And so our next speaker, Sean Gullickson from University of Kansas is going to talk to us about Proprias Palabras, an OER for cultural surveys of the Spanish-speaking world. So Sean, I'll pass things over to you. Excellent. Thank you very much. Can everybody hear me okay? Yes. Yeah, okay. You may notice I'm outside. It's not just because the weather is nice. It's also because currently in my home is a one and a half year old desperately fighting nap time. So I figured bird song and traffic sounds were probably less intrusive than the whales of my beloved son. So, but if you can't hear me at any point, just, you know, flag me down. So Proprias Palabras is a long, it's been a long time coming. I just started publishing our content on press books about a month ago. So I'm very excited to be able to start sharing it so soon with people outside of KU for the first time. So it's a, as Carl said, it's focused on cultural surveys of the Spanish-speaking world. We have a class at KU, Spanish 346, that's transatlantic Hispanic studies. So it covers both Spain and Latin America. And we're hoping that our project can also be a bit more global and include the, eventually include the Spanish Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, some places we don't normally hear from. And it was really born after the first time I taught that class, I noticed that students were not very engaged with the textbook that we were using, which I'm not sure if anyone on here has used Carlos Fuentes El Espejo Enterrado, which is a phenomenal text in a lot of ways, but it was really hard for this level of students and it was really difficult to do what we wanted to do with the material. And so one thing I noticed in that first semester teaching the class was that students were really, really engaged when we did primary sources when we worked with authentic documents, primary source texts. So this idea was born that we could create a set of modules built around primary texts with proper context with activities that that could really engage students better than our current materials were. And with the help of a grant from the libraries, I was able to get it started. And along with the goal of creating these modules was the goal of supporting graduate students which I think we can all agree, especially these days is a very important goal and often a difficult one to achieve. So every single sense of grant money went to graduate writers, and we were also able to use course releases sometimes to get graduates to participate in this project, which was really nice. So the link. Thank you for posting that in the chat, Sarah. Feel free to click around there I'll share my screen to to show a few examples here in a minute. Overall, I've posted them and sort of chronological order, but we're trying to figure out how best to truly organize this. You may notice if you click around. Here's an example. We're, we've got some hashtag subtitles that we're using through press books to give an idea of what sort of the guiding themes of the project are coming through in each individual module. We're thinking of more of a thematic orientation than a than a chronological one, but this is very much. I would say version 1.0 of this project. It is what we have is fully there it's good it's ready to use, but we're going to do version 1.1 and 1.2 and 2.0 and keep building on this this document as we go. Each module like I said consists basically of three parts we've got an introduction. I did a couple. So this one was written by me the rest are written by graduate students. So an introduction that places the primary text in proper context, try to throw in images when we can. And then we have the primary text, which press books if you haven't used it before has a really easy to use a natural glossing system. So it's very easy to just just gloss a primary text students don't have to be jumping around the dictionaries too much hopefully it can just read through. And then, as we go you see some questions and at the end we always try to have larger themes often connecting to other modules other classes other disciplines we try to get creative when we can because that's a really great way to have deep engagement in the, in the texts. What else I can just I'm just going to kind of scroll through some other examples as I'm talking here. This is the most recent one that we've published Nina Menos. Which obviously has a lot of connections with with cultures that the majority of our students are coming from with the me to movement. One of the really nice things about press books is seamless integration of video. So students don't have to be going around too much to different links. Though, I will say, if I can find the. We are still dealing with some copyright issues based on some of the things that students did so, for example, we have a module on Maradona that is built around a short story that is not in public domain. So we link to the story, we link out to it but we can't host it. So, there are little things like that that we're still ironing out. But overall, that's the shape of it we've got. As far as the future of the project goes like I said what we have here is finished but we want to keep building it out to the point that it can really hold as a full semester textbook. Right now, it's more suited to to all a cart sort of picking and grabbing what works for your class your curriculum. And we don't have any more grant money. We only got 5000 from the KU libraries which I say only it was a lot and it was able to support grads like I said but we're always looking for other folks I saw I think one of our contributors actually is in here. So I'll try to save some time if she wants to share to you. But we're always looking for other collaborators, other sources of funding faculty volunteers. So anyone who's interested, obviously, feel free to reach out. As I'm sure pretty much everyone is concluding their presentations with I'll pop my, my email in the chat there just in case folks want to reach out not just to collaborate but with questions, concerns, whatever, I'm always happy to talk about this project. Like a lot of OER stuff. It's, it's one of those things that is a passion project for us a lot of us aren't doing it because we get a lot of the research kudos or anything we're doing it because we care and we're here on a Saturday sitting outside to talk to folks about it. So, I think those are really all the main talking points I wanted to get through I'm sure I forgot one or two things but feel free to pop some questions in the chat if Mirala or anyone else is in the chat who wants to chime in absolutely go for it. Thank you yeah it looks like we have about seven minutes for questions. Could you. Do you want me to read the questions or do are you okay reading them in the chat. Good question about issues with students following along and dealing with instructions and things like that. So far in the classes we've used it in it we haven't really run into into much there. Students as long as we kind of show it to them the first time in class and say here's the intro here's the primary text here the activities they they're able to follow it pretty easily. A lot more easily than they were with the Carlos Fuentes text which I personally love but man is that thing dense and we ended up having a lot of instructors assigning it in English actually. Which is not ideal because we want to stick in the target language as much as possible and even in English we we spent a lot of class time just saying like what happened here and not getting to the next level of analysis that we wanted so so far from what I've done and from what I've heard from other students in my unit who've used these students get it a lot better they come to class more prepared to share their opinions and interpretations not just what the heck did I just read. So, so so far really positive. I've been really happy with press books. I chose to use it because our our libraries got an institutional contract with it that's why the link has like open text KU in it. The learning curve was really not bad, to be honest. Very user friendly especially compared to other things like I think it's more user friendly than that WordPress or things like that I think it's way more user friendly than blackboard or most big LMS is and obviously can do more in terms of integrating video and media. I do want to play with some of the more interactive features like it does work with with several like h5t and things along those lines but my first task was just trying to get as much of these up as as as possible. Pressbooks wants a password to review it. That I have no idea about. Can you all see the stuff though with the link. I just managed to open the link. For a little while there I did have one of them password protected because it was because I was still working out copyright stuff but that should be done now. I have no clue. But I love press books I really I really would recommend it to anyone interested in and developing their own materials. Thanks for being here thanks to anyone who presented this morning my son really did enjoy a lot of the presentations this morning I had it on in the background as we were playing with trucks and he was just pointing and saying words at the screen it was great. So yeah, thanks for listening. Thank you Sean.


