Progress 17th June

I have reached Chunk 20 in the editing. I hope to complete the first full edit by the end of August and then carry out a structuring exercise which would involve adding some glue text to cover the interfaces between the chunks.

It was an excellent event on Monday. Ira has offered to write a preface; something I have taken up with alacrity.

If any of you want to be put on the reserve list for chunks that were not delivered please email me.

Webcast Details

The webcast page for the 15th June event is here. It automatically refreshes itself, adding the Live links when the event goes live. You will need QuickTime 7 or later to view the webcast.

Progress 6th June

So far I have edited 13 texts. All are excellent. The main problems (all small) are:

• Punctuation
• Sometimes an over laid-back style
• Two small assumptions about what students have learned in previous chunks were not correct.
• Figure referencing needed fixing up.
  

I estimate that I have changed 3% of a chunk on average. I had hoped to get to 15 by tomorrow but family illness intervened. Hope to get to 18 by 13th June. The bulk of the editing will occur in July/August

I may need to look at structure once I have done the first twenty. However, I will not be touching the texts that were delivered and edited, they are uniformly good.

June 15th

We are finalising the arrangements for the four hour session on the mass writing project. It will take place on June 15th. The first session will be from 11.00 to 13.00 and will be devoted to Processing. Ira Greenberg will talk about his journey from artist to programmer and describe recent advances in Processing.

The afternoon will be started at 14.00 with a short talk by me introducing the project (about 30 minutes) and then four students will describe their involvement. We hope to finish by around 16.00. The event will be webcast so you can follow it live; however, it will also be recorded and made available for viewing later. Details of the webcast link and the link to the video will follow in about a week.

Progress 25/5/09

Just to let you know that I have edited the first seven chunks. They have all been of the highest quality. Most of the changes have been cosmetic, for example adding semi-colons. Other changes have been done to get the book into a consistent style. I estimate that I have only deleted or modified about 3-4% of your texts so far. this is amazing!

Progress

I have edited the first three chunks. I plan to do two more tomorrow. I suspect that my rate will be about five chunks a week until the summer when it should accelerate: I stay with my mum-in-law in an area of France which is, without a doubt, the most ill-served in terms of the attractions that I enjoy. So, apart from a two day wine buying trip to the Loire, I shall probably be up to 15 a week for a fortnight. Incidentally, if you are ever in Fontrevaud, just off the Loire, I recommend the Hotel Abbaye Royale in Fontrevaud; its cheap for what you get and having breakfast in the cloisters of an old nunnery is quite something. Advanced booking recommended. Also La Licorne is a stellar restaurant in Fontrevaud.

So far the chunks I have edited have been fantastic. I calculate that in editing them I have only changed about 2-3% of the text which is amazing. When I have done I will put them on an ftp server.

Update June 15

The arrangements for June 15 are now almost there. I will do a brief fifteen minute introduction. Ira will talk for two hours about Processing and his journey from artist to computer programmer and four of you have bravely volunteered to give short 20 minute talks. I still have about five chunks of £50 pounds for expenses if anyone wants to join us on the 15th. As a minimum we hope to video the sessions. We are, however, hoping to webcast the four hours. Watch this space over the next few weeks; a webcast would also involve recording the four hours and putting it on a web site for download.