During my 14 years at Pfizer, I once reviewed an iOS app built for us by a low-cost off-shored development shop. I proxied the app through Fiddler, watched the requests and found an API that was returning every user record in the system and for each user, their corresponding password in plain text. When quizzing the developers about this design decision, their response was – and I kid you not, this isn’t made up – “don’t worry, our users don’t use Fiddler” 🤦♂️
Tom Critchlow talks about going beyond the right answer to instead positing the ‘next most useful thing’.
I’ve been using this phrase “the next most useful thing” as a guiding light for my consulting work – I’m obsessed with being useful not just right. I’ve always rejected the fancy presentation in favor of the next most useful thing, and I simply took my eye off the ball with this one. I’m not even sure the client views this project as a real disappointment, there was still some value in it, but I’m mad at myself personally for this one. A good reminder not to take your eye off the ball. And to push your clients beyond what they tell you the right answer is.
This reminds me about Donald Winnicott’s notion of ‘good enough mother’.
Winnicott thought that the “good enough mother” starts out with an almost complete adaptation to her baby’s needs. She is entirely devoted to the baby and quickly sees to his every need. She sacrifices her own sleep and her own needs to fulfill the needs of her infant.
As time goes by, however, the mother allows the infant to experience small amounts of frustration. She is empathetic and caring but does not immediately rush to the baby’s every cry. Of course, at first the time-limit to this frustration must be very short. She may allow the baby to cry for a few minutes before her nighttime feeding, but only for a few minutes. She is not “perfect” but she is “good enough” in that the child only feels a slight amount of frustration.
So often when developing ideas, it can be easy to get caught up with the ideal, rather than coming up with an idea that responds to the situation at hand.
With a series of structural changes going on at work, I was asked how I felt about my job. I explained to my manager that I felt that a lot of what we do is thankless. This is not to say that schools are not thankful, but rather it feels like a large amount of our time is spent doing what feels like other people’s work. For example, this month, another buggy upgrade was pushed into production by the technical team without adequate testing or documentation. This meant that a large amount of my time was spent trying to figure out what was happening with all the problems raised by schools to raise with the technical team to fix.
On the home front, our yard redesign has somehow been completed even with the ridiculous amounts of rain that we have had. I remember raising concerns about flooding when we went to Albury, however it feels like things have only stepped up since then. It feels like a new record seems to be broken each week at the moment. Although it is hard to capture something that is so widespread, however I feel like the video of the Woolshed Falls near Beechworth summed it up for me.
For me, Clive Thompson captures things best, explaining how working with all the variables to land a rocket is still a far cry from the complexity of grappling with 400 million Twitter users.
Speaking about the inspiration to the title for his album , Brian Eno talks about Alexei Yurchak’s book Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More and the two stages of revolutions:
I think the idea came from this book that revolutions always happen in two stages. The first stage is when everyone realizes something is wrong. So that’s where we’ve been now for a while, with the exception of a few ostrich holdouts. The second stage is when everyone realizes that everyone else realizes it as well. That’s the moment I think we’re heading towards. When the thing goes from being a liquid to a solid. Suddenly it’s a phase change.
Another month and another change to the team at work. Why is it that everyone seems to have had such amazing lives? The new manager at work ran a 10 hour charity music conference in his spare time. I am often happy if I have done the washing and got food on the table, I clearly need to work harder on my pitch.
On the family front, we went on our first holiday post-COVID to country Victoria. It was interesting returning to various places with children. I think it is fair to say wine tasting and children do not always match.
Carlos Fenollosa reflects on the demise of self-hosted email. One of the main reasons he argues for the failure is the crude blacklisting of large swaths of email, rather than a penalty process.
In order to survived the battered psyche, Venkatesh Rao explains that way have resorted to the ‘ark head’ mental model. This involves giving up on solving the world’s ills and simply hiding in our ark.
Celebrating the birth of , Cara Giaimo discusses Florence Nightingale’s impact in regards to the spread of ideas, not just as the ‘Lady with the Lamp’.
