Periodic Fable

Thursday, 28 September 2006

Can you hear it?

Applications are being developed for a 17 KHz sound that young people can hear but adults can't. Apparently by about 25 we lose the ability to hear such high-pitched sounds.

It started out as a deterrent for shops etc. to play loudly and discourage teens from loitering. Then in a canny turnaround it was marketed as a mobile phone ringtone for teens to hear their phones ringing without parents or teachers knowing.... And it's now been turned into a dance track with two levels of melodies.

Secret alarm becomes dance track from BBC News

Whatever next?

BTW I can't hear it (well over 25). Can you?
Listen to the tone (link is to the wav file at Jet City Orange).

Teen Tone

posted by Helen Whitehead 8:30 AM

(0) comments

Tuesday, 26 September 2006

Podcasting isn't just putting an audio file on a website...

To start podcasting you create an audio file and make it available via the Web ... but that's not yet the whole of podcasting (it's just an audio file on the Web).

As a colleague explained to me yesterday, an important element of podcasting is the subscription element. Users "subscribe" to the podcast and a "podcatcher" program downloads the cast automatically when there is new content. So you don't just go to a page to click on a new cats. A podcast can still be a one-off. It's similar to an RSS feed. And the podcast feed (techie = enclosure in an XML file) can include not just audio but video, images, documents... of course those wouldn't be playable on your MP3 player so you'd need something a bit more

Podcasts can be labelled with tags and keywords so that they can be found by search engines. They can be made available from your server via various download sites, the most obvious being Apple iTunes. So this is what makes it a podcast rather than just another audio file to download.

Here's a lucid description by David Czepanski (Apple warning!):

Podcasting 101

posted by Helen Whitehead 8:58 AM

(0) comments

Not-Podcasting

Apple are sending out a suite of law-suits to protect the word "pod" as used in the word podcasting. They have targeted iPodder - which I can understand - it's the "i" and the "pod" used together that is their trademark. However I don't see how they can win on "pod" which is a universal word. However, in any case podcasts are so much more than something you download to your iPod, so a practitioner I met yesterday reckons that the word will change within a year or so. Current alternatives include "feedcasting" or "netcasting".

Apple threat prompted name change, coders say from c|net news.

posted by Helen Whitehead 8:51 AM

(0) comments

Friday, 22 September 2006

Procrastination - and more

On my wall is a cartoon from Claire Bretecher called Creation. It's from a Sunday newspaper more years ago than I care to remember. And it's all about procrastination. This seems to be the modern version of the idea...
* Gotta Get My Stuff Done
Another funny video is:
* Communication Skills: a little video by Ze Frank about how reply to unpleasant emails...

posted by Helen Whitehead 1:45 PM

(0) comments

Tuesday, 19 September 2006

Podcasting

I've been looking into podcasting, now that I am working closely with the people responsible for the IMPALA project.

Here's an article from CBBC about schools podcasting

Assignment: podcast from BT
"A mini-website dedicated to providing pupils and teachers with everything they need to know to make their own internet audio programmes."

Radio Sandaig - a Junior school's podcasts

Useful tips for jazzing up your podcast - from Matthew Mobbs at University of Leicester

There are several sources of free music that can be downloaded, edited and included in your podcast as you like. Check that the usage is "podsafe" eg with a creative commons licence.

http://creativecommons.org/

Here are some sites you can download Podsafe music.
http://music.podshow.com/
http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
http://www.garageband.com/
http://www.ukpodcasts.info/Music/2
http://www.peoplesound.com/

posted by Helen Whitehead 3:04 PM

(0) comments

Friday, 8 September 2006

Intranet Functionality

I did some research on intranets when I had a job interview. I didn't go for the job in the end, but it seems a shame to waste the info, so here it is!

Key intranet functionality

Home page - with links to various parts of the web site and to other internet based applications and web sites.

About us – information on organisation: five-year-plan, mission statement etc., making sure important corporate messages are communicated
to all employees.

Searchable directory of staff and stakeholders, important clients/suppliers: with telephone nos, email profile info, photo (VERY useful!) and summary of job role & skills - updatable by individual concerned

Searchable resources section - strategies, plans, policies for health and safety and customer management policies and all-important procedures. Evaluation and personnel documents

Calendar tool - Events and Seminars - publicise key events that managers and employees should know about.

Book resources online - whatever's relevant, e.g., room bookings, hospitality.

Expenses claim form - with online submission if possible

News section - internal news and newsletters, link to press coverage database.

Suggestions e-submission: Bright Ideas

Social section - classifieds, info on social events and
clubs etc. advertise social events and small sales

Internal forums for projects, corporate intitiaves, social
eg a group for learning french.

Marketing Campaigns

Job vacancies

Full content management system for ease of data maintenance. Multi-level admin access for different people.

Individual login to intranet determines what is visible/concealed

posted by Helen Whitehead 4:59 PM

(0) comments

Jorum

http://www.jorum.ac.uk/about/index.html

Jorum is a JISC-funded collaborative venture in UK Higher and Further Education to collect and share learning and teaching materials, allowing their reuse and repurposing, and standing as a national statement of the importance of creating interoperable, sustainable materials.

posted by Helen Whitehead 4:54 PM

(0) comments

BestBlogForward

Also here

A meme contest earlier in the year (May 2006) to find out what makes blogs popular. From Kevin Lim at theory.isthereason - a very interesting and reasoned blog about academia, technology and blogging.

Link: posted by Helen Whitehead 4:44 PM

(0) comments

Tuesday, 5 September 2006

Viewpoints on Style

"Divergent men who are successful are lauded in our society as leaders, entrepreneurs, go-getters. Divergent men who do not succeed are seen as impulsive, unreliable, fool-hardy. Divergent women are altogether a different story—seen as bossy, headstrong, domineering, uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Ah, what we miss by our definitional limits!"

Guess whose style is predominantly divergent? Of course, yours truly!

posted by Helen Whitehead 3:03 PM

(0) comments