Interacting Under Canvas

THE JOY OF BEING UNDER CANVAS I’m just back from a short camping trip and reflecting on how exciting it is to live under canvas. There is a visceral thrill to being in a tent as the thin fabric leaks noise, light, heat and shadows. Laying awake in the dark you become aware of nearby …

Banjos and Discrete Technologies

A CONFESSION I begin this post with a confession. I play the banjo. There, it’s out in the open and I feel better already. Actually, I play the tenor banjo in Irish style, although this is a distinction that probably only banjo players care about (but boy will they care). You’ll often find me on …

Trajectories into Practice

Research impact Maybe it’s an age thing, but I’m increasingly bothered by the question of how my research might make a difference – why might a professional working at the coalface of user experience design be bothered about what I am doing?  Of course, there are probably other reasons why this is bothering me too …

Making Science Public

So, here’s an event  that I’m already registered to attend – ‘Making Science Public: Challenges and Opportunities‘ on Feb 11 up at the Trent Building. Unusually for me I’ll be going to the whole thing – often I only get time to dip in and out of conferences and launches. But as well as looking …

Being a lab rat – driving simulator

I’ve worked for the University for six years now. One of the things I like most about the job is getting access to cool stuff. I get to hear a lot of the calls for volunteers that researchers put out, looking for guinea pigs to help prove, or disprove, their latest theory. I’ve been in an MRI …