Here are some notes that form another instalment in my occasional series of postings about commentaries and ‘making of’ features that aim to help people get more out of cultural works (albums, films, books and so on). Previous postings in this series include literary companions for Thomas Pynchon; DVD commentaries on films; a preliminary taxonomy […]
Month: February 2005
Course in Supporting Learning Relationships Online
Sometimes I miss the most obvious things to record here. For example, the one-day course Supporting Learning Relationships Online that I devised and deliver with Julia Duggleby, author of How to be an Online Tutor (among many other roles). The course is marketed and sold through the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Eno vs. Blair; Art vs. politics
This month’s issue of Prospect Magazine has the story that Brian Eno is organising a campaign that targets Tony Blair personally. At the next election Eno plans to “run a ‘white suit’, you-lied-to-the-people, Martin Bell-style candidate against Blair in his own Sedgefield constituency”. Prospect suggests his chances of success are not completely negligible. This would […]
Blogging Forced Entertainment’s new show
Over the last the last three weeks, Tim Etchells, creative director of Forced Entertainment has been writing a blog of the company’s rehearsals for its next show. His entry for 1 February sets the scene for the weeks of the collective improvisation from which they create their performances: Rehearsal room activities:TalkingSmokingDrinking coffeeGetting coffeeWandering the studio, […]
What’s wrong with e-learning: product and process
My posting yesterday turned into a bit of a rant in places, particularly on the subject of educational games. Today’s is part spill-over of that rant, and part explanation of it. Leaving aside the disingenuous and diffident aspects of smuggling learning under the cloak of ‘fun’, what I really want to say is that e-learning […]
Adoption of games and wireless technologies for e-learning
In the US, the New Media Consortium and the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative have published a 23-page report on new developments in technology that they predict will have an impact on “teaching, learning or creative expression”. You can download the full report for free via Raimond Reichert’s review in elearning reviews. The review itself is […]
Twelve thousand people are buried here
Until this week there was a playground here. You may be able just to make out the yellow seats of a see-saw, slightly to the left of the centre of the picture. But on Monday the sounds of innocent play mingled with the incipient bullying of older children were replaced by buzz saws and diggers. […]
Napster, iTunes and Xdrive: multiple music models
Shortly after the launch of the Napster To Go music service, The Register published an article predicting it would flop. This was based on a comparison of the costs over three years of paying for an MP3 player and online music to put on it, comparing with Napster To Go with the iPod and iTunes […]
Online Social Networks Conference (feeling overloaded)
I’m currently taking part in Online Social Networks 2005, and online conference that runs until 23 February — as the web site says, “It’s not to late to register”. It’s organised by leading evangelists for online networking, Howard Rheingold, Lisa Kimball, and Joi Ito. Most of the proceedings are available only to people who have […]
Shadowy music promotion in online social networks
A couple of months ago, I wrote about record labels using online social networks to promote their artists. The current issue of Music Week has a feature on this. Says the article, Most web PRs now reject the shadowy practices of the past, when online marketeers could frequently be found taking advantage of the anonymity […]