So here my session, right, talk about my two passions. My one passion is Azure, as you can see here, right? But the other passion I have is Akido. How many of you know about Akido? Can you raise your hand? Oh, okay. So there's some practitioner here. That's good. So what's about, right, what's about Azure and Akido? And my approach, right, so the color turns a little bit green here. That's the Bangalore color, right? So I hope you can see that. Let's keep it simple, right? So what do we do here? So this is a short introduction of me, right? So I've been in the industry for a while, and I'm also a life learner, right? I learn everything I see, right? So I start my Azure and Akido journey almost at the same time. And the more I practice, I practice Azure, the more I practice Akido, the more similarity I see. And I go to tell why, I think the way, and we are going to see how things goes. And it might be if there are enough time, maybe we can practice a little bit here. I hope you like it. So we will talk about Akido, and how many of you have not heard about the Shuhari? Okay. So Shuhari is basically a concept from Akido. It's basically from your learn, from your practice, and from your break-up kata. So I'm going here. So what's Akido, right? So Akido is coming from Japan, and it's a martial arts firm, and you can see the founder picture here, right? So it's coming from Oshinsen, Morihei Yoshiba. And Akido has three characters. So the first character we have is I, right? I is joining, combining, and fitting. Key is your spirit. This is always the theory behind, right? So it's not body. It's the key, key-building flows, right? And doh is the way. So it's the way of harmonize. Harmonize the world, harmonize your environment, harmonize yourself. And it was the principle based on the founder, right? So the way of the warrior has been always misunderstood. It's not meant to kill or destroy. This is to seek to complete better yourself to make a terrible mistake here, right? So to smash, to destroy, that's the worst thing you can do. So that's what Akido is about. Akido is not about to destroy opponents. Akido is about to harmonize yourself, find a better way with your environment and yourself. So this is about Suhari, right? So I think the Asia community will talk about Suhari, right? But I do think there's a better understanding that can be done about Suhari. And Suhari is about embrace the kata, kata is the technique, right? And devise from the kata and discard the kata. And what I put here, the first part is learning, right? So you learn the techniques. You practice the technique and it becomes master. That's the master portion. And it was learning part. And in Akido, the learning starts always with basics. For example, what's the first thing you learn? Can you tell me what first thing do you learn? Sorry, four. Even before four. The first thing you learn in Akido is how you sit. I'm going to show you. Because there are different ways you need to sit. And how you sit here, you first bend your knee, one left down, and the other one. And in between your knees, there should be two-fifths, okay?   And when you bow, you put a left hand in front, right hand close down. So that's the first thing you learn. It's not about martial arts. It's not about how you perform techniques.  And the same thing, how you stand, right? How do you stand in one line? How you balance yourself? How do you make sure you're mobile, but still keep a balance? So the technique is not about how do I destroy this person. The technique is about how do I balance myself so nobody can destroy me. So this is one of the techniques in Akido we call Ikkyo. That's the first lock. And what the first lock does, they have a straight lose behind. How do you move and how do you move the body? So in the way you will start here, right?  And at the point I want to put here, in the suhari mode, in the su mode, learning mode, there are straight lose behind. This part is for you to learn lose, follow the lose. Less questions, but think about what the teacher tells and follow that. This is important because when you do the Ikkyo here, the distance will be important. You need to push ahead to push the arms. If you go too far, you cannot do that. So that's the one you need to learn and get on with that. After you learn, right, then what's the next step? What do we see so far? Is that only the training, right? So what do we so, so far is not a theory. In Akido, can someone guess what's the percentage? The theory class versus practice class. Is that 50, 50? No one thinks? 20, 20, 80? 10, 90. 10, 90? Good guess. I would say it's about 1%, 99%. So in a way, there's no theorizing. It's not, you come, I tell a theory about Akido. So Akido practice is always start from a demonstration. So the teacher will demo with a senior to your skills. After you learn, then you will practice. It's all about practice. Why do we do that? If you have seen, you have not seen the video, the backward brain bicycle. That's by smart everyday. This is very fantastic video. Talk about behavior. Talk about knowledge. Knowledge is not equal to skills. When you learn some theories, you cannot apply. The same thing, Agile, right? So I go three days training. Does that make I'm a square master? No. You have knowledge, but you need to apply it. Because if you apply a portion, it's always a context. How your team is, how do they react? They tell me how you apply the techniques. And then let's come to four, right? So the gentleman said four. And when you start practice, the first thing you learn and to grow, how to fall. And you fall together. So that's a preparation activity. One preparation activity is you fall. And then you learn how to fall.  But when you fall, you fall in safe environments. That's what a dojo creates. Well, if you look at here, this is not hierarchical environments, right? So you're self-organized, you're brought to each other, and each one takes care of each other. So when I practice with a pair, I always make sure my partners will not hurt. My first responsibility when practicing gives space to my partners. So he can practice. He can learn while I can still grow my skills. And if you look at the best we're learning, and what's, I think that's different from Akido from a lot of martial arts, right? So if you look at Tagondo, you look at karate, it's a lot about training yourself. But Akido started from beginning, started from white belts. You can always, you always learn from pairs.  And why do we do that? Because as a martial arts, you know the environment different. You know your partner different. Whether it's the short, tall, whether it's old or small, you treat your technique differently. And that's the things you cannot learn by just doing it yourself. You do it together. And that's the code from one Akido master, right? Linda's holiday. So in Akido trainings, we learn from each other. We learn from the most experienced people. We also learn from newcomers, right? Everyone is connect and develop much understanding. And it's an important place where it can happen. Same for agile, right? So can we learn from the new people? Yes. They have a new mindset. They have new behaviors, right? So it's not about experience. You create a mix of the learning environments. So as a coach, as agile leaders, it's for you to create an environment so people can learn from each other. And that's the grading system, right? So can someone make a guess? How many years? How many months? How many days? You can go through that. How many people say six months? Can you reach like about six months? One year? Two years? Two years? Okay. Two years can already become agile coach, right? So average takes about four years time. So I'm already in my fifth year, I'm still going through that. But it really takes a long time to practice. And this is not enough. Which you will see here, at the last stage, I practice, I practice, I practice. I become a black bell, right? So am I really a master? Am I really a coach to others? I don't, right? So can I ask you here, how, in terms of agile experience, how many of you have five years and more experience here? Okay, we have quite a few, right? How many of you have 10 years? Can you keep your hands up? How many of you have 10 years experience here? How many of you have 15 years experience here? 20 years? Okay, I think we know about age now. And then you look at here, right? Here's the masters for Makita. And you look at here. So the old sense has 43 years experience practicing. And even before he stuck Akira, he practiced other martial arts as well. And the other one is Christian, he has a master from France.  Until now he has 57 years of practice here. And Philip Lee, see how Philip Lee is, where the dojo I come from, right?  And after 48 years, he's still practicing and teaching. So think about that, right? So if you call us as agile leaders, if you call us, we are teachers, how many years have we got? And the fact is, why do they are teaching? Because we find some new thing to learn. And if you come back to the previous slide, we talk about black belt is only the beginning. It's not the end. That's where you learn the basic techniques. That's where you can perfect your skills here. And from junior done to first done, every talk about 100 months, you can talk about 9 to 10 years before you move to first done. So normally the instructor coming from, say, second down to first done. So that's the really time to develop your skills, learn all the skills before you can teach. I think we can learn from that as well in agile environments. You need to have a tons experience, deal with different teams before you can share, can teach others. And then let's talk about mindset. There's a Chinese character here. So let's make a guess. Is the mindset really about mind? Is that so? Is that really here? Or is this here? So in Chinese, the mindset translates an attitude of the heart. So it's not really what you think here. It's compared to your heart. How do you feel? So you think of agile principles, right? Does it mean we really go to mind? Or does it really go to heart? And when people act, behave in agile way, is because the mind thinks so? Or is that because they are boldly adjusted to that, they have become their way of working? So I think that's the things we need to really see. How do we touch their heart, not just the mind? How do we make it a habit that can act without thinking? And you look at that, right? So that's a core, right? So educate the mind without educating the heart. Educate the heart is no education at all. Because we want people to feel that, live that. I mean, that's what we want to achieve as agile leaders. And talk about mindset, right? What do you want to get? So that's what we see also from our kiddo as well. One is courage. You have courage to try, you have courage to learn, you have courage to fail before any techniques. So that's the first thing to come. You focus. You always have to focus your arrows. What's your goal? What's our team goal? How do we achieve that? You have a commitment to the setbacks. You don't stop because some failure, some fallbacks. You respect all, respect your teacher, respect student, respect opponents. Treat other people at equal space. I think that's the basic value we can adapt in agile environments. And then you have openness, right? Because our kiddo has no forms. When you go further and further down the road, when you press agile, whether it's a scrum, whether it's combine, whether it's other forms, ultimately, it's what a goal you want to achieve. So you can apply whatever can be applied with a good intention. So that's openness with objective in mind. With that, I would like to open the dojo. If you are brave enough, you are going to practice little bit architole technique here. Can you group yourself, self-organize to a group, say six to ten, so even numbers, either six people, eight people, or ten people? You can either group here or group at the back. You need some space here. And can I invite you for some demonstration? We will do two techniques. Do we have a group? So I need a volunteer, basic techniques. And I already know our kiddo master. So we are going to do an easy one first. I call it X-cape. So basically someone grabs my hand. How do I escape? You want to grab my hand? And he grabs my hand very hard, very, very hard. Not hard enough. So as a good opponent, he grabs my hand, and as instinct, he means what I do. Run away. He grabs harder. But that's the way you see the flow is. So he is grabbing towards that. And where's the gap here? The gap's here. So instead I pull away, he pull in, we just drop here. I run here. So that's a basic technique. You want to try? I will grab your hand. So you will be extending your arms here? So I will lose the balance? It's easier for you to go up. So that's how we practice. I do one wrong, he will do one wrong. Can I try again? So what I do here, if you grab me, so I first extend, then go out. Because when I extend, if he is struggling, he is losing his balance. So that's easier for me to go out. I don't use power. Can you go as a pair and practice? Thank you. Thank you. How do you do it? So you want to grab? In a sense, can I show you? If you grab me, if I come, she will be harder, right? So what I do? Notice there, right? There's a gap here, which is here. So your hand will be... And you don't want to lean back.  