Citizensheep

Citizensheep Manifold ramblings by Michael Grimes. 2008-11-18T08:23:31Z WordPress http://citizensheep.com/blog/feed/atom/ 1176006http://www.feedburner.com Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Is Twitter down?]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=340 2008-11-18T08:23:31Z 2008-11-18T08:12:14Z

<p>In case anyone reads this, has <a title="Twitter" href="http://twitter.com">Twitter</a> suddenly gone down or is it just me? I sent a tweet successfully then tried sending another immediately but it wouldn’t send; now I can’t access the site at all.</p> <h4>Update</h4> <p>The website is now (finally) showing a maintenance page. Apparently something has broken. Let’s hope it’s fixed soon.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=340&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_340" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=APl7N"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=APl7N" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=JUb5N"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=JUb5N" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=Wsl2n"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=Wsl2n" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=G3OiN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=G3OiN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=rmoZn"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=rmoZn" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=IGhfN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=IGhfN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=7G6YN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=7G6YN" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/456928631" height="1" width="1"/> 0 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/11/18/is-twitter-down/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Digital mentors Birmingham meet, 12 November 2008]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=324 2008-11-14T17:48:06Z 2008-11-14T16:30:55Z

<p style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">I haven’t blogged here much recently. I intend to try and rectify that soon, but in the meantime I’d like to point you point you towards <a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" title="Digital Mentor blog, wiki and email list" href="http://digitalmentor.org">digitalmentor.org</a>.</p> <p style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">On Wednesday a bunch of people met in Birmingham to share their thoughts about the <a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" title="CLG's digital mentor tender" href="http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/communityempowerment/whatweare/digitalmentors/tenderinivation/">CLG’s digital mentor tender</a>. It was a very hastily organised meeting, but was announced a number of times via <a title="Twitter messages tagged '#digitalmentors'" href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23digitalmentors">Twitter</a> and posted on this <a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" title="Digital Mentor blog, wiki and email list" href="http://digitalmentor.org">digitalmentor.org</a> and so was able to attract some people who were new to the discussion.</p> <p style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">At the start of the meeting I asked everyone present to introduce themselves and give an off-the-cuff answer to two questions (inspired by a <a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" title="Digital Mentors - having an open debate (Mike Amos-Simpson)" href="http://www.breakfastsociety.com/2008/11/digital-mentors-having-an-open-debate/">post by Mike Amos-Simpson</a>):</p> <ul style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> <li style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Who do you imagine would be digital mentors?</li> <li style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Who do you imagine would be the beneficiaries?</li> </ul> <p style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">This part of the meeting was recorded. The <a title="Thoughts from Birmingham on digitalmentor.org" href="http://digitalmentor.org/2008/11/thoughts-from-birmingham/">transcription is available on digitalmentor.org</a>.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=324&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_324" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=UVzPN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=UVzPN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=AB8gN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=AB8gN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=RZkDn"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=RZkDn" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=voVPN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=voVPN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=eEl0n"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=eEl0n" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=pYi6N"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=pYi6N" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=Sc2rN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=Sc2rN" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/453162443" height="1" width="1"/> 1 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/11/14/digital-mentors-birmingham-meet-12-november-2008/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Today I shall be spending 11 hours on the bus]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=309 2008-11-12T00:38:03Z 2008-11-11T09:00:06Z

<p>I’ve been absent for a while but I hope to rectify that today.</p> <p>Because today I shall be taking part in <a title="Eleven hours on the Eleven bus" href="http://elevenbus.co.uk/">Jon Bounds’ brilliantly mad idea to spend eleven hours on the Number Eleven bus</a> on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. 2008. (Nothing’s perfect.)</p> <p>Why? If we really need a reason, here’s Jon’s:</p> <blockquote><p>“The idea is that a snapshot of the real Birmingham from a number of different people will emerge, one that’s unedited, unspun, and unwashed. Circling the city will force the gaze inward, focussing our attention exclusively on our municipality. It’ll also freak out the drivers, who normally expect passengers to have a destination in mind”.</p></blockquote> <p>We shall all be documenting it in our own way. I still don’t know what my way is, but I shall at least attempt to blog live. I doubt anyone will read it, but if you are you can contact me too; it’s a two-way thing y’know.</p> <p>The day starts, not surprisingly, at 11am. And that is when my blogging begins.</p> <h4>Update</h4> <p>Well, we did it. And I blogged live from the bus. It turned out not to be a ‘two-way thing’ because I was using my phone to blog and so that meant I didn’t have the full functionality of the blogging tool. So apologies if you tried and failed to interact.</p> <p>Anyway, below is a transcript of that liveblogging (with duplicates removed, in case you’re someone who might notice).<br /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><br /> <style type="text/css"> /* Main Holder, adjust width to suit your page. */ .cil_mainholder { font-family: Arial, Arial; width: 470px; background: #ffffff; border: solid 1px #333333; } /* Adjust the height to best suite your page */ /* Remove height property to have all text show without scrollbars. */ .cil_blogholder { position: relative; overflow: auto; height: 550px; } .cil_title_liveblog { font-family: Arial, Arial; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; color: #323232; } .cil_title_date { font-family: Arial, Arial; font-size: 10px; color: #323232; } .cil_title_date a { border:none; text-decoration: underline; color:#E85D00; } .cil_title_date a:hover { text-decoration:none; } .cil_chatmsg { border-bottom: 1px dotted #999999; width: 100%; 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vertical-align: middle; display: inline; z-index: 1; } .cil_green { color: #789a0e; } table { border-collapse: collapse; } </style> <p><script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> <!