Tag: analogue skills

New developments in ‘i’

Engineers have announced today some astounding new breakthroughs in their latest version of i. This technology is completely free and open-source.

Too many emails – the Eiffel Over guide

I am a connoisseur of email-reduction strategies, so I share this for friends and colleagues of mine who I know are struggling with this at the moment. The…

Updates from a regenerative system

Our nearby allotments are my local source of food and regenerative inspiration. Sharing my thoughts from this weekend’s visit when I was helping with apple pressing. While Bristol…

Analogue Skills for Design at the University of Bath

Today at the University of Bath I am running a workshop on Analogue Skills for Design. This workshop fuses material from my conceptual design teaching with my observations…

What happened when I tried to use an old iPod

Once upon a time the offer of 1000 songs in your pocket – the slogan for the iPod – was so enticing. But in 2014 Apple discontinued the…

Analogue Skill 009: Sketch what you see

Take out a piece of paper and draw a sketch of what you can see. You will notice more than you ever would by taking a photograph. Sketching…

Analogue Skill 008: Be happy not knowing

There’s a gap between certainty and doubt, and that is being happy not knowing. In this gap is space for discovery, serendipity, delight and the opportunity to grow…

Analogue Skill 007: Print out photos of your friends

Print out photos of your friends. Stick them on your wall. What are they doing? How can you support them? A regular reminder to give them a call….

Analogue Skill 006: Sing songs with other people

Songs to pass the time. Songs of celebration. Songs of nostalgia. Songs that mark the seasons. Songs of work. Travelling songs. Songs that tell a story. Songs of…

Analogue Skill 004: Become a regular

Anywhere versus somewhere.  Contactable versus findable. Interchangeable versus valuable.  Stranger versus friend. This analogue skill first emerged for me from asking a simple question. If you have left…

What if the screen you are now using is your last?

One day I hope this article will be printed in a book. But until then I can be fairly sure that you will be reading it on a…

Analogue Skill 003: Watch the clouds – streaming now

Watch the clouds. Streaming now. Telling a story of past, present and future. Of up there and down here. If you also live on the lump of rock…

What is real-world search in a digital world?

What is real-world search, and why might it serve us in the digital world? The promise of a fully connected, digital paradigm is access to all the world’s…

Analogue Skill 002: Remember some phone numbers

Your loved ones. Your best friends. Your colleagues. Could you call them if you needed to?  — This skill is an enabler for leaving the house with your…

More lanes = more cars. More apps = more things to do?

Deleting apps and leaving your phone at home could be analogous to dismantling urban highways. I read earlier this week about the research that established a direct link…

Analogue Skill 001: Buy tickets at the station

Go to the station. Stand in the queue. Look at all the people and wonder where they are going. See leaflets in the rack for places you hadn’t…

Why isn’t Lands End called Lands Start? – parenting with the weather pages

From hospital waiting rooms to long-distance train journeys, the weather page is a great conversation starter for my daughter and me, full of questions about geography, mathematics, history,…

Creating contours in the flat landscape of lockdown

In the midst of lockdown we have created a new household tradition that brings a highlight to the week. On Saturday nights we dress for dinner, enjoy our…

New adventures with a television – part 2.

I wrote earlier this week about getting a TV for the first time in 13 years. It reminds me of when I took my first flight in seven…

Asking someone instead of Googling

What if you couldn’t look stuff up online? This is a question I keep returning to. One answer is that other people might become a more important source…

Apollo 8 | What do you do with your computer?

I’ve been listening the BBC World Service’s podcast ’13 Minutes to the Moon’ about the Apollo space programme. Last night I listened to the episode about Apollo 8,…

A click of the ratchet from physical to virtual

Across all the of the projects I’m involved with we are working out what can go ahead and what must be postponed. A significant factor in whether to…

The horizon of existence | surveillance capitalism | the return of analogue skills

It’s hard to know where to start. So much has changed in the last fortnight and there is so much that I feel compelled to write about. But…

The experience of distance

Marseille A morning walk up the steep hill to the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Gard granted me panoramic views of the city of Marseille and the…

Use these 5 apps to create distraction-free time.

We need distraction-free time to make progress on our creative projects. At the same time, we rely on online networks and information to nourish our ideas. The trouble…