from         aporia <aporia@aporia-works.org>

 

to               <[*name of publicly funded body staff]@[*publicly

                    funded body email address]>

 

cc               EMERGE-COMMUNITY-request@jiscmail.ac.uk,

                    <[*complainant]@[*private email address]>

 

bcc            [X-in-confidence]

 

date            Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 8:26 PM

 

subject      *aporia (un)slot invitation* Next Generation

                    Environments conference 2008

 

without prejudice, save as to costs
strictly private and confidential, for addressees only (aka "X-in-confidence")
this is not a game


dear [*first name of publicly funded body staff] and fellow NGE community members,

continuing invitation to participate in the aporia (un)slot at http://ap0ria.wordpress.com coupled with http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oAF5pTOCv9FL4mB7L_2favKw_3d_3d
by way of iterative consultation process running from 23 april up to end of play on 20 may 2008


further to original invitation below, directed primarily at our emerge community membership, have been registered to join you in Birmingham for this week's NGE II conference all being well.

(un)fortunately this remains not quite the case, and have now been formally advised not to accept [*publicly funded body]-based invitations to meet in person whilst the employees giving rise to said formal complaint are still at large.

so again, in absentia, please find the continuing aporia (un)slot open for extended community participation by way of an additional parrallel session, with an expressly mutual emphasis on our NGE II conference topics of "understanding needs, unravelling complexities and applying practice" as per your interesting programme received on fri 25th instant

in particular, based on the rolling feedback coming from community members since the aporia (un)slot first opened on wed 23rd, a *new link* to appendix kurmanadi* has been added today alongside that of an updated appendix F*

for those who have expressed difficulty in finding these (red) links under the aporia pidgeon post headed "widening forms of participation", it may be easier to click the following links directly:

1. updated appendix F* links to http://www.aporia-works.org-a.googlepages.com/arkhe_f_asterisk

2. new appendix kurmanadi* links to http://www.aporia-works.org-a.googlepages.com/arkhe_kurmanadi_asterisk

specifically, the sanskrit term "kurmanadi" literally translates into english as "turtle channel", and in this case serves to present, inter alia, pages 2-9 of 20 extracted from "appendix green" which comprises the main thread of formal complaint as at 29 march 2008, and is now one of the many related evidences, data, and documentary materials open to FOI requests in general.

in this sense, if you would like to pursue a full FOI (freedom of information) request with the [*publicly funded body], please do consider  copying any correspondence to us here at aporia@aporia-works.org so that we can make best efforts to expedite matters in the first instance - otherwise, FOI requests directed only to the [*publicly funded body] care of the FOI Officer ([*publicly funded body staff name], under [*publicly funded body Head of Policy & Corporate Services], afaik) would then need to come via [*publicly funded body] to aporia for due consideration and consent as an additionally intermediate step, which may then become administratively more burdensome and, in light of the issues raised by appendix kurmanadi* itself, possibly prone to encountering similar unforseeable delay(s)

in any case, for kind convenience, have added another *new link* as part of the aporia (un)slot to a recent example of the pros and cons of FOI requesting, via the (red) phrase "need to know". alternatively, as above, you may prefer to just click on the following link to access this example directly:

3. new "need to know" links to http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=401501

at any event, sincere thanks to those members who have already visited the aporia (un)slot at http://ap0ria.wordpress.com for a first time around and had a go at responding via http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oAF5pTOCv9FL4mB7L_2favKw_3d_3d as a consequence - please do feel free to visit again over the coming weeks as this next generation environment continues to evolve, and here's hoping to be ultimately able to feed full results back, together with associated SUMs (for all the dear e-frameworkers amongst us), during our next NGE conference in 2009 - if only then to be free and safe enough to do so in person <sigh> ...

best, [*first letter of a name]



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: aporia <aporia@aporia-works.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 4:56 AM
Subject: *aporia (un)slot invitation* re: Emerge Conference 2008, Digital Identities & Communities
To: EMERGE-COMMUNITY@jiscmail.ac.uk
Cc: <[*complainant]@[*private email address]>

