Media Technologies

Unfit for Our Early Print Class

The material I covered in last night’s class was a little lighter than I had anticipated. This is the first time I’ve split up the material on print into two sections to correspond with the textbook’s chapter structure: early print and mass print.

If you want to follow up on some of the material we covered, here are some resources I would recommend.

As my friends would say… ABC: Always Be Curious.

An Apple-1, on Sale at Christie’s, Finds a Techie – NYTimes.com

Remember how we discussed the Apple II in class last night?

If you want to get your hands on the even older Apple I, you can bid on one at a Christie’s auction for about $400,000.

Corey Cohen, a vintage computer enthusiast, has been bringing these back to life and shared some insights into these machines with the New York Times.

What accounts for the soaring value of the Apple–1? The popularity of Apple?

Yes, partially because of Apple. There were only 175 made. There are only 60-odd boards that are actually known to still exist. It’s probably one of the prettiest boards that you see because it was laid out really well. The Apple–1 board is a piece of art.

How much computing power does an Apple–1 have?

It’s incredible how primitive the machines are. You were able to type commands in to do things, but they were extremely cryptic. If you wanted to add two numbers it was a fairly complicated task. You couldn’t even backspace on an Apple–1. Your iPhone is light years ahead.

Couldn’t even backspace? Was there no control-H?

Update: The computer sold for a bargain: $365,000.

Justice for Black Lives March, at CUNY Queens College, December 10, 12:15 PM

A student group at CUNY Queens College, QC Students Without Borders, has called on the QC faculty to rally students to protest the unindicted murders of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York City.

We are from a club called Students Without Border on the QC campus. As you may have heard the state has decided to not indict the officers who’ve murdered Michael Brown and also Eric Garner. The failure to indict these officers has shown once again that this criminal justice system doesn’t value black life. This is also seen with very similar cases of black youth being executed by the police forces such as Oscar Grant, Rahmarley Graham, Travyvon Martin, Shantel Davis, Akai Gurley and Tamir Rice.

Our club likes to bring social issues like these to the light which deserve mass participation from the people. We are issuing a wide call for an action on campus next Wednesday, December 10, during the free hour, 12:15–1:40pm, in the main cafeteria hall. Justice for Black Lives March [aims to] show, that although the courts may not value black life, at the very least Queens College can stand up and say we do.

Creative Boot Camp New York City!

Note: If you’re interested in advertising as a potential field for your career, consider applying for this Creative Boot Camp.

The One Club, a non-profit organization located in NY, would like to extend an invitation to students to participate in their free annual Creative Boot Camp New York City! The CBC will take place from Tuesday, January 20th – Friday, January 23rd, 2015. The CBC will be sponsored by Wunderman Advertising Agency and held at their location.

The Creative Boot Camp is a 4-day workshop that introduces students from all educational backgrounds to the creative process in the advertising industry. The goal is to recruit creative students who are not aware of advertising and design as viable career options and introduce them to the art of conceptualizing and building a campaign for a real client.

The CBC¹s are supported by the best advertising agencies in the world by utilizing their top creative talent to serve as mentors and judges throughout the program. Since it’s inception in New York five years ago, we have successfully completed many boot camp sessions with well over a thousand students participating from various cities including LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco, and London. We have watched these students go from knowing little to nothing about the field, to using the information and tools they gathered at the boot camp to move on to top advertising training programs, land coveted internship at large advertising agencies and even secure full-time jobs.

  • Provides students with the opportunity to experience what it’s like to work at an agency as a copywriter and art director by creating an advertising campaign based on a creative brief provided by a sponsoring agency.
  • Creates opportunities for networking with top local advertising professionals, who participate throughout the 4-day process as mentors.
  • Participants walk away with a solid advertising campaign to add to their portfolios.
  • Provides free breakfast and lunch to all participants during the course of the workshop.
  • Gives students the chance to compete for an internship position at the sponsoring agency.

Participants are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Register

Information Session: What Can I Do After Graduation?

Are you exploring career opportunities? Are you unsure about Graduate School or do you want to go to graduate school later? Are you passionate about a social or political issue and looking for a way to devote your full time to it?