So you always keep here, here. And it's like you're touching something on the ground. You see? You're touching something on the ground. The message is the power. So if I have resistance from the team, do I struggle with them, or do I break out? It's a new way. It's a new way, right? Because that's how you do resistance. Yeah, you pull harder, I pull harder, then create more tensions, right? So that's the way to help me as well. Yeah? That would be my second talk. Keep on practicing. Okay, I just checked the other group here. Are you guys okay? Okay, so you're ready for the second techniques? Okay. Sure. So who would be the bad guy? Okay. No, you are okay. So in a way, Akidos, you don't bend your arms. What do you do here? You're facing down, like reaching out to something. Reach out to them, yeah? You see? Okay. Okay, yeah. Congratulations. Okay. Can you keep on practicing? Good. Okay, next one, I need to do a small group. Can we do it together, maybe? So can someone demonstrate with me? Someone have a good insurance? Oh, good insurance? Yeah, I have one cooperating person also. Okay, okay. So I will show two techniques here. So either you can do sitting positions. That's kyokuku. And the other one is a normal, simple one, right? So let's do a simple one first. So can you grab my hand here, please? So you grab it here. That's how we do escape, right? So I can also do... Okay, so I can do... So he's learning here. Okay. Okay, so I do here. So if he is pushing me, right? So I see the direction, right? So right here, I put here. I go down. And he's... Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay. So let me do that, right? I didn't learn. I didn't learn. It's always fun. Okay. So in the way it turns, right? In the way it turns. Okay. That's another one. Can we sit down? Okay. So now what I require here... You grab... Can you see that? You probably need to close it. And you want to be here a little bit. Okay. So this technique is talking about inner circle, right? So in a way, when we practice this, it's not about opponents. It's about, can I keep an inner circle here? So Akido is... I have a focus here. This is my focus, okay? So this is my space. So what I'm going to practice is, he will grab my both hands. Okay. Then I'll try to escape, maybe getting down. Okay. So let's see whether I can success with this. Okay. So you're ready, huh? So here... So what you do here... So he's already lose balance. Yeah, that's true. You need to hold my hand. Oh, you need to hold my hand. I also cannot do that. You cannot, because your hand is already here. Yeah, I know. He's a good opponent. He's a good opponent. In a way, he's residing me. In a way, he's residing me. But the other way, he needs to follow me. Because he is my... How do we say that? He is not cooperate with me. So in a way, when I do Akido, because we are working together, we are partners. We even say you are opponents. So of course, you're residing me too. I can learn the techniques here. But you also try to do is follow my flows. So that's how the pair works. So I give a chance to learn. And as we call Uke, receiver side also recognize where I deal with junior, where I deal with senior. If it's juniors, I will get a little bit easier. And I will follow the flows. So that's the way it's not we are fighting. It's not in a way I want to fight with you. But in a way, that's create opportunity to learn together. Okay? Okay? Good. Thank you. You can try. There are two techniques. I try. Why don't you try? So... You can try the Kyoku. So if you grab me, I'll be here. I'll be here. You'll be quite painful. Yeah, if you insist. So when you cut, you almost cut his bell. Yeah.  Okay? That's fun. Thank you. Thank you. With that, now we talk about edge organization. So we touch a little bit here. But you really can hear, if you look at edge organization, I don't see there's a lot difference here. Because you need to learn the techniques. You need to bring the practices in. What I see a lot of organization in the sumo, they thought they know that they forget the basic formations, they stop practicing. That's why they cannot move on. And a very important part for you to achieve the result you want to have here, is not the technique. Technique is important. But how do you get people buying? That's where the heart, that's where the mind coming together. So with that, I have a call here before I kind of finish the PowerPoint here. So an edge is not really an easy thing to do. So we might receive defeats. But as a warrior, as an edge warrior, we should never be defeated. Any questions? Anyone learn new techniques? How many people will practice? Yeah, thank you.


Hello everybody and welcome to this talk on public money, public code global problems need global solutions in the next 45 to 15 minutes. I will tell you about our public money public code campaign and how free software can help to tackle global crisis. As we've just seen the corona crisis or as we are still seeing this. And to, first of all, I want to introduce you to free software foundation Europe. We are charity that empowers people or users to control technology. And I'm as if he's policy manager. So in the last month I've been very active around the corona crisis and reaching out to governments and public bodies in order to promote free software. And how it's worked and yeah, what are the results of this. This is what I'm going to talk about in the next minutes. So first of all to give you an impression why free software is so important, especially for governments. I have this comic for you here. I guess you are more or less all familiar with the US nuclear chain of command. So there's the president and but also and this is very important, the red button and the main question for this is, who installed the red button how does the red button looks like is it also really following this chain of command or does the red button doing anything else so and therefore it's crucial that it is transparent and that everybody can check. And this is also true for the software so transparency is one of the most important things when it comes to free software or also called open source software sometimes and but there are more freedoms so it's not just about transparency and for free software always guarantees you for freedoms, and it is about use study share and improve. So the first freedom is to use the software for any purpose without any restrictions so you can do whatever you want with the piece of software you got. You can study the code is transparent so just with the example we had at the moment you can see what the red button does. So we are also free to share the software without any limitations and also the price doesn't matter so free is not free as in beer, you can also earn money with free software. Lots of people doing this, and also lots of companies, and also very important for freedom is that you are free to improve the software you can modify it whenever you want. So this is how you can make the software better adapted to your specific needs and also as we are free to share it. You can give it back to the community and share it again with others. So whenever we have these four freedoms to use study share and improve. Then we talk about free software. And it is very important that especially governments are using free software and I will tell you why. So the first good reason to use free software for governments public bodies is about digital sovereignty. I guess you heard of this term in the last years it became very popular and especially political debates. And in general is about to establish trustworthy systems for public bodies because they must ensure they have the full control over the software and the computer systems at the core of their state digital infrastructure. So whenever you have the full control over the software and you know what the software does. As we know it from the four freedoms of free software, then you have a really trustworthy system and you have the full control and that is about digital serenity. But also especially when it comes to public bodies. Then there's also another issue and it's about money. So public bodies are financed through Texas taxpayers money it's our money and that's why. Public bodies must make sure they spend the funds in the most efficient way possible. And also here free software can help as public bodies have more or less similar demands all over the world and they can share the software they don't have to pay for licenses. And so that's why if they collaborate and use free software, they could save a lot of money and that's why they need to use free software in order to spend their funds efficiently. I'll tell you more about this in a few minutes but just to have very two strong arguments it's about public money and it's about digital serenity. Maybe it becomes clearer if we compare it to proprietary software. So whenever you use proprietary software you have no interoperability at all and interoperability is something very important when it comes to governments. You're using data information and stuff like this across borders and therefore it's very crucial that you can share these data without any problems between public bodies governments and so on. Also whenever you're using proprietary software you're running directly into a vendor login. This means when you buy a piece of software from one vendor it's very likely that you have to buy other pieces of this vendor as well. So it's very important that you know that when you buy this software, this proprietary software from this one vendor you always have to come back to this one vendor whenever you need a change in the software. So whenever you want to update or upgrade if you want to modify you have to go back to this one vendor and ask for a change in the software. And this is called a vendor login because there's no free market afterwards once you choose this proprietary software. So this also leads to unpredictable cost for maintenance, for updating as I just told you you have to go back to this one vendor. And this is the problem when it comes to public money and you want to spend the funds in the most efficient way as I just said because you never know how much you have to pay for this software in two years and five years. And so on because you always have to come back to this one vendor, which makes it really unpredictable for unpredictable for you. How this will turn out. Also, especially if we see now during the corona crisis I will tell you later a bit more on this. There's a low acceptance by citizens when it comes to proprietary software. People want to know what happens with that data people want to know what governments are doing. It's the same like this loss we want to know the laws we want to see and read the text. And, but the software sometimes it's not especially when it is proprietary software then it is transparent. And this will lead to the situation that citizens won't accept your solution and don't use it or just turning out to be angry afterwards. And also after as you have to pay for licenses.  I mean, imagine you take the money which you spend for licenses to modify your software or to improve your software. But you don't have the money for it because you spend your money before for just for licenses and so that's also a big issue when it comes to money and the efficient way to to spend your funds so your investments are lost or quickly lost when you just pay for licenses and not in the modification of software, for example. And also, as we've also seen in the last decades in the last years a lot. There are security issues when it comes to proprietary software. So as you can't look into the code it's hard to find backdoors it's hard to prove that for example fundamental rights are respected but also that there is a lot of data protection in place and stuff like this. So therefore this proprietary software always comes a security issue. And so therefore, you should switch to the solution which is free software. When we compare it we see we have interoperability by default due to open standards. So if you are using a free software it is clear that you can share the data with other windows as well. You have these open standards. So interoperability won't be an issue anymore for you. And this is especially important for public bodies and governments. You are really independent as you have the free license so you have the four freedoms which are just mentioned in the beginning and you can do whatever you want with your software and you can easily modify it and adapt it to your needs. And also as sharing is one of the four freedoms you can share and collaborate together so which means you can also share risk and cost you can. And as I just said administrations are having more or less the same demand so it's easy for them to just go on the market and say we both administrations want a solution for this and this. So let's collaborate and buy a solution or do it by our own and share it with others then so, and this is how you can easily share risk and cost and it makes it also more predictable. And this is just to modifying or updating upgrading the software for future terms because you don't have to go to this single window. But you are free to choose a vendor on the market, and you can do it by your own you can search for other partners here. And so this is also pretty good, especially for governments. And also you have this transparency by default, which is, we will see it also later on we may talk about tracing apps for example very good, because citizens can see what the software does and they can see if the rights are respected. If the software really does what the law says, if the red button is really doing what it should or what the cell do. And also we have an example a concrete example here also for you later in the talk, you can involve local partners. As I just said, normally you have to pay for your license and then you have to go back to your vendor if you need to changes. Normally, these are big companies from the US or maybe from China already. And so what you can do with free software is to also involve local partners and to foster your