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It’s Sunday and I am frustrated. There must be tonnes and tonnes of interesting stuff to read on the likes of Threads, Instagram, Reddit…and I can’t find any of it. YouTube’s recommender has been really crap lately and I liked 10 minute videos but now it’s either those difficult to escape Shorts, or mad long videos about crap I’m not interested in.

Threads defaults to the algorithmic engine which for me is just a total traincrash. For one thing, it is utterly America-centric talking about problems America has (and exports because hey, someone will make money from it). I have very specific interests on Instagram but I don’t get them very much. Even search results are disappointing.

I don’t know. Conversations aren’t happening they way they used to. So while it’s an online presence, it’s not very social any more I think. On the media side well yeah, the historians will look back, perplexed.

This is a minor little rant, I guess.

As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, autumn becomes the perfect time to get outside with your child for a special kind of adventure: an I-Spy walk. This is something my mom would do with me when...

The post Taking an I-Spy Walk in Autumn first appeared on EvinOK.

The post Taking an I-Spy Walk in Autumn appeared first on EvinOK.

Following up on last year’s post, Everything I Love for My Kids’ Birthdays, I wanted to share a list of goody bag fillers that aren’t candy as well as links to paper goody bags. I love not including a ton...

The post Goody Bag Fillers That Aren’t Candy first appeared on EvinOK.

The post Goody Bag Fillers That Aren’t Candy appeared first on EvinOK.

I AM COUNTING down the number of Mondays remaining in my university teaching career and with around four dozen Mondays on my academic schedule I've started thinking about what I will leave behind and who would be interested in the remnants of 25 years of my teaching on the same campus. I'm journaling these thoughts as part of an enjoyable secondary learning experience (something I learned from Mark Guerin of Leargas).

I reckon the small building holding eight classrooms that are viewable through the red anchor on campus will still be standing well beyond its useful life. And the information technology infrastructure will keep ticking over. In fact, the IT services will undoubtedly improve while the building's roof continues to leak.

It's those IT services that concern me--in a good way. I've uploaded and refined more than a terabyte of high quality academic material onto the campus SharePoint services. I can search that material with standard finder tools as well as with Microsoft Copilot's large language library. But since the Office Graph has not been enabled for our information services, it's unusual for anyone to serendipitously discover what I'm teaching. And that means very little cross-modular collaboration between lecturers and researchers.

Invisible Legacy with Office Graph Shut Off

I've often wondered if I should petition Science Foundation Ireland for PhD funding to study this shortfall in academic institutions. I know that most items I express about Creative Commons sharing through Open Education Resources falls on deaf ears. And I also know there's a hornet's nest just underneath any discussion about ownership of academic materials. These are some of the sentiments underpinning the reason for limited discovery of emerging material across all the higher level academic institutions in Ireland.

Knowing these deep-seated sentiments, I wonder if I can ever hope to leave behind a polished legacy. This is the idea I'm sharing with the Congregation Unconference discussion about Legacy in November 2024.

The Legacy of Critical Thinking and Creativity

One of the most significant moments of my teaching career happened when I was politely moved well off the firing line as a lecturer in 2023. Thanks to the personable intervention of Marie Walsh, I got a chance to explore a Special Advanced Programme about Critical Thinking. It involved a week-long session on the campus of Polytechnic Leiria in Portugal. While in workshops with students from seven different countries, I had several opportunities to learn how to think critically while formulating creative solutions. Some fellow students commended me for showing them how to think outside of the box. When this happened, I felt recognised for one of my legacy skills while also realising I have not carved out a thought space for this important skill set. And perhaps that failure to enjoy the spotlight will be burned into my legacy.

The Legacy of Just Reading

Since she was three, I've been inspired by watching Mia (now 16) read. Perhaps Mia picked up some of her love of reading by watching her mom and dad read more books than screens. But as I write this, I realise I should be a better role model.