-- function cil_launchLayer( num, divsrc, divheight, divwidth) { var scrollpos = cil_getScrollingPosition(); divsrc = unescape(cil_replaceString('qzzq', '"', divsrc)); document.getElementById('cil_divsrc').innerHTML = divsrc; divleft = (document.getElementById('cil_mainholder').offsetWidth - divwidth) / 2; if (document.getElementById('cil_mainholder').offsetTop > scrollpos[1]) { divtop = document.getElementById(’cil_mainholder’).scrollTop + 40; } else { divtop = scrollpos[1] - document.getElementById(’cil_mainholder’).offsetTop + document.getElementById(’cil_mainholder’).scrollTop + 40; } document.getElementById(’cil_modalitem’).style.left = divleft + ‘px’; document.getElementById(’cil_modalitem’).style.top = divtop + ‘px’; document.getElementById(’cil_modalitem’).style.display = ‘inline’; }</p> <p>function cil_closeLayer(){ if (document.getElementById(’cil_modalitem’).style.display != ‘none’) { document.getElementById(’cil_divsrc’).innerHTML = ”; document.getElementById(’cil_modalitem’).style.display = ‘none’; } } function cil_replaceString(oldS, newS, fullS) { for (var i = 0; i < fullS.length; i++) { if (fullS.substring(i, i + oldS.length) == oldS) { fullS = fullS.substring(0, i) + newS + fullS.substring(i + oldS.length, fullS.length); } } return fullS; } function cil_getScrollingPosition() { var position = [0, 0]; if (typeof window.pageYOffset != 'undefined') { position = [window.pageXOffset, window.pageYOffset]; } else if (typeof document.documentElement.scrollTop != 'undefined' && document.documentElement.scrollTop > 0) { position = [document.documentElement.scrollLeft,document.documentElement.scrollTop]; } else if (typeof document.body.scrollTop != ‘undefined’) { position = [document.body.scrollLeft,document.body.scrollTop]; } return position; } setTimeout(”document.getElementById(’cil_altcast_title’).style.width = document.getElementById(’cil_mainholder’).offsetWidth + ‘px’”, 500); //–> </script></p> <div id="cil_mainholder" class="cil_mainholder" style="position:relative;"> <div id="cil_altcast_title" style="height: 35px; background: #E8E9E0; border-bottom: 1px solid #333333;"> <table style="height: 35px; width: 100%;"> <tr valign="middle"> <td width=99% class="cil_title_liveblog">11-11-11</td> <td alight="right" class="cil_title_date" nowrap>(11/11/2008) <br />Powered by: <a href="http://www.coveritlive.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#E85D00;">CoveritLive</span></a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="cil_modalitem" style="display: none; position: absolute; top: 40px; left: 50px; z-index: 100;"> <div> <div id="cil_divsrc" style="background: #000000; padding: 10px; display: block; text-align: center;"></div> <div style="display: block; line-height: 10px; clear: both; background: #000000; padding: 10px; padding-top: 0px;">  <br /> <table style="height: 16px;"> <tr valign=middle> <td><a href="#" onClick="javascript: cil_closeLayer();return false;" style="color: #FFFFFF;"><strong>Close</strong></a>  </td> </tr> </table> </div></div> </p></div> <div class="cil_blogholder"> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:02</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Well it’s 11 o’clock but I’ve just missed a bus. Hopefully another along in a few minutes. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:14</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">On the bus at last. Stinks of fag smoke; glad I’m not upstairs. But that’s Birmingham buses for you. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:17</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Padded grips in front of seats: an aid for the elderly maybe? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:18</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Just swerved to miss a knob driver </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:20</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Cadbury World. Still not visited. Not sure it’s worth the entry fee. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:23</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I’m not the only person doing this by the way: <a href="http://www.elevenbus.co.uk" target="_blank" >http://www.elevenbus.co.uk</a> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:26</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">And yes, I actually took the day off to do this. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:26</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Selly Oak Sainsburys & its ludicrous road system. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:31</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Someone getting off the bus hesitated, emptied a bottle of juice onto a seat, placed the bottle on top, then got off. WTF?! </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:32</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Harbourne. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:35</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">My limited knowledge of my local area now totally fails me: I need a guide. Hopefully I won’t be alone all day. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:37</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Heading towards Bearwood, it sems. We’re all going clockwise, by the way. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:40</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">If you take your earphones out you won’t need to shout, love. I’m sure the person sitting NEXT TO YOU can hear fine. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:44</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘Temporary Stop’. We had one of those: for five years. It’s now permanent. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:45</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">George Dixon International School, complete with what looks like a sort of temple. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:48</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Summerfield Park. Big green space with fancy(ish) gates. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:49</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I’m now officially in Winson Green. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">11:54</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">HMP Birmingham. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:01</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Some knob in a 4×4 drove along the pavement & stopped in front of a shop door. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:04</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Apparently it’s playtime at Rooky Junior School </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:08</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Laurel Road Community Sports Ground has a climbing wall, which at first glance I thought was a strange sculpture </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:10</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Handsworth Wood. Suddenly I’m seeing BIG houses </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:10</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">And suddenly some really grotty flats. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:13</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">That was close: nearly hit a bollard. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:19</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I wish I dared to get my camera out. Sadly I’m not that brave. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:21</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Witton Road, under a railway bridge. Where am I now? I genuinely have no idea. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:22</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Now under a road bridge. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:25</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Marsh Hill Primary School. STILL playtime? Or lunch maybe? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:26</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I’m doing all this on my phone you know. Email, blog, Twitter, all in the palm of my hand. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:27</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Did I just go through Perry Bar without noticing? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:28</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">School kids on bus. Must be lunchtime. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:33</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Bus seems to be emptying. Not sure why; maybe shops nearby? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:35</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Oh, shops. Lots of them. It helps to look out of the window. