Bradford College management seem to have blundered into a Public Relations disaster with the decision to invest many thousands in a ceremonial mace. As a seasoned and veteran mace bearer having had the priviledge of carrying the university mace at least once at almost every degree ceremony since starting at the university I am reminded of a few things which may be state secrets:
(1) The University Mace fell off the podium (before my time) and had to be "fixed" in the engineering workshop labs between degree ceremonies. It still has a distinct "wobble"
(2) The City Mace (and mayoral chain) are solid gold and their value is significant (priceless?). The chain is so heavy because each mill owner who took the chain of office wanted to provide an even bigger and better contribution to the chain.
(3) The only time that the Mace should officially be used is to protect the Chancellor I think. On the one occasion that someone approached the stage (wearing a rucksack) and in the middle of an acceptance speech, everyone, inlcuding the macebearer stood and stared and sat transfixed. It was in fact the photographer's assistant providing some gear to the photographer on stage..
(4) When the chancellor (Imran Khan) was presiding a student produced a cricket bat and marker pen with a flourish from under his gown for autographing. The Mace was not deployed!
Monday, 18 June 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
The S-Lab Conference (York)
Visit to the University of York with a few hours of general discussion about shared interests e.g. service performance and monitoring, student systems, timetabling, research MIS and the migration to Google Apps for staff and students which is going very well. We also talked about some of the shared applications like Blackboard and e-learning generally. We then went on a visit to a newly refurbished space adjoining the Library which has been made available for a wide variety of group and individual learning, teaching and research activity - I haven't heard the term "research hotel" before. The furniture and use of light (atrium and wells) was very impressive:
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Research articles on disruptive innovation
Been collecting articles about "disruption" in various industries including education and perhaps there is nothing particularly "new" about what any of them are saying, but worthy of consideration. This is the Educause article on innovating the 21st century university and this is a link to Clayton Christenson's research on disrupting college. Worth putting these into your e-Library.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Beacon Walk for the Queen's Jubilee
"A lonely stone
Afloat in the stone heavings of emptiness
Keeps telling her tale. Foxes killed her.
You take the coins out of the hollow in the top of it.
Put your own in. Foxes killed her here.
Why just here? Why not five yards that way?
A squared column, planted by careful labour.
Sun cannot ease it, though the moors grow warm.
Foxes killed her, and her milk spilled.
Or they did not. And it did not. Maybe
Farmers brought their milk this far, and cottegers
From the top of Luddenden valley left cash
In the stones crown, probably in vinegar,
And the farmers left their change. Relic of The Plague.
Churn-milk jamb. And Joan did not come trudging
Through the long swoon of moorland
With her sodden feet, nipped face.
Neither snow nor foxes made her lie down
While they did whatever they wanted.
The negative of the skylines is blank.
Only a word wrenched. Then the pain came,
And her mouth opened.
And now all of us,
Even this stone, have to be memorials
Of her futile stumblings and screams
And awful death".
Churn-Milk Joan
By Ted Hughes
For the uninitiated, Churn Milk Joan is a boundary stone above Mytholmroyd in the Calder Valley, close to Crow Hill.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
IT Services Newsletter #37
A busy month with lots of things going on – and some nice sunny weather in amongst. For those who follow league tables the University had a disappointing result in the Guardian League Table for 2012 last week, dropping 5 places to 86. However, we got a First Class Honours award from the People and Planet Green League. Today it has been announced that we are in the top 20 of Universities under 50 in the Times Higher League Table. One thing’s for sure: there are lies, damn lies and statistics.
This first item is an invitation:
IT Services invites you to an event which will be held on:
Wednesday 20th June 2012 from 11:30-1:30 pm including lunch (location TBD dependent on numbers)
IT Services is hosting an event which will showcase some of the innovation and research-related activities that we have recently been involved with. The aim is to provide a number of short presentations on relevant topics followed by an informal networking session with invited colleagues across the University. So far, we plan to present updates on:
(1) The YHMAN Shared Virtual Data Centre concept – session led by Ed Carter, University of Leeds
(2) Business Travel and technology alternatives – session led by Ben Tongue, Estates and Facilities
(3) Green IT on the desktop: launch of the Nightwatchman service – session led by Dave Ewen, IT Services
(4) New authentication services for staff and students (Athens) – session led by the Library Systems Team
(5) What’s been happening this year with student email (Outlook Live) and plans for Microsoft Office365
(6) Plus other topics to follow (if you have one please let me know)
All welcome, please confirm your attendance so we know the numbers for catering by emailing.
One Click to Key Information
During the one-to-one meetings I took an action to try and find an easy “one click” way of updating our team with key documents and information. A new web page has been set up here, which is linked from our IT Services home page under Staff and IT Board Documents. Each month after the IT Board meeting I will provide the latest update to our working documents which include account management and the IT Services rolling plan.
Updates from the IT Systems Team – XCRI in the spotlight
There are a number of major projects that are in progress which many of us are involved with. A group of these projects are being co-ordinated by a Student Overview Group. It is a fairly complex set of projects which are inter-related and it is useful that these are being brought together round the table to ensure that they are joined up. This is an externally funded project by the JISC and regular update reports are sent to keep them informed of progress. I am attaching to this newsletter a document which explains what it is, and a document that summarises the range of student projects that we are also involved with.
Microsoft IT Academy
During the last week we have approved our membership of the Microsoft IT Academy Program. This Program provides our staff, students and IT experts with essential and advanced level e-learning resources, through to exams, across the wide range of Microsoft products. The Program is being led from our LSS Customer Services team, and there will be further news and information about this over the coming months. In the meantime, if you want to start accessing resources on Word, Excel through Sharepoint, Exchange and Dynamics then this is all available.
