All entries for Tuesday 04 July 2006

July 04, 2006

Blogs in Learning Research Symposium – agenda first draft

On the afternoon of Friday July 21st we will be holding an informal symposium (for want of a better word) on the topic of 'blogs in learning, teaching and research'. With a couple of years of experience in building and running the world's largest single academic blogging community we have much of interest to say on the topic. I occasionally get requests from other institutions to open up our experiences to discussion. My personal interest in doing so is motivated by the belief that in explaining it to outsiders I improve my own understanding. For this session, we have groups from Manchester Metropolitan University and from Oxford Brookes. I will also advertise a few places to the rest of the University and the learning technology community. My first thoughts for an agenda are listed below. I will open this up to comment from the participants and others who may be interested.

A more final, but still draft agenda can be seen in the e-learning web site.

Feedback?

If you are already an invited participant, then please feel free to comment on whether this fits your interests, and if there is anything missing.

If you want to come to all or part of the session, then please contact me, we might have some spaces left.


Robert O'Toole : 04 Jul 2006 16:35 |  Tags:     |  Comments (3) |  Report a problem

The power of Warwick Blogs 2

Writing about Google results from Blogbuilder news

Yesterday at 5pm I received an intriguing phone call thanks to Warwick Blogs. Yet another example of the benefits of expressing ideas in a system that attracts such a high Google ranking to one's posts.

He was, I immediately understood, a researcher from a television production company. They are in the early stages of developing a documentary about birdsong. It seems that they are interested in questions concerning the role of birdsong in art and music. The very interesting David Rothenberg provides the starting point, but the researchers are discovering many connections, including Paul Klee's twittering machine, Deleuze and Guattari's Of The Refrain, Olivier Messiaen, and of course that magnificent song cycle Aerial by Kate Bush.

So, TV researcher, what then is your method? Try these Google searches and instantly see the power of Warwick Blogs:

The interview was fascinating. He asked about birdsong and philosophy. I talked about Of The Refrain and the role of sound, rhythm and birdsong in D&G's philosophy. He asked the big question: do birds sometimes sing just for pleasure (yes was my answer, but justified by an argument concerning the limits of biological functionalism and the drivers behind evolution). I talked about nocturnal birdsong as a penetrating a–visual deterritorialized refrain, and how the refrain works as a minimal and portable germ of territory carried across night and day (and how that idea drives Aerial).

All of these ideas I have developed in my blog. Some of these ideas may soon in some small way help to shape a television documentary that promises to be fascinating. All because I use Warwick Blogs.


: 04 Jul 2006 06:53 |  Tags:      |  Comments (2) |  Report a problem