Slumdogs and Millionaires

BBC's Panorama at 8.30 tonight has a well-worked title, looking at the realities behind life in DUBAI.

There is a report on the programme on the BBC's website, and a more IN DEPTH REPORT with the reporter featured on the programme.

It will be available on BBC iPlayer too.

Should make a useful programme for a range of concepts and contexts...

'a different view'

Got my first sight of the finished hard copies of 'a different view' today, and they are very impressive: a lovely finish, engaging images and the stirring music of the Afro Celt Sound System (see earlier blog post) will accompany the movies.

Just doing some final version of the ANIMOTO that accompanies the launch of the manifesto.

Italian Earthquake(s) earlier this morning

A powerful earthquake has hit central Italy, close to the city of L'Aquila

It has been widely reported: e.g on the BBC NEWS.

To view the earthquake and other recent earthquakes, you could try my new EARTHQUAKE MASHUP discovery.

Casualty figures are rising...

Let's hope for a speedy rescue for those people trapped by the earthquake...

The Italian Red Cross have been ACTIVE IN THE AREA

Donations are being accepted via the link above.

QTVR on Digital Geography

Noel Jenkins has branched out into the production of Quick Time Virtual Panoramas.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring Noel to produce some more of these, which will go onto 360 CITIES, get in touch with Noel via Digital Geography.

Edonis

Want to listen to me rambling on for about an hour about the social web ?

If so, you can hear an interview that David Noble conducted for the EDONIS PROJECT: which is an exploration of how educators are using the "social web".

It is part of David's project, and the podcast is hosted (or can be downloaded if you're really keen...) from his BOORUCH website.

ARSights

AR stands for 'Augmented Reality'

The AR SIGHTS: 

I first saw the idea of 'augmented reality' some 4 years ago, when working at the Royal Geographical Society, and there was a presentation by the Ordnance Survey, who showed the technique in action with some headsets and hand held devices.

Just been having a play with the AR SIGHTS website: a 'Twitter' tip-off....

The idea is that you install an application which connects with Google Earth. Located around the world are some iconic buildings such as the Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Giza and Sydney Opera House. Once installed, a sheet with a special image is downloaded and printed off. This is then placed in front of a web-cam, and instead of the image, a 3D model of the building appears to 'sit' on the sheet of paper, and can be rotated and looked at from various angles.

Thanks to Ollie Bray for the useful demo video on BLIP TV which shows it in action...

Welsh Geographers Ning

A new NING has been started for WELSH GEOGRAPHERS.

Enjoying following Norfolk Coast blog

Nice daily updates on all things Norfolk and coastal...

Sheringham in the Mist

Well, what a dreich day...
Had a sea fret over the North Norfolk coast today, which kept the temperatures down.

Drove over to Sheringham, via a stop off a the chocolate factory shop in Fakenham to load up the car boot with chocolate.
Was there to see the Tesco consultation display at the Oddfellows Hall. Tesco have been trying to open a supermarket in this Norfolk town for some years, and there has been a high profile campaign by shop owners to prevent this. The latest plans were for a smaller store, which would be closer to the centre of town.

In the High Street were a number of young people handing out flyers for a proposed new development which would make a very useful counterpoint to the TESCO plans. Could build a classroom resource around the comparison between the two plans.

The new shop is called the GREENHOUSE COUNTRY STORE, and will be tied to some other developments for the town involving the allotments and cemetery.

The new plans were also featured on the front page of NORTH NORFOLK NEWS, which provided a useful comparison.

HOW THE STORES COMPARE

Greenhouse Country Store

1,500 sq m of retail space

would employ 130 staff

orders, made by phone or on-line, delivered by electric vehicles

locally-sourced products used where possible.

a café could be an attraction itself on the coast road 

would not sell books, clothes, electrical goods or ironmonger in a bid to co-exist with current traders

a minimum of 10pc of the profits to be ploughed back into a charitable trust to help local causes

An exhibition outlining the green store plans will be held in Sheringham, at the old Lloyds Bank building, on April 7-9, from 8am to 8pm

Tesco

1,200-1,250 sq m retail space

would offer a “good range of food and groceries, with a very limited selection of other goods”

new plans aim to improve the design and pick up on local architecture

revised plans could also move the store closer to Station Road to strengthen linked walking trips to the town centre

fuller details will be revealed at an exhibition being held at the Oddfellows Hall on Lifeboat Plain, behind the Crown pub on the seafront, on Friday from 10am to 8pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm.

