Exeter High Street in a global cloud context @A2DMusicExpo

This a note ahead of A2D tomorrow.

Sound is the most advanced form of media as a web enabled scene.

Video still requires a lot of bandwidth. Books or text / graphics is ok for bandwidth but still with a lot of changes to come in structures and accepted practice.

The new university Forum is designed without a bookshop. This seems odd at the moment but maybe there is a point to this. (see previous posts)

I don't know when phone cameras will be both ok as good enough for YouTube and linked to wifi for upload the same day. On the Wild Show we have recently found it possible to load mp3 from a Zi8 within a week via an SD card. Things can only get better.

eBooks are moving. WH Smith stocking Kobo. Sony now has a store, maybe why Waterstones has no hardware from Sony. Online rumor they will deal with Barnes and Noble.

Exeter High Street just one example of somewhere near a cloud but seems to have enough options to indicate what's going on.

Probable sequence - sound, video, txt fiction, academic journals. 

SoundCloud track for Phonic Benefit, no copyright issues so far @A2DMusicExpo

http://soundcloud.com/will789gb/phonic-benefit-4th-may-2012

This was broadcast on Phonic FM Thursday morning as part of the Wild Show. could be used again.

So far no copyright issues. Loaded ok on SoundCloud. So I think this is ok. Will try to check this out with the experts at A2D tomorrow.

Please comment with any links, mp3 for next week etc.

Exepose examples, student views on books and the cloud @ExeposeComment

I have now read more pages from Exepose, week Twenty Two (19th March). I can see why the idea of a university without a bookshop might be thought of as attractive.

On the Books page there is a "diary of a gamer turned reader". Jess Leung explains that reading fiction stopped with the last Harry Potter. "libraries have become associated with looming deadlines, all nighters and vending machines. Books have become a chore."  Even a Kindle was left to gather dust. But then on a chance train journey a novel filled a gap in attention and there is now a plan to check out 100 novels. More in a blog but the link may not be working. What strikes me is that the library and the course book don't come out of this well. Maybe they survive anyway.

Robert Harris describes the decline of Game Group as shops in an age of downloads but is not much surprised. He admits "there will always be people who want to turn a page, hold a box and own a disc." But the main conclusion is that "we may well see the entire high street evaporate and retreat to the cloud." So a centre to the university with shops holding stock might seem strange.

By the way, Cyan Turan covers a lot of reasons why Exeter can compensate for being a small county town by having some of the same chain shops as big cities but rather spoils it with a comment about House of Fraser maybe getting a MAC concession. There is no mention for the Apple shop or the Virgin Media retail spot. Or the shops for mobile phones. There is a basis for something. We don't yet know what will be on campus instead of a bookshop.

There may be more views on shops and books in future editions.

Soundcloud updated for Wild Show ahead of Analogue to Digital #A2DMusicExpo

I have put some clips from the Wild Show onto Soundcloud

This is as broadcast based on an interview about a week earlier. Chris may return to the studio soon but has hurt his leg so the Phoenix bar is easier. In theory with wifi any sound could be on SoundCloud then broadcast within minutes. What we did was to record as video to SD card, then edit, then play mp3 from usb stick. So our level of tech is very lacking in ambition. But it did work ok.

At A2D we hope to find out a bit more and identify some examples of how SoundCloud can be used for radio. (Also video later. The file sizes are bigger, wifi could just about cope but the cameras on phones are not there yet, or are they? No news on camera phones at A2D, maybe next year?)

I can't find a good clip about Mark Coles and BBC World Service. I tend to drop in various comments on air, so here is my question as txt.-
The BBC World Service has scrapped World of Music and when the Strand plays a track it is usually less than 20 seconds. What is the budget implication? If they can't play full tracks could they make it easier to link to other online resources? Their info is always interesting. Meanwhile Mark Coles is working from a shed and interviews in St James Park. He is on MixCloud. I have found there is a copyright limit on a do it yourself listen again approach with YouTube and SoundCloud. But MixCloud is ok for rights as there is an option to buy, full track info and shared ad revenue. I think so anyway. Maybe at A2D this could be explained a bit more. Comment welcome from people using MixCloud. What would the cost be for Phonic to have listen again?

One night recently ( I hear the World Service when half asleep so my info is not that reliable) there was a Seth Lakeman track more or less in full. So he probably has the rights to his own songs. But is he alone in this? Could the World Service do an hour or so with mp3 that people send in who don't mind being heard on radio? Could include some UK.

Meanwhile on the Wild Show we assume we can broadcast from YouTube to include musicians performing at Phonic benefits.

What is the proper term for "signed to major label" type acts as distinguished from others?

Exeter University demolition of bookshop, maybe they have a point.

I may have wobbled like this before. The going of the bookshop is a slow motion demolition really. It just seems wrong at the moment but maybe in a few years time it will make more sense. See yesterday for the dates. the new Exeter University Forum opens May 4th with a desk to support the Blackwells website. The current temp space ends before May 20th. The modernist design of the new Forum has no space for a bookshop.

The news from the London Bookfair seems to confirm a digital trend. I listened to Click last night and it was a bookish World Service audience who happened to each have some device for reading e-books. However there was not much on academic books or journals. Maybe this reflects the balance of the event. Somehow journals have moved into digital without much change in the format or business model. I t would still appear that a journal publication happens on a specific date with a closely defined text.

What will happen with text books? I don't think many of them are available as ebooks. There is a lot to shift if this is a tipping point sort of time.

Just checked my email from the Bookseller. Amazon now has US rights to the James Bond backlist. This is the sort of thing the London Book Fair is meant for.

