Community Media - Interactive World

In all walks of life collaboration is very fashionable: as a practice, a theory, or a goal. But do we ever really think through the dangers or disadvantages of collaboration? If it really works, why does it so often encounter cultures of resistance ? If we are to believe its main exponents and its evangelistic supporters collaboration unlocks creativity; improves inclusion; reduces costs; increases efficiency; delivers more effective and responsive services. It sounds like a win-win scenario. Collaboration is a fashionable way of doing business and it is the rallying cry for governments and public service reformers. Being more networked, connected, co-operative, joined up… the collaboration industry is the dominant mode of discourse in the participatory world of Web 2.0. In a circular motion, new media and social media is built upon - and leads to - more collaboration. Is collaboration sometimes a downward spiral of depreciating values? Or sometimes a virtuous cycle of ...

This is a warm-up exercise. Test your word power! How many words start with "T" and finish with "R" ? (You can find the answers here ) Perhaps a wide vocabulary is one part of intelligence? Intelligence takes many forms: understanding and applying rules, ability to generate patterns, lateral thinking, inter-personal, intra-personal etc. Granted: word skills are certainly not a test of emotional stability or spiritual values or ethical awareness. Use this exercise in pairs — as a group exercise — for the best results. Ideally use this game as a warm-up exercise at the start of a class. You can use a whiteboard, or just practise as an oral/aural activity. It can be time-limited. Try 1, 3, 10 or 15 minutes, and compare results. Actually, it's most effective as a collaborative social media game that might help to bring less frequently used words to the surface. When I posted this verbal mind-game on Facebook it went viral, with l...

I was delighted to read that Maria Balshaw has been appointed as the new director of the UK's most famous art galleries: the Tate . I had the pleasure of working alongside Dr Maria Balshaw at “Nene” or “University College” in the late 1990s, which was  an immensely exciting time to be a Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies.  The undergraduate course was very ambitious in terms of its academic complexity and its diversity of ideas about the relationship between Theory, the Arts, and Society.  As collaborators in an innovative institution we felt liberated to take risks and to embrace creative challenges within the “Combined Honours” degree programme. At the same time, tutors such as Maria played an influential personal and academic support role with students who were sometimes surprised to find that they had been fortunate to have been awarded an opportunity to study for a degree.  As a tutor, Maria inspired students to have the co...