CW2010 will take place on 10-11 March 2010. It will be held at the e-Science Institute, 15 South College Street, Edinburgh.

Visit the Collaborations Workshop website.

Register for the Collaborations Workshop.

As part of the JISC Conference 2010, JISC is asking teachers, learners and researchers to share their experiences of technology around the event theme:
‘technology – at the heart of education and research’.

The competition will be judged by Michelle Pauli, deputy editor of Guardian.co.uk books section and editor of the conference blog; conference keynote speaker Bill St Arnaud, chief research officer at Canada’s Advanced Internet Development Organization; and John Traxler, professor of mobile learning and director of the Learning Lab at the University of Wolverhampton.

Entrants should write a blog post or produce a short video explaining how important technology is to their work in education and research.

For example, have you been using web 2.0 tools to get in touch with or engage students or colleagues? Perhaps technology is helping to make your research quicker and easier, or maybe you’ve found a whole new angle of inquiry because of it? Whether it’s about getting in touch with far-flung colleagues, presenting your work in a new way, or working in an innovative area, JISC wants to hear from you.

Michelle Pauli explained what the judges are looking for: “We’re really looking forward to finding out what technology the education community couldn’t live without, whether it’s a cutting edge software application or a standard piece of kit used in an innovative way. Blog posts don’t need to be long to tell a good story and a short, sweet and to-the-point specific example can be just as compelling and effective.”

She added: “I’m particularly intrigued to see if anyone takes up the challenge of ’showing rather than telling’ by using video to share their story.”

All entrants will receive reciprocal links to their blogs from the JISC website, with the chance to be part of the selected entries in a publication on the topic.

The overall winner of the competition will receive a flip camera, presented to them at the JISC Conference 2010, taking place from 12-13 April 2010 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London.

Anyone employed by a further education college or university in the UK or abroad is eligible to enter the competition, although members of the JISC executive are not eligible to be shortlisted or win the prize.

Submit your entry via the online form before the entry deadline of 1700 GMT on Friday 19 February 2010 at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2010/04/jisc10/blogcomp

The conference tag will be #jif10.

This JISC-sponsored roadshow, for researchers and those providing IT support services, will introduce the concept of e-research and some of the tools, along with case studies from practitioners in various disciplines.

Many academics engage in a combination of teaching, administration and research. All will be familiar with the use of networked technologies help them work together, teaching and administering large numbers of students, often at a distance, perhaps through managed learning environments or video-conferencing

The term e-Research describes the use of networked technologies to support research activities, by enabling the capture, storage, analysis, publishing or sharing of large amounts of complex data often by remote or distributed teams. Technologies and services specifically for e-research already exist and are increasingly used, with many freely available. Additionally, other tools already familiar to academics in other contexts can be adopted and adapted for e-research.

Guest speakers

• Dr David Fergusson, Deputy Director, National e-Science Centre on ‘What is e-research?’
• Dr Hugo Mills, Research Fellow, University of Reading on ‘The Use of Web 2.0 in Research’
• Plus hear from Wolverhampton researchers about their experiences with e-research technologies.

Book Online

For the past 7 years the JISC annual conference has been bringing expertise and knowledge to over 750 academics, IT experts, library professionals, policy makers, research staff, senior managers, students and teachers from across education in the UK and internationally. The one and a half day conference provides an unrivalled opportunity to communicate and network directly with this audience.

Download the Sponsorship and Exhibition Packages Information document which lists all the available opportunities, what is included in each package, the prices and how to book. Please refer to the booking form for full details.

NB: Early Bird package rates end 1 December 2009 - so get booking now to secure your discount!

For further information about the JISC Conference please visit the conference website.

Book Online

Many institutions are already developing, or are looking to develop, a liaison or relationship management strategy to improve the links between central information services and the departments and divisions of the wider institution. Given limited resources, such liaison work often involves engaging only with a few individuals, who are expected to represent the needs and views of their whole department. Researchers, however, have IT needs that are somewhat different to those of other IT users within their institution. The challenges of liaising with researchers include:

• Pro-actively engaging with researchers, particularly with those in disciplines which are not traditionally innovative users of IT
• Ensuring that IT requirements are built into research plans and budgets right from the earliest stages
• Successfully advocating the benefits of centrally provided facilities compared to local self-managed facilities

A variety of models for liaising with researchers exists within the HE community and an understanding of what constitutes good practise is still developing. Through a combination of presentations and discussion workshops, this event will aim to improve on that understanding and enable delegates to discuss and share good practise where it exists.

If you or others within your institution need to improve your liaison or communication with researchers, then this event should be of interest to you. The event is being run in collaboration with JISC, who hope to commission a study of the various models in use across HE for engagement with researchers. The presentations and workshop discussions would therefore feed into that study and inform future developments in this area.

Sponsored by JISC.

The main conference will open with a drinks reception on the evening of the 12 April, with a full programme on the 13 April. Pre-conference activities on the afternoon of the 12 April are planned and these will be announced along with the parallel session details later in the year.

We are delighted to welcome the following keynote speakers to the conference:

• Martin Bean, Vice Chancellor, The Open University
• Bill St Arnaud, Chief Research Officer, CANARIE Inc.

Sponsorship and Exhibition bookings are now open and full details of the packages and how to book can be found at: www.jisc.ac.uk/jisc10

The launch of the CBI Higher Education Task Force report ‘Stronger Together – Businesses and Universities in Turbulent Times ‘  made a big impact in the media, and raised awareness of the importance of strong links between business and universities.

The CBI HE Summit on 20 October builds on the report to further explore the funding challenges facing the sector, in the light of expected reductions in government funding. In particular, discussing what action is needed to ensure the continued strength of the UK HE sector.

Universities can provide business with ideas and new technologies, so how best can business work with universities to turn academic research into the innovative product of the future? What are the opportunities and challenges presented by a greater focus on economic impact by research funders?

With speakers including members of the HE Task Force and shadow secretary of state for universities and skills David Willetts, the summit brings together business leaders, policymakers, higher education stakeholders and university vice-chancellors.

This is a great opportunity to help influence the policies shaping the future of higher education in the UK. See the full programme here.

Book your place here

Event details:

20 October 2009
BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JO

For further information please contact:

Sue Thornton
T: 020 7395 8013
E: sue.thornton@cbi/org.uk

You can read Stronger Together – Businesses and Universities in Turbulent Times here

• green events
• how to make sessions more interactive
• how to use Twitter at an event
• pre-event community building

and  much much more, can now be viewed here on the JISC events blog.

The tags being used are:

• jisceventsresourcesgeneral - for general event related resources
• jisceventsresourcesonline - for resources relating to use of web 2.0 technologies and social media at events

The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to this call is 12 noon GMT on Monday 19th October 2009.

The JISC is holding a community briefing event where potential bidders will be given information about the background to the call, its objectives and the bidding process. Attendees will also have an opportunity to ask questions of JISC Executive staff. This meeting will take place Thursday 17th September 2009 at the ICC in Birmingham. Registration for this event closes 13:00 Friday 11^th September 2009. More information is available from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2009/09/aimcallbriefing.aspx.

Further details about the call can be found at the AIM blog at http://aimprog.jiscinvolve.org/. Queries about the call can also be posted on Twitter using the tag #AIMCall09.

If you have any queries or require further information please do not hesitate to contact the AIM Programme Manager Christopher Brown at c.brown@jisc.ac.uk or on 020 3006 6072 and 07891 501177.

1. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for the mass digitisation of textual materials: Improving Access to Text, 24 Sept 09, Contact: Michael Day, UKOLN, University of Bath, http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/ocr-2009
2. Digital imagery: creation and importance in the visual arts, Contact: Leigh Garrett,  University for the creative Arts, 22 Sep 09, http://www.vads.ac.uk/digitalimagery
3. Digitising Correspondence (Digitising Early Modern Letters), Contact: Dr Jan Broadway, Queen Mary, University of London, 17 Sep 09 http://www.livesandletters.ac.uk/events/2009/09/17/digitizing-correspondence-workshop
4. Creating digital performance documentation
5. Managing digital performance documentation
6. Delivering digital performance documentation,  Contact: Stephen Gray                   JISC Digital Media, 23-25 Sep 09, http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/blog/entry/free-to-attend-digitisation-seminars
7. Climate Data Digitisation and Visualisation, Contact: Dr Rob Allen, Met Office Hadley Centre, 15-17 Sep 09, http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation/reports/workshops.aspx(Word Document on JISC workshops webpage)
8. Collaborative scholarly editing over the Web, Contact: Dr Peter Robinson                University of Birmingham, 24-25 Sep 09, http://www.itsee.bham.ac.uk/vmr/toolscfp.htm
9. Geographical Information Systems in history and heritage, Contact: Sarah Rees Jones, University of York, 17-18 Sep 09, http://www.york.ac.uk/res/isthmus/ISTHMUS_Site/Public_Participatory_GIS.html
10. Mathematical content–tools and standards, practice and strategy, Contact: Dr Jonathon Fine, The Open University, 9 Sep 09, http://groups.google.com/group/uk-math-content-2009?hl=en&pli=1
11. Successfully building and managing a digital media collection
12. The digital media collection +100 years, Contact: Dave Kilbey, JISC Digital Media 15-16 Sep 09, http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/blog/entry/free-to-attend-digitisation-seminars
13. Building Usage of Cartoon Archives, Contact: Dr Nicholas Hiley, University of Kent (Awaiting Website/Programme details)
14. Digital History Workshop: Connecting researchers to digital collections, Contact: Dr Kathryn Eccles, Oxford Internet Institute, 3rd Sep 09, http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/2009/07/23/digital-history-digital-resources-for-history-and-historians/
15. High Volume Digitisation: Issues, Trends & Innovative Robot Tech, Contact: Beverley Dodd, Birmingham City University, 23 Sep 09, http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation/reports/workshops.aspx (pdf Document on JISC workshops webpage)

Working with a number of UK and international partners the Training, Outreach and Education Group at the  National e-Science Centre in Edinburgh has delivered a number of Summer School programmes globally in the past 5 years. In conjunction with the National Grid Service (NGS) this expertise will underpin the delivery of Advanced Distributed Services School (ADSSS) in the UK.

