Open Access Statistics
We use IR Stats software to analyse your research outputs in BURO (Bournemouth University’s institutional repository) and produce the statistics below. A dashboard of statistics on individual outputs is freely available to all – simply access each of your items in BURO and scroll down the web page.
Most requested peer-reviewed article this month* 
Buhalis, D. and Law, R., 2008. Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research. Tourism Management, 29 (4), pp. 609-623.
*by current staff
This article is a green open access post print i.e. the author accepted version. Always remember to retain this final peer-reviewed version of all your research papers. Most articles in BURO are author accepted versions. You can check publisher copyright policies for archiving in BURO on the Sherpa Romeo website.
Search engine referrals
62.31% from Google Scholar
7.17% from Google
This demonstrates how well BURO is indexed by the most high profile search engines for research.
Professor Buhalis writes,
It is always great to publish great research but for me it is all about relevance and impact on society and making sure that research is accessible and useful to as wide an audience as possible
Gold article of the month 
Bate, S. and Bennetts, R., 2014. The rehabilitation of face recognition impairments: A critical review and future directions. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 491 – http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/21334/
PhD Focus
PhDs consistently appear high up in the most downloaded outputs lists in repositories and BURO is no exception. In August these theses were 2nd 3rd and 4th in the list.
| Burrows, E. A., 1997. Stress in qualified nursing staff and its effect on student nurses. PhD Thesis (PhD). Bournemouth University. | 1069 |
| Franklin, I., 2009. Folkways and airwaves: oral history, community and vernacular radio. PhD Thesis (PhD). Bournemouth University. | 564 |
| Cramer, D. E. A.., 2009. Consumer perceptions and experiences of relationships with service organisations: financial, travel and tourism organisations. PhD Thesis (PhD). Bournemouth University. | 538 |
Burrows, E.A. August 2014 document downloads
Ensuring your research is open access
Please do keep adding your full-text research outputs to BURO via BRIAN, both green and gold. To be eligible for submission to the next REF exercise all journal papers and conference proceedings will have to be made freely available in an institutional or subject repository (such as BURO) upon acceptance (subject to publisher’s embargo periods). See the blog post here on how to add outputs to BRIAN.
Any queries please contact the BURO team: BURO@bournemouth.ac.uk
A quick hello from the British Science Festival
As R&KEO’s new Public Engagement Officer I have taken a week to travel up to my hometown of Birmingham and visit this years British Science Festival to get some inspiration for ways to tell the public all about the amazing research our academics are getting up to at BU.
So far this weekend I’ve heard from two of the most celebrated female science communicators Alice Roberts (Professor of public engagement at the University go Birmingham and star of multiple television programmes) and Maggie Aderin-Pocock (star of BBC programmes such as “Do we really need the moon?”). I’ve also heard about the biology of dinosaurs, finally learnt the answers to my burning questions about how they did the special effects in the original Star Wars (with difficulty it would seem!), and learnt why improbable occurrences, such as this poor guy being struck by lightening twice in a row, can and do happen!
My favourite event so far though would have to be Science Show Off. The great news is this is an event that happens regularly in different parts of the country, and if you fancy yourself a comic genius you can go and take part! Academics and students are given 9 minutes to get up and talk about whatever they like. Yesterday’s 2 hour show taught me how Galileo and his pals were wrong in there assumption that the square root of 2 could’ve expressed as a fraction, why I should give up drinking to upgrade my DNA (probably not going to happen), that spiders really just need a rebrand, and what a particle physicist does and why! All of these short snappy sessions were delivered in a comedic style making it a highly informative yet humorous evening to attend.
If you think you secretly missed your calling as a stand up comedian then take a look at their website which let’s you see what gigs they have coming up and sign up to perform your set – no questions asked!
If in fact you think this is something you’d like to do here in Bournemouth send me an email and I will take a look at slipping our own version into one of our own public engagement projects.
Student Engagement Ideas
Hello, my name is Sam Squelch and I am on my work placement working as the Student Engagement Coordinator. My responsibility is to engage the students with the research of the university in a fun and interesting manner. I have found some events and ideas that relate to students that I found of interest, so why not have a read and see if such activities could interest you.
Creative Technology Day
Creative Technology Day is open to primary schools, secondary schools, higher education, the cultural sector and technology sectors. Why not expand your knowledge and understanding and come down to this event hosted in London on Thursday, October 2nd 2014 from 10:00am to 4:30pm.
