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Kwahu East towns deserted; schools affected following clashes with Fulani herdsmen
Pupils, students and teachers in some towns in the Kwahu East District in the Eastern Region have abandoned their schools, while some farmers have deserted the communities, following acts of violence involving some local people and Fulani herdsmen which led to the death of nine people.
The closure of the schools is likely to affect junior high school (JHS) students who are scheduled to register for the 2018 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Some of the communities are Dwerebease, Oboyan and Mpaemu, all in the Kwahu East District.
Although the closure of the schools has not been sanctioned by the Ghana Education Service (GES), the heads of the schools, for fear of their teachers, pupils and students being caught up in the conflict, have closed down the schools, while farmers and other residents of the affected communities who have fled to other areas are afraid to return.
Confirming reports of the closure of the schools to the Daily Graphic, the Kwahu East District Chief Executive, Mr Isaac Agyapong, said the assembly was talking to the teachers to reopen the schools, since the presence of the police in the affected communities should be enough assurance that lives were protected.
He said the police platoon sent to the area was providing 24-hour security and, therefore, nobody had any excuse not to go to school.
Mr Agyapong said some of the schools were located close to the communities and, therefore, teachers and pupils should not entertain any fears.
He expressed the hope that the teachers would heed the call of the assembly and other stakeholders to ensure that schoolchildren did not suffer unnecessarily.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council (ERCC) is considering reintroducing 'Operation Cowleg' with the view to flushing out Fulani herdsmen from the Afram Plains.
The ERCC is of the opinion that if funds could be made available for the operation, just as is being done for Operation Vanguard, much could be achieved.
Addressing the media after a meeting of the ERCC in Koforidua last Tuesday, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Eric Kwakye Darfour, said members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) would visit the affected areas in Kwahu East on November 6, 2017 to meet with leaders of the Fulani community in Kwahu, chiefs, farmers and other stakeholders to further discuss the issue.
"A proposal for addressing the Fulani menace which has been submitted to the REGSEC by the Kwahumanhene will be discussed," he added.
Fodder banks
He said the REGSEC would also consider the need to revive the fodder bank system and possibly propose to the government to create a fodder bank around the Dwerebease enclave.
On the reprisal attacks, Mr Darfuor described them as unfortunate and assured the people that security personnel would work around the clock to contain the situation.


