I've selected two more fitness-related videos to caption. They are both Sonnon videos. Like my initial project, I've selected these because I am using parts of his system, and I find personal investment to be a strong motivator. Additionally, I'm working with material which interests and educates me in things I care about.
The first video centers on some of the basic principles of working with clubbells. I selected this because it provides basic clubbell concepts/principles, I've never worked with clubbells, and generating captioned material around basic or foundational principles is a means to introduce a broader audience to material than focusing on high-end or specialized knowledge. If folks can't get the basics, what chance is there that they'll bother to look at the advanced materials. Here it is:
The second video is a direct motivational training blog. This blog had low-audio levels, and I think that may have inhibited the number of people who listened to the whole thing. Additionally, I am interested in motivational speaking as well as fitness training; transcribing this presentation proved interesting.
I've also found that I can transcribe pretty solid drafts at about 20 words per minute when the speaking is consistent. Not bad--at least from my view. I haven't been doing this too long, so I'm happy with the progress I've made today. I am not sure when I will have time to work on the next couple stages. However, I am glad that I've started both of these. Clocking the basic caption time frames is the next phase.
My theoretical grounding for these actions is this: if I, a pretty busy doctoral student and teacher with limited tech savvy can be guided through the initial stages of captioning and end up, after about 10-20 hours of solid work and effort, able to fly solo and caption material, then others can go through the same effort. Rather than having captioning appear or seem to be out of the reach of others, by generating and working on the materials, we can make it much more real. And if we do this on a variety of content--not just the most popular content, but content we care about--we will hopefully connect with other viewers and readers who are equally interested and engaged in the material. Then, perhaps, a few of them will decide that they, too, want to work on the same project and join in.
Who knows. But I do like the idea that my efforts benefit others as well as myself and contribute to my professional, educational, ethical, and physical development all with one activity. That is sweet.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Fitness & Disability
Focused Free Write
All the readings about centering disability, eugenics, the ideal body, and centering in the normal have me rethinking fitness. I've been interested in physical training only the past couple years--before that, I resented the body, sports, and health (another post for another time). Currently, I am very interested in fitness, health, and the intersections between web-based training and accessibility and usability and disability studies. Given the aging population, health concerns, and how all these things intersect with issues of class and the web, it seems ripe for discourse. But, what I have to ask, is fitness?
What does it mean to be fit?
What is ability?
What is skill?
Is it the accomplishment of a specific task?
Is it fulfilling a specific range of motion?
From what I can tell, the most viable and reasonable approach to fitness or ability is fulfilling your potential--whatever your potential is. That makes it pretty difficult to compare competitively, but I don't know that competitition is necessary in all situations or for all folks. Competition is a great way for testing actual ability and for gauging progress in skill development, but I don't think it is the end all be all.
While I find that I agree with a lot of criticisms about the construction of health and fitness, I don't think that the endorphin release I experience or the sense of accomplishment from increased flexibility or agility are totally socially constructed. There is something that just feels right about being able to feel, use, and explore my body in a variety of different ways. It's visceral, and there's no amount of theory which can accurately or effectively address that.
If ability/disability is determined on how much of our potential we are--or are not--fulfilling, such as how great is our range of motion versus what our bodies in their current state are capable of, then I think we would find that a lot more people are impaired or incapable than we currently label as disabled. Similarly, I wonder how many people who are impaired and labeled as disabled are actually using or employing or fulfilling a greater level of their physical potentials than so-called able people.
Obviously, this is largely speculation. But I cannot continue to work with physical training, martial arts, and bodily training with fitness aspects and not consider how disability studies impacts them. If I tried to keep my own personal interests "safe" from the critical theories or investigations, then my work would be a sham. Thanks, but no thanks. If ideas and praxis cannot stand up when challenged, if they can't evolve and develop, then I see little point in continuing to invest in them.
If it's dead wood, cut bait.
All the readings about centering disability, eugenics, the ideal body, and centering in the normal have me rethinking fitness. I've been interested in physical training only the past couple years--before that, I resented the body, sports, and health (another post for another time). Currently, I am very interested in fitness, health, and the intersections between web-based training and accessibility and usability and disability studies. Given the aging population, health concerns, and how all these things intersect with issues of class and the web, it seems ripe for discourse. But, what I have to ask, is fitness?
What does it mean to be fit?
What is ability?
What is skill?
Is it the accomplishment of a specific task?
Is it fulfilling a specific range of motion?
From what I can tell, the most viable and reasonable approach to fitness or ability is fulfilling your potential--whatever your potential is. That makes it pretty difficult to compare competitively, but I don't know that competitition is necessary in all situations or for all folks. Competition is a great way for testing actual ability and for gauging progress in skill development, but I don't think it is the end all be all.
While I find that I agree with a lot of criticisms about the construction of health and fitness, I don't think that the endorphin release I experience or the sense of accomplishment from increased flexibility or agility are totally socially constructed. There is something that just feels right about being able to feel, use, and explore my body in a variety of different ways. It's visceral, and there's no amount of theory which can accurately or effectively address that.
If ability/disability is determined on how much of our potential we are--or are not--fulfilling, such as how great is our range of motion versus what our bodies in their current state are capable of, then I think we would find that a lot more people are impaired or incapable than we currently label as disabled. Similarly, I wonder how many people who are impaired and labeled as disabled are actually using or employing or fulfilling a greater level of their physical potentials than so-called able people.
Obviously, this is largely speculation. But I cannot continue to work with physical training, martial arts, and bodily training with fitness aspects and not consider how disability studies impacts them. If I tried to keep my own personal interests "safe" from the critical theories or investigations, then my work would be a sham. Thanks, but no thanks. If ideas and praxis cannot stand up when challenged, if they can't evolve and develop, then I see little point in continuing to invest in them.
If it's dead wood, cut bait.
Intervention 1
I encountered a variety of issues in the creation/generation of the captions for this project. In summary, here they are:
1. MAGpie does not work reliably. When it does work, it is cool. However, I will never sit down to work with MAGpie again unless I have many hours in a chunk--and then I will export and save the file in quick time and expect to never be able to access it in MAGpie again. No, this is not hyperbole. Perhaps it is a demonstration of my technical incompetence, but I'm only willing to invest so much time in learning a system before it is a waste--easier to move on to the next potential.
2. Jubler did not look friendly enough in terms of the instructions provided. I need to explore it more. However, it does open up qt files in a more friendly way than Subtitle Workshop. Jubler at least showed all of the captioned text, but it lost the line breaks and replaced them with spaces. Frustrating a bit, but it is nothing that can't be resolved eventually.
3. Subtitle Workshop has a great help menu, and it is superb for matching timeframes with captions. It took a little bit to get used to--not as intuitive as MAGpie--but I like it better. Plus SW opened up my files much more reliably than MAGpie. However, when I exported files into QT format with linebreaks, they were lost. Same thing happened when I imported files into SW that were in QT format. Again, a bit frustrating. However, for this project, I was able to generate exactly what I needed.
