Google Streetview & Augmented Memory

A week ago, Doug Peterson shared a highly personal, reflective post: My Childhood Community. While Doug's blog is always informative and thought-provoking, this one has created more ripples than he likely imagined.

Like many others, I have frequently dragged the little yellow dude onto a map in Google Streetview, but I hadn't done so through my 'little kid' eyes. What I discovered took me on an emotional ride that is sure to continue. Let me just share a few highlights from earlier this evening.

A virtual visit to what will always be for me, the home of my granparents, sent me to reconsider a tree that was gnarled and gigantic in my youth; to reminisce about playing with the large-grated air vents in the upstairs bedroom; to reflect on my grandfather's habit of listened to Tiger games on the radio, while simultaneously watching a game or two on television.

And that thought sent me to Tiger Stadium. Though it no longer stands, the glow of the stadium at nighttime was a common spectacle from downtown Windsor... so Google Streetview beckoned.

Most images in Google's cache still show the home plate quarter of the stadium, but this one photo was taken another day, after the camera car had completed the Michigan-Trumbell-Cochrane loop. This image captured the fall of the Ernie Harwell's booth and the best seats in the house, while a proud flag waved from the centre field flag pole!

My inner conversation let me next to consider the two most significant sports fields of my youth. The first was the street in front of my house that was home to road hockey, street football, and kick the can.

The other, was the school down the road where I learned to run track, play basketball, and work on my short game on our custom par three golf course". The most surprising memory trigger for me, was the pole that now sits outside of the school playground. It marks the spot where we played tag games like British bulldog, and where hero pranksters opened the fire hydrant to flood our schoolyard for winter skating. It's also where the Duncan Yo-Yo man wowed us with tricks and hooked us on what was to us, a brand new toy.

The details of my memories may be of little interest to others (including my own children), but to me, the memories are priceless. And the detail and pace at which they came flooding back was surprising when inspired by modern day digital images.

But I'm late to the party!

Shortly after My Childhood Community appeared, Stephen Downes contributed Where I Grew Up, a reflective post very similar in flavour to Doug's post.

A few days after that, Megan Palevich posted A Walk Down Memory Lane with Google Streetview. After embracing personal memories with her mother, Megan took the idea a step further, considering how students and teachers might embrace this idea.

The lesson she developed was later shared with Zoe Branigan-Pipe whose reflection highlights what for me was the biggest story in the experience... the great value we can discover in sharing our ideas with other networked teacher-learners.


Doug Peterson started more than a meme. He set memories in motion; initiated creative storytelling; inspired collaborative networking. Now that he's posted An Idea that Keeps Growing, you can take your digital time travel to new levels.

As a first step, reward yourself with an augmented trip through your own memories.

History of the Internet

Have you ever been looking for a simple, yet elegant icon that could be used to tell a story either in static or dynamic media. Melih Bilgil, has introduced a Pictorial Communications Language (PICOL), that promises to be released under Creative Commons licensing from PICOL.org.

While the initial icon library focuses on electronic devices, it is easy to see how this library of crisp black and white icons might be expanded to include all manner of images.

A recent graduate of the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany, Melih was the first to leverage these icons in the release of "History of the Internet".


History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

Ich Bin Ein Hamburger

Doug Peterson got my creative juices flowing right out of the chute this morning, when he shared a link via Twitter, to Historical Tweets.

This humourous look at how historical figures might have used Twitter, got me imagining how an innovative teacher might call upon students to demonstrate their understanding, by considering how the use of modern communication tools might have altered our perception of historical events.

Consider a few possibilities:

1] What might Einstein's Facebook wall have looked like? Who would have left comments, what might have been shared?

2] What would the Twittersphere have been microblogging during the time that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation? How would the different sides of the Civil War have responded?

3] Would on the spot tweets have changed our memories of Hiroshima?

4] If the Apollo astronauts had been bloggers, what would they have reflected upon? What type of comments might American and Soviet readers have left?

5] How might independent podcasts have influenced World War I? What would flying aces have had on their ipods?

6] What would have been the most popular albums, movies, podcasts on iTunes during the depression?

7] How might the Wikipedia entry for Canada have been updated as provinces joined Confederation after the BNA Act?

My head spins in wonder at how Ghandi, Hitler, or Elvis Presley might have leveraged modern tools? I can only imagine what students might come up with...

Please add your ideas to the comment section below. Your contribution might make school more interesting for students you don't even know!

Photo Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-2442
Title Reference: Historical Tweets

Learning Then and Now

A conversational lesson from Stephen Heppel courtesy of the K-12 Online Conference.



I can't help but think that so much of education today, is a history lesson, with students and teachers stepping back into classroom 'museums', learning with 20th century tools, and decades-old strategies. What we need more than 21st century classrooms, is a willingness to recognize the need for a continuous evolution in learning.

How agile, adaptable and flexible is your neighbourhood school?

What artifacts are you leaving behind as evidence of the work you've done... either in teaching or in learning?


Old Rules: New Tools... a podcast reflection.

70 Years Ago... are we there yet?

A few weeks back, a colleague shared his mother's report card with me. From Nova Scotia in the 1937-38 school year, the introduction on the report demonstrates much wisdom. With thanks to Vince and his mother, I invite you to click the image for the enlarged view; I'll let these 70 year old words serve my purpose today.


An interesting aside to this report, is that the teacher and the student have continued to maintain a collegial friendship that still endures! Though an anecdote, this type of relationship speaks to powerfully of the qualitative learning experience.

Giants & Groundhogs: Archiving Our Time

The Giants Win! The Groundhog sees his Shadow!

While the headlines of the day may be forgotten in a few weeks, today's stories are destined for a long shelf-life courtesy of the World Wide Web. Although the footage of the first SuperBowl was actually erased, today's sports stories will likely be saved for all time as archive footage and will exist on the Web.

A few of my favourite Archives:

The Internet Archive: Did you know that web pages can be views 'as they existed' in past years? Check out the Wayback Machine

Newseum: Front page stories as they appear in the papers of the world. Check out the way major events have been highlighted by visiting the archives. If you like news archives, check out World-Newspapers.com or Actualidad.com as well.

Virtual Library Museums: Visit museums and art galleries around the world... virtually! Chris Witcombe's Art History Links are also terrific.

My current favourite archive resource has to be the Prelinger Archives:


Check it out by visiting Middleton Family Goes to the New York World's Fair courtesy of the Prelinger Archives, or listen to today's Teacher 2.0 Podcast.

Oh, I almost forgot... Canadians may be interested in seeing the SuperBowl commercials that were hijacked north of the border, these too are archived on MySpace/SuperBowlAds.