Ruth Rikowski's 35th News Update

Happy New Year to one and all; in our neck of the woods as midnight struck it snowing, which we thought was quite something!

Over the last couple of weeks I have also been busy on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog again and there are now 4 new items up on. In this newsletter, in addition, there is information about the new band that our middle son, Victor Rikowski, has recently formed, called ‘Cold Hands and Quarter Moon’. 5 of the bands songs are now up on YouTube; 3 of which Victor composed himself and Alex Lowther-Harris, another band member, composed 2. Victor can be seen as the lead singer in the songs 'Reverence' and 'Human Herbs'. Meanwhile, there is another new addition to the ‘Contributions’ section of our website; this time a biographical piece by Moses Kilolo. Moses explains the difficulties and struggles he has faced as a young fiction writer from Africa, along with his determination to succeed against tremendous odds. His first work of fiction will be published shortly. Other items include the ‘Buy-a-Book’ Fund at Kings College, London and 2 additions to the Palgrave Macmillan ‘Marxism and Education’ series. All this, and more, is included in this 35th News Update.


1. RECENT ADDITIONS TO MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/
There are four new additions to my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog. The first is a brief entry about Alexander Rikowski and myself becoming Friends of the Zoological Society of London. The second focuses on a Tony Benn event that Glenn and I went to on 15th December 2009, where Tony Benn was in conversation with Ruth Winstone, his editor, at Stratford Circus about his new book, ‘Letters to my Grandchildren: thoughts on the future’ (Hutchinson, London, 2009). He wrote the book for his 10 grandchildren, to give them some faith, hope, inspiration and self-belief, it would seem. What a lovely idea, especially given that he is now 84 years old – his grandchildren should all be able to really benefit from his wise words. Tony’s strong belief in parliamentary democracy shines very powerfully throughout the book. The third is about the novel ‘September’ by Rosamunde Pilcher, which I link up with one of my friends from school and the fourth is entitled ‘Miss Allison and Novel Writing’. In the latter piece, I reflect further on my childhood dreams of wanting to write a novel (which has remained with me ever since), my love of fiction in general and the part that my English teacher Miss Allison played in regard to all of this. All of the entries, apart from ‘September by Rosamunde Pilcher’ include some digital photos that we took.




2. ‘COLD HANDS AND QUARTER MOON’:
A NEW BAND FORMED BY VICTOR RIKOWSKI
Victor Rikowski, our middle son, has formed a band, called ‘Cold Hands and Quarter Moon’ with friends from Bangor University in North Wales. It is all very exciting, and he has now written a piece about it all for this newsletter, and here it is below.

“COLD HANDS AND QUARTER MOON



Victor Rikowski – Guitar & Vox

Alex Lowther-Harris – Guitar, Banjo, Accordion & Vox.

Louie Ashton-Butler – Vox

Nicholas Frost – Violin

Jack Rennie – Bass Guitar

William J Roberts – Hand Percussion





In the autumn of 2008, Aaron Ledbury suggested to me that some kind of jam should take place between two musicians, namely him and me. I knew he played the ukulele and he knew that I played the guitar and bass. A month or two after this suggestion, Alex Lowther-Harris who was a banjo, guitar & synthesiser extraordinaire also joined us. We began to do some general jamming, with me on the bass, Alex on banjo and Aaron on ukulele. It was around winter 2008/spring 2009 that we began to make it a regular thing. Sunday was our compulsory weekly jam. For the rest of the year we were trying to figure out what our band/music was about and what we wanted to get out of the whole thing. We recorded quite a few of our jam sessions on Dictaphone. We were working on a big repertoire of songs; songs without lyrics in a band without a singer. Most of the songs were a bunch of chords which Aaron would jam/improvise over occasionally, with Alex and me occasionally having our own time in the spotlight. In one song I played flute and Aaron played harmonica and Alex played guitar. We often swapped, switched and sometimes even modified our instruments. Our style was a kind-of bluegrass, jamming and, predominantly, blues style. But without any singer, lyrics or main melody for all of our songs we were stuck for where to go next. But we didn’t really care. We enjoyed playing music and having fun with it. Alex and Aaron wrote the songs/chords together and I wrote the baselines along with their ideas.

