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Whether you are looking to spruce up the closets in your home or simply create some new spaces in your houses, Armadi has everything you could want in elegant and architecturally beautiful doors and room dividers. From sliding doors to bi-fold doors, barn-style doors, and sleek room dividers, you're home can be transformed with the simple addition of the stylish products of Armadi Closets.
For over 35 years, we have been providing the greater Miami area with top of the line room dividers and doors. We employ the best designers and architects to bring you and your dream doors together to create the home of your dreams. Any of our door styles are sure to beautify your house and bring you joy.
Sliding Doors
Sliding doors can be an effective way to create extra rooms in your home. If you have the room divided already, improving the divider with Armadi's sliding doors will add value and beauty to your home.
We offer both clear and frosted sliding glass doors to suit any level of privacy you could desire. Different thicknesses of glass make this type of door appropriate for indoor uses as well as outdoor (even garage doors).
To create the appearance of a bigger room, you can opt for a mirror finish on your sliding door. At Armadi, we also offer a variety of different finishes for paneled sliding doors if you are looking to add a bit of functional art to your home. Whether you are looking for a specific color or wood paneling in a specific varnish color, we can help you find the perfect sliding doors for your rooms.
We offer customized slide tracks for the ultimate sliding door. With ergonomically advanced top and bottom roller sliding door system, your doors will slide smoothly and quietly.
Bi-fold Doors
This style of door is ideal if you don't have the space for a sliding door and if you don't want to take up extra room with a traditional door, rendering more space in your room unusable. Armadi's bi-fold doors are completely customizable and can be designed to fit virtually any space where you want a door.
Although the bi-fold door is typically seen used as a closet door, it is also perfect for small hallway closets and kitchen pantries. To bring elegance and style to your kitchen and your whole house, we will enlist the help of our skilled designers and architects to create the perfect fit (in style and size) of bi-fold door for your home and life.
Whether you are looking to add a bit of warmth with wood paneling and frosted glass, or some color with a blue or red glass and clear glass, we can find something that will add beauty and style to an otherwise mundane part of your house.
Barn Doors
One of the latest trends in closet doors and room dividers is the barn-style door. Similar to the sliding door, the barn door hangs from tracks that run along the ceiling or top of the door frame. Without the uneven weight distribution employed by standard hinged doors, the lifespan of barn doors greatly exceeds those of others.
Because of the proper weight distribution of barn doors, heavier materials that can not be used with traditional doors are made available. The sturdy top tracks hold these securely so that they are barely hovering above the ground.
Without the bottom track of a typical sliding door, cleaning is made much simpler. There is nothing breaking up your floor to vacuum or sweep around, and the design of your home is much more elegant.
A barn door could be the perfect solution to your door problems. Excellent for bedroom closets, hallway closets, or simple room division; you can add beauty and functionality to your home with this style door. Pick from clear glass to frosted and a variety of wooden materials, as well as panels with decorated edges and bright colors, to liven up your home and add style.
Room Dividers
To create extra rooms in your home or make a specific space more private, Armadi offers an astonishing array of room dividers. These dividers can be permanent and folding or temporary and movable. These can be ideal for people who have overnight guests often, or simply like the option of changing the appearance of a room with ease.
With the assistance of our talented designers and knowledgeable staff of architects and engineers, you can create an entirely new room of sliding room dividers. With a variety of materials, colors, and textures to choose from, you have countless options when it comes to the appearance and style of your room divider.
The aluminum which comes standard with our room dividers is durable and assembled to last. You have the option of pivoted, folding, or sliding room dividers to suit any space, large or small. Add an office to a large room or add extra privacy to any space in your house with any of these styles of room dividers.
Room dividers are an excellent option for a growing family, as well. You can create new rooms at a moments notice with movable folding doors.
Why Choose Armadi?
Serving the greater Miami population for over 35 years, we know how to find the perfect room divider or door for you and your home. We have honed our skills over the years and gained quite a bit of experience. Our materials are durable and attractive and our designers and architects are knowledgeable and extremely skilled at what they do.
You can rest assured that you are in good hands when you come to Armadi for your door/divider solution. Even if you have no idea what you're looking for, our showroom is sure to inspire even the most undecided homeowners.
With our variety of styles, materials, colors, and options, you will find what you are looking for and possibly even discover things that you did not realize you needed in our showroom. Add beauty and elegance as well as function with your room divider or new door system by consulting us at Armadi and you will surely be more than satisfied.


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Though I do soy hotdogs occasionally, this is my first time to try a vegan sausage. It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? I mean, traditional sausage is about as far opposite to vegan, vegetarian, or healthy as you can get. The Field Roast people do perhaps too good of a job of imitating the whole sausage experience. These are good. I tried the Mexican Chipotle version. Spicy!! They also make sausage with Italian seasoning, and one which is apple and sage. I pan fried these but the packaging says they can be pan-fried or grilled. They seem substantial enough to hold up to grilling, and I'll try that next.
There are a couple of not-great things you should be aware of. The individual sausages are encased in a very tough plastic wrapper, which naturally needs to be removed before cooking. They recommend slitting the casing lengthwise to remove them. I agree, but cutting the plastic was delicate process, trying not to damage the sausage, and the plastic was tough to cut. On the other hand, despite the thickness and toughness of the plastic, the sausages started leaking in the fridge after we bought them, so we had to clean up the orange grease and put them in a baggy until we cooked them. So even with tough plastic, be aware that the twisty tied ends may leak alarming orange grease. And that alarming orange grease is the other thing that I had a problem with. I get that sausages are supposed to be greasy, and the grease was orange because of all the spices, but by the time I managed to get the plastic on the sausages off, my hands were covered with thick orange grease, the sink was splattered with orange grease, the counter had orange grease drippings and splatter on it. Do not make these sausages wearing anything that you can't afford to get grease on! Because it was basically everywhere.
But once past the unpleasant unwrapping and clean up, it was smooth sailing! There are four sausages per package. They are bigger than hot dogs and will really fill a hot dog bun! The sausages held up to pan frying well, though they did tend to stick a little (probably because all the grease ended up everywhere except the pan, probably should've opened the package over the pan). They didn't brown up substantially. They were naturally rather brown, so it was hard to tell when they were "browned", but I cooked them for a while, then slid them into buns. There was some discussion about what condiments to put on these Mexican Chipotle sausage dogs, given that they were already stuffed full of seasonings. My husband liked the traditional mustard option. I didn't think mustard really complimented the spices, so I tried a little mayonnaise. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I preferred the bare bun option. These sausages are so packed with flavor…and the flavor is hot and spicy…that my best guess is that BBQ sauce would be the best thing on it, if it wasn't a super spicy BBQ sauce. This Mexican Chipotle version of the sausages has plenty of kick. You could have a satisfying hearty, spicy meal on a bare bun. Even though I love spicy food, I'd hesitate to add anything with much more spiciness to this. A regular not-too-hot BBQ sauce, or a very bland chili for a chili dog. (If your chili didn't turn out as hot as you'd hoped, put it on these dogs for extra zing!)
For these Mexican Chipotle seasoned sausages, I recommend refried beans as a side dish. The flavor was complementary and it seem to cut the heat a bit when the spiciness built up after a few bites.

subset: commoncrawl


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As mentioned earlier this week, the decision that I have truly been mulling over and will continue to be tortured by is what color to paint the door of my lil shoppie shop. Valid, yes. Imperative, no.
It's been about 4 days since my declaration of intent and before we lean too far into "remember that great idea you had?" territory, I'm going to take actions. And in order to take actions, I must figure out what the heck even does one do to open a store?
…Ok. I'm going to say this here once… because it needs to be stated as an insecurity and a red flag. But then we're going to leave it behind…
I've never worked retail before. Like a day in my life.
No, that's not true… I worked for the White Dress in Corona del Mar for 2 shifts and then they stopped putting me on the schedule.
Although there is risk involved in opening literally any business, this is the only part of this whole thing (so far) that I can categorically put in the "Foolish" column. However, I'm holding little judgement to myself here because I am confident that the unique, dare-I-say, one-of-a-kind-ness of this shop lends itself to a pretty self-explanatory model of retail management. Is that sentence just convoluted enough that you're confused and we can move on? Good.
That all said, the idea of opening a retail / creative workspace is totally uncharted territory. Which means that my first main objective is to gain information.
Which brings me to my first step:
Talking to experts.
I've compiled a list of people that I'd like to talk to. This list includes but is not limited to:
- Bonafide experts
- Old people. The older they are, the better.
- Young people. "Fearless" idiots like me.
- Real Estate people
- Retail People
- Artists
- Old co-workers
- People that I know who will tell me I can do anything I want to do
- People that I know who will tell me that my ideas are bad
- People that I don't know. Who might not want to talk to me.
- Baristas who I interact with every day and still ask me my name… this has less to do with business development and more with like… IT'S JULIA, YOU IDIOT.
- My mom, my sister, my dad. All equally important. All serving very different purposes.
- You little freaks. Aunt Sue has been consistently commenting and so far, my ig account is up to 7 people. Pretty sure 3 of them are spammy. I broke down today and texted my friends to tell them to check my blog… so they're in the secret club now too.
All this to say… I'm starting to do the work. My current work situation allows me to have Fridays open and my goal is to meet with one person every Friday to continue to learn. But keep asking me about this. Keep commenting. Keep talking to me about it. Because you guys are my friends and if you're reading this, you care. Even a little bit. But I need people to care! Ok. Bye. Meeting with my first pal today. More on that later.