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Lynn Driehaus
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How School Librarians Could Work Better Together
by Niels Damgaard, Senior Adviser for School Libraries and Web 2.0,
Biblioteksentralen, Oslo
For some years I have participated in different ways in various international organizations (e.g., ENSIL, IASL and IFLA), working for better school libraries worldwide. I am increasingly concerned about how these organizations manage to reach out to those school librarians who are NOT able or willing to pay for expensive travelling and expensive conference fees and other meetings and events scattered around in the world. In fact it is my impression that it is the same bunch of people (±50) in these organizations, able and willing to travel on their own or on their employers' budget, who are meeting each others again and again year after year. But for the rest of us there is NO hope of personal participation in remote conferences. What is offered to the thousands of ordinary school librarians during and after
In Norway we successfully offered a course for librarians: the Web 2.0 School. From April, 2007, to March, 2008, ten full course-days were offered. Participants studied Library 2.0 , School Library 2.0, blogs, wikis, podcasts, screencast and video, social software, RSS feeds, and information focal-points such as Netvibes and Pageflakes. They were introduced to a part of the new society where librarians together can produce and share information. Participants used all kinds of social software, and at the last gathering there was a show of all the blogs, Wikis and screencast the attendees had produces during the last ten months.
If the school libraries in the future shall have any change to survive, I think it is important for them to be "retooled" (thanks, Joyce Valenza, for this contribution): to be able to give their customers (teachers and students) help in selecting, using and advising about the new tools for production in the Web 2.0 world.
As you may know, Norway is a long country: more than 2500 km from north to south! Therefore our course was constructed as follows: there were three kinds of participants: some were present in Oslo, others listened and participated in real time from their home or work computers, and the last group enjoyed the talks via MP3 files and PowerPoint presentations asynchronously. A wiki set-up collected all information on every topic, and offered instruction ion before – during – and after the monthly meetings. In the morning we normally enjoyed talks from interesting speakers sitting in Scandinavia, Spain, or even America via our virtual meeting room. We used a cheap OPAL-room where we are able to transmit via the Internet both audio and PowerPoint, using chat at the same time.
Attendees could decide just a few days before the monthly events how they wanted to participate: face-to-face, virtually or asynchronously; they also chose whether to follow only one event, several events or all. We learned that half of the attendees enjoyed all ten sessions; the rest attended between one to eight days. In the beginning, many were interested in attending the course in Oslo in person, but after a few events more and more preferred to stay at home to join virtually in realtime. We had attendees from all corners of our remote country on this course, many sitting on small islands and other remote places, enjoying the Web 2.0 tools for the first time.
What Did We Learn in Norway from the Web 2.0 School?
We are now able – very cheaply – to set up a system where we can educate and work together over long distance in real time. We are able to have attendees from all our small islands who can stay at home enjoying their course without having expenses travelling up to 2500 km!
Attendees can choose the days they can afford and have time for, and they can communicate with their colleagues who are interested in learning and training about the same topics. To record we used a simple and cheap microphone (Logitech AK 5370, about $50) and the free software Audacity (or iSound, about $30). The web room is an OPAL-room for $250 per year, which offers 24 seats. All recordings were edited and transferred to MP3-files for better performance after the event in the free program Audacity.
This course will be continued this fall and spring of 2009. Additionally, we are now focusing on a ten-month course for school librarians AND teachers working together to play and interact with Web 2.0 technology in order to prepare them to incorporate these tools for their own teaching as well as supporting their pupils from K-16 schools in Norway.
What about the International Situation?
Why could we use this experience? First of all, to offer international events virtually for "all the rest of us" who are NOT able/willing to come to the event. Preparing a conference is hard work, I know, but think about how you could have some (if not all) of the presentations recorded and stored as MP-3 sound files to download. On SlideShare PowerPoint shows and MP3 files can be "glued together" to give access for free! Cost and ease of use are no longer an argument for not recording events.
We should bring in speakers from the whole world via the net (Webinars like the OPALroom or even the free program SKYPE is very useful) to bring down the expenses (avoiding travel and accommodation costs) for setting up events, and then invite "the rest of us" virtually for a low price – or for free sometimes! ASLA in Australia is setting up a free NING at http://aslaonline.ning.com for debate before their third virtual conference, which is a good start!
So I am looking forward to join coming events together with thousands of other school librarians around the world as virtual attendees to listen and enjoying the speakers in real time or asynchronously via podcasts – and to participate virtually
and comment on this article at this blog.
About Niels Damgaard
Niels Damgaard is currently Senior Adviser on School Libraries and Web 2.0 in the Norwegian Resource Centre for Libraries (Biblioteksentralen AL). He has taught and worked as a site school librarian for fifteen years in Denmark, Greenland and Norway. For the past twelve years he has been busy setting up courses together with the University of Agder (UIA) for teachers running school libraries in Norway, and in the last four year more than 400 librarians and teachers running school libraries in secondary schools have been taking his own courses. Niels edited the IFLA section 11 Newsletter from 2005 to 2007, and won the Newsletter of the Year Award in 2006. He finds his inspiration from worldwide networks such as the WebHeads, the EVO (The Electronic village), The WebAcademy, 23-things and other places, where he can study Web 2.0 for free.
Library 2.0: It's Not About the Books
By Christopher Harris
New York
It is always a risk in the library world to say that it is not about the books. So, to use a less emotionally charged example, let us propose that the $100 laptop project, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), is not about the computer either. In both of these cases, the books and the computers are just tools. Books are a storage technology that we have used for a few thousand years to hold information. Computers are a more recent example of a tool we created to improve our processing capabilities. Neither of these technologies really does anything for us. The magic is in how we use them.
Library 2.0 is that kind of magic. The basic idea behind Library 2.0 is the development of a new perspective that can help us provide a higher level of services by focusing on our patrons. The movement was initially built around concept of Web 2.0 as discussed by Tim O'Reilly in a 2005 article, "What is Web 2.0" http://tinyurl.com/743r5. Libraries began talking about harnessing patron intelligence, using data, and developing new software on an open release cycle. Library 2.0 is really about harnessing the new technologies to focus our development activities on patron engagement. Just like the OLPC project proposes to use a computer as a tool for social change by promoting connectivity and education, Library 2.0 brings radical change to our organizations by creating new conversations around information.
So what does this look like in a real world library? Using the expanded powers of computers and the web, we can now do things with books (and the information they hold) that we were unable to accomplish previously. Some examples of this include tagging books to provide additional metadata, developing a social network around books, and even extracting the stories and information from books into new storage technologies for broader access. By adopting tags to supplement (not supplant) traditional subject cataloging, for example, libraries can provide additional points of entry into their collections that can accommodate unique cultural elements. These tools allow even remote libraries to become full participants in the global information network. This is especially true since many of the tools that make up Library 2.0 are being developed using open source technologies.
The Web 2.0 movement has brought about the development of many new free and/or open source technologies that libraries can use to provide enhanced services. The cost for developing or piloting a new program for possible adoption is no longer measured by hard currency, but by soft resources. What is it worth to your organization in terms of time to make a new project work? If, for example, your library wants to prioritize facilitating user discussions about books they are reading, it can be done if you are willing to redirect time that may now be spent on other tasks. Are there programs that are hanging on because they have "always been there" but are no longer drawing participation? Or are there tasks that could be automated or streamlined to generate additional staff time?
This isn't to say that time is the only cost associated with Library 2.0 – but rather that it can be the only cost. Most of these technologies are designed to run on a web server and so will work best when run in an online, hosted environment. This, however, starts to cost money. When looking at these new Web 2.0 technologies, the one thing to remember is that it will either cost time or money. The less time you want to spend on something, the more money you will need to spend. Luckily, the opposite is also true. If you want to get started with a new project, you can do so with very little money by investing additional time. Don't have a web server where you can host a new book discussion website? Not a problem. Using a free, open source web server package like Xampp [http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html] you can turn any computer into a personal webserver. While this program is not recommended for use in an online environment, if you have a local library network or even a few connected computers you can create your own internal library webspace using Xampp.
Why create a webspace? Is it really that essential for Library 2.0? I believe that it is. Digital spaces – whether built on a blog, wiki, or other tool – are different than physical spaces we have in our libraries. By starting a conversation on a blog or a wiki, even one running on a local computer using a program like Xampp, allows the users to interact in a dynamic environment. While this can be simulated on paper, using the computer allows multiple conversations to take place, and more importantly to grow and develop over time. Being involved in a local webspace also prepares library user for participation in the global information space. By writing on a local book discussion blog, a patron is learning the skills that will allow him or her to create a public blog to spread cultural awareness. Knowing how to edit an internal library wiki means that a user is able to contribute to the growth of knowledge by contributing, editing, or even translating entries on Wikipedia.
While a digital divide separating those with broadband access in their homes from those without, libraries can leverage Library 2.0 ideas and tools to build a more meaningful bridge over this divide. Instead of just providing occasional access, libraries can provide tools and support to make sure that the occasional access is meaningful. By engaging patrons in the creation of a webspaces as opposed to the mere consumption of them, libraries are preparing users to take on a more meaningful role in the global information network. As networks and connectivity spread through mobile technologies and programs like the OLPC project, libraries around the world need to be prepared to guide their patrons through this new information space. Open source technologies allow libraries to start small, building a local space that can grow over time to meld with the larger online world. By moving beyond the technology, be it a book or a computer, Library 2.0 can use any available tools to focus on creating a user-centered library experience. Because in the end, it's not about the books but about growing human capacity.
Web 2.0 Meets Information Literacy
By Joyce Kasman Valenza
Springfield Township HS Library
To be most effective, citizens of the future will need to creatively blend several relatively traditional skills with emerging information and communication tools. And they will need to practice those skills in an information landscape that is genre-shifting, media-rich, participatory, socially connected, and brilliantly chaotic. To be most effective, students also need understandings of traditional information structures as well as understandings of the shifts in the way knowledge is built and organized
Two threads
Through my librarian visioning glasses, I see two threads—information fluency and Web 2.0– beautifully woven into rich 21st century cloth as teachers and librarians who value inquiry, thinking skills, ethical behavior, and innovative student work hone their craft on a funky and vibrant 21st century loom, with learners as collaborators.
As a new thread—Web 2.0–is colorful and dynamic. It reveals new opportunities for collaborations, creation of media, and interactions with audiences never before imagined. A more traditional strand—information literacy–is a sturdy fiber. It is a fiber many of us digital immigrants carried over in our trunks from the old country. And it deserves to be unpacked and shared–woven through instruction and learning.
Information literacy or fluency is the ability to effectively and ethically seek, use, and create information. It is a process in which students (and the rest of us) recognize a need for information; formulate questions based on those needs; identify potential information sources; develop strategies for physically and intellectually accessing information; evaluate, analyze, synthesize and organize new information with existing knowledge; and effectively, ethically and creatively communicate new knowledge.
Information literacy competencies are process skills. They will grow with students, even when current search tools and platforms are obsolete, when we move beyond Web 2.0. These skills have legs. They will serve learners even when they forget how to balance a chemical equation or how to solve for X. They prepare students to learn to learn.
So, how do we interpret traditional skills for a chaotic, exciting, multimodal, socially mediated information 2.0 landscape? And how does our instruction shift as the information landscape evolves?
Fluency: Information access
Information access involves recognizing the need for information, identifying potential sources, and strategies for locating information.
I've heard celebrated futurists, as well as librarians, proclaim that we live in a good enough / why bother world. If people can easily find some information, they will not be motivated to find better or best information. Math teachers do not say, "good enough" at multiplication and division. They move as many of their learners toward higher applications and deeper mathematical thinking. Why should we not expect learners to master more thoughtful information-seeking strategies?
In a 2.0 world we must encourage students to seek information energetically. That often includes reaching beyond everyone's favorite search engine or wiki reference. Though Google rocks it is not the only band in town. Google's information reach is staggering, yet it may not be the best strategy for all information tasks. Innovation is thriving in the search world. In fact, a number of alternate search tools employ a less "vertical", far more user-centered approach. A growing number of tools respond to the preferences of visual learners. A growing number of tools specialize in finding information in varying formats.
Those who wait for information to be set free, those who wait for all the scholars and authors to put their work up outside of their books and journals, may be waiting a long time. As Google strives to digitize the print content of university libraries, our K12 students may not recognize that they have substantial libraries of content already available, content designed directly to meet their information and developmental needs, content that Google has not yet and may never grab. Our students do not have to wait.
Hundreds of databases offer hundreds of thousands of valuable documents beyond those accessible on the free Web. Schools, state and national libraries and government agencies subscribe to content that is both developmentally and content-appropriate for learners. Unless we teach students about the enormous value of these reference sources, ebooks, magazine, journal, and newspaper articles, unless we value them ourselves, students will not find them or use them.
I could not conduct my own research without subscription databases created by such vendors as EBSCO, ProQuest, Gale, and Wilson. Because our school culture values these sources, because they are designed directly to meet their information and developmental needs, our students have grown to love them as well. Teachers and librarians must ensure that these valuable materials get used and are no further than a click or two away from learners. Students who do not have access to this substantial content, students who choose not to use them, are an information underclass. These resources must be front and center on our virtual libraries. They must be prominent on our online pathfinders. Our teachers look use of databases as they assess student projects. We create multiple points of access to them and we look forward to finding an effective federated search solution that will search across the databases, our catalog, and the Web.
Because students will need to access both traditional and emerging sources, through both formal and informal information systems, they need understandings of both worlds. In subscription databases, it still helps to know the underlying structure of controlled vocabulary and subject hierarchy. Students can use official descriptors or subject headings to help them gather relevant content. They can select to search by either keyword or by subject and that choice often matters. And although I no longer formally teach Boolean logic, in databases, sometimes AND makes a big difference.
