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Get rid of DOS line endings

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content/articles/2009/08/acceptingjack.md
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I've got Radio 4 on while I do the washing up, and I'm listening to [It's My Story: Accepting Jack - Six Years On][Accepting Jack]. It follows a number of families with kids who have special needs, and about 20 minutes in, there's a wonderful moment when a sibling is describing the benefits of having a brother with disabilities. In between not having to walk far to school and getting to skip the queue at the theme park, this young boy announces that he's had "a lot of learning experiences", having had to learn sign language which he might need later in life.
[Accepting Jack]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00m68c0/Its_My_Story_Accepting_Jack_Six_Years_On.../
I've got Radio 4 on while I do the washing up, and I'm listening to [It's My Story: Accepting Jack - Six Years On][Accepting Jack]. It follows a number of families with kids who have special needs, and about 20 minutes in, there's a wonderful moment when a sibling is describing the benefits of having a brother with disabilities. In between not having to walk far to school and getting to skip the queue at the theme park, this young boy announces that he's had "a lot of learning experiences", having had to learn sign language which he might need later in life.
[Accepting Jack]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00m68c0/Its_My_Story_Accepting_Jack_Six_Years_On.../
Kids have a natural ability and desire to learn, and given the opportunity they can understand this and grow. How can we keep that going into adulthood?

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content/articles/2009/08/blog-moved.md
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Well, I've been looking forward to this for a long time, but I've finally got the hosting sorted out and got on with it. The site is based on [Wordpress MU][] and the theme is a customised version of the [Hybrid][] framework. All of the content from my old site is here, so update your links. I'm still not entirely happy with everything yet, so it'll probably change a bit over the next few weeks, but I'm learning to accept when things are good enough and override my perfectionist instincts. I'll probably blog some more about the process of setting up the site.
[Wordpress MU]: http://mu.wordpress.org/
[Hybrid]: http://themehybrid.com/themes/hybrid
Any feedback would be very welcome: just leave a comment below. I've installed the [Comment Luv][] plugin, so if you enter a blog URL when you leave a comment it'll show a link to your latest blog post. How's that for generosity!
[Comment Luv]: http://comluv.com/download/commentluv-wordpress/
Well, I've been looking forward to this for a long time, but I've finally got the hosting sorted out and got on with it. The site is based on [Wordpress MU][] and the theme is a customised version of the [Hybrid][] framework. All of the content from my old site is here, so update your links. I'm still not entirely happy with everything yet, so it'll probably change a bit over the next few weeks, but I'm learning to accept when things are good enough and override my perfectionist instincts. I'll probably blog some more about the process of setting up the site.
[Wordpress MU]: http://mu.wordpress.org/
[Hybrid]: http://themehybrid.com/themes/hybrid
Any feedback would be very welcome: just leave a comment below. I've installed the [Comment Luv][] plugin, so if you enter a blog URL when you leave a comment it'll show a link to your latest blog post. How's that for generosity!
[Comment Luv]: http://comluv.com/download/commentluv-wordpress/
Also, for the benefit of Technorati, my verification code for this blog: pe7ajbxvfz

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content/articles/2009/08/followup-why-use-technology-in-teaching.md
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Some while ago, now, I asked for answers to the question [Why use technology in teaching?][Old post] I was preparing to run an afternoon workshop for some fellow students on a HE teaching course and wanted to present them with some convincing reasons to consider technology in their teaching, so I turned to twitter and the blogosphere. At the time I promised a follow-up post summarising the discussion, so here it is.
[Old post]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/30/ask-the-readers-why-use-technology-in-teaching/
<!--more-->
I put together the slides for the initial presentation using [SlideRocket][], and you can flip through them here:
<embed src="http://data.sliderocket.com/SlideRocketPlayer.swf" flashvars="id=C2A0613E-357C-9C91-9A93-A272D250341D" width="400" height="300" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" />
[SlideRocket]: http://sliderocket.com/
[Becka Currant][] kicked off the discussion by pointing out that "too many assumptions are made about digital fluency." This is something that I've since come to agree with: it's all too easy to assume that because young people appear comfortable with technology, they are completely turned on to the consequences of its use. Becka also pointed me in the direction of [this typology][Defining generation Y] from [JISC's Enhancing Learner Progression project][ELP] which does a great job of explaining the separation between students' level of technological experience and its contribution to education.
[Doug Belshaw][] pointed out [Ben Grey's post][Why Technology?] from [Tech & Learning][] and his [crowdsourced followup][Why Technology? Because...], along with [Doug's own response][Why (educational) technology?]. All three are worth a read, so go ahead and check them out.
[Tomaz Lasic][] made an insightful comment that many the skills we were looking to achieve with technology (or education in general) are far from new:
> “2nd century BC” skills that even some of the old Greek wise heads were talking about – democracy, participation, freedom of expression & thought, active citizenship … you know those pesky old things that never seemed to go out of fashion with thoughtful people.
Tomaz followed up with a [thought-provoking post][4th-century skills] on his own blog, which underscored the point that I was trying to make originally: that it's vital to consider what we want to achieve with technology, not just how cool it is.
[Catherine Werst][] suggested that one of the best reasons for using technology to teach is that it pushes us out of our comfort zones, forcing us to question our assumptions about what it means to teach:
>Technology presents opportunities and challenges that stretch us to become better teachers.
[Jenny Evans][] drew on her work with Wolverhampton City Council interviewing kids for an [e-learning promotional video][BSF Focus] (the site seems to have some odd certificate problems, but you can view the video there). She summarised her experience thus:
>We got loads of interviews with kids about what they got from from technology – a really strong theme of improving life chances emerged.
Finally, [Paul Jinks][] suggested that teachers tend to use technology when it makes their lives easier and students use it when it's necessary for their assessments: a paraphrasing of his [earlier blog post][Technology for learning]. Although I agree with this in part, I think this overgeneralises a complex situation. I also live in hope that some, if not all, teachers can be persuaded that improving their own teaching practice and using technology is one (though not the only) way to do this.
In summary, this post turned up some really useful opinions on why we use technology in teaching. Indeed, it's worked so well that I'm going to try to keep up the theme of "Ask the Readers", as it fits in well with my desire to learn from this blog and help others to do the same. I hope you've found the responses as interesting as I did, and encourage you to continually ask the question "Why use technology?"
*This is the first time I've summarised a discussion from a previous post. Did it work? Did I add enough value to justify the new post? What could I have done better? Please let me know in the comments below.*
[Becka Currant]: http://twitter.com/beckacurrant
[Doug Belshaw]: http://dougbelshaw.com/blog
[Tomaz Lasic]: http://human.edublogs.org/
[Catherine Werst]: http://twitter.com/cat8canary
[Jenny Evans]: http://bookishbrunette.wordpress.com/
[Paul Jinks]: http://learningunlearning.blogspot.com/
[Tech & Learning]: http://www.techlearning.com/
[Why Technology?]: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/20444
[Why Technology? Because...]: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/20664
[Why (educational) technology?]: http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2009/05/13/why-educational-technology/
[4th-century skills]: http://human.edublogs.org/2009/06/03/4th-century-skills/
[BSF Focus]: https://www.wolverhampton-engage.net/sites/anonymous/BSF/Shared%20Documents/Focus.aspx
[Technology for learning]: http://learningunlearning.blogspot.com/2009/06/technology-for-learning-technology-for.html
[Defining generation Y]: http://www.elp.ac.uk/downloads/Defining%20Generation%20Y%20Bradford.pdf
[ELP]: http://www.elp.ac.uk/
Some while ago, now, I asked for answers to the question [Why use technology in teaching?][Old post] I was preparing to run an afternoon workshop for some fellow students on a HE teaching course and wanted to present them with some convincing reasons to consider technology in their teaching, so I turned to twitter and the blogosphere. At the time I promised a follow-up post summarising the discussion, so here it is.
[Old post]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/30/ask-the-readers-why-use-technology-in-teaching/
<!--more-->
I put together the slides for the initial presentation using [SlideRocket][], and you can flip through them here:
<embed src="http://data.sliderocket.com/SlideRocketPlayer.swf" flashvars="id=C2A0613E-357C-9C91-9A93-A272D250341D" width="400" height="300" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" />
[SlideRocket]: http://sliderocket.com/
[Becka Currant][] kicked off the discussion by pointing out that "too many assumptions are made about digital fluency." This is something that I've since come to agree with: it's all too easy to assume that because young people appear comfortable with technology, they are completely turned on to the consequences of its use. Becka also pointed me in the direction of [this typology][Defining generation Y] from [JISC's Enhancing Learner Progression project][ELP] which does a great job of explaining the separation between students' level of technological experience and its contribution to education.
[Doug Belshaw][] pointed out [Ben Grey's post][Why Technology?] from [Tech & Learning][] and his [crowdsourced followup][Why Technology? Because...], along with [Doug's own response][Why (educational) technology?]. All three are worth a read, so go ahead and check them out.
[Tomaz Lasic][] made an insightful comment that many the skills we were looking to achieve with technology (or education in general) are far from new:
> “2nd century BC” skills that even some of the old Greek wise heads were talking about – democracy, participation, freedom of expression & thought, active citizenship … you know those pesky old things that never seemed to go out of fashion with thoughtful people.
Tomaz followed up with a [thought-provoking post][4th-century skills] on his own blog, which underscored the point that I was trying to make originally: that it's vital to consider what we want to achieve with technology, not just how cool it is.
[Catherine Werst][] suggested that one of the best reasons for using technology to teach is that it pushes us out of our comfort zones, forcing us to question our assumptions about what it means to teach:
>Technology presents opportunities and challenges that stretch us to become better teachers.
[Jenny Evans][] drew on her work with Wolverhampton City Council interviewing kids for an [e-learning promotional video][BSF Focus] (the site seems to have some odd certificate problems, but you can view the video there). She summarised her experience thus:
>We got loads of interviews with kids about what they got from from technology – a really strong theme of improving life chances emerged.
Finally, [Paul Jinks][] suggested that teachers tend to use technology when it makes their lives easier and students use it when it's necessary for their assessments: a paraphrasing of his [earlier blog post][Technology for learning]. Although I agree with this in part, I think this overgeneralises a complex situation. I also live in hope that some, if not all, teachers can be persuaded that improving their own teaching practice and using technology is one (though not the only) way to do this.
In summary, this post turned up some really useful opinions on why we use technology in teaching. Indeed, it's worked so well that I'm going to try to keep up the theme of "Ask the Readers", as it fits in well with my desire to learn from this blog and help others to do the same. I hope you've found the responses as interesting as I did, and encourage you to continually ask the question "Why use technology?"
*This is the first time I've summarised a discussion from a previous post. Did it work? Did I add enough value to justify the new post? What could I have done better? Please let me know in the comments below.*
[Becka Currant]: http://twitter.com/beckacurrant
[Doug Belshaw]: http://dougbelshaw.com/blog
[Tomaz Lasic]: http://human.edublogs.org/
[Catherine Werst]: http://twitter.com/cat8canary
[Jenny Evans]: http://bookishbrunette.wordpress.com/
[Paul Jinks]: http://learningunlearning.blogspot.com/
[Tech & Learning]: http://www.techlearning.com/
[Why Technology?]: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/20444
[Why Technology? Because...]: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/20664
[Why (educational) technology?]: http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2009/05/13/why-educational-technology/
[4th-century skills]: http://human.edublogs.org/2009/06/03/4th-century-skills/
[BSF Focus]: https://www.wolverhampton-engage.net/sites/anonymous/BSF/Shared%20Documents/Focus.aspx
[Technology for learning]: http://learningunlearning.blogspot.com/2009/06/technology-for-learning-technology-for.html
[Defining generation Y]: http://www.elp.ac.uk/downloads/Defining%20Generation%20Y%20Bradford.pdf
[ELP]: http://www.elp.ac.uk/

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There's been an interesting debate going on in the blogosphere over the last week about the future of the VLE. It all kicked off with Steve Wheeler's (intentionally over-polarised) post suggesting we should [stick two fingers up at the centralised VLE][Steve Wheeler]. Posts from [James Clay][], [Matt Lingard][], [Lindsay Jordan][] and many others swiftly followed.
[Steve Wheeler]: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/08/two-fingered-salute.html
[James Clay]: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/its-not-dead-yet/
[Matt Lingard]: http://mattlingard.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/vl-istically-speaking/
[Lindsay Jordan]: http://lindsayjordan.edublogs.org/2009/08/12/the-vleple-debate/
<!--more-->
I thoroughly recommend you read their opinions before reading on. Go on, I'll wait...
Right then. My take on the whole thing is heavily coloured by my use of Unix-based computers over the last 10 years or so. To cut a long story short, it's long been common on these systems to have lots of small separate tools which each do one job very well; you can then do more complex tasks by combining them in various ways through well-defined interfaces.
Compare this with, for example, Windows. Each piece of software is fighting with all the others to include every feature the user could possibly want, which results in big, heavy programs which take ages to load and are often full of bugs. I accept that I'm overgeneralising here, but I hope you understand what I'm aiming at.
So, one of the big problems that I see with the current generation of VLEs is that they try to do everything all in one package. The result is a textbook illustration of the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none".
WordPress, Blogger and others do blogging better. MediaWiki, WetPaint *et al* are better for wikis. Facebook and friends connect people much more easily.
I agree with James, Matt and Lindsay (and, I suspect, Steve as well, despite the stance in his post) that there's still a place for the centrally-run VLE. But it should be more flexible. The word that keeps coming to my mind is 'agile'. We should be following good software engineering principles and providing tools that are best-of-breed and put the effort instead into making them play nicely together. And we should give learners and teachers the option of using something else if they prefer.
This is where the idea of the personal web/personal learning environment comes into play. By providing a diverse toolset instead of insisting on one monolithic solution our learners and teachers can choose what works best for them. The VLE can evolve into a framework to help coax these tools to play together nicely, and to join them into a coherent whole for those who lack either the time or the inclination to choose their own.
Open standards will help with this. Open source will be a big help too, particularly if a community of developers with educational experience start to contribute. But above all, we need to start trying it out. We've got the tools already, all we need to do is persuade our institutions to use them.
There's been an interesting debate going on in the blogosphere over the last week about the future of the VLE. It all kicked off with Steve Wheeler's (intentionally over-polarised) post suggesting we should [stick two fingers up at the centralised VLE][Steve Wheeler]. Posts from [James Clay][], [Matt Lingard][], [Lindsay Jordan][] and many others swiftly followed.
[Steve Wheeler]: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/08/two-fingered-salute.html
[James Clay]: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/its-not-dead-yet/
[Matt Lingard]: http://mattlingard.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/vl-istically-speaking/
[Lindsay Jordan]: http://lindsayjordan.edublogs.org/2009/08/12/the-vleple-debate/
<!--more-->
I thoroughly recommend you read their opinions before reading on. Go on, I'll wait...
Right then. My take on the whole thing is heavily coloured by my use of Unix-based computers over the last 10 years or so. To cut a long story short, it's long been common on these systems to have lots of small separate tools which each do one job very well; you can then do more complex tasks by combining them in various ways through well-defined interfaces.
Compare this with, for example, Windows. Each piece of software is fighting with all the others to include every feature the user could possibly want, which results in big, heavy programs which take ages to load and are often full of bugs. I accept that I'm overgeneralising here, but I hope you understand what I'm aiming at.
So, one of the big problems that I see with the current generation of VLEs is that they try to do everything all in one package. The result is a textbook illustration of the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none".
WordPress, Blogger and others do blogging better. MediaWiki, WetPaint *et al* are better for wikis. Facebook and friends connect people much more easily.
I agree with James, Matt and Lindsay (and, I suspect, Steve as well, despite the stance in his post) that there's still a place for the centrally-run VLE. But it should be more flexible. The word that keeps coming to my mind is 'agile'. We should be following good software engineering principles and providing tools that are best-of-breed and put the effort instead into making them play nicely together. And we should give learners and teachers the option of using something else if they prefer.
This is where the idea of the personal web/personal learning environment comes into play. By providing a diverse toolset instead of insisting on one monolithic solution our learners and teachers can choose what works best for them. The VLE can evolve into a framework to help coax these tools to play together nicely, and to join them into a coherent whole for those who lack either the time or the inclination to choose their own.
Open standards will help with this. Open source will be a big help too, particularly if a community of developers with educational experience start to contribute. But above all, we need to start trying it out. We've got the tools already, all we need to do is persuade our institutions to use them.
*What's your take on all of this? Do you think the VLE should lay down quietly to die? Or should we bravely resurrect it and bring it back to its former glory? Leave your opinion in the comments below, or by linking here from your own blog.*

