Quality, Learning, OFSTED and Fear

I was very interested in this news item

Previous posts have tried to connect theory about learning and quality. There is critique of quality systems as restrictive and derived from Fordism. There can also be concern that performance targets from HR detract from continuous improvement.

The situation around OFSTED might allow for discussion that related both to learning and quality.

by the way

includes archive of old Observer writing

drupa, Xerox, Espresso Book Machine, Blackwells, Exeter UK

This post is to try to connect something that might be relevant this week.

drupa continues in Dusseldorf. In Exeter things settle after the opening of the new Forum on campus. Blackwells bookshop adjusts to a desk next to the dry cleaning in the supermarket area. Also they have storage on the St Lukes campus, some distance from the main campus but quite close to Heavitree where I am writing this. So it would suit me if there was an Espresso Book Machine in the empty banking unit on St Lukes. There has been a Blackwells in the past. Or else a Print Shop with some sort of arrangement to supply short runs.

As far as I know the Espresso at Blackwell's on Charing Cross Road has now gone. (It might be half a year or more since I last looked) There were problems with spare parts and it was often out of order for several days. Then Espresso announced a deal with Xerox ( I think the original was based on Konica Minolta ) Maybe this will be more reliable.But I have not seen one in a UK bookshop.

The Forum is futuristic in format but I still think something like a bookshop can be part of a university. There may no longer be much space available at the Forum but St Lukes has an empty shop. So what is possible?

Meanwhile I can find no news online to suggest that Xerox have anything new to say about the Espresso. It seems there are many more sites at bookshops and university libraries in the USA than in Europe. This may be because few people know about it. So something at drupa might reach a librarian. You never know.

Please add a comment if anything fits with this.  

Photos of giraffes from RAMM - yarn to follow later

These photos from the cafe area of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. I think any area can be photographed but yesterday not the performances as part of Gripping Yarns. There are some still photos but when they are to be available I don't know.

My own script about the giraffe situation will be revisited later.

Gripping Yarns continues today. Queen Street, Exeter.

Wild Show conversation continues ‏ @Clive_Chilvers @KodakCB

http://will789gb.posterous.com/notes-from-wild-show-today-with-guest-clive-c

The link above is to notes from Wild Show on Thursday. I think the mp3 should be on Soundcloud in a few days. We continued talking in the Phoenix bar drinking coffee and Clive told me about recent aspects of social media. Tweet today has links-

 Here is what I mention earlier, , the  of Citizen Journalism  

So I am checking this out. Mashable is reporting on all sorts of things. I realise I will need a better mobile phone. Maybe sometime soon. Because I have a Kodak Zi8 I am happy with my ancient Nokia until I am convinced a phone has the same functionality for video. Clive's Samsung looks ok but I wait on guidance from drupa. Surely the Kodak chief blogger has time to comment on what is happening with the camera patents?

Anyway, #Signal looks interesting. But copyright and payment are also relevant. I don't see much mention of how the citizen photographer would be paid. I keep seeing "Pictures from YouTube" on Channel 4 News as if that is enough explanation. ( I was questioning Clive on why he did not do more with Creative Commons but I do realise there needs to be some model for some sort of income.)

Mashable links take me to

This is like a time warp to about five years ago I think when I first came across OhmyNews, based in Korea. UK broadband is getting close now to where they were then. But there is still very limited awareness of the OhmyNews model. No mention in this story for example. They invest in editing. They make small payments for stories. They invest in training. I was invited to their conference. This was before the crash so sponsorship from an airline was possible. I don't really know what is happening at the moment. The English language version closed and I think the Japanese one also. But the model is sort of followed in a lot of different ways. Without getting as good a result, as far as I can remember.

I have started to put my own stories on Scribd, the archive is falling over sometimes.

Asiana Airlines was the sponsor by the way. Other airlines are available.

------------------

The Mashable report on Citizen Journalism is written by Layla Revis

Layla Revis is vice president of digital influence at Ogilvy PR Worldwide. Her specialties include international affairs, tourism and multicultural marketing.

There is a view coming from PR that is not quite the same as a view coming from what is called citizen journalism. This might continue at #likeminds later this month in Exeter UK.

notes from Wild Show today with guest Clive Chilvers #drupa #socialdrupa

Because of a technical problem there will be a delay in loading a copy of the show to Soundcloud. But below are some notes on what we discussed. I hope to connect this with drupa topics over the next week. Clive is a photographer and I think his situation is an interesting context for drupa issues. ( drupa is a print trade show still happening for about another week )

intro

Meridian Raw is a community project for workshops in participatory photography. Clive described one project using disposable cameras. The negative was then scanned for digital display and distribution. ( Sorry, Clive explained a lot more which will be on the sound version, I am just sticking to the technical aspects at the moment)

Clive has a background in stills photography but is considering video. He notices the improvement in phone cameras but they are still too expensive to lend out to groups without setting up a risky situation.

There is still a role for hard copy but probably in quite short runs. There was an exhibit of photos from Meridian Raw photos in the Phoenix Bar earlier this year. Clive suggested that hard copy reaches a different audience to online.

There is a social benefit through Creative Commons but not in cases where context is important. Some photos need to be explained so control is needed over the way they are displayed. 

Clive has a view on current developments that is quite a challenge for the print industry. He seemed reasonably impressed with the new Forum on Exeter University campus. He is based at the Innovation Centre. He has used the new table top iPad style devices, suitable for group work. These are on the first floor. So the absence of a bookshop seems not to be a great concern.

