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social media socially stunting

How social media is socially stunting our society: An anthropologist and acclaimed journalist shares his warnings

https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-11-20-how-social-media-is-socially-stunting-our-society-an-anthropologist-and-acclaimed-journalist-shares-warnings.html

One of the founders of Facebook, Sean Parker, explains that these social media devices exploit the vulnerability of the human essence. The dopamine that is social media only creates a narcissistic, self-validating loops that consume valuable time and conscious attention. “Liking”, “commenting”, and “sharing” (which are virtually useless in reality) causes us to run around an endless cycle of insignificant information documentation in hopes of acknowledgment, which later on propels us to create more of the same.

Social media platform owners and creators are aware of this weakness in human psychology, and are taking advantage of it. Parker is just one of the many individuals who regret having a hand in creating these life-stagnating technologies. The mental health of the global population is deteriorating and is mostly due to anxieties produced by social media.

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more on contemplative computing in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=contemplative+computing

FCC and netneutrality

https://hackernoon.com/more-than-a-million-pro-repeal-net-neutrality-comments-were-likely-faked-e9f0e3ed36a6

Jeff Kao Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Language Nerd, Biglaw Refugee. jeffykao.com

More than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments were Likely Faked

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The Federal Communications Commission released a plan on Tuesday to dismantle landmark regulations that ensure equal access to the internet, clearing the way for internet service companies to charge users more to see certain content and to curb access to some websites.

The proposal, made by the F.C.C. chairman, Ajit Pai, is a sweeping repeal of rules put in place by the Obama administration. The rules prohibit high-speed internet service providers, or I.S.P.s, from stopping or slowing down the delivery of websites. They also prevent the companies from charging customers extra fees for high-quality streaming and other services.

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FCC chairman defends net neutrality repeal plan

“All we are simply doing is putting engineers and entrepreneurs, instead of bureaucrats and lawyers, back in charge of the internet,” Pai said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,”

Pai on Tuesday confirmed his plan to fully dismantle the Obama-era net neutrality rules, which were approved by the FCC’s previous Democratic majority in 2015. His order would remove bans on blocking and throttling web traffic and allow internet service providers to charge for internet “fast lanes” to consumers. The move sparked a barrage of criticism from Democrats and public interest groups who call it a giveaway to big telecom companies.

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What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 06.23.14TIME OF PUBLICATION: 6:30 AM.

The only trouble is that, here in the year 2014, complaints about a fast-lane don’t make much sense. Today, privileged companies—including Google, Facebook, and Netflix—already benefit from what are essentially internet fast lanes, and this has been the case for years. Such web giants—and others—now have direct connections to big ISPs like Comcast and Verizon, and they run dedicated computer servers deep inside these ISPs. In technical lingo, these are known as “peering connections” and “content delivery servers,” and they’re a vital part of the way the internet works.

in today’s world, they don’t address the real issue with the country’s ISPs, and if we spend too much time worried about fast lanes, we could hurt the net’s progress rather than help it.

The real issue is that the Comcasts and Verizons are becoming too big and too powerful. Because every web company has no choice but to go through these ISPs, the Comcasts and the Verizons may eventually have too much freedom to decide how much companies must pay for fast speeds.

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FAKE AMERICANS ARE INFLUENCING THE DEBATE OVER NET NEUTRALITY, SAYS NEW YORK’S ATTORNEY GENERAL

