Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.

My last night in London!

Today’s sessions were somewhat better.  I think it helped that I had dressed more comfortably and the weather was cooler.  David Nichols spoke again, and while his presentation had elements from the one he gave us at the beginning of the course, he made it specific to academia.

His most interesting point was that while there is all this data about what users are doing, no one is using to data to improve systems.  The focus is on Web 2.0 – Twitter, Facebook, blogs – because it’s new and easy, and it’s much harder to change existing systems.

I totally agree.  Every presentation had its arbitrary Web 2.0 slide, but it was always, we know it’s out there and we should be using it but we don’t know how.  Then later someone mentioned a patient education system, and I thought, That’s what Web 2.0 should be used for.

Academics resist commenting on each other’s papers, at least publicly, so why not use blogs or Twitter to help educate patients and the average joe.  Anthony mentioned Patient Inform, in which experts basically translate heavy duty papers for the lay person, but it’s dying because these experts don’t have time to do it, even though they’re getting paid to do so.  I’m not sure how to solve that problem, but it seems Web 2.0 would be better used for educating others rather than trying to create a social network where the participants don’t want one.

At the end of the conference, there was a panel to discuss whatever topics people were interested in.  I had been wanting to hear more about technology, and so when someone asked, “Does technology really change behavior?” I perked up.  He used PowerPoint as an example, that while it helps make you more efficient, it’s still a series of slides.

Someone argued that PowerPoint has ruined writing, and that some people can only now “write in bullets,” when actually the problem is a lot of people don’t know how to write for PowerPoint, and throw up full text on a slide so you can’t get anything out of it.

Rather than technology changing behavior, I think the more provocative question is if behavior shapes technology.  Look at e-ink – it’s been developed to be easier on the human eye.  Look at the cool tech that British Library uses to let you turn the pages of rare book you’d never be able to touch in real life.  Look at the audio tour of the Tate Modern, which is actually an audio and video tour because they employ a smart phone with a touch screen, where you can see other works of art to compare to the one you’re looking at in real life, as well as “touch” different parts of the work to hear more about it.  It was really awesome.

That was sorely missing from this conference – designing tech to fit humans, rather than retraining humans to fit tech.  Then again, this wasn’t a tech or design conference.  The only thing someone was said was that the systems haven’t been designed with the  way scholars work kept in mind.

Afterwards, our class and some faculty had a farewell dinner at the Spaghetti House right on Goodge.  The food was very good.  I had the puttanesca, which I basically inhaled, and cassate, a sort of ice cream cake with layers of Italian ice cream and sorbert.

Near the end of evening, Andy sang us a funny song, and then we all got certificates and wee gifties for having completed the course.

It was all very sweet.

I left pretty early, along with a few others.  I always have a hard time saying goodbye.  I get embarrassed, but I did manage to give out all my Moo cards.

I’m basically done packing.  I’ll be up early tomorrow to throw in some last minute things, and then I’ll leave here at 10.  New York here I come!

A day behind.

Today’s my last day with internet since I’m a cheapskate and refuse to pay for a full extra week when there are only one and a half days left of my trip.

Yesterday was just a regular day of lectures.  In the morning we had Camelia Csora from Elsevier and Ruth Jones from Ingram Digital.  Both presentations were very good, but Ms. Jones’ had to be the best of the course.  She didn’t just pimp her company but talked about e-publishing in general, trends, and her opinions about what was happening now.  She was really smart and funny.

The afternoon visit to Nature Publishing bored me.  Not sure why.  I think because the room was so warm, it was after lunch, and the presentations were sort of general.  I find that when marketing people speak, it’s not as dynamic since the marketing people don’t work directly on the projects (at least in my own marketing experience).

But when the people who are directly involved in the projects speak, like the guy at ProQuest talking about the Paley Center database, then it’s interesting because they’re excited and know all the cool stuff about the project.

I’ve also found the Scottish speakers to be much livelier.  Though a few of the Brits were good, a few were basically talking comas.

We were near King’s Cross train station so I went in to find the Harry Potter replica.  There were some girls there also taking pictures, and one insisted on taking mine:

I think you can see me blushing from here.

From King’s Cross I walked to Russell Square.  I had heard there were a lot of shops around there, but there weren’t, at least not that I could find.  It was no loss because there was a pretty park with a lovely arbor:

From there I walked to Somerset House, which one of my friends had recommended.  I walked on King’s Way, which totally got me lost the last time I walked it, or rather  I got myself lost.  But this time I knew where I was on the map and made it to my destination.

It was a beautiful day.

It’s only as I’m nearing my stay that I’ve finally figured out my immediate area.  In the beginning I’d keep walking all the way down Tottenham Court Road, past my turn off so that I ended up looping around to get to Charlotte Street.  Finally yesterday I realized where to get onto Goodge Street, where all the restaurants are.

