Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Invitation: Coffee and Muffins with Stephen Hobbs



The Dean of the Faculty of Informatics and Design, Prof Johannes Cronje invites you to coffee and muffins with Stephen Hobbs at 80 Roeland Street, on Saturday Morning, 7 November, 2009 from 09:00 to 10:00.

Venue: "MARC" building on attached map, see picture for parking.

Stephen Hobbs is currently one of the directors of the "Trinity Session" and independent artist concentrating on art in urban spaces.
Stephen's exhibition "End of Cities" will open at the "Blank Gallery, Sir Lowry Road on Thursday Evening @ 18:00 Check out http://www.blankprojects.com/current.php

Stephen has agreed to talk to us about his work, and the creative process, particularly in terms of the research component of the creative process as it impacts upon his work.

This invitation is open to all who are interested in Design and the City of Cape Town. Admisison is FREE. PLEASE PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS

Please RSVP to Munira Allie alliem@cput.ac.za before 13:00 on Friday 6 November.




Wednesday, October 7, 2009

#7Oct09

We had such a productive day today!
We had a Faculty training day.  The theme was "Your career"
Thelo Wakefield explained the University performance management system and cleared up a number of concerns.
We discussed the new degree designators, and I was able to reflect upon my 2 and a half years, and give feedback to comments made by staff.
Chris Lombard taught us how to beg, and Chris Winberg told us about the category of teaching and learning in the performance management session.
Retha did a really nice speed dating exercise.
Finally Charles Gilbert, in his own inimitable way, cleared up some issues about BEE.
I REALLY enjoy spending a day with the Faculty!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Welcome to the Blogosphere

So, suddenly the blogging has taken off! And that just as I was considering giving up this blog in favour of Twitter (ha ha ha)
Ayesha Toyer tells me her students are all a blogging now. (And some of them are actually following me - NOGAL!). Ayesha is blogging at www.thescienceofcommunication.blogspot.com
All this at the same time as my wife, Franci's students have also started blogging about their "out of body experiences". They have been given an instruction to alter their physical appearance in some way, and live like that for two weeks, blogging about their experience. Check out some of their work at
http://michness-dollparts.blogspot.com/
http://brownpaperbagplease.blogspot.com/
http://shearinsane.blogspot.com/
http://seemybelly.blogspot.com/
http://pyjamarepublic.blogspot.com/
http://stepofftheassemblyline.blogspot.com/
http://masaidamu.wordpress.com/

So, welcome to the Blogosphere

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Tribute to Dewald Roode


(...and he has been most handy with PhDs too! Photo by Bennett Alexander)

My long-time friend and one of my academic role models, Dewald Roode passed away this morning at 07:00.
In tribute to him I copy an email I sent to him after his second radiation treatment last year, as well as his reply.

Goodbye Dewald. You will be sorely missed. And, as you know, the table you fixed during one mentoring session is still holding up well.

