Today as part of the MediaNetWorks project http://wwwmedia-net-works.de I visited HumLab in Umeå, Sweden a hotbed of innovation applying ICT to the humanities http://blog.humlab.umu.se/ where we met with Therese Örnberg and Patrik Svensson. Our discussions ranged over podcasting and the use of an audio communication interface called Traveller but it was clear that we could have talked about many other different topics if we had had more time.

I am hoping that Therese will be able to pass on some of her experiences in a virtual conference I am organising for November.

We also met with Camilla Hälgren who told us about the Swedkid http://www.swedkid.nu/ project, a story exercise exploring issues of culture and racism in Sweden, and which I hope she will also share at the virtual conference.

We experimented with my new mp3 player in the restaurant when the table behind us burst into spontaneous singing of what seemed to be traditional Swedish singing. The recording was terrible and is an affront to the ears. I have tried to modify its excesses but am obviously not born to be a sound expert. But the recording does not seem to work yet again. Must be overlooking some crucial setting.

On my way home yesterday I was looking over the shoulders of fellow pasengers and noticed at least three Danish newspaper articles saying the mp3 player was dead as an artefact. So it seems I am very much behind the wave!

We are about to start the blended learning English course in which I hope to use Elgg as an integral part. It has just occurred to me that the exercise of choosing key words will be a really worthwhile language exercise in itself.

When I developed this course I planned that some time should be spent during our face to face sessions familiarising the group with the ICT tools we would be using throughout the course. These are the LMS (Moodle), oral communication tools (Wimba) and elgg.

Since the group all come from the same company I go to their premises for the face to face sessions. The only problem is that their computer equipped classroom is out of commission due to building work. So what I have been doing is demonstrating the various tools on my laptop and then hoping that they will be able to follow suit either at their work stations later or at home. So far 7 out of 8 have accessed the Moodle, 6 out of 8 have registered with elgg and 1 has tried out the Wimba tools.

For me this is far from ideal since one of the main aims of the distance element of the course was to generate records of interactions which could be referred to later both for language work and to provide material for a language learning portfolio. So a major task for me is how to ensure that everyone is familiar and at ease with these tools before my third and final meeting with them next week.

This is a common problem that technical worries get in the way of the real business at hand.

Thought I had better say a little bit about the organisation I am working with at the moment, the ones who are taking my blended learning English course. I have asked them to join Elgg as part of the course but I think it will be a while before the potential of Elgg becomes apparent to them.

So, as described on their website:
House of Venture is a workplace that is normal in a different way!!


Normal when it comes to living up to the high standards expected of companies in Denmark today.

Different because we dare to do what others don't. We hire people with disabilities, utilizing the often overlooked skills and manpower that they represent.


Through the years House of Venture has been nominated for several awards for its ground-breaking work and recently received the Social Award from the Danish Conservative Party in 2004.

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