text: MUTT Posted March 26, 2017 After several years' absence, I find myself once again in the concertina world. I've come into possession of a 90 year old Wheatstone model 6 with raised ebony ends. The ends, apart from some light fingernail gouging, are close to pristine. I'd like to keep them that way. For the first 70 plus years of its life the concertina resided in the UK, and then more lately in western Oregon, USA, where it experienced a similar climate. Now I have it in Alaska, which is obviously a harsher world than it has known. (There's a tremendous swing in humidity from summer to winter and back.) I know some flute makers who insist that ebony simply doesn't absorb or lose moisture like other woods, but I have also seen some wooden ended concertinas that where the grill work was pretty busted up. I'd like to avoid that. Does anyone have any advice on caring for the ebony ends? Particularly useful would be anyone living in Norway or northern Scotland, but I'd appreciate any relevant opinion. The grill work seems sooo delicate! Thanks, George Knight Anchorage, Alaska, USA Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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TSO Wake Releases Ben Greenwood Pro Set!
The crew over at TSO Wake released this quick little vid over the weekend to announce the arrival of their Ben Greenwood Pro Set. Includes video and written step by step from Ben on 10 tricks. Everything from a Pete to a Wrapped Offf-Axis 5 to a Mute Ole 7. Check out tsowake.com for more info.


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THE Chief Executive Officer of British Airways, Keith Williams has said that the company was embarking on a large scale investment programme that would see the company acquire 24 B787 (Dreamliners), just as the carrier has perfected plans to take delivery of twelve A380 with screen projectors.
With the acquisition of British Midland, this give the brand a lot more routes out of Heathrow and BA plans to grow these roots over time.
At a roundtable teleconference with journalists across the globe in which The Guardian participated, he reiterated that Nigeria was clearly a huge market for BA having served there for 75 years, stressing that BA had a commitment to Lagos and Abuja to serve them better and would also include more routes so as to satisfy more customers.
Williams disclosed that apart from BA's investment in 747 and 787, he said that BA had introduced the new first class products on its aircraft, which is a "complete new first class cabin. BA is also in the process of updating its in-flight entertainment systems to the latest colour systems which gives customers much wider capabilities of looking at the various available channels on the aircraft."
His words, "Currently, there are 200 channels available. Also the catering products are being updated to suit the cabin choice of customers. Feedbacks, we have gotten from our customers from across all networks, have shown that our customers are truly satisfied with the services we provide them."
Asked on what specific routes BA plans to expand to in Nigeria, he said that it was clear that Lagos and Abuja were two very important routes, hinting that Port Harcourt was a destination the carrier would be looking at because of its importance.
"It is a big business area and BA is in the business of connecting major cities around the globe with Heathrow, and in Nigeria these are the three major cities which are also important to us," he added.
Unfolding the airline's strategy for 2012, the airline chief stated that base on the nature of "our business, point to point is of primary importance for us. Forty per cent of the traffic that comes from Heathrow connects us to our point-to-point business. Our primary importance is to serve the world's key cities point to point and clearly Nigeria is a part of that service."
His words: "BA is giving its crew iPad which in turn gives them lots of data about BA's customers. These data help the crew to know the likes and dislikes of our customers, which would help them serve customers better in terms of providing them with their specific needs. The crew has the opportunity to interact with customers, thereby knowing more about the customers, such as knowing what they have done previously, for instance their travel history. The iPad has been very popular with the cabin crew and customers."
Williams, however, debunked allegations made by the Nigerian authorities that its fares on the London-Lagos routes were exorbitant.
According to him: "BA is well aware of the allegations made by the Nigerian authorities against its carriers and the way to go is for customers to log on to BA.com to see the fares on the websites. For instance, in the summer fares, we have leading fares, which starts from $269. Looking at them, I would say they are competitive in the market which makes BA highly competitive amongst other brands," he added.
Article credit: Guardian Newspaper
For more Nigerian news: http://news.logbaby.com


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Your style looks pretty different from the standard subSilver one. I would suggest validating the CSS and HTML and seeing if there are any obvious errors that would help you figure out the problem (such as mismatched or unclosed tags, etc) that occurred when you edited the file. Good lucktoyouxwithlove wrote:Okay, so, I did everything necesarry, but there's a little problem.
Seeing how I don't use subSilver, I also did the steps to the style I use, except the .helpline step, because there isn't any in styles other than subSilver. I did the steps to subSilver, but like I said, the other style as well.
The ad shows up, but at the very bottom of the page, in the footer, there is a huge gap between two images that are supposed to be together. You can see it here:
http://kissintherain.x10hosting.com/for ... ic.php?t=3
Does anyone know what to do?
TheJediSlayer those instructions are for subSilver, which keeps its css in overall_header.tpl. Since you're using XboxXtreme you can put the code in templates/XboxXrteme/XboxXrteme.css


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Ideas for 14 February 2010: Jeanette Fitzsimons
Jeanette Fitzsimons retired from Parliament in February 2012 after 13 years as an Alliance and then Green MP. Despite having never sat on the Government benches there would be few if any commentators who would question Jeanette Fitzsimons profound impact on New Zealand politics. As the co-leader of the Green Party from 1995 to 2005 she was instrumental in raising the environment towards the top of the political agenda. Here Jeanette Fitzsimons talks to Chris Laidlaw about the people, writers and thinkers who have influenced her. They include: economist Herman Daly, Ghandi, the founding editor of the ecologist magazine Teddy Goldsmith, charismatic German Green leader Petra Kelly, and her father. From the Ideas collection: Influential Kiwis talk about their Influences


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By Paul Egan
It's time to raise the federal gas tax to help fix Michigan's ravaged roads, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday.
Snyder, a Republican who is under fire along with state lawmakers over the shape of Michigan's roads, said the state has taken steps to increase road funding and can do more, but it's also time for the federal government to step up.
He said the state has increased road funding more than $1 billion annually since he took office, but federal road funding has decreased $250 million a year during that time.
"We need federal, state and local partners all working together," but the feds are "going backwards on us," he said.
The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents has not been increased since 1993. President Donald Trump reportedly said he was open to a 25-cent-per-gallon hike in the federal gas tax during a February meeting with lawmakers.
Snyder wouldn't specify how much he thought the federal tax needs to be raised, saying the subject should be studied.
The governor made his comments as he signed legislation providing an extra $175 million in road funding this year to address a state pothole crisis.
"We're making some good progress," in what has been a particularly tough winter and emerging spring for roads, he said. Total funding for Michigan roads has increased from $3.6 billion in 2011 to $4.5 billion in 2018, counting the legislation signed Tuesday, he said.
Republican lawmakers were not all eager to embrace Snyder's latest proposal.
"We need to prioritize the funds that citizens are already sending us," said Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, when asked whether he would support a call for a federal gas tax increase.
The federal gas tax is baked into the price motorists pay at the pump. About 85% of the roughly $34 billion the tax raises annually is used for highway construction and maintenance, with the balance dedicated to mass transit.
Though it would raise more money for roads, a problem for Michigan in hiking the federal gas tax is that Michigan's gas prices are already high, relative to neighboring states. That's because Michigan is one of only four states that fully applies its retail sales tax -- which does not support road repairs -- to fuel sales.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, a Democrat, blasted state legislators on their road funding efforts Monday and said if he was governor he would not sign another bill until legislators dealt with the road funding issue.
Under the legislation Snyder signed Tuesday, $38.1 million would be distributed to cities and villages across the state, $68.4 million would be allocated to the state's 83 counties and another $68.4 million would be used for state trunkline preservation and enhancement projects that would help improve mobility for senior citizens and disabled people, as well as projects that will bolster technology in the state's roads, including coordination and testing of autonomous vehicles.
House Speaker Tom Leonard, R-DeWitt, said Snyder had proposed the extra $175 million for the 2019 budget, but he proposed instead spending the money in 2018. Lawmakers from both parties and the governor embraced the idea.
The state portion will be divided between $53 million for state road preservation, which could include patching potholes or asphalt overlays but not total reconstruction of roads, and the rest toward the enhancement projects.
With the distribution, Macomb County would get $4.4 million, Oakland County would receive $7 million and Wayne County would get $6.4 million.
The Road Commission of Oakland County said it would spend the money in three ways: spot resurfacing on sections of roads in really bad shape; preservation overlays on roads that are in moderate shape, and slab replacement on some concrete roads where small sections are in the worst shape.
A road funding plan passed by the Legislature in 2015 included a 7.3-cent-per-gallon increase in gas taxes, with future increases tied to inflation, and a 20% hike in vehicle registration fees to raise $1.2 billion for roads. The higher gas taxes and registration fees have already taken effect. The increased money from the general fund, which will hit $600 million in 2021, will begin to kick in in October with $150 million coming from the state's general fund.
Denise Donohue, executive director of the County Road Association of Michigan, said counties are "very pleased" with the latest $175-million "shot in the arm" for road funding.
At the same time, "we also have to set appropriate expectations for the public," she said.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said the $175 million is "sorely needed," but " a drop in the bucket."
"This appropriation needs to be followed with a frank and honest conversation about how to adequately fund our roads," Evans said in a news release.
"We've been putting Band-Aid after Band-Aid on our roads for far too long."
(c)2018 the Detroit Free Press


