Ten students studying the part time Foundation Degree in Business & Management will be the first graduates from the Guernsey Training Agency University Centre (GTA).
The GTA partnered with Bournemouth University’s Business School in 2010 to provide the first on-island alternative for Guernsey students, who wanted a recognised university education without having to study on the mainland.
This year’s graduates will be the first at GTA to successfully complete a university-level qualification and the FdA is the equivalent of two year’s of an honours degree, allowing the students to top-up to a full honours degree at a later stage. The course is open to those who recently left full time education and also mature students who are already in the workplace, a second chance at university education.
Deputy Chief Executive of the GTA University Centre, Simon Le Tocq, commented on the students’ achievements,
“To have 10 students graduate from what has been a three year commitment is fantastic and demonstrates the enthusiasm that islanders have for continuing professional development. All of the graduates feel they have benefitted enormously from having this opportunity and I am confident that their commitment will be recognised by their employers and that they will progress in their careers based on what they have learnt.”
The foundation degree involves a mix of classroom teaching from BU lecturers, online support from BU’s Business School and work-based learning supported by GTA staff. Study includes units in marketing, finance, HR, law, economics and management. Students also undertake complete a work-based project on a subject of their choice in a real business environment.
The graduates were presented with their awards by Professor Richard Conder, elected member of Guernsey’s States Assembly and external board member at BU.
By Bryce Dyer, Senior Lecturer in Product Design, Faculty of Science & Technology
The Tour de France is one of the most iconic and physically demanding sporting events in the world. Held annually since 1903, it has evolved from a simple test of endurance and speed to a festival of technology and innovation as teams fight to find the edge that will take them over mountains, high speed straights and cobbled roads ahead of their rivals.
The basic premise of the tour has generally remained the same since 1913 – the rider who covers the route in the least accumulated time across all of the stages wins. But the route is changed by the organisers every year, which means that unique demands are placed on the riders, the teams and their resources.
This year’s tour is divided into 21 stages covering a total of 3,656km. There are nine flat stages, five hilly stages, six mountain stages, one 54km time trial and two rest days. As a result of all these different conditions, an awful lot of specialised equipment is needed. In early tours, the same bike was used for the whole race but these days, a different one is chosen based on the different demands of the stage, its gearing and wheels tailored to the terrain.
Cobble horror
Perhaps the most intriguing test for the teams this year will come on stage five when the riders face some perilous sections of cobbled roads. The tour riders, who generally weigh between 60kg and 80kg, will be subjected to massive levels of impact and vibrations as they pass over these surfaces.
To add to their misery, these cobbled roads have been in place for decades so they are not flat. Wear, breakage and subsidence makes them uneven, to put it mildly. To maximise speed and control, the best riders often ride in the middle or “crown” of these sections. With space at a premium though, experienced riders might also choose to ride in the dirt gutter between the cobbles and the grass banks at the sides of the road which has often been worn smooth.
This decision becomes critical in wet weather in particular, when riding on even the slightest camber can be extremely dangerous at these speeds. Punctures, loss of control and crashes are common and injuries can be severe.
Many of the riders looking to do well in a race like the tour will not typically ride on these kind of surfaces in other events because they are suited to heavier, stronger riders rather than those built for mountainous terrain. There are a small number of early season races in the spring that do feature these kind of surfaces such as the notorious Paris-Roubaix – known as the “Hell of the North” – which give a flavour of what riders can expect.
Paris-Roubaix
To ride these cobbled stages, bicycle frames may use a different geometry when compared to those used on tarmac or asphalt. These bikes may be longer in length to help smooth the ride. Riders will also often use extra padded bar tape and wider tyres to absorb the vibrations and sometimes extra brake levers are added to help them stop quickly in the peloton.
Higher ground
During the hilly and mountain stages, when the race passes through both the Alps and the Pyrenees, the teams will send their riders out on the lightest bikes possible. The lighter a bike is, the faster it will go uphill. A professional rider may be able to generate and sustain 6.4 watts of power per kilogram on a typical alpine climb whereas a recreational rider may only be able to achieve half of that ratio. As a result, the bike’s weight will be as close to the regulation minimum of 6.8kg as possible and lightweight wheels will be used to minimise the impact of rotating mass which could slow a bike’s acceleration when a rider wishes to attack others when on a climb.
