The Bridge Blog
A dialog about our new bridge and these web pages
Overview. As a pointy-headed
university professor, my weekend project of bridge photography and
building these web pages generated many questions and introduced me
to just-in-time learning. I enjoy chasing my curiosity and
want to identify ways to encourage younger learners to also enjoy curiosity
chasing and learning.
Learning usually requires repetition while forgetting occurs when
I infrequently use information. Many young learners do not understand
the importance of repetition. Weekly visits to the bridge provided
the repetition necessary to detect changes in the bridge and
consequently generated
many questions and opportunities for learning. Over the course of the
bridge project, I had access to few experts for answering questions.
Rather than a liability, this became an asset and pushed me to improve
my search skills with Google. Soon, I found that answers
to questions encountered during my weekly photo shoots were often
only a Google-search away -
(see
Restoring the Joy in Learning). Consequently Google + Internet became
dependable extensions of my memory.
The bridge story is a work in progress and is evolving from a simple
collections of photographs to an experiment with Internet-centric
just-in-time learning.
Insights I gain from you
will find their way into the learning centers of MUSC.
Palmetto Bridge Constructors, a joint venture between
Tidewater
Skanska and
Flatiron Constructors, as well as
High Steel Structures,
Freyssinet, the
SCDOT and the
Federal Highway Commission Office
of Bridge Technology guided much of my learning.
I also learn from many of you and from Google-linked resources. More
important is the e-mail encouragement I receive from many of you.
Wed, 25 May 2005
May 25, 2005: A view from the top - Exploring photo stitching
Sunday found me on the bridge again to check out what had happened the night
before. What had happened was a lot of paving on the outside south lane.
Also Murray and Wade were deep in discussion and suddenly there was an
opportunity to visit the top of the west pylon. This time, I was
determined to take a series of photos of the horizon and later to
try to piece them together to make a panorama.
I was in luck - the temperature was cool, the humidity was low and the
view was perfectly clear. At home, I found an open source program
hugin - a Panorama Tools GUI
available on
sourceforge,
a really great resource where many many people
manage open source development projects (including my
IT Lab at MUSC). So I downloaded
the software, installed it, followed their how to tutorial
and tried to piece two images together. It worked
the first time - so I tried 4 photos stiched together. It worked as you can
see above.
Whether it is the bridge project or open source software or research, Google,
as the card catalog and the Internet, as our library, level the playing field
such that everyone has access to the same resources. Only our energy
level and curiosity make a difference.
posted at: 10:00 | path: | permanent link to this entry
