Over fifteen years ago, I spent some evenings and weekends writing a couple of articles about Neil Young. I was particularly interested in demonstrating the links between some of his ‘genre’ songs and particular approaches to film-making, which seemed to influence some of his work. These articles were published in the Broken Arrow Neil Young […]
Month: September 2003
Seb Schmoller’s Online News Service
It’s probably past time that I gave a plug to Seb Schmoller’s fortnightly mailings, but better late than never, and the current issue is an especially good — and quite representative — mix of general learning and specialist e-learning features, plus news of an interesting conference, and comment on the prospects for improvement in the […]
Text and Index: supporting the reading of culture
In 1987 when I made my second, eventually successful, attempt to read Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, I started keeping notes. These notes comprised a brief précis of the developments in each passage and the cast of characters (new and reappearing) involved. I have a good memory but I needed this charting to keep track of […]
Learning through social relations
While looking for something else, I came across the book Learning Relations by Alexander M. Sidorkin. As a Russian emigré living in the US, the book applies the social emphasis of theorists such as Vygotsky and Bakhtin to the current educational establishment in the west (and particularly America). I’ve only read the first chapter, available […]
#1 Reasons to live in England
I love Chumbawamba. The first thing that impressed me was their snappy way with a title, releasing first album Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records after Live Aid, and following it with Never Mind the Ballots… Here’s the Rest of Your Life to coincide with the 1987 General Election (you can now get both of […]
Kafka Lite
Peter Kuper’s ‘re-imagining’ of Kafka’s Metamorphosis as a graphic novel (you know: comic for grown-ups) has in turn been excerpted as an entertaining animated multimedia sequence (requires Flash). Worth a look if you have three minutes to spare. With acknowledgement to Booksurfer where I found this.
Apprenticeship, and what is e-learning really good for?
Charles Handy, in his article in the August 2003 RSA Journal, argues for more emphasis on learning-in-the-world and less on learning-in-an-institution. The latter is often given more weight for the simple reason that it is easier to measure. Though often, as Handy says, the measurement relates to how well the learner is prepared to progress […]
Pensions Solutions in the Creative Sector?
When I was 12 and Kate Bush was enjoying her fourth or fifth week at Number 1 with Wuthering Heights, my dad told me that the smart move was not to have a Number 1 single, because all your earnings would be concentrated into a short period and you’d lose them all in tax (the […]
In Dreams, I Walk With Metadata
Last night I had one of those out-of-the-body dreams, waking up with the feeling that I’d been contacted by some alternative form of intelligence. Looking back in the cold light of day, I realised that this form of intelligence was in fact a parable for standardised metadata, a viral meme with a whiff of the […]
Robert Wilson at Sadlers Wells
Robert Wilson makes theatre like none other I have seen. I can’t think of anything I’ve seen on a theatre stage that’s captivated me more than his Saints and Singing show in 1998. So I’m very much looking forward to seeing The Temptation of St Anthony next Thursday.