Tags - #TagsExeter , #ExeStreetArts , #WildShow , #SoundAlternative , #vision2020Exeter

 Trying out tags, ahead of  #ExeStreetArts - Exeter Street Arts Festival this coming saturday. the  a joint conference Digital Exeter and Tech Exeter . #vision2020Exeter is the tag. #SoundAlternative obviously is Phonic FM, as promoted on web site. Chris Norton has grown tired of social media but #WildShow still on Thursday mornings. #TagsExeter mostly finds about ten years ago though the question remains, how to make sure the same tag is used as content emerges around an event?

#ExeStreetArts was promoted in print a couple of years ago but not sure how well known it is now. Would #ESAF20 make any sense? Can the robot just work out what kind of video you are looking for? There may be details of streaming direct to YouTube but how to find it?

Clues via Standup Philosopher around online plans for campus.

 Yesterday had an actual meeting with the Standup Philosopher, actually the whole of the Cartwheels Collective aka Widsith and Deor. More before the end of the month about the Exeter Street Arts Festival. today in the social media mix with added reality I get a retweet of a guess from the Undercover Academic.

This suggests the move online could come back quite rapidly once clearing has ended. For UK seems from radio and newspapers that online was considered during lockdown but no longer as things "back to normal". CNN different for USA. Twitter never stopped thinking online, maybe just the people I come across.

Example from weekend Observer, Nick Hillman from Higher Education Policy Institute-

A traditional experience won’t always be possible, due to social distancing, but universities want to provide it. They wouldn’t have built up such vast physical presences if they had wanted to be virtual institutions. Real, as opposed to online, lectures and social events will return as soon as they can.

It could be that the "vast physical presence" is from another phase, now ended. Real lectures will return then maybe another look at online, more as design less as emergency. 

So shock rave may not be the only mode for radio drama / speculation . The ideas around the Fortress University and the ruins of the fortress are intended to get attention and pressure some questions. May return to this or watch for a change in flow.

Telematics, Digital Humanities, Exeter

There has been a reply to my enquiry about Telematics at Exeter University. Digital Humanities has tweeted with info this closed at St Lukes in 2003/4 . There are other things happening which I will follow up. Previously I have not had much feedback in working out what is happening. With this blog and some comments on Phonic FM I have followed elearning and also asked what would happen with student accommodation as learning moves online. No reason why Digital Humanities should comment on this but maybe worth repeating some topics from this blog.

The new buildings all over central Exeter will last for at least 30 years. But I have never seen any planning document considering future numbers of students over similar timescale. The Business School studies digital disruption but as far as I can tell continues investment in buildings rather than platforms.

When Telematics was at St Lukes there was interest in elearning as a subject. I did not know about the projects mentioned in tweet so still think "unbundling" describes the approach, similar to Chemistry and Music. See site for the Unbundled University. However this might be a useful area to know about.

Clues welcome on where these issues are being considered.

See next post for info on project with the Standup Philosopher.

Telematics what happened? / continued time decolonised

 Might be just summer drift, I think the prerecorded shows I left in Exeter are in the wrong order. But scheduled for YouTube also. Just a sequence of prompts and questions. Sometime in the autumn there may be clarity in the issues even if no obvious answers. I am in Kendal, here again in September. But access to Phonic FM studio also next week for Wild Show and We Don't Know. Mostly music but I can include comments in real time. Thing about "decolonised time" I think is to avoid restrictions on access. Radio is scheduled into hour chunks and sometimes scripted but in chat mode is mostly a list of topics.

The Exeter Street Arts Festival at end of August is followed in September by online conference for Digital Exeter / Tech Exeter then LikeMinds start of October also online, not in Exeter as last year. @wearelikeminds #ExeStreetArts #Vision2020Exeter should find details.

Meanwhile Drama Show continues with #RuinsHE and #BlendCafe25 . Fiction way to cover what happens as education moves online. Also appears as blog , tweets, links to video. Meanwhile there could be a fact based journalism of some kind. Citizen journalism is open so many versions quoting each other. So any comment welcome.