Further information also available from www.sheringhamtesco.co.uk

Down on the beach, I did a few short FLIP VIDEOS which might be of use to someone.

Via TWITTER Norfolk Coast blog also has some useful articles in this area...

Got opening times for HAPPISBURGH church tower

Will pop over later in the year, for a high view of the village...

New SLN Geography Forum

The SLN Geography Forum began almost 10 years ago on the 7th of September 1999, with a post from Chris Durbin.
Approximately 80 000 posts followed, almost 4 000 of which were mine (I really should get out more...)

If you haven't already visited the NEW HOME OF SLN GEOGRAPHY FORUM you need to go there now and register: a new measure to improve the security of the forum, and also allow some enhanced functionality for members.

My World in 60 Seconds

Don't forget that there is now less than a month to go to enter your film for possible viewing on the BBC big screens in city centres around the country.

Go to MY WORLD IN 60 SECONDS for further details...

We look forward to viewing your films and choosing some to make up a show reel on the big screens.

GeoTube

David Rayner has been busy again, and has produced a very useful new VIDEO 'CHANNEL' called GeoTube, which is hosted on a site called FLIGGO.

This is not banned in schools (well, not yet anyway)

It has a collection of useful videos, and this will grow over time.

The Rag

Finally, the RAG (Random Activity Generator) hits the iPhone APPS STORE....

For a purely GEOGRAPHICAL version of the events generator, from creator John Davitt check the 'world famous' GEOGRAPHYPAGES where you can get some ideas for livening up lessons.

World Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. 

There is a National Strategies resource produced by the DCSF available, which takes the form of an interactive e-resource. There is a also a DVD-ROM version, which many school SENCOs will have a copy of.

Also a document to print off as a PDF, which I have a copy of in front of me now:

"Inclusion Development Programme: Primary and Secondary - Supporting pupils on the autism spectrum"

I would like to put together a 'toolkit' of ideas for drawing students on the autistic spectrum into geography and facilitating their learning and allowing them to exceed expectations.

I would be really grateful for any ideas from colleagues who have experience of strategies that have worked, and the context in which they were used: there is definitely no 'one strategy fits all' in this case....

This is a longer term project, but today is the day when I start the planning...

Norfolk GA

Got some nice news today.

I have been asked to be the President of the Norfolk GA for the 2009/10 event season...

This will involve me doing a PRESIDENTIAL LECTURE

The title for this is going to be " 'Very flat, Norfolk' - Geographies of place"

This will explore the concept of PLACE, images and misconceptions of NORFOLK, personal geographies and a link to the idea of 'living geography' as well as connections between Norfolk and the rest of the world, based on 20 years of living in the county, and elsewhere...

Flood Management 09

Later this year, I am going to be on the same 'bill' as Michael Palin... 

Well, not quite. He is speaking at Shrewsbury School as part of the GA Shewsbury branch's programme for 2009-10, and I'm doing a talk on the Yorkshire Floods of 2007 later in the branch programme, which will be an updated version of the presentation I did in Manchester at the end of last year to around 150 people. 

My talk will take place in 2010 - so a bit of advance notice there....

Earlier today, got an invitation to attend an event at the Barbican, and have duly registered, as this will allow me to get some high-end information on flood management and the various measures that are being used to mitigate future flood events (I won't use the word prevention...)