Students have greater search power when they understand the newly tagged world, the world of popular folksonomies. Tags are emerging as powerful tools, different from the structured controlled vocabulary and subject headings of databases. As they search, students should be on the look out for the various tags assigned to the most relevant resources. Those public-created tags will assist them in gathering related content. They can discover information relationships by exploring aggregators like Technorati http://technorati.com or del.icio.us http://del.icio.us/. Student-developed tag clouds allow for browsing among related concepts, broader and narrower terms, names, places, etc. offering a freedom beyond outlining or taxonomy. A teacher who asks a learner to "show me your tag cloud" will see the various directions a student's research, and her thinking, is taking.
We can teach students to control their own information worlds. By selecting relevant RSS feeds, they restructure search dynamics, channeling information to automatically flow in their direction, personalizing their own stream of information. As students find relevant information and news sources, we need to guide them to seek RSS buttons and capture those feeds.
Interactive survey sites allow students to design and conduct original research. Using tools like SurveyMonkey http://www.surveymonkey.com/ and SurveyScholar http://www.surveyscholar.com/, and Zoho Polls http://polls.zoho.com/, students can easily collect data and graphically describe their results. Surveys are truly authentic experiences requiring students to navigate through some of the sticky issues of inquiry–predicting question issues, deciding how large a sample should be, designing effective question formats—single choice, multiple choice, rating scales, drop-down menus. The sophisticated reports these sites generate eliminate some of the challenging statistical work previously associated with playing with survey data, forcing learners to focus on understanding and interpretation
The Internet fosters a search environment in which learners work independently, often in their rooms, often after midnight. There are fewer face-to-face opportunities for adults to intervene to help assess an information problem, focus a topic, suggest keywords and alternate vocabulary, or recommend a critical book or website or portal. While we should celebrate the independence of learners, we must recognize that any 15-year-old doesn't really know what she doesn't know.
As teachers and librarians in this new landscape, we have new opportunities to intervene, AND to have dialog, while respecting young people's need for independence. Librarians can move their pathfinders to blogs and wikis, to open them to students and teachers for collaboration and comments. They can suggest search strategies and lead students to information types– primary sources, literary criticism, biography, news. They can lead students to the variety of information formats—portals of streaming media, wikibooks, ebooks, blogs, ejournals. They can lead students to global perspectives, diverse sources and points of view.
Fluency: Evaluating information sources
This fluency involves determining accuracy, credibility, and relevance; distinguishing among facts, points of view and opinions; and selecting the most useful resources for a particular information need.
The traditional publication process made evaluation a much simpler skill back in the days before digitization, and in the days before information assumed new democratic formats. And while it was easier to teach evaluation in a controlled world, a world where resources fit into neat little boxes, we now live in a wonderfully rich confusion.
New, as well as traditional questions emerge as learners evaluate the information they find. What is authority? Whose voices are valid and when? Is it best to examine the collective knowledge of the public, or the expert knowledge of academics? What is the information context? Is it a casual information need or a formal or critical project? Are we investigating a breaking issue for which scholarly material does not yet exist? Is the best source likely to be: scholarly, popular, trade; "on the ground" and timely, or retrospective and reflective; primary or secondary; biased or balanced? Who is the audience for my project? Is it a professor who values scholarship and depth?
Just as mega-store sites like Amazon address the long tail or the niche market, the Web, and blogging especially, promote the flourishing of the niche opinion, a great democratic concept, but a challenge for learners struggling to evaluate context and bias.
How should students evaluate and select blogs as information sources, with Technorati (http://technorati.com) currently tracking more than 72 million blogs? Blogs are essentially primary sources. They can provide lively insights and perspectives not documented by traditional sources. They compare in some ways to a traditional interview, with the speaker controlling the questions. Ripe for essays and debate, blogs present not only the traditional two sides of an issue, but the potentially thousands of takes. And those takes take less time to appear than those documents forced through the traditional publishing or peer review process. Blogs allow scholars and experts written opportunities to loosen their ties and engage in lively conversation.
Over the past couple of years a big issue in learning to evaluate has been what to do about Wikipedia. Its content is heavily accessed; its articles appear on nearly every result list. Its democratic editing process provokes questions relating to the wisdom of crowds and the value of experts. Wikipedia forces us to examine the dynamic nature of information and to explore how knowledge is built. Whom do we trust and when do we trust them?
If a project has to do with breaking news, a hot topic, technology, or popular culture, Wikipedia may be the very best place to start. One of its advantages over print is that it is not limited by traditional publishing restrictions of cost or size. It is able to address the long information tail, providing something for nearly any interest.
But when teachers encourage students to find scholarly materials, Wikipedia may not be the best place to start. Academics, concerned about tenure and promotion generally find other avenues for publication. High school and university students need to know that teachers and professors will expect them to reach beyond Wikipedia.
Evaluation also involves reflecting on your own work. How might it have been more effective? How could I have done a better job?
Fluency: Digital citizenship and information ethics
These fluencies involve contributing positively to the learning community; respecting diverse points of view; practicing safe, ethical, and responsible behavior regarding information; recognizing the principles of intellectual freedom; respecting intellectual property; and promoting equitable, democratic access to information.
It's increasingly tough to model respect for intellectual property in a world of shift and change, in a world of mixing and mashing, in a world of ubiquitous sharing, casual online communication, and pirating. Debate continues to rage regarding how to balance users' needs for access to information while protecting the rights of content creators to profit from their labors.
Students are rightly confused and frustrated. The Pew Internet & American Life study, Teen Content Creators and Consumers, quoted researcher Mary Madden in its press release http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/113/press_release.asp
Today's online teens have grown up amidst the chaos of the digital copyright debate, and it shows. . .At a time when social norms around digital content don't always appear to conform with the letter of the law, many teens are aware of the restrictions on copyrighted material, but believe it's still permissible to share some content for free. (Lenhart & Madden, 2005, Press release)
Can we guide students to behavior that is fair and just and respectful of intellectual property without compromising their creativity and enthusiasm? Today, a single student project might incorporate downloaded video clips, music, and art, as well as quoted text. It is also likely to be broadcast.
When projects stayed in our classrooms, limiting the amount of borrowed content and simple documentation were generally enough for students to ethically use the creative work of others. With students regularly publishing and broadcasting beyond classroom walls, they need to take greater care and use new strategies when they borrow the creative works of others. On the Web, it is not always possible to get permission from or even identify a content creator.
We can help by teaching students about information ethics when they produce and post media. We can ease some of the confusion by teaching students about the new flexible protections and freedoms made possible by Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/ licensing.
Even simple documentation is complicated by the fact that the official style books have not kept up with students' new array of information choices. If we expect ethical behavior, we have to make it less painful for learners who want to behave ethically. Even before the examples hit the standard style manuals, we should facilitate students' ethical behavior by adapting and modeling citation formats for blogs and wikis and podcasts and whatever is coming next.
Social responsibility is also about etiquette. Bloggers do not have editors. Bloggers blog on the spot. Rash thoughts may be posted before a blogger really chews on an idea, before rational thought has time to take over. In classroom blogs, learners should argue and debate and criticize. They also should be sensitive and respectful. As teachers, we can inspire a degree of impulse control for learners who blog.
Social responsibility extends to interactions wikis, as well. In class wikis, we may need to discuss and establish guidelines for how we modify information and negotiate content. Guidelines for wiki construction could be class-generated, with the wiki's about page serving as a kind of charter for behavior, trust, accountability, and contribution. These guidelines should serve to build the culture of the wiki. Even in an open authorship environment, participants should see both freedoms and responsibilities relating to the community.
As teachers and librarians, we too have responsibilities. While we look out for the safety of our students, we must also protect their access to the information and communication tools they need to learn effectively. We must speak up against initiatives that prevent access to critical tools for learners.
Fluency: Synthesis and organization
This fluency involves the ability to see information patterns, to analyze information, to organize ideas, and to effectively weave together ideas and content from multiple sources to create a coherent new whole.
Web 2.0 presents the ultimate opportunity for teaching synthesis. Students who effectively use Web 2.0 tools, synthesize effectively.
Wikis promote a jigsaw style in which learners can divide a research task and share individual expertise and insights to complete an information gathering task or answer a driving question. Wikis may be one of the best tools for helping students to learn how to collaborate and build text-based knowledge as they incorporate information from multiple sources, consider diverse ideas, learn how to edit, integrate feedback, and negotiate the content of multiple authors. Additionally, peer collaboration and distributed authorship remove some of the "drama" associated with top-down assessment. Wikis shift the onus of correction and improvement from the teacher to the community. Teachers can assess the work of the group, as well as individual contributors to the wiki community through its history pages. A growing number of online tools also support collaborative writing and other types of information synthesis. They include: Google Docs and Spreadsheats, ZohoWriter, Celtx (for scriptwriting and storyboarding)
AjaxWrite. I cannot imagine planning a group writing project without using a wiki or an online writing application. Bernie Dodge's Design Patterns for EduWikis http://edwiki.org/mw/index.php/Design_Patterns_for_EduWikis lists the impressive ways wikis might be used by learns.
Blogging is also essentially about synthesis, with emphasis on the blogger's voice as he or she engages in dialog and debate. Blogs foster the kind of risk-taking writing that may not happen in the traditional five-paragraph essay. In this new form of public writing, students can share ideas before they are fully formed and solicit and use the ideas of others as they clarify build their own. Bloggers learn to connect with audience, to express their messages in concise space and in more conversational tone. Bloggers learn to weave their own voices into personal, unique communication products, developed over the course of time. Students can blog their research experience (we created a template). Students can use blogs to host their literature circle discussions. They can blog in the voice of a character with the goal of enhanced understanding based on synthesizing discussion.
New media projects as digital storytelling, inherently involve synthesis as learners select and weave words, images, sound, and video together into a coherent composition to conveying meaning, knowledge, and personal perspective. Using editing tools like: iMovie, Final Cut, and GarageBand, students compose and share original media, incorporating the relevant ideas and creations of others. If we are to teach synthesis in a 21st century landscape, we need new strategies for encouraging and assessing synthesis in these innovation creations.
Fluency: Creating and communicating new knowledge
This fluency involves seeking excellence in knowledge generation, collaborating, and contributing positively to the learning community.
What's changed in terms of communication of knowledge? Web 2.0 is the perfect sandbox for our students to authentically hone this information fluency.
We've always worked to inspire students to improve their writing, research and communication skills. Web 2.0 shifts writing and composition in critical and exciting ways. Web 2.0 means audience. Learners now have the potential for a truly authentic and globally connected audience. Learners are discovering real reasons to research, to write, to tell their unique stories. They can use new media tools to stream and share in ways that truly showcase their personal talents. Learners are discovering that research can be collaborative, community-based, media-rich, and exciting.
Writing, or public writing, doesn't come naturally to all students. Through classroom blogging, we prepare students to write effectively and regularly for many purposes, and for varying audiences. We prepare them for the types of blogs they will likely find in academics and business—for those blogs that are used for project management, professional communication, customer communication, and for college courses.
Through their writing and research contributions in wikis, learners learn to collaborate, to share responsibility as a team member, to create together. Wikis represent a version of the peer review process for non-academics. In wikis, students help each other as they grapple with such writing challenges precision of word choice and accuracy.
Communication in the future will likely be increasingly collaborative, geographically agnostic, and multimodal. But even when paradigms shift, some things stay the same. Those who can use information to communicate effectively have clear professional and academic advantage. The learner and the worker of the future must be able to ask the important questions, use information create thoughtful and compelling arguments, back their arguments with solid evidence, make decisions and reach conclusions. This type of brain work may result in a streamed multimedia presentation or a digital story. It may also result in a formal corporate white paper posted as a PDF.
I want my students to be fluent for all information formats– traditional, current and emerging. They should be able to identify a wide array of information and communication strategies and choose the ones that best meet their needs. But wherever the information they need lives, whatever the vehicle they choose for communication, they will be more successful if they can weave some sturdy old threads into the fabric of their communication. They will be more successful if they can effectively and ethically access, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate in whatever version of "Web" we experience. Teachers and librarians together can prepare learners to produce work that will last the test of time.
For links and references, visit Joyce's Information Fluency Wiki: http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com
This article contains excerpts from the author's contribution to Terry Freedman's Coming of Age 2.0.
- How School Librarians Could Work Better Together
- With my feet in the mud…
- Making libraries enticing also for "non"-readers?
- Library 2.0: It's Not About the Books
- Web 2.0 Meets Information Literacy
- Welcome to this blog
- Connecting Librarians to Forge Information Literacy Partnerships: The Case of a Teacher-Librarian/University Team in Ontario
- Pupils ICT Licence in Allerød, Denmark
- Germany on its way: The School Library + Information Literacy – The perfect combination
- Training working techniques in the school library
- Information Literacy in Italy
- Preparing a "Pathfinder"
- July 2008 (1)
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- 1. Indeks
- 2. Issue 42
- 3. Theme:42: SL-education
- 4. Issue 43
- 5. Theme 43: Information Literacy
- 6. Issue 44
- 7. Theme 44
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- Issue 46
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Before rapidly investing determination based on an article or headline, do your due diligence Rapidly reacting to market-shifting information, real or faux, could be tempting but most investment plans are designed for the long term. Tap into one of the world's main suppliers of breaking monetary and political news and insight across asset lessons, together with equities, foreign change, commodities, mounted revenue, different investments, and real property. These articles are sometimes designed to look like reported content material to sell products, however are actually outdoors of a information organization's editorial content.
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Be a guest on ceo stories
At CEO Stories, we're less interested in crazy, wild success and more interested in real stories. That's why we're different than podcasts you've listened to before {no really, we're not just saying that}.
If you or someone you represent is interested in being a guest, please do the following.
1. Watch the video below to learn what it takes to be a CEO Stories guest.
2. Listen to the last 4-5 episodes of CEO Stories {to see what it looks like in action}.
3. Complete the form below. We consider every application carefully, and we will be in touch if we decide you are a good fit to be on the show.