Creative Technology Day supports the collective understanding of ‘learning through making’ with creative technologies through both formal and informal settings. This event is key for engagement as it brings together the primary, secondary and Higher Education communities, along with the cultural sector and technological companies. Those who possess an interest in this can only gain a benefit through participation.
If this event may be of interest to you, then why not become a participant? Those who attend this event are asked to bring along materials where they can discuss some projects that they have undertaken whilst being at school, as part of research they have undertaken, public engagement activities, arts interventions and so on. Participants will then be able to present their work with a group in a discussion, quick fire presentations, demos and so on. This is a day where you can get involved and learn something new from others around you, so be prepared to learn of others past experiences.
This event will attract a curious and interesting group of active makers where the integration and use of creative technologies are ever present in their work, it will provide a warm and informal occasion for people to learn from one another, make connections, develop new knowledge and advance collective understanding.
If this sounds like something of interest to you, there are details of how to book on the Creative technology Day website.
The event is held at Central Saint Martins, 1 German Square, London, N1C 4AA.
The British Science Festival
Why not come down to The British Science Festival, which is being held in Birmingham on the 6th-11th September 2014.
This September will see the British Science Association bring the British science festival to Birmingham, a city widely recognised as being at the forefront of scientific and technological advancement.
‘Seeing is believing’ is an event taking place on Monday 8th September 2014 from 15:30-17:30 at the Vision Sciences Building: Aston University and gives its new research and technology to participants to have the exciting opportunity to have their retina scanned, retinal pigment measured and photographs taken using the latest retinal imaging technology. Imaging technology allows the detection of eye diseases well before they can be spotted using conventional examination techniques. You can also find out how healthy your diet is and the effect it has against your eyes and disease your eyes can get from having a bad diet. Sound interesting to you? You can find out more and book here.
Another exciting event taking place at the British science festival is ‘Being a language Detective’ which gives participants the information on what there text messages say about them. Why not get down to the event and learn about the forensic linguistics through the practical workshop and also take part in in activities to see whether you can solve previous cases for forensic linguistics.
This event can show you how your text can be as incriminating as a fingerprint. Join this event and find out how they have helped solve criminal cases, based on language evidence at the scene.
An event to catch the eye could be ‘What would you do in a zombie epidemic’
This event looks at ways in which governments can use models to make policy and looks at several ways of ‘what we should do if zombies attack?’ The event then goes into a more detailed approach about health promotion during a zombie attack using ideas from the zombie models.
The being human festival will celebrate the breadth and diversity of the humanities at events across the UK. The activities will be held in museums, galleries, and cultural and community centres and even takes place in a cave.
An event in the Being Human Festival that take place in Belfast, led by the Queens University Belfast is the ‘Becoming Human, a tale of two caves’. This event is an exhibition of posters, small objects and video display with materials from the AHRC which sponsored ‘Niah Cave Project’ and the ERC which sponsored ‘Haua Fteah Project’. This event will help communicate important advances in our understanding of the nature of early modern human’s use of landscapes, resources and ritual to flourish in extreme environments like the Southeast Asia rainforests and the North African deserts. Whilst giving a good understanding of certain human attributes, it will also be a fun event full of interesting facts and knowledge.
These events give students an in-depth knowledge into research and enable them to engage with their audience in many scenarios.
British Science Festival: Birmingham 6-11 Sept 2014
It’s almost that time of year again as The British Science Festival lands in Birmingham on the 6th September! A festival which in the past few years has ventured to Liverpool, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Guildford (Amongst others) you would be crazy to miss out as the event works its way into the midlands in 2014.
This yearly event which has become one of Europe’s “largest celebrations of science, technology and engineering” is offering a staggering 250 events, activities, exhibitions and trips over the course of the week. The only question which remains is which events will you be putting in your calendar this September?
If it’s an idea for a weekend family outing you’re after, The British Science Festival has a great deal to offer you and your children. Saturday between 10:00 and 16:00 your children will be busy walking on custard and most importantly getting outdoors, viewing gigantic bubbles and having a go hands on themselves!
Sunday brings with it further opportunities for engagement. Firstly, they can make their own fossils, followed by a childhood hit past and present as they take to panning for gold between 11:00 and 16:00.