Please note, that the above version on YouTube does not feature the line breaks that I wanted--instead there are spaces and the lines run too long and layover with the YouTube logo. Obviously this is harder to read and it interferes with comprehension. So, it is not my best work--but it is functional. Frankly, I think just generating more material with decently done captions is a good aim. Then the work can be honed. At least that's what I think now.
4. Learning to use the text editor, not word processor, was vital.
Here ends the discussion of the various editors. Main point: when using free software, be willing and ready to shift software and file formats, and realize doing so will lose you some work--so save everything with a decent file naming protocol!
5. From this project I learned a bunch of things/did a bunch of things:
I zipped files (never did that before);
I hopped software platforms better than I ever thought I could with minimal panic (compared to normal gz response to stress);
I can follow directions;
Valuable resources exist out there--it's a matter of figuring out who knows how to access those resources most efficiently;
There is an endless ocean of material which needs to be made accessible;
There is something very cool about captioning somebody else's material;
I actually have a mild interest in possibly learning to code;
The easiest way to learn is by doing.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Notes post 5386 chat; final project
(this is a rough draft record/flow to keep track of some of the ideas)
Here are some notes from the chat to keep the flow going:
locate a fitness product/service(s) which can/are used by not just martial artists
joints, flexibility, mobility--training that does not require a lot of muscle, agility, or current mobility; in part, these things should cultivate health, balance and stability
reasoning for choosing these: a much larger market share, more people throughout all age spans can or could use these materials than focusing upon martial arts/ training (tiny sub market of fitness)
illness, aging, and disability have interesting overlaps/intersections as well, and these materials could potentially be used by all these audiences
if all these audiences could potentially use these materials, they are added to the potential customer base for the people who already purchase and consume these items--thus they are an under or not served population.
i need to find some kind of numbers about fitness sales, training, video training, etc. in order to establish the current power/value of the market.
i need numbers about the aging population, the disabled population, and the numbers of people who train in order to get some kind of ratio
i need to establish some kind of ethos and fact based appeal about the facts of life with disability and what, if any, fitness/health options are open
[this begs an entirely different time and place interrogations of notions of fitness, health, and training, and what exactly those mean. if we move away from norms and, instead, look at the amount of potential used, I think the public would be astonished. people barely get close to using the full range of motion with their joints. if we measured ability based upon the ability to achieve full range of motion with joints, what percentage of the population would be disabled?
when we train, what are we training for? the normal? the ideal? full mobility? this just smells like ripe, open turf to explore and discuss]
establish a set of three to five sites which generate/produce/sell these materials--flexibility, etc.--and explore them with simple heuristics looking for usability and/or accessibility. Then, explore some of their products--or samples of their products at YouTube--and see how accessible those are. Thus, it is a brief analysis of the content as well as the delivery methodology and representation of those products online.
Then, once I have an overview, generate a theory-based and market-viable accessible and usable web-based rhetorical appeal for greater accessible/usable training materials online.
Here are some notes from the chat to keep the flow going:
locate a fitness product/service(s) which can/are used by not just martial artists
joints, flexibility, mobility--training that does not require a lot of muscle, agility, or current mobility; in part, these things should cultivate health, balance and stability
reasoning for choosing these: a much larger market share, more people throughout all age spans can or could use these materials than focusing upon martial arts/ training (tiny sub market of fitness)
illness, aging, and disability have interesting overlaps/intersections as well, and these materials could potentially be used by all these audiences
if all these audiences could potentially use these materials, they are added to the potential customer base for the people who already purchase and consume these items--thus they are an under or not served population.
i need to find some kind of numbers about fitness sales, training, video training, etc. in order to establish the current power/value of the market.
i need numbers about the aging population, the disabled population, and the numbers of people who train in order to get some kind of ratio
i need to establish some kind of ethos and fact based appeal about the facts of life with disability and what, if any, fitness/health options are open
[this begs an entirely different time and place interrogations of notions of fitness, health, and training, and what exactly those mean. if we move away from norms and, instead, look at the amount of potential used, I think the public would be astonished. people barely get close to using the full range of motion with their joints. if we measured ability based upon the ability to achieve full range of motion with joints, what percentage of the population would be disabled?
when we train, what are we training for? the normal? the ideal? full mobility? this just smells like ripe, open turf to explore and discuss]
establish a set of three to five sites which generate/produce/sell these materials--flexibility, etc.--and explore them with simple heuristics looking for usability and/or accessibility. Then, explore some of their products--or samples of their products at YouTube--and see how accessible those are. Thus, it is a brief analysis of the content as well as the delivery methodology and representation of those products online.
Then, once I have an overview, generate a theory-based and market-viable accessible and usable web-based rhetorical appeal for greater accessible/usable training materials online.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Jonathan Schwartz
Based upon my experiences at Mosgo's yesterday, I've been looking more and more into open Source as I have time. Put that in between teaching and disAbility/ Accessibility readings.
Today, I've centered on Sun and Jonathan Schwartz. After watching two conference presentations, I am now watching his VLog. I can't really enunciate or speak clearly about what I'm learning; I feel much more like I am getting oriented to the situation. I've also been exposed to the ideas of Open Storage and at Open Networks.
I do not really know why I am watching this material, but my gut tells me to pay attention and it seems critical to understanding the engines through which information is filtered and flows.
Everything else aside, this stuff fascinates me.
Today, I've centered on Sun and Jonathan Schwartz. After watching two conference presentations, I am now watching his VLog. I can't really enunciate or speak clearly about what I'm learning; I feel much more like I am getting oriented to the situation. I've also been exposed to the ideas of Open Storage and at Open Networks.
I do not really know why I am watching this material, but my gut tells me to pay attention and it seems critical to understanding the engines through which information is filtered and flows.
Everything else aside, this stuff fascinates me.
Notes about various kinds of clouds from Schwartz talk
most basic: Infrastructure as a service cloud [you must own or be building an operating system] (amazon)
more advanced: Platform as a service
Portability gets lost (google/facebook)
currently going strong: Application as a service (CRM)
unified computing:
convergence of computing, networking, and storage
"free penetrates every marketplace" (near quote)
sun.com/cloud
cloud computing at wikipedia
network theory at wikipedia
"There's a network of clouds in your future."
more advanced: Platform as a service
Portability gets lost (google/facebook)
currently going strong: Application as a service (CRM)
unified computing:
convergence of computing, networking, and storage
"free penetrates every marketplace" (near quote)
sun.com/cloud
cloud computing at wikipedia
network theory at wikipedia
"There's a network of clouds in your future."
Caucus Notes
Caucus ADAPT article
Obama gets a D for disability rights
Floundering on who takes leadership role
Community Choice Act: pays to insitutionalize and pay for same level of care in people's homes
People from all over the nation: circa 500
Living in community is healthier
After arrest of 99, stair crawl
Potential alliance between SEIU, a home care union: desire for living wages for home care workers
Caucus: Stumps' Club
Multiple short videos/excerpts
Images largely focus on young females
A number of the videos center on the fitting of prostheses?
