September 2006 Archives

Yes, we're launching Uses of Blogs today at the Association of Internet Researchers conference at 12pm. Anyone who is free and wants to come, please just rock up to the conference level (one level below the main entrance).

Impressive. And the immediate broadcast warning of large hailstones and damaging winds is equally impressive. I think I might camp out at work for a while.

For those wishing to access the full paper of Mobile Learning and Social Learning prepared by myself and Deb Polson, I've made a copy available from this site. Enjoy!

I'm here at the national Australian Online Learning and Teaching Conference here in Brisbane and I will be blogging the content of the conference over the course of the day. First up is the question of how mobile technologies is changing campus life and the act of learning. I'll blog this continuously so check the extended entry for updates....

Prominent Australian Science fiction author and scientist, Greg Egan, is spear-heading a campaign to improve the quality and accuracy of New Scientist, the journal which has the most impact on public awareness of science issues. Unfortunately there is a tendency among researchers across a range of disciplines to disregard the impact of journals such as New Scientist to shape public opinion, but the truth of the matter is that it's mainstream media and public lectures that can massively alter public perception and influence industry funding of research activities. It is therefore paramount that these instruments for dissemination of information about science be subjected to consultation and peer review in order to ensure their integrity as publications.

I strongly recommend that those who are even remotely interested in science and public debate on science issues (as I am through the BrisScience lecture series and the forthcoming Brisbane Science Festival) to support Greg in this campaign.

Well after four days of intensive physiotherapy and three days of icing my back (yes, packing it with ice paks for 15 minutes per session) I am finally getting some movement in my back again, and now with my lower back taped to prevent my usual tendency to tuck my lower back under (kind of the opposite of a sway back) I feel like my tail is sticking right out. And, I've been ordered to exercise more, so from next week I'll be heading back to the swimming pool for some exercise and getting back to daily pilates to develop enough core strength to operate properly again.

Now let me just make something very clear here. This WILL MEAN I will appear to lose weight.

So for those of you who have been so pleased to see me with meat on my bones over the last few months, this is fair warning: I will soon appear scrawny again. However, the change in my body shape will be healthy and will not mean I require a darn good feed. It will simply mean that my very muscular frame is being properly strengthened to support a spine with a nasty scoliosis.

You have been warned. You may now go about your business.

To whomever it was who sent me a wonderful postcard from Vancouver, Canada, on the 5th September - thank you for your kind words and advice. And if you want me to know who you are, please feel free to contact me and identify yourself, because I have absolutely no idea whose signature is at the base of the postcard.

EDIT: Mystery is solved! Thank you Stephen!

No, not mine! I spent the weekend in Melbourne at the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jo Vogt (now Johnson! YAY!! We're both JJs!!!). I have a series of pics from the wedding from my phone for Jo and Simon, and a video of the bridal waltz! Unfortunately the quality isn't great but they're at least a minor digital memory!

Thanks to Jo and Simon for having me speak at the ceremony - it really was a great honour and a wonderful experience to be part of your special day! My love and best wishes to you both! xoxoxox

Thanks to the Society of Business Communicators for having me speak at their event tonight in Brisbane, and particularly to Liz for looking after me and inviting me to speak in the first place. A few people have asked me to make my slides available for download so here they are!

Also, some people who attended the event wanted more details about the BrisScience series I'm advocating; visit http://brisscience.org/ for details of the next event with Ed Blakely on climate change, scheduled for Monday week!

Finally, I participated in the Australian Flexible Learning Framework's e-conference today (until the network at my office died!), and was privileged to get what amounted to an intimate yet robust and lively lecture with David Weinberger at the keynote. Weinberger's work as a blogger and business analyst is legendary, but I am looking forward to his next work, Everything is Miscellaneous, because it's focussing on the synergies and contrasts between formal classifications of knowledge and the rise of personalised and social tagging. This is unique and fascinating territory, and I see many great opportunities for quality research on the 'impact' and reach of information published online. I have already noted that the citation rates of adequately tagged articles are finding their way to the top of Google Scholar ranking systems. I think using tagging as a mechanism to draw readers to your content could be a great way of driving traffic and consequently positively affecting citation impact of scholarly works, down the track. Interesting stuff!

He was an enthusiastic - perhaps at times overly enthusiastic - advocate of all things wild about this land. But in the end, it was the wild that took him. Steve Irwin, the Australian Crocodile Hunter, has died today after being impaled by a stingray barb, off the coast of Port Douglas. Irwin's death will be tough for the folk at Australia Zoo who do such wonderful work for the protection of wildlife in this region.

Irwin may have belaboured the weird Aussie spirit in his rampant promotion of naturalist perspectives, but he was certainly a proud Queenslander, and a proud Australian. He passed his love of promotion and wildlife on to his remarkable little daughter Bindy, who I last saw speaking like a veteran before the media at the tender age of 8. Vale Steve, and all our best to your family.

Our book, Uses of Blogs has been hitting the press lately, and in today's Courier Mail (page 41 for the locals), it was great to be able to associate the book with the business of Brett Hooker at Sauce Open. It's great to see the local paper supporting innovative business and theory in the one article! Thanks to Brett for your advocacy of the book and of the act of blogging.

Thanks also to Tyson Barker for his contribution to the article - even though you were not quoted, Tyson, your work at SMP in promoting Web 2.0 functions has been exemplary - well done.

For those of you interested in blog theory and the practice of blogging in business, it may be worth registering for the free online event being held by the very good people over at the Australasian Flexible Learning Framework, this Wednesday morning. The entire conference is a three day event, but it's worth registering even if you're only able to participate in part of the event. On Day 1 of the conference, David Weinberger will be speaking on "the changing nature of knowledge and authority, including ideas about the Internet, and its societal and educational implications".

Details are as follows:
September 6 – 8 Online Event: Tapping into Resources for E-learning
Registrations are now OPEN: http://networksevents.flexiblelearning.net.au

Yes I know I've been terribly slack at updating my blog these past few weeks, and I have no excuse other than I have been otherwise occupied. I promise to make this week a blog-a-day marathon. I should see who is prepared to sponsor me, but I imagine it won't make much!

This evening however, I am prepared to question the supposed success of the new Victorian Vlocity Train (no, that's not a spelling error; apparently it is now fashionable to drop the 'e' in every word, since Flickr has been successful). The very fast train service has begun rural trips to and from the Victorian capital. Besides the changes to scheduling, there are serious question marks about the value of the new rail technology. The trips are only marginally shorter and while more trips can now be scheduled to rural centres, there is a question mark over the sustainability of a service offered as regularly as the current schedule intends. But perhaps most disastrous of all is that on the day of launch, one of the trains never met its destination, but instead apparently proved itself to those concerned about the safety of the rail service, and ploughed straight in to a motor vehicle on one of the tracks, killing the driver. The exact details of the fatal accident are presently sketchy, but one would have to regard the incident as a bad start for the supposedly convenient and community-building fast train service.

Perhaps the Victorian Government (and other state governments of Australia, as well as the private companies associated with rail transport) ought to consider extending current train services - including lines - for metropolitan travellers, rather than focusing on marginal speed improvements for rural trips?