[Prev][Next][Index]
INKYTEXT 247: THE VISION
_ __ __ _ __ ______
(_) ____ / /__ __ __ / /_ ___ | |/ / /_ __/
/ / / __ \ / //_/ / / / / / __/ / _ \ | / / /
/ / / / / / / ,< / /_/ / / /_ / __/ / | / /
/_/ /_/ /_/ /_/|_| \__, / \__/ \___/ /_/|_| /_/
/____/
THE VISION / THE MISSION: A STRATEGY CONFERENCE SPECIAL ISSUE
Issue No 247 Friday May 1st 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial Correspondence to InkyText@lancaster.ac.uk
Subscription Requests to Inkytext-Distribution-Request@lists.lancs.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGENDA
1. News: Promotions, Roses, Independent Studies, Open Day, Finance, Strategy.
2. The Vision: An unsolicited contribution to the Strategy Conference
3. Small Ads: Accom wanted and vacant; House, computers, piano for sale;
Events; Web design.
4. Readers' Letters: Sugar House lights, Prophecy, Millennium bug.
1.NEWS
------
ALL CONTINUING GOOD WISHES TO MRS LORETTA SHOTTER, wife of Dr David
Shotter (History), former Principal of Lonsdale College.
BEST WISHES TO GORDON HANDS, currently Head of Politics, who is being
treated for a still unidentified illness in the RLI.
BEST WISHES ALSO TO ANDREW MALLOCH (Biology) currently under treatment
in a nearby ward.
CONGRATULATIONS TO MAURICE KIRBY, Provost of Colleges and Student
Affairs, on the award of his chair in Economic History. Prof Kirby
becomes the new head of the Economics department at Christmas.
BEST WISHES TO PROF BAZ KERSHAW who is being translated to a chair in
Bristol's famous Department of Drama.
AMAZING SUCCESS OF VISIT DAY: Wednesday's open visit day saw about
2000 sixth formers and parents from all parts of the country visit a
sun-bathed and fairly normal-looking campus. They were shepherded by
yellow t-shirted student helpers and admission staff ran displays in
the showcase George Fox building. Of the hundreds of comment forms
completed almost ALL were complimentary, the most frequently recurring
words being 'friendly' and 'helpful'. [NOTE: can confirm all that
first-hand. (Ed.)]
Many thanks to all concerned, especially admissions office staff and
departmental reps. The organisers hope that higher authority will see
fit to approve the event and its funding rather earlier next time
round.
THIS IS THE ROSES WEEKEND: now sponsored by Mitchell's Brewery of
Lancaster, to whom many thanks. The event has been organised with the
same efficiency and enterprise that has so strikingly marked all of
this year's Student Union activity. I liked the loads of mobile toilets
for the sports fields. A lot of complaints from players about the state
of the pitches though.
THE FINANCE COMMITTEE meets this morning. It is expected to consider
the budget, and, with luck, a bit of capital restructuring. Still
interested in some outstanding bills of course. Will it ever consider
the CRILL report? Sadly its Minutes seem to have stopped appearing on
the Web.
THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM met on Wednesday. No news, but it prolly
discussed, inter alia, arrangements for Pro-VC elections (if we are to
be allowed them) and the future of the provostship.
THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT was visited by the VC earlier this week. This
was the 31st such visit - 7 or so to go. The VC's views on the value of
these meetings are shared by some departments but clearly not by
others.
UNCONFIRMED RUMOURS that Professor Shepherd may have taken steps to
break the deadlock that has so far stymied the confused proposals for a
'staff and student training and development unit' (which some think
involves teaching as well).
PERSISTENT FEARS that executive actions are being used to counter
Senate's unambiguous decisions on the future of Independent Studies.
The department seems to have been eradicated on space allocation maps,
which distresses staff currently in post. Many compare the situation to
what has been called the 'vendetta' waged against Chemistry in the late
80s, when the then VC even had the sign changed and the name abolished.
(Chemistry is of course still with us.)
3.THE VISION / THE MISSION : PART I
-----------------------------------
A sub-Wordsworthian vision of Bailrigg in May 2008,
being an independent, spreadsheet-free, optimistic, quirky, yet informed
(and not wholly implausible) contribution to the Strategy Conference.
[The conference target date is 2005 but, as Admiral Kerr or the
University chauffeur would confirm, prudent drivers and navigators
also always look that little bit further ahead.]
