THE PROJECT PAGE WILL NEED SOME SECTION WHICH DETAILS THE WORK OF YOU AND THINKQUEST and Mihkel and Miksike involving the major role students are playing and will be playing in the project from square one.

The core content and design collaborative includes: FluidArts, Leonardo. Thinkquest, Miksike.....

• Over the past month a team of student translators from John F. Kennedy an inner ciy Bronx High School have tapped into their multiethnic cultural and linguistic background to serve as translators for the Miksike Eworksheets. Thusfar, the Space Module containing over ten sections has been completed by Alfy Noboa, Yoisi A. Peguero and Laura Vidal, now translated into Spanish.
• Alfy has aquired a thirteen year old Estonian peer who has successfully translated material into Russian. /13681/data/rulink2.htm and /13681/data/rulink2.htm
• Our student translator team is currently expanding with potential recruits from high schools across the city.
• Translators used technology to dissolve digital, geographic and academic dividers. That 'translates' into fluid arts, high academics, student centered globally connected communications!!

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  also check out the latest artszone (for storytelling)

  http://www.ovationtv.com/artszone
  the roald dahl story...

  Perhaps you've written to me because you're aware of my own work on the problem of translating and communicating between kids of different languages/cultures.

  My Miho site involved Japanese and English students communicating across language barrier. Plenty of donated time on this project from me and a translator that I abused for a week...
  http://www.ovationtv.com/artszone/programs/miho/

  fyi - these guys are trying to bridge the didge divide!

  cheers
  Steve Mencher
  

  Luke Ryland of Gifted U Recommends
  http://www.schoollife.net/servlet/schools_ProcServ/DBPAGE=cge&GID=04001010390913 233326950908&PG=01004010480950597786414838 --Lucent Technologies Latin America http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2000news/pgl.htm

  WoRLD Links for Development http://www.worldbank.org/worldlinks/english/index.html http://sf.bilingual.net/
  Check out http://lifeinafrica.com/links/africa.htm
  Life in Africa
  and http://www.saxakali.com/COLOR_ASP/africanys.htm
  also the Franklin Institute's http://sln.fi.edu:80/tfi/hotlists/africa.html

  andhttp://www.iearn.org/asiapacific.html

  I have been on a whirlwind series of travels, back to the USA and South Africa where we partnered our VOW Project with the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation (all living prize winners, mandela, tut, peres et al) and their International Decade for A Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World, as declared by the UN (2001-2010).

  VOW will continue blend music with interdisciplinary lessons of peace and nonviolence education for teachers to use around the world. To that end, we will be presenting the inspired work of teachers across all cultures and help bring these lessons and insights to the world.

  We will start with a million CDroms to 1 million teachers around the world.

  Also this month the NEA Today Magazine is highlighting the young teacher who first used VOW in a classroom. We had told them that she would make a good story. She deserves it. If you are surfing the net it can be found at: http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0005/innov.html#striking

  As you might imagine, our site is being hammered by visits and downloads.

  Info on the progress of the project will soon be posted at www.iVOW.net--which for now just takes you back to our site at http://www.poesia-per-musica.com

  FluidArts: Artists tunneling across the Digital Divide

  FluidArts is a global collaborative of artists, educators, and students working together to design a fluid model of equalized, universal education through the arts.

  Our goal is to create virtual and actual environments to champion the vital role of the arts in promoting cultural awareness and pride, cross-cultural communications, and an artistically unifying model for learning.

  The FluidArts vision is one where universal access encompasses and equalizes Education, Art and Technology. Our goal is to ensure that all participating individuals, schools, and communities are informed, instructed, and empowered by a core understanding of media: its applications, implications, and utilizations.

  FluidArts acknowledges the lifelong learning rights and needs of individuals across the globe, irrespective of age and geographical, cultural, ethnic or economic differences.

  Project Structure

  Two non-profit organizations are involved as initial sponsors of the project.

  Millenaire. http://www.millennaire.com a (soon to be) not-for-profit organization, is host and developer of the FluidArts project.

  Leonardo. http://mitpress.mit.edu/ejournals/Leonardo/ serves as fiduciary agent. Projects and artists associated with Leonardo are integral to the design and implementation of the various funded programs.

  In addition, a travel fund for artists has been provided by: Creative Disturbance. (http://www.creativedisturbance.com) a website showcasing artists working with technology

  All three organizations will be involved in pursuing ongoing funding for the project.

  The Board of Director members are: Roger Malina (Leonardo), Deborah Phelan (Millénaire), Barbara Lee Williams (Millénaire), and educator Steve Feld.

  FLUIDARTS will obtain legal advice regarding privacy, copyright, and the protection of minors.

  The initial members of the FLUIDARTS Advisory Board are: Luke Ryland, Niranjan Rah, Bonnie Bracey, Camel Zekri, Arana Greenberg, and Mihkel Pilv.

