They Did Stop the Rain

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WOMAD is an extraordinary event. It is not just a weekend of music from around the planet, but a place and time of an underlying sentiment of peace and goodwill between all cultures. Palestinians and Israelis on stage playing music together. Vusi Mahlasela thanking Australians for their support of black Africa during the apartheid years. Africans and Australian Aborigines sharing the same stage for the sunset all stars jam Sunday night. (The ney - “the spirit of the Middle East’ joined with the digeridoo “the spirit of Australia” – to open this remarkable mélange of ‘sounds of the planet’.)

As I drove there on Friday I felt an intense feeling of anticipation, and I remembered why. To commemorate the 10th Womadelaide a few years ago Rip it Up editor, Robert Dunstan once wrote something like, “as I stood among the Moreton Bay fig trees with the sun going down listening to Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan I found myself thinking ‘I have never been happier’”. I have felt that more than once at WOMAD. And it is taken me into the depths of sadness at times too. Gazing upon a tall African man dressed in a full length blue robe playing the haunting melodies of the ancient Kora simply stirs the soul. And it can take you up or down. Yesterday I found myself crying tears of existence. Not because I was particularly happy or sad. I was just moved by it all. By the beauty. By the mistakes we’ve all made. By the fact that we’re all still here and enjoying our music together. When Richie Havens took the stage everyone there who could remember went back to Woodstock and their youth. To times so long ago when life was so exhilarating. And it still is. Many have gone and many remain. It's a very emotional experience to see people from all over the planet celebrating what we have in common, rather than focus on our differences.

The Music

There were great moments, with maybe the workshop with Michael McGoldrick from Capercaillie the hightlight. Yes, there were tears. And I realized at heart I’m a Celt. I sat looking up at the Australian trees, and it was as if a collective Celtic soul from far across the sea whence this wonderful music came was asking me ‘how did I get here’? It felt like a yearning to go home to the land of my ancestors. Vusi Mahlasela and Naziha Azzouz with the Adel Salameh Trio were the best voices of the weekend, and as I’m always a sucker for reggae, I loved Alpha Blondie and the Solar System. The only music that always makes me move. For local talent the Irish Phillipino Aboriginal family band, the Pigrams, was a lovely surprise. (Full program.)

If a WOMAD concert ever comes to your neighbourhood, go. Enjoy the sounds of the planet, and listen to the murmurs of your soul.

Who'll Stop the Rain?

WOMAD is here!

Mobile Blogging (Moblogging): from anywhere on the planet to the Net

Port Post Check

Did this earlier in the year, but just need to know if the firewall merchants have strengthened their defences. Can I post from the Port campus? If this works I might see if I can post a phone blog from here as well.

Audio Blogging by Phone to the US

Very cool. It works. I tried the audioblogger service that comes free with Blogger and it's great. Especially if you're in North America. I had to call a US number from here in Australia so there's a cost involved, but I got straight through, spoke my message, and it appeared here below seconds later! Astounding! I know hundreds of people do it every day, but this stuff still blows me away. If I was travelling in the US this would be especially useful. Now dear Blogger people, how about some international numbers for this same excellent service? One in each continent would be good for a start.

Voice in Blended Learning Environments - Aiden's Class

Three minutes of comment on the pleasure of being a guest speaker for Aiden Yeh's language and culture class today.


(If you listen to the recording of this session make sure you crank up the volume when the students are speaking (it is audible), then turn it way down again when I'm talking!)

Earth Lights

Earth Lights
Posted by: michaelc.

A wonderful and now famous photo! (Just experimenting with Buzznet to see how it coordinates with Blogger.)

emma_farewell

Emma's Farewell
Originally uploaded by mikecogh.

Today began with me being quite late for an information session on Reframing the Future project funding. The traffic on Grange Rd on the way into town was the heaviest I've ever seen it. I've no idea why. But one of the attractions of this session was the venue - Ayres House, a famous heritage listed landmark in Adelaide.

Next stop was a farewell lunch for Emma (pictured at the end of the table). Emma has been our wonderful Janison helpdesk person for the last year, and she is taking time off to have a baby. We'll all miss her helpful manner and expertise.

I spent the rest of the working day in at Adelaide TAFE making phone calls and planning professional development workshops for later in the term.

Tomorrow it's down to Football Pk for another round of funding information sessions - this time for LearnScope. Football Pk (otherwise known as AAMI stadium) is better known as Adelaide's premier venue for AFL football games, but behind the scenes it has surprisingly good conference and function facilities.

Prodigal Son Returns

joti_home
Originally uploaded by mikecogh.

