Lurkers

Posted on 3rd August 2018 by NomadWarMachine

Lurker

I lurk

There, I’ve said it out loud. There are times that, for various reasons, I read conversations and watch what is going on without visibly participating. Does that make me a bad person, or is my behaviour an entirely rational response to our busy modern world? Do I need to ‘fess up and join in, or is it socially acceptable nowadays for me to passively consume what others create? These, and other questions, were ones that I posed for a recent LTHEChat.

Lurking gets a lot of bad press. Personally, as I said in the twitter chat, and as I’ve explained in more detail in a recent paper written with some friends, my preferred term is Legitimate Peripheral Participation – a phrase we take from Lave and Wenger. But I still use lurking as a shorthand for that phrase, as it doesn’t trip off the tongue easily!

So  what do you think? Is lurking a shady thing to do? I don’t think so.

Posted in Learning, MOOC, Online learning, Peer interaction, PhD, Teaching, University | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Turn a flower into a bird

Posted on 29th July 2018 by NomadWarMachine

Daffodil

A great daily create today, imo (disclaimer: I submitted the idea). I took a photo of a daffodil that I took a couple of months ago and put it through an online app that turns photos into drawings, and messed around for a few minutes till I had an outline I liked.

Then I printed it out and got out my pencil case. I could already see the makings of a beak and a scruffy body, and this is what appeared.

Scruff

Posted in DailyCreate, DS106, Flowers, Photos | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Summer doodles, and more

Posted on 1st July 2018 by NomadWarMachine

Hello all – how’s July for you so far? Here in Glasgow it’s hot, and I am hiding in my study looking out over our garden with berries ripening, potato plants thriving- so much promise, so much sun.

But, luckily, as I hide in my cool study, I have plenty to occupy me. Because this is July, and CLMooc has a month of creativity to inspire me Come and join us, if you will, as we share pictures and poems with each other before joining up with a wider community from the middle of July.

All are welcome. I hope to see you there. If you like, I’ll also send you a postcard.

Posted in #CLMOOC, DailyCreate, Gifting, Love, Peer interaction, postcards, Scotland | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Be the Pink Panther

Posted on 24th June 2018 by NomadWarMachine

Today’s Daily Create  brought to mind a quote from Deleuze and Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus:

Write to the nth power, the n – 1 power, write with slogans: Make rhizomes, not roots, never plant! Don’t sow, grow offshoots! Don’t be one or multiple, be multiplicities! Run lines, never plot a point! Speed turns the point into a line! Be quick, even when standing still! Line of chance, line  of hips, line of flight. Don’t bring out the General in you! Don’t have just ideas, just have an idea (Godard). Have short-term ideas. Make maps, not photos or drawings. Be the Pink Panther and your loves will be like the wasp and the orchid, the cat and the baboon. ATP p. 24-5

It’s all about heterogeneity and rhizomes, of course – about working outside the lines, about not conforming to state control. It’s the essence of DS106 and CLMooc, for me. So here’s a gif for today:

Posted in D&G, DailyCreate, DS106, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Socks

Posted on 16th June 2018 by NomadWarMachine

I like knitting socks. I’ve got a whole drawer full of pairs I’ve made for myself, from plain ribbed ones to fancy designs,  and most of my family own at least one pair I’ve made for them. I’ve got masses of yarn, in a rainbow of colours, and all I need is somebody who needs socks.

So that’s where you come in. If you’d like me to knit you a pair of socks, all you need to do is design a pair and send me the design, or tell me what colours you’d like (see last bullet point)

A few things before you start:

  • Socks are knitted in the round. Generally there will be 64 stitches per row for a woman’s sock, and 72 for a man’s.
  • Socks can, of course, be any length. My default is 100 rows for the leg, which is about 8 inches.
  • Knitted stitches are wider than they are tall – the ratio is about 4 stitches to measure the same as 5 rows (so 28 stitches knitted over 35 rows would make a 4 inch square, for example). Knitting chart paper is easy to find online. Here’s some.
  • Patterns can repeat around the sock – multiples of 8 are very common.
  • There can be different patterns on the same sock.
  • Patterns with only 1 or 2 colours per row are nicest to knit (I have 2 hands, and can hold 1 colour in each).
  • If you’d prefer plain socks, or stripy ones, that’s also fine – just tell me which colour (s) you’d like.

So – over to you. This is an open offer – I am a knitter, so whenever I get a request I add it to my queue.

Posted in #CLMOOC, DS106, Gifting, knitting | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

If trees could talk

Posted on 12th June 2018 by NomadWarMachine

I walk past this tree every day on the way to my office.

In the early morning the quad is quiet, with maybe a crow hopping across the grass or a cleaner scurrying about between the buildings.

Later in the day it is busier – students eating lunch on sunny days, academics sitting on benches chatting, tourists marveling in the architecture and taking photos of each other.

What sights has this tree seen? What happy memories do people hold of being in this place? Graduations, weddings, exams, meetings. School children on day trips, alumni back for nostalgic visits, those that work here – like me – wandering out to catch our breath and pause for a moment.

 

 

Posted in DailyCreate, DS106, Photos, Scotland, University | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Daily Create 2018 Challenge

Posted on 10th June 2018 by NomadWarMachine

My June 2018 30-Day The Daily Create Challenge Art

For the second year running I am taking part in the I am Talky Tina Certification in Creatorist Badge, so this page is to collect my daily Creates together and make sure I get my badge. (I am excited to find out that I might get my 2017 badge soon!)

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Clematis

Posted on 2nd June 2018 by NomadWarMachine

Clematis

I cannot improve

‘pon the glory of these blooms

Shining in the sun

Posted in #CLMOOC, DailyCreate, DS106, Flowers, Garden, Photos, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Postcard doodles

Posted on 31st May 2018 by NomadWarMachine


It’s been a busy month, and inevitably I’ve not done everything I planned to. But one thing that I have done over the last couple of weeks is to start doing my daily doodles on postcards. Of course, because I sometimes find times to doodle at work and other times at home, I only have half my stack here. But here’s some of the ones I like from this month – now safely stashed away to send in the future.

Posted in #CLMOOC, postcards | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Academibot

Posted on 17th May 2018 by NomadWarMachine

Today’s Daily Create was inspired by a TED talk I watched the other day.

Here’s my take on a useful robot 🙂

*Disclaimer – my job is really not this bad

Posted in Academia, DailyCreate, DS106, Teaching, University | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment