Subliminal Advertising

One of the researchers in my department showed this video during a presentation today. As Ruth pointed out to me, it unfortunately does not have subtitles. It does, however, provide a fascinating illustration of the relationship between perceiving our environment and "creative decision making."

Subliminal Advertising Video

BookBuilder Project

I've got my UDL BookBuilder project up on the CAST site now. It was harder than I expected - meaning it required more creativity than I anticipated - but I really enjoyed the process.

A lawyer buddy of mine is working on a new book called The Search and Seizure Handbook. I thought that would be a cool one to use for this project. Then I went to the screening for DGW and was thinking a lot about civil rights and spectrums of physical ability. That got me even more excited about tackling this particular book, and focusing on ways of communicating the information in engaging ways.

The Search and Seizure Handbook

I used all three avatars, each targeting a different cognitive process: strategic, affective, and recognition. I tried to use language that fit the character's purpose, without "dumbing it down" and making it seem condescending. I'd appreciate feedback on whether other people feel that I have achieved this balance, or have suggestions for improvement.

I also included an audio track of me reading the first page - which is really the introduction to the book.

It would be worthwhile, I think, to go back now and look at content relevant and irrelevant properties of the media. For example, an obvious next step improvement would be a Spanish translation. It is hard for me to imagine how to convey this information with pictures. But I can envision using movies to tell stories which illustrate the principles.

This leads to what could be an interesting area of civil rights law: How do we teach people in this country about their rights, and do the approaches that we are currently using include construct irrelevant barriers to learning which make it difficult or impossible for people to actually understand both their rights and their responsibilities? Is the UDLification of our social science curricula actually a required step toward building an educated and informed population?

Subtitles in Windows MovieMaker

Thanks to Jake Ludington for this answer to my question:

Windows Movie Maker Subtitles
Windows Movie Maker includes subtitles as an option in the built in title tool. The disadvantage is the software only allows you to add on title per clip, so a dialogue intense movie needs to be broken into many small clips in order to get subtitles matched up with every verbal exchange. The other disadvantage is very little control over where the subtitles appear on screen. The only option is at the bottom of the screen with either one or two lines of text.

To create a subtitle in Windows Movie Maker, select the movie clip on the timeline by clicking on it and choose Tools > Titles and Credits from the menu. Choose the option to Add title on the selected clip in the timeline.

Thinking about the final project.

As I understand our final project assignment for this class, we basically need to apply the principles of UDL to some sort of instructional module. It seems like the constraints are intentionally vague in order to encourage creativity.

There are three topics that I am considering for the project:
* Real options
* System dynamics
* Information value chain

The first two are fields that I am studying in my courses at MIT. Trying to explain them to other people - with the added challenge of incorporating universal design - would be a good way to reinforce my own learning. Real options could actually by used to place an economic value on UDL versus non-UDL design, so that's kind of a cool hook. But system dynamics lends itself better to graphical explanations, so it might be a bit easier for me, and more effective for the audience.

The third is a framework that I've talked about in earlier posts. It is really an original piece of intellectual work, and because it is mine I know that if I don't do something with it, no one else will. I have been working for a few years to refine it, and find ways of explaining it that are interesting and relevant for other people.

After watching Logan's movie, I've begun to think about how I would describe the framework - and why it is important - through film. So right now I've got some gray matter cranking away on what that movie would look like, and whether it fits with the criteria for our final project.

DGW - Know About It

Wow! Ruth and I went to the Harvard screening of Darius Goes West last night. An incredible story, and a great reminder of why it is so important for us to design our world to be universally accessible. Way to go, Logan!

Whether we are constructing an office building, a tourist attraction, or an educational lesson, we need to understand the whole range of abilities that our audience is likely to have. True universality in anything is unreachable, but by combining sensitivity to the issues with creativity in developing solutions, we can bring the state of the art to a much higher level of accessibility.

Lip Reading and Avatars...

I am working on my BookBuilder assignment. While writing scripts for my little avatar, I was suddenly pulled back into our continuing classroom discussion about supposed "aides" which actually distract learners.

For example, sign or voice interpreters who inject their own emotion into words rather than translating them mechanically.

The avatars in the book builder move their lips when they read the text. But it does not look to me like their mouths simulate the positions required to make the sounds. In other words, the lips move more or less at random, rather than trying to mimic the movements of a person who was actually making those particular sounds.

For people who are good at lip reading, wouldn't this random "noise" drive them nuts?

Would it be better to have the option to turn off the mouth movements, and just sort of have the characters think out loud?

Information Value Chain

This is an attempt at introducing a framework that I have developed called "The Information Value Chain." The framework is intended to break information work into chunks based on the complexity or meaning of the work content. That makes it easier to divvy the work up appropriately between people and computers, so that they can collaborate rather than competing.

