Since 1997, I have had "mydesigna" as a catch-all for the websites that I've designed. As I move more and more into social media, I have set up a new Wordpress site, which will become the new, up-to-date site, far more appropriate! I'm faffing around with Blue Host, and hopefully will learn how to upload my own CSS/use my own domain name, then I'm all set to help other people with the same! I've just had a fun day helping Deborah Kerslake of Serenergise gain an understanding of some of the possibilities for social media, I think the one she's most looking forward to using is Twitter! As a result of teaching Debs about fan pages, I have also set up one of my own for Digital Fingerprint!
#assk64
As Aung San Suu Kyi approaches her 64th birthday (June 19th 2009), and around 13 years of imprisonment, this site was created to collect hundreds of messages of support before that birthday. Created in only 6 days by Rechord, and launched only a couple of hours ago, the site already has a buzz going on Twitter, largely thanks to @SarahBrown10 (Gordon Brown's wife, he's also posted an entry, but it keeps disappearing thanks to the volume of Tweets!) and @JimmyCarr, and now @eddieizzard! You can read more about ASSK, and her fight against illegal imprisonment.
I have loved Georgette Heyer's regency novels since my mum lent me 'Frederica' many years ago (I know most people think I'm only about 25, but I'm considerably older than that!)... that copy of Frederica has long since disintegrated, but no worries, I tracked down another one!!! In fact, with much diligent searching I have tracked down all her regency romances, and most of her other texts excluding the detective novels, which, never being so popular as her regency romances were (at least not since, although they may have been at the time). I could do a bit more research and make this a scholarly entry, but I'm supposed to be on a week's break, hence the Heyer's come out and the brain switches off!! Not managed to get one off the shelf yet, but I will.... and meantime was checking out how far Georgette Heyer appears on the web:
PhD Findings
My PhD 'The Planning, Design and Reception of British Home Front Propaganda Posters of the Second World War' was awarded (without corrections) in June 2004 by what is now the University of Winchester.
A section from pages 104-5 of my thesis (copy held in the Imperial War Museum, and in the RKE Centre at the University of Winchester):
The poster with a proclamation from the King was to be ‘plastered everywhere in order to drive the contents into everyone’s head’.[1] By August 1939 war was regarded as inevitable, and by 9 August the finished drawings were submitted to Macadam for final approval. Any adaptations to proportions would then be made and the posters printed.[2] By 23 August the proportions to be printed were decided. The percentages were: ‘Freedom is in Peril’ (for remote areas), 12% (figure 22); ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’, 65%; and ‘Your Courage, etc.’, 23% (figure 1).[3] The Treasury had approved costs for a single poster, three designs were produced, exceeding estimates by under £50. “Our Fighting Men Depend on You” for factories, works, docks and harbours, was also printed, for which no allowance had originally been made.[4] By September, ‘Your Courage’ and ‘Freedom is in Peril’ were already being posted throughout the country. ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’ was printed and held in reserve for when the necessity arose, for example, a severe air-raid, although it was never actually displayed. Soon after war was declared, the small poster ‘Don’t Help the Enemy, Careless Talk may give away vital secrets’ (figure 62) was approved by the War Office and was ready to put into production. 58,000 copies had already been distributed by September 17, and 75,000 copies were to be despatched daily from September 26.[5] By the end of September 1939, roughs for further designs had been prepared and approved, including messages from the King and the Queen, designs specifically for factories and docks, and designs specifically for each branch of the armed services: reassurance, not recruiting, posters.[6]
[1] PRO INF 1/10, ‘Functions and Organisation of the Ministry. Memorandum by E.B. Morgan’, early 1939.
[2] PRO INF 1/266, ‘Memo from Vaughan to Macadam’, August 9 1939.
[3] PRO INF 1/226, ‘Letter from Macadam to W.G.V. Vaughan’, August 23 1939. In the same folder, ‘Demand for Printing Slip for HMSO’, August 31 1939, and ‘Poster Campaign: Distribution’, November 1 1940, give details of the exact quantities ordered on August 31 1939, in a variety of sizes and in both broadside and upright versions, and where distributed. PRO INF 1/302, ‘Summary of Activities of Home Publicity Division’, September 28 1939 notes that all sizes were included, from 20ft. by 10ft. down to 15” x 10”.