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One of my main reasons for having this blog is so that I can experiment, throw some ideas out there and learn from what sticks and what doesn't. So when I came across [Joanna Young's Mission Im(Possible) group writing project][MI] for this month, I thought I'd give it a go. The challenge was to produce something in a different *form* or a different *medium*. I've had a desire for a few years now to write a science fiction novel, but never really got round to it, so this seemed like a good way to test the waters and stretch my comfort zone a bit.
[MI]: http://confidentwriting.com/2009/07/mission-impossible-group-writing-project/
<!--more-->
So, without further ado, I give you what may one day become part of my first novel.
>He took a deep breath and stepped out. The sun was just peeping over the horizon and there was a fresh smell in the air, of dew and day-old cut grass, with a hint of something spicy he couldn't quite name. The sky above was clear and blue, fading to a pale orange where it touched the horizon. There were a couple of cotton-wool clouds, bathed from below in gold.
>It was the kind of morning when it felt good to be alive, good just to be walking the earth. And, of course, it didn't hurt that there was no other human movement for miles. He enjoyed, sometimes, taking a run out in the morning air back home, when few were awake save the milkman and the early commuter. But this was different, this time he could almost believe he could feel the peace and tranquillity that comes of being the only human for miles.
>It was strange for him to feel so much at home, scores of lightyears from the planet which gave him birth. Close up, the plants looked foreign; branching filaments emerged from the stem of each, starting the thickness of his wrist on the largest specimens, and bushing out until they were only slightly thicker than a hair at their tips. But as the landscape stretched away to the horizon, the details blurred together, and if he didn't know better, he would have said that the lake glistening in the distance was a neighbour to Windermere or Ullswater.
>A gentle vibration just behind his left ear awoke him from his reverie. "I'm here, go ahead," he announced, startling a small birdlike creature into the air with a squeak.
>"Great, boss, that's good to know," came a slightly irritated voice with a Scottish accent into his earpiece, "we were starting to wonder if we'd be doing this one without you."
>"OK, OK, I'm with you now. Let's get on with this."
>He looked around until he found what he was looking for and concentrated.
It took me a week to work my way up to writing this, but finally I decided I'd better get on with it, so I set a timer for 15 minutes and just started writing. This is a great technique and I really ought to use it more often; I didn't really know what would come out when I started, but just let it flow out. I haven't done any editing: this is exactly as it came out onto the page in the first place. It feels good to have written something so different to what I'd usually write, and I got a big confidence boost from my fianceé when she read it and told me it was good: high praise from someone who's not really a fan of scifi! Now that I've got started, I hope I'll write more; it will be interesting to see the impact that writing fiction makes on my non-fiction writing.
One of my main reasons for having this blog is so that I can experiment, throw some ideas out there and learn from what sticks and what doesn't. So when I came across [Joanna Young's Mission Im(Possible) group writing project][MI] for this month, I thought I'd give it a go. The challenge was to produce something in a different *form* or a different *medium*. I've had a desire for a few years now to write a science fiction novel, but never really got round to it, so this seemed like a good way to test the waters and stretch my comfort zone a bit.
[MI]: http://confidentwriting.com/2009/07/mission-impossible-group-writing-project/
<!--more-->
So, without further ado, I give you what may one day become part of my first novel.
>He took a deep breath and stepped out. The sun was just peeping over the horizon and there was a fresh smell in the air, of dew and day-old cut grass, with a hint of something spicy he couldn't quite name. The sky above was clear and blue, fading to a pale orange where it touched the horizon. There were a couple of cotton-wool clouds, bathed from below in gold.
>It was the kind of morning when it felt good to be alive, good just to be walking the earth. And, of course, it didn't hurt that there was no other human movement for miles. He enjoyed, sometimes, taking a run out in the morning air back home, when few were awake save the milkman and the early commuter. But this was different, this time he could almost believe he could feel the peace and tranquillity that comes of being the only human for miles.
>It was strange for him to feel so much at home, scores of lightyears from the planet which gave him birth. Close up, the plants looked foreign; branching filaments emerged from the stem of each, starting the thickness of his wrist on the largest specimens, and bushing out until they were only slightly thicker than a hair at their tips. But as the landscape stretched away to the horizon, the details blurred together, and if he didn't know better, he would have said that the lake glistening in the distance was a neighbour to Windermere or Ullswater.
>A gentle vibration just behind his left ear awoke him from his reverie. "I'm here, go ahead," he announced, startling a small birdlike creature into the air with a squeak.
>"Great, boss, that's good to know," came a slightly irritated voice with a Scottish accent into his earpiece, "we were starting to wonder if we'd be doing this one without you."
>"OK, OK, I'm with you now. Let's get on with this."
>He looked around until he found what he was looking for and concentrated.
It took me a week to work my way up to writing this, but finally I decided I'd better get on with it, so I set a timer for 15 minutes and just started writing. This is a great technique and I really ought to use it more often; I didn't really know what would come out when I started, but just let it flow out. I haven't done any editing: this is exactly as it came out onto the page in the first place. It feels good to have written something so different to what I'd usually write, and I got a big confidence boost from my fianceé when she read it and told me it was good: high praise from someone who's not really a fan of scifi! Now that I've got started, I hope I'll write more; it will be interesting to see the impact that writing fiction makes on my non-fiction writing.
*I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Let me know what you think in the comments section below.*

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<div class="wp-caption alignleft"><img src="http://erambler.co.uk/files/2009/09/Posterous-welcome-email-300x266.png" alt="Posterous welcome email" title="Posterous welcome email" width="300" height="266" class="size-medium wp-image-341" /><p>Posterous welcome email</p></div> Followers of my <a id="aptureLink_SHsCcXosIT" href="http://twitter.com/jezcope">twitter stream</a> will have noticed that over the last few days I've been posting to my <a id="aptureLink_jmqLVqzSiT" href="http://jezcope.posterous.com/">Posterous account</a> from <a id="aptureLink_0eDRxEDYCY" href="http://www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk/">Shrewsbury Folk Festival</a>.
<!--more-->
I first signed up for <a id="aptureLink_26avr2rs1K" href="http://posterous.com/">Posterous</a> after seeing <a id="aptureLink_B9R8eTaLB9" href="http://twitter.com/tamegoeswild">Joseph Tame</a> using it to post photos (though I don't think he has recently). I played briefly then left it alone for a while because, already having a blog, I didn't really see a place for it for me. Then a few months ago I finally got email working properly on my (now fairly dated) Sony-Ericsson phone. Last week, I remembered about Posterous again and thought I'd try it out.
I had two reasons for testing it out in more detail. First, I have a relative whose views I admire and want to get blogging; being able to blog by email might lower the barrier to entry for him. Second, I wanted to see whether mobile blogging worked for me and in what way. So, I set to work trying out what features I could from my mobile, using the festival to provide a motive for posting.
# Features #
The first thing you notice about Posterous is how easy it is to set up. And I mean *really* easy. You send an email with your first post to [post@posterous.com][post], and you get an almost immediate response with a link to your new blog. That's all you need to do to have a presence on the web. No forms to fill in, no special software, nothing.
[post]: mailto:post@posterous.com
Now, of course, you probably won't leave it there. To start off with, you're assigned a randomly-generated subdomain of posterous.com (mine was originally jeremy-jfjyk.posterous.com) which isn't too easy to tell people about. Although an indecipherable blog address might have its uses, most people will want to customise this, which you can do by logging into your new Posterous through the link in the welcome email. This also provides you with the opportunity to set a password for your account, which I thoroughly recommend even if you do nothing else.
You can also customise a number of other aspects, such as the title and subtitle and privacy settings. You can use your own domain name for your blog instead of a posterous.com subdomain. You can even integrate [Google Analytics][Posterous GA] and a [Feedburner feed][Posterous FB] to track traffic to your new blog.
[Posterous GA]: http://blog.posterous.com/add-google-analytics-to-your-p
[Posterous FB]: http://blog.posterous.com/posterous-now-supports-using-feedburner-to-tr
Now, being able to set up a blog so easily is all very well, but where Posterous really comes into its own is in its handling of the content of your emails. Rich text formatted emails keep their formatting, and any URLs are automatically turned into links. If you include the URL of a video in a supported service, the [video itself is embedded](http://jezcope.posterous.com/bonus-post-hoven-droven-video). If you attach a file that Posterous knows how to handle, that too will be embedded in the post. Over the course of the weekend I've posted photos, video and audio content; multiple photos are turned into a clever [gallery][].
[gallery]: http://jezcope.posterous.com/morris-dancing-isnt-all-just-fun-and-games-yo
Last, but by no means least, is the AutoPost feature. This allows you to link in accounts from a whole load of social networking sites so that every time you post to Posterous, it gets sent out to them as well. It currently supports Facebook and Twitter, will post your photos to Flickr or Picasa, can send videos to YouTube or Vimeo and will save URLs to Delicious. You can also set it up to post to most major blog platforms, so even if your own blog doesn't have a post-by-email option, you can use Posterous to replicate that feature.
# Thoughts #
My overwhelming impression of Posterous is how easy it is to use. Being based on email meant that I could post almost as easily from the middle of a field as I can from my desk at home (though my poor aching thumbs might beg to differ). Knowing that it could take pretty much any media I threw at it and do something useful with it made the experience even more pleasing. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to start blogging but has so far been put off by a lack of familiarity with the technology: if you can send email you can start a blog.
I quite enjoyed being able to blog while out and about: it was a good way of recording my thoughts on the day and sharing them with others at the same time. The material was probably of minimal interest to most of my followers (although Google Analytics shows that a surprising number of my Twitter and Facebook followers clicked through to view my posts), but it would make a good tool for covering, say, a conference in which many of my followers had an interest. I will note that my fianceé did complain once or twice that she was becoming a social media widow, but she didn't really seem to mind and I didn't actually spend more than a few minutes each day blogging.
Will I carry on using it? You bet. It's instantly replaced <a id="aptureLink_JigHYeiPmh" href="http://twitter.com/TwitPic">TwitPic</a> as my photo-tweeting tool of choice, especially as I can use it to post video, audio and text as well. Just the ticket when I want to post a thought that's more than 140 characters but doesn't fit on my main blog here. I suspect that my Posterous will turn into a bit of a scrapbook, but I'm OK with that and it'll be interesting to be able to look back in a few years time and see what I've been posting. I probably won't be posting as regularly as I have done over the bank holiday weekend though!
I'm also tempted to set up a second Posterous (yes, you can set up a second, third or more through the website once you've set up your first) to use purely as a conduit for posting to this blog. If I give that a go I'll let you know how well it works.
For more info, and lots of useful tips and tricks, check out the
<a id="aptureLink_XKQle7TJm3" href="http://blog.posterous.com">Official Posterous Posterous</a> (i.e. their blog).
<div class="wp-caption alignleft"><img src="http://erambler.co.uk/files/2009/09/Posterous-welcome-email-300x266.png" alt="Posterous welcome email" title="Posterous welcome email" width="300" height="266" class="size-medium wp-image-341" /><p>Posterous welcome email</p></div> Followers of my <a id="aptureLink_SHsCcXosIT" href="http://twitter.com/jezcope">twitter stream</a> will have noticed that over the last few days I've been posting to my <a id="aptureLink_jmqLVqzSiT" href="http://jezcope.posterous.com/">Posterous account</a> from <a id="aptureLink_0eDRxEDYCY" href="http://www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk/">Shrewsbury Folk Festival</a>.
<!--more-->
I first signed up for <a id="aptureLink_26avr2rs1K" href="http://posterous.com/">Posterous</a> after seeing <a id="aptureLink_B9R8eTaLB9" href="http://twitter.com/tamegoeswild">Joseph Tame</a> using it to post photos (though I don't think he has recently). I played briefly then left it alone for a while because, already having a blog, I didn't really see a place for it for me. Then a few months ago I finally got email working properly on my (now fairly dated) Sony-Ericsson phone. Last week, I remembered about Posterous again and thought I'd try it out.
I had two reasons for testing it out in more detail. First, I have a relative whose views I admire and want to get blogging; being able to blog by email might lower the barrier to entry for him. Second, I wanted to see whether mobile blogging worked for me and in what way. So, I set to work trying out what features I could from my mobile, using the festival to provide a motive for posting.
# Features #
The first thing you notice about Posterous is how easy it is to set up. And I mean *really* easy. You send an email with your first post to [post@posterous.com][post], and you get an almost immediate response with a link to your new blog. That's all you need to do to have a presence on the web. No forms to fill in, no special software, nothing.
[post]: mailto:post@posterous.com
Now, of course, you probably won't leave it there. To start off with, you're assigned a randomly-generated subdomain of posterous.com (mine was originally jeremy-jfjyk.posterous.com) which isn't too easy to tell people about. Although an indecipherable blog address might have its uses, most people will want to customise this, which you can do by logging into your new Posterous through the link in the welcome email. This also provides you with the opportunity to set a password for your account, which I thoroughly recommend even if you do nothing else.
You can also customise a number of other aspects, such as the title and subtitle and privacy settings. You can use your own domain name for your blog instead of a posterous.com subdomain. You can even integrate [Google Analytics][Posterous GA] and a [Feedburner feed][Posterous FB] to track traffic to your new blog.
[Posterous GA]: http://blog.posterous.com/add-google-analytics-to-your-p
[Posterous FB]: http://blog.posterous.com/posterous-now-supports-using-feedburner-to-tr
Now, being able to set up a blog so easily is all very well, but where Posterous really comes into its own is in its handling of the content of your emails. Rich text formatted emails keep their formatting, and any URLs are automatically turned into links. If you include the URL of a video in a supported service, the [video itself is embedded](http://jezcope.posterous.com/bonus-post-hoven-droven-video). If you attach a file that Posterous knows how to handle, that too will be embedded in the post. Over the course of the weekend I've posted photos, video and audio content; multiple photos are turned into a clever [gallery][].
[gallery]: http://jezcope.posterous.com/morris-dancing-isnt-all-just-fun-and-games-yo
Last, but by no means least, is the AutoPost feature. This allows you to link in accounts from a whole load of social networking sites so that every time you post to Posterous, it gets sent out to them as well. It currently supports Facebook and Twitter, will post your photos to Flickr or Picasa, can send videos to YouTube or Vimeo and will save URLs to Delicious. You can also set it up to post to most major blog platforms, so even if your own blog doesn't have a post-by-email option, you can use Posterous to replicate that feature.
# Thoughts #
My overwhelming impression of Posterous is how easy it is to use. Being based on email meant that I could post almost as easily from the middle of a field as I can from my desk at home (though my poor aching thumbs might beg to differ). Knowing that it could take pretty much any media I threw at it and do something useful with it made the experience even more pleasing. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to start blogging but has so far been put off by a lack of familiarity with the technology: if you can send email you can start a blog.
I quite enjoyed being able to blog while out and about: it was a good way of recording my thoughts on the day and sharing them with others at the same time. The material was probably of minimal interest to most of my followers (although Google Analytics shows that a surprising number of my Twitter and Facebook followers clicked through to view my posts), but it would make a good tool for covering, say, a conference in which many of my followers had an interest. I will note that my fianceé did complain once or twice that she was becoming a social media widow, but she didn't really seem to mind and I didn't actually spend more than a few minutes each day blogging.
Will I carry on using it? You bet. It's instantly replaced <a id="aptureLink_JigHYeiPmh" href="http://twitter.com/TwitPic">TwitPic</a> as my photo-tweeting tool of choice, especially as I can use it to post video, audio and text as well. Just the ticket when I want to post a thought that's more than 140 characters but doesn't fit on my main blog here. I suspect that my Posterous will turn into a bit of a scrapbook, but I'm OK with that and it'll be interesting to be able to look back in a few years time and see what I've been posting. I probably won't be posting as regularly as I have done over the bank holiday weekend though!
I'm also tempted to set up a second Posterous (yes, you can set up a second, third or more through the website once you've set up your first) to use purely as a conduit for posting to this blog. If I give that a go I'll let you know how well it works.
For more info, and lots of useful tips and tricks, check out the
<a id="aptureLink_XKQle7TJm3" href="http://blog.posterous.com">Official Posterous Posterous</a> (i.e. their blog).
*Do you have a blog? If so, what platform do you use to host it. Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.*

