EbunOmoni.com

12Nov/090

Digital Media Fingerprints

One of the things I loved to do in high school was look at my friend's media collections. No matter how much we had in common, their music, movies, books and video games always reminded me of our differences(in a good way). But it wasn't so much what they had, as much as it was how it all looked together.

Did they have have bookshelves, boxes or stands? Vinyl, Cassettes or CDs? Video Tapes or DVDs?

And most fascinating of all was the arrangement. A collection might be sorted alphabetically, by genre, or by content. Or maybe by some arbitrary system that only made sense to them. Regardless, it was always interesting. People's collections and arrangements created a distinct signature as unique as their own fingerprints.

But the times are a-changin'. Everything has gone digital. Now we use e-readers, MP3 players and hard-drives. There's no need to wonder about bookshelves, vinyl or video tapes anymore because everyone is using bytes. And how we arrange it all is limited to our software's sort options.

We're in an awesome new era and technology has paved the way. I can put a thousand songs in my pocket and an entire library in my bag. It's convenient, transportable and I love it (it would've been a pain bringing all my CDs, DVDs, tapes and books with me overseas!). But compared to their pre-bit predecessors, these new digital media fingerprints have less personality. And that's something that technology can't replicate.

Tagged as: e-reader, hard-drive, mp3 players, personality No Comments

2Nov/090

Smile

I get my smile from my mother and for as long as I can remember, she's encouraged me to use it. Halfway around the world, I finally understand the power of her advice.

More than anything else, smiling has helped me survive here. It supplements my Japanese and speaks more clearly than anything I could say. It puts xenophobic fears to rest and other people's frowns to the test. And curiosity often turns into conversation as a smile invites questions.

If I were to give a single word of advice on how to make this sort of international transition, it would simply be to smile. Because, as a wise person once said, "there are hundreds of languages in the world, but a smile speaks to them all".

Tagged as: Japan, language, smile, survival No Comments

12Oct/090

Dancers in Sendai, Japan

One the beauties of the hip hop culture is being able easily find out where the action is. All you have to do is find an "urban" store, people dressed the part, or, in the case of Sendai (as with other big cities in Japan), dancers practicing in public places.

I went to Sendai and stumbled into a large group of urban dancers (hip hop, house, new jack, funk styles) literally within minutes. Here's a video of some of the dancers:

Tagged as: Dancers, Japan, Sendai No Comments

1Oct/090

Teaching versus the Software Development Life Cycle

I hadn't been teaching for too long before I realized there was something very familiar about the the way I was working. It later occurred that from a process level, working as an English Teacher (ET) in Japan hasn't been too different than working along the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Here are the steps to the SDLC and how they resemble teaching.

1. Analyze user requirements

In the SDLC, this means extracting the problem your software is supposed to solve. As an ET, it means recognizing your lesson's learning objectives (e.g., a grammar point, new vocabulary). In both cases, you're understanding the ideal user end result.

2. Design the program

In the SDLC, this means organizing and specifying any and all relevant components to your solution. As an ET, it means organizing and specifying any and all relevant pieces to your lesson. In both cases, you're working out the details.

3. Code the program

In the SDLC, this means writing code, modifying databases and anything else needed to implement your solution. As an ET, this means creating worksheets, getting supplies for activities and anything else needed to conduct your lesson. In both cases, you're going from conception to reality.

4. Document and Test*

In the SDLC, this means ensuring your solution meets user needs, isn't broken and plays nicely with other code. As an ET, this means ensuring your lesson achieves it's educational goals, flows smoothly and fits in well with your student's current knowledge base. In both cases, you're making certain that things will not only work, but also work well.

*There really isn't a parallel for documentation. Besides, developers don't really document anyway.

5. Operate and Maintain

In the SDLC, this means releasing your code to a production environment and regularly updating it to provide a better user experience. As an ET, this means conducting the lesson and using the same learning points in future classes or any other time you run into a student. In both cases, you've delivered a solution and then begin using it as a new base to later build from.

So that's the similarity. The ideas behind each phase of the SDLC have also supported each step of my overseas English Teaching. However, I can't help but wonder if I'm forcing this to happen. I’m not sure if I’m leveraging what I already know to fit into the workflow or if by coincidence, a similar process just happened to exist. Either way, it works.

Tagged as: SDLC, software, teaching No Comments

Older Entries »