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We would like to announce the echo screening results for HCM and PKD of our very first King that started MetatronEyes!
CH Mascotte AirishCoon, aka Devian.
With 6 years of age he still has clear results.
We are so happy and proud that we chose this cat to start with. He is by no means perfect but (so far) he has been super healthy - never showed any sign of illness.
He is father, grand father, and great grandfather to many of our cats - and getting such great results back means a lot to us.
He is retired and enjoying a pet life with us. We have kept him for many personal reasons, and a very important factor is to continue health screening him since he's the foundation of our lines.
We love you so much Devian. Hoping and praying that you'll continue to be the healthy retired stud muffin you are.
Thank you to his breeder Viktoriya for entrusting us this boy 6 years ago, time certainly flew by fast.


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As a leader in family fun in the water, Sea-Doo is known for their quality and creativity in every watercraft they produce. Sea-Doo PWCs push innovation to new horizons, featuring state-of-the-art iControl, the first and only on-water braking system, the first true suspension system, and a stepped hull design.
Find your Sea-Doo PWC at Outdoor Powerhouse in Denham Springs, LA. Browse our most popular models below, and stop in to experience one in person today!
Sea-Doo Luxury watercrafts feature the perfect combination of comfort, technology, and performance. Luxury models are designed with large swim platforms and removable seats.
If you're seeking pure fun and convenience, look no further. Choose a Rec-Lite Sea-Doo! Rec-Lite models are just as easy to tow as they are to ride.
Experience unbeatable fun at an affordable price with a Recreation model. Recreation PWCs feature storage, impressive fuel economy, and unmatched stability.
Please feel free to contact us or stop in today for all your outdoor solutions! Call us at (225) 791-2277 or contact us below.


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By Zach O'Brien
Running a mile isn't all that challenging. It calls for crisp movement of the body for anywhere between six to ten minutes. Now imagine adding 48 ounces of hops, yeast and malted barley to that very run. That's right, add approximately 400 calories of beer to that one-mile run and you have one of the new challenges in the world of fitness gimmicks. We're talking about the dreaded Beer Mile.
So what is a Beer Mile? Let's break it down in the most simplest of terms –
Drink a beer, run a quarter mile.
Drink a beer, run a quarter mile.
Drink a beer, run a quarter mile.
Drink a beer, run a quarter mile.
Four beers, one mile.
It's a rampant trend challenge even the fittest runners around the world. It's not the length of the run that is challenging, but rather the shear difficulty of consuming four gut-wrenching brews during a quickly paced mile-run. Beer Miles are becoming hot public fitness events in big cities around the world. The beermile.com database currently houses over 89,000 entries and 2,350 races.
The current (and somewhat unofficial) record holder is Canadian Corey Gallagher, who accomplished the Beer Mile in a blistering four minutes and 54 seconds. Just drinking four beers in that amount of time seems impossible, let alone running a sub-five minute mile. For the truly competitive Beer Mile runners, the key is drinking the beer with such tenacity and quickness that no time is wasted. Of course, physical fitness also plays an important role.
To see what the fuss was all about, Active NorCal's very own Brien O'Brien decided to give it a try. He had been training diligently and came in the challenge confidently. He blasted off the starting line with a swift chug of the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and took off, completing the first quarter mile in a jiffy. But he already had some problems in the second beer.
By the second lap he had already slowed considerably, with both his running and beer drinking. Pushing himself to complete a sub-ten-minute Beer Mile, he tried to run the entire course, but was forced to walk at times in order to settle the liquid in his stomach. In the end, Brien completed the challenge in under ten minutes, but it certainly took a strain on him and his body reacted in ways that I won't explain in this article.
The Beer Mile is not to be taken lightly, both from a physical safety aspect as well as a logistical standpoint. With open container laws and the rigors the challenge can put on your body, only people with confidence in beer drinking and physical activity should give it a try. For Brien's Beer Mile, we mapped a 1/8 of a mile trek from a house and had him drink the beer on the private property, ensuring no open container laws were broken.
The question remains "why would I want to try the Beer Mile?"
The answer is simple – In order to test the physical capabilities of the human being. And to have some fun doing it.


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Sagittarius and Aries Compatibility is Packed with Adventure.
Sagittarius and Aries Relationship
Bring these two zodiac signs together in a love affair because the Sagittarius and Aries love compatibility shows that it'll be a good one! Both zodiac signs have so much in common, which makes you completely irresistible to one another. From your energies to your interests and everything in between, you guys simply seem to fit!
Sagittarius Man Aries Woman
When Sagittarius men get together with an Aries, there's never a shortage of fun and excitement. You're both eager to live life to the fullest, instead of hearing other people talk about it. You want to be in the middle of the action, and an Aries woman can definitely keep up to speed.
They're a little more assertive, and you're a little more independent, which can create some jealousy as you both challenge one another for the position of the Alpha. But the Aries will always win this battle. Fortunately, you both forgive and forget easily, and will quickly smooth things over to head on to a new adventure.
Must read: Aries Love Compatibility: What Signs Are Compatible with Aries?
Sagittarius Woman Aries Man
If you've been looking for your Alpha man, you've officially found him. Aries is a very dominant zodiac sign, and you're quite okay with that. However, you may have to reel in your possessive tendencies at times, which shouldn't be too hard as you also appreciate your independence.
There's nothing you can't overcome though, as it's love at first sight with these two zodiac signs, and your relationship will thrive on respect and understanding. The continuous adventure and need for excitement also keeps both of you on your toes, and you fall in love even harder with every new endeavor you partake in.
Most Popular: What Sign Matches with Sagittarius? Sagittarius Relationship Compatibility
Sagittarius and Aries Compatibility
There are some differences between these two zodiac signs, but nothing that can break the incredible astrology love. The Sagittarius and Aries Compatibility brings the best of friends together for a love affair!
Continue reading to find out more about Sagittarius and Aries Love Compatibility…


