Heart Soul Machine

As the Australian Election Day approached in 2025, you could see a troubling cultural shift: the rise of the "I got mine" ideology, where individualism has overtaken community values and empathy.

The Vibe After what seemed like a long summer or just an incredibly mild autumn, it now really feels like winter.

Inspired by Lee Skallerup Bessette, this post explores why I write.

The Vibe The start of a new quarter, so I did do a bit of a review on my OKRs, something new for me in 2025.

Well, the countdown is on for our proposed restructure.

I just got back from a short vacation with my daughter.

My workplace is set to undergo a mammoth change over the coming months as two universities (UoA and UniSA) become one.

Somewhat buried in this problematic article, High Agency — In 30 Minutes by George Mack, is a solid idea here around Agency.

The Vibe The vibe for March was hot and dry.

I read a couple of posts this week that really got into my head.

The Vibe February was the official return to the grind.

I’m really curious about framing the critique of technology through the Idealist vs Materialist lens, as per Jathan Sadowski.

We seem to be returning to a cycle of excellent critique about the current wave of tech.

In January 2024, I started working on the Focus Course.

The Vibe I wrote about my January slump, but in general, I feel OK.

I was listening to the Tech Won't Save Us podcast episode with Jathan Sadowski discussing his new book, The Mechanic and the Luddite - A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism.

I've been trying to connect a few thoughts together to get to this point.

I wrote the bulk of this post almost a decade ago as the university I was working at was undergoing a formal review by a consulting firm to propose a restructure aimed at improving “efficiency”.

I find January such a rollercoaster month of emotions.

We got our family car back in 2012 - the mighty Skoda Octavia RS TDI.

Around this time last year, I started working on this blog.

In 2024, I did something different.

I wanted to bring the Learning Types to life and give them a more visual identity that extended beyond the colour scheme I've adopted for their use.

The fact that AI has become an inescapable component of daily discourse, news, and debate has been wreaking havoc on my sanity over the last year.

The Vibe It definitely felt like the end of the year, and I was pretty low on energy throughout December.

Let's start with some of the highlights: Tasmania – In April we headed to the Apple Isle to see some friends who also moved from Wagga at about the same time we left.

📨 Mail Client: Mail.app Canary (free) + Outlook (work) I struggled to find a mail app I liked to use that does the simple things right.

Off the back of a couple of good posts from others (Doug Belshaw, Bryan Alexander, Alan Levine & Laura Hilliger), I thought I'd do a bit of a wrap-up of the year in podcasts.

The Vibe The job has been busy.

The Fishbowl and the Ocean A few years ago, I ran a fascinating workshop with Joyce Seitzinger and Kim Tairi about being a networked professional.

The conference was on Open Education, and my aim for this presentation was to share the work I have been doing in developing elements of a Design System with the idea of providing it as a start to an open practice for learning designers.

The Vibe I think I'm reeling from how quickly 31 days have passed!

In my career, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a couple of large-scale projects come to fruition and finish.

I've spent the last couple of days trying to get myself organised.

The Vibe Another month, huh?!?!

A few years ago a colleague and I were working on a tool to enable better organisation of groups for learning.

The Vibe Can winter end?

At the end of last year, I attended the DDD conference and one of the presentations really resonated with me – the one about burnout.

The Vibe July just flew by.

The Vibe Well winter certainly descended this year.

I wrote this post a few months ago when merger work was well underway.

The Vibe The month of May was when everything went off the rails.

The Vibe April has felt like a big month.

The Vibe March this year was a lot of fun from the family and social aspects.

I started 2024 with a bit of time off to spend contemplating my current state, assessing it and starting to plan out the future.

The Vibe So 2024 and a 'long' February.

I’m being spammed by a bunch of companies that are updating their Terms of Service.

So my last post got "Downes'd", which is nice, but at the same time, Stephen's commentary can be challenging.

OK, here's my position: intelligence requires understanding & meaning.

What I’ve noticed with every conversation about AI is the hype.