#mooc , Peter Scott, content marketing

The Guardian has still not reported much about the MOOC prospects for the rest of the year. They seem to depend on guests for comment, such as Peter Scott and Jonathan Woolf. Scott recently wrote about MOOCs and there was little positive I could find. There is a call for debate about more open resources but the current MOOC activity is seen as part of market pressure on universities as they used to be.  I can't find actual proposals or links though. Woolf claims that the campus novel can no longer be funny, after the cost-cutting that started in the mid - 80s. I don't know when it was that universities reduced the offer of adult education or various descriptions for public access. But the MOOC is getting back to this. Yes there is a high drop out rate but the benefits can be seen in various ways. Also this can be regarded as marketing for other courses or the general reputation of particular sites. This trade off between branding and free content is part of the web situation in general. I would like to find a MOOC about content marketing. I could possibly start one but only with some questions. My guess is that explicit theory will arrive, but possibly not from universities in the UK. Woolf seems to think universities should not be on the business pages.

I am also puzzled by how this relates to Mode 2 knowledge and design science. Scott contributed to books about this. The digital technology for learning in commercial situations is moving quickly, and the associated theory involves some universities.  But mostly there appears to be an assumption that things remain the same-

every decade since the 1970s we have been promised a Brave New World IT-powered revolution in higher education (remember the e-university?). So don't hold your breath.

My impression is that IT has only been tried out on marginal courses, seldom really engaged with. There has often been a form of research that is mostly a form of critique without much innovation. There are now some universities involved in Futurelearn but it is unclear how significant this is. It could just be a low cost option in case something happens somewhere else. More news in a couple of months. 

Misc notes from Lancaster

I am setting off back to Exeter tomorrow. Not much posted to this blog but there will be more later. Mobile web connection is ok, but too much going on to spend time writing. 

In Lancaster there is no longer an HMV, it is now a Morrisons. But without CDs, you have to go to Sainsburys, outside the one way system. Pau Pau has closed down as well but wifi is in many cafes. The one way scheme is diverted so even more confusing when driving. But the pedestrian area works well when you get there. This is a good direction for a high street. 

The Wifi Bus definitely works. I think only on the Morecambe to University route. The cafe at Info Lab 21 requires a university ID to get to wifi. So the Innovation Centre in Exeter has an advantage. 

Links to photos and video later. 

Also video of talk with John Burgoyne. I met him at his home near Ambleside. I hope to edit clips so it can work ok on YouTube.  

Last Thursday I heard the Wild Show ok online and also phoned in. They played my pre-recorded selection for Sidmouth Folk Week. So being in several places works ok. Time concentration is a matter of getting round to things.  I hope to be in the studio for Thursday. The map should be available for This City's Centre so will check it out. Where I am staying there is a book about the Flaneur, a city drifter type as in 19c. Paris. Apparently they moved about and observed, but rarely wrote up a report. Is there much research about bloggers?

Walking and maps, mental time travel

There is more info on the map for This City's Centre . I'm not sure how the QR codes will work out. I think they link to sound. The images are ok in the ramm next to the cafe but there are only two sets of headphones. It may be easier to download the sound and walk with the map. 

I continue to suggest a map for the Wild Show based on cafes and a half hour radius from the studio. Tests show this can include the Innovation Centre and St Davids Hill. But so far there is not much interest in hard copy. It may just be a PDF / Google doc with links. More when I see how the other map works. We are not just copying this City's Centre of course. Rather we are working out a related project with no copyright issues so we can promote it more easily. 

There is a bit more info about the unexpected. It will include some buildings  with presumably a route between them. But I'm not sure this is meant to be a walk as such. I am still trying to find out more about art theory and walking. There could be various ways to approach this and many unintended results as people do one or more routes at a time. I will probably fall back on some sort of loop - plan, do, study act for example - where act implies a possible change of intention. This allows me to look at the plans and results at different times though of course they are still changing, especially as you and others wander about.

This afternoon I plan to go to Sidmouth. My mental map involves a loop round the Bedford, Anchor and Dukes , with a longer less frequent loop to the Volunteer. This is nothing like a city centre map based on coffee. with enough live music there may be no need for wifi. There is no university library but there may be an expensive hardback from CUP. Certainly there is a bookshop.

Anyway, I regret not being in Sidmouth more next week. But looking forward to Lancaster. 

Very interested in recent TV clip on mental time travel. Could work in any urban space. Yes, Sidmouth is urban. Street integrated music. 

#mooc, local Exeter and Lancaster continued

See previous post for a start on how the MOOC will influence local space as normal life. 

Next week I will be near Lancaster so this is a chance to compare with Exeter ahead of the new term. Both universities will contribute to Futurelearn but I'm not sure how. The MOOC idea is an aspect of the web that has got some official attention. There is a lot else happening. I still think the consequences could include more study from home and/or a return to civic universities, more in the middle of cities and less need for a campus further out of town. In Exeter this could be seen in empty student accommodation, not sure when. There is a lot of new building going on. 

The Blackwells on Exeter campus may get a room at the start of the new season. The retail choices seem to be design driven. A bookshop would still be viable as a permanent location. But in Lancaster the HMV has closed and may become a Morrisons. The Exeter HMV is still open and has some new stock. So Lancaster has moved towards cloud based music but still has a university bookshop. Exeter may have too many blips for a clear picture. I would think hard about buying an HMV gift token next Xmas. But a university bookshop might return in a low profile sort of way.  

The MOOC may be part of informal cafe study wherever there is wifi. I like the cafe at the Innovation Centre in Exeter. They will tell you the password at the main desk. In Lancaster I think you need an ID from the library in every cafe on the site. Not quite the same experience. But there is nothing in Exeter like the wifi bus. 

In Exeter I am able to use the Phonic FM studio on Thursday mornings as part of the Wild Show. There is often content that works as video so it fits with Rougemont Global Broadcasting.  We have yet to contact the university student union but we know there is a video unit and a radio. So reasonable sound quality must be possible. In Lancaster there is a Lancaster University TV with a studio, part of the Confucius Centre building. I think it is mostly to support video as part of study but maybe it can be used for general recording. Also of course phone cameras are getting better. External microphone can add something.

Jeff Jarvis , more sense on media, advertising

I can only agree with this, not sure where it is going as local media. 

Extract from current Buzzmachine post on what the agencies are doing and the mergers maybe about. 

I argue that media companies should be able to get people to build the trust to reveal themselves because media companies can give them value in return. Provide me traffic help and you’ll learn where I live and work and then you can target your content and advertising to my locale, delivering greater relevance and value. Right?

No. Google, Facebook, and Twitter listen to our signals. Omnicom and Publicis realize the value of those signals. They all understand the worth of relationships. And what do we do in media? We put up paywalls and scream about copyright. Garg.