Few titles sum up an era and a movement like Spare Rib. With its commitment to challenging the status quo, Spare Rib battled oppression and gave a voice to the struggles, discussions and debates of diverse groups of women over the 21 years it was in print (1972-1993).
From today, every edition of Spare Rib magazine will be available to be viewed by anyone online for free.
The British Library will host a curated Spare Rib website featuring 300 selected pages from the magazine, alongside articles written by academics, activists and former contributors about how Spare Rib was run, its history and the issues it tackled.
This site will link through to the website for Jisc, where the entire run of magazines will be available to view on Jisc’s new Journal Archive platform. The platform was launched to provide access to digital content for education and research allows users to browse across 239 issues and locate material from more than 11,000 pages of the magazine and is home to another 600 journal titles.
Until now, the full run of magazines has only been available for consultation in the British Library reading rooms and a few other libraries and archives.
See a selection of images from the front covers of Spare Rib.
The digitised Spare Rib site will mean that researchers, historians, students and anyone interested in feminism or activism can search across all 239 editions for the first time, transforming the way in which the magazines can be accessed, discovered and re-used.
Debra Ferreday, senior lecturer, Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, Lancaster University comments:
“The importance of the Spare Rib archive can't be overestimated. It's a unique record of the Women's Liberation Movement which will be of huge value to feminist researchers, scholars, students and activists everywhere. I'm delighted that Jisc and the British Library have made this material available in such an accessible, user-friendly form.”
Polly Russell, curator of politics and public life at the British Library commented:
“Funny, irreverent, intelligent and passionate, Spare Rib was a product of its time which is also somehow timeless.
“Detailed features on feminist issues such as domestic violence and abortion, and news stories about women from the UK and around the world sit side-by-side with articles about hair care (including the unwanted kind), how to put up a shelf and instructions on self-defence.
“Just as varied were the breadth of voices in the magazine; early editions of Spare Rib involved big-name contributors including Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, Margaret Drabble and Alice Walker, but alongside these were the voices of ordinary women telling their own stories.
“By making this part of our intellectual heritage available online, we hope it will attract new and returning generations of readers to the magazines for research, inspiration and enjoyment.”
A selection of articles from the Spare Rib archive:
Scott Gibbens, senior service manager for Jisc says:
“Our new Journal Archives platform, which will hold the Spare Rib collection, was launched earlier this year to provide access to digital content for further and higher education. Alongside this collection the archive provides access to a wealth of content from eight major publishers. It is powered using open source software and hosted on the cloud. It was designed in this way so that other collections, such as this one, could be easily added. Our partnership with the British Library, has shown that its flexibility is perfect for making digital content accessible for everyone. “
To discover more Spare Rib articles, visit the British Library website or the Journal Archives platform.
This project has been developed in consultation with the original community who founded and published Spare Rib.
Marsha Rowe, co-founder of Spare Rib magazine, said:
“I’m thrilled at the digitization of Spare Rib by the British Library. It’s as if the magazine has been given a new lease of life. By making the magazine freely available over the internet, it can encourage women round the world to act together for change and be a resource in support of their struggle for rights and freedoms.”
Sue O’Sullivan, who worked full time at Spare Rib from 1979 – 1984, said:
“Spare Rib was a highly visible part of the Women’s Liberation Movement, and a tool for reaching thousands of women every single month for over 20 years. The digitised magazines will be a wonderful resource for younger historians and feminist activists, researchers and all the women (and men) who wonder what their mothers, aunts, grannies and older friends got up to all those years ago.”
See a selection of images from the front covers of Spare Rib.
via Jisc news
Few titles sum up an era and a movement like Spare Rib. With its commitment to challenging the status quo, Spare Rib battled oppression and gave a voice to the struggles, discussions and debates of diverse groups of women over the 21 years it was in print (1972-1993).
From today, every edition of Spare Rib magazine will be available to be viewed by anyone online for free.
The British Library will host a curated Spare Rib website featuring 300 selected pages from the magazine, alongside articles written by academics, activists and former contributors about how Spare Rib was run, its history and the issues it tackled.
This site will link through to the website for Jisc, where the entire run of magazines will be available to view on Jisc’s new Journal Archive platform. The platform was launched to provide access to digital content for education and research allows users to browse across 239 issues and locate material from more than 11,000 pages of the magazine and is home to another 600 journal titles.
Until now, the full run of magazines has only been available for consultation in the British Library reading rooms and a few other libraries and archives.
