Guardian news focus on point and click cameras

Print Guardian today reports that there is a new fashion for point and click cameras. A photo shows Megan Rapinoe at the Paris Olympics. Emily Dinsdale, Dazed magazine’s arts and photography editor, suggests this results from "a desire for authenticity in an era where deepfakes mean distrust for the visual image." Kodak has seen demand for film double in recent years.

But what interests me is the quick mention of the new Google phone camera as background. Other Guardian stories have reported on moves to ban phones in schools, moves to make social media illegal for people aged under 16, opinion about leaving phones at home when on holiday to encourage more reading from the printed page. Is it possible that print media face other issues? There may be nostalgia for newspapers and they survive on some scale but when will print journalists consider the proportions ?

The Guardian used to have specialised sections on Education and Technology during the week. There was usually some repoting on BETT, a tech show for schools. Recently the ExCEL event is mostly ignored by print reporting. There are no phones on display and Apple is not always there but Google and Microsoft show software that might appear on mobile devices. This year Adobe showed Adobe Express, online AI including images. Serif Affinity continued with classic desktop design tools. It is possible that phones will remain a mystery in schools but there are now Google adverts on UK television so the capability will become known. Apple may launch something before January but as always much is secret.

Somehow 18 year old students arrive at university with some knowledge of AI, even if phones ar illegal or confiscated in schools. BETT now has a section for HE called Ahead by BETT. Online search will find a basis for future discussion. The show will also be interesting. Expect a big stand for Kodak.

I  am finding that LinkedIn now can rewrite my text and also creates a header graphic.  

Guardian not reporting online education

 Another story about UK university finances. Front page of Guardian today. Not looking good. and again there is no mention of online , either as a marketing challenge given global trends or as a cost reduction option. There is reference to loans during the period of low interest rates. How much of this was for buildings? Was anything spent on platforms, digital innovation? Page 40 there is a full page ad for King's Inter High , online school. But Guardian editorial has decided to ignore online as part of education reporting. Will government eventually bail out HE and allow campus as normal indefinitely? During lockdown thee was an emergency move online. Changes in retail and office space have continued.

Making Time in Gardens

Hoping to get to Lancaster campus in September. But maybe not so memory / online links may work just as well. The Making Time Garden was outside the Northcott theatre for a year as an art project. Then just carried on for a while. Then demolished and replaced as part of a new design for the Spine. It is near the Education offices and towads the Art area at the Spine far end. In the other direction is the InfoLab. I used to think that digital innovation could follow a walk from the InfoLab towards the Arts with more resistance as it continued. Now it is possible the digital has gone so far the conversation is in the reverse direction. How can AI be prevented from stealing the basis of creativity ? There will be a Cyber Security Leadership event at the George Fox Building, almost the end of the Spine in the other direction. Conversation during a walk is one possibility. Also online video with still photos as backgrounds. Or video edits.

Week of Library lecture

This week main event is lecture at Exeter Cathedral about medieval library. Background is Jeff Jarvis book about journalism and the Gutenberg Parenthesis. Print was an interlude, we are going back online to voice memory and speculation. So knowing more about how the medieval library helps to understand this. Also I have found Storyteller video on a riddle from the Exeter book. In voice form on YouTube. Also short story intended for print was read outloud on drama show. More later in formats other than txt.

Newspapers, a new phase

 I think the UK newspapers may be due for a change. Some are now expensive so I guess circulation will decline further. Sometimes they are hard to find. Also the house is full of previous ones that i have not had time to read in detail.

Meanwhile Twitter is a bit strange since it became X. Tweets still in there hiding but too much pro Trump material. Seems to be what Musk is promoting and much else turns up with it.

So I am going to try YouTube Shorts based on photos of newspapers as a format. Starting with repors on UK university scene. Link in future post.

Plan A this week

This week I hope to do more radio around the mural appearing between the library and Phoenix in Exeter. Last week the Wild Show turned out different because of rain. So possible talk with JD about 10.15 was mostly off air. This week I will do some backup on social media / email . So there will be some continuity in story. COP poetry project includes events in Princesshay as well as the mural. Previously there was music in Guildhall shopping area. Exeter University offers free info on climate as well as courses.  

London trip

After recent trip to Olymics Park in London and returning to Exeter I am thinking about things that turn up and university research. The River Lea walk connects with Canning Town ; next vist walk to ExCEL so the ideas from BETT and Learning Rechnologies will be considered by the research on Olympic Park. ( I realise there is also DLR but somehow knowing there is also a walk adds connctivity )

London College of Fashion is actually open. Degree show included "fashion prints" . Meanwhile London College of Communication is emerging at the Elephant. UCL and V&A both at the Hackney end as well. More later.

Augmented Locations

Some locations can be used as sets for live performance / film or video . Public spaces also for public disussion. Technology is now such that augmentation is normal for space in reality. It no longer implies drama or fiction. Other times and locations can be present. Examples include where I have lived - Exeter , London , Kendal. 

Current fiction is based on reality. Titles are hash tags. #CDWalk is a walk in city centre talking around where music retail used to be and there are still new buildings for student accommodation. #SiegeK and #RuinsHE set in Kendal Castle, based on talk by Peter Horrocks in Durham. The Fortress University survived the siege during lockdown. Everything is back to normal.#RuinsHE is set in the future.

Expanding on LinkedIn Comment

 This is somewhere between Twitter and LinkedIn. I have not done much on LinkedIn recently but it may have more potential. Twitter is still lurking somewhere inside X but I sometimes cause offence  /  wander off topic. However I think I should introduce myself for LinkedIn so they realise where I am coming from.

I live in Exeter and contribute to Phonic FM, local community radio, mostly music. The University has expanded recently and this results in lots of student accommodation being built in the city centre. shops and pubs are demolished. ( Many UK cities much the same ) Post lockdown there is some recovery for retail and offices but definite changes. Apparently the campus is "back to normal". This is hard to understand. The student accommodation might last for 20 or 30 years. There is no widely available research on how long the campus model will continue. So I do look at how university scene might develop but keep coming back to the consequence for the city.

By the way, Harlequins not happening very quickly. Shopping mall to be replaced by "co-living" but when? There may be changes in reality but not yet in how UK HE reports on itself. Building continues - campus, accommodation , spectacular business schools.

Tweet / Linkedin was about new THE ranking of online unis for November. How will this change the overall rankings? I do not think the LinkedIn comments have responded enough as of this time. My own drama - CD Walk - is based on walking about in central Exeter looking at where the music retail used to be and then where the student accommodation has been built . Guess that education is about 25 years behind music industry as a shift.

Complication is that since the first version of this HMV has got stronger. The Exeter one has gone bust at leat three times but now sells lots of merchandise around a range of culture, not just music. CDs still in decline but the shop appears viable. Also HMV is back in Oxford Street, getting stronger.

So some sort of real estate continues, even in proportion to online.

Links following Across the Atlantic Online Education podcast

 I am catching up on the transatlantic podcast about online university trends. Couple of links reminded me of past events. Neil Mosley still has a text blog and has looked at long ago when there was policy for UK education. . This includes a link to a PhD on EU projects . From 2005 but next January BETT will be 40 years old. The EU has not turned up in recent years. So 2005 is quite recent in some ways. In the podcast there is mention of Telematics, still active in Italy. In Exeter there was Telematics early in this century but it seems to have gone away. Before Jan 2025 there could be an update. ( The podcast may not reach a conclusion on this timescale, they seem to be always waiting for officiail stats. )