29 Jul 2008
Beste Dewald
Die blomme is 'n plesier. Jou epos het my egter voorgespring, want ek
wou eintlik al gister of eergister vir jou 'n epos gestuur het.
Ek probeer altyd wanneer jy hier is 'n tydjie kry dat ons gesels - en
die twee brekvisse wat ons wel gehad het, was vir my persoonlik baie
goed om te h^e en ek waardeer dit.
Desnieteenstaande was dit vir my interessant dat ons by albei brekvisse
so duidelik RONDOM die sentrale issue gekuier het, en dit is dat jy baie
siek is, en dat jy desnieteenstaande nog steeds afkom om met die
studente te werk. Dit verstaan ek nogal. My eie pa het die Vrydag voor
sy dood op 73 nog 'n groot konsultasie in sy hospitaalbed gehad, omdat
hy nie sy laaste klient wou teleurstel nie.(Ok, dis sekerlik meer
kompleks as dit). Ek was daar om hom by te staan, en ons het almal
geweet een van die redes daarvoor, was dat ek die opvolgwerk sou moes
doen wat op die konsultasie volg.
Nietemin, dit is nie werklik ter sake waaroor ons op die brekvisse
praat of nie praat nie. Wat wel ter sake is, is dat ek een of ander tyd
vir jou moet vertel hoe baie ek jou insette in my lewe waardeer - oor 'n
tydperk wat nou al deur jare strek.
Jy weet dit nie, maar ons kontak is voorafgegaan deur Barry Vorster wat
my laat weet het dat "Oom Dewald" een van die skerpste, en mees
humanistiese mense op die kampus is.. ensovoorts. Eintlik kan ek nie sy
presiese woorde onthou nie, maar die positiewe vibe wat hy daargestel
het, was blywend.
Toe was ons werklike ontmoeting toe jy en Roelf van den Heever my
toegelaat het as 'n "adjunct-member" van die toe-nog-informele "Skool
vir IT. Die res onthou jy so goed soos ek.
Ek sal nooit vergeet hoe ons afgekom het op die feit dat ons dieselfde
voel oor die slottoneel van Amadeus waar Salieri homself verkodig as
"The king of mediocrity"
Dan was daar die hele pret met die stigting van die Skool vir IT en die
launch van die M.IT, en die werk wat ons saam gedoen het met die
navorsingsmetodologiekursus in die MIT.
Ek het destyds jou artikel oorgesit in HTML en dit op die MIT website
gesit by
http://hagar.up.ac.za/catts/mit/research/research.html
Dit bly nou nog 'n toonaangewende vertrekpunt in wanneer ek vir
studente 'n oorsig gee oor waar om te begin met hulle navorsing. Hoe om
te verseker dat hul navorsing "grammatikaal" sin maak.
Maar, die belangrikste vir my, is nie jou akademiese en kulturele
skerpheid nie - die belangrikste is jou humanity - die feit dat jy so
duidelik raaksien wat mense nodig het, en dat jy die vermoe"e het om
hulle daarheen te lei - hetsy as departementshoof, skoolvoorsitter,
studieleier, mentor of vriend.
Ek ding gedurig aan jou, en wens jou baie sterkte toe in hierdie swaar
tyd.
Dit is 'n voorreg om 'n deel van jou netwerk te mag wees!
Groete
Johannes

And his always-upbeat reply:

Beste Johannes

Ek sukkel al lank aan hierdie boodskap. Jy het sulke wonderlike mooi dinge
oor my gesê waarop ek geen antwoord het nie - net baie dankie. Ek waardeer
dit geweldig. Dit bly tog maar die rede waarom 'n akademikus 'n akademikus
is en bly: daardie enkele momente, wat jy op 'n hand of twee kan aftel,
wanneer jy in die oë van 'n student sien dat jy êrens in sy of haar binneste
iets aangeraak het. Seker, hoop 'n mens, is daar baie ander waar dit
ongesiens verbygegaan het, en dit gee verdere vertroosting vir 'n "lewe van
opoffering". Maar die momente waar dit sigbaar is, het so 'n impak dat dit
opmaak vir baie dinge. Wat jy nou oor my te gesê gehad het, tel onder
daardie momente, en ek sê nederig (regtig!) baie dankie daarvoor.

Die tydjie van rus wat ek vir myself ingeruim het, is besig om dividende af
te werp. Ek voel elke dag bietjie beter, en is seker dat ek binnekort weer
volstoom sal kan werk. Nou vat ek dit maar rustig en doen soveel ek kan op
'n dag - nie alles wat MOET gedoen word nie. Dis nogal 'n aanpassing, na 'n
lewe van totale miskenning van tydgrense en tydlimiete - daar is altyd nog
tyd!

Retha sê my dat dit hierdie week Quality Review tyd is. Ek kan glo dat dit
vir almal 'n stresvolle affêre moet wees, en baie sterkte daarmee.

Beste wense, ek hoop ons kan binnekort weer 'n brekfissie inruim. Hierdie
keer behoort jy darem nie te verdwaal nie!