The clock was striking thirteen as the Prince of Wales stepped from
the monorail terminal at Bailrigg Halt. He grinned and waved to the
waiting crowds, flicking the russet Spencer hair from his eyes. His
morning's attendance at the decommissioning of the ageing Heysham power
stations had been rather dull - but here, at the other end of the line,
he was looking forward to his visit. Not of course exclusively from a
passion to discover this power-house of intellectual creativity that had
acquired such prominence as a symbol of the New Carolingeans. Its
predominantly female population did have a certain appeal.
He was met by the usual local dignitaries, well-meaning busybodies who
occupied the lay posts and purported to represent the community, but
usually promoted their own convictions. The VC, yet another of those
omnipresent Scotsmen, introduced him to the amiable and by now somewhat
Benedictine figure of Mr Thorley, the University Secretary, and they
joined him for the short ride uphill on the campus chair-lift.
As they soared over the pond and barns, Prince William admired the
heavily wooded grounds and could see why this had acquired such
attraction as the ultimate 'Green' campus... in most senses of the
word. Even the 60s buildings seemed to have mellowed beneath the ivy,
tiny courtyards nestling close together in pockets of wood and
shrubland.
Mostly student residences of course. How ironic that Lancaster had
sunk so much capital, all borrowed at inflated rates, into just what
traditional students could no longer afford. And just before England
had decided that its higher education could no longer subsidize a
renewing of the gene pool that involved polluting the air every ten
weeks as convoys of parents transported hundreds of thousands of
adolescents and their paraphernalia from one end of the land to the
other to meet distant breeding stock.
That had at least been a political decision. The move to
tele-education, on the other hand, to the home-based cyber-classroom,
had long been inevitable, though largely ignored or pooh-poohed by
Lancaster's former planners and fund-raisers. Unforgivably.
They stepped down from the lift-halt on the first floor of the giant
UU tower that beamed LANSERVE's broadcasts around the globe via the
latest EDUSAT high above the north Atlantic. Lunch was to be in
Bailrigg House Staff Club, a modest, pseudo-half-timbered affair.
Prince William was again struck by this happy marriage of ancient and
modern that made Lancaster, like a few other surviving university
towns, still such a relatively agreeable place to live in.
It was indeed, and perhaps paradoxically, the need to identify what
living, material, educational communities could do that virtuality or
the cyber-class could not, which had been at the origin first of
Lancaster's survival, then of its regeneration. One of those things was
eating. (The other of course was sex: even Prince William agreed that,
for all its health-promoting and sanitary qualities, cybersex did lack
a certain human warmth.)
It had been a stroke of genius to turn catering from a loss-making
service into a leading teaching department. Firstly by offering work
experience opportunities to finalists from the local catering college:
the college had been happy to collaborate in this fusion of further and
higher education the first Blair government had urged. Student chefs, a
profession whose appeal now rivalled at least that of teacher if not
accountant, had the chance to experiment and expose their skills to
critical palates. The Heathcote Room was a pole of attraction for
visiting scholars, as well as another high spot on the New Lancashire
gourmet circuit. Even the new health-freak students enjoyed the
spin-offs.
The Prince's luncheon table companion, as well as the VC and various
behatted wives, turned out to be a a charming, long-haired
post-graduate pollution-controller called Birgitte. She described
herself as the student union president and, between mouthfuls of
asparagus mousse and truffled artichoke brioche (for this vas now a
vegan campus), spent much of lunch explaining to him Lancaster's recent
history.
The first challenge had been to keep student rooms filled, preferably
throughout the year, and if possible by students. One easy way had been
to have fewer of them (rooms!). This had been easily achieved when some
canalside flats in town were sold to a private developer, releasing in
the process some 6 million of the capital needed to fund Lancaster's
now famous multi-media empire.
As English universities had found students at first staying at home,
then discovering how much more cheaply and easily they could climb the
new VQLs (vocational quality ladders) by accumulating cut-price credit
modules from the Open University, things had got harder for rural
establishments like Lancaster. Developing countries matured and created
their own universities; students from Asia declined; home students
stayed at home.
It had taken desperation to make Lancaster discover that Europe was
the answer. What Lancaster's older colleges offered, primitive rooms
with communal facilities and a community atmosphere, where life was
dominated and organised by the youthful inhabitants, this was what
wealthier and wiser citizens of Milan and Athens, Bordeaux and Hamburg
had always admired in English public schools. Learning how hard it is
to live in peace and Euro-propinquity, learning to run communities by
doing so, this was the vital element of civilising education that
teaching alone could never inculcate so convincingly or memorably.