See a selection of images from the front covers of Spare Rib.
The digitised Spare Rib site will mean that researchers, historians, students and anyone interested in feminism or activism can search across all 239 editions for the first time, transforming the way in which the magazines can be accessed, discovered and re-used.
Debra Ferreday, senior lecturer, Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, Lancaster University comments:
“The importance of the Spare Rib archive can't be overestimated. It's a unique record of the Women's Liberation Movement which will be of huge value to feminist researchers, scholars, students and activists everywhere. I'm delighted that Jisc and the British Library have made this material available in such an accessible, user-friendly form.”
Polly Russell, curator of politics and public life at the British Library commented:
“Funny, irreverent, intelligent and passionate, Spare Rib was a product of its time which is also somehow timeless.
“Detailed features on feminist issues such as domestic violence and abortion, and news stories about women from the UK and around the world sit side-by-side with articles about hair care (including the unwanted kind), how to put up a shelf and instructions on self-defence.
“Just as varied were the breadth of voices in the magazine; early editions of Spare Rib involved big-name contributors including Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, Margaret Drabble and Alice Walker, but alongside these were the voices of ordinary women telling their own stories.
“By making this part of our intellectual heritage available online, we hope it will attract new and returning generations of readers to the magazines for research, inspiration and enjoyment.”
A selection of articles from the Spare Rib archive:
Scott Gibbens, senior service manager for Jisc says:
“Our new Journal Archives platform, which will hold the Spare Rib collection, was launched earlier this year to provide access to digital content for further and higher education. Alongside this collection the archive provides access to a wealth of content from eight major publishers. It is powered using open source software and hosted on the cloud. It was designed in this way so that other collections, such as this one, could be easily added. Our partnership with the British Library, has shown that its flexibility is perfect for making digital content accessible for everyone. “
To discover more Spare Rib articles, visit the British Library website or the Journal Archives platform.
This project has been developed in consultation with the original community who founded and published Spare Rib.
Marsha Rowe, co-founder of Spare Rib magazine, said:
“I’m thrilled at the digitization of Spare Rib by the British Library. It’s as if the magazine has been given a new lease of life. By making the magazine freely available over the internet, it can encourage women round the world to act together for change and be a resource in support of their struggle for rights and freedoms.”
Sue O’Sullivan, who worked full time at Spare Rib from 1979 – 1984, said:
“Spare Rib was a highly visible part of the Women’s Liberation Movement, and a tool for reaching thousands of women every single month for over 20 years. The digitised magazines will be a wonderful resource for younger historians and feminist activists, researchers and all the women (and men) who wonder what their mothers, aunts, grannies and older friends got up to all those years ago.”
See a selection of images from the front covers of Spare Rib.
via Jisc news
Jeremy Sharp talks from the Global Business Telecoms awards, where Jisc and Scottish Southern Electic Telecoms were winners in the 'fixed network' category for their work on the world class Janet 6 network.
via Jisc news
Jeremy Sharp talks from the Global Business Telecoms awards, where Jisc and Scottish Southern Electic Telecoms were winners in the 'fixed network' category for their work on the world class Janet 6 network.
via Jisc news
This week we're at Colleges Wales Annual Conference 2015, the annual event for further education providers, practitioners and policymakers in Wales. Alyson Dacey, head of Jisc Wales, discusses what we're doing to support the sector.
via Jisc news
This week we're at Colleges Wales Annual Conference 2015, the annual event for further education providers, practitioners and policymakers in Wales. Alyson Dacey, head of Jisc Wales, discusses what we're doing to support the sector.
via Jisc news
Myerscough College, a land-based further and higher education college in the north west, is one of the approximately 160 further education colleges in England to take additional connections to Jisc’s Janet network. Ian Brown, director of IT and MIS at the college, talks to us about why they’ve taken an extra four connections.
via Jisc news
Myerscough College, a land-based further and higher education college in the north west, is one of the approximately 160 further education colleges in England to take additional connections to Jisc’s Janet network. Ian Brown, director of IT and MIS at the college, talks to us about why they’ve taken an extra four connections.
via Jisc news
Jisc’s Janet6 network, provided for UK education and research, won the fixed network infrastructure innovation category at last night’s Global Telecoms Business Awards.