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:38</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘Buffet Island’. What a great name. Strange, stranded Chinese restaurant in what looks like (mock?) Tudor building. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:40</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">About to go under the M6, and over the railway. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:41</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Oh no, I missed Star City. Shame <img src='http://citizensheep.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:46</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Fox & Glove Shopping Centre. You could mark out this route with shopping centres. Maybe I’ll try that later. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:47</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Some yoof have just got on. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:48</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Now heading towards the airport. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">12:50</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Over a railway. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:00</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Off the bus in South Yardley. Stretch my legs & get some food. We are allowed off for up to an hour at a time. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:22</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Back on the bus, but this time facing backwards. Not ideal, but it does change the perspective. Oh, and I have sandwiches <img src='http://citizensheep.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:23</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Facing forwards again. Much better. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:27</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Emerging from South Yardley. Big graveyard here, looks old. I wonder how old? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:30</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I hear Travel West Midlands’ famous blogging bus driver has joined Jon Bounds on a bus ahead of me. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:32</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Car sat across roundabout lane waiting for a parking space. Stupid driver, but also stupid place for a ar park. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:34</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">It appears I’m now leaving Acocks Green. No peurile puns, thank you. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:36</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Shame on my spelling: of course that should have read ‘puerile’. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:37</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Passing Lidl and through Hall Green. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:38</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Sign for ‘Monica’s Florist’. Where’s MY florist? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:39</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Fox Hollies Children’s Centre. Can’t see any children; maybe lunchtime’s over. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:41</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Heading towards Kings Heath. Man changing ad poster at bus stop. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:45</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">More big houses. Passing Sarehole Mill, of Tolkein fame. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:49</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Green & quiet around here. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">1:49</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Nearly in Kings Heath. Hope to get off the bus to meet some folk. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:16</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">In the lovely Kitchen Garden Cafe drinking tea. There’s a rather embarrassing video somewhere now that Jon Bounds just shot. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:49</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Back on the bus. Had a few technical problems but sorted now. In Cotteridge. Jon (Bounds) reckons Cotteridge is approching Party Shop Event Horizon. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:50</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Just passing the Quaker Meeting House. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:51</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I should have said that I have completed one full circuit. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:53</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">About to pass my vet. My cat’s vet, to be more accurate </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:53</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Passing the end of my friend David’s road. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:55</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘Welcome to Bourneville’ has picture of George Cadbury. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:56</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Bourneville Green: Bourneville Junior School with its carrilon, & Bourneville Quaker Meeting House. Yes, another one. Already. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">2:59</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">School day ending. Lollipop Lady just stopped the bus, outside the hospital (that’s not significant). </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:01</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">New hospital in the distance. Wow, some building. Will try & link to one of my companions’ photos later. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:01</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Bourneville Green: Bourneville Junior School with its carrilon, & Bourneville Quaker Meeting House. Yes, another one. Already. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:06</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Don’t know how I managed to re-post an old message. Hopefully that won’t happen again. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:07</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Up the hill in Harbourne. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:09</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘Harborne Cricket Club & Hockey Club’. Says it all. And shows I’ve been spelling ‘Harborne’ wrong. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:15</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘Old House at Home’ pub. Very interesting building. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:17</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Leafy suburbs; huge houses; ‘Lordswood Tennis Court at Lordswood Boys School’. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:19</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Crime prevention poster: “If you’re not in, don’t let everyone know”. Ok, I’m at home. Right now. I’m not on a bus. Don’t rob my house. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:20</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Now in Bearwood. Funny how the scenery changes so quickly. Feels poorer but livelier than a a mile back. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:23</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Now in Sandwell. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:25</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Very straight road. Roman, perhaps. ‘City Road’. Back at the International School. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:26</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">George Dixon school(s) again. Who was George Dixon? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:27</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">City Road is the A4040. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:30</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">City Road Primary School & Nursery. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:34</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Sign with an arrow pointing upwards. Text said ‘Skyline’. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:36</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Potholes. More noticeable on the top deck. