Category: introspection

On the (past, present and) future of the a city

One of my favourite things of 2010 was the chance to share my love of Leeds' industrial history with a roomful of the city's finest technologists, artists and designers at TEDxLeeds. The video is now up on the TEDx site. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWyeJZPPyb4 My notes from the talk are here, along with the Prezi slideshow. You should … Continue reading On the (past, present and) future of the a city →

The Dissolution of the Factories, or Lines Composed a Few Days After Laptops and Looms

In the corner of an attic room in one of Britain's oldest factories a small group are engaged in the assembly of a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic. They - it - all of us - are there for Laptops and Looms, a gathering of people whose crafts cross the warp of the digital networked world with the … Continue reading The Dissolution of the Factories, or Lines Composed a Few Days After Laptops and Looms →

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party

I have been using the word "machine" in this connection, because it was the only name by which it was designated at that time. The adoption of a suitable name, however, was being discussed at this time by Mr. Sholes and his associates. "Printing machine" was first suggested, but the name did not meet with … Continue reading Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party →

History and the copy machine: the economist’s price of everything

The Economist (and it could only be the Economist) blog makes an astonishing attempt at quantification with the following chart, titled "When history was made": The underlying equation is this: SOME people recite history from above, recording the grand deeds of great men. Others tell history from below, arguing that one person's life is just … Continue reading History and the copy machine: the economist’s price of everything →

The past is a platform from which we launch into the future*

In my dayjob, mobile media, we spend a lot of time talking about platforms. Curiously we like to think of these platforms as eternally new and shiny. “Legacy” is is not a windfall from the preceding generation. It's a perjorative term. Sometimes we even set our old platforms on fire, which is strange, because, as … Continue reading The past is a platform from which we launch into the future* →

Breathless from the fumes of the data exhaust

Can one person be in three places at once? The most requested superpower among Foo Campers seems to be time travel. Maybe it's because with a dozen or more amazing things going on at once we'd like to loop round at the end of every day and do it all over again. With only one … Continue reading Breathless from the fumes of the data exhaust →

Press the green button to raise the ocean

The 17th Century terraformers who carved out the Canal du Midi enlisted an army of plane trees and cypresses to strengthen its banks. These days, sadly, many of the trees are dying off from disease and old age, but their roots still make for good moorings. Floating along the first canal to link two oceans, … Continue reading Press the green button to raise the ocean →

Guardian Leeds: the regeneration begins

So today is the last day of Guardian Leeds, and this pledge gets a mention in John Baron's characteristically gracious and professional signing-off post. Leeds won't let quality local news slip away without a fuss. There have been two meetings and numerous discussions about what happens next. You can find out more on two new … Continue reading Guardian Leeds: the regeneration begins →

Rev. Dr. Priestley in the Library with the lead type

"Si j'etais bien en fonds, j'achèterais une presse !" - French Revolutionary Camille Desmoulins The role of the printing press as transformational communication technology is a commonplace so powerful that it is frequently invoked as a parallel to the Internet. We think of it in terms of the spread of ideas, of bibles hitherto copied … Continue reading Rev. Dr. Priestley in the Library with the lead type →

D-block GB-588000-207000, a textual criticism

"Textual criticism (or lower criticism) is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts. Ancient scribes made errors or alterations when copying manuscripts by hand. Given a manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic seeks … Continue reading D-block GB-588000-207000, a textual criticism →

I will commit £23.32 per month to a citizen-run news service for Leeds that offers quality writing with a determinedly local focus but only if 35 other local people will do the same

Think about this carefully because it's quite a commitment. The Guardian is “winding down” its Guardian Local pilot including the successful Leeds blog. I think this is a mistake. In just a short time John Baron and Sarah Hartley have created a service that gives a new and authentic voice to the UK’s sixth largest … Continue reading I will commit £23.32 per month to a citizen-run news service for Leeds that offers quality writing with a determinedly local focus but only if 35 other local people will do the same →

“The bit where the screen went black and you said ‘look up'”: on the irresistible pull of a story in the place where it happened

This is my youngest son, Pascal, when he was two years old. He's looking sheepish because he's just picked an apple. It's an apple from the orchard at Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire, the orchard where Isaac Newton first conceived of gravity. We were drawn to this beautiful, remote farmhouse for a tea break on a long … Continue reading “The bit where the screen went black and you said ‘look up'”: on the irresistible pull of a story in the place where it happened →

Corn and Grit: Notes from a talk at Bettakultcha VII

London has Christopher Wren, Barcelona Antonio Gaudi, and Leeds, well Leeds has Cuthbert Brodrick, the Victorian architect who left us just a handful of public buildings including the amazing, elipitical Corn Exchange. So when the organisers of Bettakultcha, the most fun you'll ever have with Microsoft Office, secured it as the venue for their latest … Continue reading Corn and Grit: Notes from a talk at Bettakultcha VII →

Small pieces loosely joined: on the way home from the Story

Cornelia Parker got the army to blow up a shed full of stuff and then hung the shards from an art gallery ceiling. It felt like a metaphor for almost all the talks at Matt Locke's brilliant event, The Story: everywhere narratives are fragmenting, and no one seems certain how to put them back together. … Continue reading Small pieces loosely joined: on the way home from the Story →