While the children have had fun engaging in their activities, don’t worry there are also events for adults! Sunday afternoon between 15:30 and 17:00 why not attend the very popular event of “Not enough exercise, too much stress: The curse of modern living”
The weekend may come to a close however; the festival is only just getting started. Between Monday and Thursday the events keep on coming, The X-change is an event which is guaranteed to attract many. This part chat show part science cabaret brings with it inspiring speakers and perhaps a few famous faces. Running between 13:15 and 14:30 the event is the perfect way to start your afternoon.
A Night At The Museum is something that will be sure to attract a lot of attention on Thursday evening between 18:30 and 23:00. The finishing event to the BSF will end in style, with the bar open and the music turned up it will be a great setting for the last activities of the week.
After this taste of what is on offer and considering there are 250 events organised, why not take a look at the website yourself and make The British Science Festival, YOUR British Science Festival using this link.
CMMPH professors to present at GOLD Perinatal Online Conference
Bournemouth professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen have been invited to present in the international online conference run from Canada. The GOLD Perinatal Online Conference (14th Oct. -1st Dec. 2014) is a continuing education conference for health care professionals working in maternity care. Focusing on care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, GOLD Perinatal is aimed at nurses, midwives, physicians, lactation consultants, doulas, and other health care workers providing care to women, infants and families.
Vanora will be speaking about ‘Early Labour: Should we be telling women to stay at home?’ Although midwives frequently encourage women to labour at home for as long as possible, many women often seek hospital admission because they are anxious and would like more support. Vanora examines the evidence surrounding early labour in hospital and ask whether we should be telling women to stay at home.
Edwin will be presenting a sociological way of looking at the way society views and socially organises pregnancy and birth. He examines the medical-social model of childbirth to help health care professionals and expected mothers and their families to make sense of world around them.
For more details on the conference see: http://www.goldperinatal.com/.
Prof. Vanora Hundley & Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Cafe Scientifique with Colin Pritchard
Coming up Tuesday 2 September, The Scandal of Poverty & Child Mortality in the Western world: Are British children especially disadvantaged?
Where? Café Boscanova, Christchurch Road, Boscombe, BH1 4BP
When? First Tuesday of every month 7.30-9 pm, doors open 6.30pm
What? A free event to explore and debate ideas in science and technology. Come along and get yourself a glass of wine or a coffee and enjoy learning something new!
Can it be true that British children are really worse off than in most other Western countries? These are results that UK and the USA governments would rather not talk about but this event reports the evidence (even if it might offend).
Can’t make it on the night? Did you know we make all our talks available on YouTube and you can follow us on Twitter @CafeSciBmouth
Professor Colin Pritchard, Ph.D.,MA., AAPSW; AcSS; FRSA, Research Professor in Psychiatric Social Work, School of Health & Social Care, Bournemouth University, and, Emeritus and Visiting Professor, Dept of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Southampton.
Ever wanted to take your research on tour? Here’s your chance to be involved!
Continuing on from the success of the Festival of Learning this summer, the public engagement team at BU have been very busy planning several more public engagement initiatives for the Festival of Learning on Tour.
Towards the end of June, Dr Julia Best and PhD student Jacqueline Pitt ventured to Glastonbury festival in order to convey the research of the Chicken Project (Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions) to a large and varied audience. Armed with several skeletons, an assortment of archaeological finds and a large number of interactive timelines, maps and charts, the team set up a stand in the Science Tent within the Green Future’s field. The activities and information were very well received with around 800 visitor interactions taking place, usually lasting between 5-10 minutes. Read more at: http://www.sciculture.ac.uk/rise-with-the-crow-ahrc-public-engagement-at-glastonbury-festival/.
Julia commented on the weekend saying “Thank you for letting us be part of this experience. It was an amazing festival to be involved with and such a diverse audience to talk to! I’ve always enjoyed doing outreach work at festivals and Glastonbury is about as good as they get. It was great for us to be part of the Science Tent and to be able to show our research in a new light. If I had a pound for every time a visitor said to me something along the lines of “oh cool, I didn’t know you could do/tell/see/find that” I’d be rich”.
Last weekend in collaboration with the STEM Outreach team, the public engagement team attended the three-day family orientated Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle where they ran three hands on activities. The team engaged more than 3500 children and parents in the science tent. Several of the activities run included a partnership with the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site education team.