Attractive LHD:
what /why of the naming of video? Why/how videotaped
Narrative at the end: first person discussion
Sak female amputee at the beach:
Made no sense
Laura McClure
"You're given your leg"
Anne Quadamp female :
Footage of her in home
Horrible audio
What is the point of this channel?
Marissa Strock DBK
Female veteran
Horrible audio
News story--personal narrative
Positive views of medicine
Liane: a legless & armless amputee
Just shows the fitting of legs
Rehab of Pinter Timea
Dramatic/emo music in story
Non-US representation
Multiple short videos/excerpts
Images largely focus on young females
A number of the videos center on the fitting of prostheses?
Attractive LHD:
what /why of the naming of video? Why/how videotaped
Narrative at the end: first person discussion
Sak female amputee at the beach:
Made no sense
Laura McClure
"You're given your leg"
Anne Quadamp female :
Footage of her in home
Horrible audio
What is the point of this channel?
Marissa Strock DBK
Female veteran
Horrible audio
News story--personal narrative
Positive views of medicine
Liane: a legless & armless amputee
Just shows the fitting of legs
Rehab of Pinter Timea
Dramatic/emo music in story
Non-US representation
World Disability Day Rally II
Speaking in English
Signer is present--in what language is the signing
Frustration over no action
"A few more balloons, some banners?"
"Who are we trying to fool?"
"We are going to do what we can?"
Summoning/ appealing to others to come to Delhi from Jaipur, Bangalore, or wherever
"Take the trouble, take the ownership…"
"The time has come for the disabled people…the time has come to take ownership. We have got these tools…"
This is one of the most convincing and persuasive calls to activism I have seen in a number of years. Excellent rhetoric; powerful Ethos; concise presentation; solid vocabulary/diction.
Wants to ask all the political parties specific and critical questions and get answers with specific time frames.
Obama gets a D for disability rights
Floundering on who takes leadership role
Community Choice Act: pays to insitutionalize and pay for same level of care in people's homes
People from all over the nation: circa 500
Living in community is healthier
After arrest of 99, stair crawl
Potential alliance between SEIU, a home care union: desire for living wages for home care workers
Caucus: Stumps' Club
Multiple short videos/excerpts
Images largely focus on young females
A number of the videos center on the fitting of prostheses?
Attractive LHD:
what /why of the naming of video? Why/how videotaped
Narrative at the end: first person discussion
Sak female amputee at the beach:
Made no sense
Laura McClure
"You're given your leg"
Anne Quadamp female :
Footage of her in home
Horrible audio
What is the point of this channel?
Marissa Strock DBK
Female veteran
Horrible audio
News story--personal narrative
Positive views of medicine
Liane: a legless & armless amputee
Just shows the fitting of legs
Rehab of Pinter Timea
Dramatic/emo music in story
Non-US representation
Multiple short videos/excerpts
Images largely focus on young females
A number of the videos center on the fitting of prostheses?
Attractive LHD:
what /why of the naming of video? Why/how videotaped
Narrative at the end: first person discussion
Sak female amputee at the beach:
Made no sense
Laura McClure
"You're given your leg"
Anne Quadamp female :
Footage of her in home
Horrible audio
What is the point of this channel?
Marissa Strock DBK
Female veteran
Horrible audio
News story--personal narrative
Positive views of medicine
Liane: a legless & armless amputee
Just shows the fitting of legs
Rehab of Pinter Timea
Dramatic/emo music in story
Non-US representation
World Disability Day Rally II
Speaking in English
Signer is present--in what language is the signing
Frustration over no action
"A few more balloons, some banners?"
"Who are we trying to fool?"
"We are going to do what we can?"
Summoning/ appealing to others to come to Delhi from Jaipur, Bangalore, or wherever
"Take the trouble, take the ownership…"
"The time has come for the disabled people…the time has come to take ownership. We have got these tools…"
This is one of the most convincing and persuasive calls to activism I have seen in a number of years. Excellent rhetoric; powerful Ethos; concise presentation; solid vocabulary/diction.
Wants to ask all the political parties specific and critical questions and get answers with specific time frames.
Caucus Handout
Zobel Caucus
Social Model of Disability
June 15, 2009
Related Course Readings: DSR Ch2. 14, 16, 18
General Questions/Topics from Readings:
How are disability activists representing themselves online in words and image?
How do the specific artifacts mirror or differ from the models we read about for this week?
What similarities or differences can be seen between first-world (USA) and second-world (India) disability activism?
Groups:
1: Kim, Jessica, Lora, gz
2: Diane, Debra, Christine, Sean
Before going forward or reading/viewing the materials, please:
Review all readings (obviously), but pay close attention to Charlton’s discussions of class. Please think about/brainstorm around ideas of class, class privilege, and how those privileges are expressed in the experience of the disabled and non-disabled. Then, please consider how these same privileges impact the disabled and poor in non-first world countries that have no government support for the disabled. Finally, rather than focus on the identity, remember Siebers’ emphasis on the body and reread the Wade quote he cites on 179.
Activity 1
Both Groups:
Tom Shakespeare, in Chapter 16 of DSR, presents the basic pros and cons of the social model of disability. In brief, the social model of disability is that disability is something that society and culture impose upon people who have physical impairments—this disability prevents people with impairments from fully participating in their culture and society (198).
Here is a heuristic from Shakespeare’s pros and cons (199-202):
Strengths Weaknesses
Politically Effective Neglect of the significance of impairment on people’s lives
Identifies social barriers to remove Assumes that disabled people are oppressed
Psychologically effective—improves self-esteem “crude distinction between impairment (medical) and disability (social)” (201)
Utopian ideal of barrier free society
How does the following representation match up with the strengths and weaknesses as put forth by Shakespeare?
Disability activists in DC this past April
http://www.adapt.org/freeourpeople/cca09/report04.htm
To Prepare for Class:
Review the Heuristic
Read the article
In Class:
There should be a little discussion of this during group work; however, activity is designed for an all-class discussion. After we discuss this as a group, it will lead into activity 2.
Activity 2
In Chapter 18 of DSR, James Charlton discusses class and hegemony. Near the end of his piece, he writes, “Television shows depicting the helpless and angry cripple as a counterpoint to a poignant story about love or redemeption… Most despicable are the telethons “for” crippled people, especially, poor, pathetic, crippled children. These telethons parade young children in front of the camera while celebrities like Jerry Lewis pander to people’s goodwill and pity to get their money. In the United States surveys have shown that more people form attitudes about disabilities from telethons than from any other source” (225).
Group 1: Kim, Jessica, Lora, gz (both groups, please read and view the video)
This is a link to a disability activists’ rallying call in India. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ldg0Vkz5X8
When considering the benefits of class and privilege, it is vital to recognize that globalization and economic policies as well as activism have impacts around the globe. That is why I chose this video—how does it mirror modes of activism we have read about? What can we learn from the video? What does it mean that the activists are speaking in English?
Some additional questions to consider:
Where does this fit into the social model of disability and the activism we have read about?
How does the specific video or video channel your group is to review specifically challenge hegemony? Does it unintentionally reinforce hegemony?
What kind of consciousness or awareness of disability does it promote?
