Phone tricks and disco bits
I knew I read it somewhere but I've just confirmed that James Trusler is in the Guinness Book of Records for texting at a speed of 160 characters in 1min 7 secs!
Awesome! But has he been bluejacked yet? Well, I'm just getting the hang of picture messaging and that's OK, but nobody's bluejacking me. Still mobiles are really on the move, as I learn from Colin and Michele's blog. This little number is designed for clubbing. (Presumably it reaches parts that the U2 ipod doesn't!)

Elsewhere
This link on academics who blog is borrowed from Vic, who suggests that blogs provide an opportunity for new kinds of participation in intellectual life. I’ve been thinking about what a potent research tool the blog could become allowing user groups, stakeholders, and participants a close-up view of work as it unfolds.
Looks like a good conference in Norway (shame I can’t participate) and Howard Rheingold is guest of honour.

The print (again)
The event that completely disrupts Robinson Crusoe’s world is ‘the print of a man’s naked foot on the shore’. A disruptive sign. Are someone else’s surftrails the same? Footprints are a recurring theme in this blog. Unlike Bunuel I can’t own up to a full-on foot fetish, but yet I’m delighted to discover my first shoe blog!

Passing through
Leicester station used to be noted for its multilingual welcome sign in Gujerati, Hindi, Urdu and English. Now this has been replaced by ‘heritage’ pictures and a weblink that doesn't work (this one does). Is this the slow homogenisation of late modernity or just the sign of the times on the rail network? Time for the inspiration of Mitzuko Ito's Bento Blog!

Religious fanaticism, terrorism and so on…
It’s that time of year again when we go firework crazy. November 5^th was etched on my memory well before September 11^th, but there are some parallels. Anyway I’ll be just doing virtual fireworks – wish I had a voting button, but then what’s the difference between this, this and this?

Are the most interesting insiders outsiders?
I’ve been checking out what Marc Prensky said about Digital Natives in Bristol – his long but interesting slideshow is here. I also like what he has to say about mobile phones: What can you learn from a cell-phone? Please note there's an ethical thing here – he likes you to let him know you’re linking up to his stuff. Contact marc@games2train.com

Writing online
I wonder whether this is a space beyond the reach of international politics? Probably not. Bush's re-election is deeply depressing...and just to think I have to go to a meeting and talk about something good I've read! Maybe I'll choose a serial email narrative, kind-of-edgy kind-of-cool. Here's some links: this and this.

Happy Tree Friends ?
I didn't know quite what to think when my friend's 9 year old showed me this cartoon site. There are free feeds but they take a while to load. Meanwhile this idea (here) is an Australian import and seems like a fine idea to me.

Tuned to a dead channel
Its 20 years since William Gibson brought us the word 'cyberspace' and the adventures of the punk cyborg Chase. The opening line stays with me: The sky above the port was the colour of television tuned to a dead channel.' That's magic. I've been visiting Gibson's blog quite a bit lately - that's interesting, too.
Bashment reaches Sheffield now, in the form of a new hair salon 'Bashment Barbers'. But I see that it's not 'bashment' but 'chav' that's tipped as new word of the year by askoxford.com.

New roles for digital writing
Most new mobile phones purchased in the UK now have picture messaging facility, some do short movie clips. Mizuko Ito charts an interesting development in etiquette with the cameraphone in Japan where users text first to check availablity. Read about it here.

Local knowledge
Graffiti on hoardings around Sheffield claims that God is real. I was pleased to learn, this morning from another writer's addition that God is really Nigel! That explains a lot.
Jack's been talking to me about some of the fascinating work he's been doing over in Rotherham (and elsewhere in cyberspace). This is showcased on his website 'Personal Demons'.

Thinking with my fingers
I love the idea of thinking with your fingers. It builds on some of Frank Wilson’s ideas in his book ‘The Hand’. Torill Mortensen uses this to title her blog (which is full of interesting stuff). Meanwhile back at home, I now have Sonia Livingstone’s survey of UK children online, based on a survey of 1,500 9-19 year olds and 900 parents of 9-17 year olds. The links on the sidebar too!

Making tracks in cyberspace
What will happen when bloggers get easier access to mobile technology? Justin Hall who's looking at trends in the US and Japan writes about the possibilities of moblogging. Meanwhile media debate in Japan is addressing the ethics of news blogs and how blogging is changing the face of journalism. At the same time here's more tracks in cyberspace!

My footprints
Wet footprints are the memory of my appearance at the office. They say that Thoth invented writing after watching the webprints of the marsh Ibis. This reminds me of how Vygotsky described writing as mnemotechnic. Now, in webrings and bloggings we print our footsteps in cyberspace.

Art, music, life...

Just discovered the work of Martin Hill who does minature Golsworthy-like stuff with stones and pebbles. I loved the film Rivers and Tides which features Andy's work at Eden. You can see other stuff here.

French jazz has often been good, perhaps at its best with Cameroon-born Manu Dibango, but a new niche in 'world jazz' takes off with the arabesque flavours of Didier Malherbe. Life goes on.

What's news?
Well, first there's official recognition of the rise of news blogs and then our friends at Firebox resurrect the Tamagotchi (here). We must be living in a retro world.

Live links/dead links

Unfortunately, the fabulous hip hop link is now dead :weep: So, to compensate for that I'm now showing a couple of papers on the sidebar. And keeping up with the unofficial literacies subvertising themes here's a gallery of the work of Banksy who operates in Bristol and London. And this is the Banksy site (here).

My birthday and other ephemera

Yes, just a bit older, so I'm keeping up to date with hip-hop (click here: you'll need sound) and thinking of creating a digital archive of all those old cassette tapes in the glove compartment of my car with this.

The art of the flashmob

In the summer the BBC harnessed the power of the flashmob phenomenon to create Flashmob the Opera, a tastefully disruptive event staged at London's Paddington Station. This is now showing on Channel 3.

Remember those little brushes...

Remember those little brushes you used to get to clean typewriter keys? Another part of writing paraphernalia safely consigned to the past. But it's a whole new set of problems when you try to keep new writing tools clean. Remove those snack crumbs and dead skin from your keyboard with this little gem: the keyboard vac.

Then again, maybe that clunky keyboard is just a throw-back to the times of typing. What about a virtual keypad for your PDA - click here