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With all the humility and full understanding of the extent of what I do not know, I present a theory of learning that I feel needs to be in academic discourse. I don’t give a whit about the name of it, but since I haven’t seen it elsewhere under another name, I tentatively pencil in […]

On my Google personalized home page, I’ve installed a Flickr gadget that shows a 3×3 grid of assorted photos according to the tag I enter. It’s rather fun to put in a word and see what photos people tag with the that word.
For example, the superlative “incredible” gives me a caterpillar, a roast turkey, some […]

Title: Place-based Learning with locative technologies: situating learning in the cultures of place.
©2006 John Martin
Abstract: All human activities are constrained by the interconnected and overlapping factors of: biological abilities, time, space, and social narratives. My research focuses on how the interplay between two of these factors, space and narratives, can be mediated with the cultural […]

As loud and obnoxious as this is, on so many levels, the kid in me thinks it’s gotta be the best job ever! Think of the pile of leaves you coud make!!!

Just saw a pre-screening of it Tuesday night, and have to say: “Ew.”
I understand that it’s a work of fiction, and of propaganda, but it’s also not far removed from what’s really happening. In fact, I’d warrant that, if anything, it de-emphasized some of the scarier realities of the fast food and meat factory industries. […]

I was just going through old pics for a friend from camp and ran across this little gem. It’s always a cool thing to see your name in lights, on a road or building — some link to something “famous”. But to find two towns right next to each other on the map! It’s like […]

I see these things all the time, much like when I’m in the market for something I notice the thing or references to it all over the place. I am developing an in-tune-ness for it — Community and place.
In the New York Times today, in two diverse articles.
The first article is on Microsoft’s new portable […]

Early this semester, I was invited to give a talk in Dr. C.K. Lemley’s Young Adult Literature class, at Grinnell College, on October 6th, 2006. They were considering the radical changes in YA Literature, so I presented on the technological evolution of the accessibility in producing and distributing verbal, visual, and aural arts (i.e. from […]

Here’s a more refined diagram of what I envision to be a good theory of learning.

The basic idea of it is that activity occurs at a specific time in a specific space, mediated by biological affordances, phenomenological (individual) and sociocultural influences (prior experiences and cultural stories), and the transitory spontaneities of the activity itself.
Activity is […]

One of my major gripes with many of the current theories of learning is that they don’t go far enough. They aren’t comprehensive enough. Specifically, they don’t include place.
Some focus on sociocultural aspects. Some focus on design. A few include both. I can’t find any that include all three: place, design, and sociocultural aspects. Consequently, […]

Rufus Labradoodle!! 11/9/06 4:21 PM

Thought I should share a few more pictures of my new buddy Rufus (with special guest Suki). So, here’s an album dedicated to him, from the roadtrip back from Maine through Canada (very mellow passenger), to the backyard by the lake here in Madison, a living room rub, and […]

Allagash 2004

Atticus requested this, and I thought: “Yes! Why not?”
So, here’s an album of pics from a 220-mile canoe trip I led in 2004. We started in Greenville, Maine at the south end of Moosehead Lake.  13 days later we paddled off the St. John River up the Fish River, and set ashore in the […]

Outside.in is a user-generated, place-based information repository that bills itself this way:
Every day, the web collects new essential information about your local community: the open house around the corner; a restaurant review in the local paper; a rant from a parent about a declining public school; a concert that’s just been announced; a police report […]

He’s sitting in the car outside of Ground Zero Coffee. We’re working on “alone time”. He’s not yet comfortable in his new home, and needs to know where I am to feel safe, so we separate for short periods. I leave, he gets stressed, he gets tired of being stressed and calms down, I come […]

Place-based blogging for Cities

Metroblogging.com is a very cool instantiation of place-based information — although I predicted that it would be done first by Google, and called something like Google Place. It’s a big chunk version of place-based information organization. Instead of offering specific street-by-street information (as I envision happening in the near future as a […]

Just got home last night at 9pm with Rufus. He’s a one year-old labradoodle that Chris and Shelly (camp directors) offered to me because, according to the story told their 4 y.o. twin boys, I’m (let me see if I have this right…) “sad and lonely and needs Rufus to cheer him up in Wisconsin.”

They’re […]

Got a new crown for a cracked tooth this past Monday. Pretty scary ordeal.

(No, these are not my real teeth. I just use these to scare dentists on Halloween)

Pictures, With Map and Pushpin Included
By IAN AUSTEN
Published: November 2, 2006
KATHLEEN BENNETT recently bought a device that keeps track of her location with help from the satellites of the Global Positioning System. But unlike many other people in Seattle, Ms. Bennett is not, by her own description, “an outdoor person” and will not be using […]

Zombie DJ party

Spaight Street Prowl

Capitol Square Carousing

It was a busy Halloween week.
I pulled out the zombie makeup and an old dress (what you’d expect a 1980’s Professional Wrestling ‘babe’ to wear), to add a little sparkle under the overalls for the Zombie/DJ party on Thursday. Then, on Friday, the dress fit nicely in […]