The Networked Learning Conference will be in Greece early in May. I am thinking about what might turn up online so have done some Googling.

Wikipedia still has the Technology-Enhanced Learning page much the same. This term seems to be approved by the European Union but I don't know why other words are not used as well. I myself added the category of "educational technology" but other categories may be added later.

The word "heterotopia" has no definition in the Wikipedia, just a clarification that it might relate to either medicine or Foucault. Google turns up with a long piece of text that I will return to. So far I cannot see where this would relate to web design as practice. But maybe there will be some clues somewhere online during May.

Here is some suitable academic language to link into comics-

“Sequential art” or the word “comics” employed as a singular noun are categorical terms used somewhat interchangeably (see, e.g. Eisner, 1985, McCloud, 1993, McCloud, 2000), to describe the medium of expression found in comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, manga (Japanese comics), webcomics (online comics), and other formats.

Googling on OurComixGrid found a blog entry on MySpace that in a slightly disturbing way describes a level of commitment to art as a project and the web as part of this. Some of the blogs on MySpace appear to be just promotion most of the time but this one rings true. No recent updates so hope this means something else is happening.

The blogs listed on the Wikipedia page link to Ginny Salmon on YouTube talking about Second Life. She is Professor of e-learning and learning technology at Leicester. I have added a comment as I think there is learning happening already on Second Life whether or not the academic approach to design has been involved.



There is much to be gained from sharing views, I am looking forward to whatever is made public. But I think in the academic discussion there is sometimes not enough recognition of what happens online anyway.

Two positive developments, one could relate to forms of fiction, more later. The other is that OhmyNews have published my story about the Information Security discussion this week. The UK has enough real problems to form a hard news introduction and I managed to include some of my own opinion-

The survey reports UK interest in the ISO 27000 standards but the most recent survey by ISO showed only 486 certificates in the UK compared to 3,790 in Japan.
The basis of ISO27001, the standard used for certification, is the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle referenced to Dr Deming though he called it the Shewart cycle and the word "Study" is also widely used in place on "Check". The standard describes how an information security system can be established, operated, reviewed and improved. There is a requirement for system review as well as corrective and preventive action. The controls selected for a specific system are a consequence of the management process.

My impression is that this kind of systems approach may not be well accepted in the UK. There appears to be more interest in leadership as a topic than in how organisations learn to adopt in a new context such as that associated with an increased role for information. The approach of finding senior managers to blame when future problems arise may not be as helpful as looking at procedures and culture more widely.

This is the central bit in what I would like to talk about at the "Safety" conference in Lancaster. The ISO standards can be integrated as management because they each have Plan-Do-Study-Act as a basis. Why it works in Japan ok but less in the UK is still a bit of a mystery but OhmyNews is well placed to cover this. It may take a while.

Leadership is obviously part of the discussion but I still think the "learning organisation" topic was dropped too quickly in the UK. "Networked learning" is also part of this. The security is traded off with access so is never complete. Security awareness can come through forms of learning like anything else.

The other development is that WorldTV now offer service to combine web video as a channel. Victor Keegan wrote about it in the Guardian so this an example of the contribution made by professional print journalists, just to make it clear that bloggers recognise this sometimes.

I have strung together the videos of the Lancaster campus, click here for the Bailrigg channel ,starting at Info21 and ending up at the Spicy Hut. the scenario is a journey from a discussion on some proposal that meets some security and communication criteria intended for a client meeting at the Spicy Hut. Will the intention survive critique along the way? World TV allows new video to be inserted in the sequence. It could be from anywhere, a lot of places look much the same. Could end up as fiction or documentary. Text versions could inlcude comments on this blog or there is a Google doc.