The aim of the ADSSS is to help develop the skills of those involved in providing computational support for research in a wide range of disciplines.

In particular the school will focus on the use of, provision of interfaces to and the development of services based on employing the composition or aggregation of computational or data services.

For instance the school will show how to compose a variety of services into bioinformatics work flows which can be used to support biomedical research processes, how to use and develop lab or department scale clusters of computers to run simulations, how to work with the National Grid Service to compose protein simulation models for running on UK or international super computers, developing a portal to support legacy appications.

The school aims to provide the students with a familiarity with and the tools to use the facilities available in the UK and internationally to transform current research practices in the light of the developing services being made available in a highly networked
world.

Registration is now open. Costs £276 per student including accommodation and meals.

Further information available on the ADSSS website, NGS website and in the NGS newsletter.

The UK Access Management Federation is pleased to announce that it will be running a federated access event on 14^th October 2009 at the ICO in London.

The event will focus on a number of cross-sector case studies that have been developed to help others to deploy federated access management within their organisations and will focus on a range of deployment strategies in HE, FE, Schools and Commercial organisations.

The event is aimed at both identity providers and service providers and will give attendees the perfect opportunity to learn from the experiences of other organisations, and their different modes of deployment.

This event is free of charge but spaces are limited so it is suggested that you book early.

See further details, programme and booking

To be kept up-to-date with further events and information from the UK federation you can join the following lists:

• UK federation Announce Mailing List
• UK federation Discuss Mailing List

Links to these mailing lists

The conference aims to explore the progress made towards the goal set in 2003 in Poitiers, that by 2010 every citizen should have access to an ePortfolio.

The main conference themes are:

1. ePortfolio, innovation and creativity
2. ePortfolio, accountability and quality
3. ePortfolio, education and personal identity construction
4.  ePortfolio, employability and professional identity development
5. ePortfolio, organisational learning and knowledge management
6. ePortfolio, policies and implementation
7. ePortfolio, technologies and system architectures

See further information about the conference.

The conference aims to explore the use of e-portfolios from different perspectives including the learner, practitioner, institutional and lifelong learner.

Julie Hughes, Principal Lecturer in Innovation in Learning and Teaching, from the University of Wolverhampton said: ‘We are delighted JISC is involved in this year’s ‘e-Portfolio-based learning’ conference which gives colleagues the opportunity to learn from each other.’

Lisa Gray, e-learning programme manager at JISC said, ‘With the hosting institution lowering its nursing attrition rates by using e-portfolios, it shows there are real merits to sharing best practice across colleges and universities. If there is a one percent improvement in retention achieved across higher education institutions this would be worth over £132 million.’

JISC runs an e-learning programme which works on behalf of the whole of further and higher education to develop advice and guidance on how using web 2.0 and online learning tools can open up learning, teaching and research for all.

More information on JISC’s publication Effective Practice with e-Portfolios

JISC InfoNet’s e-Portfolios infoKit

Register and find more out about the conference

The organisation, which represents the University of Nottingham’s entire conference and events portfolio, is the first UK academic venue to sign the charter, which has been created to encourage fair, reasonable pricing during the 2012 Olympic Games period.

Charter members will be promoted to organisers seeking venues and suppliers via Visit Britain’s network of overseas offices.

See full article.

What do researchers want from ICT?

The JISC-funded Community Engagement projects set out to answer this question. Aimed paticularly at research computing services, IT directors and others planning research computing provision, these events will present some of their findings and stimulate debate on what needs to happen next.

Places are still available so go to the event websites to get further details about the programme and how to register.

London
Edinburgh

Much happened over the months that followed: electricity prices sky-rocketed, plans for carbon pricing under the Carbon Reduction Commitment were finalized, and there is now the recession. The incentive to minimize costs has never been greater.

The JISC funded low-carbon ICT project at the University of Oxford has developed tools and techniques to reduce energy consumption and costs in networked desktop computing environments. At the time of last year’s conference, it was policy throughout most of the University departments to leave desktop computers switched on, all day, every day of the year.

This need no longer be the case: the tools developed through the project allow desktop computers to be switched off when not in use with, importantly, no inconvenience to the user nor their IT support teams.

You are invited to join us to learn more about our work as well as the work of others in this important field on Friday 22nd May 2009 at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University.

For more information about this free event please visit:
http://projects.oucs.ox.ac.uk/lowcarbonict/conferences/conf-2.htm

He handed over to Dr Sarah Thomas, of the University of Oxford, for the formal welcome. She talked about the foundation of the Bodleian library, the collections available in Oxford, and the importance of libraries in the future.  She argued that the past and the future are not polar opposites, but need to be integrated to move forward.

Malcolm Read, executive secretary of JISC, thanked Dr Thomas for her welcome.  He expected this conference to shed light on the ideas currently circulating and hoped that it would shape both libraries and librarians of the future.

Perspective: librarian - Dr Sarah Thomas (Bodley’s librarian and director, Oxford University Library Services)

The container of the content has changed, but the content itself lives on.  What will be obsolete in the next few years? Getting lost; house keys; ugliness; cosmetic surgery; death - and libraries, circa 2018?  Google contributes to confusion with its mission to organise information and make it universally accessible and useful - something no single library or consortium has achieved - but it doesn’t actually serve all the roles of a library.  There is a fallacy that everything is digital, and that what is digital is freely available, and that libraries only store books - this fails to recognise the library’s real role.

The library’s central core of identity has stayed the same over centuries.  Although methodology changes with technology, this stays the same, and meeting user needs remains crucial in the library of the future.  Physical libraries will serve as destinations for people who wish to engage with other people and artefacts in the pursuit of understanding; but technology makes it possible for almost anywhere to become a library.  Library buildings can include traditional reading rooms - cherished by all ages of readers, and likely to remain over time, but undergoing transformations as students and scholars use computer technology in their creative work.  Less formal rooms with soft chairs, coffee, conversation and consumer devices are developing in the future - libraries won’t just be silent.  Group study spaces will bring students together to work on team assignments according to the curriculum, supporting peer learning.  Masterclasses will reach new groups of users. In the physical library environment, fewer books will be housed in immediate proximity to readers. Outreach work will become a greater part of the librarian’s role.

Today, libraries devote their budget to managing their print inventories.  In future, libraries will receive batches of content from suppliers with appropriate meta-data.  Text-based information will be augmented by visual and aural media.  Users will expect seamless integration.  Geographical references will be linked to maps and atlases.  Some digital publications are already pointing the way to this state, and some libraries are already using this concept - it will become ubiquitous and pervasive.

For some time now, devices have become smaller - the iPhone points the way.  Kindle is available on the iPhone. Phones are data-enabled, and libraries can be wherever that phone is, streaming data at requests.  There will still be a need for hardware and software to enable editing of multimedia compositions.  Against the backdrop of social networking tools, libraries will offer their services via those media.

Librarians have been active in the world of scholarly communications.  Placing academic work in open-access repositories is likely to become more common.  There is a growing recognition that research data should be accessed and re-used.

Partnerships will become more prevalent - sharing cataloguing, sharing responsibility for preserving materials, integration across institutions (eg a common service for cataloguing mutual acquisitions).  Today, institutions find that resource sharing is making shared collection building a desirable alternative to costly duplication.  There is a trend towards shared storage - in the UK, universities are collaborating to decide which journals should be held by the British Library.

As the library develops, it will need new skills - lawyers to assist in interpreting intellectual property; MBAs to support entrepreneurial activities; audio-visual experts; statisticians to prepare surveys as part of evidence-based managements; IT skills will be essential.

Rumours of the demise of the book are greatly exaggerated. Special collections will rise in importance. Library buildings will remain at the centre of the university, bringing people to explore exhibitions, to house teaching, to provide spaces for study.  Libraries will be for collaboration, learning, and creating new knowledge.  Staff will expand their skills, but most important will be their ability to collaborate with many partners.

If you’re standing still, change looks fast.  If you go with the flow, it will seem effortless.  Libraries remain thrilling places.  The future of the library is bright.  Libraries will continue to evolve but remain true to connecting knowledge-seekers with the accumulated knowledge of the past for the advancement of individuals and society.

Perspective: public sector - Chris Batt OBE, head of Chris Batt Consulting

It’s more important to talk about librarians of the future, not libraries of the future.

First, which future are we talking about? Clay Shirky (in Here Comes Everybody)  and Susan Greenfield (in Tomorrow’s People) have different visions.  Are we talking about social networking changing the production of books?  Or are we talking about e-book readers?  Why haven’t we all tried them?  It’s different to reading a book, but it’s just as engaging.  We need to understand how to react to change - but making sense of today is also difficult.

Different sectors respond to change at different speeds. Traditional print media is disappearing. The music industry is trying to deal with ideas like iTunes. In the third sector, we see rays of light - people are applying themselves to trying to change the world.  On TheyWorkForYou.com, people work together to change policy.

A SWOT analysis of libraries -

Strengths - public libraries are still very popular; libraries can target particular audiences, and targeted offerings are vital parts of the future; the reading group movement; experimenting with new technologies.

Weaknesses - fragmented service (credit cards can be used everywhere; library cards can’t be, and the rules and regulations are different); the leadership paradox (too much leadership means nobody can agree what to do); lack of resources to explore a collective present, let alone a collective future.

Opportunities - all institutions have the chance to respond to government reports, and be part of learning for life; public libraries have a strong network and brand potential, and act as community interface.