Time trial tech
Stage 20 this year will showcase the real importance of cycling aerodynamics. This relatively flat individual time trial will see the riders trying to generate maximum power while minimising aerodynamic drag. Put simply, the more aerodynamic you are, the faster you will go (or the more energy you can save) for the same power.
The bicycles used for this are highly specialised, with filled-in disc rear wheels and low drag frames. The riders themselves will assume a riding style that makes them look a lot like a downhill skier with their arms angled directly in front of their chest and torso to minimise their frontal area. They’ll use aerobars and wear a teardrop shaped helmet to reach speeds that can average 50km an hour.
Staying in touch on level ground
One of the more controversial new technologies in professional cycling has been the use of team radios to relay orders and information during the race. The organisers have even experimented with removing the riders’ earpieces in an effort to add more drama to the racing.
It is true that radio technology is often used to influence the result. Flat terrain typically results in a mass sprint but sometimes a small group of riders will break away at an early point in a stage and try to hold onto the lead until its end. However, these early escapes are rarely successful because the team cars and the riders following the breakaway can calculate the distance between the breakaway group and the “peloton” and then use radio transmitters to determine how fast they need to move to control or close the gap. It’s very hard for the breakaway group, typically containing just a few cyclists, to overcome the horsepower of 200 chasing riders armed with precise knowledge of the wherabouts of their quarry.
Do it yourself
Technology is a major part of the tour these days but that has not always been the case. In the early editions of the event over a hundred years ago, the riders were very much expected to compete alone and be self-sufficient.
Eugène Christophe
When the forks of Eugène Christophe’s bike snapped mid-race in 1913, he had to visit a local blacksmith and then re-weld them himself. It was later discovered that Christophe had enlisted the help of a local boy to pump the bellows for the forge and as a result, he was later penalised for receiving outside assistance.
The use of new developments in cycling technology was frowned upon too. The tour’s organisers didn’t even allow the use of mechanical gear changing systems until 1913. Before this, a rider would have to stop, unbolt their rear wheel and flip it over so they could switch to a single cog mounted on the other side of the hub. In the event of a puncture, they rode with spare tyres looped around their torsos.
Battling bodies and brains
Technology is now, of course, a fundamental part of riding the tour. And it stretches far beyond the bicycles themselves. Preparations for the race will have begun long before the start and the clothing riders wear, the bicycles they ride and the nutrition they take are finely honed products that can take months or even years to develop.
When they’re not actually riding, recovery technology is used to prepare them for the next stage. Riders will have massages, wear compression clothing and take ice baths to help reduce muscle soreness and inflammation. The key principle here is that winners are not always the strongest but those who possibly tire the least over the three weeks.
Each team of riders is supported by doctors, mechanics, physiologists, coaches and operational management. There are multiple team cars and buses which house their equipment and spares. They become, in effect, a mobile business and garage for the duration of the race.
Professional bike racing has been referred to as “chess on wheels” as the smartest rider and team, not the strongest, often win. We’ll find out if this is the case this year from July 5.
Bryce Dyer does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
By Dr Darren G. Lilleker, Associate Professor, The Media School.
There is a crisis of political engagement. Academics, journalists, political NGOs, even now celebrities tell us there is: with Russell Brand being given a stage to call for abstentionism from the democratic process to highlight the disconnections between government and the governed. The features of the crisis are low trust in politicians, parties and the governments they form; low levels of feeling informed; lower still levels of feeling connected to ‘politics’; and consequent low levels of interest and participation. These are not new, perhaps not wholly unhealthy, and also not particularly surprising.
To start on a positive note, we should not desire blind trust in politicians. Scepticism is healthy, even a degree of cynicism is healthy, blindly following and supporting politicians is dangerous. We also need a critical media, which can breed scepticism and cynicism by questioning the motives of politicians. The problem in many modern, post-industrial democracies is that the balance has tipped to almost complete mistrust, only around 20% of the EU population have any trust in politicians: to represent them, to act of the good of the nation, to follow ethical codes of behaviour. The question is why?