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In 1952, Death Valley Days made the transition from radio to television. I really enjoyed seeing the Twenty Mule Team haul the ore through Furnace Creek to the rail head at Barstow. The haunting bugle call reminded me of TAPS and really captured the lonely harshness of the territory. I have the model atop my bookcase and two photographs in my bedroom. A friend, a steelworker with dexterous hands, put plastic together. The whole thing cost only three dollars but it is a professional job sitting on a varnished piece of wood. I have met some fine people along the way.
For the role of the kindly Old Ranger, the Borax Corporation chose veteran character actor Stanley Andrews. His affable introductions and friendly manner gave the impression he was telling you a story he remembered from way back. He got a his share of fan mail and visitors during his 12 years with Borax. Most of the folks never heard of Stanley Andrews but merely wanted the see the Old Ranger.
He gave you the details before the show, did commercials, and summed up the end. The actress Borax used to promote the product was Rosemary DeCamp, a beautiful lady with a marvelous soothing voice. Her beauty was a more motherly type that appealed to housewives. DeCamp was often in the store, at home washing clothes with her four real life girls, or in a formal evening gown. In this last outfit, DeCamp was showing her flower vase just washed with Borax.
Ruth Woodman, from Rye, NY, wrote the stories after her many visits west. She claimed that every episode had some basis in fact. My two books on western history, Tony Hillerman's Best of the West and Irving Stone's Men to Match My Mountains include some of the stories. I suggest these books to historians of our west.
After seeing Andrews as the Old Ranger, we noticed his many roles in the movies. Although he played in a series on Frank Capra films in the thirties, Andrews was generally in the western genre. His two most memorable roles were in the Old West but critics and writers consider them drama. Oddly enough, both were not credited but he made the most of the them.
In the 1941 classic, the the Ox Bow Incident, he played Bartlett, a vindictive member of the lynch mob. He gave a memorable monologue inciting the men to pursue three rustlers who also murdered a local rancher. His arm gestures were emphatic as he held a stogie. Andrews was very noticeable during the pursuit. Once the bullying mob found the three men, Andrews cruelly questioned and taunted the three men. After the lynching, the sheriff arrives and tells the group there was no murder and they caught the three rustlers. Andrews' has a glum brooding look as he drowns himself in whiskey. This mean character bears no relationship to the Old Ranger, 11 years along the road.
In 1946, Stanley Andrews played the sheriff in a big scale drama, the Sea of Grass. This was a generally faithful telling of the Conrad Richter novel. Spencer Tracy, the powerful cattle baron of Salt Fork NM, marries Katherine Hepburn, a St Louis belle. Andrews goes well in his role with his presence and commanding voice. This movie was not about good farmers versus the mean cattlemen. It showed the virtues and vices, hopes and frailties of each group matched against inevitable historical trends. There was almost no action, a great supporting cast, and even in black and white, it had some beautiful scenery. During his time as the Old Ranger, Andrews shunned movies but did moonlight on several TV shows.
Andrews retired in 1964. Death Valley Days become colorized, Ronald Reagan was the host, and the show lost its appeal to me-a vertical free fall. Death Valley Days enabled Reagan to stay in the public eye before becoming Governor of California. Robert Taylor, another slimy character, become the host after Reagan left for politics. They were a real pair a dangerous right-wingers. Taylor wrecked many reputations during the blacklisting period. The House Un American Activities Committee was contrary to every principle this nation should promote.
To return to the better back and white versions. Borax still retained the reissued versions splicing in new hosts, titles, and beautiful new musical scores. Local stations had complete latitude regarding times they aired the stories the sponsor used. The caveat-stations had to show Borax commercials at certain peak hours.
The new titles and hosts-The Pioneers with Will Rogers Jr., Western Star Theater with Rory Calhoun, and Trails West with Ray Milland. I do not know who composed the new music but the scores make great listening.
I wish the all of the videos were available.


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In just a few days, we'll be releasing our Mega Freebie "Love Actually". Be on the lookout, but just in case you're wondering what it will look like, here's a view of my part.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Countdown....to MEGA FREEBIE Love Actually
Posted by Web Designz by Kristi at 9:13 AM
Labels: Layout, Family Mega Freebie
1 comment:
- Andrea said...
Your kit looks great, gorgeous colours
- February 1, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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The RGS Musical Explained
By Molly M
Chaos, charisma and creative brains all in one place, in a nut shell, that's how I would describe Reigate grammar school theatre productions. From the chirpy production of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee to the terrifyingly powerful musical of Sweeney Todd, RGS has covered it all, but of course there is still many more to come.
Working on these school productions are a joy to do, although the whole process is agonisingly tiring, its 100% worth it, Because the trill of standing on that stage and giving it your all is like nothing else you'll ever experience.
It all kicks off at the beginning of the Autumn term when we get the Email titled "Drama productions 17-18". That exact moment your heart starts to pulsate at an irregular pattern while you click on the link that takes way too long to load but then you see its musical year/any other type of production EVER. Musicals to a devised piece. We do it all. To audition for any play at RGS you have too Act (obviously), sing and dance, whether you have two left feet or an award winning ballet performance its compulsory, but its nothing to be frightened about because in the drama studio its all a bunch of fun. After the auditions there's about a week and a half of recall and casting time, then the cast list is out and its time for everyone on the sheet to wave goodbye to their Sundays.
Rehearsals start rather laid back and chilled, read throughs... then voice coaching with the head of music... after that one of our many experienced drama teachers who is playing the role of director begins to string it all together, with after school rehearsals the creative cogs in their brain start churning that's when the come out with ideas such as "All the costumes in Annie need to be neon" or "the wigs in Coram boy need to have fluorescent LED lights in them" that's when everyone in the cast laughs at them, thinking they aren't being genuine. Oh how wrong you could be! But despite the strange thoughts they come up with each one makes the show what it turns out to be... a quirky masterpiece. But no doubt about it no matter how far you've come in the rehearsal process, the week before show week is tiring to say at the least, staying at school till 7 to perfect the curtain call, or a lunchtime rehearsal to ensure everyone has those harmonies down to a key, every waking moment that week is spent going over and over lines in your head just to make sure you know the exact entrance and exit you need to be at to make sure the show runs smoothly. In this week it's a given that everyone will go a little crazy at one point or another, but its defiantly not drama if it doesn't involve one person exclaiming "what is going on"! Then comes show week, where you see each small piece of the puzzle fall into place, and you see what it was all for, the late nights, the early Sunday morning's, the constant snacks. Everything pays off. You come out with a brilliant life experience, a lovely group of friends and 10 bobby pins more than you had before!
The 2017/18 Musical production is Guys and Dolls written by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, currently we're in the "laidback" stage but I assure you that I can see the hectic storm brewing on the horizon!


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Who is Small Gunns?
Who is Small Gunns, you ask? Or maybe you didn't ask, but we're totally going to tell you any way.
We're two sisters from San Francisco that left our successful careers in film and advertising to pursue our lifelong dream: To make cool stuff. So we started a small business called Small Gunns. Our goal is to create products that meld our love of fashion, art and design.
Our inaugural project is "Doodles", a collaboration with illustrator, Kat Wong. We fell in love with Kat's playful characters on her site katdoodles.com and worked with her to create some mischievous characters for our first line of kid's tees. We're working on other some other stuff too, like a tee to commerate the space shuttle program (boo, it's ending) and some jewelry.


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Welcome to Fund This, a new column here at Tubefilter. Each week, we'll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or any other similar crowdfunding sites. We'll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that's currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.
Project Name: collective:unconscious
Asking For: $15,000 on Indiegogo
Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $12,003
Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 8
Description: collective:unconscious is a project through which five budding filmmakers will dig into each other's heads. I don't mean that literally, of course; this isn't Five Nights At Freddy's: The Movie. Instead, each participating filmmaker will describe one of his or her dreams in as much detail as he or she desires. Once that step is completed, series creator Dan Schoenbrun will assign each dream to one of the other filmmakers, who will then have to adapt that dream however he or she sees fit.
None of the five participating filmmakers are particularly recognizable names, but they all have strong work on their respective resumes. Their names are Josephine Decker, Frances Bodomo, Lauren Wolkstein, Daniel Patrick Carbone, and Lily Baldwin, and they have collectively appeared at big-name film festivals like Tribeca, SXSW, and Sundance.
Here is collective:unconscious' pitch video, which gives viewers a sense of the sort of weird they can expect from the project:
Creator Bio: Schoenbrun himself has a very relevant job: He works on film partnerships at Kickstarter. As film fans might expect from a project like this one, Schoenbrun is a big David Lynch fan. In an interview with Filmmaker Magazine, the first film he mentions as inspiration for collective:unconscious is Mulholland Drive, which also mashed up dreams with reality.
Best Perk: For $150, one of the five filmmakers involved will analyse one of your dreams in a 15-minute Skype session. That's only slightly more expensive than a typical psychoanalysis session, and you get to support an independent film project as well.
Why You Should Fund It: The collected plaudits received by the five participating filmmakers offer several enticing reasons to support collective:unconscious, though I'm more predisposed to trust Schoenbrun to be good at his job. If the man who works with aspiring creators on Kickstarter tells me these five are worth checking out, I'm inclined to take him at his word. Plus, I'm also a huge David Lynch fan, so even if these filmmakers had no official selections, I'd be excited about the prospect of dreamlike spaghetti vomit nonetheless.