Threats - the public good value is not recognised; there is a lack of national coherence; private sector creep (moving into areas traditionally covered by libraries, eg Amazon renting DVDs); failure to plan for change (you can prepare for uncertainty).

So what?  What does that mean for us and the future?  I can offer some things to do.  Library workers of the country unite!  We used to have Inspire, but that was trying to get libraries to work together and share resources - this ought to be the norm everywhere.  Start to be reflective.  My experience is that library workers tend not to - they are focused on doing things.  Stop and think about what the future could be like, and do some practical scenario planning.  After that, build a common narrative.  Find some new friends - friends that matter.  The Chancellor.  The Prime Minister.  Whoever it’s necessary to talk to.  Other sectors do it.

We must shift from “librarian” to “knowledge warrior” - people committed to wanting to change the relationship between the information and the people who want it.  We need a knowledge sector that can define, mediate, manage and lead the public landscape of the learning society.  This will lead to people with new skills, new organisational structures, and new partnerships.

The mission needs to be to remove all barriers to access.  In terms of public access, we need to forge a universal right to knowledge.  That means integrating knowledge into everyday life, and empowering everyone to want to learn.

Perspective: scientific researcher - Peter Murray-Rust 

What is happening in the world is bypassing university libraries.  I talk to colleagues and the feeling is that libraries for STM (science, technical, medical) are not useful. That’s not my polemic view - that’s reporting on having spoken to people.  When I got feedback from technologically-aware librarians, they informed me that they are doing a good job that is not being appreciated, and I should stop criticising.  I wasn’t criticising - I’m trying to tell it as it is.  The librarian of the future will not come from the librarian of the present.  The librarian of the future will be a revolutionary.

What do scientists want?  They want quality peer-review.  They want immediate access to published information, and to access it electronically, and possibly in chunks, rather than the entirety of a paper.  They want help in writing papers and grant applications.  They want a personal collection of papers. They want recognition for their work.

In the future, all information will be free and online, and everyone will be pervasively connected.  Things change on the web through evolution, not through planning.  Neglect the major players at your peril (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft).

Putting information and research (including code and demonstrations) online in open-access repositories is vital.  If your repositories don’t look like SourceForge, you’re not doing it right.

Publishing giants govern the direction of scholarly publication. We had the chance to control scholarly publication through the university presses, and we didn’t. Vice chancellors need to feel that they are losing the plot, because they are.  Google may Do No Evil today, but what will happen in the future?

Tim Berners-Lee’s phrase is “Just do it”.  Why are universities not helping Wikipedia become a teaching and learning organisation?  The bit of Wikipedia I wrote is in my view correct.  Wikipedia is all versioned.  Stamp it at a point in time and say that a page is fit for purpose.  I don’t know how librarians of the future will do it, but they need to get out there, and just do it.

Questions and answers

Q: Chris, when you talked about the fragmentation and the lack of national coherence, I had a strong view - it’s not a problem for Tesco and M&S.  Why can you not have different types of the same thing?

Chris: The issue is that the range of difference between libraries is quite significant, but it’s not clear to the users.  Services need to interoperate much more.

Q: I asked librarians to become informaticians.

Sarah: Rhymes with mortician!  I don’t worry about labels, it’s more important what you do.

Chris: Knowledge is an important word because it means something. The government are interested in the knowledge economy. Informaticians is something you’d have to explain.

Q: What role do university presses have to play?

Peter: I don’t think they can recover. I have great praise for some organisations that publish and research, but others see themselves as profit-making organisations.

Q: Can you each give us one skill a librarian will need in the future?

Peter: Programming.

Chris: Advocacy.

Sarah: Multi-tasking.

Q: What about the library as a collaborative workspace and the role of 3D virtual worlds?

Peter: I am a great believer in virtual worlds.  I have a Second Life avatar with no clothes on. I say go for it, make it work.

Chris: It’s something that has to play a part in the future.

Sarah: We have an increasingly global world with people using that technology to break down barriers and we’ll continue to see that.

This event at the Bodleian – the University of Oxford’s main research library – will be accompanied by a rich and varied online presence. It will be live video streamed, blogged online and has a Twitter presence (tag #LOTF09), in order for its messages, themes and discussion to reach the widest possible audience. Podcasts and footage will be available for download after the event.

The event will take place on Thursday 2 April 2009 in the Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Department of Physics, University of Oxford from 2.00pm until 5.30pm. It will be followed by a reception in the Divinity School, Bodleian Library, until 7.00pm.  We also have some Second Life places available.

See full details and register to attend the event or attend in Second Life.

I’d like to continue the discussion. At the moment, I’m taking questions via Yoosk.com on the future of higher education. What are the key issues for HE over the next 10 - 15 years? What should government, universities and the funding council do to make sure we maintain our world class system of higher education? I look forward to your questions via: http://www.yoosk.com/dius

Incorporating tweets and suggestions he’d received throughout the day of the conference, Ewan began his talk by discussing the bleak outlook for many traditional media organisations following the recession-brought collapse in advertising revenue. We need new business models and new forms of public service media, he stated.

He also outlined the paranoia with which many institutions approach the internet, quoting James Jarvis:  “The once powerful approach the internet with dread when they realise they cannot control it.”

The body of his speech was designed to show that there is no need for this fear. If institutions can make a virtue of the openness of the internet, it should become one of their greatest allies in the quest to promote learning.

He cited The Guardian’s new datastore and the website theyworkforyou.com as impressive uses of data that has always been ‘free’ but hitherhto hard to access, before moving to the key point that “free is a hard price to beat” and making the counter-intuitve declaration that if universities were to give away their research rather than asking for payments for journals, £160million would actually be saved each year.

He called for authentic openness rather than the top-down approach most HE institutions take to the internet. They need to realise that their sites can’t compete with networking platforms like facebook and bebo - but they can use such platforms for their benefit. After all, the biggest web success stories at the moment are for applications like imob and all those facebook games that work within already established platforms rather than trying to divert users away from them. He also challenged the ingrained notion that anonymity is a bad thing, by pointing out how useful it can be to enable discourse and encourage people to open up without embarrassment or loss of privacy.

“By taking advantage of as many learning spaces as possible you stand a much greater chance of hitting people,” he said, pointing out the advantages of participation spaces like twitter, that encourage active learning from students rather than the usual experience of sitting passively in lectures.  He then asked pointedly how many universities have mobile-ready internet platforms for learning, even though nearly every student will have and constantly use a mobile phone and even though they have great potential for passing on information and creating feedback loops. He also debunked the idea of their being a separate generation of ‘digital natives’, suggesting that these technologies are open to anyone, and perhaps only require a youthful outlook.

He closed by noting that university learning technology  has hardly changed for 400 years, but that there’s no good reason for this stasis. “If we concentrate more on process of learning we’ll have ingenious outputs,” he concluded.

After leaving the podium, Ewan tweeted “Not sure i hit my points on the head at jisc09. Hard to appeal to both pedagogues and technophiles. Harrumph.” Everyone else, however, posted only positive responses. The consensus seemed to be that his assessment of his speech was the only thing he got wrong on the day.

Chairing the session, Neil Grindley asked who stands to benefit from web archives, who should be making the archives, and what good practice techniques individuals and institutions can employ to ensure their web pages are properly archived. Most tellingly, he also tried to give an impression of the extent of the issue - a particularly difficult job, because, as he noted “it’s fathomless.” It’s impossible to even get a grasp the quantity of material outputted onto the internet because so much of the “deep” web is hidden behind passwords. One small measure of scale comes from the fact that 71,600,000 pages come up if you do a google search for *.ac.uk

Following on from this idea, Paul Cunnea from the National Library of Scotland described the web as the “final frontier”. He gave a historical overview of the James T Kirk’s who have been out in this ever expanding galaxy trying to keep tabs on it from web-archive projects in California in the early 1990s to more recent projects such as UKWAC and the 40+ organisations worldwide who are in the process of gathering archive material.

He then touched on the thorny legal issues relating to web archives, especially in relation to copyright and legal deposit questions and the issue of whether institutions are even entitled to harvest material from the web -  which at the moment seems to be a murky grey area in UK law.

He finished with a clarion call to join the coalition and make sure that you are preserving your material properly - and raised the interesting question of who else should be working towards creating archives. Most museums, it seems, aren’t at the moment - which has the potential to create huge gaps in their collections if they want to be complete overviews of their subject areas.

Kevin Ashley from the University of London also didn’t claim to have any definite answers about archives: but again, he had plenty of interesting questions. Mainly these related to why institutions should care about web-archiving - and how useful it can be given the poor quality of what actually ends up in these archives. He employed the telling metaphor of a library book that has been taken off the right shelf, ripped up, smeared with jam, had its cover thrown away and then jumbled back onto a new shelf. Thanks to restrictions of size, technology and the dynamic nature of “live” web product, archived pages are not the same as the pages we see when browsing through the web. Future web historians, much like today’s medievalists  will be left with fragments and broken narratives.

Joking about “a word from our sponsors” Kevin did point out that the POWR handbook does at least contain some useful information on protocol, how to archive and what it might be useful to look at.

The final speaker was Niels Brugger, an associate professor in media studies from Aahaus university, who started by calling himself a “strange Dane” and apologising for the mutilation he was about to do the English language. In fact, he spoke with eloquence and fluency, even when hacking his way through the thorny challenges faced by anyone hoping to make use of archived web pages for their research.

He pointed out that the process of deciding which areas of the web should be archived is subjective, saying “history has to be anticipated already at the point of the archive.” The archived pages too are reconstructions, subjectively created, depending on the different archiving strategies relating to the maintenance of, say, graphics, sound and images (most of which would generally be missing). He also made the fascinating point that websites can change even in the time it takes to archive them (giving the example of a page he wanted to archive previewing a sports event, which had the final result of the contest included on it by the time the archive harvesting was completed). So you can never be sure that everything is in your archive - and there’s always a danger too of getting a sample that never existed on the web.

