CWA New Media: Our Blog

A few years ago CWA folks were invited to attend a conference in NZ which had a focus on education in the next decade.     We were asked to consider four  OECD developed scenarios (PDF) which were  presented in an easy to understand  “what if” way.    It was a simple and effective approach, and required us to actively engage our imaginations as we explored and immersed ourselves in what seemed to be very feasible possible futures.

In this coming year, CWA will be exploring the roles that scenario-building and story-telling can play in imagineering the future.   Could be fun!

As usual, this year’s Animfx in Wellington was a fascinating mix of topics and people, reminding us that this city is packed full of creative talent.

Some of the sessions I attended had a big focus on 3D.  For example, guest speakers signalled likely growth in 3D movie releases as production and post-production technologies become more flexible and multiplexes begin to upgrade their projectors.     An intriguing bi-product of the upgrades is that some cinemas overseas are beginning to offer beamed-in, live presentations of 3D-enhanced events  – such as major sporting events and powerhouse opera performances.

So hang onto those 3D glasses!

CWA New Media is proud to be a key sponsor of New Zealand’s events around Software Freedom Day.  Check out the website for the programme of open source fun and geeky get togethers on September 20th.

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Our goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business — in short, everywhere!

This year we got together with

• Unlimited Potential,
• New Zealand Open Source Society (NZOSS),
• SuperHappyDevHouse,
• WellyLUG,
• Cafenet,
• Catalyst IT
• and Sun Microsystems

to organise a local event to be held at the Wellington Convention Centre – Civic Suites 1 & 2 in Wellington from 12pm – 6pm.

There are two main parts to the schedule- an opensource barcamp and a hackfest.

Register here and come along and celebrate Software Freedom Day by taking part. There will be free wifi, coffee all day at the venue, and pizza and beer as things wrap up at 6pm.

It’s no secret that CWA is a company that loves connecting the dots between people, knowledge, information  and resources.   What may not be so well known is our ongoing commitment and work in ensuring that those who are making contributions to an open and connected learning world are acknowledged and have their rights communicated.

CWA’s long-standing relationship with New Zealand’s Council for The Humanities - and its associated initiative The Humanities Research Network - has recently enabled us to collaborate on bringing the Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand project (CCANZ) to life.   We worked with the team to communicate the arrival of New Zealand’s Creative Commons licences on the scene – participating in sector workshops earlier in the year, and building the newly launched CCANZ website

The international Creative Commons movement is about an internet-friendly, open copyright model and it is embraced in more than 40 countries.  Its generic licences are available to everyone, and New Zealand now has a set which reflects our legal jurisdiction.  New Zealand is among the first countries in the world to be using the new generation version 3 licence.

The Creative Commons Aotearoa site has been designed to enable our designers, artists, authors – in fact anyone who has something to share – to choose how they protect their work.  The site is the first stop for finding New Zealand’s Creative Commons contributions and includes case studies, information about the licences, and even a google map to help locate the contributions in cyberspace.

We like what Brian Opie, the Executive Director of The Council for The Humanities has to say about Creative Commons:

“Innovation societies depend upon open access to knowledge. Creative Commons is an important initiative, providing New Zealanders with a means of gaining recognition for their work while encouraging its use by others.”

The latest ICT in Schools Report is now available and online.

This authoritative 2007 report – the latest in a continuum of reports over the years – presents the latest picture of ICT in our schools. It includes, for example, findings that indicate that, in our schools today, there is likely to be one computer for every four primary school students and one computer per three students in secondary schools.

This research project was implemented by the New Zealand 2020 Communications Trust whose ongoing mission is … “to help ALL New Zealanders benefit from the opportunities of the new digital era – especially from the internet…”.

The capital city has been a fantastic place to be recently if you’re in the digital media space.

Over the last few weeks Wellington has hosted the launch of Creative Commons Aotearoa, a series of Digital Content Strategy workshops, and the AnimFxNZ07 symposium.

AnimFxNZ was a great experience, bringing together subject experts and industry representatives from around the world. Featured speakers included Dreamworks Animation Director Tim Johnson, Star Trek Visual FX Supervisor Dan Curry, and Executive Creative Director of BBC Children’s CBeebies Michael Carrington.

Tim Johnson opened the event with an enchanting presentation which made the point that the classic structure of a good story hasnt changed since Aristotle first defined it, while Michael Carrington made the gathering envious with his presentation about the range of work the Childrens’ Department of the BBC is doing in the fields of broadcasting, online and immersive worlds.

This local series offers some great insights into the minds of young people as they imagine, and then create, products which challenge the norm. If you have a moment, drop in on show (TV2, Television New Zealand, Sundays, 5.00pm), to be amazed at the ideas, and also check out the accompanying websites. if you are in teaching and learning mode, you might find the Study Guide that CWA New Media has written for TVNZ to accompany this series of interest. Source: Let’s Get Inventin’

TVNZ website, Series website, Study Guide (pdf)

This week found CWA New Media team members at the “Vision Splendid – ICT: Research, Pedagogy, implementation in Schools” conference in sunny Adelaide.

A highlight was hearing from Professor James Paul Gee, Tashia Morgridge Professor of Reading at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a prominent author on the New Literacies. His entertaining exploration of “video games as learning machines for a global world” confirmed our view that there is a lot more to the world of gaming than meets the eye.

Source: Conference site

This ICT in Schools research report is the latest in this long-running series. It provides both a handy snapshot of the availability and use of ICT (information and communication technologies) in New Zealand schools, and insights into how principals and teachers are integrating ICT into teaching and learning programmes, and their professional lives.

CWA New Media provided the project management and production services for this initiative.

Source: CWA New Media website

We are often reminded of the rewards of working in the learnng space. For example, our Hot Shots programme regularly gives us a chance to meet young people who have a passion to present their stories and perspectives using the medium of video. Through this CWA New Media training programme, we draw on our prime-time television background to share our knowledge about the skills and processes used by professional programme-makers to communicate an idea to an audience.

Enjoy the diverse range of work that Hot Shots crews as they tell their stories.