2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Films
Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. The origin of the name comes from the fact that photographic film (also called filmstock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, photoplay, flick, and most commonly, movie. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the cinema, and the movies.
Films are produced by recording actual people and objects with cameras, or by creating them using animation techniques and/or special effects. They comprise a series of individual frames, but when these images are shown rapidly in succession, the illusion of motion is given to the viewer. Flickering between frames is not seen due to an effect known as persistence of vision — whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Also of relevance is what causes the perception of motion; a psychological effect identified as beta movement.
Film is considered by many to be an important art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audiences. The visual elements of cinema need no translation, giving the motion picture a universal power of communication. Any film can become a worldwide attraction, especially with the addition of dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue. Films are also artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them.
History of film
Mechanisms for producing artificially created, two-dimensional images in motion were demonstrated as early as the 1860s, with devices such as the zoetrope and the praxinoscope. These machines were outgrowths of simple optical devices (such as magic lanterns), and would display sequences of still pictures at sufficient speed for the images on the pictures to appear to be moving, a phenomenon called persistence of vision. Naturally, the images needed to be carefully designed to achieve the desired effect — and the underlying principle became the basis for the development of film animation.
With the development of celluloid film for still photography, it became possible to directly capture objects in motion in real time. Early versions of the technology sometimes required the viewer to look into a special device to see the pictures. By the 1880s, the development of the motion picture camera allowed the individual component images to be captured and stored on a single reel, and led quickly to the development of a motion picture projector to shine light through the processed and printed film and magnify these "moving picture shows" onto a screen for an entire audience. These reels, so exhibited, came to be known as "motion pictures." Early motion pictures were static shots that showed an event or action with no editing or other cinematic techniques.
Motion pictures were purely visual art up to the late 19th century, but these innovative silent films had gained a hold on the public imagination. Around the turn of the twentieth century, films began developing a narrative structure by stringing scenes together to tell narratives. The scenes were later broken up into multiple shots of varying sizes and angles. Other techniques such as camera movement were realized as effective ways to portray a story on film. Rather than leave the audience in silence, theatre owners would hire a pianist or organist or a full orchestra to play music fitting the mood of the film at any given moment. By the early 1920s, most films came with a prepared list of sheet music for this purpose, with complete film scores being composed for major productions.
The rise of European cinema was interrupted by the breakout of World War I while the film industry in United States flourished with the rise of Hollywood. However in the 1920s, European filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein and F. W. Murnau, along with American innovator D. W. Griffith and the contributions of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and others, continued to advance the medium. In the 1920s, new technology allowed filmmakers to attach to each film a soundtrack of speech, music and sound effects synchronized with the action on the screen. These sound films were initially distinguished by calling them "talking pictures", or talkies.
The next major step in the development of cinema was the introduction of colour. While the addition of sound quickly eclipsed silent film and theater musicians, color was adopted more gradually. The public was relatively indifferent to color photography as opposed to black-and-white. But as colour processes improved and became as affordable as black-and-white film, more and more movies were filmed in color after the end of World War II, as the industry in America came to view color an essential to attracting audiences in its competition with television, which remained a black-and-white medium until the mid-1960s. By the end of the 1960s, colour had become the norm for film makers.
Since the decline of the studio system in the 1960s, the succeeding decades saw changes in the production and style of film. New Hollywood, French New Wave and the rise of film school educated, independent filmmakers were all part of the changes the medium experienced in the latter half of the 20th Century. Digital technology has been the driving force in change throughout the 1990s and into the 21st Century.
Film theory seeks to develop concise, systematic concepts that apply to the study of film/cinema as art. Classical film theory provides a structural framework to address classical issues of techniques, narrativity, diegesis, cinematic codes, "the image", genre, subjectivity, and authorship. More recent analysis has given rise to psychoanalytical film theory, structuralist film theory, feminist film theory and others.
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. In general, these works can be divided into two categories; academic criticism by film scholars, and journalistic film criticism that appears regularly in newspapers and other media.
Film critics working for newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media mainly review new releases. Normally they only see any given film once and have only a day or two to formulate opinions. Despite this, critics have an important impact on films, especially those of certain genres. Mass marketed action, horror, and comedy films tend not to be greatly affected by a critic's overall judgment of a film. The plot summary and description of a film that makes up the majority of any film review can still have an important impact on whether people decide to see a film. For prestige films such as most dramas, the influence of reviews is extremely important. Poor reviews will often doom a film to obscurity and financial loss.
The impact of a reviewer on a given film's box office performance is a matter of debate. Some claim that movie marketing is now so intense and well financed that reviewers cannot make an impact against it. However, the cataclysmic failure of some heavily-promoted movies which were harshly reviewed, as well as the unexpected success of critically praised independent movies indicates that extreme critical reactions can have considerable influence. Others note that positive film reviews have been shown to spark interest in little-known films. Conversely, there have been several films in which film companies have so little confidence that they refuse to give reviewers an advanced viewing to avoid widespread panning of the film. However, this usually backfires as reviewers are wise to the tactic and warn the public that the film may not be worth seeing and the films often do poorly as a result.
It is argued that journalist film critics should only be known as film reviewers, and true film critics are those who take a more academic approach to films. This line of work is more often known as film theory or film studies. These film critics attempt to come to understand how film and filming techniques work, and what effect they have on people. Rather than having their works published in newspapers or appear on television, their articles are published in scholarly journals, or sometimes in up-market magazines. They also tend to be affiliated with colleges or universities.
Motion picture industry
The making and showing of motion pictures became a source of profit almost as soon as the process was invented. Upon seeing how successful their new invention, and its product, was in their native France, the Lumières quickly set about touring the Continent to exhibit the first films privately to royalty and publicly to the masses. In each country, they would normally add new, local scenes to their catalogue and, quickly enough, found local entrepreneurs in the various countries of Europe to buy their equipment and photograph, export, import and screen additional product commercially. The Oberammergau Passion Play of 1898 was the first commercial motion picture ever produced. Other pictures soon followed, and motion pictures became a separate industry that overshadowed the vaudeville world. Dedicated theaters and companies formed specifically to produce and distribute films, while motion picture actors became major celebrities and commanded huge fees for their performances. Already by 1917, Charlie Chaplin had a contract that called for an annual salary of one million dollars.
In the United States today, much of the film industry is centered around Hollywood. Other regional centers exist in many parts of the world, and the Indian film industry (primarily centered around " Bollywood") annually produces the largest number of films in the world. Whether the ten thousand-plus features a year produced by the Valley porn industry should qualify for this title is the source of some debate. Though the expense involved in making movies has led cinema production to concentrate under the auspices of movie studios, recent advances in affordable film making equipment have allowed independent film productions to flourish.
Profit is a key force in the industry, due to the costly and risky nature of filmmaking; many films have large cost overruns, a notorious example being Kevin Costner's Waterworld. Yet many filmmakers strive to create works of lasting social significance. The Academy Awards (also known as The Oscars) are the most prominent film awards in the United States, providing recognition each year to films, ostensibly based on their artistic merits. Also, film quickly came to be used in education, in lieu of or in addition to lectures and texts.
Stages of filmmaking
The nature of the film determines the size and type of crew required during filmmaking. Many Hollywood adventure films need computer generated imagery (CGI), created by dozens of 3D modellers, animators, rotoscopers and compositors. However, a low-budget, independent film may be made with a skeleton crew, often paid very little. Filmmaking takes place all over the world using different technologies, styles of acting and genre, and is produced in a variety of economic contexts that range from state-sponsored documentary in China to profit-oriented movie making within the American studio system.
A typical Hollywood-style filmmaking Production cycle comprises five main stages:
This production cycle typically takes three years. The first year is taken up with development. The second year comprises preproduction and production. The third year, post-production and distribution.
A film crew is a group of people hired by a film company for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film.
Independent filmmaking often takes place outside of Hollywood, or other major studio systems. An independent film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major movie studio. Creative, business, and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Creatively, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get studio backing for experimental films. Experimental elements in theme and style are inhibitors for the big studios.
On the business side, the costs of big-budget studio films also leads to conservative choices in cast and crew. The problem is exacerbated by the trend towards co-financing (over two-thirds of the films put out by Warner Bros. in 2000 were joint ventures, up from 10% in 1987). An unproven director is almost never given the opportunity to get his or her big break with the studios unless he or she has significant industry experience in film or television. They also rarely produce films with unknown actors, particularly in lead roles.
Until the advent of digital alternatives, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was also a hurdle to being able to produce, direct, or star in a traditional studio film. The cost of 35 mm film is outpacing inflation: in 2002 alone, film negative costs were up 23%, according to Variety. Film requires expensive lighting and post-production facilities.
But the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of high-resolution digital video in the early 1990s, have lowered the technology barrier to movie production significantly. Both production and post-production costs have been significantly lowered; today, the hardware and software for post-production can be installed in a commodity-based personal computer. Technologies such as DVDs, FireWire connections and non-linear editing system pro-level software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple's Final Cut Pro, and consumer level software such as Apple's Final Cut Express and iMovie make movie-making relatively inexpensive.
Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a movie, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. Most independent filmmakers rely on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution.
Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a special animation camera. When the frames are strung together and the resulting film is viewed at a speed of 16 or more frames per second, there is an illusion of continuous movement (due to the persistence of vision). Generating such a film is very labour intensive and tedious, though the development of computer animation has greatly sped up the process.
File formats like GIF, QuickTime, Shockwave and Flash allow animation to be viewed on a computer or over the Internet.
Because animation is very time-consuming and often very expensive to produce, the majority of animation for TV and movies comes from professional animation studios. However, the field of independent animation has existed at least since the 1950s, with animation being produced by independent studios (and sometimes by a single person). Several independent animation producers have gone on to enter the professional animation industry.
Limited animation is a way of increasing production and decreasing costs of animation by using "short cuts" in the animation process. This method was pioneered by UPA and popularized (some say exploited) by Hanna-Barbera, and adapted by other studios as cartoons moved from movie theaters to television.
Although most animation studios are now using digital technologies in their productions, there is a specific style of animation that depends on film. Cameraless animation, made famous by moviemakers like Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage, is painted and drawn directly onto pieces of film, and then run through a projector.
When it is initially produced, a film is normally shown to audiences in a movie theatre or cinema. The first theatre designed exclusively for cinema opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1905. Thousands of such theaters were built or converted from existing facilities within a few years. In the United States, these theaters came to be known as nickelodeons, because admission typically cost a nickel (five cents).
Typically, one film is the featured presentation (or feature film). There were "double features"; typically, a high quality "A picture" rented by an independent theatre for a lump sum, and a "B picture" of lower quality rented for a percentage of the gross receipts. Today, the bulk of the material shown before the feature film (those in theaters) consists of previews for upcoming movies and paid advertisements (also known as trailers or " The Twenty").
Originally, all films were made to be shown in movie theaters. The development of television has allowed films to be broadcast to larger audiences, usually after the film is no longer being shown in theaters. Recording technology has also enabled consumers to rent or buy copies of films on VHS or DVD (and the older formats of laserdisc, VCD and SelectaVision — see also videodisc), and Internet downloads may be available and have started to become revenue sources for the film companies. Some films are now made specifically for these other venues, being released as made-for-TV movies or direct-to-video movies. These are often considered to be of inferior quality compared to theatrical releases. And indeed, some films that are rejected by their own studios upon completion are dumped into these markets.
The movie theatre pays an average of about 55% of its ticket sales to the movie studio, as film rental fees. The actual percentage starts with a number higher than that, and decreases as the duration of a film's showing continues, as an incentive to theaters to keep movies in the theater longer. However, today's barrage of highly marketed movies ensures that most movies are shown in first-run theaters for less than 8 weeks. There are a few movies every year that defy this rule, often limited-release movies that start in only a few theaters and actually grow their theatre count through good word-of-mouth and reviews. According to a 2000 study by ABN AMRO, about 26% of Hollywood movie studios' worldwide income came from box office ticket sales; 46% came from VHS and DVD sales to consumers; and 28% came from television (broadcast, cable, and pay-per-view).
Development of film technology
Film stock consists of transparent celluloid, polyester, or acetate base coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive chemicals. Cellulose nitrate was the first type of film base used to record motion pictures, but due to its flammability was eventually replaced by safer materials. Stock widths and the film format for images on the reel have had a rich history, though most large commercial films are still shot on (and distributed to theaters) as 35 mm prints.
Originally moving picture film was shot and projected at various speeds using hand-cranked cameras and projectors; though 16 frames per second is generally cited as a standard silent speed, research indicates most films were shot between 16-23 fps and projected from 18 fps on up (often reels included instructions on how fast each scene should be shown) . When sound film was introduced in the late 1920s, a constant speed was required for the sound head. 24 frames per second was chosen because it was the slowest (and thus cheapest) speed which allowed for sufficient sound quality. Improvements since the late 19th century include the mechanization of cameras — allowing them to record at a consistent speed, quiet camera design — allowing sound recorded on-set to be usable without requiring large "blimps" to encase the camera, the invention of more sophisticated filmstocks and lenses, allowing directors to film in increasingly dim conditions, and the development of synchronized sound, allowing sound to be recorded at exactly the same speed as its corresponding action. The soundtrack can be recorded separately from shooting the film, but for live-action pictures many parts of the soundtrack are usually recorded simultaneously.
As a medium, film is not limited to motion pictures, since the technology developed as the basis for photography. It can be used to present a progressive sequence of still images in the form of a slideshow. Film has also been incorporated into multimedia presentations, and often has importance as primary historical documentation. However, historic films have problems in terms of preservation and storage, and the motion picture industry is exploring many alternatives. Most movies on cellulose nitrate base have been copied onto modern safety films. Some studios save colour films through the use of separation masters — three B&W negatives each exposed through red, green, or blue filters (essentially a reverse of the Technicolor process). Digital methods have also been used to restore films, although their continued obsolescence cycle makes them (as of 2006) a poor choice for long-term preservation. Film preservation of decaying film stock is a matter of concern to both film historians and archivists, and to companies interested in preserving their existing products in order to make them available to future generations (and thereby increase revenue). Preservation is generally a higher-concern for nitrate and single-strip color films, due to their high decay rates; black and white films on safety bases and colour films preserved on Technicolor imbibition prints tend to keep up much better, assuming proper handling and storage.
Some films in recent decades have been recorded using analog video technology similar to that used in television production. Modern digital video cameras and digital projectors are gaining ground as well. These approaches are extremely beneficial to moviemakers, especially because footage can be evaluated and edited without waiting for the film stock to be processed. Yet the migration is gradual, and as of 2005 most major motion pictures are still recorded on film.
Endurance of films
Films have been around for more than a century; however this is not long when one considers it in relation to other arts like painting and sculpture. There was a perceived "threat" by television during the early 1950's, especially when the FCC expanded television during its 1952 TV license expansion. Trade magazines were publishing articles on the "death' of local theatres. Nonetheless, many at present believe that film will be a long enduring art form because motion pictures appeal to diverse human emotions.
Apart from societal norms and cultural changes, there are still close resemblances between theatrical plays throughout the ages and films of today. Romantic motion pictures about a girl loving a guy but not being able to be together for some reason, movies about a hero who fights against all odds a more powerful fiendish enemy, comedies about everyday life, etc. all involve plots with common threads that existed in books, plays and other venues.


- Anonymity is the state of not being identifiable. The possibility of being anonymous is often considered a cornerstone of democracy, since without it there is the possibility that nobody will dare to give opposing views, or to vote differently from the majority. — “anonymity - Anarchopedia”,
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- Anonymity is the condition of being unknown, without a name or lacking an identity. The term is derived from the Greek word ανωνυμία, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness" Anonymity is also closely related to certain aspects of the problem of privacy. — “Anonymity - encyclopedia article - Citizendium”,
- In the Proceedings of Designing Privacy Enhancing Technologies: Workshop on Design Issues in Anonymity and Unobservability, July 2000, pages 46-66. (BibTeX entry)· Towards an ***ysis of on Design Issues in Anonymity and Unobservability, July 2000, pages. — “Free Haven's Selected Papers in Anonymity”,
- Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation -- and their ideas from suppression -- at the hand of an intolerant society. — “EPIC - Internet Anonymity”,
- Free speech and anonymity have always been important real-world societal issues and have been the topics of numerous heated court cases. These issues are becoming increasingly important as more people discover the digital world and find the need for anonymity in this new society. — “Anonymity on the Internet Must be Protected”, groups.csail.mit.edu
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- Anonamizing networks - Networks like tor are free to use, provide very high anonymity and privacy.They tunnel your connection encrypted through several proxies resulting in the fact that Learn more about anonymity if you really need to be anonymous. — “How to Be Online Anonymously - wikiHow”,
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- ¿Anonymity? - This Guy check out Twig bust out this song in the practice room at 3B!
- Frankel - "Anonymity is the New Fame" Frankel - "Anonymity is the New Fame" little- July 9, 2009 At a small house, somewhat tucked away in the trees and hillside, at the very end of one of the winding roads up behind the reservoir, I met up with Frankel, the musical pseudonym for Michael Orendy's songwriting. It was getting on to a point in the evening where the low sun drenched the living room and stretched the shadows, but the heat still lingered. There was an upright in the corner and a couple acoustic guitars and no real plan, except to play a few songs off his new album, Anonymity is the New Fame, released by Autumn Tone Records two weeks earlier. He sat down with a guitar, started tinkering out a little folky blues song called "Weary Mind," gently meandering its way into the opening, "Sometimes, I don't want to be myself at all," and suddenly you're hooked, following the imagery soaked storytelling as it swims between comfort and uneasiness, disillusion and acceptance. His voice is magnetic, but it's the deliberate, careful delivery that makes these songs so immediate and enthralling. Frankel gets the award for favorite home so far, although I'm a bit biased towards most things mid-century modern. He played three songs that day, all on guitar. Stripped away from the instrumentation of the album, to the heart of the songwriting, there's an endearing soulfulness and introspection that you can't help but be drawn to. Find out more about Frankel at: /frankel Camera: Elliot Glass ...
