Merry Christmas from the WRN

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our project partners. Thank you for your support and co-operation throughout the year without which the Welsh Repository Network Project would not have been as successful as it has been. Hopefully next year will be as much of a success with progress being made on the MDB and e-theses harvesting workpackages. We are also planning some new training programmes for the New Year that we hope you will find engaging and full of ideas that you can take back to apply at your institutions. We’re looking forward to coming to see you all soon but until then, best wishes for the festive break. The WRN Team. 

Official launch of Glyndŵr University Research Online (GURO)

23rd- 28th November was the official launch week of Glyndŵr University’s institutional repository GURO. Awareness of GURO was raised in the launch week by various methods, including:

• An all staff email containing a short introduction and link to the repository website


• Placement of a link to the repository on the University’s homepage


• Two drop in sessions held for academic staff to come and ask questions


• Distribution of promotional leaflets and posters


• Presentation at an academic research forum


• Attendance at a researcher’s breakfast group (think tank)


• An entry in the University’s general newsletter and the Library newsletter.

Positive responses were received by researchers, students and support workers in relation to the repository; and a snapshot look at the repository stats showed a 39% increase in item downloads during the week of the launch compared to the previous week.

If you would like to find out more about GURO please contact Misha Jepson, Repository Administrator at repository@glyndwr.ac.uk.

If you would like any help or ideas for what you could do to launch your repository or further raise its profile within your institution please contact the WRN team at wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk.

Open Access publication funds

The most recent issue of the Learned Publishing journal (23(10), January 2010) includes an article titled ‘Paying for open access? Institutional funding streams and OA publication charges,’ authored by Stephen Pinfield, Chief Information Officer at the University of Nottingham. The article made available to everyone via open access, looks at ‘the issue of institutional OA funds and summarizes the current UK situation.’ The paper also includes a 12 step guide for institutions considering implementing an OA fund based on the experiences at Nottingham, who have had an OA fund in place for the last three years.

The paper references a report co-authored by Universities UK and the Research Information Network (RIN) ‘Paying for open access charges,’ which also provides guidance to HEIs on the payment of OA publication fees.

A recent presentation by Stephen Pinfield at the OASPA 2009 conference on this topic was circulated via the UKCoRR e-mail list and a video of the presentation is available to view.

If you would like more information on OA publication funds please contact the WRN Team at wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk.

Dipping a toe into Twitter

Communication and building a sense of community are two concepts which lie at the heart of our activities within the Welsh Repository Network. Consequently, getting to grips with, and exploting, those Web 2.0 technologies which enable new forms of communication and community building form a central part of our project plan. In some areas (such as this blog) we are already up and running, but in others we are still very much at the explorer stage. I plan to offer a series of posts here on our blog about our experiences with some of these tools as we start to engage with them. First up, Twitter.

I have been registed in a personal capacity with Twitter for a wee while now but my own use of it has been patchy and my interest has phased in and out over time. I am a terrible lurker and enjoy reading occaisonal tweets from others, but I've never quite found the inspiration (or time!) to share my thoughts and activities with others - always assuming what I was up to was of little interest to the wider world. Then last month I had the opportunity of hearing Brian Kelly of UK Web Focus give a presentation about the use of Web 2.0 in Universities and I picked up all sorts of new ideas about how some of these tools could be used in the workplace. In particular Brian's message that we should all be monitoring our brand through Twitter struck a chord and I headed back to the office with renewed vigour to look at this again.

So, gradually I am coming round to the idea of using Twitter for work purposes. I've started to use TweetDeck on a daily basis. TweetDeck is software which offers users a better way of managing tweets, allowing you to monitor searches, create groups of tweets and store the tweet traffic in a more organised fashion than that offered by the single stream interface you get on the Twitter home page. Then last week we launched the first of our WRN learning object and within minutes of our message hitting the mailing lists we were creating a little buzz in Twitterland with several people tweeting about our new resource! I was able to monitor this 'buzz' in TweetDeck and now have evidence of how widely our message is reaching. This will be very useful when it comes to reporting back to JISC. What struck me was that it was people external to our project who were doing the tweeting about our resources; while this was very welcome shouldn't we have got in there first and included tweeting the resource as part of our communications plan for the launch? Hmm, yes I think so. So we now have a Twitter username - wrnstaff - and plan to include tweeting into our communication strategy for future project deliverables. It is going to take some time and effort to maintain the mindset required to share more information in this way, but as our project starts to deliver more tangible outputs I think it will become easier to include tweeting in our thinking. It will also take time for us to build up the connections and followers required to find our place in the community so please do consider following us if you use Twitter.

Finally, the whole topic of Twitter is generating some interesting discussions within the repository community. There is a useful round up on the UKCoRR blog, while for more detailed information about tweeting repository deposits see the Enlighten blog.

Interview with FUTURE HISTORY

1. Briefly introduce each member and their role in

the band.



*Dirty Rascal 'The Truth' (real name,Wandile Themba) - one of two

rappers in the FH Fam. Truth brings incredible energy onstage.