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:37</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Back at the prison. Strange building. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:39</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Apologies, by the way, if you’ve sent messages. Because I’m using my phone I have limited functionality with the liveblogging facility. I will try to get to any later. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:41</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Hello Handsworth. Again. Streetlights are very angular here. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:43</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Ooh, but these streetlights are funky. Look a bit like spears. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:44</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Kids pissing around in the middle of a busy road. Police just watching. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:44</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Hooray! At last, tinny music at the back of the bus. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:45</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘Exelda Works’. Wonder what that was? Will look up later. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:49</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘Thank you for visiting’ unlit lights. Now leaving Handsworth. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:52</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">‘The Grove’ pub. ‘1894′. There are some lovely random old buildings in Birmingham. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:53</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Apparently we’re actually still in Handsworth. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:56</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Over a railway. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:58</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Yoofs singing along to their phone music. Bless. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">3:59</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">About to pass near Ozzy Osborne’s house. Apparently. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:01</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">The house he grew up in, that is. Apparently the owner sold the front door on ebay because Ozzy had written his name on it. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:07</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Under train bridge, originally claret and blue (now very faided) & painted, says Jon, by a couple of Villa players. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:08</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Tame Valley Canal. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:20</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Erdington. I’m awake this this time. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:24</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Another thing about Birmingham buses: it’s not just tobacco they smoke on the top deck. It’s wafting down to us: apologies if my writing gets even stranger. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:26</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Getting dark now. About to go beneath M6 again. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:28</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">There are currently six of us & a baby on this bus. Others are out there though: we have made contact. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:29</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Under the motorway & over the railway. I love that bit. Horrid for bus drivers though, I’m told (by a bus driver). </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:31</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We have an artist with us, who’s doing a project about buses. And taking some great photos. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:37</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I’m going to slow down with these posts in order to conserve the battery life of this machine. (It would be a shame to run out of juice before the end.) </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">4:50</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">At Swan Island. Sounds idyllic. It’s a traffic island, with no swans. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">5:12</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Swanhurst Park. Apparently the best dog-walking area in Moseley/Kings Heath </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">5:33</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Off the bus for another little break, this time in the Red Lion, Kings Heath. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">5:35</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Very sporadic phone signal here. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">6:43</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I’m back, & TRYING to catch a bus. Currently 6 of us in this group. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">6:51</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Back on the bus. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">6:53</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We’ve promised to acknowledge the allotment of Dave Harte (Digital Birmingham), coming up soon. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">6:58</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">It’s too dark to see much now. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">6:59</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Hello Dave Harte’s allotment! </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">7:06</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Back up the hill into Harborne. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">7:11</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We’re off the bus again. Trying to stretch out this run to ensure we arrirc back in Kings Heath at 10pm. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">7:13</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Oh dear, an ambulance. We’re in Harborne now. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">7:18</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">That last post was misleading: as far as I know Harborne has no reason to be infamous for ambulances. It has a Waitrose in fact. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:21</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Back. Again. Buses are few and far between. And it’s now quite chilly. I hope a bus arrives soon. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:24</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">In Harborne still, by the way <img src='http://citizensheep.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:28</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Oh, we’re going to end up at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath at 10pm. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:37</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Back on the bus. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:39</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Again, sorry if you’ve sent messages. As I’m my phone to do this I don’t have access to the interactive features. I will try to process them later. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:42</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">It’s all a bit dark & quiet, not much to comment on at the moment. Back on City Road (A4040). Didn’t recognise it because it’s so quiet. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:47</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We reckon we’re just passing the bus stop nearest to the town centre; it’s outside Summerfield Community Centre. Opposite Summerfield Park. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:49</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We’re in Winson Green by the way. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:50</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Ace view across along the canal to the lights of the city centrei </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:52</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">My scribbling hand is getting tired. Apologies for silly mistakes. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:57</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Oh no. Jon has now got me interested in manhole covers. Apparently Bill Drummond says there seem to be no round ones in Birmingham. So now I’m looking. And noticing that while they’re not round they do have different patterns. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">8:58</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Front top deck of bus is great for spotting manhole covers. Helps that the roads are empty. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:00</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Soho Road. School warning sign painted on road is stretched, to allow for angle it’s being viewed from. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:00</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We’re in Handsworth, in fact. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:02</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Christmas lights are on in Handsworth. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:04</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">T-Mobile, your service is rubbish. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:07</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">There are manhole covers with round patterns, though the object itself is square. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:09</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Passing the Crown & Cushion. Tinny rap music from a mobile phone entertains us. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:13</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">That’s the third time I’ve managed to miss Villa Park. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:15</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Sign reads ‘Kestrel Powder Coating’. Is that a tasty, meaty topping? Or something else entirely? </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:21</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We’ve miscalculated. We think we’ll be about half an hour late. We’re just coming up to Erdington. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:33</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Stetchford. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:35</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Outside the Fox & Goose in Stetchford. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:43</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Passing the DVLA in Yardley. Phone battery low, but may just make it. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:51</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Lovely, people smoking at the back. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:52</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Acocks Green. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:54</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">We will be late, bnt probably no more than 15 minutes. And since my first bus didn’t arrive until 11.15, that’s pretty good. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:55</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Kid just asked us for a lighter. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:56</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">I may have been too optimistic: they appear to be changing drivers, or waiting for something. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">9:58</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Moving again. Passing Acocks Green bus garage. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">10:04</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Moseley. Just passed Sarehole Mill. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">10:05</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Turning into Yardley Wood Road. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">10:07</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Billesley. Car stopped dead in front of bus with hazards on. No attempt to move it. </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">10:08</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Kings Heath! Yay! </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">10:10</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text">Next stop Hare and Hounds. That’s it! Over! Sorry if yon sent messages, I had limited technology; will try to respond later. All done. 11 hours on the 11 bus route. Thank you for watching. <img src='http://citizensheep.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div class="cil_chatmsg" > <table> <tr valign="top"> <td class="cil_msgtime cil_host_text" nowrap> <div style="width: 45px;">10:11</div> </td> <td class="cil_msgtext cil_host_text"><br style="line-height: 3px;"><a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/index.php?option=com_altcaster&task=register&referral_code=LiveBlogReferral" target="_blank"><img src="http://static.coveritlive.com/templates/coveritlive/images/cil_thanks_en.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br style="line-height: 3px;"></div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="cil_footerholder"> <div class="cil_footerbar"><img src="http://media.coveritlive.com/media/templateimages/phpbPyyRXcoveritlive_logo14.png" border="0" width=175 height=16 /></div> </div> </div> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=309&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_309" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=LI8eN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=LI8eN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=rcLpN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=rcLpN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=c5zSn"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=c5zSn" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=a0vkN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=a0vkN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=l5eBn"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=l5eBn" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=x8ZbN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=x8ZbN" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=nNVDN"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=nNVDN" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/449333885" height="1" width="1"/> 3 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/11/11/today-i-shall-be-spending-11-hours-on-the-bus/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Baskerville animation: enjoyable, but who’s it for?]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=301 2008-10-26T22:41:13Z 2008-10-26T20:30:08Z

<p>Today I watched the short <a title="The Baskerville Project homepage" href="http://www.baskervilleproject.com/">animated film about John Baskerville</a>, showing as part of Birmingham’s <a title="Hello Digital: Birmingham's first digital festival" href="http://www.hellodigital.net/">Hello Digital</a> Festival. That was this morning, and I’m still unsure what the point of it is.</p> <p>The film was showing on a loop, and the first time around it was missing the narration track. Whether this was intentional I don’t know, but it helped to highlight my confusion: is this film supposed to be an arty animation or an interesting documentary? If the former, it definitely requires prior knowledge on the part of the viewer; but it is quite intriguing.</p> <p>But if - as I suspect - the intention was to inform, then I feel that it widely missed its mark. There’s too little detail for it to be of interest to anyone with a passing knowledge of typography, but too technical for it to make sense to complete novices.</p> <p>There is so little about Baskerville to be found in Birmingham, and sadly this film didn’t even show all of that. Where, for instance, was the reference to <a title="John Baskerville and Benjamin Franklin: A Trans-Atlantic Friendship" href="http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter2.htm">the letter from <span class="black">Benjamin Franklin</span></a>? And everything the film <em>did </em>touch on was merely mentioned, not explained.</p> <p>It does look great though, and I loved it until I realised it had ended: I thought I’d just been watching an introductory trailer, not the entire documentary (at which point I realised that it really had been exactly the same film but with a voiceover added).