does too much information really help?

I had some time today to get together an explanation of a new qualification that will be offered this time next year. it is all very exciting. but I have realised that the way in which I have started to gather, process and present information (over the last few years) is incredibly long winded and counter productive.

instead of reading something, hopefully understanding it, quietly thinking about it for a while then writing the presentation testing it then making any changes or additions then either presenting it or passing it on to some-one else to to it in which ever format suits the idea best. lately more especially today I have found myself reading and scanning through many different .pdf files websites, looking at other opinions, even 'legally' using sections of official comment to reinforce the work I am trying to champion. so in short spending hours on the internet for no reason.

so today I am in the position of having 40 or 50 pages of information (text) some of it very good, some complete nonsense all to produce a 5-10 max minute presentation. is this the information overload that we have heard of or just a form of laziness. we are so geared to finding stuff from wikipedia (as I have for the overload description), using other people web sites and search engines in the belief that others know better.(they often don't). but I, as many others use the internet as our first port of call for everything even the things were are supposed to be specialists in, not a great idea.

luckily I had an enforced break today (I had to teach!) during that time I was able to consider. by watching the way some students process information only listening to the stuff they need, using the software programmes they think fit the purpose, getting rid of stuff that is superfluous. as well as students who were absolutely stuck with more information than they will every be able to process never mind get into an order. it made me think 'forget the many differing internet opinions/text simply present the information clearly'. shame this seems to be the way I find out the bleedin' obvious!

corny >> predictable

yes I know this picture is corny and even predictable.
so to set the scene I was rushing home to get in take the dog out, change and rush out again to go and collect ben from the child minders. I was late, as I had spent time at work sorting out .pdf files that were part of re-structuring a web site using a more naturally creative way of doing things. the basis of the idea was to save time for the user by making the front end intuitive and useable so that everything they need is on one page, only what they choose is downloaded so making the website very readable and text light.
any-way in my rush, cross with the rain and the sun at the same time I just glanced at the grasses and noticed the tiny droplets of water. I had to take a photo without my proper camera handy I only had my blackberry. the camera on it is ok so I took some pictures, this is just one.
I thought a while the colours and the water made me relax a little, I stopped rushing still got to the child minders in plenty of time to get ben, happier for the tiny break to look at something corny and predictable, oh well that's me then.

france >> the french >> design

really is just a short post today as the pictures will hopefully talk for themselves. recently I was in a well know discount store in our city and I was very tempted to but for £3.99 a printing set that was french designed, (made in china I expect).
it had all the alphabet and most associated symbols and a kind of composing stick to place rubber movable type in order to create your custom made personal or business letter head. self load as far as ink as each time you put in back in its self contained holder it would reload the letters. a bit like the ones you can get in most stationers like the one (left) but its packaged in french. so to my eyes it looked cool.

back to the reason for this post I received a very welcome letter this morning from france nothing that unusual but it was from a place in france that we are planning to visit and stay (with my faamily). I noticed the use of a hand stamp as well as the signature of the camp-site owner.
I really liked and thought I should have bought the £3.99 french printing set it had rubber pictures/graphics as well, I bet if I go back it will have sold out.

I just thought I would share the letter stamp and the post mark as I like that too! in case you are worried we I do not go caravanning! we are taking two tents.

john bull printing set
rubber stamps
french postmarks

busy week > > new challenges

this week seemed to rush by can't believe that it is friday already.
something new I have been asked to write for a monthly magazine that is being launched at the end of the april. so I have to deliver/email my copy by thursday next, I was sort of hinting at it on yesterday's blog but things were confirmed today.
have to say that I am happy to get involved, all being well I will be writing a monthly column, making sure to add my thoughts on surfing, the surf scene in the UK and surfers (of all types). I will be sure to plug the magazine when it comes out provided that they don't cut or over edit me!
I didn't add this site yesterday so it's here today, good surf photos find your wave well worth looking at.









thought I would sneak the magazine logo in to my blog, hopefully it won't get me in to trouble.

back to today, earlier in the week I mentioned meetings and today was a day of meetings and many short conversations. I have no idea why but I found it extremely hard to engage myself in any of them.
not because I didn't think they were worthy, because they where. one faculty meeting was very productive indeed, very interesting, and working towards what I believe in. I couldn't get in to any of it. maybe it was because I am simply too tired.
so think I will get myself off to bed.