Late at night one day the three of us went down to the beach on the Menai Straight between Bangor and Anglesey in North Wales (I am studying for a degree in Music and Creative Writing at Bangor University). It was a stone beach with huge boulders and calm water. It was very dark and very cold but it was also very beautiful. We played for about half an hour before complaining about how cold our hands were. We carried on playing nonetheless. We then noticed that the moon was quarter full. It was in memory of that magical night that the band then became ‘Cold Hands & Quarter Moon’.

The academic year came to a close. Over the summer holidays (2009) I began writing songs again. I hadn’t written a song for several years and it was nice to start again. I wrote them purely for my own enjoyment but when I came back to university and played a couple of them to Aaron he said he really liked them and that he wanted to work on them for the band. From then on the band had developed a whole new perspective. We were a band that did songs. The style of the songs maintained the original blues ethic, but also added in folk and even a few punk and country influences. The band line up began to change rapidly from then on. At the beginning of the year it was just me and Aaron in the band, me on guitar and vocals and Aaron on bass. Alex didn’t seem to like the new direction of the band so it was just me and Aaron.

However, Aaron and I both knew that we needed more musicians/singers in order to get the band to be how we wanted it to be. The next person to join the band was Nicholas Frost, who is a really good violinist and plays for the Bangor University Orchestra. He did a really good job with the songs that we had. When Nick came to his first practice he brought along with him the guy known as Louie, who is a very good singer and recently (December 2009) performed a vocal solo in the Bangor University Winter Concert. I had been thinking for a week or two about finding another female singer but then suddenly it struck the band as obvious; why didn’t Louie join the band. We had a second singer.

Eventually Alex came back into the band playing banjo, guitar and, very brilliantly, the accordion. It was done, the band line-up was complete. Alex began to write songs too, and wrote them very quickly. We began to practice regularly and for long hours of the day, sometimes much to our housemate’s annoyance! Just when we were getting pretty tight and ready to tour the pubs and Open-Mike’s of Bangor, disaster struck. Aaron was being thrown out of university because of his financial difficulties concerning last years’ rent. We had lost our bassist; the bassist who had learnt and written all the bass lines for the new songs by me and Alex along with the couple of cover songs we did.

We had to find a new bassist. Jack Rennie was the next person to join the band in autumn 2009 as the bassist. We began practicing again and re-learning the songs we had already done. Before too long we were performing songs in the pubs and Open-Mike’s in Bangor. First we performed in the Bell Vue (which is my personal favourite), the next one we did was at The Underground or The Venue on Bangor High Street. The next was Open-Mike at The Greek. We did a session in the recording studio soon after that, which I was using as coursework for my music degree.

For quite some time I was thinking about having a drummer and Jack Rennie had an electric drum kit. I knew how rare/difficult it is for a band to get a drummer and so this was likely to be the only opportunity for having one but, having realized that it wouldn’t suit the aesthetics of the band, I stuck with what we had. But I still wanted some percussion in the band. I went down to the shop and bought some bongos, a tambourine and an egg shaker. Soon after this William Roberts wanted to join the band as our percussionist. So now we’ve settled for the six of us and look forward to recording more songs in the studio and performing more folk/blues/country songs in pubs and Open-Mike sessions.

I have now put 5 of our recordings up on YouTube. The recordings aren’t great (just taken with a small digital camera), but it is a start and it is something that hopefully we can build on in time (anyone out there want to be a professional film/camera guy for us?? – Ha, Ha - LOL!!). So, anyway, here are the links:




'Brown Shoes' composed by Alex Lowther-Harris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5ijUrtSOzQ

'Traitor' composed by Victor Rikowski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRIP6SyI1X4

'Human Herbs' composed by Victor Rikowski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk

'Reverence' composed by Alex Lowther-Harris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVLjpWJfHgo

'Stagnant' composed by Victor Rikowski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StqTevvSQ_k “









3. HOPE AGAINST HOPE’ BY MOSES KILOLO
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=365&slink=yes (print friendly version) OR

http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=contributions&sub=Hope against Hope&serc=hope against hope