http://www.newsweek.com/bots-influencing-debate-over-net-neutrality-says-new-york-attorney-general-719454
An analysis of the millions of comments conducted by the data company Gravwell in October found that just 17.4 percent of the comments to the FCC on the net neutrality rules came from real people.
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Finley, K. (2017, November 22). Here’s How the End of Net Neutrality Will Change the Internet. WIRED. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/heres-how-the-end-of-net-neutrality-will-change-the-internet/
Because many internet services for mobile devices include limits on data use, the changes will be visible there first. In one dramatic scenario, internet services would begin to resemble cable-TV packages, where subscriptions could be limited to a few dozen sites and services. Or, for big spenders, a few hundred. Fortunately, that’s not a likely scenario. Instead, expect a gradual shift towards subscriptions that provide unlimited access to certain preferred providers while charging extra for everything else.
Even Verizon’s “unlimited” plans impose limits. The company’s cheapest unlimited mobile plan limits video streaming quality to 480p resolution, which is DVD quality, on phones and 720p resolution, the lower tier of HD quality, on tablets. Customers can upgrade to a more expensive plan that enables 720p resolution on phones and 1080p on tablets, but the higher quality 4K video standard is effectively forbidden.
Meanwhile, Comcast customers in 28 states face 1 terabyte data caps. Going over that limit costs subscribers as much as an additional $50 a month. As 4K televisions become more common, more households may hit the limit. That could prompt some to stick with a traditional pay-TV package from Comcast.
Republican FCC Chair Ajit Pai argues that Federal Trade Commission will be able to protect consumers and small business from abuses by internet providers once the agency’s current rules are off the books. But that’s not clear.
The good news is the internet won’t change overnight, if it all. Blake Reid, a clinical professor at Colorado Law, says the big broadband providers will wait to see how the inevitable legal challenges to the new FCC order shakeout. They’ll probably keep an eye on 2018 and even 2020 elections as well.

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more on netneutrality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=netneutrality

Libraries supporting social inclusion for refugees and immigrants

http://blog.stcloudstate.edu/refugeesandmigrants/

Libraries supporting social inclusion for refugees and immigrants

UNESCO emphasizes the importance of social inclusion for international
migrants and encourages cities and local governments to “ensure social rights
for migrants to adequate housing, education, health and social care, welfare
and decent standard of living according to basic needs such as food, energy
and water.” Libraries can play an important role in helping new arrivals
acclimate and thrive in a new community.
Do you have a story to share about how your library, on its own or in
collaboration with community organizations, is providing social services and
support for refugees and immigrants? Do you have advice on creating successful
programming to support refugees and immigrants?

Proposal to the SCSU library administration:

Good afternoon,

I will be submitting a proposal about my individual work in that area:

In the fall of 2015, I organized a campus-wide meeting, including St. Cloud community members, on refugees and migrants, by inviting one Syrian and one Somali refugees:

I also reached out across campus (e.g. Dan Wildeson with the Holocaust Center, Geoffrey Tabakin, Stephen Philion).

I organized also the online presence by delivering the personal stories of three refugees:

http://blog.stcloudstate.edu/refugeesandmigrants/2015/09/19/personal-stories/

and organizing and maintain a blog on the issue of refugees and migrants: http://blog.stcloudstate.edu/refugeesandmigrants/2015/09/19/personal-stories/

In 2017, I proposed and taught a class on Migration : http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/hons221/ . I proposed the same class for the Honors program.

I also maintain a FB group for the class and in conjunction with the blog (you need to request permission to enter the FB group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/hons221

I am formally proposing / requesting to transition my individual efforts and offering the library to support me in expanding my acitivies on this topic

Here is my rational:

  • If not on campus, at least in the library, I am the only refugee and for that matter an immigrant. I have the understanding and the compassion of someone, who personally have experienced the hardship of being and immigrant and refugee.
  • I have amounted information and experience presenting the information and engaging the audience in a discussion regarding a rather controversial (for St. Cloud) issue
  • I have the experience and skills to conduct such discussions both F2F and online

Based on my rational, here are activities I am proposing:

  • The library supports a monthly F2F meetings, where I am taking the responsibility to host students with refugee and/or migrant status and facilitate a conversation among those students and other students, faculty, staff, who would like to learn more about the topic and discuss related issues.
    • Library support constitutes of: e.g. necessary information willingly and actively shared at Reference and Circulation desk. Library faculty and staff willingly and actively promoting the information regarding this opportunity when occasions arise.
  • The library supports my campus-wide efforts to engage faculty, staff and students. Engagement includes: e.g.,  proposals to faculty to present in their classes on including refugees and immigrants but related to their classes; assisting students with research and bibliography on their papers related to refugees and immigrants; assisting faculty and students with presentations including refugees and immigrants etc.
    • Library support constitutes of: e.g. necessary information willingly and actively shared at Reference and Circulation desk. Library faculty and staff willingly and actively promoting the information regarding this opportunity when occasions arise.

media literacy part of digital citizenship

Making Media Literacy Central to Digital Citizenship

that kind of tech — expensive, bleeding-edge tools — makes headlines but doesn’t make it into many classrooms, especially the most needy ones. What does, however, is video.

