Mini Stonehenge discovered ... in St Ives

The recent news about the discovery of a mini stonehenge a few miles away from the site of the large version reminded of another mini stonehenge we found on holiday in St Ives.

We rented a little cottage a few steps away from Porthmeor Beach and would stroll along the sea front most evenings watching the sunset. As we wandered past the beach late in the evening we'd find it had been taken over by teenagers who were usually having barbeques, drinking and generally appearing to make a nuisance of themslves in the way teenagers do.

One night a small group appeared quieter and more conspiratorial than the usual bunch and, wandering past the same spot the following morning, we discovered the reason why.

The remarkable thing was that this little work of art was still there, complete and undisturbed days later when we left to come home.

The beach henge had appeared on a patch of beach opposite Tate St Ives which, coincidentally, had a free opening night on the very eve of the stones mysterious appearance. The gallery contained no better work of art.

Where has all the Facebook gone?

For four years now I've been running Introduction to Computing sessions for Psychology undergraduates and this year something happened that I did not expect - no one was accessing Facebook during the class.

The class is a very simple introduction to a few important things they need to know about the campus network. The students find a PC and login, once they are all settled I talk for a while, then the students work through some very simple examples.

In 2007 we saw how big Facebook had become for students. I finished talking, they started working on examples and Facebook started popping up on screens all over the lab with people exchanging, verbally, the names of various groups that they were joining.

In 2008 they sat down, logged in and started Explorer. When I started the talking 90% or more of the screens in the room were showing the same layout of screen with that telltale Facebook blue colour scheme.

In 2009 there was no sign of Facebook what so ever. With 6 of us wandering around helping out we didn't spot a single Facebook page all session.

I think there are a few factors, and I don't think it is because Facebook is waning in popularity is one (we've got another year or two before that happens).

1) INSRV get internet access for the halls of residence working for students very quickly. By the time they get to my intro class in the middle of week 0 they've probably been online for 3 or 4 days so the Facebook surge is dealt with.

2) All the students are carrying smart phones. Psychology isn't usually the subject that technophiles choose but there were a large number of smartphones in evidence at the class, N97's, Blackberries, G1s, G2s and so on but, and here lies another mystery, I didn't spot a single iPhone all day.

Photos, photos everywhere

Digital photography has changed the world.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed but you can't visit anywhere worth visiting anymore without your view of the interesting thing being interrupted by all the other visitors taking photographs.



When I started getting interested in photography, way back when I was studying Physics at the University of Kent, Canterbury, the hobby required the use of film.

You had to be careful with composing your shot, selecting the right lens and the best vantage point for the scene. You had to carefully consider the light levels, choosing the correct combination of aperture and shutter speed to get just the right exposure and lighting effect. You took your time over each shot because each one would cost you money, the same amount whether it was a work of genius or a waste of photographic paper and chemicals.

These days you just fire away with a digital. You can take so many shots that you'll eventually get a few good ones, pictures that look good enough to have been taken by a professional.

So, what, apart from chucking the pictures on Facebook or Flickr, can you do with all the images.

Upload them to Photosynth. A few seconds effort and you have a sort of walk around view of images that you can amuse yourself with for longer than it took to take the pictures.

Photosynth is suprisingly good at joining the pictures together, though the navigation can be a bit confusing. To see what I mean take a look at this photosynth of Park Place, a few random shots I took today on my way to, and from, the sandwich shop.

An open, not shut, case

How "open" should we be with information, knowledge and discussion?

There has been an interesting confluence of events at work that have led me to think about that question and this will be the first of a series of posts exploring various aspects.

I work as the IT Manager for the School of Psychology. The staff in the School know a lot about data protection and related issues, about when data needs to be secure and about limiting access to certain data to only those who need to know. When you are involved with research that can collect private personal data from adults and children you need to be very aware of all the issues, the ethical considerations and the law.

However, the School tries to be open with information that isn't private. The School has, like most university departments, a well defined committee structure with a range of committees meeting regularly to make vital decisions about the running of the School. These committees make their minutes available to staff in the School with only minor exceptions for reserved business that deals with private or sensitive matters.

The School takes a default position of information being open and available.

Making information freely available in this way can cause problems with people misinterpreting comments or drawing the wrong conclusions. There is also the issue of what should constitute reserved business and just how reserved it should be and the problem of encouraging open debate in an environment where you know other people will be able to read what you have said. It isn't always easy being open.

Even given the difficulties involved the default open position shouldn't surprise anyone. We are in a university after all.

The driving force of the university is research, the quest for and the development of new knowledge and skills. The natural outcome of this research is education, passing on the knowledge and skills to those who come to learn. You can't carry out either research or education without the open sharing of information, that's what its all about.

Being open with information can be difficult but I believe the people who work at Cardiff University aren't here because they aspired to work somewhere where everything was simple.

University staff thrive on the difficult; difficult is interesting.

There's a new music craze sweeping the web

Every now and then someone in the computer industry decides that something that is very difficult and requires significant training and experience should be massively simplified to the point that anyone can do it.

Music seems to be a popular difficult thing to tackle.

A few years ago Apple tried with Garageband. Apple call this component of their iLife suite "your own recording studio".

Now Microsoft are at it with Songsmith. The idea is simple, select a style, sing into the computer and the software will create a backing track. Instant music! No doubt Microsoft hope to see Youtube filling up with Songsmith records created by budding musicians, but it looks like the jokers are beating them to it.

There's now a growing collection of Songsmith tracks on Youtube where cunning artists have extracted classic vocal tracks and told Songsmith to create the new backing track. I think this version of Wonderwall is my favourite so far.

What's wrong with television today?

Flicking channels last night I stumbled on the end of section of a programme in tribute to Oliver Postgate. The presenter was waxing lyrical about the poetry and power of Oliver's voice, how it drew you into the worlds he was creating. We were then treated to a short clip introducing an episode of the Clangers.

The Clangers was a kids programme, aimed at quite a young audience (I watched it when I was 4 or 5) and this opening sequence contained a phrase that stuck in my head. The planet inhabited by the Clangers was described as "A light among the myriad stars of the firmament". Point me, please, to any kids programme these days, or even one aimed at teenagers, that would use the words "myriad" and "firmament" - let alone use them both in the same sentence.