In September the team hope to take several engagement activities to Bestival and are now looking at planning further ‘on tour’ activities all the way up to Christmas – so if you know of any interesting events that the Festival of Learning on Tour could attend, or would like to contribute an activity, please get in touch with a member of the team who will happily discuss your ideas and support delivery further.
The Festival of Learning on Tour offers a unique way for academics and PGR’s at BU to engage the public with your research and develop lateral connections outside the classroom. A recently posted article in the Guardian discusses the increasing alignment between engaging with the public and research and how it’s no time to build up this presence in public debate: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/jul/21/10-ways-make-public-engagement-work-for-you
Develop your potential, tap into a community of wider peers, and build up a presence about your research this Autumn with the Festival of Learning on Tour!
Barry Squires – bquires@bournemouth.ac.uk
Naomi Kay – nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk
Fife Science Festival 2015 – Call for event proposals now open!
Fife Science Festival 2015 – Friday 13th March – Sunday 22nd March 2015
The Fife Science Festival transforms the Kingdom of Fife over 10 days, with events to celebrate engineering, technology and science.
Why not get involved and organise a workshop, presentation or drop in activity at the festival?
The team welcome ideas and event applications from all organisations and all individuals, therefore if you would like to get involved and submit a proposal/application then please use the event application form which can be found here OR contact the festival team on fifesciencefestival@dundeesciencecentre.org.uk
You can also find more information here on the application guidelines.
DEADLINE: Friday 26th September 2014
If you would like to find out further information then please do not hesitate to contact:
Laura Wilkie,
Festival and Community Engagement Manager, Dundee Science Centre,
laura.wilkie@dundeesciencecentre.org.uk
01382 868608
Research into 3D Printing and Intellectual Property Law presented in Helsinki, Bournemouth and Nottingham
Dr. Dinusha M
endis, Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) and Associate Professor in Law was recently invited to present her research in 3D printing and Intellectual Property (IP) law in Helsinki and Nottingham. Dinusha also hosted an event on this topic at Bournemouth University’s Festival of Learning in June 1014.
In April 2014, Dinusha was invited by the Department of Commercial Law at the Hanken School of Economics in Finland to present her most recent research in 3D printing and IP Law. The talk titled ‘Law and Technological Change: – 3D Printing Technology, New Business Models and Intellectual Property Law‘ explored the paths that intellectual property law may take in the adoption of 3D printing technology with particular emphasis on the utility of “law and technology” as a research method.
In June 2014, Dinusha hosted an event on ‘3D Printing: Understanding the Technology and Law’ at Bournemouth University’s Festival of Learning. The event was run in collaboration with the Media School and the School of Science and Technology. Further details about this event can also be found here.
In July 2014, Dinusha was invited to present her research at the 9th Annual Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing International Conference. The event hosted by the University of Nottingham and Econolyst Ltd., brings together industry experts from the field of Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing. As an invited speaker, Dinusha spoke on the ‘The Application of UK Copyright Law to 3D Printing and Mass Customisation’. A further insight into the talk can also be found on the Conference blog under the heading ‘Who is the creator: where does UK law stand on IP in 3DP?’
Dinusha continues to carry out both funded and independent research in this area and her most recent article titled ‘3D Printing Enters the Fast Lane’ was published in the Intellectual Property Magazine in July 2014.
BUDI’s Festival of Learning Event 2014
On Saturday 14th June 2014, BUDI hosted its Dementia Showcase as part of BU’s Festival of Learning Week. The event was held at the Life Centre (711-715 Wimborne Road, BH9 2AU) and we were able to reach an audience of approximately 90 people. During the event, members of our team were able to showcase their work, including BUDI’s ‘Living Well with Dementia in Dorset‘ video, alongside stands from Younger 4 Longer, and the Dementia Friends.
The BUDI Orchestra performance was a highlight of the Showcase and was opened by the High Sheriff of Dorset, Jane Stichbury. The performance was a culmination of 10 weekly rehearsals, working collaboratively with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and BU Music scholars and students. This pilot project was the first of its kind worldwide, and we were privileged to have worked with such a fantastic group of people. The entire audience was completely captivated from start to finish, and we were all left feeling impassioned by their emotive rendition of Moon River. The group received two standing ovations from the crowd and their own pride and enjoyment was clear to behold. The Orchestra proves that dementia isn’t a life sentence: their achievements show us that people living with dementia are still full of life and creativity, and can still make invaluable contributions to our lives. Indeed, this was noted in feedback from the audience themselves!