- Censorship, Privacy, Anonymity, and Net Neutrality March 4, 2011 - Adam Beberg presents several topics related to daily life on the Internet, suitable for a wide and non-technical audience. His work over the last two decades has centered around Distributed Computing, Security, and Education. Censorship limits what can be found when looking for news and information. Privacy is far more important than in the past since everything one does on the Internet can come back to do damage years later. Anonymity has turned the world into a happy but deceptive place, safer for both whistle-blowers and criminals. Net Neutrality is a three-way crash between technology, business, and political realities, that may have serious consequences for future freedoms and business opportunities. Stanford University: www.stanford.edu Cee Lo Green - Forget You: Parisian Love: Stanford University Channel on YouTube:
- Will Smartphones and Face Recognition Destroy Anonymity? Fraser Cain from Universe Today emailed in the question, "Will smartphones and face recognition destroy anonymity? Now that pretty much everyone has a smartphone, and face recognition is pretty good, and everyone has put photos of themselves on the Internet, are we about to have a complete loss of public anonymity?" There is a delicate balance that must be maintained. For every reason systems like these may be useful, there is a counter-argument against any stripping of anonymity. What do you think? Please leave a comment below with your take on this topic. http
- Dance Chapter - Anonymity Anonymity 7" (1980)
- Is Google+ Killing Anonymity? Facebook decided a couple of years ago that you have to use your real name to become a member and now Google Plus has made it their new policy as well. It's started a fierce debate, Randi Zuckerberg, former Facebook marketing director said "anonymity on the Internet has to go away." But there are a lot of people fighting back against this statement, and now a new website has been dedicated to the cause of anonymity, called, "My name is Me". Electronic Frontier Foundation's Eva Galperin weighs in.
- SOURCE Barcelona 2010: Anonymity, Privacy, and Circumvention with Tor in the Real World Speaker: Sebastian Hahn The Tor network is the largest and well known anonymity network ever deployed.How does it work? Who uses it, where do they use it, and why do they use it? This talk will give a quick introduction to the Tor network, it will include real life examples of people using Tor to safeguard their use of the internet, and it will cover some of the current challenges facing the Tor network. If you've ever wondered about country-wide firewalls (both the technology and the social support behind them), geographically anonymous hosting, or practical privacy on the internet - this talk will be of interest. For more information visit: bit.ly To download the video visit: bit.ly
- Your Online Identity: On The Line - 4: Anonymity A production of Interpersonal.tv, this presentation of the MIT ECAP Program, at ecitizen.mit.edu features Dazza Greenwood of the MIT Media Lab explaining online identity, privacy and calling for an Identity Bill of Rights
- State Farm® - State Of Anonymity (Cheers) It seems these days, the more technologically connected we've become, the more isolated we've become on a human level. State Farm and our agents reach out and connect like no other company. When you trust a State Farm agent, they don't just call you a customer - they know you by name.
- Internet Anonymity 101 This fun video will teach you how to protect yourself on the Internet using https, proxies and Tor. You will also learn the basics of how computers communicate and what they can tell hackers about you.
- UN and China trying to remove online anonymity The world just keeps getting creepier and creepier The Communist regime in China, The NSA in America and the UN teaming up to track everyone online. What could possibly go wrong with that?
- Building and Managing Online Communities: Anonymity, Defamation and Privacy, Oh My! This panel looks at the challenges, both legal and journalistic, facing journalism ventures that seek to build and maintain online communities, from article comments to community forums and blogs. Issues include the role of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, dealing with and protecting anonymous commenters, and concerns regarding defamation and privacy. Patrick Carome - Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP Bill Densmore - Consultant to Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at University of Missouri and co-founder of CircLabs Inc. Eric Goldman - Associate Professor, Santa Clara University School of Law Jeff Howe - Contributing editor at and author of Crowdsourcing Barbara Wall - Vice President/Senior Associate General Counsel, Gannett Co. David Ardia (moderator) - Director, Citizen Media Law Project, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University This panel is part of the Online Media Legal Network's 2010 conference "Journalism's Digital Transition: Unique Legal Challenges and Opportunities" held at Harvard Law School on Friday, April 9, 2010. Find more information here:
- High Anonymity Proxy All proxies are not created equal . Visit www.anonymous- to learn why most proxies are not secure. If you want a high anonymity proxy, you need a professional service.
- 25c3: Security and anonymity vulnerabilities in Tor Speaker: Roger Dingledine Past, present, and future There have been a number of exciting bugs and design flaws in Tor over the years, with effects ranging from complete anonymity compromise to remote code execution. Some of them are our fault, and some are the fault of components (libraries, browsers, operating systems) that we trusted. Further, the academic research community has been coming up with increasingly esoteric -- and increasingly effective! -- attacks against all anonymity designs, including Tor. Roger will walk through some of the most egregious bugs and design flaws we've had, and give some intuition about lessons learned building and deploying the largest distributed anonymity network ever. Then he'll outline the wide variety of current vulnerabilities we have, explain what they mean for our users, and talk about which ones we have a plan for and which ones will continue to be a pain for the coming years. Last, we'll speculate about categories and topics that are likely to introduce new problems in the future. More information about the 25th Chaos Communication Congress can be found via the Chaos Communication Congress website: bit.ly Source: bit.ly
- Anonymity is a 'moot' point Christopher 'moot' Poole, founder of the controversial 4 imageboard, opens up to CNN after his recent TED talk.
- TNTHII - anonymity Basically anonymity on the internet is good, it doesn't make us to do something that we wouldn't do, it is just an opportunity. Personally I don't believe in anonymity in a way as many other people believe, I know that everything can be traced to its original source and sometimes I just don't want to risk something like that. But most of the times I'm saying what I think anyway. As a research for this I was reading several articles about 4chan anonymity and about m00t, because obviously he is very insightful in this area. TrollsNews T-shirts ... seriously, you're gonna love them Please follow TrollsNews on facebook - http and if you like to be informed about very stupid things you can also follow TrollsNews on twitter -
- The Anonymity Project - Spring 2009 Digital Ethnography Preview For the Spring 2009 Digital Ethnography course led by Michael Wesch. This is a compilation of trailers created by students for their Spring 2009 projects. For more information about our project, visit our research hub: There you will find links to student blogs, our wiki, our diigo links, notes, and other materials.
- Judge who gave Venables anonymity speaks out The judge who granted anonymity to James Bulger's killer Jon Venables has spoken out in support of the Government. . Follow us on twitter at .
- Tor - because privacy and anonymity matter Staying anonymous online can protect you in "real life."
- The value of anonymity: a message to Randi Zuckerberg I'd love to know what people are saying behind my back. Video transcript: Follow me:
- Tor: Building, Growing, and Extending Online Anonymity By Andrew Lewman A review and update on Tor, how open source solutions work well worldwide, where we're headed, and where we need help from developers like you. Tor is a tool to protect your online privacy and anonymity. We rely on thousands of volunteers to run our network, review our code, and help enhance the experience for all.FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Development European Meeting) is a European event centered around Free and Open Source software development. It is aimed at developers and all interested in the Free and Open Source news in the world. Its goals are to enable developers to meet and to promote the awareness and use of free and open source software. More info at
- Anonymity Email me: danbrownuniverse@ Anonymity on the internet (wikipedia): bit.ly Anonymous (wikipedia): bit.ly Is the internet a human right? (video): bit.ly /////////////////////////// Jackthreads: Twitter:
- Your opinion On: Anonymity in Internet by Paulo Coelho What about people who hide behind anonymity when they write comments in the internet? In my opinion this is the dark side when you are empowered by the fact that you dont have to be liable for your opinions. Im saying this because I met Jeff Jarvis from and Michael Arrington from and they told me that they are insulted every single day and in the case of Arrington someone even spat on his face. If we stood by our opinions, I think we should put our name next to it. However, if you go to any newspaper site and click on comments, you see that most people use nicknames in order to insult what people do. So, I would like to hear your opinion on anonymity in the internet.