Europe, then, had been one target. William realised that this must be
what explained Birgitte's rather charming Scandinavian vowels. And the
minor public-school types had also continued to find Lancaster a
reputable alternative. This did surprise HRH, who confessed that he
had always thought Lancaster a singularly egalitarian community,
opposed to benefiting only the privileged.
Quite so, smiled Birgitte. And most importantly a _balanced_
community. Even public-school pupils could be considered disadvantaged
in numerous ways - better that some find a place that seems familiar.
But Lancaster had also found a specialized niche in appealing to some
growing categories of university applicant ill-catered for elsewhere:
those with special needs of one sort or another, which now included
obsessive environmentalists and vegetarians as well as wheelchair
users.
It had chosen to be a balanced society in other ways as well, and not
merely a 'self-governing community of young intellectuals' as it had
been optimistically described in 1969. Reserving en-suite blocks for
the late-life educators of the University of the Third Age had
introduced an element of maturity that softened the aggressiveness of
late-night bar life and added some tolerance and wisdom to arguments on
LuBBs. These well-heeled early retirers, often widowed or divorced,
enjoyed mixing with their fellows in an atmosphere that was still
exuberant and expansionist - anything but geriatric. They also brought
to learning and research an experience and wisdom that had so long been
missing from the facile 'quality-controlled' syllabuses of the fatuous
educational planners in the 'Nightmare nineties'. This was now real
'life-long learning' with some purpose.
Add to these the infants in the pre-School centre - a model of its
kind, and a laboratory for child-development studies, now much expanded
from its beginnings as a staff and student creche. And of course the
controversial category: the probationers and time-served young
offenders now housed behind the reinforced windows of County College.
How parents and the press had screamed when the idea was first mooted.
But then, why should a university be exempt from the stresses created
by care in the community? And why should those chipped shoulders feel
themselves excluded from what they no doubt saw as the privileges of
undergraduates?
Most importantly, the County College sojourn was a much sought-after
experience, generously funded by relieved social service departments
who recognized the opportunities it offered for Professor Smith's
outstanding Department of Sociopathy both to experiment and to
demonstrate the value of its theorizing.
The two great summer schools had been the next solution. Few could
understand that Lancaster had been so slow in exploiting its location,
plus its Wordsworth and Ruskinian connections, by offering a
credit-bearing summer school to satisfy the cult mentality of so many
American and Japanese students, not to mention those well-heeled 3rd
age dinkies and early retirers, well able to offer themself such treats
even if they didn't care to spend their winters in north Lancashire.
It had begun in 2001, accompanied by a companion school in the history
of the original Industrial Revolution. Gluttons could just about fit in
both if they skipped the tours of flying shuttles and spinning mules as
well as giving Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount a miss. Others could
accumulate a decent number of credits while giving themselves in a
peaceful and still unspoilt historic environment, far removed from
Kyoto or Columbus.
The stroke of genius had been the five-term year. Five 8 week blocks
broken by 2 week vacations, with a couple of weeks to permit
redecoration and allow for boiler-house closures. Reaction had roared.
No one else did it; 8 week modules were absurdly short and shallow,
especially if they included an assessment element; what about
progression, maturation, depth?
Gradually, however, even recalcitrants retired or were won over. The
idea held something for all: 3 eight week terms still fitted in with
the semestrial system practised in some places, and thus allowed
student overseas exchanges. The shorter terms made regular double
sabbaticals available where none had been before.
The motor behind all of this had been the now world-famous Faculty of
Pedagogics. It had been created by a bigamous arranged marriage
involving ethereal educational theorists, the 'learning facilitators'
from Lancaster's pioneering School of Independent Studies and the
legendary Professor Shepherd's collaborative multimedia systems.
It was within Lancaster that it had first shown how resource-based
learning, the intelligent use of hourly-paid graduates and fibre-optic
networks could help relieve more highly paid staff of burdensome chores
and allow them to develop still further these same teaching programs
for wider dissemination.
That had been only the first of many arranged matches. Enthusiasm for
these had grown as the success of the first became palpable - and even
started showing in the accounts.
Creativity and Imagineering, queen of the faculties, had become a
showcase conservatory for the new, Wagnerian, multimedia arts. More
than that, however, it was a key element in the production and design,
some even said of the choreography, of the new course-ware materials,
in all disciplines, that LANSERVE poured forth round the clock and the
world.
