Last Blog Standing

The "Last Blog Standing" prize goes to Michael from the NOG-B's.

michael914.blogspot.com

Radio 4's 2.0 show back on the air

iPM is back on Radio 4 this afternoon. It uses a blog and forum to generate user discussion for  the show. It is led by Eddie Mair, once an armchair general on a BBC2 wargaming show (not many of them to the pfennig)

Site link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ipm/

Just by browsing the links I find some interesting stuff. A civil servant being taken to task by her employers for her blog, and some "griefers" causing, well, grief, by using javascript on an epilepsy forum. Real life isn't a computer game.

Link 1: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/25/civil_serf_blogger_suspended/

Link 2: http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy

World Book Day - Blogs

Some students have photographs relating to World Book Day. Some were taken in the library. It has books. And people trying to read the books. Some students went and bought books in the charity shops to photograph.

• The Swales
• Becca
• Dil, post one and two
• Mikey
• Shaun

Others will be posting to their blogs later, but these folk have photos accessible now. Well done.

Sadly, Amanda has some photos loaded but I just can't access them except through Google Reader.

Pods and Blogs

Pods and Blogs on Radio 5. First time listener. Show link.

Hmm - not sure why an American voice introduces the show.

Film piracy, as the recent mooted desire of the film companies to lock people off the Net for piracy. I wonder if that includes YouTube/Google? No, of course it doesn't - they are trying hard to lock down illegal posts to their site.

Interesting investigative piece by a blogger, who is then interviewed for the radio, which I'm listening to via a podcast. Strangely it is still headed as "Radio 5 Live".

7-year blogger, Neil Gaiman, is giving away a book on his site. Yup, that guy. 2 of his books/graphic novels have been made into movies recently. Interesting thoughts on how people "discover" authors. Discussion what he gets out of blogging: immediacy with readers. 16,000 votes on his site in 24 hours. Great Douglas Adams quote about books and sharks - the reason sharks are still around is that there's nothing as good as being a shark as a shark - the same is true of books. I miss Douglas Adams, he was an inspiration.

Beagle Bloggers - Charles Darwin's 200th next year. Or is it a figment of intelligent design?

Food blogs. football club podcast.

Nipped across to Radio 4's iPM show to see if there were similarities. I'm going to have to listen to the earlier shows.

Blogging for Charity

This is a strange one. I picked up from a post from Paul Webster that he was going to blog for charity. "Hmm", I thought, "that's a good idea. Can I adSense and give any pennies raised to charity?" So, I was about to email a certain charity, but searched on Google's adSense site to find out their policy.... here's what they say...

While we do appreciate your charitable efforts, this practice is not permitted by our program policies. We want users to click on ads because they are interested in the products or services offered by the advertiser, not because they are interested in supporting a site or a charity. Using this type of language can draw undue attention to the ads, and we aren't able to verify whether earnings are actually donated to the third-party mentioned on each site. As a result, we don't allow publishers to offer these types of incentives.

But they go on...

However, please know that once you've received your payments, you're still welcome to use them however you wish - whether it's donating them to a charity, paying your hosting bills, or treating yourself to a night out on the town. We just ask that you avoid using any language on your site that would directly or indirectly encourage users to click on your ads. (source)

So, the upshot is...if I put adverts on my blog, I can't say that they are for charity. I can't imply that they are for charity. So, what is the point in me cluttering up my blog with adverts. Readers could accuse me of raising revenue via this site, and I'd be unable to say that it was for charity.

Yet more stress caused by people behind the computer systems. So, finally, the upshot is ... this site is still advert-free. Money I donate via memberships and donations are still my own business, or maybe I'll set up a "justgiving" site for donations instead - but you can do that yourself, so why should I get involved.

Prosperity and long life - it is indeed the year of the rat.

Pirate at the Job's End

From the New York Times:

many companies are using the Internet to snoop on their employees. If you fail to maintain amorphous “professional” standards of conduct in your free time, you could lose your job.

Source. One example follows:

In a head shot snapped at a costume party, Ms. Snyder, with a pirate’s hat perched atop her head, sips from a large plastic cup whose contents cannot be seen. When posting the photo, she fatefully captioned her self-portrait “drunken pirate,” though whether she was serious can’t be determined by looking at the photo.

...

Ms. Snyder’s student teaching had been unsatisfactory for many reasons. But it affirms that she was dismissed and barred from re-entering the school shortly after the high school staff discovered her MySpace photograph. The university backed the school authorities’ contentions that her posting was “unprofessional” and might “promote under-age drinking.”

Via: "a 25 year-old mother of two that lost her job over a MySpace photo of her as a “drunken pirate” "

Like I said to a student who's blog entry I reported, "I would not, in all honesty, want a potential employer to read what you have posted". You should consider not getting a job, as bad as losing a job, because of your online activities - the aim that we all have is to get you ready for the workplace. Hilarious, isn't it, that a photograph can get someone sacked. Almost as funny as someone reading someone's blog and noting that they've only posted 5 times since the end of August. On a course about blogging.

Ms Snyder is currently contending the case. I'm sure we all wish her well for the future.

Additional information

• Justia News & Commentary
• Tech.Yahoo.com
• knowmoremedia.com
• mycrimespace.com

Letters from America

Read about the ongoing writer's strike at Ronald D Moore's blog. You may recognise his name from the new Battlestar Galactica, others from various series of Star Trek. Most of you probably have never heard of him as you don't bother with the credits, or shows other than the soaps. Your loss, humanity's loss, our enemy's gain.

