A hard rain's a gonna fall

Stuck in the house? Nothing to do but wait until the sun shines again? Or just waiting for the start of term? Well then, a few suggestions from The Guardian to while away those summertime blues.
Over the next 13 weeks (11 actually, we're a fortnight behind) Guardian Books will be podcasting (doh!) Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. Read by Sir Ian McKellen no less. This should keep you all going until Deathly Hallows kicks in.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/wolfbrother


1000 Films Too See Before You Die is a partwork which has been appearing in The Guardian this week. Someone on their film blog (doh!) suggests that it would take about 80 days to watch all of them. I reckon if you cut out the foreign language stuff (unless it's badly dubbed then, that's OK), you'll be able to whack through the rest by the 13th of August. And still have time to listen to Ian McKellen...
http://film.guardian.co.uk/1000films/

MyAthens goes Web 2.0?

Eduserv are redeveloping MyAthens to give it a portal approach that will give users more information on the homepage. The information will be placed in panels that users can move on the screen, minimize or close, so that they can customize their homepage. They will also be providing users with a Forum section and are investigating ways of providing a cross searching facility for resources (not for this release). Administrators will also be able to add panels with information of their choice via the administration area.
The administration area interface will provide administrators with the necessary functionality to add/update their own content to the MyAthens start page. In addition to the preset panels containing the account information (resources, account details, etc), administrators will be able to add new panels (see attached MyAthens panel screenshot) as they wish, define their position, and preview these before publishing them. They will also be able to define whether the panel can be removed or closed by the user or not. Please note that this is completely optional and administrators do not have to use this facility if they prefer not to.
In terms of timescales, they are hoping to launch the updated MyAthens interface in early August, in plenty of time for the next academic year.

Source: Eduserv

How to use Web 2.0 in your library

Phil Bradley has set up a portal to supplement the data provided in his Facet Publication 'How to use Web 2.0 in your library', published in May 2007. This Zimbio portal, is maintained and monitored by the author and readers of the book.

A newsfeed from this portal is available somewhere down that right-hand column. So far, so good. Unfortunately, if you are using this from within the college, you'll probably just see a Zimbio logo. This does link to the portal but it does show how dependent we are on the various IE plug-ins required for Web 2.0 functionality and, thus, on our IT chums.

On a brighter note, I'm sure that this will be fixed over the summer. And if you're out there in the real world you'll be wondering what I'm whining about. Again.

Not waving, but drowning

The JISC have (has?) made available 5 video case studies on the innovative use of learning spaces which were presented at the JISC 2007 Conference. And given that much of the next 3 years are going to be spent wrangling over the future shape of the college's new new build, stuff like this is going to feature very highly in our sights. (Not just a case of semantics either; academy indeed!

The 5 case studies herein presented are:

• Changing culture – Edinburgh’s Telford College
• A social and collaborative learning space – Saltire Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University
• A technology-rich space for inquiry-based learning – CILASS, University of Sheffield
• A technology-rich science centre - London Metropolitan University
• A campus for the 21st century – City Campus, University of Wolverhampton

Go watch. Go visit. Just don't tell us in 3 years time that we didn't tell what was going on...in the real world.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_innovation/eli_learningspaces.aspx

I was much too far out all my life...

Signposts To The West

I know it sounds like a Bono / U2 Celtic Twilight concoction but...
The aim of Signposts to the West is to build the capacity of local services to help people with health or social care needs integrate or reintegrate back into the labour market. It aims to do this by providing West area directories of information in:

• Employment, Education and Training Opportunities
• Support Service Information (Health, Social Work and Voluntary organisations)
• Staff Training Opportunities

This project is part funded by the European Equal Programme.
In general, these groups are often distanced from the labour market and need a range of tailored support to move into work. The Employment Pathway represents the various stages of activity that adults can participate in.

This website was designed by frontline staff from Careers, Anniesland College, Job Centre Plus, Opportunities, Glasgow Social Work and NHS.

http://www.signpoststothewest.co.uk/

WordTalk

For people with reading and writing difficulties, having text reinforced by hearing it read aloud can be very useful. WordTalk is a free plug-in developed for use with all versions of Microsoft Word (from Word 97 upwards), which can help people with reading difficulties use Microsoft Word more effectively.