There is a new piece on the ‘Contributions’ section of our website. This is an autobiographical piece by Moses Kilolo, a young, talented, male fiction writer from Africa. Moses talks about both his struggles and his determination as a fiction writer, living in a developing country. He is a very gifted as well as a passionate writer, in my opinion. I read part of an unpublished novel by Moses Kilolo (one of many that he has written) that he kindly emailed to me, which is entitled ‘Salaried with Pure Love’. The novel addresses many important social issues, such as the suffering and prejudice faced by unmarried African mothers; Christian hypocrisy; selfish politicians and political corruption. In the story, the local pastor, for example, cajoles Ann into love-making:

“What Ann knew, that the rest of them didn’t, was that he was a liar. A wolf’s heart trapped in a lambs body. They saw in him the epitome of morality, but the secrecy of his living was a deep contradiction to the portrayals of his public living. No wonder his intents to marrying her hit the rock bottom.” (p.32 of draft manuscript)

Whilst Ann, as an unmarried mother, suffered, and her mother reflected thus:

“…the birth of a bastard child. It would be a shame to the family. The elders would be disgusted…the prying eyes of traditional extremists that drew both fun and satanic satisfaction from the torture of those that went off the line of the tribe’s moral code.” (p.7 of draft manuscript)

Throughout all this period Ann’s brother had become a successful politician, but he cared very little about the people that he supposedly represented or, indeed, for his own family either.

“ “Sick bastard!” she cursed silently, at the very first thought of a brother that was a minister in the government; the supposed representative of these children and their families. He had done nothing in his many years of representing the locals in the legislature, to ever improve their lives.” (p.41 of draft manuscript)

All this, once again, demonstrates the power that the novel can have in portraying social injustice, I think, and the way in which it can sometimes take us to places that socially and politically critical non-fiction writing is not able to. I explore all this further in an article of mine on our website, entitled ‘The Artistic Outlook’ – see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=359&slink=yes

Moses first novel, ‘An account of the deception of David Kyalo’ is about to be published with Fimbo Publishing, Nairobi, Kenya and Virginia, USA, 2009 – see
http://www.amazon.com/Account-Deception-David-Kyalo/dp/0981862624/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262512820&sr=1-2

Moses is also a student of Journalism at the United States, International University. Despite the great difficulties that he is battling against and continually having to try to overcome, Moses concludes his piece on our website on a very positive note, saying:

“…know more than anything that nothing is impossible. So never, ever, let anything stop you.

Further information about Moses Kilolo can be found at:
http://fimbo.org/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=106&Itemid=1

I wish Moses all the very best of luck with his writing and his publications.

4. ‘BUY-A-BOOK FUND’ AT KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON
We had an unexpected telephone call recently from one of the students at King’s College, London (where our eldest son, Alexander is currently studying for a degree in Philosophy), about the ‘Buy-a-Book Fund’ there. The library book fund is being cut, and parents are being asked to make donations through the ‘Buy-a-Book Fund’ to help to ensure that the book collection in the library can maintain its high standard. King’s is also taking part in the Government’s Matched Giving Scheme, which means that for every £3 donated, King’s will receive an additional £1 from the Government. So, quite some incentive here to contribute! Donors can identify a subject area they would like to contribute to and inform the librarian accordingly. Alternatively, they can leave it to the discretion of the Library. The gift will be acknowledged with a bookplate, either in the donor’s name or in the name of the person that the donor would like to honour it to. For more information about all of this see http://www.kcl.ac.uk/support/support/book.html. The student on the phone explained it as every parent being willing to buy one book for the library; and that if that happened, then the collection would be safe. Being put across in such terms, this might be seen to be quite a reasonable request.