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New York Times
The City
Q. Here's a thought for winter: Do New York pigeons migrate?
A. New York may have snowbirds, but pigeons are not among them.
After researching the question, Anna Dove, the aptly named founder and director of the New York Bird Club, replied: "Pigeons, unlike some other species of birds, do not migrate, and if removed from a nesting area they have a good homing ability and can return from long distances."
When pigeons are a few months old, she said in an e-mail message, they imprint their location in their brain as "home" and will always return there, unless domesticated into a new home, like a loft.
"They can and will fly many miles away from their roost to find food, but at the end of the day they will always return home, or attempt to, and that is why they are so excellent at carrying messages," Ms. Dove said.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Do New York Pigeons Migrate
Posted by New York Bird Club at 11:02 AM 1 comment:
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Welcome to F.I.E.L.D.- the First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database. Guests are not required to login during this beta-testing phase
Prince Amyn Mohammed Aga Khan pictured with members of the Noorani family at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Ismaili Centre in London, England. From the left is Prince Sadruddin, Princess Tajudaullah and Begum Salimah, Om Habibeh Begum and Prince Amyn Mohammed
Source:Heritage Society Collection
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Learn More
The Division of Immunotherapy and Autoimmune Diseases is dedicated to research and training related to severe autoimmune diseases and develops methods that allow the safe isolation, manipulation, and preservation of populations of stem cells and immune cells for therapeutic purposes.
"The division's clinical center is the only one in the world devoted to a unique area of treatment and research utilizing stem-cell transplantation in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases and vascular diseases."
– Richard Burt, MD
We welcome your questions and comments.Learn More
The department works toward an environment of inclusion and support through the Diversity and Cultural Affairs Council and through several dedicated events and initiatives.
We offer a wide range of resources, mentorship opportunities and training to help our residents and fellows excel as physician-scientists. Explore all of the resources and hear from housestaff who are making research a major part of their career development plans.
Support What We Do
We invite your philanthropic partnership in helping us achieve our research and teaching missions each day.
You can contact MaryPat Mauro for more information on supporting the Division of Immunotherapy at 312-503-1090 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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When we host a corporate group or retreat at Cheeca Lodge & Spa, we know that team building is an essential part of any successful meeting. Our Guest Adventures and Group Sales teams have taken team building activities to the next level with a special Cheeca twist. With a mixture of fun and just the right level of competition, our team building activities are sure to be a hit with your group!
Below are some of the unique team building activities Cheeca is proud to offer to groups:
- Coco-Bowling: This is bowling, island style! With rules similar to traditional bowling, players roll real coconuts down the lane to knock down pins. The player or team with the highest points wins. Coconuts may be painted in your company or team colors.
- Raft Race: Teams must cooperate and strategize in order to build a seaworthy raft out of limited materials, then board their craft to navigate a marked course near shore.
- Paddle & Run Relay: Two members of each team (4-10 participants each) launch sea kayaks from south beach, paddle around Cheeca's 525' fishing pier, then continue on to north beach where they must carry (or drag) the kayaks back on land and race back to the starting line. Teams must work together to determine individual strengths and create complementary pairs. The relay continues until all team member pairs complete the relay.
- Balloon Tower: Teams must work together to carefully build a freestanding tower cannot be anchored down – made exclusively from 100 balloons and a roll of masking tape. How creative can you get?
- Island Scavenger Hunt: Teams of 4-8 participants each will be given a time frame and clues to find a checklist of items that could be located anywhere on Cheeca's 27 lush oceanfront acres. Teams utilize mobile devices (or Polaroids) to document their expedition.
To learn more about all of Cheeca's unique and fun team building exercises, contact our Group Sales team at (305) 517-4449 or submit an RFP online.


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Digital Strategies for
Business Growth
Brandsplash is a full digital marketing agency, striving to surpass your expectations at every level.
We offer affordable web design, website hosting, search engine optimisation, and digital marketing services.
Your business website is the first thing a client will see when you are found online. With this in mind, it is crucial to make the right impression. At Brandsplash we aim to make this first meeting as efficient and pleasant as possible, not only for your visitor but also for you.
Business is hard work but owning a profitable and efficient website should not have to be with the right partner at your side.
Let us put the work into your digital marketing efforts so that you can concentrate on the other aspects of your business.
Professional web design and development.
Professional Website design and development for best results require that we assess your business goals and objectives extensively.
By knowing what you want to achieve with your website, we can create your website with these business objectives in mind.
In this manner, we can offer you a cost-effective marketing strategy which is focussed on your particular requirements. We centre our efforts on creating a website with which we will be able to generate measurable results.
Utilising these results we will be able to understand how and where we can make changes which will further improve results.
Brandsplash will take a personal approach to your website design and development and keep you well informed and up to date throughout the process.
You can choose to start your journey to a profitable website with one of our standard web design packages or we can deliver a tailored web development package for you.
Digital Marketing
"A website without visitors is like a ship lost at sea."
We give direction to your digital marketing efforts with a full digital marketing strategy. We can help you create a website that converts leads into sales and supercharge the results with a well-formulated, extensive digital marketing campaign. This includes Pay Per Click advertising, Facebook Page creation, Facebook like campaigns, Facebook Ads marketing, Google Ads campaigns and comprehensive Inbound Marketing Services.
Using inbound marketing we can turn strangers into customers and customers into promoters of your business.
Grow your audience and convert strangers into loyal customers.
With an extensive digital marketing campaign, we can help you get your newly developed website show positive results faster.
Get more leads, build brand awareness and trust, create an audience for your brand or business and let new customers find you.
Web Hosting
Brandsplash's quality website hosting packages deliver fast loading times and excellent uptime. This is so your website will be available and working for you. Quality hosting ensures that the hard work that has gone into the website design and development will pay off and give you a return on investment. An added benefit of hosting with us, when we design your website, is that we are in control of the hosting and can respond faster to any queries regarding your website. Whether it is a website or hosting issue, we will be on top of it at all times and will be able to resolve issues faster.
No hidden costs.
Email addresses included.
Solid state drives for faster loading.
Optimised for stability and speed.
Easy setup for online shopping.
Simple registration, easy cancellation.
What our clients say:
Our company required a new website to replace our previous one, which was outdated - in content and functionality. We chose to go with Brandsplash (after considering proposals from a number of other companies), mainly because of their technical capability and willingness to share their knowledge and involve us in the whole process. The end result is that they not only delivered a fully customized site, which ticked all the boxes on our wish-list, but highlighted and educated us on SEO aspects we would never have considered, that has provided us with a new website, which we believe gives us a massive competitive edge in our industry.
Etienne Vorster
Hyperpool Group
We needed help getting our business to be more dynamic and be more effective for our target market to use and to come back to us on a regular basis. You surpassed our expectations on all levels. Your ideas have helped our company grow in leaps and bounds. Your professionalism and genuine interest in what our unique wishes have been are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for creating a website that is so user friendly. Brandsplash, Randburg went above and beyond what was expected of them It has been exciting working with you. Karthie Asari CO-OWNER Hampers and More
Karthie Asari
Hampers and More
Brandsplash is a web design and development company in Randburg. We specialise in Web Design, Web Development, Website Hosting, Website Maintenance and Inbound Marketing services.


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(COVID-19 Update) New Orders Accepted & Deliveries will continue for Singapore & International Deliveries. However, do expect a slight delay in deliveries due to the freight delays. We seek your understanding during this difficult time globally.
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Batman: The Telltale Series – When All of the Episodes Release
Check the schedule.
Telltale's Batman series has just seen its second episode release, bringing with it a bit of a change to the action that we saw in its opener. While we know that the series will consist of five episodes, what remains a little more uncertain is when we can expect the remaining episodes of Batman and Bruce's story.
According to comments made by Telltale's Head of Creative Communications, Job Stauffer, Telltale aims to have all of the episodes out by the end of the year. It's important to note, however, that he did go on to state that the studio would not sacrifice the quality of the experience to meet this deadline.
If we go from the comments made by Stauffer as a rough guideline, you can expect to see episodes three, four, and five follow month after month from October to December. Again, though, this is not guaranteed. If for whatever reason, Telltale had to spend a little longer on one of the episodes, you can probably expect the final episode to move into a January 2017 release window. Regardless, most of the story will be told within 2016.
We'll update you with any further information regarding release dates for the remaining episodes when we hear anything.