[4] PRO INF 1/226, ‘Letter from I.S.Macadam, MOI to E.Rowe-Dutton, Treasury’, September 4 1939.
[5] PRO INF 1/6, ‘First Report on the Activities of the Ministry of Information from September 3 to September 17 1939’, September 1939.
[6] PRO INF 1/302, ‘Summary of Activities of Home Publicity Division’, September 28 1939.
I have lots more I could say, and hope to be back with some more considered comments, summarising elements of my PhD, before I get round to the book!
Some Links:
Academia.edu
"For example, though I'm confident I've spotted every reference in the Virgin ad, I had to turn to Google when I began to hear political commentators describing this current economic crisis as “worse than the recession of 1987”. I couldn't remember that recession at all. Beadle's About, yes, Black Monday, no. And it's not just me. When my mum talked about the war, she never mentioned fascism or appeasement; it was all George Formby, powdered egg and drawing a line down the back of your legs so you looked like you had stockings on. Thus, when we look back at the current recession, for all its apparent horrors, we might remember it very differently. It might not seem so important. It might just be outside on the news stand. I think it helps to consider that."
As we rolled into 2009, I'd already been preparing to start my "Thankfulness Diary", which is a cross between a prayer diary (inspired by Bill Hybels "Too Busy not to Pray") and a focus on that for which I'm thankful on a daily basis. I often like to get things "right" and both my thankfulness diary and this blogs are areas in which I want to play and see where the path takes me (in a similar way to how I prefer to travel!), as for paid work it's a lot more focused, but without that space for creativity, no new thinking will emerge.
Thankfulness Diary
I bought an A4 page-to-a-day diary (and would you believe how long it took to find one which had full pages for Saturday/Sunday as well as weekdays, finally, a £1 shop!), and either in the morning or the evening I combine my chapter of Bible reading with some notes from The Word for Today and then I let myself at it. Text is still my primary medium, but I let myself at the scribbled drawings too, and who knows what else might come to mind as I relax into it more!
Whether to go morning or evening depends on my mood, and each has different benefits. In the morning set off for the day with a particular spring in the step, in the evening can really think back over what has happened on that particular day.
I have noticed a difference as with "the current economic climate", the fact I'm living out of a suitcase in a friend's spare room whilst job-hunting I could just focus on the the mountains to climb, but instead am concentrating on a step at a time (and looking back at the steps already taken) as I'm incredibly grateful that I do have a roof over my head, I'm picking up some bit-work which all adds to the portfolio, and there's space for some creative thinking, further learning whilst I move through the process.
It's not an "instant fix", and it certainly doesn't mean walking around on (or in!) a cloud of hot air all day. A bad news story, e.g. "more jobs lost" can still knock you sideways, but looking back at all the things there are to be thankful, and looking at it within the bigger picture wins the battle.. eventually!
Positivity
I wondered if anyone had set up a positivity blog to counteract the current negative thinking, particularly focusing on positive news stories. Not found one like that, but the first entry on Google does have a lot of tips for creating a positive mindset for yourself, and in fact offers a specific "Positivity Challenge" which chimes with the above.
Linking Note
To note, if you wish to create a link to a long URL (I'm especially thinking if you want to create a posting in Twitter) use Tiny URL to create a short URL which doesn't break-up in emails, or use up all that space.
Never have so many watched one global event with so much attention. What more needs to be said, right now Barack Obama is giving a hard speech on the current crisis being a result of greed... so what comes next?!
LOL: "Laugh out Loud"... I thought lots of people were sending me "lots of love" when I first received this!
HTH: "Hope this helps"... 2 years later, and thinking I was pretty savvy with the text speak, I had to look this simple one up too!
If you're wondering about the latest online lingo, checkout: http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm, there's a whole lot more there than I thought there would be!
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