Read Write Respond #080
So that was September for me, how about you? As always, hope you are safe and well.
Prior to COVID, we had a tradition as a family to go on a big holiday each September. We had not really planned to go away this year. However, with the passing of the queen and the additional public holiday we decided to make the most of the situation and go on a driving holiday to Albury.
It is always funny how you assume certain things based on past experiences. When we arrived after driving all day we assumed we would easily be able to get into somewhere to celebrate our anniversary, but we quickly realised that even mid-week a walk-up was not a guarantee. After wandering the streets for a while we stumbled upon the Public House. It is funny how with all the searching online, serendipity still has a place. The place pleased all, with my wife and I sharing a mini cocktail or two, while our children loved colouring in the children’s menus and completing the various activities provided. Oh, and the food was great.
We chose to stay in Albury as it not only provided a range of activities, but a great launching spot for the wider area. One place we were keen to visit was Beechworth. I always find it interesting to visit a place twice. Sometimes the memory does not necessarily match with how it actually is. I have some history with the area, with my wife and I having in Beechworth in 2009, while I also went on school camp there many years ago.
Visiting with our children, we went to Beechworth Honey, where the girls got to taste different types of honey and learn about the process involved in producing them. We then went to the original Beechworth Bakery and had a pie and a bee sting. After that we walked across town to Billson Brewery. Not sure I remember visiting this space in the past. It was a good place to visit with the children as they got to try the various flavours of cordial, while my wife and I were able to try the various gins and liqueurs. It was also nice to buy some bottles of Chilli Punch Cordial, although I now realise that I could have ordered them from Billson online, it just never occurred to me. On our way back to Albury we took a detour and climbed to the top of Mt Pilot. A reminder I should do more bush walks with my children.
For diner we went back to Public House for 2 for 1 pizzas. Funny thing was that we got rained on as the retractable roof was left open.
Sadly the night ended on a sour note as we were evacuated from our hotel at 3am in the morning. Thankfully it was not raining outside as we wait to be told we could return to our rooms. I guess it could have been worse, we could have been evacuated due to flooding or worse, because we were under attack. Not sure our children saw it.
For our last full day away, we decided to go driving to Corowa / Rutherglen region. It was fascinating to see the Murray in flood. When I lived in Swan Hill for a few years, the river was relatively low, but there were always remnants and markers to remind you that it was and is not always that way.
One of the interesting things to come up through the conversations was the experience of living on the state border during the COVID lockdowns. One person explained to us how different teams were cycled through the various border crossings with little to no knowledge of the area. It was eye-opening and really provided a different perspective.
On our way home on Sunday, we detoured via Milawa Cheese and the Ned Kelly show in Glenrowan. It was fascinating to see the investment into Glenrowan, I was expecting it to be dead, but there had clearly been investment in the town and its history. Only a few minutes off the freeway, I think that I would stop there in the future, especially after purchasing the biggest bee sting in my life from the bakery.
As Kojo Koram from the School of Law at Birkbeck, University of London, writes, however, culture is something that is continually remade by the people living it. These different conceptions mark the boundaries of the culture wars currently being played out in British politics and society.
By ’emergent’ I mean, first, that new meanings and values, new practices, new relationships and kinds of relationship are continually being created. But it is exceptionally difficult to distinguish between those which are really elements of some new phase of the dominant culture (and in this sense ‘species-specific’) and those which are substantially alternative or oppositional to it: emergent in the strict sense, rather than merely novel.
Julian Stodd suggests the one word to describe ‘culture’ is violence:
If we had to choose a single word to describe culture, it would possibly be ‘violence’, not because the behaviours of culture are violent (although they may be), but rather because culture is held as a struggle at the intersection of systems. Tribal systems, formal systems, belief systems, knowledge systems, and specifically systems of power.