</p> <p>But for all that it is nicely done, if short.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=301&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_301" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=5xdsM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=5xdsM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=m7A3M"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=m7A3M" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=3G31m"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=3G31m" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=JE4JM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=JE4JM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=ff64m"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=ff64m" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=ZTJtM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=ZTJtM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=M1jFM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=M1jFM" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/432978595" height="1" width="1"/> 0 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/10/26/baskerville-animation-enjoyable-but-whos-it-for/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Spam from Welsh Dragons]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=274 2008-10-16T23:44:34Z 2008-10-16T23:05:39Z

<p>I’ve just noticed that my spam filter picked up a comment that may well be spam, but then again may not be.</p> <p>The <a title="Welsh Dragon Sausages (citizensheep.com)" href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/2006/12/01/welsh-dragon-sausages/">original post</a> concerned a ruling that the brand Welsh Dragon Sausages should no longer be used, because people could be misled into thinking the product really was made from dragons.</p> <p>The comment I’ve had reads thus:</p> <blockquote><p>Hey!. Not totally agree with you, but you just gave me an idea for a new eBook regarding \”Welsh Dragon Sausages\”. It is related to molten chocolate cakes. Thanks.</p></blockquote> <p>One reason for believing it may be spam is that the title ‘Welsh Dragon Sausages’ has been pulled out in its entirety.</p> <p>The other is that the author says that they do ‘not totally agree’ with me. Anyone who’s read <a title="Welsh Dragon Sausages (citizensheep.com)" href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/2006/12/01/welsh-dragon-sausages/">my post about Welsh Dragon Sausages</a> will know that there is, honestly, nothing sensible <em>to</em> agree with.</p> <p>But I really hope it <em>is</em> real, so I’ve given it the benefit of the doubt.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=274&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_274" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=B6ypM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=B6ypM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=hSoAM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=hSoAM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=NU7ym"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=NU7ym" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=Aih0M"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=Aih0M" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=8uCim"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=8uCim" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=CBOeM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=CBOeM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=t2ZQM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=t2ZQM" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/423132931" height="1" width="1"/> 0 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/10/16/spam-from-welsh-dragons/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Blogging for the sake of it may be no bad thing]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=217 2008-11-07T11:48:53Z 2008-10-13T08:00:06Z

<p>Much has been debated about the merits of blogging: as journalism; as a mouthpiece for the masses; as a platform for the literate and illiterate alike.</p> <p>But what about as a therapeutic activity? Or, rather, as a creative outlet for those of us who may sometimes be uncomfortable in traditional social situations?</p> <p>I’m not going to begin to try to understand mental health: I’m not a doctor and, as far as I know, I have no mental health issues; and besides it would be presumptuous to suggest that I may have even the merest inkling of how other people understand the world and interact with it. But I wonder if there are benefits of social media for people’s wellbeing, and if so how we harness them and capitalise on them.</p> <p>I often feel paralyzed by indecision, wanting an outlet for something but not knowing what it is or how to vent it, and terrified of doing the wrong thing or of letting people down. This can lead to an inability to do anything: to change jobs, to tidy the house, to keep in touch with friends; and, somewhat ironically, to say the right thing or avoid letting people down.</p> <p>Blogging has recently become an outlet, a channel for diverting that sense of helplessness and inertia. Of course I could easily write things down on paper, or try other creative pursuits, but there’s no motivation to; blogging, on the other hand, can be social and interactive while not requiring physical interaction, and therefore can be much more motivating.</p> <p>But it can also be very dangerous.</p> <p>I’m forever having conversations in my head with people about things that worry me, though very rarely do I feel able to have them for real. But I <em>do</em> find it very easy to click ‘publish’. That’s incredibly dangerous if you’re feeling vulnerable and are telling the world things they may not want to hear, or that you may regret saying (as I may be in danger of doing here!).</p> <p>Why am I saying all this?</p> <p>One of my fears of trying to bridge the ‘digital divide’ (ie between the technologically literate and the disenfranchised) is that of encouraging people into an area way out of their comfort zone and dumping them there, because we hadn’t fully appreciated the subtle but profound adjustments they would need to make and so were not equipped to support them. Therefore addressing the digital divide must be done with great care and sensitivity.</p> <p>But could it also be an ideal opportunity to help people find ways of channeling their creativity; their worries, angers, sadnesses, excitements, energies, frustrations, joys, exhilerations?</p> <p>If I can find social media tools (such as blogs and Twitter) to be a dangerously easy way of exposing my vulnerability but simultaneously a rewarding creative outlet, could there be a benefit in the collaboration between different specialisms: ie one that understands developing technologies and one that understands people? For example (at the risk of sounding crass) a collaboration between specialists in social media and in mental health?</p> <p>I don’t mean that people should be encouraged to pour their hearts out on the internet. I do mean that maybe social media tools could be harnessed as a creative channel for those energies that might otherwise manifest themselves in negative ways.</p> <p>And maybe collaborations (such as that suggested above) could inform other work which encourages people to explore social media and the internet.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=217&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_217" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=YWwdM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=YWwdM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=1mfZM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=1mfZM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=0Augm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=0Augm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=q3rfM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=q3rfM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=0qfEm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=0qfEm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=yEp6M"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=yEp6M" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=dgUiM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=dgUiM" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/420467664" height="1" width="1"/> 1 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/10/13/blogging-for-the-sake-of-it-may-be-no-bad-thing/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Social technologies and the blurring of formal and informal learning]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=197 2008-10-14T13:36:36Z 2008-10-09T13:22:08Z