too texty >> more images >> surf sites

I have realised the last few blogs have become a bit 'wordy' I don't mean in a precocious way just too much text to get a real feel perhaps?

on the back of some lengthy email conversations I had today with the deputy editor of a soon to be launched extreme sports/lifestyle cornwall based magazine. surfing and surf literature, writing have been foremost in my thoughts. further still I have to think a bit about a surf related proposal on offer?

until then I thought a much better way to end the day was to give you a brief tour around some good surf related websites, using and containing some great images as well as good writing. check their websites for more.

from left to right surfgirl, a1surf, kneeboard surfing uk, and bottom kneeboard surfing usa.

a walk to the shop >> then I noticed the signs

it is funny that I genuinely have no idea what i am going to add to this blog for day to day.
today I was at home with my 8 year old son ben it was a lovely sunny day in cornwall. ben decided it would be nice to go out for a walk in the sun, good idea.
we walked along the road, very near where we live the road I drive out of every working day. strange that you notice different things when you walk, as soon as I saw the first sign a real cast metal sign (top left) that is probably older than me I thought of davidthedesigner he would have approved.
we went to the shop and bought some lunch and ice cream I even had a milk shake as it was buy 1 get 1 free (won't be doing that again) at least ben loved his strawberry milky thing.
we left the shop to be met by the second photo (top right). already i was thinking again of david and also ben of noisy decent graphics.
when we turned into the road we live in another sign greeted us (bottom left) I was amazed that I have driven, sometimes walked by these signs nearly every day and not really noticed them before (& I consider my self visually aware!). at least as I walked towards my home I was reassured that my chimney that I really like (bottom right) I know many in the area don't like delabole slate used in this way and regard it as is ugly, but ugly or not the craftsmen that made it as the craftsmen who made the first sign actually cared. the same can't be said of the other signs.

lazy day >> papers and non-achievement

hardly done anything today, a long (well sort of long) look / read of the newspaper this morning and watched the rugby this afternoon.
so many ideas that I have been thinking of don't as far as design stuff and software stuff have been moved aside by other stuff but they are still in there.
had a nice chat with gabriel today "go with what you will be interested in for two years and remember there will be many boring bits!"

I will have to make some time to get the work stuff done tomorrow.

I have played around with the Firefox browser a bit downloaded/updated some of the new add ons. I like it, really useful stuff (it's cross platform so works as well on Linux, Mac and Windows) oh dear! I am even beginning to a bit too geeky even for me. must remember that it is the design and usability that is important. I will just have to think 'cow gum', to make me get things back it to perspective!

hours in front of computer screens ends in pictures of fins

strange isn't it I have spent so many hours in front of different screens today. testing software, running and evaluating new applications. looking at endless websites, blogs and virtual spaces and in the end I have to find something real to touch and look at and hold it happens to be a surfboard I mentioned a few posts ago when I was talking about the twin fin, this is a quad fish and it's is mine I love the look of it and setting the fins in a formation such as this really does make the board very fast as there is no central drag. it was made in byron bay, australia by ex-world champion david parkes a master when it comes to making surfboards that work.
so rather than write about stuff I have spent the last 12 or so hours looking at I will list some of the good stuff I have seen today + open office 2.1 + russell davies + lindsay.at + chocolate and vodka + my flickr + ma.gnolia.com + firefox2.com + 1-2know +
I won't go in to the 'educational' stuff that I have been trawling through for work as I want to stay awake a little bit longer. don't worry I will save that for another day.

I didn't go to the beach

I didn't go to the beach but ben and the others did, when he came back he had brought me this stone. I thought he had found a TV remote as we find all sorts of stuff washed up. so we made it in to one anyway. he insisted that it had a button for subtitles, coincidence then Robert Adler the co-inventor of the TV remote died at age 93 today. I think it looks like a rune stone or something any way that's about it really. funny it seem I do less the more time I have!

this weeks >> end >> my twitter >> open office

I have been doing a lot of this this week I don't mean creating documents (i do that every week) but making sure every thing is in place, to say the stress has been on would be an understatement. I am sure that others involved will say that I didn't have to do much but it is all about perception. I now have a week to reflect and prepare for the next challenge, it is really odd that the enjoyment of a stressful situation is after it has happened.
I have been testing open-office for the environment I work / teach in and have to say it is pretty good so far, will be testing it more this week but would love to hear from anyone who uses it in a network situation. finally set up a my twitter account, not sure why, it is not like I don't have enough to do! will be out visiting things tomorrow.