It's been a busy week. I'm a little ashamed to say that I've neglected the blog. it's good to be back.
My trip to Dundee for the HEA Web 2.0 Day took three perhaps four days out of my work schedule; which has not been helped by it being half term. I had a good time North of the border and met several researchers working in my field who were interested in our work. It was good to be able to compare notes and experiences. My talk was surprisingly well received which leads me to think that I should work harder.
During the last month the hit counter has shown some interesting trends. I'm getting more and more visitors in search of information about deleting Facebook, a surprising number of hits in search of Facebook porn while the endless search for "gradatim ferociter" continues. Additionally the number of visitors visiting more than one page On a Hill has increased significantly. It's also worth noting that one visitor arrived On the Hill from Afganistan, via a microwave link; it seems that even in Kabul worries about Facebook led one Googler to The Hill!
The high spot of the week just has to be the arrival of my Macbook Pro.
I've spent far too much of the day loading Leopard, Microsoft Office:Mac and Firefox. Transferring information and data between two machines has led to me to consider the problems created by reading blog feeds on two computers. Much as I love sage (for Firefox) it may be that Google Reader will become my feed reader of necessity.
The problem now is what's to be done with my Macbook ............
Decisions, decisions!
Showing posts with label Treforest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Treforest. Show all posts
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
On Facebook, students and porn.
While its no big deal, I noticed something interesting on my facebook home page. I was looking at the news feed showing popular posted items in the University network.
Top of the list is a link to a popular soft porn image gallery.
What can we deduce from this I wonder?
Think of the offence such a clearly visible link could cause to some.
We all know that the Internet has some pretty murky corners; after all it reflects the real world. Some members of the network think the link worthy of posting.
But in our classrooms, our lecture theatres, and computer labs we can't allow ourselves to be party to illuminating those corners for our students.
The University PLE wouldn't carry such a link.
Should Facebook be the platform through which students will access class discussion groups? I'm not sure.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
On Danah, Facebook and Wales.
Danah at apophenia has written an excellent blog essay, (a rough work in progress paper) which she has called "Viewing American Class Divisions through Facebook and MySpace."
Its an excellent read, far better than many of the press articles describing its contents.
Regular readers of Danah's blog are I think aware of the way she works. She finds her own observations "disconcerting". It is interesting to note how many of those who commented on her thoughts, choose to criticise her rather than her observations which suggest that
Here are a set of notes made by a blogger who heard Danah speak at Harvard.
The blog provides a good example of how a blog can be used to present notes taken at a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
Out of curiosity I've explored Facebook this morning and looked at the regional and college statistics for Wales. These figures are correct as of today.
The WALES network has 65,952 members.
In hierarchical order the college networks (in Wales) have the following numbers of members.
Cardiff, 15,104
Swansea, 6,447
Aber, 5,995
Bangor, 4,145
Uni Glam, 2,243
UW Institute Cardiff, 1,653
UW Newport, 716
Swansea IHE, 481
Lampeter, 469
Trinity, 333
RW College of Music and Drama, 332
NEWI, 356
A total of 38,274 facebook memberships.
(How many students are there in Wales?)
(How old are these networks?)
To make sense of these figures, some statistical work will be required to show the number of facebook memberships as a percentage of the student population of each of the colleges, as we are not really comparing like with like here. (I suspect that Cardiff on Facebook includes the College of Medicine.)
I wonder if I can find similar figures for Bebo or MySpace?
Its an excellent read, far better than many of the press articles describing its contents.