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To effectively manage your agents and campaigns it is essential to have access to good reporting.
Predictivedialler.net features a range of management reports that are both comprehensive and live, presenting calling statistics presented in a variety of layouts. By ensuring that reports can be accessed live, any issues can be identified and addressed before there is a material impact on the campaign.
Standard reports include:
· Agent and campaign status screens
· Inbound queue and outbound dialler activity
· Agent summary calling statistics
· Individual calls records, including links to recordings
· Hourly and daily running summary statistics
· Call outcome summaries with time spent on every call type
· Outbound future dialling data analysis
Reports can be filtered to include only certain queues or agents and can be run for specific time and date ranges as well as many other filters depending on the report type. Typically reports contain agent time recording data, call outcome data and actual call information presented summarised by campaign, agent or time.
Measurements include:
· Agent talk, wait and wrap times, plus ring times when preview dialling
· Sales per hour (SpH)
· Sales versus completes (SvC)
· Completes per hour (CpH)
· DMC's totals (Decision making contacts)
· DMC's per hour
· Call types
· Call outcomes
· Inbound queuing times
· Outbound dialler statistics including Abandoned call counts
Call outcomes can be set as `Complete`, `Sale`, and `DMC` in order to provide the ratio statistics, and can be changed dynamically to update the reports. There is also an abandon call report in the format suitable for Ofcom to check campaigns are being kept within the abandon limits.
We can provide multi-level access to the reporting, with reports and campaigns being set per login. Sometimes bespoke reports are needed to satisfy customer requirements, and we are happy to accommodate customisation requests. It is also possible to automate the sending of alerts and snapshot reports via email if required. By default predictivedialler.net will send daily reports of certain activities and warnings, including monitoring of agent behaviour that could be leading to abandoned calls.
Campaign Management
The predictivedialler.net system allows you to dynamically change individual configuration parameters of campaigns so you can tune dialler performance or re-prioritise inbound operations to suit conditions. Campaigns are split into queues in the Easycall system, with a queue being used to group agents into common tasks or skill. Within a queue, agents can be assigned different priorities, and agents can belong to any number of queues at once. Queues can be inbound queues, managing inbound calls and playing music-on-hold or queue position messages, or they can be outbound queues with the diallers automatically dialling numbers as agents are idle on any inbound queues they are also assigned to. With these extensive combinations of possible configurations, complex requirements can be met and tuned as required.
A number of preset event triggers can be used to alarm campaign managers of certain conditions being met. For example on outbound campaigns, a typical trigger would be to alert campaign managers of a shortage of dialling data.
Predictivedialler.net can also setup customised status screens so that complex environments can be monitored with a custom live view. Predictivedialler.net can automate campaign configuration changes, triggered by changes in certain statistics meeting preset thresholds. For example, if an inbound queue depth exceeds a certain level, the priorities could be adjusted for agents to start taking overflow calls.


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The Michigan Health Sciences Libraries Association (MHSLA) is a membership-based committee full of those actively engaged or interested in health sciences information management. Their purpose is to promote excellence in health sciences librarianship by providing its membership with opportunities for professional growth, fostering communication between members and their regions, facilitating resource sharing, increasing awareness of new technologies, providing high-quality continuing education, and conducting research in health sciences information services.
Last Fall, MHSLA's newsletter spoke about Gale's Health & Wellness Resource Center's newest update, available to all Michigan residents through the Michigan eLibrary (MeL):
Offer "vetted, reliable health information" to your patrons today, request a trial!


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My high schoolers know that my mom isn't Jewish (Or at least, some of them do. I've been dropping it into the conversation as it's relevant). My 4th graders do not know. So, of course, it's my 4th graders who are interested in talking about intermarriage and patrilineal descent (The big question: can someone with only one Jewish grandparent go to Hebrew School?).
I have my own answers to their questions, which are complicated by the fact that I teach at a Conservative synagogue which has a policy in place that patrilineal Jewish students have to undergo a conversion ceremony to have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. I've invited the Education Director and the rabbi to teach about their policies in what, I am sure, will be the kindest and gentlest way possible. I hope my students get something out of it, and feel affirmed by their synagogue at the end of the talk. But I'm still trying to situate myself within this conversation. How can I affirm the policies of my place of work, and affirm the Jewish identities of any students I may have who are patrilineal Jews, while still remaining true to my own beliefs about my Jewish identity?
The funny thing is that I took this job in part because our Education Director is so brilliant about interfaith and other issues of intersectionality. She knows about my heritage, and has been nothing but supportive of my working with these students. But it is still massively challenging to figure how how to work within a situation where my Jewish choices go against organizational culture. I'm kind of at a loss.
… Does anyone have any thoughts?


text: The Intrahost Team have been busy working on their latest product the Virtual Data Centre. Our revolutionary Virtual Data Centre allows you to use resources as and when you need them including: RAM, CPU, storage and bandwidth. Our Fast and Friendly team are helping businesses save money and improve their IT infrastructure. Recently we launched an advert in .Net magazine to launch our new Virtual Data Centre. If you're looking to save money, take advantage of scalable cloud hosting from just 2p per hour.


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It's been a while (even by my slack standards!) since our last update.
As you can see, I've been a little busy with our other project – Newbie arrived on Christmas Eve.
He gave us a scare by getting a nasty infection a week later that saw him in hospital for a week on IV antibiotics – and me bedding down next to him (being a food supply is a 24/7 job!).
But he's got the all clear now, and has been spending time on site trying to sleep through the noise.
And it's pretty noisy – the boys have been busy! We've got steel beams going in…
bathrooms being tiled….
The Big Ass fan has arrived…
So we're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Although we'd hoped to be in by Christmas, clearly that wasn't to be. We're still getting a sense of what it'll be like living here. We've had lots of extremely casual, fush and chups dinners here over the holidays.
And I'm sure our friends and family will be happy to know that eventually they will be able to eat off a table, instead of their knees – we've just bought a 4 metre long table off Trade Me. Looks a bit rough at the moment, but we love the history behind it: it used to be the boardroom table for the Lyttleton port stevedores union.
We've also been spending a lot of time getting to know our new front yard. Pugs absolutely loves the water, and we've learned that we need to pack her bathing suit and a few towels every time we head out to the house, because she is sure to demand "Beach! Swim!".
Luckily for Midge, her version of "swim" involves paddling in to her knees, and so he usually manages to avoid hypothermia. Can't wait to get the little grommet onto a board in a few years time though!
Make that, both little grommets. This is looking like a great place for them to grow up.


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Mark Tillinger and his Bernese mountain dog Riedel shared a bond few owners and pets ever do: They went through cancer together. In 2009 Tillinger, 53, was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and Riedel had mouth cancer. Tillinger has been cancer-free for three years now, but Riedel, who "fought an amazing fight" for 18 months, died at age 6. "I wanted to insure that her legacy meant something," says Tillinger of Blackrock, Conn., then a senior partner at Accenture. So he and a friend started the Riedel and Cody Fund (riedelcody .org) to help cover veterinary bills for pets with cancer. Since 2010 they've aided some 100 four-legged family members, with up to $5,000 each, funded by Tillinger's and others' donations.
When 10-year-old Mateo Gold's Scottish terrier Ellie, also 10, fell ill with the same bladder cancer that had killed his family's other dog, the fund paid for an operation that saved her. "People love their pets, and you're put in a hard place," says his mom, Benita. "We spent all this money on our first dog; I don't know how far we could have gone without help." Now Ellie is home sleeping in Mateo's bed again. Hearing that, says Tillinger, is "so special. When I see how we have changed lives for the better, it's extraordinary."


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Well Easter is nearly here, and to continue my obsession of ATCs I have made one using Easter Chick Chibi. She is available at the Bloobel Stamps website https://www.bloobel.com/collections/new_digi_stamps/products/easter-chick-chibi
I just love this little cutie and I punched out some easter eggs from a punch I think I have had since I started my craft journey many years ago. Easter Chick Chibi is a pretty good juggler. I have used some digital paper as the background and added the sentiment in a text box.
If you haven't joined the Bloobel Facegroup yet, be sure to join https://www.facebook.com/groups/bloobelstamps/?ref=bookmarks
Lisa has heaps of stamps in her shop https://www.bloobel.com/ and they are at great prices too. Be careful, you might get addicted to them like me. It is so easy to get addicted to things in craft. This week it is ATCs for me and Bloobel Stamps always of course. See you soon over at Bloobel Stamps Facebook Group.


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Simple Luxury
Who says that simple is not also luxurious? This bathroom walks the line of being too minimalist, but at the end of the day succeeds in being a simple yet luxurious bathroom space. In my opinion what really brings it all together is the wood paneling of the sink area. It adds a texture to the space that is much needed. Also, the big windows by the tub really give the space some wonderful natural lighting that is accentuated by the lighter tones in the color scheme. I also like the shower unit. It is small and efficient, yet not claustrophobic.


text: "World of Dance" host and mentor Jenna Dewan Tatum sits with Access Hollywood Live's Natalie Morales and Kit Hoover and shares if her daughter, Everly, has shown an interest in dance. Plus, she reveals if she and husband Channing Tatum are competitive with each other! "World of Dance" premieres on May 30 at 10/9c on NBC.