Group 2: Diane, Debra, Christine, Sean (both groups, please read and view the video)
Go to YouTube. Find user: stumpsclub.
Or, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/stumpsclub
Review two or three videos there. What is your response?
How is this person treating/representing disability?
What reifications of class and/or gender are represented?
How does the specific video or video channel your group is to review specifically challenge hegemony? Does it unintentionally refinforce hegemony?
What kind of consciousness or awareness of disability does it promote.
What, if any, connections are made to bodies and the pleasure or pain that bodies experience?
Do you regard this material empowering?
Social Model of Disability
June 15, 2009
Related Course Readings: DSR Ch2. 14, 16, 18
General Questions/Topics from Readings:
How are disability activists representing themselves online in words and image?
How do the specific artifacts mirror or differ from the models we read about for this week?
What similarities or differences can be seen between first-world (USA) and second-world (India) disability activism?
Groups:
1: Kim, Jessica, Lora, gz
2: Diane, Debra, Christine, Sean
Before going forward or reading/viewing the materials, please:
Review all readings (obviously), but pay close attention to Charlton’s discussions of class. Please think about/brainstorm around ideas of class, class privilege, and how those privileges are expressed in the experience of the disabled and non-disabled. Then, please consider how these same privileges impact the disabled and poor in non-first world countries that have no government support for the disabled. Finally, rather than focus on the identity, remember Siebers’ emphasis on the body and reread the Wade quote he cites on 179.
Activity 1
Both Groups:
Tom Shakespeare, in Chapter 16 of DSR, presents the basic pros and cons of the social model of disability. In brief, the social model of disability is that disability is something that society and culture impose upon people who have physical impairments—this disability prevents people with impairments from fully participating in their culture and society (198).
Here is a heuristic from Shakespeare’s pros and cons (199-202):
Strengths Weaknesses
Politically Effective Neglect of the significance of impairment on people’s lives
Identifies social barriers to remove Assumes that disabled people are oppressed
Psychologically effective—improves self-esteem “crude distinction between impairment (medical) and disability (social)” (201)
Utopian ideal of barrier free society
How does the following representation match up with the strengths and weaknesses as put forth by Shakespeare?
Disability activists in DC this past April
http://www.adapt.org/freeourpeople/cca09/report04.htm
To Prepare for Class:
Review the Heuristic
Read the article
In Class:
There should be a little discussion of this during group work; however, activity is designed for an all-class discussion. After we discuss this as a group, it will lead into activity 2.
Activity 2
In Chapter 18 of DSR, James Charlton discusses class and hegemony. Near the end of his piece, he writes, “Television shows depicting the helpless and angry cripple as a counterpoint to a poignant story about love or redemeption… Most despicable are the telethons “for” crippled people, especially, poor, pathetic, crippled children. These telethons parade young children in front of the camera while celebrities like Jerry Lewis pander to people’s goodwill and pity to get their money. In the United States surveys have shown that more people form attitudes about disabilities from telethons than from any other source” (225).
Group 1: Kim, Jessica, Lora, gz (both groups, please read and view the video)
This is a link to a disability activists’ rallying call in India. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ldg0Vkz5X8
When considering the benefits of class and privilege, it is vital to recognize that globalization and economic policies as well as activism have impacts around the globe. That is why I chose this video—how does it mirror modes of activism we have read about? What can we learn from the video? What does it mean that the activists are speaking in English?
Some additional questions to consider:
Where does this fit into the social model of disability and the activism we have read about?
How does the specific video or video channel your group is to review specifically challenge hegemony? Does it unintentionally reinforce hegemony?
What kind of consciousness or awareness of disability does it promote?
Group 2: Diane, Debra, Christine, Sean (both groups, please read and view the video)
Go to YouTube. Find user: stumpsclub.
Or, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/stumpsclub
Review two or three videos there. What is your response?
How is this person treating/representing disability?
What reifications of class and/or gender are represented?
How does the specific video or video channel your group is to review specifically challenge hegemony? Does it unintentionally refinforce hegemony?
What kind of consciousness or awareness of disability does it promote.
What, if any, connections are made to bodies and the pleasure or pain that bodies experience?
Do you regard this material empowering?
Accessible Bodies, Usable Bodies
More Textual Free Flow
This past May, I went through usability. One of the nice parts about usability was that there were actual users who went through and tested the text, the website, etc. Since I'm reading the accessibility material, I keep seeing parallels between usability and accessibility, and I really don't think that the two strands can be easily separated. Just like I think the break between disability studies and accessibility is artificial. Seems like a huge statement, I know, and I can be stomped for saying it, but I do not believe any theory worth its salt can be parted from practice, and I don't believe that any real or meaningful practice is without theory.
Back to usable Bodies. I wonder if we cannot draw from the manufacturing and/or testing process which designs ramps, wheel chairs, and other gear for disabled folks to find out exactly what their heuristics and criteria are for disabled bodies. That would be interesting to examine in and of itself. I think that could potentially be very instructive, not just in terms of rhetorically analyzing the representation of bodies and the discourse around disabilities, but the actual representation and expectations--the limits and pass fail points--for the bodies.
What happens when we see how these things are described? What is a bodily failure? How much can or will the flesh be forced or compressed in order to fit in the tool that is supposed to enable the flesh? How much of the physical identity must be compromised in order to be capable?
Has anyone ever done readings/discourse about shit/piss bags? That's crude, but how many hundreds of thousands of people endure the use of them? How are they designed? Are they even intended to be usable? Or are they simply a form of device that is created to suit the needs of the medical providers so that their task is easier? I don't know, but bodily fluids/releases are a very basic function practiced by everyone, and thus, it seems, that it could be a base line measure for comparing other practices.
This emphasis/centering on the body--and the generation or analysis of usability tenets--fascinates me. Then again, I'm totally obsessed at the moment with theory.
What I'd really like to find out is just how much of the criteria can be shared between usability and accessibility and between texts and flesh. Where is the heart of those four circles in a Venn diagram? What do they all share?
This past May, I went through usability. One of the nice parts about usability was that there were actual users who went through and tested the text, the website, etc. Since I'm reading the accessibility material, I keep seeing parallels between usability and accessibility, and I really don't think that the two strands can be easily separated. Just like I think the break between disability studies and accessibility is artificial. Seems like a huge statement, I know, and I can be stomped for saying it, but I do not believe any theory worth its salt can be parted from practice, and I don't believe that any real or meaningful practice is without theory.
Back to usable Bodies. I wonder if we cannot draw from the manufacturing and/or testing process which designs ramps, wheel chairs, and other gear for disabled folks to find out exactly what their heuristics and criteria are for disabled bodies. That would be interesting to examine in and of itself. I think that could potentially be very instructive, not just in terms of rhetorically analyzing the representation of bodies and the discourse around disabilities, but the actual representation and expectations--the limits and pass fail points--for the bodies.
What happens when we see how these things are described? What is a bodily failure? How much can or will the flesh be forced or compressed in order to fit in the tool that is supposed to enable the flesh? How much of the physical identity must be compromised in order to be capable?
