This category pulls together various topics that might be of some continuing interest, involving either issues of educational policy or some media impact:
Educational Policy
Degree Classification
The heading above links to a page relating to my design and implementation of a uniform system of degree classification across the University of Leeds. This work mainly took place between 1992 and 1998, with the new classification system operating across all faculties in the University from 2000.
Funding Allocation within Oxford University
In November 2006 I circulated a briefing note to the Philosophy Faculty, emphasising the dangers which I saw in the impending Joint Resource Allocation Model (JRAM). I then wrote a longer paper entitled JRAMifications, which was published in Oxford Magazine 258, pp. 16-19. To my surprise, the briefing paper was discussed (inaccurately) in The Daily Telegraph (whereas the Oxford Magazine article sank without trace).
Admissions Test for PPE at Oxford
In December 2006, immediately after the PPE Admissions round had concluded, I circulated to colleagues in the Philosophy Faculty a discussion document What is Wrong with the PPE Admissions Test? The subsequent discussion led quickly to our abandonment of the old test, and the adoption instead (both for PPE and, the following year, for E&M) of the Thinking Skills Assessment.
Software in the Media
A Foray into the World of Marketing
In August 2005 I received out of the blue an email from Craig Kolb, a business analyst with the company Ask Afrika. He wanted to try using chatbot technology in a marketing context, and had identified my Elizabeth system as the most suitable for the purpose, owing to its power, control, and flexibility. Working together, we developed a script that Craig then used to investigate South African consumers' reasons for choosing their mobile phone network. A joint paper "Connecting with Elizabeth: Using artificial intelligence as a data collection aid" was then accepted for the "Connections" annual conference of the Market Research Society (MRS), held at the London Barbican in March 2006. Click the following for the abstract, the published paper, and the PowerPoint presentation (which looks very different from my usual material, after being jazzed up by the Ask Afrika marketers).
Coleridge/Faustus Controversy
In October 2007, Frederick Burwick and James McKusick published Faustus: From the German of Goethe, carrying the bold subtitle Translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The last chapter of this substantial scholarly tome consisted of a "Stylometric Analysis of the Faust Translations", using my Signature software to corroborate the authors' claim that Coleridge was indeed the translator. This quickly provoked a major literary controversy, in numerous websites and journals, which is best documented on the Friends of Coleridge website.
Obama/Ayers Controversy
Very shortly before the US Election in November 2008, I got dragged into the Obama/Ayers ghostwriting controversy, when some prominent Republicans tried to enlist my help – and that of my Signature software – in discrediting Barack Obama. Subsequently I wrote an article for The Sunday Times exposing the plot, and ended up on the front page – a rather surreal 15 minutes of fame!
