This post was going to be all about newspapers, but the more I thought about it the more I realised that before writing about the news I have to explain the paper, specifically the cheap, low quality paper we call newsprint. It's a fascinating story which, I think, explains why short-run, nichepaper projects such as Newspaper Club … Continue reading On newsprint: the potency of cheap paper
This is a photo of the screen of a computer, displaying a webcam that's trained on a plinth. Not just any plinth, The Plinth. On the webcam is a whiteboard that carries a message, a message that's saying hello to my sons. They were very impressed. Lorinda (who I've never met) wrote the message. Lorinda … Continue reading One & Other in a roundabout way
Don't get me wrong, I'm as excited as the next guy. I even bought the t-shirt. But listening to Norman Lewis' thought-provoking talk at TEDxLeeds, I worried that the narrative around the Moon landings is in danger of plunging us into a crater of dusty nostalgia, and doing down some of the amazing things that are … Continue reading We choose the Moon (without the moan)
A few weeks ago Imran Ali tweeted a modest proposal that Leeds' Temple Works needs a giant robot. As a fan of Miyazaki's Laputa, I thought this sounded quite cool. What I didn't realise until today is that Leeds already has a giant walking robot. If you're in the area for one of its rare … Continue reading Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me There Was A Giant Walking Robot?
In my ramble through the possibilities of Mobile Gothic, Ruskin's fifth quality of Gothic - Rigidity or Obstinacy - was the hardest to express. It may not be all of Christopher Alexander's qwan, but it's certainly an important part of it. At the time I wrote: "The articulation of the parts of the mobile user experience … Continue reading The Hyperjoy of Hypertext
Ten years ago this month the Sunday Times published an article by Douglas Adams called "How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet". You can read it here. Some starting observations: It's a tragedy that Adams died, aged 49, in 2001, depriving us of more great literature in the vein of the Hitchhiker’s Guide, … Continue reading Ten years on, can we stop worrying now?
I've always found it strange that Eric S. Raymond chose the cathedral as his metaphor for closed development in free software, because the construction of our great medieval cathedrals must have been a very open process. Passing peasants were doubtless discouraged from picking up a chisel to hack at the nearest stone, but Gothic buildings … Continue reading Mobile Gothic: a flight of fancy
I'm not sure where this is pointing, but I think it's the future. A strange cast of people have occupied my reading in recent months - English and French, writers and scientists, aristocrats and hackers. Now, like a Heroes season finale, I find them converging on a single year. To keep track of the people … Continue reading 1794, so much to answer for
I love museums and art galleries. I love the web. So why is it I feel so uneasy about the use of the word "curate" in connection with online content? It certainly seems to be a hot term in the media industry, as seasoned hacks struggle to reinvent themselves in the face of impending old … Continue reading Lock up your marbles! Here come the curators
A couple of months ago I got myself a pocket projector to attach to my mobile phone and laptop. Partly, I wanted to know what happens to the mobile user interface when you blow it up to a metre across. Partly, it seemed like a fun thing to have, just to have it. I discovered … Continue reading Adventures with a pocket projector
Tuesday is France's Fête Nationale, and @cdesmoulins1789 will be live tweeting the Revolution. Can social media change the course of history?
From time to time I like to indulge in crazy counter-factual history. How different things might have been had social media been invented a few hundred years ago! What if Samuel Adams and his Bostonian compatriots had mobile phones to video their protests against the Tea Act. They might have led to more dramatic results. … Continue reading What if…
In December I blogged about the perilous state of Leeds' Temple Works. Neglected for several years, this Grade I-listed building had suffered a partial collapse, blocking the road outside with shattered masonry and opening up a gaping hole in the roof where sheep once grazed on a covering of grass. Six months on, I'm pleased to report … Continue reading Temple Works 3.0 Alpha
As a child in the late 1970s and early 80s I enjoyed a golden age in which learning to program was part and parcel of everyday use of computers. Now as a parent in the Noughties I see my primary school-age sons with instant access to untold online information and computing power, yet they never … Continue reading Kids and code: “It’s good because you can boss the computer around”
I really enjoyed my day at Barcamp Leeds, part of LSx 2009 - Leeds' second web festival. Having turned up meaning to talk about kids and code (see separate post) I also ended up reprising The History of Leeds: What Every Geek Should Know, fortuitously followed by Jon Eland on Exposure Leeds' vision for Leodis.net, a massive … Continue reading Barcamp Leeds 2009 highlights
Matt Edgar writes here 