BUDI would like to thank all those who supported us on the day, and helped to make it such a special event for all those taking part. We were able to share the work we do within the community and showcase our innovative social science research in a way that was fun for all the family. We look forward to seeing you at our next event soon!
- The BUDI Team at our Festival of Learning Event 2014
Ingenious public engagement grant scheme – applications now open!
Ingenious, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s grant scheme for projects that engage the public with engineering and engineering have now opened applications for the next round of the scheme.
They are looking for projects that:
• inspire creative public engagement with engineering
• stimulate engineers to share their stories, passion and expertise in innovative ways with wider audiences
• develop engineers’ communication and engagement skills
• create debate between engineers and people of all ages to raise awareness of the diversity, nature and impact of engineering.
It is important that all Ingenious projects engage the public with engineering whilst also providing engineers with skills and opportunities in public engagement.
They are awarding between £3,000-£30,000 and accept proposals from engineers, universities, science and engineering communicators and engagement professionals, colleges and schools.
If you would like to find out more about the Ingenious grant scheme, please go to: www.raeng.org.uk/ingenious
The deadline for applications is 4pm on 22nd September 2014.
BU Citizen Journalism Project Featured on BBC
Kelvin Trevett, Access Dorset citizen journalist (photo: Access Dorset)
Pioneering citizen journalism project, ADTV, involving The Media School’s Einar Thorsen, Dan Jackson and Ann Luce has recently been featured on BBC radio and BBC’s The Politics Show, for a full 8 minutes!
In a nutshell, ADTV is about empowering older people, disabled people and carers to gain a public voice through citizen journalism. Thanks to Fusion funding, we have been able to work with local charity, Access Dorset, who represents these groups locally. They have put together a fantastic video about ADTV on their website.
The project is now in its second phase. From November 2013 to January 2014, Ann Luce – together with BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism student, Nicolas Williams – led a five-week intensive training course for twelve Access Dorset volunteers on foundation principles of video journalism. This gave them the skills and confidence to develop a citizen journalism website alongside their other advice and support functions.
Since then, the volunteers (who now actively self-identify as citizen journalists) have thrown themselves into the project and pursued a range of different stories. They have made videos about living with cancer, anorexia, emergency medical treatment for older people, inaccessible footpaths for disabled people, and overcoming attitudinal barriers to disability to name a few.
One of the most high profile reports has been in support of their campaign to make Pokesdown railway station accessible for disabled people. The funny, playful yet powerful video they made shows Bournemouth resident and Access Dorset citizen journalist, Kelvin Trevett, being repeatedly told there is no way for him to access the station platform in his wheelchair. The film pretends to be shot over several decades, with creative use of a newspaper stand marking various landmarks in the development of disabled people’s rights since 1960.
The video and campaign has made local headlines, gained the support of local politicians, and has even been discussed in Parliament.
We are now working with Access Dorset and their citizen journalists on research interviews and ongoing evaluation of the project. The findings of these will be presented at the IAMCR annual conference in Hyderabad this July, and ECREA annual conference in Lisbon, November. Publications are also lined up to disseminate these research findings in books and journals. Building on the Fusion funded project, we are now pursuing external grants: to ensure the sustainability of the project and advance this model of citizen journalism beyond Dorset, and to explore new ways for marginalised groups to get their voices heard – both within grassroots initiatives and national media.
For further information, please contact:
Einar Thorsen: ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk
Dan Jackson: jacksond@bournemouth.ac.uk
Ann Luce: aluce@bournemouth.ac.uk
Just one week until the Festival of Learning
In just one week the Festival of Learning will be kicking off for the second time. In case you haven’t chosen what you want to come along to, here are a handful of the events coming up. Click on the event titles to be taken to the Eventbrite page to book. For the full range of activities happening on and off campus next week head to www.bournemouth.ac.uk/fol
Don’t eat poo and die, eat poo and live: An investigation of things we eat and things we don’t eat
Thursday 12 June, 7pm-9pm, Talbot Campus
Easily one of the highlights of last years Festival, this event is back by popular demand! The illustrated lecture will investigate things people eat in different cultures and circumstances around the world. It will challenge you to look at what you choose to consume and what you don’t. You can taste some commonly eaten and some less commonly eaten foods… if you dare!
