Ruth Rikowski's 34th News Update

Picture taken in London Zoo Aquarium, November 2009

Well, Christmas is now fast approaching, and here hopefully to brighten your days a little more in the time leading up to Christmas, is my latest newsletter. This news update includes a number of items. Firstly, information about a long article that I have written about Michael Jackson, that has been inserted on our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website. Secondly, information about the latest additions to my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog; and there are a lot of additions this time! Then, there are a number of items around the Marxism and Education theme. This is followed by information about a new addition to the ‘Contributions’ section of our website, and some feedback about our website. Also, some details about Biohealthcare Publishing (Oxford). Finally, there are some highlights from the latest issue of ‘Managing Information’ and a welcome contribution from Bob Bater about the famous quote ‘Knowledge is Power’.



1. MICHAEL JACKSON, 1958-2009: A MUSICAL GENIUS
BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Michael%20Jackson
Leading on from Michael Jackson’s death, I have now written a long article about Michael Jackson, which has been inserted on our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website.
I go into the whole topic in a lot of depth, approaching it from a variety of different angles; including a comparison between Jackson and Mozart. Many will probably be a little taken aback (to say the least), but in my opinion, Jackson was a musical genius on par with Mozart! Francis Brown of London, who wrote a letter to the Daily Telegraph (p. 21) of 27th June 2009 (2 days after he died) agrees with me anyway, saying:

“So, the Mozart or Beethoven of the modern world has been…Michael Jackson. That about sums it up, really.”

Michael Jackson was completely unique; we will never see the likes of him again. But why did society treat him so badly? Why was everyone so greedy? These along with many other issues are considered in this article.

This is the first time that I have ever written anything about a musician. I am very pleased that I have now completed it. I started the article directly after Michael Jackson died, but have only now been able to return to it and finish it. Michael Jackson brought a lot of joy and pleasure into my life, as well as inspiring me, as he did so many other people. I also identified with him personally, in just so many ways - more than with any other famous person, in fact (see section 11 of my article). I did not want to be harbouring any thoughts or feelings that I had somehow exploited him myself, by not being brave enough to complete the piece and put it on our website. So, there it now is, for the world to see! Within it, the article also touches a little on various important social topics, including social class, religion, patriarchy, greed and capitalism itself.



2. SIX NEW ENTRIES ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG – http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/
There are 6 new entries on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog. The first three all include lots of digital photographs that we took recently. The first entry is about a visit that Alexander Rikowski and I paid recently to London Zoo; the second features Wanstead Flats, an area of green open-space that is very near to our home and the third is about a very special weekend in London that we had with my cousin Helen and her husband Phil.
The fourth is about a book that I read recently: ‘Hidden Talents’ by Erica James, Orion: London, 2002 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Talents-Erica-James/dp/0752853511/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259243844&sr=8-5. The book is about a writer’s group and I thought it was quite fortuitous that I found myself reading this book at this particular point in time. The fifth is about the best-selling author Rosamunde Pilcher, focusing in particular on her book, ‘The Shell Seekers’ (New English Library, London, 1987), which I enjoyed just so much. The sixth is a short entry about the Michael Jackson piece that I have written, outlining the different sections in the article.


3. REVIEW OF ‘MARXISM AGAINST POSTMODERNISM IN EDUCATIONAL THEORY’ EDITED BY DAVE HILL, PETER McCLAREN, MIKE COLE AND GLENN RIKOWSKI, Lenham and Oxford: LEXINGTON BOOKS, 2002. ISBN 0 7391 0345 8 (hdbk) 0 7391 0346 6 (pbk) by GABRIELLE IVINSON
There is a very good review of ‘Marxism against postmodernism in educational theory’ by Gabrielle Ivinson in ‘Gender and Education’, Vol. 21, No. 3, May 2009. This is what Gabrielle Ivinson says about Glenn Rikowski’s chapter in the book, which is entitled ‘Education, Capital and the Transhuman’ (pp.111-143):

“Glenn Rikowski’s ‘Education, Capital and the Transhuman’ was for me the intellectual pinnacle of the book which pushed the notion of capital in some wonderful new directions. If you only want to read one chapter, read this one” (p.346)

Then, a little later Ivinson refers to “Rikowski’s creative work on post-human capital…” (p. 347).

Wow – praise indeed, eh! It is wonderful that Gabrielle Ivinson appreciates the intellectual depth of Glenn’s work here in this way, the fact that he is pushing forward new frontiers, breaking new ground, whilst at the same time also appreciating the creativity in his work.

Ivinson concludes this review by saying that “…it is only through the dialectical process of thesis and antithesis that theory ups it game, and this book does up the game/gain of Marxist theory for contemporary educational problems.” (p. 348)

4. MIKE COLE’S RIGHT OF REPLY
In my last newsletter (No. 33) there were 2 items (items 10 and 11) about Mike Cole’s chapter in the book ‘Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education: openings’ edited by Anthony Green, Glenn Rikowski and Helen Raduntz, Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, 2007. All this developed from, and in response to, news item 4 in newsletter No. 32.

Mike Cole contacted me leading on from this, and asked me if I would include this reply of his in my next newsletter. Thus, Mike Cole’s reply is below:

“I have known Glenn Rikowski for a number of years, and have been very much influenced by the depth of theoretical analysis in Glenn's work. However, Glenn is not just a theoretician, but also writes a lot about educational policy. Here is a link to many of the short articles he has written on education policy (amongst other topics): http://rikowski.wordpress.com/volumizer-articles/

In his writing, Glenn integrates his personal life with educational theory and educational policy, in some of his writings and also on the Rikowski web site, The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/

In addition, Glenn has been writing blogs for students, for example for his third year students - tying these into his lectures (details available from Glenn on request).

Many Marxists writing in the field of Education Studies miss Glenn’s major interventions into Marxist theory in refereed journals, and while not in any way underestimating the important work above, it would be nice to see Glenn back in journals like the British Journal of Sociology of Education advancing Marxist theory like he used to – or indeed to witness the development of his ideas in a full-length book. The Palgrave Macmillan Marxism and Education series would be a perfect vehicle: http://us.macmillan.com/QuickSearchResults.aspx?search=Marxism+and+Education&ctl00%24ctl00%24cphContent%24ucAdvSearch%24imgGo.x=7&ctl00%24ctl00%24cphContent%24ucAdvSearch%24imgGo.y=10

Any chance Glenn?
Mike Cole
Research Professor in Education and Equality
Director of the Centre for Education for Social Justice
Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln”



NB: Glenn Rikowski will reply to this final question, as well as issues relating to the Hatcher / Cole / Rikowski situation, in a future ‘Ruth Rikowski News Update’. Glenn is heavily involved in marking undergraduate coursework at present.





5. MARXISM AND EDUCATION: RENEWING DIALOGUES (MERD XII) AND PUBLICITY
Item 3 of my newsletter No. 32 contained information about the Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues XII seminar that was to be held at the Institute of Education, University of London on 21st November 2009. We understand that the day went well and that there were some 40 people there.

However, none of the convenors of the seminar that receive my newsletter contacted me in regard to the publicity issue that I raised in this item 3 of newsletter No. 32. Presumably, then, none of the publicity was amended to include information about the founders of the seminars (and upon a visit to the Institute after my newsletter was circulated Glenn Rikowski saw a poster up about it all, but without this addition).

If those of us that purport to want to live in a better society cannot be civil to each other within capitalism, I cannot in all honestly see what hope there is of there being civility amongst such people in socialism/communism. This is a serious issue, I think, and can discourage political action. It is no good in my view, if we put such a lot of our energies into defeating capitalism if, in the process, we cannot be civil to each other whilst we still have to live, work and breath in capitalism. Personally, I do not think a better world can be built on the back of barbarism, incivility and/or blood-shed.

6. SOCIALISM AND EDUCATION: EDUCATION, ALTERNATIVES AND ACTIONS - A NEW BLOG AT http://socialismandeducation.wordpress.com
Leading on from all this, now here is another surprise. Richard Hatcher (referred to in previous newsletters – see for example, item 11, in News Update No. 33) suddenly dropped an email into our inbox, with information about this new ‘Socialism and Education’ blog. Could it be that Graham Coult’s influence is spreading out from the library and information world and into the education world as well?

Anyway, here is the information that is being circulated about this new ‘Socialism and Education’ blog.

“Education is being remade at every level - from nursery to university - and the remaking has a distinct neo-liberal flavour. This blog is a space for the analysis of such change, in Britain and internationally. But we hope it will be more than that. Movements of opposition to the particular kinds of 'reform' being implemented in education are now widespread. On the blog, we hope to give to their experiences, and to the alternative programmes, visions and values that they are seeking to develop.

Current content
Patterns of conflict in education: France, Italy, England
Participation and Democratisation in the Local School System
Michael Fullan’s role in the global privatisation of education policy
Local government against local democracy
Culture and Creative Learning
Contributions welcome. Email them to richard.hatcher@bcu.ac.uk . Or add a comment.

The Editors: Martin Allen, Jon Duveen, Richard Hatcher, Ken Jones”

7. ‘THE ABSURD BECOMES LOGICAL’ BY JOHN J. CROCITTI: a new addition to the ‘CONTRIBUTIONS’ section of our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website –
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=361&slink=yes (print friendly version) OR http://flowideas.co.uk/?page=contributions&sub=Learning Outcome

John Crocitti has written an interesting critical piece about Student Learning Outcomes, which has recently been inserted on our website. This was something that we looked at in some detail as part of the Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (CLTHE) that I studied for at London South Bank University in 2007/08. Universities, in general, but particularly the new universities, are becoming more and more wedded to them. This could, perhaps, be the start of an interesting debate on the topic. If anyone else would like to contribute – either to the website, of for a short piece for inclusion in this newsletter, then do get in touch.

I also particularly liked the title of John Crocitti’s piece: ‘The Absurd becomes logical’. I think there is a lot of truth in this statement in regard to what is going on today in society in general. Many crazy and absurd decisions are now suddenly deemed to be sensible and logical! I wrote an article entitled ‘The Artistic Outlook’, which is now on our website, (see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=359&slink=yes (print friendly version) OR http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Artistic Outlook), where I consider this a little more. I ask for example, “How ‘real’ then is the real life; and…how fictitious is fiction?” John Crocitti has read the article and liked it, and he is now going to write a piece on the topic himself in response, for inclusion on our website in the New Year.

8. SARAH AMSLER’S POSITIVE AND HELPFUL COMMENTS ABOUT OUR ‘FLOW OF IDEAS’ WEBSITE – www.flowideas.co.uk

On the theme of our website, now would seem to be an opportune moment in which to insert some very complimentary comments that Sarah Amsler sent me some while ago in regard to our website. She said that our website:

“…touches on so many issues - the ideological nature of the 'work/life' tension; rejection of hierarchies of knowledge, age, gender, discipline; collaborative work; public and private; free space...and of course, situated knowledge. [there are]…real questions about the gendering and compartmentalisation of labour, education, social space, etc. Plus it seems to raise questions about and provide at least some answers for the problem of new ways of organising relationships, interests and etc. So it seems to me something definitely to pursue! Particularly given all the new knowledge/labour regimes that seek to dismantle everything it stands for.”

Quite a few other people have also said that they have found our website to be a very useful resource.

In addition, Sarah Amsler invited our middle son Victor Rikowski to speak at Kingston University on the theme of ‘Problems in Education Today’ a couple of years ago. This was also a real way in which to start to try to break down barriers, and rigid hierarchical structures, I think.



9. BIOHEALTHCARE PUBLISHING (OXFORD) LTD – CALL FOR AUTHORS
Biohealthcare Publishing (Oxford) Ltd publishes high quality books related to pharmaceutical sciences, biosciences, biotechnology and health sciences. The books are aimed at researchers and professionals worldwide. Topics included in the series include biopharmaceuticals/pharmaceuticals; proteins and other molecules; cell and tissue culture and engineering; bioinformatics; nanobiotechnology and health science, technology, policy and ethics. See www.biohealthcarepublishing.com.

If any of you are interested in writing or know of others that might be interested in writing for this series, please contact Dr Glyn Jones – g.jones@biohealthcarepublishing.com.



10. LATEST ISSUE OF ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’, Vol. 16, Iss. 8, 2009
The latest issue of Managing Information as ever, has some interesting articles in it. The articles in this particular issue are interestingly and artistically shrouded within a ‘Mushrooming’ theme, with photos of varieties of mushrooms, where as the editor Graham Coult explains:

“I’ve used the mushrooms as imagery for some of the papers in this edition of the magazine. They can be beautiful, tasty, or poisonous, and there is also the concept of mushrooming – issues in the information world, not least in the legislative framework, are proliferating at a rapid pace, and information can either nourish or poison an organisation or activity.” (p.1)

In an article by Carla Arend at European Infrastructure Software, entitled ‘Future Storage Trends: what is on the horizon?’ (pp. 14-17), for example, Arend looks at some of the storage technologies that will shape storage strategies today and in the future and it is noted that “Carla shares her expertise and helps us sort the tasty mushrooms from the poisonous storage strategy toadstools…” (p.14)

Arend notes that storage managers are “…particularly interested in expanding storage capacity as data continues to grow unabated…” (p.15). It is noted that there are many technologies out there to “…help to tame data growth and support solving the storage efficiency challenge.” (p. 16) These include data deduplication, thin provisioning and storage virtualization. Looking towards the future, Arend concludes by saying that:

“In order to architect a future-proof storage environment, good old management principles still apply. Consolidate and standardise your storage infrastructure, deploy storage virtualization software for cost effective DR and invest in a solid storage management layer to simplify and automate management. Thus, you can take advantage of new innovative technologies, which most likely will point solutions to start with, and maintain a solid management layer.” (p. 17)

All this and much more is in the issue, including sections on ‘Copyright Update’, ‘Data Protection Update’, the ‘British Library’ and ‘Library of Congress’.



