Thursday, June 7. 2012

Today's schedule is D-C-B-A

D Block Criminology 12 - Today we'll continue our look at gangs and gang activity in Canada. Since the block was shortened yesterday, I'll give you a few notes on the structure of organized crime as well as the different types of organized crime (gangs) in Canada. Yesterday we presented information on four organized crime groups, one of which was cartels. I will show you a History Channel show called Gangland. The episode I'd like to show you is from season three and it's called "To Torture or to Kill". This episode is about "Los Zetas" and the drug corridor along the  Nuevo Laredo - Texas border.
Economist - Mexican Drug War
InSight Crime Los Zetas
CNN Los Zetas
National Post Los Zetas
You can watch the Gangland documentary in class, on the link here or watch it below...

 C Block Geography 12 - To start the class, we will discuss Jared Diamond's book Collapse, trying to make sense of how civilizations in the past collapsed (Maya & Rapa Nui) and extrapolating his findings to our modern society today. We'll look at the twelve major modern environmental problems that Diamond identifies and examine his conclusions about our potential future. Remember to ask me about bunnies and Australia, specifically the 24 bunnies that the British brought with them in 1859 and how much the Australian government spends annually to control them. See Diamond talk at TED here. After we'll watch the National Geographic special Collapse. From Nat Geo...
Imagine if hundreds of years from now, scientists excavated the abandoned ruins of some of our largest cities, what conclusions would they come to? It happened to the Romans, the Anasazi, and the Mayans and, inevitably, one day our own modern civilisation will also fall. In this two hour special discover how a future civilisation might be baffled as to why the population of these once-great cities would suddenly abandon their technology and architecture, and turn their homes into ghost towns. Some experts believe that there is a very real risk this could happen, and the collapse of the world as we know it is closer than we think. Examining the parallels between cultures separated by hundreds of years, explore whether the key to preventing such a global collapse today could lie in finding renewable alternatives to our dwindling energy supplies and sustainable resources. Can we learn from the mistakes of the past before it's too late?

B Block Law 12 -  Today we'll begin watching the black comedy of The War of the Roses, based on a book by Warren Adler. From the All Movie Guide by Hal Erickson:

The War of the Roses can best be described as a slapstick tragedy concerning the decline and literal fall of a marriage. After 17 years, Oliver and Barbara Rose want a divorce. Not for this couple is there anything resembling a "civilized understanding": Barbara wants their opulent house, and Oliver isn't about to part with the domicile. Barbara nails the basement door shut while Oliver is downstairs, Oliver disrupts Barbara's fancy party by taking aim at the catered dinner, Barbara lays waste to Oliver's sports car....and so it goes, culminating in a disastrous showdown around, about and under the living room's fancy chandelier.We will watch this movie today and next Tuesday in class.

A Block Social Studies 11 - Today we are going to examine the impacts of developing countries relying upon one monoculture crop as a major source of export income. We'll be in the library today to gather data on an export crop where you are going to create your own infographic on one of the following resources/topics: Bananas, Coffee, Cocoa, Cotton or Tobacco. Once you've chosen your topic I will provide you with an information sheet of data on your topic. It is your responsibility to search out more data on your topic (specifically population and the human development index rating for a country where that crop is relied upon).
So today look for information about a developing country and their reliance upon a "Legitimate" agricultural crop (no Colombia and Coca nor Afghanistan and Opiates!). You can find information at:
CIA World Factbook
Show at World (click on planet and crop resources)
CIDA Developing World Map

Infographics are a great way to graphically depict statistical data so what are they? John Emerson wrote a great little document called Visualizing Information for Advocacy An Introduction to Information Design (http://backspace.com/infodesign.pdf) and his explanation of Infographics/Information Design is that…

Information design uses pictures, symbols, colors, and words to communicate ideas, illustrate information or express relationships visually. Effective design is not just a matter of making text pretty or entertaining, but of shaping understanding and clarifying meaning. Information design adds seeing to reading to make complex data easier to understand and to use...Some familiar forms include charts, graphs, maps, diagrams or timelines. These can be big or small, simple or complex, published in print or electronic media. Information design can help you present your information in a clear and compelling way, persuasively convey facts or ideas or discover something new in your data.
So where can you find examples of Infographics?

1. GOOD is the integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good. GOOD is a company and community for the people, businesses, and NGOs moving the world forward. GOOD’s mission is to provide content, experiences, and utilities to serve this community.
2. Information Is Beautiful is the media platform for David McCandless an independent data journalist and information designer. McCandless’ passion is visualizing information – facts, data, ideas, subjects, issues, statistics, questions – all with the minimum of words.
3. New Internationalist magazine formed the basis of the data we used in today’s class. You can find the issues here: Coffee; Chocolate; Bananas; Tobacco; Cotton

Tools to help you create infographics can be found at:

Pie Color This delightfully easy tool simply asks how many slices you want the pie to have and then begins work. Once you select the number of pieces, the next screen asks for the values, provides options to set the colors of the pieces and the background, as well as the size of the pie graph.
Star Planet This site includes three options--Stat Planet, Graph Maker, and Map Maker. Star Planet has a wide range of already developed maps and graphs while Graph Maker and Map Maker have users create Flash-based maps and graphs with data sets provided from their own research or from various reputable sources available at the web site.
Creately is an easy-to-use drop and drag interface for creating a wide range of charts, graphics, and info pictures. The free version allows you to work on a single diagram at a time. Registration is required for saving diagrams as well as exporting as an image, PDF, Creatly file, or emailing

Other sites include Wordle, Tagxedo, and Many Eyes