Run by Sean Bear
Too hot to trot: Our obsession with the chilli pepper and other extreme tastes
Monday 9 June, 7pm-9pm, Talbot Campus
Another one from Sean, this interactive lecture will investigate why we love to eat things that cause us pain. As well as challenging you to look more closely at why you consume the food and drink you do this discussion will involve tastings for the bravest of you out there! This is fun for all the family so why not bring the kids along and encourage them to learn something new about their dinner.
Run by Sean Bear
Eat chocolate and bond!
Monday 9 June, 12pm-1pm, Talbot Campus
Sticking with the food and psychology themes, this could be an interesting way to spend your lunch hour. We all use food to communicate, perhaps without even thinking about what we’re doing. We give chocolates to apologise and eat birthday cake to say sorry. This event will look at how and why we do this and examine other examples of how we use food to share meanings and communicate.
Run by Andy Boer
Extinction! The future of the human race
Friday 13 June, 11am-12pm, Lansdowne Campus
This talk will explore the concept of Mass Extinction within the geological record, from dinosaurs to giant mammals! You’ll learn about events that could occur in the future and the impact they would have on our planet and society.
Run by Matthew Bennett
Public relations and news: a PR literacy workshop and presentation
Wednesday 11 June, 4pm-6pm, Lansdowne Campus
The event is particularly suited to A-level Politics or Media Studies students interested in exploring questions around construction of the news, agenda setting and power. The interactive presentation explores the impact of public relations activity on the news.
Run by David McQueen
Fear in childbirth: Are the media responsible?
Social perceptions and beliefs about childbirth can increase women’s requests for interventions, such as caesarean section, with long-term health implications for mothers and babies. Members of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health and the Journalism and Communication academic group are hosting a joint BU Festival of Learning event to explore the role of the mass media in shaping such beliefs and identify whether media portrayals are responsible for rising rates of intervention. The event will be a debate on the impact of the mass media on women’s view of childbirth.
The motion is: The media is responsible for creating fear in childbirth.
The audience will be given the opportunity to vote on the motion before and after the debate. Two opposing teams will debate the motion prior to wider discussion with the audience.
Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 10:00 AM (BST)
Further information from: Vanora Hundley, Edwin van Teijlingen, and Ann Luce
To book your free place: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fear-in-childbirth-is-the-media-responsible-tickets-10988513941
Valuing People! Giving life meaning to people in Malaysia with diverse abilities
The end of our study leave in Malaysia is beginning to come into view and if anything the pace of work seems to be accelerating as time evaporates. During our remarkable time in Southeast Asia we have been asked to give numerous research seminars, deliver many guest lectures and been warmly invited to attend and contribute to Higher Education planning meetings. One research project done and dusted, we have moved seamlessly on to the next, in-between time spent trying to keep up with an invisibly multiplying list of writing commitments, while steaming none so genteelly under the busy, overhead fans.
Today we took a break from it all. Instead we went on visits to local social welfare agencies in Penang, to see for ourselves some of the NGOs where our BU social work students were placed, and where they are still fondly remembered.
Under the wing of Ai-Na Khor, the brisk and friendly CEO of Asia Community Service, we were first taken to see the Children’s Early Intervention Centre, where Jenna and Chloe, our Level I students had been placed under the British Council PMI 2 mobility grant we secured from 2009-12 to study student learning processes in unfamiliar international placement contexts. We admired the dedication of this innovative, small NGO, which is entirely non-government funded, but which provides services for children from infancy to school-age years in a small ‘heritage’ house, donated rent free by a local philanthropist.
From there Ai-Na took us by 4-wheel drive high up into the verdant Penang hills to see a remarkable supported employment centre for adults with learning disabilities established in an unremarkable kampung (village). Here the ‘members’ of the Stepping Stones Work Centre work effectively as a co-operative with the same NGO and have developed a flourishing and diverse cottage industry of hand-made goods collected from local recycled materials. The atmosphere of the Centre was bright and lively, and the members confident, friendly and eloquent, even when speech was a challenge in any language.
Here we saw a small paper-making industry, where recycled paper was reformed, strengthened with banana fibres produced through laborious grinding with pestle and mortars. The finished colourful, textured product of chalk pink, orange, yellow, lime and leaf green paper would be used for robust items like book bindings.
Here they also produce hand-loom weaving, the cotton spun and dyed on the premises. A strangely metallic, highly robust weaving was examined with raised eyebrows. Guess what it is made of? We were asked. Recycled cassette tape of which the members had collected boxes of discarded tapes over time.
