Observations in an undemocratic world: The academic argument to employ instructional designers

Observations in an undemocratic world: The academic argument to employ instructional designers

Through the Never by Metallica review..

A couple of weeks back the Local Cinema (Hoyts) had a retro movie night on IMAX so whilst waiting for it to come on, the preview were rolling and lo an behold one of my favorite bands Metallica are on the screen now i wasnt even aware that they had a movie out so i was pretty wrapped.To-day i went and seen it and it did not disappoint , anyone who saw there 2010/11 concert this was an up close on stage version with a whole lot more,

It all plays out like a live HD concert UP CLOSE AN AWESOME with a music video interspersed between some of the songs , the story runs like this a young roadie must retrieve an item from a van that has ran out of juice and bring it back for the band, unfortunately outside the concert arena chaos and anarchy is everywhere and he must battle Road Warriors to get back to the arena , this is graphic and stunning in the IMAX format.

Metallica formed in 1981 thats 32 years ago and they still play with a passion that you feel in the crowd when you're at their concert you cant but help feel good , they have inspired so many its great to see them on stage in any way and i cant wait for the next concert but in the meantime this will do nicely .Thank you Metallica

Selling Twitter

I like Twitter the way it is that's why i use it ,i don't want it to change its 140 character limit  to make it more viable for advertisers.When Twitter gets put on the market it will be changed to suit  money making and marketing opportunities.

A Quote by the chief executive of financial information provider PrivCo Sam Hamadeh

"Once it's a public company, it has very demanding stockholders to meet and missing earnings or growth slowing - Wall Street has no mercy," Mr Hamadeh said.
"And so you can bet they will punish Twitter for any misses and I think it's inevitable they will loosen that 140-character limit. It's not a sacred cow."

I beg to differ the limit is beauty of this sacred cow its short and its sweet and it was there for all of us not for the vultures of Wall Street.

The Phoney Generation

The Ability to for young people to manage their mobile phones correctly should stand as a critical issue in today's society. Every day in class rooms i see young people more obsessed with chatting to friends on their mobiles about what i guess they may perceive as necessary information , when really its just idol gossip.Unfortunately in the meantime they miss the lesson, if they are asked to keep the phone away during class they excuse themselves to the bathroom and engage, then spend the rest of the lesson with their minds preoccupied by the conversation.The student then goes on to fail that assessment , by the same token a re-enrollment fee is a welcome revenue to the educational facility.

Whether this issue is just an evolutionary flux with coping with new technology and will sort itself out in time with self initiated changes, the sacrifice of the potential of one generation may be enough.

Another issue rising arising due to our personal tech fetish is privacy in intimate situations , the fairer sex having their images posted online for the world to see without their knowledge or consent may be one of the most invasive forms of revenge gratification by an ex-partner or a mind sick culture. The  damage this could exact on a young persons life is immeasurable.

I think the world needs a leave your phone at home day .      

Piracy on Celluloid Seas

An article in one of the local rags recently made some mention of Australians being the highest illegal downloaders in the world,some reasons for this would be commercial TV in Australia is woefully out of touch with viewers .For example if i was to go on say PB right now and look at the Top 10 TV downloads i wonder how many would not be on commercial tv here in OZ right now,some shows that are there wont be heard of here for months if at all . The predictable fare produce by 9, 7 and 10, Dancing with stars  ,MKR , Master Chief, Biggest Loser , Big Brother , Slide Show , Talent , Xfact, etc etc etc are pure shit but i guess if you keep feeding people shit and telling them its good eventually they will eat it. .

The TV stations will sometime Promo the hell out of a show for months on end and when finally aired will relegate it to a late slot if not successful within 3 weeks then axe it.And i have noticed they will sometimes pick up a show that has already been cancelled overseas (must be cheap to purchase) and play it for one season.

Foxtel is marginally better but its certainly not commercial free sometimes i wonder why bother with it but when compared with the above list of choices its the best of a bad bunch.

Vocational Education woes

A new public Vocational Education model seems to be emerging in Western Australia , that will see more of the wealthier and focused youth finding positions in courses  ie. pre-apprenticeships .The removal of fee caps has taken away a major advantage the public provider had over private providers, this in itself you would think means TAFE must become competitive and not necessarily a bad thing. But this means a rise in fee's that most young students would struggle to pay or a student loan that some may fail to justify resulting in a smaller student intake. Coupled this with a massive budget blowout due to the incompetence of the previous Managing Director , TAFE has had it budget all but frozen with future funding cut. Private providers that haven't been around as long have other advantages in regards to technologies , not being lumbered with antiquated equipment and out of date training facilities.With a lack of funds and students and no fee advantage over private providers the future of  public vocational training seems unsure. To starve a facility of funding until it no longer can function efficiently makes it an easy target for change, to suit whatever the Governments agenda is.

Turning back the boats

Not being a Liberal voter and having a natural dislike for Tony Abbott one thing that intrigued me during the election campaign was the Liberals Party pledge to "turn back the boats" on and on early in the run up to the election we heard this mantra over and over.Now truthfully i don't think the average Aussie cares to much when a total stranger dies at sea , for refugee advocates and the media however this is gold as an agenda boost and a story to boot.Sovereign Borders is the name of the Liberal Party plan to tackle the situation of illegal immigrants arriving by boat.Its headed by a General Angus Campbell and as such will be ran as a military operation.Media releases will be drafted and released regularly but at the discretion of SB and the Prime Minister. This is a very logical step not necessarily the right one but  when dealing with people mistakes are made, errors of judgement take place and outright blunders due to incompetence happen.By removing the eyes of the nation the ability to play down these events becomes a simpler process of denial and omission.While it seems the actual events wont be be revealed to us in detail I'm still interested in an overview of any event as reading between the lines will provide hours of pleasant speculation while others suffer a brutal time at sea. The Abbott Government seem very Logical in there approach and by that logic individuals , the poor and desperate mean nothing .Its cruel but greed always is