Contrary to the impression that you currently might get from this here bloggity blog, I have actually been blogging. Yes indeed. I have been blogging over here and also over here.
I've been blogging for my MSc. But in a closed space (only viewable to my tutor). Which was a bit weird.
And right now, my current role has an internal focus and it hasn't really felt appropriate to blog here about much of what I've been doing.
So, for that reason and because I am blogging more in other spaces, I probably need to have a rethink what this particular blog is 'for'.
I'll get back to you.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
songs of me
Argh! I. Was. So. Not. Going. To. Do. This. When I first came across Six Songs of Me, I thought, no way! Six songs?! I've had four decades (yes, I really am that old) of listening to awesome music! How the hell can I sum up my life in six songs?! Six?!
And not just any old six songs, oh no, but one song for a specific period or event in your life. I didn't like all of the questions either (eg I can remember the first album I bought, but not the first song), so when the lovely Janet Davis set her own additional questions, I thought about it all over again. And again, thought, no way.
But here I am, trying to sum myself up in six songs. Why now? Well, Mr The Buddster's recent cracking post about taking up the challenge made me think about it all over again. And like Graham, I thought it might be nice to blog about something that isn't work/study/professional development related. Can I blog for pleasure?
Janet's questions don't completely work for me either. So I thought I'd use a combination of some of the Guardian's six, some of Janet's and a couple of my own.
So here goes...
1. Which song is most likely to bring a tear to your eye (or to make you weep copiously)?
There are so many. I cry at pretty much anything these days. About half of Radiohead's back catalogue for a start. But Love Will Tear Us Apart has been makin' ma greet since 1979.
2. Which song always gets you dancing?
Again, there are loads - it doesn't take much to get boogying. But the one that's been around the longest would have to be The Cult's She Sells Sanctuary. Used to go completely mad to this song at school discos (having no idea back then what the song was about, obviously!). It's still guaranteed to get me on the dance floor. It aint pretty though. If you're in my vicinity when Billy Duffy's quasi-psychedelic guitar intro kicks off - best get well out of the way.
3. Which song reminds you how awesome the internet is?
I was - still am - a big fan of Scottish indie music in the 80s and early 90s. Hipsway, The Thieves, Win, Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, Pearlfishers, The Silencers, The Big Dish, The Bluebells, Danny Wilson, The Trash Can Sinatras, Orange Juice, Simple Minds (the good stuff!): these were the bands that provided the soundtrack to my teens and early twenties. I was a wee bit obsessed with Win's U Got The Power (Scots of a certain age may well remember the ace Escher inspired McEwans lager advert it was the soundtrack for). My friend's big brother had the album (Uh! Tears Baby) on vinyl and taped it for me. But, at some point I lost it. Tracking down a copy was pretty much the first thing I did when I discovered the internet!
4. Which song reminds you of a memorable live performance?
This would have to be Hugh Reed and the Velvet Underpants' Six To Wan. My friend's band The Something Apples (which is what they were called when the gig started, but they were forever changing their name and I think they may have changed it again during this gig) supported Hugh at Drummonds in Aberdeen in 1993. They were pure dead brilliant, so they were. We got very drunk with the band after the gig and they ended up back at our shared house where we got even drunker on tequila slammers. I had one of the worst hangovers of my life the day after. Doesn't seem to have affected them too much though as they went on to support Debbie Harry later that year. Hugh is still touring, I think - well worth catching him if you can.
5. When you’re angry, on which song do you want to turn up the volume?
Well, I don't really do 'angry'. Too lazy. But I do like to turn the music up when I need a bit of a motivational 'boost' - if I have a pile of ironing to do, or need to phone my credit card company, that sort of thing. That'd have to be The Cardiac's This Is The Life. It's a veritable aural kick up the a***!
