Sambiglyon

FRONT PAGE NEWS

Hi everyone!

In a March edition of the newsletter, we featured a diagram of the 'Whole School' principle from Sambiglyon's 'Living & Learning' self-enhancement training program as the front-page header image of that edition (shown below).

Coming back to that image this week in order to consider how it could be further developed, we realized that it is an excellent example of a principle that we call the 'Magnet Core of Influence'.

To recap: the idea behind the Magnet Core is that rather than going here, there and everywhere in order to influence people into the kind of change you would like to see, you instead imagine yourself to be the center-point of the world, with two-way lines that connect to all other people and places and lead directly back to you.

By amplifying the strength of your influence so that it powerfully ripples outwards from that central point - like a heavy stone dropped in a deep puddle - you can direct change from a single location instead of moving around to multiple locations and creating small ripples that only have a highly localized reach.

Let's update the Whole School diagram to reflect this transmission of influence to the outer circle of people and places surrounding you.

When you look at your potential to influence in terms of your reach instead of a plain line on a spider chart, it becomes much easier to instil a belief in yourself that you can achieve more than you have up until now in regard to interaction with those within your organization and outside of it.

It has long been recognized that a leading method of transmitting influence is to master your body language and projection of confidence. Combine that with a video camera and you can produce awesomely compelling web podcasts that are so attention-holding that the speaker could be reading from the telephone directory and they still seem like the greatest orator ever seen.

Sambiglyon's forthcoming Android edutainment app 'Lannel Pharaoh' - the development of which is being chronicled in our website's App Dev Diary - and our also-forthcoming 'Living & Learning' sub-site, will offer training guidance to those who want to become the best Magnet Core Influencer that they can possibly be in their life and chosen career field.

Until then, check out everything else that we have for you in this week's newsletter ...

Fleet Goldenberg

Sambiglyon Community Manager

APP DEV DIARY

Another strong focus recently has been a total refurbishment of all the episodes of the App Dev Diary feature on the Sam site (including re-making explanations so that they are clearer, correcting errors, making headings and sub-headings in the episodes larger so they are distinctive from image captions and placing borders around images that lacked them in order to make them much more readable).

The image border issue originally came about due to the need to show as much detail as possible within the confines of the screen width available on the Sam site, but during the refurbishment we found a technique for adding those borders without losing detail

We also found that the URL for episode 5, 'Designing the Play Environment', had been mislabeled. Oops! We've fixed it now, but if you missed the episode the first time round then check it out!

Alternatively, you could view the Diary enhancements from the very first episode onwards!

Having completed the remake, the Diary – and production of our 'Lannel Pharaoh' Android app – will soon resume from where it left off.

THIS WEEK'S FLEET GOLDENBERG 'DEVELOPER DIARY' HIGHLIGHTS ON FACEBOOK

I wanted to find new resources about Japan for my image research archive and realized that my searches for keywords like 'japan high school library' were only going to find sites that were written in English. So I used Google Translate to convert my search terms into Japanese and pasted them into Google Images. It was very effective!

You can also get a different range of search results by pasting into a country-specific Google such Japan's Google.co.jp. This method could probably be used for finding resources posted online by individuals in any country on Earth which has the internet - resources you would not otherwise find if searching in English.

On June 15, Second Life rental price rate increases will come into effect for leasing customers who joined us prior to January 2012. All customers who became tenants after that date are already on the 2012 price rate and will not see a further increase. The new rates were introduced in January but delayed for a 6 month period for existing rent-box tenants in order to help them to prepare for the change.

The rise is modest - for example, a L$810 a week property becomes L$860 - but we realize that any increase is undesirable in this economic climate. Those existing box-based customers can delay the effects of the rise by pre-loading advance time credit onto their box at the 2011 price rate before June 15.

The beta version of the new 'Secret of Healey Nab' animated digital novel has been completed. We'll be putting it through in-house beta testing and quality assurance in the coming week and putting further polish on it based on the beta outcomes. We will then be releasing the book for a special introductory price of $4.99 / £2.99 GBP. There will also be a free downloadable trial version of the first half of the book!

Even before final polish is added, it's a project that we're really proud of, especially considering it's our first work in Ren'Py. It sets a great technical and quality benchmark for our next work with this great engine. Check out a preview picture from the almost finished book.

'Community PlanIt' is "an online community engagement game that gives everyone the power to shape their community's future".