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Thanks to everyone who contributed to our group writing project about "learning experiences" in sailing. What I found most gratifying about this exercise was how many writers from whom I hadn't heard before came forward with stories about their learning experiences. Some of you were writers of sailing blogs of which I was previously unaware. Some of you don't have your own blogs but felt inspired to send in a story anyway. Thank you to you all. I've enjoyed hearing from you and hope you will stop by here again and leave comments on my posts and/or participate in future writing projects.
The learning experience stories were...
I See Stupid People by IC
Drive by TK
A Racer's Fact of Life by Wavedancer
Lessons Learned from the Mallory Championships at Elephant Butte by Pat
Humiliation by ISO by Mark
You've got a friend by Carol Anne
Shifting Gears by Manfred Schreiber
So kids, what did we learn today? by Somers Kempe
The Sailor's Prayer and Motivation by Captain JP
Don't Think Twice by Andrew Sadler
Point Nemo by Edward
Adventures in Boating by Robert Hruzek
Helping Hands by Jos M Spijkerman
What I Learned From Running Marathons by Tillerman
And from David Anderson...
We Can Learn
Learning is Gud
Father's Day Sail
Mothra vs. Benicia
Wow, what an amazing diversity of different ways to interpret this theme. Tactics, racing rules, boat-handling, race management, sports psychology, relationships, family, friends, humor, instruction, humiliation... and ocean geography. It's all here. Thank you guys.
Because you all did such a great job on this writing project I'm thinking of making it a monthly event. A discussion that broke out in the comments to one of the above stories gave me an idea on what topic to use for the June group writing project. But please tell me if you have any suggestions too.
Last, but not least... please leave a comment letting us know which learning experience stories you enjoyed the most. I think my personal favorite was I See Stupid People. I may not have chosen to express this lesson in quite the same words that IC did but nevertheless his lesson is very valuable: stay out of trouble with other sailors if you want to do well in the races. I suspect IC is probably the youngest contributor to our project and I enjoyed the outspoken tone, passion, and straight talk that are typical of the young. Some of us old geezers could learn a thing or two about writing (as well as sailing) from him.


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Physical Education Department
Mission Statement
The overall goal for the Washington Middle School Physical Education program is to develop a positive learning environment for all students. We look to offer a wide variety of activities to give students choices to keep them active into their adult lives. Emphasis is put on cooperation, teamwork, and sportsmanship. We are committed to providing a safe and positive learning environment in which all students achieve personal bests and success. The goal of the program is to guide young lives towards healthy and active futures.
Grade Level Philosophy
Grade 6 - Students are introduced to fundamental skills in a variety of sports and given opportunities to combine prior knowledge with what they learned through lead-up games and team building activities.
Grade 7 - Students will further develop fundamental skills learned in grade 6 with an emphasis on game play and strategies. In addition they are introduced to individual and dual sports as a means of transitioning from team sports to lifetime activities.
Grade 8 - The main focus is on lifetime activities, in hopes that each student leaves our program with an appreciation for physical activity. Students are also given an opportunity to implement prior knowledge of team sports from grades 6 and 7 each season through our elective program.
Health Education Mission Statement
The mission of the Health Education Curriculum is to provide students with accurate information and resources that will aid in skill development and guide students toward making healthful decisions. Students will be provided with an array of opportunities to achieve their highest potential and ultimately lead to lifetime health and wellness.


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Exhibits and Museums
Impressive – interactive – inspiring: we create museums and exhibitions that are excellent destinations, generating positive participation and feedback from visitors, the media and the community. We also organize company and institutional archives, creating resources for the future.View our portfolio
Get in touch
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a Tradefair Booth or Exhibition done?
Three-dimensional experiences are wonderful ways to communicate with your publics. These can range from a simple display stand at an event, to a collapsible booth for promotional purposes, to an entire exhibition about a range of topics that your stakeholders or your employees can experience and connect to your brand.
How much does it cost?
There are solutions for every budget - from one-banner, reusable stands, to ready-made media walls, to entire three-dimensional, exciting tradefair booths, to a walk-through exhibitions with lots of things to learn and see. To price your project, you would need to address the following questions:
- what is the event you would like to participate in or stage
- what is your product / service / brand that you would like to be associated with your exhibit
- what is your production budget
- do you require research or do you have the content that you would like to showcase
- would you like interactive technological elements in your exhibit
- will your exhibit require lighting solutions
- do you need additional advertising for your event
- don't forget that there may be additional fees for participating in trade fairs!
How long will it take?
Since three-dimensional experiences require the input of many specialists - from designers like us, to builders, light technicians, videographers, multi-media programmers, photographers etc. - make sure that you allot enough lead-up time to your event. Also, remember that fabricators sometimes get very busy and you want to make sure that you don't get caught up in other people's deadlines! A simple project may be turned around in a couple weeks, but a complex exhibit can take up to a year to prepare and install.


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|The ringing of an evening bell, originally a signal to the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, - instituted by
|A utensil for covering the fire.
|curfew - the time that the curfew signal is sounded
|curfew - a signal (usually a bell) announcing the start of curfew restrictions
|curfew - an order that after a specific time certain activities (as being outside on the streets) are prohibited
CURFEW. The name of a law, established during the reign of the English
king, William, the conqueror, by which the people were commanded to dispense
with fire and candle at eight o'clock at night.
It was abolished in the reign of Henry I., but afterwards it signified the time at which the curfew formerly took place. The word curfew is derived, probably, from couvre few, or cover fire. 4 Bl. Com. 419, 420.


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|[X] Close
|Search For:
This second edition collection of full-color photographs makes a great addition to any professional's resource library. The photos are of common objects and places that offer an engaging, easy way to stimulate and motivate people of all ages who need language development. They can be used to build reading vocabulary, teach categorizations, and develop numerous language and speech skills. Use this program with older children, adolescents, and adults.
Elementary, Middle, and High School students, or adults with special needs


