Vodcast seminar: Online Educa Berlin (quick notes)

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Basics
This seminar is presented as part of the Inge de Waard of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp. Vodcasting is essentially video blogging. It is thought of as part of web 2.0. It is essentially a social media tool and (pedagogically) is designed to be part of a feedback loop. Participation is thought to be very important. The scenario for the seminar is at: http://www.ignatiawebs.blogspot.com/

The software used here is mostly freeware. Indeed we are using blogger as the basis of ths seminar so I don't have to create a new blog (blasted alien keyboard).

I'm not on my PC but I am told that we need the latest java applets and the latest windows player and the latest flash media player.

Video compressing software.
Inge believes that the software must include accessibility for mobile devices because many more mobile devices are sold than computers.

File naming should include no spaces and be in title case.

We are looking to add a widget by going to http://creativecommons.org/ to 'hunt down' a licence. We found a list of licences at http://creativecommons.org/international/uk/ . You can use these licences for your http://www.flickr.com/ pictures too. These licences can be embedded (html) in your blog via the template page.

Inge is having trouble finding the javascript widget on the creative commons site so we "will get some video compression going". Ah, sadly this didn't work either as the Windows Movie Maker doesn't work properly.

We access Windows Movie Maker via Programs: Functions on left: audio/video lines at the bottom.
Import video (avi, Mpeg etc)
Drag movie into bottom line
Add video effects and audio effects (click and drag effects). Adding these is fun but the main reason is to compress the file. To do so just 'publish the movie in a different format'. The best setting is 512kbps. The higher the rate the higher the quality but (for instance) developing countries will need a greater compression rate. 2.28gb file is more than halved at 512kbps. In this case the output is Mpeg (2 we think). We could have output as a flash file or a quicktime file. The Mpeg is standard for WMP but quicktime is slightly more cross-platform compliant.

Compressing files also speeds up the opening of your blog (i.e. is slows it down with a full size file)

WMM is complete with the windows operating system. iMovie is also usable.

http://www.blip.tv/ is Inge's broadcast software of choice.

I didn't use blip.tv because I couldn't generate a thumbnail because I couldn't read the German menus on the Paint software.

h264 coding is important for some reason but I have absolutely no idea why.

A feed reader is a bit of software which looks for .xml files. It uses RSS feeds to drag in posts/data from elsewhere.

To make the RSS icon 'a reality on your blog' we have used feedburner to produce a little application which we can paste in using 'add a page element'. That should allow people to 'stay updated on the latest information'. This is of course vitally important in the fast moving world of Holdsworth renovation - I don't think.

Further things to look up are twitter (microblogging); Delicious bookmarks (http://del.icio.us/).

Some colleagues were of the opinion that this web 2.0 social tools pose a threat to copyright and the integrity of examination. Ingrid recommends going to Stephen Downes' presentation.

She recommends a site called http://www.nosignificant.difference.org/ which shows nsd by simply using new media to present old material. The inference is that new media need new pedagogy.

Holdsworth restoration: stage six

I have the stickers I ordered from Lloyds. I now have to make a decision about how to finish the bike.

I have tried matching the colour by mixing enamel paints. It is possible to get close to the colour but the patina of the old bike is hard to match. I wasn't satisfied with the job so I ended up cutting the paint back off again. I think I might leave a decision until after I have the bike functioning.

OU Tour and Touch Rugby

It is shaping up to being a slightly mental sporting week. My weekday lunchtimes include a five miler, a Five km, a seven miler and a touch rugby game - Thursday lunchtime I have to myself.

The five mile run on Monday was horrible. I was not in the mood at all and I ran a "like so immature" race. I ran the first mile too fast, the next three I went backwards slowly and the final mile I got into some kind of rhythm. Oddly Julia tells me that it was a PB (at least in OU competition) and I now lead the 'most improved' table for the OU Tour.

The touch rugby was a more dignified disaster with our team The Knock Ons being defeated by a 'golden try' in extra time. Here is Mark's write up...

Today saw a hard fought war of attrition between two evenly matched teams for the honour of claiming the 'bronze medal' in the OU touch rugby tournament. The Hookers and the Knock-Ons game was scoreless after 16 minutes of high quality rugby-football in challenging conditions.

The deadlock at the final whistle lead to an unprecedented golden try play-off. Eventually the Hookers penetrated the as yet impregnable Knock-Ons defensive lines to surge over for the decisive score.

Holdsworth restoration: stage five

I've turned into exactly the sort of nerd that I had hoped to avoid being. When I finished dinner last night instead of picking up the guitar, reading a book or listening to some music I started messing about with the Holdsworth again. I know that objectively it is just an old bike but somehow working on it seems more appealing than the giants of 19th century fiction.

Last night I took a scalpel to the brake hoods to remove all the rubbery goop. No doubt I’ll find out why it was there and why I shouldn’t have taken it off but I hope you will agree that it looks a whole lot better ‘sans goop’. I also removed and polished the pedal end caps.

Holdsworth restoration: stage four

Things haven't moved on that far in terms of finishing the bike but I have eleven months to do that. Basically I have polished and refitted the bell, changed the tubes and tyres (I'll keep the old ones) and removed the pedal end caps ready for cleaning. Next I intend to clean up all the lugs with cotton buds and have a go at the rest of the paintwork with lighter fluid. Then I'll be in a position to make a decision about the paintwork.

On the research side I've been learning all sorts of things about the bike (and not a little about human nature). Unconsciously I think I expected to find an unambiguous date of manufacture for the bike. I had already mentally stuck a card on it for L'Eroica saying 1939 or 1947. What I have discovered instead is a history of change and an acceptance of the unknowns that come with it.

The frame and forks have their own story. They were probably manufactured before, during, or slightly after World War II. This can be established by the style of the 'lugs' at the joints between tubes and the basic brass badge on the steering tube. The history of the bike is obscured by the clouds of war and the austerity which followed it. It is not clear whether it was a viable vehicle during those years or just an unused component made up later. It certainly differs in over all specification to anything in the 1939 catalogue although the frame is probably a Cyclone pattern of that era.

If it was a fully made up machine during the war it must have been valued enough some ten years later to have had a major overhaul. As I think I have already mentioned the MAFAC centre pull brakes and the Campagnolo Gran Sport mechs date from the period 1951-1954 and were fairly high spec for their time. For a while I thought the 'story' was a cherished war-time bike updated in 1951 as austerity declined but it seems there is another layer.

I had expected to find that the Williams chain set was of early 40s or 50s vintage too but the marks seem to indicate a second rebuild in 1957 (or certainly using 1957 rings and cranks).

Most of these issues will never be resolved but it certainly makes for a more interesting bike. Maybe I should get a life. Do you think?

Gary Nelmes