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December 16, 2006

You want to Go?

I am never happier than when I'm playing the ancient and noble game of Go -- sitting in an armchair opposite an old friend, each of us drinking a very fine scotch, discussing philosophy and mathematics and poring over an intricate array of dots that mark out strategies stretching seven or eight moves ahead, our playing styles revealing the very fundamentals of our character -- our intellectual strengths and our fatal flaws. Of course, there are one or two problems. I know little about philosophy and less about mathematics. I can't really tell one whisky from another. I've been in the country long enough to make a few good friends, but I don't have any old ones. I don't know anyone who plays the game. I don't even really know how to play the game all that well myself... and I don't own a board. The armchairs, however, are sorted. There were a couple here in the flat when we moved in. They're not leather, but they do have the shape I was after. So I'm learning to play. It's part of a romantic notion that given enough time, effort and expensive props, I could be cultured, intellectual, and possess surprising layers that combine to make me interesting -- possibly enigmatic. And if I can do it without the time and effort, so much the better. I have the counters: glass beads. Black ones and white ones. I also have a blue plastic mat that unscrunches to reveal the correct 19 x 19 square board pattern. But so far, it's a little unsatisfying. There are websites that teach the basic rules, and online gaming platforms that let you play against other novices, or sit and watch the games of grand masters. That's all well and good. But what I'm looking for is the high quality wooden board, the glass of scotch and the discussion of string theory -- the devastating battle of wills playing itself out on the board merely a metaphor for the grander themes brought out in the meeting of minds. I'll also be wearing a very stylish suit. I should get one of those too. For now, though, I'm going to try and convince my existing friends, rather than my imaginary James Bond-y ones, to learn to play the game with me. Absolute novice required: must be willing to sit around a table at the pub and pretend it's my antiquarian library, drink a pint of lager and pretend we're sipping single malt, talk about records we like and pretend we're debating Wittgenstein, and make stupid mistakes on the board while pretending we are 7th Dan masters. It won't make us sophisticated, enigmatic or deep -- but it could be fun.

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December 14, 2006

Innovation Mentor

I had a job interview today. It was the sort of job interview that you could only go for if you already have a job with the people who are interviewing you for the job, so it's not quite as nervewracking as most. Still, I was a little nervous, and I think that helped. The position I applied for was called Innovation Mentor on the Service By Design project. What that means is that my time would be bought out from the department for half a day a week, so that I can go and work within industry as someone who has new and exciting ideas about how people can do what they do in new and exciting ways. In other words, I'd do a little less teaching in classrooms, and a little more hanging out with people who actually produce things of value. For the job interview, I was to give a five minute presentation about what Service By Design means to me, based upon my experience within the university. Figuring that admitting that I wasn't really sure what the phrase even means, I thought instead I'd speak about the kind of stuff I've already been doing with music businesses and let them draw their own conclusions. I brought along a powerpoint presentation on a USB key, but I told them that actually, I could tell them in five minutes much more effectively without the distracting slides, so I talked them through it using my own non-computer-mediated vocabulary. At any rate, it must have worked. I just received word that they are happy to offer me the position of Innovation Mentor should I wish to proceed. Which I'm very happy about. Again -- it's not any more money, or any sort of advancement -- it's just that I'd do something different for half a day a week, and I'd get a few days training so that I might be good at it -- and hopefully know what the words mean by the end of it. There were 50 of these positions going across the university. My guess is that fewer than that number applied. But I was a bit nervous -- and so getting the job feels like accomplishment. Go me.

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December 12, 2006

Sound It Out

This afternoon, I was voted onto the board of Sound It Out -- a community music organisation based in the West Midlands. I've been an observer on the board for a few months now, and I've been advising on things predominantly to do with the website (new one coming soon). As a charitable organisation, Sound It Out does some great work with refugees, youth, and health. It's still early for me to really understand the entirety of how it all fits together, but I'm starting to see some of the challenges it faces and the ways in which some of them might be addressed. For now, though, I'm kind of sitting and taking it in, only chipping in when I think I have something worth saying. I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses from here. In other news, I have a sick child. Jake's going to be off school tomorrow with a cold and a sore throat. We're dosing him up with lemon and honey (with a healthy whack of paracetemol into the mix) but he's very croaky and under the weather. I'll have to stay home from my class tomorrow (I'm studying for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education), but I'll be able to get notes from a couple of classmates. Unfortunately, I'm also missing out on the department's Open Day at the University, where I'm supposed to be telling the new Music Industries students how wonderful the course is. I'd already arranged for someone to replace me for that, since I had to do my course -- so actually, I get to sit at home and work on some stuff, occasionally making lemon/honey drinks and putting on videos instead of two other big things, which is kind of a blessing. I'd spent some of today doing my coursework for the PG Cert -- but I was also introduced to some features of the EndNote software that allow me to easily build up a database of references on just about any topic under the sun, using the resources of (among others) the British Library and MIT. I think that would be a good use of my time while on recuperation supervision.

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December 9, 2006

The new personal blog

Nearly five years ago, I started the blog that was to become The Wireless. It talked about the main things in my life: music, technology, family, academia, friends, and more about music technology. A few months back, I launched New Music Strategies -- a blog specifically designed to address the music industry on issues of internet technology. On January 1st, 2007, The Wireless is becoming something altogether new -- and in doing so, it leaves a space for the personal and the everyday. And so there is this: my new personal blog. I am drawing something of an artificial line between me and my interests. The Wireless and New Music Strategies will address my interests -- personal and professional respectively. This website is just for me. It's also, therefore, for my friends and my family, and anybody else that might take an interest in the trivia of my day to day life as a New Zealander living and working in the UK as a Music Industries and Media lecturer.

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November 30, 1999

First leg

London, view from the Tate Gallery. Me in the way. So, I've started doing a bit of the journey around the country. The Lincoln conference went well. The research project is underway. Jake came with me to London, and joined me as I travelled to Oxford, Bristol and Cardiff too. We didn't get to Swansea, but we did interview someone from there, so that's something. It kind of went like this: LONDON Stayed at Kerryn and Haydn's and played with the boys. Shay was very funny and chatty, and Zac was small and cute. Went to dinner at a Japanese Restaurant with Mark de Clive-Lowe, Jason Yarde, Vanessa Freeman, Mike Patto, Tawiah,

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