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<div class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/plindberg/32809925/"><img alt="Margin Notes by Peter Lindberg" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/32809925_6b27ccbda6_m.jpg" title="Margin Notes" width="180" height="240" /></a><p>Margin Notes by Peter Lindberg</p></div>
For a long time, I've been the sort of person who tends to read and absorb information, without really wanting or needing to scribble notes down. This is probably because my background has been maths and computing, and the elegance of mathematics as a language is in its ability to express big ideas and small in a concise way: no annotation needed if everything you need is there.
More recently, though, I've been reading things with, well, more words in them.
<!--more-->
Learning how to teach has been an education (pun fully intended) — I've started reading a much broader range of material, and a lot of it is quite social-sciencey. This stuff is necessarily quite verbose, and I find I need to take notes and rephrase things in my own way to get the most out of them.
Now, with library books, people seem to get a bit upset if you start scribbling in the margins. I have to keep a notebook in which to jot down thoughts.
Out on the web, the situation used to be much the same: unless a web page specifically included features for commenting, any annotation had to be kept in a notebook or a separate file, leaving you searching through to find what notes go with which page or dreaming up an ingenious indexing system.
<strong>No longer!</strong>
A while back, <a href="http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/">Mark Morley</a> pointed me in the direction of [Diigo][]. I'd variously been using [Delicious][] and Magnolia (now defunct, but replaced by the intriguing [gnolia][]) for storing bookmarks, so I thought I'd give this rival service a try.
[Mark Morley]: http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/
[Diigo]: http://diigo.com/
[Delicious]: http://delicious.com/
[gnolia]: http://gnolia.com/
For a while, I used it just as a bookmarking service, but it wasn't long before I cottoned on to the real power of Diigo: highlighting and sticky notes.
Using the Diigo plugin for Firefox, or the diigolet (a rather clever little bookmarklet) you can:
* highlight any part of any web page, in a variety of colours;
* add comments to your highlightings;
* add sticky notes to the page.
Now, I can take all the notes I want, and keep them right next to the page they refer to. Great for getting the most learning out of what I read.
But the really exciting thing is that I can choose to make my comments public. And so can other people. And when we do that, it becomes a conversation. I can talk and debate with people all over the world on any website, whether or not that site allows it or not.
And that's *pretty cool*. If you want to learn more, check out this [video guide][] or take a look at an [annotated blog post][].
[video guide]: http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/video-guide-to-diigo-annotations/
[annotated blog post]: http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.copyblogger.com%2Fbad-writing-habits?tab=comment
Now, a few weeks ago, Google got in on the act with their new [Sidewiki][] project, and it's [caused][Squire Morley] [a bit][OUseful] [of a][SME] [stir][Web Strategist]. It's not as flexible as as Diigo — it's a very simple sidebar-type affair — but it does a similar job in terms of turning the web into a conversation.
The big advantage it has is the Google brand behind it. It's built into a special version of the Google Toolbar and I think we can expect it to make it into the standard version before long; it'll also be working its way into Google's new browser, Chrome. There's an open API too, which means that if you don't want to use Google Toolbar, there's [this standalone client for Firefox][standalone client].
[Sidewiki]: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-and-learn-from-others-as-you.html
[Squire Morley]: http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/google-sidewiki-the-web-just-changed-again/
[OUseful]: http://ouseful.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/surfacing-google-sidewiki-comments-within-a-web-page/
[SME]: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/09/25/google-force-feeds-social-media-on-the-world/
[Web Strategist]: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/09/24/googles-sidewiki-shifts-power-to-consumers-away-from-corporate-web-teams/
[standalone client]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46311
So now, I can scribble all over your web page. What are you going to do about it?
*On a semi-related note, I'm still looking for ideas and opinions about [using a portfolio to record professional development][portfolio], so please drop by that post and join in the conversation.*
<div class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/plindberg/32809925/"><img alt="Margin Notes by Peter Lindberg" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/32809925_6b27ccbda6_m.jpg" title="Margin Notes" width="180" height="240" /></a><p>Margin Notes by Peter Lindberg</p></div>
For a long time, I've been the sort of person who tends to read and absorb information, without really wanting or needing to scribble notes down. This is probably because my background has been maths and computing, and the elegance of mathematics as a language is in its ability to express big ideas and small in a concise way: no annotation needed if everything you need is there.
More recently, though, I've been reading things with, well, more words in them.
<!--more-->
Learning how to teach has been an education (pun fully intended) — I've started reading a much broader range of material, and a lot of it is quite social-sciencey. This stuff is necessarily quite verbose, and I find I need to take notes and rephrase things in my own way to get the most out of them.
Now, with library books, people seem to get a bit upset if you start scribbling in the margins. I have to keep a notebook in which to jot down thoughts.
Out on the web, the situation used to be much the same: unless a web page specifically included features for commenting, any annotation had to be kept in a notebook or a separate file, leaving you searching through to find what notes go with which page or dreaming up an ingenious indexing system.
<strong>No longer!</strong>
A while back, <a href="http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/">Mark Morley</a> pointed me in the direction of [Diigo][]. I'd variously been using [Delicious][] and Magnolia (now defunct, but replaced by the intriguing [gnolia][]) for storing bookmarks, so I thought I'd give this rival service a try.
[Mark Morley]: http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/
[Diigo]: http://diigo.com/
[Delicious]: http://delicious.com/
[gnolia]: http://gnolia.com/
For a while, I used it just as a bookmarking service, but it wasn't long before I cottoned on to the real power of Diigo: highlighting and sticky notes.
Using the Diigo plugin for Firefox, or the diigolet (a rather clever little bookmarklet) you can:
* highlight any part of any web page, in a variety of colours;
* add comments to your highlightings;
* add sticky notes to the page.
Now, I can take all the notes I want, and keep them right next to the page they refer to. Great for getting the most learning out of what I read.
But the really exciting thing is that I can choose to make my comments public. And so can other people. And when we do that, it becomes a conversation. I can talk and debate with people all over the world on any website, whether or not that site allows it or not.
And that's *pretty cool*. If you want to learn more, check out this [video guide][] or take a look at an [annotated blog post][].
[video guide]: http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/video-guide-to-diigo-annotations/
[annotated blog post]: http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.copyblogger.com%2Fbad-writing-habits?tab=comment
Now, a few weeks ago, Google got in on the act with their new [Sidewiki][] project, and it's [caused][Squire Morley] [a bit][OUseful] [of a][SME] [stir][Web Strategist]. It's not as flexible as as Diigo — it's a very simple sidebar-type affair — but it does a similar job in terms of turning the web into a conversation.
The big advantage it has is the Google brand behind it. It's built into a special version of the Google Toolbar and I think we can expect it to make it into the standard version before long; it'll also be working its way into Google's new browser, Chrome. There's an open API too, which means that if you don't want to use Google Toolbar, there's [this standalone client for Firefox][standalone client].
[Sidewiki]: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-and-learn-from-others-as-you.html
[Squire Morley]: http://squiremorley.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/google-sidewiki-the-web-just-changed-again/
[OUseful]: http://ouseful.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/surfacing-google-sidewiki-comments-within-a-web-page/
[SME]: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/09/25/google-force-feeds-social-media-on-the-world/
[Web Strategist]: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/09/24/googles-sidewiki-shifts-power-to-consumers-away-from-corporate-web-teams/
[standalone client]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46311
So now, I can scribble all over your web page. What are you going to do about it?
*On a semi-related note, I'm still looking for ideas and opinions about [using a portfolio to record professional development][portfolio], so please drop by that post and join in the conversation.*
[portfolio]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/10/21/ask-the-readers-do-you-keep-a-portfolio/

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<div class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/917press/3539927781/"><img alt="Room 800: Police Evidence Room by Sam Teigen" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3539927781_d81fb910b2_m_d.jpg" title="Room 800: Police Evidence Room" width="240" height="178" /></a><p>Room 800: Police Evidence Room by Sam Teigen</p></div> One of my favourite posts so far has been my [first Ask the Readers post][], so I've decided it's time to continue the series with another request for ideas. I've written before about how I kept a [digital portfolio][] as part of my Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education qualification. It's something that I learned a lot from, particularly in conjunction with learning about learning, and I've continued the reflective ethos of that portfolio here on the blog.
[first Ask the Readers post]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/30/ask-the-readers-why-use-technology-in-teaching/
[digital portfolio]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/07/22/portfolio-assessment-age-computer/
But as I've come to the end of my current stint of volunteering at the National Trust (on which more in a later post), I've been feeling that I want something a bit more than just the shouting into the void that I do here.
<!--more-->
I have two difficult tasks ahead:
1. Find a challenging and rewarding job in a very competitive marketplace;
2. Continue to learn and grow outside the structures of formal education.
What I really want, then, is somewhere I can:
* Continue to reflect and learn, even when said reflections aren't suitable for public consumption;
* Gather a base of evidence for my skills, to draw on when applying for jobs, and to identify gaps for me to work on;
* Access online, from work, home, conferences, etc.;
* Keep private but make available to individuals for PDRs, professional qualifications, etc.;
* Retain control of and keep regular backups of (this stuff's valuable).
It seems to me like it's time to resurrect a full portfolio, but as I'm new to this I thought I'd ask for some advice. My question to you is this: **Do you keep a professional portfolio and if so, what are your top tips for doing so?**
To get the ball rolling, this is where I am at the moment:
* I've set up a new blog on my trusty self-hosted [Wordpress MU][] installation;
* For advice I have [this advice][] from the University of Sheffield careers service, the [course guide][] from the PCHE and my other half's copy of [Building Your Portfolio][] (aimed at qualified librarians seeking chartership).
[Wordpress MU]: http://mu.wordpress.org/
[this advice]: http://www.shef.ac.uk/careers/students/advice/wep.html
[Building Your Portfolio]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Your-Portfolio-CILIP-Guide/dp/1856046125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256154507&sr=8-1
[course guide]: http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/lt-supp/pche-info.html
<div class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/917press/3539927781/"><img alt="Room 800: Police Evidence Room by Sam Teigen" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3539927781_d81fb910b2_m_d.jpg" title="Room 800: Police Evidence Room" width="240" height="178" /></a><p>Room 800: Police Evidence Room by Sam Teigen</p></div> One of my favourite posts so far has been my [first Ask the Readers post][], so I've decided it's time to continue the series with another request for ideas. I've written before about how I kept a [digital portfolio][] as part of my Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education qualification. It's something that I learned a lot from, particularly in conjunction with learning about learning, and I've continued the reflective ethos of that portfolio here on the blog.
[first Ask the Readers post]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/30/ask-the-readers-why-use-technology-in-teaching/
[digital portfolio]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/07/22/portfolio-assessment-age-computer/
But as I've come to the end of my current stint of volunteering at the National Trust (on which more in a later post), I've been feeling that I want something a bit more than just the shouting into the void that I do here.
<!--more-->
I have two difficult tasks ahead:
1. Find a challenging and rewarding job in a very competitive marketplace;
2. Continue to learn and grow outside the structures of formal education.
What I really want, then, is somewhere I can:
* Continue to reflect and learn, even when said reflections aren't suitable for public consumption;
* Gather a base of evidence for my skills, to draw on when applying for jobs, and to identify gaps for me to work on;
* Access online, from work, home, conferences, etc.;
* Keep private but make available to individuals for PDRs, professional qualifications, etc.;
* Retain control of and keep regular backups of (this stuff's valuable).
It seems to me like it's time to resurrect a full portfolio, but as I'm new to this I thought I'd ask for some advice. My question to you is this: **Do you keep a professional portfolio and if so, what are your top tips for doing so?**
To get the ball rolling, this is where I am at the moment:
* I've set up a new blog on my trusty self-hosted [Wordpress MU][] installation;
* For advice I have [this advice][] from the University of Sheffield careers service, the [course guide][] from the PCHE and my other half's copy of [Building Your Portfolio][] (aimed at qualified librarians seeking chartership).
[Wordpress MU]: http://mu.wordpress.org/
[this advice]: http://www.shef.ac.uk/careers/students/advice/wep.html
[Building Your Portfolio]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Your-Portfolio-CILIP-Guide/dp/1856046125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256154507&sr=8-1
[course guide]: http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/lt-supp/pche-info.html
I look forward to reading your comments and I'll be sure to summarise them in a blog post next month and continue to keep you informed about my progress.