Life certainly has a way of teaching you lessons. Personally, I have been a literally quieter this month, as I lost my voice. This is a bit of a problem when working in support. In part I returned from illness earlier than I probably should have and subsequently copped something on the rebound. What was interesting is that I had a dry irritating cough which meant I was unable to sit down for long without having a coughing fit. Actually, I could not even look down. This meant that as much as I wanted, I was unable to do any work. One of the positives was that I was that I felt best when walking and not talking.
The winner of the walking was the dog that we are currently dog-sitting. I have not lived with a dog since I was a child. It has definitely given me a different perspective on things. Firstly, I cannot believe how many people seem to throw away their fast food fries. Secondly, I cannot remember being so conscious of poo and whether we have been overfeeding. The other interesting thing was how much more exercise we have done as there is someone else involved.
On the Work front, I have been spending time trying to get to the bottom of ongoing issues. This led to using Google Sheets to create a template for filtering errors by school making it easier to email out issues.
Cameron Paterson shares examples of where his students have co-constructed assessment criteria, self-assessed their work, written their own report comments and taught their own lessons.
Emily Weinstein and Carrie James talk about teaching teens to build personal agency, anticipating and discussing different dilemmas before they arise, and encouraging collective agency where groups respond to challenges together.
Welcome back to another month. I feel like it has had a bit of everything, catching up with family visiting from interstate, eldest daughter managing to go on her first school camp in three years, as well as being being thrust into health and safety protocols.
On the Work front, I feel like I have spent much of my time trying to get to the bottom of a range of new defects that have come with a recent upgrade. I am always intrigued how aspects of the application that have not been fixed or improved are impacted.
Wouter Groeneveld discusses his development of the Creative Programming Problem Solving Test (CPPST), a self-assessment test for programmers that measures more than just divergent thinking.
So another month passes. For me, someone ran into the back of my car. Sometimes life just happens, I guess. When I initially inquired about getting a loan car, I was told that I would need to travel to the airport to collect it. Unwilling to do this, we managed to get through most of the month with just one car. Although I did end up finding a loan car closer to home, it definitely made me think about our dependence on a vehicle differently.
On other matters, we continued to venture out more and more, step by step. We rejoined the Melbourne Zoo, ventured to a few country markets and ate out a bit more, including in Chinatown in the CBD. (Apparently exploring Chinatown was on Ms 6’s bucket list.) This is definitely not a return to normal, but maybe this is the new normal? Still not sure how I feel about going on a big holiday, but it feels like I am more and more in the minority.
At work, we survived the rush associated with biannual academic reporting, even as some people were on leave. In addition to that, I have continued doing my usual day-to-day stuff, such as testing improvements, responding to support calls and developing various guides. In amongst all of this, somebody thought we needed Office 365, so we have been learning about the benefits of collaborative software, even if we have been using
Personally, I finally found out what I was missing in regards to Hamilton, (although only my wife was lucky enough to see it on stage.) I also joined in the Minefield’s not quite a bookclub reading (or listening to) Jane Austen’s Emma. In regards to music, I enjoyed the thought that TISM are returning.
Foolishly, about 20 years ago, I said that the only way that TISM would ever reappear would be if the Fair Work Commission decided to raise the minimum wage. I thought I was pretty safe there. Because, as if anyone’s going to give those bloody battlers a decent go.
Then I got a phone call at 10am this morning. They said, ‘It’s happened’ and, shamefully, here we are.
Here then are some of the dots that have had me thinking:
Richard Wells goes beyond the well-meaning quiet classroom and puts out the challenges to consider allocating time for students to practice ‘working with others’.
Jenny Gore and Nicole Mockler suggest that most reporting on education overlooks the systemic challenges of inequity in our communities. They argue that what is needed is investment in teaching and an effort to raise the status across the board.
Jon Keegan and Dara Kerr use Blacklight privacy inspector to demonstrate the data collected by trackers on abortion sites. Another example of the way in which insight and awareness can be produced from the crumbs we leave.
