Yes folks, I have a little website here just for bits and pieces I'd like to share.
Why 'thewallington"? Because we are a family of nicknamers and nicknames and amongst others, I was Wally Whiskers. So, what better than 'thewallington'?
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What I'm doing now...(at Sept 2024)
- In September 2016, my nephew Mungo Parnell took his own life. He was an extraordinarily beautiful soul with demons that eventually claimed him. This is a short memorial to him.
- Pobblebonk Palace Website (created wetland at Snake Valley in Victoria)
- Our backyard at Buderim from when we moved in to a few years later
- Lifelong Lenses: A short PDF document talking about using old Leica lenses on a modern Micro Four Thirds digital camera (with pictures).
- Making a simple lightbox: A short document showing how to assemble a simple lightbox for viewing slides and negatives.
- A short PDF booklet providing information on equipment and things to consider when producing videos on the desktop.
- Rain falling on a small pond that has lilies and other water plants.
- A spider finishing off its web. Remarkable when you think how a whole web is made, at such speed and with such precision, by one little spider.
- A little video showing the use of a greenscreen to manage backgrounds.
- The transformation of a backyard over about four years.
- Some pics of common bees drinking at a trickling water feature.
- A number of short video statements on the current state of higher education with an emphasis on blended learning. Comments from George Siemens PhD and Professor Mike Keppell.
- A simple overview of the use of apostrophes
- A simple overview of the when to use "your" and "you're"
- A collection of learning resources I've either developed or initiated. Most are videos.
- A blog circa 2008 with info on emerging tech and developments.
- A blog circa 2010 from the Learning Environments team.
- The blog documenting my Hendy Award trip to the UK in 2010.
- Critters recorded at night in Qld. Sugar gliders and brush tailed possum.
- Sample recordings made with Panopto desktop/lecture capture system
Since retiring in 2022, I've been able to get on to some projects that have been sitting on the back shelf for years.
PhotographyMy main project is working through my photo archive that contains more than 50 years of negatives. The majority are black and white as that was my preferred medium. B&W was all about the play of light and how it drew a viewer's gaze to a particular part of the scene. My negs vary from 35mm through 120 (6x6 and 6x7cm) to 4x5". I've equipped myself with two excellent scanners, a Nikon for 35mm and an Epson that covers 35mm to 4x5".
My collection on the Franklin River blockade from early 1983 has been passed on to the Tasmanian State Archives and a series on a couple of political rallies from the 1981 Federal Election have gone to the Victorian State Archives. More will follow as I assemble the thematic collections.
Franklin River Blockade Picture Book (in development)
In 1983 I spent two weeks on the Franklin River Blockade and took hundreds of pictures. My goal, in addition to being another protester to be counted, was to document the decent people prepared to go and be arrested there as well as the actions they were taking. An obvious thing that was needed, once I'd scanned 700+ images, was to produce a narrative that contextualised the pictures. Ahhh, a book! My early layout efforts confirmed that I would need a talented designer and who better than my creative designer niece, Wendy Wright? Work is underway on the book, and it is progressing well. Not sure when it will be done or how it will be published but it is moving along.
All the Ducks
I was contacted sometime after I had retired by a former colleague from my days at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Shane asked me to write some business documents for the company he'd established, All the Ducks Pty Ltd. Having done this I was invited to remain as a sort of floating contributor and have since become a bit of dogsbody. I run our daily meetings, use my writing and editing skills as needed, have run staff recruitment and tell really silly dad jokes. It's been a very stimulating and satisfying involvement that leaves me plenty of time for my other interests. The main product is a Grade Processing system for universities that streamlines the final ratification of results and removes most of the scope for human error. It is called Grade Matter. In addition to this, the small company of five staff and a couple of contractors does bespoke software development for universities in Australia, New Zealand and the US. They are a great bunch of people and we have a very positive culture.
Short rememberance of my nephew, Mungo Parnell
Pobblebonk Palace - a rural regeneration project
Transmogrification of a backyard
Random writings
Desktop Video Production booklet (Mar 2020)
Little videos that I've produced from time to time of random things
Some pics of bees (Jan 2020)
Insights into Blended Learning
How to use apostrophes
When to use "your" and "you're"
Learning Resources
Some Learning Tech blogs - historical view
These blogs are of historical interest. Most of the external links won't work.
Some little critters recorded at night
A lecture/desktop capture test