Notes on video , social media

Bits and pieces for social media, briefly in one place.

I realise my production resources for video are way out of date, but adequate for making a point. I am continuing with radio from Phonic FM studio in Exeter. sound quality ok, mostly on Wild show and @wenotno we talk to each other. But guests welcome.

Camera phones now cope with the light in Phonic studio and most places. So better than my Panasonic dedicated camera. I can work the zoom though.

Recent announcement Sony Experia One Mark Two very exciting but not available and 5G not in Exeter. For the future. Also I might then get a Verso, the phone version of Padcaster kit for tablets. This was seen at Learning Technologies. I gather the phone cameras now probably have better lens and processor than a tablet so can get better results except for talking head in studio when the prompt script software is still better for tablet. this might change.

Also at Learning technologies RapidMooc works well but expensive to buy. Renting possible but needs to organise trip to Ropemaker Street in London with a lot of preparation. Some unis now have a studio. Green screen important element of this, have got one to try out. Can rent others in Exeter.

Social media links to video now important. I have heard Microsoft is pushing Teams on Office 365 as a way to host / comment. This could work for organisations. I have not tried out streaming / comments on YouTube but others on Wild Show try Facebook. It can be recorded / exported for edit.

I have found a location with this Canon camera but know very little about it. The video explains the SD card is for stills only. Is there any way to choose lower definition so cards store more minutes? No sound, is there an external mic expected? I am a bit lost. Also file formats. I have found a way to convert MXF to MP$ but is there a menu option to choose another file format to start with? any clues welcome.

Probably next steps to review what already exists and work out scripts a bit better. Waiting for sunshine and ease of working in natural light.

Exeter as example of digital trends - draft

I tried to check out 5G in Exeter over weekend as I noticed some promotion for Samsung phones in Exeter High Street. As far as I can tell 5G is as close as Bristol with plans for Plymouth. I will check this in Exeter shops, there may be other claims or even news. anyway, quite possible someone with 5G phone will pass through Exeter and offer info on reality.

On radio I heard about Reach and a digital direction. Now found a story reporting " ambitious plans to increase its registered online users sevenfold by the end of 2022 " . Meanwhile the Express and Echo reported ( Feb 13th page17 ) the "End of an era as city newsagent is to retire".  Langmaids News on Fore Street closes March 14th.

Also on page 2 news of launch of ExeterLive , a dedicated site alongside DevonLive and catching up with Pymouth, I have to wonder if the print version will survive indefinitely. Plans for 2022 may have clues when announced in detail.

5G will make a difference to available volumes of digital content. HMV will have to cope with a challenge to DVD as well as CD. The city centre could be very different.

( see other posts on when or if online learning changes anything for the campus. student accommodation continues )

Guardian still has issues with moving online, how to report education , #Futurelearn ?

Following my recent post about hybrid space, Futurelearn the Fortress University etc. I have been thinking about why the Guardian appears reluctant to report the possibilities of online learning. My impression is that social media is usually on the printed page as a problem. But anyway, more on this another time. Why has there not been more reporting on Futurelearn as reaching a new stage? Recent search on Guardian website finds a story from 2014, nothing on microcredentials or the Seek investment.

Guardian has a reasonable chance of moving online, putting a stop to print except maybe at the weekend. But it seems too close to other newspapers. Found a tweet from Ed Conway SKY that might suggest print circulation will reach zero in 3-5 years, sooner than that to be a story some might think.

There may be events that are regarded as news. Telegraph may be for sale. Loyal audience may subscribe, distribution may not be a priority. Murdoch concentrates on Fox, not clear how newspapers fit. Reach share price may indicate when this situation is more noticed.

Meanwhile strange how BBC and other telly boost the opinions coming from newspapers. Why not investigate the actual numbers of people reading them?

Anyway, not to be too influenced by the way Guardian and other journalists report online learning or just ignore it. Trends continue, there will be news at some point in time.

Background for tweets around #EdTech #EdTechResistance , introducing #RuinsHE #BlendedHE

Background to tweets, needs more space. Previously comments followed Peter Horrocks lecture on Fotress University at Durham. He justified investment in Futurelearn as a way to be more open with HE. At the time no support for this, he resigned and later Futurelearn got investment from Seek, Australian jobs site. Could mean Futurelearn now valuable, past burning cash stage. Or just that things could still go wrong, UK HE keeps a distance. More recently BETT and Learning Technologies both solid shows. I visit these from Exeter, my annual trip in real space. Futurelearn event at same week as BETT also solid as appeared on tweets. Microcredentials announcement interesting. Partners mostly outside UK.