For dinner I picked up a curry chicken katsu for 4.90 with a side of Japanese pickles for 1.90.  In the morning I had an OJ for 1.50, lunch was Pret for 3.94, and then a snack of Pret yogurt and water for 3.49.  Grand total: 15.73, still under budget.

I spent the evening doing laundry, Skyping with MB, and playing with my pictures.  This morning I ironed my outfits for the rest of my stay.  Today and tomorrow we have an e-publishing conference, and I’m wearing business casual, though I’m not sure what the dress code is.  We don’t have to be there till about 10.

This morning I also Skyped with MB one last time.  He was still up at 3 in the morning.  I heard the weather is awful in New York, rainy and chilly one minute, then rainy and hot the next.  Bummer, but I’ll be so glad to be home.

All London Day 11 pictures.

It’s only 8:30 but I’m in for the night. It’s rather cloudy and chilly right now so I don’t feel lame.

This morning, after the strange dreams, I got to breakfast a little later and ran into a few people. It was nice to chit chat before the lectures.

The first talk was excellent. Alastair Dunning from JISC talked about digitizing “cultural heritage,” which is complicated by the problems of proper metadata (adding the proper info to, say, thousands of digital photos), data modeling (eg, putting pictures with metadata in Excel – not feasible!), dissemination (eg, trying to play a video from PowerPoint), and accessible files.

He illustrated each with concrete examples – a digital file of his great-grandmother’s postcards, a video link from his presentation that wouldn’t work, etc. It was one of the best talks so far.

The second talk was all right. It was interesting to hear how the university system is set up in Greece, but the whole thing went on too long, especially for a session before lunch.

In the afternoon we went to Thompson Reuters. Some of the info was interesting, but it was essentially a sales pitch. Another proud of myself moment: that division does a lot of work with my company and others like it, so I went up and introduced myself at the end of presentation. Score one for the shy girl!

Afterwards a group of us walked over the Trafalgar Square. One woman wanted to take the train from there, one wanted to walk around that area, and two of us went to the National Gallery, though once we got in, we each went on our own.

I sort of breezed through the museum. I was tired and wanted to get back into time to Skype with MB. (We had an 8 PM Skype date.) I spent about an hour there, then a shorter time at the National Portrait Gallery.

View of Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery

On my way back I stopped for Korean (yes, again!) and ordered the shin ramen, which turned out to be very similar to those spicy instant Korean noodles. That plus dumplings and a soda was 16 pounds, the priciest meal I’ve had so far. I figured what the hell since I spent less than 9 pounds earlier in the day for lunch and snacks.

Skyping with MB was fun, though, like I said, I felt all self-conscious. It almost felt like it wasn’t him, like it was a date with someone very much like him. A virtual date, I suppose.

Tomorrow: the Tate Modern, the Dali Museum, and the South Bank.

All Day 6 pictures.

I finally bit the bullet and bought a voucher for internet in my room. It was too much trouble running around with my laptop looking for free wireless. At this point I only need a week, which is 8 pounds. For two weeks it’s 12 pounds – well, actually for a month it’s 12, but you can only get either a week or a month.

If you want, you can read about Days 1 and 2, Day 3, and Day 4. Ah the powers of blog backdating!

This morning’s lectures were fairly interesting. Andy talked about the problem of publishing monographs (i.e, very expensive) and how publishing electronically would be an improvement. Also someone from John Wiley & Sons talked about online learning systems, causing some heated debate with our dean who doesn’t like the idea of online universities, despite the fact that this is the only way some people get to earn a degree.

After lunch we to the British Library for a tour.

It’s a beautiful space, but it’s definitely not a public library. You have to bascially apply to be able to use the books, and you can’t just use the space, you have to be using the materials. It’s more like special collections (rare books and manuscripts, art monographs, etc.).

The guide was smart but had somewhat of a superiority complex. He said everything in a joking way, but who knows. He made fun of American English spelling – like dropping “u” from “color” so that a British person wouldn’t be able to find “The Color Purple” in their system – yeah cuz “programme” makes a lot more sense than “program.” He also seemed to have no idea about the Kindle. And he wasn’t old. Maybe in his late 40s.

After the tour, we all stayed to check out the rare books on display, including the Magna Carta. Very cool.

I was going to go to the National Gallery but it was already 5 by the time I left the British Library and I thought it closed at 6 (actually 9 on Thursdays). I just started walking in that general direction, then stopped for a yogurt. Looking through my London book I saw that the British Museum was open till 8:30.

It was very close walking distance, and I spent almost 2 hours there. It reminded me of both the American Museum of Natural History and the Met, but on a smaller scale. I especially liked the exhibit on different clocks through the ages, contemporary Korean ceramics, the mummies, and the Parthenon.

Aphrodite crouching at her bath

I got back to my area around 8. I felt like hearty Asian food again – the weather has become quite chilly – and stopped at what looked like fast food Japanese, Sushi and Bento. I was planning on getting udon noodle soup but opted for curry chicken with rice. It was good! Exactly what I wanted, and at 4.50 pounds, not too pricey.