The Faculty of Commercial and Political Administrative Systems had
grown from the old management school. The change had really begun when
the chores of firstly book-keeping and then auditing had been taken
over by machines, forcing accountants to acquire higher level
policy-making talents. All the former accountancy firms had sought to
maintain their status, incomes and alleged utility by transforming
themselves into 'management consultants'.
The changes at Lancaster had been slower, but a similar turn had,
wisely, been taken by Politics and the former primary departments of
the old management school, now all now geared to bettering the
distribution and apportionment of created products. and the
organisation of the human systems that generated them, not least
governments as well as lesser decision-making bodies.
Prince William smiled enthusiastically as the stepped out into the
sunshine and set off to explore the campus. He'd passed through once
before, about 5 years ago during father's grand Coronation Tour. But
that had been a formal, whistle-stop affair and he hadn't had the
chance to press flesh and explore this classless community of
intellects, 50 percent of them rather appealing. And of course since
Grandmama's abdication in the 50th year of her reign she and
Grandfather had been spending lots of time in the Hodder valley that
had so captivated her during visits to Gerald Grosvenor's shooting
lodge at Abbeystead.
He wouldn't mind coming again. It was indeed, he reflected, a place
where the material pleasures could be enjoyed; both a welcome relief
from the fleshless communities of Cyberia - and an ideal place to
create them.
[To be protracted. In PART II meet the Institute of Robotics, the
Language Engineering Centre, the Genome manipulation group, the
Pollution Institute, the School of Heritage and Museology and the
Faculty of Thought.]
4. SMALL ADS
-------------
URGENT ACCOMMODATION WANTED: I am working at Education Research and
urgently need accommodation from Monday 4 May for about a month. House
sitting or renting one room would be great. If you can help, please
contact me through CSET reception 92679. Christine.
------------
ROOM AVAILABLE for non-smoker in terraced house in quiet street in
Bowerham. Share with owner who works at University. Central heating,
washing machine, fridge/freezer, TV, video, answerphone and sunny
backyard ideal for al fresco meals in summer. Reasonable rent (payable
weekly or monthly) includes all bills except telephone. Contact June
Watson at work ext 92646 or at home (01524) 848537.
-------------------
PIANO FOR SALE. Need for quick sale. 120pounds ono. Tel: 01524 38 19
72 (evening) or 59 3168 (day).
-------------
HOUSE FOR SALE. Greaves area, end terrace. Five bedrooms, shower room,
bathroom, lounge, dining room, fitted kitchen with cooker, fridge and
dishwasher, utility room, pretty back yard with mature shrubs and shed,
small front garden. Good neighbours, local shops and near a bus route.
?75,000. Contact paul@kirkridge.demon.co.uk or phone 842803 for
details.
--------------
HISTORIES OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS ON APPROACHES TO SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY
Sponsored by the Centre for Social History and the Institute for
Cultural Research
The aim of this series of workshops is to explore the relationship
between. on the one hand, social and cultural history, and social and
cultural studies on the other. Four themes in these fields,
'ethnicity', 'family', 'work' and the 'environment', will provide the
focus for extended discussion of the different approaches which have
been deployed in recent years to analyse the history of social and
cultural life.
ETHNICITY
Tony Hepburn Department of History, Sunderland University & Vron Ware
School of Humanities, University of Greenwich
Thursday, 30 April 1998, 4-6:00 Cartmel Senior Common Room
For further information contact: Paolo Palladino (Department of
History) or Colin Pooley (Department of Geography)
--------------
MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER FOR SALE P200MX, 32 MB Ram, 1.7Gb Hard Drive, 2Mb SVGA
Graphics, 14" Digital Monitor, 16 Speed CD Rom Drive,16 Bit Sound Card, 80
Watt Speakers. 510pounds. Tel 94144 ask for Simon.
------------
WANTED: PERSON TO SHARE HOUSE: 74 White Lund Road Morecambe, Lancs.
Washing machine, central heating, microwave. Cost: 35pounds per week
(including, gas, electric, etc.) Phone 6pounds per quarter plus
itemised calls.
Contact: Pat Clelland, Institute for Health Research, Bowland Tower East,
tel. ext. 93905.
-------------
WEB SITE DESIGN AND MAINTENANCE at highly competitive rates offered by
small local company specialising in higher education. Previous clients
include; The Scott Gallery, the Missenden Centre and the University of
Armageddon (as featured in the THES). To discuss your requirements call
Lune Computer Services on 843694 (24 hour answer phone) or preferably
email lune@lune.demon.co.uk and we will be in touch. Visit our web site
to find out more about us at
http://www.lune.demon.co.uk/
or see our previous work by following these links.