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The Real Role of IT Leaders
In almost two decades of working with technology professionals, I have discovered a large disconnect between technology professionals and their counterparts in the business. Business people who are fully engaged in their businesses desire - often in vain - their technology department to deliver insights, automate processes, improve customer relationships, and eliminate costs. Concepts like encryption, software-defined networking, the internet of things, and mobile features carry little weight to most business executives who are more concerned with things like market penetration, revenue enhancement, and margins.
So why, then, would IT be so focused on understanding all of the facets of the first list, while eschewing the last? I believe that oftentimes technology professionals choose their careers based on a love of technology - servers, programming, applications, networking are alluring concepts to us techno-geeks. Being able to debate the merits of hyper-converged infrastructure or how to seamlessly integrate cloud platforms makes us feel smart, like we provide something tangible to our businesses (which we are, and we do, and it is important).
The Role of Tech in Business
But too often, IT gets so wrapped up in the mechanics of the technology that we forget the purpose of technology: namely that business technology exists to enable the goals of the business, not to serve as a means unto itself. Add this to the tendency of IT professionals to converse in "IT-speak" and meaningless acronyms not fully understood by their business counterparts. If IT leaders do not focus their efforts (and those of their team) on delivering services that enable business results, they run the risk of being labeled as a "cost- center" instead of a "value driver." If IT cannot converse in the language of the business, they may get head nods, but no financial support when rubber meets the road and investment decisions get made.
And this makes intuitive sense. If you were a business owner, would you rather invest your precious dollars in a easy-to-understand marketing campaign that reaches additional prospects to your business, or on a nebulous, acronym-laden disaster recovery plan for your IT infrastructure? Does implementing a new ERP outweigh the purchase of an additional production line?
Tweaking Our Thinking
As IT leaders, we need to reshape the way we think about technology - and we need to teach this new way of thinking to our teams. We need to focus on the key drivers of our business and show our IT teams how our technology platforms support these drivers. For example, if our key business drivers depend on increasing speed to market, we need to focus our team on delivering information and process automation that increases throughput. If our business is dependent upon repeat sales from existing customers, we should focus our technology efforts on delivering a seamless customer experience.
The backend stuff we love so much - servers, PCs, networks, etc. - are still important, but we need to realize that they are not-value added in the eyes of the business's customer. And as such, efforts around these topics need to be minimized, automated, or outsourced so we can realign our valuable resources towards business results.
The result of this type of thinking results in a team of IT professionals who I refer to as "business people who understand technology." This team understands how their business works, how to delight the business' customers, and how they deliver value to their business. And how better can we, as IT leaders, serve our teams than by helping them become better business people?
In additional posts, I will outline additional tips and methods to building an IT team of business people who understand technology through a concept we refer to as Continuous Improvement IT (CIIT). CIIT applies the same concepts seen in Lean Manufacturing to the IT department to drive sustainable customer value to your business.
The old MBA-mantra is that the goal of a business is to generate a return for its shareholders. This can only be accomplished by providing value to the customer - a focus that certainly applies to IT as well.


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A sensor clip is fitted over the mains wire in the meter box and transmits the amount of current passing through the wire to a display located inside the home. The display calculates the current into power (watts), cost and greenhouse gas equivalents at any
Basic monitors (eg. Efergy lite, Cent-a-meter) only display real time details, while more sophisticated meters store data which can then be downloaded to software for more detailed analysis (eg. Current Cost Envi, Efergy E2, Wattson).
More complicated set ups can also monitor solar panel generation along with household consumption (Current Cost ENVI solar Wattson Solar).
Standard meters usually come with a single sensor clip. However due to the set up of the Tasmanian power supply, one sensor is required for each Aurora tarif supplied to the house (eg Light and power, hydroheat, off peak). Furthermore if the house has three phase power an addtional two sensors will be required. Understand your set up before ordering or purchasing your unit.
Household Energy Meter models and suppliers
Google Spreadsheet
Most online eco shops sell at least one model of home enrgy meter (see table on this page). Alternately, the following retailers do sell meters
I Want Solar
45 Burnett St 7000 North Hobart
Ph (03) 6234 7009
Jaycar Electrical
245 Main Rd, Derwent ark
Ph (03)
While any electrician can install the monitor here are some that we know have experience with installing househol energy monitors;
Callan Electric
Ph 0427 652 068
I Want Solar
45 Burnett St 7000 North Hobart
Ph (03) 6234 7009


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Farming systems in Ethiopia are plagued by soil-related problems which lead to poor productivity, declining soil fertility and soil erosion. Other common farming-related challenges include low fertilizer use and reduced farmlands because of population pressure. Continue reading
Category Archives: Wheat
How pasta wheat helps Ethiopian farmers escape poverty
Since 2009, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) have partnered for the identification and development of new durum wheat varieties capable of withstanding the harsh environmental conditions of Ethiopia. Continue reading
RISING voices: Seid Ahmed Kemal, Legume Pathology Researcher at ICARDA
Seid Ahmed Kemal is a Legume pathology researcher at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). This is one of a series of portraits of key people in Africa RISING. Continue reading
Bringing wheat, potato and faba bean seeds to market in the Ethiopian Highlands
In Ethiopia, seed systems for potato, wheat and faba beans are dominated by state entities, such as government bureaus and national, regional and locally-based research centres, local farmer cooperatives and cooperative unions. There are also some individual seed producers. An important function of research institutes is to produce and supply pre-basic and basic seeds. Continue reading
Upgrading wheat grain quality along the value chain in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is the second largest wheat producing country in Africa after South Africa. Wheat is a major grain crop grown for consumption and sale and demand for wheat quality products in Ethiopia is growing, particularly during fasting periods,creating opportunities for increased wheat production. Continue reading


text: The nature of vibrational energy healing is to help the body remember its healthy vibrational or "natural" state. The human body is made up of a series of frequencies that form a balanced whole when a person is healthy. Physical or emotional stress alters the body's vibrational nature. As a vibrational healer, I channel high frequency light through me into a person's electromagnetic field which removes blocks and raises their vibration. As I channel, I share spiritual guidance and messages from your Higher Self, Spirit Guides, Angels and loved ones. Call 505-310-3160


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So I'm trying to get into the habit of writing something here every week while I'm still in Korea, and I'm going start with 줄넘기 (jump rope). I found out that even in a seemingly uncommon sport like jump rope, … Continue reading
Haven't written here in so long, so I'm just going to start posting some pictures or short posts hopefully. Only 3.5 months left in Korea, and winter is letting up, so time for more adventures. Starting with the almost live … Continue reading


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2nd graders are in the process of making animal pots! We use clay skills that we acquired in kindergarten and first grade and add a new technique: score and slip! First, students filled out a planning sheet. They drew and labelled a sketch with their animal to help guide them when they begin working in clay. We started by building pinch pots to form the animal body. Then, students referred to their planning sheets to help them build legs, tails, heads, wings, and any other necessary parts. We used toothbrushes to scratch up the surfaces to be joined (scoring) and add wet clay to help the pieces adhere (slip). Students also used their thumbs to smudge and blend the joined edges together. I remind students that every step in score and slip is important and cannot be skipped; if you do, you run the risk of your animal's parts falling off! Mrs. Pittore and Mrs. McCarthy's classes left their pots out to dry over the winter break. I've just pulled them out of the kiln and they look fantastic! At this stage, the clay is bisque. It has been fired once in the kiln, but it hasn't been glazed yet. That is our next step!
Tag Archives: clay
Coil Pots
3rd graders in Mrs. Sheridan's class used clay this afternoon to build coil pots! We started by rolling a ball of clay and then flattening it to create a base. Next, we rolled out coils of clay. A lot of students are already familiar with rolling coils. If you've ever rolled a snake out of Play-Doh, you've made a coil! We learned the score and slip technique to attach our coils to the base securely. Some students chose to attach a coil to the side of their pots to create a handle. We will let the clay dry completely before it is fired in the kiln. Afterwards, students will glaze their pots. The rest of the 3rd grade classes will begin their coil pots soon!
3rd Grade Coil Pots
3rd graders have been working on their ceramic coil pots. Students started by creating a simple pinch pot. They then learned how to roll coils of clay. It's just like making a snake out of Play-dough, which a lot of them have done before! We learned the very important score and slip technique to attach the coils to the pots. In art, a score is a scratch or a shallow cut. Slip is clay with water added to it — gloppy and fun! Score and slip involves scratching the two pieces of clay you'd like to join together and using a paintbrush to gently brush slip onto the scratches. This ensures everything is very securely joined. One of the trickiest things for students to understand is that simply pressing two pieces of clay together is not always enough to attach them securely! Some students used coils to add height to their pot, and others used it to make handles or lids. They used extra clay to add details and decorations if they wished. The pots were fired in the kiln last week, and Mrs. Frein's and Mrs. Nigro's classes glazed them today. After one more trip to the kiln, they will be ready to go home!


