Anniversary of Titanic Proportions

Illustration of the sinking of the Titanic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just in case you hadn’t been made aware yet, today marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. New audiences continually get turned onto the tragic event as technology expands our understanding of just what happened as well as what information is made available. Undoubtedly, the re-release of James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic in 3-D will help spread the word as well. If you are anything like me, the majority of your information concerning the sinking of the Titanic comes from the 1997 movie and the additional content that accompanied the DVD. If that level of information is sufficient for you, you may find the rest of this post a bit boring. However, if you’re curious to know more, read on.

First off, have a look at the site maintained by RMS Titanic, Inc. RMS Titanic is the acting caretaker for all things Titanic. I especially like their “Stories from the Titanic.” A few of those stories are available on the site’s homepage, but you can easily peruse them all.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is another great source on the topic, primarily drawing from the 2004 expedition undertaken by marine explorer Robert Ballard. Ballard also happens to be the explorer responsible for discovering the wreckage site nearly 20 years ago. The NOAA resource will expose you to, amongst other things, photo and video materials related to the 2004 expedition.

Perhaps the most interesting and unique resource belongs to Marconi Calling. Guglielmo Marconi is often credited for being the inventor of radio, and the two radio operators aboard the Titanic were employed by Marconi’s organization. As such, the Marconi Calling site maintains the original messages transmitted to and from the Titanic 100 years ago. I highly recommend reading through some of those messages and viewing the digital fascimiles.

No research on the Titanic would be complete, or at least it wouldn’t be as fun, without some videos. Let’s start off with one from the National Archives. The following video shows some original documentation from the sinking and its aftermath, as well as some commentary from the archivists.

This next video comes from National Geographic and deals primarily with the circumstances surrounding the finding of the wreckage site in 1985. The way that Ballard and his team were able to secure funding for the expedition is particularly fascinating.

National Geographic featured the Titanic in its latest issue (available in the library). You can see that coverage and a bunch of special features on their website. Do you carry any fondness for the Titanic? Do you think the continued attention it receives is justified? As always, please voice your thoughts in the comments.

Related articles

• Tweeting the Titanic Tragedy in Real Time As if On Board the Ship (laughingsquid.com)
• 100 Years of the Titanic (gizmodo.co.uk)

Poetry Month Raffle

The other day, while giving an overview of National Poetry Month, I mentioned the upcoming poetry reading that will take place on Friday, April 20th, at 7pm in the cafeteria. Now I’d like to announce a student raffle that complements that event and may appeal to even the biggest poetry skeptics. The raffle details are as follows:

National Poetry Month Raffle

Prize: $25 Amazon Gift Card

Enter the Poetry Month raffle in the following ways (the more submissions, the better chance of winning):

1. Attend a poetry reading – write a brief review (1-2 pages) of the event and include the event details (date, locations, etc.)
2. Visit a poetry landmark – this could be a café, a bookstore, a statue, or any other landmark bearing significance to a poetic figure or poetic movement. Take photographs or otherwise document your visit and briefly describe the importance of the poet/landmark.
3. Create a visual representation of a poem of your choosing – this could be done in the form of a drawing/painting, a video, etc. Stick figures and representations that obviously took little to no time will not be accepted. Include the poet and the title of the poem somewhere on the submission.
4. Read an original poem at the poetry reading – again, the poetry reading takes place at 7:00pm Friday, April 20th, in the cafeteria.

*All submissions should be brought to Mr. Mahollitz (me) in the library. Participants in the poetry reading will be noted. If you would like assistance in locating a poetry reading or poetry landmark, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or via email. Submissions will be accepted through Monday, April 30th.

I was unable to post flyers with this same information before the end of school yesterday. As such, a large majority of students will not find out about the raffle until returning on the 16th. If you know a student that might be interested in participating, please refer them here. Also, if you have suggestions for how to improve or augment this raffle, do tell. To use a term from the tech community, this raffle is very much in its beta phase, which means it wasn’t totally ready for public release yet I unleashed it on you anyways. But I digress. I wish you all a restful and well deserved break.