Politicians exist in the eye of a perfect storm. The media express few partisan affiliations and are readier to expose scandal than a positive story. The voters no longer hold strong affiliations to parties; hence they are no longer part of a local conversation with other members. Hence exposure to politics is mediated for the vast majority, who also rely on television news which few watch habitually and sporadic reading of newspapers. So of course there is low information and it is the scandals, the big news items, Plebgate, Expenses, to which most will get the most exposure.
But this is not the full explanation. Politicians now exist largely within what many describe as a bubble, Westminster for example. They largely moved away from community politics, offering sporadic surgeries only, public meetings are now undertaken via television which focus on the minority of top party leaders. Local politics is included by public service broadcasters, but is not the staple diet of many household’s Sunday viewing. The divorce of the representative and the community has been gradual, pushed by party centralisation, the erosion of local activists, clubs, the practice of parachuting in candidates, the pressures of Westminster duties etc.
Some politicians have, however, built new connections. Many politicians (MPs and MEPs) have begun to colonise Facebook and Twitter. Some hold online surgeries. Some request video footage from smartphones to highlight issues. Some seek the views of their constituents. Some inform about their activities at Westminster and locally. Some seek help with local campaigns. The best, and this is an unashamedly normative statement, do all of those.
What is the impact? Party politics, or at least perceptions of leaders, dominate voter choices. But, even when the tide turns towards one party, research shows a local MP can earn 5-12% of the vote based on their service. They can also enhance the image of their party, earn trust, earn interest, and mobilise citizens who feel disenfranchised. And they themselves feed off their constituents, the more they do the more constituents connect with them and so the more they connect with the community they represent.
The crisis of engagement is often seen to begin and end with voting. It is a crisis when the majority do not vote, and a protest against the system to abstain. But largely all this leads to is further disenfranchisement: why would any organisation seeking votes need the thoughts of those who do not participate.
We need a more interactive politics. Where demands of citizens are heard, where representatives interact with a broad swathe of citizens and where there is greater citizen input into and understanding of political processes. Disengagement results from feelings of personal irrelevance, disconnection, insecurity and uncertainty. Politicians need to reduce these feelings and make politics relevant, connected to communities so reducing insecurity in society and uncertainty over political processes and their outcomes. But citizens need to also push for a more active representative, withdrawing is not the answer.
Dr Lilleker has conducted research into a number of aspects of engagement and disengagement, in particular around the communication and campaigning activities of parties and candidates in the UK. The impacts of political communication is a key interest, and he has explored this using theories of psychology in his latest work Political Communication and Cognition (Palgrave, 2014).
Dr Heather Savigny, Senior Lecturer in Politics at BU and Deirdre O’Neill, Lecturer in Journalism at Trinity College Leeds, have written for New Statesman website about their research into the representation of female politicians in the media.
“It’s 2014 – yet media and politics is still a man’s game” outlines the results of an archival study of newspaper coverage of female MPs since 1992. The study was originally published in Journalism Education and funded with the help of a grant from the Association of Journalism Education.
Using their research, Savigny and O’Neill concluded that the way women in politics are represented in the media is getting worse, writing,
“Female politicians were more likely to be reported negatively – for example, by 2012 we found that although all Conservative politicians received negative coverage, Conservative women MPs received negative coverage that was double that of their male counterparts. Labour women, meanwhile, were receiving coverage that was four times more likely than Labour men to be negative.”
They went on to state that it wasn’t just the negative bias of the coverage but also a case of numbers of female MPs gaining press coverage and the treatment of them differs too, the media preferring to focus on physical appearances rather than policies. Savigny and O’Neill finished by calling for a more mature approach to reportage when it comes to women in politics.
Taylor’s demands to leave the UK prison seem to revolve around the right to see his family and his safety in a British prison. Given the saga of his arrest and conviction, it is uncertain if they will be received with any sympathy.
As his presence in Freetown was considered a threat to peace and stability there, he was transferred to The Hague, where the trial was held by the Special Court for Sierra Leone using the courtroom facilities of the International Criminal Court and, later, of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Taylor’s trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone opened in June 2007, and after some twists and turns, the court found him guilty on 11 counts: war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international law which included murder, forced labour, recruiting child soldiers and rape. He was convicted for both planning and aiding and abetting these crimes. In September 2013, the Appeals Chamber upheld both Taylor’s conviction and his 50-year sentence.
