DJ Buttons as model for more chat behind the scenes

This post is another expanded tweet mostly for academics / people near Lancaster campus Spine. Previously I have tried out short video clips and script suggestions for a walk / chat using the campus as background. so far not found a script / proposal that made enough sense. Or found the resource for a high level of video production. ( Aim to discuss digital potential as vision at InfoLab21 then comments along the walk )

Similar issues with DJ Buttons, my script that appears around summertime when the Storyteller is on tour and I expand into the Drama Hour, on Phonic FM usually just before the Wild Show which I start most weeks. Development this year is that Scatman arrived for an interview on what went wrong on the previous occasion.

This has more or less worked as a radio show so I am thinking about something similar to work through the past bits and ideas. more on this later. Suggestions welcome , and links to audio or video that might fit.

Also here is a fairly recent clip from Exeter showing a handheld camera can get a comment. Similar possible most places.

Expanded tweet around Futurelearn and Coursera

Today found a link to a new Class Central report on Coursera. Did a retweet but not enough space to explain related points. Dhawal Shah has written a lot on how the MOOC scene develops. I did a story at the time of Learning Technologies ( Excel , Feb ) comparing Futurelearn prospect and Coursera when seen as viable. Recently at EdTech Europe there was a keynote from Futurelearn.

Fairly Europe in focus so Coursera update is useful context. Seek invested in both. One thing is the estimate Simon Nelson has for the expanding demand for degree courses. Seems there will still be need for the campus even with more online and blended learning.

My tweets may be confusing with several refs to student accommodation and Exeter. It just seems that the city centre has been taken over or will be when all the sites are open. I could not work out where the demand would come from but now realise it could work out. In Expose, local student newspaper, 3 June p 5 , VC Sir Steve S claims that if the university really was a "business" they would build more like Holland Halls. Also he thinks there could be unlimited demand for places, even if Exeter had to drop requirements to 3Bs at A level.

So everything seems stable as it is. I shall just try to keep an open mind. I notice the recent Humanities / AI ethics project at Oxford includes a major building , performance space, TV studio. Maybe investment in online resource comes later. Chat continues on Phonic FM, Exeter local radio, so tweets often include JD the top DJ.

So far our plan is to return bot the BETT and Learning Technologies in early 2020 . Start with Coursera and then compare Futurelearn. News event can be a trade show.

While thinking about this, Tweet shows up Goldman Sachs on the future of learning. Not that academic but shows something is going on.

Browsing Notes

After previous post I had a look at Class Central, found a blog from Rod Murray and this linked to a YouTube keynote in podcast with slides. Very interesting. Will let it settle overnight. Confirms the idea in previous posts that around 2005 was when there was tension in the ideas around tech disruption.

Blogger gets a mention as early software used outside the official LMS. I am still using it.

Also here is link to the clip that failed to run. Come back to this when you watch the video

South Park Underwear Gnomes Profit Plan (full) from Jane Lu on Vimeo.

Drama, Fiction, FutureLearn Funding

This week still in fact mode, next week sitting in for Drama Hour, see previous posts.

I am thinking about situations as drama / fiction but not completely removed from reality. So DJ Buttons set in radio studio. More on this in next few weeks.

Also a walk along the Lancaster campus spine starting at Info Lab 21 with a tech vision. How would this survive debate with people at the Management School, the library, the social science dept. ?

But things change, there might be less tension now. The Learning Zone has lost a sign as maybe the entire central area is now a learning zone to include Costa and library. Maybe the next walk will need to be a historical drama set in 2005 when InfoLab21 started.

Comparing Exeter, the Digital Humanities Lab might be further along the North part of the spine. So tech vision getting some way. Also I have found through Twitter that there will be a journal next year on Technology Enhanced Learning. Starting with theory, but this shows that online learning is part of the scene. More when launched.

So I think I will go back to the funding of FutureLearn. Fact based with only some speculation. I tried to do a story for LinkedIn but not much interest so far. Based on visit to Learning Technologies. Coursera seen as stable so FutureLearn could be compared. Later it was announced that Seek ( Jobs ) had invested in both. I think this was a news event but not enough to rewrite the story around. ( Needs a bit of real news and some context but you can't just repeat things too quickly.  I realise LinkedIn and other social media prefer frequent posts but usually I try to only post when there is some basis. )

Thinking back to music scene development there was a definite phase when investment came into the download, then streaming platforms. Maybe still making a loss but some evidence of growth. The MOOC scene has moved into some ways of generating income. Online degrees now possible, MOOC platforms could be the best marketing for them. So probably more news events to come.

So I will imagine next year Learning Technology event with impressive reports on Coursera and then claims UK can more or less keep up. For actual reporting check Class Central. They know what is happening. 

