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Category: stories

Making spaces

This week took an unexpected turn: first, I decided at the weekend to (finally) dive into building a book nook. I received the kit (Sunshine Town) to create this a while ago and loved the idea, but until now it didn’t feel like a good moment to get started. But thanks to my new enormous sit stand desk, I felt in the right place to start unboxing and get building. Plus, I also had amazing…

Preview: DS106Radio Summer Camp

I am super excited that we are now not even two weeks away from THE most highly anticipated event of the summer. Forget Paris, it’s all happening on the airwaves this August (and it definitely won’t be raining during summer camp on the radio!). Camp Leader in Chief, Jim Groom, has been blogging about what’s in store… featuring some very cool remixed artwork from Bryan Mathers (who I recently got chatting with on my podcast)…

Let’s Walk’n’Blog…

Hi, welcome to this blog post which I am not typing but dictating. It is now mid-morning and I have plans to be getting on with before I have to be at my desk. So I wanted to try and write this blog post as I’m doing things… I’m making some coffee just now and I’ve just come back from walking the dogs. So it is a good time to blog but not a good…

Analogue v digital. Non-fiction reading for April

My favourite read for this month has to be The Revenge of Analogue by David Sax. Although this book was published nearly ten years ago, and some of the research it is based on would have been changed by the pandemic, I found it a really inspiring read. I love all things analogue from stationary and paper notebooks, to sending actual letters in the post and listening to vinyl records, and I have read a…

Reclaiming #Edtech4life in Open Education (at OER24)

In a month today, I’ll be at the OER Conference in Cork, and I am really looking forward to it! I am huge fan of this event, and encourage you to have a look at the programme and register if you haven’t yet done so and are planning to come. This year I am co-presenting two short sessions, starting with Reclaiming #Edtech4life in Open Education which is a joint venture with Meredith (Fierro) Huffman and…

River Taff Meditations… and the joy of working radio

At the start of the year, I shared my intention to find more joy in music and radio. Music is a great way to brighten up busy days, especially at this time of year. The days are long and grey, the sun is only slowly making a return to early mornings and evening after work. I don’t know about you, but I can use every bright spot I can find just now. Now, plenty of…

Sunrise blogging – career transition 3 months in

It’s January, it’s early and I’m feeling inspired. Time to reflect on my career transition three months in.  As I type this I have to pause frequently as it’s morning and each dog needs their cuddles. We’re arranged all together on the sofa, so I alternate the hand with which I type. The dogs are an important part of my life, and this new chapter. They are the best work life balance motivation and constant…

Festive Karaoke. Reclaiming online fun…

I love being online, and I love the communities I am part of online. As someone who relies largely on the internet to sustain long distance relationships with family and friends as well as collaborating with work colleagues on a daily basis, I am very invested in my corners of the web. It takes a lot of effort however to keep those spaces good spaces to be in, on platforms like Discord and Mastodon, as…

Reclaiming Halloween Radio

Earlier this week I got to join the folk from Reclaim Hosting for a spooky radio extravaganza! Across a couple of different timezones and radio stations, Reclaim Radio and DS106Radio, we ROCKED the airwaves. I love radio as a medium to have fun for virtual teams. It’s super engaging, not screen based, it’s synchronous and at the same time gives everyone space to do other stuff whilst listening. It’s also, when you have a team…

Happy Hybrid Halloween… or the spooky side of virtual working.

It’s my third week as a hybrid organisation of one, and I am enjoying the new working routine! It’s very busy and also tiring to have so many new things to deal with each day, but it’s very much what I was expecting. What I am missing at times is of course the colleagues I have worked with for many years, and in a more abstract sense, a bit of fun and interaction that comes…