True to the nature of the talk, when it was opened up to the floor, there were more intriguing questions - but ones which we are as yet unable to answer. Is it effort well spent to preserve old websites vs say, building a new one? What happens to archives when organisations disappear and institutions close down? What happens when individuals who have been maintainging their own records shuffle off this mortal coil? Who should be responsible for the archives? (at the moment, it just isn’t clear) What happens to all the material (like google docs) that exists in ‘the cloud’?

Big questions that will have to be answered soon if the single biggest record of our era isn’t to be lost to the historians of the future.

“I’m a mother of seven, a grandmother of three and I’m 50 years old,” began Sue Beck. “I only achieved Level Four CSE French. I’m now in my third year of a French language degree, I can watch French films without subtitles and watch French television and understand what’s going on.”

A question time session on student experiences of technology without a student on the panel would be missing a trick and this afternoon’s session certainly benefited from hearing Sue’s very positive experience of learning technology.

She explained how she enrolled in a beginners’ adult education French class after going over to France with her motorcycle club and feeling embarrassed at her lack of language skills. Her tutor pointed her to Friends Abroad, an online penfriends website and within an hour of creating her profile she had over 100 friend requests. Sue now corresponds with many of them by email or IM on a regular basis.

“They help me with my French, I help with their English. I write to them in French, they correct it and reply in English and I correct it. Nobody is the student, nobody is the teacher. The internet is my main form of learning now as it’s something I can do any time I want. If I can’t sleep at 2am I can go down and switch on the computer and do my learning in my jimjams.”

(more…)

Netskills are asking everyone who has used Web 2.0 tools to fill out its online survey at http://twurl.cc/ebb

The survey will provide Netskills with information, soundbites and quotes about usage. “The more we get coming in, the more we can do with it,” evangelised Steve.

The JISC 2010 conference will be held on 13 April, in London at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.

Owen Stephens from Imperial College chaired the session, beginning with an introduction about how electronic versions of PhD theses widen access and improve the dissemination of new research. Stephens explained that the topic of e-theses would be examined from three perspectives: the international level, the national level and the institutional level. (more…)

Mike was here today to give a demonstration of LAQUAT, an engaged funded project to do with linking epigraphic datasets with the arts and humanities. “The demonstration went very well,” says Jackson. “We had some feedback from members who attended, and that was positive. I’ll be taking back the feedback we received on how we can improve our demonstration and presentation in future for various sorts of audiences who are not all technically minded like we are.”

Jackson thought the morning’s keynotes were particularly interesting, but he didn’t have the chance to attend any of the sessions or talks: “I admit I was preparing my demonstration!” he says, laughing.

“I was looking for maybe some ideas and an opportunity to look around the stalls and see what projects and developments are around, and some food for thought. None have particularly caught my eye, but in a positive way - I’ve really enjoyed looking at all of them!” he said.

“I went to the session on online identity, which was really useful at helping you think about how we present ourselves online and how other people can misinterpret what we do online,” he said. “I also went to the session on student experiences and the gap between those and institutional provision.”

When he’s back in the office, he’ll be taking with him a more focused mindset on the issue of student expectation and experience. “What today’s underlined for me is just how much more we need to understand about the student experience and how we should change our own practice to accommodate that.”

“I’m a teacher fellow of the college, so I’ve got responsibility for developing teaching and learning and the use of technology in pedagogy across the board.  I was looking for some ideas around social networking tools, what research is saying about how learners use technology in particular, and how institutions can think about how they respond to that,” she said.

“I found all the sessions I’ve been to incredibly useful, with a lot of the same issues coming up from many institutions,” she explained. “I was just at Mind The Gap, looking at the differences between the institution and the learner, and there were many similarities with the digital divide within institutions.  I was looking this morning at the learner experience, and that was incredibly useful - again, the same issues coming up, people don’t have the time to get themselves knowledgeable on technology, the technology students are using.”

When she gets back to work, she’s got lots of ideas. “I think we’ll be developing a strategy on taking forward technology in a meaningful way - getting learners more involved in voicing what they would like and thinking about how we can support and develop staff to use technology that’s useful to them.  It’s a tool, it shouldn’t lead the learning, but how does that actually connect with the learners’ choices and experiences?”

Rapid is a new system from the National e-Science Centre at the University of Edinburgh that can quickly create a portal, or user interface, that links together high performance computing facilities. If you’re working in an area that needs grid computing infrastructure (for example computational chemistry), this means you can have a user-friendly interface developed in weeks rather than months.

The system creates a single configuration file (in XML) that contains the portal design and its definitions of the applications – and translates it into a portlet. All you see as a user is a nice friendly design – while the portlet takes care of the dirty work and sends the compute jobs off to several types of computational infrastructures.
Jano explained that there’s a difference in creating interfaces for students rather than researchers – you don’t want the workings to be abstracted too much when you’re designing for students, as the students have to work with a file, and know and understand what’s going on. However, Rapid enables you to focus their attention on the chemistry, and take away the burden of computer science (as the portal removes the need to explain complicated procedures, and things like FTP). For researchers, you add more shortcuts.
It’s hoped that eventually Rapid can be used to create systems that a student can use for self-directed learning, or eventually even a tool for assessment (as all responses are logged in a database).

There’s lots more information available at http://research.nesc.ac.uk/rapid

It’s a social, virtual research environment that allows users to find, use and share research objects in the form of workflows and other files, and to build communities around them. It has all the usual Web 2.0 features, explained Jitan, such as groups, friends, sharing and tags, but what makes it different is the function to ‘credit and attribute’ – to build a workflow a researcher might get help from someone or use an existing piece of research and they can easily reference it and can credit the people involved.

The focus is on sharing so it’s easy to upload a workflow (which may be a chemistry protocol, or a text file, for example) and then others can upload different or revised versions so that it becomes a collaborative effort. There’s a fine grain level of sharing which allows the user to decide who can look, download or modify a workflow, while others can rate workflows, comment and link to them.

Jitan proudly displayed a Google map showing the extent of take up of My Experiment across the world. The site now has over 1600 registered users, with 2397 unique visitors over the last month.

Gabriel Hanganu talked about the eIUS project (e-infrastructure use cases and service usage models).  The main objective is to understand the e-infrastructure services currently available in the UK and how they are used by the research community.  It’s not just about information gathering, it’s about understanding how it’s used.  The project’s outputs include experience reports (examples of use organised by stage of research cycle), use cases (non-technical idealised scenarios of how users interact with the e-infrastructure), videos (visual alternatives to use cases; trailers for research to encourage further uptake) and service usage models (patterns or combinations of e-infrastructure use derived from use cases).

He went through a success story, illustrating it with a video of an archaeology project led by Reading University investigating Silchester, where the team are committed to sharing their findings with the wider community via the Integrated Archaeological Database.  The team use digital pens - digital memo pads - converting handwriting into text that can go straght into the database.  The idea is to complete the data entry on site, and then off-site you can concentrate on the analysis.  Hanganu then used that case study as the basis for a fictionalised use case, about a Roman archaeologist making a decision between what he’s found in a dig and what he intended to focus on at the start of the project.

He went through the various stages of producing each output - collecting, transcribing and listening to audio data for experience reports, for example; or analysing the rough cut before seeking feedback prior to the final format of the video.

Hanganu said that the outputs are important because the findings can be used in other contexts - for instance, researchers adopt e-infrastructure tools if they provide overall benefits, not just research benefits; personalisation and sense of co-ownership are key for the successful adoption of e-infrastructure; and the potential for the methodology to be used beyond the project itself, both formally and informally.  He concluded by stressing the importance of getting people to actually use the technology.

Ironically, technical problems preceded the start of the second speaker, Rob Procter - a minimal number of USB ports created a difficulty and a short delay. When everything was plugged in, he presented on behalf of the e-uptake project, looking at the barriers and enablers for uptake of e-research. Barriers include communication difficulties between computer scientists and researchers from different fields, and the potential cost both financially and in terms of time and staffing of taking up e-research opportunities.

The final speaker was Neil Chue Hong of the engage project, who talked about looking at simple ways in which e-research can be improved.  Possibilities include linking up technologies between projects, allowing different institutions and research projects to combine and access data.

No, not the latest rhyming couplet, but an example of how personal information can be mangled. What started out as a 140-character message (“I’m Alun Hughes, based at UHI Executive Office in Inverness. I sell the books I don’t want any more on Amazon as ‘bankbeck’.”), was beautifully trashed after running round the room in Chinese whispers.

It was all part of a packed session on identity, run by James Farnhill and Lawrie Phipps. (more…)

“We operate UK-wide with our facilitators, who deliver the training, and also across the world.  It’s been great to be here at the JISC Conference to meet so many professionals who are interested in the work we do.”

Among the branded pens, pencils and packs of Post-it notes the exhibitors in the Cromdale Hall scatter liberally around their tables in a bid to attract the passing delegate, there are usually also some tempting bowls of sweeties. In contrast, the ProQuest stand has a firmly closed jar of jellybeans guarded by a cuddly lion.

It’s all in a good cause, explains Dan Dyer, ProQuest’s regional sales manager, UK and Ireland. ProQuest, a provider of online resources, is promoting a database called LION and so, appropriately, is donating a pound to the big cat charity the Born Free Foundation for everyone who enters the competition to guess the number of beans in the jar.

LION, despite the acronym, has nothing to do with animals and everything to do with literature. It’s the most comprehensive literary database available, with over half a million works of poetry, prose and drama in English, plus online criticism and a reference library. Special collections include 20th century drama and an African Writers Series.

ProQuest and JISC Collections negotiated a three year deal to make LION available to further education institutions at a special price of around 80% discount on the list price.  The deal is due to expire at the end of this year and, says Dan, the conference is a crucial way to get feedback on the product, pricing and positioning.

