Just a quick note that I’m going to be off Twitter, Facebook, Instagram up until Easter. I’ll be checking Twitter once on Sundays for work reasons. Please forgive me if I don’t reply to stuff in a timely fashion.
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Back in January I gave a short presentation to some of my Jisc colleagues on maps and map making. The format of the event meant we could choose anything to talk about and I tried to not make it about storytelling, I really did but… well, you’ll see. Best laid plans and that.
There’s a picture of kids visiting the Rijksmuseum, absorbed in their phones amongst the priceless artworks that pops up on social media like whack-a-mole from time to time. The message that some take from it isn’t accurate but it’s a useful window in the power of narrative and what that means in the “post truth” society.
Watch this trailer. It’s for the upcoming film Morgan and it’s very interesting. How effective do you think it is? Does it feel like all the other trailers you watch or different somehow. HINT: Don’t rewind it as the preamble gives some spoilerific context. You probably picked up on the clues before you got the […]
At a meeting a few weeks ago a colleague and I were talking about active and passive voice in grammar. When I’ve done training on web writing in the past I’ve always encouraged people to use the active voice where possible as it’s more direct, the meaning requires less “decoding” with it’s “x did y to […]
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They that move in the shadows
My taxi ride on the way to catch the Glasgow train yesterday turned a little surreal. After a brief chat about the ins and outs of booking taxis using apps, the taxi driver, a chatty but slightly intense man in his fifties, announced he was a member of the Anti Technology League. He didn’t own […]
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The Chimes by Anna Smaill
This wasn’t an easy read, but it was an enjoyable one. It was the other half of a 2 for 1 from Waterstones (the other was Jon Ronson’s excellent book on shaming) so I got it on the strength of the blurb rather then reputation. It’s going to be hard to describe this book without […]
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A week in the life
What I’ve been up to Catching up with my colleagues in Jisc R&D in Bristol. Got sight of their vision for HE in 2020-2030 – now you can too! 6 monthly review. All seems to be going well. Good to catch up with Steve B. Met up with some other Subject Specialist colleagues, Marc Dobson, […]
OK Go have released another promo video this week that pushes the limits of the one-shot format, a prime example of creativity within constraints.
This is one of the best things I’ve seen on the web for ages. Tony Visconti, David Bowie’s legendary producer talks to BBC Arts about the recording of Heroes in Berlin in 1977. It’s a fascinating view into a particular creative process and quite emotional given Bowie’s recent death.