Architects of Thought: Core Influences

I have spent twenty years writing about how we learn and work. During that time, some people have appeared in my posts more than others. They have given me the words to talk about technology, power, and freedom. This section of the Archive tracks those whose work has become part of my own thinking.

Stephen Downes: Connectivism and OLDaily

I have referenced Stephen Downes hundreds of times since I started blogging. His OLDaily has been a primary source for me; it is a daily practice of finding and sharing what matters in education. Downes is one of the creators of Connectivism, which looks at learning as a process of connecting nodes. I often find myself in full agreement and solidarity with his view of how we should use the internet. He has a way of cutting through the noise of 'edtech' to talk about human communication and co-operation. Read my thoughts on his work regarding skills-based hiring and his analysis of power and wealth.

Laura Hilliger: Clarity and Conviction

I have worked closely with Laura Hilliger for many years, first at Mozilla and then as a co-founder of We Are Open. She is the most no-nonsense person I know. By watching how she lives and works, I have learned to set limits and say exactly what I think. She has been a partner in my work on web literacy and ambiguity. Laura is also a steady influence on my thoughts regarding the art of doing nothing and resisting the attention economy. I frequently refer people to her arguments against education as mere job-training.

Bryan Mathers: Visual Thinkery

My good friend and collaborator Bryan Mathers appears in this archive over 400 times. He created the logo for Thought Shrapnel and has illustrated many of the ideas I have explored through the We Are Open co-operative. Bryan has a gift for taking a half-formed thought and turning it into an image that makes everything clearer. I have watched his own journey from simple apps to more powerful tools, which has been a great way to learn about the creative process. His work is a reminder that any hierarchy should be fluid and temporary. See my notes on our walks and talks in Northumberland.

Audrey Watters: The History of the Future

Through her work at Hack Education, Audrey Watters has provided a necessary counter to the hype of the technology industry. She looks at the myths and 'monsters' of educational technology, reminding us that many 'new' ideas are actually very old. I often look to her work to help me see through the marketing of 'innovation.' Her focus on the history of automated teaching helps explain why many modern platforms fail to live up to their promises. See my notes on our conversation about web literacies.

Jenny Odell: The Art of Not Doing

Jenny Odell's work on attention and place, particularly in How to Do Nothing, is a strong argument against the attention economy. She talks about "context collection, not context collapse," which is a theme I return to often. Her call to "resist in place" helped me think about how to build digital spaces that are intentional. She makes a helpful distinction between simple connectivity and true sensitivity. You can see my reflections on her work here.

Cory Doctorow: Enshittification and Digital Rights

Cory Doctorow has given us a vocabulary for the decay of online platforms. His concept of 'enshittification' explains how services that start by serving users eventually turn to serving themselves and their advertisers. His work on interoperability and digital rights is a guide for anyone interested in platform unbundling. He argues that we should be able to leave a platform without losing our social connections or data. This matches my own focus on self-hosting and digital sovereignty.

Venkatesh Rao: Unmanaged Freedom

Venkatesh Rao uses architectural metaphors to look at digital life. His idea of "freedom from being managed" was an important insight for me. He once wrote, "I am so tired of moving platforms", which is a feeling many of us share. His "warren vs plaza" models help explain how community spaces work. His own "museum blog" was a direct inspiration for this Archive. You can read my notes on remaining unmanaged here.

Ivan Illich: Conviviality and Deschooling

Ivan Illich has been a steady presence in my writing for over a decade. His critique of institutional power and his thoughts on "deschooling" provide a base for how I look at education. In Tools for Conviviality, he writes about tools that support human flourishing rather than controlling it. This idea led to my thoughts on convivial social networking. I still value his focus on human-scale technology.

James C. Scott: Legibility and Opacity

James C. Scott's work on how states simplify complex realities is a tool I use often. I usually pair his ideas with the "right to opacity" from Édouard Glissant. I often ask, "how legible is this?", which is a way to look at power in data and platform design. It is a way to defend things that are messy or hard to quantify. I explore this in my post on Ambiguity and Legibility.

Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death

Neil Postman's warnings about media culture have appeared in my work since 2007. He worried that entertainment could dilute discourse, a concern that is still valid. His work is a reminder to look at the medium as much as the message. He helps me stay alert to the ways public life can be trivialised by the tools we use.