[Bcc: X-in-confidence]


without prejudice, save as to costs
strictly private and confidential, for addressees only (aka "X-in-confidence")
this is not a game


dear [*first name of publicly funded body project staff] and fellow community members,

invitation to participate in community-generated aporia (un)slot at http://ap0ria.wordpress.com coupled with http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oAF5pTOCv9FL4mB7L_2favKw_3d_3d


further to [*first name of publicly funded body project administrator]'s email below, had originally been hoping to join you online for this week's emerge event all being well, but (un)fortunately, this has not quite been the case.

in absentia, therefore, please find an "aporia (un)slot" at http://ap0ria.wordpress.com which has been put together as part of an openly developed, community-generated web (2.0+1) narrative of our co-emergence with the U&I programme since inception in 2006 to the present.

this narrative has always been made publicly accessible, subject to being openly hosted by wordpress with permissions being controlled by the original author as per standard copyright procedures. the entire work consists of a series of 13 short posts, each with attending scholarly commentaries and embedded hyperlinks, principally authored to help ellucidate some of the subtler cross-cultural aspects of the beloved "higherness" of our higher educational endeavours - or UNI-versity understandings.

notwithstanding, this story-telling remains to unfold as an interactional work-in-process together with community members. in particular, by way of exploring the topic of widening forms of participation in HE, the term marked F* (in red) hyperlinks to an appendix that was submitted as part of a series of such documents appended to the formal complaint initially made to the [*publicly funded body] in light of matters arising at the time.

importantly, the standard period of [*publicly funded body]'s formal complaints procedure (as at the time of submission) came to a close yesterday, i.e. on tuesday 22nd april 2008, and so in due anticipation of the freedom of information (FOI) requests now pending for all associated data, evidences, and materials related to the said formal complaint, this specific appendix F* is being made available to community members herewith in good faith, in advance of next steps.

please do not reply to this email directly, but rather be welcome to have your say in whatever happens next, in whatever manner that makes sense to you/your person(s)/your community membership(s)/your discipline(s)/your academic freedom(s)/your profession(s)/your contract(s)/your employer(s)/your institution(s)/other by completing the initial survey form being made available at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oAF5pTOCv9FL4mB7L_2favKw_3d_3d

all responses to this survey will be taken into account over the coming period, whether contributed anonymously or otherwise, and as such this survey form has been set up to accept submissions up to and including tuesday 20th may 2008 (i.e. 20 working days from the date of this invitation to participate)

so, on the occasion of shakespeare's birthday, in homage to all-the-worlds-a-stage, here's sincerely hoping that all parties concerned will be able to move creatively on from here in due course. in particular, this aporia narrative has been intentionally framed as if it may be an alternate-ARG (alternate reality game), so that we may have a chance to put things right together as a community, and perhaps even help set the scene for related "practices-in-transition" to come as this story continues to unfold.

at any event, here's thanking you in advance for your "serious fun" and looking forward to, as ever, making it up as we go along :o)

best, [*first letter of a name]


On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 12:28 PM, [*name of publicly funded body project administrator] <[*name of publicly funded body project administrator]@[sub-contracted charity email address]> wrote:

    Hi all,

    Please note a message below from [*name of publicly funded body project staff] about the next EMERGE community event towards the end of April.  The blog

posting for this can be found at:
   

[*weblog post #1312]

    We hope to see you all there.  Please do keep checking [*publicly funded body special community homepage]

    Best regards
    [*name of publicly funded body project administrator]

    ===================================================

    We are delighted to announce the Emerge project's next community event – a three day *online* conference looking at cutting edge developments and practice under the banner of 'Digital Identities and Communities', taking place on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of April.

    We have an exciting line up of planned activities and sessions, and online registration will open shortly. For now, please make sure that you have the dates marked in your calendar for what promises to be one of the most exciting educational technology conferences of 2008!

