Monthly Archives: September 2015

Living wage is big bump in road for Stagecoach …

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The Times, 16 September 2015, Alex Ralph

Concerns about the cost of the new living wage caught up with Stagecoach yesterday as investors alighted after bearish broker comments.

Shares in Stagecoach were among the biggest fallers across the FTSE 350 after analysts at Investec told investors to sell the stock following a wide-ranging review of the bus and rail market.

Running the numbers, Investec said that the market was assuming an unrealistically high share of the future UK rail market for Stagecoach. It also found that the living wage would hit margins most in the regional bus market, where wage levels are generally lower and Stagecoach has the greatest exposure, with an estimated 20,075 staff. That compared with Go-Ahead, its rival, with 6,800. Investec said that Stagecoach’s margins could be hit the most by the living wage, by between £24 million and £47 million.

Alex Paterson, an analyst at Investec, argued that “lower fuel prices will help partially to mitigate it, but we do not believe the likely increase to labour costs can be fully passed on through higher fares in the short term”.

Shares in Stagecoach tumbled 9½p to 345¼p, underperforming a wider London stock market that shrugged off losses earlier in the session to close in positive territory.

Mini adventures with toy cars …

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Kim Leuenberger is covering the Goodwood Revival, which starts on Friday, where she will be photographing some of the most expensive cars ever produced, as well as capturing the nostalgia of motoring. Yet she is more used to shooting far smaller models – toy cars set in the landscape.

The series, called Travelling Cars, began more than four years ago when, having received a camera for her birthday, Leuenberger took some pictures of toys, including the blue van as seen above, for a project to raise awareness about autism that was running on image-sharing platform Instagram.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-34191506

British Science Festival 2016 in Swansea …

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British Science Festival 2016

Last night the British Science Association (BSA) made the exciting announcement Swansea University will host the next British Science Festival, from 6th – 9th September 2016.

The annual four-day festival is Europe’s longest-standing national event connecting people with scientists, engineers, technologists and social scientists, and we are delighted the BSA has chosen Swansea to hold this vibrant celebration of science, technology, and engineering.

Swansea University is driving knowledge economy growth and hosting this iconic festival will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the power of science to deliver social and economic transformation.

The British Science Festival 2016 will focus on an audience of non-specialist adults with a broad interest in science, delivering 100 events specially curated by the BSA in partnership with the University.

World-leading academics from Swansea, as well as other institutions and organisations across the UK, will present, discuss, and debate cutting-edge science – across the scientific spectrum including technology, engineering, and social sciences – at a range of different events, from talks to performances.

A Fringe festival for families and community audiences will also take place on the weekend of 10th – 11th September 2016, coordinated by the University, the BSA, and local partners across the city.

We are thrilled the BSA has recognised Swansea’s phenomenal success in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), as well as our ambition to make even greater strides in the future through our new science and innovation Bay Campus development, which opens in under two weeks.

We look forward to welcoming the British Science Festival to Swansea in 2016, which will again shine the international spotlight on our world-leading research.

For more information, please visit the BSA website.

Digital Past 2016 …

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Digital Past 2016

New technologies in heritage, interpretation and outreach.

10th–11th February, 2016

St George’s Hotel, Llandudno

Digital Past is a two day conference which showcases innovative digital technologies for data capture, interpretation and dissemination of heritage sites and artefacts. Running for the eighth year, Digital Past 2016 will be held in the elegant St George’s Hotel in the Victorian resort of Llandudno. The event will offer a combination of papers, seminars and hands-on workshops and demonstrations to investigate the latest technical survey and interpretation techniques and their practical application in heritage interpretation, education and conservation.

Call for contributions.

We are seeking submissions from those working on innovative projects on the themes outlined below in a research or operational capacity, who can contribute to this forward looking conference. Contributions can be made through formal presentations, seminars or workshops, or more informally through the ‘unconference’ session or a show stand. Please find details of the various formats below.

Themes:

The two main themes for this year’s conference are Digital Survey: An Integrated Approach (topics including, but not limited to, BIM, GIS, digital archiving, Big Data, utilising the Cloud, intellectual property, digital publication) and Digital Heritage Tourism (topics including, but not limited to, digital storytelling, gaming, engaging children, heritage tourism and regeneration, sustainability, heritage tourism platforms, Digital Tourism: Is it working?)

Papers:

20 minute papers presented in a conventional arrangement of presentation and PowerPoint format. Each session will consist of 4 such papers, with a 10 minute question and discussion period at the end of each session. Due to the tightly packed schedule, a strict adherence to time will be followed.

Seminar sessions:

45 minute seminars designed to promote discussion of a particular issue or topic. Each seminar will be led by two or three speakers on one of the themes above, providing 5 minute presentations with 30 minutes general discussion from the floor.

Workshops:

To be held on the morning of the 11th February. Workshops should offer practical, hands-on demonstrations or training in a particular aspect of digital technology with heritage applications. Workshops may be either a single session of 90 minutes or two of 40 minutes.

To make a submission for any of the above, please send a short outline (100-150 words) of your proposed presentation/seminar discussion/workshop to susan.fielding@rcahmw.gov.uk together with details of your name and organisation.

Unconference Session:

A series of 15 minute sessions which can be booked by any delegate attending on a first-come, first-served basis.  Booking will be available from 9.30am on the first day of the conference only. These sessions will allow for presentation on any project, research or issue relating to the use of digital technology in heritage. Presentations may be pre-prepared using PowerPoint, or purely in response to other discussions/issues raised during the event.

Stands:

A limited number of Exhibition or Poster stands will be available for a two-day booking. Larger stands are available at a cost of £215 or a Poster stand at a cost of £165 and include the cost of one conference registration (prices are not subject to VAT). Booking will be available via EventBrite when conference registration is opened.

Deadline for Submissions

The deadline for the submission of papers, seminars and workshops is Friday, 2nd October 2015. Decisions will be made after consideration of the merits of the individual submissions and their fit into the overall programme, and applicants notified by Friday, 16th October 2015.

Free registration for the event will be extended to those presenting a paper, seminar or workshop. Please note that while we are happy to have submissions which include more than one speaker, we can only offer one free registration per submission. We regret that no further expenses can be offered.

For overseas applicants, presentation of papers via live-web streaming may be considered.

For further information or any questions please contact Susan Fielding at susan.fielding@rcahmw.gov.uk or on 01970 621219

www.digitalpast2016.blogspot.co.uk

#digitalpast2016

We look forward to welcoming you to Digital Past in 2016.

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS MESSAGE TO ANY COLLEAGUES YOU FEEL MAY BE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING. APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING

The Digital Past Team

‘The Ordnance Survey Story’, BBC4 9 September …

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‘A Very British Map : The Ordnance Survey Story’, part of the Timeshift series, will be shown on BBC4 at 9pm next Wednesday 9 September. This may include contributions from various Charles Close Society members who were filmed during the making of the programme, including Dr Richard Oliver who will speak at our Autumn Conference.

The programme will be available on BBC iPlayer from Thursday 10 September for one month at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06b36q3