IT market in your region because you can, especially for minor changes, just include local partners and they could help here. And as I just said, I will tell you a bit more on this in a few seconds with the example of Barcelona where we've seen that it works. And also, when it comes to security, it's really important that you have this transparent code so everybody on the world can go through the code and see and check what the software does. And so you can easily find backdoors if you wish you can run bug bounty programs or hackathons or so there are so many possibilities once you have free software in place to fix security issues. And in general, free software doesn't mean that it's secure or that there is security by default, but you have the chance to quickly fix it and also if they are bugs reported, you are able to fix them directly, and you don't have to go to the window before and ask them to please make the software secure. So now you are free to do it by your own, you are free to go on the market and search for local partners, for example, who could help you. And also you are free to include citizens with projects like hackathons or something like this. So you see if you compare it, it makes really a lot of sense, especially for governments to use your software, but for sure it's also true for every other users on the world like you. And I mean citizens in general, but also companies and so yeah, there are many good reasons to choose free software. And also again when it comes to governments it's really interesting that they comprise up to 27% of the revenue of software firms in the world. And normally you would expect a very strong player on the market who could say, we want this, this and this, we want a solution which definitely fits our needs and demands, but the reality is completely the other way around. It's a very separated market, governments, but also public bodies, administrations procuring software, mostly by their own, they are not collaborating, they are not working together, they just buy a license and then they go ahead. But if you just imagine what happens if these 27% revenue made of the governments would be a single voice on the market, and especially when it comes to free software. And if governments stop to reinvent the wheel again and again, that would change the market, but also the situation for taxpayer money, taxpayers money a lot. And let me just, for example, go to France, where they have a, I would say a free software friendly regulation in place since a couple of years. We can see that there is a major change in the market. So there's an increase in companies that use free software. There's an increase of number of IT related startups. There's an increase in the number of individuals employed in the IT sector. And what is also very important there's a decrease in software related patterns. So you can see when you decide as a government as a public body to switch to a free software friendly regulation, then this will also be. You can see it on the market. It will help your local IT market. And so therefore it's also a very good solution in terms of the IT market to switch to free software. And as I just said, I also want to highlight the example of Barcelona, where they have even more ambitious free software policy in place. They have a law which says they have to invest 70% of their budget for software into free software. And that led to the situation that from 3000 companies who have been involved in the procurement procedures and in the coding for the city of Barcelona, that there have been 60% of them smaller medium enterprises. And you can see these are the local partners. I just mentioned smaller medium enterprises and so you can foster your local market, even if you decide as a city to switch to free software. So on all levels, be it on an international but also on a national and a local level whenever you decide as a government as a public body as an administration to bring free software regulations in place. And that will help also your local IT market. So, to sum up, there are so three very good reasons to support free software as a government so you can have strong IT partners in your region. You can foster your IT market, you are free to have a software that fits your needs that is tailored to your needs and demands and it's not just about a Windows business model. No, it's about the software that really does what you need and also, as you can collaborate and also as I just mentioned, administrations are having more or less the same demands all over the world. You don't have to reinvent the wheel again and again, so you can share expertise and costs but also can collaborate in order to make the software better and have a tailored software in the end. So it makes so these these arguments are really really strong for public bodies governments administrations in order to switch to free software. So, let's have a specific look at the corona crisis as we've seen during this crisis in a very clear way why free software is the solution especially when it comes to software which should help to tackle the crisis or crisis in general. So, we've seen during the corona crisis that there is a global problem, so we're just really, pretty clear. And so this global crisis but also comes with similar demands all over the world so the crisis is more or less everywhere the same. And we need specific hardware and we need specific software to tackle this crisis, we need a lot of, we need a lot more, but when it comes to software. We have seen that, especially when it comes to home office or remote working that there have been loads of issues, especially in the beginning of the crisis. And also around these tracing apps we have seen loads of debates that showed us very clearly that the solution can only be free software when it comes to worldwide global solutions. So, again, we have this interoperability to do open standards so this is very important especially for tracing apps for example so if you want to trace something then it's important that you do it across borders, and you just can do it if there are open standards in place and open formats so that you are able to share the data and read the data and make your findings out of it because else you have national silos or regional silos and you're not able to tackle this crisis then. Also again you have the independence through free license and this is also very important to think about sharing so I mean there are countries in the world, which desperately need a software solution for example for for tracing but also for hospital solutions. And they have to go on the market now and have to buy a software. Why this, I mean it would be way better if there would be free software and solutions in place which we can also share with others in the world. And also it's about, especially these days about innovation so once we have a good solution in place in one country, why not just share it with others. And free software makes it easy to share the software across borders across the world and therefore these free licenses help to tackle the crisis. And you can collaborate also across borders and this is also how you can foster innovation. You can work together you don't have to invent or even reinvent the wheel everywhere at every place in the world. But once you have a good solution in place, you can share it but also before this you can collaborate and work together across borders in order to have good software in place. And again, as we've seen especially with the tracing apps, acceptance comes with transparency. So whenever you have transparent systems, people are more eager to use the software because they know what the software does. If you have a black box, people would stay away and say, oh, I'm not sure I'm handing over very personal data to the provider. So, and if I can't see what the software does, I won't use it. And so this is also what we've seen with the corona apps. It's very important that we have transparent code and that we are also this is how we can involve all stakeholders because of the freedom. Especially when it comes, for example, to the tracing apps, it's not just about having a good code in place but you also need specialists from the health sector, and also from the governments as well, a legal experts and with the free free software for freedoms of free software, you are free to discuss openly the best solution and have then a global solution in place, which could work around the world. And as I just mentioned, a couple of time, the tracing apps. This is a very good example of how free software could help. And it is also a very good example on how free software is perceived in governments so far and how debates around free free software are handled these days. So in the very beginning, where the discussion about these tracing apps have been in the early stage we stepped in with a press release and defined three demands for these apps. And first they have to be used voluntarily. They have to respect fundamental rights and they need to be free software in order to check if fundamental rights are respected. For example, if other rights are respected, and in order to see if the software really does what it should do and also to be able to modify the software. As we've seen in the last weeks, there is a need to modify the software, and this is only possible through free software. So in the very beginning, we stepped in with these three demands in the debate we reached out to decision makers all over the world and try to address our concerns and try to talk to them about the advantages of having these apps as a free software, but also in general why free software is a good idea. And so governments and decision makers followed us. For example, the World Health Organization released in May 2020, some guidelines and they for example said these solutions have to be fully transparent and they have to be open source. So with our arguments, we reached out to the World Health Organization. They followed us and so we had the first worldwide organization in place who said open source solutions of free software solutions are a good idea when it comes to tracing apps because of the just mentioned arguments. And also in the European Union, the e-Health network, this is a network of the member states and the European Commission working on health or e-Health related issues released in mid-April, some recommendations for the member states of the European Union on how to create this app. You know, Europe is, I mean, we have lots of countries doing their own way and still today there is no common European tracing app in place but every nation has their own solution and so therefore it's important to have this interoperability. I just mentioned in the very beginning and so that's why these e-Health network understood quite quickly when we reached out to them that free software is the only solution to make it possible, especially when it comes to movement across borders to always trace or to be in the position to trace also across borders. And so in these recommendations, the e-Health network said that they have to be the technical specifications have to be published openly, the source code have to be published, and we have to make it sure that it is interoperability in place and that we can reuse it. And also which what makes us really happy that they also recognize that it's good for security and the transparent code in order to see what software does. So it was not just about interoperability, but they understood the full concept of free software and named it maybe in some other words than we would do it but still this is an important step also for future solutions. So, because whenever now the European Union is trying to do something in the software ecosphere, then we can easily reach out and say hey, you remember the time during Corona when you said it's about interoperability, it's about security, it's about reuse. So why not for future solutions. So, and that's why this makes us really happy that we have this now and written and also later on in, yeah, after mid-summer it was the Commission released also implementing decision on that on, yeah, for the member states on the situation how the apps have to be and I'm mentioning in this document quite a lot. These he has network recommendation, and again, referring to the principle of interoperability, and that's why free software is the only solution these days in Europe to have a good Corona tracing up in place. And already now, as it is written here the travel restrictions are not anymore in place or they are not that hard anymore in Europe so people can travel across borders, and we have like thousands of different Corona tracing apps which are not able to talk to each other. And the Commission just started a couple of weeks ago a first chest run on this in order to share data between some countries in Europe, and they are now going ahead. And therefore it was very good that they in the very beginning said these solutions have to look very similar all over the place, because else, it will be hard to trace international or European wide movements. But therefore this interoperability is crucial for these apps and that's why most of the European countries decided to have a similar and a free and open source solution in place in order to make it possible to work across borders. As you can see with the Corona apps a very good example of how our advocating on the one hand works but also the understanding now step by step by governments that it is a good solution. And also we had a huge debate in Europe around this so also it is not just about very, yeah, way forward net politic politicians who are eager with a digital ecosphere, but also in general we had very general debates on a very