<p>Last night I went to <a title="Education Unbound 2008" href="http://blog.onlinecc.co.uk/index.php/education-unbound-2008/">Education Unbound 2008</a>, a debate on ‘<strong>how social technologies are blurring formal and informal learning</strong>‘. The panel comprised <a title="Dan Sutch" href="http://blog.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk/author/dsutch/">Dan Sutch</a> (<a title="Futurelab" href="http://www.futurelab.org.uk/">Futurelab</a>), <a title="David Noble (onevoice.ning.com)" href="http://onevoice.ning.com/profile/parslad">David Noble</a> (<a title="Hillside School, Fife" href="http://www.hillsideschool.co.uk/">Hillside School, Fife</a>), <a title="Andy Gibson (schoolofeverything.com)" href="http://schoolofeverything.com/teacher/andygibson">Andy Gibson</a> (<a title="School of Everything" href="http://schoolofeverything.com/">School of Everything</a>) and <a title="Catherine Howell (educause.edu)" href="http://connect.educause.edu/blog/catherine/">Catherine Howell</a> (<a title="Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET)" href="http://www.caret.cam.ac.uk/">Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies</a>). It was chaired by <a title="Matt Locke (test.org.uk)" href="http://test.org.uk/">Matt Locke</a>, Commissioning Editor at Channel 4.</p> <p>(This is not a detailed report of the evening; it is my resultant thoughts, combined from the debate and the informal chatter afterwards.)</p> <p>Informal learning happens already, without any intervention. Steps can (and should) be taken to encourage it and to encourage its methods within formal education structures, but informal learning should not become formalised. If we try to quantify it - at least using existing measuring tools - then the informal becomes formal, and vital aspects of it are lost.</p> <p>Times will change, as the technologies become more pervasive and the education system is managed by those with longer and deeper experience of them. So I don’t think there’s a great problem with bringing the informal into the formal, providing those involved continue to chip away at the barriers and continue to ask challenging questions.</p> <p>For me the issue is much more about how we harness the educational value of our <em>relationships</em>, both online and offline (something that <a title="'What is School of Everything'" href="http://schoolofeverything.com/tour">School of Everything</a> is trying to address).</p> <p>It’s interesting that most of the discussion about ’social networking’ still refers to websites, or at least to identifiable locations; and indeed that seems to be how the providers of these services see them. MySpace and Facebook, for example, seem to be understood primarily as <em>locations </em>rather than services for connecting relationships (Twitter, on the other hand, seems to be used via a much greater range of tools: many users access it without using the website, and mix it with other services).</p> <p>But even Twitter could well have ceased to be in vogue within the next few months. Therefore concentrating on helping people traverse a steep learning curve for specific tools seems a little misguided; but helping them to understanding the nature of online relationships, how they relate to offline ones, and how to harness the benefits of both, seems more fruitful.</p> <p>One problem is how to identify those relationships. How can a blogger, for instance, make sense of the relationships between people who leave comments? Users of online networking services (such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace) tend to have flat relationships: in other words, everyone is a ‘friend’; there is no mechanism for identifying hierarchies or nuances with the relationship. As Andy Gibson complained: there is no way in Facebook of defining one person as a learner and another as their mentor.</p> <p>In theory this is very simple to rectify: taxonomies already exist, such as <a title="XFN 1.1 relationships meta data profile" href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">XFN</a> - now used in the ubiquitous blogging platform WordPress - which allows the labelling of such information. It could just be a case of suggesting that the list of relationships it identifies is extended to include ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ (or something similar).</p> <p>There are (at least) two issues though. Firstly, how do we define the taxonomies and languages? As Dan Sutch pointed out, labelling a resource for two different curriculum subjects will require different taxonomies, although the resource itself may be valuable to both: how then should a teacher label that resource?</p> <p>The subsequent issue then, once the taxonomies are agreed, is of encouraging developers to build simple ways for users to apply them (as <a title="Wordpress: Defining relationships with XFN" href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Defining_Relationships_with_XFN">WordPress implements XFN</a>). But, in fact, a lot of this work is already being done (see <a title="Microformats homepage" href="http://microformats.org/">Microformats</a>).</p> <p>And of course the relationships already exist. Understanding <em>that </em>and helping teachers make sense of it is, I think, where the value is for the formal education sector. Of course that means helping to bring down technical and beurocratic barriers, but it also means encouraging them to just <em>do </em>it: to help them identify tools to augment their relationships with other teachers, institutions, etc, and to get involved in discussions with the <em>in</em>formal education sector.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=197&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_197" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=NH5BM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=NH5BM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=krstM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=krstM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=tCQmm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=tCQmm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=vExJM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=vExJM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=PEdAm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=PEdAm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=sf1oM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=sf1oM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=74jEM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=74jEM" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/415773447" height="1" width="1"/> 5 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/10/09/social-technologies-and-the-blurring-of-formal-and-informal-learning/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[IBM misleads with use of term ’social innovation’]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=182 2008-10-07T10:06:40Z 2008-10-07T09:44:23Z

<p>I have just made a complaint to IBM.</p> <p><a title="FutureGov, website of Dominic Campbell" href="http://www.futuregovconsultancy.com/">Dominic Campbell</a> drew my attention to the way IBM uses the term ’social innovation’ on one of their websites and I too took exception to it. So I used their online contact form to send the following message. Let’s see if they respond.</p> <blockquote><p>Sir/Madam,</p> <p>I am very concerned about the (deliberate?) misuse of the term ’social innovation’ on your website (<a title="IBM's 'Shape your future' website" href="http://tinyurl.com/5ykzgt">http://tinyurl.com/5ykzgt</a>).</p> <p>In every other encounter I have had with it the term applies to strategies that strengthen civil society, NOT to the use of social technologies to further one’s business objectives (see Wikipedia: <a title="Wikipedia entry for 'social innovation'" href="http://tinyurl.com/4znj6j">http://tinyurl.com/4znj6j</a>).</p> <p>I accept this may just be case [sic] of bad research, and not a deliberate attempt to mislead people into believing your motivation is for the public good rather than private profit.</p> <p>Therefore I hope you take this issue seriously and review your use of the term.</p> <p>I look forward to your response.