surprised that I am surprised >>

I mentioned before this week that I have been having trouble with my phone (a blackberry) in fact it stopped working completely today. and after restoring the operation system as well as trying to diagnose the problems myself with it without any luck. I gave up and called orange knowing that the phone was over 6 months old so I didn't expect much if anything, but after the nice customer service adviser spoke to her supervisor a new blackberry will be delivered by courier in the morning!  I am surprised that I am surprised but I am. I do spend a lot on phone bills and use orange broadband for home, but I didn't expect a good outcome. my crack-berry habit will now continue whether that is a good thing is another story. just thought I would be positive about a mobile phone company for a change. I hope I am not disappointed tomorrow.

.ppt >> projectors and presentation

probably because I work in a room that has a fixed projector coming out of the ceiling (mounted on a piece of polished scaffold pole) connected to a desktop computer that I can set it up and make sure that I have a screen that is in focus, no reverse parallax's in my room. I think I am getting increasingly intolerant of a badly presented anything.

I work in a educational situation where so many building have been adapted, I know that my room in its fifty years has been a sewing room a science lab, and now a room full of computers.
so I have to get round the problems of a strange shaped room and odd acoustics as well as the lure of computers for students to play with and look at web based email working around the network restrictions firewalls. generally playing on line rather than studying, using proxy servers so as not to get caught.

(there is just no need for this!)

it is funny that many people who do not work on computers all the time have a different idea of what is interesting. I am still surprised that a really academic educator will sometimes arrive having spent ages on a Powerpoint and wonder way the students are so bored as soon as the presentation starts, not realising that most of the audience have been using Powerpoint since they were in year 4 (uk) 8 years old.

I am even more surprised when at supposed professional meetings presenters don't take the time to set up equipment to provide the best viewing experience.
I know that there is heaps of stuff on youtube, talking about death by Powerpoint, but I could cope with some of it if only the equipment was set up properly as well as the presenter not reading it out and then giving me a photocopy of it all!

sunshine >> good to see gabes >> a bit like summer

it felt like summer today as we drove across cornwall on a trip to sort out some quite important stuff, we were running late as I had all off a sudden started working on the surfing article this morning (has to be done by the 5th) and carol was waiting for the post.
then over to dhl in north cornwall to pick up a new body glove wetsuit courtesy of surfgirl magazine for carol.
then back down to the city (in devon) for me to sort out my broadband account with orange and pick up a new phone. sorry people but its a blackberry I know probably more than half the people reading this will be waiting for the i-phone (from apple) to reach the uk, but I have to think about the service I use and what I need.
in cornwall if I want to get information from the beach by email I need a phone that I can do that with. I know that blackberry work predominantly with a windows user in mind and the rim technologies are again set to work with microsoft. I got the 8100 so a small phone, and to my eyes at least a nice looking phone, be interesting to see if it is any good?


the indulgence of the day was another visit to mcdonalds for the second time this year, it was my son ben (8) who wanted to go. I was surprised that they accommodated my strange dietary needs, I am vegetarian and don't eat cheese anymore, as you can see from the picture it looks a little odd but it tasted fine, I just can't help fueling the all these american monsters.

then towards evening we went to met gabes another of my sons from his coach journey. he had been on a coach since 9 in the morning and had pretty much seen the whole of the south coast of the uk on route to cornwall. all things considered it was a successful day. that's better much better.

what a day >> designing for mobile communities

what a day, I really have to mention carol, first she left early this morning to drive to an interview, probably the most important in her working life to date. then she is back home after lunch when she received a call to say that she didn't get the job. next she called me very disappointed and I promised to get home as soon as I could which I did.
next early evening they were on the phone again offering her the job, quite rightly in my opinion she excepted, and got a good deal.
and there I was thinking the design/academic world was fickle.

I spent some valuable time on designs for 'the hub' today which is coming together a bit better than last week. I did take some pictures very quickly before I had to get home, but in my haste I had the camera set on macro which obviously meant that whilst the pictures are interesting they do not mean anything, I will try to get more pictures on tomorrow.

whilst looking at more stuff on the internet I again was drawn to cati's blog because I remembered a link to jeff axup who finished his thesis on 'methods of understanding and designing for mobile communities'. it sounds a bit heavy but I took it upon myself to read a large part of it. I am famous for not really liking reading a huge amount of text on screen. so as bad as it is if I have to consider an examination criteria for a new exam course I will be teaching I print it off to read it in a quiet corner somewhere at home, usually because the text has not been specifically designed for reading on screen so doesn't work.

however looking at jeff's thesis or the sections of it that I have considered and read, make it different and easier to see on screen.
the understanding of the first user seems to have been thought through in a way that suits me at least.

It would be silly of me to try and explain all that jeff axup has considered and written about but I will show a couple of screen shots and explain a little of way I think it works. obviously splitting the thesis up for download is nothing new, (the complete thesis can also be downloaded).
I like the way jeff has done this because for me anyway it makes the most important part the subject matter easier an clear to grasp.

I would be very interested to see what you think.