“Here we can find out from customers if they value the agreement and if they  have any issues or what would like to see added. It’s the ideal opportunity to meet with those customers who we might not see as regularly as we would like,” explains Dan.

“I really enjoyed the keynote this morning because it was slightly out of my normal range and, in particular, because it was looking at disadvantaged groups and how technology can affect them,” said Do.  “I thought it was a really interesting way to start the day and get people thinking. It certainly made me think and relate to some issues I’d not thought about before. It was also a really effective visual presentation and her use of video was excellent. The whole talk  was gentle and meaningful.”

Do was looking forward to attending some of breakout sessions later in the day and was expecting to get more out of them as a result of having listened to Lizbeth.

“It got me into the right frame of mind for the conference - reflective and thinking what spending a day outside your own institution might offer in the way of new ideas and not just new technology but also old technology being used in very innovative and creative ways,” explained Do.

Keen delegates have been able to plan their meetings weeks in advance with the Day Planner and Meeting Service, but the area has also been used for spontaneous networking.

The area has been fairly busy throughout the day, with a steady flow of people coming to the area to in order to have one-on-one chats. Unsurprisingly, lunchtime was particularly busy, with the majority of the tables being used specifically for networking.

A few solo delegates have also been using the area throughout the day for other business - perhaps they didn’t realise the area was meant for networking, or perhaps it just looked like a comfortable place to sit for a few minutes of quiet emailing!

I asked her what she’d enjoyed most so far, and it turned out to be the pre-conference activities on Monday – they were “very interesting”. For her, it had allowed more discussion on a smaller scale – with the chance to talk to some of the speakers as well.

She found fascinating the student experiences of technology session, especially the student participant: “to hear a student voice was very interesting. I’d like to see more of that in future conferences – they’re the people we’re doing this for”.

She thought that Lizbeth Goodman’s presentation this morning about Futurelab reinforced that – how far removed we are sometimes developing technologies from the people they’re designed for.

Lesly’s looking forward to the workshops on enterprise architecture (“I’d like to know what that is!) and a workshop looking at the integration of thinking about technology and strategy, which fits in with her  JISC/Leadership Foundation hat.

She told me that since her interest is in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems for employer engagement she’d been keen to go to the demonstration by Nyeche Nduka from  Birkbeck College about using open source software to gather information about business clients to inform strategy. Karen, I’m pleased to say, said it was most helpful.

This afternoon, Karen will be looking to explore CRM further and attend a demonstration which will be given by Matthew Donaghy from the University of Nottingham. You can find related information on the university website.

Andy Ramsden from the University of Bath just gave a fascinating demonstration about the emerging technology of QR codes.

QR codes (see above) are similar to printed bardcodes, but you don’t have to use a specialised scanning device to access them, just a a mobile phone camera.

Andy told us that new uses are being found for them all the time, but among the most common at the moment are:

* to send an sms to a phone
* to transfer a phone number
* to provide more text
* to help with orientation at events (like this one!)

A good example of where they might come in useful would be a student art exhibition where QR codes could be positioned unobtrusively next to a display, allowing viewers to obtain contact details for the exhibitor, text comments to them, find out their blog address and generally help create an informative feedback loop. (There are more case studies available at: http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/casestudies/ )

To access the codes, you need a camera phone and the relevant software. Most new phones come with this already uploaded, but if you haven’t got it,  there are many versions. Andy recommended http:www.i-nigma.mobi for conference goers, because it also has the facility to download direct to your phone without your having to mess around with computer connections, if you SMS: 0778 489 340

To create your own QR code you simply need to go to an online generator like: http://qrcode.kaywa.com The screen there will guide you through the simple process of inputting the information you want the QR code to convey and then generate the image for you. Once it’s done that, you just need to save the image file and print it and distribute it as you require.

There’s a lot more information available at: http://www.bath.ac.uk/barcodes/

“A number of the people here today are either involved in existing JISC-funded projects or they hope to be involved in future projects,” explains Alex.

“The aim of the surgery is to help people understand what the e-Framework is and what it’s trying to achieve, in order to help them through the processes of submitting to the e-Framework as part of the dissemination.”

The e-Framework surgery sessions are taking place at the JISC stand on Level -2, in the Cromdale Hall, from 11:00 - 11:30 and from 15:30 - 16:00.

She took the audience through a video montage of various projects she and her colleagues had worked on, from the old-school distance learning model into the new Web 2.0 technologies.  One of the first interactive tools was at OU BBC - an interactive Shakespeare CDROM to be used alongside the lectures on BBC2 with six million people watching, because if people are only watching the lecture on television, how can you make sure they know what you’re talking about?  The interactivity was developed by recruiting the RSC to make a range of alternative Shakespeares, enabling students to engage interactively and empower themselves to learn more.  The important part is to enable people to do something physically and help them remember.  The early CDROMs and the work that followed was about the move from distance learning to connected learning - connecting people to their own learning.

Other projects included -

• Virtual Interactive Puppetry, a dance project, in which participants took instructions on their movement via a headset, and then their motions were captured via sensors attached to their bodies.
• The Streets Called Home, a two-year journey asking people to talk about their home in their own language, along with artists, with a book currently in progress.
• Trust, a project running around the world; children create their own stories and figures on screen, then sit in an active chair and experience motion according to the story they are creating. At the Stephen Hawking School, East London, a simplified version of Trust was put into action for the children there, who have complex multiple disabilities.
• Interfaces project, centring on a computer screen that can tell you where your eyes are looking, putting a human face on the screen and enabling people who only have their eyes to use it as an interface to their computer.  In this project, people can use their eye movement to play music live, but they can also use it to write 16 times faster than with a click mechanism.
• SafetyNet, a global non-violence charity project to learn about what women learners need, and collating stories of women in pictorial form - the tools are for people who need to learn skills to keep themselves safe, and then learn skills to build a career.
• Chick2Go, a project where women with disabilities map East London ready for the Olympics, working out where’s safe, where’s accessible and where isn’t - and what can be done about it.
• ElderTech, a project promoting more accessible technology for the elderly, and taking the wisdom of older people and engaging with them.  This partly led to Wheelies nightclub in Second Life - open to all, and treating all equally.
• Lost & Found - a system to track missing and exploited children and adults - subscribing to system allowing you to use mobile phone as a camera and feed pictures back immediately.

Goodman concluded with the biggest project yet, with the Boys and Girls’ Clubs of America - ClubTech, offering hardware, software and training for underprivileged children across the country, which is coming to the UK, then Europe, Middle East and Africa.  Microsoft is permitting Open Source and collaboration across the project.

Futurelab itself is user-led, student-led, learner-led, informal family learning, informal, across many platforms.  The current plan is to look at using new methods gathered over the past 16 years and bringing those interfaces into the Futurelab environment.  Goodman said it is exciting to look at the ways that young people can work together and co-design their own learning environment.  Every learner can tell you what they need to learn and what they can teach you, and an example of this was on screen - Katy, who hasn’t had a voice for 24 years, and has only recently been given one through technological developments.  Goodman reiterated the urgency of collating people’s thoughts and voices - “For the people we met in the video, there is very little time left to hear what they have to say.”

The current economic situation featured as one of the key challenges Professor O’Shea highlighted in his wide-ranging overview of what JISC has been up to over the past year, and what its priorities will be for the coming year.

JISC and its community must keep arguing the case for the benefits of funding, he urged, and emphasised the need for JISC to help institutions help themselves by making better use of existing infrastructure and exploit the potential for shared services. They must make sure ICT strategies are fully integrated into institutional strategies. JISC must also help institutions increase their role in knowledge transfer and wealth creation, and explore innovative ways to work more efficiently and save money.

Professor O’Shea described his role as engaging with policy-makers to ensure that UK education research stays at the forefront of the world. He brought across very strongly some of the ways in which JISC is currently supporting UK education to be world-leading – from Super Janet 5, the fastest network in the world, to the Access Federation which enables the 8m users in the federation have single sign on to web-based resources. It’s the largest federation in the world.

“Through JISC, we are unambiguously through the world leaders,” stated Professor O’Shea. JISC is, he confirmed, “a national treasure”.

The book, which is edited by Jos and Peter Ford, looks at what is meant by e-business, and how contemporary business practices might be relevant to further and higher education. It explores how the best e-businesses (in particular CISCO and IBM) organise themselves, develop strategies and relate to their stakeholders – and then goes on to look at how this can be used within universities and colleges.

Chatting to Jos, it’s clear that new technology, especially the use of electronic networks, is shifting the boundaries between activities and changing roles and relationships. There’s whole new avenues of collaboration and customisation which are opening up - and that’s what the book goes on to explore. It looks at how we can think of an institution as a whole, and better integrate e-admin and e-learning (there’s also the issue of integration between an institution and its wider partners and community as well). (more…)

Professor Mark Stubbs from Manchester Metropolitan University and Chris Frost from the University of Bolton certainly think so.

The story of the frustrated student is the subject of a short video produced by students at Manchester Metropolitan University. The university is looking into alternative ways to communicate with students, specifically an SMS service in which messages are sent directly to students’ mobile phones.

The system is incredibly simple: staff post a message to the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), and if the message is urgent, the staff member begins the message with the keyword ‘urgent’. The next 160 characters are then sent as an SMS. It’s an opt-in system which students value - not least because they are more likely to receive the messages if they go straight to their mobile device.

As well as producing the video explaining the benefits of the SMS system, the project is student-built and student-project managed.

The University of Bolton’s solution to the problem of communicating with students also features SMS, plus as number of other channels such as emaill, RSS and widgets. Staff choose the group of students they want to contact - for example students of a particular module - and send a message via the central system.

The message goes through a database and then is received by the students via the channel the student has selected. The university can track and analyse the channels the student selects, so they have real data on how students prefer to receive messages.