RW Photoshop

Got a couple of photography books for Christmas, and when looking for info on Scott Kelby's "7-point system for Adobe Photoshop" (link), I found this blog:

Forensic Photoshop

An on-going discussion of the forensic uses of Adobe's Photoshop. Forensic Photoshop includes tips, how-tos, step-by-steps, and advanced techniques for using Photoshop in a forensic workflow.

Author

Jim Hoerricks is the Senior Forensic Video Analyst for the Los Angeles Police Department, a Photoshop Instructor, an Author, and a court qualified expert witness in Forensic Video Analysis.

forensicphotoshop.blogspot.com

A lot of interesting reading, for example:

Rules of engagement for using Photoshop?

When it's ready, I wonder if we can get his book for the library?

Bloggers Talk

In Bob Cartwright's latest podcast, we hear an interview with a couple of bloggers from earlier in the year. This was recorded in May at The Outdoors Show in Manchester. It starts after the interview with Alpine walker, Judy Armstrong.

The Podzine 17/12/07

Download MP3 File

Source

Christmas Theme

Well done to Alanna for sprucing up her blog for the festive season.

Welcome to the 'Sphere

A new class of bloggers starts today. The N4OG-N, November starts. Welcome aboard.

iPM Radio Blog Show

Radio 4 have a new show about the world, constructed through their blog, commented and expanded therein. Also discusses blogging in general. Eddy Mair's enthusiasm for life shows through.

--

Show Link

Assimilation Continues

Some new bloggers joining the Sphere... Ooh, i like that term, works better than blogosphere IMHO. Reminds me of a good kids anime on ITV, though the name escapes me.

• Emma
• Suzanne

Hair Today

Ian across at RGU has added hair no his computer model. With Aberdeen being a small place, I think I know his supervisor from my old RGIT days.

http://teach-hairdesign.blogspot.com/

May All Be Well and Happy

Following up a link from net@nite, I see that co-host Amber MacArthur met The Dalai Lama at a press conference in Toronto. The clip shows what goes on behind the scenes, as well as His Holiness' views on some important issues.

Link

Blogito, ergo sum

Should I blog about the HMIE visit to the class today? I think I should wait until after Friday, as I'm my own worst critic. After the feedback session, I gave the Inspectors my works Blogger card. I have every faith in my students and that their blog posts will reflect their professionalism.

I love the ThinkGeek t-shirt and must get one sometime: I blog, therefore I am.

Creative writing exercise

Well, we got through 9 students today in the creative writing exercise "The Braemar Witch Project", before running out of time. Was fun had? Was it a novel use of the blogs? Will we do it again?

I'll certainly be emailing the N4OG's Comms staff to see if they can give pointers before we try another one.

I am impressed that everyone has a working "next" button in their part of the story. Benefits of working with HTML in the same block as blogging, perhaps?

The Braemar Witch Project: A Hallowe'en Tale.

Introduction (Duncan)

Part 1 (Michael)

Part 2 (Amber)

Part 3 (Marianne)

Part 4 (Farrakh)

Part 5 (Dean)

Part 6 (Darren)

Part 7 (Craig)

Part 8 (John)

NUS Blog

Just tracked down this blog from the National University of Singapore. The source is "Narrative and Play In Interactive Media (UAR 2205)" - here is a description of their unit:

This module will look at interactive media from the perspective of narrative and play. Through hands-on experience playing, critiquing, and designing interactive systems, this module will explore how these two potentially contradictory concepts can be employed within interactive media to create meaningful and engaging experiences. Issues addressed will include: traditional and contemporary theories of narrative and storytelling; hypertext, intertextuality and non-linear narrative; interactivity and play; and recent theoretical developments in the area of game studies. Note that no experience with computer programming is required for this module.

I can imagine a collective "fit?" being sighed at that. But they are blogging! Here's Pooi Yean Lee's blog entry for September 10th. The reason I was looking was because this week's exercise is in collaborative writing, which aims to use potentially contradictory concepts (i.e. drawing names from a hat) within interactive media (i.e. blogs) to create meaningful and engaging experiences (i.e. ah - now this is where the laziness of some students will be met by the headlong rush of ILP7 reality).

Here is the start of a story from Nelson's class. Read his post, and then click next to move to the next part of the story. See how far the class got. See students blog. Blog, students, blog.

Hey, Chief, any chance of cross-assessing with Singapore?? :)

As a university, they have more blogs here, which look like they are all hosted on their own server. On the UAR 2205 module, there are more blogs listed on the right-hand-side under "news" (link).

Action Day: Environmental Issues

One of the main environmental issues that affects me directly is the destruction of the wild places in the UK. I may be viewed as selfish, but I don't see why massive pylons should be driven through scenery like this:

Alternatives arrangements can usually be found, whether skirting national parks, or underground, or via sea lines. These may be expensive in the first place, but if power companies were made to incorporate aesthetic losses in to their calculations, then the scales may balance differently.

We all need places to escape to, and Scotland employs a lot of people in the tourist industry. What happens to the local economy when tourists stop coming to see the like of this?

Blog Action Day 2007

Today is Blog Action Day, and the theme this year is the environment.

If you have a blog and want to join in, all you have to do is use today to post something related to the environment, in whatever way, shape, or form you prefer. You can pick an environmental issue that has meaning for you and let everyone know why it's important. Source: Blogger Buzz, Blog Action Day.