Regular readers of Danah's blog are I think aware of the way she works. She finds her own observations "disconcerting". It is interesting to note how many of those who commented on her thoughts, choose to criticise her rather than her observations which suggest that
"Hegemonic American teens (i.e. middle/upper class, college bound teens from upwards mobile or well off families) are all on or switching to Facebook. Marginalized teens, teens from poorer or less educated backgrounds, subculturally-identified teens, and other non-hegemonic teens continue to be drawn to MySpace. A class division has emerged and it is playing out in the aesthetics, the kinds of advertising, and the policy decisions being made."I need time to think about her observations as I'm not certain how her theories might translate to the UK, or to Wales. I'm not convinced that the urge to Facebook or MySpace is as central to UK student life as it is in America, but it is growing. In the last week I've noticed several relatively prominent Welsh bloggers writing about the use of Facebook by politicians (locally and nationally) and by journalists seeking copy.
Here are a set of notes made by a blogger who heard Danah speak at Harvard.
The blog provides a good example of how a blog can be used to present notes taken at a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
Out of curiosity I've explored Facebook this morning and looked at the regional and college statistics for Wales. These figures are correct as of today.
The WALES network has 65,952 members.
In hierarchical order the college networks (in Wales) have the following numbers of members.
Cardiff, 15,104
Swansea, 6,447
Aber, 5,995
Bangor, 4,145
Uni Glam, 2,243
UW Institute Cardiff, 1,653
UW Newport, 716
Swansea IHE, 481
Lampeter, 469
Trinity, 333
RW College of Music and Drama, 332
NEWI, 356
A total of 38,274 facebook memberships.
(How many students are there in Wales?)
(How old are these networks?)
To make sense of these figures, some statistical work will be required to show the number of facebook memberships as a percentage of the student population of each of the colleges, as we are not really comparing like with like here. (I suspect that Cardiff on Facebook includes the College of Medicine.)
I wonder if I can find similar figures for Bebo or MySpace?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
On University e-mails, Google and Privacy
It is ironic that two days after Google is described as allegedly having the "worst privacy policy" of popular net firms, it is seen to be "expanding its empire into universities with entire campus e-mail networks switching over to using Google's e-mail service.
Whatever one's feelings about Google (and it is time to start having them) the move to Web based services will make sense to students, tutors and University administrators. Anecdotal evidence from our work at Treforest has shown that communication with students is often confused by their possession of several email addresses and the reluctance of some to check internal emails provided by VLE's such as Blackboard.
Trinity College Dublin, Arizona State University and Linkopings University Sweden are moving to Google Apps for Education. Students existing email addresses will remain the same but behind the scenes the system will be driven by Google. Access will be provided to all the Google hosted online tools, in exchange Google will acquire a new audience for their advertisers and will accumulate further valuable data from the email traffic.
The Director of Information Services at Trinity College Dublin said that there had been debate within the university about privacy and loss of control to Google but that the "partnership was to the university's advantage - outsourcing the need to maintain an e-mail system without any cost.
I suspect that there is a cost, only time will tell what it really is.
The Privacy International report on Web Privacy makes for interesting reading. Over the last six months they have investigated the privacy practices of key Internet based companies. Their "ranking lists the best and the worst performers both in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 across the full spectrum of search, email, e-commerce and social networking sites." It is important to remember that this is an interim report for consultation, their full report will be available in September
The companies studied were
None of these organisations merited a privacy friendly rating but Google was placed at the bottom of the league described as being "hostile" to privacy. .
It must be reassuring for those Universities who have adopted Google as their email provider to read that :-
Google have expressed their disappointment with the report which they believe is based on "inaccuaracies and misunderstandings", furthermore they remind us that "Google aggressively protects their users privacy"
It might not be long before questions asked by prospective students while selecting a university will include
Whatever one's feelings about Google (and it is time to start having them) the move to Web based services will make sense to students, tutors and University administrators. Anecdotal evidence from our work at Treforest has shown that communication with students is often confused by their possession of several email addresses and the reluctance of some to check internal emails provided by VLE's such as Blackboard.
Trinity College Dublin, Arizona State University and Linkopings University Sweden are moving to Google Apps for Education. Students existing email addresses will remain the same but behind the scenes the system will be driven by Google. Access will be provided to all the Google hosted online tools, in exchange Google will acquire a new audience for their advertisers and will accumulate further valuable data from the email traffic.