In Exeter central area there is continuing concern around student accommodation. Seems to be everywhere. Is there a long term study about the campus, how many students will be online, forms of blended? So far cannot find anything for Exeter. Could be anywhere.

Also Telematics. Used to be studied on St Lukes campus linked to education. When did it stop? What else happens? @UnbundledHE explains how HE is outsourcing and specialising. Exeter has dropped Chemistry and Music. Looks like Telematics also but what else replaces it? 

Round about October should be clear how many students return from outside UK and how viable things are. Online might be part of normal.

Decolonising Time through October

 A week in Kendal, away from Exeter. August slows down a bit but things will get a bit busy later. I have found time for a better look at a blog post by Maha Bali from July on how we could decolonise time. This came about in plans for a panel discussion online. How to allocate time and make space for questions / contributions ? I am thinking about radio shows for the next few months. they are in chunks of 2 hours to fit Phonic FM schedules. I also upload to YouTube but this can be any length. So far always longer. I have a sequence in mind around events and discussion of how social media changes the radio assumptions. there are similar changes for news and academic publishing but so far quite how is not clear.

Topics range from piracy through Creative Commons to content marketing. I will try to avoid piracy, especially on radio. Previously I have just played what seemed to fit, assuming anything online was ok for FM. but this may not be so. since I am going on about copyright i will try to be more careful. I assume the performers in street art are ok about FM / YouTube repeats so apologies ahead if this turns out wrong. Any guidance welcome. Creative Commons is a form of copyright that makes things clear. It is an option on Soundcloud and YouTube.

Creative Commons has been discussed at Like Minds conferences in Exeter but mostly they concentrate on content marketing and other forms of promotion. Details not yet known of their online event on October 1st. But it will not be in Exeter as last year. My idea is to relate this year to previously,explore some places maybe starting with the Phonic FM studio. There may be a wild show by then, not sure when more than one person is allowed. The topics could include looking back at the Street Arts and working out where the social media went wrong. Not that anything terrible is expected, just that it is usually easier to work out the science after the event. It may turn out that #ExeStreetArts is not the tag most people use. Time will tell. There is a Tech Exeter / Digital Exeter conference in mid September with tag #Vision2020Exeter , this will be the first chance to work out what went wrong previously. The Like Minds event has over ten years to look back on. The first two or three in Exeter had a music aspect.

Shows can be prerecorded but uploads only happen at weekends. So late news may be missing. Continues as tweets or links to sound somewhere else. This may be where time is decolonised or is less of a limitation. I am starting looking for links to sounds ahead of #ExeStreetArts . But probably not more than ten tracks for the show. So lots to be found as social media. More later on what is happening with news, and how a journal article might be worth the costs for a proper edit.

Draft for drama shows August / September

Aspects of lockdown continue. Probably not possible to have more than one person in Phonic FM studio so not meeting Chris Norton or JD on a Thursday live . Jon Mahy working online Wednesdays from September so @wenotno would be Friday if possible. So these shows continue partly as social media. Others sitting in / playout system.

I am doing a sort of drama show in slot previously maintained by the Storyteller, now on tour mostly Dartmoor. We are working on a drama, two versions of a look at HE campus after the shift online. Say 2025. Distopian scifi assumes continued Fortress approach as described by Peter Horrocks in lecture at Durham and that this form of campus ends in ruins. Possibly too much of a shock so there is also a romcom version assumes some form of blended situation set in cafes on and off campus. Also music and drama from Internet Archive so Creative Commons. Shows are pre-recorded and I can do several at a time if moving out of Exeter.

Events over next few weeks include Exeter Street Arts on Saturday 29th August and Tech / Digital Exeter on Sept 9th/10th. I am thinking of several similar shows around this, starting with speculation as to what will happen, then a report. The Street arts scene is ell promoted on social media. I have some content from previously but lost track of the move from Twitter to Instagram. ( StortyTeller may help with this) There is no evening event so promotion even more distributed, I think. Later consider how the tech and social media has worked out. Replan around the conferences. There will be other forms of content but the street performance is a guide. Tech / Digital conference all online this year. When the Business School returns will the conversation continue and what will face to face add?

