Hanging Out in a Museum 3000 Miles Away

Last Friday, we were informed that on Tuesday we would be having a "Google Hangout" in a museum dedicated to the industrialization of mills in Britain. To prepare for this wonderful opportunity, we did a little preparation work. The man with whom we would be speaking, Jamie, had a video prepared giving us a rundown of what we would see n the mill. We first watched this video to ready ourselves for the video chat. The video walked us through the cloth making process. We noted keywords to look up, including robing, sliver, and slubbing. Then, in our groups we looked up the definitions of these words, so we could ask Jamie questions using the proper vocabulary. We then drafted questions to ask Jamie during the video chat.

Jamie, our explainer

Throughout the chat I learned a lot about the industrialization of the textile industry, especially it's evolution from the cottage industry to the factory system. First Jamie told us about the cottage industry. Before the industrial revolution, families would work their cottages in the country to create cloth to sell. The looms were powered with their feet and fibers would be separated by hand using wire brushes. The fibers would then be put on a spinning wheel. Every member of the family was part of the process. All this changed when the water frame was invented in 1775. The water frame allowed four or more bobbins of thread to be made at once, and it was very important in the transition from the cottage industry to the factory system. The industrialization of machines made work much faster, but also louder and more dangerous. People often went deaf from being around a thousand looms, and accidents were very common. Mills were run for profit, and , as Jamie put it, health and safety didn't exist.

In conclusion, I enjoyed our video chat experience. I thought that being able to communicate with a real person directly was much more effective than watching a video. However, there were issues with lag and choppy signal in the beginning, but these issues fixed themselves. I would definitely like to do another video chat with an expert on other topics throughout the school year.

Curating the Industrial Revolution

For two days, my group and I became museum curators. We created an exhibit about transportation during the Industrial Revolution. First we did our research and analyzed all the documents presented to us. We then planned each element of our exhibit. My job was to type descriptions and captions. We also chose which sections of text we would quote, how to describe diagrams, who would print the pictures, who would write out the title, etc. Analysis is an important part of curating, because if you don't analyze your sources, your information could be incorrect! This is bad!! Our clever title was a high point of our collaboration. We hope that people learn about the advances in transportation during the industrial revolution through viewing this exhibit.

My classmate's exhibits-

Condemning the Innocent- An interesting and sad fact that I learned was that almost half of children in mills started work before they were ten. This exhibit made great use of graphics.

Pollution of the Revolution- I learned that at one time, you could barely see an inch through the Thames. This poster had large blocks of text.

Spinning a City- I learned how quickly London's population grew from 1 million to 7 million. The string was a clever touch, and an almond Joy pun was made.

A Revolution Like No Other

In class we explored details about the advances made during the Industrial Revolution. So what made the Industrial Revolution so... Revolutionary?
One of the ingredients that made the Industrial Revolution so Revolutionary is the evolution of transportation. The invention of the steam locomotive was important to transportation in the Industrial Revolution. Before the revolution, railroads had to follow rivers so a barge could pull the cars. Now, a steam locomotive would do this. Steam power was also applied to boats by Robert Fulton. His steamship traveled up the Hudson River at five miles per hour. Soon, massive cargo ships were built for ocean sailing. Turnpikes and roads were built, as well as canals. These great leaps in transportation truly made the industrial revolution revolutionary.

Robert Fulton's Steamboat Clermont (http://www.cardcow.com/images/set64/card00301_fr.jpg)

Another thing that helped the revolution on it's way were resources. Britain's large coal supply helped to power steam engines. The need for coal and iron to be mined gave people jobs other than farming. Capital can also be described as a resource. Capital, or wealth, allowed technology to pave the way for innovation. The British economy prospered in the 1600s and 1700s from trade, and this gave the business class a chance to invest in new enterprises, allowing the industrial revolution to happen. Finally, cotton became popular, and demand for cotton clothes, and all textiles, increased. The demand for resources are another that the Industrial Revolution was revolutionary.

A Google A Day Keeps the Tree Octopi Away

The class activities described in the following blog post were meant to teach the class how to search in an efficient way and use online resources responsibly.
Within the past ten years, Google has become a part of nearly everyone's everyday lives. "Google it" has become a phrase uttered whenever an difficult question arises. Most people probably make at least one Google a day, whether it is to access a website, their email, ask a question, or find a picture or video. Google now provides a trivia service called "A Google A Day" which asks a question, and the user searches the Google search engine to look for the answer. The question, however, has multiple components, making it impossible for the user to just look up the question. They must find out the answers to each component, then answer the question. This concept can be better explained by simply viewing a question at the website. In class, we used this game to learn how to search effectively and use keywords, rather than just typing in a question. It was a fun activity, but some questions posed were very difficult to find the answer to. For one question, I found an answer, but the source that I found it from had apparently misspelled it, and therefore Google did not accept it. I liked the feature of "Deja Google", which prevented spoilers from getting into the Google A Day search results. One thing I learned from this activity is how to use keywords effectively.

Accuracy, Authenticity, and Reliability are all measures of whether or not to use an online source. Accuracy describes the quality of information being clear, concise, precise, and on point. Authenticity describes the source being official, and reliability means the source is dependable and consistent. In class we viewed a website with pages devoted to the The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.

Tree Octopus, http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/treeocto.jpg

The website seemed lovely, until you realize that the information is all false; the Tree Octopus doesn't exist. The main page of the website says it is "Your Source for Conspiracies and Other Distractions", which is not very scholarly. While the source may have been accurate and reliable, it was not authentic, invalidating its other two traits.  This source is simply an internet hoax, and makes an excellent example for a media literacy lesson.