DRAGON KING ALTAR
DRAGON
KING ALTAR
Document date: 1 September 2000
Prepared by John D. Hughes, Julian Bamford, Lisa Nelson, Evelin Halls and Vanessa Macleod.
UMLAUT NOTES
ISSUE ONE
Publication Date: 1 September 2000
Editor: John D. Hughes
Co-Editor: Leanne Eames
Website addresses are:
http://www.johnhughes.citysearch.com.au
http://www.skybusiness.com/j.d.hughes
http://www.bdcublessings.net.au
http://www.companyontheweb.com/buddhamap
http://www.bdcu.org.au
http://www.nla.gov.au
Published and Printed By: John D. Hughes & Associates Pty Ltd.
ACN 006 571 839 ABN 25 006 571 839
33 Brooking Street, Upwey, Victoria, Australia 3158
Tel: 61 3 9754 3334
Email address: wbu@bdcu.org.au
Introducing: UMLAUT
The Upwey Museum Library All Uniting Think Tank
This publication contains current news of UMLAUT.
CONTENTS
1. The Ch'an Way of the Mountains
2. Announcement of Hobby Secret
3. Brief Outline of the Nature of the Museum Industry
4. The Hobby Museum Library's Training Package
5. The Five Core Functions of the Hobby Museum
6. Maintaining Occupational Health and Safety Provisions
7. Intellectual Property
8. LAN Use
9. How John Keeps Up-to-date
10. Proposed Publication
11. Referees for John's Proposed Publication
12. Liability Declaration
13. What Notes John Hopes to Obtain Online by his Activities
14. Work in Progress Using UMLAUT NOTES and Online Notes
15. What Will be Different?
1. The Ch'an Way of the Mountains
The Japanese zen-oriented, austere, monochrome ink-painting of the "bunjin-ga" (literary persons) is worthy of serious reflection.
From a worldly (loka) view, it appears John D. Hughes has esteemed geological structures in his paintings.
On his 69th Birthday, John transmitted the secrets of how he used geology to achieve the most admired kind of elegance.
This elegance is a secret form that comes from combining Ch'an (Zen) of the "Way of the Mountains" in the distinguished - or even idiosyncratic - performance of collecting and cataloguing specimens as ceremonial actions.
In his 40 years of Ch'an paintings of the place of "Dragon King", the conventional volumes to which the Western eye is accustomed are nowhere to be found.
He admires Japanese artists of the Kamakura era who adopted the black and white ink painting from the scholars of Sung China, tending to regard bright colours as over popular - vulgar in fact.
John's style of painting of notable geology formations in Victoria and Tasmania helps convince the witness of the profound beauty of Mahayana Buddha Dhamma.
He wishes to share his secrets with friends by writing and illustration and providing personal websites to display his works.
From inception, the main driver for UMLAUT is the hobby owner of the private Museum, John D. Hughes.
To share with his friends having the same hobby interests, he decided to get UMLAUT moving ONLINE.
He continues his hobby in the privacy of his own home.
2. Announcement of Hobby Secret
UMLAUT was launched at 4pm on 9 September 2000.
3. Brief Outline of the Nature of the Museum Industry
There are more than 2000 museums in Australia. Museums are diverse in complex organisations bound together by the common tasks of collecting, preserving and interpreting our cultural heritage.
Museums perform five core functions: acquisition, conservation, research, communication and exhibition.
In promoting access to and awareness of cultural heritage, museums communicate information, ideas and insights to society, developing programs and services that stimulate public education and community interest.
To meet these responsibilities, museums need staff with strong education and vocational backgrounds and high level skills in communication and client service.
4. The Hobby Museum Library's Training Package
The term 'training package' has been used for many years to describe many different training products and services. However, since 1997, 'training package' has taken on a quite distinct meaning.
Training packages bring together through one industry-managed process, the previously disconnected approaches to standards, programs, qualifications and learning resources, creating a comprehensive toolkit for learning and assessment that leads to nationally recognised qualifications.
John is using the Museum and Library/Information Services Industry Training Packages CUL 99, published by Australian Training Products Ltd, first published October 1999.
5. The Five Core Functions of the Hobby Museum
To organise progress in his hobby, John D. Hughes uses five core functions. These are:
Acquisition and Conservation
John has the responsibility for his hobby so he calls himself Curator of Geology Museum @ Upwey. As Curator, he alone is responsible for hobby acquisition and conservation policies of the hobby museum and the hobby IT library.
John needs to catalogue his specimens for his hobby museum. As this is done, digital photographs of the specimens and their provenance are entered on his private computers.
Jan Bennett will help four hours a week.
Research
Research is John's private responsibility and recreation.