Bolton is looking at a number of developments for the future, including student-student and student-staff interactivity, and the use of widgets such as Facebook. More information is promised on the Bolton blog next week.

The idea behind it is to provide a standardised tool for depositing content, and allowing similar functionality across sites and repositories - nothing along those lines currently exists.

Adrian Stevenson from UKOLN demonstrated the various interfaces SWORD offers, including a widget to use on your personalised homepage via Netvibes.  He also showed onlookers how to upload content, using a photo of himself as a guinea pig, showing how the tool works in DSpace, EPrints, IntraLibrary and Fedor.

One of the first stands you will see if you look to your right upon entering the basement level Cromdale Hall is run by the British Universities Film and Video Council.

The main point of interest on the BUFVC stand today is ‘bob’. Bob is the ‘box of broadcasts’, a nifty gadget billed in promotional literature as ‘an online system delivering post-transmission access to Television and Radio for BUFVC members under the ERA+ licence.”

What this means is that if your institution signs up for the (£5000 per annum) service you will be able to record and archive any programme from the UK’s free to view channels (with a few minor exceptions like Nuts TV and QVC) and watch it when and where you like. Think of it as a BBC iplayer with no time limit.

Programmes can be saved weeks in advance and members can catch up several weeks into the past. Members  will also have access to the large pool of programmes archived by other institutions signed up to the service.

There’s a nice and easy-to-use interface (demonstrations are available at the stand) that enables you to separate off specific clips from programmes, as well as record and watch them (in flash).

At the stand you can also find out about the work of BUFVC in general and about their upcoming courses and workshops. (Further details are also available online at www.bufvc.ac.uk tel: 020 7393 1500). They’re very friendly and give away free pens that actually work - so get along when you can!

Collaboration will be the key to guiding higher education institutions through the current turbulent times and into a brighter future, delegates at the JISC pre-conference forum on higher education in a global economy were told this afternoon.

Four high profile speakers from a diverse range of backgrounds shared common ground in their emphasis on the need for increased, and increasingly innovative, partnership at a time when all that can be safely said about the future is that it will be radically different and will require completely new ways of thinking.  The speakers agreed that inspiring – or even ‘emancipating’ – the next generation to move  to that next level of thinking is crucial, but questioned to what exent higher and further education institutions are really working to achieve that.
(more…)

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2009/03/jiscconference09.aspx

#jisc09

For a full list of all the JISC Podcasts please visit: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/podcasts

Karen Calhoun (Vice President OCLC, JISC Conference Sponsor)

OCLC’s Vice President talks libraries, the future and learning

Lizbeth Goodman (Director of SMARTlab & FutureLab, Opening Keynote Speaker)

JISC Conference Keynote talks IT innovation and inspiration

Ewan McIntosh (Digital Commissioner for 4iP, Closing Keynote Speaker)

Mashing up research and connecting with learners through social media

If you haven’t yet registered then don’t worry, you can catch the highlights from the day online - some of it live.

If you are registered, then we look forward to seeing you in Edinburgh! Don’t forget the Online Discussion Forums and 1-2-1 Meeting Scheduler for registered delegates open on Monday 9 March.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/jiscconference09

If you can’t come or are too late, don’t worry you can always join in the online activities:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2009/03/jiscconference09/online

It won’t be the same as actually attending the conference, but you can catch the highlights by tuning into the livestreaming of the keynotes live on the conference website, following the conference blog and viewing a live feed of all tagged blog, twitter and photo posts from the day.

JISC Conference 2009 tag:  #JISC09

Whether you are coming to Edinburgh or joining in online, see you there!

See the full article

Higher Education in a global economy. The implications for technology and JISC

The pre-conference activities will start on Monday 23 March 2009 with a forum to discuss the changing higher education environment and the implications for JISC and the academic community. The purpose of the forum will be to engage with senior management and policy makers as part of the JISC strategy consultation process. The event will discuss the issues surrounding the future of the higher education environment and the implications this has for JISC and the academic community.

We will have a panel of expert plenary speakers including:

• Rashik Parmar, CTO & Distinguished Engineer, IBM
• Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President & Chief Strategist, OCLC
• Professor Jeff Haywood, Vice Principal Knowledge Management, Chief Information Officer, University of Edinburgh
• Juliet Williams, Chairman, South West Regional Development Agency

The panel will be chaired by Professor David Baker, Principal, University College Plymouth & St Mark & St John (Vice-Chair, JISC)

Following the presentations, there will be a breakout session where the delegates will be asked to discuss in their table groups key questions around the challenges that face higher education in the future and the role that technology will play.

A summary of the outcomes from the pre-conference forum will be reported back to the main conference the following morning by Dr Malcolm Read, Executive Secretary of JISC in the opening plenary welcome speech.

JISC Question Time: Student experiences of technology

The rapid adoption and widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies such as podcasts, blogs, social networking sites and virtual environments is already transforming education and at a pace few could have predicted. For students, practitioners, managers and policy makers alike, the implications are enormous as all come to terms with the impact of new, exciting, but also challenging, technologies and attempt to harness them for the benefit of learning, teaching and research.As part of its ‘Student experiences of technology’ campaign, JISC will be hosting a special ‘Question Time’ debate session at its annual conference in Edinburgh on the 23^rd March. The session will be hosted by Guardian Education’s editor Donald MacLeod, and will bring together an expert panel with a range of perspectives on the implications of new technologies for higher education institutions in the UK. Donald will be chairing a panel including:

• The student’s perspective - Sue Beck, Student, University of Northampton
• The lecturer’s perspective - Rob Howe, Head of Learning Technology & Media, University of Northampton
• The senior manager’s perspective - Professor Jeff Haywood, Vice Principal Knowledge Manageement, Chief Information Officer, Edinburgh University
• The policy perspective - Sir David Melville, former VC of the University of Kent and Chairman of the Committee of Inquiry into the Changing Learner Experience

This special event will allow attending delegates to pose questions to the panel and take part in discussion and debate around the theme of Student Experiences.

How to register

The pre-conference sessions are free of charge to attend.

Go to the online booking form to register for the preconference sessions and main conference.

If you are already registered, simply log back in to the Day Planner Service and click on ‘Choose Sessions’ and tick the relevant boxes to update your attendance.

JISC Conference 2009 website

The Developer Decathlon grand prize winner will be selected following a peer review panel at the end of March.

Read the full article at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/Home/news/stories/2009/02/dhd.aspx

Imago @ Burleigh Court, Loughborough University

If you are interested in new developments in multimedia social technologies, social networking, online communities, virtual worlds and new skills, and want to know more about how you and your staff can benefit from these technologies right now, then the Next Generation Technologies in Practice Conference is for you!

The event falls into two separate but related days:

• Day one on 10th March will feature hands-on workshops focussed on realising the benefits from a number of pilot projects. Day one is aimed predominantly at projects already involved with the Users and Innovation programme and its Emerge community.
• Day two on 11th March focuses on showcasing a number of project outputs together with discussions around actively embedding some of these new technologies into higher and further education today. Day two is aimed predominantly at wider audiences, particularly staff and educational developers, learning technologists and research staff.

For full details and to register online visit the conference webpage.

There are only a few weeks left to register for the regional UK Federation event that JANET (UK) will be hosting on the 11th March 2009, at Jurys Hotel , Bristol.

The aim of the event is to provide an opportunity for delegates to identify and discuss the anticipated challenges for participation in the federation; to explore the options available, and share experiences with their peers at different stages of deploying access management.

The event will consist of small discussion groups, making sure everyone has a chance to raise issues and ask questions relevant to their own organisation.  Following the discussion sessions, the outcomes will be relayed to the wider group for further consideration. In order to achieve the maximum benefit from this event, numbers will be limited, however it is intended that this event will be part of a regional programme to be held across the UK during the coming months.

For further details and to book onto the event please go to:
http://www.ja.net/services/events/2009/federation_bristol/index.html

http://twitter.com/JISC

Newly confirmed are JANET txt who are sponsoring the conference wifi, helping to ensure that all the delegates attending the conference will have free wifi access. We are also delighted to have DIUS sponsoring the conference blog.

See the full list of exhibitors and sponsors on the conference website.

We look forward to seeing you in Edinburgh!

Higher Education in a global economy. The implications for technology and JISC
Monday 23 March, 12.30 – 1600
The pre-conference activities will start with a forum to discuss the changing higher education environment and the implications for JISC and the academic community. The purpose of the forum will be to engage with senior management and policy makers as part of the JISC strategy consultation process. Professor David Baker, Vice-Chair, JISC will be chairing a panel of expert speakers including:

• Rashik Parmar, CTO & Distinguised Engineer, IBM
• Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President & Chief Strategist, OCLC
• Professor Jeff Haywood, Vice Principal Knowledge Management, CIO, University of Edinburgh
• Juliet Williams, Chair, South West Regional Development Agency

For full details, see the programme online

JISC Question Time: Student Experiences
Monday 23 March, 1615 - 1745
The forum will be followed by a JISC Question Time event on Student Experiences, chaired by Donald MacLeod, the Guardian HE Editor. Donald will be chairing a panel including:

•  Professor Sir David Melville, Chairman of the Committee of Inquiry into the Changing Learner Experience
• Professor Jeff Haywood, Vice Principal Knowledge Mangement, Chief Information Officer, University of Edinburgh
• Rob Howe, Head of Learning Technology & Media, University of Northampton
• Sue Beck, Student, University of Northampton

This special event will allow attending delegates to pose questions to the panel and take part in discussion and debate around the theme of Student Experiences. For full details please refer to the programme online

Join in Online

There will be lots of online amplification activities around the JISC Conference 2009. In the run-up to the conference, delegates will be able to benefit from taking part in online discussion forums around the sessions they are attending. Further information about this will be sent to registered delegates nearer the time. Delegates can also submit questions to session leaders/presenters via the booking form in advance of the conference, this facility is now live on the Day Planner Service.