11. ‘KNOWLEDGE IS POWER’: A QUOTE (OR RATHER MISQUOTE!) FROM SIR FRANCIS BACON
It item 12 of News Update No. 33 in referring to Glenn Rikowski’s labour-power theory, I also make reference to the famous quote ‘Knowledge is power’. Bob Bater contacted me in regard to this and made a very important point and observation. I asked him if he would like to write something briefly about this for my next newsletter – and his comments are below. I think they are very insightful, and it is something that we should all be mindful of!

“How often have you heard someone say ‘Knowledge is power?’ It’s an aphorism that’s often quoted in defence of personal power, rather than collective purpose. Some are aware that it originated with English scientist and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon in the 18th century. But it’s a crafty distortion of what Bacon actually said.

Bacon did say ‘Knowledge is power’, but he immediately qualified it by adding:

“But mere knowledge is not power; it is only possibility. Action is power; and its highest manifestation is when it is directed by knowledge.” {Francis Bacon. Meditationes Sacræ. De Hæresibus. (1597)}

So, knowledge empowers purposeful action according to Bacon. That's a remarkable insight 412 years ago, considering that Knowledge Management (KM) practitioners are only recently coming to realise that it's the sharing of knowledge in support of action towards collective goals - and all the intersubjective interpolations of intent and meaning which that implies - that is the purpose of working together. Bacon was a visionary, we should misquote him no longer.”

Many thanks for this Bob. And yes, as he says, Francis Bacon was remarkably insightful. This also, all fits in very much with Glenn Rikowski’s work on labour-power. Once we have fully grasped the fact that labour-power (that other ‘great class of commodity’) is capital’s weakest link, we can then seek to put our knowledge into ‘purposeful action’.

Best wishes
Ruth

N.B. Many thanks to Richard Hatcher, Glyn Jones and Bob Bater (who also runs Chandos Publishing) for providing information for items 7, 10 and 12 respectively.


7th December 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 33rd News Update

Another month has gone by, lots going on in my life as ever, so time for another newsletter, I have decided. I became very absorbed in writing a piece about the best-selling novelist, Douglas Kennedy, a couple or so weeks ago, which is now up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog. The reasons for this become apparent upon reading item 1 below. The other main pre-occupation has been in regard to working on my digitisation book – very much in the final throws now, I am very pleased to say. Anyhow, more about my various happenings and interests are below.



1. DOUGLAS KENNEDY: A BEST-SELLING NOVELIST’ AND ‘YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER?’: TWO NEW ENTRIES ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG – see http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/

There are 2 new entries on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog. A long entry about the best-selling novelist, Douglas Kennedy and leading on from this a short entry entitled ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover?’ The latter entry was inspired by the former. What do I mean by this?

Well, as I say on my blog, I got to read Douglas Kennedy’s books purely through spotting a captivating book cover in W.H. Smiths (with a lady sitting on the beach reading something – the picture of the cover is on my blog; along with images of some other book covers). I bought the book (‘The Pursuit of Happiness’) on impulse, and it proved to be a real page-turner; a great read. I then went on to read many of Douglas Kennedy’s other books, and nowadays I just cannot wait for his next book to come out! What I started to realise after a while was that what I found really enticing about these books, was the ability that Douglas Kennedy had to get into the mind of educated, intelligent, sophisticated but troubled women (with him writing as a female as the first person in many of his novels). It also became fairly clear to me that he was quite left-wing and critical of American society in various ways. In the piece, I also reflect on the fact that it was the enticing covers of Managing Information that largely influenced me to write for this magazine; that along with the other beautiful photographs that are contained within it. Then, in the entry ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover?’ I consider the fact that perhaps, sometimes, you actually can judge a book by its cover, and that sometimes it can be really beneficial to follow ones instincts in this regard.

I found myself re-reading some of these Douglas Kennedy books (where he writes as a woman in the first person) after my father-in-law died in February of this year. Douglas Kennedy and Michael Jackson both did so much in helping me to get over it all (which was partly why I became so upset when Michael Jackson subsequently died himself); and the music of Stevie Nicks and Dorothy L. Sayers books also really helped. Once again, all this demonstrates the power, value and importance that art can have in our lives, does it not.

N.B. The Douglas Kennedy piece has also been inserted on our website - see
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Douglas Kennedy: best-selling novelist



2. HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY CERTIFICATE
I am delighted to say that, following on from the successful completion of my Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education last year (2008), I am now officially an ‘Associate of the Higher Education Academy’. I have just received the certificate for this. Further information about the Higher Education Academy can be found at www.heacademy.ac.uk. So, now I can put even more letters after my name – i.e. Ruth Rikowski, BA (Hons), PostgradDip Lib, MSc, MA(Res), CLTHE, MCLIP, AHEA! Perhaps, about time that I stopped collecting letters now, eh!




3. ANALYTICAL PHILOSOPHY AND MARXISM
Alexander Rikowski, our eldest son, has recently been studying a course on Marx as part of his Philosophy degree at King’s College, London, University of London. I have been enjoying having some interesting intellectual discussions with him about it all.


In our discussions, I learnt some more about his degree – he is studying Analytical Philosophy (logical) rather than Continental Philosophy. I studied a little Philosophy as part of my first degree (a Social Studies degree at the University of East Anglia), but it was more Continental based, and within this framework focused on philosophers such as Descartes, Rousseau and J.S. Mill. Having these discussions recently with Alex I can now see some of the advantages and disadvantages of studying the subject from this analytical perspective. The advantage is that it really helps one to think in a very logical, rational and structured way. All education helps to develop people in this way of course, but Alex’s degree is really highly focused on this, and is very explicit, rather than being more intuitive about it all. Also, in this way, students study their topics in small bites, which can help to ensure that they do not run before they can walk. It really helps students to have a sound grasp of many philosophical thinkers. They also learn how to read, understand and digest the original works of many of the great philosophers, rather than relying on other people’s interpretations of them. Alex has read the raw text of many of the great philosophers (from Ancient Greeks through to contemporary philosophers); this has included Wittgenstein, Kant, Nietzsche, Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Berkeley, Locke, Rawls, Nozick, Spinoza, Leibniz and Marx. This should also mean that these students are not afraid to read and tackle the works of great thinkers in general, I think, in later life.


On the other hand, if taken too literally, there is a danger that this analytical approach can become too limited, and that the grander theories and broader pictures are not given full enough regard. Rather like putting the ‘cart before the horse’. Seeing whether the theories and ideas of the thinker are completely logical and rational, and whether or not all the necessary logical steps have been gone through and clearly laid out can perhaps become more important than the whole grand theory in itself. There is little to be gained from having a logical, highly coherent theory, if it is not actually saying very much! Rather, creating and developing the bigger theory is surely more important, than the smaller logical steps. The missing gaps can be gradually filled in later; or at least to the extent that it is possible to do this.


All this certainly applies to Marxism. Marxism is a conflict theory; not a functionalist, consensus theory. So, if we try to impose functionalist interpretations on to it (where all the pieces in the jigsaw can somehow or other be neatly fitted together), we are going to come up against many problems. Indeed, the over-riding aim and purpose of Marxism will be misunderstood.


Capitalism is a system that is full of contradictions and conflicts. Marx’s aim was to provide a scientific analysis of capitalism; and he did a fantastic job, I think. However, the problem is that it is not actually possible to be completely scientific and rational about capitalism, because capitalism is an irrational system, based on irreconcilable contradictions; it is in essence a madhouse. So, of course, if one approaches Marx’s philosophy from an analytical philosophical perspective, one will find numerous flaws in it – with many irrational, seemingly illogical steps in the arguments presented. But Marx was not about that of course; rather, he was about trying to expose and work through the contradictions in capitalism.


Anyway, in our discussions, we came to a very helpful understanding of each others perspectives. I also reflected on the fact that analytical philosophy seemed to be more akin to computer sciences and computer programming than the social sciences in some ways. But of course, even in computer programming, one cannot test to exhaustion; there is always a possibility (no matter how small and remote) that a programme might crash and that some logical step, somewhere, has been missed out.


If any of you would like to discuss any of these issues further with me, then I would be very interested in hearing from you.



4. ENERGY MONITORS IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE LIBRARIES AND ‘THE LIVING LIBRARY’ ON PHILIP BOOTH’S RUSCOMBE GREEN BLOG
Philip Booth informed me about two interesting entries that he put up recently on his RuscombeGreen blog, about libraries in Gloucestershire – see: http://ruscombegreen.blogspot.com/


Philip Booth is a Green party District councillor and a member of Transition Stroud.
Philip initiated the idea of ‘Energy Monitors in Gloucestershire libraries’, saying:


"I am delighted that Gloucestershire County Council and SWEA are supporting this project. Energy monitors offer people a way to become more aware of their energy use and any energy-guzzlers in their homes. Research indicates this is successful in helping people cut their electricity bills and CO2 emissions."



On September 23rd 2009 it was reported that Gloucestershire libraries were giving its users the chance to ‘go green’ by putting energy guzzlers in their homes. These monitors enable users to measure the amount of energy that their appliances use and they help to reduce energy bills and carbon dioxide emissions.Meter packs can be borrowed free of charge for up to three weeks in the same way that a book, DVD or CD can be borrowed. Users have to give a £5 deposit but this is given back upon return of the monitor. The pack includes a single appliance power saver monitor, information about the project and energy saving tips and activities.The six-month pilot project is being run by Severn Wye Energy Agency (SWEA), who supplies the monitors, in partnership with Gloucestershire County Council’s Libraries & Information. It is being funded by the Gloucestershire Environment Partnership and district councils.Five monitors will be available for loan at each of the libraries - Stroud, Nailsworth, Stonehouse, Dursley, Cirencester, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Quedgeley and Lydney.


Launch events were held at each of the libraries in September and October 2009, with a display stand and a representative from SWEA to show users how to make the most of their energy monitors.


This seems like a very worthwhile and interesting initiative to me – placing both libraries and ecology issues higher up the agenda.


The other entry is entitled ‘People on loan in Gloucestershire’ and was posted on 19th September 2009.


This ‘Living Library’ Philip Booth says, “…is an innovative method designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding.”The ‘Living Library’ is a mobile library of sorts, “…set up as a space for dialogue and interaction.” Visitors can speak informally with “people on loan” – this includes people from different age groups and cultural backgrounds etc.


Philip Booth continues on his blog, saying:


”The Living Library is about trying to break stereotypes by challenging the most common prejudices in a positive and humorous manner - a sort of “keep it simple”, “no-nonsense” contribution to social cohesion in multicultural societies. Some of the titles previously available at libraries include: Feminist / Muslim; Young Adult Gay Man / Survivor of a Brain Tumor; Ex Gang Member / Ex Prisoner / Ex Addict; Constable; Humanist / Altruist / Volunteer; Big and Beautiful Formerly Size 5 and Bulimic; Iraqi Refugee / Artist; Highly Sensitive Male / Father of a Gay Son / Jewish. See more at: http://living-library.org



When I asked whether Gloucestershire was doing this I learnt that the Councils Community Cohesion Group is piloting it and trying it out as part of the member induction programme, where they are arranging for 'living books' from among the clients of council services to be available for members to meet with them. Great stuff.I do think listening to others is a very powerful way of creating change - indeed that was part of the philosophy behind the Coffee House discussions where people can meet and talk and listen - indeed we've had a huge range of topics including a chance to hear views that many don't in their everyday lives like 'freedom to wear the veil'. Next week we have all the political parties represented in the Green party-sponsored discussions on defence in The Space at 7.30pm.”

This is another very worthwhile initiative, I think. When I was working in public libraries, I was always keen to emphasise and promote the value and importance of the library within the wider local community, and the opportunities for critical space and thinking that the public library can offer.

I should also add (for those of you that might not already know) that Graham Coult, the editor of Managing Information went to interview Philip Booth some two and a half years ago, leading on from Philip inserting information about my globalisation book on his blog, and relating my book to proposed cuts in Painswick Library in Gloucestershire – i.e. bringing the global and the local together.





5. MANAGING INFORMATION: VOL. 16, ISS. 6 & VOL. 16, ISS. 7, 2009
The latest two hard-copy issues of Managing Information are very eye-catching and colourful as well as containing some very interesting articles of course! Volume 16, Issue 6, for example, includes articles on ‘Virtualisation and the other green computing initiative’ by Owen Cole (pp.4-7), ‘Google – don’t be evil’ by Barbara Stratton (pp.50-56) and ‘Encryption is the equivalent of a seat belt for data’ by Andy Cordial (pp. 58-62). Owen Cole looks at Green IT within organisations and the effective technologies that are now in place that can bring this about. And the good news is that, apparently, these application delivery controllers also reduce rather than increase costs (unusual that – to have green initiatives that can save money, is it not!).

Meanwhile, Barbara Stratton looks at the Google Book Search Agreement (GBS), which has been indefinitely postponed, because so many concerns have been raised about it. Google has been scanning and indexing millions of books held in U.S. and foreign partner libraries, which as Barbara Stratton says could offer great benefits to the public, and “…would provide broad access to millions of out-of-print books currently only accessible onsite in university libraries…”
(p. 56). However, in order to achieve this, the concerns about GBS (which Barbara Stratton outlines) must be addressed.

The article ‘Encryption is the equivalent of a seat belt for data’ by Andy Cordial argues that we should be protecting our data more. Cordial concludes by saying: “I find it difficult to understand how anyone can justify carrying electronic data unsecured in the public domain. People need to be educated as to the many different options available. However, in my opinion, transparent encryption of not just sensitive but all portable data reduces the risk of the individual either forgetting, or worse bypassing, this safety belt. The next time you decide to carry data out of the safe confines of the corporate environment, remember to buckle it up.” (p. 62). This article has powerful images; symbolic traffic lights in a variety of colours are strewn everywhere. This helps to convey the whole message very clearly about the importance of buckling ones seat belt not just in cars, but in regard to ones data!

