bitdepth

Bitdepth is now 7

I suppose 7 is a lucky number, and I can’t let an opportunity pass to start posting again, so what can be said about this blog turning 7?
It appears that a lot of my bloggy energy is dissipated due to Twitter and Tumblr as well as 43 Things. Maybe I’m not as focussed on writing or haven’t had the time to reflect and write properly. Are we all becoming addicted to smaller screens and the constraints of 140 characters?
There is the more instant gratification of sending something out and getting a response. It happens with a blog, but with Twitter you can send a few more out and it can feel more conversational. But I still do like to seek out writing that is longer and sometimes more thoughtful and I enjoy writing that.
The good thing about birthdays and anniversaries is that it gives you a chance to take a pause, reflect and think about where you are. So now I’m here, thinking that it’s good that I have a home on the web and glad that the tools and process for putting things here is so simple that I can move from computer to computer, or device to device and read, write and create in many different and simpler ways. So now it’s easier to create and connect with the amazing people that are out there (like you). Now it’s time to write something a bit more interesting than writing about blogging.

May 31, 2009 anniversary, bitdepth, blog, me, meta

Back to School

The first week of school is done at the Nova Scotia Community College where I teach in the Screen Arts program. It is always a busy and exciting week with the incoming learners getting up to speed and the returning filmmakers who are beginning their final year. Luckily I’ve been teaching for a while now and it gives me the opportunity to build upon what I’ve done and improve things every year.
Last year we started back in the new Waterfront Campus in Dartmouth along with all of the challenges of a new building that hadn’t been filled with people yet. This year everything is pretty much up and running smoothly, so the focus is on teaching and learning much more than figuring out how to connect things and which classrooms are on what floor.
I really need to have a structure with things organized, so I was very happy to have the whole term organized with Basecamp. Each course that I teach is project and all of the assignments, exercises and quizzes are milestones. In my Google Calendar I subscribe all of my Basecamp projects, so the deadlines all show up on my calendar. Each of the evaluative tools are stored as Writeboards, which lets me revise them before I lay them out in Pages in an assignment template that I’ve created. For support material I usually will have some presentations in Keynote (and I try to make things as visual and not text-heavy as possible) along with handouts or pointers to web resources.
For each class I have lesson plan that I create in OmniOutliner Pro that keeps me on track as I have tendency to drift. But I usually have a detailed course outline that breaks down all of the major topics as well as any readings. I’ll print out the outline that keeps me on track and I keep the paper that I use organized in file folders (green for year 1, red for year 2, and purple for the class that has both year 1 and 2). Every year a new Moleskine pocket notebook is used for notes and a pocket agenda (that is red) is a paper backup for my schedule (which I copy in to it from my Google Calendar).
With the systems that I have in place now it keeps me focussed on teaching and less on figuring out what I need to do. By having a solid support structure it opens the possibilities of improvisation as even if I get completely lost, there is an underlying structure and flow to the term that I can always fall back on. It’s fun to teach after you have everything in place.

September 7, 2008 filmmaking, learning, me, nscc, teaching

Seeing the World Through Glass

I’ve just discovered a great technology that has enabled me to see things in the distance more clearly. While I’m usually quite up-to-date with technological trends and I love getting gadgets, for some reason I just never tried this out before. Recently I began wearing glasses. In case you’re not familiar with them, they’re quite ingenious and portable. My eyes can’t focus properly in the distance and the glass of the lenses is shaped in such a way to focus the light on my retina so items in the distance are in focus. When I read I don’t need them, so I can take them off. They arms even fold in to make them more portable, which is a nice touch.
The other neat thing about them is that there is a magnet in the metal between the lenses which lets me attach sunglasses to them without removing the glasses. So when it’s too bright out I just clip the sunglasses on and I’m set. It’s great to have them for driving.
I should have had glasses a few years ago, but for some reason I just didn’t think about it and now it’s painfully obvious that I needed the glasses. The world looks different to me now and I’m becoming accustomed to them. It was amazing when I looked up at the sky one night with my glasses on and saw the stars in the sky. I didn’t realize how much of a difference a simple (and non-electronic) technology could make in the way that I view the world. It also can partially explain my love for photography as it enabled me to see the world more clearly though a camera lens than I could with my own eyes.

March 2, 2008 glasses, me

Graduation

On my way in to graduate Two years ago (less two weeks) I began a journey with the Nova Scotia Community College. I attended New Faculty Orientation which was the first of 10 courses as part of the Community College Education Diploma Program. Last summer I spent a month in Truro as part of the Summer Institute. It was an amazing experience that changed my life. At the end of this phase of the experience I was lucky enough to be chosen to speak for the graduating class which is quite an honour. I was able to spend a couple of days before the ceremony in Truro with some of my friends and had a great time. I felt like I belonged and was happy and solid and centered. On the morning of July 30 I wore a blue gown and lined up with my fellow graduates in Truro and we walked in to the gym and graduated. (Carolyn took the picture of me on the way in.) I’ve typed up a version of my speech to preserve the moment. Here’s what I said.

August 2, 2004 ccedp, graduation, me, nscc, truro

Film Co-op Spring Social

Friday was a busy day for me. I started out the day with the last day of the term with a wave of assignments coming in to me that now need to be marked. Then my friend Errol and I drove up to Fredericton for the NB Filmmakers’ Co-op Spring Social. We didn’t tell anyone that we were coming, so it was a surprise when we showed up. It was a great night with many old friends that I hadn’t seen for years and lots of memories. The party had a wide range of members from over the years, from one of the founding members to some of the newest members. I started hanging around the co-op in the early 1980s, but at the party I saw my original membership application which was dated August 28, 1985! So while I worked on some things before I joined, I officially joined then. That’s still a long time! I hope that I will be able to be around the co-op a lot more this year to catch up more with the current members and to see the stories that they are telling.

April 25, 2004 errol, film, filmmaking, fredericton, me, nbfilmmakerscoop

Acting Fun

I was lucky enough to be asked to act in a student production yesterday. It wasn’t much of a part, but I loved it as it let me see a bunch of my students at work. It was great to see them shooting and working as professionals. They were calm and even seemed to be having fun. I haven’t spent a lot of time on a set in a long time, so it was neat to be around for that. Even though the day was long I felt the rush of shooting which kept me going long past the time I would have been asleep. It’s always neat to see how people work together to make something creative. A group of creative and talented people working together is wonderful to see and even more amazing to be able to be a small part of it. The other great thing was the food. Mmmmm! A crew needs good food and great food helps thing go much more smoothly. It will be neat to see how things turn out.

April 6, 2004 acting, filmmaking, me, screenarts