  A task force will be established to actively investigate funding opportunities. Work on the first proposal for funding will commence after the initial softlaunch.

  Students/Teachers

  The FluidArts project will directly involve students both as participants (artists, translators, web designers, mentors, curriculum creators and researchers) and as developers of the project's various programs. Students will interact/create/translate/mentor in a Virtual Student Factory, where they will work under the supervision of professional educators and artists. All students involved in the project will receive written consent from their parents before being identified as part of the project team. Students' work will be credited directly on all materials published.

  Project Goals

  FluidArts will: … fund individual artists and educators as emissaries to work with students (of all ages) in creating vital artistic environments … foster collaborations with organizations and institutions to provide the 'next step' in connectivity to classrooms and communities in international locations … publicize the work of artists and educators … Maintain a virtual student factory for collaborative projects involving the arts, world cultures and translation … profile relevant research and development in rapidly evolving models of education which form the philosophical backbone of our vision

  Stage One

  The development stage of the project commenced in January, 2000. Work has already begun in the following areas:

  o Africa - Leonardo's Virtual Africa project

  FluidArts has engaged advanced foreign language students to translate Camel Zekri's River Festival project http://www.olats.org/zekri/ into English, Spanish, Estonian, and Russian.

  This fall, FLUIDARTS will work with the River Festival as it tours Europe, creating a Virtual Field Trip accessible to students around the world. The framework for this is already in place.

  o Estonia - Miksike (http://www.miksike.com) and Thinkquest team (/13681/data/davin2.shtml)

  Secondary school art/foreign language/IT students from the Bronx, New York, are collaborating with high school students in Estonia on translation, creation of digital art, and IT project development using the Miksike virtual environment. These students are the core members of the FluidArts' Virtual Student Factory.

  o India - Language Technology Research Center, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad and Randeep Sudan, Special Secretary to the Chief Minister

  FluidArts, at the request of Ajay Sawhney, India's Special Secretary, IT & Communications, has begun researching and developing content for internet education in India. The content will be used by IIIT students who are developing tools to facilitate translation between English and Hindi, English and Telugu, etc. FLUIDARTS is also working with the Indian government to establish contact with key NGOs actively pursuing IT connectivity to remote Indian villages.

  Softlaunch

  The softlaunch (June 2000) will detail the above three projects, profile works in development, and provide resources on global art projects and education projects will an emphasis on art.

  Contents:

  1. FLUIDARTS Mission Statement
  2. About FLUIDARTS
  3. FLUIDARTS Projects
  4. Resources (note: In this section, FLUIDARTS will also profile related
  work in progress by other organizations). Along with profiling significant
  projects, this section will also provide an introduction to media literacy
  5. Evolving Educational Theories (art emphasis)
  6. Artist Profile - FLUIDARTS profiles/interviews one artist each
  month/bimonthly? This section can be interactive by inviting suggestions of
  nominees to be focused. (the first installments could be seeded by Leonardo
  material with profiles by art critic Barbara Lee Williams)
  7. Project Gallery - interactive space for reader submittals about various
  areas (e.g. outstanding teacher projects, assistance needed with projects,
  geographic hot spots, artistic outreach profiles, etc.)
  8. Virtual Student Factory
  9. Links to sponsors
  10. Outstanding Art Links
  11 Translation as Art (profile the students translations)
  

  Staff for softlaunch:

  • Deborah Phelan (project director)
  • Barbara Lee Williams (editor)
  • Alisa Armstrong (web designer)
  • Steve Feld (Thinkquest Team Leader)
  • Mihkel Pilv (advisor)
  • Matthew Phillips (intern)

  RIVER FESTIVAL

  Timeframe Stage l: June through end November

  River Festival - develop and implement plan for FLUIDARTS to collaborate and publicize this fall's trip through Europe. This project would involve the creation of a virtual field trip hosted by FLUIDARTS to allow audiences to travel with the Festival group and report on performances, exhibits, etc. This project would involve extensive use of the Virtual Student Factory and would be publicized in a call for participants in such online venues as Classroom Connect, Gleason-Sackmann, FluidArts, Global SchoolHouse, WebPromote Weekly, The Scout Report and identified international listservs, bulletin boards.

  This project ideally would be publicized for these purposed to time with mid-summer back to school listings and could even attract attention on some online summer projects. Steve Feld, Mihkel Pilv ,Judi Harris (Electronic Emissary) and Arana Greenberg could assist in developing framework of online project.

  The River Festival virtual tour will be multilingual. By the launch date, River Festival pages will be in English, French and Spanish.