I am not thrilled with the content structure or with Humane Design of this presentation, but I think that it demonstrates the technical skills that are required to satisfy the class assignment.

From a UDL perspective:

• Since the content is provided in a written media, the presentation is structured so that I say what I am going to say (strategic framework), then say it, then repeat the structure. The capacity to read English is required for the lesson, but this requirement is construct irrelevant. So that makes it pretty sucky from a UDL analysis.
  
• The audio is simply a music track. It would be better if I had a script, and read it while the slides were playing (auditory presentation of the information to reinforce the written text). But I don't have the equipment to do that well, right now.
• It would also be better to have a picture/video of me, an actor, or an avatar speaking at least part of the content. That would help to create engagement and an affective connection. It would also help to set a pace for the learning, and provide emphasis on important points.
• Technically, because it is a video the learner can stop, rewind, etc. to adjust the pace. Practically speaking, I think that timing of the slides - or having a way to speed them up or slow them down - could make a big difference in improving the universality of the presentation.
• In reviewing the finished video, there is an ironic problem. The building of the IVT model - which is really the guts of the lesson - is so small that it is hard to read the words. I'm thinking that I'd almost need to introduce each word very large, center screen, and then have it shrink into its proper place in the model.
• I made the slides in PowerPoint and then imported them into Windows MovieMaker. I have not played with MovieMaker enough to know whether you can include subtitles into a video that are usable by a text-to-speech device. Does anyone have experience with this?
  

I'm going to work on it some more in the future to make it a bit more usable and better able to stand on its own. This may actually be a good candidate for my final project.

Convergence vs. Competition

I am really intrigued by this issue of collaboration versus competition, particularly as it relates to people and information technology. I have challenged myself to look for examples in nature where two technologies competed, and the outcome was collaboration - aka "convergence" - rather than the extinction of the "loser."

Here are some of the examples that I think fit my definition, broadly:

• Hybrid electric cars (and, by extension, diesel electric locomotives)
• Screw-in flourescent light bulbs
• Steel reinforced concrete

I am trying to think of an equivalent example that is purely a convergence of information technologies. I'm not there, yet.

My goal is to shed light on a path by which I can better understand how people and technology can converge and complement one another. And the concepts of UDL play an important role in understanding how to design the media which will enable interactions between people and technology.

Video and Audio Assignment... Canine Ballet

A canine ballet in one act, subtitled "Merry-Go-Round."


(I think that piece of paper was a UDL article!)

Final Exam Question: Compare and Contrast the works of David Rose and Plato

In a case study class this morning my professor read from Plato's Republic. Listening to the Allegory of the Cave, I was struck by how "UDLish" Plato's perspective is...

Is a resident of the cave (a prisoner, as it were) likely to want to make the ascent to the outer world? Why or why not? What does the sun symbolize in the allegory? And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:--Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

I see.

And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.

You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.

Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?

And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?

Yes, he said.

And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?

Very true.

And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?

No question, he replied.

To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.

That is certain.

Collaboration vs. Competition

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
(William Shakespeare from Hamlet 3/1)

Executive Summary:
As mankind drives to develop more powerful technologies we increase our collective potential and productivity. But many times technology replaces people, and eliminates jobs. The people who do jobs that sit at the boundary of technological replacement have two choices: accept obsolescence, or acquire new skills which have not been mastered by technology.

Does understanding UDL provide insights into ways that society can help people evolve and adapt more quickly to technological change? How can we use our understanding of cognitive processes to ensure mankind is collaborating with technology, rather than competing with it? How much of the "complexity" of the modern world is really just a result of poorly designed interfaces between people and technology?

Detailed Discussion:
As we develop technologies to assist or replace people in the workforce, what are we doing to redefine the role of people in society? As we interact with them more and more, how do we describe the role of computers and technology in society? How do we make sure that people are still useful and relevant? What do we do with the ones who are not?

I do not see this as an obscure, "science-fictiony" philosophical quandary. I think it's a relevant and pressing issue for our society; our economic dominance has been driven by the ability to increase per capita productivity through the use of technology.

We are becoming much better at understanding the unique differences that define children, and how UDL can be used to adapt pedagogy to match a child's strengths and minimize the obstacles posed by their weaknesses. But what happens to those kids when they grow up? Do the limitations they have as a child disappear when they turn 18.

In order to maintain their relevance as technology advances, adults will need to continuously retrain themselves. In what ways can the lessons from UDL be projected beyond the K-12 environment and into the workplace to help our labor force benefit from increased productivity instead of allowing it to be replaced by technology?