Preview Evening

Date: Friday 31 May 2013
Time: 5.00pm – 8.00pm
Venue: Eldon Building

On the Preview Evening there will be a catwalk show at 6.00pm.

Summer Show 2013

The Summer Show will be open to the public with free entry from 10.00am – 4.00pm weekdays from Monday 3 June to Friday 14 June.

Courses on show:

BSc (Hons) Computer Games Enterprise
BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology
BSc (Hons) TV and Broadcasting
BA (Hons) Animation
BA (Hons) Television & Film Production
BSc (Hons) Computer Animation
BA (Hons) Fashion and Textiles Design with Enterprise
BA (Hons) Graphic Design
BA (Hons) Illustration
BA (Hons) Photography

For further information, please contact adem-office@port.ac.uk.

We have a range of inclusive policies and procedures but we are also members of the lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) charity Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Programme, supporting LGB inclusive workplaces. This year we were one of only six universities across the UK to score top marks in Stonewall’s Gay By Degree website, which highlights LGB inclusivity for students.

IDAHO

The University acknowledges the importance of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) and the significant role it plays in highlighting homophobia and transphobia across the world.

The day was originally launched in 2004. The date for this annual event (Friday 17 May) which is now recognised by over 80 countries around the world, was chosen to commemorate the World Health Organisation’s decision to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in 1990. The aim of IDAHO is to raise awareness of the persecution of homosexual and transgender people around the world.

For more information on IDAHO and to see how you can support it, visit www.dayagainsthomophobia.org.

Supporting staff and students

The University’s Equality and Diversity Unit produces our policies and guidelines in support of LGBT equality and inclusion and also offers advice and training to staff. Several staff forums are active in the University – groups include the disabled staff forum, multicultural staff forum and LGBT forum.

To join the LGBT Staff Network, email lgbtforum@port.ac.uk. For more information and to join one of the groups, please visit www.port.ac.uk/equality.

With more time being spent outdoors please continue to be considerate of those around you. During the summer many people sleep with their windows open which means they could be disturbed by noise in their gardens or on the streets outside.

If you are planning on having people round and anticipate a late end to the evening, give your neighbours plenty of notice and agree a time to finish. Ask your guests to leave quietly and not gather on the pavements outside when waiting for taxis.

If you get a request from neighbours to reduce the noise, respond politely and positively, so that everyone can enjoy the warmer evenings and being part of the community.

We hope you  have a great summer!

The Student and Neighbour Liaison Team

Farewell reception

The Board of Governors invites all University staff to attend a farewell reception to mark the end of John Craven’s time as Vice-Chancellor and to wish him well for the future.

Date: Thursday 11 July 2013
Time: 4.00pm
Venue: Portland Building

For catering purposes, please RSVP to events@port.ac.uk.

Date:

Don’t forget, if you want to enjoy the afternoon off work and get involved in some team-building fun you will need to sign up as soon as you can.

This year’s University Staff Sports Day will start with classic track races such as the sack race, three-legged race and the egg and spoon, followed by lots more fun and games.

On the day you can try our new side stalls including the sumo wrestling ring where you can challenge a colleague in our specially padded suits.

The event will include the ever-popular ‘It’s a Knockout’-style obstacle course and round off with a Tug ‘O’ War pull to allow teams that last chance of glory. Don’t forget to also look out for our celebrity guest at the presentation ceremony.

Charity

All money raised during the event will go to our chosen charity, Brain Tumour Research. Once your team has registered we will help you set up a Just Giving page where we are encouraging each entrant to raise a minimum of just £2 for the good cause.

You can see some images from last year’s University Staff Sports Day at the Department of Sport and Recreation’s Facebook page.

Note: Teams must consist of a minimum of six and maximum of 10 members of staff (academic and support). There will be a maximum of 16 teams. If you are an individual without a team or you fall short of six team members, email us and we will make sure you get to participate.

Everyone is welcome so please bring your colleagues, friends and family to support your team.

Structure

The course will run over  six days and is delivered as two three-day blocks over two weeks at the University. The course will run on 5, 6, 7 and 12, 13 and 14 of August 2013.

A revision session will be held on Thursday 5 September with the examination on Friday 6 September 2013. The course consists of EC1 (written two hour exam) and EC2, which is the practical element due 14 days after the exam date.

Who it’s for

The course is aimed at managers, supervisors and employees with responsibilities for managing environmental issues. The qualification focuses on environmental management systems and impact assessments.

For more information on the course please visit www.port.ac.uk/departments/services/humanresources/healthandsafety/nebosh/.

The staff course cost is £200, which includes the NEBOSH registration fees, course book, exam invigilators etc.

For more information or to enrol please contact hstraining@port.ac.uk. Please ensure you have management approval.

They have also identified how hashtags work and identified the four stages of a twitter event.

A hashtag is a word or a phrase prefixed with the symbol #. Phrases should not have any spaces between the words.

Twitter users add hashtags to their tweets, but many users do not label their tweets with the most relevant hashtags.

Dr Mohamed Gaber

“A hashtag is like a virtual filing system. Users who get their filing in order from the outset will improve their Twitter presence,” said Dr Mohamed Gaber, senior lecturer in the School of Computing, who led the study.

“Strong hashtags mean a user’s views are more likely to be read, as they will be easily searchable, and they will be more likely to be included in interesting debate and the exchange of knowledge.

“This could lead to them being considered an expert on a subject, building trust and improving their reputation.”

Twitter users can click on a word that is highlighted with a hashtag and they will be shown all tweets that have used that hashtag.

The top ten most popular hashtags are called ‘trends’ and are listed on the site’s front page.