I'm sure that sometimes your music chooses you rather than you choosing it. I was intensely focused on working on debugging some new web-page code when I realized that I had the 'Gotta Catch 'Em All' Pokerap on loop as my background noise to help me concentrate:

If you are in need of a logo or a piece of graphic design commission work, we can wholeheartedly recommend Seth, the husband of the hugely talented Amanda Da Hamster (who designed the image of our Sam the Big Lion mascot on the front page of the Sam website). You can view Seth's portfolio at his DA gallery.

Sambiglyon co-owner Giro has created a Google Docs survey about the ease of use of the Sambiglyon website as part of the degree qualification he is studying. It would be great for him and for Sam if you could take ten minutes to complete the survey, which we have embedded on our website. Thank you!

One of our big focuses this past week has been on further work to enhance the usability of the Sam website. We have programmed all the links on the site to open into a new browser window (ending once and for all the old uncertainty about whether a link would open in the current window or a new one) and all articles on the site have had their headings restyled (large font for headings and medium for sub-headings) so that titles are now highly distinctive from the captions at the base of images.

The alpha web client of the easy to use Massively Multiplayer Online game creator 'Storybricks' has now become publicly available:

"Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announce edX, a transformational new partnership in online education. Through edX, the two institutions will collaborate to enhance campus-based teaching and learning and build a global community of online learners."

Programming animated movements can be terribly dull but it also has its funny moments as you watch the prototype animation sequence glitching out. I was trying to create what should be a simple 'jump up and down on the spot' motion for the 'Secret of Healey Nab' digital story-book. So far the co-main character Larch's little sister Willow has run round and round like she's full of sugar and flown across the room like the Hulk. I just lost it with laughter when she Super Mario head-stomped her brother though!

Update: I managed to correct Willow's sugar-rush superpowers and she now bounces angrily like a normal little sister. I guess in videogame terminology, they would call this a 'nerf'.

SOCIAL NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS FROM FRIENDS OF SAM

Kathleen Norris

Moms can be helpful....

Lynne Hand

Have Fun With English: the stately homes of England

Instructional Technologies, Inc.

We consider ourselves lucky to have such an advanced program (as Digital Culture and Technology at WSU Vancouver) with great students in our backyard.

Fred Delventhal

What do you think is the most dangerous thing you were taught in school?

If you wish your upcoming event to be highlighted in our newsletter and in the calendar on our website then please email your news, preferably with a week's advance notice before the date of the event, to marty@sambiglyon.org

Date: Every Sunday, the Garden of Healthy Aging, Eduisland 2, 1PM SL (Pacific) Time

Presenter: Zsuzsa Tomsen

Description: Join Occupational Therapy @ Thomas Jefferson University every Sunday at the Garden of Healthy Aging for a weekly discussion event about being active in senior years.

SLurl Teleport Link:

www.slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%202/104/86/21/

Date: Saturday 19 May, Eduisland 5, 6 Star Kitchen Lab, 1pm SL (Pacific) Time

Presenter: ViktorDarkHeart Resident

Description: ViktorDarkHeart Resident will be holding a free public class on the subject of creating a simple plant object. This class will cover texture repeats and adjusting them, along with simple math in moving prims exactly in place.

SLurl Teleport Link:

www.slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%205/203/132/21/

Date: Sunday 20 May, Afghanistan Virtual Museum, 5pm SL (Pacific) Time

Presenter: Trill Zepetero

Description: This museum provides a fully interactive and immersive experience to learn more about the history, culture, art and people of Afghanistan. This museum is rich in information, images, and more. Join us to learn more about this country with the museum creator and our tour guide Trill Zepetero.

SLurl Teleport Link:

www.slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%209/99/93/22/

Date: Thursday 24 May, Eduisland 5 Sandbox, 4pm SL (Pacific) Time.

Presenter: Serena Offcourse

Description: Eduisland Volunteer, Serena Offcourse will be in the Eduisland 5 Sandbox to help newcomers, support building questions, and offer any help needed.

SLurl Teleport Link:

www.slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%205/164/108/21/

Date: Saturday 19 May, Eduisland 5, 6 Star Kitchen Lab, 1pm SL (Pacific) Time

Presenter: ViktorDarkHeart Resident

Description: ViktorDarkHeart Resident will be holding a free public class on the subject of creating a simple lamp object. This class will teach how to move prims without constraints as well as texturing. A working script will be provided to attendees.

SLurl Teleport Link:

www.slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%205/203/132/21/