There are some interesting speakers:

Speakers Include:

Phil Rothwell, Head of Flood Risk Management Policy, The Environment Agency
Professor Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor to DEFRA; Director for Strategic Direction for the Tyndall centre
Professor David Balmforth, Technical Director with international consultants MWH; Editor in Chief of CIWEM’s International Journal on Flood Risk Management
Professor David Proverbs, Head of Construction and Infrastructure Department , SEBE, University of Wolverhampton
Moya Wood-Heath, Civil Protection/Emergency Planning Advisor British Red Cross Society
Angela Currie, Head of Emergency Services, WRVS
Justin Jacobs, Head of Property, Motor and Liability Insurance, Association of British Insurers

An interesting aspect of the conference details is that there is a list of the occupations who might be interested in the event, and this would provide a useful list of possible vocations that GEOGRAPHY could lead you into:

Campaign & Emergency Planning Mgr 
City Emergency Planning Manager 
Civil Contingencies Manager 
Civil Protection Consultant 
Civil Protection Manager 
Contingency Planning Officer
Corporate Public Safety Officer 
County Emergency Planning Officer 
County Health & Safety Officer 
County Office Manager 
Deputy Emergency Planning Officer 
Director of Health Safety & Environment 
Emergency Planning & Contingencies Manager 
Emergency Planning & Protection Officer 
Emergency Planning Co-Coordinator 
Emergency Planning Manager
Emergency Planning Officer 
Emergency Planning Officer, Civil Protection 
Environment Officer 
Fire & Rescue Service 
Head of Civil Contingencies 
Head of Contingency Planning 
Head of Emergency Planning 
Head of Environmental Health 
Head of Human Resources 
Head of Policy & Performance
Head of UK Emergency Response 
Head of Emergency Planning 
Head of Environmental Health
Projects & Emergency Planning Manager 
Regional Resilience Officer 
Resilience Deputy Director 
Risk Manager
Head of Planning
Drainage Engineers
Civil Engineers
Main Contractors
Town Planner
Urban Planners
Head of Regeneration
Lead Architect
Surveyor
Actuaries
Meteorologist
Information Commissioner
Drainage Engineer
Infrastructure Planning Officer

Looking forward to fillleting the particularly geographical content from the day, and thinking about how to use this to enrich the curriculum experience of students looking at floods.

TLA and Duddington

Drove over to the Royal Oak at Duddington today.

I have been driving past this pub for years now on the way to Leicester / Birmingham etc. and today I arranged a meeting there. If you're driving on the A47 or A43 through the Welland Valley pop in. Good food and nice ale...

Did some work as well while I was there of course....

Talked about the work of the TEACHER LEARNING ACADEMY (TLA)

If you are completing some work on a project which has involved a new 'learning breakthrough', why not write it up for a TLA Stage 1 or 2 accreditation ?

More to come on TLA later in the year...

Whisky Month

Thanks to John Vannet for passing me a booklet on the Homecoming Scotland Whisky Month.
Good quote inside the cover:
"The malt whisky regions in Scotland, the Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside, Campbeltown and Islay all have their own unique characteristics with the geography and climate of each region influencing the whisky produced there...

I am drinking a Bowmore at the moment...

Corgi registered...

Thanks to Keir Clarke of Google Maps Mania for the story on the QUEEN's CORGI TRACKER

Check the date though...

Several twitter based stories...

First of all there was the BBC Education story about students complaining about others hogging the computers to do their social networking instead of some 'proper work'.

Then there was Russel Tarr's tipoff of a Guardian story for April Fool's Day that suggested the newspaper was going to be a TWITTER ONLY publication, and that they were going through their archive of stories and re-writing them in 140 characters or less.

Last night there was another event which I followed on TWITTER as I was unable to attend.

Teach Meet North East London 09 had the hashtag #teachmeetnel

Was able to follow using TWITTERFALL, which produced a cascade of responses from some of the people I follow who were at the event.

Just a reminder that if you are coming along to the GA's conference in Manchester that the hashtag for the event is #geoassoc09

Sat Nav Shoes

Image from Firebox.com
On sale from FIREBOX online store.

Saw these on April Fool's Day...

Wonder if they work well.

Anyone got a pair ?