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A belated response to Web 2.0 storytelling #assignment3Posted: January 31st, 2011 | Author: Jennifer Jones | Filed under: assignment | Tags: assignment3, web20readings | Leave a comment »
Ok, I admit, I'm a bit late in submitting assignment 3 – and even then, I haven't had a chance to complete Part B (to follow!)- but better later than never.
A response to Tim O'Reilly's "What is Web 2.0?" and Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine's "Web 2.0 Storytelling The Emergence of a new genre."
Perhaps 3 years ago, I would have still felt enthused to use the term, it was still a term which could be used a rebellious slant in media studies, something that was a threat or avoidable to those who were focusing on other aspects of internet research. It is was an ideal which was tacked on at the end of a history of the web. Going back a few more years to 2006, I was looking for approval to be able to use the term in my undergraduate dissertation, something that I could never imagine to be able to use about 4-5 years studying cinema, film making and television theory. It was my gateway into being able to justify studying the internet in an academic context. It presented me a door in which to step through and, in the end, attempt to disprove. Web 2.0 was just not enough to describe what was going on. Now, in the thrusts of a PhD, I have to dedicate chunks of my writing time to trying to unpick and critique a term which was made famous by marketing and internet 'gurus' – I've went full circle.
Nevertheless, I've attended conferences in the last 12 months where I've been explicitly told that web 2.0 was not 'established' enough to be considered an area to perform in depth research. We are expected to just sit and wait until the gods of academia catch up with the rest of the online world. Until then, only few definitions are allowed to cross into mainstream media studies – mostly around social networking websites, perhaps a little about fan fiction and participatory cultures, but not anything to do with using complicated technology – or simply experimenting with the increasing amount of information and knowledge organising resources (as well as an untapped flood of people who are just fascinating to follow, discussion and potentially collaborate with). This is why, when tasked with presenting a short 10-15 minutes paper to a communication/media research audiences, which contains information about twitter – or social media as a research tool (for an example) – at least 40 percent of the paper must be spend contextualising the ream of new words and structures and formats that us 'internet people' take for granted. This is all very well – and perhaps I would have a bit more sympathy for their cause if it weren't for the counter argument of the assumption position of other subjects. Broadly sharing a discipline with television experts, cinema geeks and news junkies – who don't necessary require to spend time talking about how images are projected on to a screen. There is a desire for web 2.0 skills – shown by the emerging backlash of 2011 (the narrative of this year) but until Universities just start doing it, instead of asking those who research it to sit and wait until it is a priority subject (yeah right…) then we are going to be revisiting the terminology of web 2.0 for the next however many years.
The 2.0 is supposed to signify progress, an end of one epoch and the beginning of another – almost instantly since the dawn of the 2.0, have people been desperate to define the 3.0 or joke about the 4.0 – but realistically, nothing has really changed in a dramatic way. This is not a revolution – we've got to contend with mass adoption (thanks to 'better' broadband, 'cheaper' techonlogy and growing use of mobile devices) – secondly the back bone of the internet (code and stuff) is still very much like the code before we starting talking with decimal points. This is not to say that people aren't getting better at creating platforms which are easier to use, more pervasive in their structure and sharing techniques and fixes to make the experience a much lighter and brighter world. The essense of ds106, therefore, is one where we are actually asking to strip back this interface of free web platforms and one click visual editors – but instead, encourage participates to unpick and break the softer world of web 2.0 with its ready made rounded corners and freebie publishing platforms. It recognises that having your own server, with your own domain – and understanding the backend of that space is an important skill to master, which in turn makes its users more critical about the online platforms which they occupy. This combined with a growing and organic user base of those participating in the course, there is something much more exciting happening than those usual 8-7 points about semantic and collaboration 2.0. Even on a basic level, it's much easier to feel comfortable create and play in a ready made community, rather than testing and throwing things out there into a public ether.
And now I've (just about) caught up, it's time to try and do just that… onwards with Assignment 4 and daily shooting!
Reflecting on "A Personal Cyberinfrastucture" #assignment2Posted: January 20th, 2011 | Author: Jennifer Jones | Filed under: assignment, reflection | Tags: assignment2 | 7 Comments »
I've had a few days to chew on Assignment 2 (a response to Prof Gardner Campbell's "A personal cyberinfrastructure") and after an epic braindump on 750words.com this morning, I have decided to focus on my own personal cyberinfrastructure, namely how I got to point I am now – actively researching and working with these sort of online environment as part of my daily practise.
I think as a preamble, it is worth nothing that I have no formal qualification in ICTS or computing studies – everything I know about computers, or more specifically, the stuff that I know how to find and achieve online is entirely self taught/an accident. My parents both come from communication/technology backgrounds and I was exposed to computers, and later the internet, from a young age. There was a running joke in my family that I could run a computer into the ground within a week, pushing them to breaking point and running up high dial-up bills in the process.I used to sneak around, plugging the modem into the phoneline during offpeak hours, trying to muffle the connection noise so I could get another hit.
I built my first website in 1997 (because my mum was learning how to do it – and my dad's work brought with it some personal work space) I started with the WYSIWYG editors like FrontPage – but often got frustrated with the limitations in the drag and drop formats, so looked for ways around it – I worked out that I could copy code from websites I like and tried workarounds to get the look that I liked (mmm, frames) The personal webspace my dad had was essentially a digital dropbox – so anything that involved scripts was out of the question – so I tried other free spaces to capture the look that I wanted. I explored bulletboards, chatrooms and early social networks like Bolt – I made friends with people who were into the same bands I was into, I'd wait for hours for sounds and images to buffer. I could go on.
It is important to note that none of these activities were encouraged within school – my computer habit was strictly for the home. It was an extra thing that I did – and it was often mocked or discouraged as a waste of time. Even at university (studying for a BA in media theory with production) it wasn't until 2nd year where I was exposed to something "about the internet" from (my now PhD supervisor's) class in cyberculture. It didn't even cross my mind that it could be something that could be taught and later, researched. My mum even swore me off doing an IT qualification in school because she thought I knew too much about computers for it to be worth me doing (and I should focus on classes where I would learn something new) – ironic, when I see jobs doing what I do, but asking for qualification is IT as a vital requirement. I have no accreditation for my knowledge, it is organic and breed from, what I can only describe as, an addiction – a passion, something that I would do without anyone asking or telling me how to. Something that has changed me.
This makes my personal cyberinfrastructure a little bit unpredictable – I'm at a stage where I can now blend in, rather than being the pale and awkward computer person in the corner, a child who gets shouted at for spending too much time on that bloody computer, somebody who is different -I'm connecting with more and more people on a daily basis, who – in turn, are going through the same process. It is a remarkable (and bloody exciting) process to be part of – but it also places me in a realm where even more questions are whizzing around my head than ever before.
Here is a thought – online, in this space – we have the opportunity to be exposure to as much frequent and interesting information and knowledge as we dare chase after. But take it offline – and I don't mean hanging out with your twitter buddies (which I have a real privilege of being able to do on a really regular basis – twitter strengthens relations exponentially) – but take it offline into a meeting, or a classroom – and it all start to feel a bit odd again. More and more people are online than ever before (thanks to 'cheaper' technology, 'faster' broadband, 'easier' platforms – in theory) – yet, still the rhetoric of internet still often brings tumbleweeds- I strongly believe that it hard to generalise the online experience, even when we all log into the same websites, we are looking at them in very different contexts and very different screens. The role of being the 'geek' (a contested term) is still the cliche of those who seem to 'master' this environment as part of their day to day activities – with only certain considerations being allowed into the general framework (mobile phones are a good example of this – and I guess with the safeness of web 2.0 discourse and lately, social media, we are starting to see an increased acceptability to online environments within top-down institutions at least) Yet, the increased desire to standardise it- it own it, it be the person who names and decides the outcome of it, we run the risk of missing out all those great, non-accredited, experiences that add up to who we are when we think about who we are online.
I would even go to say that I struggle in formal teaching of computer-y stuff because of this. I tried to specialise in digital illustration and web design when I was at further education college (aged 16) and duly dropped out after a few weeks of standardised lab workshops and thumb twiddling. As for answers to tackle this, I have none – but it certainly has had a huge (if not, the biggest) influence in the direction I've ended up taking with my work. If I could bottle that skill and share it, I would – but it's really hard to justify telling students to right-click 'view source' and find the bit they like/don't understand about the web as part of a syllabus. It's the process that leads you to that right click to begin with is far more valuable that the source itself.
An essay on the effects of digital developments in education (or a preamble before the #assignment2 storm)Posted: January 17th, 2011 | Author: Jennifer Jones | Filed under: digital economy, ds106, essay | Leave a comment »
How strange – when I read the initial article that we were to read for #ds106 assignment two, I was reminded of an essay I wrote during my Masters degree on a module about the digital economy. Amongst other things, we were to demonstrate how digital developments are contributed to transforming aspects of education and the ways in which students learn – and this was I ended up picking as one of my topics.
It's a bit late tonight to start preparing a response to the assignment (and I've been writing all day as part of PhD chapter draft) but I thought I would share the original essay (originally submitted in May 2008) with the wider world. It's never been shared in public before – and I hope to revisit it very shortly through some of the work I am preparing in this section of my thesis. I'm definitely finding that I'm way more critical now, but it's nice to see how my original ideas were starting to form prior to starting the PhD and working in higher ed. Must revisit it with that in mind!
Hopefully have a crack the proper submission tomorrow night – it's totally in line with the thinking I iz thinking right now.
Demonstrate how digital developments are contributing to transforming aspects of education and the ways in which student learn:
The enthusiasm for developing information communications technologies (ICTs) has generated much discussion in relation to higher education, and in particular, the ways in which these developments can and are transforming the methods that students learn and how they are being taught. Dutton and Loader (2004) state that, "ICTS are central to shaping the future of education, research and the sciences by changing how we get access to information, people, services and technologies themselves." (Dutton and Loader, 2002: 4) They expand on these interrelating roles and suggest four methods in which ICTs can play with a learning environment: "Access to people" – the ability to network with, not only other students, but with teachers, researchers and experts; "Information access" – the ability to search, synthesis and attain multimedia information; "Access to services" – the ability to make accessing information more "horizontal, where the boundaries between producer and consumer is less distinguished; and "Access to technology" – the ability to learn about ICTs through frequent use and routine exposure. (Adapted from Dutton, 1999: 205: in Dutton and Loader, 2002: 4).
In order to understand why and how these changes are occurring, it is important to look at where education and learning is positioned in the wider socio-economical context of modern society. As Sardar and Ravetz (1996: 7) propose, the implied "cyber-revolution" differentiates itself from previous revolutions, as it is one of consciousness. Furthermore, Castells (1996) characterises this epoch as being called the "network society", being one where it is not the centrality of knowledge and information that defines this network society, "but the application of such knowledge and information to knowledge and information processing/communication devices, in a culmative feedback loop between innovation and the uses of innovation." (Castells, 1996: 31) In this case, the University, which Agre (2004: 153) describes as being "in some sense about information and the life of the mind," is a paradigm of the network society – a place where networking, knowledge processing and technological innovation are paramount.
