Artistic Vision » Technology

Multitasking: You can’t pay full attention to both sights and sounds

JWP — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:54:23 +0000

One of the issues I face in my classroom as an art teacher is when my kids tell me that talking to their friends while working is okay for them, actually critical. A 2005 Johns Hopkins’ study, which specifically addressed cell phone use while driving, would also seem to speak to my classroom situation.

Professor Steven Yantis states,

“Directing attention to listening effectively ‘turns down the volume’ on input to the visual parts of the brain. The evidence we have right now strongly suggests that attention is strictly limited — a zero-sum game. When attention is deployed to one modality — say, in this case, talking on a cell phone — it necessarily extracts a cost on another modality — in this case, the visual task of driving.”

Again, the implications from this would seem to indicate that concentration in any one modality is compromised when another is introduced. So, I guess this would also give me an answer when my students say listening to their iPods helps them concentrate while they work on my projects. LOL!

Artist websites

JWP — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:09:52 +0000

EmptyEasel.com has written a simple little article on the technology driving a website … and, why artists should use one instead of others.

Although I haven’t gotten around to selling my artwork online yet, this is a targeted message you’ll want to read. Artists are visual folks and that may end up hurting them if they’re not careful.

If you’re an artist with a blog, he’s also got some good recommendations on getting your art blog noticed and increasing your Google ranking.

Ok, I got the box …

JWP — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:49:47 +0000

Apple sent me the box for me to send in my MacBook to get the cracked case fixed (and, hopefully, the flickering screen). They sent it in a couple of days which they said they would but I didn’t expect them to. LOL. I spoke to my IT person at school and he gave me a temporary laptop yesterday. My school uses Dells, but my IT guy set my Mac up for me and said it wasn’t a problem for me to use that if I wanted to; which I preferred. I think I got my wireless set up on the Dell correctly. I’ll check before I go into work today just to make sure.

I’m hoping this repair works out okay. Stuff like this just makes me nervous. I really dread sending my laptop away, but I guess that’s the only way I’m going to get it fixed.