As well as speaking the text of the document it can be configured to work with keyboard shortcuts. It contains a talking dictionary to help decide which word spelling is most appropriate.
WordTalk discreetly integrates into Word’s toolbar and is highly configurable, allowing you to adjust the highlight colours, voice and the speed of the speech.

http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/index.html

Source: JISC RSC Scotland S&W

Just Ask...

"Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design" is a new book by Shawn Henry that helps developers include accessibility in designing websites, software, hardware, and consumer products. It focuses on including real people with disabilities throughout the design process, to develop effective accessibility solutions efficiently.
The entire book is available online website free of charge, thanks to Adobe, RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind), Mitsue-Links, and other sponsors.

http://www.uiaccess.com/justask/

Source: JISC RSC S&W Scotland

Supporting Student Mental Health & Well-Being

Supporting Student Mental Health & Well-Being is a website which was launched by Healthier Scotland & the Scottish Executive on June 6th. The site is designed to give guidance and information on promoting and supporting student mental health and well-being and is intended for use in colleges and universities and it will be of particular use to:

• Lecturers and support staff in day to day contact with students;
• Staff working in student support;
• Senior management seeking to establish effective policies and procedures relating to mental health.

Students with mental health difficulties are not a new phenomenon. Exam stress, transition from school to college or university and changes in lifestyle habits such as diet and alcohol consumption can all have a negative effect on mental well-being. Staff across colleges and universities have been working for years with students experiencing some degree of mental distress, but many are still unsure of how to support them effectively.

This website is a positive step towards supporting staff to support students with mental health difficulties.

http://www.ssmh.ac.uk/

New titles from Oxford Reference Online

Five new titles have been added to our Oxford Reference Premium Collection. They are:

• The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction;
• The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World;
• The New Encyclopedia of Birds;
• Encyclopedia of Underwater Life;
• A Dictionary of Public Health.

There are also three new editions of existing titles:

• The Oxford Guide to Countries of the World;
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music;
• The Concise Oxford Medical Dictionary.

Two new timelines as well:

• Ireland;
• Modern design.

Veritably something for all! Of course in the middle of all this demob-frenzy, it's the Concise Oxford Companion to the Bordellos of Magaluf that we're looking for. Oh well...

Hairdressing Training

This one almost crept by me. Or have I not been reading my emails properly?
The good people at JISC Collections (with funding from the Learning & Skills Council (LSC)) have made Hairdressing Training freely available to all UK further education institutions. No mention of this on the website yet; information garnered from the new JISC Collections catalogue of Online Resources, 2007-2008. Another £350 in the coffers. I wonder if we'll use it more widely now that its free (on completion of the licence agreement).

http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/

http://hairdressing.mimas.ac.uk/

The Western Tradition

First thoughts were: The West. John Wayne. John Ford. John R Cash.
Not so. Rather a history of western civilisation.

The Western Tradition is a freely-available series of videos that takes you from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, to the Byzantine Europe and Medieval Europe, and then through the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution and winding up in 20th century Europe and America.

52 videos. 26 hours. Over 2700 images from Metropolitan Museum of Art.

When I find time to watch all the video materials I'll let you know. Brief (5 minutes) of viewing suggest that this is an excellent resource for History of Art, Citizenship and, well, learning for the sheer hell of it. Remember that?

Videos
Course Outline

Source: Open Culture

Sorry, chaps...

I wasn't there but Matthew Mezey's report (Update, June 2007) on the Library 2.0 forum at April's Library + Information Show provides a nice soundbite from Phil Bradley (talking about PageFlakes):

"Web 2.0 is basically ‘anarchic technology’ – ‘You do not need a technical person, it’s not hard to create and share. ‘There’s no longer going to be the tyranny of the firewall, the manager, the technical person."

Full report can be read here.

And whilst we're here might as well give a mention to Social Computing magazine. Literally just discovered this so haven't had much of chance to investigate. Might be worth a look.

http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com/

Transform searching into finding

Ah. Not a search engine then. A find engine.

Quintura is a visual search engine where your search produces a cloud of related terms (on the left) & a list of weblinks to the right. Mousing-over any of the terms in the cloud materially changes the list of links, allowing you to drill down into the "find" results, hopefully eliminating the inevitable chaff that any Google (et al) search produces. At least that's my take on it. Worked fairly well for the Phantom Engineer's default test search, i.e. Bob Dylan.

Certainly worth a look.

http://www.quintura.com/

Source: Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff