Bro's browsings

Prejudice and preconceptions

I was invited to write a piece of social workand the media is the wake of the BBC series Protecting Our Children. 

While I think the programmes have done some good, it doesn't mean social work's problems are solved.

You can read my piece here.

Prejudice and preconceptions

I was invited to write a piece of social workand the media is the wake of the BBC series Protecting Our Children. 

While I think the programmes have done some good, it doesn't mean social work's problems are solved.

You can read my piece here.

Turning hobbies into new career paths

One of the exercises I'm undertaking at the moment to focus my job/freelance work search is to identify what skills I really enjoy using and how I might use those.

Apart from my publishing, online and project skills I happen to be a very able knitter who already occasionally teaches and produces samples for designers. And it seems I have found a way to combine this with my editing experience.

This week I've been on a course to learn the art of technical editing for knitting patterns which is, I have to say, very technical combining an understanding of the craft and of garment construction with attention to detail, an understanding of the target audience and maths - square roots for example are important.

Who knows what proportion of my future employment will come from this but isn't it everyone's goal to have work that comes from something they truly enjoy?

A blog revival

Bro's Browsings has been more of an echoing black hole because of work blogs, other personal blogs, twitter and life in general.

Then, in December, I was made redundant as the result of a restructure at work.

This in turn has lead me to rethink my work life balance, to find more time for my creative activities and to decide that for the moment the least I would like a break from being an editor. Well certainly from certain aspects of being an editor, such as being the "face" of an information brand.

On the other hand I want to use my change management skills, my content strategy skills, to find some new challenges to offer creative solutions for and to write in a less constrained way (on some personal projects).

So at the moment life it is about taking a big breath and thinking about what is important to me, what I'm good at and choosing the right new directions.

And so I've revised this blog to chronical some of my thinking and experiences.

And the picture. Well one fixed point for me is being an Olympic volunteer - I've already worked on the fencing test event. And like Locog I'm building for a great 2012.

 

 

The atheists, the fundamentalists and the case of the question mark

It seems when it comes to anti-atheist protests the matter of grammar may not matter to some if the experience of an atheist group in Florida are anything to go by.

Protestors object to an atheist billboard because they say it tells people: "Don't believe in God."

If you look at the picture in the news report  you'll see what it actually says is:

"Don't believe in God?
You are not alone!"

That little question mark makes all the difference.

Perhaps "grammar fundamentalists" should take to the Florida streets too.

Government advertising - how to spot a recession

I noticed something on the bus today. 

First, the pre-roll ad on the Guardian podcast I'd downloaded was for jobs at Barnet Council in London.  

Then looking about I realised something curious, all the ads I could see inside the bus were funded with government money. You could become a foster parent with Islington Council. Camden Council has a service for those seeking British citizenship. Or you could find a public sector job or support into work through direct.gov.uk.

No estate agents, no investment opportunities or  ring tone subscriptions.

It seems the recession really is biting.

Jacqui Smith's porn scandal and idiot family members

I can't help feeling a bit sorry for Jacqui Smith over the calls for her resignation following the porn movie expense claim fiasco - and not just because of our bizarre lookylikey contection.
Quite frankly, she would expect any assistant she employed to complete her expense claim correctly - we can't expect the Home Secretary to micromanage her office as well as the police and judiciary. She would also expect her husband to at least remember he had paid for porn on a particular service, regardless of whether or not she knew he was watching adult movies.
But sadly she apprears to employ and be married to someone who, at least in this case, falls into the category of "eejit" - to use the technical Irish term.
A call for Smith's resignation is harsh - if every politician with an embarrassing family member was to resign we'd be having a general election next week and a few famous faces such as Mrs T wouldn't have survived.

Ada Lovelace Day

Today is the day when all over the world people will be using their blogs to write about women in technology - tech heroines.

Inspired by Ada Lovelace who wrote the first computer programme the idea has snowballed over recent months and started a debate about women in technology. Ada is an example of what I think many women have brought to high tech developments, the practical application of those developments.

Some years ago I wrote a regular column as part of my job as a journalist on Electronics Times. While colleagues wrote about developments in chip design and so forth, mine was more about where tech might take us, applications I'd like to see - I talked about the potential for mobile apps, e-payments and so on. Often blue skies off the top of my head, but some times they were predictive such as the one asking why all laptops had to be square and grey well before Apple launched its first laptops. But to some my stuff was fluffy - but these days some of it would be regarded as to do with monetization.

The point is that in looking for our tech heroines we must think about the ideas people, the business developers as well as the engineers and the coding ninjas.

Meanwhile I will add a mention for one of my favourites: the glamorous Hedy Lamar who managed to combine Hollywood stardom with research into frequency switching and missile guidance. How many of us could do that.

Never without my phone?

A very few years ago I wrote a column for Electronics Times about seeing someone using a mobile phone on a ski lift. This was an extraordinary idea - yes a phone was small enough to fit  in a ski jacket but why would you carry something so expensive when doing something like skiing? 

These days one of the firsts tasks on ski trip is the synchronise phones moment - the bit where you check everyone has everyone else's numbers. 

This year things moved on and tweeting ski updates and weather reports featured in my and many of my friends' snowy activities.

But I want more. I was in Austria this year where we struggled initially with the ski maps being much more used to the French piste marking system. This lead to one of my bath-born ideas (see previous browsings), could I have piste maps on my phone with GPS indicating my position and useful items such as lunch options.

Luckily someone else has been musing on the same problem and so there is SatSki. What impressed me was some of the ideas around this technology, including the idea that when you are near mountain restaurants you might be 'pushed' info on offers or that day's specials by text.

This is the type of idea that has been discussed for years but this is a great real-life application. Now we should be thinking were else it can be applied.

Meanwhile, this year's big ticket item of new kit was an orthopedic knee brace to allow me to still enjoy the slopes, but I think next season it will be something a lot funkier and high tech.

Bath time for Bronagh

Am I the only person that has their best ideas in the bath? I'm always having ideas for columns, articles and blog posts or editorial developments. I become much clearer about presentations or other public speaking.

Only one problem, I haven't found a successful answer for recording these ideas - notebooks dropped in the water, wet hands not mixing well with Dictaphones, etc.

And so, basking among the bubbles I came up with my latest idea. What I actually need is a bluetooth mic mounted somewhere over the bath and functional voice recognition software on the laptop safely out of splash range. 

Of course there is the issue of the VR software and what it will make of water noises - well, that and the possibility I'm over-engineering the problem.

I'll let you know how I get on.