Has anyone ever done readings/discourse about shit/piss bags? That's crude, but how many hundreds of thousands of people endure the use of them? How are they designed? Are they even intended to be usable? Or are they simply a form of device that is created to suit the needs of the medical providers so that their task is easier? I don't know, but bodily fluids/releases are a very basic function practiced by everyone, and thus, it seems, that it could be a base line measure for comparing other practices.
This emphasis/centering on the body--and the generation or analysis of usability tenets--fascinates me. Then again, I'm totally obsessed at the moment with theory.
What I'd really like to find out is just how much of the criteria can be shared between usability and accessibility and between texts and flesh. Where is the heart of those four circles in a Venn diagram? What do they all share?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Foucault & Open Source
Read Foucault today--first chunks of History of Sexuality. It is easier and more engaging than I thought, and it takes a different tone than I recalled. This will be way more fun than I remembered Foucault being.
Talked to Caleb Cypher, better said I learned from him, at Mosgo's about open source and complexity theory. Good stuff. Reloaded the Ubuntu 9.04 on my Eee I was so persuaded. I hope to upload the Open Solaris system on my laptop here in the next couple days. Some brilliant ideas and approaches to computing. I think I finally have a bit of a handle on the value of open source. Plus I saw how blazing fast linux is to the Windows OS on the Eee. Wow. That's all I can say.
I am really excited about what this can potentially mean, especially from what little I understand about the ZFS file management system. I barely got a grip today, but it sounds great. Plus, there's a lot for me to still learn about complexity theory and systems thinking. Solid stuff!
Talked to Caleb Cypher, better said I learned from him, at Mosgo's about open source and complexity theory. Good stuff. Reloaded the Ubuntu 9.04 on my Eee I was so persuaded. I hope to upload the Open Solaris system on my laptop here in the next couple days. Some brilliant ideas and approaches to computing. I think I finally have a bit of a handle on the value of open source. Plus I saw how blazing fast linux is to the Windows OS on the Eee. Wow. That's all I can say.
I am really excited about what this can potentially mean, especially from what little I understand about the ZFS file management system. I barely got a grip today, but it sounds great. Plus, there's a lot for me to still learn about complexity theory and systems thinking. Solid stuff!
Susan Sontag's Illness & Disability
I wanted to use Sontag in my Monday caucus, but there's not enough room/time. She reminded me of how much I love theory.
These are free-flow drafts to play with ideas and get a sense of the landscape.
Sontag, Susan Illness as Metaphor
1989 Anchor Books
3
"My point is not physical illness itself but the uses of illness as a figure or metaphor. My point is that illness is not a metaphor, and that the most truthful way of regarding illness--and the healthiest way of being ill--is one most purified of, most resistant to, metaphoric thinking."
7
"The solution is hardly to stop telling cancer patients the truth, but to rectify the conception of the disease, to de-mythicize it."
I love this, and it seems like this is potential approach to handling and working with disA in a meaningful and healthy way to approach it. It also provides a way for non-disA folks to engage with the content in potentially meaningful ways.
Engage and discuss it, and you take away the stigma from it. Look at ads for Erectile Dysfunction: who in the 1970s would have thought a Senator would or could run an ad for ED? And it happened in the 90s. Why not assume we can have the same approach , but in a useful way, towards disA where a frank discussion is designed to lower the stigma and emotional gutting which terms like this often cause?
AIDS and Its Metaphors
1989 Anchor Books
100
"Twelve years ago, when I became a cancer patient, what particularly enraged me--and distracted me from my own terror and despair at my doctors' gloomy prognosis--was seeing how much the very reputation of this illness added to the suffering of those who have it."
How much of this do we see in disability? This mirrors much of the discussion about self-image disempowerment, etc. [I don't have my DSR or my notes with me, else I'd name drop] that we've read about. The very reputation of disability, the very power of the word changes how we deal with people.
Similar with passing--for disability or queerness, and now for health. We can't let people know that we're sick. We do not even want to name it. If we do, then we summon up all the power that is associated with it.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why people are constantly changing names for disorders, diseases, and social problems--they are constantly trying to shift, to dodge, to avoid the stigma and associations that are connected to a specific word or intention.
119
"From the beginning the construction of the illness had depended upon on notions that separated one group of people from another--the sick from the well, people with ARc from people with AIdS, them and us--while implying the imminent dissolution of these distinctions."
Again, substitute in disability for illness, and how much difference is there? The domination of medicalization is incredible.
133
"The most feared diseases, those that are not simply fatal but transform the body into something alienating, like leprosy and syphilis and cholera and (in the imagination of many) cancer, are the ones that seem particularly susceptible to promotion to "plague.""
I wonder if we could take this short text and then explore how people react with they see disabled folks in chairs, having seizures, or with bodies that act outside of their control. As one of the DSR readings quoted an author, these are not just issues of interpretation or perception, these are very real physical things that happen to bodies--and it is is not deniable. And it impacts the disabled significantly, not just in social ways, emotions, or humiliation, or enduring paternalism. Instead, there is the very real experience of a convulsion, lost limb, or what have you.
How much of our disabling of those with impairments is rejection of the potential that such things could happen to us--our bodies could rebel, act autonomously, and force us to rely on caregivers in order to take care of basic needs?
These are free-flow drafts to play with ideas and get a sense of the landscape.
Sontag, Susan Illness as Metaphor
1989 Anchor Books
3
"My point is not physical illness itself but the uses of illness as a figure or metaphor. My point is that illness is not a metaphor, and that the most truthful way of regarding illness--and the healthiest way of being ill--is one most purified of, most resistant to, metaphoric thinking."
7
"The solution is hardly to stop telling cancer patients the truth, but to rectify the conception of the disease, to de-mythicize it."
I love this, and it seems like this is potential approach to handling and working with disA in a meaningful and healthy way to approach it. It also provides a way for non-disA folks to engage with the content in potentially meaningful ways.
Engage and discuss it, and you take away the stigma from it. Look at ads for Erectile Dysfunction: who in the 1970s would have thought a Senator would or could run an ad for ED? And it happened in the 90s. Why not assume we can have the same approach , but in a useful way, towards disA where a frank discussion is designed to lower the stigma and emotional gutting which terms like this often cause?
AIDS and Its Metaphors
1989 Anchor Books
100
"Twelve years ago, when I became a cancer patient, what particularly enraged me--and distracted me from my own terror and despair at my doctors' gloomy prognosis--was seeing how much the very reputation of this illness added to the suffering of those who have it."
How much of this do we see in disability? This mirrors much of the discussion about self-image disempowerment, etc. [I don't have my DSR or my notes with me, else I'd name drop] that we've read about. The very reputation of disability, the very power of the word changes how we deal with people.
Similar with passing--for disability or queerness, and now for health. We can't let people know that we're sick. We do not even want to name it. If we do, then we summon up all the power that is associated with it.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why people are constantly changing names for disorders, diseases, and social problems--they are constantly trying to shift, to dodge, to avoid the stigma and associations that are connected to a specific word or intention.