However, there are clearly a number of serious concerns here. Obviously, it is great that people care about the library to this extent and want to preserve and maintain the collections. Alexander mainly uses the Maughan Library, which is a truly impressive and beautiful building and he says that the book collection there is outstanding. For more information about the Maughan library, and to see a beautiful picture of it, see http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/london/121b.html

So, obviously we want to cherish and build on all of that. But on the other hand, all this should surely be funded and maintained by the government and not left to the whims of individual well-off donors. It could be argued that as many King’s students come from wealthy backgrounds, and as many parents of King’s students have plenty of spare cash, it is fine to ask parents to contribute in this way; arguing that it might help to lessen inequalities as extra cash can then be given to poorer universities thereby benefiting poorer students. But I don’t think that anyone these days would be much fooled by that argument! The government is not going to be redistributing wealth from richer universities to poorer ones; no, instead, the government is clearly and simply about cutting university funding and university library funding; well, cutting public expenditure in general, of course. So, instead, this is another battering to education, as well as to our cultural heritage and our way of life. Also, the poorer universities will find it more difficult to attract money from donors; from the parents of their poorer students. Once again, all this would mean that the inequalities will be as stark, if not starker, than ever. Also, of course, one cannot rely on donations; a donor might give generously one year, but then give nothing, or next to nothing, the next!

The blog ‘No cuts at King’s!’ provides a lot of detailed information about the various cutbacks that are taking place at King’s - see
http://nocutsatkings.blogspot.com/

The contribution by parents to the library in this way is clearly a professional issue. If anyone from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) would like to discuss this further with me, then do feel free to get in touch. I do not know for sure, but I would presume, for example, that students are being paid a wage to make these phone calls. Also, the student that I spoke to lived near us, so I guess King’s aims to try to match up the students making the phone calls with the parents in some way. Presumably, they are hoping that this will help students to engage more effectively with parents, discussing some common areas of interest with them, and that this will hopefully encourage more parents to contribute and to donate.




5. TONY WARD’S WEIPKING DISTINGUISED VISITING PROFESSORSHIP AT MIAMA UNIVERISTY IN OXFORD, USA AND THE WARD METHOD
I was very pleased, recently, to receive Tony Ward’s third newsletter. Tony Ward is one of the Contributors to the book that I am currently editing: ‘Perspectives on digitisation’, which is due to be published in Spring 2010.

Tony began his newsletter by thanking those that continue to visit his website (http://www.TonyWardedu.com). He said that it is still attracting 1,500–2,000 visitors a month, which he is very pleased about, especially as he says he has done very little work on it over the last 9 months. This is because he has been very busy travelling and lecturing.

At the beginning of 2009 Tony was awarded the 2009-2010 Weipking Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Miami University in Oxford, USA. So, suddenly he came out of retirement and travelled from New Zealand to the USA. This led on directly from Tony’s work on what he termed ‘The Ward Method’. Bill Stiles, with his colleagues Hugo J. Shielke, Jonathan Fishman and Katerine Osatuke recently had a paper published in the ‘Psychotherapy Research Journal’ (Vol. 19, Nos. 4-5), September 2009, pp. 558-565, which is about the Ward Method. The paper was entitled ‘Developing Creative Consensus on Interpretations of Qualitative Data: the Ward Method’. 15 years prior to this, Bill Stiles and Tony Ward had lunch together, and Tony explained to Bill the pedagogical process that he had been developing over the last few years. As Tony explains in his newsletter, the method involved:

“…trial and error and problem-solving – of having a group of novice undergraduate students design one object (house, urban scheme, Marae development etc.) using a consensus method of decision-making that seemed to be fool-proof and conflict-free while at the same time allowing them to explore fully their own individual creativity.”

Bill Stiles then took these ideas back to Ohio, tested them and worked with them over the next 15 years. Bill Stiles et al’s published article, ‘Developing Creative Consensus…’ summarised and recounted how the Ward Method was adopted in this way. Tony Ward said that he had been ‘deeply touched’ and impressed by the research that Bill Stiles and his colleagues had undertaken in this area. So much so, that Tony wrote to Bill thanking him for all of this, and saying that he would be interested in working with him on further development of the Ward Method. Bill then suggested that Tony apply for the Weipking, in order to try to make this a reality. Tony was successful. Wow! So that was that. This is quite some story, I think.

