Inside View from Ireland

Tipperary Institute's first graduation

HUNDREDS OF WELL-WISHERS crammed into the conference centre of Tipperary Institute (TI) to congratulate 32 degree graduates from the business, computing and rural development departments. This marked the first college degree graduation programme in the history of Tipperary Institute and ranks as one of the leading indicators of the Irish government's intention to spur regional development through the continued funding of meaningful third level programmes.

I watched Sarah Egan proudly accept Tipperary Institute's first degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Rural Development. She joined 23 other students who received National Diplomas in Sustainable Rural Development or BAs in Rural Develoment on the day, presented by Padraig Culbert, the CEO of TI.

Seamus Purseil, the chief executive of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, formally conferred a host of awards. In his remarks, he recalled how he has watched the staff of TI develop an idea from the ground up.

More stupid recording industry

TWO OF MY DAILY reads point the stupid finger at same-old same-old recording industry behaviour. Both Seth Godin and Joi Ito note the record industry sued a little old lady named Sarah Ward. She's not a pirate. She doesn't download music. The RIAA dropped the suit but don't sound apologetic. Godin wonders why doesn't the RIAA say, "This is terrific! She's an honest citizen and we're proud of her. We made a mistake and we apologize. We're sending Ms. Ward a hundred CDs to apologize for bothering her. If there are any other cases like this one, we'll drop them immediately." That kind of reaction would get me back into buying CDs again.

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Seth Godin -- "Liars, cheats and fools"
Joi Ito -- "Record Industry sues first, thinks later, no apologies"

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It's a Boybee

ONE OF THE SWEETEST things about our interconnected world is learning about people you may never meet face-to-face. I'm talking about robyn who writes in one of the liveliest styles of anyone on the Web. I flew needle-nosed T-38 jets over robyn's home in Enid (Oklahoma USA) 20 years ago but the first time I knew my path intersected hers was when I spotted Gwen Stefani as a skin on her blog. That was a few years ago and ever since then I've been a casual reader of robyn's stuff and a shadow advocate of her campaign against breast cancer. All those things pale in comparison to robyn's most exciting news--that she and Todd will have a baby boy in 2004. I wonder if he will have red hair too? I wonder whether she will deliver sooner than Elaine Maher, who expects to have the first Maher child of the new year.

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robyn pollman -- "it's a boy!" in the money shot.

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Cautionary tale about USB hubs

SILICON REPUBLIC -- Dick O'Brien had a look at Belkin's USB hub this week but it's not evident that he bashed around files connected through the USB hub. I carefully use USB hub connections between my main WIndows laptop and removeable card readers. On several occasions, the files have become jumbled on the removeable media. I have chalked this up to problems with Windows virtual drivers, compounded by the USB hub. Because I cannot afford to lose original megapixel image files, I no longer use USB hubs to transfer data files heavier than 10MB.

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Silicon Republic -- Multi-port USB hub
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Busy in the back

UNDERWAY -- Because I have an unsustainable teaching load with my online and classroom schedule, my blogging side is slipping. I've actually blogged the same number of hours this week but that might not be obvious on the front page of Irish Typepad but the back side shows a lot of development in terms of photos, new online learning facilities, and electronic copies of five different courses I am teaching across three academic years. That translates into 20 classroom contact hours each week. Add the class prep time, assessment and feedback and my weekly workload balloons above 60 work hours. I am not complaining about the work in the back, but doing all that preparation, delivery and assessment means there's less time for blogging on the front page.

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Sent mail2blog passing through Kilamery while heading towards Tipperary Institute shortly after sunrise.
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Technorati getinfo

TECHNORATI -- Dave Sifry has added the getinfo API to Technorati. It culls information that a blogger has made available about themselves, like their FOAF file, LOAF file or their GeoURL. If you have claimed your blog with Technorati, this is a verifiable way to link your Technorati ID with your blog.

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Sifry's Alerts -- "New Technorati Calls"
Joi Ito -- "Technorati getinfo"
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Analysing images in Media Studies

CLONMEL -- if you really look at advertising images, you are sure to notice they are framed in ways to optimise their message. our lecture today is about analysing images. some of the topics include advertising images and photojournalism. should be an interesting lecture.

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Sent mail2blog by Sharon Fitzgerald using Nokia Communicator O2 TypePad services during an Open Media Studies Module.
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Getting online with Media Studies

CLONMEL -- We are doing a Media Studies course and learning the basics. Notes have been handed out about OED on media. It will be an interesting lecture today (hopefully).

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Sent mail2blog by Eddie Whelan using Nokia Communicator O2 TypePad service.
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Getting started with PR classes

CLONMEL -- I have just started my third year in Tipperary Institute's mutimedia diploma programme. The biggest thing I have accomplished thus far is not getting a hangover!

It's the first time I have used a tiny keyboard to write directly to the Web--no HTML, no FTP. I just type it and send it to the TypePad sever.

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Moblogged by Lynda McCarra as mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 TypePad services.
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Blogging from Effective Public Relations course

CLONMEL -- We will Learn strategic skills that are needed to assist an organisation in its communication with key stakeholders.

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Sent mail2blog by Martin Keane using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
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