Mike Seccombe traces Liberal Party back to John Howard’s remaking of Menzies’ party and how it was transformed again by the voters targeted from a distance who became members.
At home, there was finally some action in regards to fixing up our yard. We inherited a few issues when we purchased the property, such as a water tank on a lean. A part of me felt guilty in getting somebody else to do the work. My home, my problem, or something like that. I had done what I could in cleaning things up. However, I soon realised that sometimes there is a reason that you get somebody with the skills and tools to do the job. I am pretty sure it would have taken me months to achieve what a few guys and an excavator achieved in a few days.
On the family front, our youngest had to stay home for a few days two weeks running with a lingering cough. All of her RATs came back negative and her energy levels were normal. I was supporting a teacher who pointed out that in some ways lockdown was easier as we did not have to worry about all the coughs and sneezes meaning that everyone could simply battle on. Guess this is all a part of the new normal.
At work, focus turned to supporting the setup of academic reports. However, as seems to be the way, nothing ever quite goes to plan as we were inundated with requests for attendance data associated with a government audit. On further investigation it was discovered that there were some who were already aware of the requirement, they just forgot to pass this information on. I never cease to be surprised by the way in which one hand fails to speak with another. With so much outside of our control, it feels frustrating when something in our control is overlooked. In between all this, I continued creating guides to fill gaps in our instruction, as well as develop some spreadsheets and scripts to help automate practices.
Cory Doctorow discusses Tracking Exposed, a collective of designers using adversarial interoperability to go beyond the guessing game of algospeak to provide a more concrete understanding of algorithms and content moderation.
Even though we had Easter and the school holidays, we were still conservative as a family about getting out and about, sticking to a few country drives and visits to friends.
On the work front, there was a return to being on-site three days a week. Even though my job is to largely provide virtual/phone support to schools across the state, it is argued that being together is more conducive to collaboration. However, this is also reliant on having the right space for such collaboration to occur. With the new normal being more fluid, adjustments are required. For example, a few days back we had an internal meeting where the organiser either forgot to, or was unable to, book a meeting room, therefore there were five people spread across an open work space speaking with a couple of colleagues on another level virtually. It just seems a bit absurd at times.
James Vyver explores the development of Fairlight in the 1980’s, a musical instrument that involved access to an extensive sound library, a multi-track sequencer and a sampler.
Kevin Townsend, Shirley Li, Spencer Kornhaber, and Hannah Giorgis talk about the place of nostalgia in modern music and the way in which steaming allows us to easily fill our listening with more of the same.
In little more than a month, Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed the course of this young and already troubled century. He has resurrected the threat of territorial conquest and nuclear war. He has jolted Western Europe awake from its long postwar torpor, raising the prospect of rapid German rearmament. He has put the capstone on two decades of U.S. misdirection by defying American power and influence.
Above all, with his invasion of Ukraine, Putin is trying to complete work on a vast project of destruction implicitly supported by several other world leaders, especially Chinese President Xi Jinping. Together, these leaders want to break what they see as U.S. hegemony over the international system and undermine the notion that the world is bound by a common set of values embodied in international law and upheld by institutions such as the United Nations.
Rutger Bregman explains why Europe needs Ukraine as a reminder of the hope that the EU actually offers.
Ukraine, in short, chose Europe. And Putin found that intolerable. Now it is up to us to choose Ukraine. Yes, normally the road to EU membership is long and complicated, and with good reason. But these are not normal times. Millions of brave Ukrainians have reinvigorated the European ideal—of freedom, democracy, and cooperation—and many have paid with their lives.
Ukrainians assert their nation’s existence through simple acts of solidarity. They are not resisting Russia because of some absence or some difference, because they are not Russians or opposed to Russians. What is to be resisted is elemental: the threat of national extinction represented by Russian colonialism, a war of destruction expressly designed to resolve “the Ukrainian question.” Ukrainians know that there is not a question to be answered, only a life to be lived and, if need be, to be risked. They resist because they know who they are.
