MICHAEL BRANSON SMITH

Category: Digital Storytelling

  • Plastics

  • The Indians Get a Better Deal

  • Dorothy Has Second Thoughts

  • A Few Not So Good Men

  • Messing with the MacGuffin

    Earlier today, Tom Woodward tweeted the ds106 community a link to a blog post entitled, “8 Lines That Would Have Ended Star Wars Real Fast.” The post is a fabulous riff on script writing, imagining how a movie might turn out if the characters acted differently at a particular moment. And what makes the post…

  • Dr. Oliver Takes a Tumble

    My colleague Dr. Oliver Lindenbrook has asked that I send you this update regarding his quest to reach the Center of the Internet. He’s had a spotty start to his journey to the center of the internet, taking a bit of a tumble at the end of yesterday’s broadcast. He’s actually in the hospital right…

  • Animated GIFs with MPEG Streamclip and GIMP

    [youtube width=”580″ height=”470″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dyEgQXLED0[/youtube] DS106 has a great screen-cap tutorial to teach you how to make animated GIFs with the free applcations MPEG Streamclip and GIMP, but I thought I’d do a quick video as well. I’ve done a number of GIFs using Quicktime, Photoshop, and Final Cut Pro but these tools are not free! I’m…

  • Finding Your Professor’s Weak Spot

    Training and preparing for ds106 is like no course you’ve ever taken. The regular regimen of reading books, taking tests, and “writing to your professor” will not be enough. Your well studied moves… …will fall short. Why? Because ds106 is ready for them… If you can’t break your usual course habits…and find the weak spot…

  • No Digital Facelifts – Office Makeovers Encouraged

    [youtube width=”580″ height=”470″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv3Is8U2Fho[/youtube] In honor of the two readings for this week’s assignment, I decided to give the desk in my office a little makeover. It’s a lovely 300 lbs. piece of public sector Feng shui that wasn’t quite right, so I made a small adjustment.         Students that are still getting…

  • High School Is Everyone’s Forever Ago

    It’s been an interesting weekend. My wife and I made a work trip (for her work) to Amherst, MA. On Friday night we cut the trip in half by staying at my mother’s house, the home in which I spent the better part of my childhood. I hadn’t been in Wethersfield, CT for a few…