Come explore these questions further at an upcoming information session sponsored by the Office of Honors and Scholarships.

Date
November 19th
Time
Free Hour, from 12:15–1:30
Location
Honors Hall Rm. 12

We will discuss one-year opportunities including public policy work, teaching, non-profit and community service. This session will be particularly useful for seniors, but all are welcome.

Please contact our National Fellowships Advisor, Dr. Moira Egan at moira.egan@qc.cuny.edu or (718) 997–2863 with any questions.

CUNY Graduate Film Program Open House, November 12

Are you interested in earning a Master of Fine Arts in film production? Consider attending the CUNY Graduate Film Program Open House on November 12th at the City College of New York.

Meet with faculty and current MFA students. Sit in on master classes and guest screenings.  Mingle with alumni who will give the inside scoop on why our MFA Program is a terrific, affordable option for film school. The evening will conclude with a reception and conversation with Cynthia Lopez, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

Our two-year MFA is the only graduate-level program of its kind: we are a truly international community, with ready access to the finest talent and production resources of NYC. Our faculty is a close-knit team of professional filmmakers devoted to the success of our students. As a selective, hands-on program, we offer Documentary and Fiction tracks in an affordable and accessible public university, and open doors to the independent film world of NYC and beyond. Our students’ work screens at Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, and other major film festivals across the globe.

We’re asking you to direct your most promising students toward an incredible opportunity at the City College of New York. We’re dedicated to helping them find their voice and tell their story. RSVP by Nov. 7th, 2014 via: mfamediarts@gmail.com.

Careers in Sports Broadcasting

Students interested in hearing from a QC alumnus about how his education at QC helped his career should attend the following event.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014
12:15–1:30 PM
FREE HOUR
DINING HALL | PRESIDENT’S LOUNGE

Michael Cohen, ’83 is the winner of 8 National Emmy awards and 15 nominations, Michael Cohen’s diverse broadcasting career has ranged from sports to entertainment, and reality TV. He has created shows, launched successful startup broadcast and media properties produced major events and led talent development. His Executive Producer and Producer credits include some of the world’s biggest events working for all the major networks including NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and ESPN. He headed up the production for two FIFA World Cups, a Women’s World Cup, 15 MLS Cups and All Star Games, been a part of the production team for nine Olympic Games, the World Series, the Super Bowl, Indy 500, Kentucky Derby, Wide World of Sports, 14 NFL Drafts and the inaugural X Games.

The Stone Cutter

In class, I told the story of The Stonecutter, a story that I told from memory to demonstrate how in an oral society, stories were passed on as myths and proverbs. The actual content of the text is not important but the theme or lesson is.

You can read a version of the story here and another version here.

The way the story was remembered and passed on was probably by using a mnemonic device that incorporate each step of the Stonecutter’s transformation. The step went something like this:

  1. Stonecutter
  2. King in one story; and a Rich Man in another
  3. Sun
  4. Cloud
  5. Wind
  6. Mountain
  7. Stonecutter

In my version, I had forgotten about the king/rich man, but I did more or less tell you the same story even if I hadn’t told you the exact same words.

The details were less important than the message, which I believe sticks with you because it is a proverb.

Statistical Abstract of the United States available at Queens College Library

Professor Joanna Miller of the Queens College Sociology department asks:

Do you understand how to find and integrate quantitative evidence into their papers and presentation?

You can locate statistics on a variety of subjects through a new online subscription to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, on the Queens College website. You can also find links to reports on these subjects.

Tables in the Abstract inform a vast array of substantive topics appropriate to virtually any course. Most papers/presentations would benefit from data on current trends. Even assignments in which students write personal narratives could place their experiences in a relative context. Tables can be downloaded into Excel and copied directly into papers or graphs constructed within Excel.

The Abstract is located on the QC library website under Find Databases. Go to the letter “S” and scroll down to the bottom to the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Note that using this resource from off-campus computers requires that you login with the bar code on the back of your Queens College ID card.

Media Technologies students: can use these data in many courses, even if you don’t use it in our class.

(Joanne Miller via Socrates mailing list.)