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The book isn’t dead, it just has new friends
So the first of my reflections on completing my digital scholarship book can probably be filed under 'No shit, Sherlock': The book is a good format for some ideas I have suggested that books and articles have had a monopoly as the format for the dissemination of ideas, and new media liberate us from this somewhat. In my case the book has grown out of stuff I've been blogging over the past 4 years or so, but it isn't just a load of blog posts bundled together (whatever you may think). The length and format of a book is a very good means of both exploring ideas in depth and…
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About
I’m a Professor of Educational Technology at the Open University in the UK. I’m into exploring the impact of new technologies for learners and academics. Recently this has coalesced under the broad, inadequate heading of ‘digital scholarship. I chaired the first major elearning course at the Open University, with around 15,000 students annually. I was the director for the VLE project and the SocialLearn project at the OU. I live in Cardiff, run quite slowly but regularly, support Spurs, have a VW camper van and read literary fiction sporadically. Other places you can find me around and about are: Twitter: mweller Slideshare YouTube Flickr Tumblr scrapbook blog
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Consultancy
Although I work for the OU, I also do some consultancy on a part-time basis. I have acted as a consultancy on a number of projects including developing elearning content, advising on VLE adoption, and elearning advice. Current areas which I can offer expertise and advice on are: Use of new media by academic staff Digital scholarship policy Recognition of new outputs in tenure and promotion Open access policy and guidelines If you are interested in any of these or similar areas, and think I may be able to help, then contact me on edtechie [at] gmail.com
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Some thoughts on the book writing process
(The printout of my book) I submitted the manuscript (well the Word files) of my digital scholarship book to the publishers, Bloomsbury Academic, a couple of weeks ago. It should be out in September, with an online OA Creative Commons version as well as the printy touchy feely one. So now is a good time to reflect on the process. In the following posts I'll suggest a number of reflections on the process. Overall it's been rewarding, and a useful exercise, but I couldn't have done it without this blog. Whereas many authors create a blog to accompany a book, I think I have created a book to accompany the…
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Comparethejournal.com
A journal comparison site? Simples. This another post from the stable of 'Martin's great business ideas that never get taken up, and which he never progresses.' One of the themes in my digital scholarship book is that of alternatives – new technology driven approaches give us alternatives when previously we had none: we can join in a conference remotely, we can choose which medium we wish to convey our message in, we can make our outputs as detailed or as general as we like and we can chat about professional interests, sport, politics, film, or whatever we like all in the same space. Looking at academic publishing, it strikes me…
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VCR as formative technology
Having done a couple of DS106 radio shows with Jim Groom (which suffered rather from, erm, technical difficulties), the notion of the early video cassette recorder as a formative technology has emerged for me. Here are some ways in which I think it was relevant: It changed the film industry – home video was seen as a threat by the film studios back in the early 80s, with the fear that it would mean people would stop going to the cinema. This didn't happen, and gradually they realised that it was another very lucrative form of income. Many decent films got a second life on video, and an awful lot…
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Bavathursdays, messiness is part of the plan
<Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanislands/3716274762/ by Viqi French> Last night I joined Jim Groom for a live session on DS106 Radio. The idea was to chat about 80s b-movies, an interest we have in common and see where it went. It's fair to say it went all over the shop, but was really fun from our end anyway (I'm not sure how much fun it was for the listener). But on the basis that it's through playing and doing fun stuff that you actually learn, we're going to have a go again. Next time we'll try and get others involved and have a focus around a particular theme or film I think. I created some…
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Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Well, actually a fiver. I'm running my first marathon this year, and what with the old hip, general age and fondness for beer and pie, I figure this may be the only one I do. So I thought I'd put out a request for sponsorship, which I don't usually do. I'm raising money for Velindre Cancer Centre, which is where my wife had her treatment a couple of years ago. It was a very well run, friendly place that attempted to remove as much stress as they could do from a rather gruelling process. The marathon I'm attempting is the Great Welsh Marathon on April 10th. I would like to…