119
"From the beginning the construction of the illness had depended upon on notions that separated one group of people from another--the sick from the well, people with ARc from people with AIdS, them and us--while implying the imminent dissolution of these distinctions."
Again, substitute in disability for illness, and how much difference is there? The domination of medicalization is incredible.
133
"The most feared diseases, those that are not simply fatal but transform the body into something alienating, like leprosy and syphilis and cholera and (in the imagination of many) cancer, are the ones that seem particularly susceptible to promotion to "plague.""
I wonder if we could take this short text and then explore how people react with they see disabled folks in chairs, having seizures, or with bodies that act outside of their control. As one of the DSR readings quoted an author, these are not just issues of interpretation or perception, these are very real physical things that happen to bodies--and it is is not deniable. And it impacts the disabled significantly, not just in social ways, emotions, or humiliation, or enduring paternalism. Instead, there is the very real experience of a convulsion, lost limb, or what have you.
How much of our disabling of those with impairments is rejection of the potential that such things could happen to us--our bodies could rebel, act autonomously, and force us to rely on caregivers in order to take care of basic needs?
Friday, June 12, 2009
Accessibility Project Brainstorming
My brain is rushing again. After a few days with the parents, which were good, I've been thinking about accessibility and physical training, but I've not been able to write or get much done. Forty-five minutes here and thirty minutes there. Anyhow, it's been nice having some time to write and think.
I am a bit frustrated because my searches for closed captioning are turning up squat at Google. I'm sure this is my lack of proper or specific terms. I am attempting to find specific details about the populations which use closed captioning. I also want to know what percentage of sports and physical training videos offer closed captioning. Finally, I am attempting to locate coaches and trainers who train athletes and clients via video over the web. All of this is information for the grist mill which is my brain.
I'm still looking for that information.
In the mean time, here's a rough idea for a final project: create a video appeal to commercial producers of physical and sports training videos--especially those who use YouTube, etc., to post samples of their training videos as sales comeons--to present their material in accessible formats. The video should be a concise, clean, and clear positioning of the arguments for closed captioning--and it should be tightly constructed. The rest of the final project would be a discussion of the rhetorical tools used in the video, how I appealed to what for the specific audience (ethos, etc.), and then why and how I constructed the accessibility of the video. The video would obviously be closed captioned and have an attached script. If there was time and motivation, perhaps even include the extended notes? We'll see.
But first, I need some numbers and data, and I cannot seem to find them. Searching sloppy style, I guess. Need to improve that.
The theoretical backing for this has several bases. First, the very nature of practice in much of Disability Studies is that academic research and discussion is a form of activism--while arguable, it is a potential position. By referring to self in the process as non-disabled, that would center the disabled instead of the "able" bodied. Third, I can position the call for the material not just to benefit people with disabilities, but that it benefits numerous users, and I can cite common YouTube and other social video sharing problems (bad volume, lack of clarity, etc.). I think one of the key points is to indicate that this is a largely untapped market with already huge sales--if 15% of the population is disabled, how much of a market is not being tapped?
How do I even locate the total sales of physical training videos, information products, or web based materials? I'm not used to researching businesses, so I'm not quite sure how to approach that angle.
Here's a side note: if we're so interested in shutting down sports, art, music, and "electives" in school, why doesn't the public at least demand that school districts or the federal government provide a specific amount of web-based education for children. This way, parents could attempt to expose their children to this kind of education at home or at libraries, and then the children would at least receive some exposure. I am not suggesting that distance or web based training can fully replace the in-person educational experience, but it would at least provide some form of public education for children. And if this project is currently underway, then what is needed to publicize or increase the interactive nature or appeal of educational web material for children?
I think even has potential for the US Gov't, or state gov't, to sponsor state and/or national fitness by providing very simple, clear, and safe exercises on a regular basis to the public through official sites.
I am a bit frustrated because my searches for closed captioning are turning up squat at Google. I'm sure this is my lack of proper or specific terms. I am attempting to find specific details about the populations which use closed captioning. I also want to know what percentage of sports and physical training videos offer closed captioning. Finally, I am attempting to locate coaches and trainers who train athletes and clients via video over the web. All of this is information for the grist mill which is my brain.
I'm still looking for that information.
In the mean time, here's a rough idea for a final project: create a video appeal to commercial producers of physical and sports training videos--especially those who use YouTube, etc., to post samples of their training videos as sales comeons--to present their material in accessible formats. The video should be a concise, clean, and clear positioning of the arguments for closed captioning--and it should be tightly constructed. The rest of the final project would be a discussion of the rhetorical tools used in the video, how I appealed to what for the specific audience (ethos, etc.), and then why and how I constructed the accessibility of the video. The video would obviously be closed captioned and have an attached script. If there was time and motivation, perhaps even include the extended notes? We'll see.
But first, I need some numbers and data, and I cannot seem to find them. Searching sloppy style, I guess. Need to improve that.
The theoretical backing for this has several bases. First, the very nature of practice in much of Disability Studies is that academic research and discussion is a form of activism--while arguable, it is a potential position. By referring to self in the process as non-disabled, that would center the disabled instead of the "able" bodied. Third, I can position the call for the material not just to benefit people with disabilities, but that it benefits numerous users, and I can cite common YouTube and other social video sharing problems (bad volume, lack of clarity, etc.). I think one of the key points is to indicate that this is a largely untapped market with already huge sales--if 15% of the population is disabled, how much of a market is not being tapped?
How do I even locate the total sales of physical training videos, information products, or web based materials? I'm not used to researching businesses, so I'm not quite sure how to approach that angle.
Here's a side note: if we're so interested in shutting down sports, art, music, and "electives" in school, why doesn't the public at least demand that school districts or the federal government provide a specific amount of web-based education for children. This way, parents could attempt to expose their children to this kind of education at home or at libraries, and then the children would at least receive some exposure. I am not suggesting that distance or web based training can fully replace the in-person educational experience, but it would at least provide some form of public education for children. And if this project is currently underway, then what is needed to publicize or increase the interactive nature or appeal of educational web material for children?
I think even has potential for the US Gov't, or state gov't, to sponsor state and/or national fitness by providing very simple, clear, and safe exercises on a regular basis to the public through official sites.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Jonah Syndrome @ YouTube: Part 2
More accessibility related videos at YouTube without captions.
Yet again, Google Tech Talks. This looks like a great solution, but there's not captioning...
Great Video of User with Easy You Tube--No Captions
Thunder Screen Reader: Interesting Project, No Captions
Experience JAWS, No Captions
It seems ironic or depressing that the screen readers, which are for the blind, do not incorporate accessibility for people with hearing disabilities. I am not sure what that means.
Video about a network marketer & how she uses a screen reader; still, no captions
Text Resizing, No Captions
Google's Eye-Free Android Presentation, No Captions (from June 2)
Yet again, Google Tech Talks. This looks like a great solution, but there's not captioning...
Great Video of User with Easy You Tube--No Captions
Thunder Screen Reader: Interesting Project, No Captions
Experience JAWS, No Captions
It seems ironic or depressing that the screen readers, which are for the blind, do not incorporate accessibility for people with hearing disabilities. I am not sure what that means.