6. What song helped get you through a difficult time?
I spent a lot of my last year at school listening to Horse's The Same Sky. Which was another C90 copied from a friend! I bought my own copy when I started uni and moved into halls of residence. I was gutted when I got back to my room, stuck it into my faithful old tape player, and silence. I took it back to John Menzies. They played it on the shop sound system and it was fine, but they gave me another copy anyway. Fortunately that one played fine. I didn't much enjoy my first year at university and this album helped get me through it. There's not a dud track on it (and I was lucky enough to see Horse perform the whole album live during her Same Sky tour in 2010) but You Could Be Forgiven is possibly just about my favourite.
So there we go. I actually enjoyed doing that. And, dammit, now that I've started thinking about significant songs, I don't want to stop. So look out for part 2!
And not just any old six songs, oh no, but one song for a specific period or event in your life. I didn't like all of the questions either (eg I can remember the first album I bought, but not the first song), so when the lovely Janet Davis set her own additional questions, I thought about it all over again. And again, thought, no way.
But here I am, trying to sum myself up in six songs. Why now? Well, Mr The Buddster's recent cracking post about taking up the challenge made me think about it all over again. And like Graham, I thought it might be nice to blog about something that isn't work/study/professional development related. Can I blog for pleasure?
Janet's questions don't completely work for me either. So I thought I'd use a combination of some of the Guardian's six, some of Janet's and a couple of my own.
So here goes...
1. Which song is most likely to bring a tear to your eye (or to make you weep copiously)?
There are so many. I cry at pretty much anything these days. About half of Radiohead's back catalogue for a start. But Love Will Tear Us Apart has been makin' ma greet since 1979.
2. Which song always gets you dancing?
Again, there are loads - it doesn't take much to get boogying. But the one that's been around the longest would have to be The Cult's She Sells Sanctuary. Used to go completely mad to this song at school discos (having no idea back then what the song was about, obviously!). It's still guaranteed to get me on the dance floor. It aint pretty though. If you're in my vicinity when Billy Duffy's quasi-psychedelic guitar intro kicks off - best get well out of the way.
3. Which song reminds you how awesome the internet is?
I was - still am - a big fan of Scottish indie music in the 80s and early 90s. Hipsway, The Thieves, Win, Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, Pearlfishers, The Silencers, The Big Dish, The Bluebells, Danny Wilson, The Trash Can Sinatras, Orange Juice, Simple Minds (the good stuff!): these were the bands that provided the soundtrack to my teens and early twenties. I was a wee bit obsessed with Win's U Got The Power (Scots of a certain age may well remember the ace Escher inspired McEwans lager advert it was the soundtrack for). My friend's big brother had the album (Uh! Tears Baby) on vinyl and taped it for me. But, at some point I lost it. Tracking down a copy was pretty much the first thing I did when I discovered the internet!
4. Which song reminds you of a memorable live performance?
This would have to be Hugh Reed and the Velvet Underpants' Six To Wan. My friend's band The Something Apples (which is what they were called when the gig started, but they were forever changing their name and I think they may have changed it again during this gig) supported Hugh at Drummonds in Aberdeen in 1993. They were pure dead brilliant, so they were. We got very drunk with the band after the gig and they ended up back at our shared house where we got even drunker on tequila slammers. I had one of the worst hangovers of my life the day after. Doesn't seem to have affected them too much though as they went on to support Debbie Harry later that year. Hugh is still touring, I think - well worth catching him if you can.
5. When you’re angry, on which song do you want to turn up the volume?
Well, I don't really do 'angry'. Too lazy. But I do like to turn the music up when I need a bit of a motivational 'boost' - if I have a pile of ironing to do, or need to phone my credit card company, that sort of thing. That'd have to be The Cardiac's This Is The Life. It's a veritable aural kick up the a***!
6. What song helped get you through a difficult time?
I spent a lot of my last year at school listening to Horse's The Same Sky. Which was another C90 copied from a friend! I bought my own copy when I started uni and moved into halls of residence. I was gutted when I got back to my room, stuck it into my faithful old tape player, and silence. I took it back to John Menzies. They played it on the shop sound system and it was fine, but they gave me another copy anyway. Fortunately that one played fine. I didn't much enjoy my first year at university and this album helped get me through it. There's not a dud track on it (and I was lucky enough to see Horse perform the whole album live during her Same Sky tour in 2010) but You Could Be Forgiven is possibly just about my favourite.