Related articles

• National Poetry Month 2012 (salesianlibrary.wordpress.com)

National Poetry Month 2012

Title page and frontispiece to Milton's 1645 Poems (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

April is National Poetry Month. The Academy of American Poets (AAP) established National Poetry Month in 1996. Since then, literary and educational organizations have been utilizing the month to highlight and promote the poetic form. With that in mind, I’d like to mention some great poetry resources located on the web and in the library.

Poets.org, an outlet for the AAP, is an excellent resource for finding and reading poetry, discovering local poetry events, planning poetry lessons, etc. If you feel drawn to poetry in any way, don’t deprive yourself of the many riches that site has to offer. Sign up for their poem-a-day email service and have inspiration delivered to your inbox daily. Another great resource is NPR’s Muses and Metaphor 2012. NPR fans and listeners will be tweeting poems of 140 characters or less all throughout the month of April using the hashtag #TMMPoetry. A number of the tweeted poems are available in text and audio format. For a more complete listing of the poems, visit NPR’s coverage on Storify.

In the library, pay particular attention to the Dewey Decimal range beginning with 808 (Poetry/Poetry Collections) and ending with 821 (Poetry in English). As always, I’d love to hear student suggestions on ways to improve the collection. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or speak with me directly in person or via email (library@salesian.com). If you find that reading poetry isn’t enough and you’d like to explore some analyses and criticism, check out the Gale Literature Resource Center (contact a teacher or myself for login credentials). Once inside the Gale database, I’m a fan of the “Person Search” and “Works Search,” since I typically know one of those two pieces of information. However, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty sticking with the “Basic Search” tab and performing a keyword search.

Later this month, on April 20th to be exact, Salesian will host a poetry reading in which students will write and recite original poems.   The event will take place in the cafeteria and is scheduled to begin at 7:00PM. Students should consult with their English teacher for assistance in the writing and delivery of their poems. Look for more poetry related announcements before the month is out. Happy reading!

Winnowing the Web

Since finding out about this blog, you’ve probably noticed something – I don’t post very often. With this post, I hope to start changing that. Here I’ll be featuring applications revolving around the task of editing photos. Some of the things I’ll be highlighting will cost money, but for the most part I’ll be focusing on free and/or open-source materials. Since I’m always scouring the Web, posts of this nature are easier to fit into my natural workflow and should appeal to a wider audience. Before boring you any further, let’s get started.

Logo of Adobe Photoshop. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last week, Adobe released the public beta of its flagship image-editing software, Photoshop CS6. People are free to download and use the software until it goes on sale later this year ($700 Full; $200 Upgrade). The new version features basic video-editing functions to accommodate the burgeoning number of people shooting video with their DSLR cameras. The touch-of-a-button fixes are also now more numerous and of better quality. Did I mention it’s free to try. If you’ve never toyed with Adobe Photoshop, now is a good time to see what all the fuss is about. If the program gives you sticker shock, keep reading for free and cheaper options.

The free but less capable and less intuitive cousin to Adobe’s Photoshop is GIMP “GNU Image Manipulation Program.” Like Photoshop, GIMP is a software program that must be downloaded to your computer, and for most, the capabilities found within will be more than enough. GIMP is meant to be augmented and expanded upon by its users, and ample documentation is available to help both pros and novices get started. If you don’t mind having to work a little harder to take advantage of extensive functionality in a free program, then GIMP might be right up your alley.

Another option in the image-editing space is Aviary. Aviary is a free image editor that works entirely within your web browser. Images can be uploaded from your computer, a URL, from Facebook, Flickr, etc. Given the capabilities of the program and how easy it is to work with, it’s quite surprising that it is available free of charge. When visiting the Aviary site, you’ll likely notice that they also have tools for creating colors, vectors, and even music, among other things. You may go there to touch up an image and end up losing an entire day.

Lastly, I wanted to mention some free and/or inexpensive iOS and Android photo editors. The single biggest player in this space is Instagram (free), which allows you to take pictures, add various filters and then easily share your photos with others. Instagram is a great app not only for taking pictures but for following and viewing the pictures of others. Up until now, Instagram has only been available on iOS devices, but signups are now being accepted for the forthcoming Android app.

From SmugMug comes Camera Awesome (free), an iOS-only application that does filters, textures, frames and other visual effects. Many of the alterations are available for free, but you can purchase additional functions for 99￠a piece. The app also handles image stabilization and is one of the best when it comes to sharing with other applications (Instagram was added in the most recent update).

On the Android side, PicsArt (free) seems to be the go-to app, at least amongst the free apps. Users will find plenty of filters and other built-in photo effects, as well as the ability to draw on a blank canvas. The sharing options are plentiful, and you can’t beat the price tag.

Thus concludes this installment of Winnowing the Web. Do you have a favorite photo editor, free or otherwise? What is the killer feature that a photo editor must have in order for you to use it? Future posts in this series won’t necessarily stick to a single topic, but if you have a subject you’d like covered, feel free to let me know in the comments or via email.

Related articles

• Camera Awesome update adds Instagram sharing, gives you all the effects (ever) for $9.99 (theverge.com)
• New Photoshop CS6 Beta: Looks Better, Now Handles Video (wired.com)

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Celebration

Image via Wikipedia

This month, Salesian is celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage (APAH). APAH is typically celebrated in May “to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the U.S. [May 7, 1843] and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad [May 10, 1869]. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants” (http://asianpacificheritage.gov/about.html). However, since May is so busy with tests and other end-of-year activities, there’s no time like the present.

There are lots of great resources out there for anyone interested in APAH. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, and a host of other government-affiliated organizations teamed up to create a website full of images, exhibitions, teacher resources and events. Since May is still weeks away, some of the information pertains to 2011, but the site remains an engaging and highly authoritative resource.

Maybe you’re more of a timeline person. If so, you may enjoy the extensive coverage provided by USAsians.net. Using this great resource, you can follow the numerous links to go as far down the virtual rabbit hole as your curiosity warrants.

Maybe you just want some quick and dirty facts. The U.S. Census Bureau has you covered. Discover facts pertaining to everything from Education and Jobs to Internet Use and Age Distribution. Did you know that, as of 2009, 2.6 million U.S. citizens spoke Chinese in their homes. That makes Chinese second only to Spanish in terms of non-English languages spoken in the U.S.

Students and parents can also take advantage of Salesian’s subscription databases to find information on APAH, namely Gale’s U.S. History in Context. After logging in (contact library@salesian.com for password), try a simple search for “asian pacific americans” or “asian pacific islander.” Search through the extensive coverage provided by nationally recognized newspapers, magazines and academic journals.

Lastly, I must point out a few print titles available in the library:

American Dragons: Twenty-Five Asian American Voices, edited by Laurence Yep. (Call #: 810.9 AME). “In “American Dragons,” Laurence Yep brings together twenty-five talented writers, each with a different story about the Asian American experience” (Goodreads).

Growing Up Asian American, edited by Maria Hong. (Call #: 810.8 GRO). “Stories and essays from 32 Asian American writers, including Amy Tan, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Gus Lee illuminate the experience” (Goodreads).

Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America, edited by Fred Ho. (Call #: 320.53 LEG). “Legacy to Liberation is a groundbreaking anthology which documents & analyzes three decades of radical and revolutionary movement building in Asian-America from the 60s to the 90s” (Goodreads).

Do you have any favorite books or other resources related to Asian-Pacific American Heritage? Better yet, do you or someone you know have a story to share on the topic? Relate your story to me in the comments or via email, and I’ll consider giving it its own post within a few days of your contacting me.

Monthly Stats & Notable New Books

As we kick off the month of March, I’d like to reflect on how the library fared over the past month. In February, the library had 1,958 visitors over the course of 20 school days. Compared to January’s 1,342 visitors over 16 school days, I’d say February was an improvement. I’m nothing short of amazed at how busy the library has become on a day-to-day basis. February’s class visits were also up. Considering very few of February’s class visits were for mandatory surveys, I’d call an improvement as well.

Last month, I mentioned that circulation was low. While it is far from where I’d like it to be, circulation increased dramatically in February. That dramatic increase can largely be attributed to the onset of two English assignments, but new arrivals have caused a serious spike in casual reading. Just the other day I heard a student say “I’m not much of a reader, but that book was so good.” Few statements bring a smile to a librarian’s or educator’s face quite like that one.

