New ideas have to start somewhere, and for me that’s always a messy process. Sometimes it goes nowhere and sometimes there’s a nugget of inspiration that can be spun into something extraordinary. This is why I have set myself up a new space, my percolator, which opens up somewhere for me to think out loud, and create ideas in the open. Some of these ideas will never go further, and some may be terrible, but…
Category: art
I was recently in Germany visiting family. As it happens, I was there in the first week of school and I really enjoyed seeing kids with their brand new school cases and backpacks walking and cycling to school with their parents each morning. It was a very picturesque kind of late summer feel. The leaves were just starting to turn and it took me back to the excitement of starting school and later university terms.…
I feel very lucky to continue my work with the awesome team at Reclaim into summer, and this month I have bagged myself one of the best pieces of work going: a conversation with Bryan Mathers all about that unique vinyl aesthetic and the brand new venture that is ReclaimPress. Over the last 10-12 years I have had the privilege of collaborating on many projects with Bryan, and I deeply appreciate his listening skills, his…
The recent launch of ReclaimEDU has got me blogging… always a good sign. Now, working with the team at Reclaim has many perks, one of which was to learn more about this new offering before it was even launched. Jim talked us through it in the way only he can, and although I am learning more about the technology that makes this all possible what really did grab my attention immediately was the artwork. I…
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…
It’s my first day back at my desk today after a two week break, and I am happy to report that both rest and fun where had! It’s been a while since I had two weeks off, and my top tip for my future self is to do that more often. One week is never quite enough to really relax, and I loved the extra days before and after travelling to Crete that the extra…
When I was a young teenager, I asked my parents for a (mechanical) typewriter for my birthday so that I could type my journal, plays and poetry – on coloured paper mostly. I didn’t have the internet. When I was an art student, my sketchbooks had pockets, windows, some smelled of strange colours or oils I had tried out, some trailed plaster dust or were covered with fabric. I also had a blog filled with…
I’ve been taking a more playful approach to making something online this week, experimenting with new ‘Remixable Thinkery’ that Bryan Mathers has been working on as part of his Visual Thinkery projects. Have a look at the sandbox and a gallery of what others have created to date http://sandbox.wapisasa.com/ . I had a go with the stamp template and tried out different remixes, including uploading photos, resizing/recolouring the text and moving things about. Having a…
I’ve been continuing my project of uploading a LOT of images to Google Photos and some of these are scans or photos of drawings and artworks I made (Google isn’t great at recognising what the drawings depict but I am not entirely sure whether this is due to my inexpert drawing or insufficiently sophisticated algorithms). Before I started working in Learning Technology and before I did my PhD in Anthropology I trained and practiced as a…
This post is inspired by two things I did this week: first, taking part in Wednesday’s @LTHEchat on the topic of Open CPD with Chris Rowell and second, reading my weekly delivery of Visual Thinkery in Saturday’s newsletter. Both are highly enjoyable, interesting and rewarding so if you haven’t already I strongly recommend you take a look. Both of these activities made me think about being online and what I do when I am online.…