Leonie, Josephine and Tony arrived in California in mid-July 2009 and began by having a holiday and a tour around. And then Tony began teaching; co-teaching a Capstone course in Psychology with Bill Stiles, as well as partaking in various other activities, such as giving public lectures. All in all, it sounds like Tony has been having a very interesting, enjoyable and successful experience. I wish Tony all the very best with these exciting developments and hope that the Ward Method, which helps to encourage students to develop creatively and to flower (and is a key part of critical pedagogy) will continue to be developed and expanded further elsewhere.




6. TWO BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 2009 IN THE PALGRAVE MACMILLAN SERIES ON ‘MARXISM AND EDUCATION’ – AUTHORED AND EDITED BY MIKE COLE AND DAVE HILL, THE FOUNDERS OF THE HILLCOLE GROUP OF RADICAL LEFT EDUCATORS
Dave Hill and Mike Cole, the founders of the HillCole Group of Radical Left Educators contributed to the Palgrave Macmillan Series on ‘Marxism and Education’ in 2009. Bibliographical details of the books are below:

‘Critical Race Theory and Education: a Marxist Response’ by Mike Cole, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Critical-Race-Theory-Education-Response/dp/0230613357/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262469938&sr=8-2
ISBN-10: 0230613357; ISBN-13: 978-0230613355

Richard Delgado, University Professor of Law, Seattle University and Author of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction and The Rodrigo Chronicles endorses Mike Cole’s book enthusiastically with the following comment:

“Any movement would be fortunate to have the meticulous but wide-ranging criticism that Cole offers. This volume is a welcome contribution that comes at an especially good time, as critical race theory jumps the Atlantic and expands into fields outside law, such as education.”


‘Revolutionizing Pedagogy: education for social justice within and beyond global neo-liberalism’, Edited by Sheila Macrine, Peter McLaren and Dave Hill, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Revolutionizing-Pedagogy-Marxism-Education-Macrine/dp/0230607993/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1262473281&sr=1-2-fkmr0
ISBN-10: 0230607993; ISBN-13: 978-0230607996

In the product description on Amazon, it says this in regard to the book:

“In response to the myriad of market-driven models of reform in education and beyond, this book brings together a group of top international scholars who consider Pedagogy of Critique, Revolutionary Pedagogy and Radical Critical Pedagogy as forms of praxis to examine the paradoxical roles of schooling in reproducing and legitimizing large-scale structural inequalities.”



7. ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’, VOLUME 16, ISSUE 9, 2009
The latest issue of Managing Information has some interesting articles in it about Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire Library Services. ‘Cambridge: New Library For Old’ by Jon Anderson, Pat Birch and Graham Coult (pp.51-59) looks at the recently reopened refurbished Central Library in Cambridge. The central library was originally opened in 1975, but closed in January 2007 for refurbishment. Jon Anderson said that “The old library had been hammered by heavy use and had suffered from planning blight caused by false refurbishment dawns” (p.52). There then followed a major consultation with the public in 2004. The features of the refurbished central library include Wi-Fi, RFID, digital signage and touch-screen information points providing access to a host of web-based applications including the library catalogue and a way-finding system. There is also a 7 bin book sorter at the library entrance, a purpose built café and an integrated lending and reference stock. Another key objective has been to create the library as a community space; there is a conference facility for a maximum of 60 people; three meeting rooms and a full-time venue manager.
The Cambridge Wordfest, a literary festival, takes place there, for example.
The article concludes by saying that the library has a comfortable feel to it with tasteful carpeting and colour schemes, an attractive learning environment and pleasant and helpful staff.

Meanwhile, Margaret Bellany looks at ‘Leicestershire Library Services’ (pp.63-70) and how the library service there began to modernise from April 2003. Within this framework, a capital programme of £9 million has now delivered 13 new libraries and 26 refurbishments out of a network of 53 buildings. As Margaret Bellamy explains, the libraries were “…designed to be light and bright, open and welcoming to all users” (p. 64) and barriers, such as high counters and entrance lobbies have been removed. Also, all the adult stock is rotated in the smaller village libraries to keep it “fresh and interesting”. The developments undertaken, which have been many and varied, include an updated website; content on YouTube and Flicker; library information packs; a larger number of PCs throughout the county libraries; a review of opening hours, with extended opening hours in the evenings and weekends and some Sunday opening; an upgrading of the library management system; an introduction of self service issue into the main 16 libraries; on line reference services and joint working with the Leicestershire Villages website for local information.


