richardsebastian.com

Here are 4 promotional spots for the GED created by the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Adult Education and Literacy. I think they are pretty well-done, and am impressed that the VADOE/OAEL had the foresight to post them to YouTube.

From the Washington Post:

If Romney’s was the most visible campaign, Paul’s was the loudest. A Paul parade snaked through the grounds at noon, chanting the congressman’s name. In front of one RV, emblazoned with the slogan “Say Yes to Dr. No,” a Paul supporter was feeding a monkey in a diaper.

No snark needed.

WYSIWYG software like DreamWeaver and Google Pages make it simple for anyone to create their own professional-looking websites. Digital cameras and cheap, easy-to-use non-linear editing software let anyone produce their own digital movies. With a cheap, plastic microphone and iTunes, anyone with something to say (or not) can create their own podcast. And now, anyone with a webcam and a broadband connection can broadcast over the Internet.
Ustream is a free service that lets you broadcast feeds live over the Internet. It’s like a live version of YouTube. You can also record your shows and share them with the public on your own Ustream “channel”. If you want to create a more polished production, you can download free software to your PC or Mac that let’s you overlay text, add PIP (picture in picture) capability, and broadcast a slideshow, computer desktop, or digital movie. You can also embed your Ustream channel’s media player to your website or blog.

Go to Ustream.tv to get a free account.

Richmond Free Wireless (RFW) is a new community-based project with a goal of bringing free wireless Internet access to the Richmond area and, eventually, the state. That’s right: free access. The project encourages volunteers (aka heroes) to share a gateway connection from their home or business using a fairly inexpensive and easy to set-up piece of technology called a Meraki repeater. RFW was recently given some virtual ink on Richmond.com:

Explaining how to create a city-wide network can become mind-boggling, but here’s the gist. First, get a few people living on the same city block interested in sharing an common Internet connection. Each person then goes online and purchases a “Meraki repeater node” – a piece of technology that lets the Internet signal “bounce” between other nodes on the community network.

Each person then goes to their home or office, plugs in their node, and registers the node’s unique ID number and their street address on [the] RFW website, richmondfreewifi.org.

With enough participants, the nodes overlap and provide the city with more or less blanket wifi coverage.
It is good to see this exciting project getting some attention, especially this early on in the project. Getting the word out the the larger Richmond community will be an important part of making this project a success. While the wifi acees will be a free public commodity–part of the Richmond commons–it does require a handful of citizens to step up and be willing to support their little piece of the network by buying a repeater and sharing some broadband bandwidth.

The educational implications of this project are especially exciting. Free wireless, especially in and around poorer communities, is yet another way to provide lower-income students with much needed access the Internet.

If you are interested in hosting a repeater, fill out the contact form on the RFW site.