Video about a network marketer & how she uses a screen reader; still, no captions
Text Resizing, No Captions
Google's Eye-Free Android Presentation, No Captions (from June 2)
Jonah Syndrome @ YouTube: A Start
Jonah Syndrome Videos About Web Accessibility at YouTube without captioning:
Usability is spelled wrong as well... from UC Berkeley
Why is there another GoogleTechTalk that is not captioned?
Great Video on HTML Headings but No Captions
Finally! Some Subtitles! Thanks, EU!
Usability is spelled wrong as well... from UC Berkeley
Why is there another GoogleTechTalk that is not captioned?
Great Video on HTML Headings but No Captions
Finally! Some Subtitles! Thanks, EU!
Bodyweight Experiment
I've been checking out Sonnon's system for the past couple days. Watched scores of the videos, and I've been thinking/reading about accessibility as well.
Then, yesterday, my buddy Jeremy reminded me of the importance of instructors and students (see my earlier post)--something I'd been forgetting. So I started watching videos by various RMAX instructors--see their fitness, their quality, and watch their methodologies. In that process, I came across Bodyweight Exercise Revolution. I bought it today for $47 for several reasons. First, I like spending money on training materials. Second, I wanted to see the quality of material which Sonnon's coaches and overall company, RMAX and CST, produced. That is, are they able to maintain a consistent presentation, quality, and them throughout their materials. As BER is based upon a Sonnon process, the 4x7, and the BER is written by two of Sonnon's coaches, I wanted to see how well they took the process and presented it. Step one is to work through the BER and see how clear and viable I think it is (personal & subjective). Second step is, if I like it, compare it to the original 4x7 system--does it maintain and/or improve on the foundational principles. Third, and most importantly, does it deliver. Fourth, I've had prior experience working with bodyweight exercises, and I wanted to compare that workout to the BER approach.
Please note: I provide links not to promote the services, nor do I earn a commission. Instead, they are so people can see, with ease, exactly what I'm talking about. Second, I find it very important for my mental health and academic success to be invested in my research. This means I like to be engaged somehow with the materials. As I am currently working on accessibility and the web, and web training interests me, this seems like a great way to bridge those interests.
I am not really sure how this biases me in my research. I definitely see this approach as activist or engaged research, and that seems to be a consistent thread in the disability studies (I forget where this is mentioned in the DSR). In some ways, I do not care because I know that I would not be involved if I did not care--I would not be writing this if I didn't see my self, my people, my family, and my friends benefiting from this work and research. I just cannot approach my doctoral work or classes without some way of leveraging my own personal interests, goals, and investment.
Some of this reminds me of Dr. Rickly's May Seminar presentation where she spoke about the value of lived experience and including that in research methodologies and/or as evidence. While lived experience is not just the evidence I am seeking, lived experience and its subjective value is what drives my research and motivates the questions I ask. As such, it seems that much of research--engaged research--is very subjective because of the researchers' personal interests. Then again, I know that not all researchers are personally invested.
When I started this course, I thought I would focus on the vision/sight issues centered around macular degeneration because my family has a history of it. Great way to learn about tools useful to my family, and it has been educational. But, once again, training took over--and marketing. I love looking at the marketing of training, and I wish I had thousands to drop to acquire products for analysis. Alas, I don't think the state wants to support that research agenda. In the mean time, I like the freedom that doctoral course research allows me, and I like the demands/expectations. It guarantees that I will learn a lot, and I'll learn a lot of things about materials which interest me.
There are few things cooler than learning!
Then, yesterday, my buddy Jeremy reminded me of the importance of instructors and students (see my earlier post)--something I'd been forgetting. So I started watching videos by various RMAX instructors--see their fitness, their quality, and watch their methodologies. In that process, I came across Bodyweight Exercise Revolution. I bought it today for $47 for several reasons. First, I like spending money on training materials. Second, I wanted to see the quality of material which Sonnon's coaches and overall company, RMAX and CST, produced. That is, are they able to maintain a consistent presentation, quality, and them throughout their materials. As BER is based upon a Sonnon process, the 4x7, and the BER is written by two of Sonnon's coaches, I wanted to see how well they took the process and presented it. Step one is to work through the BER and see how clear and viable I think it is (personal & subjective). Second step is, if I like it, compare it to the original 4x7 system--does it maintain and/or improve on the foundational principles. Third, and most importantly, does it deliver. Fourth, I've had prior experience working with bodyweight exercises, and I wanted to compare that workout to the BER approach.
Please note: I provide links not to promote the services, nor do I earn a commission. Instead, they are so people can see, with ease, exactly what I'm talking about. Second, I find it very important for my mental health and academic success to be invested in my research. This means I like to be engaged somehow with the materials. As I am currently working on accessibility and the web, and web training interests me, this seems like a great way to bridge those interests.
I am not really sure how this biases me in my research. I definitely see this approach as activist or engaged research, and that seems to be a consistent thread in the disability studies (I forget where this is mentioned in the DSR). In some ways, I do not care because I know that I would not be involved if I did not care--I would not be writing this if I didn't see my self, my people, my family, and my friends benefiting from this work and research. I just cannot approach my doctoral work or classes without some way of leveraging my own personal interests, goals, and investment.
Some of this reminds me of Dr. Rickly's May Seminar presentation where she spoke about the value of lived experience and including that in research methodologies and/or as evidence. While lived experience is not just the evidence I am seeking, lived experience and its subjective value is what drives my research and motivates the questions I ask. As such, it seems that much of research--engaged research--is very subjective because of the researchers' personal interests. Then again, I know that not all researchers are personally invested.
When I started this course, I thought I would focus on the vision/sight issues centered around macular degeneration because my family has a history of it. Great way to learn about tools useful to my family, and it has been educational. But, once again, training took over--and marketing. I love looking at the marketing of training, and I wish I had thousands to drop to acquire products for analysis. Alas, I don't think the state wants to support that research agenda. In the mean time, I like the freedom that doctoral course research allows me, and I like the demands/expectations. It guarantees that I will learn a lot, and I'll learn a lot of things about materials which interest me.
There are few things cooler than learning!
PhDs & Physical Training
I've been thinking a lot about physical training and PhD work lately. Shock, I know. For the past couple years, I've trained at several different schools, and the teachers at all the schools were highly competent. The difference came with their students. At one school, the students never seemed to progress past a certain point. At another school, the students seemed to make regular progress--and some even excelled.
It may sound naive, but training under a guru or master or black belt who can't teach is pointless. What they can do is impressive, but I want to make sure that I can do it as well. If I just want to watch quality moves, I can turn on YouTube. So, at this point in my life, if I'm looking for training from teachers or buying materials, I am not just interested in what the guru or primary instructor can do. There are lots of gifted people who can do incredible things. As a student, I want to see how his lower level instructors are doing, I want to see how his students are doing, and I'd like to get a sense of the progress they make. If a teacher has students that regularly progress and improve, yes! I'm there. And I think the teacher should emphasize those students' achievements, for they are also demonstrations of the instructor's teaching abilities. And, that helps sell me.
