Book Review: Atlas of the Irish Revolution

Authors: John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil and Mike Murphy John Borgonovo
Affiliation: University College Cork
Publication Year: Hardback September 2017
Pages: 984
Size: 299 x 237mm

ISBN: 9781782051176

Price 59 euros

This landmark publication covers the Irish revolution 1913-23 in one thousand pages with contributions from over one hundred historians. Featuring over three hundred original maps it details how topology and location played such an important part in this complex conflict. This book places the Irish revolution in its international context with telling use of several hundred illustrations, and reproductions of rarely seen key documents. It analyses the political and social changes which shaped modern Ireland and details the unspectacular aspects of ordinary Irish life. It will have wide appeal to a specialist and popular readership. 

'Oh Grace just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger

They’ll take me out at dawn and I will die…’

The ballad or narrative song has played an influential role in both the shaping of popular memory and the humanising of key historical events. ‘Grace’ was jointly composed in 1985 by the brothers Frank and Seán O’Meara and popularised subsequently the singer Jim McCann. It tells the story of the marriage of the marriage of Joseph  Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford in Kilmainham Gaol shortly before Plunkett’s execution. The tenderness and poignancy of that moment is captured in lyrics that have resonated with the public ever since. Joseph’s love for Grace is manifest in a letter (above) written in Moore Street on the ‘sixth day of the Irish Republic’ where he leaves all his possession to her. Their short and intense courtship would be brought to a dramatic end by the events of Easter Week. The centenary commemoration of the Rising showed a willingness by the public to engage with and understand the 1916 participants on their own terms.

So how many active volunteers were there in Dublin during this period? Oscar Traynor who took over the brigade on the deaths of McKee and Clancy, put the number at 1,250. The approximate strength of the various Battalions in early 1921 was 1^st Battalion: 250; 2^nd Battalion: 250; 3^rd Battalion: 250; 4^th Battalion: 300; 5^th, or Engineers’, Battalion: 100. This was the active membership ‘or the strength that was given by the Battalions as being on parade each month’. The 5^th Battalion looked after other specialist activities, such as engineering, logistics and first aid. The most common form of transport for arms was the lowly handcart, notwithstanding  folklore about pregnant women, prams and hearses. By the time of the Truce, every ASU included trained medical orderlies. Volunteers’ membership of the St. John’s Ambulance and the Dublin Fire Brigade provided useful logistical and intelligence resources, as did the large number of Volunteers working in Dublin Port and the railways. It was through this network that the Volunteers were able to ambush trains on which troops were travelling to and from the city.          

The O'Rahilly Easter Rising Stories

Directed and edited by Marcus Howard, independent film maker. Proinsias O'Rathaille is the grandson of The O'Rahilly who was shot in Moore Street and the son of Bridie Clyne, who was in Cumann Na mBan. He is attached to the Save Moore Street Campaign, Concerned Relatives of the Signatories to the 1916 Proclamation and the 1916 Relatives Centenary Initiative Group.

Easter Rising Stories is an independent series of films by Marcus Howard, an independent film maker. The videos are not for profit but rather for educational means. The aim of the series is to try to capture the recollections of relatives of the Easter Rising of 1916 as well as to document events and stories relating to the Easter Rising. If you are interested in getting in touch please contact:
easterrisingstories@gmail.com

Book Review We Bled Together: Michael Collins, The Squad and the Dublin Brigade

Irish History Book Review

We Bled Together: Michael Collins, The Squad and the Dublin Brigade

By Dominic Price

Hardback

€24.99

https://www.collinspress.ie/ 

This thrilling account of the daring espionage and killings carried out by both sides on Dublin’s streets during the War of independence is vividly brought to life by Dominic Price using eyewitness testimonies and war diaries. Price reveals their meticulous research into guerrilla tactics employed by the Cubans in their War of Independence, the 2^nd Boer War and General von Lettow-Vorbeck against the British in east Africa. He shows Collins and the Dublin Brigade’s desperate methods; improvised explosive devices, chemical weapons.  Their sacrifice and determination to bring to birth Irish freedom is well recorded in this intimate and poignant book.   