*'Makzol' (Mxolisi Mpho Lepele) - Not just a rapper but what we call a

wordsmith. When Mak's on the mic, make certain you listen. He's also a

fully qualified sound engineer & is studying the trumpet.

*Qairo - FH vocalist. A strong musical background ensures that she

brings a melodic contribution rarely heard on the scene. Has intense

stage presence.

*Malcom - FH Pianist/Keyboardist, however an immensely talented

musician (also plays trombone) who manages to pull the music together

& arranges the band's horn section harmonies that have become

signature sounds of FH music.

*Senzo - A master bassist of the FH family, whether double bass or

electric. He drives the band sound & truly adds an element that most

bassist aspires to. Also incredibly strong & accurate on the drums.

*Kgori - A talented drummer who's immensely creative with rhythm &

brings colour to hip-hop played by FH. You could find him sliding tunes

on trombone as well.

*Oscar 'hangova' - If FH is on stage & you hear the most soulful alto

saxophone improves, it's probably Oscar. Has a confident & real melodic

approach to FUTURE HISTORY music. Has an amazingly sharp ear for hot

sound!

*Hlubi - Also on alto sax, he's your fast-paced be-bop quick thinking'

musician & brings that variety to the band. He has an amazing ability

to tend to sound like he's singing' on his instrument & on a crazy solo

Hlubi can climax a song & turn it inside out at its crescendo! He can

hold down some ill chords on keys too.

*S'bu - On the tenor sax, he’s the smoothest member of the band. Laid

back with a beautiful tone that rounds off harmonies in FH

arrangements. All while making truly intelligent music seem

effortless.

*Tumelo 'genius' - The trumpeter in the band. He contributes the

highest notes in most horn harmonies & possesses a personality wrapped

in pure fun. Has explosive energy during performances.





2. Are you each the instruments that you play?

I assume this is a metaphorical question and the answer to that is

never definite. With so many personalities of one family which consists

of multi-instrumentalists who can never be put into a box by

definition of instrument title, it's hard to say. Furthermore, some of

us are engineers, graphic designers & fine artists. However, music is

the only language we audibly understand collectively when we pick up

our instruments to play.



3. Do you think you are part of the ever changing & ever growing Soweto; if so

Why?

We definitely think we are although development is never as constant

as we'd love it to be. However, In terms of the sub-cultures & that

some of FH band members belong to the Soweto community, we've observed

a lot of brands, projects & events growing. When we constantly get

invited back to display our work and progress, it motivates us as much

as the next to know that we once performed at perhaps a venue that

wasn't much when it started out & now being proud that they helped

grow us and our crowd as much as we helped grow them and their

following. It's mutual benefit to both brands and that's all positive.

4. Who is your favorite Jazz artist?

That's a difficult question when we consider all legends concerned and

the fact that a band of 10 can’t have one favorite. All FUTURE HISTORY

members are well schooled in jazz so opinions may vary also according

to the chosen instrument/s of the individual. Albeit, some of the names

you might hear us quote are Miles Davis, Charlie Parker,Roy

Hargrove,Bradford Marsallis, Chet Baker,John Coltrane, Thelonious

Monk,Bheki Mseleku,Winston Mankunku and the list goes on forever...



5. Why is hip hop dead if you consider that it

might be?

Oh gosh! There are such mixed emotions on this topic, but each to his/her

own opinion. On one hand, a lot of what's now being dubbed as hip hop

really doesn't belong to hip hop culture (maybe pop), hence why we feel

that's the element that's killing an honest art form. Then again, the

purist says this, while others adapt & conform to change & accept that

this is now the present-day hip hop sound so how is it dead. Maybe it's

simply evolution & as all trends go, it’ll come back full circle, who

knows. Our (FUTURE HISTORY's) approach is simply to do what we do best

& that's being musical. If we wanna rap to mbaqanga, jazz, funk, soul or

maskandi we simply do that coz it's timeless music & we put an edge to

it. If Africa's still mimicking the prescribed style of hip hop from

international influences without embracing who we are musically, then

we might as well attend hip hop's funeral. For now, perhaps it's not

dead...just comatose, waiting for inspiration efana ne FUTURE HISTORY

so. LOL



6. When is the album or EP coming out?

Next year sometime. We’re still recording & since its 2 concurrent

projects, dates are not set yet. Every now and then though, we’ll hand

a free track to our audience at shows so they got something' to

anticipate.



7. Does South Africa have a room for your sound or

do think there is a bigger audience internationally?

There's absolutely a larger audience outside of home no doubt, but we

believe in home audience 1st so that they have something to be proud

of by the time we receive international appreciation. As artists we

all should be internationally known & locally accepted. SA knows music

so let 'em give you that green light that you can represent your

country well out there.



8. What should we look forward to on this coming performance at the TSJS?

Y’all will enjoy so much on our set!

Look forward to your favorite multi dimensional band to bring you an

array of sounds played over rhythmic funk-infused tunes with a jazz

influence. As well as lyrics that constitute what we've pioneered as

Grootman Rap. It's ahead of time yet nostalgic! We're there to shut it

down!

FUTURE HISTORY. "we're legends already made, our tales are already

framed. We're orchestratin' history"