The network supports the ever-increasing bandwidth requirements of the UK’s colleges and universities. SSE Enterprise Telecoms worked alongside Jisc providing the 6,500km fibre infrastructure necessary to deliver the Janet6 network, which ensures these organisations are able to transfer the vast sets of data that they rely on across a secure high-speed connection.
Jeremy Sharp, head of strategic technologies, Jisc, said:
“We are delighted to have won this award. As one of the world’s leading collaborative network providers, it was important to us that we were able to manage and run our own network – from an innovation, autonomy and example-setting perspective.
"With SSE Enterprise Telecoms, we have complete control over the technologies that we roll out over the infrastructure, which means that when it comes to furthering the capabilities of our research and education community, the sky really is the limit. SSE Enterprise Telecoms is a reputable brand with a proven track record of delivering consistent services to high profile, risk-averse clients. That covenant, coupled with the technological reliability and quality of network engineering, is very important to us.”
Colin Sempill, SSE Enterprise Telecoms managing director, said:
“Janet6’s pioneering use of 100Gbps provides enormous capacity and means that students can always rely on the network to perform, no matter how much data they need to transfer. The network is ultra-reliable and offers virtually limitless scope for collaboration and technical innovation.
"It runs over 6,500km of enterprise-class dark fibre, supporting nearly a thousand facilities, universities and colleges in more than 30 sites across the UK. It is one of the UK’s largest and most resilient private networks and Jisc now has complete control to provide services without fear of capacity shortage.”
Following this success, SSE Enterprise Telecoms has also been chosen to replace Janet’s south regional network in a five year contract.
via Jisc news
Jisc’s Janet6 network, provided for UK education and research, won the fixed network infrastructure innovation category at last night’s Global Telecoms Business Awards.
The network supports the ever-increasing bandwidth requirements of the UK’s colleges and universities. SSE Enterprise Telecoms worked alongside Jisc providing the 6,500km fibre infrastructure necessary to deliver the Janet6 network, which ensures these organisations are able to transfer the vast sets of data that they rely on across a secure high-speed connection.
Jeremy Sharp, head of strategic technologies, Jisc, said:
“We are delighted to have won this award. As one of the world’s leading collaborative network providers, it was important to us that we were able to manage and run our own network – from an innovation, autonomy and example-setting perspective.
"With SSE Enterprise Telecoms, we have complete control over the technologies that we roll out over the infrastructure, which means that when it comes to furthering the capabilities of our research and education community, the sky really is the limit. SSE Enterprise Telecoms is a reputable brand with a proven track record of delivering consistent services to high profile, risk-averse clients. That covenant, coupled with the technological reliability and quality of network engineering, is very important to us.”
Colin Sempill, SSE Enterprise Telecoms managing director, said:
“Janet6’s pioneering use of 100Gbps provides enormous capacity and means that students can always rely on the network to perform, no matter how much data they need to transfer. The network is ultra-reliable and offers virtually limitless scope for collaboration and technical innovation.
"It runs over 6,500km of enterprise-class dark fibre, supporting nearly a thousand facilities, universities and colleges in more than 30 sites across the UK. It is one of the UK’s largest and most resilient private networks and Jisc now has complete control to provide services without fear of capacity shortage.”
Following this success, SSE Enterprise Telecoms has also been chosen to replace Janet’s south regional network in a five year contract.
via Jisc news
Neil Shewry talks about his experience of Networkshop43, Jisc's annual technical event, aimed at network managers and technical staff. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Neil Shewry talks about his experience of Networkshop43, Jisc's annual technical event, aimed at network managers and technical staff. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Andrew Cormack, chief regulatory adviser, Jisc technologies, explains how cloud technology offers more opportunities for innovation than the stereotypes associated with it suggest. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Andrew Cormack, chief regulatory adviser, Jisc technologies, explains how cloud technology offers more opportunities for innovation than the stereotypes associated with it suggest. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
12 leading national research and education networks (NRENs) representing the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, and including Jisc’s Janet network, have announced the official launch of the second 'Enlighten Your Research Global (EYR-Global)' programme.
This programme, which helps accelerate international research collaborations by providing selected proposals with improved networking, data transfers, and/or engineering, is now accepting proposals.
The EYR-Global programme reflects two growing trends in research: it is increasingly international in scope, and increasingly reliant on high-speed networks to provide critical resources for managing, sharing and analysing the data driving that research.
Major experimental collaborations such as the Large Hadron Collider integrate advanced networking capabilities as components for managing and sharing data internationally. At the same time, network-intensive research techniques are rapidly emerging across disciplines from genomics to climate research, materials discovery, humanities and the social sciences.