I've written about the importance of learning how to read better and have shared personal insights on enhancing reading skills. One of my daily routines involves reading things I've highlighted, using a service called Readwise.

And perhaps my legacy should be simply advocating the joy of reading. It's something that would help my 13 year old son in school as he tries to compensate for poor reading scores.

So as I scroll through other contributions made by people who will attend the Congregation 24 Unconference, I'll bring a few books to be left behind in the various meeting venues around the town. I'll write my name inside the front cover of the books so people will know they're touching part of my legacy as I highlight and share some words on pages I hope others will read too.

[Bernie Goldbach has 55 Mondays remaining as a third level lecturer in Ireland.]

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by Bernie Goldbach in Leiria, Portugal

TODAY I WATCHED Dylan (above) control several computer programs by just using his eyes in the Centre for Digital Inclusion (CRID) on the campus of Polytechnic Leiria. Several of the programs were very challenging for Dylan since his right eye is weaker than his left eye.

I hope Dylan makes a full report in an upcoming Topgold Newsletter and on his podcast. You can sign up for the newsletter below.

[Bernie Goldbach is planning a Special Advanced Programme with Polytechnic Leiria.]

accessibility

by Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel

ON THE DAY Donald Trump was shot in my home state of Pennsylvania, I remember several C-141 flights when we took Secret Service teams aboard our aircraft in support of the President of the United States. We often had a comfort pallet like the one in the photo.

Some of the Secret Service teams were CS (Counter Sniper) specialists. They could carry all their gear on our military aircraft. I remember watching one of the guys cleaning his bolt action Remington 700. It had a suppressor on it and he had a box of Winchester 300 Magnum rounds. I once saw that weapon on a firing range and it had a substantial recoil when the sniper was dialing in a target nearly 800 meters away.

Inside our comfort pallets the Secret Service team members would often compare satellite imagery to venues. They would use grease pencils to encircle 100, 200, and 300 yard threat perimeters. Once they knew where they would be positioned they wouldn't have to worry about milling-out their weapons because they would have dialed in their scopes with their range finders and wind analyses.

In the 1980s when I was actively flying these kinds of support missions, I learned about the Minutes of Angle computation used by snipers. A standard rifle has one MOA which means a shooter should expect to get a one inch grouping when 100 yards from a target. An average male target is 25x40 which is a large target.

[Bernie Goldbach has flown more than 3000 flying hours, nearly 1000 of those hours in a C-141.]

by Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel

AFTER THREE MONTHS of hard use, I can unreservedly recommend the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 as a primary tool for mobile journalism.

I bought the camera and its accompanying DJI Wireless Mic II from Harvey Norman in Waterford after discovering DJI wasn't stocking Whelan Cameras in Limerick fast enough. I got the extremely stable Manfrotto mini tripod from Whelans years ago but they don't sell it anymore so there's Amazon for a fast delivery option.

Here's a breakdown on the equipment.

DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Camera costs €585 from Harvey Norman or Amazon

DJI Wireless Mic 2 costs €359 from Whelan Cameras

Manfrotto Mini Tripod costs €39 from Amazon

The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 runs out of stock quickly and that might mean new adopters may need to purchase it as part of the Creator Combo.

The Creator Combo wasn't available in Ireland when I purchased the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 by itself. I need the battery handle that complements the Osmo Pocket 3. That 950mAh battery extends the camera's operating time by approximately 62%. It also supports hot swapping and has a USB-C port for connecting external audio devices. And I will need the Pocket 3 carrying bag because the camera moves around in my shoulder bag even when snapped into its plastic case. So I've made a wishlist that specifies these additional accessories with things like a wide-angle lens and camera filters.

If you want to get inside info about how Dylan and I create content that attracts more than 1000 views, please subscribe to my Create and Share Newsletter. We use the Osmo Pocket 3 camera to produce YouTube clips such as interview with Amy in our favourite chipper below.

[Bernie Goldbach teaches creative media production on the Clonmel Digital Campus of the Technological University of the Shannon].