His role as librarian of his IT store is like this.
Julian Bamford can help him three hours a week on some weeks.
Communication
Communication about the project is designed around IT architecture.
During university holidays, he can obtain secretarial assistance from Lisa Nelson for eight hours a week.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions online will be co-ordinated by Julie O'Donnell. She may be able to help 4 hours a week when she is not too busy with her consulting work.
6. Maintaining Occupational Health and Safety Provisions
The persons helping are familiar with the OH&S rules of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. officer's rulings. These were listed as bulletins on their internal publication - the Brooking Street Bugle. A copy of these rulings will be used for safe working in the store.
Financial Members of the BDC(U) Ltd. are covered for liability by the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. ACN 005 701 806.
Having interim assistant positions does not imply assistants are employees of John D. Hughes & Associates Pty Ltd ACN 006 571 839.
7. Intellectual Property
John holds the copyright for all his private hobby publications.
8. LAN Use
Persons communicate with John by use of our LAN e-mail system.
9. How John Keeps Up-to-date
The educational direction is changing because older traditional educational information is becoming cheaper to access but finding the newest reliable knowledge is becoming more affordable in many cases.
For example, John has a personal online subscription to the Wall Street Journal to keep himself up-to-date with new research.
10. Proposed Publication
If John can afford it, occasional flagship monographs are planned (the Geological Museum @ UPWEY Journal?).
The policy of these monographs is to help bring his quality research skills into the discipline of geology. (John is a graduate in Applied Chemistry).
John wishes to report on how his new enterprise culture is entering the educational ideology of the computer.
The need for speed of change of educational models has to be made on the run.
Education no longer has the luxury afforded to Noah of being able to build an ark when it was not raining.
11. Referees for John's Proposed Publication
It is unlikely John is going to find suitable local referees for this publication.
In the Melbourne Yellow Pages telephone directory, there are about 30 entries under "geologists".
So rather than take the slow open track to elite status in publication, our policy will be to publish selected papers or reports without referees.
John invites feedback from his private website and hopes his readers understand and accept the position in Australia.
12. Liability Declaration
JOHN CAUTIONS READERS THAT AS AN ONLINE PUBLISHER HE CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR THE ACCURACY OR CURRENCY OF ANY INFORMATION OR VIEWS SUPPLIED FROM PUBLICATION ON HIS WEBSITES.
He will try to publish notices of correction from time to time if readers who detect online errors make them known to him.
In time, he hope things will improve, as he seeks to get co-operation from many geologists (maybe three years to build up).
BUT FOR THE PRESENT, online readers are advised that since he cannot certify what he prints about his hobby, online readers should consult with a certified geologist before any business action using his printed information is acted upon.
He hopes online readers agree with this decision that he takes the expedient quicker path to allow reporting supposed discoveries promptly.
Even established traditional paper-based publications have difficulty in finding suitable qualified referees (who may be unpaid) to approve the conclusions of any paper submitted for publication.
13. What Notes John Hopes to Obtain Online by his Activities
In higher education in geology, where even a genius may follow a wrong theory for a time, the ground under a person's feet may turn out not always firm (analogy intended!).
We all must come face to face with the reality of geology's interdependence on many other scientific disciplines.
Over time, as more online friends offer classification help by e-mail of photographs of specimens, a wide range of English language notes appears likely.
Further information notes can be acquired from John's Internet sites.
14. Work in Progress using UMLAUT NOTES and Online Notes
As all UMLAUT NOTES will be published online, this will enable machine searching. A thesaurus will be developed to give controlled vocabulary of subject terms and in time it will add new geological terms as they start to appear in current academic and professional usage.
The main purpose of UMLAUT NOTES and online notes is to develop an online style manual so that interested media persons can use it for geological writings, and facilitate the raising of the literacy of journalists and teachers in their use of geological terms.
Geology is undergoing a dialectic between theory and method in critical interpretive research of the modelling of the earth's crust. John intends to try to present advances in this area by coaching mathematical modelling if necessary and showing graphics on the websites.
15. What Will be Different?
This type of e-education John plans is far removed from butcher's shop mentality, and is designed to overcome the notion of 'hanging loose and staying cool', which means adopting an anti-intellectual position towards current events. John hopes to encourage persons to read like a writer and introduce persons to the counter culture of specialisation and intellectual disciplines.
Some persons will be inspired to become geologists.
In order to alter the average person's perception of what a scientific learning environment looks like, we need to look at the difference between exemplary and non-exemplary chemistry teachers, and pay more attention to fostering the gifted and super-gifted in our population. John sees a need to move from solitary to mutual play if our powers of creativity are to be revisited.
We are about to define the flagship of learning skills.