The DMSW Conference at The Ohio State University focuses on creative uses of social media, new philosophies of technology use, and innovative technologies for classroom instruction, and will be held February 19th and 20th at Mendenhall Lab on the OSU Campus.

I'll be presenting about what The Fuse Factory has been up to recently -- teaching young people about programming using Storytelling Alice in Mendenhall Lab, room 174.

The conference was started to get our own community on the same page about what's going on with digital media within our own community. It should be an amazing event.

Also... you can find them on Facebook!

I will no longer be teaching this course -- as the Storytelling Alice workshop is running into this session period. Ed Helwig (a talented 3D artist, Linux man and wonderful creative) is slated to teach. :)

So you're interested in learning about 3D concepts and how to produce artwork and animations in 3D, but you don't have thousands of dollars to spend on software.

An introduction to a powerful open source application called Blender might suit you well, then :). We'll cover getting around in the application, setting up projects -- and by the end of the two-week session you will have modeled, lit, textured and created some basic animated motion.

On January 13, for 5 weeks,The Fuse Factory Digital Media Lab will be partnering with the University Area Enrichment Association to teach middle school aged children how to animate and program using Storytelling Alice.

I'll be teaching this class, and am excited to be able to participate in such a great experience, with such a motivated, diverse and talented group of people.

This software was designed to help young people -- understand programming concepts in a more engaging way.

Make a donation so we can provide this at no cost to students from the Weiland Park area.

Opportunities like this have the potential to inspire and change the course of young peoples lives -- even if in small ways. :)

There are seats available in the class for other students too!

The best part is that once your child is done with the class - the software they have used is made available by its creators doesn't cost a thing. The workshop is $100 for 6 weeks - which works out to less than $17 per Session.

SIGN UP a student!

If you've ever received homemade jam, or any other yummy gift in a mason jar - from your friends or family,
they may have told you to save the jar and give it back to them for reuse.

Glass jars, if they are not cracked or chipped, are completely reusable.
The rings that screw on to the tops are also reusable, if kept in good condition.
(It's not generally recommended to reuse the dome lids - but if they're in good shape, they should work just fine.)

I will be collecting glass canning jars in the June of 2010 for a class on making strawberry jam
at Wild Goose Creative. We will travel to a local strawberry farm in the morning (rain or shine), pick our berries,
and go back to the space to make some tasty-sweet preserves.

So hold on to those jars! I will post more details in the new year (and put a call out for them through the Itty-Bitty Facebook Group

If you're outside of Columbus, Ohio - you can contact a farmer in your area --
They will likely be able to put the jars to good use, or tell you who can.
(...and please support them by buying their crops.)

Thanks :)

Jenn

Check out the work that the Intro to Stop-Motion Animation class produced.

The workshop was offered as a part of the Fuse Factory's ongoing art and technology classes on
Sunday, October 25 at Wild Goose Creative.

It was led by Jenn Deafenbaugh... Participants used web cams, homemade animation stands, and
netbooks loaded with the Helium Frog Animator.

Each group worked on five shots - featuring different kinds small objects or

Just a quick note that Strawberry Jam Session will be screening on November 14th as a part of the Columbus International
Film+Video Festival's Animation 4 Adults Screening. It will be at Canzani Auditorium on the CCAD Campus.

It was entered as a part of the newly formed "Basement" category, and was selected as best in its category :).

You can see the low-fi Jam-making short in its entirety at the screening.

Tickets are only $5 for the screening.

More details at www.chrisawards.org

You can keep up with everything going on with the Itty-Bitty Studio through our recently created Google Calendar...

http://www.ittybittystudio.com/events

Calling all Ohio writers!

We're looking the best, scariest or silliest original monster story that you can come up with!

Ten stories total will be selected and used in combination with animation/illustration and interactive artwork in a gallery show in October.

Here are the official rules for the writing portion of the contest:
http://www.ittybittystudio.com/documents/monsterStoriesRules.pdf

(The rules are a touch out of date-- the dates that are listed on this page are correct.)

DEADLINE EXTENDED!!!
We're in need of stories, so we're accepting entries until we reach 10 that we feel are well-suited to the project :). (Would love it if you sent them by Feb 28, 2010.)

You can submit your entry online with this form:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEJYLUZfcUdGVC1RMlRPT0hM...

Or via mail using this one:
http://www.ittybittystudio.com/documents/monsterStoriesApplication.pdf

IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 18
You have to mail in a parental consent form so that your story may be used.
Download it here:
http://www.ittybittystudio.com/documents/monsterStoriesPermission.pdf

Due to the general state of the world in which we live, funding for this year's Chris awards has been cut.

Unfortunately, that means it's going to be harder for them to put on a good festival... but you can help!

Make a donation to support the US's longest running film + video festival.

They will be having an e-bay auction in the coming weeks. IF you are interested in buying something --
or have something worth donating, you can communicate directly with the festival organizers through their facebook group

The festival has early bird screenings in October and goes until the 2nd weekend in November.

Here are some of our first submissions for the Googly Eyed Theory project. The concept is simple:

Stick a set of Googly Eyes in a public place.
Snap a photo with any sort of digital camera you have handy. (Or scan in a film one...)
Leave the googly eyes there so that someone else might discover them.
E-mail your photo to eyes [at] ittybittystudio.com.

When we have over 1000 photos, a gallery space will be sought out for a show.

On September 19th, we traveled in search of animated gold.

Unfortunately, the project took a trip for the worse -- we ended up losing some footage --
but it was a fun time and we will be doing it again. :)

(Read the full article by clicking on the title of this post)

The journey took place at the Independents' Day Festival in Downtown Columbus...

Independents' Day 2009 Public Pirate Animation from Jennifer Deafenbaugh on Vimeo.