A lovely piece composed by Catherine Leos and Ian Dixon, published in the 20 August 2007 issue of OPENLine:

We bid a sad farewell to Andrew Garton, after two years at the helm as OPEN CHANNEL’s Program Director.

Andrew Garton is the kind of guy whose passion and wry humour precede him; a man who dedicates himself to “the cause” – whether that be promoting OPEN CHANNEL or quoting from Kirkegaard. In short, Andrew is a Dude – from his Thunderbirds car to his unending quest for the right hairstyle – we will miss him swanning into our office on the breath of his latest witticism.

Whether sharing his genuine wisdom or squirrelling away in his office, his secret to life is to plough ahead with quiet determination. His voice, his ideas, and his intelligence will leave good ol’ SHED 4 just that little bit emptier…

Andrew's last day will be Thursday 30 August.

"Dreams, creativity and wisdom are at the core of what keeps OPEN CHANNEL rockin’, and what challenges it every day. There are no key performance indicators for dreams, creativity and wisdom… there is only 'hope', 'gratitude' and dare I say, 'trust' that are the intangible and precious drivers that sustain everyone that has not only helped to keep OPEN CHANNEL running, but ensured it be kept open for everyone."

"It has been a great honour and privilege to have been of service to an organisation that has endeared itself to the hearts of so many Victorian filmmakers and screen artists... and to have made a contribution to the legacy left by the countless who had come before me, who had stockpiled our archive with well over 2000 titles in the pursuit of public and open access." Andrew Garton / August 2007

I was recently asked by colleagues in Spain to assist with a forthcoming project which may see me back in Barcelono some time in the new year. As part of their work, they have students in Guatemala completing their final projects for an ICT4D (Information Communication Technologies for Development) program.

"One aspect of the work is to design tools for producing multimedia content (audio/video or animations) to teach Quiche (a Mayan dialect) to illiterate people and also for teaching reading and writing."

For many reasons, teaching complex video editing packages for use on PCs running either Windows or Linux just isn't an option. However, with net access being less of an issue, they're seeking online applications that are simple for teachers to develop to learn and produce material that can be incorporated into lesson plans, basically to assist in literacy development.

I've found the following three web apps:

• JumpCut
• EyeSpot
• YouTube ReMixer
  

Anyone know of others, preferably multilingual if at all possible?

This morning I pulled a postcard from the letterbox with Antony Gormley's arresting sculpture, Capacitor (2001), on the front. Craig Bellamy had scribbled "jaded blogger" on the back, with an arrow pointing to Gormley's steel tubes and rods.

I've never considered myself a blogger. More a diarist, a poet, a collage or word artist perhaps... primarily for my own record. Who really knows who one keeps a diary for anyway?

As I grow older, these words begin to resonate with a far deeper value... they become both a time stamp and window to fragments of a world some in my family, particularly my daughter, will have little knowledge of. Perhaps after reading some of these tiresome posts they'll know even less!

Craig's maintained a consistent blog, investing in it his deliberations with "context", history, media, knowledge, education, academia... I don't get to read it much myself, but then I don't tend to read off the web much at all these days. There's only so much sitting one can do in a day! I may not be the jaded blogger, but a jaded Internet user I most certainly am. What I had first logged on to was not the Internet. It hadn't a name then...