So there we go. I actually enjoyed doing that. And, dammit, now that I've started thinking about significant songs, I don't want to stop. So look out for part 2!
Friday, 25 January 2013
It's UKGovCamp Jim! But not as we know it!
This time last week (Thursday morning) I was on the train to London. There was no
snow when I left home but it certainly got whiter the further south I went. There was a fair bit of the cold stuff around in London when I arrived.
And, heck, it just kept snowing.
 |
| snowy South Bank |
I’d traveled down to the big smoke mainly for UKGovCamp* - due to take place on the Saturday. But it got cancelled! A difficult decision for the organisers to have to make, but no doubt the right one. I’m used to weather stopping play. But it amused me (in a wry sort of way) that I’d traveled the furthest distance to attend only for the event to be cancelled because of rubbish weather in/near London.
Anyway, after some online chatter about whether the event could still go ahead in a virtual format, it was decided that, actually, there could still be a face to face get together of sorts, as Lloyd Davis explains on his blog. So the shout went out that an un-unconference henceforth hashtagged #altukgc13 [Or #ukgc13b, or possibly both. The hashtag situation got a bit confused and I think the streams may even have crossed at one point!] would go ahead on Saturday, on the 5th floor of the Royal Festival Hall. The news was greeted enthusiastically by those of us already in London and those hardy types keen to attempt a journey into the capital despite the conditions.
By the time I got to the South Bank Centre at about 11am on the Saturday morning, there were a few campers there and Lloyd had got the introductions going. The intros continued and we each had the opportunity to suggest topics we wanted to discuss. We were a fairly small group to start with – more mini-campers appeared as the day wore on. And indeed, not everyone stayed for the whole day. I don’t think anyone was counting, but there must have been 20-25 of us there at some point during the day. We stayed in the one group until after lunch, by which time we were in sufficient numbers to split into two.
A valiant attempt was made to live stream at least some of the discussions. This was appreciated by those following at home, but the logistics started to ‘interrupt the conversational flow a bit’ and we had to make a plea for patience to the folks at home :)
 |
| Puffles holding court |
So to the discussions. [I didn’t take detailed notes during these sessions, sorry, but
those that were filmed are available on YouTube.] We talked about:
- civil servants and social media (yes, that old chestnut!)
- open data
- digital by default and digital inclusion – which inspired @Puffles2010’s bestest buddy to write on the topic
- influencing stakeholders
- tools as solutions to problems currently dealt with by public (or private) sector by facilitating community self-organisation
- diversity of speakers at tech events [a session that inspired Mary McKenna to write this blog post and also to offer to hold career counselling sessions at GovCamp proper when it happens.
So, did it work? Most definitely. In addition to the actual discussions on the day, #altukgc13 was an opportunity to refine some of those sessions that had already been proposed for UKGovCamp proper. And new session ideas emerged. The space worked really well. The wifi was pretty stable throughout the day and the very pleasant classical** soundtrack created a certain ambience. Can’t complain about the coffee and cake either. And those tuning in from home were able to contribute to the discussions. Kudos to Lloyd (@lloyddavis) and James (@jacatell) for making it all happen! And to everyone who battled the weather to turn up!
On a more personal level, I also had a really good chat over lunch with the guys behind LibraryCamp – Sue Lawson (@shedsue) and Richard Veevers (@richardveevers). So, continue to watch this space for news on the first LibraryCampScotland!
On a slightly less positive note: having just got the hang of explaining to people what an 'unconference' is, I now have to find a way to explain an 'un-unconference'!
And. It wasn’t UKGovCamp. The date for the rescheduled event has yet to be announced. I do hope I can make it.
* I was down for other stuff as well, but that'll have to wait for another post
** don’t ask me to be more specific, it’s not my area of musical expertise
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