Schiller (1999: xiv) refers to the process of networks having generalised the socio-cultural scope of the capitalist economy and defines it as "digital capitalism". He states that, "digital capitalism has already begun to prey on education, placing some of the most sensitive processes of social learning at the mercy of proprietary market logic." (Schiller, 1999: xiv) Sardar and Ravetz put the enthusiasm surrounding cybertechnology, down to "the fantasy of finding "new materials" for economic growth…a product of post-modern times." (Sardar and Ravetz, 1996: 9) Schiller describes the effects of digital capitalism upon education, as a shift from "relatively autonomous instructional and learning processes," into a more direct attempt to provide for labour markets. Schiller argues that:
The system of educational provision was being reoriented toward familiar corporate practises that were foreign to the bulk of earlier educational endeavour: growing utilization of casualised labour, productivity enhancement measures, and product development based on profit and loss potentials. A concurrent and related reform, toward school-to-work programs, lifelong learning, and "new partnership", symptomatised an intensifying vocationalisation of the educational process" (Schiller, 2000: 144)
Similarly, Agre (2004) looks at the incentives for standardisation within higher education, as when data can be communicated over long distances successfully, "it becomes useful to standardise the goods that are bought and sold. That way, goods that might be available for sale at widely dispersed locations can readily be compared for their properties and prices." (Agre, 2004: 154) According to Agre, some organisations, in particular information work – are rewarded by ICTs for standardising their processes, as "the very distinction between "line" and "staff" emerge when work done by staff can be applied to administration of large amounts of standardised line work." (Agre, 2004: 154) This is all very well when it comes to managing information, but as Reich and Weiser remind us: "There is an important difference between things considered as information, and things that are simply part of everyday activity without any impulse purpose of conveying knowledge." (Reich and Weiser, 1996: 84) Or more simply, as Castells puts it, "The network enterprise makes material the culture of the informational, global economy: it transforms signals into commodities by processing knowledge." (Castells, 1996: 188)
With this in mind, we can return to Dutton's transformative elements of ICTS and education, and look at each one closely, in relation to recent digital developments within the University environment – taking into consideration the influence of the proposed digital economy.
Access to people: Networking
ICTS such as course management software (such as Blackboard), email, video-conferencing, and more recently micro-blogging websites such as twitter and seesmic, have allowed for teachers to communicate with students, for students to communicate with other students and for researchers to discuss and seek collaboration on projects related to their own expertise. Agre (2004: 156) believes that the communication that is occurring across time and space is down to two amplified incentives of networked information technology. The first is the result of standardisation of practise across all places that exist within a university institution, where the same activities would occur, and second, "to interconnect those places so that eventually they merge, in some useful sense, into a single site of social practise." (Agre, 2004: 156)
O'Donnell (2000) argues against this and considers that one of the impacts of technology within the realms of academia is "attenuation of social linkage." He elaborates by stating that, "Inch by inch, the network of face-to-face contacts of the primordial village has been thinned out and dissolved as more and more rarefied threads link us to people farther and farther away." (O'Donnell, 2000: 175) Certainly, ICTs have granted us with the ability to connect and reach people who we may have not been able to geographically reach before, however, it is important to unpack the apprehensions that one may have regarding computer mediated communications. O'Donnell's concern is based primarily around changing environments from a professor's perspective, were he believes that, "the constellation of people we "talk" to will surely change dramatically, and people close to hand, with offices on our hallway, will drift further away are former strangers across the ocean loom larger than life." (O'Donnell, 2000: 176) Furthermore, he believes that because human beings desire to make "new linkages stronger and more nest-like," that academics are setting themselves up from rejecting their local research community in favour of a more global, digital context. (O'Donnell, 2000: 176)
Agre does not agree with this notion entirely, as there is more belief that "research communities are not discrete. They too have something of a matrix structure, whose axes are the subject matter being studied and the methods being employed to study them." (Agre, 2004: 157) The chance to network with specific a individual or groups that may or may not be outside of their department, university or even country, allows for the unity of a dynamic research community – where "it binds each community's participants more closely to one another while enabling each community to evolve even more rapidly away from each other." (Agre, 2004: 157) It could be considered that, it's this occurrence that may have cause O'Donnell to believe that the abundance of ICTS in education is causing a rupture in the ways in which colleagues decide to communicate with each other.
In relation to teaching, Agre argues that networking using ICTs in education allows to "connecting the places of university teaching with other places in the world." (Agre, 2004: 161) Returning to Schiller's notion of the vocationalisation of the educational process, it could be established that the networking need not just occur within the context of the university. Schiller (1999) argues that, "New information technologies, among which the Internet ultimately loomed pre-eminent, eradicated the physical and social barriers between college and workplace." (Schiller, 1999: 147) Universities are required to build stronger, official links with businesses in response to the idea that education is a monitory investment for students, who are looking for work after they graduate. Agre critiques this argument by stating that it simple enough to create a network that "is to move bits from point A to point B," however he believes, "that kind of information structure is easy to get wrong, given that nobody is likely to possess as adequate substantive model of the activities that the infrastructure is supposed to support And an infrastructure that gets such things wrong can foreclose the possibilities that it was supposed to open up." (Agre, 2004: 155) In short, although the tools are apparent for this particular kind of network, it is different to distinguish a set of criteria that would standardise the process in the same way as information work has done.
Access to Information: Multimedia Technology
Following on, Dutton and Loader (2004) state that, "The Internet has highlighted the role ICTS can play in searching, screening and obtaining electronic information and print publications, for instance, in using an online catalogue to find books in the library, and in supplementing other, educational media, such as text books." (Dutton and Loader, 2004: 8) ICTs effect on the access to networking and other people ties in with the increased availability for access to all different formats of media information. Schiller (2000) believes that the Internet as allowed for the dream of an informational cornucopia seemed to be nearing actualisation." (Schiller, 2000: 143)
Due to the sheer quantity of material that can be made available, the library can be used as an example as into how ICTS have affected the production, distribution and access levels of information within an educational context. Browning (1996) argues that the "massless" quality of digital works allows for them to transported immediately. He states that, "The world's great libraries share a great vision: Books once hoarded in subterranean stacks will be scanned into computers and made available to anyone, anywhere, almost instantly, over high speed networks." (Browning, 1996: 56) This somewhat utopian vision, as Browning describes, "will transform libraries from guardians of tradition to catalysts of a vast change. By breaking down the walls that separate libraries from each other and from publishing. This will change the economies of publishing, and with that, the ways in which ideas are disseminated and culture is made." (Browning, 1996: 56)
Browning believes that there are two major dilemmas that occur from the digitalisation of libraries. Firstly, he argues that technological reasoning makes the role of a librarian and the role of an editor become interchangeable. Browning elaborates by stating that, "By lowering the cost of reproduction, and thus increasing the amount of information published, new technology increases the value of the judgements made by librarians and online searches as they pick and choose what their customers might read." (Browning, 1996: 63) If books and other sources of information become solely available in digital form, the restrictions for a physical place of storage becomes removed – who should be the one that decides what is available and what is not available from that particular library?
Browning's second -more complex – issue looks at the dilemma of copyright and distribution. When a book is physical, there is only one copy and can only be read by one person at a time. This makes the process of lending easier as the library can keep tabs on who has borrowed it and also make payments to publishers for the display of that book within the physical library. Browning discusses how an electronic book, which can be transported and read by many at one time, would be valued within a library context. Browning states:
If libraries do not charge for electronic books, not only can they not reap rewards commensurate with their own increasing importance, but libraries can also put publishers out of business with free competition. If libraries do charge, that will disenfranchise people from information – a horrible thing. (Browning, 1996: 63)
Stefik (1996) argues that instead of debating the this issues should be less about the "protection and containment" of information, but more about "supporting and encouraging a lively trade in information." (Stefik, 1996: 227) He states that, "Rather than just confining genies to specific bottles, we want to encourage them to travel between bottles under rules of commerce." (Stefik, 1996: 227) Stefik believes that it is less about buying and selling information, and more about taking information and using it to generate new ways of processing knowledge.
Although this is a very important consideration, some believe that the whole notion of a physical place (with physical books) will still be required – even in this apparent age of digitalisation. Reich and Weiser (1996) believe that although "the networked world has a physical presence through displays and keyboards. This need not, and should not, be its only physical presence." (Reich and Weiser, 1996: 86) They continue by stating that, "If communities continue to enjoy local identity (we think this diversity is very valuable and will not vanish) then their networked versions ought to be distinct." (Reich and Weiser, 1996: 85) They see the library, like the University, as a place that local communities need – regardless of the availability of digital information.
Moving on, another bi-product of digitalisation is the multimedia production of information. As Stefik puts it, "Digital publishing is creating a melting pot of genre." (Stefik, 1996: 246) ICTS have allowed for the facilitating of different media inputs, such as text, still images, pod-casting and video conferencing, in order to supplement existing teaching methods. As Stefik puts it, ""The simple provisions for extracting, editing and embedding small portions of digital work open doors to creative sampling and reuse of multimedia materials." (Stefik, 1996: 250) That is, information that has existed previously can be taken, edited and reused within a variety of different contexts – generating a new experience for those who are viewing it for the first time.
If relation to the copyrighting of these new products that have resulted from the "melding" of different media formats, Agre discusses the effects, if current copyright laws were used:
It would be disastrous to change copyright rules if multimedia courseware development tools are to become as routine and cheap as the desktop computers and library tools that faculty employ in designing their courses now. If any element of multimedia production is not likely to become cheaper with time, then analysis should identify them early on, so that they are not institutionalised without adequate reflection. (Agre, 2004: 164)
It is clear that the way in which copyright law is applied to educationally information should be taken into consideration and requires a particular sense of caution in this implied "information age". Returning to Stefik (1996) briefly, he advises that, "one incremental approach would be to distinguish between individual and organisational repositions, starting with institutions dealing in documents of high value and limited distribution." (Stefik, 1996: 250)
Access to Services: Re-engineering the Management of Education