Phillips Payson O’Brien makes the case that the current campaign serves as the end of heavy and expensive military power.
The future shape of militaries is open to debate. What is clear, though, is that investing in large World War II–era materiel such as the heavy tank, enormous aircraft carrier, and super-expensive fixed-wing aircraft has never been riskier. As far less expensive but still lethal systems continue to improve, the investment that will be required to protect larger, more expensive weapons systems will be financially crippling, even for the American military. Instead, political and military leaders will need to start conceiving of an entirely different battlefield, full of lighter, smaller, more mobile, and in many cases autonomous or remotely operated weapons. In essence, they will need to prepare for the first wars of the 21st century.
Ilya Kaminsky collects together testimonies associated with life in Ukraine during wartime. The them that comes up again and again is ‘time’:
In occupied cities, time doesn’t exist, it is gone. War is not about time; time was completely destroyed in Gostomel, where the morning begins by chopping wood and lighting a fire to cook food. In the occupied city, we focus on those few hours when the generator is working. We are waiting for only two things—victory to be announced or the opportunity to escape.
For me, time has become a carousel: everything flashes, and you realize with a little effort that it is a certain hour, day of the week, and day of the month, and that it all belongs to Anno Domini 2022. During war, time is the location of the sun and stars and the season, rather than the numbers on the phone or the angle between the hands on the clock. On the one hand, wartime is timelessness, and on the other, it is filled with nervous attempts to look ahead.
Susan J. Wolfson makes the comparison between Volodymyr Zelensky and Lord Byron.
And so Volodymyr Zelensky—like Byron, a skilled public speaker, a satirist, an entertainer—fulfills one Byronic dream. If Byron was first a poet, then a celebrity, then a political activist in Italy, then a political force in a war of independence in the same time zone as Ukraine, Zelensky brings it all together as the genuine Byronic hero of our times. Here is a celebrity entertainer who played a fictional president on television, then was himself elected president, then in a national crisis used a comedian’s knack for concision and punch to become a leader of consequence, and an international hero.
Keith Gessen reflects upon war-termination theory and Russia’s not so ‘secret’ weapon and how it still serves as the great unknown.
In this situation, the secret weapon is nuclear. And its use carries with it the risk, again, of even greater involvement in the war by the U.S. But it could also, at least temporarily, halt the advance of the Ukrainian Army. If used effectively, it could even bring about a victory. “People get very excited about the front collapsing,” Goemans said. “But for me it’s, like, ‘Ah-h-h!’ ” At that point, Putin would really be trapped.
Responding to Putin’s call for mobilisation, Thomas Snyder posits that this puts more pressure on Russian politics than it does on the people of Ukraine:
There is a cleft both in elite and public opinion in Russia, and it is now becoming visible on television. Some people think that the war is a holy cause and can be won if heads roll, leadership behaves honorably, and more men and materiel are sent to the front. Among them are the military bloggers who are actually at the front, and whose voices are becoming more mainstream. This is a trap for Putin, since he is already sending everything that he can. Those voices make him look weak. Other people think that the war was a mistake. These voices will make him look foolish. This is just the most basic of a number of contradictory positions that Putin now faces, from an exposed and weakened position.
Welcome back to another month of the new normal. This month feels like it has had a bit of everything. It started with a visit from my father, who I had not seen since for a few years. While it ended with COVID. In addition to a whole lot of prizes and freebies, my wife brought COVID home from a conference she attended. Somehow my daughters and I managed to escape by isolating, even if everyone suggested we all just get it together as it is inevitable. No thanks. I am sure my time will come, but not this day (or month).
On the work front, I finally finished end of year activities. I also found a whole heap of tasks and incidents that had become lost in triage. As the organisation grows and morphs, some old groups are merged and made obsolete. The problem is that changing a name does not magically change a habit meaning that these incidents remain unresolved and unaccounted for. The funniest thing I find about working with technology is the human variability. So much time is spent managing the product, making sure that everything is right and correct, but this can sometimes be at the expense of clear processes and procedures.