Degree Congregation Volunteering
If you have already done this in the past, you will know that it is wonderful to be part of the annual celebrations as students attend their graduation ceremonies. I have gotten so old that I will be attending our daughter’s graduation on Thursday July 19th at Sheffield University. Volunteers are always needed and I have put my name down for one of the evening ceremonies. Please take this as an invitation to put your name down for one of the ceremonies this year by contacting the lovely people in the Hub.
Award Submission – Innovation Nation
Geoff Bell has been heavily involved as our YHMAN Director in a pathfinder project which is receiving national attention. The YHMAN’s Shared Virtual Data Centre initiative has been shortlisted in the Collaboration category of this year’s Innovation Nation Awards, in conjunction with The Guardian. The closing date was 30th May so we await the outcome. At the very least we can claim to be runners up as there were two shortlisted projects in this category. Further details here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/innovation-nation-awards/innovation-nation-shortlist-collaboration
Floor 01 Refurbishments
The Glee project is continuing to make real progress. Our colleagues in Estates are very keen to make further progress on completing our building including the refurbishment of level 01 (our floor). A bid is being prepared for a £1.5-2 Million investment via a TSB funding source. It is outline at the moment. I would encourage any of you who have not done so, to take a trip to either floor 1 or floor 2 and take a look at what the space looks like when you strip everything out. Imagine what an open plan space approximately half the size of either of those floors would look like as a working environment.
Reminder: IT “At Risk” – dates for your diary
The “at risk” dates were approved at ISC4 on May 17th and are published here.
Reminder: Data Protection Act – compulsory training
This is the link to the module.
This first item is an invitation:
IT Services invites you to an event which will be held on:
Wednesday 20th June 2012 from 11:30-1:30 pm including lunch (location TBD dependent on numbers)
IT Services is hosting an event which will showcase some of the innovation and research-related activities that we have recently been involved with. The aim is to provide a number of short presentations on relevant topics followed by an informal networking session with invited colleagues across the University. So far, we plan to present updates on:
(1) The YHMAN Shared Virtual Data Centre concept – session led by Ed Carter, University of Leeds
(2) Business Travel and technology alternatives – session led by Ben Tongue, Estates and Facilities
(3) Green IT on the desktop: launch of the Nightwatchman service – session led by Dave Ewen, IT Services
(4) New authentication services for staff and students (Athens) – session led by the Library Systems Team
(5) What’s been happening this year with student email (Outlook Live) and plans for Microsoft Office365
(6) Plus other topics to follow (if you have one please let me know)
All welcome, please confirm your attendance so we know the numbers for catering by emailing.
One Click to Key Information
During the one-to-one meetings I took an action to try and find an easy “one click” way of updating our team with key documents and information. A new web page has been set up here, which is linked from our IT Services home page under Staff and IT Board Documents. Each month after the IT Board meeting I will provide the latest update to our working documents which include account management and the IT Services rolling plan.
Updates from the IT Systems Team – XCRI in the spotlight
There are a number of major projects that are in progress which many of us are involved with. A group of these projects are being co-ordinated by a Student Overview Group. It is a fairly complex set of projects which are inter-related and it is useful that these are being brought together round the table to ensure that they are joined up. This is an externally funded project by the JISC and regular update reports are sent to keep them informed of progress. I am attaching to this newsletter a document which explains what it is, and a document that summarises the range of student projects that we are also involved with.
Microsoft IT Academy
During the last week we have approved our membership of the Microsoft IT Academy Program. This Program provides our staff, students and IT experts with essential and advanced level e-learning resources, through to exams, across the wide range of Microsoft products. The Program is being led from our LSS Customer Services team, and there will be further news and information about this over the coming months. In the meantime, if you want to start accessing resources on Word, Excel through Sharepoint, Exchange and Dynamics then this is all available.
Degree Congregation Volunteering
If you have already done this in the past, you will know that it is wonderful to be part of the annual celebrations as students attend their graduation ceremonies. I have gotten so old that I will be attending our daughter’s graduation on Thursday July 19th at Sheffield University. Volunteers are always needed and I have put my name down for one of the evening ceremonies. Please take this as an invitation to put your name down for one of the ceremonies this year by contacting the lovely people in the Hub.
Award Submission – Innovation Nation
Geoff Bell has been heavily involved as our YHMAN Director in a pathfinder project which is receiving national attention. The YHMAN’s Shared Virtual Data Centre initiative has been shortlisted in the Collaboration category of this year’s Innovation Nation Awards, in conjunction with The Guardian. The closing date was 30th May so we await the outcome. At the very least we can claim to be runners up as there were two shortlisted projects in this category. Further details here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/innovation-nation-awards/innovation-nation-shortlist-collaboration
Floor 01 Refurbishments
The Glee project is continuing to make real progress. Our colleagues in Estates are very keen to make further progress on completing our building including the refurbishment of level 01 (our floor). A bid is being prepared for a £1.5-2 Million investment via a TSB funding source. It is outline at the moment. I would encourage any of you who have not done so, to take a trip to either floor 1 or floor 2 and take a look at what the space looks like when you strip everything out. Imagine what an open plan space approximately half the size of either of those floors would look like as a working environment.
Reminder: IT “At Risk” – dates for your diary
The “at risk” dates were approved at ISC4 on May 17th and are published here.
Reminder: Data Protection Act – compulsory training
This is the link to the module.
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