68 percent of teachers are using video in their classrooms, and 74 percent of middle schoolers are watching videos for learning.

Video is a key aspect of our always-online attention economy that’s impacting votingbehavior, and fueling hate speech and trolling. Put simply: Video is a contested civic space.

We need to move from a conflation of digital citizenship with internet safety and protectionism to a view of digital citizenship that’s pro-active and prioritizes media literacy and savvy.

equip students with some essential questions they can use to unpack the intentions of anything they encounter. One way to facilitate this thinking is by using a tool like EdPuzzle

We need new ways of thinking that are web-specific. Mike Caulfield’s e-book is a great deep dive into this topic, but as an introduction to web literacy you might first dig into the notion of reading “around” as well as “down” media — that is, encouraging students to not just analyze the specific video or site they’re looking at but related content (e.g., where else an image appears using a reverse Google image search).

Active viewing — engaging more thoughtfully and deeply with what you watch — is a tried-and-true teaching strategy for making sure you don’t just watch media but retain information.

For this content, students shouldn’t just be working toward comprehension but critique; they need to not just understand what they watch, but also have something to say about it. One of my favorite techniques for facilitating this more dialogic and critical mode of video viewing is by using aclassroom backchannel, like TodaysMeet, during video viewings

only 3 percent of the time tweens and teens spend using social media is focused on creation

There are a ton of options out there for facilitating video creation and remix, but two of my favorites are MediaBreaker and Vidcode.

The Anti-Defamation League and Teaching Tolerance have lesson plans that connect to both past and present struggles, and one can also look to the co-created syllabi that have sprung up around Black Lives MatterCharlottesville, and beyond. Pair these resources with video creation tools,

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more on media literacy in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=media+literacy

more on digital citizenship in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=digital+citizenship

Cohort 8 research and write dissertation

When writing your dissertation…

Please have an FAQ-kind of list of the Google Group postings regarding resources and information on research and writing of Chapter 2

digital resource sets available through MnPALS Plus

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/10/21/digital-resource-sets-available-through-mnpals-plus/ 

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[how to] write chapter 2

You were reminded to look at dissertations of your peers from previous cohorts and use their dissertations as a “template”: http://repository.stcloudstate.edu/do/discipline_browser/articles?discipline_key=1230

You also were reminded to use the documents in Google Drive: e.g. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7IvS0UYhpxFVTNyRUFtNl93blE

Please have also materials, which might help you organize our thoughts and expedite your Chapter 2 writing….

Do you agree with (did you use) the following observations:

The purpose of the review of the literature is to prove that no one has studied the gap in the knowledge outlined in Chapter 1. The subjects in the Review of Literature should have been introduced in the Background of the Problem in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 is not a textbook of subject matter loosely related to the subject of the study.  Every research study that is mentioned should in some way bear upon the gap in the knowledge, and each study that is mentioned should end with the comment that the study did not collect data about the specific gap in the knowledge of the study as outlined in Chapter 1.

The review should be laid out in major sections introduced by organizational generalizations. An organizational generalization can be a subheading so long as the last sentence of the previous section introduces the reader to what the next section will contain.  The purpose of this chapter is to cite major conclusions, findings, and methodological issues related to the gap in the knowledge from Chapter 1. It is written for knowledgeable peers from easily retrievable sources of the most recent issue possible.

Empirical literature published within the previous 5 years or less is reviewed to prove no mention of the specific gap in the knowledge that is the subject of the dissertation is in the body of knowledge. Common sense should prevail. Often, to provide a history of the research, it is necessary to cite studies older than 5 years. The object is to acquaint the reader with existing studies relative to the gap in the knowledge and describe who has done the work, when and where the research was completed, and what approaches were used for the methodology, instrumentation, statistical analyses, or all of these subjects.

If very little literature exists, the wise student will write, in effect, a several-paragraph book report by citing the purpose of the study, the methodology, the findings, and the conclusions.  If there is an abundance of studies, cite only the most recent studies.  Firmly establish the need for the study.  Defend the methods and procedures by pointing out other relevant studies that implemented similar methodologies. It should be frequently pointed out to the reader why a particular study did not match the exact purpose of the dissertation.