More textiles, this time traditional batik cloth using the tricky, not to mention risky, hot wax method. The designs, stamped or the more unique, free-hand style, were vibrant and impressionistic. Delighted by them we bought many examples to use as…umm! Well something! Who could resist them after all?
In the spotless kitchens run by the members bread was being baked and packaged to sell to the local ‘coffee-shops’ in Penang. It smelled good. A hand-made bar of mint soap made apparently of recycled, halal cooking oil and a beautiful little pottery, leaf-shaped dish completed our shopping. Everything was cheerfully packed up in dainty origami bags with handles, made entirely of cleverly folded newspaper and magazines. We treasured our purchases and marvelled at how little they cost and the incredible skill that went into every stage of the production by people otherwise written off by society in most countries.
This trip meant so much to us. Sara reminisced about her practitioner days employed as a social worker with people learning disabilities. Jonathan, also, rehearsed his experiences in a similar role, resurrecting images of proud attendees at an Adult Training Centre in the UK closed long ago as attendees were ‘mainstreamed’ whether they liked it or not, but whose identity-affirming work at that centre had made their lives meaningful. Where are those disadvantaged people today? It is unlikely that many have independent and creative jobs to go to, unlike these active, Penang citizens, who are, regardless of disabilities, able to make and spend a hard-earned and proudly won wage.
Seeing work like this reminded us both of why we went into social work in the first place. It also made us question once again where so much has gone wrong. Perhaps in the UK our homage to politically correct approaches has failed to take into account the nuanced twists and turns by which people of diverse abilities live their lives and display their humanity.
Sara Ashencaen Crabtree & Jonathan Parker
Wordcamp UK coming to Bournemouth this July
Wordcamp 2014 Bournemouth
Saturday 12 – Sunday 13 July
Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth BH8 8EB, United Kingdom.
Fancy yourself a WordPress enthusiast? This two day, participant driven, conference is this year being hosted by Bournemouth University and Silicon South in its first official trip to the South West. One of the key aspects of this event is that the agenda is built online by participant proposed sessions as part of a multi-track agenda, so if you’ve got some nifty WordPress tricks up your sleeve you can propose a session share these with other experts.
Now is your chance to get involved, click on the links to find out more about proposing a session (50 or 25 minutes) or a 5 minute lightning talk or just to register yourself for a £10 early bird ticket. This conference is a chance to build on your WordPress skills and meet community of developers.
If you’re planning to get involved in this event we’d love to hear about it so please do send us an email at siliconsouth@bournemouth.ac.uk
Cafe Scientifique – Horrors or Heroes: Learning to love parasites
In September last year one of our own academics, Josie Pegg, took to the stage at Bestival’s “Bestiversity” to deliver a talk on Horrors or Heroes: :Learning to Love Parasites.
In case you didn’t get the chance to come along, she’s agreed to do it all over again, this time at your local Cafe Scientifique. Every first Tuesday of the month we get together in Boscombe’s Cafe Boscanova to hear about ideas in science of technology over a glass of wi
ne and then engage in stimulating discussion. Have a look at our website to find out more about the venue and future events.
Tuesday 3 June: Horrors or Heroes: Learning to love parasites
Parasites are the stuff of horror movies, they not only consume their host but can be capable of controlling their host’s body and mind in the most freakish of ways.
But this is only half the story.
Around 75% of all species are parasitic, and parasites play an essential ecological role, prove unlikely allies and in fact are in many ways responsible for life as we know it.
Josie’s talk will challenge you to take a fresh look at parasites, and decide whether they really are horrors or heroes.
Doors open from 6.30pm for a 7.30pm start.
BU Festival of Learning is short-listed for a national award!
The BU Festival of Learning has been short-listed for a Heist Award in the Business / Community Engagement category. The Heist Awards have evolved over the last 20 years to become the premier awards programme for marketing in the sector and exist to recognise and celebrate professionalism and innovation in education marketing.
The Business / Community Engagement category is for projects or campaigns to engage with the local community or businesses. Just to get short listed is a great achievement so thank you to everyone who has been involved with the Festival of Learning and who has made it a success. The awards event will take place on 10th July in Manchester. Fingers crossed we win!
The Festival of Learning 2014 takes place between 9-15 June. Find out about all the events on offer here: http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/
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