EBURY -- Annabel Karmel writes a helpful book of Favourite Family Recipes that extend the thoughts aired by Jamie Oliver's school lunches. Karmel cites "brain boosters" and "brain drainers" when suggesting which foods to use and which to avoid feeding school children.
YAHOO -- Because it's a free and easy way to integrate content, we are using Yahoo 360◦ to complement the learning objectives of Media Writing, a first year course on the multimedia degree programme in Tipperary Institute. Students and members of the Irishblogs group are reporting that it takes no more than 10 minutes to set up a Yahoo! identity and then to acquire a simple URL for an easy-to-find blog. The important thing to realise is that most students don't see it as blogging; for them, Yahoo 360◦ is an online note-taker that doubles as a place to share revision notes. The second most important thing to realise that when dealing with a Border Manager that controls the inbound flow of email, you cannot offer more than a dozen invitations to people using the campus mail system. A high volume of invitations shows up as spam and gets blocked.
(Editor -- We asked for some feedback from Transition Year students concerning the journey they take every morning to attend the Schoolworks Programme at Tipperary Institute. Their moblogged thoughts and comments to this post reminds readers what it's like to endure consecutive days of minibus rides.)
THURLES -- The bus journey from County Offaly to Thurles in County Tipperary takes us an hour and a half, we have to get up early and the roads are bumpy, the bus is small and cramped and we don't get a break.
Sent mail2blog using Nokia 9500 Communicator by Siobhan Scarlett.
BLINK -- Sometimes it helps to try the ideas that authors write about because if they work for you, they must be worthwhile for a lot of other people as well. We test Malcolm Gladwell's theories about half-slicing moments of observation by dissecting Blink [ISBN 0316172324] with 18 teenagers. The idea is to see whether Blink survives the attention span of a well-disciplined Irish Transition Year student. If Gladwell passes the half-slice test, the book must be good. If he cannot hold the attention of at least 10 of the group, we don't order the hard cover for the college library.
INDEPENDENT -- Tom Murphy offers sound advice to bloggers in a column carried inside the "Jobs & Careers" insert to the Irish Independent.
Murphy isn't going to put himself in the line of fire with the contents of his blog. "Where possible I avoid talking about my employers' business .... (A)t no point would I openly critique my employer. I just wouldn't do it."
Murphy himself has 300-400 readers a day. "They'd be a mix of marketing, PR people, journalists and analysts. It's a wide mix."
Elaine Larkin -- "On being a blogger" in the Irish Independent, 17 February 2005.
Sent mail2blog using Nokia 9500 O2 Typepad service.
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CLONMEL -- Comments by Gerry Fogarty on the Media Writing course:
Signers Koffer is a provocative work as he uses unconventional and unusual methods in his endeavours. He arouses a significiant response whether in support or in opposition. He provokes interest while also instigating disapproval, most of the criticism leveled by the Media Writing class was that Jackass was better.
Send mail2blog using Nokia 9500 Communicator by Gerry Fogarty on the Media Writing course.
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CLONMEL -- We have Roman Signer's "Koffer" with us in our Media Writing class and we plan to explore Signer by responding to several statements and by answering several questions.
IRISH TIMES -- One of the set pieces of Irish life is the apology for inconvenience caused. The editor of The Irish Times reinforces this precept by issuing an apology for remarks made by Kevin Myers in a column written about unmarried mothers.
CLONMEL -- From Corey Minagh:
We pulled apart "American Idiot" by Green Day during our Media Writing Class. There are some things worth noting about the album and its presentation. The whole concept/idea of the album is for an angry group of young Americans to air their views against the "American Idiot" who is controlling their nation. The lyrics, are straight from the heart and have done more than influence the "red neck agenda" which is Bush. But it is perhaps the art work and more so the cover of a heart shaped grenade having the blood squeezed out of it, clearly states what Bush is doing to what is such a powerful nation. They want him out, and express this through their music.
MW131 -- Handout for examining "Green Day" in class.
Bonus Link: Gavin Sheridan's "US-EU Relations"
Tipperary Institute Media Writing is supported by Moodle.
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Ian Landsman shares his experience of working with Mike Rhode, graphic designer who created a new business logo for his company UserScape and his product HelpSpot. He documents each step of the process from the initial drawings by hand to the selection of the final colours. Some of the ideas that bubbled up include “text as logo”, a helping hand, a group of users, small group of users, and some abstract users/symbols based on an @ sign.
