Archive for April, 2010

We got a text message this weekend from our fellow volunteer Ingrid Beazley who was at the international musuem conference in Denver, Colorado, USA to tell us that our volunteer blog Dulwich OnView has won the Best Small Museum Site 2010 at the Conference Archimuse International Best of the Web Awards this year. We are all thrilled that our hard work and collaborative effort over the last few years has been recognised on the international heritage sector stage. Thanks to everyone who voted for us at the conference site. Thanks also goes to our co-editors, contributors and readers!

The Best Small Musuem Site award is given “to explicitly recognise work from smaller institutions. [ie] These sites [which] have been:

• Created in-house or with volunteer effort
• Mounted by small institutions (with 5 for fewer professional staff)
• Created with very limited budgets (sometimes no budget)”

Congratulations also to the other winners in the other categories!

Photo: of the Dulwich OnView editorial team and regular contributors, from Dulwich OnView

What is it like to push yourself to your physical limit - and then beyond that?

I was fascinated by this autobiography of an extreme runner, Ultramarathon Man, which tells the story of Dean Karnazes’s journey from stressed out executive to running non-stop for 200 miles across America via ultramarathons through the desert and a marathon in the Antarctic. You can listen to my audio podcast review via the player below.

You can subscribe to the Fusion View Mobile Podcast by clicking on the “Subscribe with iTunes” button - it’s free and new episodes will be downloaded automatically to your iTunes application.

Here are links to Dean’s website and blog:

Ultramarathon Man

Dean’s Blog

For more ultrarunners who blog and also those who podcast see:

Dirt Dawg
Running at the Centre of the Universe
Living, And Loving Life
A Trail Runner’s Blog
An Ultrarunner’s Blog

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You can leave me a voicemail or email response to be played on the Fusion View Mobile Podcast - for voicemail, there are local numbers to call for USA & Canada and also the UK: go to my Contact Page for details.

As you may know, I’ve been involved in a social media project for the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery on a voluntary basis - a community blog called Dulwich OnView. We started it just over two years ago and it’s been going from strength to strength, gaining quite a lot of attention within the heritage/ musuem sector here in the UK and internationally.

The exciting news is that the blog has been nominated for the Conference Archimuse International Best of the Web Award 2010. The annual conference is one of the biggest international conferences in the heritage/ museum sector and is taking place this year in Denver, USA. One of our bloggers team, Ingrid Beazley, is off there this week to give a presentation about Dulwich OnView alongside a number of academics who have written research papers on the strategy and structure of the blog.

The success of Dulwich OnView (DOV) is due to all the individual volunteers who have contributed their diverse skills as well as their time to the project so I want to set out for the record acknowledgements to the core team who have, to date, made the blog an eclectic and lively online community:

Founder Members and Editorial Team

INGRID BEAZLEY - In her capacity as chair of the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery she facilitated Yang-May’s concept, ’selling’ it to the Gallery staff and Friends committee. Now as one of Dulwich OnView’s acting editors, she commissions articles from the Gallery staff and from the local community and promotes the website ceaslessly, locally as well as internationally.

ANGIE MACDONALD - took over from Catherine Fraher as acting editor in the early months of Dulwich OnView and shaped the role of the Acting Editor. She wrote the Editor’s Handbook, trained other team members to be editors and to use Wordpress blogging software. She also writes occasionally for DOV. More recently she has been involved in project managing the redesign of DOV, co-ordinating the team ideas and working closely with Ingrid and the web designer to create a new-look DOV.

YANG-MAY OOI - created the concept of Dulwich OnView as a community blog and developed the key “guerrilla marketing” strategy for the blog to raise Dulwich Picture Gallery’s profile among the online demographic. She also planned the DOV team structure and set up the web-based collaborative systems which make this project self-managing and non-hierarchical. This includes creating the collaborative editorial documents which ensure that the blog runs smoothly and writing the several handbooks which set out all the processes for current and new members of the team. She continues to provide strategic advice as well as contributing multimedia content to the blog.

ANNA SAYBURN - wrote many of the earliest DOV articles, helping to develop the informal, community style of Dulwich OnView through a mixture of interviews with local people, reviews of local events and pieces about local history and art associated with Dulwich. She served as an acting editor for part of the first two years, helping bring in new contributors and fostering the sense of community. She still writes regularly for DOV.

STEVE SLACK - writes off the wall articles for DOV with the aim of debunking the myth that Dulwich is populated solely by rich, posh people. He’s written about pub quizzes, street names, local history and general peculiar cultural goings-on. Working with DOV has helped him develop as an online writer and given him skills he uses in other freelance work.

TAHRA MORTON - is an intern at DOV, writing articles as well as carrying out her role as one of the acting editors while on a work secondment in Brussels, Belgium, underlining that DOV is truly an online community that while local is also without borders.

SALLY ANN JOHNSON - advised the team on risk management and helped develop DOV’s article submissions policy. She also writes for the blog.

CATHERINE FRAHER - was DOV’s first acting editor. She co-ordinated the team of volunteers, editorial meetings and uploaded much of the early content onto the blog.

