Letter #78 from Bob Jones to His Parents

Bob Jones wrote this short letter to his parents while stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Jones tells his parents that, after a short stay at army headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, he will soon be discharged and will be heading home. Jones was a professor of physics at Linfield College from 1955-1987.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/lca_bobjones/1005/thumbnail.jp

Academic use of digital resources: Disciplinary differences and the issue of progression revisited

This paper examines the use of digital resources by academic staff in a single UK University and its influence on academic practice over a two to three year period. The paper describes two linked studies that address several of the themes regarding the impact of electronic resources identified in this special edition. In particular it provides findings that contribute to our understanding of changing roles and practices in academic teaching (Oliver this edition). The themes explored in this paper include the way disciplinary differences affect the use of digital resources, and how academic progression is understood by academic staff in different disciplines and its role in informing staff choices in deploying digital resources for student use. The paper also addresses the issue of changing academic practice and the adoption life cycle in relation to use of digital resources. Keywords: Digital resources, Disciplinary differences, Teaching and learning, Distributed learning environments

An evaluation tool for design quality: PFI sheltered housing

The complex procurement process entailed by the private finance initiative (PFI) means that clients need new capacities to manage their relationships with bidders and to assess project proposals if the desired level of design quality is to be achieved. To assist local authorities in their client role, a new Architectural Design Quality Evaluation Tool was developed. The aim was to improve the quality of design in residential sheltered housing, procured through the PFI. The tool was developed for and applied to a programme that will see the replacement of a local authority's entire sheltered housing stock. The tool has two functions: (1) to inform the client's assessment process and assist with the selection of the preferred bidding consortium through a series of stages in the PFI process; and (2) to improve the quality of all the submitted designs through an iterative process. Although several existing mechanisms are available for evaluating the performance attributes of buildings, few also tackle the less tangible amenity attributes, which are vital to the feeling of home. The new tool emphasizes the amenity attributes without neglecting performance

Letter #51 from Bob Jones to His Parents

Bob Jones wrote this letter to his parents while stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany. Jones thanks his parents for the Christmas package they sent him and gives ideas for items to be sent in future packages. The second half of the letter contains opinions and musings about politics, both foreign and domestic. Jones was a professor of physics at Linfield College from 1955-1987.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/lca_bobjones/1002/thumbnail.jp

Letter #53 from Bob Jones to His Parents

Bob Jones wrote this letter to his parents while stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany. Jones writes about the three days he spent on leave in Paris, France with his roommate, Leo Mahler, and two friends from his battalion, Gene Mayhew and André Kirby. He describes the journey to and from the city, as well as all the sites they visited. Jones promises to send photos taken with his new camera in later letters. Jones was a professor of physics at Linfield College from 1955-1987.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/lca_bobjones/1003/thumbnail.jp

Architectural Design Quality in Local Authority Private Finance Initiative Projects

Since the 1990s, when the Private Finance Initiative was developed as the primary method for delivering major public capital projects, there has been concern about the quality of many of the products. Initially, it was the architectural community that raised doubts, but it has subsequently been joined by user groups. As the contractual period is over 30 years, there are issues such as ongoing maintenance, facilities management and operational factors, that need to be balanced with design quality. This paper will report on a research project being carried out with a metropolitan local authority in England, which is replacing its entire sheltered housing stock in one Private Finance Initiative project. The principal aim of the local authority is that it should receive these buildings as assets, rather than liabilities at the end of the 30 year period. The research work to date has been based on two stages of a three stage selection of the preferred bidder from the original six consortia. The aims of this paper are to review the Private Finance Initiative management processes in relation to architectural design quality at each of the selection stages, including the generation and application of the design assessment criteria, and the role of user groups; and evaluate the outcomes against the objectives of maximising design quality within workable financial models. The methodology is that the researcher is based in the local authority project team, and has therefore been able to use participant observation techniques in the management processes, which include competitive dialogue and user consultation. The design assessment criteria were developed from the academic literature and refined at each selection stage. A comparative analysis of the design assessment criteria with intermediate and final designs, will assist in identifying the status of design quality in the selection of the preferred bidder

Letter #69 from Bob Jones to His Parents

Bob Jones wrote this letter to his parents while stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Jones writes about day-to-day life and how his job worked. He also talks about the people with whom he was living: Lieutenant Buchwalter, Leo Mahler, Don Mendoza, Ed Herzog and his German fiancée, an unnamed Polish D.P. (displaced person), and a German girl named Doris. Jones was a professor of physics at Linfield College from 1955-1987.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/lca_bobjones/1004/thumbnail.jp