Tim Wright's 'Harrison Fraud', the tale of a practical joke gone too far, was a highlight for me of last year's The Story. Now he has worked with another favourite project of mine, Bookleteer, to make 'The Second Book of Urizen', a walk around London in the footsteps of William Blake. It's a booklet, not … Continue reading Blakewalking back to 1794
I transcribed this sign in preparation for a talk about the Leeds Corn Exchange at Bettakultcha VII. I love the way we can tell so much of the building's history from the list of things that were forbidden there. Like Rachel Whiteread's 'House', the art is in the negative space. The corn factors have gone, … Continue reading Corn Market Bye-laws: history in the negative
An Anecdote, related by Citizen Thelwall, at the Capel Court Society, during the discussion of a question, relative to the comparative Influence of the Love of Life, of Liberty, and of the Fair Sex, on the Actions of Mankind. You must know then, that I used, together with a variety of youthful attachments, to be … Continue reading King Chaunticlere; or, the Fate of Tyranny
The depths of winter, two weeks off to take stock of where we are and where we're going, a chance to catch up with family and friends. We travelled through blizzards, cooked and ate good food, lit fires, drank wine, fiddled with MP3 play-lists, time-shifted TV, and made one (thankfully minor) visit to Accident and Emergency. We … Continue reading And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet
A clue that it might be time for me to sunset my Delicious account prompted me to look back to the first few links I bookmarked there, back in May 2005. Given the prevalence of linkrot round these parts it's a pleasant surprise to find three links still very much alive, and ones I'd still … Continue reading My first three bookmarks on Delicious, five years on
The Interesting North team have done a brilliant job on the video of my Matthew Murray and James Watt presentation, "Green Sand and Subterfuge". After you've watched it, why not read more about Murray and the Good Engines newspaper that I made to go with my talk, or relive some of the other Interesting North presentations.
There's a patch of wasteland near my work that some people say could be a city park. I'm not sure if this is even the right place for a park. As Jane Jacobs wrote in The Death and Life of Great American Cities: "Parks are volatile places. They tend to run to extremes of popularilty … Continue reading A park in your imagination
Interesting North presentations by James Boardwell and Toby Barnes plus an all-too-short chat with Tom Armitage in the pub after the event prompted me to rescue this post from my blog's permanently-in-draft folder. I'm not sure it's finished yet, but make of it what you will. Originally it was going to be a sober and … Continue reading Aramis, or the Love of Pedalling
I love going to conferences, and I love writing about them, but I hate doing those write-ups that march relentlessly through the speakers in the order they appeared. If you wanted that kind of experience of Interesting North my best recommendation was to go to the conference yourself. Or click the links on Lanyrd.com, which … Continue reading Seeing Interesting patterns
Notes for my TEDxLeeds presentation, "The Makers of Leeds". The Prezi version is here. It starts with the amazing view from the top of the TEDxLeeds venue, the Mint, which looks out over Leeds on all sides. The American architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen said: "When you look at a city, it's like reading the hopes, aspirations … Continue reading The Makers of Leeds
A few months after Orange bought Ananova a bunch of us gathered in a fifth floor meeting room at Marshall Mill to reflect on our relationship with the new parent company. As the creators of the world's first virtual newscaster we quite fancied our ability to make our own weather. Now we were expected to … Continue reading Fun with tight briefs, or how few tomatoes does it take to make a newspaper?
If knowledge and enthusiasm are the raw materials of our post-industrial society then The Culture Vulture is proof of the rich seam of the stuff that runs beneath Leeds and Bradford. It's all the more amazing because it's the independent, unfunded achievement of one person, Emma Bearman, who routinely marshals a large and eclectic mix … Continue reading Bee meets bonnet: the Other Fourth Plinth
So, narrative capital. The social scientist has it like this... ... the power [research participants] have to tell the stories of their lives. This ‘narrative capital’ is then located in the ‘field’ of social science research and Sen’s capability approach is introduced to prompt the question: What real opportunities do research participants have to tell … Continue reading Who wants to be a story millionaire? Some thoughts on the value of Patient Opinion
It's Heritage Open Days from 9-12 September, a once-a-year chance of free access to properties that are usually closed to the public or charge for admission. Buildings all over England will be open, except in London where you have to wait a week for Open House on 18-19 September. Like every year I'm spoiled for choice with … Continue reading A bath, a clock and a giant walking robot – it’s Heritage Open Days this weekend
OK, so I have to get this stuff down by midnight before my head turns into a pumpkin. dConstruct was a day well-spent, listening, tweeting, scribbling and discussing design and creativity - with nine of the most thought-provoking talks we'll hear in the UK this year. And some of my smartest colleagues and former colleagues … Continue reading On a faster horse: meanders heading home from dConstruct
Matt Edgar writes here 