    Each day will be opened with a project elements focus – Appreciative Inquiry, Benefits Realisation, and UIDM. Running across the whole event we have additional themes, mapped to community activity and interest areas. These are:

    •       Social networking and collaborative learning practices
    •       Multimedia, story telling and narrative
    •       Community building and network development
    •       Web 2.0 for learning, creating and discovering

    We have also scheduled flexible community slots to make sure the amazing projects and ideas that you are all involved in are featured during the three days. Scheduled across the event are opportunities for you to showcase your work and set the agenda for our community. These are:

    •       1-2pm Wednesday 23 April (Appreciative Inquiry focus day)
    •       3.30-4.30pm Wednesday 23 April
    •       1-2pm Thursday 24 April (Benefits Realisation focus day)
    •       11-12pm Friday 25 April (UIDM focus day)

    The Emerge events team will be on hand to support project members get the most out of this opportunity to run informative and creative synchronous sessions using an Elluminate platform. During the York event projects were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and to begin to make connections across the community, using the Wall of Fame exercise to think through the connections they currently had, and those they needed or wanted to develop. The community slots are designed to take this to the next stage and provide projects with a supported opportunity to work with each other to contribute to the online activities and produce appropriate resources.

    What are the community slots for?

    The community slots are for small teams made up of cross project and community members. There should be between two – four projects/groups/individuals participating in planning and delivering each one-hour slot.  This is to ensure that the sessions are collaborative, and cut across specific projects.

    Teams may wish to share their experiences and concerns about how they are engaging with their users or customizing the UIDM approach. Concerns may exist at a number of levels. At the highest level, is the scope of UIDM about right or is it, for example, too software development orientated? If you are a practice change project, how are you going about modifying it? How are you using the guide, for example as something to follow closely, or as a handbook of possible methods? Other levels could address more strategic issues around the agile or co-design approach, or at even finer level, the experiences of using particular techniques suggested in the guide (e.g. using scenarios to define user needs).

    How can teams most effectively use their time?

    Projects and all members of the community are invited to contribute to the benefits realisation of the whole U&I Programme.

Benefits realisation will support "project anchored, community led" activities that will synthesis new outputs, capacity build the community and promote take-up of project outputs. As well as the official launch of the Emerge Bazaar, we will be running a Dragon's Den, which will be open from Monday 21 April to Friday 2 May. Following the community invitation for small benefits realisation projects members will be able to submit draft ideas to a Dragon's Den and receive feedback and comments from the resident Dragons. Members may also arrange times to discuss project ideas with members of the Emerge Team – contact [*name of publicly funded body sub-contractor staff] ASAP at [*name of publicly funded body sub-contractor staff private email address] to arrange a time for discussion.

    You might also want to consider using one of the Community Session slots to bring together a small group to discuss an idea for a small benefits realisation project.

    However – this is community space and it's really up to teams how to best make use of the time. It may be that teams just want to outline your current project, and share with the community where your aims and interests overlap with or feed into other project groups. Or teams may have a particular topic they want to raise for debate within the community, and know of other projects that share an interest.  The event themes focus on a range of technologies and practices – teams might want to use one of the themes as an anchor for their session.

    How can people find out what other projects and community members are doing?

    Check out the community list with links to the projects' home pages on Emerge. If your team or project doesn't have a home page yet, check out this worksheet on using the groups' function to set out your stall.

    How do I register for a community slot?

    Contact [*name of publicly funded body project staff] ASAP at [*name of publicly funded body project staff private email address]. Let her know:

    •       who your team members are, their projects & institutions
    •       title and brief description of your session including focus/theme fit
    •       Preferred slot/s, if any

    You can also talk to her about how best to use the Elluminate platform and what additional support you might need.

    [*name of publicly funded body project staff]

    ===================================================
    --
    [*name of publicly funded body project administrator]
    Director of Operations
   [*sub-contracted charity]
    Telephone: [*telephone number at sub-contracted charity]
    Fax: [*fax number at sub-contracted charity]
    --
   [*sub-contracted charity postal address]
    Registered Charity Number [*registered charity number of sub-contracted charity]
    [*web address of homepage of sub-contracted charity]
    [*web address of annual conference of subcontracted charity]
    --
    Our Email response policy can be found at:

[web address of policy page of sub-contracted charity]