From the front to QR codes
USA Today reports on congressmen getting emails from soldier relatives that are more informative than military briefings (are we surprised?). Altogether more optimistic in flavour is the idea of deploying warplanes to drop 120 million origami cranes in Southern Thailand.

And on the shopping front, watch out for Quick Response code technology (QR), which is poised to replace the barcode. QRs carry far more information and can be scanned by mobile phones. The future is here (....or else it's in Japan).

Bootprints
Well, I suppose that my tourist retail thing should include these, but the successor to the i-pod is pretty impressive too (although I'm not sure about the look). In fact, the Rio Carbon is so impressive that hackers are repurposing the hard drive and selling it on at a profit. Cool hunters or digital cowboys? And this is Sarah's blog.

And then there's Miami
Last day of the NRC conference today and I'm still thinking about what Gunther said about the relationships between the worker, the tool and the work. I think he mentioned that the work leaves its trace on the tool that's used, and illustrated this with a print text in which word meanings shifted...mmm!
Joe Tobin was great yesterday, a good late night vital issues session with Michele, Colin and Ilana, and today I heard Shelley Xu... and we're making plans for next year in Miami. That's attractive!

The best of yesterday
It had to be Colin and Michele: I particularly liked the manga stuff that Michele did and the compex interweavings of social practices from Anya's work. It started to make me think that the online/offline binary that we impose may be bit off target. In the example Colin read out cyberspace and meatspace are blended.
Ilana Snyder was very good, too. I thought the way she used Gibson's Mirror World theme was really interesting. Also loved Morrel's work, that really applied Critical Discourse Analysis.

Texas
At the NRC in San Antonio where it's sunny and pleasant. Just been to a good session on blogging with Dana Commack, Sarah Lohnes and Gus Andrews - all from Columbia University. There doing some interesting work.
Stopped and searched several times on the way over...and that shoe things funny too. Why are they so interested in my footwear? Do they think I'm, Manola the shoe-blogger?

Itchy feet?
No, not that foot thing again (people are starting to talk)...I'm off to San Antonio, the place with one of the the worst web designs ever! Maybe I'll have some down time in the Hill Country, who knows. At least I don't have to worry about my blogger friends who are staying at home, listening to the wireless. Carry on blogging!

Making tracks again...
That’s the oldest footprint there, but, actually, I must say that I prefer fresh boot tracks in snow (Westport) or barefoot on a sandy beach. Is that normal? Anyway this is a good-news story.

Did the future arrive yet?
Mark Weiser coined the phrase "ubiquitous computing". He saw the potential for embedding technology in home environments, and in everyday objects. In ubiquitous computing, we could interact with hundreds of computers at a time - each invisibly distributed in our environment and wirelessly connected to each other. This paper looks at intimacy and ubiquitous computing.

Mark making in those liminal spaces
It's the unbounded semiotic of disruption, subvertising and culture jamming...yes it's graffiti time again! Sprays, stencils, stickers are the technologies of other voices. There are some interesting blogs on street art and graffiti and a lovely example of stencil work, here. I like the concept of online graffiti and this animated graffiti is interesting. But the bit of new-tech subvertising that really inspires me is this - if you post a message on this website, he's supposed to get a text-message on his bike. Then he uses a programmable chalk-spray that writes your message on the road. Wow!

Spooooky!
Funny, I didn’t know about the Beeb’s Spook stuff until I read Anya’a blog. The new look’s really cool - and I like her chapter, too. It’s good to see Joolz gets a mention and another call-out for the Manola shoeblog! I shift from my despair about blog-blocking when I read this about blogging in the writing classroom.

UWB - the future?
Like a souped up Bluetooth, UWB (Ultra Wide Band) is poised to grab our cash, provide high speed/lower power wi-fi and lead to more convergence. This article introduces the idea and the Intel site shows that the big players are already lined up. 'All I want for Christmas is .....'

Blog on blogs
Blogs certainly do have the potential for all sorts of knowledge exchange and (sometimes) debate. That’s great, particularly if you’re part of a dispersed community as is argued here. I’m not so sure that they do the same thing as more traditional academic work (eg journal articles). In the current knowledge economy do we have to protect our goods from competitors? Or should we be creating new rules?

More footprints, no shoes
Children’s footprints dating back to the Mesolithic period (10,000-5,500 years ago) have been found in the semi-submerged salt marshes of the Severn Estuary. I’m amazed that we have this record. It makes me think it’s time to make my own record, merging fixed-interval crowd photography using Crowd Compiler. Point, counterpoint.

Blogs blocked
Local ICT advisers are discouraging schools from blogging because they are easily 'hacked'. OK blogs are public, but so what? The only unfortunate incident I'm aware of is Marc Prensky reporting on unwelcome postings. Meanwhile other schools have been introduced to the arcane practice of pencil and paper blogs :sigh:
At the same time, work on intelligent fabrics and wired clothing gathers momentum. Soon you won't need to worry about knotting up your hands-free and your i-pod headphones - all will be one - convergence in your clothing. This website has the latest links on wearable computers.

Digital Prophecy
With the new DAB radio I discover Dhafer Youseff, blending Tunisian oud playing with Scandanavian electro-jazz. What's more he's on tour - I'll be there in meatspace (it's the only way).

Putting your foot in it
Booking on a reef trip in Queensland the other year we were surprised to be told that 'All you need bring is your thongs.' - surprised until we unpicked the local linguistic nuance that suddenly makes footwear and underwear interchangeable! In a laterally connected way the humble flip-flop has acquired a double meaning brought to light in this wonderful site (thanks for the link, Jackie).

Am I a social group, am I?
I think our work on how children and young people use new technology needs to go beyond individual interactions and the texts they produce. We need to look at technology-mediated social groups. For instance I like this sort of stuff on the geekgirl site: does this make me a social group?

Visuals, videoblogging and so on
Reading about videoblogs, I find that this is one of the more oft-quoted ones: Steve Garfield. Mind you, on Saturday night I got just as much out of playing with these little wonders! Back on the conference theme I’m tempted by this- looks like it should be interesting.

Blogging in Bergen
I'm so impressed with Julia's visuals! My own brush with photoblogging went pear-shaped : blush: but I’m uplifted to find that I don’t have to be in meatspace to enjoy the Bergen conference. This is the videoblog you can see and hear Howard Rheingold – almost as good as being there and probably considerably warmer!

Beset by bears
These cuddly little items are the latest infestation in my mailbox. I read, I wish, I forward. This is the phenomenon of the ‘good luck’ email chain message. By forwarding it the text becomes a sort of votive artifact. Pass it on.