Omnium

Omnium. The Conversation on Notes on Design

by Andy Polaine on August 2, 2008

in General

Notes On Design invited Rick Bennett and I to talk about our experiences of long-distance and global online creative collaboration within the Omnium Research Group. We suggested that some of the more interesting conversations we have had have been over a couple of beers in informal settings, so we decided to have a public conversation and publish it online.

You can read the first part of The Conversation over at the Notes On Design blog. In it we talk a bit about our first experiences and thoughts about online collaboration from ten years ago (hard to believe it’s been that long) in the context of what now seems commonplace: social networks and online communities.

The second part, concerning emerging cultural trends and Omnium’s outreach projects follows soon – I’ll post an update here when it’s up.

UPDATE: The second part is now online.

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For Education The Future Isn’t What it used to Be

by Andy Polaine on July 22, 2008

in General

A few weeks ago I gave a talk called The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be to the Associate Deans over at Northumbria University. I thought I’d blogged about it with the podcast of the recording I made there, but it seems I forgot.

In the talk I wanted to draw together some emerging and converging trends, which, if they do all happen at once, could really turn higher education on its head. If you mix in some of the other threats such as an aging population and the subsequent fall in student numbers it becomes clear that a radical re-think is necessary.

Rather than double-post, I ll point you to where I posted it over at the Omnium blog where there is a direct download, slides and a embedded player version of it.

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Collabor8 – Creative Waves 2008

April 23, 2008

The Omnium Project will be running another global online creative collaboration project under the Creative Waves banner from 28th April – 20 June, this time convened by Ian McArthur and Rick Bennett. This time the project, called Collabor8, will see design students and lecturers from Australia and China join forces for eight weeks, with project [...]

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Social Learning Masterclass

December 17, 2007

A few of weeks ago I presented at a Social Learning Masterclass at Northumbria University to an invite from Stephen Farrier from the e-Learning Innovations Enhancement Group. If you’re interested in having a listen, I posted the podcasts and presentation over at the Omnium blog. [tags]omnium, presentation, futures[/tags]

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Speaking at Icograda World Design Congress

October 18, 2007

I’ll be in Cuba this weekend (20th and 21st October) to give a presentation at the Icograda World Design Congress with my Omnium colleague, Rick Bennett. On the crazy off-chance that any of you who read Playpen are going to also be there in Cuba, do come and say hello! [tags]icograda, cuba, lectures, presentations, omnium[/tags]

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Interview on WorldChanging

March 9, 2007

A quick pointer to an interview about the Creative Waves VIP Project with Rick Bennett and I on the very excellent WorldChanging.com. If you’ve been wondering what it’s all about and why it might be interesting to take part, then have a read. Thanks to Regine for writing it too. p.s. If you haven’t bought [...]

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Omnium software released as Open Source

February 23, 2007

Last night the new v4.0 Omnium software that runs all of the Omnium projects, such as the Omnium Creative Network and the forthcoming Creative Waves 2007 (as well as all of COFA Online’s courses ) was released as a beta. It is a massively upgraded version, although much of the effort, as always, has gone [...]

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The Omnium Blog

December 13, 2006

I’ve written before about my work with the Omnium Project and the Omnium Creative Network, but it has been needing another home…

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Online Educa Berlin 2006 workshop

October 1, 2006

My colleagues and I from The Omnium Project will be conducting a workshop at the Online Educa 2006 Conference in Berlin on the 29th November. We would love to see you there and make contact.

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Google and UNEP Map Environmental Change

September 19, 2006

Google and the United Nations Environmental Programme last week launched an addition to Google Earth called the Atlas of Our Changing Environment, which allows people to view images of environmental change and information overlaid onto the satellite images.

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