The Review of Literature ends with a Conclusion that clearly states that, based on the review of the literature, the gap in the knowledge that is the subject of the study has not been studied.  Remember that a “summary” is different from a “conclusion.”  A Summary, the final main section, introduces the next chapter.

from http://dissertationwriting.com/wp/writing-literature-review/

Here is the template from a different school (then SCSU)

http://semo.edu/education/images/EduLead_DissertGuide_2007.pdf 

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When conducting qualitative data, how many people should be interviewed? Is there a minimum or a max

Here is my take on it:

Simple question, not so simple answer.

It depends.

Generally, the number of respondents depends on the type of qualitative inquiry: case study methodology, phenomenological study, ethnographic study, or ethnomethodology. However, a rule of thumb is for scholars to achieve saturation point–that is the point in which no fresh information is uncovered in response to an issue that is of interest to the researcher.

If your qualitative method is designed to meet rigor and trustworthiness, thick, rich data is important. To achieve these principles you would need at least 12 interviews, ensuring your participants are the holders of knowledge in the area you intend to investigate. In grounded theory you could start with 12 and interview more if your data is not rich enough.

In IPA the norm tends to be 6 interviews.

You may check the sample size in peer reviewed qualitative publications in your field to find out about popular practice. In all depends on the research problem, choice of specific qualitative approach and theoretical framework, so the answer to your question will vary from few to few dozens.

How many interviews are needed in a qualitative research?

There are different views in literature and no one agreed to the exact number. Here I reviewed some mostly cited references. Based Creswell (2014), it is estimated that 16 participants will provide rich and detailed data. There are a couple of researchers agreed ‎on 10–15 in-depth interviews ‎are ‎sufficient ‎‎ (Guest, Bunce & Johnson 2006; Baker & ‎Edwards 2012).

your methodological choices need to reflect your ontological position and understanding of knowledge production, and that’s also where you can argue a strong case for smaller qualitative studies, as you say. This is not only a problem for certain subjects, I think it’s a problem in certain departments or journals across the board of social science research, as it’s a question of academic culture.

here more serious literature and research (in case you need to cite in Chapter 3)

Sample Size and Saturation in PhD Studies Using Qualitative Interviews

http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1428/3027

https://researcholic.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/sample_size_interviews/

Gaskell, George (2000). Individual and Group Interviewing. In Martin W. Bauer & George Gaskell (Eds.), Qualitative Researching With Text, Image and Sound. A Practical Handbook (pp. 38-56). London: SAGE Publications.

Lieberson, Stanley 1991: “Small N’s and Big Conclusions.” Social Forces 70:307-20. (http://www.jstor.org/pss/2580241)

Savolainen, Jukka 1994: “The Rationality of Drawing Big Conclusions Based on Small Samples.” Social Forces 72:1217-24. (http://www.jstor.org/pss/2580299).

Small, M.(2009) ‘How many cases do I need ? On science and the logic of case selection in field-based research’ Ethnography 10(1) 5-38

Williams,M. (2000) ‘Interpretivism and generalisation ‘ Sociology 34(2) 209-224

http://james-ramsden.com/semi-structured-interviews-how-many-interviews-is-enough/

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how to start your writing process

If you are a Pinterest user, you are welcome to just sbuscribe to the board:

https://www.pinterest.com/aidedza/doctoral-cohort/

otherwise, I am mirroring the information also in the IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/08/13/analytical-essay/ 

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APA citing of “unusual” resources

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/08/06/apa-citation/

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statistical modeling: your guide to Chapter 3

working on your dissertation, namely Chapter 3, you probably are consulting with the materials in this shared folder:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7IvS0UYhpxFVTNyRUFtNl93blE?usp=sharing

In it, there is a subfolder, called “stats related materials”
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7IvS0UYhpxFcVg3aWxCX0RVams

where you have several documents from the Graduate school and myself to start building your understanding and vocabulary regarding your quantitative, qualitative or mixed method research.

It has been agreed that before you go to the Statistical Center (Randy Kolb), it is wise to be prepared and understand the terminology as well as the basics of the research methods.