The Director of Information Services at Trinity College Dublin said that there had been debate within the university about privacy and loss of control to Google but that the "partnership was to the university's advantage - outsourcing the need to maintain an e-mail system without any cost.
I suspect that there is a cost, only time will tell what it really is.
The Privacy International report on Web Privacy makes for interesting reading. Over the last six months they have investigated the privacy practices of key Internet based companies. Their "ranking lists the best and the worst performers both in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 across the full spectrum of search, email, e-commerce and social networking sites." It is important to remember that this is an interim report for consultation, their full report will be available in September
The companies studied were
- Amazon
- AOL
- Apple
- BBC
- Bebo
- eBay
- Friendster
- Hi5
- Last.fm
- LiveJournal
- Microsoft
- Myspace
- Orkut
- Reunion.com
- Skype
- Wikipedia
- Windows Live Space
- Xanga
- Yahoo!
- YouTube
None of these organisations merited a privacy friendly rating but Google was placed at the bottom of the league described as being "hostile" to privacy. .
It must be reassuring for those Universities who have adopted Google as their email provider to read that :-
Google's specific privacy failures include, but are by no means limited to:
- Google account holders that regularly use even a few of Google's services must accept that the company retains a large quantity of information about that user, often for an unstated or indefinite length of time, without clear limitation on subsequent use or disclosure, and without an opportunity to delete or withdraw personal data even if the user wishes to terminate the service.
- Google maintains records of all search strings and the associated IP-addresses and time stamps for at least 18 to 24 months and does not provide users with an expungement option. While it is true that many US based companies have not yet established a time frame for retention, there is a prevailing view amongst privacy experts that 18 to 24 months is unacceptable, and possibly unlawful in many parts of the world.
- Google has access to additional personal information, including hobbies, employment, address, and phone number, contained within user profiles in Orkut. Google often maintains these records even after a user has deleted his profile or removed information from Orkut.
- Google collects all search results entered through Google Toolbar and identifies all Google Toolbar users with a unique cookie that allows Google to track the user's web movement.17 Google does not indicate how long the information collected through Google Toolbar is retained, nor does it offer users a data expungement option in connection with the service.
- Google fails to follow generally accepted privacy practices such as the OECD Privacy Guidelines and elements of EU data protection law. As detailed in the EPIC complaint, Google also fails to adopted additional privacy provisions with respect to specific Google services.
- Google logs search queries in a manner that makes them personally identifiable but fails to provide users with the ability to edit or otherwise expunge records of their previous searches.
- Google fails to give users access to log information generated through their interaction with Google Maps, Google Video, Google Talk, Google Reader, Blogger and other services.
Google have expressed their disappointment with the report which they believe is based on "inaccuaracies and misunderstandings", furthermore they remind us that "Google aggressively protects their users privacy"
It might not be long before questions asked by prospective students while selecting a university will include
- Who provides your email service?
- How private is it?
- Who provides your VLE?
- How secure is it?
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
On Cat Blogging, Self and Authority
Stephen Downes' observations on "Cat Blogging" are important and have made me return and think more of our recent experiment in undergraduate blogging.
While our students were keeping blogs I have no doubt that some of the most thoughtful reflective observations on personal learning came from those students who were able to "reveal something of themselves". It was through their writing about self that their understanding of personal learning emerged.
The students who told us little or nothing about themselves tended to be those whose blog entries simply reported what had been done.
Conversely there were those who wrote much about themselves but little about their learning.
What did Socrates say?
In the blogosphere and in print media we come across many who write with authority but tell us little about themselves. We often need to ask the question "who says?"
Read this little article from last Sunday's Independent.
"Birds and bees are hit by phone waves"
What questions do you want to ask? Here are mine.
Scared?