On the day, make sure you bring your laptop/hand-held device so that you can follow and contribute to the conference blog. There is free wifi throughout the conference venue. Perhaps you have your own blog or are a Twitter fan. The conference tag is: jisc09 – so if you blog or twitter about the JISC Conference 2009 on the day make sure you tag it! We will be showing a live feed of all tagged posts on the day. This will includes any photos you take and post!

We will have official JISC Conference roving bloggers, blogging about all the various aspects of the conference. They might stop you for an interview to find out your experience of the day?!! So we encourage everyone to join in online, if you don’t, you might be missing out!

We will also be live streaming the plenary sessions, so anyone that isn’t able to attend can watch, hear and follow the presentation and slides online, live. Delegates physically attending may also want to do this, as there will be the facility to comment live online whilst the speeches are taking place. You can either follow the commenting or contribute yourself, live.

Finally, we will also be launching the 1-2-1 networking facility 2/3 weeks before the conference; delegates will be sent full details when this happens. Delegates will be able to use the Day Planner Service to search for other delegates that you might want to meet and use the system to book appointments with them in a dedicated networking area at the conference venue.
We hope this will all make for a memorable JISC Conference 2009 and we look forward to seeing you in Edinburgh!

Early trials of the online system, called Green Engage, shows potential energy savings of up to 25 per cent.

In 2008 IHG launched Innovation Hotel, an online example of what a future hotel might look like if it used new green technologies. Guests can provide feedback on which of these they feel are important, allowing IHG to consider how they can be implemented as part of the Green Engage programme.

For the full article go to: http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2235410/hotel-chain-tackles-energy

The conference is being held with the kind assistance of The Wellcome Trust at their premises in central London.

Learning on Screen, the annual conference established by the Society for Screen-Based Learning, focuses on the delivery of learning and research with moving image and sound - be it through broadcasting, web delivery, physical media or cinema.

The 2009 conference will commence at midday on 7^th April and conclude at 2.30 pm on 8^th April.  Plenary sessions will be held in the Henry Wellcome Auditorium and there will be a small-scale exhibition arranged in the adjacent Williams Lounge where refreshments will also be served.

During the two days there will be opportunities to visit The Wellcome Collection’s spectacular permanent and temporary exhibitions.

During the Learning on Screen Conference (7^th and 8^th April 2009), the BUFVC will present a number of awards which celebrate and reward excellence in the use of moving image, sound and related media in learning, teaching and research.

The Learning on Screen Awards 2009 will be given following the conference dinner at the Holiday Inn, Regent’s Park, London on the evening of 7^th April 2009.

Visit conference website for full details.

For those of you with the budget for a hotel, we are holding rooms at the IBIS hotel on Euston Road (quote “Birkbeck” when booking). Also here is a map of some other local hotels. It is also worth getting on lastminute.com and searching for places near the ‘British Museum’ or ‘British Library’ which will all put you within walking distance of Birkbeck College.

Registration is still open but almost full so if you know any developers who you think would be well placed for one of the dev8D days please send them to the registration form. We are looking for developers from any domain, not just the ac.uk so come one, come all!

http://dev8d.jiscinvolve.org/

 Bookings for the UCISA2009 Annual Management Conference and Exhibition are now open.

 A couple of new items for this year:

• pre-conference presentations and customer meetings on Wednesday morning.
• FREE exhibition passes to all FE and HE sector staff on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 1400-1700 (must be pre-booked).

 You will find full details at http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/events/2009/conference.aspx

• A software developer?
• A higher education software user?
• Looking to develop your coding skills?
• Interested in community collaboration?
• Want to make new contacts?

Then the JISC Developer Happiness Days event is for you. We’re bringing together the cream of the crop of software developers in Higher Education along with coders from other sectors, users, and technological tinkerers in an exciting new forum.

Share your skills and knowledge with the coding community in a stimulating and fun environment and come away with new skills, fresh contacts – and you might even win a prize.

The top ideas generated at the event will be documented, publicised and made available to the community.

The event is taking place in London on February 9th-13th. The event is modular so delegates can attend as many or as few days as are relevant to them. Full details of the event can be found at: http://www.dev8d.org

Further announcements about accommodation and details of the event competitions will be announced via the event blog: http://dev8d.jiscinvolve.org/

The tag for the event is dev8D.

• Conference wifi - £2k: logo on conference website, logo on individual login cards distributed to all delegates, website page of your choice as the login landing page
• Conference opening night drinks reception - £2.5K: logo and link to sponsor website, logo in event guide, opportunity to place branding around the exhibition hall during the drinks reception, 5 delegate passes to attend the drinks reception and conference
• Electronic adverts - £250: replacing the delegate bag insert, have your electronic slide advert included in a rolling presentation featured on plasma screens located all around the conference venue. The screens provided will also be showing key information about the conference throughout the day. Excellent way of grabbing delegate’s attention
• Co-sponsorship of conference blog: £2 - £5K, sponsor the main conference blog which will be the hub of all online activity on the day, sponsor logo an link included on the conference blog and reference on the conference website and in the event guide, access to an online community which will go beyond the reach of the physical attendees on the day

The main exhibition hall is now sold out but if you are still interested in exhibiting, there is the possibility of being included in an extended exhibition area in the main foyer area of the venue, one floor above the main exhibition hall. This is where the reception desks and all the demo stands will be located. It is also a main through-fare for delegates going to and from sessions. Please contact the JISC Conference office for further details. There is limited space available!

www.jisc.ac.uk/jiscconference09

JISC Conference Office contact:

jisc@soundscommercial.co.uk / tel: 0117 958 0282

You should subscribe to the following new feed: http://events.jiscinvolve.org/category/news/feed/

1. Venue choice
2. Co2 emissions
3. Locally produced food
4. reducing waste

The planning you do or don’t do with respect to the above points can greatly affect the carbon footprint of your event. So here are some suggestions to help you with your ‘green’ planning. Remember the 3 Rs:

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!

Venue

• Find a venue with ‘Green credentials’. Find out what their Green Policy is eg. recycling, energy saving etc.
• Find a venue that is easily accessed by public transport and as close to a mainline train station / bus station as possible
• Make sure the venue has good disabled access
• Where possible use the in-house AV and Technical services to reduce equipment transportation
• Better still - do you need to have a physical event? Why not try and organise an online event?
• Consider video conferencing and/or recording the event for wider access via the internet
• Minimise unnecessary lighting, heating / air-conditioning
• Perhaps look at offsetting Co2 emissions arising from the event
• Work with the venue to ensure that all lights and air-conditioning units are switched off when rooms are not in use

Travel

• Put as much information on the event website as possible about how to travel to your event including pedestrian routes
• Encourage delegates to take public transport and encourage car sharing. Perhaps set up a car-sharing page on the website/wiki?

Delegate Packs

• Don’t give out notepads and ask delegates to bring their own
• Try electronic delegate packs - send the pack out by email before the event, with pdfs or urls to webbased documents. Delegates can download them onto their laptops, PDAs, iPhones etc. and use on the day. Have a plasma or two around the main areas of the conference showing the programme/schedule for the day.
• NOTE: putting everything onto a memory stick does reduce paper, but think about how the USB stick was manufactured, was it produced in an environmentally way and is it made of green materials? Plastic is not a good solution!
• If you cannot do without a programme or programme guide, reduce the size of it or print on recycled paper.
•  Provide delegate bags made from 100% recycled material or reusable bags or better still do without!
• www.ecopromogifts.com do a green USB stick made from 100% recycled ABS plastic - a green way of distributing documents!

Recycling and Reducing Waste

• Use websites and emailing lists to promote the event
• Use electronic registration and publish event itinerary online
• Use double-sided printing for promotional materials and handouts. Use recycled paper where possible.
• Use portable and re-usable display materials
• Seek naturally lighted meeting and exhibition areas
• Format any handouts so as to minimise the amount of paper used
• Where possible, write material in a re-usable format (general rather than event specific)
• Ask the venue to provide paper recycling bins to be placed in all main areas of the conference and by the exit doors
• Take all the event signage with you and recycle or ask the venue to recycle or donate to local charity art projects. Better still also produce the event signage on recycled material!

Catering

• Check whether the venue caterers are able to source local ingredients/produce, to reduce food miles and consider going organic if your budget allows!
• If serving fish, use fish from sustainable sources
• Plan food requirements carefully to avoid unnecessary waste
• Ensure that all dietary requirements are catered for and offer vegetarian choices
• Wherever possible ensure fruit is provided as an alternative to sweet desserts
• Consider donating leftover food to local charity or sending for local composting
• Ensure tea/coffee is Fair Trade and provide tap water as an alternative (if you must use bottled water make sure it is local!)
• Or place water coolers throughout the building and encourage attendees to bring water bottles from home to use throughout the conference
• Minimise use of individually packaged food/drink items (eg. provide milk / cream in jugs rather than individual plastic cartons)
• Use reusable crockery, glassware and cutlery where possible (to reduce waste) or if not make sure it is compostable
• Ask the caterer to use bulk dispensers for sugar, salt, pepper, cream and other condiments.