fundamental that free software is a good solution for these apps and so this debate in general helped us to advocate also in future for free software because now we have a good example. Still, I mean, if you look at the whole process this could have been faster and there are also some other issues, but still the idea of having a free software solution in place, because this is the only way to have an interoperability in place. This is something which will stay and this will help us also in future debates when it comes to free software and governments. And another issue we've seen during the corona crisis that many countries or even regions companies and so on started to run hackathons so they were desperately searching for software solutions, also some hardware solutions but let's focus on software for now. And they run really big hackathons also global hackathons. And also we stepped into this debate and ask organizers of hackathons but also again decision makers that the results of these governments of these hackathons have to be released as free software. And unfortunately it doesn't work for all hackathons we've seen. But some of them changed their, their, their calls and said if you want to take play, if you want to take part, then it have to pre software and after we stepped into discussion and how we did it. It was sometimes quite easy so we went to Twitter and raised the issue because this is also very important so sometimes just social networks could be a help here in order to reach out to decision makers and raise your concerns and your, your, your point and this is what we, what we've done. And as I just said with some hackathon is worked, it worked out so we can could convince the organizers of the hackathons to release this software as free software with this one, especially it doesn't work, but still I think it's important to reach out to make your point because also in future debates. And it is important that they at least heard about it, and that they know about the concept and that they easily understand what you are talking about. And especially when it comes to software solutions in general, I just want to mention that they have been loads of software, especially for the health sector in place already before which is free software and it was helpful during the crisis. And this is the new house project that this is amazing project. And we just did during the crisis also a special podcast episode on this was loose Falcon and accept Brown from the new house project, and they told us a bit in this podcast, which free software solutions are already in place and could be used in order to tackle the crisis. And so this is also something we should keep in mind that there have been a world before Corona and that they have been good solutions in place already before Corona. And so that's why this is just something I want to mention because this is really awesome project. And if you want to learn more about it, just go on their website or listen to our podcast. Yeah, it's really interesting what they already have in place and what they have done in the last years. Another issue I want to address is the case of remote working. As most of you somehow had some strings connected to the to the situation of remote working home office and pretty sure some of you also occurred some problems during that time. And also we try to help here users and together with our supporters, which I want to thank you in this place also. So we collected in a wiki the best free software solutions for remote working. So if it just is it shared pets for example or video conferencing tools, and so on so we have a living document so it's still in a, it's still working However, you see another solution, another free software solution, which should be in the wiki. Please reach out to us or just edit in the wiki. And I think this is also something very important to not just say, Oh, you should really use free tools also to help here with concrete examples. And so, especially we but other organizations. I mean, we are somehow very familiar with remote working already before the crisis still some things had to be tested and some things had to have to be reorganized also for us, but especially also for our supporters and they helped us here in order to solve these solutions so you can just go on our website you will find it there or directly in our wiki and please also feel free to add solutions if you have them. If you have some in place, because I think this is also very important to present solutions to the users out there, and that they are good and very good free software solutions in place. And something what I want to also address here is that we've seen, especially during the crisis, I mean, it generally happens often, but especially during the crisis in the beginning of the crisis. You have seen that there have been loads of software companies around the world offering and their software somehow for free, or with specific gimmicks or something like this and they sometimes called it free software. And I think this is very important to distinguish between free software and freeware or something else. Because as I just said free software open source software is just when the four freedoms used share study and improve guaranteed. And so, therefore, I just want to go through the most dangerous things I've seen so far in the internet or we've seen so far in the internet, around offers of free software, which are not free software in the end. And so if you see, for example, offer which says this software is for free, but time limited, then it is not free software, because you will end up in this situation that you have to pay fees and licenses because for the license after this time limited period. So it's clearly not free software. As you have to pay after a time limited period. And the code is also not free or something like this. So this is clearly not free software but something else maybe freeware shareware whatever. Also, we have seen loads of commercials stating that you can use the software for free, but only for a limited number of workstations or limited number of users. And also again this is clearly not free software, because it's very likely that you have to pay fees for using the software. For example, so once you want to have another workstation running with the software, then you have to pay. But also just imagine you want to upgrade or update, or especially in this case upgrade your software, then it's also very likely that you have to pay for all workstations one day if you want to continue to use this software. So this is also again clearly not free software, but something else. Again, it's something similar to the Bose examples I just presented. If the word trial is included in the description of the software then it's also clearly not free software because after this trial period, you have to pay the full fees for the tool. And so it's clearly then again not free software but something else. The same is true for the situation that and this is something we specifically seen during Corona crisis so far. If the software is only available for specific sectors, for example, hospitals or schools. A situation where companies said they want to help here, but in the end it's about their business. So what looks like a very good offer today will also end up in a vendor lock in tomorrow. You have to pay for the software one day. And this is also again clearly not free software free software would guarantee you the right to use it wherever you want and not just only in the hospital or in the school. So again, this is not free software and it's very likely that you will end up in a vendor lock in if you are using such a such a software. And the most strange thing I've seen so far is that you can win a license. And it was also framed with the term free software, but to win a license is clearly not free software so there is the license in place or other users have to pay for the license. You have to pay for the license also if you want to upgrade or if you want to have your future software of this vendor. And so also if you are around the lucky winners. And also very likely that you will end up in a vendor lock in so and please be also very careful with these commercials so it's clearly not free software to win a license and then say it is free software. And then we've also seen the situation that some companies said they will make the tool open source. This is for sure not free software because it is currently obviously not because if I want to make something open software open source of free software, then it is not at the moment. And also be careful with these kind of promises so even if they release then this tool as free software it might only include parts of the software. So you have to carefully check if the whole software package is released as free software. And also, again, if there need to be upgrades, for example, or you get the older version of the software, you might to upgrade soon. So be careful with this and check out if future solutions will be also free software and if the vendor is changing their strategy for open source. So there are companies going more into the direction of free software releasing more free software this is also quite good but still always be careful with these kinds of others and clearly check after for freedoms are guaranteed and because else you might up and in a vendor lock in with all the problems, unpredictable costs and so on. So even if you are in a situation of a crisis, it's better to take some time. And to have a solution which is also which makes you fit for the for the future as well and not just only for today. So always think about future and not just about today and as we did. I mean, in order to give us a chance to to be a heard voice in the debate, for example, around the corona apps, these tracing apps, we've been in place with a campaign already before the crisis and hundreds of organizations and 10 of 1000 of people demanded that publicly free software developed for the public sector must be publicly available under a free software license. And we've seen, especially this this crisis, again that it is now even more important than ever before. And I hope that there are some learnings and we hope that there are some learnings. And we've seen that our public money public code campaign which we started around three years ago now was very helpful during the pandemic because we were able, as I just said with the support of the hundreds of organizations and 10 of 1000 of people who signed this call to reach out to public administrations and governments already before the crisis and tell them about our campaign, the advantages of free as mentioned in the beginning of this talk. And so what we are doing with this campaign is to reach out directly to decision makers all over Europe but also around the world and demand that if it's public money. It should be public code as well. It's pretty easy so actually we want legislation requiring that publicly finance software developed for the public sector must be publicly available under a free software license and so we released a lot of campaign material, for example, we also have dedicated brochure for administrations in place, in order to tell them about procurement procedures for example. So how do they practically can procure free software, but also what solutions are already in place we have best practices examples and so on so this is a dedicated brochure for decision makers. In the last years we had loads of successes with this campaign for example the biggest conservative party in Europe, the German CDU followed our demand. Also in some election and coalition treaties we have also termed public money public code we have seen loads of votes. We are happy that we not just have NGOs as supporters but also administrations and supporting and signed our call so far we have administrations from Sweden, Germany and Spain. For example the city of Barcelona signed our call and this is how we try to reach out and to promote the idea of free software around governments and this had also a lot during the crisis that we had already contacts in place. So it was kind of easy to reach out to us and to get hurt during the debate and this helped a lot in order to make sure that at least for example tracing apps have been released as free software. Still I mean it's an ongoing process advocating for free software in governments is a long term project and we know that there's a lot of work to do for us in the next years. So if you want to help us here you can be part of the free software foundation Europe for sure. You can help us to spread the word, you can join a local group. You can add for example as I just mentioned to the wiki we have in place, in order to talk about free software solutions which are in place but also we have campaign material for activists in order to help them to reach out to their local administrations and convince them we have material here in place. So I think it's important that we all work together here and as you know many small people in many small places do many small things that can hold at the face of the world and I think this is especially true for free software. One of the freedoms is to share and I think this is something which is important so let's share let's collaborate. Let's work together and make free software. The basic fundamental principle for procurement procedures and governments, and I think this could help us, not just in crisis but also for the future. And as we've seen during the crisis, this is more important than ever to use free software and government and to, yeah, to have digital serenity. And so this helps a lot. So now I'm open for your questions. Thank you for listening to the talk. Bye bye.


For the circuit python parsec today, I want to show you how you can use shapes and fill in display IO on circuit python in order to draw objects onto a screen. So if you look here what I have, it's a feather M4 plugged into a feather doubler with our OLED feather wing. And one of the cool things about this feather wing is it has these three sort of general purpose buttons that you can use connected up to pins 9, 5 and 6. And what I'm going to do is simply press a button to make one of these three little squares appear. In fact, I can turn them all on, all off in combinations of those if I want. The way this works, if you look inside of my code, I've got some libraries to import including the display shapes rectangle library. Then I set up the screen and I'm using this BG which I'm just calling the background is a rectangle that's at the 0, 0 position at the full width and height. And I've outlined it with white even though the fill is black. Then I make these three shapes, each of these are initially filled with black as well. I set up a button for button presses and then in the main block of my code here, I check and see if a button is pressed of those three. When any of them are pressed, the associated box will change its fill using this command shapes dot fill and then in this case 0 x f f f f f which is white. When the button is not being pressed, then we return it to black. And so it's a really quick and simple way to draw shapes on and off of the screen inside of CircuitPython using shapes and fill. And that is your CircuitPython Parsec.


I'm investigating which native plant species might be the best plant species to plant beside rivers to absorb nitrogen coming off farmland into rivers, and this is mostly in the form of dairy effluents or cow poop or cow urine. So one thing I do is go out into the field and go to a river that's been planted with native plant species, and then I dig down beneath each plant and collect samples, take them back to the lab to see how much nitrogen is travelling beneath each plant. So we find that plants that are really leafy like your flax, cabbage tree, that also have really deep, fibrous root systems, tend to be absorbing more nitrogen than some of the tree species. I guess in situations when there's high nitrogen flow or lots of high intensity land use beside a river, you'd want to plant lots of leafy species that are going to absorb all that nitrogen. The application is that we could plant lots of these specific species like flax and cabbage tree on farms beside rivers to protect the rivers from any impacts the farm's having on them. I think that definitely needs further research and still questions regarding soil physics and soil hydrology that wasn't included in my study. But yeah, we definitely made a start because before we started this research there was pretty much nothing known about the difference between the different plant species.


Working from home and the importance of effective communication with the advent of social distancing as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic and the associated increase in people working from home rather than face to face, effective communication has never been more important. We share advice here on how you can improve your communication skills online. This information is especially useful for those offering online services, such as online English tutors. In response to the coronavirus pandemic many companies are shutting their doors and sending their employees home in order to keep them healthy. For those who work in blue collar positions, such as manufacturing, maintenance or service industry jobs, the consequences may be reduced pay, being furloughed, or their position being terminated. For those in the knowledge and education industries, however it can mean continuing with previous functions, but from home. Working from home brings both opportunities and challenges. It's time to get more in touch with family and to appreciate each other, especially during these difficult times. It can also provide a positive environment to grow, learn and focus. Instead of spending valuable time traveling to and from work, you can set your own schedule. Of course working at home also has numerous challenges, communication with others being the major one. Distractions in your environment can cause you to lose focus. Sluggish internet speeds influence the quality of calls. Joining a meeting isn't as simple as pulling up a chair in an office or conference room. Getting online can sometimes be a chore, and the reliance on emails and other forms of written communication, can lead to misunderstanding of all kinds. There are some simple things you can do to address many of these common problems, and improve the quality of your communication when working from home. This advice will help you to improve your communication skills not only for the short term during this crisis, but also when we all return to our normal workplaces. Create and protect your own workspace. If you've never worked from home before, you might be tempted to just set up your laptop on the kitchen table. Doing this can lead to distractions from family members who use the kitchen while you work. If you are attending an online video conference, having a busy background can be distracting for other participants.  As a solution, claim a part of the house that is relatively quiet, has a neutral background, and permanently set up your laptop and other work equipment there. If this area is by a sunny window pane, make sure your computer's camera isn't pointed where the light shines in. You will appear on screen as a dark silhouette, which will hamper your ability to connect with others. Become familiar with the software and hardware. While most of us check our emails regularly, not everyone is fully familiarized with their computer, smartphone, or video conferencing software necessary for meeting online. Take some time to experiment with the software, be it Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts or other conferencing software. Make a note of keyboard shortcuts that make your user interface more fluid. If you're giving a presentation, do practice sessions on your own to make sure you understand the capabilities of the presentation application, and how you can use it to your advantage. Speak clearly and slowly. Because body language such as gestures and facial expressions are largely absent from communicating online, it's important to focus on your verbal message. Keep sentences short and simple. State your point without elaborate explanations, and enunciate clearly. If your company is international and you speak with clients and colleagues whose native language is not English, avoid cultural references, idioms or metaphors that might be unfamiliar to those outside your culture. Be active and interactive. Sitting and staring at a screen while your coworkers give a long speech can be dispiriting. If you were together in a conference room, you could interact with them and your other colleagues by asking questions and providing input. This is still possible with most conferencing software, but it requires a knowledgeable and skilled facilitator to make it happen. Using chat functions, raising your hand to ask questions, and other techniques are ways to make the conversation more lively. If you are a facilitator, then keep an eye on participant engagement, ask questions and encourage everyone to provide input. Don't neglect your written communication. Many of us think our written communication is adequate for the job. After all we send and receive emails every day. But most of us have experienced moments of misunderstanding where we have offended or confused someone or where our written requests have been ignored. In the conventional work environment, we can walk over to that person and explain directly to them what we wanted to convey in our email. Body language, tone of voice, and the use of props and other explanatory tools are possible in the in-person environment. This is no longer the case if you work from home, and if your clients are non-English speakers, confusion levels can be greater than ever. To solve this problem, be critical of your written communication, and try to make it as clear as possible before you send it, using the aid of online dictionaries or even Google. If problems persist and the recipient of your email seems not to be understanding your messages, then schedule a phone or video conferencing discussion with them, and plan ahead how you will better explain your points. Understand your limitations. If you are exhausted after a typical teleconferencing meeting, you're not the only one. In said management professor John Piero Petriglieri has theorized that our bodies process so much context, so much information and communicating face-to-face with others, that meeting online is similar to being blindfolded. We sense too little and can't imagine enough. That single deprivation requires a lot of conscious effort. If you understand that interacting online is exhausting for everyone and accept it, you can take steps to alleviate it. Don't schedule online meetings back-to-back. Take frequent breaks in which you relax and walk away from the computer. Relax your eyes by looking away from any computer or mobile phone screens for at least 10 minutes every hour. Are you ready to teach English online from home? The coronavirus pandemic will come to an end hopefully soon, and many of us will probably return to work as before. Will we see this period as a mere aberration, or will we learn from our situation and create new best practices in the workplace? Regardless of what the future holds, we can all improve our communication, and when things return to normal, continue to learn and grow from these challenging times. We are on the left for more interesting teaching tips for getting certified to teach English abroad and online.


