… it [the Brain] is a creative organ. The job of my brain is to notice things, tell stories and to understand life. — Merlin Mann (source)

Gathering ’11 was an event that brought together leading thinkers, change-makers and collaborators from across Australia and around the world to explore and develop ideas on how to solve today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, together. In this series of podcasts I interview the attendees about their personal experiences of Gathering ’11, as a ...

Gathering ’11 was an event that brought together leading thinkers, change-makers and collaborators from across Australia and around the world to explore and develop ideas on how to solve today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, together. In this series of podcasts I interview the attendees about their personal experiences of Gathering ’11, as a ...

It’s been around for a while now, but this is such a fantastic talk, it’s worth posting here.

… you never truly know which way the wind is blowing until the shit hits the fan. And further, if you don’t mind getting a little dirty, that breeze will carry you a long way. —Michael J. Fox

Gathering ’11 was an event that brought together leading thinkers, change-makers and collaborators from across Australia and around the world to explore and develop ideas on how to solve today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, together. In this series of podcasts I interview the attendees about their personal experiences of Gathering ’11, as a ...

I’ve neglected my blog over the past couple of weeks. I’ve had a couple of distractions — one of which has been the ‘One Day Wonder‘: an annual event on the the Victorian Facilitators Network calendar, which I’ve been helping to organise this year. It’s a learning event created by, with and for facilitators and ...

Gathering ’11 was an event that brought together leading thinkers, change-makers and collaborators from across Australia and around the world to explore and develop ideas on how to solve today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, together. In this series of podcasts I interview the attendees about their personal experiences of Gathering ’11, as a ...

Gathering ’11 was an event that brought together leading thinkers, change-makers and collaborators from across Australia and around the world to explore and develop ideas on how to solve today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, together. In this series of podcasts I interview the attendees about their personal experiences of Gathering ’11, as a ...

This morning, I caught the train out to Elsternwick to meet Tony, for what’s becoming a regular Sunday ride. It started out as a nice morning, but before I even got there, a cold south-westerly wind had picked up and made conditions less than ideal. Once again, we didn’t set ourselves a cracking pace, preferring ...

Gathering ’11 was an event that brought together leading thinkers, change-makers and collaborators from across Australia and around the world to explore and develop ideas on how to solve today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, together. In this series of podcasts I interview the attendees about their personal experiences of Gathering ’11, as a ...

This time last year, we we’re camped on the Ningaloo Reef off the coast of Western Australia, watching whales. Looking back through some old notebooks, I came across a little poem I wrote: Whale caravan Following their long journey from the ocean depths Snow-capped mountains break across the reef An avalanche of white mist crashes ...

This is another brain-dump type post. As seems to be my way, these things percolate in my head for too long, so I’m just trying to get them out instead of trying to be too structured and lucid. Apologies if it seems a little scattered, but I wanted to share these thoughts and the resources ...

It was an absolutely gorgeous winter’s day today.  The sun was shining and there was not a breath of wind. I was feeling kind of lousy this morning, so I decided to head out for a ride to release some endorphins and to meet Mrs C. for lunch. It wasn’t a long ride.  It was ...

Last week, as an introduction to the ds106 course, I read Gardner Campbell’s “Personal Cyberinfrastructure” essay, and watched his presentation “No More Digital Facelifts”. I also watched Michael Wesch’s From Knowledge to Knowledge(able) video. I’ve been contemplating this all week, and to be honest, I’ve been trying to understand how these were connected to the ...

It is our choices … that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. — J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

This visual assignment for ds106 was to pick a bad photo, apply a vintage effect and write something in helvetica. Here’s mine: I’m not really sure what constitutes ‘bad’ in this context. The photo I chose doesn’t look too bad now that I’ve applied a B & W Effect (setting 9) in iPhoto. I added some ...

I love how Jim has built on my work — and improved it! It reminded me of an article I read recently, titled: How to steal like an artist (and 9 other things nobody told me). It’s one of the best pieces I’ve read in a while. A quote from the article: “Here’s what artists ...

It was a beautiful, clear and crisp winter morning in Melbourne today. It’s been a while, but I finally jumped back in the saddle and went out for a decent bike ride. It wasn’t ideal weather for cycling, as there was a strong north-westerly wind with gusts up to 52km per hour.  There was a ...

Dr. Oblivion has gone missing. Please help to return him home safely. I made this image, simply by: Deciding to use the idea of a missing person on a milk carton. I then set about Googling and downloading an image of a carton (something relatively plain) and took a screen grab of an image of ...

Here’s a summary of my ‘personal cyberinfrastructure’: Hosting I’ve been self-hosting my own website since 2005. My host is Serversaurus and the physical infrastructure is located in Melbourne, Australia. I chose to host locally because there’s none of the inherent network latency and legal issues associated with hosting offshore. My account is cPanel-based. I also ...

Dr Oblivion wants an animated gif. Here’s mine — my favorite scene from John Carpenter’s Christine. It’s not quite the same without the dialogue (“Okay, show me!”) and the quirky music. I had been wondering why creating an animated gif was our first assignment. It seemed so 1994. Ah, the memories: spinning balls and rainbow ...

After a long hiatus, I’m blogging again. I could write a long, drawn out post explaining the reasons I stopped and why I’ve decided to start again, but I’m not going to. I just want to get going again. I’m taking the Digital Storytelling (also affectionately known as ds106) course — an open, online course. ...