History and my blog on Fleet Street / Brexit

See previous post about event at Digital Humanities Lab. This one is about the content as it was based on history. My blog on Fleet Street and Europe / Cyberspace is mostly recent newspapers but I try to go back as well. Seems to be a story about the conservative Party since 1945, plus memory of earlier. Rare to hear about MacMillan in current discussion but I think he made the changes some now want to reverse. More on this in other blogs. ( The word - "Suez"- seems to be a standard check on text mining for a certain era definitely accepted as history )

Dr Luke Blaxill (Anglia Ruskin University) spoke about  "Pragmatic Text Mining for Historians" and covered the period 1880 -1910 for policy and opinion on Empire. This could be the time the UK newspapers started, - checks wikipedia -

Daily Telegraph and Courier 1855
Daily Express 1900
Daily Mail 1896

Sun much later, Times previously but is there a link? How is the character of a publication maintained?


Dr James Freeman (University of Bristol) spoke on "Text Mining and Web Rhetoric" , much more recent, compared Twitter follower numbers for Trump and Clinton in 2016. So there may be papers later on what has happened since.

Professor Richard Toye (University of Exeter) spoke on "How to study audience reception of rhetoric" and this could extend to tweet analysis, likes and retweets maybe. Questions of bias and interpretation have been raised regarding newspaper reports and diaries or any document. The web may not be much different.

Still on history, Gary Stinger (Digital Humanities Lab, Exeter) spoke mostly about technology but also mentioned that similar work to the Digital Humanities Lab started  more than 25 years ago. So "digital" has been there for a while.

My guess is that newspapers have actually started to vanish. Influence may be mostly through journalists on broadcast media who still believe in them.

Digital Humanities in Exeter

Last week I went to an event at the Digital Humanities Lab in Exeter University. I found out about it through Twitter. I did a Futurelearn MOOC on the British Empire and then followed several people working on the content based in Exeter, where I live. I don't think i was the target audience. More for research people at Exeter and nearby, Cardiff Bristol and Bath I think.

Very interesting to see the technology in use. I had heard there is a Digital Humanites Lab but now I have more idea what they do. Mostly interested in text, so scanning and Optical Character Recognition. Photo quicker than scan for documents so I think it is the text that is important. They have been trusted with the Exeter Book from the cathedral so can cope with most treasures. Very interested in XML markup, text plus more text.

So not much about sound or video. I think this is because of journals and the importance of publishing. Social media has a way to spin things off but this is not part of what academics value or at least are valued for. I may be wrong about this. Some video to illustrate points in a talk, and also flat screens in the coffee space. But they showed scans of flat pages.

There was a lot of discussion about copyright. Open approach in favour but no detail on Creative Commons. This may turn up later. I have heard that the library has an extensive collection of blues CDs recorded in 30s and 40s . Could be shifted to digital but not sure sound is inside the scope.

Drama Hour on Phonic FM

Summer festival season. I will probably do the Drama Hour on Phonic FM next week. Might have started this week but the Storyteller was delayed. I usually start the next show so come in early when he is away. this week there will also be a performance in Paris Street on Thursday evening, possibly part of the performance for Glastonbury. I may record some of this or look out previous video on YouTube. I have done several and there is also about 400 from Cartwheels Collective.

Plan A is to play lots of clips from various sources, including any new ones. Not sure if there will be a phonein or something recent. Maybe it matters not. The radio audience can retune anyway or do their own search in the cloud.

I may do more work on my own fiction. DJ Buttons needs some adjustment as Chris Norton has the main part although we have met Scat recently and he may be a guest on Wild show this week. Can I still use country songs with Chris? He is more into metal I think. Update later.

But apart from that I will try to check out reality. For example a journey across the Lancaster campus / spine. There may be less tension in it anyway. The idea is to check how far a digital disruption has gone. Maybe it should be a historical drama from I think 2005 when InfoLab 21 first arrived. It may have become normal now.

I will probably have time to replay the News From The Sun and Having a Wonderful Time. JGBallard short story on Sun was basis for art show and event a while ago. Seems to be about a research project. not sure what happens. Wonderful Time also in Internet Archive as Creative Commons. Adult education as social containment. the cellar at Phoenix could be an endless container into which people go but never return. Set up as a drama set in time for the Fringe at the end of July. ( Escape route revealed if you sign a non disclosure agreement )

I find drama is less open to online video than music performance. Maybe it is harder to get over what the experience is going to be. Last time I tried was with a season at the Boat shed a couple of years ago. One show below, starts about 20 minutes in. Upload to YouTube was ok but a few tracks caused it to be blocked. then the robot did the work of removing them. So you may need to find Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift for yourself. But online still interesting as time shift / repeat mode.

DJ Buttons - script so far

There is almost no script ( more later ) but this bit from email -

DJ Buttons is a work experience placement at a very old style radio studio. He has to press the buttons but never speaks. Two older DJs rave on in a rather dated style. One plays old Motown tunes and the other talks about other studios from the past that were much better.

One day they are both ill so DJ Buttons gets to interviews a guest singer songwriter. He manages to pass over a song he has written.

Things look good but then a company manager arrives to announce that policy insists all publishing is through the station managed arrangements. DJButtons is sacked.