SHAPA BEGUM - an intern at DOV, she currently writes articles and is responsible for the Paul Nash online art competition. She is provided with regular support by the editorial team to learn and develop skills in networking, editorial management and technical skills.

ANNA MARIA DI BRINA - is one of DOV’s acting editors and also writes articles on art and events.

ANGELA CORRIAS - contributed to the editorial style of DOV as one of the acting editors and collaborated in its content with interviews to local artists and coverage of local events.

Other Contributors

Amanda Greatorex, Greville Havenhand, Laverne Hunt, Ed Saunders, Rebecca Portsmouth, Erica Green, Steve Overbury, Nigel Thorpe, Lorenzo Ali, Daniel Pateman, Patrick Knight, Bella Tullo, “Jane Morris”

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Related info:

Dulwich OnView
Patrons of Dulwich Picture Gallery
Blogging for the Heritage Sector
Dulwich OnView leads the way for heritage sector blogging
Our pro-bono project, Dulwich OnView, makes impact in heritage sector
Dulwich OnView Wikipedia entry

Make sure someone doesn’t steal it then…

I’m a great fan of the TV crime series Bones, about a forensic anthropologist who helps the CIA solve crimes from analysis of skeletal remains. Dr Temperance Brennan, created by novelist Kathy Reichs from her own experience as a forensic anthropologist, can look at a skeleton in an impromptu grave and tell you that the victim was a female (from the shape of the pelvis), under 30 (from the hardening of the bone, Caucasian (from the shape of the skull) and from Eastern Europe (from the dental work). Yes, I learnt all that from watching telly so if ever I come across skeletal remains, I too can give you an on the spot identification…

But, seriously, if you want to learn this stuff for real - without going through many years of arduous professional training - the Museum of London is running a course for folk like you and me that will give you some basic skills such as:

“# how to age and sex skeletons
# which bones are important to measure
# what these measurements can tell us about physique and stature
# how we use bones to learn about health, disease and injury”*

You get access to the Museum’s 17,000 skeletons and get a chance to actually handle the bones…

Check out their course on The bare bones: Introduction to the study of human skeletons which runs from 28 April to 07 July.

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* extract from course description on the Musuem of London Bare Bones webpage

Photo:
- of the Bones TV series DVD from Amazon.co.uk
- of skeleton

My father has picked up his pen again to continue his Memories of Malaya series, sharing his memories of his boyhood in Malaya.

He writes:

When I first went to the Victoria Institution it was into Form One. In addition to arithmetic we were introduced to geometry and algebra. For some reason I had difficulty in arithmetic although I was very good in the other two subjects. In arithmetic I think it was the question of language which was causing the difficulty. The problem was this: there are 3 rulers; ruler A is 3 feet long; ruler B is half as long as ruler A and ruler C is half as long as ruler A but is one and half times longer than ruler B. I may not have stated the question correctly but it was this kind of question.

But the odd thing is this: the boys who had come from Chinese schools still continued to do very well in arithmetic although the English language is not their strong subject; they did not seem to encounter any difficulties. After my brilliant results previously it was a great disappointment when I came out in the middle of my class in the half yearly examination. Father then started intensive coaching of me and I improved my position. So I crept up the form every year until about Form 3 when I began to come up to the top 3 in the class always competing with the other doctor’s son.

The school started streaming the two top classes when we were in Form 4. It was a simple process: the top forty boys in the form in the Form 3 exams were sent to the science stream in Form 4 and the next forty to the Arts streams. The rest went on to the lower classes in the form. In the science stream we had to do the 3 sciences, that is, Chemistry, Physics and Biology as three subjects and not one as general science. They were not all that difficult and I enjoyed them. Then came Form 5 when we were introduced to Additional Mathematics which I also enjoyed.

As I wanted to read law I started to take private tuition in Latin in preparation for taking the subject in Form 5. Again it proved not difficult because it was a logical language. Latin is helpful in two ways for learning the English Language: firstly if you have a large Latin vocabulary it helps with your English vocabulary and vice verse of course; secondly it also helps your English sentence construction; the dative and ablative cases make one aware of the use of prepositions in an English sentence.

One of the highlights of this period in school was the celebration connected with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The country organized parades and there was a street procession with the various communities contributing floats to go round the town. Every class held a tea-party on the day. We did not have television, so we did not see the proceedings but the school children were able to see a film of the coronation when the film came to the country much later on. We could hear the music of “Land of Hope and Glory” whenever we turned on the radio.

A less happy event was the killing of the High Commissioner for Malaysia whilst he was traveling to Fraser’s Hill on a Saturday: he was shot together with one or two of his military and police aides and escorts by the communists. The school scout troops were given the honour of lining the route where his cortege would pass on the way to the church. I was in the contingent. It was a great blow to the government - the country was still not independent - and demoralized it.

His successor was General Sir Gerald Templer who was a no-nonsense soldier. He would put a village or town under a twenty-four hour curfew if after some soldiers or police were killed and no one came to give information. There was a case that involved the small town of Tanjong Malim which created quite an outcry in the newspapers in England. There was no actual fighting with the communists in the large towns. Most of the confrontation was in rubber estates, secondary jungle and sometimes further inside.