Exhibition

• If you are having exhibitors at your event, encourage them to bring as little literature as possible. Alternatives could be distributing CDRoms with information or USB sticks made from recycled materials.
• Encourage exhibitors to source conference giveaways that have as little impact on the environment as possible (eg. nothing plastic)

On the day

• Avoid mass distribution of handouts - allow attendees to download copies from the internet
• Ensure presenters are aware of electronic presentation facilities and that their presentation will be available online after the event
• Provide re-usable name badges (and remember to collect them at the end of the event!)
• Minimise use of accessories that are harmful to the environment (eg. plastic leaflet wallets)
• Feature conference name and date on holding slide rather than use single use stage graphics
• Promote energy and water efficiency to participants eg. switch off lights when rooms are not in use
• Use drymark eraser boards rather than paper in workshp presentations
• Request that any usused items be collected for use at another event

Post-event

• If not issued at the event, sent out an online delegate feedback questionnaire by email
• Give any feedback you have to the venue

Accommodation

• Choose a hotel with a linen reuse programme and that uses bulk dispensers for soap and toiletries
• Choose a hotel within walking distance of the conference venue

A useful website listing hotels that are part of the official Green Tourism Business Scheme: www.green-business.co.uk

Tell people!

• Make sure you advertise the fact you are making efforts to reduce the environmental impact of your event
• Write an Environment Policy or Statemtn for your event or statement and share it with all delegates, speakers, exhibitors etc.

The parallel sessions for the annual conference next year have been posted onto the conference website: www.jisc.ac.uk/jiscconference09

There are more than ever this year, so there should be something for everyone! More sessions means smaller numbers, which hopefully means better quality sessions. We plan to record or live blog all the sessions so that no-one will miss out on anything.

Exhibition sold out!

We are also pleased that the exhibition has sold out over 3 months before the event! We are looking into the possiblity of expanding the exhibition onto another floor to meet demand.

There are still lots of sponsorship opportunities available including the Conference blog which will be the online hub of all activities on the day for those attending physically and remotely. This provides an excellent branding opportunity for a potential sponsor.

For further details of all sponsorship opportunities and contact details visit the website: www.jisc.ac.uk/jiscconference09

See you in Edinburgh!

We do have a budget but we also rely on commercial exhibitors and sponsors to help us pull off this free of charge extravaganza every year. Without them we would not be able to do it. We are therefore currently looking for a main conference sponsor, full details on the conference website. Previous conference sponsors have been Eduserv and OCLC. If you think your organisation might be interested or you know of one that might be interested then do please let me know!

Grace Porter

Events Co-ordinator

JISC

g.porter@jisc.ac.uk

We will be amplifying the conference again this year with livestreamed keynotes, blogging of the sessions, micro-blogging via twitter, photo-sharing and videos. We have learned from last year that we need to make sure that the livestreamed keynotes not only show the video but the slides that the speaker is presenting to as well. Furthermore we need to provide some kind of live commenting facility - for those watching the keynotes via the web - essentially so people watch and listen, see the slides and comment, and do it all live. We are still currently investigating the best way (and most cost effective way!) to do this, with Hector Peebles leading the way on this. More updates on all this stuff to come!

A new feature that we will be launching in 2009 is assisted 1-2-1 networking. The JISC Conference consistently offers great networking opportunities. However, delegate feedback tells us that it also difficult to network effectively due to the size of the event and tightly packged programme. So I wanted to try and enhance the delegate experience this year by improving the networking opportunities - something I think that can often get overlooked with our efforts to amplify.

We hope to achieve this by introducing a web-based tool that delegates will be able to log into via the conference website and search for people that they would want to network with on the day. They can send an automated secure and private invite via the system to people they want to meet, and if the invite is accepted the system automatically allocates a time-slot and a table in a dedicated networking area at the conference venue. The system works out mutually free timeslots based on each individuals schedule for the day, which the system knows already as it is linked to the main delegate registration system. Its very clever and I think a fantastic idea.

The delegates then just need to go to the networking room at the relevant time and sit at the right table number. Easy! Hopefully! I hope that this will be useful to many delegates who predominantly attend for the networking experience. Exhibitors will also be able to benefit from this by putting up profiles of themselves and inviting and accepting delegates to 1-2-1 meetings on their stand.

Finally, I have introduced a set of environmental standards which relate specifically to the JISC Conference 2009. I have been working to introduce environmentally friendly practices into the organisation of JISC events in general. I felt it was important that we make as much effort as possible to reduce the impact of the JISC Conference 2009. One major change that we have made is to abandon the conference delegate bag altogether, and get rid of the sponsor delegate pack inserts. The main reason for this was the delegate bag was really only to put all the inserts in - a huge waste! So no delegate bag, attendees will just get their badge and a significantly reduced in size event guide. Everything else will be online including delegate list etc. The delegate pack inserts will be replaced with electronic adverts which will be displayed on a rolling basis on the fixed plasma screens located all around the venue. We shall see if exhibitors like this idea or not…but essentially they have to get used to it as the delegate pack insert is no more!

Look forward to seeing you in Edinburgh next year! If you are coming do try to help us reduce the environmental impact of your event by taking public transport, perhaps car-sharing. Info on the conference website.

The day is about informing the Community of all the cool stuff JISC are doing and funding at the moment but its also about providing a forum (be that a physical or online) for people to network, meet, catchup, discuss, chat etc…that is the most important issue for most of the delegates and we need to keep building on this and making sure that this is fostered for future years. Its not so much the excellent line up of sessions and the great keynotes, that make it a success, although they are of course a large factor contributing to it, its more I think the other stuff that happens around that - the buzz, the talking, the networking over a coffee that provides a true indication on how successful it has been.

This year we introduced a new online element which allowed people to start networking before the event online and hopefully continue to do so after. It also provided a platform for twitter, blogs and photos posted about the conference to be aggregated. It very much a soft launch, to see how it went and if it launched.  All in all I think it did. As I wrote a few days ago, it provided perfect ‘background noise’ to the day - which is what as I said before this amplification is all about. Some might say that does it really add value/any meaning? I say yes, it does, it creates a buzz and shows that people are engaging with whats going on and provides a window into an individuals day at the conference. It means that we could plug into what people were thinking as they stroll around, how they see stuff, what they are talking about..and it was great!

Even more of a success was livestreaming the keynotes. 80 people tuned in to the opening keynote which was fantastic. I think we have really set the standard now and next year we can announce with confidence what we are doing and make a much bigger splash of it - get everyone blogging, twittering and snapping!

Benefits of Edinburgh are that the venue has excellent wifi and throughout the building..so should be great. I’m looking forward to reading the feedback report from delegate feedback - particularly about the new online stuff. We can improve lots of stuff around the online activity but its a really great step in the right direction and there’s no going back now!!!

Discussions have been flying around our office about how effective Crowdvine will be, what delegates will use it for, how it will be used etc… There are various camps of opinions on this one, but on the whole everyone agrees that it is definitely adding to the buzz around the conference and it certainly helps us lot in JISC towers tap into what delegates are discussing in the run up to the JISC Conference, what they are planning and who they are interested in hooking up with. It can all surely be a good thing?

I recently read on Lorcan Dempsey’s (OCLC) blog about the ‘tremors’ that conference amplification causes and how having something like Crowdvine for a conference allows you to keep track of what is going on if you are not there, without going to a huge amount of effort….”it happened in the background. it was like weather”. this I think hits the spot with what Crowdvine is for, and what we hope to achieve with this first step into ‘conference amplification’ for the JISC Conference. It provides background online noise for the physical conference.

Now I am fully aware of the varying opinions on Facebook but we figured that we might as well create a Facebook event for the conference anyway but not really to make too much of it, but at least it was there. No-one was really invited, just a couple of JISC Comms people that I was friends with. People slowly came out of the woodwork though and signed up to the Facebook group (those tremors again). A commenter on Lorcan’s post about ‘tremors’ questioned the effectiveness of having so many different channels (Facebook, Crowdvine) and suggested it ‘dilutes the buzz or creates virtual cliques’. Probably true I guess, but I have noticed that since we launched Crowdvine last week, the Facebook event group has slightly increased in numbers after having stayed at a certain number for a while….so those tremors must still be doing their thing…?! I actually think that perhaps it enhances the buzz..as the more channels there are, the more people know about what is going on, even if they are not going..? Perhaps I am completely wrong, but it just struck me as quite funny that the Facebook event group has increased in numbers since the Crowdvine network was launched and there is a definite link. I think if anything it has helped enhance the buzz around the conference, rather than dilute it. but I am probably wrong about this…and I’m not sure what I think about the ‘virtual cliques’ issue yet either…surely being online it’s impossible to create a ‘virtual clique’ as a physical clique is something that is difficult to penetrate and become part of? but being virtual or online - surely anyone can access,view, read, comment if they want to or go to the effort of looking for it…? again I am probably wrong about this too!

interesting things to ponder though…! maybe next year we should have a debate session in the programme about this kind of stuff!!

<http://librariesofthefuture.jiscinvolve.org/>Tag: librariesofthefutureIf you wish to attend the debate please register at:

http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/events/national-e-textbook-debate/audience-registration-form. The JISC National E-textbook Debate provides a unique opportunity to quiz a panel of experts and to openly debate the future role of the library in the provision of electronic textbooks.JISC’s Executive Secretary, Malcolm Read, will be chairing the event. The panel of experts consists of publishers and librarians. Representing the publishing community we have Tom Davy, CEO of Cengage and Dominic Knight, MD of Palgrave. Representing the library community we have Sue McKnight, Director of Libraries and Knowledge Resources at Nottingham Trent University and Mandy Phillips, Information Resources Manager at Edge Hill University. Each will have their own viewpoint, some arguing that in order to meet expectations and demand the institution/library purchase model must continue and some arguing against the institutional/library purchase model of e-textbooks on the grounds of sustainability and diversity of needs.

If e books are restricted to electronic facsimiles of the printed book and this stifles does not support innovation

Event Details:

Date: 14th April 2008

Location: (2 minutes walk from the ICC) Kingston Theatre, Austin Court, 80 Cambridge Street, Birmingham, B1 2NP

Maps: Google Maps or Street Maps

Times: 17:30 - 19:00 - Wine and nibbles will be served in the Lounge Bar from 17:30 and the Debate will start at 18:00 and run till 19:00 in the Kingston Theatre

Charges: This event is free