  FluidArts Plan - Summer to Fall 2000

  o fund an emissary(s) to travel with the festival (or to at least cover a few stops on the festival route) and report back in Dispatches from the Field....
  o utilize high school students to help create the framework for the virtual tour (Steve Feld)
  o investigate the possibility of sending a high school student on the tour
  o develop a 'hometeam' of supervised students to handle interaction with the tour
  o find contact schools in cities on Festival's itinerary to participate as reporters, multimedia experts
  o analyze the use of various media to augment presentation (film, radio, chats, live broadcasts, etc)
  o involve students in researching prior to the tour cultural and artistic information from the areas being visited as well as the area's being represented on the festival tour (this work in part could also be done by FLUIDARTS interns And could also begin well in advance)
  o publicize the next River Festival Africa tour and begin research on the various villages it will visit. Analyze connectivity, media literacy, and artistic outreach opportunities in these areas
  o begin discussions and planning of FLUIDARTS' involvement in the Africa tour this spring

  ****Estonia

  Collaborative work has already begun between high school students in Estonia and students in Steve Feld's classes in the Bronx, New York. The students are currently involved in translating, fine-tuning 'rough English', and digitally illustrating eworksheets and translating them into Spanish. These worksheets will eventually be translated into several languages. The digital illustrations are also being creatively manipulated, or changed, as students from the US create their own illustrations for the eworksheets expressing divergent interpretations of this content.

  This core group of students from the US and Estonia is the basis of our initial Student Factory. Their work is being supervised by Steve Feld and Mihkel Pilv.

  India

  The beginning of work in India involves the development of content for translation into Hindi/Telegu

  FluidArts Development

  FLUIDARTS staff will continue research on global projects, individual artists and teachers

  FLUIDARTS staff will continue to seek out alliances with other established arts/technology organizations.

  FLUIDARTS staff will seek funding for appropriate projects and core project funding.

  The site will be updated bimonthly

  The Advisory Board will remain in communication with FLUIDARTS staff.

  FLUIDARTS staff will provide recommendations to the Travel Fund.

  Visit these Urls for resources

  • http://www.millennaire.com/thirdurn.html
  • http://www.millennaire.com/third.html
    
  • http://www.millennaire.com/dispatches.html
    

    These below are DISPATCHES FROM THE FIELD FROM MILLENAIRE:

  • http://www.millennaire.com/bbrchat.html
  • http://www.millennaire.com/bbrambas.html
  • http://www.millennaire.com/bbrvision.html
  • http://www.millennaire.com/disbarr.html Cinnabar School, Romania

    Dispatches from Dan Downs teaching html back in 1996.... so inspiring

  • http://www.millennaire.com/downs1996.html
  • http://www.millennaire.com/downs1997.html
  • http://menschmedia.com/wizards/

    These sites are wonderful..... I think the ArtiFAQ2100 piece should be top in line for translating ArtiFAQ 2100

  • Our students are now expanding our Leonardo studies to encompass a broader art history scope. Microsoft has challenged high school teams to consider a particular aspect of the future--arts and cultural activities in the next hundred years and develop a web site focused on graphic arts visions of this future.
    My students opted to look back in time to reflect on past art history and use its achievements as predictors of the future.
  • Their vision of arts and cultural futures are being developed as illustrations and computer graphics with text detailing specific artist of the past whose influence they see emerging in the art in the year 2100.
    I can not tell you how awed I am to see my students creating compelling captivating works, and then referencing them to great artists!
    How satisfying to a Fine Arts major who has devoted so much of his career to computer graphics and fine arts instruction.

    I think this should be HIGHLY PROFILED in the site as a resource for students to learn about art.

    The pages on dealing with (dis)abilities .... /13681/data/learn/fax2.htm

    made me remember how important it was for me at inception to insure that the divide we are talking to is not limited by geog, cultural, etc barriers but also by personal ones.

    As you may know, I have written extensively on special education (though this is two years back....) and worked on a Electronc Emissary project dealing with a (dis)abled teenaged writer who is now a student at Stanford.

    I have been waiting to get in touch with we magazine

    (http://www.wemedia.com) about our project until we have concrete work to show them. I really want a professional affiliation with them! I have also wanted to get in touch with Mobility International about using some of their educators/artists as emissaries for FluidArts....

    Virtual Africa River Festival
    FluidArts Lesson Plan
    Help us decide on a logo

    FluidArts Rosetta Stone

    ---

    I saw your sidebar in eOTI and thought you might be interested in seeing this site: Building a School Web Site at http://www.wigglebits.com by Wanda Wigglebits

    It's friendly and accessible and contains a hands-on project that teachers and kids can do together.
    It covers the big picture, including topics such as basic HTML, using a web editor, standards, bandwidth, search engine placement, and animation. It also covers the details with simple, step-by-step directions. Just like teachers teach kids arithmetic before they use a calculator, Wanda teaches HTML before she teaches the mechanized web tools.

    It's designed for beginners and is a great way for teachers, kids, and individuals to make their way across the digital divide.

    Thanks,
    Jeanne Follman aka Wanda jeanne@chicagowriters.com
    P. S. I wrote the eOTI article this month - Words on the Web and the Written Tradition. jenmarie@pop.webcom.com

  

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