Campus Memories: Learning with Contextualised Blogging

De Jong, T., Al Takrouri, B., Specht, M., Koper, R. (2007). Campus Memories: Learning with Contextualised Blogging. In D. Griffiths, R. Koper & O. Liber (Eds). Proceedings of The 2nd TenCompetence Workshop (pp. 59-67), January 11-12, 2007, Manchester, United Kingdom.Combining the strengths of both mobile and context aware systems and applying them to educational systems can lead to contextualised learning support (Zimmermann, Lorenz, & Specht, 2005). Mobile blogging applications have become popular as an instant way of accessing and collecting personal memories and blog entries from mobile devices. In the following paper we will present an extension of current systems for blogging we call contextualised blogging. The described conceptual model and architecture allows users to create and manage blogs from a mobile device and combine them with identification tags and therefore leave “blog traces” in a physical environment.This work has been sponsored by the EU project TENCompetenc

Contextblogger: learning by blogging in the real world

De Jong, T., Specht, M., & Koper, R. (2007). Contextblogger: learning by blogging in the real world. Proceedings of the ePortfolio Conference. October, 18-20, 2007, Maastricht, The Netherlands. [See also http://hdl.handle.net/1820/1680 ]In this paper we represent one specific instantiation of contextualised mobile social software for learning called contextualised blogging. Contextualised blogging combines the community aspects and flexible content access of a mobile blog with the adaptation to real-world settings made possible by contextualised computing. By combining both social and physical context information, we aim to improve current informal learning approaches. A special kind of data matrix symbols, called semacodes, is used to relate information from a blog to physical objects. The contextualised blogging application in this paper is developed in three steps. First, a conceptual model of the problem domain will be described. Second, a general technical framework based on this conceptual model will be developed. Finally, a specific instantiation of the technical framework called “ContextBlogger” is presented. The paper concludes with a description of the planned evaluation of the software, a summary, and a conclusion of the results so far

Enhancing learning with technology

Specht, M., & Klemke, R. (2013, 26-27 September). Enhancing Learning with Technology. In D. Milosevic (Ed.), Proceedings of the fourth international conference on eLearning (eLearning 2013) (pp. 37-45). Belgrade Metropolitan University, Belgrade, Serbia. http://econference.metropolitan.ac.rs/We are living in a technology-enhanced world. Also learning is affected by recent, upcoming, and foreseen technological changes. This paper gives a bird’s eye view to technological trends and reflects how learning can benefit from them

Zur Inszenierung des menschlichen Körpers in der Modefotografie

Vorliegende Diplomarbeit ist ein Versuch den Prozeß zu beschreiben, den ein realer menschlicher Körper durchlaufen muß, um am Ende als artifizieller Modekörper in ei-nem Modemagazin erscheinen zu können. Diese Untersuchung wird exemplarisch an-hand der Zeitschrift Vogue durchgeführt. Der Einstieg ins Thema wird über die Klä-rung der anthropologischen Ursprünge modischen Verhaltens, sowie einer Beschrei-bung der Rolle von Mode im gesellschaftlichen Gefüge absolviert. Es wird außerdem die Funktion der Textsorte ‚Modezeitschrift’ umrissen und die Geschichte der Mode-fotografie im Abriß dargestellt. Danach wird besprochen wie der phänomenale Leib des Models beschaffen sein muß, um geeignetes Rohmaterial für die Verkörperung von Mode zu bieten. Von diesem Ausgangspunkt werden die verschiedenen Schritte erläutert, durch die der phänomenale Leib seine individuelle Körperlichkeit verliert und in einen semiotischen Modekörper verwandelt wird. Zuerst wird hierbei die Plat-zierung in einem Dekor besprochen, welches dem Bühnenbild am Theater ähnelt. Es stellt das Model in einen bestimmten lebensanschaulichen Zusammenhang und ent-rückt die Szenerie aus dem Bereich des Alltäglichen. Danach wird die Funktion des Make-Ups angesprochen. Es findet in der Modefotografie Verwendung als eine Art Maske und dient dazu, die Individualität des Models zu verschleiern und es einem be-stimmten Typus zuzuordnen. Anschließend werden populäre Posen der Modefotogra-fie mittels einiger Beispiele illustriert und hinsichtlich der durch sie vermittelten Bot-schaft hinterfragt. Als letzter Schritt vom phänomenalen hin zum semiotischen Körper wird die Retusche genannt, die den Leib von all seinen Unzulänglichkeiten befreit und ins Reich des Imaginären entrückt. Die Hauptthese in vorliegender Arbeit ist, dass durch die Tilgung dieser Mängel ein Wesen hervorgebracht wird, das wie eine Statue oder ein Cyborg in seiner reinen Perfektion unbelebt erscheint. Dieses Kunstwesen ist Ausdruck der menschlichen Sehnsucht nach Ganzheit und Vollkommenheit.The text at hand is focused on the transformation of the human body into the idealized and perfected artbody, which is shown in all kinds of fashion images. The main purpose of this treatise is to describe and paraphrase the various steps the natural human body has to go through to be able to embody fahion. The used material is taken from the fashion magazine Vogue. Introducing the topic, the treatise starts with an explanation of the term „fashion“, by clarifying its anthropological origin and its role in society. It explains furthermore the function of fashion magazines and summarizes the history of fashion photography. In addition, the text at hand discusses the features the fashionmodel must show in order to be the appropriate material for the construction of the fashionable body. The different techniques, which are used for this purpose, are defiened as follows: First of all the staging in an artificial setting similar to the decor at a theatre, which aligns the human body with a certain context and seperates the scene from daily life. Secondly, the make-up, which is used as a mask to cover the personal identity of the model and to classify it as a specific type. Moreover, the pose, which can also be understood as a posture that relates the fashionmodel to a particular attitude or lifestyle. Finally, of course, the retouching, which erases the traces of imperfection any biological body will show and transforms it into a non-organic, artificial being. The main assumption of this treatise is that, through this transformation, the human body looses its individuality and becomes, due to its perfection, a seemingly lifeless body, like that of a statue or a cyborg. The last chapter is concerned with the rising question of what underlying desire is expressed in these artificial characters