JISC podcasts

Another thing I've come late to (they're now up to episode 49) is the JISC podcasts. These started in July 2007 and are available from:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/podcasts.aspx

They are also available via iTunes (I had problems subscribing to the series but could easily add individual episodes to my iPod).

I listened to two on the train:

• podcast 48: Mainstreaming accessibility – getting it right the first time
• podcast 47: Creating 21st century learning spaces

Both were short, professionally done and prompted a few thoughts about how we do things in my institution.

Mind you, I wouldn't mind getting involved in a £100m new building (as described in the 21st century learning spaces podcast).

The accessibility podcast was very down to earth: covering web, VLE and accessibility tools (e.g. Jaws screen reader).

I shall certainly download some more - there's a lot to choose from!

Blogs & RSS readers

OK, so I'm new to blogging but I've been reading some, fairly regularly, for a while.

So, how do you keep up and find out when something new has been posted?

Easiest way is to subscribe to the RSS feed of the blog and use an RSS reader.

I use Google Reader.  Google reader is web-based and, because I use iGoogle as my home page, I see the titles of new posts whenever I start IE.

Two blogs I subscribe to are:

• Brian Kelly's UK Web Focus blog
• Steve Lamb's Security Matters blog

Both Brian and Steve have given excellent presentations at UCISA IT Support Staff Symposiums (Brian in 2007 and Steve in 2005).

Both of these blogs are well worth a look and both have been nominated (in different categories) in the ComputerWeekly.com IT Blog Awards 08.  Voting ends 31/7/08 so, if you want to vote, get your skates on.

Web 2.0 distractions?

Interesting article in this month's E&T (magazine of the Institution of Engineering and Technology) on web tools that are major distractions. The article, turn on, tune out caught my eye as it cites "Facebook, Twitter & blogs" as the one of the top 5 time wasters. Being new to blogging and Twitter, I'm not sure of the pros & cons but thought that trying them out is one way to find out!

I started using Facebook as a way of communicating with others in UCISA when we were planning a symposium. I got fed up with trying to do it via email. I wanted a single place where the latest information could be found. We also used a Facebook group for discussion during the event - reasonably successfully.

For the recent UCISA TLIG-SDG Conference we used WetPaint for discussion before & during the event. I'd like to see discussion continue on the WetPaint wiki after the event. I get a weekly digest emailed to me, so I get an email prompt of new posts. This is better than the Facebook messages about each & every friend request etc.

So, I can certainly see advantages but the problem I have is that each tool is another thing I need an account for and (unless I'm relying on the email prods) something else to check.

David Harrison, Chair of UCISA, recently discovered Twemes which brings together tweets, flickr and del.icio.us and he's added it to the conference WetPaint wiki. This looks good and certainly helps as it aggregates these different tools.

David also told me about Windows Live Writer which allows you to write blog posts offline and upload later. I'm using this now. Thanks David.

Back to the E&T article: I've never heard of two of the top 5 time wasters (Fark & Lolcats). So they're certainly not time wasters for me!

UCISA TLIG-SDG Conf 2008

Thoroughly enjoyed the UCISA TLIG-SDG User Support Conf in Reading, 1-3 July 2008. Well, I would say that wouldn't I, being conference chair!

Programme, including the presentations, is available from:
http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/groups/tlig/Events/2008/usersupport/programme.aspx

A big thank you to all who presented plenaries or workshops, facilitated discussion groups, chaired sessions, helped identify great speakers, organised the event etc. A lot of work goes into the these events and you only really know how once you've been on the organising committee.

Whilst it's not easy to relax when you're conference chair, I did try! It was great to talk to people over tea/coffee/wine/beer/G&T. I do hope that delegates were able to identify some things to try out back in their own institutions.

Now that that conference is over, I (& colleagues in the UCISA DITSS Sub-group) can start to properly think about the joint UCISA Advisory Services & IT Support Staff Symposium which will be held at Aston Business School, 7-8 July 2009. Aston Business School is a great venue (the accommodation is excellent) and we all think that having a joint event will allow us to create a fantastic programme and also to bring together advisory staff with those providing IT support in departments. For details on the separate events held last year, look at:

http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/groups/sdg/ditss/Events/2007/ITSS%20Symposium.aspx
http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/groups/tlig/aswg/Events/2007/ASWG2007.aspx

At the ITSS Symposium last year we used a Facebook group for discussion and feedback during the event. The DITSS Sub-group plan to go back to discussions started during the last symposium to see how delegates have fared since the event and to get ideas for the next symposium.