Dutton and Loader state that, "ICTs can facilitate routines transactions and services in education, just as they can in government and business. " (Dutton and Loader, 2004: 11) This can be anything from the enrolment at the start of term, to the use of course-management software, such as Blackboard, to make it easier to communicate information and course material to students on a wider basis. Agre (2004) explores the myth of ICTS and the effects that it may have on the services that a university provides. He states that it is a popular believe that ICTS will substitute class-time entirely where all classes will be conducted on the Internet, "that students will pick and choose their classes that best suit them; that the resulting competition will improve the prevailing quality of instruction: and that the methods and resources employed in teaching will not be determined by ancient tradition but by the value that students place on the various course offerings as evidenced by their willingness to pay for them." (Agre, 2004: 158)
This may be a result of the myth of ICTs within education, but as Dutton and Loader explain, the online presence of a university is ones of the more important factors of "shaping their decision on where to apply, running close behind the general reputation of a university and personal visits to the campus." (Dutton and Loader, 2004: 11) This is of the ways in which ICTs has shaped the way in which universities have to provide services, as their intake could depend on the way in which they brand and market themselves on the Internet.
Access to Technology: Frequent and Routine Use of ICTS
In Hara and Kling's (2004) ethnographic study of the difficulties that students' experience whilst using course-management software to aid their web-based learning, they discover that "the students supported each other by sharing their frustrations with their friends or classmates…some students felt a community of learning with their classmates. The instructor also helped create a sense of community amongst the students.' (Hara and Kling, 2004: 79) Although it is perceived that new learning ICTs require additional time and resources to learn, Hara and Kling draw upon the value of community within this process. Dutton and Loader explain that, "the routine use and integration of ICTs in the curriculum enables teachers and students to better cope with and exploit the Web and other ICT tools in their everyday life." (Dutton and Loader, 2004: 12) It is believed that through regular exposure, the integration of new technologies can be established. As Castells (1996) puts it:
Diffusions of technology endlessly amplifies the power of technology, as it becomes appropriated and redefined by its users. New information technologies are not simply tools to be applied, but processes to be developed. Users and doers become the same. Thus users can take control of technology, as in this case of the Internet. (Castells, 1996: 31)
As "high quality education, both online and face-to-face, is neither cheap nor easy," (Hara and Kling, 2004: 83) it is important to consider the notion that it may take time for new softwares to be understood and articulated to the students. Agre (2004) argues that, "Whatever endpoint we imagine for the networked university, the university community will experience major problems of both technology and governance in getting from here to there." (Agre, 2004: 164) Agre continues by discussing the importance of considering that a newly reinvented university environment must be able to facilitate "self-discovery" and should not "undermine it be fragmenting itself in a hundred incompatible directions." (Agre, 2004: 163)
Due to the nature of changes that ICTs has brought about transforming existing aspects of higher education and the ways in which students are taught, it can be established that a number of restructural methods have been employed in the light of Shiller's concept of "digital capitalism." Firstly, O'Donnell (2000) offers some recommendations in the light of the different structures in which evidence of an education is rewarded. He advises that ways must be found "offer credentials in specific subjects separate from our teaching of them, and to offer those through and with the prestige and authority of the university." (O'Donnell, 2000: 182) O'Donnell simply sees this as a way in which to providing for the part-time, self-taught and the commercially taught student, "an essential part of their education: proof of having met a certain set of standards." (O'Donnell, 2000: 182)
Following on, the idea of the University becoming completely digitalised is one that would be difficult to maintain. Reich and Weiser's (1996) discussion surrounds the situationalisation of libraries and why they would not be completely relegated to the digital environment. They believe that "situational functions have come to exist because they fill a valuable role in the community. Their existence provides valuable lessons for the polices that should govern electronic information systems." (Reich and Weiser, 1996: 84) The networked resource (in this case, the library), may generate the myth that it is going to replace "placeful" resources, however, Reich and Weiser argue against heading off into the notion of "placelessness" and "to add constraints to Internet architecture today so it can be placeful tomorrow, and to temper naïve enthusiasm for a completely placeless existence." (Reich and Weiser, 1996: 91)
Finally, the myth of technological determinism that surrounds ICTs and their transformative effects is apparent during the discussions of the effects on education. Agre (2004) believes that, 'Information technology creates little that is new. It can amplify existing forces, it can increase efficiency by collapsing meaningless differences, it can decentralise some things and it can centralise others." (Agre, 2004: 165) As Cook (1996) suggests, "the model of sweeping social change being caused by a single technological innovation is historically and conceptually faulty and misleading. Such changes are not caused by the appearance of a single gadget; they are constituted in multiple influencing technological and social innovation." (Cook, 1996: 79) The idea that ICTs will help diminish the concrete, "real-life" university, is misleading – as Sardar and Ravetz (1996) put it, "we live in our bodies, which need to be kept fed, warm and clean by flows of real materials and energy; and we need comradeship and love from other real people. No virtual reality can substitute these primary needs; and a society which discarded them in pursuit of electronic happiness would soon become so dysfunctional that the system itself could easily become subject to corrosion." (Sardar and Ravetz, 1996: 12) ICTs are certainly helping and transforming the methods of teaching and learning in the network society, however, replacing the existing constructs of the physical university is best kept as a myth.
Agre, P. (2004) "Infrastructure and institutional change in the networked university", in Digital Academe: The new media and institutions of higher education and learning." London: Routledge pp152-166
Browning, J. (1996) "What is the role of libraries in the Information economy?", in Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths and Metaphors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Castells, M. (1996) The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell.
Cook, S, D, N. (1996) "Technological revolutions and the Guttenberg Myth", in Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths and Metaphors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Dutton, W. and Loader, B. (2004) "New media and institutions of higher education and learning", in Digital Academe: The new media and institutions of higher education and learning." London: Routledge pp1-32
Hara, D. and Kling, R. (2004) "Students' difficulties in a Web-based distance education course: an ethnographic study," in Digital Academe: The new media and institutions of higher education and learning." London: Routledge pp62-84
O'Donnell, J, J. (2000) Avatars of the word: From papyrus to cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Reich, V. and Weiser, M. (1996) "Libraries are more than information: situational aspects of electronic libraries", in Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths and Metaphors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Sardar, Z and Ravetz, J. (1996) Cyberfutures: Culture and Politics on the Information Superhighway.
Schiller, D. (1999): Digital Capitalism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stefik, M (1996). "Letting loose the light: igniting commerce in electronic publication", in Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths and Metaphors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Assignment 1: Tell a StoryPosted: January 13th, 2011 | Author: Jennifer Jones | Filed under: ds106, video | 8 Comments »
#ds106 Assignment 1: Tell a Story from Jennifer Jones on Vimeo.
So, here it is my response to the first #ds106 asssignment (which, to be honest, I've been wanting to try for ages but not had any good reason too apart for my own lawls.) We've to tell a quick story that happened to us recently (so I don't know where 4 years of photobooth photos fit in) but I'm quite interested in the abstract concept of this.
My laptop has travelled with me over the last 4 years, it almost feels part of me – it certainly has taken a physical and mental battering from yours truly (I got knocked over by a bike whilst it was in my bag within the first month of getting it – remarkable, it survived with minor scratches which were replaced with apple care 2 years later) It was my only company when I decided to move to Leicester in 2007 (packing two bags and giving myself a week to decide where to live) and it's taken the best part of my post-graduate education, not having much time for anything else but it (and should hopefully see me through until the end of the PhD, where I will treat myself to a brand new one as a gift for completion) – and it's documented my god awful selection of hairdos that I have sported in such a short period of time. The laptop remains the same, but the places and the people it has captured, has changed – and that's quite why I'm quite glad I've got into the habit of taking random pictures of me making stupid faces (although the last year has been decisively lacking.)
It's awesome to see your life kind of whizz past like that – some images remind me strongly of things, others make me appreciate how much of a better place I am now. It kind of puts me all out there (which I might have not done at the time of some of the pictures when they were take, as many of the pictures never went online to begin with) but in this context, it sort of tells a story for me. Also I really need to get used to speaking to a camera! 🙂
How I did it:
First of all, I have to arrange them in chronological order – no mean task with over 1k photos. Some of my photos were stored in my old hard-drive, the others were moved to different areas of my laptop. Furthermore, when photobooth was updated with snow leopard this time last year, it changed the file name from "Photo X" to a date stamp (much better) – so when I initially tried to dump all photos in imovie the first time round, there were some rogue images that looked out of place.
So using iphoto first of all (which noms metadata) I created a photo album containing all the photobooth images together – this made the initial transition to imovie much better.
I then followed the instructions on how to stop-motion in imovie here – specifically trying to get the gaps less than a second (iphoto slideshow was going to be my first choice by it was too slow, I didn't one any one photo to take precedence) – I then exported it, the sped it up further once the slideshow became a video file.
The rest was straight forward edit. Now, enjoy!
And so it begins…Posted: January 10th, 2011 | Author: Jennifer Jones | Filed under: ds106, media2012, reflection | 2 Comments »
So Jim Groom's Digital Storytelling (ds106) MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) begins today – hooray! – therefore I'm adding to the surge of new posts declaring hullo to the world and bit of context as to why I'm looking forward to taking part (I even set it up it's own special wordpress for the process.)
The course aims and 'learning outcomes' (for those not registered and might be reading this via twitter):
*Develop skills in using technology as a tool for networking, sharing, narrating, and creative self-expression
* Frame a digital identity wherein you become both a practitioner in and interrogator of various new modes of networking
* Critically examine the digital landscape of communication technologies as emergent narrative forms and genres
These are pretty straight forward – but are not things that can be ticked off regimentally like traditional assessment criteria. They are skills which are difficult to be "taught" and come through practise, even play. From following the feed for the weeks on the run up to the course, I've been entertained by animated gifs, movie mashups and some interesting takes on existing media (like swapping lyrics and images – and playing with the boundaries of what we already know and assume) – only now it is my turn to try out some of the crowdsourced assessments and exercises.
I've recently blogged and stated an interest in running my own open course (working with an existing module at the university where I work part time) in correlation with my PhD research into new media and the Olympic Games. The course would correspond to the citizen media network being 'set up' on the run up to the London Games – and would be offered up as a open training/context exercise around the possibilities of the internet alongside existing media events. Essentially, the assignment (and the outcomes of the modules) are to produce a social object that is connected to the wider #media2012 network but is working with a local context (could be community media cafe, could be an internet radio station, could be a simple website – but the focus is on the people involved, not just building a website that becomes redundant once the course is finished – an exercise in thinking creatively but critically.)
What I would love to take away from these next 15 weeks is the experiences of being a student on an open course (learning and engaging in this way around the topics and skills of digital storytelling), where some of the participants are actually taking it as a 'real life' module, earning credit as part of their degree course at UMW. So it's kinda meta why I'm here – I'm interested as a person who spent the best part of her student days winding up people on the Internet using animated gifs and swapping heads/bodies on a cracked copy of photoshop, and as somebody who is developing a real research interest into new and exciting (potentially radical) methods of course production and course delivery.
Look forward to getting started!