While our students were keeping blogs I have no doubt that some of the most thoughtful reflective observations on personal learning came from those students who were able to "reveal something of themselves". It was through their writing about self that their understanding of personal learning emerged.
The students who told us little or nothing about themselves tended to be those whose blog entries simply reported what had been done.
Conversely there were those who wrote much about themselves but little about their learning.
What did Socrates say?
In the blogosphere and in print media we come across many who write with authority but tell us little about themselves. We often need to ask the question "who says?"
Read this little article from last Sunday's Independent.
"Birds and bees are hit by phone waves"
What questions do you want to ask? Here are mine.
- What reports?
- Who claims?
- Who is Debi Jones? an authority on bees, birds, mobile phones, electrosmog?
Scared?
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Counting Academics
Dysg points to statistics about Higher Education in Wales.
Readers of this blog might be interested to note that:-
"In 2005/06 there were 17,705 staff at Welsh publicly funded HEIs, 525 more than in 2004/05.
Cardiff University employed most staff (5,685), more than double the next largest - the University of Glamorgan (2,065), University of Wales Aberystwyth (2,015), University of Wales Bangor (1,830) and University of Wales Swansea (1,640).
Less than a half - 8,150 staff - were recorded as academic professionals."
Interesting, for every academic post there is at least one non academic.
I wonder would it be worth making such a comparison for FE, secondary or primary education.
Readers of this blog might be interested to note that:-
"In 2005/06 there were 17,705 staff at Welsh publicly funded HEIs, 525 more than in 2004/05.
Cardiff University employed most staff (5,685), more than double the next largest - the University of Glamorgan (2,065), University of Wales Aberystwyth (2,015), University of Wales Bangor (1,830) and University of Wales Swansea (1,640).
Less than a half - 8,150 staff - were recorded as academic professionals."
Interesting, for every academic post there is at least one non academic.
I wonder would it be worth making such a comparison for FE, secondary or primary education.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Internet Inequality
Sarah Richards' report "Internet Inequality in Wales Update 2006" is now available from the Welsh Consumer Council. I mentioned it earlier in the week, but since then I've been able to read the original report. For those of us working / thinking / learning in Wales it makes for interesting reading.
The figures relating to students are curious. The report states :-
"Students are by far the most likely to personally use the Internet with 94% doing so compared to just 23% of people who are wholly retired or not working. Interestingly, only 72% of students have a home Internet connection but 94% personally use the Internet, suggesting that they use computers in locations outside the home and / or mobile technology instead of a home connection."
This raises all sorts of questions for HE planners.
(I wonder what the definition of home might be halls of residence, digs or real home address).
I suspect that these figures suggest that student Internet access is done from on campus, it would be interesting to discover just how much time students spend on line. Perhaps they are really not that connected!
This an excellent report, clearly and precisely written.
Kudos to the Welsh Consumer Council for reminding us that
"it is important to note that over half the population of Wales still do not use the Internet".
Those of us who access it daily would do well to reflect upon that.
- Data for March 2006 showed that 47% of Welsh homes had an Internet connection. In 1999 that figure was 10%.
- The likelihood of home connection is unsurprisingly still related to social class, 64% of ABC1s are connected 67% of C2DEs are not.
- Of particular relevance to us at Treforest is the low connection level in the Valleys, 40% as opposed to 53% in Cardiff. (I wonder how many of our students actually come from the valleys?)
The figures relating to students are curious. The report states :-
"Students are by far the most likely to personally use the Internet with 94% doing so compared to just 23% of people who are wholly retired or not working. Interestingly, only 72% of students have a home Internet connection but 94% personally use the Internet, suggesting that they use computers in locations outside the home and / or mobile technology instead of a home connection."
This raises all sorts of questions for HE planners.
(I wonder what the definition of home might be halls of residence, digs or real home address).
I suspect that these figures suggest that student Internet access is done from on campus, it would be interesting to discover just how much time students spend on line. Perhaps they are really not that connected!