Where would we be without our valuable public libraries, one wonders!




8. ‘TWELVE INFORMATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHRISTMAS’ – A TALK GIVEN BY GRAHAM COULT AT THE ONLINE EXHIBITION IN OLYMPIA, LONDON
Graham Coult was asked to speak at the Online Exhibition in Olympia, London in December 2009, as part of the Information Masterclass Series, in the Professional Development stream. He chose as his theme, ‘The 12 Information Opportunities for Christmas’, building and adapting the well-known Christmas song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, with the aim of being helpful whilst also having some fun. In regard to the ‘2 Turtle Doves’, for example, Graham said that turtles doves can be seen as symbols of peace; as images of sacrifice in thanksgiving or as beautiful birds. Similarly, information can be viewed from different perspectives and that “Seeing opportunities in information depends on approaching the issues with the right frame of mind.” The powerpoint slides for Graham Coult’s talk are on his blog – see
http://wwwinformational.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-was-asked-by-organisers-of-online_09.html



9. BOOK REVIEW OF ‘METADATA FOR DIGITAL RESOURCES: IMPLEMENTATION, SYSTEMS DESIGN AND INTEROPERABILITY BY MURIEL FOULONNEAU AND JENN RILEY, CHANDOS PUBLISHING: OXFORD, 2008 ISBN 1 84334 301 0; ISBN-13: 978 1 84334 301 1

http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=1760&ChandosTitle=1 – REVIEWED BY NAOMI EICHENLAUB FOR ‘CATALOGUING AND CLASSIFICATION QUARTERLY’, 2009

Naomi Eichenlaub has written an interesting and positive review of the Chandos book, ‘Metadata for digital resources’ by Muriel Foulonneau and Jenn Riley for Cataloguing and Classification Quarterly. Eichenlaub says that the book stands out “…for both its practical approach behind metadata creation and maintenance as well as its focus on metadata use and re-use.” The book consists of 12 chapters, divided into 5 parts. Part 2, for example, includes chapters on Choosing metadata standards for a digital library project; Creating metadata usage guidelines; Creating Metadata and Practical Implementation of a metadata strategy. The final part considers The Future of Metadata. Eichenlaub concludes her review by saying that the book “…will be very useful as a text for information school courses on metadata, digital libraries, and resource description and discovery in the digital age…It will also be very helpful for all cultural heritage institutions looking for guidance on creating and sharing metadata for digital projects and is therefore highly recommended reading for those involved in such endeavours.”


10. STATISTICS ON OUR WEBSITE DOING VERY WELL –
4,200 VISITS A MONTH (APPROX)
We are very pleased with the statistics on our Rikowski website, ‘The Flow of Ideas’, which are now averaging around 4,200 visits a month.

Popular string searches include (amongst many others): the federation of schools, edubusiness, learning to labour, critical pedagogy; knowledge society/economy; idealism; postmodernism, the commodification of education and information, Tony Benn, Robert Owen, Paul Willis, Bourdieu, Alfred Hitchcock and classical auteurs,

We have also had quite a few praiseworthy comments about our website, in one way or another. It certainly seems that many people find it to be a very useful resource. We always, of course, appreciate receiving comments and feedback.

11. RETHINK TRIDENT PETITION
I recently signed the petition ‘Re-think Trident Campaign’ (as did Bob Bater, who informed me about the campaign), which is about cancelling the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Apparently, renewing the Trident system is estimated to cost in excess of £76 Billion; money that could definitely be better spent elsewhere, in our view. To join and sign the campaign to Rethink Trident, click here: http://action.compassonline.org.uk/page/s/stoptrident


Many thanks to Victor Rikowski, Tony Ward, Graham Coult and Bob Bater for providing information for items 2, 5, 8 and 11 respectively.

Best wishes,

Ruth

5th January 2010

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 (who also runs Chandos Publishing) and Bob Bater 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