So tonight I’ve been on internetting for hours! I caught up on emails and as you can see, have been updating my blog. I was going to download my pictures, but I am suddenly really tired.

Tomorrow: lectures, then a visit to Thomas Reuters.

All Day 5 pictures.

Well, I basically got no sleep. At 11 I was in bed but didn’t feel tired, and lay there, tossing and turning, till about 3. Then from 3 to 5, I kept waking up every 20 minutes. The instant coffee and Beard Papa made me feel only slightly better.

A bunch of us met in the lobby and walked to the bus stop, which took a good half hour. It was cool though to see Oxford Street, normally teeming with people, completely empty. It took us a little bit to find our bus, but soon we spotted some other classmates and the Dean, and the bus came rolling in.

The ride was so peaceful. Everyone was quiet, listening to music or reading the paper. I enjoyed the time to myself and being able to take in the scenery, from the different streets in London, to the little towns and suburbs, to the rolling green lawns with cows, horses, and sheep.

Oxford is a really interesting city. You feel like you’re walking through medieval times. There’s nothing in the U.S. like it. Yale is designed in a medieval way, but it’s just a design.

First stop, coffee of course! I got a mocha and despite the custard cream puff, was starving and I got an almond croissant, which was absolutely delicious by the way.

Next we walked to Oxford University Press (OUP). Part of the outside retains that old look, but the rest is very modern. I couldn’t get over how big it is, especially compared to the 2 or 3 floors of the New York office. There were a couple of cafes, and good-sized dining area.

The lectures were pretty good. The most interesting one to me was the revamp of the online OED and ODNB since I studied at least the OED fairly in-depth for one of my classes, and I’m always interested in how online tools are marketed. I have to say the last presentation was a snooze. The content was interesting, but the woman’s delivery was a total monotone. Plus I was so tired, hungry, and bummed that we wouldn’t be doing the OUP Museum tour because the guide was a no show. Lame.

At least lunch was free. I made a bad choice though: ham and chicken pie. I thought there’d be vegetables in the pie, like peas, carrots, and onions, but there were not. So the side of fries didn’t help. Later one of my classmates got sick from the quiche she had, though another woman had it too and was fine.

Afterwards we walked through town and stopped at this pub, The Eagle and the Child. Apparently C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein used to hang out there and dubbed it The Bird and the Baby. I kept asking people what the significance of the eagle and the child was. I had seen a statue of it at Queen Mary’s Park. No one knew. Finally, one of my classmates pointed out an explanation on the menu: the eagle and child are on the Queen’s crest.

I didn’t drink anything since I was so sleepy, and just sat there while everyone else drank. Afterwards we walked more, and stopped at yet another pub, The White Horse Tavern, I think. The sick-off-the-quiche girl and I weren’t interested so we ran across the street and checked out this free museum on THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Tall order. It was basically a random conglomeration of compasses, calculators, globes, bones, and early electric stuff. But hey it was free.

Our next stop was the Bodleian Library, where a the head of collection development talked about the complex Oxford University library system, further complicated by licensing of e-resources. She was a very good speaker – smart, amusing, and self-deprecating.

Next was a tour of the library at the New College.

The campus itself is very pretty. We didn’t actually see a lot of the library. Mainly the librarian showed us these extremely old books. One was an enormous Bible, and the other a book in medieval French with gold gild. It was cool to see those books up close and to actually be able to touch them.

Finally, Anthony, the guy who runs the program, showed us more around campus. There was a very nice garden, which we strolled through in the rain, and the dining hall, which looked like something out of Harry Potter: long wooden tables with place settings, surrounded by giant portraits of stern-looking old men.

Most of my classmates stayed in Oxford to check out the Blackwell’s bookstore and maybe try out another pub. The Dean and three of us lightweights headed back. I had thought about staying but was so exhausted. Sure enough, I promptly fell asleep on the bus for a good hour. By the time we got back to London, I felt more energized and decided to walk back to the dorm from Marble Arch, rather than take the subway.

I’ve been looking for dark-colored Keds all summer. For some reason, New York just doesn’t seem to have them. Where do I find them? In a store called Schuh on Oxford Street. I don’t even know how to pronounce the store name. I got black Keds for 26 pounds, which is a bit pricey, but I think that’s how Keds are.

I ate sooo badly today. Let’s recap:

• Breakfast: instant coffee and Beard Papa custard cream puff
• Breakfast 2: mocha and almond croissant
• Lunch: chicken and ham pie, french fries, diet Coke (NO vegetables)
• Pre-bus snack: 2/3 of sausage roll
• Dinner: yogurt and nacho chips

I kind of want some tea but also feel too lazy to go back out.

Tomorrow is a mellow day of lectures in the morning and a tour of the British Library in the afternoon. I think we end early, around 3:30. I may check out the National Gallery.

All Day 4 pictures.