- Psychosocial Impacts of Internet Anonymity [HD] This brief informational video is intended to spread awareness of the causes of unintended and problematic behavior on the web. The internet's greatest utility is arguably the democracy lent by anonymity, but the unlimited free speech offered by the online environment is not necessarily being used to positive effect. See why and learn what you can do to retain the value of the web. Social interactions are typically grounded in unwritten rules of conduct. These rules are rarely enforced by authority, but there are often social consequences for avoiding them. How do people conduct themselves when the social consequences of face-to-face communication are minimized? This question forms the basis of the study of the Online Disinhibition Effect. This effect explains how and why given free rein in an online environment, people generally behave with less restraint. Abbreviated References Dooley, JJ, Pyzalski, J., & Cross, D. (2009). Cyberbullying versus face-to-face bullying. Journal of Psychology, 217, 182-188. Moore, PJ, Heuvelman, A., & Verleur, R. (2010). Flaming on YouTube. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 1536-1546. Sheeks, MS, & Birchmeier, ZP (2007). Shyness, sociability, and the use of computer-mediated communication in relationship development. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 64-70. Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7, 321-326. Suler, J. (2004). In class and online: Using discussion boards in teaching. CyberPsychology ...
- Anonymity Project: The PostSecret Effect "Intimacy Among Strangers in Online Anonymous Communities". My third and final draft of my research documentary. Music: "In The Way" by Two Seconds Away More credits at . For a more in-depth look at this project, check out my research blog at and our class research hub at !
- Tor Anonymity Online See how you can anonymize your internet usage on Windows Macs and Linux
- Who I am After numerous requests and much speculation I have decided to 'out' myself and reveal my identity and resume. I hope this will add weight to the research I present on this channel, although I am still not the source for the information presented in my videos. My sources are all listed, and should be checked. I would like my 'outing' to also act as a launch pad for opinion and comment in some of my future videos, where it is warranted and based on my own expertise. However, most of my videos will remain factual. I prefer to present the facts, show my sources, let people check the facts and make up their own minds. You don't need me to tell you what to think. Facts speak for themselves.
- Anonymity in the Healthcare Professions What are the ethics and practical matters that Healthcare professionals need to consider with regard to anonymous accounts?
- Christopher "moot" Poole: The case for anonymity online The founder of 4chan, a controversial, uncensored online imageboard, describes its subculture, some of the Internet "memes" it has launched, and the incident in which its users managed a very public, precision hack of a mainstream media website. The talk raises questions about the power -- and price -- of anonymity.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on , at http Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at
- ghett0t33n admits to alien anonymity inspired by marilyn manson's or omega's makeup in mechanical animals, namely the dope show
- Anonymous @OccupyLSX - Anonymity & peaceful protesting NOTE: Protesters @ OccupyWallStreet and other Occupy Events have been arrested for wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Videography by Jason Gleeson @
- Housewife Superspy? Former MI5 Head Stella Rimington on Leaving Anonymity Complete video at: fora.tv Stella Rimington, former director general of MI5, recalls the complications and tabloid-fueled controversy that followed her appointment as head of the famed British intelligence service, after spending decades in anonymity as a secret agent. ----- American Intelligence: Technology, Espionage, and Alliances Dame Stella Rimington is the retired director general of the British Security Service (MI5). Appointed director general in 1992, she was the first woman to hold the post and the first director general to be publicly named on appointment. After gaining a postgraduate diploma in the study of records and the administration of archives at Liverpool University, Rimington worked in the Worcester County Record Office and the India Office Library in London. In the mid 1960s, while accompanying her husband on a posting to the British High Commission in New Delhi, she worked part time for the Security Service, which at that time had an office in New Delhi. On her return to the UK in 1969, Rimington joined MI5 as a full time employee. She worked in all the main fields of the service's responsibilities, counter subversion, counter espionage and counter terrorism, becoming successively director of all three branches. During her tenure as director general, Rimington pursued a policy of greater openness for MI5, giving the 1994 Dimbleby Lecture on BBC TV. She retired from MI5 in April 1996. Rimington was made a Dame Commander of the Bath in the 1996 New ...
- Anonymity Online (2/9) Wish to become anonymous online? Broadcasting live tech tutorials every week! Download the pack:
- Anonymity Online (1/9) Wish to become anonymous online? Broadcasting live tech tutorials every week! Download the pack:
- No Anonymity on Future Web says Google CEO Signs of the Times reports The Book - Equal Money System:
- 24C3: Anonymity for 2015 Speaker: Len Sassaman Why not just use Tor? In recent years, an increasing amount of academic research has been focused on secure anonymous communication systems. In this talk, we briefly review the state of the art in theoretical anonymity systems as well as the several deployed and actively used systems such as Tor and Mixmaster, and explain their advantages and limitations. For more information visit: bit.ly To download the video visit: bit.ly
- Unfathomed - Anonymity (LYRICS & DOWNLOAD) LYRICS, DOWNLOAD, & FACEBOOK BELOW. Download Link - Facebook - Lyrics- A sea of debris Clogs arteries, as they choke Claiming their lives Devoured by smoke In the name of god detonate the skies winds of the east violating tranquility the war has just begun fighting to breathe but lungs are too weak collapsing within imploding veins blotches the skin dismantling the bones infernal blaze consuming stronghold desolation of a powerhouse chaos restored phobias bestowed catastrophic and tragic to the globe behind the veil lies a tale that is yet to unfold a dormant beast awakens from his slumber and decades of horrors await us in the distance who dares to challenge the throne a modern dynasty this isn't over it's only just begun prepare for the worst in the name of god desecrate the atmosphere Behold! mounds of fallen triumph are the only remains Fighting to breathe but lungs are too weak collapsing within imploding veins blotches the skin dismantling the bones infernal blaze consuming stronghold desolation, ruination, complete devastation the beast has woken an epidemic shall arise marking the end of a malignant tumour on the face of the earth demise, fortress risen in vain tonight, we all sleep in flames foreign, sent by the prophets to rid the tarnish upon a nation built with corruption bloodshed is lusted mercy's no option lives of the innocent burried without coffins boom! a sudden collision and millions ignited the sound of flesh burned ...
- Summoner Showcase -- Issue #28 -- Anonymity FTL Play League of Legends FREE at Now feast your eyes on the entries: Real Men Don't Wear Pants [ LordWalmart and TrIIIp wish their friend Jamie a happy birthday by mocking his taste in trousers, it would appear. At least cake comes with the deal. Nyandalee [ Nobody knows who made this. The spirits of the internet came forth to harness the great power of a flying pastry cat and soaring javelins. Whoever you are, Summoner, thank you. LoL Time [ Cody gives us one more addition to the Showcase that could not be ignored. It's for a good cause - turning lemons into lemonade, shall we say? Just sing louder than everyone else when they sing the real lyrics. Carrying, carrying yeah! Swimsuit *** and Studs [fav.me Where to start? Lord Albrekt has a slew of fashionable swimwear for Katarina, Lux, Garen and many others, which prompted VeLOLciraptor to add her own take on Sona's bikini. Not to be outshined, an evasively anonymous summoner will not fess up to creating the LoL Swimsuit Studs. What a shame. We're looking forward to more submissions next week, so if something is new and exciting, send in a link and your Summoner Name to Summoner_Showcase@! Until next time, Make something cool! Include your name (please please!) And we'll see you next week!
- Media war in Sri Lanka-11 Sep 09 Part 2 On the Listening Post this week, the civil war has ended in Sri Lanka but the media war continues and anonymity in the blogosphere: Is it a good thing? We begin this week in post-war Sri Lanka and its governments never ending battle against the media. Its a four-month old story that keeps developing. Back in May, the Sri Lankan Army defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers in a military push that killed 20000 civilians in the last month of fighting alone. Weve reported before on how the Sri Lankan government locked most of the media out of the war zone. Now, the United Nations, human rights groups and journalists are working to uncover the truth about the last bloody days of the battle. A disturbing video has surfaced that appears to show cold-blooded executions. The video has provoked an immediate pushback from the Sri Lankan government and the fight over that piece of footage is being waged all the way from the capital, Colombo to London.
- NSFW 80: Full Frontal Anonymity Hosts:Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young The guy from GFQ, Secrets or BS, defending NY, TX and FL, and a mind blowing performance from the musical guest. Guests: Andrew Zarian and musical guest Julia Nunes Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/nsfw. We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes. Find out more at Bandwidth for NSFW is provided by Cachefly. Running time: 1:16:33
Blogs & Forum
blogs and forums about anonymity
“E.J. Montini's Columns & Blog: You know my name. You know where I work. You even know what I look like. All of which I believe to online anonymity as I am of my real-life privacy. I think both attitudes are equally prudent. I simply don't see any upside to exposing my real name in this forum, and”
— blogs - E.J. Montini's Columns & Blog,
“The most amazing thing about the site - and the thing that separates it in my mind from just about every other forum I've ever seen is that Anonymity isn't just permitted, it's encouraged. More on this in a bit. Let's take a step back for a second and follow my thought process”
— Anonymity - ,
“Anonymity. Blogs. Here we go again -- a new attack on anonymous speech, misusing the facts ripped from the current headlines about a case of one person's slimy online attacks on another. So, as what Maureen Dowd today called the " Contributors to this blog include a diverse group of lawyers, law”
— 'Skanky' Blogging, Anonymity and What's Right | Citizen Media,
“A resource in the anonymous network of onions Once you are logged in, a usermenu will give you more alternatives - including the anonymity forum”
— Go to the Forum, onion.is-
“How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else) Related Issues: Anonymity, Bloggers' Rights. Published April allow you to designate individual posts or your entire blog as available only to those who have the password,”
— How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else) | Electronic,
“AllAnonymity, Online Anonymity Tools, provides software for hiding IP, surf anonymously, protect privacy, prevent online threats, anonymous proxy”
— IP Hide Tools and Services – " Blog,
“Darren Straight's Blog Feed Darren Straight's LinkedIn Profile Darren Straight's Facebook It can also be done to protect your anonymity, so that the website you are visiting does”
— VTunnel is here to protect your anonymity online!,
“Quickly and easily make panonymous posts to blogs, and other pages that accept comments, Blog Anonymity”
— Anonymous Blog Posting - Quick Anonymous posts to blogs and, ultimate-
“Virus writers are always anonymous. Vicious political lies (with faked photoshop photos of political leaders, or false innuendo about personal lives) are always anonymous as well. Spam is anonymous. eBay fraudsters are anonymous too. It seems as”
— Seth's Blog: The problem with anonymous (part VII),
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Apps for Learning About Government
What is an election? What are laws? Who is running for president? Your children may be asking questions like these as our country experiences a presidential election year. Check out these apps to help them learn more about how government works and help explain the some of the difficult concepts associated with election and government.
