What’s the point of blogging if I don’t blog? How occasionally can I blog and still be a blogger? I’ve been busy. Very busy. My two full time jobs have been demanding of late - Comwifinet needed a liberal application of the hands in order to site two further antenna in Queen’s Park. Coverage extends and the network continues to grow - albeit slowly.
At each encounter with ‘the system’, Comwifinet are being delayed. What should have been a simple process: buy off-the-shelf company, rename it, open bank accounts, start trading; has become deeply bogged down. Companies House have been slow to process forms, causing information that doesn’t match with our forms to be returned to banks when they perform their due-diligence (i.e. money laundering) searches.
But hey! At least we’ve progressed into getting application forms for banks completed and returned! LloydsTSB, NatWest & Barclays ALL FAILED in their ‘New Business Enquiry’ processing. Either no information was sent or calls were never returned. Maybe it’s because I mentioned that we were a non-profit organisation… Anyway, I am glad that the account opening process in underway and that the organisation will soon have financial services from The Cooperative Bank. The Coop have an ethical investment policy, something that appeals to the Board of Comwifinet.
My BA is progressing satisfactorily. I have just completed my first four assignments, totaling around 11,000 words. With pre-edit material and notes / plans I figure I’ve typed around 20,000 words in the last four weeks solely on these assignments. Add in those notes taken in lectures and seminars and I get to around 35,000. I cannot even begin to estimate the further keystrokes of emails over the same time period. If there was ever to be a reason for not blogging here it is: I got sick and tired of typing!
BA Politics, Economics and Public Policy has been really rewarding in terms of the breadth and depth of understanding it builds within me. The proscribed reading is engaging; the further reading is adding the fine furnishings of knowledge in my mind. The painful part has been trying to consolidate and compact my understanding into a coherent and concise response to an essay question.
Technology and politics, technology and politics. My Political Theory paper posed the question ‘Is it plausible to think a representative democracy could be made more participatory?’ As part of my response I discussed internetworked tools that could be utilised to encourage direct participation in the democratic process. Blogging by MPs was of course discussed. I should have also mentioned the steps being taken by some fellow students in the use of technology to increase accountability and transparency in the Student Union. Take a peek over at the Goldsmiths Student wiki, our collaborative whiteboard work space.
My keyboard has been given a short rest - well, long enough to make and smoke a joint. The RSI tension in my fingers has given time to subside and the curvature of my spine is relaxed. Bloggage continues. So, updates to come for Sarah Teather is My MP.She’s been a busy girl don’t you know. You did see her on Question Time last week, didn’t you? Wireless Projects need new information adding. And there were a few things I’d like to ‘show and tell’ here too.
‘Normality will resume just as soon as we’ve figured out what normal is.’ Mr Adams, you astuteness is noteworthy.