My own piece of the Internet
I was on a business trip to Melbourne recently. It was a crazy one week trip flying from a bitterly cold -6c in Amsterdam, to a steamy 28c for the tail end of the Australian summer. The weather was glorious. The jet lag was intense. The trip wasn’t taken alone. I travelled with a colleague,…
I found this piece I wrote a day before G. was born on a long discarded and unpublished website recently. It’s interesting to reflect on how I felt then and how I feel now. I am definitely a better father, but the irony is that for my son, his experience with me is one of…
The World Economic Forum recently published an article looking at the global digital landscape and there are some pretty interesting insights about the changing competitive dynamics and where the next Google or Facebook will come from. Sadly, it's unlikely to be Australia or many western countries, including the Netherlands where I currently enjoy 300Mb…
In business today the acronym BAU (Business As Usual) gets thrown around a fair bit. Usually used to distinguish between major capital funded work – strategic work – and normal operational activity. It makes sense right. You have the strategic stuff and you have the lights on stuff. The problem is that BAU can become…
The thing about machines is that they inevitably reflect the feelings, thoughts, and unique passions of their creators. One of my favourite writers/ philosophers, Gilles Deleuze believed that the brain could be extended through computers to create an abstract brain, that is an abhorrent and beautiful reflection of ourselves. Perhaps Microsoft should have thought a little more about…
If you haven’t been to my About page, then you wouldn’t know that my digital journey started with writing bad poetry on what was called a digital diary. It was great fun and due to the tenuous state of the Internet is thankfully lost to your consumption. Before that I wrote a series of poems…
I have 2 young children and when one does something that annoys the other, like use the indoor trapeze for too long, the aggrieved child will lash out wishing horrible things upon their sibling, sometimes they use their fists and feet trying to inflict as much pain as possible. It can get ugly. I was…
Here is a letter I will be sending to my local Member of Parliament, Mr Jason Wood. Dear Mr Wood, I write regarding the Mandatory Data Retention bill, Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 and would like you to clarify your position. I have deep concerns about the proposed scheme and request…
Digital means many things to many people. To some digital describes the nexus between new technologies and marketing/business resulting in new ways to connect consumers and marketers. To others digital is an ethos. It describes a new way of working, conceptualising ideas, seeing the future, and testing, learning and iterating. Digital involves a different way…
Telling the truth is powerful. It’s also one of the hardest things to do if you’re an empathetic person. Most of us who are capable of empathy and not psychopaths don’t like making people feel bad, sad, or angry. But it isn’t always possible to make people feel good. Sometimes as part of my job…