There is also ‘Corridors’, compiled by Graham Coult, which “…provides a news briefing about legislative policy and practical developments in UK National and Local Government as they relate to, and impact upon, the broad areas of information and knowledge management.” (pp.63-71)

Whilst, in the opening page of Volume 16, Issue 7, we have a word ‘From the Editor’s Desk’, where as Graham Coult says “Organisations benefit most when information management is integrated into the organisation, with expert advice and input at all levels.” (p.1) On this page, there is a beautiful photograph of a bird with her chicks. The issue is heavily IT based and includes articles on Cloud Computing and Encryption. The Cloud Computing article includes powerful images of storms, reminding us that much can be gained from cloud computing, but that there are also pitfalls, which we need to try to avoid. Anne Cavoukian describes cloud computing as “a fundamental shift in how data are managed and processed. Rather than running software on a desktop computer or server, Internet users are now able to use the “cloud” – a networked collection of servers, storage systems, and devices – to combine software, data, and computing power scattered in multiple locations across the network.” (p.5)

Then, there is a piece entitled ‘Keep Software Simple’ by Nick Thompson (pp.14-17), arguing that as long as business applications are user-friendly and do the job, then users should not need to be concerned about the bits and bytes. The piece is surrounded by powerful images of gold chains, which helps to reinforce the message that security costs but is also very valuable.



This and much more is included in the latest two issues of Managing Information.



6. CRITICAL PEDAGOGY VIDEO AND PETER McLAREN
Peter McLaren (who has written and edited material with Glenn Rikowksi) sent me an interesting and quite powerful video on Critical Pedagogy, which I said I would include in my newsletter. So, here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdrFRfPQJcg
As you can see, Peter McLaren himself is interviewed in it.



7. LATEST ISSUE (No. 29) OF ‘INFORMATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE’ (ISC) IS NOW OUT, ON THE THEME: ‘SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR UTOPIAS’; EDITED BY TONI SAMEK AND MARTYN LOWE http://libr.org/isc/toc.html
The latest issue of the ejournal ‘Information for Social Change’ is now out. It is on the theme of ‘Science and Technology for Utopias’ and is edited by Toni Samek and Martyn Lowe. It includes contributions from Amber Burtis, Cheris Carpenter, Paul Catherall, Richard Hayman, Andrew Hudson, Martyn Lowe and Michelle. The issue covers a variety of interesting topics, including indigenous knowledge and technology (Burtis) and ‘Human Rights Software: information support solutions for social justice’ (Hayman).



8. FEMINIST LIBRARY NEWSLETTER, No. 5, OCTOBER 2009
The latest issue of the Feminist Library Newsletter (No. 5) is now out and includes some interesting information. The Feminist Library Pamphlet Collection, for example, has now been moved and found a safe home at the Bishopsgate Institute Library. It will remain as an autonomous whole and will always be known as the ‘The Feminist Library Pamphlet Collection’. Other very positive moves are that the library is starting to be used more once again; there are more volunteers and the project for the creation of the Feminist Library Virtual Catalogue is progressing well. Furthermore, the Feminist Library have also successfully renewed their lease with Southwark Council, thereby safeguarding the future of the library for at least 3 years. If you would like to receive this newsletter yourself, and/or would like to volunteer and/or would like to make a regular donation to the Feminist Library, contact admin@feministlibrary.co.uk. The Feminist Library website can be found at: www.feministlibrary.co.uk.




9. SIR DEIAN HOPKIN APPOINTED INTERIM VC AT UEL
In my last newsletter (No. 32) I included a news item (item 5) about the fact that Deian Hopkin, the former Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University, had been knighted – now Sir Deian Hopkin. Well, I have since discovered that he has now been appointed interim VC at the University of East London. See:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=408421&c=1


When Deian Hopkin was still VC at South Bank, I predicted that he would get into the House of Lords once he had retired. There was much emphasis placed on skills and employability at the university and an enthusiastic desire to meet the requirements of the Labour government when it came to higher education.



10. MIKE COLE’S CHAPTER IN ‘RENEWING DIALOGUES IN MARXISM AND EDUCATION: OPENINGS’, EDITED BY ANTHONY GREEN, GLENN RIKOWKI AND HELEN RADUNTZ, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN: Hampshire, 2007
In my last newsletter (32nd News Update) I referred to the first book in the ‘Marxism and Education’ series, with Palgrave MacMillan (in item 4). This included some opinions I held about Mike Cole’s contribution; to his chapter in the book, which is entitled ‘Neoliberalism and Education: a Marxist Critique of New Labour’s Five Year Strategy for Education’ (pp. 103-116). Mike Cole replied to the comment, sending it to the whole newsletter list that he is on. I explained that this was not appropriate and why. I think it is important that these exchanges are shared with all those that receive my newsletter, so these comments are copied and pasted below.


Mike Cole wrote to the newsletter list that he is on:


“Dear All


I need to comment on one of Ruth's paragraphs reproduced here:

I was not so uplifted by Mike Cole’s chapter – quite the reverse, in fact! Mike Cole, Dave Hill, Peter McLaren and Glenn Rikowski have edited material together, yet in his chapter Mike Cole still hedges his bets where the Richard Hatcher and Glenn Rikowski ‘debate’ are concerned. Over the last few years, Richard Hatcher has systematically attempted to attack and to undermine Glenn’s work. Glenn responded to this, and Mike then interprets this as simply being “two differing perspectives”. Mike Cole concludes his chapter by saying that he examined “…two different perspectives from within the Marxist tradition on New Labour’s Five-Year Strategy. Only time will tell which of these differing interpretations is more accurate” (p. 113).

I'm not sure when the chapter in question actually went to press, but I need to stress that this was an interpretation of two different theoretical positions and in no way a comment on any personal disputes between the authors.
Mike
(Professor Mike Cole)

And here is the reply that I sent to the list (Ruth Rikowski’s reply):

“Dear All

As I think you all know, 'Ruth Rikowski's News Updates' is a newsletter that I send out on an irregular basis, informing interested people about my latest publications, happenings, interests etc. It goes out to over 400 people, and then goes on my blog 'Ruth Rikowski Updates Progression'.

On the other hand, it is not a forum for discussion - there are plenty of other social networking tools out there, which fulfil that purpose!

I have explained this to Mike Cole - who sent a reply to item 4 of my latest newsletter (32nd News Update) to the whole of this list. I have suggested to him that if he does want to reply to that or any other item, that he writes a paragraph and sends it to me, and I can then include it in a future newsletter. This obviously applies to anyone else that receives my newsletter as well. I am always interested in peoples’ views and comments. This can either be for me personally, or as I say, it can be something that can be shared in a future newsletter; if I think it fits in and is suitable of course.

I apologise to you all for any inconvenience caused and hope this clarifies the situation.

If necessary, I will have to make the lists 'Undisclosed', but would prefer not to have to go down this route.

Thanks and best wishes

Ruth”

I hope that clarifies the situation.



11.RUTH RIKOWKSI’S BRIEF REPLY TO MIKE COLE
Leading on from point 10 above, and Mike Cole’s comment, it now seems necessary to reply briefly to this. The debate was not started through “two different theoretical positions”, in the way that Mike Cole outlines. Rather, Richard Hatcher launched an unprovoked attack on Glenn Rikowski’s work, following directly on from Glenn speaking about the Education White Paper on a Radio 4 programme (‘The World Tonight’), on 25th October 2005. The transcription of the Radio programmes can be found at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=perform&sub=Radio Programme Transcriptions. I also wrote an article based and following on from the programme – see

http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Education White Paper.


Without wishing to go into great detail, one of the comments that Richard Hatcher made in the piece that he circulated was that Glenn had misunderstood some of the contents in the Education White Paper. However, the blog that Glenn wrote about the White Paper (which lead to him going on the radio programme) was written before the White Paper had actually been published. It was based on press leaks coupled with Glenn’s understanding of the situation – given his ability to be able to predict future likely outcomes, particularly in the education sphere. Whereas Richard Hatcher wrote his piece after the Education White Paper had been published; so he had the benefit of having the White Paper in front of him as he wrote!


All this also followed on from Glenn inviting Richard Hatcher to speak at one of the Education and Renewing Dialogues seminars (held on 26th October 2005) that he organised and that were held at the Institute of Education, University of London – see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=events&sub=MERD


For all this, and many other reasons, Glenn Rikowski felt compelled to reply to the piece that Richard Hatcher wrote and circulated widely. He wrote a long piece, on 31st December 2005, which he entitled ‘In the Dentist’s Chair’ and put on our website – see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=In the Dentist[a]s Chair.


Having said all this though, nowadays I find all this type of thing quite stressful. This also perhaps helps readers to understand why I spend more time these days with novels and music, and less time with politics and academia!




12. ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR AND JOHN HOLLOWAY
Glenn and I went to the Anarchist Book Fair with our friends Elaine and Richard, on Saturday 24th October 2009, which was held at Queen Mary College, University of London – see http://www.anarchistbookfair.org/. There were lots of interesting stalls, literature and people there. In regard to speakers, we heard Dave Black talking on the topic of ‘Philosophy and Revolution’ and Paul Mason, John Holloway and William Dixon talking on the topic of ‘Capitalism’s Present Crisis’ – see http://info.interactivist.net/node/13140


John Holloway is one of Glenn’s heroes, and he has read lots of his work, over many years. It was the first time I had heard John Holloway talk; he had a very different approach, which I both liked and found very enticing. In his book ‘Change the World without Taking Power’, Pluto Press: London, 2002, he says that we begin with ‘The Scream’.


“When we write or when we read, it is easy to forget that the beginning is not the word, but the scream. Faced with the mutilation of human lives by capitalism, a scream of sadness, a scream of horror, a scream of anger, a scream of refusal: NO.” (p.1)


Well, that is an unusual start, is it not!


On the Monday after this, 26th October, John Holloway spoke again at Queen Mary College (see http://london.indymedia.org/events/2523), this time about his forthcoming book (which is due to be published in about 6 months time), which is entitled ‘Crack Capitalism’ (with Pluto Press) see: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crack-Capitalism-John-Holloway/dp/0745330088/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257599712&sr=8-1 Glenn and I also went along to this talk, and heard John talk about the cracks in capitalism; the misfits; the weak areas that if we are smart we can chip away at, to start to make some inroads into and damage the seemingly all-powerful juggernaut – capitalism. Glenn also made a point in the questions and discussion session, where he said how much he had admired John Holloway’s work for so many years whilst also emphasising how his own work on labour-power theory demonstrates how labour-power is the weakest link in capitalism. For Glenn, not all the cracks are equal. Glenn has been very much inspired by Holloway’s work, and he developed his labour-power theory partly through Holloway’s work – i.e. he has built on it. Why is it the weakest link, one might ask? This is because with all the skills and knowledge that people now need to have today in capitalism, all this knowledge, skill and understanding can also be used to weaken and undermine capitalism, rather than to enhance it. ‘Knowledge is power’, as they say.


Finally, here is a link to a short article by Holloway, where he refers to some themes that will be explored more in ‘Crack Capitalism’, - ‘1968 and Doors to New Worlds’ (Turbulence, No.4, 2009): http://turbulence.org.uk/turbulence-4/1968-and-doors-to-new-worlds/.


Many thanks to Philip Booth, Peter McLaren and Alan Lee for providing information for items 4, 6 and 9 respectively


Best wishes

Ruth

8th November 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 32nd News Update

Victorian Gardens, Norwich

So, now we are in Autumn! How quickly the time flies; can be quite scary! Some say, or at least try to persuade us, that Christmas is only just round the corner. Heavens! Anyway, here is another newsletter from me. I was prompted to send it now because of the article that Anne Welsh and I have written about the Feminist Library in London, which has just been published in ‘Managing Information’. The Feminist Library houses an important collection (material from the Feminist Movement in the 1970s) and it is something that we should very much be cherishing and preserving, in our view.



1. ‘FEMINIST LIBRARY IN LONDON’ BY RUTH RIKOWSKI AND ANNE WELSH IN ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’, Vol. 16, Iss. 5, 2009, pp. 65-71
Anne Welsh (who lectures on Cataloguing at University of College London) and I have been taking a lively interest in the Feminist Library in London, which is currently facing challenging times. Anne is also engaged in a cataloguing project there, helping to ensure that the whole collection is kept together as a whole in a virtual way, as well as providing some cataloguing instruction to her students in the process.

We were very fortunate in being able to hear Gail Chester and Ruth Harris talking about their experiences of working in the library. Based on this and our own reading, thoughts and understanding, we wrote an article about the Feminist Library, which has just been published in ‘Managing Information’.

We hope that, in some small way, our article will help to draw people’s attention to the importance of the library and the wonderful and important resources that it houses there. If anyone would like to make contact with either of us, to get more involved, and to help to preserve and promote the collection, do feel free to do so. Anne’s email address is a.welsh@ucl.ac.uk. And/or if you would like to be a volunteer for the Feminist Library, email admin@feministlibrary.co.uk.



2. ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’, the MONTHLY ASLIB MAGAZINE
Leading on from item 1 above, I would like to say a little something extra about the award-winning magazine, Managing Information (MI) itself.

As it says: “Managing Information is a leading and very well respected (i.e. well read) magazine for information managers, knowledge managers, librarians, web masters and anyone else who has to manage information effectively.”

MI is an Aslib (The Association for Information Management) subscription-based publication (available in both hard copy and electronic copy), with ten issues a year. It includes regulars and columnists with people such as Kevin Carey, the founder Director of humanITy, a UK based charity that focuses on eInclusion. There are also News and Briefing Regulars, including ‘Freedom of Information Update’, ‘Data Protection Update’ and ‘Product News’. In addition, there are feature articles on a wide variety of subjects, such as ‘Access to Knowledge’, ‘The College of Law’ and ‘Females and Social Networking’. And there is also, of course, information about Aslib itself. This, and much more, is in the magazine. In general, 'Managing Information' addresses many very important topics within the information profession, and is very much at the cutting edge.

