week 3: Creative Commons

Creative Commons Lab:

Overview:

This lab covers copyright and Creative Commons.  After this lab, hopefully you realize that using media off the Internet is not as clear cut as we thought.  One resource, however, that helps simplify copyright is called Creative Commons.    

Objectives:

1. To understand the basics of copyright law including Fair Use and how it might apply to education
2. To understand what Creative Commons is, how it works, and what it means for copyright issues.
3. To locate and properly use media that are registered with Creative Commons.

Before visiting Creative Commons, check out the 21thingsforstudents website concerning fair use.

Searching Creative Commons

Now that you have a better idea of what Creative Commons is, let's see what it is like to search for media that is licensed under Creative Commons.  One option is to use Creative Commons own search features.  If you are usingFirefox as your web browser, CC search is built in.  Watch this video to see how CC search works in Firefox.

If you do not use Firefox, you can still access the Creative Commons Search by accessing its web page directly (http://search.creativecommons.org/).

Your Performance Tasks:

For this portion of the lab:

1. Read the instructions and use the 21 things website to learn about Fair Use.
2. Locate a Creative Commons image that you might consider using for a project.  Create a new blog post where you properly cite and embed this image, and include a brief paragraph about what you learned about fair use and searching for items this way. Why is it important to use CC licensed images?

Week 2: Homecoming Posters

Homecoming week is next week. In order to promote the various spirit days, we need to create posters for each day. Each student is required to complete 6 posters by the end of class Wednesday. I will choose the ones that will be printed and posted around the school. Please post your completed posters to your blog.

Requirements:

1. All posters must be 8 x 10 and 300 ppi.

2. You must create one poster for each spirit day, and one poster with all of the spirit days (I would start with this one).

       The schedule is as follows:
             Monday: Redneck Day
             Tuesday: College/University Day
             Wednesday: Theme Day (Seniors - Batman, Juniors - Spiderman, Sophomores - Superman, Freshmen -  Who Knows???)
              Thursday: Class Color Day - Colors yet to be determined
              Friday: ER Day

3. Do NOT use the default font for Photoshop
4. Do NOT leave unnecessary backgrounds on pictures
5. DO make this your best work yet (that means better and more creative than last week!)
6. DO post to your blog when complete.

Week 1 Project: Baseball card project

This week you will be creating a "baseball" card of yourself. This baseball card, like all baseball cards has a front and a back. The front of the baseball card includes an image of yourself, the team you play for (Studio 143, your name, and any other fancy things you wish. The back of the baseball card includes statistics. You can get creative with this, but must include your class schedule at least.

Objective: Students will demonstrate their photo editing and Photoshop skills by creating a "baseball" card of themself.

Activities:
1. Take a photo of yourself -- make it fun
2. Have Mr. Smith upload the photo for you
3. Research baseball cards using this link to a google search or perform your own search for "baseball card"
4. Open a new Photoshop document -- 2 in wide x 3 in high, 300 ppi
5. Create the front of your baseball card -- It must include
            a. Your picture
            b. Your name
            c. Studio 143 as the team name
            d. A border similar to one used on a real baseball card
            e. A baseball card company logo (Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck -- can be found on a real card)
6. Save your project as yournamebballcard.jpg
7.
8. Create the back of your baseball card -- It must include
            a. Your name
            b. Your class schedule
            c. Any extracurricular activities your participate in
            d. A design similar to a real baseball card back (click here for examples)
9. Save your project as yournamebballcardback.jpg
10. Post both of your projects to your blog

Requirements:
1. A completed Baseball card that meets the requirements
2. A completed Baseball card back that meets the requirements
3. No spelling errors or formatting errors
4. Your card is creative and not a copy of someone else's
5. Both cards are posted to your blog by Friday

Lab 1: Blogger

Objective: Students will create a blog that will be used throughout the trimester to post their work.

Requirements for this lab: As you can see, there are several skills that one needs to be able to do to successfully create and maintain a blog. Some of these include:
1. Setting up your account
2. Creating, editing and publishing a post
3. Organize your posts with your own tagging system
4. Link to resources outside your blog

Tasks that must be completed by the end of the week:
1. Set up your own blogging account with blogger (www.blogger.com). If you have a gmail account, it is preferred that you use that. If you already have a blogger account, you may use that account.
2. Please post your url, by copying and pasting it in the form provided on studio143andmore.blogspot.com. 3. Set control over who can make comments to post so that all comments must be approved by an administrator (you). -- Do this by checking your settings.
4. Post your baseball card project (instructions available here) and make sure to use tags to make searching for your project easier.

Blog Address

Please fill out the information below concerning your blog you created for Lab 1.

Studio 143 Info Form