Wednesday, June 18, 2008

There is now a timetable for the Safe Living conference. Emailed as a spreadsheet. I have loaded this into Google Docs and find you can add comments and links but only with extra rows.

The session I am in clashes with others I would like to be at but this is normal. Chris May will talk about "Replacing Property with Openness" , seems to be about Creative Commons and similar (found this available for free) so I could connect this with the validity of knowledge resources outside the official journals. Melissa Sedmak is from a Risk and Safety School in New South Wales so this could be support for the idea that danger can be real as well as language.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Bailrigg script updated on Flickr.

Previously there have been links to YouTube samples of the Lancaster campus. It could still be a suitable spot for interviews / chat show variations. World TV channels are working well. I have started one for drupa called web2drupa. Combining taliking heads with bits of background is possible. An edit would be better if there was permission.

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Bailrigg

Outline script for a drama documentary based on a walk on the Lancaster campus from Info 21 to the Spicy Hut. The edited version will assume a day starting with brunch at Info 21 and a small group of people from an internet cafe. They are preparing to meet potential clients in the evening at the Spicy Hut. The group seek information and guidance at Info 21 on background ideas about the knowledge economy, quality assurance as a framework for change, social networking software for web collaboration, security assurance for wireless communications and anything else suggested. The intention is to present this to to the client with specifics for their situation, a conference about meditation and counselling.

The dramatic tension is that everyone they then meet along the campus challenges motivation. The group may get there but possibly without any confidence in the value of the project.






At the first seat after Info 21 things seem ok as they had some useful advice.



At the George Fox Building they stumble upon a meeting about Critical Management Studies with speakers from the journal Management Learning. Assumptions about quality systems are challenged as neo-liberal rhetoric and an attack on academic freedom. There is support for Chris Grey's paper "Against Learning" , though it is not then easy to follow.



The group pauses to reflect under a tree, then continues to the Management School.



At the Management School cafe they happen to meet Hugh Wilmott who expands on "Making Quality Critical" and presents a further challenge to motivation. Discussion on Network Learning suggests that there is no basis for web design that meets the criteria for dialogue.



Pause for further reflection and some more coffee.

Visit to bookshop and library. More sources, more discussion.



Group continues to the Institute for Advanced Studies. In the cafe they are told that the ideas around the knowledge economy can be seen as neo-liberal rhetoric. It is also suggested that security around wireless communications is not really a problem as the sense of danger has been created by marketing departments.



A visit to the School of Lifelong Learning restores some sense of direction. Tutor experience is that most possible aspects of Web learning are in use anyway to some extent.



This note / script has no fixed ending in mind. The shape of the plot is linear. The group will get there, but their conclusions depend on the rest of the day. Possible twist, the clients have decided that website creation is now obvious and no longer need any assistance as there is enough resource in "the cloud".