It’s about 3 months until we set of for our Iron Curtain Trail cycle. We’ve done a number of long-ish cycles (about 500 miles) but have always stayed in hotels and hostels. The ICT will be much harder – over 4000 miles and camping most nights – so there’s a lot of preparation to do. So today I did my first shakedown-cycle (2 laps of Holyrood Park), to try to learn more about cycling a fully-laden bike, what and how to pack, etc.
Here’s the cyclometer-map, and here’s the GoPro video:
The Scottish Government has responded to questions raised by CC members at a fairly recent Fairer Scotland event. Click the thumbnail to download the full PDF.
If you have any queries about the responses, it would be best to contact Kristoffer Boesen or Lynn Sharp of the Improvement Service (IS). In the meantime, I’m very pleased to see mentions of the work by Peter Cruickshank and me, specifically
I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow’s event, in County Buildings in Ayr. We have designed this event, and similar events in Moray, Angus and Scottish Borders, to explore two main questions
| When | Mood | Music |
| 2015-10-08 22:31:00 | excited – but tired |
I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow's event, in County Buildings in Ayr. We have designed this event, and similar events in Moray, Angus and Scottish Borders, to explore two main questions
Before I go on, I should stop to thank the Scottish Government for funding these events, and the Improvement Service, the Democratic Society and the host Local Authorities for their support of these events.
In these questions, 'CC' stands for 'Community Councils and Registered Tenant Organisations'. The events' sponsor, the Scottish Government's Community Empowerment Unit, has asked us to include RTOs as well as CCs. I know almost nothing about RTOs but I have worked with one, creating its wordpress.com-based website. If this RTO is typical, they are in the same boat as CCs – struggling to find and develop any internet expertise.
There will also an introduction by South Ayrshire Council's head of communities, and short talks by
These will be followed by a session devoted to topics raised by the delegates, and a final all-delegate discussion. I don't know what those will cover – delegates will make suggestions during the morning. But for me, encountering the unexpected and finding out new things is part of the joy of being a researcher!
We will report on the events via the KnowledgeHub Group for Community Councillors, so watch that space. (I will blog a little about it here, but all the action will be on the KHub.) We'll publish everything that can be put online, along with analyses and concise reports. CC and RTO members will be welcome to comment on these, and so help ensure they reflect experiences from as many CCs and RTOs as possible. The truth is out there, and I want these events' outcomes to be a mirror to that truth, and an enabler of improvement.
Allied to this, I'm (slowly) working on some feedback to the recent Fairer Scotland event, and will soon do some analysis of the most up-to-date data on CC website, Facebook and Twitter use. (Thanks to the Improvement Service for gathering the raw data.)
So there's lots of work going on, all about understanding and bolstering Scotland's very own forms of hyperlocal democracy. As one of the speakers puts it, 'Democracy never sleeps!'
As Elly put it
Have spent all of this evening at Edinburgh Airport but flight has been cancelled. Flights tomorrow morning now full, so we are now flying from Glasgow tomorrow. This is only a quick visit to celebrate Bruce’s Mum’s birthday, so we are coming back on Sunday afternoon anyway. The best laid plans…
Well I have my name on another paper – but not as author. Professor Hazel Hall and Robert Irvine have published a review of literature around success factors in information systems project management. Hazel has blogged about it here.
Despite the CC websites I run not being all they could be, I think I’m working hard enough. I’ve just made my 300th post on Leith Central’s website, my 75th on Leith Harbour and Newhaven’s site and my 69th on New Town & Broughton’s site.
The averages are around 7, 4 and 4 posts per month, respectively. One reason for the difference is that Leith Central publishes draft minutes, so that some account of its meetings is online within a week or so of the meeting. I think this is much better than waiting for minutes to be ratified at the next monthly meeting.
| When | Mood | Music |
| 2015-09-20 22:51:00 |
Bah – forget the last post. It takes very little time to make a new post here that’s just a link to Digital evidence…
Hence: Game on!
Elly and I have just played Cripple Mr Onion* It’s fitting she won the first set we played with a 8-suit deck I gave her for her birthday. We played using the basic rules, i.e. not using the modifiers. Continue reading
| When | Mood | Music |
| 2015-09-20 18:32:00 | content? |
It’s unlikely that I’ll post more original stuff here. I’ve set up a wordpress blog for photos and travels – new material will go on that.
My photos from 2002 to 2014 photos are busy uploading to an unlimited-space host to get around issues serving them from my desktop Mac. (There’s nothing wrong with the Mac server itself but it’s a PITA keeping its IP address associated with a domain-name, and it goes through a very slow ADSL upload.)
Eventually I will start adding scans of my photo-albums to it – but don’t hold your breath.
I will of course keep checking into here to see what my online friends are up to. But for now, here are my online presences:
a back-up of https://friends-ssct.org
wibbelwobble
Good governance and leadership
Participatory Budgeting for the Leith Neighbourhood Network
Maximising the impact and value of library and information science research
News, funding opportunities, and support from Research, Innovation & Enterprise
Digital evidence that Bruce might have a life 