Groetnis

Dewald


Saturday, August 1, 2009

Elearning Update - Cape Town 3,4 September, 2009

So, having been sort of outside the mainstream of elearning in South Africa, I thought it would be useful to "Stir the Pot" a little again!
So, together with SSIR Schools Internet Resources, EpiUse learning, and a number of other friends, former colleagues and former students I am arranging an ELEARNING UPDATE in Cape Town.
The programme is coming on really nicely.
You can check it out at http://tinylink.com/?RJ557cAy9r

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The beginning or the third year!

This month marks the beginning of my THIRD year at CPUT.
I find it hard to believe that we have survived two years together.
What troubles me, though is that, although I arrived here with stars in my eyes and high hopes for the future, after two years I get the idea that nothing has changed. That, instead of changing the Faculty, the Faculty has changed me.
Furthermore, I need to know if I am on the right track. I started here saying that my main job is to ensure that the Faculty staff achieve their objectives.
So, I need to meet with you and your department as soon as possible during a regular departmental meeting.
I need you to put three things on the agenda.
a. What has changed in the last two years? (What are we doing differently, what are we experiencing differently - for better and for worse).
b. What are your plans (each individual, or the department - I leave that to you) for the next three years?
c. What must the Dean do next?

I look forward to an open and frank, yet positive discussion.

Friday, July 10, 2009

What is it with conferences

So here I am sitting in a conference and spending the time updating my blog, my Facebook page, my Twitter, and even re-arranging my hard drive - while up in front a sequence of pretentious people are READING out loud a lot of pompous generalisations that they are presenting as science.
Moreover, not only do they read in boring monotone, they also stumble over their words.
And I could have read it all in about a quarter of the time.
Why do people do this!
How can one revise what happens at conferences that it actually becomes interesting!!!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Swakop





We are staying in the most beautiful place - the Swakopmund hotel, which used to be the railway station.
I am working with sixteen delegates from Namibia and Kenya and we are working on developing e-learning strategies for about four or five institions.
What I am enjoying most about it is testing my model that integrates the Balanced Scorecard and the ADDIE model.
I will be reporting on it during the E-Learning update on 3/4 September.



Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Brussels

Prof Piet Kommers of the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands was instrumental in getting me to Brussels last week.
He asked me to be the respondent for a document that he had written for a European Union-sponsored report on the social impact of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). Piet wrote the section on lifelong learning.
This commitment required some juggling of my diary. I had agreed to go to Kartoum, Sudan, and Swakopmund, Namibia, and finally Johannesburg. I thought I could combine all three. Turns out that the costs involved would be enormous. The result was that I postponed Khartoum, and separated all the trips.
It turns out that the fastest, and cheapest way to get from Johannesburg to Brussels, is on Ethiopian Airways via Addis Ababa and Paris - 16 hours and your're there.
Meanwhile Jolanda de Villiers Morkel of CPUT department of Architecture put me in contact with Dolf Wieers, a retired architect, who has had a long-standing relationship with our Department. Dolf thought it would be a good idea to take me on a trip to Ghent, and his brother, Paul was kind enough to lead me around through Brussels. I took myself on a trip to Antwerp.
You can see the pictoral evidence on my Facebook profile in an album called Belgium 2009.
Paul Wieers speaks no English, so it gave me the opportunity to learn Flemish in a great hurry. You just speak Afrikaans slowly and with a terrible accent (ha ha ha). It was great to get to the stories behind the stories of all the institutions and constructions in Brussels, and Paul, a trained tour guide and teacher at heart was careful to stop from time to time and to quizz me to ensure that I was learning. (In what year was the main square bombed? And what are the dates on these buildings...)
Ghent is an amazingly beautiful city, and having an architect take you around and point out sites of historical and architectural importance was a rare privilege.
Then it was on to the European Union. As I was getting ready to sit down the chap next to me was fiddling with the plug of his computer, and I saw a little bit of his name tag. His surname was Van Oranje. This, I thought, was rather a grand surname. Then his name became visible and it turns out to be Constantijn. Oh gosh, I thought. How funny, a really grand surname like Van Oranje, matched with a really grand sounding name of Constantijn. So I asked the chap if he was related to the Dutch Royal Family whom I know to be called Van Oranje. "Sort of" he replied. I then mentioned to him that we had a whole provinde named after them, but that we changed the Orange bit after 1994.
Then it dawned on me that he might well be PRINCE Constantijn of Orange. When I looked more closely at his name tag, I notice he had blacked out the word "Prins"! Piet Kommers took a picture for my "Big Trees" collection.
The presentations at the EU were very interesting, and I will be reporting more closely on what I have learnt - once the report has been published.
All in all it was a tremendous experience, and the only thing that I regretted is not taking some or all of my famliy along to share it!


