learning and teaching Sometimes leaving the room is the best way to teach Not going to your own classroom when you have a class is wrong, right? Students kind of expect us to be there, it’s part of the deal. Our bosses probably expect us to be there too. It’s what you do when your timetable says you should. I’m not going to my classroom today, despite… Continue reading
Getting Things Sold I had a little chat with John Polling about switching from Things to OmniFocus. Both are apps built around the popular productivity process GTD – Getting Things Done. DO NOT FRET THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY GURU MYSTICISM John had been using Things for some time, but has switched to OmniFo
food Apple glut? Here’s something from Guernsey for you to try Craig Hamilton was offering around some cooking apples on the Twitters recently and I said “I’ll take a tonne off you”. So he duly dropped a 25 kilo potato sack brimming with bramleys round my house. Fantastic. I’ve risen to the challenge and got busy with my apples. Mum and Dad were coming up, so…
altbeebies Media policy explained for the under-6s CBeebies, the BBC’s preschool channel, has now completed its switch from BBC Television Centre, London to Media City, Salford. There’s probably more interest in the moves of things such as BBC Breakfast (also to Salford) and Question Time (to Glasgow) but I think there’s something quite fascinating
popular music The “virally launched popstar” as a PR genre piece. Remember Sandi Thom? She was the punk rocker with flowers in her hair who virally launched with some bedroom concerts via her home broadband that seemed able to support 30,000 instantaneous connections.Well, the soft viral launch myth was back with a bang on my Guardian app this morning. SHARE THI
Re-reading Six Feet Under: red hair and red herrings The following is a spoiler laden essay on Six Feet Under, co written with Chris Wills (and also available on his blog). If you’ve not watched the show yet, treat yourself to a box set before you read this. Six Feet Under is a simple narrative complicated by three red herrings: Nathaniel Jr. (Nate),
westwing Previously on the West Wing (on Twitter) This is a little catch up post about a piece of work that’s been developing over the past 12 months. Back in August 2010 I wrote a post about West Wing fan fiction on Twitter which highlighted a few points of interest, and speculated a little about what might be going on behind the scenes. I know… C
Summer Reads Review 1: I play the drums in a band called okay A few weeks ago I asked for a £15 summer reading list for my Kindle. I’ve had my first block of summer holiday, another block to come, so here’s an update. The first book up is ‘I play the drums in a band called okay’ by Toby Litt suggested by Daz Wright. I absolutely loved… Continue reading Summer
listening It’s a shame the police don’t want to chat about my porn problem Remember how in 24 things would often get kick started by “chatter”? Yeah, chatter – mutterings on the Internet that something is afoot. In espionage drama (and heck, probably real life spying too) the ‘net is monitored for tidbits of this and that which might fall into a sort of a pattern that tell
Next summer’s bestsellers: phone hack novels I’m not one for predictions but here’s a hunch: next summer your holiday reading will include a door stop sized page turner about phone hacking and tabloid journalism. Furthermore I bet that this week publishers have made as many calls to their authors floating that idea as they’ve received unsolici
Summer reads: three novels where the internet is the star Following on from last night’s post asking for summer reading picks, here are some recommendations for you, with an internet theme. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby A return to music and music fandom as a central theme finds Hornby on his best form in some time. This a rather melancholy love story, ce
Summer holiday reading – a £15 Kindle store challenge I’m going to be taking a good chunk of annual leave soon, so I’ll need some sort of summer reading list. Rather than looking at a broadsheet for a list of unlikely awards fodder, I thought I’d put this out to my pals, to see what ideas they have. Some of you make me jealous… Continue reading Summer
learning and teaching Why graduate web designers should have an opinion on FTP software Specialists in all fields have a tendency to fetishise their kit because mastery and selection of tools is a way of demonstrating expertise. James Bond choose an off beam choice in his Beretta 418. That tells us something about him – he’s a maverick, a specialist, an expert. I can only find this sc
Why doesn’t the Internet want to fix my socks? Many of my socks are broken, and the Internet is to blame. Today I was walking around the office in odd socks, that too is the Internet’s fault. Whatever happened to the man subscription? About ten years ago I remember seeing an advert for a mail order man survival kit, a subscription to being a… Co
Dear print designers, if you want to use QR codes you need to think usability too Dear Print Designer, I noticed your poster today at Perry Barr station. It’s an attractive enough poster, and very much in keeping with London Midland’s house style. I noticed you’d used a QR code with the call to action “scan me”. Now I’m a very obedient guy, so I did, but it was tricky,… Continu
When I had an authentic Glastonbury experience It seems to have been Glastonbury weekend this weekend. That traditionally means that people come out telling you that Glastonbury jumped the shark and it’s not like it was in the old days. So there’s no point in going really is there? After all you won’t have an authentic experience. I had an authe
business FAQ: a simple accountancy system using office software “Where can I get some basic cheap accountancy software?” A common question I see on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. My standard response is “if you need something basic, just use your office software”. I’ve found that most basic bookkeeping tasks can be done using Word & Excel (or your own preferred
boxsets A favourite ‘Six Feet Under’ clip, perfect for you Rapture watchers We finished watching ‘Six Feet Under’ last night. I’ll celebrate by sharing this rapture themed clip with you. Incidentally I’m landscaping my garden today, so I’m going to look pretty stupid if the rumours are true. SHARE THIS: * Share * * Twitter [https://theplan.co.uk/a-favourite-six-f
Garden working 1. Find the area of the garden that has wifi range (my router is at the front of the house, my garden is at the back – I need to sit closer to the building and in the clearest line of site I can get) 2. Holding laptop wonder around the wifi area until you… Continue reading Garden working [https://th
Poppadoms: the rules When ordering a take away curry, the situation around poppadoms may be confusing. Here’s a handy cut out and keep guide to explain how it works 1. The order guy doesn’t mention poppadoms Result: you receive 1 poppadom per main dish ordered. In most cases that is one poppadom each. No charge is levie
altbeebies A beginner’s guide to: Zingzillas. AKA “Lost for Toddlers” #altbeebies At first I found Zingzillas unnerving for no discernible reason, then my other half cracked the key problem: it’s a programme where people have dressed up as monkeys who then dress up as people. That’s unsettling. Beyond that presentational issue, what else is going on? The show is about music, and
blogging A response to the “Pen & Paper Blog” A blog that you write on paper* and then upload each “post” as a photo is an interesting idea in principal I guess… Here’s the original *Written on a Moleskine, of course, as befits the concept. There’s being low fi and then there’s being cheap. SHARE THIS: * Share * * Twitter [https://th
Is my Kindle nickable? A lucky escape yesterday when someone tried, and failed, to break into some houses on our road led to Corrina instructing me today: “make sure you put your Kindle well out of sight when you go out of the house” Which has got me wondering: “Is a Kindle nickable?” I’m not sure it is, really.… Continue
And all the Slipsters fell down Moore’s Chasm… You’ve probably seen this, or heard the terms it uses such as “early adopters” and “laggards”. It’s the “Diffusion of Innovation Model” (picture credit: Natebailey via Wikipedia) which describes the adoption of technology over time. The diffusion model suggests innovation adoption follows a bell cur
How to write a polemic on social change Distil your thesis down to one word. It should either be an adjective which you wish to imbue with new deeper meaning like “Free”, or a neologism (maybe even a portmanteau) like “crowdsourcing”. Open your book with an account of an ordinary person who dared to think differently. They represent the