This an excellent report, clearly and precisely written.
Kudos to the Welsh Consumer Council for reminding us that
"it is important to note that over half the population of Wales still do not use the Internet".
Those of us who access it daily would do well to reflect upon that.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Anything but what I should be doing
I wanted to write about this last night but.......
Rebecca has shown us the work of Piers Steel and his formula for calculating our procrastination response.
More than that she points us towards Procrastination Central where one can spend several happy hours discovering all there is to know about procrastination!
Do the test! Explore the links! You know it makes sense.
I've not done the test because I was re reading Paul Graham's magnificent essay on Good and Bad Procrastination.
Read it ..... learn how to do it well.
To be serious for a moment, Rebecca's Pocket is one of the great blogs. Rebecca has been blogging since 1999 and should be on every one's favourites list. Her book is a classic and can be found in the library at Treforest.
Rebecca's blog posts use very few words, but are eloquent.
When will we learn?
Rebecca has shown us the work of Piers Steel and his formula for calculating our procrastination response.
More than that she points us towards Procrastination Central where one can spend several happy hours discovering all there is to know about procrastination!
Do the test! Explore the links! You know it makes sense.
I've not done the test because I was re reading Paul Graham's magnificent essay on Good and Bad Procrastination.
Read it ..... learn how to do it well.
To be serious for a moment, Rebecca's Pocket is one of the great blogs. Rebecca has been blogging since 1999 and should be on every one's favourites list. Her book is a classic and can be found in the library at Treforest.
Rebecca's blog posts use very few words, but are eloquent.
When will we learn?
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Death of Beta.
Thanks to Lifehacker, this evening I note that Google have now completely rolled out their new version of Blogger. The little beta tag that caused some of our student bloggers so much trouble has been retired. In fact it has been neatly crossed out.
I noticed the Blogger beta version back in the summer. It is a giant amongst the free blogging platforms with much to offer. It provides painless entry into the blogosphere without an understanding of HTML, useful for the many digital immigrants amongst us. The drag and drop templates, easily applied labels and WYSIWYG post creator are ideal for use in educational settings.
Purists will argue that lack of understanding of HTML is a bad thing, I suspect that there is some truth in their thinking. My knowledge of HTML is slight but I know enough to understand what the new Blogger offers.
Making a post, or leaving a comment in a Blogger is so much easier than posting to the University Blogs!
While I am not really a fan of large organisations (as small is always beautiful); the closely linked diagnostic tools additionally offered by Google are bound to be of use to educational bloggers who wish to analyse the usefuless and readership of their site. Blog authors need to be aware of their readership, not in terms of numbers but in terms of identity.
So far in our blogging experiment we have no grumbles about the new Blogger. Our 130 students created and maintained their blogs fairly effortlessly. Whether they used them effectively is another question for another post. Whether they appreciated the potential of the medium is another question for anothe post.
From a personal point of view I am looking forward to a new Blog This button for Firefox.
But I can wait.
Its not as if I blog much.
I noticed the Blogger beta version back in the summer. It is a giant amongst the free blogging platforms with much to offer. It provides painless entry into the blogosphere without an understanding of HTML, useful for the many digital immigrants amongst us. The drag and drop templates, easily applied labels and WYSIWYG post creator are ideal for use in educational settings.
Purists will argue that lack of understanding of HTML is a bad thing, I suspect that there is some truth in their thinking. My knowledge of HTML is slight but I know enough to understand what the new Blogger offers.
Making a post, or leaving a comment in a Blogger is so much easier than posting to the University Blogs!
While I am not really a fan of large organisations (as small is always beautiful); the closely linked diagnostic tools additionally offered by Google are bound to be of use to educational bloggers who wish to analyse the usefuless and readership of their site. Blog authors need to be aware of their readership, not in terms of numbers but in terms of identity.
