Billings Beta
notes from the tech lab
Bike to School 2010
May 21st
Imagine combining a series of simple machines (lever, wheel & axle, screw, plane) that would allow you to travel faster than a human can run with less effort involved. And what if this new technology had close to no impact on the environment once it is built?
Well, the future is here! 13 students (13%) and 5 faculty/staff (17%) participated in Bike to School day today – flexing their understanding of technology and their muscles to brave the weather and power themselves to school.
Thanks to everyone who participated this year, and to the Cascade Bicycle Club and Gregg’s Greenlake cycle for the organization efforts.
Guest speaker: Michael from Google
May 17th
Class 6B were lucky enough to spend a class period with Michael, an engineer from Google who works on the Gmail team. Michael used Google Maps to show a street-view of his middle school in Alabama, and talked about how his life choices resulted in East and West Coast employment through his interest in technology. He shared screenshots of the code he creates everyday and explained how he spends his hours at work communicating with machines and people.
Thank you, Michael!
Summer technology opportunities
May 12th
Summer is fast approaching and students have been asking about technology and computing opportunities around town. Of course summer is a time to get away from a screen and explore a world of sunshine…that said, here are some offerings to compliment fresh air and exercise:
Lego Robotics @ Billings: Billings Middle School has our very own Seattle Lego Robotics camp, presented in conjunction with the amazing educators at EdLab. 2 sessions – August 2-6 and 9-13.
iD Gaming Academy: Held at the University of Washington, this 2-week overnight game development camp is a great opportunity to learn about video game creation. 6th grade student Gray says “you get to make your own unique game and play it as well as play other peoples games.”
911 Media Arts: Classes in making movies, digital storytelling, website design, and more.
Reel Grrls: Get hands on with animation and video production day camps – girls only!
TechReach: SeaBots – Dive into science. This girls only one-week camp is a great intro to programming and Lego robotics.
Youth in Focus: Intro to digital photography classes are offered 2x a week. Applications are due end of May.
Guest speaker: Emily from Cheezburger Network
May 10th
6th grade students got to spend Thursday afternoon in a Q & A session with Emily Huh, co-owner of the Cheezburger Network. Her company runs 50 blogs dedicated to making people all over the world laugh. The most popular sites are FailBlog (2M+ pageviews per day) and ICanHazCheezburger (1M+ pageviews per day).
Emily shared stories of her days as a middle school students, her interests in reading and music, and her decision to study sociology in college. She told us about day-to-day life at Cheezburger headquarters in Belltown and how the company focuses on trying to make people laugh. Much of the content on the site comes from people who send in funny photos or videos. The company makes money by selling merchandise (t-shirts, stickers, etc) and by advertising space.
Emily also outlined the types of jobs at her company. The Cheezburger Network needs people to manage blogs, handle user photo submissions and more. Employees may have a background as an artist, musician, mathematician, sales person, or any number of interests and work histories. Thank you Emily!
The Symphony of Science
May 8th
John Boswell heads a group of digitally-literate musicians using their craft to teach science. Their auto-tuned YouTube videos are incredible – take a moment to watch and then head over to the Symphony of Science website to learn more about our world.
Wall-E technology
May 1st
iCLAST (integrated class of language arts, science and technology) students watched Wall-E this week, as we transitioned from our identity unit the globalism & sustainability. In our post-film debrief, students focused on the technology present in the film: what was based in reality and what is already available today.
Sophie L. used the iPad to research plasma guns. Forrest, Jamal and Augie discussed various methods of containment using energy or elements. Reyna, Nova and Isaac shared their experiences or knowledge of mag-lev bullet trains in Japan. Everyone participated in the hour long discussion.
There was a vigorous conversation about whether the technology in the movie was “good” or “bad.” Rachel L. and Izzy were the two students to declare that “tech isn’t good OR bad, it’s how humans use it that caused Wall-E’s world to become what it was.”
Digital Arts updates
Apr 30th
The tech lab is the place to be on Monday and Wednesdays afternoons. 2 weeks into DigiArts, students are knee-deep in a variety of excellent projects:
- Jake successfully installed Linux on a donated computer and also harvested motors from a DVD/VCR combo unit.
