Buscando un concepto EDU.IT

“...el contexto sociotecnológico generen un nuevo modelo de escuela que responda a las necesidades formativas de los ciudadanos...” Adell Castañeda

Buscando un concepto EDU.IT (parte 2)

¿Cuál es la situación actual y cuál la deseada? ¿Cómo haremos realidad un proceso de innovación?

Learn to use the Core Google for Edu apps

Google offers a free-of-cost learning center for teachers that want to learn how to use GAFE. Learn at your own pace.

Documentar los proyectos como estrategia de aprendizaje

La documentación de procesos educativos está cobrando cada vez más importancia. Pero, ¿cómo comenzar a documentar? ¿Cuáles son las primeras consideraciones?

Personal information protection

Many websites gather personal information from their visitors. Some tips for beginners.

Monday, September 14, 2015

On-Line generators. Creativity?



One can discuss whether web-generators are useful or not. On the one hand, they don’t challenge our creativity, but on the other hand they make our life easier and save our precious time. Tasks requiring subjective assessment or synthesis of complex sensory data, such as scents and sounds, as well as high-level tasks such as strategic planning, currently require human expertise. In many cases, the use of humans is more cost-effective than mechanical approaches.

The Paradox of Automation says that the more efficient the automated system, the more crucial the human contribution of the operators. Humans are less involved, but their involvement becomes more critical. If an automated system has an error, it will multiply that error until it’s fixed or shut down.

It’s widely accepted that creativity can’t be copied by machines. Reinforcing these assumptions are hundreds of books and studies that have attempted to explain creativity as the product of mysterious processes within the right side of the human brain. Creativity, the thinking has been, proves just how different people are from CPUs. 

But now we’re learning that for some creative work, that simply isn’t true. Complex algorithms are moving into creative fields—even those as nebulous as music A&R—and proving that in some of these pursuits, humans can be displaced.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Data compression


Data compression can be lossy or lossless. Data compression is the art of reducing the number of bits needed to store or transmit data. Compression can be either lossless or lossy. Losslessly compressed data can be decompressed to exactly its original value. An example is 1848 Morse Code.

Lossy compression is a data compression method which discards (loses) some of the data, in order to achieve its goal, with the result that decompressing the data yields content that is different from the original, though similar enough to be useful in some way. Lossy methods are especially suitable for natural images such as photos in applications where minor (sometimes imperceptible) loss of fidelity is acceptable to achieve a substantial reduction in bit rate. These methods are most commonly used to compress multimedia data (audio, video, still images), especially in applications such as streaming media and internet telephony.




Lossless data compression on the other hand allows data to be fully reconstructed from the compressed data. For example, it is used in the popular ZIP file format and in the Unix tool gzip and RAR file format in the Windows tool WinRar. It is also often used as a component within lossy data compression technologies. Lossless compression is required for text and data files, such as bank records, text articles, etc. Lossless compression is preferred for archival purposes and often medical imaging, technical drawings, clip art or comics.






Information sources

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Design Tip 3 - Color Schemes Generators



A color scheme is an arrangement of colors based upon a color system, that is then applied to an illustration, design or work of art. Although most of us primarily work intuitively when it comes to making color choices, knowledge of color theory and an understanding of basic color principles can improve the appearance of an illustration. Understanding color combinations can help move an assignment along more quickly, especially when it comes to creating a coordinated series of images.


Not being a professional illustrator, I often have the need to make the right color decisions, so On-Line color schemes generators are a great place to start. These kind of generators create a set of colors based on user preferences, such as: number of colors required, color space representations (RGB, CMYK, #Hex, etc.) and many more. The most common way to use these features is to select one to three base colors and a scheme pattern, then the generator will create appropriate color combinations. The resulting individual colors in a specific combination are coded in RGB or #Hex. 

The following are a selection of the color schemes generators I usually use:

Palleton: a free color scheme generator based on most common color sets, like triads or tetrads of colors. It also offers a free style generator. A particular interesting feature is the colorblind simulator. 

RGB Gradient Maker: a gradient is a gradually increase or decrease in the magnitude of a property. RGB gradients are created by small modifications to each of the color components (Red, Green, Blue) beginning with a base color and progressing to the final color with small modifications in the gamut.  

Color Palette Generator: is a web site featuring a really interesting color scheme generator, the user will upload an image and the tool will create the color palette used in it. 


Sources of information