Top twenty UK photographs... and mines in!

One of my photographs has made it into the top-twenty photographs which will form an exhibition at the National Museum of Media and Photography in Bradford.

The photograph was taken on the road to Buxton in Derbyshire and was taken after two previous visits to the same location.

The twenty images which will be exhibited were originally uploaded to flickr and then included in a 'britain in pictures' group. The exhibition itself runs at the museum until January 2008.

It goes without saying that I'm honoured that my picture has been chosen, especially given the quality of some of the other photographs in the group.

Blogging in schools

Today has seen the official launch of a school blog after six weeks of training with sixteen students.

Pupils from St Peter's High School in Orrell have been finding out all about blogs as part of their english coursework and ICT across the curriculum. They have had lessons in Creative writing, journalism skills and of course web safety and security.

You can have a look at their school blog and their write-up of the course here and as the team continues to create more content, I'll be back in the school to work with more students and staff in this exciting area of creative education.

As most of you may know already, a lot of my work centres around the use of podcasting, blogging and photojournalsm in education and I set up the Rock FM bus blog as part of my vision for journalistic skills such as research and presentation to be featured more prominently within our schools.

Students love the challenge of creating podcasts and school blogs, especially when they can work alongside creative professionals and broadcast partners such as Rock FM so if you're connected with a school in the North-West of England and you'd like more information or maybe like to meet for advice then feel free to email me.

pthurst@gmail.com

Not the ten o'clock news...

I was out and about today, making the most of the holiday and so I visited the National Museum of Photography and Media in Bradford.

The museum is one of the most popular in the country, probably due to the popularity of TV, film and photography and I had a great time having a good look around.

The museum includes lots of original 'props' and equipment from TV and film sets with some lovely exhibitions of Childrens TV memorabilia, some of which brought a tear to my eye and made me feel very old indeed (Chorlton and the Wheelies anyone?).

Aside from the exhibitions and a superb IMAX theatre, there are also a few 'hands-on' areas too and me being me, I just had to have a fiddle at editing an episode of Emmerdale and then breaking a live report into the ten o'clock news from the BBC.



Now just before you all head for the hills H.G Wells style, this report certainly wasn't true although with an autocue failure at the end of my report, conspiracy theorists my just have a few things to say about whats really going on...

Anyway, if you have a spare day and this kind of thing flicks your switch then you'd do well to pay the museum a visit.

Looking into the future for schools

It's been on the cards for some time. With new technology on the rise in the classroom, I've been demonstrating how powerful it can be.



Helping students to embrace new technology such as blogging and podcastiong isn't difficult, in fact the concepts behind the technology don't bring anything new to the table at all, instead it changes the way in which young people engage in learning.

This post may have taken seconds to write but it does help demonstrate how technology is becoming easier and easier not only to use but also use in the classroom.

Anyone wanting more information, may be interested in this site which compiles some work from various schools around the north west of England.

Can media make a difference?

It seems like the national curriculum us set to be re-shuffled for students here in the UK. There will be a re-emphasis on personal learning and the expressive arts are also on the ascendancy.

As some of my regular readers will know, I am currently helping to run a media bus project which basically allows students to have a go at using media skills to create curriculum based content. The aim is to encourage students to use research, preparation and presentation skills to look at any given topic.



I've been reminded today of just how effective something like this can be. Over at one of our schools, we have just finished our second project in which we have taken a look at the schools work towards arts status accreditation.

Some of the pupils have given us some feedback which helps us to tweak what we are delivering in the schools.

Technologies such as blogging and podcasting have massive potential for use within our 21st century schools, but I am reminded that the technology in itself is only useful if it is used to re-enforce and develop personal skills at the heart of the students who we work with.

The Rock Bus Blog is done...

For anyone who's interested in seeing yet another blog based project that I've been working on. Take a look at www.rockbusblog.com

The aim of the blog is to highlight what's what for the Rock FM bus and to also showcase the work that we do in the schools and communities.

My involvement with the project has steadily increased over the last few months. I now work pretty much full time on media training and teaching across North West schools and communities.

If you'd like more info on the bus then drop me an email and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Paul

The BBC college of Journalism

Hot off the press, the BBC college of journalism (CoJo) has launched amid 'internal' fanfares today.

The reason why the launch didn't garner much attention to anyone outside of the BBC's 'Gateway' intranet site, is probably due to the fact that the college cannot be accessed by us mere mortals in the outside world. Its a bit like Hogwarts...

The new online facility aims to ensure that the standards are kept high (for BBC staff only) and this is reinforced by a physical facility too, (for the 'muggles' perhaps?) apparently over an Italian deli in London.

On a serious note. I find it interesting that in this age of mass-media and rolling news, the BBC are still interested in not only keeping a presence in what's becoming a fairly busy marketplace, but the Corporation clearly intends to reinforce the strong journalistic principles on which the NCA department was built. As such, I think this is licence fee money relitively well spent (easy on the deli takeouts though please).


As part of my teaching in schools. I have been asking the media students "what makes a good news channel on TV?" It's amazing how many get caught up with the bells and whistles before even considering the framework from which the actual content is gathered.

I am worried that the new Al Jazeera news channel, may fall under this banner. Yup they may be gearing up for HD broadcasting. And its pretty impressive to see a wall of reporters and correspondents waiting to 'bring us up to date' immediately, but I'm slightly concerned that there's an anti-Israel bias that has already crept in. Maybe its not in how the news has been reported as much as the stories that they are missing out.

In this day and age. The media is playing an ever increasing role in how we perceive or world and indirectly how politicians deal with things on our behalf. I hope the BBC's college is quick to remind its students of the ethical responsibilities which accompany their reputation as one of the most trusted news providers on the planet.