He also arranges social media for TEDxExeter

Apparently there was a print based promotional set of materials prepared but the social media were enough to sell all the available spaces. This may be a special situation around the strong list of speakers but clearly the case for print has to be made.

TEDxExeter included discussions on sustainability. I mentioned the meetings at drupa supported earlier by Hewlett-Packard and at Print City today.

There is still another week of drupa so there may be more connections as content can be found online. It is likely that a future TEDxExeter will continue to include sustainability as an issue.

I hope Clive will come back again and continue this conversation.

Meanwhile Kodak’s chief blogger, Jennifer Cisney has claimed that this is the Social drupa. There is a related set of considerations for Canon, FujiFilm, Agfa and others. Based on my conversation with Clive it seems that communication through photography  continues and print is part of this but still having to work at it.

By the way, I'm not sure what the E in TED is for. Clive said it was Education. I thought it was Entertainment and this seems to be on the website.

I don't see anything wrong with entertainment. And maybe education is getting mixed into all this. Continues on Twitter
@Clive_Chilvers

More on Wild Show, explanation for Kodak re drupa etc. #drupa @kodakCB

A bit more explanation about the Wild Show and why phoning in could be a problem.

I started on the Wild Show as a guest on the previous show in this time slot. So I am only learning gradually. Both Chris and JD are away this week so I can choose all the music and also talk about drupa more than usual. We have played the song a couple of times.

Three questions for you. If Kodak is concentrating on print and the patents on cameras are for transfer to phone companies, is there any guidance on which ones? I often use a Kodak Zi8 given to me at IPEX where my blog got me press credentials. But where to go next? Wifi would be good. Maybe you can't comment on this but any clues welcome.

Second, what do you think is happening at drupa with video and social media. The news seems to be Benny Landa and as far as I can tell his social media policy is not very advanced. Search on YouTube / Twitter finds a guitar player in New York. But it seems that for impact a trade show with a suitable demo is still working ok.

Do you think there will soon be a massive inkjet machine anywhere near Exeter UK. Our regional press is not that secure at the moment. If there was one in Bristol there could be regional variations on national publications. Examples from other locations would also be interesting.

@kodakCB

Just seen your tweet while writing this. Yes, YouTube would be excellent. There could be a link on our Facebook page and I will play the sound tomorrow.

Wild Show on Phonic FM Exeter to include some drupa conversation tomorrow #drupa

I will be presenting the Wild Show tomorrow between 10 and 12 UK time. email is studio@phonic.fm online as well as in an area reached FM from the roof of the Phoenix.

There will be some news from drupa. We already played the drupa song and the Heidelberg theme from YouTube. (Our theory is that anything on YouTube can be broadcast. Performing Rights etc all clear, regulation by OFCOM.

Topics to include sustainability and social media. We work with sound so this can be compared with print for views on rights control and mashup potential.

There won't be much time for talk etc even within two hours. I think a guest will turn up so there probably will be a focus on photography. But we have to play a lot of music and there is at least half an hour recorded from a recent Phonic benefit.

But any sound clips or links are welcome (mp3 quickest to load). Probably we will return to this in future shows. We like our gadgets but print is in the mix.

JD has recently found or created a QR code for the Facebook group. Just search for "Wild Show". If you can print it on to a T shirt or something and send a jpeg this would definitely be mentioned. 

next month or so / Wild Show on Phonic FM this Thursday 10-12

This is a day off in the UK. So I'm trying to sort out a rough idea of what happens over the next few weeks that could fit with the Wild Show. This week Chris is definitely away for a performance with the Isca Wheelchair Dancers. But I think he will be back more after that. I may do the first half hour or so while he settles in. Around the first two weeks of June I will be away.

Topics over the month include quality and learning through sustainability and innovation. But the next week has a focus on the print industry or communication. drupa continues but by Thursday more will be clear on what this one is about. Dialogue Marketing is featured in the drupa cube

This might connect with the #likeminds event in Exeter at the end of May. The drupa cube agenda still seems to have a hard copy priority. From a distance I'm not sure the discussion at drupa has moved on that much so far. But there has not been much news from the dip.

Print City host a day conference on the environment on Thursday also.

I am not going to cover much of drupa in two hours, well talk is only supposed to be less than 20% . Mostly it is a music show. But I can put links in this blog and link also through the Wild Show Facebook page.

I hope there will be a guest who works with photography. We may cover how images contribute to social situations. How has digital technology changed things?

What we don't find time for will be continued later. Chris Norton thinks of the show as a never ending biscuit tin. Some of it is consumed each time, but more is put into stock. 

Backing dancers and Hannah Berney : Max Milner to busk in Sidmouth?

It seems to me ok for anyone to offer an opinion. I have got more into this since I happened to video Hannah Berney during the Queen's visit to Exeter and the analytics tell me it was one of the more interesting things that happened.

I thought her performance on the Voice was quite ok, just a bit too much happening for the Saturday night audience. I think just a straight version of At Last might have gone over better. This is a possible model from Natalie Cole

It is not in a studio but I notice how slowly the cameras move. There are closeups and she walks around a bit but it is fairly relaxed. The BBC cameras currently zoom in and out and cut to another one so fast that what Hannah Berney was doing was at least designed to fit in. 

The camera style did not suit Max Milner at all. He did do a straight song presentation but they kept switching to some other view.

Apparently he is going to stay clear of dancers. but he still has the production assumptions to worry about. He may consider a visit to Sidmouth in the summer time where buskers may be recorded using simple cameras that just hold the performance. Here in Exeter we are trying to work out how to edit two video sources together. So there may be more of a range of styles later. But Sidmouth in August is still very important as only outside recording can provide reasonable lighting.