One of the reasons I applied to TTU, and didn't think I would get in, was the placement record of their graduates and the publication records of their faculty. It was obvious that faculty remained engaged, and it was clear that the graduates were obtaining consistent and quality places in the market. To me, that is an indication that the faculty are not just good at research and good at what they do, but that they are also capable of training quality tech comm folks for the market and for academia.
Regardless of intellectual or physical training, I want to learn from people who can not just do things, and do them well, but can train others to exactly the same high level of quality of thinking, writing, and moving. This demonstrates a commitment to the tradition and development of the intellect and body.
It may sound naive, but training under a guru or master or black belt who can't teach is pointless. What they can do is impressive, but I want to make sure that I can do it as well. If I just want to watch quality moves, I can turn on YouTube. So, at this point in my life, if I'm looking for training from teachers or buying materials, I am not just interested in what the guru or primary instructor can do. There are lots of gifted people who can do incredible things. As a student, I want to see how his lower level instructors are doing, I want to see how his students are doing, and I'd like to get a sense of the progress they make. If a teacher has students that regularly progress and improve, yes! I'm there. And I think the teacher should emphasize those students' achievements, for they are also demonstrations of the instructor's teaching abilities. And, that helps sell me.
One of the reasons I applied to TTU, and didn't think I would get in, was the placement record of their graduates and the publication records of their faculty. It was obvious that faculty remained engaged, and it was clear that the graduates were obtaining consistent and quality places in the market. To me, that is an indication that the faculty are not just good at research and good at what they do, but that they are also capable of training quality tech comm folks for the market and for academia.
Regardless of intellectual or physical training, I want to learn from people who can not just do things, and do them well, but can train others to exactly the same high level of quality of thinking, writing, and moving. This demonstrates a commitment to the tradition and development of the intellect and body.
5386 Web Accessibility & Disability Studies & Training
These are loose ideas floating in my mind. It's a cocktail of free-running, disability theory, YouTube, flexibility training, and my quest for a dissertation topic and a high-paying consulting gig that makes training accessible to more people.
Signed up for Zdenek's class based on his May Seminar presentation: the potentials for research and practical applications in the field seem pretty amazing.
Started the readings, and I've been unable to silence my mind: so many connections. After May Seminar, my training routine was shot. It's been hard getting started, so I returned to Parkour vids (they spark my passion). With the web accessibility class, though, I started looking: virtually none have closed captioning--and many of these have no sound.
This past week, as my training has been getting back to normal--flexibility, running, TKD forms--I've been looking for more stuff. One locus I found was Sonnon's work. Good stuff, especially the relations to flow and parkour. Sonnon's system gets a good write up from Parkour Generations' Dan Edwardes.
Over the past couple days, I've been trying out quietube and accessible twitter, and I like them both better than the originals. They are cleaner and easier to use. Even better, they make my life easy. This leaves me asking, where is accessible training? If I had hearing issues, or a video is poorly made, how could I learn if I can't hear what is said?
A lot of the spirit of Parkour and free-running is about sharing moves, teaching ideas, and expressing your body to its optimum. If the sites, if the videos, if the training is open to that, then it is excluding folks. Of course, you cannot make every move or item open to every single person or disability--that's not possible--however, by simply adding captions or text with muzzy audio, that opens up a greater audience.
One thing I have noticed is that some fitness gurus/systems like Matt Furey and Systema often have poor audio in parts. And I have not seen a single video with closed captioning. Given the aging population, it seems like a wise marketing move--especially with the slower movements, flexibility, and body maintenance/ yoga/ tai chi style systems--to make those available. The population is aging.
Accessible training. That's what I want. And it appears that few folks have been bright enough to seize that market.
Per my work, I think it could be interesting to pursue or examine distance education and web based education in terms of fitness and training. I am particularly interested in video training as it appears to revert to orality and a different style of learning. To be honest, I think designing a fitness series of videos that were designed to be downloaded to people's iPhones or smart phones every day--their daily work out--they could take the phone with them to the gym or park or whatever, watch the demo video, and then do it. If they had any questions, they could refer back to the video. Possibly even open a specific Twitter channel or hashtag for a specific work out.
In terms of rhetoric, fitness and training is heavily audience centered--and it is linked to the marketplace. I do not think academia is particularly interested in the market or training, so the emphasis of my work should be on the communicative and/or interactive nature. One other thing that could be cool is downloading a video training lesson from a menu of hundreds or thousands. And, like the Kindle, once you bought it, it was yours to download at whatever device you had or used.
Signed up for Zdenek's class based on his May Seminar presentation: the potentials for research and practical applications in the field seem pretty amazing.
Started the readings, and I've been unable to silence my mind: so many connections. After May Seminar, my training routine was shot. It's been hard getting started, so I returned to Parkour vids (they spark my passion). With the web accessibility class, though, I started looking: virtually none have closed captioning--and many of these have no sound.
This past week, as my training has been getting back to normal--flexibility, running, TKD forms--I've been looking for more stuff. One locus I found was Sonnon's work. Good stuff, especially the relations to flow and parkour. Sonnon's system gets a good write up from Parkour Generations' Dan Edwardes.
Over the past couple days, I've been trying out quietube and accessible twitter, and I like them both better than the originals. They are cleaner and easier to use. Even better, they make my life easy. This leaves me asking, where is accessible training? If I had hearing issues, or a video is poorly made, how could I learn if I can't hear what is said?
A lot of the spirit of Parkour and free-running is about sharing moves, teaching ideas, and expressing your body to its optimum. If the sites, if the videos, if the training is open to that, then it is excluding folks. Of course, you cannot make every move or item open to every single person or disability--that's not possible--however, by simply adding captions or text with muzzy audio, that opens up a greater audience.
One thing I have noticed is that some fitness gurus/systems like Matt Furey and Systema often have poor audio in parts. And I have not seen a single video with closed captioning. Given the aging population, it seems like a wise marketing move--especially with the slower movements, flexibility, and body maintenance/ yoga/ tai chi style systems--to make those available. The population is aging.
Accessible training. That's what I want. And it appears that few folks have been bright enough to seize that market.
Per my work, I think it could be interesting to pursue or examine distance education and web based education in terms of fitness and training. I am particularly interested in video training as it appears to revert to orality and a different style of learning. To be honest, I think designing a fitness series of videos that were designed to be downloaded to people's iPhones or smart phones every day--their daily work out--they could take the phone with them to the gym or park or whatever, watch the demo video, and then do it. If they had any questions, they could refer back to the video. Possibly even open a specific Twitter channel or hashtag for a specific work out.
In terms of rhetoric, fitness and training is heavily audience centered--and it is linked to the marketplace. I do not think academia is particularly interested in the market or training, so the emphasis of my work should be on the communicative and/or interactive nature. One other thing that could be cool is downloading a video training lesson from a menu of hundreds or thousands. And, like the Kindle, once you bought it, it was yours to download at whatever device you had or used.
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