One of the ways the government devised to combat the threat was to resettle all persons living in outlying areas into a settlement which was surrounded by barbed wire fence and guarded by special constables to prevent these villages from supplying food and medicine to the communists. According to official reports this method worked to a certain extent. The civilian population was not allowed to carry any food when traveling between towns and persons in buses and cars were searched at check points placed along the main and trunk roads. For the civilians this was the only contact with the military operations.

General Templer wanted to involve as many communities and as many people in the fight. Special constables and home guards were formed. Both were drawn from persons who had no military training but after a little bit of marching drill and practice with the rifle they were given a rifle and an arm band with the word “Special Constable” as they had no uniforms and their main job was to patrol the resettlement-villages or New Villages as they were called or to assist in manning road blocks. Boy scouts were called in to act as couriers to deliver mail amongst the military and police establishments. I was involved and went to a briefing but was never called upon to do anything.

A General du Fonblanque was assigned to organize the Home Guard. Their presence was not much in evidence in the towns as far as I can recollect. I met his daughter, Patricia, who was at Newnham at the time I was at Corpus Christi, Cambridge when she attended meetings of the Malayan Association of the University.

Photo: of Victoria Institution, thanks to hbp.usm.my with thanks

memmlya

The other day, while I was running in the park, I saw a guy running along with what looked like black feet while his legs were gleaming pale and white. When I looked closer, he was wearing a pair of thin, delicate shoes with toes! I’d heard about these Vibram Five Fingers shoes but never seen them so it was interesting to watch him run along in a somewhat balletic fashion - the purpose of these shoes is to encourage you to run as if barefoot, which is apparently better for your feet and legs.

Here is a video of what a “barefooter” might be able to do with Five Fingers on his feet:

It’s a marketing video for the brand, but what the heck, it’s amazing to watch such graceful athleticism.

It’s also been interesting finding out what ordinary runners think about these funky shoes. Here are some reviews from bloggers:

Justin Owings - My Bare Feet

Barefoot Jason - Vibram Five Fingers KSO Review

Krisandro - My Experience of Running in Vibram Five Fingers

I’m curious to try them…

This week’s blog posts seem to be themed around food and restaurants. I guess they’ve been on my mind…!

For some reason, occasionally, a number of people say to me, “Oh, you don’t eat meat” or “You’re vegetarian, aren’t you?” - eg when we’re arranging to go for a meal or when we’re talking about gyms we go to, running and health and fitness.

“What makes you think I’m a vegetarian?!” I find myself crying out in horror.

These people don’t know me very well, clearly!

My instinctive reaction is to be insulted. No offense to my friends who are vegetarians (and some of my best friends are!) or to anyone else who is a vegetarian. It’s just that I don’t see myself as one and my self-image and identity is tied up with being a Malaysian ominvore with a hearty appetite for meat. So for me, the possibility that others might see me as anything but that upsets my sense of self!

But then I calm myself down by telling myself that what these acquaintances probably mean is that I seem healthy and fit and I don’t drink. Perhaps in their eyes, I have an “alternative” or non-establishment air about me - and maybe even an aura of loving-kindness?. So, maybe in their thinking, someone like that must also have a very healthy and pure diet that excludes dastardly deeds done to living creatures but focuses on lush, juicy, wholesome fruit and veg. That’s a compliment, right?

Well, the funny thing is that I may be half-way to becoming more vegetarian. I started at a new gym the other week and had my first personal training session. For some time now, I’ve been trying to lose what my sister calls my “muffin top” that peeps out over my jeans. However, despite much running and huffing and puffing on the cardio machines and weights at my old gym, the muffin is still defiantly there. The new personal trainer has recommended that I cut out carbs after lunch to solve this problem.

So I am trying out a new habit of substituting loads more veg and salad instead of rice, pasta or potatoes with my evening meal. He said that I could have as much fish or meat as I wanted so I’m leaving my usual portions of protein as they are. The idea is that I don’t go to bed loaded down with carbs that have nowhere to go but round my tummy and other such undesirable locations while I sleep - in contrast during the day, carbs are burnt off as energy while I move around etc.

It hasn’t been too arduous so far as it’s only one meal a day that I have to tweak. By having extra portions of veg instead of rice etc, I’ve been nicely full and that’s one of the main priorities for me in the evening - to have a feeling of contentment and satisfaction after a long day rather than going to bed hungry and craving more food. I think it will be fairly easy to follow, too, when I go out for meals with friends in the evenings if we go to a Western restaurant where the meat and veg offerings are fairly bland. But it’s going to be a challenge when we go to Malaysian or other Asian eateries for dinner where the spicy dishes need rice to blend and dilute the strong flavours….

So for those of you who might see me with a plate piled high with vegetables at dinner time, before you assume I’m a veggie look again and you will see the meat lurking underneath. I’m not a vegetarian, ok?

Photos:
veg - thanks to Muffet from flickr.com (CCL)
muffin - thanks to yomi955 from flickr.com (CCL)