David Salmon, research support unit manager, Jisc, said:
"Global research in many disciplines is increasingly reliant on access to large data-sets and the capabilities of high-capacity networks such as Janet to move these between facilities for processing and analysis.
“We hope that EYR will encourage research groups to collaborate with their UK partners, and to submit proposals for projects that will benefit from access to the Janet network and support from Jisc and the other NRENs to help meet the needs of their research."
ESNet director Greg Bell said:
“Research and education networks have spent the past few years performing upgrades and improving end-to-end network performance. Our next frontier is direct engagement with scientific collaborations. It’s very exciting to see over a dozen of the most advanced networks in the world coming together to collaborate in this way.”
The EYR-Global programme was patterned after SURFnet’s successful national Enlighten Your Research competition in the Netherland. It represents an important step forward in helping researchers in all fields to incorporate advanced global research networks to significantly improve discoveries and collaboration processes.
In 2013, the first inaugural EYR-Global programme resulted in four research projects in climate research, life sciences, and computer science receiving awards in the form of network resources and/or engineering consultations to improve the research workflows in each project.
Regarding his EYR-Global 2013 project, 'An Advanced Distributed Computing Approach to High-Resolution Climate Modeling,' Henk Dijkstra, professor of dynamical oceanography at Utrecht University said:
“Our work within the EYR-Global 2013 programme has enabled our team to perform climate model computations distributed over different supercomputing systems in the world. The software developed in this project and the experience gained with the networking issues will be crucial to be able to efficiently perform extremely high-resolution climate simulations in the near future.”
For 2015, EYR-Global is seeking to support even more projects. The two-step proposal process includes review by a panel of judges representing each of the sponsoring organizations. Final EYR-Global proposal projects may have access to:
The selected proposals will receive resources and/or support from some of the world’s leading NRENs which are sponsoring EYR-Global:
Find out how to participate here.
via Jisc news
12 leading national research and education networks (NRENs) representing the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, and including Jisc’s Janet network, have announced the official launch of the second 'Enlighten Your Research Global (EYR-Global)' programme.
This programme, which helps accelerate international research collaborations by providing selected proposals with improved networking, data transfers, and/or engineering, is now accepting proposals.
The EYR-Global programme reflects two growing trends in research: it is increasingly international in scope, and increasingly reliant on high-speed networks to provide critical resources for managing, sharing and analysing the data driving that research.
Major experimental collaborations such as the Large Hadron Collider integrate advanced networking capabilities as components for managing and sharing data internationally. At the same time, network-intensive research techniques are rapidly emerging across disciplines from genomics to climate research, materials discovery, humanities and the social sciences.
David Salmon, research support unit manager, Jisc, said:
"Global research in many disciplines is increasingly reliant on access to large data-sets and the capabilities of high-capacity networks such as Janet to move these between facilities for processing and analysis.
“We hope that EYR will encourage research groups to collaborate with their UK partners, and to submit proposals for projects that will benefit from access to the Janet network and support from Jisc and the other NRENs to help meet the needs of their research."
ESNet director Greg Bell said:
“Research and education networks have spent the past few years performing upgrades and improving end-to-end network performance. Our next frontier is direct engagement with scientific collaborations. It’s very exciting to see over a dozen of the most advanced networks in the world coming together to collaborate in this way.”
The EYR-Global programme was patterned after SURFnet’s successful national Enlighten Your Research competition in the Netherland. It represents an important step forward in helping researchers in all fields to incorporate advanced global research networks to significantly improve discoveries and collaboration processes.
In 2013, the first inaugural EYR-Global programme resulted in four research projects in climate research, life sciences, and computer science receiving awards in the form of network resources and/or engineering consultations to improve the research workflows in each project.
Regarding his EYR-Global 2013 project, 'An Advanced Distributed Computing Approach to High-Resolution Climate Modeling,' Henk Dijkstra, professor of dynamical oceanography at Utrecht University said:
“Our work within the EYR-Global 2013 programme has enabled our team to perform climate model computations distributed over different supercomputing systems in the world. The software developed in this project and the experience gained with the networking issues will be crucial to be able to efficiently perform extremely high-resolution climate simulations in the near future.”
