Time of change...

 With all the talk about the digital world in Module 1 I found myself wondering: how our digital carbon footprint impacts the environment? This is a tricky one and I could have devoted days, months and years to in depth research. However time is against me so I read as much as I could in a short space of time and came up with the following thoughts : Digitalisation is heavy on energy and is resource intensive. It comes with a gob smacking carbon footprint. A study from the Shift Project found that our use of digital technologies now actually cause more Co2 emissions than the entire aviation industry! (According to the experts the share of the global Co2 emissions from 2013-2018 increased from 2.5% to 3.7%) I find this staggering, even though we can't see it, can it really be ignored? Without decisive political action the digital revolution is set to increase our consumption of resources and energy and accelerate the damage we are doing to our planet and our climate. But this has to...

 I suffer massive discomfort at the thought of conflict in and out of work. I think that the route of my problem is ultimately the fear that what I am/have done is not good enough. So I avoid discussions/arguments of getting onto a certain subject as I don't want to have to defend myself. I fear my argument is too weak and that whatever I have produced will not be to the liking of whoever it is that is judging it. So sometimes I don't say anything and try to distance myself. Of course this is actually exacerbating the problem to me (maybe unknown to the "judge"), so not only now am I dealing with the feeling of my product is soon to come under attack, but also that I am not being true. It may well be that my product is fine, but I automatically push myself into expecting the worst. Why do I have such low self-esteem?  I wasn't always this way. I was never one to be in the spotlight (apart from when I was physically on stage) and shout out me, me, I can! But I alwa...

  I'm working through the Handbook and felt the urge to undertake some research into Collective Intelligence; and how online communities create partnerships and why. I began by asking: what is so compelling about being part and remaining a part of an online community? My simple answer was... 1. The urge to contribute to the community 2. the perception of benefiting from the community. Then I thought about it some more... You and I are bound together by a common interest or topic such as a hobby, profession, location or cause. We may have no pre established connections. We may well come from all walks of life. But everyday we're lost in a digital sea of information and conversations. But online communities can act as an anchor by personalizing or grouping all that content.  Online communities have improved three major aspects of online life:  communication, personal development and business. Communication  on the internet is often thought of as asynchronous but for th...

 Day 1 - I feel like this is my first proper day of physically starting!!! So now I feel scared and embarrassed; in my head everyone else on the course has finished their essay and are half way through their Map!...Again I feel scared and embarrassed. But what should I do, suffer in silence. No, a cry for help!? Well not quite but I am kindly nudging people for a response ;) I have read and re read the Handbook, taken part in the Skype sessions and that was all well and good but then you leave and go back to real life. Now I feel like I have to go back and start again!!! There is no doubt the Skype sessions were really helpful and you finish feeling really motivated but then swiftly after that (normally when my daughter is sitting in her high chair for lunch) the bubble bursts and everything feels far away once more. I should have used the Skype sessions as a Diving board and leapt off immersing myself in the chosen task, but I didn't. Now I am paying the price ;) I will most defin...

  Great Workshop today with Peter! I feel like I need reminding about this at least once a week, It was really useful! Peter gave us a tip to look up "Writing for University", I can highly recommend it. I have not had chance yet to go into depth and read the whole thing but here is an exert for everyone that I will most definitely be printing out in big to keep me on track! The exact way you structure your writing will depend on your particular writing context (a lab report will have a different structure to a discursive essay); however, most written pieces will need the basic structure outlined here.  ((I had to do a quick Google... ****  What is discursive essay? Discursive essay  is another kind of academic papers, which is used to check the students' skills and knowledge. Its main particularity is the aim to provoke discussion on the call-off topic. As a result the author joins the conversation about any situation, even, issue, or problem. ****)) INTRODUCTION – s...

 Think of the whole process like an improvistion.  Nobody's judging.  Just a small insight into this morning's discussion! My current thinking... Starting----->official start date----->making the physical start---->when do I feel I've actually started ---->can one go back to how it is before one started How do I set myself small targets? So that I feel I am achieving something along the way?  Which strand of thought should I tackle first? And how do I make any sense of my ideas? Or are they all just useless words without any body or depth behind them? I feel like I can make a point but can't bring it round in a complete circle.

 Hey, here's a bit about me!...I have been living and working in the Musical business in Germany for the past seven years. I am currently in the process of moving back to the UK (despite Brexit, and the somewhat poorly managed COVID situation, but that is definitely not what I'm here to discuss;)) Have been totally overwhelmed by the idea of starting this course, but I guess there is nothing for it other than just making a start! The introductory chat with Helen most definitely helped to make me feel like I am not alone, but physically starting; how shall I do that!? In some ways there is so much to say but on the other hand, so little...