Merry Christmas everyone from the Spoken Word! Our repository is sprinkled with various Christmas themed programmes that are of both educational and festive value. These programmes include:

• Empire Exchange

This is a radio programme originally broadcast in 1934 that depicts Christmas celebrations throughout the Commonwealth. It is of particular note as it includes a Christmas message from King George V.

• Scotland on Film: Christmas and Hogmanay

This is a fascinating television programme from 2002. It highlights the traditional Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations that have taken place in Scotland. It includes some brilliant archive footage of Scots celebrating the festive period throughout the ages.

• Around Scotland - Behind the Scenes at Pantomime

This television programme from 1986 offers a behind the scenes look at the traditional Christmas pantomime.

The inaugural BarCamp Scotland goes ahead this Saturday in Edinburgh (See the Upcoming entry for details). The popular casual geekfests have become an important meet and greet event for academics, web developers, freelance podcasters and new media folks of all descriptions. They’re also an important opportunity for attendees to sample the state of the arts in areas beyond their immediate disciplinary remit.

Spoken Word will be there, represented by Aidan Johnston, Ewan MacPhee, Graeme West and Andrew Gruen.

We’ll be available to discuss the project in general; our repository; connected learning issues and methodologies; our relationship with the BBC; and of course all of the geeky details of running a service like ours. Any prior notification of desired topics would be very helpful (leave a comment).

We’re also, of course, looking forward to learning from other attendees, some of whom are friends of Spoken Word (see the attendee list on the wiki). Major topics look to include podcasting, community software, dynamic web application frameworks, mobile technology and open source projects.

If you’d like to meet with us at BarCamp, please leave a comment here (or use the Contact form) and we’ll get back to you - or simply come and find us on the day. Visit the wiki to add your name to the roster if you plan to drop by.