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<div class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jezcope/3971274879/"><img alt="Down House (Darwins House) by yours truly" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3511/3971274879_003b7d1fcc_m.jpg" title="Down House (Darwins House)" width="240" height="180" /></a><p>Down House (Darwin&#39;s House) by yours truly</p></div>
Today's blog post was inspired by a trip to [Down House][] in Kent, where Charles Darwin spent the latter years of his life with his wife and family, and where he wrote, amongst many other works, *On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection*.
[Down House]: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.14922
<!--more-->
It was a fascinating day out, and I thoroughly recommend it, but what prompted me to write was their wonderful new multimedia guides. On arrival we (my mum, my fiancée and myself) were each handed a fairly ruggedly built little PDA with headphones attached. Having arrived too early to see the house (the gardens open at 10am, but the house doesn't open until 11) we set off into the garden, shown around by our multimedia guides.
Audio guides to exhibitions and historical sites aren't particularly new, and I have vague recollections of having been using them for some years, but it seems that the people responsible for setting these things up are getting a lot more creative. Additionally, the technology is becoming better and cheaper: not long ago handing every visitor a PDA would have been out of the question, but English Heritage have found funding from somewhere and I think it's worth every penny.
Although the guide is set up to take you round in a specified order by default, you can also bring up a map, labelled with all the locations that have audio content so that you can skip bits out or make up your own tour of the grounds. After the main narration for each location, given by Andrew Marr in the garden and Sir David Attenborough in the house, there is a menu of other short bits of relevant information, taken from interviews with various experts. We were each able to customise our tour and include only the information we were interested in: very useful when we moved onto the house and time was starting to run a bit short. There is also a small interactive game for each section, which should help to keep the kids entertained.
<div class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/550975041/"><img alt="Laudioguidage de lexposition Anselm Kiefer au Grand Palais by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/550975041_0b97c86d01_m.jpg" title="Laudioguidage de lexposition Anselm Kiefer au Grand Palais" width="240" height="180" /></a><p>L&#39;audioguidage de l&#39;exposition Anselm Kiefer au Grand Palais by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra</p></div> It's very freeing having a well-written audio guide to an English Heritage property. The best part is that you can look around at whatever is being described without having to constantly shift attention between it and an information plaque. Also having the full-colour screen on the device meant that photos and videos could be shown, which added an extra dimension to the tour.
There were a few minor shortcomings with the guides. The headphone cables were very long and got caught up occasionally. The visual aspects of the guide occasionally felt like they were needlessly distracting from what I was looking at. Also, having an audio guide did dampen down conversation within our little group, but reading text on displays often has the same effect so there probably wasn't much lost. All in all though, it was a very well designed package.
The whole thing put me in mind of another, very different but equally enjoyable, audio tour. This one was at the [Commandery][] in Worcester. The Commandery is a very old building indeed and has been repurposed many times through its history. It's recently been refurbished, and it's been done in quite a wonderful way.
The whole place has been fully redecorated but left almost empty. On arrival you're given an audio guide and you then choose one of the periods of history (I think there were five). You then take a tour of the whole building from the perspective of that period. Because the decoration is so sparse, it's necessary to imagine how it would have been in days gone by, and the narration, dramatisation and atmospheric sounds on the audio guide really bring the period to life. Because we chose different periods for our tours, we were able to compare notes and it turns out that there are some nice links between the different narrations.
I really enjoyed both of these audio tours. The Commandery, in particular, I would love to revisit and spend the whole day doing the tours for each of the different periods of history. But the experience has really reminded me that putting control of learning into the learner's hands can sometimes quite literally mean just that, and that it can work very well indeed. I felt that I was able to really get a handle on Darwin's life and work in a way that wouldn't have been possible by just walking round the garden or reading a display: the experience made use of all of my senses.
[Commandery]: http://www.worcestercitymuseums.org.uk/comm/commind.htm
<div class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jezcope/3971274879/"><img alt="Down House (Darwins House) by yours truly" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3511/3971274879_003b7d1fcc_m.jpg" title="Down House (Darwins House)" width="240" height="180" /></a><p>Down House (Darwin&#39;s House) by yours truly</p></div>
Today's blog post was inspired by a trip to [Down House][] in Kent, where Charles Darwin spent the latter years of his life with his wife and family, and where he wrote, amongst many other works, *On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection*.
[Down House]: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.14922
<!--more-->
It was a fascinating day out, and I thoroughly recommend it, but what prompted me to write was their wonderful new multimedia guides. On arrival we (my mum, my fiancée and myself) were each handed a fairly ruggedly built little PDA with headphones attached. Having arrived too early to see the house (the gardens open at 10am, but the house doesn't open until 11) we set off into the garden, shown around by our multimedia guides.
Audio guides to exhibitions and historical sites aren't particularly new, and I have vague recollections of having been using them for some years, but it seems that the people responsible for setting these things up are getting a lot more creative. Additionally, the technology is becoming better and cheaper: not long ago handing every visitor a PDA would have been out of the question, but English Heritage have found funding from somewhere and I think it's worth every penny.
Although the guide is set up to take you round in a specified order by default, you can also bring up a map, labelled with all the locations that have audio content so that you can skip bits out or make up your own tour of the grounds. After the main narration for each location, given by Andrew Marr in the garden and Sir David Attenborough in the house, there is a menu of other short bits of relevant information, taken from interviews with various experts. We were each able to customise our tour and include only the information we were interested in: very useful when we moved onto the house and time was starting to run a bit short. There is also a small interactive game for each section, which should help to keep the kids entertained.
<div class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/550975041/"><img alt="Laudioguidage de lexposition Anselm Kiefer au Grand Palais by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/550975041_0b97c86d01_m.jpg" title="Laudioguidage de lexposition Anselm Kiefer au Grand Palais" width="240" height="180" /></a><p>L&#39;audioguidage de l&#39;exposition Anselm Kiefer au Grand Palais by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra</p></div> It's very freeing having a well-written audio guide to an English Heritage property. The best part is that you can look around at whatever is being described without having to constantly shift attention between it and an information plaque. Also having the full-colour screen on the device meant that photos and videos could be shown, which added an extra dimension to the tour.
There were a few minor shortcomings with the guides. The headphone cables were very long and got caught up occasionally. The visual aspects of the guide occasionally felt like they were needlessly distracting from what I was looking at. Also, having an audio guide did dampen down conversation within our little group, but reading text on displays often has the same effect so there probably wasn't much lost. All in all though, it was a very well designed package.
The whole thing put me in mind of another, very different but equally enjoyable, audio tour. This one was at the [Commandery][] in Worcester. The Commandery is a very old building indeed and has been repurposed many times through its history. It's recently been refurbished, and it's been done in quite a wonderful way.
The whole place has been fully redecorated but left almost empty. On arrival you're given an audio guide and you then choose one of the periods of history (I think there were five). You then take a tour of the whole building from the perspective of that period. Because the decoration is so sparse, it's necessary to imagine how it would have been in days gone by, and the narration, dramatisation and atmospheric sounds on the audio guide really bring the period to life. Because we chose different periods for our tours, we were able to compare notes and it turns out that there are some nice links between the different narrations.
I really enjoyed both of these audio tours. The Commandery, in particular, I would love to revisit and spend the whole day doing the tours for each of the different periods of history. But the experience has really reminded me that putting control of learning into the learner's hands can sometimes quite literally mean just that, and that it can work very well indeed. I felt that I was able to really get a handle on Darwin's life and work in a way that wouldn't have been possible by just walking round the garden or reading a display: the experience made use of all of my senses.
[Commandery]: http://www.worcestercitymuseums.org.uk/comm/commind.htm
*What's your take on audio/multimedia guides? When do they work and when do they detract from the experience? Leave me a comment below.*

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Someone recently asked me a very interesting question: what two techniques would you use to enable academic staff to make the most of new technology for teaching?
A number of thoughts ran through my mind at this point:
* Ooh, interesting question...
* Hmm, that depends...
* That sounds like a blog post in the making...
* What! Only two?!
But I like the idea of narrowing it down to just the two most important; a bit like some weird and geeky version of [Desert Island Discs][]. Plus, to keep my analytical side happy, there's plenty of scope for categorising loads of specific ideas under two broad techniques.
[Desert Island Discs]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
<!--more-->
So, on with the game. After some thought, I think that my two favourite techniques are:
1. Talking to people; and
2. Leading by example.
Let's take them one at a time.
# Talking to people #
Well, when I say talking to people, I don't really mean talking all the time so much as listening. I may not know everything there is to know about technology, but I know more than a little about how it can support teaching; I know plenty about how it's useful for teaching *for me*.
But I'm not you. I'm not him over there. And I'm certainly not a busy academic with half a dozen research grants on the go trying to teach my students as best I can alongside the myriad other commitments of life in HE.
And when I say listening, it's not just about listening. It's about *caring*. If I knew the right techniques, I could probably convince you that I was listening, but if I didn't actually care what you were saying, you'd probably guess pretty quickly.
I don't know much about neurolinguistic programming or anything like that, but what I do know is that when I take a genuine interest in what someone's saying then I really get a lot out of it. That's not something you can fake, but I've found that you can actively take an interest in pretty much anything or anyone if you make a bit of effort.
Why is this important? The only way I can help you (or him over there) to make the best of technology is to get a clear picture of what your needs are. I need to *understand* you. It's no use me patronising you with information you already know; neither is it helpful to force-feed you information that you just have no use for.
Only if I understand your unique situation can I provide the advice that will help you improve your teaching, or leave well alone if that's the best option.
# Teaching by example #
This is something I try to do all the time, in everything I do. I won't claim that I succeed all of the time, but I'm getting better at it the more I do.
A little while back I read Postman & Weingartner's *Teaching as a Subversive Activity* (and I recommend you do to if you're interested in improving the quality of education). One of the big messages I took away from it was that *we learn what we do*.
In other words, *how* we teach (and thus how students learn) is just as important, if not more so, than *what* we teach.
So, if I want to help you understand how technology can improve your teaching and make life easier for both you and your students ("Why should we make life easy on our students?" I hear them cry) it won't help if I stand up in front you and your colleagues and give a 45 minute death-by-Powerpoint presentation on how to use Facebook.
Instead (and having listened to you I'll have an idea of what fits the way you work) I'll use a whole range of techniques. By giving you a 2-minute online video of tips on how to facilitate online discussions, I can show you how effective YouTube is for teaching. By encouraging you to take part in an online discussion about teaching with video, I can help you see what does and doesn't help people learn from forums. I might even give you a 45-minute presentation on the theoretical pedagogies of Facebook, if that's what works for you.
This technique does at least two useful things. First, it gives you an opportunity to get first-hand experience of what tools are out there and what they're like to use. Secondly, it demonstrates that when it comes to e-learning I have a good enough idea of what's going on to give you advice that you can trust.
# In the end... #
Someone recently asked me a very interesting question: what two techniques would you use to enable academic staff to make the most of new technology for teaching?
A number of thoughts ran through my mind at this point:
* Ooh, interesting question...
* Hmm, that depends...
* That sounds like a blog post in the making...
* What! Only two?!
But I like the idea of narrowing it down to just the two most important; a bit like some weird and geeky version of [Desert Island Discs][]. Plus, to keep my analytical side happy, there's plenty of scope for categorising loads of specific ideas under two broad techniques.
[Desert Island Discs]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
<!--more-->
So, on with the game. After some thought, I think that my two favourite techniques are:
1. Talking to people; and
2. Leading by example.
Let's take them one at a time.
# Talking to people #
Well, when I say talking to people, I don't really mean talking all the time so much as listening. I may not know everything there is to know about technology, but I know more than a little about how it can support teaching; I know plenty about how it's useful for teaching *for me*.
But I'm not you. I'm not him over there. And I'm certainly not a busy academic with half a dozen research grants on the go trying to teach my students as best I can alongside the myriad other commitments of life in HE.
And when I say listening, it's not just about listening. It's about *caring*. If I knew the right techniques, I could probably convince you that I was listening, but if I didn't actually care what you were saying, you'd probably guess pretty quickly.
I don't know much about neurolinguistic programming or anything like that, but what I do know is that when I take a genuine interest in what someone's saying then I really get a lot out of it. That's not something you can fake, but I've found that you can actively take an interest in pretty much anything or anyone if you make a bit of effort.
Why is this important? The only way I can help you (or him over there) to make the best of technology is to get a clear picture of what your needs are. I need to *understand* you. It's no use me patronising you with information you already know; neither is it helpful to force-feed you information that you just have no use for.
Only if I understand your unique situation can I provide the advice that will help you improve your teaching, or leave well alone if that's the best option.
# Teaching by example #
This is something I try to do all the time, in everything I do. I won't claim that I succeed all of the time, but I'm getting better at it the more I do.
A little while back I read Postman & Weingartner's *Teaching as a Subversive Activity* (and I recommend you do to if you're interested in improving the quality of education). One of the big messages I took away from it was that *we learn what we do*.
In other words, *how* we teach (and thus how students learn) is just as important, if not more so, than *what* we teach.
So, if I want to help you understand how technology can improve your teaching and make life easier for both you and your students ("Why should we make life easy on our students?" I hear them cry) it won't help if I stand up in front you and your colleagues and give a 45 minute death-by-Powerpoint presentation on how to use Facebook.
Instead (and having listened to you I'll have an idea of what fits the way you work) I'll use a whole range of techniques. By giving you a 2-minute online video of tips on how to facilitate online discussions, I can show you how effective YouTube is for teaching. By encouraging you to take part in an online discussion about teaching with video, I can help you see what does and doesn't help people learn from forums. I might even give you a 45-minute presentation on the theoretical pedagogies of Facebook, if that's what works for you.
This technique does at least two useful things. First, it gives you an opportunity to get first-hand experience of what tools are out there and what they're like to use. Secondly, it demonstrates that when it comes to e-learning I have a good enough idea of what's going on to give you advice that you can trust.
# In the end... #
...it mostly comes down to trust. If you trust that I both care about you (and your students) and know what I'm talking about, how much more likely are you to consider listening to me?

8
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I have several reasons for writing this post. Chief among them is curiosity: I like pulling the universe to bits and poking it to see what happens, and I'm genuinely interested in finding out how readers of this blog actually keep up to date with the blogosphere. Second, I've spent a lot of time in academia, where evidence is a key part of life; I'm aware that a lot of what I say on here is just my opinion so it'll be nice to make a change to that (self-selecting samples aside). Third, it's useful from a promotion perspective to know how people are getting here: [Feedburner](http://www.feedburner.com/) and [Google Analytics](http://analytics.google.com/) stats only tell part of the story. Finally, the [PollDaddy](http://polldaddy.com/) plugin for Wordpress has been around for a while now and I really want to try it out.
So, without further ado, here's my first reader poll:
I have several reasons for writing this post. Chief among them is curiosity: I like pulling the universe to bits and poking it to see what happens, and I'm genuinely interested in finding out how readers of this blog actually keep up to date with the blogosphere. Second, I've spent a lot of time in academia, where evidence is a key part of life; I'm aware that a lot of what I say on here is just my opinion so it'll be nice to make a change to that (self-selecting samples aside). Third, it's useful from a promotion perspective to know how people are getting here: [Feedburner](http://www.feedburner.com/) and [Google Analytics](http://analytics.google.com/) stats only tell part of the story. Finally, the [PollDaddy](http://polldaddy.com/) plugin for Wordpress has been around for a while now and I really want to try it out.
So, without further ado, here's my first reader poll:
[polldaddy poll="1959498"]

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I should make it clear before getting into this that it's *my fiancee* who watches Strictly, not me. My fiancee. I just happened to catch it out of the corner of my eye while I was doing something manly, like DIY. Anyway...
If you live in the UK, you'll probably not have managed to avoid at least hearing about [Strictly Come Dancing][], a reality TV show in which professional dancers teach celebrities to dance (in the US and Australia it's called Dancing with the Stars).
In recent years the big Saturday show has been supported by a half-hour gossip show every weekday evening, going by the name Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.
In case you were starting to wonder where I was going with this, the first little bit of yesterday's It Takes Two saw the professionals talking about the approach they take to teaching their celebs, and it makes for quite interesting watching. If you're in the UK, you can watch it on BBC [iPlayer][], around 1:10.
What's interesting is that all of the celebrities think that their pro is a great teacher, but from a dispassionate point of view there are differences. I think Brian sums it up nicely when he says "a really good teacher is a teacher who learns to adapt their teaching style to different types of student." It's noticeable that the professionals who have consistently done well across series have been the ones who adapted well to their celebrities.
And as Erin points out: "'World Champions' doesn't necessarily mean you're a good teacher."
Just a little something to think about.
[Strictly Come Dancing]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/
I should make it clear before getting into this that it's *my fiancee* who watches Strictly, not me. My fiancee. I just happened to catch it out of the corner of my eye while I was doing something manly, like DIY. Anyway...
If you live in the UK, you'll probably not have managed to avoid at least hearing about [Strictly Come Dancing][], a reality TV show in which professional dancers teach celebrities to dance (in the US and Australia it's called Dancing with the Stars).
In recent years the big Saturday show has been supported by a half-hour gossip show every weekday evening, going by the name Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.
In case you were starting to wonder where I was going with this, the first little bit of yesterday's It Takes Two saw the professionals talking about the approach they take to teaching their celebs, and it makes for quite interesting watching. If you're in the UK, you can watch it on BBC [iPlayer][], around 1:10.
What's interesting is that all of the celebrities think that their pro is a great teacher, but from a dispassionate point of view there are differences. I think Brian sums it up nicely when he says "a really good teacher is a teacher who learns to adapt their teaching style to different types of student." It's noticeable that the professionals who have consistently done well across series have been the ones who adapted well to their celebrities.
And as Erin points out: "'World Champions' doesn't necessarily mean you're a good teacher."
Just a little something to think about.
[Strictly Come Dancing]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/
[iPlayer]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p1lb4/Strictly_It_Takes_Two_Series_7_Episode_45/

120
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Looking at the date of my last post, it's been almost exactly two months since I last posted. I suppose that's not surprising, since those two months contained an awful lot of stuff happening elsewhere in my life, such as moving house and Christmas.
However, it does mean that I've so far missed out on the traditional ritual of looking back on one's year to date and using it as blog-fodder. So here we are then. Time to have a look back and see what I've learned from the experience so far.
<!--more-->
2009 has been my first full year of blogging. It took me a while to get going, and to begin finding my voice (I'm still working on that), but then I made some [decisions about my future career][career news] and suddenly this blog had a purpose: to give me a way to join in the e-learning community, reflect and learn. Since then, I've posted on pretty much whatever's seemed appropriate, and started getting to grips with what makes this medium tick.
[career news]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/06/blog-career-news/
# What did people read?
My most popular (i.e. most viewed) posts seem to fit into one or both of two categories: "hot topics" and conversations.
By "hot topics", I mean subjects which interest a large portion of the online community enough to see what I've got to say. Examples of this type of post include:
* My [three part][part 1] [beginners guide][part 2] [to Twitter][part 3];
* A brief note on the [University of Sheffield's decision to use Google Mail][UoS GMail].
[part 1]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/15/beginners-guide-to-twitter-part-i/
[part 2]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/16/beginners-guide-to-twitter-part-ii/
[part 3]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/17/beginners-guide-to-twitter-part-iii/
[UoS GMail]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/27/university-sheffield-google-mail/
By "conversations", I refer to posts which are actively trying to engage with my audience. My favourite of these (and my favourite post of the year) has to be:
* [Ask the readers: Why use technology in teaching?][favourite]
[favourite]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/30/ask-the-readers-why-use-technology-in-teaching/
I think its success lies in the fact that it was a question broad enough for everyone to have an opinion on and important enough for many people to *want* to comment on. I intentionally kept the original post quite short, and ensured that the question I was asking stood out.
Then, of course, there are posts which fall into both categories, such as my [contribution to the debate on the death or otherwise of the VLE][VLE death].
[VLE death]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/08/19/moving-to-a-more-agile-vle/
# What didn't work?
I tried a couple of different things to keep things interesting, such as posting a weekly summary of links that I'd found around the internet and trying monthly themes, but neither of these really caught on as I didn't have the motivation to keep on with them.
I think perhaps the monthly theme idea would work better for a blog which was consciously aimed at being educational resource for the reader, forming part of the ongoing story which keeps learners engaged. For this blog, though, which is more reflective and tends to be a reaction to my own thoughts and experiences, it feels unnecessarily prescriptive.
# Other highlights
In August, I moved from Wordpress.com to my own self-hosted blog, thanks to the generosity of a friend with a server to host it. I wanted to have scope to experiment and expand, so I went with [Wordpress MU][], the multi-user version of Wordpress which allows multiple blogs to run off a single installation.
[Wordpress MU]: http://mu.wordpress.org/
I also tried my hand at writing some [fiction][] in response to a challenge on Joanna Young's [Confident Writing][] blog. I really enjoyed it, but decided that it didn't really fit into my plan for this blog, so I took advantage of Wordpress MU and started a [separate non-work-related blog][personal blog] to keep all of the random writings and photos that I wanted to share.
[fiction]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/08/16/something-a-little-different/
[Confident Writing]: http://confidentwriting.com/
[personal blog]: http://personal.erambler.co.uk/
# Conclusion
I've found blogging to be valuable. It lets me reflect and organise my thoughts in a form suitable for consumption by other human beings; it lets me connect to the e-learning community and build a useful professional network; it lets me take part in a global conversation.
Enough cliches.
Looking at the date of my last post, it's been almost exactly two months since I last posted. I suppose that's not surprising, since those two months contained an awful lot of stuff happening elsewhere in my life, such as moving house and Christmas.
However, it does mean that I've so far missed out on the traditional ritual of looking back on one's year to date and using it as blog-fodder. So here we are then. Time to have a look back and see what I've learned from the experience so far.
<!--more-->
2009 has been my first full year of blogging. It took me a while to get going, and to begin finding my voice (I'm still working on that), but then I made some [decisions about my future career][career news] and suddenly this blog had a purpose: to give me a way to join in the e-learning community, reflect and learn. Since then, I've posted on pretty much whatever's seemed appropriate, and started getting to grips with what makes this medium tick.
[career news]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/06/blog-career-news/
# What did people read?
My most popular (i.e. most viewed) posts seem to fit into one or both of two categories: "hot topics" and conversations.
By "hot topics", I mean subjects which interest a large portion of the online community enough to see what I've got to say. Examples of this type of post include:
* My [three part][part 1] [beginners guide][part 2] [to Twitter][part 3];
* A brief note on the [University of Sheffield's decision to use Google Mail][UoS GMail].
[part 1]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/15/beginners-guide-to-twitter-part-i/
[part 2]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/16/beginners-guide-to-twitter-part-ii/
[part 3]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/03/17/beginners-guide-to-twitter-part-iii/
[UoS GMail]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/27/university-sheffield-google-mail/
By "conversations", I refer to posts which are actively trying to engage with my audience. My favourite of these (and my favourite post of the year) has to be:
* [Ask the readers: Why use technology in teaching?][favourite]
[favourite]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/05/30/ask-the-readers-why-use-technology-in-teaching/
I think its success lies in the fact that it was a question broad enough for everyone to have an opinion on and important enough for many people to *want* to comment on. I intentionally kept the original post quite short, and ensured that the question I was asking stood out.
Then, of course, there are posts which fall into both categories, such as my [contribution to the debate on the death or otherwise of the VLE][VLE death].
[VLE death]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/08/19/moving-to-a-more-agile-vle/
# What didn't work?
I tried a couple of different things to keep things interesting, such as posting a weekly summary of links that I'd found around the internet and trying monthly themes, but neither of these really caught on as I didn't have the motivation to keep on with them.
I think perhaps the monthly theme idea would work better for a blog which was consciously aimed at being educational resource for the reader, forming part of the ongoing story which keeps learners engaged. For this blog, though, which is more reflective and tends to be a reaction to my own thoughts and experiences, it feels unnecessarily prescriptive.
# Other highlights
In August, I moved from Wordpress.com to my own self-hosted blog, thanks to the generosity of a friend with a server to host it. I wanted to have scope to experiment and expand, so I went with [Wordpress MU][], the multi-user version of Wordpress which allows multiple blogs to run off a single installation.
[Wordpress MU]: http://mu.wordpress.org/
I also tried my hand at writing some [fiction][] in response to a challenge on Joanna Young's [Confident Writing][] blog. I really enjoyed it, but decided that it didn't really fit into my plan for this blog, so I took advantage of Wordpress MU and started a [separate non-work-related blog][personal blog] to keep all of the random writings and photos that I wanted to share.
[fiction]: http://erambler.co.uk/2009/08/16/something-a-little-different/
[Confident Writing]: http://confidentwriting.com/
[personal blog]: http://personal.erambler.co.uk/
# Conclusion
I've found blogging to be valuable. It lets me reflect and organise my thoughts in a form suitable for consumption by other human beings; it lets me connect to the e-learning community and build a useful professional network; it lets me take part in a global conversation.
Enough cliches.
Here's looking forward to the next twelve months.