How America Works by KIDS DISCOVER for iPad (iOS only)
This app tells about the different parts of American government and reads like a magazine for kids. It includes videos and interactive learning activities that discuss democracy, how a bill becomes law, and checks and balances within our government. Be sure to enjoy the 3D representation of the Oval Office and Air Force One with your child. Browse the gallery of all 44 presidents. The app is $2.99 and appropriate for children 6-8. Also, visit the KIDS DISCOVER website for a free lesson plan to accompany the app.
BrainPOP Jr. (Android and iOS)
BrainPOP Jr. uses cartoon style movies, quizzes, and facts to teach children. The app tackles difficult concepts for younger kids such as U.S. history and government. Be sure to check out the free video, The Branches of Government, in the Social Studies section. Free content is available within the app, but a subscription to BrainPop will give you access to a complete digital video library. The subscription can be completed through an in-app purchase. There are two options for a subscription: BrainPOP Jr. Explorer Subscription, which offers the free movie of the week plus 3 related movies for 1.99 a month, or the BrainPOP Jr. Full Access Subscription for $5.99 a month.
BrainPOP Jr. is a wonderful app for sparking curiosity in children and can serve as a resource to answer the many questions children may have about a wide range of topics. There are videos on Science, Social Studies, Math, Language, and more. Each video is followed by an easy or hard quiz for which KinderTown encourages parentparticipation, as reading is needed.
News-O-Matic, Daily Reading for Kids (iOS and Android)
News-O-Matic is a news magazine for kids. This magazine contained within an app includes interactive activities and videos. News-O-Matic features 5 daily stories covering the United States and international news, sports, arts, science, and more. The articles are written by their staff of journalists, including educational experts, and reviewed by psychologists to ensure age-appropriate content. The content of the articles is designed for young readers to understand. The app is also ad-free, so the distractions are limited. News-O-Matic also features complete playback of the articles via a Read-to-Me function, making the information accessible to younger students and struggling readers. Definitions and pronunciations are provided for difficult words within articles. A few games are featured as they relate to the news of the day. The app also offers a Spanish translation. A special school edition exists for classroom settings or homeschool environments. KinderTown’s favorite feature that is only included in the school edition is the ability to change reading levels within the app from a first-grade reading level up to a sixth-grade reading level. In addition, the school version includes assessment questions for students. News-O-Matic is a very complete educational news magazine for kids and lots of features for educators and parents. News-O-Matic is appropriate for children ages 5-8 and offers many different choices for price and time duration for subscriptions.
Tags: App, brainpop, civic, Educational, election, government, kids discover, KinderTown, laws, politics, president, review
Top 10 Must-Have Math Apps
Motion Math: Pizza! (iOS only) teaches children beginning economics by simulating a pizza shop. While using the app, children are learning about economics, setting prices, and serving customers through simulation. Parents, follow up the use of this app with conversations about why certain things cost more money than others and how your family makes purchasing decisions.
Bugs and Bubbles (iOS only) is an engaging app for younger children. The randomized practice offers multiple ways to practice beginning math skills in a visually rich environment. Counting, upper- and lowercase letters, and sorting are all presented with a fun garden theme.
Pet Bingo – by Duck Duck Moose (iOS only) is a math fact practice app that includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, anddivision. This app can be replayed for a long time and could be used with multiple children in your house. Children earn rewards for completing math facts correctly in order to care for their virtual pet.
Quick Math – Multiplication Table & Arithmetic Game (iOS only) offers basic math fact practice with a simple, clean interface. KinderTown’s favorite feature about Quick Math is that you can write on the screen with your finger and it will recognize the answer. Quick Math has also developed the apps Quick Fractions and QuickClocks that provide similar practice of the concepts.
Dragon Box Algebra 5+ (iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows Phone) is an app that develops algebra skills with approachable problems for children starting at age 5. (There is a second Dragon Box app for more advanced students, called Dragon Box Algebra 12+.) Both apps create problems that must be solved visually in order to make the quantities on both sides of the screen equal. This app is excellent for preparing students for algebraic thinking.
Splash Math (iOS, Kindle, Android) is a series of apps that are made for each grade level. The Splash Math apps cover an entire year’s worth of math skills. Through the app, randomized practice is presented to your child. The app also offers parent features such as progress reports and the ability to customize the skills your child is practicing. This app serves as a great reinforcement of concepts your child has already learned in math.
Math Doodles (iOS only) is a puzzle app that brings a visual perspective to math thinking. This app contains many complex concepts and spans a wide range of skills. Your six-year-old child could use this app as well as a high school student because of the ability to change the type of puzzle pieces presented from simple dice to Roman numerals.
Operation Math (iOS, Android) has created two apps, Operation Math and Operation Math Code Squad. Operation Math simulates high-tech, intense math missions for children to undertake. Operation Math Code Squad follows the same ideas, but up to 4 players can play at the same time. There is a timer feature in this app, and if your child does not like the feeling of being rushed or timed, this would not be a good match. Operation Math Code Squad is an example of how apps can involve multiple players in order to practice math facts.
Motion Math: Zoom (iOS only) moves your child along the path of learning numbers, place value, and number relationships with this thoughtful app. By the use of analytics, the app guides your child at his own pace through a variety of number quantities with the goal of helping him manipulate a number line and make connections between 1’s, 10’s, 100’s, and eventually decimals. The game appears simple as numbered balloons float on the screen, but the swiping, pinching, and tapping will keep your kids on their toes.
Cash Cow Deluxe (iOS only) uses gameplay to help kids become proficient at manipulating money. Tap small coins to make quantities of 5, 10, 25, or 100 cents. The more coins you make, the more the cash cow earns to save the duck’s farm. The app offers several modes of play including arcade, relaxed, endless, practice, or story modes.
Tags: App, counting, economics, Education, Educational, fact, fun, game, ios, KinderTown, math, money, practice, pricing, problem, puzzle, review, skills, sorting, thinking
myBlee Math offers a wide variety of elementary math lessons on topics such as measuring line segments, working with money, mental math and multi-digit addition for students ages 5-8. KinderTown likes how the app gives initial instruction on a particular concept before the child is asked to practice or apply it. The instruction is given with a female robotic-like voice. Another great feature is the use of “MyScript” technology that can identify a child’s handwriting as she writes her answer directly on the screen. Children will also find the use of the digital manipulatives which include movable rulers, blocks, protractors, etc. both interesting and helpful for solving problems. myBlee is an app that would benefit students who need additional practice with math concepts. The app offers communication to parents about their student’s progress through frequent emails. The app is free for 10 minutes each week. Subscriptions can be purchased for students who need more time per week for $9.99 a month or for $74.99 for a year.
Tags: addition, App, concept, Educational, elementary, instruction, KinderTown, lessons, math, measurement, mental, money, myblee math, practice, review, student
Engaging Math Apps
Jump! – iOS only
Jump! is a truly unique game experience based on numbers. The app takes children through challenges involving counting, skip counting, and addition. The player must lead their character from one shore to another by jumping on the correct number. Players can combine numbers to make numbers needed if they are missing. There is a hint button which is helpful to players who are just learning to play the game. The app uses adaptive technology to quickly adjust to your child’s learning level. There is a rewarding play area where children can play with the characters they have saved. The game has additional obstacles called “Stompers” and “Fuses” that will add a challenge to your child’s strategy as they navigate their way through the game. This app is appropriate for children who are becoming confident with recognizing numbers and counting approximately ages 4-8 and is $2.99.
