Computing and ICT - OU Community Online

Marion Grenfell-Essam, 28, from Essex, has had ME since she was just 12 years old which means the smallest of tasks leave her utterly exhausted. But she’s found comfort in OU study, the flexibility of which allows her to work around her symptoms, and she plans on “studying for the rest of my life if I can.”

Forced to drop out of studying for a BSc in Applied Psychology at Cardiff University, Marion was overcome with depression. At the time, her mum was (and still is) studying towards a BSc in Psychology with the OU and “decided to bully me into finding an interest,” says Marion.

“She knew I had always expressed an interest in learning more about web design so she pestered me into signing up for T183 Design and the Web. That was the autumn of 2006 and I haven't looked back.”

'Perhaps the greatest support the OU gives me is home exams. I simply could never have completed any course with an exam if I had had to go to an exam centre'

“Most sufferers will experience headaches with many having to deal with migraines - basically headaches but with additional components: flashing light or auras, neck pain, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, nausea even to the point of vomiting and skin sensitivity so that even light bed clothes can feel like someone is gripping their hand hard around your skin. Basically when it gets really bad your only option is go and lie down or lie propped up in a dark, quiet room.”

With day-to-day activities like eating and dressing making her tired, Marion sleeps a lot, but she can be awake in the early hours of the morning. So it’s the complete flexibility of OU study that allows her to work at her own pace and in short bursts if necessary, with support for her additional needs via the university's services for disabled students.

“Because I can't plan my good days and my bad weeks I can't always stick to the timetable. My tutors are always very supportive about giving me extensions if I think that a couple of extra weeks might make the difference between a partial TMA and no TMA. I find reading 12 size font just a little bit too small to be comfortable for me so the ability to read my Unit texts as pdfs where I can zoom to a size that works for me is great.

'Sometimes you just can't talk to your family and friends about what you're dealing with but you need to talk to someone and the other students on the forum always understand what you're facing'

“Where I want to read from the unit but would struggle to hold it open the OU provide me with comb-bound books so that they lie flat on my lap or table so I don't get hand strain keeping the book flattened to read. The use of iTMAs is a big bonus as it means I don't have to try and hand write anything with my sore muscles. At the tutorials my Learning Support team make sure I have a ground floor room close to the entrance so that I can easily walk the distance with the help of my walking stick.

“Perhaps the greatest support the OU gives me is home exams. I simply could never have completed any course with an exam if I had had to go to an exam centre. I can sit where I always sit to study with the light and noise levels set to my preferences and with my body supported to avoid muscle strain.

"I'm allowed 30 minutes of rest breaks so I tend to take at least two breaks of 10 minutes each and sometimes a third of the remaining 10 minutes depending on how tired I am and how the questions work out. I can use these 10 minutes simply to close my eyes and stop for 10 minutes or I can shift my papers and lie down on my sofa and catch 10 minutes sleep if need be.

“Because of the eye strain the OU provides me with large print exam papers on pink paper to avoid the glare off a white page.”

Reassurance that you're not alone
Marion’s an active member of the OUSA and Platform forums, which she finds “an enormous support”.

“Sometimes you just can't talk to your family and friends about what you're dealing with but you need to talk to someone and the other students on the forum always understand what you're facing. Even if they haven't gone through it themselves they usually have some sensible advice and often all that is really needed is the reassurance that you're not alone with having to deal with the consequences of this disease.”

Aside from study, Marion likes to read, watch TV shows from crime to sci-fi and has recently discovered blogging.

“Since January this year I've been feeling more hopeful for the future and felt that my brain state allowed me to at least string some sentences together. So I started by reading some of the blogs listed on Platform and when I felt I'd got a feel for it I took the plunge and wrote my first post.

“It allows me to crow about small accomplishments - like sleeping for nine hours and not two hours or 12 hours. It allows me to moan about the migraines or rave about a new book or TV show.

“With the short-term memory issues that go with ME it is generally impossible for me to remember what happened to me last week certainly not any further back and it is very easy to lose track of time between events. The ability to go back re-read posts to discover what I've been doing for the last three weeks or two months ago is a very useful by-product of keeping a blog.”







 

GAP (Google Ancient Places) is a web application which allows users to search a classical (500BC - 500AD) text for references to ancient places, and get the results in a user-friendly interface.

