• Yahoo UI Library (something I intend to experiment with)
• RSS/Podcasting presentation, STC Student chapter, October 2005

In June and July of 2005, I directed a summer computer camp for kids for the Computer Science Department (see http://www.cs.mercer.edu/summercamp/). I taught the Digital Storytelling and Digital Lifestyle camps, while Dr. Bob Allen taught the Interactive 3-D Graphics Programming camp.

A digital storytelling camp lasted 3 hours per day for 5 days. We used PCs running Windows XP (updated to Service Pack 2), Microsoft PhotoStory 3 (free), and Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2 (free with SP2). Some use was made of Google Picasa 2 (free) image management software to do image resizing, cropping, and color correction. Camps were led by an instructor (myself) and assisted by two Mercer students, Samantha Strowbridge and Jay Owens, along with Mercer staff person Susan Myers who is a photographer and writer. There were two age groups, 10-13 and 13-17, totaling 10 kids.

Below are the digital stories (videos, movies) created by the kids in the camps. These movies are shown with the permission of the kids and their parents. You may need to adjust the volume on your audio quite a bit from one story to the next.

Darick Campbell and His Life in Music
by Alexis (age 13)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 42 MB]

A daughter is inspired by her father's love of music. His music is featured in the background and in the video clip shot live in a Nashville church.

What Daddy Said Was True
by Unizuky (age 11)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 16 MB]

A girl moves from Mexico to America and seeks to fulfill the dream of a new and better life, just as her daddy promised.

Museum Connects Past to Present
by Young-Eun (age 13)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 7.6 MB]

A trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City opens a window into ancient history.

Conversion
by Caleb (age 13)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 7.9 MB]

A boy seeks a sense of belonging and finds it in Messianic Judaism.

Moving to Georgia
by Chailyn (age 10)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 8.1 MB]

Leaving home, church, and friends is difficult but not without reward.

My Papaw
by Cody (age 10)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 9.3 MB]

A grandfather's life and memory are honored.

My Dad and Johnny
by Grace (age 10)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 12 MB]

What girl doesn't dream of getting a horse for Christmas?

In Honor of My Grandmother
by Erica (age 13)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 7.5 MB]

A grandmother's love and courage shape her granddaughter's life.

The Terrible Car Wreck
by Dominique (almost age 10)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 11 MB]

A traumatic event in childhood is remembered. Drawings were done by the author.

My Trip to Wild Adventures
by Malcolm (age 11)

[ Dial-up 38kbps | Broadband 150kbps | Original .wmv file 11 MB]

A trip to a theme park are remembered with fondness (or not?).

The digital lifestyle camp included the topics of digital music, digital photography, online communication, and online games/entertainment. Many kids purchased or already owned an Apple iPod Shuffle that was used in camp. Software and web sites that we used included iTunes (media player), Google Picasa (image editor), Yahoo Messenger (instant messenger), Yahoo Mail (web mail), Google Earth (earth photo-imagery), Disney.com (games), and Pogo.com (games).

The camp was led by an instructor (myself) with the assistance of Sam Strowbridge and Susan Myers. I taught kids how to use the computer for digital music: to play, rip, and burn audio CDs; and to upload music into an iPod. Susan taught the kids about digital photography: using a digital camera, composition, image editing, special effects, etc. Sam and I taught the kids various forms of online communication: email, instant messaging, video conferencing with web cams, etc.. Kids were informed about safety, privacy, and legal issues related to the use of the Internet. Not surprisingly, the kids didn't need to be taught about computer games, but we did introduce many of them to playing against opponents over the Internet.

digital lifestyle

Interactive 3-D Graphics

The Interactive 3-D Graphics camp was led by Dr. Bob Allen. Kids used the Alice 3-D Authoring System to create 3-dimensional worlds with animated characters. The Alice software was used to introduce the kids to the concepts of object-oriented programming in a context similar to computer games. At the end of the week, the kids' family members were invited to view their software productions.