Deborah Netolicky shares her thoughts on the key concepts associated with professional learning, including holonmy, a holding environment, meaningful collaboration and semantic space.
Ben Williamson pulls the curtain back on the magic associated with Google’s new Google Classroom feature ‘Practice Set’, which provides adaptive learning technology.
Adrienne Westenfeld discusses the way in which some novelists, such as George Saunders, Salman Rushdie and Chuck Palahniuk, have turned to Substack as a means of serializing fiction, teaching the craft of writing and generally engaging with readers.
Steve Brophy reflects upon the technical aspects associated with producing a book, including purchasing an ISBN, selecting art for the cover and choosing a platform to publish the book.
I would like to say that it was a strange month, but every month feels strange at the moment.
At work, the end of year process has continued even if it is no longer the end of the year. The process of cleaning up data would be enough to keep me busy, but alas the return of schools also meant the return of support requests. With over 300 schools to support now, I am amazed that I still manage to stumble upon novel issues, but I do. I guess that is the joy of an ever growing project where there is always some new addition to stretch things that bit further.
On the family front, the return to school has brought its own anxieties. The government supply of rapid antigen tests has alleviated that to a degree, but the threat is still there. In addition to school, the children have returned to their extracurricular activities. The youngest is even trying out tennis. It almost feels like some kind of normality, except when you read the number of cases and they are just the ones we are aware of.
Ron Ritchhart provides a list of ways to help thinking routines to succeed. This includes using thinking routines in your own learning, respecting that thinking leads to learning, and appreciating that they are a part of a larger agenda.
The We Are Open Co-op have collected together their various resources in one place, whether it be templates, online courses or episodes of the podcast.
Kate O’Halloran reports on Kirsten McLeod’s challenges with concussion, explaining how it serves as yet another point of inequity associated with AFLW.
A thinking activity I like to use is to give an answer and then come up with the question. This month it feels like I have been the answer for far too many questions. Whether it be calling out problematic workflows, sorting out integration concerns, identifying access issues, fixing up spreadsheets, the answer for each seems to be me. In part it it has left me feeling like a failure in that I have not adequately built the capacity of others to sort things out, but sometimes in life when we find someone who can get things done we just go to them.
Sadly, as I started back at work in the second week of January, I did not have a much a break over Christmas. Just enough time to get a few things done around the house, such as fixing the shower. As well as catching up with a some friends. I had forgotten how much I missed in catch up with people in person. The mixed blessing is that my family and I subsequently stayed around home for much of the school holidays even though we were not in lockdown.
Whether it be food delivery drivers working for a phantom boss or Amazon workers unable to stop for the toilet, Clive Thompson provides examples of the way in which AI has made some jobs suck.
Welcome back to another month, actually make that two months. Things just got too busy in December to stop and take stock.
At work, things were in place for the end of year. I had unpacked everything and thought I had put in place a clear plan. However, what I learnt is that I was only in charge of half the picture. Things blew up in regards to aspects that were outside of my control. In addition to this, I had another issue arise that I had not accounted for take up a significant amount of time. In some ways, this reminded of Nassim Nicholas Taleb discussion of extremistan in The Black Swan:
On the 79th day, if the project is not finished, it will be expected to take another 25 days to complete. But on the 90th day, if the project is still not completed, it should have about 58 days to go. On the 100th, it should have 89 days to go. On the 119th, it should have an extra 149 days. On day 600, if the project is not done, you will be expected to need an extra 1,590 days. As you see, the longer you wait, the longer you will be expected to wait.(Page 159)
On the family front, my wife and I celebrated our fortieth. Our girls had their end of year dance concert, outdoors. We even went to children’s party at an indoor playcenter. It all feels really strange now as the number of cases where I live have skyrocketed.