Quality Circles / Learning / Studio for video

Some notes about a focus for video production in November. Some theory keeps turning up that would need time to consider, even a script or preparation. ( Chat mode continues in sunshine over the summer )

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The June issue of Quality World has a page about Quality in Japan in the 1960s. Features Ishikawa and Quality Circles, then TQM . "Quality control starts and ends with training" . No mention of Dr Deming on this page. He was in Japan in '50s. And in USA in '80s with much attention. So I would like to know more about the sequence and interaction. Quality World is published by the CQI. Suggest follow @Qualityworld and request a free copy. You may be lucky.

I can find Quality Circles on Wikipedia but not sure about the info. History section claims Deming wrote of Quality Circles in '50s. Intro states neither Deming nor Juran had anything to do with origins though both thought the approach would not work in USA.

My guess , both learnt from Japan. How this happened worth exploring.

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I tried out a tag - #mode2Learning - to try to find out if there was anything about this. I used to follow Mode 1 and 2 knowledge. ( I in academic disciplines , 2 practice, multi-discipline) . Maybe by coincidence I found the tag and info on a lecture by Dr Mario Landman at the Da Vinci Institute in South Africa. More on this later  ( try the tag on Twitter, may get updates ). My memory as far as i could make it out was that the main direction was to make a case for universities. "Mode 2" was observed, not much engaged with. But Da Vinci seem to be looking at Mode 2 as if it was something to be aimed at. I think this is an excellent development. they will have a full model eventually I guess. Interesting they find following a survey that new publications are fewer now about Mode 1. My guess is that the strength of research in "tech giants" is now too large to dispute with. Not sure, comment welcome.

"Learning" seems as descriptive a word as "knowledge" or "knowledge creation" for a multi discipline problem situation. I will stick with #mode2learning as a tag for occasional search on Twitter.


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My interest in this follows from the Management Theory at Work conferences at the beginning of this century. A mix of theory and practice. At Lancaster Management Learning was in a different department to Management Science. I think '80s Deming did not fit with either but slipped in to the conference for a few days.

Continues as Management Theory at Work in Radio , occasional chat between the music tracks. This is ok for a while but return to formal video when suitable.

Six O'Clock Somewhere

Notes on a sequel for DJ Buttons. Not sure how much of this is on repeat. But good to resume anyway. DJ Buttons is revived for theatre fringe over July and August. It is about half of Cinderella as described by Kurt Vonnegut. In my version of DJ Buttons it ends when Buttons is sacked for not following company policy. If anything he is worse off than when it started.

Six o'Clock Somewhere is a future radio studio or television show or virtual reality 24 / 7 or whatever. Eventually DJ Button meets again with the people from part one. But I am not going into detail till I get an advance for the novel version. Meanwhile there will just be some clues and the technology research so the claims are reasonable.

I will write down quite a lot about DJ Buttons. So far have explained it to people around the Wild Show and may need to keep repeating / do another version.

Six O'Clock Somewhere based on a song about 5 o'clock somewhere. Assumes some drinking later so a move from country towards rock and roll.

Video Production Budget later in the year when days are shorter

Still thinking about casual approach to video. The days are getting longer and light is ok for street video. Forecast ok for meeting JD on Wednesday. Our radio chat has become an extension of a sort of production meeting. So it rambles a bit though there is about 25 % could be taken out as having a clear scope. Maybe this will work with guests in other places.

On Lancaster University Spine and Kendal Highgate for example I am getting some response but finding it harded to explain enough for a day project. Or a couple of hours. May need to write down more background. I think JD has in mind a sort of tourist guide to Exeter depending on what we find. So more at the end of the week on what the style seems to be.

Reminder, @wenotno show only every other week so Wed 10 -12 roughly is a walk / meet and chat, maybe recording something. Thur 10 -12 every week in @phonicFM studio. Please join us or send an mp3.

Round about November there will be less daylight so I am thinking about a budget for a studio. John Burgoyne may do an update on the keynote from the first Management Theory at Work. Not sure what sort of studio there will be by then at Brewery Arts Centre. Possible to hire Rapid Mooc in Ropemaker Street, London City. 2 hours minimum, maybe crowdfunding to afford a day.

Need some definite ideas though, still in drift mode.

Bits of video next Wednesday

Meeting JD for coffee, chat and experiments about 10.30 at library cafe Exeter, near the Castle. If not raining will continue on a walk with camera / phone / maybe even a tripod. Possibly video, probably sound clips for Wild Show on thursday. ( 10 -12 @phonicFM ) may meet Chris about 1pm . Not sure where.

The Castle has a symbolic meaning as a set. It means we are in Exeter. But I have lost track of how places in Exeter might map to other places in some sort of sequence. Previously I have tried to do a plan based on Lancaster University campus, mostly the Spine. There is a tech vision at one end - InfoLab 21 - and a sequence of a business school to critique this, then public space near a library and bookshop. Continues towards performance space via social science and education. In Kendal the main Highgate is also a straight line with performance at the Arts Cantre and a tech resource at the Shopping Centre. The Arts is now moving towards digital but still space to discuss how this happens. In Exeter all these things are a bit of a muddle. No clearcut buildings and not many straight lines.

But we will work something out. the tech is moving. JD getting good results from his iPhone, both sound and vision.

Guests welcome. Please contact via social media or turn up. First coffee probably takes half an hour.