Motion Math Match – iOS only
Motion Math Match presents children with a series of cards and challenges them to match cards that equal the same value. For example, a student might choose the following cards, 2+2=4, 4, and 3+1=4. The students can use both hands to match multiple cards. Once a match has been made the cards disappear and more cards fall into place. The app adjusts to your child’s level and can be played with addition facts, subtraction facts, multiplication facts, or division facts. This iPad app is appropriate for children ages 5-12 and is $3.99. Motion Math Match is available for iPad and iPad mini.
Tags: addition, App, apps, artgig, cards, counting, Educational, engaging, game, jump, KinderTown, learning, match, math, motion math, numbers, skip counting
Dr. Seuss E-books
Read Across America Day is this week, and libraries and schools across the country will celebrate by reading Dr. Seuss books to children. Try some of these apps together with your child that celebrate reading! For more fun with words and sounds, check out our Power Pack Sound Play for children ages 3-4.
Dr. Seuss ABC – iOS
This e-book reinforces your child’s growing knowledge of letters, sounds, words, and vocabulary. Your child will enjoy tapping the pages of this delightful ABC book in order to find hidden surprises. The e-book reads aloud to your child and highlights the words as they are read. You can also change the settings to allow the app to “Read to me” or “Auto Play.” The “Auto Play” feature reads the pages and turns the pages to allow the book to play like a movie continuously. In each story, letters are referred to by their size such as “Big A” and “Little a.” Be sure your child knows that this means uppercase and lowercase. The book engages your child by repeatedly asking questions such as, “What begins with C? or D? E?” etc. Try asking your child this type of question as you enjoy the story together.
Dr. Seuss Treasury – iOS
Oceanhouse Media has created a Treasury of Dr. Seuss books. Here you will find the e-book versions of many of the classic Dr. Seuss books your child may already know and love. For example, Hop on Pop, Horton Hears a Who!, Green Eggs and Ham, and Cat in the Hat. Check out the rest of the books and read a new title with your child. The e-books include interactive and engaging features such as reading aloud to your child, highlighting the words, and looking for fun hidden treasures by tapping the scenes. The app is subscription based which gives your family access to 55 digital Dr. Seuss books.
Tags: 3-4, App, books, Dr. Seuss, eBook, Education, KinderTown, preschool, Read Across America, Reading, review
Expanding Your Child’s Vocabulary with Apps
As children grow, their vocabulary expands from their immediate environment such as family members’ names and foods they like to eat, to naming everything they can see, to eventually learning more sophisticated topics through books and literature. Reading to your child even as he begins to learn to read independently increases his vocabulary and knowledge of educational topics. Try these apps for a different approach to build on your child’s existing vocabulary. Download our Power Pack on Vocabulary for more ideas and activities to expand your child’s vocabulary.
Noodle Words Action Set 1 – iOS only
Noodle Words Action Set 1, is the first of two apps that present fun, interactive, engaging, and appealing word play experiences for children. Noodle Words supports vocabulary development and increases comprehension through motivational word play activities. The app presents individual words to your child and then demonstrates the meaning of the word with a creative visual. For example, the word “grow” is accompanied by a vine that continues to grow out of control as your child repeatedly taps around the screen. Children love the repetitive visual effects that illustrate the meaning of the 18 different action words included in the app. Playing Noodle Words with your child will be some of the most fun you will have learning vocabulary together. Noodle Words is $2.99 and appropriate for students ages 4-6.
Martha Speaks Word Spinner – iOS, Android, Kindle, and Windows
Martha Speaks Word Spinner is a fantastic board game app that will inspire lots of family fun! This app is an interactive board game that is played on your iPad. Choose your pup game piece, spin the wheel, and see who can get to the dog house first. There are six games to choose from within the app to play on each turn. Word Spinner gets kids listing words, telling stories, and playing charades. The games present open-ended questions such as “Name several kinds of fruit.” The app does not correct these types of questions, so parents will need to provide the feedback. Your child will need an engaged adult or sibling to listen and respond to the answers. The vocabulary in the app ranges from simple words like “clothing” to more advanced concepts like “prehistoric animals.” A wonderful game for the whole family! Martha Speaks is free and appropriate for children ages 5-8.
Endless Alphabet – iOS, Android, Kindle, and Windows
Endless Alphabet is a super silly, wacky, hilarious vocabulary learning app for kids. Children can scroll through words inside a friendly blue monster’s mouth. Tap on one that looks especially interesting and learn what the word means. Kids need to build the word, letter by letter first, then watch, listen and learn about the meaning of each word. Wacky, weird letters and colorful, interesting (non-scary) monster characters play the starring role in the app. There are no high scores and no climbing levels in Endless Alphabet. This app is just about learning new words in a playful, discovery-focused way.
Tags: apps, Educational, endless alphabet, engaging, KinderTown, learning, marta speaks, noodle words, review, vocabulary
The act of storytelling develops vocabulary, understanding of character, and story organization. Using a storytelling app will augment that process for your child, as you provide the occasional vocabulary help or guiding questions. Check out our Power Pack on Storytelling that will provide you with more ideas and a greater understanding of how to grow this skill within your child.
Superhero Comic Book Maker – iOS only
This app does an awesome job of making storytelling easy for children as young as three years old. It is easy to navigate, and the pieces to create a story are embedded nicely within the app. To begin, children choose the comic maker button and select a background as the setting for the first scene in their story. Children can easily record narration for each character as they develop a story. By returning to the main menu children can create additional scenes and then combine them into a longer story. Even if children only use one scene to create a mini story, they are building vocabulary and language skills. This app provides an inviting environment for young learners to start creating stories. This app is appropriate for children ages 6-8 and costs $1.99.
My Story – iOS only
Your child can use stickers, markers, photos, and voice recordings to create an original book with My Story. This app also allows for the creation of multiple users so more than one child in a household or classroom can have an individual account within the app. This feature is great for classrooms or learning centers. My Story also allows for sharing if enabled by email, on social networks, or in iBooks. Parents be sure to help your child with this if you are interested in sharing stories with family and friends. This app is appropriate for children ages 5-8 and costs $3.99.
Draw and Tell – iOS only
Draw and Tell brings the best features of drawing apps into one fabulous art and storytelling experience. Children can choose from a blank page, browse your photo library, or select a background from within the app to start creating a story. The app provides tools such as crayons, stickers, paint, and erasers. Your child can narrate his story while the app records the audio and stickers moving around the screen. Children who are not feeling up to creating their own picture can try the variety of coloring pages where they can drop paint into the lines to create a vibrant scene. Draw and Tell is $1.99 and appropriate for children ages 3-8.
Tags: App, art, creation, draw and tell, drawing, Educational, ios, KinderTown, my story, power pack, review, storytelling, superhero comic book maker
Top 3 Apps for 3 Year Olds
If you have a 3-year-old in your home you are probably looking for new and creative solutions to add to your repertoire of daily activities to satisfy your child’s eagerness to explore, discover, and problem solve.
Check out these top 3 apps to encourage your child’s natural curiosity, as well as our free Power Pack focused on ways to interact with books with your 3-year-old. Then download KinderTown and search by age for more app suggestions for your young learner.
Grandma’s Preschool – iOS only
The app begins with the bus dropping the kids off at Grandma’s school which resembles Grandma’s house. The house is organized like a typical preschool where children can move around and choose a learning activity by tapping on letters, numbers, science experiments, or an art center. Additional activity areas that can be explored include nap time, outdoor recess, centers with books and toys, and a white board for teaching and learning. Children are positively rewarded for their effort with grandma’s dancing, clapping, and high fives. The app has a nice balance of digital play and learning exploration. You may need to monitor and encourage your child to visit the more academically-focused learning areas as the app does not regulate how much time is spent in the play arena. Grandma’s character engages players with her positive spirit and dancing energy, however, some present-day grandmas may not like the way grandma is represented with gray hair and glasses. The app does not require any in-app purchases and is available for iPhone and iPad for $2.99.
Beck and Bo – iOS, Android
Beck and Bo delights young children with a dynamic free play environment that always has a new surprise popping up. There is no pressure to complete each thematic area in a specific way, which is something we appreciate about the app. Upon entering the app children will find twelve thematic scenes. Objects or questions are presented one at time in each scene for kids to experience thematic vocabulary. Once a scene is finished they can continue to play in the area or view each object in their own scrapbook. Beck and Bo is a fantastic app for playful discovery that understands how young children learn.
Monkey Preschool Explorer – iOS, Android, Kindle Fire
The Monkeys provide an all new entertaining app that is simple for children to navigate, includes interesting graphics, and incorporates exploration as the center theme. The Monkey Preschool Explorers app provides a mixed review of early childhood concepts such as colors, numbers, shapes, letters, and association skills. One game includes Milo the Monkey driving a jeep through the jungle and children have to tap on the lower case and upper case letter indicated. At the end, children can play a fun racing game and choose a hat for Milo as a reward. The developers of Monkey Preschool have a “Thups Knack” system which changes the difficulty of the game as children play. The app costs $2.99 and is appropriate for children ages 3-5.
