Computer scientists at UNC-Chapel Hill and colleagues at the Swiss university, ETH-Zurich, have created an algorithm that searches through millions of photos on Flickr, then uses them to build a 3D model of landmarks and geographical locations. Case in point, the video above. According to The Daily Tar Heel, “researchers demonstrated the technique by using 3 million images of Rome to reconstruct the city’s primary landmarks. A single PC processed the images in less than 24 hours. Landmarks in Berlin were reconstructed in the same manner.” Not bad for a day’s work…

via ReadWriteWeb

3D Rome Was Built in a Day is a post from: Open Culture

Enjoy…

Stanford Online Writing Courses (Fall) is a post from: Open Culture

A quick fyi: Stanford Continuing Studies will open up registration Monday morning (8:30 am California time) for its summer lineup of online writing courses. Offered in partnership with the Stanford Creative Writing Program (one of the most distinguished writing programs in the country), these online courses give beginning and advanced writers, no matter where they live, the chance to refine their craft with gifted writing instructors.

Classes will start in late June. And many of these classes fill quickly (some very quickly). To get more information on these writing courses, click here, or separately check out this FAQ.

Caveat emptor: These classes are not free, and I helped set them up. So while I wholeheartedly believe in these courses, you can take my views with a grain of salt.

• Writing Fiction with The New York Times
• Creative Nonfiction I: The Powerful Beginning
• No Fear Poetry
• Writing from Life: The Art of Creative Nonfiction
• One-on-One, Together: The Writing Course Built Around You
• Novel Writing: Making the Great Debut
• Writing for Magazines: Think Like a Freelancer
• Short Story Writing
• Get in the Zone! A Starting Place for Writers
• Novel III: Writing Toward the Finish

Stanford Online Writing Courses (Summer) is a post from: Open Culture

Hyperspace to Berlin, Watch Metropolis Live is a post from: Open Culture

Between 1968 and 1972, Stewart Brand published The Whole Earth Catalog. For Steve Jobs, it was a “Bible” of his generation, a kind of Google 35 years before Google came along (see the excellent commencement speech where Jobs makes these comments.) More recently, Brand founded The Long Now Foundation, which is all about cultivating “slower/better” thinking instead of the “faster/cheaper” mindset that dominates our day. (You can get The Long Now podcast here: iTunes – Feed - Web Site.  It’s also in our Ideas & Culture Audio Collection.) Brand is good at looking thoughtfully into the future, and above he takes a long-range view on our global climate problems. The upshot is that “we are as gods” and we had better get good at it. If you watch, you’ll see what I’m talking about. This video originally comes from the EDGE.org.

Related Content:

The Whole Earth Catalog Now Online

Better Thinking Through Podcasts

We Are as Gods is a post from: Open Culture

Caveat emptor: These classes are not free, and I helped set them up. So while I wholeheartedly believe in these courses, you can take my views with a grain of salt.

• Writing Fiction with The New York Times
• Feature Writing with The New York Times
• Novel Writing I: The Powerful Beginning
• The Story of the Self: Writing Personal Essays and Memoir
• Write It! The Keys to Creative Writing
• Eat My Words: How to Break into Food Writing
• The Gripping Read: Plot and Suspense for Fiction and Nonfiction
• Writing the Creative Nonfiction Book: Getting a Full Draft
• Short Story Writing

Stanford Online Writing Courses – The Fall Lineup is a post from: Open Culture

A quick fyi: On Monday morning, Stanford Continuing Studies opens up registration for its summer lineup of online writing courses. Offered in partnership with the Stanford Creative Writing Program (one of the most distinguished writing programs in the country), these online courses give beginning and advanced writers, no matter where they live, the chance to refine their craft with gifted writing instructors. As you will see, there are a couple of courses offered in conjunction with The New York Times. The idea here is that you’ll learn writing from a Stanford  writing instructor and then get your work reviewed by a New York Times book critic. Quite a perk. And the courses sell out quickly. For more information, click here, or separately check out the FAQ and the testimonials.

Caveat emptor: These classes are not free, and I helped set them up. So while I wholeheartedly believe in these courses, you can take my views with a grain of salt.

• Writing Creative Nonfiction with The New York Times
• Writing Fiction with The New York Times
• Short Story Writing
  
• Novel Writing: Structure for Success
  
• Writing the Creative Nonfiction Book: The Powerful Beginning (New Section Added)
  
• Bloodlines: Writing from Family History
  
• Introduction to Creative Writing
  
• Writing Short Fiction for Publications
  
• Finding Your Voice in Poetry and Prose
  
• The Art of Plot

Stanford Online Writing Courses – The Summer Lineup is a post from: Open Culture

From The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Wired Campus” Blog:

“Cole W. Camplese, director of education-technology services at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, prefers to teach in classrooms with two screens — one to project his slides, and another to project a Twitter stream of notes from students. He knows he is inviting distraction — after all, he’s essentially asking students to pass notes during class. But he argues that the additional layer of communication will make for richer class discussions…

Once students warmed to the idea that their professors actually wanted them to chat during class, students begin floating ideas or posting links to related materials, the professor says. In some cases, a shy student would type an observation or question on Twitter, and others in the class would respond with notes encouraging the student to raise the topic out loud. Other times, one of the professors would see a link posted by a student and stop class to discuss it.

Get the full story here, and feel free to tell us about other educational uses of Twitter. Just add them to the comments below. Lastly, you can find us on Twitter here.

Twitter in the University Classroom is a post from: Open Culture

Free mp3 of Behind Here Lies Nothin’ from Dylan’s new album available at bobdylan.com until 5.00 a.m. tomorrow (Time zone?) Very good it sounds too. Shades of Ry Cooder. Wishful thinking maybe…

Thanks SG

Download New Bob Dylan (Free for the Next 24 Hours) is a post from: Open Culture

As you will see, there are a couple of courses offered in conjunction with The New York Times. The idea here is that you’ll learn writing from a Stanford  writing instructor and then get your work reviewed by a Times book critic. Quite a perk, I must say.

For more information, click here, or separately check out the FAQ.

Caveat emptor: These classes are not free, and I helped set them up. So while I wholeheartedly believe in these courses, you can take my views with a grain of salt.

• Creative Nonfiction with The New York Times (one spot left)
• Writing Fiction with The New York Times
• Fiction I: Beginning Short Story Writing
• Fiction II: Voices That Live
• Travel Writing
• Magazine Writing
• Introduction to Creative Writing
• Putting a Spin on Science Writing
• Novel Writing III: A Plan for Success
• Memoir I: What I Saw, What I Wore, What I Ate, and More
  

Stanford Online Writing Courses – The Spring Lineup is a post from: Open Culture