Please have an additional list of materials available through the SCSU library and the Internet. They can help you further with building a robust foundation to lead your research:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/07/10/intro-to-stat-modeling/

In this blog entry, I shared with you:

  1. Books on intro to stat modeling available at the library. I understand the major pain borrowing books from the SCSU library can constitute, but you can use the titles and the authors and see if you can borrow them from your local public library
  2. I also sought and shared with you “visual” explanations of the basics terms and concepts. Once you start looking at those, you should be able to further research (e.g. YouTube) and find suitable sources for your learning style.

I (and the future cohorts) will deeply appreciate if you remember to share those “suitable sources for your learning style” either by sharing in this Google Group thread and/or sharing in the comments section of the blog entry: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/07/10/intro-to-stat-modeling.  Your Facebook group page is also a good place to discuss among ourselves best practices to learn and use research methods for your chapter 3.

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search for sources

Google just posted on their Facebook profile a nifty short video on Google Search
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/06/26/google-search/

Watching the video, you may remember the same #BooleanSearch techniques from our BI (bibliography instruction) session of last semester.

Considering the fact of preponderance of information in 2017: your Chapter 2 is NOT ONLY about finding information regrading your topic.
Your Chapter 2 is about proving your extensive research of the existing literature.

The techniques presented in the short video will arm you with methods to dig deeper and look further.

If you would like to do a decent job exploring all corners of the vast area called Internet, please consider other search engines similar to Google Scholar:

Microsoft Semantic Scholar (Semantic Scholar); Microsoft Academic Search; Academicindex.net; Proquest Dialog; Quetzal; arXiv;

https://www.google.com/; https://scholar.google.com/ (3 min); http://academic.research.microsoft.com/http://www.dialog.com/http://www.quetzal-search.infohttp://www.arXiv.orghttp://www.journalogy.com/
More about such search engines in the following blog entries:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/01/19/digital-literacy-for-glst-495/

and

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/05/01/history-becker/

Let me know, if more info needed and/or you need help embarking on the “deep” search

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tips for writing and proofreading

please have several infographics to help you with your writing habits (organization) and proofreading, posted in the IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/06/11/writing-first-draft/
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/06/11/prewriting-strategies/ 

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/06/11/essay-checklist/

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letter – request copyright permission

Here are several samples on mastering such letter:

https://registrar.stanford.edu/students/dissertation-and-thesis-submission/preparing-engineer-theses-paper-submission/sample-3

http://www.iup.edu/graduatestudies/resources-for-current-students/research/thesis-dissertation-information/before-starting-your-research/copyright-permission-instructions-and-sample-letter/

https://brocku.ca/webfm_send/25032

 

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digital darwinism

We Need New Rules for the Internet Economy

Antitrust laws only go so far when addressing companies that don’t produce any physical goods. It is time to negotiate a new set of rules. Otherwise, our future economy will be dominated by just a few companies.

A DER SPIEGEL Editorial by Armin Mahler  November 03, 2017  06:12 PMhttp://www.spiegel.de/international/business/editorial-time-for-new-rules-for-the-ditigal-economy-a-1176403.html

There are still people out there who think that Amazon is nothing more than an online version of a department store. But it’s much more than that: It is a rapidly growing, global internet giant that is changing the way we shop, conquering more and more markets, using Alexa to suck up our personal data straight out of our living rooms and currently seeking access to our front door keys so it can deliver packages even when nobody’s home.

It wasn’t that long ago that EU efforts to limit the power of Google and Amazon on the European market were decried in the U.S. as protectionism, as an attempt by the Europeans to protect their own inferior digital economy. Now, though, politicians and economists in the U.S. have even begun discussing the prospect of breaking up the internet giants. The mood has shifted.

The digital economy, by contrast, is based on algorithms and its most powerful companies don’t produce any physical products. Customers receive their services free of charge, paying only with their data. The more customers a service provider attracts, the more attractive it becomes to new customers, who then deliver even more data – which is why Google and Facebook need not fear new competition.

first of all, the power of a company, and the abuse of that power, must be redefined. We cannot allow a situation in which these extremely large companies can swallow up potential rivals before they can even begin to develop. As such, company acquisitions must be monitored much more strictly than they currently are and, if need be, blocked.

Second, it must be determined who owns the data collected – whether, for example, it should also be made available to competitors or whether consumers should receive more in exchange than simply free internet search results.