Well not quite prodigal. Joti is home again after lots of travelling and it's great to have him back. :)

Digital Storytelling Workshop - comments

(audio comment about 3 minutes long)

Carole McCulloch
Noarlunga TAFE Campus
Example of digital story in a blog
Another digital story made with Photo Story

Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling
Point of view
Dramatic question
Emotional content
Gift of voice
Power of sound track
Economy
Pacing

The Weekend

Presentation on Audioblogging (in LearningTimes)
Janet McMillan
Sunday Lunch Venue
Alison

Trial with audioblog.com

As you can hear, the first message I recorded with this service was cut short. Not a very auspicious beginnning. I'll let you know how effective their support department is in sorting out the problem!

Postscript: someone from audioblog.com has been in touch and just my luck - they've never seen this problem before. They're working on a solution. I'll report back when and if they provide one.

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Some weeks later: bummer. The audioblog.com people can't duplicate or solve my problem so we've agreed to cancel my subscription and refund my money. Sad. It looked like a great and affordable tool. At least their help staff were very pleasant to deal with - responsive and understanding. The problem has to be a software conflict I reckon. Never mind. Time to move on!

New Userplane Sample - evonline 2005 Blogging Workshop

A/V Blog
by Userplane

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It's great of Userplane to make this tool available for free trial. It is in beta version and you can sign up for ten free posts here. I don't know how much it costs after that because it's one of those 'price on application' arrangements - not always a good sign - but it would have to be better than the freebie for me to make regular use of it. It's slow to process your video when you save it, and buffering times are longer than usual for videos of equivalent length when you try and play it from your blog.

Still, it is easy to get it into your blog. Once you have saved your video, userplane gives you the code to paste into your blog. Easy. Instant Audio works the same way. I haven't tried their video (about $30/month) but their audio is excellent.

Visit to Melbourne

bourke_st
Originally uploaded by mikecogh.

I know this is a blog about Adelaide etc, but occasionally Adelaide people go across to our nearest big city - Melbourne!

How to Embed Audio in a Blog

I've been doing it in various ways - one with the help of instantaudio.com, but that's not free. Another way is to record the sound file using your own pc (using something like Audacity), saving it as an mp3 file, and then uploading it to a server somewhere.

Now, if you go to VIEW > SOURCE, or PAGE SOURCE in the menu at the top of your browser you can see the code for this page. Look for the bit of code that starts with 'embed'. Cut and paste that bit of code into your blog, and change the URL so that it points to the sound file that you have uploaded, and you should see your sound file embedded in your page.
Good luck!

Birthdays, Glenelg, Garden and Blogging

I’ve had a lovely day today. It began with breakfast at the Stamford Grand Hotel at Glenelg for my Mum who turned 90 a few weeks ago, and my brother Damien. Mum thoroughly enjoyed herself and announced that she’d like to live in the hotel! She did actually live at Glenelg many years ago and has a real soft spot for the place. So did I once but IMHO Glenelg has been ruined by overdevelopment. Quite a sobering experience after our recent visits to Fremantle in the West where they have capitalized on existing architecture and history rather than bulldoze it all in favour of more modern ‘development.’ Quite sad really.

The rest of the day was spent in the garden in gentle 24 degree sunshine. We’re having very cool weather for February, typically the hottest month of the year around here with temps around 30 or more. And am now finishing the day with a blog post or two with backgound music from Morocco provided by the Rough Guide series.

The Garden in Quicktime

This movie was made with a Nikon digital camera and is in Quicktime or .mov format. The clicking sound you can hear is an annoying feature of movies made with this camera, but I have a hunch you can turn off that sound. I just don't know how to. If you want to see more pix of my garden start here.

Another Day.....

Another day in an Adelaide life. I did something rare for me. I got up early and went for a walk along Tennyson Beach before breakfast. It was beautiful. Just a few early morning walkers and a few dogs to share the sand and views with. Spent much of the morning at my desk planning the next two weeks work, before going to Port Adelaide TAFE to do some admin and see who’s back from holidays. Not many as yet.

Back to my desk for the afternoon writing some introductory notes for distance students who may choose to use the Talking Communities virtual classroom this semester for linking in to on campus lectures. Visited a local shopping centre in the afternoon after that – went to the post office and then bought a couple of lovely plants – Cordyline (one of the attractive tricolour variety), and Scaevola.

So nothing startling. Just another pleasant summer’s day as I ease into the working year.

Myponga - and the road home

sellicks2
Originally uploaded by mikecogh.

Here's an example of using a photo and an audio blog in tandem.

A Day at Myponga

reservoir_view2
Originally uploaded by mikecogh.

Spent a delightfully tranquil afternoon gazing out over Myponga Reservoir from the verandah at the back of Michelle and Rob's. All was right in the world!

PS Am posting this in flickr.com to see if text and photo arrive at Blogger.)