Pursuant to a request by the president of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, in October 2013 Taylor was transferred from The Hague to the UK to serve the remainder of his 50 year sentence at HM Prison Frankland, a category A men’s prison located in County Durham.
The UK’s acceptance of that request picks up the thread of a foreign policy that saw British forces intervene in Sierra Leone in 2000, and given the Blair government’s then-clear commitment to foreign policy “with an ethical dimension”, taking on the cost of Taylor’s imprisonment honours the full implications of that unusually successful foreign intervention.
But Taylor seems unhappy with the prison’s location and conditions, claiming that it infringes his right to a family life – and that his own life is under threat.
Speaking to the BBC, Taylor’s lawyer alleged that due to visa issues, his family could not visit him in prison, and that in any event the climate was too cold and the food too different for his family. (It should be noted that his family did visit him in The Hague, whose weather and food are of course rather more akin to the UK’s than to Liberia’s.) But conditions in the Scheveningen prison are reportedly less restrictive than those in the UK.
Notably, however, Taylor’s lawyer also explained to the BBC that he is not suing the British government, nor seeking damages from the UK. Instead, the solution proposed is that Taylor serve his prison sentence in Rwanda to be closer to his family. That, his lawyer pointed out, would be cheaper for the British taxpayer.
To international criminal lawyers, a request to serve a prison sentence in Rwanda must sound more than a little ironic. Not many years ago, both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia were criticised for sending offenders to Western detention facilities that were “too comfortable”, as prison conditions in their home countries would be far harsher.
And quite why Taylor might think he would be safer in a Rwandan prison than in the UK is unclear. He is not being subjected to unusually harsh conditions by British standards. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson is reported to have said that Taylor “is being treated in accordance with the United Kingdom’s obligation and in the same way as any other prisoner in England and Wales”.
(That said, for its part, the Guardian pointed out that convicted war criminal Radislav Krstić, a Bosnian Serb who was serving a 35-year sentence in Wakefield prison for his involvement in the Srebrenica massacre, was stabbed in his cell by three Muslim inmates in 2010.)
The Foreign Office confirmed that “a motion has been filed with the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone”, requesting Taylor be transferred to a prison in Rwanda.
As the original post-war court is no longer operational, this Residual Court is responsible for supervising the enforcement of sentences and to guarantee the rights of those convicted. It will be interesting to see what it makes of President Taylor’s latest legal step.
Melanie Klinkner does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
Four BU advertising students can be seen smiling down from a billboard on Bath Road in Bournemouth after presenting the winning pitch for a national advertising campaign.
Final year students of the BA (Hons) Advertising degree programme were invited to compete for a £1.5million campaign for VisitEngland. As a prize for winning the students got the chance to star in their own billboard advertisement.
Students received a live brief to create a campaign aimed at encouraging families to stay in England and to include cycling as part of their holiday activities. Final pitches were presented to VisitEngland, MediaCom, industry practitioners and tutors, who were looking for a credible, convincing solution to the brief.
The winning team were Totem advertising agency, made up of students, Victoria Sayer, Loren Hargreaves, Jennifer Gale and James Reeves. Based on the theme, ‘Escape the ordinary. Live the extraordinary’, Totem’s campaign impressed the judges with thorough research and a fully integrated communications plan. Jennifer Gale, one of the team, spoke on behalf of her fellow students,
“We’ve been on quite a journey within the campaign planning experience and it’s been great to see the team grow throughout the whole process. We couldn’t be more pleased with the result and it’s amazing to know that all of those late nights paid off.”
“We were just happy to have answered a difficult brief with ideas that our lecturers and MediaCom liked as much as we did! It’s a really good feeling when it all seems to fall into place.”
The Campaign Planning unit of the BA (Hons) Advertising programme requires that students team up to form a professional advertising agency to complete assignments and leads up to tackling a real client brief under the banner, ‘A BIG, BOLD National advertising campaign’. This year the assignment was supported by VisitEngland tourism board and international media agency, MediaCom.
Course tutors at BU were also impressed with their students’ achievements. Melanie Gray, the unit leader for Campaign Planning, commented,
“Seeing the students respond to the challenge set by a real client brief was fantastic. The challenge by VisitEngland was complex and involved some real investigation and creative thinking by the students.”