Third, those disseminating content cannot be allowed to reject responsibility for that content. Demonstrably false claims and expressions of hate should not be tolerated.

And finally, those who earn lots of money must also pay lots of taxes – and not just back home but in all the countries where they do business.

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more on net neutrality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=net+neutrality

effective presentations and AR

SORRY, POWERPOINT: THE SLIDE DECK OF THE FUTURE WILL BE IN AR

https://www.wired.com/story/prezi-augmented-reality/
augmented reality takeover. It’s played out at Snapchat and Facebook, at Google and Apple. Companies are using AR to design carssell furniture, make little digital sharks swim around your breakfast table. What if Prezi could apply that same technology to make better presentations?
the product isn’t ready for a public launch yet. Prezi has enlisted a select group of influencers to try out the AR tools and offer feedback before the company releases a beta version.

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more on effective presentations in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=effective+presentations

digital access to nonprint collections

Digital Access to Non-Print Collections

University libraries have held collections of books and printed material throughout their existence and continue to be perceived as repositories for physical collections.  Other non-print specialized collections of interest have been held in various departments on campus such as Anthropology, Art, and Biology due to the unique needs of the collections and their usage.  With the advent of electronic media, it becomes possible to store these non-print collections in a central place, such as the Libray.

The skills needed to curate artifacts from an archeological excavation, biological specimens from various life forms, and sculpture work are very different, making it difficult for smaller university libraries to properly hold, curate, and make available such collections.  In addition, faculty in the various departments tend to want those collections near their coursework and research, so it can be readily available to students and researchers. With the expansion of online learning, the need for such availability becomes increasingly pronounced.

With the advent of 3 dimensional (3D) scanners, it has become possible for a smaller library to hold digital representations of these collections in an archive that can be curated from the various departments by experts in the discipline.  The Library can then make the digital representations available to other researchers, students, and the public through kiosks in the Library or via the Internet.  Current methods to scan and store an artifact in 3Dstill require expertise not often found in a Library.

We propose to use existing technology to build an easy-to-use system to scan smaller artifacts in 3D.  The project will include purchase and installation of a workstation in the Library where the artifact collection can be accessed using a large touch-screen monitor, and a portable, easy-to-use 3D scanning station.  Curators of collections from various departments on the St. Cloud State University campus can check out the scanning station, connect to power and Internet where the collection is located, and scan their collection into the libraries digital archives, making the collection easily available to students, other researchers and the public.

The project would include assembly of two workstations previously mentioned and potentially develop the robotic scanner.  Software would be produced to automate the workflow from the scanner to archiving the digital representation and then make the collection available on the Internet.

This project would be a collaboration between the St. Cloud State University Library (https://www.stcloudstate.edu/library/  and  Visualization Laboratory (https://www.facebook.com/SCSUVizLab/). The project would use the expertise and services of the St. Cloud State Visualization Laboratory.  Dr. Plamen Miltenoff, a faculty with the Library will coordinate the Library initiatives related to the use of the 3D scanner. Mark Gill, Visualization Engineer, and Dr. Mark Petzold, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering will lead a group of students in developing the software to automate the scanning, storage, and retrieval of the 3D models.  The Visualization Lab has already had success in 3D scanning objects for other departments and in creating interactive displays allowing retrieval of various digital content, including 3D scanned objects such animal skulls and video. A collaboration between the Library, VizLab and the Center for Teaching and Learning (, https://www.stcloudstate.edu/teaching/) will enable campus faculty to overcome technical and financial obstacles. It will promote the VizLab across campus, while sharing its technical resources with the Library and making those resources widely available across campus. Such work across silos will expose the necessity (if any) of standardization and will help faculty embrace stronger collaborative practices as well as spur the process of reproduction of best practices across disciplines.

Budget:

Hardware Cost
42” Touch Screen Monitor $2200
Monitor Mount $400
2 Computer Workstations $5000
Installation $500
Cart for Mobile 3D Scanner $1000
3D Scanner (either purchase or develop in-house) $2000
Total $11100

 

The budget covers two computer workstations.  One will be installed in the library as a way to access the digital catalog, and will include a 42 inch touch screen monitor mounted to a wall or stand.  This installation will provide students a way to interact with the models in a more natural way.  The second workstation would be mounted on a mobile cart and connected to the 3D scanner.  This would allow collection curators from different parts of campus to check out the scanner and scan their collections.  The ability to bring the scanner to the collection would increase the likelihood  the collections to be scanned into the library collection.

