Benjamin Parry is writing

The weekend before last my two friends and I were resting in a warm and cosy lounge reflecting on the previous four hours hiking over the South Downs National Park.

Comedians Tim & Eric are well known for their irreverent approach to press interviews.

I feel sorry for anyone tasked with writing a talk about ethics in digital technology in early 2025.

Within the realms of a company; don't exploit anyone, don't manufacture terrible awful products that go into landfill or are unsafe and hurt people, don't use exploit workers in factories… – Camilla and Jason Iftakhar, Swifty Scooters A heartfelt manifesto

Over the past decade or so, the wave of digital transformation has converted old and broken processes into connected and efficient systems.

Over the past few years I’ve been turning to open source software to escape the deluge of enshittification and pernicious data mining that is the reality of so much of today’s software.

There’s a moment during the design of a research study that always gives me pause for thought.

Background and context ¶Section titled Background and context Hold your breath.

Over the last few weeks Clearleft have been teasing out some social media posts about a new 1-day research conference happening in late February 2025.

I’ve recently got back into the habit of listening to podcasts.

I love the idea or weeknotes.

Ooof!

This week has been a joyful mix of getting out into the wild world, catching up with old friends, fostering a revised fondness of writing, both my own and other’s, and creating a space for those words to rest.

It‘s a combined weeknotes as the routine for the last 2 weeks has been turned upside down mostly because of the bank holiday weekend and the school half term.

If I sit for too long I get restless.

At last night’s Homebrew Website Club Europe/London introductions James mentioned his blog post of ideas.

This week has been great.

Before you ask, no, I didn’t see the aurora borealis.

The beautiful cheery blossom outside our home.

The past two weeks have been a constant reminder of just how much I enjoy the freedom of owning my own website.

We’re now in double digits for weeks of 2024.

Spring is just around the corner, I can sense it.

Oops!

Sometimes there’s so much to talk about that you end up with nothing to say.

It’s been a very busy 2 weeks at home and work so here’s a bundle edition of weeknotes.

If you’re reading this, you’re on my rebuilt website.

Week one ¶Section titled Week one I still have the Japanese NHK app on my phone which I occasionally use for watching and reading content and catching up on sumo highlights.

I had high hopes for 2023.

“I want to make an AI…“ says my son at the dinner table.

Wow.

Let’s face it, part of the attraction to personal knowledge management (PKM) software is indulging in the act of Bikeshedding.

It’s the stinking cold on your one week off – Ironic, Alanis Morissette Yeah that happened.

Do one thing and do it well. – Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike Taken from the 1984 Program Design in the UNIX Environment manifesto, it’s one of the many principles for designing today’s digital products and services. 39 years later, software creator’s appet…

The last couple of weeks have been really busy so here a 2-for-1 edition of weeknotes.

We made it!

2022 was a mixed bag.

Here’s a few of my highlights from the last 2 weeks of doing not much at all.

Better late than never.

Weeknotes are back!

I returned to the Clearleft office this week after 2 weeks annual leave.

Reading what has been happening at Twitter HQ over the past few weeks is astonishing.

I’m almost halfway through my 4-week sabbatical already!

One of the benefits of working at Clearleft is the gift of a 4 week sabbatical after 5 years of service.

Life moves pretty fast.

Week 4 is done and dusted.

The working week began with kicking off a new client project at Clearleft.

Around the Clearleft office ¶Section titled Around the Clearleft office We’re all missing those incidental moments around the office where you learn about what people people are working on and what they’ve been up to out of the office.

Okay here goes nothing.

The last 18 months of remote testing could be summed up with a handful of quotes.

I belong to a small community called UXup Brighton, “a friendly group of UX folk who meet monthly, to share skills and experiences, build our network and support each other to grow and develop our careers”.