“A GAP user can not only see how an author’s narrative moves from place to place, but also how a town or city’s relative importance varies throughout a historical text," said Dr Leif Isaksen, Digital Humanities specialist at Southampton University. Southampton is a partner in GAP with The Open University.

GAP is part of a larger network of linked open data on antiquity called Pelagios. By integrating GAP with Pelagios, researchers hope to give users access to more types of data, such as archaeological artefacts or historical documents.

Open University classicist Dr Elton Barker says: "These projects will make it easier for online users to explore ancient texts and artefacts in their spatial, cultural and literary context.”

The grant is the second round of funding GAP has received via Google's Digital Humanities Awards Programme. 

More information

• OU leads project to create ancient world information superhighway

Classics at the OU

• BA Honour Humanities: Classical Studies pathway
• Exploring the classical world A219
• World Archaeology A251
• Reading classical Greek: language and literature A275
• Reading classical Latin A297
• Continuing classical Latin A397
• Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds A330 

Photo: Napoleon Vier

 

The Coalition Government's refusal to pardon for Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, is a sad reflection on our capacity for forgiveness and our claim to be a civilised society, argues Dick Skellington…

The news early this month that the Coalition Government had rejected calls for a pardon for Alan Turing, the computer scientist whose work at Bletchley Park contributed hugely to the war effort against the Nazis in the Second World War, is a perverse reminder that while the law of the land changes as our society progresses and matures, as it grows more tolerant in action, anyone convicted of a crime 60 years ago will still have little chance of a posthumous pardon, especially if the conviction was for a homosexual offence. Turing was convicted in 1952 of gross indecency.

'I couldn't be writing this post on my Apple computer at home if it was not for Alan Turing'

Turing was a true scientific pioneer, the father of artificial intelligence. He is widely celebrated for his contribution to modern computer science. His work at the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) in Bletchley Park was crucial in the breaking of German ciphers. The historian and wartime codebreaker Professor Asa Briggs, who served as Chancellor to the Open University from 1978 to 1994, explained: “You needed exceptional talent, you needed genius at Bletchley and Turing's was that genius”.  The Open University, not far from Bletchley Park, has a building named after Turing.

He was also somewhat eccentric too. While working at Bletchley, Turing, a talented long-distance runner, occasionally ran the 45 miles to London when he was needed for high-level meetings. He also was a keen cyclist. But his bicycle had a fault: the chain would come off at regular intervals. But instead of repairing it he would count the number of times the pedals went round and would get off the bicycle just in time to adjust the chain by hand. Genius.

In 1945, Turing was awarded the OBE for his wartime services but his work remained secret for many years. Since 1966, the Turing Award has been given annually by the Association for Computer Machinery for technical contributions to the computing community. It is widely considered to be the computing world's highest honour, equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Turing as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century for his role in the creation of the modern computer, and stated: “The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine.” 

I couldn't be writing this post on my Apple computer at home if it was not for Alan Turing, and you would not be able to read this blog.

'What is it they say of people who do not learn from history? That's right, they repeat its mistakes'

And so here we are in 2012, living in a Britain that claims to be civilised. The Coalition Government had the opportunity to follow Gordon Brown's apology with a pardon. It failed to do so. The result is a new petition. It has already gathered over 20,000 signatures.

It argues: “Alan Turing was driven to terrible despair and early death by the nation he'd done so much to save. A pardon can go some way to healing this damage. It may act as an apology to many of the other gay men, not as well known as Alan Turing, who were subjected to these laws.”  If the petition is signed by at least 100,000 people it becomes eligible for discussion in the House of Commons.

Discretion prevents me from writing what I actually think of the good Lord Justice McNally, who concluded in his 'judgment': “A posthumous pardon was not considered appropriate as Alan Turing was properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offence. He would have known that his offence was against the law and that he would be prosecuted. It is tragic that Alan Turing was convicted of an offence which now seems both cruel and absurd - particularly poignant given his outstanding contribution to the war effort. However, the law at the time required a prosecution and, as such, long-standing policy has been to accept that such convictions took place and, rather than trying to alter the historical context and to put right what cannot be put right, ensure instead that we never again return to those times.”

What is it they say of people who do not learn from history? That's right, they repeat its mistakes.

You can sign the e petition here.

Cartoon by: Catherine Pain

Dick Skellington
15 February 2012