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<img alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2679/4315247682_0ec0540b84_m_d.jpg" title="Young Narcissist" class="alignright" width="240" height="161" />
**"The unexamined life is not worth living."**
So said Socrates, anyway, and he was a pretty bright chap by all accounts.
Reflective writing is increasingly being used as a form of evidence in many qualifications and as part of professional development programmes. It was central to the assessment of my [PCHE][] qualification, and it's the main method of assessment for my other half's [CILIP][] chartership process.
[PCHE]: http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/lt-supp/pche.html
[CILIP]: http://www.cilip.org.uk/Pages/default.aspx
By why? What's so important about it?
<!--more-->
Well professional qualifications are typically about being better at **what you do**.
Now, if you're studying mathematics, biology or astrophysics, the object of your learning is external and independent. On the other hand, if you want to be better at teaching or people management, it's *your own behaviour* that needs to change.
It's not enough to know what you should be doing in theory. You also need to know what you're actually doing so that you can work out how to improve.
# Where does writing fit in? #
It's perfectly possible to think about your own behaviour without going near a pen (or computer). Why would you want to write it all down? For me, reflective writing serves several purposes.
First, it makes a permanent record. I can quite easily forget what I was thinking five minutes ago, let alone remember everything I thought last month. But if I write something down it's a lot harder to lose.
Plus, it can be enlightening and even surprising to look back at a later date at what you thought in the past. It can be particularly useful to see how your thoughts develop over a period of time, particularly if you have an interest in how people learn.
Next, it can act as evidence of your learning. A portfolio which includes reflective writing shows not only that you have the right skills, but also that you're both willing and able to improve them.
Finally, it externalises your thought processes, placing them in the real world where you can examine them more objectively. It's far to easy to get wrapped up in those processes if you keep them locked away inside your head.
# How can I write reflectively? #
As I rapidly discovered when I started, reflective writing doesn't come naturally to a lot of people. Thankfully there are a number of tricks which can help --- here are a few that have worked for me:
1. **Use a timer**: Set an ordinary kitchen timer for 10 minutes, and write without pausing until it goes off. Don't worry about staying on topic; just don't stop writing.
2. **Write a letter**: Try imagining that you're writing a to a friend or family member. You don't have to ever send it, but writing for someone else can make reflection feel less futile.
3. **Ask a question**: If you're writing about a particular problem, seeing it phrased as a question can help to trigger problem-solving thought processes.
4. **Mix it up**: If writing doesn't do it for you, try talking things through into a dictaphone. If you have a trusted friend or colleague, you could set up a tape recorder (or use a laptop or mobile phone) and record a conversation with them.
5. **Learn more**: [Gillie Bolton][] isn't the only author to write about reflective writing by a long way, but I found her book [Reflective Practice][Bolton 2005] full of useful ideas. I'm also planning to take a look at [Donald Schön][Donald Schon]'s classic work on the subject, [The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action][Schon 1983] soon.
[Gillie Bolton]: http://www.gilliebolton.com/writing/reflective-writing.html
[Bolton 2005]: http://www.gilliebolton.com/books/reflective-practice-book.html
[Donald Schon]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Schon
[Schon 1983]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflective-Practitioner-Professionals-Think-Action/dp/1857423194/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265574365&sr=8-1
But I'm interested: **what works for you?** Share your tips and tricks in the comments below.
*Photo credit: [Young Narcissist][] by Victoria Henderson*
<img alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2679/4315247682_0ec0540b84_m_d.jpg" title="Young Narcissist" class="alignright" width="240" height="161" />
**"The unexamined life is not worth living."**
So said Socrates, anyway, and he was a pretty bright chap by all accounts.
Reflective writing is increasingly being used as a form of evidence in many qualifications and as part of professional development programmes. It was central to the assessment of my [PCHE][] qualification, and it's the main method of assessment for my other half's [CILIP][] chartership process.
[PCHE]: http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/lt-supp/pche.html
[CILIP]: http://www.cilip.org.uk/Pages/default.aspx
By why? What's so important about it?
<!--more-->
Well professional qualifications are typically about being better at **what you do**.
Now, if you're studying mathematics, biology or astrophysics, the object of your learning is external and independent. On the other hand, if you want to be better at teaching or people management, it's *your own behaviour* that needs to change.
It's not enough to know what you should be doing in theory. You also need to know what you're actually doing so that you can work out how to improve.
# Where does writing fit in? #
It's perfectly possible to think about your own behaviour without going near a pen (or computer). Why would you want to write it all down? For me, reflective writing serves several purposes.
First, it makes a permanent record. I can quite easily forget what I was thinking five minutes ago, let alone remember everything I thought last month. But if I write something down it's a lot harder to lose.
Plus, it can be enlightening and even surprising to look back at a later date at what you thought in the past. It can be particularly useful to see how your thoughts develop over a period of time, particularly if you have an interest in how people learn.
Next, it can act as evidence of your learning. A portfolio which includes reflective writing shows not only that you have the right skills, but also that you're both willing and able to improve them.
Finally, it externalises your thought processes, placing them in the real world where you can examine them more objectively. It's far to easy to get wrapped up in those processes if you keep them locked away inside your head.
# How can I write reflectively? #
As I rapidly discovered when I started, reflective writing doesn't come naturally to a lot of people. Thankfully there are a number of tricks which can help --- here are a few that have worked for me:
1. **Use a timer**: Set an ordinary kitchen timer for 10 minutes, and write without pausing until it goes off. Don't worry about staying on topic; just don't stop writing.
2. **Write a letter**: Try imagining that you're writing a to a friend or family member. You don't have to ever send it, but writing for someone else can make reflection feel less futile.
3. **Ask a question**: If you're writing about a particular problem, seeing it phrased as a question can help to trigger problem-solving thought processes.
4. **Mix it up**: If writing doesn't do it for you, try talking things through into a dictaphone. If you have a trusted friend or colleague, you could set up a tape recorder (or use a laptop or mobile phone) and record a conversation with them.
5. **Learn more**: [Gillie Bolton][] isn't the only author to write about reflective writing by a long way, but I found her book [Reflective Practice][Bolton 2005] full of useful ideas. I'm also planning to take a look at [Donald Schön][Donald Schon]'s classic work on the subject, [The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action][Schon 1983] soon.
[Gillie Bolton]: http://www.gilliebolton.com/writing/reflective-writing.html
[Bolton 2005]: http://www.gilliebolton.com/books/reflective-practice-book.html
[Donald Schon]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Schon
[Schon 1983]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflective-Practitioner-Professionals-Think-Action/dp/1857423194/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265574365&sr=8-1
But I'm interested: **what works for you?** Share your tips and tricks in the comments below.
*Photo credit: [Young Narcissist][] by Victoria Henderson*
[Young Narcissist]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/behind-the-lense/4315247682/

8
content/articles/2010/04/how-do-you-protect-yourself-online.md
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In my last post, <a href="http://erambler.co.uk/2010/04/15/privacy-identity-and-control-on-the-web/">Privacy, identity and control on the web</a>, I talked about about how important it can be to take control of your online presence.
But I got to thinking: <strong>What do you do to protect your privacy and/or identity on Facebook, Twitter or the rest of the web?</strong>
In my last post, <a href="http://erambler.co.uk/2010/04/15/privacy-identity-and-control-on-the-web/">Privacy, identity and control on the web</a>, I talked about about how important it can be to take control of your online presence.
But I got to thinking: <strong>What do you do to protect your privacy and/or identity on Facebook, Twitter or the rest of the web?</strong>
Please share your thoughts by posting a comment below, or by writing a post on your own blog and linking to this one — a link will automagically appear below.

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<img alt="My Identity by Kathryn B (via Flickr)" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4464828517_2fdf5f479c_m_d.jpg" title="My Identity by Kathryn B" class="alignright" width="240" height="209" />
Recently, my dad contacted me to ask some advice about Facebook: a friend of his (who shall remain nameless, for obvious reasons) had been a victim of Facebook identity theft. The friend is a school teacher, and unbeknownst to him, someone or other had set up a Facebook profile in his name with his photo and begun befriending his school pupils.
It's still unclear what the intention was here. It may have been to groom children by posing as someone they knew. It may have been to falsely accuse the friend of grooming children. It may even have been totally innocent.
In the end, the friend was very lucky. Well before the situation could get out of hand, he was able to contact Facebook, prove satisfactorily that this was a fake account and have it taken down. But reputation being what it is, it could have ended his career.
<!--more-->
Last week was the [Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2010][PeLC], and although I didn't attend, I have been reading some of the coverage on the blogosphere. In particular my eye was caught by James Clay's blog post, [Privacy has gone...][] which in turn discusses Josie Fraser's keynote on privacy.
[PeLC]: http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/e-learning/
[Privacy has gone...]: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/privacy-has-gone/
As I was reading James's blog post, that story came back to me, and it occurred to me that there's an element of balance to be found in protecting one's privacy and identity online.
Those of us engaged in education often teach our students about the dangers of revealing too much information about ourselves online. The publishing of addresses, birth dates, account numbers will almost inevitably lead to identity theft.
But it seems just as important to strongly establish your identity online. Perhaps by having a well-established Facebook page it would be much easier to say "that fake profile is not mine." If there are even a dozen people who you've friended online who you know in real life, and who can vouch for the real you, you're in a much stronger position.
In addition to this, having a Facebook account permits your friends to tag photos of you properly if they wish, rather than just entering your name, which in turn allows you to restrict who sees those tags.
The way to protect yourself online is not to become the Ungooglable Man --- James rightly points out that this strategy doesn't work. Much better to step up and proudly say "[this is me][]". Take control of your brand, and don't let other people have the only voice in what the web says about you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have a Facebook profile? How tightly do you control your privacy settings? What comes up if you [Google yourself][Google me]? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
*Photo credit: [My Identity][] by Kathryn B*
[this is me]: http://thisisme.reading.ac.uk/
[Google me]: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=jez+cope
<img alt="My Identity by Kathryn B (via Flickr)" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4464828517_2fdf5f479c_m_d.jpg" title="My Identity by Kathryn B" class="alignright" width="240" height="209" />
Recently, my dad contacted me to ask some advice about Facebook: a friend of his (who shall remain nameless, for obvious reasons) had been a victim of Facebook identity theft. The friend is a school teacher, and unbeknownst to him, someone or other had set up a Facebook profile in his name with his photo and begun befriending his school pupils.
It's still unclear what the intention was here. It may have been to groom children by posing as someone they knew. It may have been to falsely accuse the friend of grooming children. It may even have been totally innocent.
In the end, the friend was very lucky. Well before the situation could get out of hand, he was able to contact Facebook, prove satisfactorily that this was a fake account and have it taken down. But reputation being what it is, it could have ended his career.
<!--more-->
Last week was the [Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2010][PeLC], and although I didn't attend, I have been reading some of the coverage on the blogosphere. In particular my eye was caught by James Clay's blog post, [Privacy has gone...][] which in turn discusses Josie Fraser's keynote on privacy.
[PeLC]: http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/e-learning/
[Privacy has gone...]: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/privacy-has-gone/
As I was reading James's blog post, that story came back to me, and it occurred to me that there's an element of balance to be found in protecting one's privacy and identity online.
Those of us engaged in education often teach our students about the dangers of revealing too much information about ourselves online. The publishing of addresses, birth dates, account numbers will almost inevitably lead to identity theft.
But it seems just as important to strongly establish your identity online. Perhaps by having a well-established Facebook page it would be much easier to say "that fake profile is not mine." If there are even a dozen people who you've friended online who you know in real life, and who can vouch for the real you, you're in a much stronger position.
In addition to this, having a Facebook account permits your friends to tag photos of you properly if they wish, rather than just entering your name, which in turn allows you to restrict who sees those tags.
The way to protect yourself online is not to become the Ungooglable Man --- James rightly points out that this strategy doesn't work. Much better to step up and proudly say "[this is me][]". Take control of your brand, and don't let other people have the only voice in what the web says about you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have a Facebook profile? How tightly do you control your privacy settings? What comes up if you [Google yourself][Google me]? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
*Photo credit: [My Identity][] by Kathryn B*
[this is me]: http://thisisme.reading.ac.uk/
[Google me]: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=jez+cope
[My Identity]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56695083@N00/4464828517/

4
content/articles/2010/06/briefly-brushing-away-the-cobwebs.md
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So, in case any of my regular readers (do I have any?) have been wondering why there hasn't been a lot to read regularly, I thought I'd post a short update to let you all know what I've been up to: planning a wedding and starting a business, in between commuting to my part-time job tutoring kids. It's all been *loads* of fun (and will continue to be) and I've not really had time to make blog posts.
So, in case any of my regular readers (do I have any?) have been wondering why there hasn't been a lot to read regularly, I thought I'd post a short update to let you all know what I've been up to: planning a wedding and starting a business, in between commuting to my part-time job tutoring kids. It's all been *loads* of fun (and will continue to be) and I've not really had time to make blog posts.
More posts, when I get back from the honeymoon. Bye for now!

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content/articles/2010/12/kindles-for-researchers-and-students.md
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<div class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/orb9220/4794069185/"><img alt="Nook Storytelling A New Way 2 of 2" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4794069185_bde57cedd6_m.jpg" title="Nook Storytelling A New Way 2 of 2" width="240" height="161" /></a><p>Photo by orb9220</p></div>Last week, in conversation over a cup of tea with a handful of PhD students and the <abbr title="Doctoral Training Centre">DTC</abbr> Co-ordinator, someone remarked on the large quantity of printing that PhD students (and researchers in general) do. It's common to end up with piles and piles of printed articles which have been read only a few times before being "archived".
Not only is this wasteful, both environmentally and economically, it also means carrying all of those dead-tree documents around if you want to read them out of the office (which most people do).
One alternative is to read on-screen, but I've never found this very satisfactory, either on desktop or laptop. I don't mind reading on an iPhone/iPod touch, so I think the key for me is being able to hold what I'm reading in my hand — perhaps something to do with fine control of focal distance, or taking advantage of hand-eye coordination reflexes. There's also the fact that I don't always want to carry a laptop around with me.
# A possible solution #
So that led us on to thinking about e-readers such as [Amazon's Kindle][] and [Sony's Reader][]. Perhaps one of these devices could solve the problems of printing on dead trees *and* reading on screen.
We can't just buy a batch of these things on a whim for our students and staff though. We'll want to know:
* Are they cost effective compared with paper?
* Are they more sustainable, environmentally?
* Will people actually find them useful?
The first question should be fairly easy to estimate, especially since the university is moving to a centrally-managed print service with fixed costs per page. The second is tricky, since it still seems unclear [what the lifetime environmental impact of a Kindle actually is][kindle footprint]. The third is probably going to generate the most discussion, since it's going to vary widely from person to person.
# But will it work...? #
I'd be really interested to know if any of my readers have any relevant thoughts or experience.
Issues that we've come up with so far include:
* Most scientific articles come in PDF format. It needs to be possible either to view PDFs easily on a 6" e-reader screen or to reformat them consistently to make them readable. Images, diagrams and equations need to be preserved;
* One of the key reasons for printing off articles is to annotate them, by highlighting or scribbling notes in the margin. This has to be possible in an effective e-reader as well;
* One early question was whether this is something that the students would actually want/use. Currently about 80% are in favour (22 out of 26 having voted in a quick poll), but there's a difference between thinking something's cool and actually using it.
Let me know what you think.
[Amazon's Kindle]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle
[Sony's Reader]: http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/ebook-reader
<div class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/orb9220/4794069185/"><img alt="Nook Storytelling A New Way 2 of 2" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4794069185_bde57cedd6_m.jpg" title="Nook Storytelling A New Way 2 of 2" width="240" height="161" /></a><p>Photo by orb9220</p></div>Last week, in conversation over a cup of tea with a handful of PhD students and the <abbr title="Doctoral Training Centre">DTC</abbr> Co-ordinator, someone remarked on the large quantity of printing that PhD students (and researchers in general) do. It's common to end up with piles and piles of printed articles which have been read only a few times before being "archived".
Not only is this wasteful, both environmentally and economically, it also means carrying all of those dead-tree documents around if you want to read them out of the office (which most people do).
One alternative is to read on-screen, but I've never found this very satisfactory, either on desktop or laptop. I don't mind reading on an iPhone/iPod touch, so I think the key for me is being able to hold what I'm reading in my hand — perhaps something to do with fine control of focal distance, or taking advantage of hand-eye coordination reflexes. There's also the fact that I don't always want to carry a laptop around with me.
# A possible solution #
So that led us on to thinking about e-readers such as [Amazon's Kindle][] and [Sony's Reader][]. Perhaps one of these devices could solve the problems of printing on dead trees *and* reading on screen.
We can't just buy a batch of these things on a whim for our students and staff though. We'll want to know:
* Are they cost effective compared with paper?
* Are they more sustainable, environmentally?
* Will people actually find them useful?
The first question should be fairly easy to estimate, especially since the university is moving to a centrally-managed print service with fixed costs per page. The second is tricky, since it still seems unclear [what the lifetime environmental impact of a Kindle actually is][kindle footprint]. The third is probably going to generate the most discussion, since it's going to vary widely from person to person.
# But will it work...? #
I'd be really interested to know if any of my readers have any relevant thoughts or experience.
Issues that we've come up with so far include:
* Most scientific articles come in PDF format. It needs to be possible either to view PDFs easily on a 6" e-reader screen or to reformat them consistently to make them readable. Images, diagrams and equations need to be preserved;
* One of the key reasons for printing off articles is to annotate them, by highlighting or scribbling notes in the margin. This has to be possible in an effective e-reader as well;
* One early question was whether this is something that the students would actually want/use. Currently about 80% are in favour (22 out of 26 having voted in a quick poll), but there's a difference between thinking something's cool and actually using it.
Let me know what you think.
[Amazon's Kindle]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle
[Sony's Reader]: http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/ebook-reader
[kindle footprint]: http://blog.sustainablog.org/new-report-finds-kindle-greener-than-physical-books-is-that-really-so/