But Futurelearn still not much reported. Guardian / Peter Wilbey very critical on Horrocks policy in interview.

Unfortunately conference on Platform University in Lancaster has been cancelled again because of strikes. I think it would have been critical of platform technology as coming mostly from commercial organisations. I did watch a streaming of a talk in Lancaster by Eric Lybeck. Not quite as recent as platforms but I think the issues relate. Latest phase continues trends in other forms.

Near Exeter I have asked the Standup Philosopher to consider a drama as a way of discussing this. The Platform University event would have been near the castle so I imagined a version of the Fortress University as an alternative. Later in a scifi future when all learning has moved online the fortress would be in ruins. Kendal has a suitable site as location. the Standup Philosopher is working on a suitable presentation around the topic of which aspects of a university can survive. Also thinking about a more optimistic scenario in which forms of blended learning are accepted. The campus is in use only part of the year for each student. RomCom script around various mis communication. ( By the way Widsith and Deor working on Valentines Day stories so this made more sense than the ruins. Variations possible over the summer ) Exeter St Lukes / Waitrose possible venue.

Recently found "Hybrid Learning Spaces" through Yishay Mor. Have tried to follow this as well as relating to radio. Wild show and @wenotno both visit to ExCeL for BETT and Learning Technologies with phone calls to studio. so confused as to where we were / how to continue in Exeter. Places as fiction venues not much covered so far.

Tags for #EdTech and #EdTechResistance can relate on Twitter. Also trying #RuinsHE, find nothing so far, and #BlendedHE , finds one from 2014 . Time travel has started.

Photo above from tweet - Richard Budd @ddubdrahcir

Notes around Thursday - Standup Philosopher "guest" on their own show?

This week I may sort out what I am doing on a Thursday. I usually start the Wild Show on Phonic FM at 10am but recently sometimes get in early as the storyteller has been missing the Drama Hour. This is a slot between 8 and 10 but usually not much over an hour. I try to get in around 9 sometimes. Storyteller also part of Widsith and Deor as well as being Standup Philosopher. Planning future life as a tour with van and teepee, I think. Winter base in Bude till end of March.

This week I expect him at about 9.30 as he is in Exeter for Storytelling Wed evening at Cowick Barton and also LoveStruck show at St Katherine's Priory on Saturday. I want to clarify what he is doing and also what I am doing with the timeslot. I have done video of previous performance and also Cartwheels Collective has much on YouTube.

So much going on around online education, student accommodation, spectacle campus etc. that I trend off into fiction. Worked for radio last summer when Playwrites for Hire visited Exeter. So my idea is to explain things to the Standup Philosopher inviting him to work the content into a drama.

I still think the lecture by Peter Horrocks on the Fortress University at Durham is due for a return. He was proposing support for Futurelearn and online as a more open direction for existing sites. Guardian and others rejected this but is there now more of a case? On 10th March there will be a conference on Capitalism, Social Science and the Platform University in Lancaster. I expect there will be critique, at least of capitalism, but also some recognition that a form of platform university is viable. It will be at the Storey in centre of Lancaster, very close to the castle. At first I though this might be a site for a "fortress university" then found a MOOC on Lancaster Castle, then a video of a lecture/ performance. Later I found the ruins of a castle at Kendal and wondered about a scifi future when the fortress university has ended as education moves online.

Earlier through Twitter I found slides from Yishay Mor on Design from an event about Designing Situated Knowledge Transformation". #dskt . When is knowledge not situated? The Standup Philosopher is also a maths teacher, may forms of maths are not situated.

At BETT it seemed very solid as a basis for EdTech . HE/FE definitely there, as well as schools. So I have started to think about more positive outcomes, campus could evolve as part of a blended situation. Location could be St Lukes , near where I live, with the cafe for Waitrose near student accommodation. So scenes over several coffee sites. Not sure what LoveStruck is about but there must be some story based on communication issues resolve online or in person.

Open conference - #OER20 - is around April 2nd soon after Widsith and Deor tour starts, or at least leaves Bude. So versions of something might start then. Continues as blog / tweet.