Saturday, May 16, 2009

Pieter


I have devoted quite a bit of space on this blog in celebrating some kind of award. The very post preceding this one is in praise of our Faculty winning the best stand at open day. Somewhere earlier I praise myself for winning the ICT achiever award, and so it goes on.
But if ever there is someone who strongly deserves an international award, then it is my brother, Pieter.

But he does not live in a realm that gives awards, and, although he does so much for which he deserves awards - there simply are not institutions that have awards for people who do exceptional things, do them well, and go unrecognised.

Professionally he is a medical specialist - an anaesthetist. He spends his days in an operating theatre keeping people alive, while the surgeon, the dentist or the gynaecologist performs a procedure. Then, when the operation is done, and the patient is awake, he goes away, unrecognised, and unsung.

Otherwise he spends his time keeping the bodies of brain-dead people alive while the doctors harvest their organs for transplant - so that other people can live. While we celebrate the new life that other people receive, we seldom recognise that someone has to be there to assist the dying person in giving the ultimate gift. And again, while we know that there is a surgeon who harvests the organ we fail to remember that there is an anaesthetist who cares for the donor.

He is not married and has not kids. So he does not get the automatic praise that goes with being a dad (My dad is stronger than yours). Nor does he get to be elevated on Father's day - my kids sometimes even forget that he is their godfather! But on windy days he is out on the sportsfields of the Groenkloof Campus teaching some kids from the Bramley home to build and fly kites - that act of family togetherness that was made so special in Mary Poppins.

He is the vice-chair of the Tuks Road Running Club. Not the chair - the vice chair. The one who works in the background, seeing that the tent is up, the beers are bought and the phyisotherapists are lined up. The medals he gets are silver and bronze - the same ones that everyone gets.

If he is not knitting the most difficult, elaborate aran pattern jerseys, working out the design as he goes along, then he picks away at his silent guitar - working away diligently at really complicated pieces, but not intending to take it to the stage - preferring to work in the wings, and to put others, like James Grace, on the stage instead.

Arranging concerts has become a way of life for him over the past few years. His first concert had two aims - to expose new talent, and to raise funds for Bramley Children's Home. It was a huge success, and it launched the careers of a couple of classical musicians. Then he did one with Helena Hettema to unite with old friends. The venues, like him, are the unknown jewels, hidden away somewhere in Pretoria - the Nazareth House Chappel, the Groenkloof Campus Auditorium. He covers the basic costs himself, and donates the proceeds to charity. His Christmas concerts have become eagerly anticipated events.

Last Saturday and Sunday he was responsible for two concerts by Laurika Rauch - a personal triumph for him - and at the same time a nerve wracking experience for his closest supporters - our mother, and Lucille Weyer of the Groenkloof Campus. And both concerts were hugely successful!

Over the years he has donated almost R100 000 to various institutions. And none of them have ever tought of having a dinner in his honour, or even to present him with something as simple as a certificate of thanks.

And so I felt it is necessary to change that. He deserves a medal of honour - he deserves a poem to be read like Barack Obama. So, here is a medal of honour, and here is the poem.



Way to go, Bro, ek is trots op jou!






PRAISE SONG FOR THE DAY


A Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguaration


by Elizabeth Alexander


Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each other's eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.


Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.


A woman and her son wait for the bus.


A farmer considers the changing sky. A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."


We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smoooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.


We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."


We need to find a place where we are safe; we walk into that which we cannot yet see.


Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.


Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign, the figuring it out at kitchen tables.


Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thyself."


Others by "First do no harm," or "Take no more than you need."


What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to pre-empt grievance.


In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.


On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.




We won again


Congratulations to the Department of Public Relations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They have made the Faculty proud.
They ran our open day as a project. They raised funds, build stalls and produced information for almost every department in the Faculty.  
AND they won first prize for the best stand, which they built for Interior design, and they won second prize for the stand of their own Department.
I walked though our entire exhibition and interviewed the students that did duty. I found them knowledgeable, enthusiastic and helpful. It was amazing the way they seemed to sound as if they were actually students of the courses that they represented.
Of course, the other side of the coin is that they now know the Faculty very well. They know which departments come up with the goods, co-operate, and appreciate what they are doing.  And they know which departments are more lazzais-faire about what should happen at open day.
Aysha Toyer did a phenomenal job project-managing the whole thing, and Johann van der Merwe did a great job motivating heads of departments to cooperate.
Thanks to all who participated.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Intonga - The Stick Fighter


Last night I was absolutely blown away.
I attended a screening of a brand-new feature film in isiXhosa (with English Sub-Titles).
What made this movie fascinating is that it was a co-production between a professional movie house  Swayani, and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
The movie was written and directec by JJ van Rensburg. He Swayani provided a skeleton crew, and CPUT students had to learn the ropes to take part en every facet of the production, including cameo acting.
The movie is a nice "feel good" film that is really well made in an African idiom showing great sensitivity for its people and its natrue.
This was an amazing feat, considering that the shooting took a mere 10 days.
I really hope that we can go this route not only with film production, but also with various other projects.
I have encouraged Jared Borkum, head of the Film section and the spearhead of the project from the CPUT side to consider writing his Doctoral Thesis on what he learnt in the process. I hope that in this way we can learn valuable lessons of how to do the same in other fields.

Go and see it.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Hair today, gone tomorrow

So here is visual evidence of the great shave.
THANKS so much to those who contributed!



Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Design Indaba Award

This year the Faculty of Informatics and Design won the prize for BEST STAND at the Design Indaba.



And that after last year I was wondering why we were not exhibiting at all.




So, the faculty went from Zero to Hero in ONE YEAR!!!




And all that is thanks to Roxanne Spears and her winning team who did STERLING work.


WELL DONE ALL!!!




After a hectic first month

So this is the end of the first official month of term.
And what a hectic month it has been.
Very exciting for me personally was a visit to the Faculty by Anthony Marks who presented a one-day workshop on "Teaching students to think"
Anthony's introduced the term "Lecturer efficiency" and showed how he used various techniquest to "replicate" himself so that he could serve his students more efficiently without it costing him more time. The most amazing thing, though, was to experience his passion.
I believe that the Faculty of Engineering have invited him to address them too, and I hope to arrange a follow-up with him later.
Then there were the appeals. We had quite a large number of appeals against exclusion, and a few appeals from late walk-ins. It was encouraging that the SRC was well represented in most of these appeals. Even more encouraging was the high level of maturity with which they handled themselves. I think we have come a long way, and I am proud of the faculty.
Speaking of pride. We took part in the Design Indaba this year and Our stand won!!! What a great tribute to our staff and students that we, who are the teachers of designers, can actually compete with "real" designers who have real budgets to work with.
The main tribute here must go to Roxanne Spears who work most energetically to extract contributions from the faculty - much the same way in which a dentist extracts wisdom teeth. And then of course, her talent as a trend spotter made the whole thing spot on. She did a real-life interpretation of what the international speakers at the Indaba were all saying - a blend of high-tech and low-tech, with specific emphasis on craft and on people. Well done Roxy. As soon as you send me some pictures, I will post them here.