The Mobile Gulf Observatory (MoGO) app turns you and your iPhone into a ‘citizen scientist’ helping track the environmental impact of the BP oil spill, and enable wildlife experts to find and rescue stranded birds, sea turtles and dolphins.
Download the free app from iTunes
via WBUR
Found these in the Tsarist and Soviet Collection at the Library of Congress partnership with the National Library of Russia. Visiting the LOC’s online collections is like falling into Alice’s rabbit hole. You never know what you will find. These were printed in 1974. This series translation, BAM: Route of Courage. Check out the LOC’s international collection.
We saw the work of graffiti artist and activist Tony Quan aka Tempt One at PopTech. Presented by one of the creators of EyeWriter from the team at FAT (Free Art and Technology). Tony has ALS and is paralyzed except for his eyes. Check out his work and the very cool, open source, gorilla approach to technology, art, expression and accessibility at FAT.
Take heart ye journalists! Mark Luckie is here to guide you through the apocalypse and boldly into the 21st century. The Digital Journalist’s Handbook will give you the tools you need to thrive in the multimedia newsroom. A how-to book that provides simple explanations of complex technologies and examples of how you can incorporate them into your stories and reporting. Check out Mark’s great blog, 10,000 Words.
We just caught our friend Jamie Heywood on NPR’s Morning Edition this morning. He was talking about Patients Like Me the online community he and his brothers created for people with ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS or depression, to name a few. It is a “platform for collecting and sharing real world, outcome-based patient data.” Patients share and track their experiences and symptoms. The site aggregates the information. The more people share, the more information will be generated. Useful for patients, doctors and researchers alike. Listen
These pixel people were created in Kid Pixs by my eleven and seven year old. This program rocks! It allows for rich, multimedia creations while being completely accessible. The program stays out of the way of creation. It allows for surprises and fun accidents. I am jealous of the intuitive interface. Flash has brought this woman to bitter tears.
I love my Wacom Tablet. The stylus has a pressure sensitive tip (with the world’s tiny spring.) I use it with Photoshop. It feels like real drawing and all the imperfection that implies. Smashing Magazine has great, free brushes from Qbrush.com that mimic the spontaneity, splatters and goofs from painting with watercolors. These dots are from our Recycle Bin. It is our version of the Island for Lost Toys. Where rejected comps go to play.
My brother Joe got a Polaroid camera in 1977. He charged a dollar for every shot he took. I love these shots and the way they look in a grid. (I also love a grid, but I digress.) They were taken by Grant Hamilton. If you know us you might be thinking, Grant took those! Grant Hamilton being the same name as our oldest. This is a different Grant. Our Grant said, cool, when I showed it to him. Which is high praise from a very savvy eye. In my brother Joe’s eye these look like a lot of dollars.
MIT has an online tool that takes your name or organization puts it through an algorithm (they get all MIT on it) and creates a visualization of your aggregated online self. You better watch out for our lilac aggression! Thanks Andrew Zolli and Mari Badger for pointing us to it. Try it.
We’ve always had a soft spot for Edith Piaf. We need the fierce spirits in this world. The lyrics are subtitled. How can they be romantic, brutal, bitter and tender…all at once?