The magazine is always very tastefully laid out and includes many wonderful coloured photographs, particularly scenic views (skies, flowers, the sea etc), many of which are taken by the editor, Graham Coult, himself. The use of such artistic flair and imagination can help to overcome some of the negative stereotypes of the library and information profession, I think, which we are all well-aware of (e.g. the stereotype of the female librarian with the bun and tweed skirt!) Hopefully, in time, the leading role that Graham Coult has placed in this regard will be even more fully appreciated. Significant improvements have been made over more recent years, for example, I think, in the monthly magazine for the professional body for librarians and information professionals, currently entitled ‘CILIP Update’ and was previously called the ‘LA Record’ (CILIP standing for the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and LA standing for the ‘Library Association’ of course).

Furthermore, MI set up its own website (www.managinginformation.com)
and newsletter, around the beginning of the new millennium and it was very much a pioneer in this field. Both Paul Pedley and myself were so inspired by it all that we started up our own newsletters. Paul Pedley’s is a Law Newsletter entitled ‘Keeping within the Law’; which is now subscription-based and is published through Facet Publishing – see http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=661-9
Paul Pedley, who is Head of Research at the Economist Intelligence Unit, was, at one time, a regular columnist in 'Managing Information', and it was very much Managing Information that inspired him to go down the newsletter route, whilst he was a fee-earning columnist for MI. At that time and in the early days, he provided the newsletter for free, and indeed, I was one of its recipients. We were also both inspired to set up our own blogs, through MI.

In my opinion, 'Managing Information' is a very important and valuable publication and resource within the library and information profession. Long may it continue! Further details about subscribing to the magazine can be found at:
http://aslib.com/publications/managinginformation.htm




3. MARXISM AND EDUCATION: RENEWING DIALOGUES (MERD) XII: FROM CRITIQUE TO CONTESTATION
Another MERD (Marxism and Education: renewing Dialogues) Day Seminar is to be held on Saturday, 21st November 2009, from 10.30am to 4.30pm at the Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1, Committee Room One.

This is MERD XII and is on the theme ‘From Critique to Contestation’.

Speakers will include: Vincent Carpentier, Richard Hatcher, Ken Jones and Gurnam Singh

The seminar is free but places are limited. To reserve a place and receive a numbered ticket, please contact Joyce Canaan at: joyce.canaan@bcu.ac.uk

A waiting list will come into operation when all the places have been allocated.

The convenors of the seminar are Joyce Canaan, Tony Green, Richard Hatcher and Alpesh Maisuria


The Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues (MERD) seminars were founded by Glenn Rikowski and Tony Green and were run by them both at the Institute of Education, University of London, from 2002-2007: MERDs I – X.
For more information about these events, see our website - http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=events&sub=MERD.

Whilst it is great that this initial impetus is now being very much built on by Cannan, Green, Hatcher and Maisuria, I think it is unfortunate (to say the least) that the publicity for MERD XII does not include this basic information about the founders, and where to obtain information about the first ten MERD seminars. Hopefully, this anomaly will be rectified in future publicity.



4. ‘RENEWING DIALOGUES IN MARXISM AND EDUCATION: OPENINGS’, EDITED BY ANTHONY GREEN, GLENN RIKOWKI AND HELEN RADUNTZ, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN: Hampshire, 2007; ISBN 13 978 1 4039 7496 9
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Renewing-Dialogues-Marxism-Education-Rikowski/dp/1403974969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254652861&sr=8-1 : further thoughts and reflections
Leading on from information about MERD XII, in item 3 above, now would seem a timely moment for me to briefly reflect on the first book in the Palgrave Series, on ‘Marxism and Education’, as this series came into existence purely through the MERD seminars. It was decided that the talks that the speakers gave should be documented given their importance and a book series seemed to be the obvious solution. The series now includes both edited collections (largely from and building on the seminars) as well as monographs.

The first book in the series (bibliographical details in the heading of this item) consisted of papers from the first two MERD seminars (I and II). The contributors in the book were Paula Allman, Elizabeth Atkinson, Pat Brady, Mike Cole, Helen Colley, Rachel Gorman, Anthony Green, David Harvie, Dave Hill, Gregory Martin, Jane Mulderrig, Mark Olsen, Michael Peters, Helen Raduntz, Glenn Rikowski, Geraldine Thorpe and Paul Warmington. Unfortunately, for various complex reasons, Glenn Rikowski himself was not able to write a chapter on his own.

In the Introduction Anthony Green and Glenn Rikowski say that the book is:

“…an open form of Marxism attempting to address a multiplicity of contexts around the continuing struggles for socialism in a world in which the value form of labor and commodification are central to neoliberal globalization of capital in all its educational-dimensions.” (p. 3)

A number of different and important topics are addressed throughout the book, including chapters on Marxist-Feminism, academic labor and neoliberalism and education.

For, me, I was particularly delighted to read the chapters by Gregory Martin and David Harvie, who seemed to have a very clear understanding and appreciation of Glenn Rikowski’s work and the important and ground-breaking contribution that he has made to Marxism and Education, particularly in his work on labour-power theory. David Harvie, for example, refers to ‘subject benchmark statements’ which catalogues generic learning outcomes, and which all university degrees must now produce, he says. He points to Glenn’s work in this field, where the various skills required to meet the learning outcomes are “desirable labor power attributes” (p. 233) (cited in ‘That other great class of commodities: labour-power as spark for Marxist Educational Theory’, 2002/03. Available at Education-line http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001624.htm

Whilst Gregory Martin draws our attention to the fact that:

“Expanding upon Marx, Rikowski notes that as a distinctly human force, labor power – which he defines as our ‘capacities’ to labor in the form of epistemological paradigms, language codes, technical skills, attitudes, dispositions and behaviours – has reality only within the human subject.” (p.253) He also rightly refers to the fact that Glenn Rikowski identifies labor power as being ‘capital’s weakest link’. Also, to the fact that Glenn says there is a need for more empirical research into ‘ “how, why and in what ways” individuals can resist their interpellation as particular subjects within the “total productive processes” they experience, interpret, and negotiate in their everyday lives.” (p.262) (Rikowski, 2002, p. 27 – in a paper entitled ‘Methods for researching the social production of labour power in capitalism’).

Meanwhile, Helen Colley notes in her chapter ‘Myths of mentoring: developing a Marxist-Feminist critique’, that Glenn refers to a social drive to recast the ‘human’ as human capital.

On the other hand, I was not so uplifted by Mike Cole’s chapter – quite the reverse, in fact! Mike Cole, Dave Hill, Peter McLaren and Glenn Rikowski have edited material together, yet in his chapter Mike Cole still hedges his bets where the Richard Hatcher and Glenn Rikowski ‘debate’ are concerned. Over the last few years, Richard Hatcher has systematically attempted to attack and to undermine Glenn’s work. Glenn responded to this, and Mike then interprets this as simply being “two differing perspectives”. Mike Cole concludes his chapter by saying that in his chapter he examined “…two different perspectives from within the Marxist tradition on New Labour’s Five-Year Strategy. Only time will tell which of these differing interpretations is more accurate” (p. 113).

As I am sure the reader can now appreciate, the whole topic of ‘Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues’ is not an easy one for us these days! Still, we carry on, whilst also continuing to come to terms with our bereavement earlier in the year.



5. DEIAN HOPKIN AWARDED KNIGHTHOOD
Professor Deian Hopkin, who recently retired from being the Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University was awarded a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, 2009, on 13th June 2009. The award was for services to Higher Education and Skills, and reflects, I feel sure, the energy and enthusiasm which he put into endeavouring to meet and comply with the Labour government’s agenda for higher education whilst he was the Vice-Chancellor, with its emphasis on skills and employability.



6. SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS – 2 MORE BLOG ENTRIES: ‘POND WITH PUMP, FOUNTAIN AND LIGHTS’ AND ‘UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA (UEA) AND NORWICH http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/
There are 2 new entries on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog: one about our pond and one about UEA. There are digital photographs on both of the entries.

To begin with, the idea was to have a pond for wild life in our garden, but then we realised that this was not very practical. So, now we have a pump and a fountain in the pond, so that the water circulates more. We have also put a net over the pond, to stop leaves from falling into it. We have also bought more fish.

The second blog entry is about our visit to Norwich. We took our youngest son, Gregory with all his stuff up to the University in East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, to his room on campus. We had a lovely couple of days there and took lots of photos of the UEA campus, Norwich itself and the Victorian Gardens in Norwich (which we stayed nearby to).



7. CULTURAL EVENTS ATTENDED
I have been to a couple of enjoyable cultural events recently. One was about the life of Tom Paine, which was entitled ‘A New World’. The play, by Trevor Griffiths was performed at the Globe Theatre, London and it was a very powerful play. Tom Paine was just so far ahead of his time of course, with works such as ‘The Rights of Man’ and the ‘Age of Reason’. Amazing to think that at the time that he died over 1,500,000 copies of ‘The Rights of Man’ had been sold in Europe. What was also quite something was that we met Professor Peter Linebaugh there. Peter used to be a student of E.P. Thompson and has edited material with him. He told us that he has just written a ‘New Introduction to the Works of Thomas Paine’ – see http://info.interactivist.net/node/13090. He had come over from the USA specifically to see the play!

The other was an event that was organised by the Hackney Society in East London, held at Pages Bookshop, Hackney, about the life of Hackney resident Eddie Noble (1917-2007). Patrick Vernon has made a documentary film about Eddie Noble’s life, which he entitled ‘A Charmed Live: the legacy of the Windrush Generation’. He spoke to us about it all and the value to be gained from documenting the lives of those people that make a valuable contribution to their local communities. Eddie Noble was self-taught; and it became clear that he had been a very interesting and important member of the local community. Compiling documentaries like this seems like a very good idea to me, and as Patrick said, it is so much easier today, with all the technology that we now have at our disposal.


N.B. Many thanks to Patrick Ainley for providing information for item 3 and to Monica Blake for inviting us to the Eddie Noble event, outlined in item 7.


Best wishes

Ruth

5th October 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 31st News Update

I hope you have all been having a good summer. Ours was something of a ‘social summer’; having various friends staying with us; having a dinner party and a summer garden party in our home; going to a friend’s wedding etc. It was all very lovely.

Meanwhile, this news update contains, amongst other things, information about my new blog, ‘Serendipitous Moments’; Martin Hodges new blog, ‘Square Sunshine’ which focuses around his young grand-daughters; some new additions to our website; further information about my grandfather’s books; a school librarians petition which I hope some of you will feel able to sign up to and some cultural events that I have been to this summer.


1. ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ – RUTH RIKOWSKI’S NEW BLOG http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/
I have started up a new blog, which I have called ‘Serendipitous Moments’. As I state on the Welcome Page the purpose of this blog is:
“…for when I feel moved/inspired by something that I would want to record/write down/photograph etc. Much of what I read and think about gets forgotten - having this blog will mean that some of those precious moments and experiences can be captured, and hopefully treasured. Various circumstances that we go through can help to sharpen the mind - hence this decision.”


2. BLOG ENTRIES ON ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ - MICHAEL JACKSON, POND FOR WILD LIFE AND SUMMER GARDEN PARTY
So far, I have inserted three entries on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog – a short one about the death of Michael Jackson; one about a pond for wild life that we built this summer in our garden and one about the summer garden party that we held in our home at the end of August 2009. See: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/



3. ‘THE ARTISTIC OUTLOOK WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE NOVEL AND LITERATURE’ BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
For those of you that are interested, some insights into my artistic outlook can be read in a piece that I have written which has just been inserted on our website. It is entitled ‘The Artistic Outlook, with a particular focus on the novel and literature’. Well, I think most of my readers are now aware of my love of the novel! Anyway, this article can be viewed at:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Artistic Outlook



4. REVIEW OF ‘DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT: the problem of expanding ownership rights’ by CHRISTOPHER MAY, CHANDOS PUBLISHING: OXFORD, 2007 – REVIEWED BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=1689&ChandosTitle=1
My review of Chrisopher May’s book ‘Digital Rights Management’ is now available on our website – see
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Digital Rights Management



5. MARTIN HODGES’S NEW BLOG, ‘SQUARE SUNSHINE’
One of my writing colleagues/friends has a new blog, focusing around his three young grand-daughters, which I think is rather lovely. See: http://square-sunshine.blogspot.com/

Here is what Martin himself says about his blog:

“Becoming a grandparent has transformed my life. Rather like getting married or becoming a parent for the first time, no one can really prepare you for the role.

I have very young children in my life once again and a different kind of responsibility from that which dictated my feelings and actions as a parent. In short, I'm enjoying it so much I thought I'd write down my thoughts and observations on a new blog. Hence, Square Sunshine was born, and is living and growing at http://square-sunshine.blogspot.com/

This was meant to be a vehicle for anything that came to mind about my being a grandfather. However, to my surprise, Susan Adcox at About.Com offered to promote my blog on hers at http://grandparents.about.com/b/2009/08/15/grandpa-blogger-alert.htm

Apparently blogging grandfathers are a bit rare. As a result I'm enjoying a regular band of visitors from all over the world, with new ones dropping by all the time.

Writing from the perspective of a grandfather allows me a lot of latitude. My posts can range from stories of my own grandparents to short accounts of what our grandchildren have been up to. I can share my very amateur photography or some relevant biographical episode or other.

The bottom line is that it's fun, and writing regularly is good discipline for anyone who chooses this medium for creative expression.”