</p> <p>Yours faithfully,</p> <p>Michael Grimes</p></blockquote> <p>Admittedly the <a title="Wikipedia entry for 'social innovation'" href="http://tinyurl.com/4znj6j">Wikipedia definition</a> does seem to allow for IBM’s use of the term:</p> <blockquote><p>“Over the years, the term has developed several overlapping meanings. It can be used to refer to social processes of innovation, such as open source methods.”</p></blockquote> <p>But I still maintain that it’s misleading and that they should change their terminology.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=182&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_182" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=SZNiM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=SZNiM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=a35JM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=a35JM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=AoUQm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=AoUQm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=df1FM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=df1FM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=BKv3m"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=BKv3m" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=EhtxM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=EhtxM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=ET09M"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=ET09M" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/413660748" height="1" width="1"/> 0 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/10/07/ibm-misleads-with-use-of-term-social-innovation/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Why NOT blog about what you wouldn’t talk about?]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=166 2008-11-07T11:49:35Z 2008-10-06T17:09:56Z

<p>Quite often I hear advice to the effect of ‘Don’t express online what you wouldn’t be happy defending offline’. I agree with this insofar as it protects the writer, but I no longer agree with it as an attitude with which to approach the web.</p> <p>If (as I have <a title="'Should we tackle the digital divide or live with it?' (citizensheep.com)" href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/09/25/should-we-tackle-the-digital-divide-or-live-with-it/">written before</a>) we should be willing to accept that some people will always be more comfortable with offline social interactions than with online ones, then we must also be willing to accept that the opposite will be true too. Some of those who have traditionally found conversation and debate difficult will find a new voice online. And now that there are teenagers whose entire lives have included the internet, I suspect the proportion of society that is less comfortable living offline will have risen dramatically. (I’ve no evidence to back any of this up, mind!)</p> <p>What then does this mean for bridging the gap between the two? We don’t want to push anyone too far out of their comfort zone, but if we’re not very careful the ‘digital divide’ will only widen. ‘<a title="'Digital Mentoring' (Dave Briggs, digitalmentoring.org)" href="http://digitalmentor.org/2008/10/digital-mentoring/">Digital mentoring</a>‘ is an idea currently under discussion, but it tends to be discussed in a way that presumes the grass is greener on the digital side of the digital divide.</p> <p>I would prefer to drop the ‘digital’ from ‘digital mentoring’ (though god knows what I’d replace it with) and concentrate instead on skills of debate and social interaction, bringing expertise from <em>all</em> fields into a two-way learning process.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=166&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_166" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=5CnKM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=5CnKM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=W5ZjM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=W5ZjM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=VnMxm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=VnMxm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=wy3ZM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=wy3ZM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=XGKfm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=XGKfm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=l7GvM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=l7GvM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=R2Y8M"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=R2Y8M" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/412973131" height="1" width="1"/> 0 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/10/06/why-not-blog-about-what-you-wouldnt-talk-about/ Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/michael-grimes <![CDATA[Braving the subtleties of online social interactions]]> http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=163 2008-10-06T18:05:05Z 2008-10-05T11:31:03Z

<p>Social ‘interaction’ is something I’ve never really got the hang of, and now with the internet thrown in it’s so much more confusing. I’ve just posted an item to Twitter that on re-reading I realised might be taken the wrong way by some people, so I posted another apologising if that was the case and that it wasn’t the intention. Then re-reading <em>that</em> I wondered if it had only served to make into an issue something that may not otherwise have been picked up.</p> <p>Of course, this happens in ‘normal’ conversation too. The difference now though is that we have to adapt our understanding of social norms for every social networking tool that we use (be that Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed), because they all have subtle - but significant - differences in what is acceptable. And these cultures are not definitive; they are not written into rules but evolve: shaped of course by the careful crafting that went into the tool being used, but ultimitely by those who use it.</p> <p>Take <a title="Twitter FAQ page" href="http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=26">Twitter</a> for instance. I would presume that if a user hasn’t made their updates private then it is fair game for any who follows them to reply to their tweets: if you want to send someone a private message they have to be following your updates too.</p> <p>But then take <a title="FriendFeed 'about' page" href="http://friendfeed.com/about/">FriendFeed</a>. I started following a few people that I hardly know but got cold feet because of the constant use of the word ‘friend’. Yes these people have made their information public, but do they really want me following their every online move?</p> <p>In both cases the tools seem clear in their intentions, but there is always room for the culture to adapt: how are the social norms of each actually understood by the users?</p> <p>Which brings me to <a title="'Should we tackle the digital divide or live with it?' (citizensheep.com)" href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/09/25/should-we-tackle-the-digital-divide-or-live-with-it/">my concern about the digital divide</a>: yes it needs addressing urgently, but sometimes people will be more comfortable with what they know. We must remember that and not presume that ’social media’ tools are neccessarily beneficial.</p> <p class="akst_link"><a href="http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=163&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_163" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=8z3hM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=8z3hM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=g7s6M"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=g7s6M" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=x5Osm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=x5Osm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=TkRdM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=TkRdM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=WDwFm"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=WDwFm" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=izK6M"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=izK6M" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?a=x5SyM"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/citizensheep?i=x5SyM" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/citizensheep/~4/411833895" height="1" width="1"/> 2 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2008/10/05/braving-the-subtleties-of-online-social-interactions/