For 2015, EYR-Global is seeking to support even more projects. The two-step proposal process includes review by a panel of judges representing each of the sponsoring organizations. Final EYR-Global proposal projects may have access to:
The selected proposals will receive resources and/or support from some of the world’s leading NRENs which are sponsoring EYR-Global:
Find out how to participate here.
via Jisc news
Andy McGregor, deputy chief innovation officer, talks about the Summer of Student Innovation competition and why you should take part. He also discusses Call for Participants, a previous winner of the competition. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Chris Thomson, subject specialist - online learning and the digital student experience, discusses the value of digital storytelling to organisations. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Performing arts students from around the globe used state-of-the-art technology to virtually perform together at the Royal College of Music (RCM), London on Tuesday 5 May.
Dancers from the museum of contemporary arts, Barcelona (MACBA) and traditional Nordic instrumentalists from the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, joined the performance with musicians from the RCM via live video links.
This collaboration was made possible by Jisc, while the performance was streamed via our Janet network, using very low latency audio and visual technology which means it can broadcast video in real time from different international locations without delays.
The performance was an innovative and cross-disciplinary event in which visual poetry, new music and choreography combine with pioneering digital design and projection technology to explore award-winning writer Peter Cox’s original narrative, The Infinite Bridge.
Michael Ladouceur, a Masters student at the Royal College of Music, who is co-executive producer and one of three young composers on the project, said:
“These technologies have allowed us to create a unique performance environment, changing not only the way we write music, but also the way it is perceived. Along with my fellow music collaborators, RCM MA student composers, Mari Sainio and Sam Jones, I can say we’re immensely excited to be creating a new kind of artwork for the 21st century.”
Emma Smith, Jisc video projects coordinator said:
“The role of digital technology in further and higher education is growing. Thanks to our high-speed network Jisc is helping the Royal College of Music to shape the way music is taught, rehearsed and performed.
We are very excited to be working with the RCM to deliver this performance and demonstrate how the power of technology can be used to remove traditional geographical constraints and help transform the performing arts landscape.”
The performance was a part of the annual network performing arts production workshop (NPAP) which is being held in the UK this year at the Royal College of Music on 4-6 May.
The workshop has been coordinated by Jisc, the Royal College of Music and the GÉANT Association's Amsterdam office (formerly TERENA). GÉANT is the pan-European research and education network that interconnects Europe’s NRENs. Additional technical expertise will be provided by the American NREN Internet2, Italian NREN GARR and CSUC which manages the regional network in Catalonia.
For an overview of some of the talks, performances and personalities of the previous event, held in Vienna in 2013, see the video report.
More information regarding The Infinite Bridge can be found on the Royal College of Music website.
via Jisc news
With digital technology becoming ever more pervasive in learning and teaching, Judy Bloxham, training consultant, Jisc, gives us five reasons why colleges should embrace digital. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Paul Bailey, co-design manager, talks to us about the Summer of Student Innovation 2015 and your chance to improve the student experience. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
After four years as Jisc’s chief executive, Martyn Harrow has decided to step down from the role this autumn.
Martin Hall, chair of Jisc said:
“Martyn informed me last year of his plans to move on to new projects and while the board regrets his decision we do understand and wish him the very best.
Martyn has bought about a radical and forward looking modernisation and transformation of Jisc. He has achieved this whilst ensuring minimum disruption to core solutions and services we deliver and that our communities across education and research use and rely on every day.
He has achieved greater engagement with our customers, stakeholder, funders and sponsors while making huge progress in changing Jisc’s structure, cost base and business model. Martyn will hand over to a new chief executive during the autumn and we have now started the search and selection process for his successor.”
via Jisc news
Tracey Duffy, digital media advisor (e-learning), talks to us about using mobile learning to support inclusive practice. Tracey also opens a call for higher and further education and skills providers to submit their own examples to be made into video case studies for Jisc's mobile learning guide. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Nigel Ecclesfield, head of change implementation support programmes - further education (FE) and skills, discusses some of the challenges facing the sector, and sets out the actions being taken by the FE coalition to improve teaching, learning, assessment and management. Read the original blog post.
via Jisc news
Tuesday 5 May marks the start of Images of Research, the annual competition and exhibition from the University of Strathclyde, which is designed to broaden the appeal of the university's research outputs to the general public.
This year, to bring the research to life Chris Thomson, subject specialist - online learning and the digital student experience, helped to support the participants in using digital storytelling. Rachel Clark, project coordinator at the university, talks to us about the thinking behind the exhibition.
via Jisc news