It is great that so much interest has been taken in his blog already. As Martin says, ‘blogging grandfathers’ are rare. This highlighted a couple of points to me. Firstly, that you often get further in life by doing something different, and not just following the crowd; secondly, the joy to be had from seeing a male focusing on the rearing of children, rather than other more competitive pursuits. I am all for breaking through the compliancy trend. Martin is certainly doing something here to ‘make a difference’. I wish him the very best of luck with it all.



6. FINDING, ORDERING AND RECEIVING COPIES OF MY GRANDFATHER’S (CLEMENT AUGUSTINE VICKERY) BOOKS
I was able to track down, and actually purchase second hand copies of my grandfather’s (Clement Augustine Vickery) two books on amazon, both of which are on nautical matters. I am sure that you can all imagine how delighted I was about this. Here are the bibliographical details of the two books:

1. 'Navigation Figure Drawing: being an introduction to navigation by means of figure drawing', by Clement Augustine Vickery, published by James Brown and & Son, Glasgow, 1922

2. 'Stability of Ships for mates, masters and extra masters' by Clement Augustine Vickery, published by Imray, Laurie, Norie and Wilson, London, 1st edition - 1926, 2nd ed - 1930.

If you saw the books, I think you would agree that both books demonstrate the depth of his thinking. They are both very well-written technical books, with mathematical formulas and detailed diagrams. Totally incomprehensible to me though, by the way!

I also discovered a little more about my grandfather. I thought that he only became a nautical instructor when he retired from being a Captain of a Ship in the Merchant Navy, but the ‘Stability of Ships’ book shows to me that this is incorrect, as it says in the book that he was a nautical instructor when the book was published, in 1926. My grandfather was born in 1883 and died in 1944. This shows that he must have pursued both activities for many years.

My grandfather wrote ‘Stability of Ships’ because of his concern about the possibility of vessels capsizing. He says in the Preface that he wrote the book:

"...to investigate the laws of stability and place them before his brother seamen in a manner in which they can be grasped by all, without an advanced knowledge of mathematics."

The book was compiled from notes used in preparing candidates for the Board of Trade examinations.

He also emphasises his desire to want to help and serve, saying in the ‘Preface’ to ‘Navigation Figure Drawing’:

“That this little work will be of some service to those for whom it is intended is the sincerest wish of the writer.”

I never knew my grandfather; he died 13 years before I was born. So, this makes obtaining these books even more special for me; and it is, of course, something that I am very proud of.



7. ‘SCIENCE FICTION FILMS AND HORROR’ AND ‘RACES IN THE IMPERIAL FILM’ BY GREGORY RIKOWSKI’
Two pieces about film by Gregory Rikowski (which he originally wrote for the Certificate in Higher Education, Birkbeck College, University of London, 2007-09) have now been inserted on our website.

These are:

‘Science Fiction films and horror’ - http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Science Fiction Films and Horror

‘Races in the Imperial film’
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Races in the Imperial War

Gregory will be studying for a degree in Film and Television Studies at the University of East Anglia, starting this September 2009 – which is something that he is very much looking forward to.



8. RUTH RIKOWSKI GIVING A TALK ON THE TOPIC OF ‘FEMALES AND SOCIAL NETWORKING’ AT A ‘LEARNING FOR LIFE’ MINI-CONFERENCE
AT LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY, ON 9TH JULY 2009
I gave a talk on the topic of ‘Females and Social Networking’ at a mini-conference that took place at London South Bank University, in the Faculty of Business, Computing and Information Management, on 9th July 2009. My talk was based on an article of mine that was published in ‘Managing Information’ earlier this year (in Vol. 16, Iss. 3). Considerable interest was taken in the topic, and some useful and interesting questions and points were raised. There were quite a number of delegates there altogether, talking on a variety of topics related to teaching and learning. One delegate spoke about how she tried to get her students to blog, but unfortunately, with very limited success. Oh dear! The intention, next, is to produce a book from it all, I understand.



9. SCHOOL LIBRARIANS PETITION: THE RIGHT TO HAVE A SCHOOL LIBRARY
Carol Williams, a friend of mine who is a Schools Librarian, informed me about this School Librarians Petition. School Libraries, like so much else in life today, are under threat. I do hope that some of you will sign the petition (I have, of course, signed it). Here is the information that Carol sent me:

"Should Every School Have a Library? You might think they do already, but many don't, or at least don't fund and staff them adequately. Did you know that by law prisons must have a Library, but there is no such obligation for schools. If you feel you could support school libraries as a right for all our children, please sign the petition on the Number 10 website - 1900 people have signed already. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/literacy is the website."


Terence Blacker also wrote an article in the ‘Independent’ on 9th June 2009, entitled “You can’t kill off libraries, and call it ‘creative’”, where she argues the case for School Libraries. See:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/terence-blacker/terence-blacker-you-cant-kill-off-libraries-and-call-it-creative-1700208.html




10. TRANSLATING MY GLOBALISATION BOOK INTO ARABIC?
I was delighted to receive an email from Gafar Ibrahim, a Librarian & Information Officer and Translater in Doha Qatar. He said that he found my book ‘Globalisation, Information and Libraries’ very useful and that he thought it would be very good if it could be translated into Arabic in order “…to disseminate its ideas to a great number of users around the Middle East.”

Gafar is currently investigating possible publishers, and will be contacting me further about this in due course. If any of you have any thoughts in regard to this, do get in touch.


11. PAUL STURGES SPEAKING ON THE TOPIC OF ‘COMEDY AS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION’ AT A CILIP IN LONDON MEETING, 8TH SEPTEMBER 2009
I enjoyed hearing Professor Paul Sturges talking at a CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) in London meeting on 8th September 2009, on the topic of ‘Comedy as Freedom of Expression’. Paul is very interested in the topic of freedom of expression for libraries and in this talk he focused on this in relation to comedy.

Paul Sturges, Professor Emeritus at Loughborough University, made the point that jokes are a form of intellectual property in their own right. Furthermore, that some comedians do not like people taking notes during their performances for this reason; you know, others could then ‘steal’ their jokes. After all is said and done, it is often very difficult to remember jokes if one does not write them down; it certainly is for me anyway! Paul made a number of good jokes throughout his talk, not that I can remember many of them, although I do remember the one about hardware and software. Yes, very funny, that one!
Thanks for that Paul!

Anyway, all in all, it was a very enjoyable evening and many thanks to CILIP in London for organising this successful and well-attended event, at a time when it is itself, suffering from cash cutbacks and related difficulties. Long may they continue to be able to run these events at the Sekforde Arms.



12. CULTURAL EVENTS ATTENDED THIS SUMMER
I have been to quite a number of different cultural events this summer (some with friends and some with family); all of which was very enjoyable.

In terms of music, this included going to see the wonderful Anastacia at Hammersmith Apollo on 25th June 2009. She has an incredible voice, I think, and such stage presence. She sung both some of her old numbers, and material from her new album, ‘Heavy Rotation’. The songs from the new album were so good, that I bought the CD at the end of the gig. I also went with some friends to the O2 on the night of what would have been the first of Michael Jackson’s London concerts (on 13th July 2009). Lots of fans were there (several hundreds), playing his music; dancing; putting messages up on a billboard; paying tribute to him; lighting candles etc. It was all very moving. I came away having a tremendous amount of respect for Michael Jackson’s fans. It also helped with my own personal grieving process in regard to it all (which also followed on from the death of my father-in-law earlier this year).

In addition, we went to one of the Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, and heard some Mozart as well as some music by a contemporary female composer. Then there was the Dagenham Town Show at Dagenham Central Park, which included a free open-air musical extravaganza. One of the bands playing was the ‘Searchers’ (yes, they are still going!). They have, in fact, now been going for 47 years, they informed us. Frank Allen and Spencer James were both at the festival. They sang many songs including ‘Beach Baby’, ‘Young Girls’, Tambourine Man’, ‘Needles and Pins’, ‘Sugar and Spice’. We danced around and it was all very enjoyable.

In terms of plays, this included going to see an interesting political play called ‘The Observer’ by Matt Chapman at the National Theatre (which explored the problems and issues around trying to introduce democratic procedures into a country in the developing world) and Shakespeare’s ‘As you like it’ at the Globe Theatre (the Globe always being a winner for us!). Also, J.B. Priestley’s ‘Time and the Conway’s’ and a comedy entitled ‘England People, Very Nice’ directed by Nicholas Hytner. The latter was about racial integration in the East End of London from the 17th century to the present day and it was really hilarious; a laugh in nearly every line and very clever script writing, I thought. Both of these plays were also at the National Theatre.

Finally, we visited the Whitechapel Art Gallery, which was interesting and enjoyable (I also discovered that it is more or less on our doorstep – well, at least relative to other art galleries, it is!) In addition, they have some interesting artistic workshops taking place there, which are free. The workshops are entitled ‘Live Words’ and they are “A free series of spoken word, poetry and innovative writers’ evenings in the intimate environment of the Café/Bar…” I might well go along.


Best wishes,

Ruth


N.B. Many thanks to Martin Hodges and Carol Williams for providing information for item 5 and 9 respectively. Also, for the help that Isaac Hunter Dunlap gave me in regard to tracking down my grandfather’s books (item 6).




12th September 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 30th News Update

RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.30

The summer approaches – something that we are certainly very pleased about and looking forward to, as I am sure you all are. For us, it is a time to recharge, take stock, reflect and rethink, sort, plan, write, relax, garden, get some fresh air and exercise, go to concerts, swimming etc. etc. I could go on and on. Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely summer with whatever it is that you choose to do, and that the weather is good for us all, at least for some of the time.

This newsletter includes quite a wide variety of different items. To begin with there is information about another article of mine that has just been published in Managing Information about ‘Females and Social Networking’. There are also details of some new additions to our website; the Redbridge Book and Media Festival; a Gurteen Knowledge Café at the British Computer Society on the topic of ‘Imagining the Knowledge Technologies of the Future’; the Zoological Society of London library; two CILIP in London meetings and some cultural activities that I have been to.


1. ‘FEMALES AND SOCIAL NETWORKING’ by RUTH RIKOWSKI IN ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’, Vol 16, Iss 3, 2009, pp. 50-59
I am very happy to say that another article of mine is in the latest issue of Managing Information (MI). This is on the topic of ‘Females and Social Networking’. In this piece, I consider some of the social networking tools that are in existence today, such as wikkis and blogs. In particular, I ask whether social networking tools can empower and liberate women. Within this, I consider gender and I.T. issues; females, social networking and knowledge management; females and blogs and the future for females and social networking. Many females are very much engaging and using these different social networking tools today, and many see it as a way in which females can shine through, working effectively, in particular, with I.T. of course. However, I suggest that we should exercise some caution here. Females can be vulnerable on sites such as MySpace and Facebook; they can also become addicted to the desire to be continually making new ‘friends’. In addition, whilst females collaborate, co-operate and work together on these sites males can look at the situation from afar, I think, and then smartly move in when they think that ripe opportunities have arisen and then ‘take the goodies’ – as they tend to be more output-driven. These, then, are some of my real concerns.

In this frame of mind, I also reflect in the article on the fact that many females who have had great ideas and theories, have produced great works etc, have largely been forgotten in history. Dale Spender’s book ‘Women of Ideas and what men have done to them’ (1982) is very informative in this regard and I quote from this book in my article. In addition, I bravely (well, I thought it was brave anyway) refer to the fact that my own father-in-law, who died a few months ago, was very patriarchical and domineering and suppressed women, in particular, in a variety of different ways.

Having said all this, I am very grateful to two males who first made me aware of the value and importance of some of these social networking tools: namely, Graham Coult and Robeel Haq. At the end of my piece I thanked Graham Coult, the editor of Managing Information and Robeel Haq, the previous MI webmaster, who first made me aware of the value to be gained from blogs (Graham) and newsletters (Robeel). They were very much pioneers here. The MI newsletter began way back in 2001; MI had its own blog for a while and Graham now has his own blog (see item 2 below). In my view, the library and information profession should really give due credit to the MI team in this regard, and I very much hope that these newsletters of mine can help in some way, somehow, to achieve this.

On a final note, once again, Graham has included some lovely photographs in this article of mine. One of these is the frieze for the memorial to HM the Princess Elizabeth Queen Dowager and Queen Mother (as she was styled at her lying in state) which is on The Mall, London. This frieze highlights the changes that have taken place in the structure and attitudes of society towards women. The other images in the article show females within a more active, I.T. context.



2. GRAHAM COULT’S BLOG – ‘INFORMATIONAL’
http://wwwinformational.blogspot.com/
Graham Coult, the editor of Managing Information now has his own blog called ‘Informational’. This is a blog about information, writing, communication and writing.



3. ‘EVALUATING DIFFERENT TEACHING METHODS’: ACTION LEARNING GROUP (ALG) TASK FOR THE CERTIFICATE FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION (CLTHE) UNIT 2 by RUTH RIKOWSKI
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Evaluating Different Teaching Methods
This piece by me, on ‘Evaluating Different Teaching Methods’ which I completed for the Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Certificate, has now been inserted on our website, ‘The Flow of Ideas’. The teaching methods it considers are the tutorial relationship; teaching in large groups; case studies; virtual learning environments and teaching in small groups.



4. ‘REFERENCES, NOTES & REFLECTIONS ON READINGS FOR THE CERTIFICATE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION (CLTHE) COURSE, UNIT 1’ by RUTH RIKOWSKI
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Readings for Teaching Course
Another piece by me, which I completed for the Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Certificate, has now been inserted on our website, ‘The Flow of Ideas’. Hopefully, it will be of some interest and use to some others – particularly others that are studying on teaching courses.



5. REDBRIDGE BOOK AND MEDIA FESTIVAL, 16th APRIL – 3RD MAY 2009
http://www.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/leisure__culture/arts_development_and_events/book__media_festival.aspx
There was a wide and varied programme at the Redbridge Book and Media Festival this year.