I still think some Exeter students will find a hard copy bookshop, either near the High Street or on another campus. The Blackwells website has a virtual model of the shop in Oxford and a stock of Sony devices. Tottenham Court Road can be reached within four hours or so.

I think I may be influenced by my recent move to radio. I started as a guest on Phonic FM and now I am presenting the Wild Show on Thursday 10-12 till Chris Norton recovers from a broken foot. He may return soon or at least arrive before the end of the show. I have been told to be a bit less opinionated. Apparently the default mode for radio is to know nothing and have no opinion. The research is to narrow down what you don't know about and be aware of the possible opinions if they should appear. So if the blog seems more muddled and less based in fact this is just a way of developing for radio.

Given the even slower pace of the UK book trade I think the opening of the Exeter University Forum will have to do as a date for an event in digital book publishing. How it makes sense will be explored later.

Photos of Exeter University Forum / dates on the end university bookshop

There are some photos from yesterday on Flickr

It is a very interesting site so a suitable setting for the visit by the Queen to open the Forum in early May.

It still seems that the decision to end the bookshop has not been reversed. At the moment it is not clear what the retail outlets will be that replace the bookshops. Could be a travel agency or a clothing shop. There must be something in mind to convince a university to choose against a bookshop.

I found a copy of Expose but the campaign about the bookshop from last summer seems to have stopped. Maybe the people interested have left. The temp space has not been easy to find so there may be two thirds of the students who don't know what a university bookshop would be like. There will be a desk in the new Forum with computer access to the Blackwells website and some limited stock at the beginning of each term with the main course items. Delivery will be quicker that online competition because of stock held on the St Lukes campus though there will be no shop as such.

I notice that the bank space is still not being used on the St Lukes campus. Could this be a bookshop? I should reveal that I live in Heavitree and walk past St Lukes quite often. I am more likely to go there than a desk at the Forum, especially if I also have to go back four hours later.

Exepose reports that following a decision not to issue printed lecture notes some enterprising students have found sponsors for a print run that saves students the cost of producing the hard copy that the university assumes is no longer needed. Could something similar happen with a bookshop at St Lukes? Access would be denied except to those with a card issued after filling in a long form about employment ambitions, insurance needs etc. Only a bus ride away.

I am still slightly surprised at my own response to this. I am in favour of the web and digital technology. But the research on blended learning is strong and applies to much else I think. There is still a place for books as hard copy. This is the first time I know of when a university has deliberately decided against a bookshop although it is viable. I still wonder why they need a library or how a library will evolve.

The temp space for Blackwells will end before the 20th May. There will not be much concern during the exams but i think some students will notice round about week six in the autumn when there may just be a desk and a screen.

The Forum looks very nice but it still seems expensive as a way to demolish a bookshop. I will try to keep an open mind and have a good look at the new technology resources.

#mtw3 find CMS and YouTube this time

A recent check with Google found that CMS and YouTube show up at the top of results for #mtw3.

It might be just for me, not sure with Google nowadays but i think the notice on Critical Management site has some interest.

YouTube beginning to work, more for part two than part one. So maybe those who view part one then continue, but probably some skip directly to part two.

Spacex current layout could be set for 80s sound

Not sure if I have posted this before. Things keep repeating but in slightly different forms.
 
I am doing the Wild Show for Chris while his foot recovers so can ask JD about 80s music and try things out. We are following from the 70s and the Celebration of Failure.
 
Now I find Spacex is looking at A Quick Look Back to include learning and activity.
 
 
The layout could be described as including-
 
an arrival area with TV and sofas
 
a dance area with screens and sound
 
a chill out area with screens but no sound at the moment
 
a corridor suitable for flat images in frames
 
a food area aka kitchen
 
So this could be adapted as an 80s environment with sound and vision.
 
On Thursday JD may explain when the chill out zone started and also video. When did video start in art galleries?
 
We will also cover Tecno Brega, aka "cheesy" pop. But what is cheesy? So far what I can find sounds ok. But that's just me.

A2D2012 mobile extends studio as analog 2 digital continues

There will be another Analogue to Digital event in Exeter soon. I have been checking out some links. Blogsearch finds that Soundcloud has new funding to expand in the USA. I don't think they were in Exeter last year as in someone to talk to. But they have some connection. I think the main issue is around copyright. Interviews etc can be loaded to Soundcloud but can they be played on radio, reedited etc? Legal views are one aspect, custom and practice another.
 
 
  tonori-on
 
 
 
 
morelater following these links
 
Continues on wild Show this Thursday morning Phonic FM 10-12
 
 
 

more about radio, World Service going back before Radio Caroline ? just a theory

One thing I forgot to mention in previous post-

The idea of the transistor radio as a stage in portability design makes sense.

But what is happening with the World Service at the moment? They only play clips of tracks, maybe 10 seconds at the longest. Mostly there is talk. Could be abudget issue but it must reflect some priority. And this at a time when the UK licence is paying directly. Most people like music as in complete tracks.

Is there some official in part of the Foreign Office or BBC who really did not like Radio Caroline and is trying to take us back to a time previously when text fiction was supposed to be the thing? The Strand can easily find an hour or so for an author.

previously

My guess is that there are enough acts on the planet not signed to major labels to fill an hour or so a week with mp3 that they would like the BBC World Service to broadcast. I am not sure of hoe this sort of thing works. Maybe I will meet someone during Analog 2 Digital in exeter who could explain.

If they can only supply info on suggested listening, then YouTube links would help. The BBC surely has a department for Big Data Interfaces or something.