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11 Sep Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 support Ended. Time to upgrade Dynamics GP 2010.
How to upgrade Dynamics GP 2010 when support ends
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 support is ending October 13, and that means customers who are still on GP 2010 will no longer be able to get tax table updates, year end updates and service packs.
Customers on GP 2010 will run into problems pretty quickly as they will not receive important changes such as the U.S. Payroll Year-end Update, due in November, and Canadian Payroll Year-end update, due in December.
While upgrading Dynamics GP 2010 is no small project and can cause some disruption to the business, IT managers and other key decision makers should see the Dynamics GP 2010 support ending as an opportunity to bring their company's accounting systems up to date with current technology.
With recent updates in the latest version, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 R2 new features include improved mobility, security and better integration to other LOB applications, social media and CRM. For information on specific improvements in GP 2015, check out the "Why Upgrade" flyer below.
In the last few years it has become increasingly easy to upgrade to the newest version with a Microsoft Dynamics GP cloud upgrade. And the latest version of Dynamics GP is designed for the cloud and hybrid models.
With the time, resources and money required in a traditional upgrade, many decision makers put off an on-premis upgrade as long as possible, so you're not alone. With improved costs based on monthly subscription licensing and rapid implementation, you can be up and running quickly at minimal cost. What's more, your cloud hosting provider should include updates, upgrades and hot fixes in their monthly pricing so you are always up to date.
It's also important to mention that Dynamics customers with lapsed maintenance plans can eliminate penalties and back fees by choosing to go cloud as there as maintenance is part of your subscription.
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 support is ending soon, but your Dynamics GP hosting provider can get you up and running in the cloud with the latest version of Dynamics GP in 3 simple steps.
Below are the 3 basic steps. To learn more details about what it takes to upgrade GP 2010 in the cloud, check out this in depth walk through of a Dynamics Cloud upgrade.
1. Determine current and future requirements
Understanding user requirements, licensing requirements and compliance requirements are essential in setting up your cloud environment. Determining what modules you are currently using, what you need to add and what you no longer need is also critical. Once your requirements are understood by the provider they can offer a hosting quote.
2. Work with your Dynamics Partner to determine timing for TEST and LIVE dates
This is where your providers obtains your current database and loads to the cloud. Your solution partner will then configure the Dynamics GP solution. Then your test environment will be available while your employees have time to learn the new functionality.
3. Connecting your users and finalizing monitoring of services
This is where the finishing touches happen. Connecting users, finalizing integrations, setting up monitoring of servers and services. Then the hosting provider "flips the switch" and you are up and running in the cloud with the latest version of Dynamics GP.
If you are concerned about the fact that Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 support is ending and you haven't had time to plan your upgrade, RoseASP can have deliver a go-live date in as little as 48 hours.
For the the latest versions of Dynamics GP, FRx, the stalwart financial reporting tool for mid-range ERP systems, has been replaced by Management Reporter. Don't despair if you have a ton of reports in FRx. There is a migration tool that can help you move those reports to Management Reporter. It's not quite as easy as just clicking a button. Check out this video to see how it's done.


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Our client, a world-renowned leader in their industry, provide their customers with a wide range of services that help them cut costs and assist them in making major decisions effectively.
They offer a great environment to launch your HR career in an fast growing company.
You will be a valuable member of the HR Operations. Meaning that you will quickly gain general knowledge about HR and operating systems.
You feel comfortable working alone and in a team and have no problem working on multiple tasks at once. With your attention to detail and organisational skills, you will handle the administrative tasks with ease. You're a highly trusted individual who can work on confidential employer information. Your English writing and speaking skills are on business level.
The role is for a minimum of 32 hours a week in Wageningen for a period of 2-3 months. Salary is depending on the level of experience that you bring to the team.
Don't miss out on this great starting position.
If you are interested, mail or call me: firstname.lastname@example.com or +31208886230
The SR Group (Netherlands) B.V. is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.


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Applications Development Manager - New Directions Staffing (Portsmouth)
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New Directions Staffing
Portsmouth , RI
Information Technology
67 Orchard View Rd
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Applications Development Manager
Rhode Island, RI
Applications Development Manager We are currently engaged with a client who is seeking a Applications Development Manager on a full time direct employee basis. In this role, the Applications Development Manager will: Work with business stakeholders and product owners to plan and execute mission critical full stack LAMP applications and roadmaps. Lead a team of Full Stack Developers, DBA's and Analysts who are architecting, designing, developing and implementing enterprise wide applications in a LAMP/Angular based, Agile, RAD environment. Work with operations and systems team to ensure the proper application development tools and technologies are in place for current and future work and vision. Work closely with technical operations team to ensure network and operating systems will support applications architecture while ensuring scalability and growth. Elicit, analyze, document, communicate, and validate business needs and requirements for changes to overall business processes, policies, and information systems. Manage application systems analysis, programming activities, documentation and release notes through product management hand off. Prepares status reports to management; monitors project hours and tracking. The appropriate individual will have demonstrated experience in the following: Leading teams of full stack developers and others in one or more of the following environments: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Java Script/jQuery, MemCached, msSQL, DB2, Apache Solar, API, SOAP, RESTful. Other relevant background in JAVA, .NET, SQL, ORACLE, C, C++ would be a plus Full life cycle requirements gathering, architecture, design, development, test and implementation of enterprise applications. Managing and leading teams of developers in multiple language and operating systems environments. Demonstrate above average, industry leading expertise in applications architecture, design and development with an in-depth concentration using LAMP technology stack. Interview Now In order to arrange a preliminary interview, please forward a Word copy of your resume with your complete contact information. We are unable to sponsor Visa's for this role. About Us New Directions is a Rhode Island based Information Technology Recruiting and Staffing Firm that provides consulting; project staff augmentation and traditional hire services for: Enterprise Software; Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing; and Enterprise Web Applications Design & Development. Ranked as one of the Fastest Growing and Innovative Privately held companies for three years by the Providence Business News, our success and subsequent growth has been based on leveraging our clients' technology with talented people.
Associated topics: chief program officer, cpo, manage, manager, management, monitor, product manager, project manager, relationship manager, task
* The salary listed in the header is an estimate based on salary data for similar jobs in the same area. Salary or compensation data found in the job description is accurate.
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From California,
From California,
ideas for New Bedford
Three ideas for New Bedford:
1. It would be great to have the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" come to New Bedford. There's a perfect connection. Joe Barboza, the notorious hit man originally from New Bedford, was in a witness protection program in the town where host Guy Fieri lives, Santa Rosa, Calif., and was an accomplished cook. He was even taking culinary classes in Santa Rosa. A good lobbying effort along with this interesting connection might get him to New Bedford. His in-laws live in Rhode Island, and he's there in the summer.
2. The new global economy is based on catching consumers in the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) — what Goldman Sachs calls the new middle class. The United States should take a page from the New Bedford fishing industry and treat this new middle class like Georges Bank. Maybe hire a few skippers for the Commerce Department and catch those new consumers.
3. Just heard the CD "Whale Nation," which completely changed my understanding of whales. It should be part of the school curriculum as well as a recurring local cable station program. Maybe the whaling museum has it in their bookstore.
Craig Williams
San Leandro, Calif.
The writer grew up in New Bedford.


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Per usual, I've fallen off the face of
the earth cyberland the past few months. Where to even start?
I'll start with the big news of cutting my hair. I've been letting it grow out since chemo and because of that, I haven't wanted to chop it off because, well frankly, that's the first hair that grew back after that awful summer. It was a symbol to me of getting my life back. And thus, it became a cloak of sorts for me. Plus, it was really pretty and curly. It was all natural, no hair color. But, this summer has proven to me that super long hair just doesn't work for me. I've worn it up the majority of the days and it's so thick that it gives me a headache when I wear it up for long periods of time. So, I decided it was time for a change. It was time for me to throw off this cloak of safety and embrace a lighter approach.
Voila! Zero regrets! I am loving the new look, feeling lighter and the overall sophistication I feel versus a massive weight of hair piled on top of my head.
My summer has really been an incredible time. I went to Paris in June (so amazing!), I'm getting ready for my two last trips of this year in the fall, and of course, seeing a bunch of concerts in between.
My life is so full and every now and again I have to take a pause and reflect on that because it truly overwhelms me. I feel so very fortunate to live in this beautiful city, have incredible friends, a job that is stable and very good to me, and all the resources to invest in things that I am most passionate about. And while I wish I could just quit my job and tour the world, I don't know that I'm necessarily cut out for that, so I have to trust that where I am is where I need to be.
I know I still need to get my Q2 recap out and it's in progress, but I needed to just ramble on a bit about how happy I am. I've seen 4 great concerts this month, I'm finalizing my plans for Atlanta (coming up at the end of September) and have now booked flights and a place to stay in Puerto Rico with my gay bestie. And on top of all of that, BFF and I are starting to really solidify our plans for traveling next July (hint: it's going to be EPIC!).
Every moment I've lived over this past year has just been incredible, not always perfect, sometimes downright hard and shitty, but overall I have nothing, absolutely nothing to complain about. And I am trying to remind myself at every turn, with every ticket booked, with every song performed, with every random drink or dinner with a friend, to relish in those moments. To take a breath and be grateful.