Tags: 3 year old, App, beck and bo, books, creative, Educational, grandma's preschool, ios, KinderTown, monkey preschool explorer, power pack
Top Science Apps for Young Children
Young children are keenly aware of their surroundings, which inevitably relates to science. Check out these great apps for young children interested in science.
Grandpa in Space – iOS only
Grandpa in Space provides children with an engaging science experience where they can learn science facts. The app does a nice job of integrating other content areas while learning about science. Other skills presented in the app include: identifying shapes and opposites, memory skills, and rhyming. The app presents the skills in an outer space-themed environment where children can design their own space ship, ride in it with grandpa, and watch short interesting movies about each planet in between practicing skills. We love grandpa’s guidance in learning and his high fives!
Weird But True by National Geographic – iOS only
Weird But True is a fantastic free app for children who love to read books with fun science facts or impress their friends and family with interesting tidbits of information. The facts are presented to children in a colorful way, and they can rate the “weirdness” of the app and collect their favorites by pressing the heart. The Weird But True app is free and contains a “pack” of free facts. Additional packs require an in-app purchase that is gated with a math fact (that children may be able to solve). We suggest that you monitor your child’s use of the app so he or she does not mistakenly make in-app purchases. A fascinating app for the fact-lover in your house!
Gazzili Science – iOS only
Play with items in a water tank, plant a seed and watch it grow, or taste an apple pie! Gazzili Science introduces young learners to science topics in a kid-friendly environment. In the app, kids progress through six science learning areas that teach through discovery and narration. After completing each area your child can go to the Gazzili fun page where prizes earned throughout the game are used to build a unique contraption. The app also includes an option to turn on the printed narration of the app for hearing impaired students, and that’s pretty cool!
Tags: App, Educational, facts, gazzili science, grandpa in space, ios, KinderTown, memory, national geographic, review, rhyming, science, Shapes, space, weird but true
Pre-Reading Skills: Beyond Letters and Sounds
Preschool and Kindergarten students (ages 4 to 6) learn to identify letters when learning how to read. It is also valuable for children at this age to practice rhyming, identifying letter sounds, segmenting words into individual sounds, and identifying syllables in words to support and strengthen their beginning reading skills.
Read with Doc McStuffins: Letters and Sounds
This app offers five pre-reading activities for preschoolers. It’s much more than an app to practice letters. The app focuses on the following skills: tracing and matching lower and upper case letters, recognizing letters and letter sounds, listening and matching rhymes, determining syllables, and hearing beginning, middle and ending sounds in words. The activities are expertly created and simulate lessons in preschool and kindergarten classrooms. The app will grow with your child as he learns the letters and gains reading skills. The animation and characters in this app come to life (no surprise from Disney) to motivate your child and help him focus on learning the skills. KinderTown is impressed with the quality of the content provided by the app. Our child testers enjoyed the balance of rewarding activities with the learning games. This app ranks at the top as one of the best we’ve seen for preschoolers.
Parents, watch your preschooler interact with the app and then simulate the activities in the real world with your child for extra practice. For example, the app uses common words to determine the number of syllables in a word. Ask your child questions like, “How many syllables do you hear in the word macaroni?” “How many syllables are in the word banana?” To imitate the rhyming games, ask your child, “Which word rhymes with cat, bat, or wagon?”
Check out the Power Pack: Letters and Sounds: Ages 5-6 for more tips about how to effectively use apps to help your child learn pre-reading skills, as well as hands-on activities you can do with your child.
Tags: activities, disney, doc mcstuffins, educational app, Kindergarten, KinderTown, letter sounds, letters, power pack, preschool, Reading, review, rhyming, skills, students, syllables


Poetry in Writing Courses
One of the most important keys to understanding poetry language is music, and often the role of music in poetry is not shown to students in an introductory course, because emphasis tends to be placed on workshop and reading, with the idea that one learns how to write by reading and receiving critiques.
However, without an understanding of music in poetry (rhythm, lineation, meter), students are inclined to not absorb the most important qualities of poetry while reading, and to critique and receive critiques without a basic understanding of the language with which they are working. For this reason, we’ll begin with a brief description of one aspect of music in poetry, lineation, before going into the meaning of metaphor, simile, personification, apostrophe and imagery.
Of course there are more tools involved and accessible to the poet, but scholars/poets generally believe these are the most important to get things started. We'll close with a short note on the problem of “ambiguity” in poetry by beginners.
Lineation dictates when a line of poetry stops and a new lines begins. Often, beginning poets write down impressions, randomly break them into lines, and turn them in as poems. Asking even beginning students to write several drafts of a poem that are lineated in different ways will help them understand how rhythm is created through lineation
For example, the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai uses a fairly iambic beat (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). He consistently breaks the lines where the pause naturally occurs, in order to mimic the pattern of ordinary speech because he wants to capture the heightened meaning within the ordinary:
A man in his life has no time.
When he loses he seeks
When he finds he forgets
When he forgets he loves
When he loves he begins forgetting.
Amichai also uses repetition to convey a sense of truth and the inevitability of loss and forgetting. Amichai is creating a kind of poetry logic by beginning each line with “When...” to show the connection between seeking and forgetting and loving. If the poem were lineated in a different way, it would lose its force:
A man in his life has no time. When he
loses, he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets
he loves, when he loves he begins forgetting.
In this version, the connections are broken, and the cohesive, accruing force of the rhythm is lost. Also, because the last line is longer than the rest, it is given more importance, and the emphasis is placed on forgetting. This is fine, except that Amichai is trying to get rid of the hierarchies to show how everything is connected and equally important.
Metaphor, Simile, Personification, Apostrophe
A metaphor is a direct comparison between one thing or person to another, as in Pablo Neruda’s line from Twenty Love Poems: “You were a gray beret and the whole being at peace.” Because Neruda is saying that the “You” in the poem is a gray beret, the comparison in metaphor is more immediate than it is in simile.
Simile is a comparison using the word “like” to connect one thing to another, as in Derek Walcott’s “Crusoe’s Island” – “The chapel’s cowbell / Like God’s anvil.” The chapel’s cowbell is compared to God’s anvil. Good metaphors and similes bring in larger parts of the world into the miniature of the poem. Neruda hints at something more than human and the condition of “peace,” to make the poem expand beyond a simple address to a beloved. Walcott begins with the simple image of a cowbell and, through comparison, brings in the idea of God’s will shaping and creating things. Walcott doesn’t say “The chapel’s cowbell is a heavy force that shapes the world.” He wants to charge his comparison with the widest possible range of meaning and resonance.
Personification is when an object or thing is given human attributes, as in Odysseus Elytis’ poem “Aegean Melancholy” — “And the sea playing on its concertina.” The sea in this line is personified as a musician, playing an accordion-like instrument. The sea playing on its piano would be far less interesting, because the piano, and the sea are already very familiar images to the reader. The contrast between the already familiar image of the sea, with the idiosyncratic image of the concertina, is more surprising. Also, a concertina is played by squeezing it from both sides, and pulling it outward, letting it expand, much like the motion of waves. There are similarities and striking differences all within this one comparison.
Apostrophe is a direct address to a person or thing, as in Gu Cheng’s poem, Forever Parted: Graveyard, which is written to the dead Red Guards who are buried near the Cemetery of the Revolutionary Martyrs in China: “Your hands were / soft, your nails clean, / the hands of those who’d opened schoolbooks / and storybooks, books about heroes.” Apostrophe allows Gu Cheng to write about the dead with immediacy by addressing them directly, and imagining what their lives were like.
Imagery. Ordinarily, imagery is stressed more than anything in beginning creative writing workshops. Concrete language anchors the poem, engages the five senses, and keeps the poem from becoming too vague. While simply plugging in imagery to fulfill an image quota does not make music or poetry language happen, it is important for the beginning writer to learn to incorporate as many concrete images as possible. Here are a few lines from Shu Ting’s “The Singing Flower” that make the abstract experience of exile a concrete, palpable experience for the reader:
I walk to the square through the zig-zag streets, back
To the pumpkin shack I guarded, the work in the barley fields,
deep in the desert (of exile).
Shu Ting doesn’t say “When I was in high-school during the Cultural Revolution I was taken away to the countryside because my father was considered a political nonconformist.” Rather, she makes that experience in the countryside come alive with specific images like the pumpkin shack and the barley fields, the zig-zag streets. Also, images provide larger possibilities for making rhythm, and establishing stronger metaphors and similes.
For more on imagery, please visit the Image in Poetry OWL resource. This source explains where images come from, how they are made, and what their function is in poetry.
The problem of Ambiguity in the beginner’s writing: beginners often mistake vagueness or lack of meaning or music in poetry as “ambiguity,” or “open-endedness” that allows the reader to imagine the rest, to fill in the blanks. In most cases, the poem is simply unclear, uncertain, or poorly written. Of course, ambiguity is important to poetry, since poetry excludes almost everything to say what it says. But at this stage, the beginning writer should focus on music, metaphor, simile, imagery, etc. and wait until she has reached a Mid-to-Advanced course in creative writing to explore how ambiguity works in poetry. Understanding how to read and write ambiguity is one of the most difficult, and necessary, features of poetry.