I went to three of the events, all of which proved to be both interesting and enjoyable. One was for the launch of Monica Ali’s latest novel, ‘In the Kitchen’, which was held at Wanstead Library on 1st May 2009. The second was a talk given by Liz Sullivan (a local author) at Ilford Library on 21at April 2009 about her experiences as an author, and her determination to write and publish a book (firstly, her memoirs, then moving on to fiction) as well as to set up her own publishing company. Finally, the third was hearing Hema Macherla talking about her book, ‘Breeze from the River Manjeena’ at Ilford Library on 30th April 2009.

Monica Ali’s book launch for ‘In the Kitchen’ (published by Doubleday) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Monica-Ali/dp/0385614586/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244787157&sr=1-3) started off with a glass of champagne, which was very nice. She read some passages from her book, and talked about the background to her book. She said that it took her one year to research the book, and two years to write it. She explained that writing was now her full-time occupation. ‘Brick Lane’ was her first book and this proved to be very successful and was made into a film. The event was very well-attended

Liz Sullivan explained that she is also called Leila Merriman. She uses one name for her publishing company (L.M. Publications), and one name for her writing. She originally came from Ireland but moved to England as a child, and lived in Upminster, Essex. She said that she always wanted to write her memoirs as she has had an interesting and unusual upbringing. Having written her memoirs she found that she had various problems and difficulties with getting them published, so she decided to self-publish. The first book of her memoirs was entitled ‘Twisted Threads’ (2004) whilst the second was entitled ‘Unravelling the Threads’ (2008) – see
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unravelling-Threads-Leila-Merriman/dp/0955901502/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244786860&sr=1-1. She said that she wasted a lot of money in the early days, trying to get her memoirs published, but once she decided to self-publish it became easier and she could control her expenses more effectively. Liz recommended self-publishing to others in the session, if they were keen and determined to get their writing published, but were experiencing difficulties with mainstream publishing.

Hema Macherla was born in South India. Her mother wrote constantly, and actually wrote a novel, but never got it published. So, Hema thought that it was probably her mother’s influence that encouraged her to write. In the summer holidays in India Hema used to write a lot. When she first came to England she could not speak English at all. It was all very difficult for her. She decided to learn English and borrowed some books from the library. She wanted to write but realised that she needed guidance. So, she went to John Farley’s creative writing course, which she said was the best thing she ever did in her life. People helped her and gave her a lot of constructive criticism. John Farley also introduced Hema at the beginning of the session and very much helped her to get her first book published. Hema read extracts from her book ‘Breeze from the River Manjeena’, which was published by Lynn Michell in 2008
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Breeze-River-Manjeera-Hema-Macherla/dp/0955961815/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244787052&sr=1-1)




6. ‘IMAGINING THE KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGIES OF THE FUTURE’: A GURTEEN KNOWLEDGE CAFÉ HELD AT THE BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY
I went to a very interesting and enjoyable Gurteen Knowledge Cafés on 28th April 2009. This was entitled ‘Imagining the Knowledge Technologies of the Future’ and was held at the British Computer Society (BCS), London – see http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/lkc-bcs. There were two speakers from the BCS, Conrad Taylor and Chris Yapp, who both considered the rapid changes that have taken place in computing and I.T. and the likely possible trends in the future. Alan Pollard, this year’s President of the BCS was not able to be there in person but he addressed the audience and introduced the session through a video.

There were about 60 people at the session; a very large number for a Gurteen Knowledge Café. Many of the people there were extremely knowledgeable about the new technologies. However, I was also aware that it was very male-dominated. I did manage to inform the group though about the piece that I had just written on ‘Females and Social Networking’ (see item 1 above). Some lovely refreshments were provided afterwards; the first time, in fact, that I had ever had food like this at a Gurteen Knowledge Café. It was gorgeous and very yummy! A couple of people came up and spoke to me during the refreshments, saying how interesting and important they thought it was, what I was saying about females and social networking. Chris Yapp himself was one of these people, and he also informed me about the work of Sherry Turkle - http://www.mit.edu/~sturkle/.

Some other people at the session also blogged the event; this included Gordon Harris, Matthew Rees and Richard Hare.

Finally, here are some pictures of the occasion that David Gurteen took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gurteen/sets/72157617509258170/show/



7. CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS (CILIP) IN LONDON MEETINGS AT THE SEKFORDE ARMS
I went to two CILIP in London meetings recently, held at the Sekforde Arms. One of the talks was by Jason Dark on the topic ‘How to improve passenger information’ on 14th April 2009 http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/london/events/Apr09.htm.
The other was by Franklyn Tancock on the topic ‘Past, Preent and Future Systems for Plant Recording in the National Trust’ on 12th May 2009 (see http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/london/events/may09.htm).


Jason Dark, Head of Information Services, National Rail Enquiries, discussed passenger train information service, particularly following on from the National Rail Enquiries service that was established in June 1996. He said that the railway industry had a very entrenched culture that was very difficult to change. Many of the various difficulties that passengers faced in regard to getting accurate and up-to-date train information were discussed.

Meanwhile, the National Trust has recently embarked on the largest and most comprehensive plant survey that has ever been undertaken in the UK. Franklyn Tancock, Plant Collections Curator, National Trust, considered the methods, from card indexes to the latest digital technology that the Trust has used to record its plant collection over the last 35 years. The National Trust is the biggest collection of plants in Europe in the world. There are 200 gardens and landscape parks and 400 years of garden history in the Trust. The National Trust obtained lottery funding and decided to use the money to build a database to bring all the information about the Trust together. The project has been very successful and goes from strength to strength. It later obtained 21.5 million from the Yorkshire Bank, for example, to continue its work. A lot of volunteers work on the project.



8. MEMBER OF ALISS – THE ASSOCIATION OF LIBRARIANS AND INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS AND VISIT TO THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON LIBRARY
I joined ALISS (the Association of Librarians and Information Professionals) a while ago – see http://www.alissnet.org.uk/. ALISS is a
“not-for-profit unincorporated professional society. It is an independent group which was formed in April 2005 by the former committee of ASSIGN (Aslib Social Science Information Group and Network)”.

ALISS organised an interesting tour of the Zoological Society of London Library, which I went to on 3rd June 2009. We had an introductory talk about the history of the zoo and then a tour of the library. There was a display of Charles Darwin’s work, with the original copy of ‘The Origin of the Species’ also being on display in the library, celebrating Darwin 2000.

I found the image library there particularly interesting - http://www.zsl.org/info/corporate/www-zsl-org-info-corporate-image-library,1120,AR.html. Many wonderful pictures of the animals and the zoo can be purchased. We also saw some old photographs of animals in the zoo.

In addition, I learnt that membership of the library is free to any member of the public (for reference use) – one just needs to bring along ID etc. I thought that was very good.



9. CHANDOS PUBLISHING WEBSITE AND CATALOGUE BEEN INCORPORATED WITH WOODHEAD PUBLISHING –
http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/ChandosHome.aspx
The Chandos Publishing website and catalogue has now been incorporated with Woodhead Publishing, where the large selection of Chandos titles that are now available can be seen.



10. ‘WHAT IS A UNIVERSITY? EXPLAINING THE RISE OF UNIVERSITIES IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE’ BY MICHAELA STARKEY, 2009
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZsb3dpZGVhcy5jby51ay8/cGFnZT1jb250cmlidXRpb25zJmFtcDtzdWI9VW5pdmVyc2l0aWVzJTIwLSUyME1pY2hhZWxhJTIwU3RhcmtleQ==
An essay by one of Glenn Rikowski’s students, Michaela Starkey, a First year Education Studied undergraduate student in the School of Education at the University of Northampton, is now available on the Rikowski website, ‘The Flow of
Ideas’.





11. SIR KEN ROBINSON VIDEO: ‘DO SCHOOLS KILL CREATIVITY?’
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4964296663335083307
This is an interesting and amusing video about the value (or otherwise) of formal education. Sir Ken Robinson considers how education can stifle creativity. Glenn Rikowski inserted the link on the Northampton Interactive Learning Environment (NILE), and his students found it interesting.



12. ART AND EXHIBITIONS
I have also been enjoying some other cultural activities recently. First of all, I had two enjoyable visits to the Tate Britain Gallery, London with two of my sons – Victor and Gregory. I bought a very interesting book whilst I was there by John Carey, entitled ‘What good are the arts?’, published by Faber and Faber, 2005. Carey values all of the arts, whilst also noting the importance and value of escapism saying that escapism:

“…seems to be a human necessity [and that] …escapism is fundamental to our sense of ourselves.” (Carey, 2005, p.37-38)

Carey looks at the value of art in general, but interestingly thinks that literature surpasses and is superior to, all other forms of art as a mode of expression.

“…literature…unlike the other arts…can criticize itself. Pieces of music can parody other pieces, and paintings can caricature paintings. But this does not amount to a total rejection of music or painting. Literature, however, can totally reject literature, and in this way it shows itself more powerful and self-aware than any other art.” (Carey, 2005, p. 174)

Furthermore, that literature is an “idea-bank and that no other art [can]…compete with it in that respect” (Carey, 2005, p. 213). Being a great lover of literature I found all that very interesting.

Going round the Tate was all very uplifting of course, looking at the paintings of Turner, Rothko, J.W. Waterhouse, Millais etc. etc. etc. I found the work of the contemporary British artists Gilbert and George at Tate Britain fascinating (although not all necessarily to my taste!). There was a major exhibition of their work at the Tate Modern Gallery, London, from 15th February to 7th May 2007 (http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gilbertandgeorge/). These artists put their thoughts and feelings at the centre of their art, and their pictures capture human experience. In a caption under one of their exhibits that I saw at Tate Britain, Gilbert and George say that:

“We have no interest in reflecting or showing society – we are only interested to be forming it. What are believers tomorrow is what the artists are today. Already we see the world as very different from when we started.”

I thought this was an interesting idea; that art can and is shaping our future, albeit perhaps in subtle ways, and is indeed, perhaps shaping it more than our politicians in some ways. We cannot escape the fact that politicians, policy makers, and those in other decision-making roles in society, can and do affect our way of life in profound ways, but perhaps the art comes in not taking their decisions as seriously as they would like us to! There are always other ways of achieving things, and aiming to live the sort of life that one wants to.

Meanwhile, Carey concludes his book with his personal view that:

“It is time we gave active art a chance to make us better.” (Carey, 2005, p. 167)

I also visited the Imperial War Museum, London with my second cousin Sue and looked at the exhibition ‘In Memoriam: remembering the Great War’ (http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conEvent.2495), which commemorated the 90th anniversary of the Armistice. The exhibition looked at “the personal stories of those who lived, fought and died during the First World War, both overseas and on the home front.” It interested but also greatly saddened me; all that loss of life.



13. MUSICAL EVENTS: ‘PETER GRIMES’ AT THE LONDON COLISEUM; ‘DAVE SHEPHERD AND HIS DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND’ AT THE KENNETH MORE THEATRE and ‘HAIRSPRAY’ AT THE SHAFTESBURY THEATRE
Here are details of some musical events that I have been to recently and enjoyed.

First of all, Glenn and I went to see Peter Grimes at the London Coliseum on the 9th May 2009. This opera, of course, is based on the poem by George Crabbe and composed by Benjamin Britten. I found it to be very musically dramatic. ‘Peter Grimes’ is regarded as being the most significant British operas for over two centuries. It is set in the Borough, a small fishing village on the East coast. Here is a quote from Crabbe’s poem ‘The Borough’ (1810):

“Yet sometimes comes a ruffling cloud to make
The quiet surface of the ocean shake;
As an awakened giant with a frown
Might show his wrath, and then to sleep sink down.”

Glenn Rikowski studied this poem for his A’ Level English Literature and it has had a very powerful and lasting effect on him; he thought it was really something.
There is a detailed review of the opera in Times Online – see http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article6261113.ece

The second musical event was seeing David Shepherd and his Dixieland Jazz Band performing at the Kenneth More Theatre on 10th May 2009. Digby Fairweather was one of the players, and our son Gregory also saw him speak at the Redbridge Book and Media Festival and he thought he was very interesting. Digby Fairweather worked in public libraries for a number of years before becoming a full-time professional jazz player. The majority of the members of the David Shepherd and his Dixieland Jazz Band have been British Number One on their instruments. The band included Dave Shepherd (clarinet), Digby Fairweather (trumpet/jazz broadcaster), Roy Williams (trombone), Chris Walker (baritone sax/jazz broadcaster), Nick Dawson (piano/vocals), Len Skeat (bass) and Stan Bourke (drums). It was a very enjoyable evening.
http://www.simoncurtis.com/kennethmoretheatre/currentdetails42.html

Thirdly, we saw the musical ‘Hairspray’ with my cousin Helen and Phil at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 30th May 2009. This was very light-hearted, colourful and cheerful on one level; whilst on another level it was making some important points; particularly in regard to
the problems that overweight people can have when wanting to perform. It is set in the 1960s. See
http://www.shaftesbury-theatre.com/



14. MARLENE, MY CANADIAN COUSIN MAKING CONTACT WITH ME, FOLLOWING ON FROM MY BLOG ENTRY
I had a very exciting email several weeks ago, from a second cousin of mine, Marlene Campbell. This led on directly from an entry I posted on my blog (in News Update No. 27 - http://ruthrikowskiupdates1-27.blogspot.com/2009/03/ruth-rikowskis-27th-news-update.html) where I wrote about my great grandparents, Charles Palmer Vickery and Emma Sophia Vickery (née Michael). Marlene emailed me to say that they are also her great grandparents. Wow! Marlene is the grand-daughter of Mabel Susan and Arthur Marcer. Mabel Marcer (née Vickery) was one of the five children of my great grandparents, Charles and Emma Vickery. The others were: Clement Augustine (my own grandfather); Edgar Charles; Alberta and Elma.