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The Kogi Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board says 717 slots had been allocated to the state for this year's hajj by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.
The Executive Chairman of the board, Sheikh Lukman Abdullah, who disclosed this on Monday in Lokoja, said that the figure was far less than the 838 slots allocated to the state in 2017.
Abdullah spoke during a courtesy call on the Chairman of the state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ ), Mr Adeiza Momoh Jimoh.
He, however, said that the board was making efforts to get additional slots, adding that preparations for the 2018 hajj had commenced.
Abdallah, who said that the greatest challenge facing the board and intending pilgrims was time, noted that all intending pilgrims had been given March 31 deadline to complete the payment of N1.5 million hajj fare.
The Chairman reiterated that the green color e-passport, national identity card and medical report are compulsory for all intending pilgrims.
He said that accommodation had been secured near the sacred mosques in Mecca and Medinah, adding that efforts were in the pipeline to enhance the welfare of pilgrims before, during and after the hajj.
In his remarks, Jimoh assured the board of support, especially in the area of sensitisation of pilgrims and members of the public.
He urged the board to always carry along the media in all its activities, adding that more slots should be allocated to Muslim journalists.


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Straighteners are something you plug in, similar to a curling iron, but instead of curl you get super straight. They get really hot, but at least they smell better than a perm!
I want to jump in here and say that, in this case, it really doesn't matter if most or any girls are using rollers these days. What matters is -- is your CHARACTER using them? It's really easy to get into our heads that in order for our characters to be believable, they have to be normal/ like everyone else/ not weird. But it's really a matter of selling it. I was a weird teen, and I'm sure everyone on this board was too. Someone could post "do teen girls play the bagpipes?" and most people would laugh and say no -- but I was a competition bagpiper in my teens. Or . . "do teens take time out of their life to practice foreign languages with strangers?" The answer to that is probably no, too, but I have a friend who did this every week in her teens. It doesn't need to be normal. Just normal for your teen. The really crucial thing is knowing how to make other characters react to her foibles.
i was thinking about this thread again...reminded me of 5th grade picture day ...I wanted to look extra special, but my mother permed my hair...it was already curly, but she used bigger rollers to 'relax' it...yeah...right....I had this gigantic head of incredibly curly Bozo red hair....my goodness...girls this age don't want to look different...all the other girls had straight hair....but me.....oh..sigh....moan...groan....my fifth grade picture....a sight to behold.
The thing is whether a cover with a girl in curlers would turn off potential readers. :ahh
Maggie, love your post. It's me put me at ease. Most of my characters arent exactly 'normal', but I they are believable.
There is a girl with her hair in rollers on the cover of Barrie Summy's I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES: http://www.amazon.com/I-So-Dont-Do-Mysteries/dp/0385736037/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330731855&sr=8-1Of course I can't speak to whether or not the cover has attracted or turned off readers, but this book did well enough for the publisher to continue publishing sequels. And the series continues with the cover theme of the girl's face on a colorful background, so they must feel it's working for their audience. If your book is targeting around the same age range, the image you'd like to use might work just fine. (I would classify these books as appealing to both lower YA and middle grade.)
Okay, totally OT, but, WHEN did your daughters start to want to use this stuff? My oldest is 10, and recently, for the first time in about 2 years, asked me to blow dry her hair straight. Now, I have super curly hair that only my hair stylist can straighten, so I have no idea what I'm doing. But lately I've been wondering when this preteen of mine will start to want equipment to do her hair! (Of course, it's entirely possible that she may not ever want to...but I was just curious!)Sorry to hijack! Back to big rollers!
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So those two months turned into three really quickly, eh? Sorry about that…a little Miller Lite found its way into my laptop keyboard which isn't good for the system the last time I checked.
Anyhoo, how are you? You look great!
There is so much to write about, most of which is based on the past three months (duh, you're saying). Let's just kind of update a few things first:
–After two years away, Nason HAS FINALLY RETURNED BACK to Mannnnnchessster and in a prime location right downtown and stumbling distance from bars and stumbling distance from work (hey, some of us like a shot of Jack Daniels in the AM instead of coffee). I've always wanted to live right in the thick of things and given my worsening mental state out in Allenstown, it was time to hit the bricks. I just hit a wall in all aspects of my life and just needed a refresher and thankfully, I found it. It's a pretty decent 1-bedroom with a porch full of spiders, a next-door neighbor that I've never met and the opportunity for a fresh start. As fresh as I could expect, anyway. Let's just say this is a much better situation and that the door is always open for visitors and even some dry storage needs (inside joke).
–I'm still with the Monarchs, now promoted to Director of Ticket Sales and Market Development. No, I don't get games off now and it will still be a lot of long hours during the winter. But I now get to take some trips to other cities to observe their product and see how it can apply to our own. Sometime last year, I became interested in the ad/creative agency world and I did some informational interviews this summer with firms to see if that was even a possibility. While I didn't get completely dissuaded, I realize that I need some more experience in order to really make the leap. As a result, I discussed this all with the team higher-ups and instead of shutting the door on me, they opened up some new possibilities including the afore-mentioned trips, more say and input on creative design and taking over responsibility on our website which just got added on to the pile last week. It seems that every year, I always say, "This is going to be the last year…this is it" and it never happens. Why? Because the team continues to work with me and help me shape my future. So despite the stress and missing out on functions (the Brewfest date is killing me to miss), it's still aiiight to like what you do.
Unless this law school thing happens. (Did I just say that?)
–Yeah, no girlfriend. It was a drrrrrrrrrryyyy summer. I suck.
Other noteable items:
–The Atlanta Trip. More details on this next week. Great time, despite The Worst 20 Minutes Ever. Again, the full disclosure (somewhat) in seven days.
–The Chicago Trip. Myself and three other guys headed out to the Windy City for two of the historic Sox/Cubs games in June. Not too many shenanigans, but I'll throw in some details soon.
–The Outer Banks voyage. Eight days. One beach. Plenty of booze. Capital G. Two 16 (or 14) year olds. W.O.W.
–Milleystock. Yeah, like a whole blog wouldn't be devoted to this. For a taste before the storm of words, peep out www.milleystock.com.
Again, I'll be writing a lot more on this over the next few weeks but consider this my re-entry back into Pocket Aces. You asked for it…you got it!
thanks for reading,
p.s. www.nasonnation.com is coming. Patience is a virtue.