For more information on how to avoid some mistakes of beginning poetry writing, visit the Tutoring Creative Writing Students OWL resource.
Poetry in Mid to Advanced Level Writing Courses
As students move into mid and advanced level writing courses, they will be expected to read and write more complex poetry. This resource should help students as they transition into these more complex ideas.
Without an understanding of the uses of ambiguity, the beginning writer will find it difficult to move on to an intermediate or advanced level, because ambiguity is essential to the wordplay and music that make up a poem. The critic, William Empson, wrote a study called “The 7 Types of Ambiguity.” This is a scholarly work and not easily applicable to writing. But the point he makes about ambiguity is important for mid to advanced level poets.
Empson says that ambiguity could happen in many ways. For example, when two or more meanings are resolved into one. Also, if two things are compared or set against each other as opposites, but still yield multiple kinds of comparisons and oppositions, the poem is ambiguous. Another kind of ambiguity Empson talks about is when two seemingly unconnected meanings are given simultaneously. Contradictions within a single poem also lead to ambiguity. Adam Zagajewski’s poem, “Betrayal,” is ambiguous throughout:
The greatest delight, I sense,
is hidden sublimely in the act of betrayal
which can be equal only to fidelity.
To betray a woman, friends, an idea,
to see new light in the eyes
of distant shadows. But choices are
limited: other women, other
ideas, the enemies of our
long-standing friends. If only
we could encounter some quite different
otherness, settle in a country which has
no name, touch a woman before
she is born, lose our memories, meet
a God other than our own.
A contradiction is apparent in the first 3 lines, because “betrayal” and “fidelity,” two opposites, are put on the same plane. There are two unconnected meanings: 1) that betrayal is equal to fidelity; and 2) that betrayal can yield illumination or help us “see new light in the eyes / of distant shadows.” This is the kind of ambiguity we find in Shakespeare’s soliloquies. A mind wrestling with itself, unknown to itself, trying to resolve something, is enacted effectively in “Betrayal.” While two disparate ideas are being compared here, betrayal and fidelity, a multitude of other comparisons are teased out in the process.
By putting the betrayal of “a woman, friends, an idea” on the same plane, Zagajewski forces us to question whether or not a woman, friends and ideas have the same value for the speaker, and in life. And what about nationality, love, memory, God—do these warrant the same attention? In a way, the multiple meanings are resolved into one in this poem, because the last few lines seem to be about the human longing for limitless possibility, which becomes the one meaning that the poem is seeking to become.
Zagajewski is a master of ambiguity, so it is highly unlikely that the comparisons and contradictions and resolutions in his poem happened by accident. It is clear that he wasn’t merely trying to sketch something vague for the reader to fill in. On the whole, it is more fun to read a poem that directs us with craft and intention, wit and skill, and that guides us to particular kinds of ambiguities that strike the poet as exciting, interesting and necessary.
Even professional poets with MFAs struggle with using ambiguity effectively. The best way for a mid to advanced level poet to begin to understand ambiguity is simply to acknowledge how important it is to poetry, and how difficult it is to learn. Reading as much as possible with an eye on how ambiguity is working in good poetry is also helpful.
While writing in meter is beyond the scope of an introductory course on creative writing, it becomes essential in mid to advanced level courses. Meter goes back to the idea of music. If poetry is music made to create a separate language, then meter is the key principle in making music. Because of space limitations, I won’t go into a lengthy description of meter and metrical patterns, as they are widely available elsewhere. Mary Oliver’s “Rules for the Dance” is a handy and easy-to-use resource. Meter consists of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry and how they are arranged or organized.
The most common metrical form is iambic pentameter, which has five stressed syllables, and five unstressed syllables, per line. Each line begins with an unstressed syllable, followed by a stressed syllable. This pattern repeats five times in a single line. The common line in iambic pentameter, therefore, consists of ten syllables. The placement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem determines the tone, feeling and effect of the poem, because the poem is first and foremost rhythmic. Iambic pentameter, for example, establishes a calm, regular tone that resembles speech, as in these lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 23:
As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength’s abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love’s rite,
And in mine own love’s strength seem to decay
The trochee, on the other hand, reverses the iambic beat---a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable. The trochaic line has the opposite effect of the natural, iambic beat. It sounds disruptive, artificial and energetic, as in these lines from Macbeth:
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble...
Many poets have mixed the iambic with the trochaic in the same line. Experiment with the various effects of different patterns, until you have a sense of what each sounds and feels like. The OWL's summary of sound and meter is a good resource. This source is a detailed explanation of how to scan meter, and write in meter.
It is essential for mid to advanced level poets to experiment with form. This doesn’t mean you have to write a sonnet in iambic pentameter. There are countless forms from around the world you can experiment with. Ron Padgett’s “Handbook of Poetic Forms” is an excellent guide. Write sound poetry, acrostic poetry, sestinas, villanelles, canzones. Form is a good way to touch base with the history of poetry, and forces you to pay closer attention to language.
Many beginning poets don’t revise, or don’t have enough of what Kenneth Koch calls a “poetry base” to understand revision. But for mid to advanced level poets, revision is essential. Generally, a good poem is not a result of writing, but of revision. It is difficult to hear the music in the process of writing. Go back and experiment with different ways to break the lines, using fresher metaphors, similes, or images.
Read the poem aloud to hear if the rhythm sounds right. If you were trying to be ambiguous, were you precise enough to make the ambiguity clear? Perhaps you’ll find that chunks of your poem don’t belong there, or that more writing is required. Maybe the poem calls for couplets, and you currently have it in quatrains. Whatever the case may be, the true test of learning the poetry language is the ability to revise and write several drafts of each poem, so that you learn by trial and error what works and doesn’t work.
Sample Assignment Sheet
Some teachers have found it helpful to introduce poets and poems for beginning and mid to advanced level students to imitate. This gives them the opportunity to read and discuss a poem, while at the same time generating their own poems. Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “Unexpected Meeting” is a good example:
We are very polite to each other,
insist it’s nice meeting after all these years.
Our tigers drink milk.
Our hawks walk on the ground.
Our sharks drown in water.
Our wolves yawn in front of the open cage.
Our serpents have shaken off lightning,
The bats---long ago now---have flown out of our hair.
We fall silent in mid-phrase,
smiling beyond salvation.
have nothing to say.
Szymborska is famous for writing about particular objects and creatures that are neglected. Her work also tries to incorporate neglected feelings, and she is skeptical and ironic. J.D. McClatchy characterized the tone of her poetry as “detached sympathy.” Try to write a poem based on a very particular event, such as Szymborska’s poem about a reunion with friends. There is little that is particular about such a reunion, but the comical moment of “smiling beyond salvation,” and the idea that creatures are more articulate than humans, is very particular.
It is likely that Szymborska does not go around having these idiosyncratic thoughts all day, but in her poetry, she pays special attention to those thoughts that are nearly forgotten, or dismissed as trivial. Consider some thought or idea that you would ordinarily dismiss as random or trivial, and write a poem around it. Try to use the random or trivial thought to make a statement about life, human relations, or some other big topic.
The Brazilian poet Joao Cabral de Melo Neto is known for assimilating the style of pop song lyrics into his poems. He writes his own lyrics in a very abstract language. A good example is his poem “End of the World”:
At the end of the melancholy world
men read the newspapers.
Indifferent men eating oranges
that flame like the sun.
They gave me an apple to remind me
of death. I know that cities telegraph
asking for kerosene. The veil I saw flying
fell in the desert.
No one will write the final poem
about this private twelve o’clock world.
Instead of the last judgment, what worries me
is the final dream.
Joao Cabral de Melo Neto, unlike Wislawa Szymborska, doesn’t try to say anything about life or the world. He tries to bring poetry closer to what he considers its original form as song, and he thinks of his words as the material of song. Often in pop songs, the words are elliptical and don’t make much sense, but they resonate in a mysterious way. Write a poem that doesn’t make any logical sense or doesn’t add up to a final meaning; think about the way lyrics in pop songs suggest meaning without directly stating it or trying to explain it.
Additional Resources for Poetry in Writing Courses
- Bernadette Mayer’s Writing Experiments: A list of writing exercises and prompts that are useful in getting started
- Charles Bernstein’s Experiments: An excellent avant-garde list of writing exercises and prompts for poets of all levels
- poets.org: An online, comprehensive resource from the Academy of American Poets
- Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux, Editors. The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1997.
- Kenneth Koch. Making Your Own Days: The Pleasures of Reading and Writing Poetry. Touchstone, 1998.
- Mary Oliver. A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.
- Mary Oliver. Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
- Ron Padgett, Editor. Handbook of Poetic Forms. Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 2000.