Speaking of new books, I’d like to once again point out some notable new titles. In fact, I’d like to point out pretty much all of the new titles. But instead of doing that here, I’ll simply point you to the library’s new Goodreads page. Goodreads exists primarily to help people find and share books. The site features recommendations, reviews, book previews, lists, etc. It’s a great place to go if you’re struggling to decide what to read next. If you don’t need to see everything that gets added to the Salesian collection, you can just check out the Goodreads widget in the right-hand sidebar of this blog, where you’ll find only the most recent additions.

Lastly, I apologize for the lapse in posting last week. I hope to have a lot more to say real soon. Happy reading!

Related articles

• Monthly Stats & Notable New Books (January 2012) (salesianlibrary.wordpress.com)

Digital Citizenship

privacy (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

As we spend more and more time online, it’s important for us as parents, teachers, and students to be conscious of our actions and behaviors. Earlier this month, it was revealed that a host of different companies, mostly through iPhone apps, were capturing and storing users’ contact lists. The very notion of privacy is being tested on a regular basis as companies seek to personalize the user experience and users seek to maximize the benefit of any given web or mobile tool.

In addition to privacy, we must also concern ourselves with plagiarism and copyright infringement. People have always relied on the ideas of those that came before them — now more than ever. But as we add content to the web and remix the content of others, we need to be aware of the consequences of our actions. Can I post that video to YouTube since it has that Rihanna song playing in the background? Should I credit the author of a blog post that I’m heavily reusing and commenting upon?

You can explore these issues for yourself through an interesting new site called ThinkB4U. The site utilizes a choose-your-own-adventure model, complete with videos and other media, to walk you through different online scenarios. ThinkB4U is a collaboration between Google and expert safety partners Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, and the National Consumers League. I’ve only explored a small portion of this resource thus far, but I think it’s among the more entertaining ways to explore topics of digital citizenship.

Speaking of Google, our favorite search giant recently changed the way it handles user data in an effort to more precisely target you across its many services. Right around the time these changes were announced, Google set up a new site called “Good to Know,” which gives tips on online security and lets people know how Google is using their information. Despite Google’s history of privacy snafus, the new site is pretty neat. It even has a “Jargon Buster,” basically a glossary of the more technical terms (ie. cookies) discussed.

My purpose here has not been to scare anybody into a state of paranoia. Rather, I think it’s a good idea to regularly step back and reflect on how our online activities may be affecting others, and ultimately ourselves. I welcome any stories that readers might have concerning the issues discussed here, and I’d love to hear reactions to the ThinkB4U or Good to Know resources.

Related articles

• The Right To Be Forgotten (gizmodo.com.au)
• Microsoft: Google bypassed IE privacy settings too (news.cnet.com)
• Not Being a Troll Isn’t Enough: A Handbook to Being a Model Internet Citizen [Etiquette] (lifehacker.com)

Making Ayn Rand Pay

Opportunities for ambitious students to earn a little extra cash are numerous. I’m currently in the process of putting together a document listing contests and competitions of all sizes. In the mean time, there’s a set of Ayn Rand titles (Anthem, Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead) arriving in the library tomorrow, in plenty of time for students to prepare for one of the upcoming Ayn Rand essay contests. Head over to the contest page to learn about the rules and rewards accompanying these different contests. I hope to have posters on the library bulletin board announcing the same information.

When putting together your essay(s), don’t hesitate to ask me or any of your English teachers for assistance. Also, make use of some of the library’s latest titles covering the writing craft (Library Call #808):

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating Charles Dickens

Few in the literary canon have garnered more attention than Charles Dickens. Tuesday, February 7th, marks the 200th anniversary of the great author’s birth. That being the case, a great many articles and exhibitions have sprung up recently to celebrate the man’s life and work. I wanted to take a moment to point out a few of my favorites.

First, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City is currently playing host to an exhibition titled Charles Dickens at 200. While much of the materials are only viewable in person, the museum has made several pieces available digitally. Those pieces include the original manuscript for A Christmas Carol and selected letters. As you peruse, you can even listen to an audio recording of A Christmas Carol, courtesy of Naxos AudioBooks.