Extract:

‘The Squad never questioned Collins’ reasons for having someone killed. Mick Collins, as far as members of the squad were concerned, ‘was the kind of man it was easy to trust’ … The risks and danger experienced by his operatives affected Collins greatly and he could visualise their suffering. Eamon Broy, who spent a lot of time with the Director of Ira intelligence, related how Collins described events:

        

Collins had such a remarkable power of description that, listening to him, one could form a        

vivid mental picture of the occurrences he described. For instance, in his account of the tortures of  

Hales and Harte in West Cork, the impression he created was a vivid as if one actually saw the 

pliers being used to tear the flesh from the victim. These tortures were inflicted by the British

Army long before the Black and Tans came to the country. As a result of his treatment Harte went insane.’

Level 5 Listening and Speaking - Oral Presentation Skills

 It will be recorded on videotape in front of the class. A suggestion would be to do your presentation on your report in your previous assignment where you have already done a lot of the work and where the topic is fresh in your mind and you have your primary and secondary data researched already. You don’t have to though, you can pick another topic if you wish however it must revolve around an industry you are interested in starting a career in. Make sure you know when you are up as it may be difficult to reschedule you without advance notice. If you can’t make the date, swap with someone who will.

This assignment demonstrates your listening and speaking skills. A lot more information can be found on http://www.irish21stcenturystudents.blogspot.com/ if you look up the Digital Presentations subject covered on this blog

Listening and Speaking - Oral Presentation Skills (To include non-verbal and visual

communication)

o Learners should make a presentation of 5 – 10 minutes in duration.

o The presentation should be on a topic related to a career path you are interested in .

o It should include appropriate visual supports.

o It should include a question and answer session at the end of the presentation.

o It should assess the learner’s ability to communicate to a group of people

effectively.

o The presentation should be recorded on visual recorder.

Assessment Criteria

• Evidence of thorough preparation and rehearsal                                                                      3

• Clear structure with beginning, middle, end and linking                                                          3

• Interest sustained, very good rapport with the audience, presentation

tailored to environment, and suitable visual supports used                                                        3

• Good voice control, with variety of tone, clarity of diction and pace, body

language, gesture, stance all excellent                                                                                            3

• Ability to interpret and respond appropriately to questions asked                                       3

You will be asked at least 10 questions


How important are the following when delivering a presentation?

• Clarity of voice, pitch, tone, volume

• Pace, speed, articulation

• Body language used in a formal and informal context

• Formal v informal language

• Confidence

• The environment

• Visual communication

• Posture

• Clothing

• Facial expression

• Body language

Why do we present?

• To educate

• To advertise

• To inform

• To aid meaning

• To express ideas

• To persuade

Useful Powerpoint Presentation video tutorials

HOW TO Give a Great Presentation - 7 Presentation Skills and Tips to Leave an Impression

The video below provided by Microsoft Europe shows the potential and advantages of Powerpoint 2010

Youtube Video:Powerpoint 2010: The Possibilities - Duarte HD

Uploaded by MicrosoftEurope on 8 Dec 2009 for http://www.microsoft.eu/

Here is another demo for how to create a Powerpoint 2010 presentation

Youtube Video:Creating a Presentation - PowerPoint 2010

Uploaded by mullinsJ08 on 2 Sep 2010

Curious about inserting a movie into a presentation?The tutorial below shows you how to do it in Powerpoint 2007.
Youtube Video: PowerPoint 2007: Inserting a Movie into a Presentation

Uploaded by gcflearnfree on 4 Jun 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gcflearnfree.org%2F&session_token=muFIUxalLYGbUVL_FR9LfCIkADx8MTMxMTYwNTQzOEAxMzExNTE5MDM4

How to animate text in a Powerpoint presentation which will let your text move, spin or fly from space to space

Youtube Video:How to Animate Text in a PowerPoint Presentation For Dummies

Uploaded by fordummies on 26 Feb 2009

Here is a video tutorial about how to make a powerpoint animation 

Youtube Video:

How to make a powerpoint animation : tutorial

Uploaded by liamturn97 on 28 Oct 2009

Good Powerpoint Examples Video Tutorials

Curious about how to create a really good powerpoint? Have a look at the video below to help guide you. It concerns how to create create presentations rather than bad ones.

