Winter along the canal

I've been unwell the last week or so but feel better today and didn't really feel the cold (which is usual for me) so i took some photos along the canal to show just how cold it is. The canal is frozen over as you can see!

Open Day QR Experiment

Originally posted on my work blog, this details how my QR experiment went.

Our QR Project is one we have just run during the Open Days to explore the usage of Quick Response (QR) codes. This report will detail why, how and what happened.

Why
I first had the idea of using QR codes when reading on article on how to create them in the Summer. I was surprised how easy it was to create them using a plethora of free tools so decided the University should try them out in a real-world marketing exercise to see how useful they could be and if they had potential for use in our marketing efforts in general.

The Open Days in October seemed an ideal opportunity to test out the codes and i had the idea of “self-serve info points”, codes dotted around the campus that visitors could scan to find out more about the location they were at.

How
Creating the codes was easy, i used one of the many free generators but the more involved part was in what the codes would contain. I decided early on that the codes should contain custom URLs to information pages not contain the information themselves. This would allow for much more information to be presented to the visitor and would offer a way of counting just how many people had used the things.

After some early experiments with pages created on our older CMS i reverted to using a Posterous blog for the pages, mainly because we do not have a stylesheet as yet that is suitable for small screen resolutions and Posterous comes with a good one.

Counting visitors was a problem however. Although i set up Google Analytics on the custom blog not all visitors on my early tests were being counted, not all phone browsers run the Javascript needed for Google to be able to count them. My solution to this was to create custom bit.ly links for each QR encoded page (an example), these visits were counted in field tests on a number of phones especially my own c510 which didn’t show up on Google. A side benefit of using bit.ly links was that the urls were shorter and this made the generated QR codes simpler which may have had an effect on readability.

The codes were printed on posters along with a help url (also bit.ly encoded for ease of entry) for people to visit if they wanted more information and to download a QR reader though this help page seems to have been little used as a direct link.

Just before the Open Day the use of QR codes was high-lighted in a news release and also on the Open Day page on the website though more and earlier publicity probably should have been sought.

What
On the day i travelled around City North Campus putting up my codes, i probably should have done a reconnaissance before the Open Day really and decided beforehand where to put the posters as some locations proved tricker than others to think of the best places to put up the posters. Automatic sliding doors were also a pain!

Although personally i did not see anyone use the codes several colleagues did tell me they had seen visitors (and university staff) try the codes. Usage was not that heavy as detailed below but was reasonable especially on the Friday. That was a normal university day with a lot more people around so it would be expected that that would be the busier day.

Page	Fri 8 Oct	Sat 9 Oct
Attwood	1	2
Baker	5	1
Dawson	3	1
Edge	1	0
Kenrick	4	0
S Union	4	2
Sports Centre	6	1
Total	24	7

Table 1 : bit.ly counted visits to QR pages

Some people were aware of what the codes were but did not try them and of course we should remember that although QR codes have been commonplace in places like Japan for years they are fairly new here. Google Analytics page counts were higher for the pages though, stats available on request.

Lessons have been learned from this first test as will be discussed in a later post.

Tame Valley Canal on a DSLR

Having a play around... i mean learning how to use... the work Digital SLR (Sony DSLR-A200) i took these photos along the Tame Valley canal this lunchtime.

From Bodymoor Heath Bridge to Marston Field Bridge

I haven't been on a canal walk for a few weeks so this morning I returned to Bodymoor Heath up by Kingsbury Water Park this misty morning but this time headed along the towpath of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal in the other direction and went up as far as Marston Field Bridge. And here are the photos.

Wyrley and Essington 25/09/10

This morning i headed up to Brownhills for my second trip to the Wyrley & Essington Canal, this time i went in the other direction in the direction of Cannock and so on. Of course i took many pics, the water of this canal is quite clear and on a sunny day like today you get some great reflections.