This is particularly important in the event of breaking news, as users can search a hashtag to find up-to-the-minute information.

“If we take the recent London 2012 Olympics as an example, the main hashtag would be #olympics, a hashtag that is still active today. Someone may then add the hashtag #London2012 and additionally even #cycling or #parking or any number of other subjects.

“It is important that tweets are layered properly, and that companies establish a strong hashtag for their brand or event from the outset, or they could fall foul of bad filing, losing feedback and customer confidence.

“Hashtags have helped companies anticipate potential bad PR moments. During 2012 iTunes, GAP and MySpace all listened to social media and performed u-turns on new designs as a result of negative public opinion,” Dr Gaber said.

Using a technique called Transaction-based Rule Change Mining, Dr Gaber and his team looked at thousands of tweets relating to how occurrences are talked about on Twitter, from natural disasters such as the Japanese earthquake, to international events such as the London Olympics, and breaking news stories such as the Boston bombings.

The team have also identified the four stages of a Twitter event, from its outset to its conclusion.

The lifespan of a hashtag can be as short as a couple of hours, or can last for years in the case of some slow burning science stories such as news related to the Large Hadron Collider.

“Although there is no time scale to a Twitter event, there are four very clear stages. A hashtag will initially emerge, then it will be taken up by thousands of users, then it will be used to tweet unexpected information, and then eventually it will die.” said Dr Gaber.

The four stages are as follows.  Stage one is the ‘new’ hashtag. This phase describes the emergence of the hashtag, which at this point is solely used as a way of passing on information like a natural disaster, a death of a celebrity or the opening of an event.

Stage two is the ‘emerging’ hashtag. This phase determines whether a hashtag has longevity, and is the phase in which a large number of people on Twitter are spreading the news. This hashtag is still the same or very similar to the hashtag used in stage one.

Stage three, the ‘unexpected’ hashtag sees the emergence of unexpected tweets, taking the hashtag in different directions and being combined with different hashtags. Jokes, political platforms or complaints are all examples of this.

Stage four is the ‘death’ of the hashtag. The hashtag, and the conversation, is over. The information is no longer of interest to the Twitter audience, and the hashtag dies.

The team is now looking to apply their findings to case studies of recent events such as the death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher and the recent Boston manhunt.

Dr Gaber’s research will be presented on June 9 2013 at The 12th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, Zakopane, Poland by Mariam Adedoyin-olowe, the PhD student at the University of Portsmouth, who works on this project. You can view the paper here http://eprints.port.ac.uk/11158/1/TRCM.pdf

The Mental Health Foundation’s annual campaign will this year focus on physical activity and exercise, highlighting the impact that they have on mental health and wellbeing.

Mental wellbeing is affected by many factors and it is important to feel positive about ourselves, be resilient in the face of adversity, connect with communities of which we are part of, exert control over our own life and feel that we have a real purpose and are valued by others.

The Let’s Get Physical booklet is available to download and is full of useful information.

If you would like further support with regards to a mental health issue, you can contact the Occupational Health Service in confidence on ext.3187 or email occupationalhealth@port.ac.uk.

Additional sources of help and information are also available:

www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

www.port.ac.uk/eaprightmanagement

www.mind.org.uk/

www.time-to-change.org.uk

SummerFest kicks off with the Headline Acts in May, followed by the Support Acts in June/July and the Virtual Acts in August. You can win Bestival tickets by attending three SummerFest events and entering their ticket into the draw.

To keep up-to-date with SummerFest, please like our SummerFest Facebook page.

• Headline Acts

Graduate Jobs Fair
Part-time and Seasonal Jobs Fair
Work Experience and Volunteering Fair
No Ideas Clinic

• Support Acts

One-to-one guidance with careers advisors
Get That Job
Interview Techniques
Presentation Skills
Networking
Tax Advice
Business Start Up Course
Enterprise Clinics
CV Advice
Application Workshop
Job Search Techniques

• Virtual Acts

Webinars
Blogs
Skype (one-to-one career advice)
Telephone interviews with careers advisors
E-guidance

Win Bestival tickets

You can win Bestival tickets by attending three SummerFest events between May and July and entering your ticket into the draw. During August you can win iTunes vouchers by taking part in virtual acts and entering your ticket into the draw. Full terms and conditions are available on the SummerFest Facebook page.

Open to:

SummerFest is open to all University of Portsmouth students and *graduates up to five years (including 2013 graduates).

For more details on all of the Acts above, visit www.port.ac.uk/careersandrecruitment/newsevents/news/newstitle.

SummerFest kicks off with the Headline Acts in May, followed by the Support Acts in June/July and the Virtual Acts in August. Students and graduates* can win Bestival tickets by attending three SummerFest events and entering their ticket into the draw.

To keep up-to-date with SummerFest, please encourage students to like our SummerFest Facebook page.

• Headline Acts

Graduate Jobs Fair
Part-time and Seasonal Jobs Fair
Work Experience and Volunteering Fair
No Ideas Clinic

• Support Acts

One-to-one guidance with careers advisors
Get That Job
Interview Techniques
Presentation Skills
Networking
Tax Advice
Business Start Up Course
Enterprise Clinics
CV Advice
Application Workshop
Job Search Techniques

• Virtual Acts

Webinars
Blogs
Skype (one-to-one career advice)
Telephone interviews with careers advisors
E-guidance

Open to:

SummerFest is open to all University of Portsmouth students and *graduates up to five years (including 2013 graduates).

For more details on all of the Acts above, visit www.port.ac.uk/careersandrecruitment/newsevents/news/newstitle or contact Purple Door on ext.3865.