“The students really embraced the opportunity and the quality of work produced by many of them was outstanding. Totem were worthy winners of the final pitch, receiving the highest grade for their campaign solution based on extremely well researched insight and some fantastic communication ideas.”
By Anthea Innes, Director, Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI)
The Longitude Prize is a challenge that offers £10m in prize money to help solve one of the greatest issues of our time. The public chooses the cause through a public vote and if a project then goes onto succeed, it wins the prize. Among the six categories this year, three cover health: paralysis, antibiotics and dementia. And it is the last of these that I think should get your vote.
The dementia challenge is to develop intelligent, yet affordable technologies that revolutionise care for people with dementia enabling them to live truly independent lives. The aim is to help people with dementia to live longer and better lives in their own homes.
Dementia is a public health challenge acknowledged by the World Health Organisation as well as by many individual county’s governments, including the UK with the launch of the Dementia Challenge. Dementia costs the UK more than stroke, heart disease and cancer put together, yet is has not been afforded the same research funding. While more has been made of it of late, it wasn’t until recently that it received much public attention.
Recent campaigns by Alzheimer Associations across the world have led to increased attention to the need to not only educate people about the signs and symptoms of dementia, the potential risk reduction strategies that we can employ, but also the need to approach the support of those living with dementia now in a more positive and proactive manner.
The creation of the BUDI orchestra is one way we have created the opportunity for people with dementia to learn (or relearn) musical instruments providing support to those living with dementia and their family carers. Music and singing has a positive effect in people with dementia, with music more ably recalled when there are memory problems, and here people not only come together to sing, but to play instruments and perform to the general public.
Technology already helping
Technology offers many potential opportunities for those living with dementia to live better, for longer and more independently. For example devices that support people with dementia to go out and about in their communities independently giving themselves and their families reassurance that they can be found using satnav technology to locate them, or a panic button if they need help. Other devices such as those that autocut gas supplies on cookers enable people with dementia to cook for longer. And memory devices that are activated when a person with dementia is about to leave the house reminding them to take their keys, purse or other items are also innovative and promote independence.
Equally people who work in a range of public settings, like shops, banks, buses, trains, leisure centres, as well as traditional health and social care settings like hospitals can all learn to adapt and improve their communication skills to enable people with dementia to live more active lives.
This is a critical aspect to consider as people with dementia require those around them to be aware that they might need a little longer to process information, that they may ask the same question again, that they may not understand complex questions and find it easier to have a complex question broken down into bite sized chunks. For example, rather than a supermarket worker saying “that’s £20 please, have you got a club card, and did you use any of your own bags, or did you only use ours?”, they could break the sentence into four chunks and wait for the response after each before moving on the next question.
Lives can be made better now
Small things can make a huge difference to people with dementia and their families as our recent footage from those living with dementia in Dorset demonstrates. Those with dementia and their family clearly articulate that it is possible to live well with dementia and to overcome or compensate for some of the difficulties dementia creates.
An estimated 135m people worldwide will have dementia by 2050. While scientists look for ways of curing or stopping the disease in its tracks – something that remains a considerable way away – it’s clear that supporting and improving the lives of those living with dementia now is just as important.
The need to include people with dementia in society at large is evident in promoting well-being and quality of life. It also offers us the opportunity to promote inter-generational engagement to help future generations understand about dementia, recognise the signs and symptoms and to reduce the fear and stigma that is often evident in general discourse that surrounds dementia.
Dementia is often presented as a health issue; although it can be dealt with in this way it is perhaps more fruitful to consider dementia as a social issue, a societal challenge that affects us all. One in three people over 65 will develop dementia and one in three people will know a person with dementia as a neighbour, friend or family member. Therefore dementia does already touch many, and this will grow as our population ages and people live for longer. Dementia is a true worldwide challenge and definitely deserving of the longitude vote.
Anthea Innes receives funding from a range of sources for her research including the NIHR, Bournemouth University, NHS Wessex, Bournemouth Borough Council, NHS Dorset, Brendon Care, Guild Care, Gracewell, TLC PLC, EU Erasmus Mundus, Alzheimer Society and NHS South of England.
The acclaimed Seen but Seldom Heard project returned to BU’s Festival of Learning.
