This task is about using Jott to nag yourself. Jott uses your mobile phone to convert your voice to emails, SMS, reminders, lists and appointments, You can Jott to yourself, or you can link to other web services e.g. Google calendar, Blogger and Twitter to name a few. You can investigate more about Jott at their website, but it was created for the US market and isn't available in Australia.
Would I use it, if it were available? It could be useful for those things that pop into your mind suddenly when you are out on a walk or in bed and have to grope for a pen and paper - a sort of automated nagging list. As it isn't available, I'll have to rely on my memory and the odd pen and scrap paper.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
#43 Midi Files
Ho hum! I have had this Thing sitting here awaiting my attention for weeks and weeks, while I have been playing with other potential Things and other Things that I already use. Well, MIDIs. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and was apparently first standardized in the 1980s. I read the wiki article and that was quite informative - maybe more information than I felt I needed.
MDIs allows all sorts of media control devices to talk to each other and computers - that's the theory and I'm sure it is probably the practice too (though not in Polyxena's life as we know it). MDI was also a major factor in getting rid of the walls of synthesizers in 1970s and 1980s rock concerts. Another result was the development of hardware and computer based sequencers, which can be used to record, edit and playback performances. These are used for mobile phone rings, and can be used for composition.
I had great difficulty with the task and didn't complete it. I thought that I downloaded the jazzmidi sequencer from www.midimart.net, but then it wouldn't install. I thought it was a free download but Tapsister thought she had to join up so maybe that was my problem. I did manage to access and save the Hallelujah chorus from Alamo5's midipage though the instructions were different to those in the discovery exercise. It was amazing to see how many midi files are around.
But, of course, as I couldn't load the sequencer I couldn't do the next part of the exercise. Ho hum! Do I care? I am glad for curiosity's sake to know of the existence of midis and midi sequencers but don't believe that I would ever use this knowledge theoretically or practically. In terms of applicability to libraries, I suppose that these files could be used in making film clips etc, but I didn't explore the copyright issues and am not sure whether this is all free for all to use.
MDIs allows all sorts of media control devices to talk to each other and computers - that's the theory and I'm sure it is probably the practice too (though not in Polyxena's life as we know it). MDI was also a major factor in getting rid of the walls of synthesizers in 1970s and 1980s rock concerts. Another result was the development of hardware and computer based sequencers, which can be used to record, edit and playback performances. These are used for mobile phone rings, and can be used for composition.
I had great difficulty with the task and didn't complete it. I thought that I downloaded the jazzmidi sequencer from www.midimart.net, but then it wouldn't install. I thought it was a free download but Tapsister thought she had to join up so maybe that was my problem. I did manage to access and save the Hallelujah chorus from Alamo5's midipage though the instructions were different to those in the discovery exercise. It was amazing to see how many midi files are around.
But, of course, as I couldn't load the sequencer I couldn't do the next part of the exercise. Ho hum! Do I care? I am glad for curiosity's sake to know of the existence of midis and midi sequencers but don't believe that I would ever use this knowledge theoretically or practically. In terms of applicability to libraries, I suppose that these files could be used in making film clips etc, but I didn't explore the copyright issues and am not sure whether this is all free for all to use.
Guess what? Omnidrive
I have made another attempt today to sign up to Omnidrive. The register page is still giving an error message. I have had no response from my communications with them. I sure hope that this is fixed before we have the whole swag of Boroondara Learning 2.1 staff wanting to access it. The one other Boroondara person aside from me who has done this Thing (and wasn't previously using Omnidrive) couldn't sign up either, so it can't just be me ;>(
It's a few weeks to go before Thing 32 for Boroondara, so I will keep checking the website. Sigh! I suppose I can explore some of the other sites in this category and use them as options when I post the tasks to the Boroondara Learning 2.1 ning.
It's a few weeks to go before Thing 32 for Boroondara, so I will keep checking the website. Sigh! I suppose I can explore some of the other sites in this category and use them as options when I post the tasks to the Boroondara Learning 2.1 ning.
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