Hello – I’m David Clover.
This blog is in two parts. On the left are links to static pages, and on the right are tags for occasional blog entries. Both sections contain interesting stuff, but they aren’t linked up. The ‘Search’ box on the right at the top should be able to find anything.
Since Summer 2020 I have experienced the autoimmune condition called Dermatomyositis. It’s not painful, but it is very rare and can only be managed by immunosuppression. I have documented my progress here, for anybody who wants to know more about it.
I’m interested in choral singing, historic film from 1896 onwards and the many and interesting IT issues arising during my working life. I experimented with using personal and mainframe computers as Admissions Officer at Oxford Polytechnic in the 1970’s, then moved to the Open University from 1979. I started as a ‘generalist’ administrator supporting resource planning and through my interest in making computers useful, moved into IT Training surfacing finally as IT Development Manager at the Open University’s Mathematics, Computing and and Statistics (MCS) Faculty (later Mathematics, Computing and Technology – MCT and now ‘STEM‘). As well as providing general purpose IT and systems support, we specialised in developing applications with the IBM (now HCL) Domino rapid development framework working with my dedicated and highly knowledgeable developer and support team. You can read some of our case studies showing the sorts of things the team could do.
I was particularly interested in how people react to and integrate with IT having been involved in training and support from the very earliest days of free-standing Word Processors, Microcomputers and Mainframes. Could the technology help people to work more effectively and more happily? Not always!
In the early IT Support days, I was occasionally seen on campus dashing to an urgent support call, loudly calling ‘Whooosh!’
I’ve created this blog so that I can share articles and information about the things I’m interested in and have worked with. There’s a list below. You can find all the earlier entries in the monthly ‘Archives’ posting list from 2014 at the bottom left.
Running Concert Gigs
The Becket Club I’ve been organising Gigs since I was a teenager in Portsmouth where I was a member of the short-lived ‘Becket Club’ at Portsmouth Cathedral which met in the Cathedral House across the road. It was the brainchild of the redoubtable Vi Foster who lived in Portland Road, a feisty congregation member who…
H.M.S Trincomalee/T.S. Foudroyant
In 1969 and 1970 I worked aboard the Training Ship Foudroyant, built in 1817 and moored in Portsmouth Harbour. In 1987 it was removed to Hartlepool where it was restored and can now be seen fully rigged and in all its original design. I have written an extensive memoir of the ship and my time…
‘Boroid’ Non-Flam Cine film in 1910-1914
A major drawback in the early days of cinema was the extreme flammability of the celluloid film stock. A series of disastrous fires in cinemas led to loss of life. In 1897 a fire at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris claimed 126 lives. A cinematograph installation was lit with ether lamps and on…
The Arts – how do you do them?
I have been singing since I was 8 years old. I told a singer next to me that this was a piece I had known for 64 years and he wasn’t sure he believed me! I may find it more difficult to sing properly in future, so on retirement, I was prompted by the thought…
British Newspaper Archive
In 2020 and 2021 as a ‘lockdown project’ I took out a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive. It’s a fascinating place. It is like having a searchable encyclopaedia for the 19th and 20th Century. The amount of information available there is vast and largely unexplored. Alfred West – Our Navy I did it in…
A case of 1 in 100,000
Since I have written blog entries here on many other matters in my life, it seemed worth putting all this down too as a record. As it’s a rare condition, people might be interested to read about its progress. I was diagnosed with Dermatomyositis (DM) in late Summer 2020. It’s a long word and an…
Extracting usable audio from shellac 78 RPM discs
A few years ago I experimented with my ION Profile Pro gramophone deck which has a USB connection so that I can transcribe some of my old records and 78s, of which I have quite a large collection. At last it has become possible to do something with them. Empire day began in the UK…
MaCuDoc – a Document Management System
A department-level Document Management system designed in-house From about 1996 we built a large number of specialised ‘niche’ applications using Lotus (then IBM and now HCL) Notes. In around 2001, working with a colleague who was well versed in electronic document processing techniques, we designed, developed and documented, in only a few months, a fully…
The Virus Pandemic continues
It’s been very strange to see the absolute normality of a lovely Spring develop here in Oxford. The flowers in the garden have never looked lovelier, and the grass never better nor more tidily kept. Perhaps it’s because we are here more, but I really do sense a great beauty in the natural world that…
Pastiche for Corona
I have been reading through the work of the various poets I have always loved since school…
Mind the Gap
The mid 1990’s was an exciting time for people in the IT world. Personal desktop computing had arrived in a very big way, no desk was complete without one and enormous amounts were being spent in purchasing and installing increasingly complex infrastructures to support users. But there was still something lacking – what was feasible…
‘You can teach anything…’
Many years ago, I was asked to present a talk to a group of University Administrators in which I explained how to teach – in this case, IT ‘Office’ software, and so I gave a bit of thought to the whole process and wrote down in a non-nonsense style what I thought I might help.…
David Clover 