Rounds, Call Changes and Methods

"I grew up in a small town where everyone went to church and children sang in the choir. And if you sang in the choir you had to wear red robes, a cap and a frilly lace collar. I didn't mind the singing but I didn't wear dresses and hated being on show - so, at the age of 8 or 9, I took up bellringing to escape."

By Kelly Smith. Read more

http://v.gd/apwdringing 

Setting Free Public Space by Fun

Running with the PAC!

By Paul Coulton

PAC-LAN was a version of the classic video game PACMAN in which human players ran around a real world game maze formed by the buildings of Lancaster University.

The game was played using mobile phones equipped with RFID technology which is the same as is now used for the Oyster cards on the London Underground as a replacement for paper tickets. 

Games have long been acknowledged as being the heart of how we learn about our place in the world. As HG Wells put it in 1911 “The men of tomorrow will gain strength from the nursery floor”. Many of us believe the learning power of games and their unparalleled ability to engage can be extended way beyond nursery floor and that the citizens of the future may well gain knowledge from an increasing gamefulness of our streets.

Read more 

http://v.gd/apwdpac 

How the Amstrad PCW 8512 changed the course of English Literature

Poetry Publishing and Technology in 1985

By Peter Sansom

Desk-top publishing was quite primitive at first, or my version of it, so that I remember very clearly putting letraset onto an Ian McMillan/Martyn Wiley cover on a desk in Huddersfield Polytechnic library, and feeling a definite move up in the technological world when I acquired a set square and cutting board.

And not really desk-top publishing at all but typed on a wordprocessor. The first little Macs were just coming in, but for me then it was the Amstrad PCW 8512. Amstrads were cheap and everywhere and, though limited, just a bit more professional and certainly quicker than a typewriter. 

Read more 

[Editor's note: It takes more than just a word processor to change the course of English Literature of course, and in fact it was done by a working class lad from Mansfield with a polytechnic education, a Keats' Selected Poems and an Amstrad PCW 8512. I'm hoping to persuade Peter to write a piece for Issue 2 about how he created a history changing literary scene in a small former mill town. His piece will be full of essential transferable insights for anyone wanting to build a scene to support any kind of innovation.]

http://v.gd/apwdamstrad

 

Atoms Only Rule Temporarily Suspended

The Atoms Only rule for getting copies of Any Plan Will Do has been temporarily suspended as a result of requests from people wanting to give yearly subscriptions as a last minute Christmas present.

If you'd like to give the gift of the best writing available anywhere about joyful and productive but not faddish technology and local democracy, you can send your promissory note by email to our mail order department, indicating that you want the yearly subscription at our promotional rate of £11 for 3 issues, to be paid according to the terms of the promissory note upon meeting at any time in the future.

Issue 1 will be dispatched by return of post (ish) in our festive Christmas gift envelopes with a little drawing of some holly in the corner.

The Atoms Only rule will be enforced again from 5pm, 24th December.

Mail Order Dept contact:

wilsonandyb at gmail dot com




http://v.gd/apwdatomsonly

A Short Introduction to Co-production By Alan Williams APWD1

Most of us probably think about government in terms of money and public services. We pay tax and we make use of public services and benefits. We expect government to provide public services not least because we’ve given them our money to, and we expect services that meet our needs when we use them. Viewing government merely as a broker of our financial resources encourages people to think that if we rely on benefits or public services more than most we’re a burden, and if we can afford to pay more tax than others our responsibilities have been met. Democratic government is intended to put power in the hands of people but valuing money as the key asset means that people are valued only by their capacity to provide it and not ask for it.

Read more

http://v.gd/apwdcopro

I'm a Scientist, Get me out of Here! by Sophia Collins APWD1

I'm a Scientist, Get me out of Here! works a bit like an X Factor for scientists.

Five scientists compete to win £500 to communicate science. They put up information about themselves and their work on our website. 20 science classes up and down the country submit questions for them and can book live chats. And then – and this is the crucial bit – the students vote for which scientist they think should get the money.

Read more

http://v.gd/apwdscientist

Many Plans Will Do