- Alex is trying to change the infrared filter on an old video camera to capture a light spectrum invisible to the human eye.
- Ella and Cillian have got the Arduino boards communicating with a couple of lab computers, and are writing basic programs (so far just output but soon we’ll tackle input as well).
- Rachel, Torri, Remy, Charlie and Griffyn are working on 3 different screenplays and will begin filming next week.
- Noah completed his first hand-coded website. Click here to view his iPad review and then click here to learn more about it.
- Lexi is recording a reharmonization of a Miley Cyrus song.
- Mike dismantled a laptop and is ordering a couple of kits from the MakerShed.
- Elijah has been working with a mixing board for turntables and an old Yamaha keyboard.
Big ideas turn into big companies
Apr 29th
The 6th grade has been learning about world-changing companies for a couple of weeks now.
We’ve got in depth with the history of Seattle native Bill Gates and learned about how he hacked his way from middle-school mischief maker to Harvard and then beyond. We followed his empire as it moved from the early days in New Mexico back to Washington state, and how Microsoft has weathered competition to become a worldwide brand with significant market shares in gaming, search, software and hardware.
Today we talked about 2 Stanford guys who changed the way search engines rank websites to help us find what we are looking for. Their project (called BackRub) became more than just a company…Google is a verb and a website that millions of people use everyday. We spoke of how Google has tried to compete in various web endeavors that have failed (Google Video, Google Pages, Orkut), and how they’ve bought other companies that do things well (YouTube, KeyHole, JotSpot).
When asked who the people and companies that will make it huge in the next few years will be, students responded with an enthusiastic “we are!”
As part of these conversations, we’ve been using online maps and stock charts to illustrate concepts and we’ve been practicing our listening and participation skills in preparation for the guest speakers that will start sharing their technology experiences next week.
Art: showing vs. telling
Apr 26th
When Annie, the Billings visual arts teacher, wants to get students excited about a new journaling elective, she uses Google’s online Presentation tool to show instead of just tell. The idea worked – the class is full and students are excited!
Important Facebook privacy changes
Apr 23rd
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled plans to connect Facebook accounts with other companies all over the internet, from CNN to Levi’s and further. The changes to how other companies can use YOUR Facebook information are a big deal – please take a few minutes to follow this step-by-step guide to protecting your digital identity.
- Who: Facebook and advertising partners
- What: changes to how Facebook shares their information about you (photos, videos and information)
- When: now & forever (unless courts or public advocacy shuts it down)
- Where: not just on Facebook but on the websites of anyone that wants to use Facebook’s info
- Why: benefit to Facebook and partners: money, supposed benefit to you: personalized experience. It’s easier for Levi’s to sell you a pair of jeans if they have a list of 5 of your best friends that have already purchased them. Levi’s can even tell you how much your friends spent and what size they bought!
- How: Facebook partners can store your information and share it with your network. There are currently no limits on how long they can keep the info or where they can use it.
To protect yourself from this new system, follow the screenshots below:
1. Login to your account. From the dropdown list under “Account” (top right corner), click on “Account Settings.” (screenshot below)
2. There are a number of tabs at the center top of the screen (settings, networks, notifications, etc). Select Facebook ads. On the next screen, change “allow ads of platform pages…” to “No One” and hit “Save Changes”. (screenshot below)
3. Back to “Account” in the top right corner of the page, click on “Privacy Settings.” You’ll end up on a page that looks like the screenshot below.
4. Click on “Applications and Websites.” On the next screen (screenshot below) you’ll see “Instant Personalization” at the bottom of the list.
5. Click on “Instant Personalization” on the next page, look for and UNCHECK the tiny check box at the bottom that says “Allow selected partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites.” (screenshot below)
6. You’ll get a pop-up that tries to convince you not to uncheck this box. Click “Confirm.” (screenshot below)
7. Head back to “Accounts>Privacy Settings” (step 3 above). Click on “Applications and Websites”. From the screen, choose “What your friends can share about you” and uncheck everything. Click “Save Changes.”
The above steps will help you stay in control of your information. As always, the best way to keep data safe is to not post it online in the first place. For more information about how to configure your Facebook settings, please reference our previous post.