(You may read a more detailed mandate on this blog post from the CoJo Editor. should you wish. Or check out biased BBC. Maybe they could assess some of the coursework?)

Final touches for the Rock FM media bus

After a complete internal refurb which includes state of the art plasma screens and computers. The Rock FM media bus will be ready to hit the roads by tomorrow as the finishing touches to the exterior design are finalised.

I got chance to take a look today and I must say its looking really good indeed. The bus will be used in schools and community projects across the North West region and to top it all off, we will also be hosting live broadcasts, music gigs and DJ workshops plus lots of other extra things which have yet to be thrown into the mix.


The Rock FM bus has already proved to be incredibly popular for a few lucky schools who were able to work on pilot projects over recent weeks but as the paint dries on the outside, the focus will once again shift to providing top-quality teaching and media training on the inside.

The bus is kitted out with a laptop zone and a separate couched area at the back where another group can work on planning or watch a dvd. Its also possible to broadcast onto the radio from the bus and over the coming weeks and months, some of the station presenters and guests will be popping on board for special visits.

***HAVE A LISTEN TO THE PILOT PROGRAMME BY CLICKING ON THE PICTURE BELOW***



If you'd like more information about the bus or if you'd like us to visit your school or community centre then drop me an email and we'll have a chat.

Photojournalism and Wigan Athletic

I have recently been working and devising a photojournalism course for use within secondary schools and as the project draws to a close, I thought I'd blog about it a bit for any teachers who want to explore ways of looking at photography/art/media and communication outside of the classroom.

Pictured above is Tony Smith from Wigan Athletic who manages the community bus which allows the club to deliver ICT and media training in schools. Some of you may know that since the start of this academic year, I have been working as part of this team and I decided that this would be the ideal platform to build further on my ideas of how to use photography to engage people in community related issues.

For this project, we took a group of five students to the training ground where they had chance to have a go at sports photography as Wigan Athletic were training. The coaching staff and team were excellent and the Manager kindly allowed me to take an 'official photo' which will now be signed and presented to the school.

After the photoshoot, Tony showed the students round the JJB stadium and then held a mini press conference in the press room, all the time, reinforcing how the media work with the club on matchdays to get all the important info into the public domain as quickly as possible.

The project has proved to be incredibly successful and for me, it goes to show that within education, media can be used as a useful tool to engage pupils with curriculum topics and in this case, take a more detailed look at the world around them.

Al Jazeera - International news channel launches

Al Jazeera news has begun to broadcast internationally, in English. Its Arabic sister channel has often found itself in the middle of controversy and George Bush even threatened to bomb its headquarters, but what can it bring to the news table?

The channel has enjoyed a positive launch with many well known broadcasters swelling the ranks. Ex BBC, Ex CNN and other familiar names have relocated to work out of the channels HQ at Doha, making Al Jazeera the first International news channel to broadcast from the middle east.

As I watched the opening minutes of the very first broadcast, I was reminded what a large part the media plays in international affairs. There will be some who may question the impartiality of the channel but I think that its better to have more voices commenting on international affairs rather than fewer. I look forward to seeing how they choose to report some of the events that happen right on their very doorstep and which them all the best for the future and for their safety.

You can watch the opening few minutes from Al Jazeera's opening broadcast below.

Working with Wigan Athletic

Some of my freelance work involves teaming up with Wigan Athletic FC where I work as a Schools Co-ordinator.

The club has a big blue 'We Are Wigan' bus that's kitted out with state of the art media production gear and laptops. The bus then rolls up to the venue and we deliver media-based schools work which usually involves the students creating a radio programme.

Needless to say, the bus is very popular indeed in the community and within the schools. especially if we have a few players onboard or other special 'guests' for our visitors to interview.

This last month, the bus has been visiting a special needs school in Wigan and we've all been working hard to make a documentary style video/radio programme to tell people what kind of things go on in school and how people's individual needs are identified and catered for. The pupils have all worked very hard on this project and although I am still putting the finishing touches to the video, it looks great!

We've had some help along the way from a few of the Latics players, Neil Turner MP and other people of equal importance, and for me, its been a real privilege to have worked in a school with such a positive and forward-thinking ethos.

Pictured in this post is Peter who visited the bus to receive a signed team poster.

Management speak from the journalists?

The BBC have been drawing our attention towards some of the common management sayings which many of us will have come across at some point or another.

If its not 'joined up thinking' or 'running it up the flagpole' then I'm sure most of us will have been encouraged to try 'thinking outside the box' or even somehwere up in the 'blue sky'.

A report from the CBI tells us that when we hear these (and other) sayings, we lose confidence in the speaker, it seems that clichés 'blight' us all and make us feel that maybe we aren't hearing anything new after all.

The BBC's article may be found here but as per usual, it got me thinking...

In the business of journalism, clichés are commonplace. Its a 'bid' for this or a 'mercy dash' for that, How many times have we been told of 'crisis talks' where deals are being 'hammered out' or about someone who 'sustains fatal injuries', surely they mean, die?

The BBC are certainly well aware how clichés generally make audiences 'tune out' and that most of us don't really hear past them at all.

They have commissioned a guide which you can download for yourself and it makes quite an amusing read too.

Most of us use clichés quite sparingly and will even apologise before using one, but certainly here in the UK, its clear to anyone who reads through the guide, the message hasn't got through to those who keep us up to date with the news, at all.

Rx2008's amazing video! (a MUST see!)

The question is: Did he do the voice over himself? Its SOOO good!