The Hour of Code folks have pulled together a bunch of videos that could be useful in understanding some of the issues and elements of Generative AI.
Here is the YouTube Playlist.
And here is the Hour of Code AI site.
Peace (and viewing),
Kevin
Poem: Road Riders
Book Review via Middleweb: Teaching With Comics and Graphic Novels
Last Fall, I wrote a review of this book about using comics and graphic novels in the classroom by Tim Smyth. I thought I had shared a link here at my blog, but now I think it just got lost in the shuffle.
Read my review: https://www.middleweb.com/48089/add-comics-and-graphic-novels-to-all-classes/
Peace (and Frames),
Kevin
Poem: Night Wanderer
CLMOOC Silent Sunday
Gathering Poems
Daily Create: A Meander
I submitted today’s DS106 Daily Create prompt (perusing Beatles lyrics via a Beatles ‘bot for art). It took me a bit to figure out which lyrics I wanted to use and then how to illustrate them. Given my blog’s title, this lyric seemed just right for me.
Peace (and song),
Kevin
Generative AI Presentation 2: School Libraries and ELL Students
This summer, I have been doing a handful of workshops with educators on the topic of Generative AI. A few weeks ago, for example, I visited the Summer Institute for the Western Massachusetts Writing Project and facilitated a fascinating inquiry into the rise of AI in education.
This week, I worked with a group of school librarians, exploring what Generative AI is, some ways that school librarians might consider platforms like ChatGPT and Bard and others, and a focus on how to reach and support English Language Learners (a focus of the week-long professional development – led, in part, by my wife – I was invited to present at).
I’ve been trying to open these sessions with impressions of educators, and in this case, I used Answer Garden (I was presenting remote) and, as in past sessions, the responses are interesting, running the gamut from alarm to interest.
View the basic presentation in full-screen mode.
Next week, I will be presenting to a similar group, also of school librarians, with a focus on the ethical considerations of AI, policies for schools and classrooms, and how AI could support students with learning disabilities (the focus of that week’s PD with librarians).
I am no expert in AI, by any means, but I am finding my deeper personal inquiry into these platforms is helpful for other educators, and I am enjoying the explorations of this new emerging world with others. And I am trying to work into these sessions opportunities for colleagues to play, explore, learn, and reflect — even if they don’t think they will be tapping into AI anytime soon (for a variety of reasons — privacy, access, age, etc), it’s important to have a basic grasp on what’s happening in the field of Artificial Intelligence — for our students surely have some knowledge, if not experience, themselves.
Peace (and presentations),
Kevin
Video By AI: Saxophones, Dogs, Flowers and Faces
A neighbor of mine, after a street discussion about the potential and danger of AI to the world of art, suggested I give Runway AI a try, as it turns text and images into movement videos. I know this kind of technology (word to video) is still in early stages, so I was not all that surprised by the weirdness of the results. And yes, it was odd, all right.
I first started by uploading an image of our dog with a ball toy but it was so strange. Her face got really contorted and turned into another dog altogether (not nearly as cute!).
My next experiment was with text prompts. First, I asked for a saxophone player on a jazz club stage at night. I don’t know what kind of saxophone this is or why he is playing it with his nose, but … I was amused. (see above)
Next, I asked it in text for Wind Over Field of Sunflowers, and it is rather lovely. The flowers have an oversized head, cartoon-y look to them, and they move ever so slightly in the wind in a slow video pan. This one was the best of the bunch.
Finally, I uploaded an image of a face made in sand at the beach, and got … more weirdness. I don’t even know how it got to that ending.
Peace (and play),
Kevin
Using Google’s Embedded AI Art Generator in Slides
I have signed up for the Google Workshop Labs because I am curious about how Google will be weaving its Artificial Intelligence tools into platforms like Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and more.
I noticed that the image generator tool appeared in my Slides the other day, so I took a poem from yesterday’s morning writing (via a one-word prompt off Mastodon – “specimen”) and tried it out with the five-line poem. I set “sketch” as style of art and then used lines of the poem as the text for image generation.
The slideshow poem is embedded above or you can view it full screen here.
I’m still not sure what to think of the visual results, but the tool is certainly handy, in one sense, and easily accessible, as it is located right in the Insert Image toolbar.
Peace (in pencil),
Kevin