The 3D scanner would either be purchased off-the shelf or designed by a student team from the Engineering Department.  A solution will be sought to use and minimize the amount of training the operator would need.  If the scanner is developed in-house, a simple optical scanner such as an XBox Kinect device and a turntable or robotic arm will be used.  Support for the XBox Kinect is built into Microsoft Visual Studio, thus creating the interface efficient and costeffective.

Timeline

Task Start Time End Time
Catalog Software October 2017 December 2017
Scanner Interface October 2017 March 2018
Web Interface January 2018 May 2018
System Installation March 2018 May 2018

Personnel

Plamen Miltenoff, Ph.D., MLIS

pmiltenoff@stcloudstate.edu

320-308-3072

Dr. Miltenoff is part of a workgroup within the academic library, which works with faculty, students and staff on the application of new technologies in education. Dr. Miltenoff’s most recent research with Mark Gill is on the impact of Video 360 on students during library orientation: http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/bi/

 

Mark Petzold, Ph.D.
mcpetzold@stcloudstate.edu
320-308-4182
Dr. Petzold is an Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering.  His current projects involve visualization of meteorological data in a virtual reality environment and research into student retention issues.  He is co-PI on a $5 million NSF S-STEM grant which gives scholarships to low income students and investigates issues around student transitions to college.

Mark Gill

mcgill@stcloudstate.edu

320-308-5605

Mr. Gill is a Visualization Engineer for the College of Science and Engineering and runs the Visualization Laboratory.  He has worked for several major universities as well as Stennis Space Center and Mechdyne, Inc.  He holds a Masters of Science in Software Engineering.

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University of Nevada, Reno and Pennsylvania State University 41 campus libraries to include collaborative spaces where faculty and students gather to transform virtual ideas into reality.

Maker Commons in the Modern Library: Six Reasons 3D Printers Should be in Your School’s Library

Maker Commons in the Modern Library 6 REASONS 3D PRINTERS SHOULD BE IN YOUR LIBRARY

1. Librarians Know How to Share 2. Librarians Work Well with IT People 3. Librarians Serve Everybody 4. Librarians Can Fill Learning Gaps 5. Librarians like Student Workers 6. Librarians are Cross-Discipline

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more on grants in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=grant

VR headset future

VR’s future depends on you buying a dorky headset

Oculus, the VR company that Mark Zuckerberg bought for more than $2 billion, has a problem: It’s struggling to convince people to buy its gear.

https://www.cnet.com/news/vr-virtual-reality-future-depends-on-you-buying-a-dorky-headset-oculus-zuckerberg-playstation-vive/

Oculus Connect, starting Wednesday in San Jose, California. Facebook’s Oculus VR division promises discussions on how health care, movies and video games are adapting to this still nascent technology. One panel will explore how the disability community can benefit from VR gear and presentations.

Facebook chief competitors, Sony and HTC, followed suit. The PlayStation VR dropped to $400 from $500, and the Vive dropped to $599 from $799 all in the past three months.

Survios made Raw Data more widely available for Oculus, Vive and PlayStation VR. Survios is also looking beyond VR for customers, redesigning Raw Data to work in arcades as well.

Over the summer, Apple and Google announced new technologies called ARKit and ARCore, respectively, that are designed to help iPhones and iPads or any device powered by Google’s Android software marry computer-generated images with the real world.

A $2.99 app, Star Guide AR, highlights stars and constellations in the sky once you point your phone at them. Another, Ikea Place, previews furniture in your home with a tap. Walk around your living room and you can see the furniture you placed while looking through the screen on your phone. So far, both are available only for the iPhone.

App developers I spoke with say they’re excited by augmented reality and believe it may help spur people to buy VR systems as well.

Microsoft’s focusing on both AR and VR. In an October update to its Windows 10 software for PCs, the company is partnering with device makers like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer and Samsung to create headsets based on its designs. They’ll sell for as little as $300 each when they begin hitting store shelves Oct. 17.

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more on virtual reality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality

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