So far in our blogging experiment we have no grumbles about the new Blogger. Our 130 students created and maintained their blogs fairly effortlessly. Whether they used them effectively is another question for another post. Whether they appreciated the potential of the medium is another question for anothe post.
From a personal point of view I am looking forward to a new Blog This button for Firefox.
But I can wait.
Its not as if I blog much.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Graduation at Treforest
I graduated today.
The certificate says Master of Science, who would have thought it!
Now I am a graduate of the School of Computing at the University of Glamorgan at Treforest.
Some of you will know that I have graduated before, but this was different.
I was touched by today’s awards congregation; strangely moved, I must be growing old.
The ceremony was like all other degree ceremonies. Academic dress was worn. The great and the good of the college community looked on overseeing proceedings; hard working professors and lecturers were present watching their students receive awards; friends and families armed with cameras and video recorders were present watching with pride. I hope they were truly proud, for the proceedings reflected the work and effort undertaken not only by the recipients of the awards but their lecturers also.
The ceremonial began with beautifully enunciated words in Welsh spoken by an ethereal female voice. I listened carefully for the translation and was reminded to turn off my mobile, the scourge of all public gatherings.
College senior staff, Academic administrators, Professors, Heads of Department and tutors processed in to music, reminiscent of the entrance of the bards at the eisteddfod, and the proceedings began. The programme ran smoothly (due to the hard working administrators who choreographed every move) names were read out and in an instant one at a time we were in front of the Vice Chancellor, our hands held as if in prayer, a word of congratulation, a smile, applause, hands were pressed and I am a Master of Science in Technology for Teaching and Learning.
As my peers received their awards I read the programme of events, this college has a wide curriculum, awards are offered in many subjects but my favourite has to be “The Graduate Diploma in Substance Abuse”. I think I’ve done the practical for that course! If I were to receive such an award it would be suffixed “red wine” in recognition of the Portuguese red I consumed while studying.
Finally anthems were sung and the Academic procession left the platform. Those of us who received awards followed the senior academics out of the hall, to discover that we had to pass between them as they applauded us. I have to confess that that brought a lump to my throat.
We should be applauding them, not them us.
Or is that the teacher in me speaking?
The certificate says Master of Science, who would have thought it!
Now I am a graduate of the School of Computing at the University of Glamorgan at Treforest.
Some of you will know that I have graduated before, but this was different.
I was touched by today’s awards congregation; strangely moved, I must be growing old.
The ceremony was like all other degree ceremonies. Academic dress was worn. The great and the good of the college community looked on overseeing proceedings; hard working professors and lecturers were present watching their students receive awards; friends and families armed with cameras and video recorders were present watching with pride. I hope they were truly proud, for the proceedings reflected the work and effort undertaken not only by the recipients of the awards but their lecturers also.
The ceremonial began with beautifully enunciated words in Welsh spoken by an ethereal female voice. I listened carefully for the translation and was reminded to turn off my mobile, the scourge of all public gatherings.
College senior staff, Academic administrators, Professors, Heads of Department and tutors processed in to music, reminiscent of the entrance of the bards at the eisteddfod, and the proceedings began. The programme ran smoothly (due to the hard working administrators who choreographed every move) names were read out and in an instant one at a time we were in front of the Vice Chancellor, our hands held as if in prayer, a word of congratulation, a smile, applause, hands were pressed and I am a Master of Science in Technology for Teaching and Learning.
As my peers received their awards I read the programme of events, this college has a wide curriculum, awards are offered in many subjects but my favourite has to be “The Graduate Diploma in Substance Abuse”. I think I’ve done the practical for that course! If I were to receive such an award it would be suffixed “red wine” in recognition of the Portuguese red I consumed while studying.
Finally anthems were sung and the Academic procession left the platform. Those of us who received awards followed the senior academics out of the hall, to discover that we had to pass between them as they applauded us. I have to confess that that brought a lump to my throat.
We should be applauding them, not them us.
Or is that the teacher in me speaking?
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