Performed in the Allsebrook Lecture Theatre on Talbot Campus, the project showcased the very best in spoken word by young disabled people from across Dorset.
The performance, entitled ‘The Cliff Edge’, explored the theme of future aspiration and transition between school and adulthood for young disabled people.
All pieces were written and produced by students from the Victoria Education Centre, in collaboration with BU academics, students, and professional poets Liv Torc and Jon Seagrave, otherwise known as Jonny Fluffypunk.
Jon said: “Working on the Seen but Seldom Heard project has opened up a whole new perspective for me concerning what young and disabled people are capable of. It’s been a real privilege to work with them”.
Starting nearly three years ago, and inspired by the 2012 Paralympics, Seen but Seldom Heard seeks to use creative methods to enable marginalised groups to have their voices heard.
Along with live performances from the young stars there were also pre-recorded readings covering topics such as family bonds, the emotional impact of day-to-day experiences on a young disabled person, and even a protest rap and a song entitled “Poetry Express” which both opened and closed the night’s proceedings.
One particular poem caused an emotional stir with the audience. Written by Lucy, and performed by Liv Torc, the poem called “A Head Like Mine”, touchingly captured Lucy’s feelings and emotions during the transition period from youth to adulthood.
Christopher Lees, Chairman of the Talbot Village Trust which funded the event said:
“Watching these young people perform is truly heart-warming. Lucy’s poem in particular struck a chord with me as it was so touching to see how she expressed herself throughout the poem. It is for this reason, to give young people like Lucy a voice, that the Talbot Village Trust has pledged itself to such a great cause.”
Simon Brown, Vice Principal for the Victoria Education Centre, spoke about what the project means for the participants, saying:
“The project now has given so much to both the students and the staff and has given these talented young people a voice and a platform to show what they can do, rather than what they can’t due to their disabilities”.
The 2014 Annual Review celebrated SUBU’s 20th birthday by showcasing another year of achievements.
The event, on Wednesday 4 June, was presented by the elected Full Time Officers, who highlighted all the great activities the Students’ Union at BU (SUBU) have been supporting, funding and making happen in 2013/14. Among the guests were Chancellor Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Vice Chancellor Professor John Vinney, Conor Burns MP, members of the University board, SUBU Board of trustees and previous SUBU Full Time Officers.
The Students’ Union at BU has been in operation for two decades and has grown with each passing year; supporting, developing and entertaining every new cohort passing through BU’s doors. This year was no exception and SUBU have plenty of successes to shout about.
One of the key achievements for 2013/14 was SUBU’s RAG (Raising and Giving) charity activities which raised over a quarter of a million pounds. The funds were split between local charities and worthy causes around the UK including, Dorset Blind Association, Autism Wessex, Alzheimer’s Society and Children with Cancer UK.
Volunteering increased by 40% this year with 734 students giving a helping hand to both local and national projects. The Big Feed was one of the more successful projects, managing to collect and deliver four tonnes of food to local families and food banks. Student engagement in extra-curricular activities, like volunteering, is a major player in affecting employability for BU students and it is high on SUBU’s yearly agenda.
The ‘Lock it or Lose it’ burglary prevention campaign helped to cement community relations this year as SUBU joined forces with Arts University Bournemouth, BU staff, local police and councillors. Combined with the newly created SUBU Community Warden team, this resulted in a 19.6% reduction in crime around Winton and 41% reduction in bin-related complaints from residents. The four new wardens managed to clock up over 50 miles of patrolling around the local area, helping to improve integration and relations between students and locals.
As if that weren’t enough, SUBU’s strides towards becoming a more ethical and environmentally friendly organisation were recognised with a Gold status NUS Green Impact Award. Next year will see SUBU getting even more green on campus.
Encouraging student engagement in democratic decision-making and student representation also took a major step forward this year. Earlier in the year representatives from six other Students’ Unions were invited to Bournemouth so that SUBU could share their practices and expertise in student engagement. SUBU President Murray Simpson said,
“We’ve been highlighted as a feature of good practice for our evidence based feedback by the QAA, and believe a partnership approach with BU has enabled this to happen. We’ve come on leaps and bounds with welfare and democracy this year, and the Annual Review is a fantastic chance to look back and celebrate these successes.”
