ginger coons - Not so obvious

Image of a camera viewfinder without a lense. It is predominantly grey, and the centre of the image is occupied by a series of concentric circles.

coping

Coping 4: Wednesday focusday

Coping is short posts on Fridays about coping methods for doing creative and focused things in an unfocused world. In Coping 4, why I've made Wednesdays sacrosanct.

A horse points its nose at a card with the number "0" on it, having selected that card from a line of other number cards.

automation

Stupid smart things

Automation does not, by its nature, need to be bad. Can we disentangle ourselves from automation that disrespects user rights and makes heavy use of computation? I make the argument for the importance and value of "stupid smart things."

On a concrete background, a light-blue book. The book is The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges.

bookpile

Bookpile 4: The Garden of Forking Paths

Bookpile is short posts on Fridays about what I’m reading now and what I’m liking about it. This week, it’s The Garden of Forking Paths, a very small collection of stories by Jorge Luis Borges.

A photo of a small, metal weight within several layers of protective glass cloches. A pair of tongs are placed next to the outermost cloche. The background of the photo is black.

standards

My love affair with measurement

The brief story of how I came to love the topic of metrology, the study of measurement. Why are such basics as centimetres or kilograms really things of wonder?

Photo of a beach and a bright but cloudy sky. There is a ship far away on the horizon, and a yellow sign in the foreground that says "Danger Soft Mud."

technology

At The Hare

This week, I'm breaking from the norm. Instead of an essay, a piece of short fiction about exoskeletons, logistics centres, and darts. It's called "At The Hare."

Close-up of the front panel of a dishwasher. Over the power button, there is a label which says "party."

coping

Coping 3: Noticing

Coping is short posts on Fridays about coping methods for doing creative and focused things in an unfocused world. In Coping 3, the importance of noticing.

A mostly dark image of landmasses at night with spots of light where there are urban area. The patterns of lights look like networks.

F/LOSS

Better tech worlds

The move towards European digital sovereignty needs careful thought before duplicating existing technology ecosystems. Now is the time to imagine a more open, independent, and intentional computing future.

Full-screen image of letterpress type, showing both upper-case and lower-case letters.

Friday bonus: On not capitalizing my name

A brief explanation of the choice to not capitalize my name, where it came from, and what it means to be a common noun instead of a proper noun.

F/LOSS

Why I love F/LOSS

It's back to basics with an essay about Free/Libre and Open Source Software, and why I think it matters – especially for people who don’t yet know it well. What is it, and why should you care about and for F/LOSS?

A dog-eared paperback book on a concrete floor. The book is called Standards and their Stories, and it has a pink post-it note sticking out of its side.

bookpile

Bookpile 3: Standards and their Stories

Bookpile is short posts on Fridays about what I’m reading now and what I’m liking about it. This week, it’s Standards and their Stories, a collection edited by Martha Lampland and Susan Leigh Star.

art

The Ubiquitous Monster Game

In 2018, I mentioned the Ubiquitous Monster Game in a project about 5G/Internet of Things for public good. Ubiquitous Monsters were the worst-case case. Here, I go into more depth on the Ubiquitous Monster Game itself, and what it can teach us.

Close-up photo of the mechanism of a typewriter, with a small amount of the body and keyboard visible.

coping

Coping 2: Braindumps

Coping is short posts on Fridays about coping methods for doing creative and focused things in an unfocused world. In Coping 2, braindumps.