( This is a design loop but my colleague the producer JD has been told to rest following an NHS event. So possible design will kick in, but not sure when. Design Science more plausible very late in the process when some evidence available )

As well as the drama some reporting / speculation on Exeter student accommodation / Campus / blended . FutureLearn support courses on British Empire and from Met Office. Royal Albert Memorial Museum working on slavery exhibit. Has the boom in student accommodation turned to bust? Info on Exeter University formal plans not obvious but sites can be observed. "Unbundled" ideas relate to ending Chemistry and Music as subjects. Telematics also seems to have ended, not sure what follows as part of education.

HMV Exeter is not a ruin butseems the CD stock may not shift as quickly as years ago. ( Sony revenues first half of 2020 - streaming up 16 % , physical down 39 % source Music Business Worldwide ) One fantasy could be to imagine the upper floor at HMV Exeter is repurposed for personalised short runs of merchandise. Clothing, home decoration, posters, various items take up more space. they could be created on site. The Print Show no longer happening at NEC late September but reality can be various online.  

Tags for plays  #FortressHE  #BlendCafe25

Previously #mtwr   Management Theory at Work in Radio  #mtw3 Management Theory at Work , version 3 online only so far 

Background around online learning

Radio shows and social media over next few months probably will include comments about online learning in schools and universities. Actual news hard to predict. Relates to streaming music and social news, where more news has already happened though not much explained.

This post is to show some ways to describe the trends. "Blended Learning" is a bit vague but this makes it easier to present. Something continues face to face even if this changes. "Networked Learning" might not be digital or online, it could describe face to face but identifies common aspects of situations related to learning. "Platform University" describes shift to online, sometimes as an unfortunate direction for the tradition. Depends on how the existing model is regarded. "Fortress University" is a way to describe existing model in contrast to open approach might be possible with online.   "UnbundledHE" is study of how universities break down elements for outsourcing, for example online platforms. "HEMarkets" continues with study of combinations and platform development. See tags below.

Schools and campus could go back to "normal" just because students need to meet friends and the economy assumes parents can go to work. Whatever happens there will be enough examples of online learning for options to be considered for future plans. Emergency improvisation could be replaced by more considered design.

Meanwhile move of music to streaming continues. Vinyl survives in physical shops but how much space is needed? Radio part of the mix but gradually playlists created by AI appear whatever the resistance.

Lifelong Learning / Continuing Professional Development similar situation to HE. Fewer residential courses anyway and more "working at home" acceptance. "Action Learning" recognised by some HE, also a way to describe what happens anyway sometimes. "Quality" one example of a professional area that fits this discussion as the words used keep changing and ideas turn up as other topics.

#HEMarkets  #unbundledHE  suggested tags for Twitter etc.

SEEK map features on Lancaster slides

I am now back in Exeter with desktop and ways to edit slides and audio. I realise most of this is possible on mobile devices but in my own head a desktop is more intensive and mobility a sort of rest / alternative. so sound edits later. There should be one already loaded on Phonic FM for Thursday.

Two graphics from the slides for Janja Komljenovic talk on Thursday at Society for Research into Higher Education Zoom event. Title was " Digital(ised) higher education, digital platforms, and links to employability" . 

Main things that strike me are the recognition of MOOC platforms and the background of SEEK location and activity other than investing in FutureLearn and Coursera.

Previously I found the Unbundled HE course on FutureLearn had more emphasis on OPM but here the MOOC scene has similar space. Perhaps there will be an update on the Unbundled HE research.

The map shows a location where something like a MOOC is making sense. I am still puzzled why investment from the UK was not happening when the OU reached a limit on what was possible with FutureLearn. Also it was not much of a news story in UK media when SEEK invested in Futurelearn as well as Coursera . From much of the comment on Twitter my guess most people thought the doubts were still valid. Not much reporting in print Guardian about online learning. 

So I will try to find out through Twitter if  views are changing. I still put some comments into shows for Phonic FM, community radio in Exeter. East Devon News reports concern about buildings including student accommodation. City Council postpones discussion for more research. If HE is going online there may not even be a business case for more buildings. More on this later, just showing still on topic for local radio.