In the article category, the New York Times has a great piece from January that focuses on Dicken’s immense energy, his motivation, and writing process. His 14 novels may pale in comparison to some of the genre-fiction writers of today, but the staying power of those 14 novels is far, far greater.

In a lengthy New Yorker piece, New Yorker writer Jill Lepore examines Dickens’ experience in America and his reception by American readers. Long story short, American readers loved him, and the feeling was not mutual. That examination takes place in the context of Lepore reporting her experience at the annual Dickens Universe in Santa Cruz.

while I could go on and on, I’ll just mention one more. As published in the Guardian, author and Cambridge-affiliated scholar, Ruth Richardson, has discovered many real-life inspirations behind Dickens’ most famous characters and fictional locales. With her new insights, Richardson, author of the forthcoming Dickens and the Workhouse: Oliver Twist and the London Poor, has made some valuable contributions to Dickens scholarship.

Finally, I wanted to point out that all of Charles Dickens’ works are available for free since they’re all in the public domain. His works, and the works of many others, can be found in all the major formats from a great site called Many Books. Many Books allows you to search for free eBooks in a number of different ways. It also links to relevant Wikipedia articles and allows users to find out if books are available from their local public library via WorldCat.

Do you know of any articles or exhibitions on Dickens worth mentioning? Favorite Dickens’ books or passages? Leave ‘em in the comments so we can all benefit.

Related articles

• A Tale Of Two Centuries: Charles Dickens Turns 200 (npr.org)

Monthly Stats & Notable New Books

Today is the last day of January, and even though January wasn’t a full month school-wise, I wanted to reflect on how the library fared the past couple of weeks. Let’s start with the good news. January saw 1,342 visits to the library. While I currently have nothing to compare this number to, I can say I was pleased with how busy the library seemed over the past month. Students crowded in during break times, during lunch, and after school. Whether they were working on presentation slides, Spanish homework, or simply surfing the Web, most students appeared comfortable in the library and increasingly open to accepting my assistance. The new bean bag chairs have been well received, attracting several regulars to a portion of the library that was previously neglected. I hope to make that area even more inviting in the coming months, largely by changing the book display that currently occupies the shelves surrounding the bean bags. I’ve begun a complete inventory of the library, which I envision leading to an ultimately smaller but more relevant and up-to-date collection. So far, the inventory process has led to some serious weeding (removal of books), some book purchases, and the realization that a end-of-the-year book sale is in order. More info on such a book sale will be revealed in the coming months.

Now for the bad news. Checkouts in the Salesian Library are low. From what I’ve gathered over the past couple of weeks, the low checkout numbers can be attributed to an aging collection and ingrained habits that value the computers over everything else. Towards the end of the month, I started to see signs of things moving in the right direction. Only time will tell if those signs lead to actual and lasting progress.

As a final note, I’d like to highlight some of the newest additions to the library. Over the coming weeks, dozens of books will be making their way onto the shelves. The following are among the first:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – I’m currently about 3/4 of the way through this book and am absolutely thrilled with it. No matter how you feel about Steve Jobs as a man, his contributions to society are irrefutable. Knowing his accomplishments makes understanding the man all the more complex. Isaacson, who has also profiled Einstein, Kissinger, Ben Franklin, and others –captures Jobs at his best and worst, showing readers the complete man.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – You may know this as the movie currently piling up movie award nominations, but please don’t disregard the print book that spawned the movie. This book is over 500 pages long, but can be read in an afternoon due to the large number of pictures. Thankfully, those pictures are gorgeous and really help bring the story to life.

The Great Transformation: the Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong – Written by one of today’s greatest religious scholars, this book looks at the near-simultaneous rise of the religious traditions that survive to this day — “Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece” (Goodreads). Any book by Armstrong is worth a read so why not start with this one.

There are plenty more where these three books came from. I’ve got lots of popular fiction coming in along with some graphic novels, some core books on writing, and other great non-fiction titles. I’ll continue to highlight different titles in the coming months. And don’t hesitate to make suggestions if you feel particular titles should absolutely be included in the library. Your opinion matters. Until next time, happy reading.