A journey around the Black Country

Up until most most of my canal walking have been in the East of Birmingham so i decided it was high time i went out to the (wild?) West. I started off going along the Wednesbury Old Canal from Belper Bridge to Pudding Green Junction. Then along the Birmingham New Main Line to Albion Junction where i went the full length of the Gower Branch Canal (its only a short canal). Then i went along the Birmingham Old Main Line to Oldbury Junction. Finally a short stretch of the Titford Canal. And now i need a rest!

Stratford-upon-Avon (1) : The Waterways

This weekend we went down to Stratford-upon-Avon for a couple of days. I got the idea of going here from a work away day earlier in the Summer. That time i had to race around Stratford looking for clues so this time i could take things a bit more leisurely but because of the away day experience i had a little inkling of where i was going (which is rare for me).

Stratford-upon-Avon, as well as being the birthplace of a certain playwright, is also where the canal network meets the River Avon and it is a wonderful spot for boating and waterfowl. As well as going around the canal basin and river i also had a walk up the canal to the outskirts of Stratford. Of course i took many photos, many many photos. It actually took 4 times as long to upload them to Flickr than it did to get home this morning!

Aston Manor Road Transport Museum

The museum, which is opposite the Villa ground, has been under threat of closure for some time though its still there at the moment! I haven't been for awhile so i went along this morning to take some photos and sign their petition. Intriguingly there was a canal boat outside... on dry land of course (though the Tame Valley Canal isn't that far away actually). More interesting even than that was the presence of a Metrobus in Tracline 65 livery, that being the failed experiment in guided bus ways they tried in Erdington in the 1980s. I hope the museum can survive.

From Bodymoor Heath Bridge to Kingsbury Water Park

Time for a nice canal walk, not been on that many canal walks lately. Mostly that is because i have walked the local canals so many times i could do it blindfold (which of course would not be a good idea). So i went up to Bodymoor Heath and walked a stretch of the Birmingham & Fazeley i have yet to be along before. Many many canal boats!

Tame Valley Canal 07/07/10

The only canal i seem to take many photos along much these days is the Tame Valley Canal near where i work. No matter as the wild flowers are out in strength now.

2nd XI action

Walmley CC is my local(ish) cricket ground. Well the nearest ground where a Warwickshire team play anyway. Not that Edgbaston is that far away. Anyway the Warwickshire 2nd XI started their annual game at Walmley today, this year a friendly against Derbyshire. I always go and see a bit of this game when i can. Its a bit earlier this year, the last few years the game has either been in August (which is one of the few times in the year i am holiday restricted) or the weather has been terrible. Today the weather was fine, if a bit cool. The Bears were batting, and here are some pics from the first couple of hours play.

Now this pic i am quite proud of. 80% luck though. I need a better camera to be honest.

A public bridleway

I had a walk along a public bridleway (i had no horse though so i assume it was ok) by the Crematorium in Sutton Coldfield. The bridleway crosses some fields on Whitehouse Common up to Withy Hill Road (though i didn't go that far), couldn't identify the crops though, can you?

Locating the graves of my ancestors

Today i went to Witton Cemetery in Birmingham to help my Mum and Uncle find a couple of graves (yes on a lovely hot day i hung around a graveyard, no not a goth!) One was of their oldest brother Roderick Grant who died in 1935 while still a child and the other that of one of their grandmothers.

They had not visited the site for decades and had no idea where the graves were but thankfully the staff at the cemetery were able to quickly tell us roughly where the graves were located. It was still not the easiest thing in the world though to find the graves. Although every grave plot is numbered the number is only displayed in a headstone and not all headstones have a visible number. A lot of graves are not marked by any headstone including that of Roderick's. Luckily the grave next to Roderick's was numbered so we could find were he was. In the photo below he is under on the right.

We think my great-grandfather Stephen Morris was buried here too though will need to get the cemetery staff to look up for us, they said there was someone else buried in the plot. The next grave to look for was that of my great-grand mother Rose Eleanor Grant and that was much easier to find (once we knew what to look for). Like Roderick's her grave is unmarked.

I also managed to get my hands on a family tree for the Grants which will very useful for continuing family research (well just on loan but i will get it copied).

Shard End & Castle Bromwich

I took some photos around Shard End this morning. My Nan used to live here and it was the first place in Birmingham i lived in when i left the hospital for a short period (and again a little later when i was about 3 years old). My Nan used to babysit me and we always visited every Saturday so i know it well but have not been around here much since my Nan passed away back in the early 1990s.

Shard End really has gone downhill, which is good for me in one way as i love pics of urban decay but sad too as i have many memories around Shard End back when it didn't look like Baghdad on a bad day. Also took some pics at the shops atop Timberley Lane which is in Castle Bromwich.

Flora along the Tame Valley Canal

I took some photos along the Tame Valley Canal in Perry Barr yesterday. Nothing very unusual for me there of course but i focused not on the canal but the flowers and trees and other plants along the canal banks. You can check out my Flickr set here. The below photo seems to symbolise the new Lib-Con coalition government... or is just an overexposed photo of a tree.

Cricket photos

Something i like to do is watch cricket, and in particular Warwickshire County Cricket Club at Edgbaston! Another thing i like to do while i am there is try and become a sports photographer, it is not that easy though when your camera is an Olympus X855. It is a decent camera for general use though it does struggle a bit when on maximum zoom trying to photo men moving about fairly quickly! Some of my photos do turn out quite well though like this one of Neil Carter just before he catches the ball...

• My Warwickshire Cricket Blog
• My Flickr collection of cricket photos
• The latest set, photos from Tuesday's play between Warwickshire and Hampshire

RAF decade by decade

After resuming construction of Airfix model kits after a lay-off of about 20 years by accident i have a theme for the aircraft i have constructed so far. I am going through the life of the RAF decade by decade as you shall see...

1910s - RE8

A large and rather unwieldly biplane, to be honest this put me off biplanes for a bit!

1920s - Tiger Moth

Chronologically the first kit i made here (RE8 was next then the others followed as below).

1930s - Defiant

We enter the monoplane era.

1940s - Hurricane

My favourite WW2 warplane. Due an upgrade i think. As i get better at this modelling lark i go back and improve the models, well a little.

1950s - Spitfire Mark 19

Although the Spitfire is a a WW2 legend this model (and paint style) reflects it's final RAF role in the early 1950s.

1960s - Jet Provost

The current project.

A Harrier may be the next project for the 1970s with perhaps a Tornado for the 1980s, Typhoon for the 1990s and a Hawk 128 for the 2000s. Much glueing, painting and swearing to go though!

Old prospectii

In the Boss' office are old prospectuses of the university and the polytechnic that preceded it going back to 1974 (perhaps the first - though it was called a handbook back then not a prospectus). I took a few pictures of these wonderful old tomes.

Plantbrook 2010

My first visit to the nearby Plantbrook Nature Reserve this year, plenty of big birds around, oo-er.

Tame Valley photoshoot

I took the camera out this lunchtime and took some photos along the Tame Valley canal near my work place. I am glad i did too as i spotted a boat on the canal (not that many boats seem to use this canal) and even better... it then went up canal and i observed (and photoed) it enter the lock. So check out the Flickr set.

Tame Valley Reflections

One of my favourite past-times is walking along canals in Birmingham (there are a lot of them). Often i take a camera with me in fact i took some more pics this lunchtime, a glorious day and with the canal water nice and clear there were plenty of reflections to snap!

Stirling Avenue

I scanned a couple more old photographs, you can see them in my Flickr collection of scanned photos. This one is of the first house i lived in on Stirling Avenue in Crosby. I was a baby though so have no memories of this place! Nowadays it apparently looks like this.

Building a Hurricane

Recently i have got back into building model kits after nearly two decades of glueless oblivion. I started with a Tiger Moth last year, buying direct from Airfix's website and on my 4th plane a Hawker Hurricane i decided to photo document the building of the plane from opening the box through to applying the decals. A selection of the photos are below but you can see more in my Flickr set on model kit making.

Old photographs

Recently i have been scanning a number of old photographs i took in the 80s (and ones taken of me even earlier). This one was taken at Birmingham Airport just after it's new terminal was built in the early 80s. A BMI F-27 Friendship.

More can be seen in my scanned photos Flickr collection.