This is what I've gotten so far about the Mavicas - some of the replies
refer to the floppy kind, although we're going for the CDs. In general
people seem happy with the ease of handing over the disc.
We do have Mavicas and you are right that the storage on a floppy is
convenient, only the memory is very limited. You can also buy media card
readers and attach those to certain computer stations so the kids can
download the pics and save to floppies or put in shared files, etc. I think
the latter is actually a better choice and what we are migrating to this
year. I would appreciate a hit to see what others think.
We use the older SONY Mavicas recording on unidisks. We loan the cameras
and the students supply their own disks. The pictures students record on
their disks are theirs. Students keep their disks and return cameras to
us. This works very well.
the mavicas are definitely the easiest for student use as they can use a
disk and then later download their pictures. That's what we use with our
high school students. They work great for taking pictures of projects for
their electronic portfolios.
On the downside they seem to last a certain time and then things go wrong.
Things that are costly; therefore for more money it's easier to buy a new
camera. We've had five at our school and four of them, purchased at the same
time, seemed to stop workinng correctly at the same time. Seemed strange to
us. The fifth camera I've had in the LMC for 2 years now and so far it works
fine, but the others lasted for 3 years. That may sound like a long time
except they don't get used every day for 3 years. Usage goes in spurts and
to me doesn't seem to warrant replacement so soon.
As I said the mavica is definitely the easiest for student use.
We have a Kodak that we really like for yearbook. The problem is that we can
only download on my computer and then I have to send to the kids' folders.
It's a small inconveniece I guess. We are networked so can't load the camera
software on all of our computers.
If quality isn't the biggest issue as it is with yearbook, then the mavica
is the best choice due to ease of use for students and less time for the
library media specialist.
We have used Sony Mavica cameras for 5 years now. As you stated, they
are convenient for student use due to the floppy storage drive. They
have worked out very well for us here. The photography teacher does use
some other models that have better resolution but the Sony are good
enough quality for everyday student use.
> We want to buy the Sony CD Mavicas - these will be our first digital
> cameras for general student use in the building. The attraction is the
> ease and inexpense of the storage media.
> Does anyone have these? Any thoughts on them?
That's precisely why we have several here. As soon as one person
finishes with the camera another can take it on the next assignment
while the first person can go to any computer to work with the images.
No additional hardware needed.
> If you have different cameras, how do you manage the use of the pictures
> (not the checking in or out, but taking the images to production - how
> does the student get to keep their pictures?)
Yearbook did have to buy a camera with better resolution, but they are
the only ones who use it, so having to connect it to a particular
computer (and no one else can use if for a few minutes) isn't a big deal.
> Any other general thoughts on student use that relate to how the student
> uses the camera, for what, where, etc. (There is already plenty of info
> from the archives on circulation procedures, but I am interested in the
> whole picture of how the students use the images, where, how much time
> and resources you as librarians dedicate)
Cameras are used for all sorts of things. I took one home last night to
take pictures of my house and yard in order to send to a friend for
advice about putting up an antenna. Seniors have created web pages for
graduation. Biology students have taken pictures of plants and animals
for papers. Girls have taken pictures of their boyfriends, and boys have
taken pictures of their girlfriends, both for desktops/screensavers on
home computers (not allowed here at school).
You name it, someone has done it!
Sara Zoe Patterson
Library Facilitator
Hawley Library Media Center
Winnacunnet High School
Hampton NH
szpatterson@winnacunnet.k12.nh.us
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