Hi, I'm Margaret McDermott. I'm BC's Minister of Health and MLA for Vancouver Fairview. I'd like to take a moment to wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a happy, safe and healthy holiday season. Most importantly, I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all of BC's health care workers for your commitment to patient care. Whether it's primary care services delivered in doctors' offices, or acute care services within hospitals, or residential care in assisted living facilities, or the cutting-edge research which is happening around the province, health professionals are making a difference and putting the needs of BC families first. Every day, thanks to your efforts, thousands of patients and clients receive outstanding care and treatment. I hope all British Columbian residents enjoy a safe and healthy holiday season and take some time in your busy lives to spend quality time with your family and friends. Thank you and merry Christmas.


Here we go, guys. 1983, we're keeping the momentum going. How old was I? I wanted to be a guy. I don't know what you were. I don't know what you were. I was about 16 years old. Guys, we're right in the... We're in the meat. The pit. The pit. For us now, we're starting to say, oh, we know what we like. Hey, man, we're getting our... We know what we like, and we're supporting the bands. They come to the town. We're buying the concerts. We're buying the t-shirts. We're buying the albums as soon as they're released. And this is the album of... This is the year. We're just, you know, we're starting to feel the movement. There's something happening, and we are a big part of it. We want to share that with you. 1983, the albums are getting harder. Harder to squeeze them into 10. Here we go with our top 10 from 83. First of all, they're not the most metal band out there. But, but... This is a must. They were there to open the doors for the rest of them. Kevin De Bruyne. Riot, Riot, metal, and metal health. Metal health. Traditionally, they're not typically a metal, metal album. However, however, it went in number one and knocked off the police. It was the first real metal album to crack number one in Billboard. That's all you have to say, Jeff. Millions of albums sold, global recognition. These guys were, you know, from the early days of Randy Rhodes, they built it all up, and we're not gonna go through the whole story, but they well-deserved metal health, beautiful album cover. All the songs are great, catchy, anthemic, because that's probably what the word is. No, it's funny, but that was the, summer job was strawberry picking. And I couldn't get on the bus that day, it was too full. So we decided to go down, I was gonna buy, you know what album I was gonna buy? Night Patrol by Night Ranger.  Only for that song, didn't know anything about it. I really liked that song, and I went down there and I said, you know what? No, I'm gonna get metal health. And I think I made the right choice because it went to number one. Come on, feel the noise. I'll tell you how I describe it. Girls, rock your boys, you know I got in trouble for paying that on the high school radio. I discovered that album in the magazines, I can't remember which one, Circus Hiperator, and so Randy Rose is dead. Randy was unfortunately, sadly, sadly, sadly, unfortunately he died. And then there was this interest to go back to what bands he was in, the only band that was usually in was Quiet Riot. Was Quiet Riot, so that's when the label went from Debro to Quiet Riot, you know, again, you know, we're not gonna get into that whole thing. But that's where it piqued my interest and come on, feel the noise, it wasn't a hit yet. They haven't, it's sort of like the album went out there but people really, really went grasping it yet. So I went out and I bought the album because it was dedicated to Randy and he was part of the legacy of Quiet Riot. Put it on and loved it. And then just maybe weeks later, come on, feel the noise, it's all over the radio. Then metal health is all over the radio. Bang your head. Bang your head. And this album exploded and actually I had the album right before anything actually took off and I thought it was a great album. I couldn't do both at Great Center. I couldn't, I slipped my Cadillac, I could have done without but Thunderbird, what a way to end the album. Yeah, yeah. Just to end off on this, an album dedicated to Randy Rhodes is he was part of the legacy that album takes off. Kevin Duro, Hats Off, Frankie Hats Off, Rudy Hats Off and Carlos Hats Off did a great job, great album, well deserved, number 10 on 1983 albums. Next, here's a band that's a favorite of ours, Alan, who really not, never really got that recognition. I'm anxious to hear. Raven. All for one. All for one, all for one, all for one. Jim, I just slapped this on last week. Great. Pulled it out of the vinyl. Great album. Oh my gosh. Everything, John Gallagher's voice, the guitar playing, wacko on drums and Michael Wagner. Wagner. Double trouble productions with Udo. Executive producer, Johnny Zazula. There you go. And you know what, great album. I got a Banzai Records copy. Yeah. This is the last great Raven album before the influence of the record company came into play. We'll stay hard. We don't have to go there. So this is, I've done everything. Break the chain, break, break the chains. Oh.  All for one, all for one. Athletic rock. You know, there's everything. You don't have this album. You have to buy this album.  All the previous wiped out. That was just pure speed metal. You know, I mean, this is one that kind of, whoa, let's all comes together. Let's put it some vocal sensibilities. Let's put some catchy choruses and great musicianship, great production. And it all came together for me on this one album. Never got the respect they deserve for this one. Number eight, Alan. Here we go. Let's go to number eight album. Let's go to number eight, Alan. Let's go to number eight, Alan. Riot. Born in America. Whoa. Great. Forrester is in the band, second album. Yeah. And they had all kinds, like most bands, management, let's steal the money, let's, whatever, I don't want to go there. But they were having a tough time, released this album with the hope that finally, since they were there at the beginning, at the beginning, we got Quiet Riot on the West Coast. You got Riot on the East Coast coming out of New York. They're right there, same time as Anvil. Right there, they had built it up a bit. And now we got Born in America. Pause, pause, pause. That was one of their biggest problems. Quiet Riot was exploding. They said Quiet Riot. And then who's this Riot? And he got overshadowed by the Quiet in the Riot. Go ahead. No, for sure. They were underground band, right? Guy Sparenza, Swords and Tequila. It was building, building, building. And then this album, and then, pfft, until Thundersteel. But they were buried. They were buried. Anyways, going back to this album, Born in America, Gunslinger. Yeah. Everything on this album. Vigilante, killer, killer, killer. Everything, those vocals, the guitar playing, the drums, heavy metal machine. The scream, and you got the pfft, the drums. Everything, it's a fantastic album. One of my favorites of all time, Born in America, Riot. There you go. That's off to Mark. Thank you, another great choice. Now, number seven. This is another genre defining, career defining album. Who do we have? Merciful Fate. Okay. Melissa! What, I mean, when you take the new wave of British heavy metal, and you take Black Sabbath, and you put it in the devil, and you mix it all together, you get this album. European influence. From Denmark. These guys, from the neoclassical guitars to the falsetto screens. You love this. Not for everybody's falsetto screens of King Diamond, but he's got the low growls as well. King Diamond. This is just another level of musicianship. This is just another level, and they're just so different from the rest of the pack. Well deserved. This is. What's your album? Melissa. Melissa, oh yeah, your favorite. Black Funeral. Your favorite. Oh my God, this, every single song on this album is just incredible. Jimmy loves this album. And you know what, it's loved more today than it was back in the day. First time I heard King Diamond was probably on the metal files.  The album covers did stand out.    I love it, and I'm going to hell, and I'm going to put it away. Maybe not. I'm going to put it away. Maybe not.  I like it.   That's right. Jimmy was singing to himself. And when I first heard King Diamond on the radio on late night, I didn't know what he was saying.  But it was okay. It's all good. I was good with it. I was good with it. Put a little striper, it was okay. So there you have it, Mercel Fate, Melissa. Okay. All right, number six. This is another genre defining in hair metal. Oh, we are. Molly Crue. Shout, shout, shout at the devil. So there you go. Shout at the devil. This one I remember, I guess, Jim. You know, Christmas time, teenage boys. What do we want for Christmas? Albums, albums, lots of albums. And again, my good buddy Mark, I think he had his brother close in age, the two of them, both got albums. Hey, great. Bring them on over. It was Christmas day, he came over, slapped this on. I'm like, what is this about, you know? It looks like kill. It was, it looked like kill. Shout at the devil. Everything. Red hot. Red hot. I'm going to probably get a lot of people upset, but upset, but this is the one and only Molly Crue up there. For me, that's it. Me too, me too. The rest, you know. He's like, hey. Did they even show up for the one after theater of pain? I think Dr. Feelgood was a good one, but I think this one hit wonders. As far as I'm concerned, one hit wonders. And this is the album that makes our top 10 for that reason. What an album, the look, the attitude. You're talking about guns and roses attitude. They had nothing on these guys. These guys, you know, 10 seconds of love. They were, articles written about how they were kind of doing somebody in the studio to get those sounds. You understand what I mean? Too young to fall in love also, too young to fall in love. All right. You ready for this? Anyways, big numbers, redefined hair, hair metal. Who's this? Molly Crue. The hair, the hair spray. But were they hair metal? They gave the look of hair metal. They were sleaze rock. But they weren't a hair metal band. I never considered them a hair metal band. Yeah. The hair was up there right now.  They had the attitude to go with. They were dangerous.  Yeah, it was their attitude. Yeah, it was their attitude. They always said that, live fast or young and now I guess they're second guessing that.  