I have just "got" what Twitter is. It is email without recipients or privacy! No recipients cos I dont send it to anyone; people must choose to receive it. No privacy because anyone can see it. (Note that I am using what I am used to - email - to understand what is new to me - Twitter )
Here are two time lines I have just come across in a book I have recently been reading.
Arpanet, main for runner of the Internet, set up in 1969
Internet starts 1974
The web starts 1991
Google 1998
From the invention of writing to the invention of the Codex (ie Book in the format we know it, rather than, say, a scroll.) 4, 3000 years
From the Codex to moveable type 1, 150 years
From moveable type to the Internet 524 years
from the internet to the first search engines (gopher I suppose) 17 years
From the first search engines to google 7 years.
Something, it would seem is speeding up.
(It was a book of essays by Robert Darnton called "The Case for Books". The essays, most of which appeared originally in the New York Review of Books, are basically about various issues regarding books in the digital age. If you want more details about the book here is the link to Amazon:-
Its a book I enjoyed a lot; and as it is a set of essays it would be really good for the train. Of for reading in bed at night, which is the way I read it. If I had time, I would write a review, but for the curious here is one written by some else on the internet, which is in addition of course, to the reviews on Amazon.
http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2010/11/robert-darnton-case-for-books-past.html When nothing much seems to be happening why bother blogging? : but if lots starts to happen there does not feel as if there is enough time to blog....
Anyway it is nice to say that a number of good things have been happening recently which has led to a gap in my posting.
And one of these is the Crouch End Unlibrary; this deserves a post of its own but in the meantime here is the url:
The unlibrary holds weekly meetings presided over by the two unlibrarians - after all who else would you expect?
I went to my first meeting a fortnight ago, and there met Anke Holst, one of the unilbrarians - who talked to me about the course she was designing to teach people about the use of social media.
And so I am now on the pilot of the course and have some homework to do using twitter.
This post is intended to be part of this homework as if I have set things up right it will go by email to my posterous blog and thence get autoposted to my twitter account.
So lets see.
| The latest news story. Click on the blue link if you want to know more. |
|
Willmott Dixon to build zero carbon school Sage Construction |
I attended this one day conference as one of the two elected representatives of our Trust. I had intended to report on this verbally and answer questions at our Governors meeting tonight; however as I have to present my apologies herewith a brief written note. I will be happy to answer any queries people might have after reading it. Also I shall post it to my blog davidbarry.posterous.com and you are welcome to comment on it there. The meeting was an all day affair in Manchester, and consisted of a serious of workshops and plenary sessions. While as always at such things some of the most useful bits were to do with informal meetings with other Governors a number of points came up both there and in formal sessions. In no particular order:- 1. Our Governing Body at 37 members was seen by most people as being quite large. 2. A lot of NHS Trusts have very well defined geographical catchment areas which makes representation easier to organise, and the number for example, of interested bodies smaller. This does make it easier to have a small body of Governors. So while we are larger than usual, we may (stress may) have special circumstances that justify it. (Do we?) 3. There was still a lot of uncertainty as to exactly what Governors are for. -Partly this was because, by definition custom and practice has not yet had an opportunity to evolve in the way it has tended to, with say, school governance. -Partly this was because the role of the Board of Directors seemed to be different from one trust to another. Some Boards seemed, frankly, rather secretive, holding closed meetings only. -Partly because there often seemed to be a lack of shared understanding between Governors and Board members as to what their respective roles were. It was perhaps more important for the present that the understanding be shared than as to what the understanding was.. -Even the terminology confused; many ordinary members when they voted for governors thought a Board of Governors, like a school board of Governors, would be the strategic management Board for the Trust. -While attendence at governors meetings -whatever they were called - by Board Directors was agreed to be a very good thing it was felt that the fact that the chair of the Board of Directors was also Chair of the Governors was not helpful. Not only could this lead to problems with conflicts of interest it helped to increase confusion as to what the respective roles of the two bodies was. There was strong support for the idea that there should be a separate chair of Governors, who would be a Governor, elected by Governors, and who would not be a Board Director. 4. Following on from this last point it was confirmed that the Governments policy is:- a. That all hospitals become foundation trusts b. That Foundation Trusts be given greater independence c And in the light of this governance arrangements would be reviewed, so for example legislation might be used to clarify the roles and such changes as a elected Chair of Governors distinct from the Chair of the Trust might well take place. David Barry
Google Alert - ashmount school
News 2 new results for ashmount school UK school enlists Indian maths tutors online
BBC News
These are snippets of overheard conversations in a classroom at Ashmount Primary School in north London, as Year 6 pupils don headphones and study shapes ...
Indian call centre teaches maths in UK
BBC News
Ashmount Primary School uses maths graduates based in the Punjab to provide one-on-one tuition via a computer, with the student speaking to their teacher ...
The national media has reported that Leicester City Council could be
on the verge of spending £40,000 on iPads for its councillors, despite
plans to cut 1,000 staff.
while cutting staff, Ross Grant, leader of the Conservative opposition
for Leicester City Council, explained that the iPads could actually
save the council jobs and money. "We are in the process of replacing our main buildings containing
1,400 staff. There is a £60m budget for this. If we could shift 300 to
400 staff to work from home using [mobile solutions such as the iPad
and] cloud computing, there could potentially be tens of millions of
pounds of savings. That could save jobs down the line." ... read the full story at
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2267625/local-government-ipad-trial
Finsbury Park Online - a community "blog" for Finsbury Park?
Do you want to know what is going on in the Finsbury Park area and have your say?
Do you blog and live in the Finsbury Park area? Are you based in Finsbury Park with a website? Are you on Facebook ? Have you set up a community website or are you thinking about it? Are you a member of a community group, and want to find ways of telling people about it? Are you interested in "social media" or local news sites? Do you produce a parish magazine or community newsletter? Are you interested in being a "Citizen Journalist"?
If you are interested in any of these things please join our discussion. We want to find out how we could go about "social networking" in the Finsbury Park area. We also want to establish what is there already to see how it could be developed. You can join us by coming to a meeting for interested people at FinSpace, 7 p.m. Tuesday 7 September 2010. Or you could comment on our project blog or post to our email discussion list. FinSpace is at 225 - 229 Seven Sisters Road, London, N4 2DA (if you are not from the area but have a similar project which you have developed or are developing you are most welcome to come along to share ideas)
The FinSpace building is a Community Resource Centre managed by FinFuture. We are a local charity and we want to help people, organisations, and businesses in Finsbury Park share news and information.
For more information go to our project blog:-
and also join our emailing list by sending an email to:-
(Finsbury Park Online is a project of the communications committee of FinFuture. The committee reports to the Board of FinFuture. For more information about FinFuture see: http://www.finfuture.co.uk/ )
I hope to be able to make an announcement about a new social networking project in Finsbury Park - soon.