As a final visual treat, the audience experienced a nostalgic romp through the history of SUBU in a slide show of the last 20 years. The future of SUBU was also discussed, with a focus on the Union’s new home in the Student Centre and welcoming the new SUBU staff for 2014/15.
“Water makes you happier, more connected and better at what you do,” says Wallace J Nichols, a marine biologist and wild water advocate based at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. On 11-12 June 2014 he is sharing this philosophy with a small invited audience at the 4th Blue Mind Summit, held this year at the wild coastal location of Bedruthan Steps in Cornwall.
Green is the colour usually associated with environmental well-being. Trees, parks, and verdant landscapes of all kinds, are advocated by urban planners seeking to improve public health. But, until recently, less attention has been paid to “blue” areas such as beaches, lakes, rivers and the ocean. But study of the impact of blue space on human health and well-being is growing, and it lies behind Nichols’ BLUEMIND research project. The concept of Blue Mind, Nichols says, is about the “human-ocean connection”, an emotional bond whose roots may in the future be charted by neuroscientists.
Researchers of all hues are interested in blue. Wjklos, CC BY
This kind of research is attracting marine biologists, conservationists, artists, urban planners – indeed, anyone interested in the relationship between humanity and our watery planet. One of the UK research groups hosting the Cornwall event, the interdisciplinary Blue Gym project at the University of Exeter Medical School, has been investigating the psychological and physical health benefits of exposure to natural water environments. They have found, for example, that the stress levels of people living in coastal communities may be lower than normal simply because they spend more of their leisure time near, or even in, the sea.
Some have looked for physical explanations, for example there has been research into the role and abundance of negative ions – atoms with more than the usual number of electrons – in increasing serotonin levels and improving mood where air and water collide. But not all of us live near water, so how can we get a similar fix?
Although the real experience can never be matched, you might at least have access to some of the benefits of being near water by simply looking at it on your computer, tablet or phone. This impact of digital nature is something I’ve been exploring.
In his new book, Nichols also explains the benefits of simply looking at images of seas, lakes and rivers. For example, he describes an experiment at Plymouth University in 2010 where 40 adults were asked to rate pictures of different natural and urban environments. The researchers found that any picture containing water triggered higher ratings for positive mood, preference and perceived restorativeness, than those images with no water, no matter whether they were shown in a natural landscape or an urban setting. Other experiments have supported these findings.
There seems little doubt that connotations of water, whether visual, aural or even text-based, can make us feel better. The relationship between computers and the blue mind first appeared in 1992 when net pioneer Jean Armour Polly was commissioned to write an article introducing the internet to her fellow librarians. The net was then already more than 20 years old, but few people had heard of it and she was unsure how to describe her online experiences. “I needed something that would evoke a sense of randomness, chaos, and even danger. I wanted something fishy, net-like, nautical,” she wrote later.
As Polly cast around for the right metaphor, her eye fell on the mousepad beneath her hand. Designed by Steve Cisler at the Apple Library User’s Group in Cupertino, California, it featured a picture of a surfer. For Polly, a land-locked librarian in Syracuse, New York, with no connections to surf culture and not even a keen swimmer, it made perfect sense. “Eureka”, she said, “I had my metaphor.”
The resulting article, “Surfing the Internet”, marked the first published use of the term and appeared in the Wilson Library Bulletin in June 1992.
There has since been competition for who really did say it first, including from Mark McCahill, an American programmer, who also apparently used the phrase that very same year, and from Tom Mandel, a San Franciscan futurist and a surfer himself.
No matter who started it, the notion of surfing the internet has been picked up worldwide by people who have never mounted a board, perhaps never even seen a beach, yet their imaginations are fired by the idea of carefree riding in a sea of information.
It is not the only example of watery metaphor to be found in cyberspace. We swim in our Twitter streams, dive into torrent files, float on data clouds. Waterfalls, babbling brooks, and the ubiquitous ocean views can be found on many desktops and home screens. Try, for example, installing Beach Live Wallpaper on your mobile. “This wallpaper brings the sunny beach to you,” says the blurb. “The waves in summer time break on the shore right on your phone.” And relax. You have brought the blue mind into your digital life.
Sue Thomas does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
Bournemouth University