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content/articles/2011/01/further-video-conferencing-thoughts.md
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The other day, I blogged about my [experiences using BigBlueButton for video-conferencing][last post]. It occurs to me though, that getting the technology right is only half the battle, or even less: the rest is about people's familiarity with the concept.
Several times over the last few months I've been using Skype a bit more to communicate with friends and family. With people who are used to using Skype or similar technologies, it's a pretty seamless extension of the phonecall. For inexperienced users, however, there's a lot of awkward silence and waving and repeating "Hello? Can you hear me?", especially when there's a bit of a delay on the line.
Then there's The Feedback Issue. Unlike analogue audio systems there's no squeaking or whining. Instead, everything that comes out of the speakers is retransmitted through the microphone on a slight delay, which is offputting for the person speaking and downright confusing for everyone else listening. And when more than one participant is causing feedback it just gets worse.
Feedback can be mitigated by turning down the volume on speakers and gain on microphones, but it can only really be eliminated by the use of headphones or echo cancellation hardware/software. Yes, the solution to this is so simple it bears repeating: **use headphones**.
# How to fix this #
Getting the user interface right can help. This is where Elluminate falls down: the window is covered in buttons, none of which are labelled and many of which have icons which only vaguely represent their purpose.[^1] BigBlueButton is better: it has very few buttons. There was a minor issue that one of the buttons didn't do exactly what was expected (you had to click the microphone button to be able to hear the sound). This stuff is important and worth spending time to get right.
[^1]: I don't think there's going to be a lot of pressure on the developers to make it too easy to use, as Elluminate makes part of its money from training.
Training can help too, and I think the best form of training in this case is just to give people a safe place to try things out and get used to them. We've lived with phones for so long now that we know exactly how they work, but there are a lot of people who just aren't familiar with video-conferencing.
Anyway, that'll do for now, though it feels like I'll probably be visiting this again in the future. Let me know what you think.
The other day, I blogged about my [experiences using BigBlueButton for video-conferencing][last post]. It occurs to me though, that getting the technology right is only half the battle, or even less: the rest is about people's familiarity with the concept.
Several times over the last few months I've been using Skype a bit more to communicate with friends and family. With people who are used to using Skype or similar technologies, it's a pretty seamless extension of the phonecall. For inexperienced users, however, there's a lot of awkward silence and waving and repeating "Hello? Can you hear me?", especially when there's a bit of a delay on the line.
Then there's The Feedback Issue. Unlike analogue audio systems there's no squeaking or whining. Instead, everything that comes out of the speakers is retransmitted through the microphone on a slight delay, which is offputting for the person speaking and downright confusing for everyone else listening. And when more than one participant is causing feedback it just gets worse.
Feedback can be mitigated by turning down the volume on speakers and gain on microphones, but it can only really be eliminated by the use of headphones or echo cancellation hardware/software. Yes, the solution to this is so simple it bears repeating: **use headphones**.
# How to fix this #
Getting the user interface right can help. This is where Elluminate falls down: the window is covered in buttons, none of which are labelled and many of which have icons which only vaguely represent their purpose.[^1] BigBlueButton is better: it has very few buttons. There was a minor issue that one of the buttons didn't do exactly what was expected (you had to click the microphone button to be able to hear the sound). This stuff is important and worth spending time to get right.
[^1]: I don't think there's going to be a lot of pressure on the developers to make it too easy to use, as Elluminate makes part of its money from training.
Training can help too, and I think the best form of training in this case is just to give people a safe place to try things out and get used to them. We've lived with phones for so long now that we know exactly how they work, but there are a lot of people who just aren't familiar with video-conferencing.
Anyway, that'll do for now, though it feels like I'll probably be visiting this again in the future. Let me know what you think.
[last post]: /2011/01/24/simple-video-conferencing-with-bigbluebutton/

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As I've grown older, I've gradually made more conscious attempts to think about what I want my life to be like. Like most people, I'm typically rubbish at either making or keeping New Year's resolutions, so this year I'm following David Seah's [Groundhog Day Resolutions][] pattern.
The idea is to start thinking about the resolutions around Christmas and actually commit to them on the 2nd of February (2/2) and then review them on 3rd March (3/3), 4th April (4/4) etc. I'm not making these solid commitments, but things that I want to track my progress against. It's ok to let one or two go if I don't have the time — I'm not Superman after all.
I hope that by publishing this that I'm more likely to follow through on the process, and that it will prompt others to do the same.
# Do more #
* Blogging;
- My strategy here is to write shorter posts — this one is an example;
* Playing [Go][];
* [Photography][];
* Running (10k target time 50 minutes);
* Walking with Elly and friends;
* Playing music, at home and socially.
# Do less #
* Watching crap telly;
* Avoiding things that are important but not urgent (housework, taxes, etc.).
# Keep the same #
* Kicking ass at work;
* Meeting new and interesting people;
* [Morris dancing][].
[groundhog day resolutions]: http://davidseah.com/2007/02/groundhog-day-resolutions/
[morris dancing]: http://www.bathampton-morris-men.org.uk/
[Go]: http://www.bathgo.org/
As I've grown older, I've gradually made more conscious attempts to think about what I want my life to be like. Like most people, I'm typically rubbish at either making or keeping New Year's resolutions, so this year I'm following David Seah's [Groundhog Day Resolutions][] pattern.
The idea is to start thinking about the resolutions around Christmas and actually commit to them on the 2nd of February (2/2) and then review them on 3rd March (3/3), 4th April (4/4) etc. I'm not making these solid commitments, but things that I want to track my progress against. It's ok to let one or two go if I don't have the time — I'm not Superman after all.
I hope that by publishing this that I'm more likely to follow through on the process, and that it will prompt others to do the same.
# Do more #
* Blogging;
- My strategy here is to write shorter posts — this one is an example;
* Playing [Go][];
* [Photography][];
* Running (10k target time 50 minutes);
* Walking with Elly and friends;
* Playing music, at home and socially.
# Do less #
* Watching crap telly;
* Avoiding things that are important but not urgent (housework, taxes, etc.).
# Keep the same #
* Kicking ass at work;
* Meeting new and interesting people;
* [Morris dancing][].
[groundhog day resolutions]: http://davidseah.com/2007/02/groundhog-day-resolutions/
[morris dancing]: http://www.bathampton-morris-men.org.uk/
[Go]: http://www.bathgo.org/
[Photography]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jezcope

22
content/articles/2011/02/short-book-review-here-comes-everybody-by-clay-shirky.md
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- Sociology
wpid: 602
---
I promised some shorter posts, so here's one. I've just finished reading [Here Comes Everybody][] by [Clay Shirky][] and since it made me think I thought I'd post a few of those thoughts up here.
[Here Comes Everybody]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Here-Comes-Everybody-Happens-Together/dp/0141030623/
[Clay Shirky]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Shirky
It's a clear and well written, and gives a well constructed theory of how and why communities form in or around things like Wikipedia, MeetUp and the Linux kernel.
Through the use of case studies, Shirky builds up a convincing framework of three elements: the promise of what the community offers; the tool which sets the environment for the community; and the bargain between the users which sets the rules of engagement. He also points out that the patterns of behaviour we see today have been emerging for quite a long time.
If there was a weakness to the book, it was that Shirky labours the point a bit with his case studies; at times it feels like he's repeating himself so as to make use of all the carefully researched examples. I don't think that really detracts from the overall picture though.
I promised some shorter posts, so here's one. I've just finished reading [Here Comes Everybody][] by [Clay Shirky][] and since it made me think I thought I'd post a few of those thoughts up here.
[Here Comes Everybody]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Here-Comes-Everybody-Happens-Together/dp/0141030623/
[Clay Shirky]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Shirky
It's a clear and well written, and gives a well constructed theory of how and why communities form in or around things like Wikipedia, MeetUp and the Linux kernel.
Through the use of case studies, Shirky builds up a convincing framework of three elements: the promise of what the community offers; the tool which sets the environment for the community; and the bargain between the users which sets the rules of engagement. He also points out that the patterns of behaviour we see today have been emerging for quite a long time.
If there was a weakness to the book, it was that Shirky labours the point a bit with his case studies; at times it feels like he's repeating himself so as to make use of all the carefully researched examples. I don't think that really detracts from the overall picture though.
I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's interested in what makes the social web tick.

26
content/articles/2011/03/research-uses-for-new-social-media.md
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@ -11,17 +11,17 @@ tags:
- University of Bath
wpid: 607
---
As part of my ongoing efforts to introduce a virtual research environment to the <abbr title="Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies">CSCT</abbr>, I've been thinking about running a general [Digital Researcher][] type workshop for our students. After putting out feelers I discovered that quite a few other people across the university are thinking about similar things right now, so we're working together to avoid duplication as much as we can.
[Digital Researcher]: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1269-314021/Digital-Researcher.html
I think it's important to focus on things that researchers actually want to do, rather than just thinking about the technologies. So far, based on my own experiences and conversations with one or two research students, I've come up with the following list of goals:
* Promote my research;
* Communicate with existing collaborators;
* Find potential new collaborators;
* Find reliable information on X (including recognised experts);
* Keep up to date with news & opportunities;
* Find my next job.
As part of my ongoing efforts to introduce a virtual research environment to the <abbr title="Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies">CSCT</abbr>, I've been thinking about running a general [Digital Researcher][] type workshop for our students. After putting out feelers I discovered that quite a few other people across the university are thinking about similar things right now, so we're working together to avoid duplication as much as we can.
[Digital Researcher]: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1269-314021/Digital-Researcher.html
I think it's important to focus on things that researchers actually want to do, rather than just thinking about the technologies. So far, based on my own experiences and conversations with one or two research students, I've come up with the following list of goals:
* Promote my research;
* Communicate with existing collaborators;
* Find potential new collaborators;
* Find reliable information on X (including recognised experts);
* Keep up to date with news & opportunities;
* Find my next job.
What do you think? Is there anything missing?