To explain a little more; my great grandfather emigrated to Canada and then three of his children went over there, but only one remained – Mabel (who my own mother, Mabel was incidentally named after). This is how I came to have all these relations in Canada. Mabel and Arthur had six children; one of which was Sylvia (Marlene’s mother). So, I have lots of cousins and relations in Canada.

Marlene Campbell suddenly and unexpectedly emailed me, shortly after I reinvigorated my blog on eblogger, saying that she googled in our great grandparents and came across my blog and that, hey, we have the same great grandparents, we are related and that she just had to get in touch. It was all just so amazing and so moving. This also demonstrates, once again, of course, the power of blogs.

After that we exchanged lots of really long and exciting emails. We could not believe it. Marlene is very keen on genealogy and I, of course and am very keen on writing. So, between us I think we could produce some really interesting material. But that is a long-term goal. Marlene has sent me lots of lovely photos of our ancestors. She also told me that one of our relations (from Australia) wrote two small books on our family history some years ago. I am now very much looking forward to reading these and to continue to explore all this further with Marlene in the fullness of time.

N.B. Many thanks to Martin Hodges for providing information for item 11.

Best wishes,


Ruth




12th June 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 29th News Update

RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.29


Feeling uplifted by my Michéle Roberts piece in Managing Information and wanting to look ahead, I decided to re-ignite my blog. So, my last newsletter (No. 28) is now on e-blogger, which hopefully will be safer than the AOL blog! (see item 1 below). Then, I thought I better send out another News Update quite quickly explaining all this. This newsletter is also a bit different as it includes some cultural events that I have been to over the last week or so. Hope you enjoy the various items.



1. ‘RUTH RIKOWSKI’S NEWS UPDATES’ BLOG NOW BACK ONLINE
www.ruthrikowskiupdates.blogspot.com
My blog has now re-emerged through e-blogger/blogspot, I am delighted to say. This is entitled ‘Ruth Rikowski News Updates Progression’. The last news update (No. 28) is on this blog and all subsequent updates will be inserted on it. I found e-blogger easy and quick to use; and overall I am very pleased with it.



2. ‘RUTH RIKOWKSI’S NEWS UPDATES RESURRECTION’ BLOG -
http://ruthrikowskiupdates1-27.blogspot.com/
I also discovered that more than one blog can be created under one profile on e-blogger/blogspot, so I created another blog and inserted all my previous newsletters (Nos. 1-27) on it. This is called ‘Ruth Rikowski News Updates Resurrection’. Ideally, some further checking of links and layout should be undergone (which I have been doing for the newsletters on our website –up to No. 13 so far – see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Ruth%20Rikowski%20Updates%20(Archives)), but the basics are now there and readily available, so my main aim has been achieved.



3. ‘SPOKEPERSON IN GROUP WORK AND GENDER-RELATED ISSUES’ BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
“Whenever your class does group-work the same students, usually men, always volunteer to do the feedback. Three quarters of the students in the class are women”
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Gender%20and%20Spokesperson%20in%20Group%20Work%20Issues
This piece of mine, originally written for my Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (CLTHE) course last year (2008) has now been inserted on our website. It considers many of the issues surrounding the fact that males are more likely to volunteer to be spokespeople in group work than females; why this might be the case, and some of the things that can be done to try to change and overcome this. I was surprised about the wide variety of points that came into my mind; it is a more complex issue than on first appearance. I hope you find it interesting.





4. ‘SUSTAINABILITY POLICY AT LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY AND RELATING THE SUSTAINABILITY POLICY TO MY OWN TEACHING PRACTICE’ BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Sustainability%20Policy%20at%20London%20South%20Bank%20University
This piece was also originally written for the Certificate of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (CLTHE) course in 2008, and has now been inserted on our website. ‘Sustainability’ is very much the ‘in’ topic at the moment. It seems to me that it says everything and nothing; it is certainly not just confined to environmental issues. Rather, it includes factors such as having sustainable lifestyles (i.e. healthy living and eating etc) sustainable development through curriculum, research and consultancy and the sustainability of teaching and learning. The danger, I think, though is that too much onus can be put on the individual in this regard, and that politicians and the wider society are not held to be so accountable. Anyway, various issues are raised in this piece.

5. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
I thought I would like to say a little something about University College London (UCL), which has been one of the real highlights in my life. I studied there for an MSc by day release (1991-94), whilst working in the London Borough of Newham Library Service. I really needed to do something different, and this course proved to be ideal for me. It was designed for librarians and information professionals to learn about computers; this was at a time, when computers were just starting to really take off. Many public libraries (including Newham) still had the brown ticket system at the time. I could see that it was really important, as well as being extremely interesting, to learn about the new technology. I really enjoyed the course, which was taught by two very enthusiastic and knowledgeable ladies, namely Gillian Martin and Helen Butcher, who also explained very complicated issues (such as programming) very clearly. Indeed, I really loved the whole intellectual atmosphere of UCL and also really loved the UCL library. Incidentally, Michéle Roberts also obtained her library qualification from UCL. Having obtained the MSc in Information Science (Computerised Systems), I then became involved in many interesting projects, implementing and upgrading various library computer systems, which began with me assisting with the implementation of Dynix in Newham libraries itself.

Leading on from this course, and with all this knowledge, I set up and ran an undergraduate course entitled ‘Computing Fundamentals’ (later renamed ‘Computing Applications’) at the University of Greenwich. This was my introduction to the world of teaching and lecturing – which was very much baptism by fire! I also gave my first ever guest lecture at UCL in 2001, which was based on my first article ‘The Essential Bridge’ (published in Managing Information in 2000), which was about the relationship between the library/information department and the computer/IT department of an organisation.

Andy Dawson subsequently took over the MSc course after I left, and has been running it for the last 15 years or so. His full title is ‘MSc Information Science Programme Director and Director of International Relations and Projects at UCL Information Studies’. Andy Dawson’s UCL Profile can be seen at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/andy-dawson/

Andy Dawson gave an interesting talk at a Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in London meeting on 14th October 2008 which I went to. His talk was entitled ‘Why doesn’t technology work?’ – see http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/london/events/Oct08.htm.
He considered why technology never seems to work the way we think it should and the problems that we suffer from today as we try to grapple with increasingly complex technology that no-one can really fully understand. This is in contrast to the early days of computing, where one could be more in control - Andy reflected fondly on those early days. Andy Dawson also particularly admires the work of Richard Stallman. A report on Andy Dawson’s talk by David Allen is in London CILIP: Newsletter for CILIP in London, available at http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/london/newsletter (Issue 18).


Furthermore, I met Anne Welch recently (also at a CILIP in London meeting), who has just become a full-time lecturer at UCL, Information Studies, on Cataloguing (taking over from John Bowman who took early retirement). We found that we had a lot of common interests, including feminist ones. We are both having some involvement with the Feminist Library. See, for example, Anne’s work with cataloguing the Feminist Library material:
http://annewelsh.wordpress.com/feminist-library-cataloguing/
Anne Welch also has her own blog on e-blogger/blogspot – see http://www.blogger.com/profile/06673706412763762709


Finally, I belong to UCL Alumni and receive their newsletter and a lot of the staff in the UCL Information Department receive these Updates of mine.



6. AUGUSTINE ADJEI’S DISSERTATION – ‘EMPLOYEES INFLUENCE ON MANAGING KNOWLEDGE IN BAE SYSTEMS’, 2008
I supervised Augustine Adjei’s Masters in International Management dissertation at London South Bank University, which he submitted in 2008. Why this is particularly significant for me is because of the interest and enthusiasm that Augustine Adjei took in my work; including buying and reading my book ‘Knowledge Management: social, cultural and theoretical perspectives’ (Chandos, 2007).

With careful supervision from me, and with me being a rather demanding supervisor at that, he built on a small part of my work in the knowledge management (KM) and culture field (which I wrote about in my KM book – pp. 140-148). I examined Bird and Metcalf’s model, which built on Hofstede’s 5-dimension model on culture, whereby Bird and Metcalf designed a 12-dimension model on negotiation. I took this model and applied it to knowledge management. This has been very much preliminary, brain-storming and ground-breaking work of mine.

It is quite unusual for a student to build on the work of an academic in this way, and I would like to give due credit to Augustine Adjei for his brave attempt here. He concludes his dissertation suggesting that “...further academic research should be done to find out employees influence on the middle-up-and-down strategy on managing knowledge in a global organization, using Rikowksi’s model for the cultural analysis.” (p. 109). I certainly hope that this work of mine can, indeed, be taken forward further in the future.

If anyone would like to discuss this with me, do email me at:
rikowskiruth@yahoo.co.uk or rikowskigr@aol.com


7. LATEST ISSUE OF ISC NOW OUT- ISSUE 28, WINTER 2008/09 ON THEME OF ‘LIFELONG LEARNERS’, EDITED BY JOHN PATEMAN– see http://www.libr.org/isc/toc.html or
http://www.libr.org/isc/issues/ISC28/Full%20issue%20ISC28.pdf%22
Information for Social Change (ISC) (Issue 28) is now out and is on the theme of ‘Lifelong Learners’ and is edited by John Pateman. The contents are listed below:

Editorial – John Pateman
Changes in Adult and Community Education – Dr Ray Shore
Learning, Learning Communities and Globalisation – Dr Ray Shore
Back to the Future? – Lifelong learning in libraries – Andrew Hudson
Developing a NEETS Based Library Service – John Pateman
Policing library users – John Pateman
Information and Liberation: writings on the politics of information and librarianship – Shiraz Durrani
Quality leaders project (youth) initiative – Jane Pitcher and Elizabeth Eastwood-Krah



8. REPORT ON 2 ESSEX BOOK FESTIVAL EVENTS IN MARCH 2009 WHICH I ATTENDED: SIMON BRETT AND AMINATTA FORNA
The 2 Essex Book Festival events that I attended in March (referred to in previous Update, No. 27) proved to be quite interesting. Further information is provided below.

8.1 SIMON BRETT, NOVELIST, TALKING AT SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS, ESSEX, 26th March 2009
The first was a talk given by Simon Brett held at Champions Manor Hall, South Woodham Ferrers on 26th March 2009. Simon Brett is the author of no less than 78 novels, many of which have been performed on the radio.

There were over 40 people at the event altogether and Waterstones bookshop was also there, selling signed copies of some of Brett’s books.

Brett obtained a First Class Honours degree from Oxford University in English in the late 1960s. Following on from this he became a Trainee Light Entertainment Producer for BBC Radio in 1968. He has worked for both BBC Radio and for London Weekend TV and now is a freelance writer.

Brett informed his audience that he loves radio as a medium. He thinks that one can collaborate with the audience very effectively through radio and that radio really makes you listen and pay attention. Brett said that he has always been very pleased with the casting of his scripts on the radio, which have included many successful and prominent figures, such as Prunella Scales. He has also produced some of his scripts himself for the radio.

Brett is now a full-time writer, but still does some contract work for the BBC. 3 half-hour plays of his will be performed on the BBC radio this year (2009).

Brett has a number of book series, including the Mrs Pargeter mystery series, and the Charles Paris detective series. He also brings humour into his crime novels, and is pleased with the effect he is able to create here. One of his novels, ‘Shock to the System’ was made into a film starring Michael Caine, which he was paid a handsome amount for!

Simon Brett is a very humorous person in general and he made a lot of jokes throughout his talk, which made everyone laugh. He also made the point that he has worked with many famous people, such as Frank Muir, who he liked a lot.

When he first decided to become a writer he wrote 4 novels which did not get published. He tried changing his name, using various pseudo-names, hoping that might ‘do the trick’. Then he got his 5th novel published at the age of 29 years, so did remarkably well, despite these minor setbacks.

Brett spoke about the ‘Golden Age’ of the detective novel, with authors such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Agatha Christie. He said that he has a great respect for these writers and for this age. I loved Agatha Christie novels in my teens. And recently I have been reading some of Dorothy L. Sayers books which I found to be engaging with lively characters. She also brought humour into her detective novels. Furthermore, Brett has produced some of the Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey stories for the radio.

Brett is currently writing about mysteries around a fictitious village called Fethering (e.g. ‘The poisoning in the pub’), which was inspired by the area that he now lives in - West Sussex.

Simon Brett said he writes a lot about women and enjoys that. He said that nothing that is written is ever wasted – I thought that was a very good and uplifting thing to say (especially for those of us that are keen writers!).

Many of the audience were clearly devoted fans of Brett’s and found his work very engaging and enjoyable. Some spoke about listening to talking books of his novels in the car – clearly it made their car journeys a lot more pleasant.

I got to know about Brett’s work through his ‘After Henry’ series on the radio: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jnh1


For a full listing of Simon Brett’s books on Amazon see: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=simon+brett



8.2 ‘TURNING LIFE INTO PROSE’ WITH AMINATTA FORNA, LOUGHTON LIBRARY, ESSEX, 28th March 2009
This was a writers workshop (referred to as a ‘Masterclass’ in the publicity) that was designed to “help capture your own experiences and turn them into memoirs, essays and travel writing”.

There were 7 people at the Workshop and it was supported by New Writing Partnership

Aminatta Forna author of ‘The Devil that Danced on the Water’ and ‘Ancestor Stones’ facilitated the workshop. Forna also writes for radio and television. Prior to her writing career, she was a journalist at the BBC for 10 years, reporting world events.

Aminatta Forna thinks that most people have the material in them to write a book (even if it is only one book). Furthermore, that we are interested in reading about the world of others, so she thinks it is a very good idea for more people to write their memoirs.

‘The Devil that danced in the water’ was published in 2002 and it is the memoirs of Aminatta Forna’s family. Her father was a political prisoner in West Africa; a forgotten political prisoner. Aminatta Forna first tried writing it as a novel but did not think she could get the message and information across effectively enough in that way, so decided to write it as her memoir instead. Upon reading ‘Wild Swans’ which covered 3 generations she realised that the form of that book was the form that she wanted her book to take. She undertook a lot of research for her book, interviewing people and inserting information on index cards etc.