Youtube Video: How to create an Awesome PowerPoint presentation

Uploaded by mattedmundson on 3 Nov 2009

Youtube Video: Good Powerpoint Examples

Uploaded by nofearpublicspeaking on 27 Apr 2010

Presentation Advice Videos 

 The video below provided by Speakfirst focuses on how to improve your presentations comparing mistakes with improvements

Youtube Video:Presentation skills - How to improve your presentations

Uploaded by Speakfirst on 20 Jul 2009 http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speak-first.com%2Fcourses%2Fpresentation-skills.aspx&session_token=01esgOghAP2AzkvMW8sSdoTg_gJ8MTMxMTYwNjI2M0AxMzExNTE5ODYz

Apple's CEO Steve Jobbs is considered to be one of the greatest public speakers in the world today. Here is a video provided by BNET Video

Youtube Video:

Present Like Steve Jobs Online videos for busy business professionals BNET Video

Uploaded by BNETvideo on 17 Apr 2008

Youtube Video: Death By Powerpoint

Uploaded by BananaManaTV on Jun 7, 2010

 Answering questions after your presentation can appear daunting as you do not know what it is you will be asked. There is only so much that can be prepared.

Youtube Video: Ep 10. How To Answer Questions On Your Presentation - Presentation Skills - Public Speaking

Uploaded by BananaManaTV on Jun 21, 2010

Non Verbal Communication

-Communication without words

-80%

“Actions Speak Louder Than Words.”

It's not always what you say but how you say it which can help deliver the effectiveness of your message

Youtube Video

Body Language at Work by Peter Clayton

Uploaded by 121series on 18 Dec 2008

žFacial expression

Universal facial expressions signify anger, fear, sadness, joy and disgust. Thus, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and a person will react favorably. We have 250,000 facial expressions.

 Your eye-contact can give clear indicators regarding whether you are telling the truth or not.Have a look at these 2 short video clips to see what I mean:

Youtube Video 

Anthony Weiner Scandal: Body Language Similarities to Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods, Elliot Spitzer

Uploaded by ABCNews on 9 Jun 2011

Body Language Breakdown: Obama on '60 Minutes', Trump, and the Royal Wedding

Uploaded by FoxNewsInsider on 13 May 2011

Posture

-Your posture–including the pose, stance and bearing of the way you sit, slouch,
stand, lean, bend, hold and move your body in space affects the way people
perceive you.

 -Mirroring the other person in your posture style, where your left side complements their right side can increase the likelihood of a favourable perception of the communicator.

-Displaying a forward lean or a decrease in a backwards lean also signify
positive sentiment during communication.

Youtube Video

Body Language - Open Posture Vs. Closed Posture 

 Uploaded by BodyLanguagePro on 19 Oct 2009

Gesture

A gesture is a non-vocal bodily movement intended to express meaning. They 
may be articulated with the hands, arms or body, and also include movements of
the head, face and eyes, such as winking, nodding, or rolling one's eyes.

If you fail to gesture while speaking, you may be perceived as  boring, stiff an
unanimated.

Youtube Video 

Body Language: The Meanings of Hand Gestures 

Uploaded by positivesimona on 28 Oct 2009

Physical Touch

Touches that can be defined as communication include handshake, holding
hands, kissing (cheek, lips, hand), back slapping, give five, a pat on the shoulder,
and brushing an arm. The meaning conveyed from touch is highly dependent
upon the context of the situation, the relationship between communicators, and
the manner of touch.

Youtube Video 

10 Types of Handshakes 

 Uploaded by NewFinancialWisdom on 1 May 2009

1. When you meet someone for the first time, how do you greet him or her?

2. Do you use the same greeting for men as for women?

3. How do you greet a friend of the same sex as yourself?

4. How do you greet a friend of the opposite sex?

5. How do you greet members of your family: children adults old people?

6. Describe three gestures you use frequently and say what they mean.

 

Learners Record Portfolio of Assessment 40%

The Portfolio of Assessment is worth 40% of your final mark. Students are required to produce an online learners record which engages and reflects on theories and practice acquired in the subject of Multimedia Communications.

The marking scheme of this learners record is as follows:
Charting the student's learning experience, whether in media, film or research                        20
A reflection and evaluation of Communication Theory and practice                                       20

Here is a clip regarding how to create a blog through blogger

 

Communication models and Communications In Contemporary Society

There are a number of models that students will need to familiarise themselves with in Multimedia Communications. Human communication exchanges information through a medium.

