I have a love hate relationship with Ikea. There are some things that excite me very much, the new product ranges, the way they are displayed, the mock up rooms and how easy it is to put their product together. I am not a fan of the fully controlled way that they usher you around … Continue reading Follow the instructions
History is new
We live in a country that lives on its past. We talk of kings and queens, battles and castles. Our favourite weekend activity is to visit a stately home and everyone knows about 1066 and all that. Our days of empire are behind us. Thank goodness in my opinion. Our sense of history, pomp and … Continue reading History is new
8 out of 10
According to Dave Evans from Stanford Design School (yes this is another Thinking Digital story) after five years, eighty percent of people who went to university aren’t working in the area that they studied. All that time and effort potentially wasted on what seems inappropriately focussed attention. I wonder why this is and if it … Continue reading 8 out of 10
The Gardinator Machine
The internet is a wonderful thing. It gives us the power to do things that would have taken us a lifetime to master. Everyday we come across new applications that we were unaware of or are reminded of again. One such application is the ability to recognise a plant from its picture. I first came … Continue reading The Gardinator Machine
Home archive
The difference between a library system and an archive system is all to do with the relationship of the items in the collection. I learned this at Alnwick Castle. In a library application, items are catalogued based upon subject. There has been a library classification system, the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) in place since 1876, … Continue reading Home archive
Seeing is believing
I’m not sure if I can believe anything anymore. I’ve been reading the book Kevin Nelson’s book – The God Impulse in which he describes how the brain has different states. It can be awake, in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep or in non-REM sleep. It is during REM that our most vivid dreams occur … Continue reading Seeing is believing
Another idea surfaces
Now I am feeling really smug. A couple of weeks ago it was my portable washing machine that finally saw the light of day and now I find that another long term idea of mine is going to be introduced. I am not claiming any credit however but you never know… I saw this announcement … Continue reading Another idea surfaces
Information is power
I have often heard it said that information is power. It is one of those expressions, like time is money or greed is good, that hark back to a time of plenty, when business was in your face and when everyone was more Gordon Gekko. Not that I really bought into such things. Anyone who … Continue reading Information is power
The new hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphs are one of the most ancient forms of writing known. It wasn’t until 1822 that it was possible, thanks to French Egyptologist Jean Francois Champollion, to read them. He managed to start the process of translating them into our more modern form of writing. Of course the word hieroglyph is not an ancient egyptian … Continue reading The new hieroglyphics
A year away
It is true when they say that time speeds up as you get older. The days, months and even years are whizzing by now. Today it is a year since I left Durham County Council. It is twelve months since I left the safety of a paid job and opened a different chapter of my … Continue reading A year away
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 