Aminatta Forna also spoke very enthusiastically about the Arum Foundation which was set up by Ted Hughes and is heavily subsidised by the Arts Council. It provides residential courses on creative writing in 4 beautiful locations, including Devon and Scotland. Courses usually last for one week and it is a wonderful opportunity for people to write and explore ideas together. Most people, on completion of the course, decide what they want to do with their writing, she said. Aminatta Forna teaches on the course and recommended it highly.

Aminatta Forna said that trusting your own mind is essential for writing – I certainly agree with that! She read an extract from the book ‘Wild Mind’ by Natalie Goldberg. Natalie Goldberg said that sex and writing was essentially the same thing. Interesting!! Also, that we mix up the writer and the editor when we write; our fingers fluctuate between being writers and creators and editors – I have certainly found that to be true!

Aminatta read extracts from a number of different books and recommended quite a few authors – e.g. Maya Angelou, Blake Morrison, Roger Deakin

We all did some writing exercises. This included thinking and writing about a house that we had once lived in and describing a person that we knew well. We compared our writings, thoughts and reflections, which proved to be fascinating. It occurred to me that it would all make for valuable material for a book in itself; that the material could be bought together into an anthology.

I enjoyed meeting up, talking to and exchanging ideas with the others at the workshop. One topic that we spoke about was the gender issue in regard to writing workshops. There were 6 females at this workshop and only one male. Aminatta said that this was very typical of all writing workshops and courses – there are nearly always far more females than males. It is curious why this is the case. I mean, there are lots of male writers and novelists. Perhaps, they just prefer to ‘get on with the writing’ and do not like/want to be taught and trained. I think it is a problem, because in one sense creative writing cannot be taught; it is something from within, something that one has to feel inspired and motivated about. On the other hand, some can benefit from gaining some basic skills, and the interaction with others can be enjoyable and useful. Aminatta Forna said that some females do not actually attend the workshops with the aim of becoming serious writers and wanting to get their work published. Rather, some just attend because they enjoy the social interaction and the ‘time out’ that it provides from everyday life.

Aminatta Forna’s books on amazon (including 2 novels): http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Aminatta+Forna



For full details of the Essex Book Festival see: http://www.essexbookfestival.org.uk/EBF/




9. ‘MISCELLANY’ WITH MARY AND CLAUDIA AT WANSTEAD HOUSE, ESSEX, 1st April 2009
I had a very different, enjoyable and amusing evening on 1st April 2009 at this ‘Miscellany’ event in Wanstead House, Essex, listening to two ladies, Mary and Claudia reading poetry, prose and acting together in some sketches. In fact, I have never been to anything quite like it before. The ladies were very good – presumably drama trained. All the money that was raised from the event went to Wanstead House itself, so that it can continue to provide the wonderful service that it does for the local community, with its range of adult education classes, social groups etc (see http://www.wansteadhouse.co.uk/). With local authority cutbacks Wanstead House is now virtually self-financing, so raising this money is very important for it.

The evening explored ‘Ages of Man/Woman’, and was divided into 2 halves. The first half focused on ‘Children’, followed by a half hour break for wine and tea/coffee etc, and the second half focused on ‘Marriage, Careers and Onwards’. Below are a few snippets from their readings.

‘Children’ with Mary and Claudia
Children are going to Heaven, but not being very decisive about it. St. Peter says – “Can you either stay in or stay out for goodness sake?”

Child leaves his mum a note saying that a lot of things have gone wrong in the home (such as a broken cup, sink overflowing), but cannot understand how it all happened! Says:
“Knowing you’re going to have a fit
I’m going to gran’s for a bit.”

Another verse:
“Mum is having another baby,
I’m shocked and all at sea,
What does she want to have another baby for?
What’s the matter with me?”


‘Marriage, Careers and Onwards’ with Mary and Claudia
Mary read from a letter written by Anthony Trollope to a lady in 1861. In the letter he says that his wife is healthy, but if and when there comes a time when she is not, then he would like to invite this other lady into his life! That letter was certainly a surprise to me!

‘Wishes of a man’ by Walter Raleigh:
“I wish I loved the human race,
I wish I loved its silly face.”

Sketch – 2 friends, Pam and Felicity:
One says to the other “You’ll have to meet your husband’s requirements.”
“Your husband will have to perform – in the village hall.”

Later, Felicity had a son, but she said that she didn’t know what caused it. Pam said “How sad” followed by “What did cause it?”


The ladies did not give full references to all their readings, so hope I can be forgiven for not providing them all here. It was a very popular event; the room was packed. These gatherings are held periodically.



10. KUNIYOSHI EXHIBITION AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
I went to see the Kuniyoshi Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts with my artistic cousin Sue on 31st March 2009. Japanese artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) was one of the last great artists of the Edo period (1600-1868).

This exhibition of Kuniyoshi’s print work came from the Arthur R. Miller collection.
In the booklet which I purchased there, Pilbeam says that Kuniyoshi:

“…was prepared to take on any subject, and he is widely admired for this versatility and his highly original, often eccentric, imagination.” (p.1)

(booklet: ‘Kuniyoshi: from the Arthur R. Miller Collection, The Sackler Wing of Galleries, 21st March – 7th June 2009’, written by Mavis Pilbeam)

There were prints on topics such as warriors, beautiful women and landscapes.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and Kuniyoshi’s art work.

Best wishes as ever and may your best dreams come true!

Ruth



Email: rikowskiruth@yahoo.co.uk or rikowskigr@aol.com


3rd April 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 28th News Update

RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.28

Some time has lapsed, once again, since I sent out my last Update. This is largely due to the fact that my father-in-law died a month or so ago, and it has been, and continues to be, a very difficult time for us – both emotionally and practically. This also means that I have not found the time, as yet, to start up another blog. However, I have begun the process of archiving all of my old AOL blogs, which I am very pleased about – see item 3 below (although admittedly, it is taking me rather longer than I thought it would, but such is life!). Meanwhile, I was delighted to see my article about Michéle Roberts published in this months Managing Information, and presented in such a lovely way as well. This prompted me to send out this latest Update. Hope you all enjoy it.


1. ‘MICHĒLE ROBERTS: LIBRARIAN, NOVELIST, AND RADICAL INSPIRATIONAL WRITER AND THINKER’ BY RUTH RIKOWSKI, IN ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’, Vol 16, Issue 1, 2009, pp. 64-69
It was great to see my article about Michéle Roberts published in the latest issue of Managing Information. And presented is just such a lovely and colourful way as well. Many thanks to the editor, Graham Coult, for the thought and care he gave to it all. With all Graham’s artistic flair, his skill as a photographer along with the quality of his writing and editing of course, the result is always a very enticing and engaging magazine, I think. I remember having such thoughts when I very first saw Managing Information (MI), when I was working at Clifford Chance in 1999 – it really grabbed my attention, as a magazine that was exciting, eye-catching and dynamic. In regard to my Michéle Roberts piece - it was also the main feature article in this issue. My article is surrounded by photos of lovely sunflowers, which conveys a wonderful, attractive and cheerful message – a good idea, particularly in this time of recession. There is also a beautiful photo of a sunflower on the cover. The sunflowers as portrayed in my article have @ in the middle of them, thus conveying a message about my IT background as well.

So, what about the article itself? It was inspired by me going to see and hear Michéle Roberts speaking at CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Members’ Day, organised by CILIP in London, at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) on 16th October 2008. I went to hear Tony Benn speak 2 years prior to that at CILIP Members’ Day, which I really enjoyed (see my long piece about this on our website - http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Tony%20and%20Caroline%20Benn. So I went along to this event full of hope and I was not disappointed. It was also wonderful and it really inspired me.

In regard to Michéle Roberts herself, she is the author of 12 novels; including ‘The Looking Glass’ and ‘Daughters of the House’, which won the WHSmith Literary Award and was short-listed for the Booker Prize (1992). She has also held Creative Writing posts in academia, and been Chair of the British Council literature advisory panel.
But what particularly surprised me was that I found that I had quite a lot in common with Michéle Roberts – both of us loving books from a young age, and wanting to write books ourselves, for example; both having religious upbringings, which we rejected in our teens; both training to be librarians; both writing books and both being socialist-minded, feminists and radicals. Although Michéle Roberts is considerably more famous than me of course, and goes on the radio regularly etc!

In my article I conclude by saying that:

“All in all, attending Michéle Roberts talk at CILIP, reading her autobiography, feeling her passion for books, relating it all to my own experiences etc has been quite a wonderful and unique journey for me.” p.69)

A considerably longer version of this article is available on our website, at http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Michele%20Roberts



2. ‘MEMOIRS OF A LAPSED LIBRARIAN’ BY RUTH RIKOWKSI IN ‘LONDON CILIP: Newsletter for CILIP in London’
A short piece (a news item) by me about the Michéle Roberts talk was also published in CILIP in London Newsletter - see
http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/london/newsletter -
scroll down to Issue 19, Feb 2009, p.1



3. ‘RUTH RIKOWKSI UPDATES’ – RUTH’S AOL BLOG ARCHIVES CURRENTLY BEING INSERTED ON OUR WEBSITE - see
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Ruth%20Rikowski%20Updates%20(Archives)
I am in the process of inserting all of my old AOL blogs on to our website (following on from AOL shutting down all their blogs last October 2008). This will mean that they are all widely available again, and will ensure that the material is not lost. I felt this was particularly important as the blogs are a kind of diary, and ‘tell a story’’, particularly in regard to how I have grown and developed in the writing and publishing world of late. It also, hopefully, helps to connect many different types of people together that would not otherwise be connected. However, it is taking me longer than I thought it would! I am currently up to the 13th News Update, and as you can see, this is the 28th Update. Still, I will get there in the end – although it will have to be fitted around many other things, of course.



4. CHANDOS PUBLISHING IMPRINT BEEN SOLD TO WOODHEAD PUBLISHING
The Chandos Publishing imprint was recently sold to Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge.

Now, to order Chandos Publishing titles please contact:
Woodhead Publishing Ltd
Abington Hall, Granta Park, Great Abington,
Cambridge, CB21 6AH
Tel +44 (0) 1223 891358 Fax +44 (0) 1223 893694


This decision will help to enable Chandos books to be distributed more widely throughout the USA.

Visit the Chandos website at http://www.chandospublishing.com



5. MICHAEL PETER’S CONTRIBUTING TO A CHANDOS BOOK - ‘FUTURE OF THE ACADEMIC JOURNAL’ EDITED BY BILL COPE AND ANGUS PHILIPS, 2009, ISBN 1843344165 (pbk); 1843344173 (hdbk) http://www.chandospublishing.com/chandos_publishing_record_detail.php?ID=213
I was interested to discover that Professor Michael Peters is contributing a chapter to a Chandos book and on the important and highly topical subject of the ‘The Future of the Academic Journal’. Michael Peters has been very much at the forefront himself in the ejournal scholarly publishing field of course.

In the book summary on the Chandos website, it says that the book:
“…looks at a range of key topics that are of vital importance to academics and publishers alike. Will the journals business continue to grow? Open Access initiatives still form a relatively small part of journals publishing, but will they become the norm? How do librarians, publishers and academics see the future for journals? Will other forms of access to knowledge become more important? How will this part of publishing be affected by public policy, changes in copyright law, and the views of learned societies and research bodies?”

This should prove to be a very useful, timely and interesting book, I think.



6. GREGORY RIKOWSKI’S NEW BLOG, ‘GREGSWORLD’ AND HIS MYSPACE PROFILE FOR REVIEWS OF CULTURAL, MUSICAL AND FILM EVENTS
Gregory Rikowski, our youngest son, who is now 19 years old, started up his own blog a little while ago, and reviews various cultural and musical events that he has been to on it. There are entries for Herbie Hancock performing at the Barbican, London on 13th December 2008, for example; for the Sleeping Beauty ballet performed by the European Ballet in October 2008 at the Kenneth More Theatre and for Handel’s opera ‘Partenope’, held at the London Coliseum on 7th November 2008. See: http://gregrikowski.blogspot.com/2008/12/first-blog.html

Gregory also has a MySpace profile, which includes a film review section. See:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=92945414




7. ‘ALFRED HITCHCOCK: CLASSIC AUTEUR’ BY GREGORY RIKOWSKI
A piece by Gregory Rikowski about the film director Alfred Hitchcock (who he greatly admires) has recently been inserted on our website. See
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Hichcock



8. ESSEX BOOK FESTIVAL, MARCH 2009
http://www.essexbookfestival.org.uk/EBF/
The Essex Book Festival is currently taking place, and includes many really interesting events. The programme includes talks by people such as Francis Wheen and Simon Heffer, Joan Bakewell, Roy Hattersley, Alison Weir and Irma Kurtz. On a personal basis, I am very much looking forward to going to hear Simon Brett talk on 26th March and am going to a writers group, with Aminatta Forna on 28th March.


9. ‘PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITISATION’ – EDITED BY RUTH RIKOWSKI, SENSE PUBLISHERS, ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS; FORTHCOMING: LATE 2009
I am currently working on my third book, at the invitation of Professor Michael Peters – which is an edited collection on digitisation, which will include a significant input from me, and will be published towards the end of the year, with Sense Publishers (https://www.sensepublishers.com/about_us.php?osCsid=1a7).
This builds on a special issue on ‘Digital Libraries’ which I co-edited with Isaac Hunter Dunlap for the refereed international ejournal, Policy Futures in Education – see http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_1.asp

The book will be divided up into 6 parts, with 22 contributors and a Foreword by Simon Tanner, Director, King's Digital Consultancy Services, King's College London. The book will includes sections on digitisation and higher education; digitisation and inequalities; digital libraries, reference services and citation indexing; digitisation of rare, valued and scholarly works; and the futuristic developments of digitisation.

That’s it for now.

Best as ever,

Ruth

19th March 2009