Anita Collins unpacks a number of benefits associated with music, including the association between hearing, speaking and reading, the importance of melodies in voice to aid cognitive development, the connection between singing and empathy, the link between rhythm and learning to read, and how learning a new instrument at 40-50 can help reduce cognitive decline when you are older.
From literary Rube Goldberg workflows, distraction-free text editors and e-ink tablets, Julian Lucas dives into the world of distraction-free writing. He explores the friction between paper and computers, and the benefits and negatives associates with each.
Reflecting upon Spotify’s Wrapped, the yearly review, Kelly Pau reminds us of the place of algorithms and artificial intelligence embedded within these choices.
David Weinberger compares the way in which the Western world has traditionally conceived of generalisations and certainty with the way in which machine learning works.
With the anniversary of Kid A and Amnesiac, as well as Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei speak with Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke about legacy of albums.
From classical piano to Itch-E and Scratch-E to Dissociatives to Stereogamous to teaching at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Paul Mac has had a wide ranging career.
Welcome back to another month of magic or blood, sweat and tears. Depends who you ask.
At work, I have been continuing my work associated with improving the end of year process. This has involved a lot of time spent setting up data and capturing screenshots, only to have to do it all over again when somebody points out an issue. It all seems to be coming into place, however a part of me will be glad when we have burst the rocket through the outer atmosphere.
On the family front, my wife and I have both had our second jabs and have started the long road out of lockdown. This has included getting out to Bunnings, catching up with relatives and having a few park dates. Associated with this, the children are back to school. However, it only took three days for the school to be shutdown. With so many cases still in the local community, still seems premature to be popping any champagne.
Chris Hayes suggests that the star desires recognition from the fan, but as the star does not recognise the fan’s humanity, all they can ever receive is attention.
Modernism was a movement of resonant rupture. It grappled with war, sickness, institutional breakdown, individual despair, and the bleak notion that problems might be solved if people could only be persuaded to buy the right stuff. Its concerns are intensely familiar. But modernism was also a movement of exposure. It arose with the camera, and the motion picture. It was invested in finding new ways of seeing—other people, the world, the human soul.
I was reminded again that a month is a long time. My reading workflow is usually to progressively scour through my RSS feeds and anything that is too long to read at the time to save for later. This sometimes means that I may not get to a piece for a few weeks. One of the consequences of this is that what might have seemed important or significant no longer holds the same weight. For example, I had saved a few pieces on Gladys Berijlyin’s decision to cancel the daily lockdown briefings, yet now that she has since resigned it somehow seems strangely both less and more important.
In other news, my wife and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. Usually we would do something together, without the tiddlywinks, but in these strange times we both got gifts that could – alcohol aside – be shared by everyone. Our children also decided to celebrate the holidays by having sleepovers – in each others rooms. I guess we all need to find novelty somewhere in life. For me, it has been giving up coffee after our youngest told me I could not live without it. I will return, sometime.
On the work front, I could only sit back and wait for someone above me to take ownership for so long, so I have taken on the challenge of improving the end of year process, especially as their is an appetite for automation (or for it to be done by a whole lot of Mechanical Turks.) My manager was shocked when we had our first meeting as I had already done a significant amount of work. The biggest challenge I have had is getting other people to engage in the pain points. It is always the challenge of a large project, you can only control so much in a team game.
Dr Aleryk Fricker provides five tips for undoing colonial structures, including make space for First Nations content, provide visibility of First Nations contexts and engage with the local First Nations community.
Monica Chin explores some of the changes in student habits when it comes to managing files and data. Where computers are traditionally organised into filing cabinets, this has been replaced for some by the habit of simply searching for the particular item.
Tyler Robertson has created an app with Glitch to use a Google Sheet to generate a blog with an associated feed. This includes options in regards to SEO and CSS.
Kamyar Razavi talks about the importance of giving flesh to the facts when it comes to global warming. Although fear can be a useful tool for mobilising people, storytelling helps with engaging at a more personal level.