94
content/articles/2011/03/thoughts-on-jisc11-part-1-cloud-computing.md
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@ -11,51 +11,51 @@ tags:
- eScience
wpid: 614
---
*This post is part of a short series in which I share the thoughts prompted by the recent [JISC conference in Liverpool][JISC11].*
The first session I attended at the JISC conference was entitled “[Cloud Solutions: Risk or Reward?][Session 1]” I was particularly looking forward to it as I've become increasingly interested in the affordances of cloud computing for higher education.
[Prof. Paul Watson, Director of the Digital Institute at the University of Newcastle][Watson] was first to speak. I think he has it spot on to go after the 'long tail' of researchers: that large majority with little access to IT skills & resources.
It's too easy to focus on serving the easy few, with the budget to purchase their own computing power and the expertise to make use of it. The remainder of researchers who could make use of shared computing resource to analyse and store their data more effectively have neither the time, the expertise nor the budget to buy big machines for relatively small tasks. It's these users who represent the majority of those who could benefit from cloud computing, if only the tools can be found to let them.
To make this work, using the cloud has to be much more like using apps researchers are familiar with, like Office and EndNote. Newcastle’s e-science central project seems to be taking a good approach: everything works through a web browser and is designed to be as easy as possible.
They’ve even thought about supporting a progression in use, from simply storing data, to analysing it, automating common analysis workflows and finally sharing and reusing those workflows. As well as supporting research, this has big implications for teaching too: the ability to let students experiment with established workflows on real datasets could be a really powerful tool.
As an aside, there was an interesting question from the floor about whether this heralded a return to thin-client computing, with all the loss of freedom that entails. My own view is that cloud computing finally let's us find a happy medium between running everyday apps on the desktop and passing resource-hungry jobs off to dedicated clusters.
Going the other way, [Dr Phil Richards, Director of IT Services at the University of Loughborough][Richards] suggested that the “killer app” for the cloud would be the ability to provide cheap virtual servers, an approach known as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, or IaaS.
This makes sense from the perspective of those supporting the IT needs of researchers, but without the skills to know what to do with a virtual server, I’m not sure the researchers themselves will see immediate benefits. IaaS might make the cloud worthwhile to implement in the first place, but it’ll only make a big difference when it’s easy and cheap for researchers to store and analyse data.
All three speakers naturally made the point about cost reduction. Phil Richards cited HP as an example of a large organisation who have made real savings by rationalising their data centres, going from 85 to just 6 and halving the number of applications running on them to 3,000, and saving $1b per annum in return.
Cloud computing brings the cost benefits of scale to end-users who only need a small proportion of the total resource available. It also transmutes up-front capital expenditure to ongoing operational expenditure for those end-users, making planning much easier at a time of great financial upheaval.
As ever, there are risks attached to new developments. [JANET’s Middleware Group Manager, Henry Hughes][Hughes], gave a good summary of these. Cloud services must be able to comply with legislation (such as the Data Protection Act, with the US Patriot Act muddying the waters). They must handle multi-tenancy securely, without putting sensitive or confidential data at risk. They must provide protection against lock-in, so that applications can be migrated to new services as necessary. Finally, they must be able to guarantee availability of their services. These are all big challenges, but I think we can meet them.
In meeting these challenges, we have a big advantage on our side. One of the biggest costs in HP's data centre project was building a secure, high-performance network, and UK HE already has one in the form of JANET.
I know not everyone will agree with me, but my overall impression is that the rewards of cloud computing for HE vastly outweigh the risks. It’s time for those universities still holding out to stop talking about it and got on with it!
*Thanks to Chris Sexton for her [cloud computing notes](http://cicsdir.blogspot.com/2011/03/clouds-and-clouds-and-feeling-strange.html), which reminded me of a few figures that I’d failed to write down.*
[JISC11]: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2011/03/jisc11.aspx
[Session 1]: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2011/03/jisc11/programme/1cloudsolutions.aspx
[Watson]: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/paul.watson
[Richards]: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/admin/vc/emg/director-it.html
*This post is part of a short series in which I share the thoughts prompted by the recent [JISC conference in Liverpool][JISC11].*
The first session I attended at the JISC conference was entitled “[Cloud Solutions: Risk or Reward?][Session 1]” I was particularly looking forward to it as I've become increasingly interested in the affordances of cloud computing for higher education.
[Prof. Paul Watson, Director of the Digital Institute at the University of Newcastle][Watson] was first to speak. I think he has it spot on to go after the 'long tail' of researchers: that large majority with little access to IT skills & resources.
It's too easy to focus on serving the easy few, with the budget to purchase their own computing power and the expertise to make use of it. The remainder of researchers who could make use of shared computing resource to analyse and store their data more effectively have neither the time, the expertise nor the budget to buy big machines for relatively small tasks. It's these users who represent the majority of those who could benefit from cloud computing, if only the tools can be found to let them.
To make this work, using the cloud has to be much more like using apps researchers are familiar with, like Office and EndNote. Newcastle’s e-science central project seems to be taking a good approach: everything works through a web browser and is designed to be as easy as possible.
They’ve even thought about supporting a progression in use, from simply storing data, to analysing it, automating common analysis workflows and finally sharing and reusing those workflows. As well as supporting research, this has big implications for teaching too: the ability to let students experiment with established workflows on real datasets could be a really powerful tool.
As an aside, there was an interesting question from the floor about whether this heralded a return to thin-client computing, with all the loss of freedom that entails. My own view is that cloud computing finally let's us find a happy medium between running everyday apps on the desktop and passing resource-hungry jobs off to dedicated clusters.
Going the other way, [Dr Phil Richards, Director of IT Services at the University of Loughborough][Richards] suggested that the “killer app” for the cloud would be the ability to provide cheap virtual servers, an approach known as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, or IaaS.
This makes sense from the perspective of those supporting the IT needs of researchers, but without the skills to know what to do with a virtual server, I’m not sure the researchers themselves will see immediate benefits. IaaS might make the cloud worthwhile to implement in the first place, but it’ll only make a big difference when it’s easy and cheap for researchers to store and analyse data.
All three speakers naturally made the point about cost reduction. Phil Richards cited HP as an example of a large organisation who have made real savings by rationalising their data centres, going from 85 to just 6 and halving the number of applications running on them to 3,000, and saving $1b per annum in return.
Cloud computing brings the cost benefits of scale to end-users who only need a small proportion of the total resource available. It also transmutes up-front capital expenditure to ongoing operational expenditure for those end-users, making planning much easier at a time of great financial upheaval.
As ever, there are risks attached to new developments. [JANET’s Middleware Group Manager, Henry Hughes][Hughes], gave a good summary of these. Cloud services must be able to comply with legislation (such as the Data Protection Act, with the US Patriot Act muddying the waters). They must handle multi-tenancy securely, without putting sensitive or confidential data at risk. They must provide protection against lock-in, so that applications can be migrated to new services as necessary. Finally, they must be able to guarantee availability of their services. These are all big challenges, but I think we can meet them.
In meeting these challenges, we have a big advantage on our side. One of the biggest costs in HP's data centre project was building a secure, high-performance network, and UK HE already has one in the form of JANET.
I know not everyone will agree with me, but my overall impression is that the rewards of cloud computing for HE vastly outweigh the risks. It’s time for those universities still holding out to stop talking about it and got on with it!
*Thanks to Chris Sexton for her [cloud computing notes](http://cicsdir.blogspot.com/2011/03/clouds-and-clouds-and-feeling-strange.html), which reminded me of a few figures that I’d failed to write down.*
[JISC11]: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2011/03/jisc11.aspx
[Session 1]: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2011/03/jisc11/programme/1cloudsolutions.aspx
[Watson]: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/paul.watson
[Richards]: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/admin/vc/emg/director-it.html
[Hughes]: http://websrvr01.ukerna.ac.uk/about/janet/staff/h.hughes.html

110
content/articles/2011/04/thoughts-on-jisc11-part-2-open-scholarship.md
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@ -14,59 +14,59 @@ tags:
- Open data
wpid: 626
---
My second main session at the JISC conference was entitled [The A-B-C-Ds of Open Scholarship][session info], a panel discussion with four speakers:
* Open Access: [Dr Les Carr, University of Southampton][Les Carr];
* Open Bibliography: [Dr Peter Murray-Rust, University of Cambridge][Peter Murray-Rust];
* Open Citation: [Dr David Shotton, University of Oxford][David Shotton];
* Open Data: [Dr Rufus Pollock, Open Knowledge Foundation][Rufus Pollock].
Les Carr began the introductory remarks with a little bit of roleplay. Though perhaps a little bit over the top, this nicely illustrated his point.
Publishers used to (and arguably still do) serve a useful purpose. Before the rise of the internet, communicating your research to large numbers of your peers around the world would have been impossible without publishers to provide the benefits of scale.
Yet in an age where rises in journal subscription spending is rising even as numbers of subscriptions fall and putting a new page up on the Web costs almost nothing, it’s feeling pretty hard to justify keeping the publishers around.
Clearly the major hurdle is quality-assurance. Without publisher-mediated peer-review, I can publish absolutely I like on the web without an up-front guarantee that it meets some minimum standard of rigour. We need either to make pre-publication peer-review work right for open access (the risk is that the publishing author becomes the paying customer who has to be kept happy), or work out an acceptable system of post-publication peer-review.
For Peter Murray-Rust, bibliographic data itself is an incredibly rich source of information. As well as helping us find useful books and articles, it also lets us look at who’s worked with whom, when they did so and where they were working at the time. In an world where collaboration is vital, that’s a very valuable tool.
Although bibliographic collections can be copyrighted, individual record cannot. Projects like Mendeley are giving us the tools to build up high-quality open bibliographies, rather that having to buy them from large companies who don’t get what we need and tend to munge the data in unhelpful ways.
<img alt="OPEN by Tom Magliery" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2198/1914076277_059bddaa68_m_d.jpg" title="OPEN by Tom Magliery" class="alignleft" width="240" height="240" />David Shotton followed on, adding that “citation is the glue which holds scholarly endeavour together.” The majority of citation data is currently locked up in the references sections of papers, but by making it open and accessible to data mining lots of interesting possibilities open up.
Key among these in my opinion is the ability to trace the evolution of ideas through series of articles and make visible the conversations which researchers are having through their published outputs. This turns the citation record into a valuable companion to peer review in assessing the quality of ideas.
Dr Shotton talked about citation distortion (where an idea starts life as hypothesis but becomes accepted as fact because it is cited a lot rather than because overwhelming evidence is presented). Opening up citation data means that this type of distortion can be objectively analysed.
Rufus Pollock heavily stressed the need for incentives: his favourite phrase seems to be “Where’s the candy?” It’s clear at the moment that many researchers repeat effort in many places that they don’t need to, even taking account of the need to independently verify findings.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to slip into thinking that my own openness benefits everyone except me, and overlook the fact that my openness also encourages others to be more open with me. Charmingly naive though this may seem to the average embattled academic with marking deadlines and REF looming large on the horizon, the success of projects like Wikipedia tells a different story.
The quote of the conference for me came from Les Carr in this session: “Science is the by-product of scientists trying to get promoted.” For me, this embodies the main theme of this session, that researchers have the same basic motivations as everyone else, and are not necessarily driven by some high-minded ideal of making all knowledge equally accessible to all people.
There are big benefits to be had from making scholarship more open, but they will only be realised as and when individual researchers see them as outweighing the cost of changing their behaviour.
As Les Carr pointed out: until then, those who “get it” will share their stuff and damn everyone else, while those who don’t will do anything to avoid rocking the boat.
We need the true value of openness to be recognised as intrinsically linked with academic success. For example, we need standards for the citation of data so that it can contribute properly to the impact metrics so beloved of funding bodies.
It would be nice to think that all it needs is for someone to come up with the one idea that convinces everyone and causes a step-change in academic culture. But that’s not going to happen. It’s going to be a long, hard slog in a sector where change happens at rates comparable to continental drift, but I think it’ll be worth it.
*Photo: [OPEN by Tom Magliery][]*
[Les Carr]: http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/lac/
[Peter Murray-Rust]: http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/
[David Shotton]: http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/staff/academics/shotton_dm.htm
[Rufus Pollock]: http://rufuspollock.org/about/
[session info]: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2011/03/jisc11/programme/2openscholarship.aspx
My second main session at the JISC conference was entitled [The A-B-C-Ds of Open Scholarship][session info], a panel discussion with four speakers:
* Open Access: [Dr Les Carr, University of Southampton][Les Carr];
* Open Bibliography: [Dr Peter Murray-Rust, University of Cambridge][Peter Murray-Rust];
* Open Citation: [Dr David Shotton, University of Oxford][David Shotton];
* Open Data: [Dr Rufus Pollock, Open Knowledge Foundation][Rufus Pollock].
Les Carr began the introductory remarks with a little bit of roleplay. Though perhaps a little bit over the top, this nicely illustrated his point.
Publishers used to (and arguably still do) serve a useful purpose. Before the rise of the internet, communicating your research to large numbers of your peers around the world would have been impossible without publishers to provide the benefits of scale.
Yet in an age where rises in journal subscription spending is rising even as numbers of subscriptions fall and putting a new page up on the Web costs almost nothing, it’s feeling pretty hard to justify keeping the publishers around.
Clearly the major hurdle is quality-assurance. Without publisher-mediated peer-review, I can publish absolutely I like on the web without an up-front guarantee that it meets some minimum standard of rigour. We need either to make pre-publication peer-review work right for open access (the risk is that the publishing author becomes the paying customer who has to be kept happy), or work out an acceptable system of post-publication peer-review.
For Peter Murray-Rust, bibliographic data itself is an incredibly rich source of information. As well as helping us find useful books and articles, it also lets us look at who’s worked with whom, when they did so and where they were working at the time. In an world where collaboration is vital, that’s a very valuable tool.
Although bibliographic collections can be copyrighted, individual record cannot. Projects like Mendeley are giving us the tools to build up high-quality open bibliographies, rather that having to buy them from large companies who don’t get what we need and tend to munge the data in unhelpful ways.
<img alt="OPEN by Tom Magliery" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2198/1914076277_059bddaa68_m_d.jpg" title="OPEN by Tom Magliery" class="alignleft" width="240" height="240" />David Shotton followed on, adding that “citation is the glue which holds scholarly endeavour together.” The majority of citation data is currently locked up in the references sections of papers, but by making it open and accessible to data mining lots of interesting possibilities open up.
Key among these in my opinion is the ability to trace the evolution of ideas through series of articles and make visible the conversations which researchers are having through their published outputs. This turns the citation record into a valuable companion to peer review in assessing the quality of ideas.
Dr Shotton talked about citation distortion (where an idea starts life as hypothesis but becomes accepted as fact because it is cited a lot rather than because overwhelming evidence is presented). Opening up citation data means that this type of distortion can be objectively analysed.
Rufus Pollock heavily stressed the need for incentives: his favourite phrase seems to be “Where’s the candy?” It’s clear at the moment that many researchers repeat effort in many places that they don’t need to, even taking account of the need to independently verify findings.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to slip into thinking that my own openness benefits everyone except me, and overlook the fact that my openness also encourages others to be more open with me. Charmingly naive though this may seem to the average embattled academic with marking deadlines and REF looming large on the horizon, the success of projects like Wikipedia tells a different story.
The quote of the conference for me came from Les Carr in this session: “Science is the by-product of scientists trying to get promoted.” For me, this embodies the main theme of this session, that researchers have the same basic motivations as everyone else, and are not necessarily driven by some high-minded ideal of making all knowledge equally accessible to all people.
There are big benefits to be had from making scholarship more open, but they will only be realised as and when individual researchers see them as outweighing the cost of changing their behaviour.
As Les Carr pointed out: until then, those who “get it” will share their stuff and damn everyone else, while those who don’t will do anything to avoid rocking the boat.
We need the true value of openness to be recognised as intrinsically linked with academic success. For example, we need standards for the citation of data so that it can contribute properly to the impact metrics so beloved of funding bodies.
It would be nice to think that all it needs is for someone to come up with the one idea that convinces everyone and causes a step-change in academic culture. But that’s not going to happen. It’s going to be a long, hard slog in a sector where change happens at rates comparable to continental drift, but I think it’ll be worth it.
*Photo: [OPEN by Tom Magliery][]*
[Les Carr]: http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/lac/
[Peter Murray-Rust]: http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/
[David Shotton]: http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/staff/academics/shotton_dm.htm
[Rufus Pollock]: http://rufuspollock.org/about/
[session info]: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2011/03/jisc11/programme/2openscholarship.aspx
[OPEN by Tom Magliery]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/1914076277/in/photostream/

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content/articles/2015/04/runkeeper-data.html
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<div class="output_area"><div class="prompt"></div>
<div class="output_subarea output_stream output_stdout output_text">
<pre>data/cardioActivities.csv data/measurements.csv
<pre>data/cardioActivities.csv data/measurements.csv
</pre>
</div>
</div>