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/armuniv/title.htm
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/PETERSCOTT/scott.htm
------------------
ROOM TO LET: Sunny, well-furnished single room, in a large house, with
a large garden, in a quiet street (Portland St) in the centre of
Lancaster on the University side. Near canal, shops and infirmary bus
stop. Central heating, piano, telephone, washing machine, drying room,
shower, well-equipped kitchen with own cupboard. Share dining and
sitting rooms. No smoking. For mature and unnoisy person, staff/pg,
who enjoys cooking and discussion. 36 pounds per week plus bills.
(Total 48.50 pw or 210 pcm including bills, council tax and cleaner.)
Phone Simon - Lancaster 32351.
-------------
PROFESSOR IAN WARD (Dundee Univ) will give a talk on "The European
Union and the Politics of Identity". The seminar will be held on
Wednesday 27th May, at 2.00 am in Lonsdale, room B16.
For more information contact Catherine Kratz on ext: 93168
------------
TAILORED MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS
Student Budget Systems
Intel Pentium II 233MHz-400MHz Intel Pentium MMX Technology 166-233MHz.
Upgrading, Servicing, Repairs, Advice & Training.
Fax/Voice/Internet ready modems,
Watch TV with Nicam Stereo,
Fast Teletext reception.
(second user computers may be available)
Local service, providing peace of mind.
Tel: (01524 823294)
Typical prices:
Intel Pentium II 233MHz
64 MB SDRAM 2*32Mb (Dimm)
Midi Tower/Desk Top ATX Case
14" SVGA NI LR 0.28dp Monitor Digital
SOYO Mainboard with LX chipset, CPU & Pentium II Cooler
3.2Gb Ultra DMA HDD, 3.5" 1.44Mb FDD
2Mb S3 Virge 3D Graphics Card
Cherry PS2 Keyboard & 3 button mouse
X24 Speed CD ROM Drive IDE
50 Watt PMPO Speakers (4RMS)
Sound Blaster 16 995pounds
Intel Pentium MMX Technology
233MHz.
Mini Tower/Desk Top Case
14" SVGA NI LR 0.28dp Monitor Digital
SOYO Mainboard with ETEQ chipset & 512k p/b cache
1.7 Gb Ultra DMA HDD, 3.5" 1.44Mb FDD
1 Mb Cirrus 5446 Graphics Card
Windows keyboard & 3 button mouse
X24 Speed CD ROM Drive IDE
50 Watt PMPO Speakers (4RMS)
Sound Blaster 16 795 pounds
----------
4. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
A friend was searching for a suitable catchy subtitle for her
dissertation on the Y2K problem. My young farmhand nephew came up with
this down to earth suggestion: "Will the Millennium Bug-ger Things Up?"
June Watson, DCE
-----------------------------
At Christmas the introduction of the CCTV system at the Sugar House
meant that external lights had to be left on a great deal more than
previously (the TV cameras won't work in the dark). Unfortunately this
has led to oversights at times where they have remained on during the
day, (obviously incurring some small expense) - we're going to have to
look at an improved system to minimise this.
In the meantime, if you or any of your readers have any other
suggestions, comments or criticisms of any aspect of the Students'
Union, please get in contact with the President, Guy McEvoy extn 92206
(g.mcevoy@lancaster.ac.uk) - feedback is essential to improvement.
Jo Hardman
--------------------------
I thought I would write to lament the (apparent) demise of prophecy.
It had a ring to it.
Bob Bliss
--------------------------------
A reply to Stella Birchall's letter: In point of fact, Uncle Bill's
software is not heavily affected at all, especially considering the
prevalence of such. Most of the worst problems are in bespoke
mission-critical software, not actually in the systems underlying them.
A lot of people are making more money than Gates is out of the
Millennium thingy.
It would be interesting to add up the number of known problems for
Lotus, Microsoft, Borland, et al, and then divide by the size of their
installed bases, and use as a software hassle index when making future
purchases...
Zack Evans
-----------------------
Last week's InkyText report seems to have done the trick. The Sugar
House, after nearly four months, has finally turned off it's outside
lights, and beer prices may now soon be falling! Testament too to the
effectiveness of your esteemed organ.
'Eagle's Eye',
City Centre.
----------------------
NEXT ISSUE: RUSKIN EXHIBITION