Photography: cloud sourced learning..

Learning © John MacPherson   I like the #phonar idea. Open access to learning, compelling content, great tutors, and talented guest lecturers......

The meaning of life.

"Suicide is painless" so the song lyrics would have us believe. It's not. A friend of mine tried to end her life under a train, tearing herself apart, literally, in the process, but surviving.......

Disability is not inability.

December 3rd is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. And do you know what the uniting factor across the world actually is? All these folks are able. Simple. Often all they need to......

The balance of nature.

Winter light, Loch Pityoulish © John MacPherson   .........balance......... I've noticed there's a lot of it in nature. Like this scene. Cloud hole with......

Prisoners of the Himalayas.

It's great when you stumble into some corner of the web and a window to a part of the world you know very little about is opened to you.  I was completely captivated by......

Women, academia and ‘the risk of blogging’.

A bright future © John MacPherson In a week when the Church of England demonstrated that they interpret the term ...

The light fantastic.

I love light. It fascinates me. Always has. I watched the light streaming in the primary school window when I was a wee boy and marvelled at the swirling patterns it created on the wall.......

The Mine Kafon.

An idea sparked by a toy, then made real by Massoud Hassani, and documented by Callum Cooper. Brilliant. When we were young we learned to make our own toys. One of my favourites......

User Generated Content & standards in journalism.

Very interesting explanation by Fergus Bell of AP over on Poynter about how they 'validate' and 'verify' User Generated Content. Tactics being used in Syria, according to Bell, include activists holding “up a sign......

Dear Auntie Beeb…...

Dear Auntie Beeb - you don't know me, I'm only a little boy, but my daddy has told me all about you. He says you're the only Auntie we've got who never makes promises......

Are you one of the crowd?.

"But the recent failure of crowd-sourced news photos of Hurricane Sandy, and the shortage of coverage of other climate change-fueled disasters around the world, demonstrate how far we are from truly democratizing the medium......

Lest we forget.

My dad's birthday was 11th November. He always teased me as a child that all the celebrations on Remembrance Day were for him. I believed him at first. Then as I grew older I realised......

After Utøya.

The shocking events of 22nd July last year in Norway changed the country forever. Documentary photographer Andrea Gjestvang was moved to begin a portrait project to record some of the survivors. The project portrays 43......

Surfing in Gaza.

Surfing in Gaza.....?  Yes. No pictures needed for this blog post. I'm sitting listening to Jeremy Grange's piece on The Gaza Surf Club on Radio 4. Its radio doing what radio does best: conjuring up images......

Sandy, destruction, dismay & leadership.

I've followed the devastating effects of hurricane Sandy through various news outlets and Twitter, on pics from Instagram and  the like. The 'debate' over the use of Instagram has been very interesting, and is......

Just three words.

When I was eleven a man tried to 'abduct' me as I walked home. Although he didn't actually touch me he did try to 'steer' me physically and very deliberately down into a secluded......

Beauty, sorrow of American West.

Some very atmospheric landscapes and haunting portraits by Bryan Schutmaat on CNN World. A few places I recognize too. “There were some cold mornings when I woke up in my tent or in my......

Land Dump Rot is an anagram of……….

Donald Trump's golf development at Menie Estate near Aberdeen is something I've followed since the plans were first announced. I've watched events unfold since the Trump plan was first rejected by Aberdeen Council Planning Dept.,......

Anatidaephobia.

Oh well, what can I say. Now you know. Mind your backs now........................   ©Ben Wakeling/Twitpic   Thanks to @benwakeling via @michald for this salutory warning....

Joerg Colberg on telling stories with pictures.

© Joerg Colberg Joerg Colberg on Conscientious: How to tell a story with pictures The start: If I wanted to tell a story with pictures, just with......