Yeah, yeah, okay. First time I heard that on the radio. I go, is this AC DC? Is this Judas Priest? But like, what is this? Like, who's screaming here? Who's screaming here? First time I heard the song, balls to the wall, I was just like, what is this? What is this? Right now, Bonnie. We already had our introduction to Restless and Wild, looking forward and we, you know, to this day, we still, we support the bands, right? So do you like the first album? You're gonna get every album afterwards, which we did. We got the Metal Heart, we got the Russian Roulette, then it got Fuzzy. Anyways, this is balls to the walls, London Leather Boys. That was kind of, what's the lyrics? Who's writing these lyrics? We didn't know Gabby was a woman. Now it makes sense. At the time, we're like, mm-hmm. That is a screamer. Not that it's anything wrong with that. That was our second single, London Leather Boys. There you go. But you know, Hot. Winter Dreams. Oh, there you go. Love that. I thought that was a great song. Cold winds are nights, cold winds are dreams. Reflecting the sound of my heart. Cold winds are dreams.  Cardioke. Great album, great album. I loved it, right? Go Bonnie. What did he say? All right, number four, another. So here we go. Ozzy Osbourne, Bark of the Moon. Hmm. Brandy Rhodes. Interesting choice. Dies. The hype behind Ozzy now is just off the charts. Speak of the devil, Brad Gillis. Trying to transition, trying to find. Donary connection with Gary Moore from the Coliseum days. Trying to squeeze Gary in there. What's going on? What's going on? All these things are happening.  We're gonna beat live evil, Black Sabbath to the punch, competition going on in the two. Randy's no longer there, unfortunately. What is going on? Where is this band going? Bring in Jakey Lee. Now we found out with Bark of the Moon. Jakey Lee from Ratt, or what is it called? Before Ratt? It was Ratt, it was before Ratt. It was before Ratt, yeah. Anyways, we got Tommy Aldridge on the drums, Bob Daisley's back for consistency. And just so you know, Carmen Apice told me that he was brought in to fix the work of Tommy Aldridge. Carmen? Carmen Apice. Carmine? Carmine Apice. Sorry, yes. Don't skip the name. Carmine was on the tour. He was on the tour, and then he was let go. Because he was buying his, selling his own t-shirts. And Sharon didn't like it. Sharon says, you are not having any of that, Carmine. But go off. Okay.  We were trying to get tickets. So, Tommy. A friend of a friend walked for hours minus 40 degree weather. Yes. Got home, got a hot chocolate, and put on Bark at the Moon. That's my memory of this album. Put on Bark at the Moon, freezing chocolate, trying to get back warmed up. And Jakey Lee, his guitar playing at that time, was hailed as a great, great replacement for the great Randy Rose. Because he didn't sound like Randy. Journey to the center of eternity. I'm just a rock and roll rebel. Great song. So tired.  Is this, you know, of course. The production was pretty good. Good writer romance, everybody's gonna complain, but really. So tired was an all-in-out syrupy ballad that got Aussies name into the good, into the print for good. And not just talking about biting heads off a bat. Even you could even see Carmen a piece in the video of Bark at the Moon. Carmen. Carmen, don't stop, you stop saying Carmen, what are you, French? All right, okay, here we go. Number three. You ready for this? Metallica. Oh, hit the lights.  You were. I was, I was. I'm gonna put this on.  Kill them all. Game changer. Game changer. You were talking about a game changer. This came on and we're like. What? What? What? The muting of the chords. Seek and destroy. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. What is this? Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. And then a bass solo, a whole song? Anesthesia. Anesthesia, pulling teeth. Anesthesia, pulling teeth. Yes. A bass solo on an album. And we're trying to figure what is that? What's that? With the flanger and the wah-wah-wah pedal. Oh yeah. And what are these guys? Who are these guys?  Four horsemen. On their back, the four horsemen, and we're listening to the four horsemen, and it's all apocalyptic lyrics. Yeah, yeah. and what we're still going what is this what is this we haven't heard uh number of the beast fast number of the beast the year before kill em all makes it sound like they're iron maidens abba all of a sudden you know what i mean or they're they're air supply no more no regret great um here we go you know again johnny's a zula you know i gotta give the guy credit this he you know he risked it all he he he put a mortgage on his home to make this album to produce this masterpiece of a of a debut for metallica and it's it's i think the sound in the production dave scott that's like dave here's your bus ticket dave thanks for those five songs thanks for the song don't use my stuff don't use my stuff the first album comes up mustain mustain mustain mustain that's right that's right curcammate comes in out of exodus out of exodus out of exodus comes in the back door and here we go there's the there's the metallica that we know of today while dave sulking in the corner forming megadeth this album beats them to the punch yep and they use this stuff and i'm glad they use this stuff because this stuff was pretty damn good so here we are we kill em all a game changer the beginning of thrash metal throughout the rest of the 80s yeah start to this album and again i can't reiterate how it blew everybody's mind what is this number here we go this might be a little controversial between number one number two and you tell us maybe you think this should be number one number two iron maiden peace of mind peace of mind we've got nico behind the drums and according to roust's on record it's like what could he do let's make him do this opens up with where eagles there i don't want to use two double bass i don't want to use a double bass drum i want to do it with one bass drum and and like they said they used to open da da da da open the show with that song yeah yeah nico was all over athletic mr athletic talking about athletic rock he's an athletic drummer songs are getting a little more progressive like in terms of revelation where where eagles got a birth and a whole two bow down and here and yes we're far which is kind of questionable but you know the first you know the first song i heard off this on the radio was sunlight falling on my steel so i mean guys everything steve's been on record saying this is probably the greatest he in his estimation the greatest iron maiden album yeah and it's got everything right to take my land that's one that everybody no no to take the land i've grown to love that song to me is more like quest for closer like how it would be thy name that you're stretching you know you're reaching a little you're reaching a little to me that's questifier but everything else you know when the dinosaurs were on the air quest for fire that was based on the movie that was very controversial at that whole movie released without any dialogue and that's what that's on a lot of grunts uh die with your boots on okay you'll hold on a second here's my problem with diving their boots on they just repeat diving their boots on maybe like you know 50 times repeated differently not blackout really had a blackout i don't know if you're gonna die you're gonna die if you're gonna die you're gonna die if you're gonna die die with your boots on if you're gonna die then you're gonna die great song great song still life the Murray's contribution a lot of people love that song it's the life for me that's a little bit nico doing is a idiom in oppression and again okay so let's go back maiden could do no wrong the momentum is in full coney hatch open for them yes yes here in canada so again i saw that tour uh you got everything you know they're really really doing the world tour which leads up to world slavery where they dominated but you can see where they're solid they know who they are they're doing what they are great production from martin birch and uh again just maiden is the band at this point all right here we go alan oh number one roll up the sleeves number one it had to be the deal holy god holy daiva you're down don't talk to strangers yeah you know the first song out of this was of course played on the radio first song was rainbow in the dark i remember hearing it and saying oh okay you know i said that's a little bit his rainbow era because you got the keyboards but he's also doing a black Sabbath thing so i see where he's going he's doing his own thing and it was called deal with mr vivian cambell on guitar jimmy bane on bass yes and the great viny at peace of peace not apicy apice viny apice on drums those albums with viny on drums are some of the best drum albums the fills it's all about the fills he's unbelievable he does behind the beat and the fill you know we need some we need something you know and it's missing you know uh uh holy di uh rainbow darks missy's i mean jimmy just jimmy bane just walks up he goes down that's it there you go what's it's hard about this and that that keyboard rift cheesy just brought the song to another level that's cheesier than it is the first song i heard was actually holy diver i thought it was something like heaven and hell because it goes that that that that that's what i said there he's putting all his bands all his influences and he's making his own yeah a great album guys to this day i think today all deal fans will agree it's either the first or the second last in line or a holy diver which is their favorite but usually tends to lean towards holy diver firing off on all guns he's been in rainbow right he's he's been an elf sorry he's been an elf honing his craft honing his voice now he's in rainbow just going off on all tangents with dungeons and dragons and stuff then he's in sabbath touching evil right again learning being more experienced what is he almost 40 years old when he's dead does holy diver he was like 38 years old he must have been 30 years old he's a seasoned professional at the peak holy diver was not just this one first album this was a an accumulation like you said of all of his experiences boom right there stand up and drop it drop it out holy diver number one for 1983 great choice coming in holy diver deal and i hope you like that list the next ones are gonna get more complicated because now the floodgates are open the record companies are saying we're on to something here let's go get some more of these bands there we go there's our top 10 for 1983 hope you enjoyed it as much as we like doing them