Communications theory

The word communication means to share, impart or make common. It comes from the Latin
word communicaire. Communication is an active process that is continually changing and
evolving. How well we communicate is often determined by how easily we can share or
impart information or find common ground with other people.

Language changes overtime and someone like Shakespeare may have difficulty understanding “textspeak”. Everytime we speak we put together a selection  of words we may have never used before. 2 people communicating with each other may have no idea where they will end up in conversation.

What Reasons Do We Have to Communicate?

-Survival

-Co-operation

-Personal needs

-Relationships

-Persuasion

-Power

-Societal needs

-Economy (buying and selling)

-Information

-Making sense of the world

-Decision making

-Self-expression

        Discuss in class examples of the reasons for communication as highlighted above. Can you give a real world example as to why any of the points above are reasons to communicate?

        
        

For  Communication to be Effective:

-Effective communication is about conveying your message to others clearly and minimising
dangers for misinterpretation

Example of how information can be misinterpreted

-Effective communication is also about
receiving information from others, with
minimal distortion

What is the communication process?

The communication process is an important process by which humans communicate with each other.

 

There are THREE basic elements which are central to the communication process.


1. The audience

 2. The Message you want to share

                                                     






3. The Channel of communication

Communication Theory Definitions

Message: The information you want to communicate 
Encoding: The process of transferring info you wish to communicate into a form that can be
sent and decoded at the other end. Encoding is is the process by which information from a
source is converted into symbols to be communicated
Channel: The method used to communicate eg face to face meetings, telephones & video
conferencing, letters, emails, memos, reports
Decoding: the process of transforming information from one format into another, usually
information sent from the sender.
Receiver: Must understand your message and is at the receiving end of the communication
channel. They receive decoded messages or info from the sender. Sometimes, the receiver
has to decode the message themselves

Example of positive feedback

Feedback: is the verbal and nonverbal reaction to a communicated message. Close attention to feedback can give the sender confidence that the message is understood. Feeding back part of the output so as to increase the input is positive feedback; feeding back part of the output in such a way as to partially oppose the input is negative feedback.

Context: the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse. This may include the surrounding environment or broader culture (corporate culture, international culture). It can be the surroundings, circumstances, environment, background, or settings which determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of the message

A famous still image of John McCain taken out of context in the last US election

                                              









In order for the transfer of information to qualify as communication, the recipient must
understand the meaning of the information transferred to them. If the recipient does not
understand the meaning of the information conveyed to them, communication has not taken
place.

Shannon and Weaver's communication model

As you can see in the example below, Communicator A is sending a message to Communicator B through a medium (channel). The message is transferred through the medium and received by Communicator B. Communicator B decodes the message, understands the message and sends it back to Communicator A. Meaningful communication has taken place if the information exchanged occurs in a common manner of language that both Communicator A and B understands.

How the audience, message and channel elements factor into the communication process:

The Communication Process

Lets say the person on the left in the diagram above wants to send a message to the person
the right.The man on the left has to decide what language the man on the right will need in
order to understand the message.Also the man on the left has to take into account societal
factors such as the relationship between them and the context of the message These 3
factors of language, relationship with each other as well as the context of the conversation
will influence the tone of their conversation. Next, the appropriate channel needs to be
selected to communicate the message. Typical channels of communication include:
Writing, face-to-face speaking, having a telephone conversation, video-call, email, fax, SMS
or even through instant online messaging providers such as Instant Messenger.The man on
the right may give feedback to the man on the left to further his understanding of the message
and having more clarity regarding the appropriate response.

 

Here is a video which uses the model of a message sent through a paper aeroplane to demonstrate the communication process:

Youtube Video

Communication Theory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQSL8aqTDLg

Uploaded by bluetommb on 4 Dec 2009

Youtube Video

Berlo's Communication Model
In 1960, David Berlo expanded on Shannon and Weaver's model of communication. It takes into account the emotional aspect of the message. Berlo's model of communication operates on the SMCR model
S=Source
M=Message
C=Context
R=Receiver

Here is a useful link which looks at Berlo's model in more detail

Communication In Contemporary Society

What effect is communication having on contemporary society?

Look Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY