Weeknote 20/2026

I'm typing this on my laptop in the lounge. It's half-time during Everton vs Sunderland and, when I turn the sound off while the adverts are on, I can hear a singer mangling otherwise-recognisable hit songs. Our next door neighbour, who says hello to us and that's about it, is evidently having some kind of celebration.

After my Stage 3 Overtraining Syndrome diagnosis earlier this year, I'm taking things much easier. I'd like to be running more. I'd like to be in the gym more. But there we are.

Writing & Creating

Here, I published:

GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_d4b33c71115a483e9842e2b0c94455b8GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_0310aeae0c62497a9ac0d4504076f7e5GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_0515f25985ab454199d6b2cc9398c2d5

Over at Thought Shrapnel, I published:

GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_62bb62158e47449c81ffd72591567ea0GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_514fd2ff15374403935c9a9113f2097dGHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_41646b1d2fc84c9f9a5feb6707fb743fGHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_c42b9b5768df4278b8ddf7522f70a5abGHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_f0fb2ce8021e4365911f711cb7f6bc20GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_f5a66510179742a3a9ed4e27ba8cc3b7GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_8eb6c8976cd348a9a2b26320cd7d17abGHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_1eb27f7308bd4985b59d5324141ed200GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_28afbd059e1a46ce8b7144871dd43a14GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_380d42eec03441d1b72a2a2726881086GHOST_BOOKMARK_TOKEN_58303e72984e4c09a08e39be9e021a52

Reading, Listening, and Watching

I finished No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy last night, which I think was a rare case of a book being improved by watching the film beforehand. Next, I'm going to read The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym Of Nantucketby Edgar Allan Poe.

[PODCASTS]

Working

It was a four-day week due to the Early May Bank Holiday. I'm now working on five projects:

DCC – I had a chat with Kerri Lemoie on Tuesday about the work I'm doing for her on Wallet Attached Storage. I then starting using the design system I created using Claude Design and worked on the text-based elements of the project.
INASP – I spent time working on drafting tender documents for their procurement process for their Rising Scholars and main website projects. The Dovetail how to guides were useful for this.
SDS – An oversight on my part meant that participants in the Digital Badges Proof of Concept workshop a week last Friday weren't able to create badges Nate sorted that out for me this week, and then ensured that any created badges end up in the DCC sandbox registry, meaning they show up as 'verified'.
TechFreedom – On Friday, Tom and I met up in person to finish planning the third workshop for members of the pilot cohort. We've also started to plan our session for TechNExt, had a chat about putting in a session for MozFest, and talked tentatively about setting up a lab/studio together.
CW-PUB-001 – I'm creating my first zine, which will be a limited run of 50 physical copies, with no digital version released. Coming Q3 2026.

I contributed to a Responsible AI UK Education white paper workshop on Tuesday, a Mozilla Alumni digital legacy workshop with Ian Forrester on Wednesday, caught up with Angela Gunder and Annalise Lewis, had an introductory chat with Gavin van Lelyveld, and discussed a potential collaboration with Ariam Mogos from Stanford d.school.

Other than that, I've made a lot of progress on ProjectDial (the sister to TaskDial) which I'll share publicly soon. It wouldn't have existed without the insistence of Stephen Lockyer that it would be a good idea! I've even started using it myself, adding in a basic Toggl Track integration.

We did such a great job winding down WAO that we've already paid out the money that was left in the pot, and our accountant now just has to file the relevant paper to liquidate it. Onwards.

Personal

On Friday afternoon, after meeting with Tom, I went for a walk with my son, Ben. He's in the midst of his first year exams, but (a) they're multiple-choice as he's doing Sport, and (b) he's switching to Geography next year anyway.

We went on a lovely walk along Hadrian's Wall starting from The Sill. It was a lot more relaxing than my 2022 effort, and we had such a great chat that I forgot to take any photos!

My daughter, Grace, hasn't been playing much football – partly due to the time of the season, and partly due to recovering from injury. She should be OK for her County Cup Final on Wednesday night, though, which (helpfully for her) was rearranged from last weekend.

She's going with my wife, Hannah, to the Gothia Cup with Northumberland FA in July, so today I've booked for Ben and I to go to Lisbon for a few days during the same week. Last time I was in Lisbon, Laura suggested that I stay near LX Factory, which turned out to be fantastic advice. So I've booked an apartment for us near there again.

Next week

I'm starting the week with a two-hour 'Personal Mythologies' coaching session, before catching up with Bryan Mathers. I've got work to do on all of the projects mentioned earlier, which I'll fit around running the third TechFreedom workshop on Wednesday, and attending the Thinking Digital conference on Thursday.

I want to take a bit of time off the week after next as it's half-term for my daughter. So I'll be looking to get a couple of things wrapped up before then.

Open Thinkering

Notes on how we live, learn, and work with technology

Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.