Foggy walk in Richmond Park

With the fog encasing London over the weekend, we went down to Richmond Park to try and find some stags rutting in the gloom.

No deer (except through the car window), but we loved wandering through the white-out landscape, and I found some beautiful water drops suspended on cobwebs and in the grass.

A perfect day.

A photographer's ethos

Chris Packham, of Nature Watch etc., is also a photographer, and he has an Ethos which whilst I don't totally agree with, I do admire.
I like that he clearly thinks and cares passionately about what he is doing.
This is inspiring.
His absolutism, "can reach levels which promote real depression" is not for me.
I will take an easier path, but I think he is a useful guiding light.

http://www.chrispackhamphotos.com/concepts/Ideas.htm

Doodling - it's not doing nothing.

Another interesting TED talk.
We had a digital strategy meeting yesterday, and it went on all morning and into the afternoon.
Although most interesting and engaging, there were naturally moments when my attention waned. However, on the advice of this talk, I tried doodling.
You know, of course, because I am suggesting you watch / listen to this, that it worked, that my attention was better than I know it would otherwise have been.
So, go on, pull out a pencil and cheap pad, and let the pencil wonder as you listen to this....

What do babies think?

Very interesting TED Talk.
"Babies are the Research and Development team of the human species."

Luvie Awards for BBC World Cup Tracker

The BBC Team Tracker, which I built at Saint@RKCR/YR for the 2010 World Cup, has just been recognized again, this time at the Luvie Awards.

It featured in three categories, winning a Silver in their Sports section, and getting shortlisted in the Flash and Best Practices sections.

Although only shortlists, I am most happy with the Best Practices and Flash results.
Working on the V&A project, I was connected with a good few Golds for work last year, but these Luvie's really reflect upon the work that I did.
Well done and thanks guys!

Best Practices - shortlisted
"Best practices sites serve as an industry benchmark for the most current, innovative, and advanced practices in web development. Sites demonstrating unparalleled excellence across The Academy's six criteria: content, structure & navigation, visual design, interactivity, functionality, and overall experience."

Flash - shortlisted
"Sites that showcase an exciting and interesting use of Flash"

Remember, some things are best forgotten

(or, remembering SB)

I’m catching up with Guardian Tech Weekly’s and just listened to this one which includes an item about “the significance of a Columbia University study about the cognitive effects of Google”, or to paraphrase: the importance of the Internet forgetting things.

This is something I used to consider a lot, in my digital artist phase, and the podcast recalled for me, with surprisingly vehement annoyance, an art project I tried but failed to get off the ground some time around 2000, where I designed a virtual space (it was hoping to be an artwork, so I couldn't just call it a website could I!?), that forgot stuff.
My idea was that I would fill a database with my memories (sounds, images, external links), display them in a virtual space (...on a website), then invite users to rearrange and overwrite them, forming new ideas and associations that would reflect the collective memory of the users.
I hoped it would be fun, playful, and maybe contribute to some reflection about the nature of memory and how new technologies might cause that to change.

The idea was very well received by the funding body I was hoping would help out on the financial side until the friend on the panel who had asked me to submit an idea, but who clearly missed the point, rejected it on the following grounds: 'Why would anyone be interested in your memories?'.

Firstly, thanks for the implied insult that my life to that point was so incredibly dull in your estimation;
and secondly, that was the whole bloody point.
Even the owner of a memory can lose interest in it after a while, and it would be good for it, after it’s moment in the sunshine, to fade slowly into the background, until it was finally, gently, forgotten.

Ironically this whole episode is one of those memories I would like to leave behind but which clearly seems to be stuck festering in a dark, bitter, corner of my mind.

A further irony is that I can’t find any of the emails that went between us at this time, so perhaps the Internet is finally running my project and forgetting my memories...

Barefoot Summer

Until this week, I had been exclusively wearing my VFFs since the snow melted.

As my everyday shoe I have walked to work (and around the office) in them, cycled, walked some trails, and even sprinted across a road or run down a high street when I've been late for something.
So, I feel I have done pretty much everything in them except the running I had hoped to start last year.

This barefoot year started with sharp pains all around the sides and base of both heels. As my foot strength built I found improvement on both sides, particularly on the left. This improvement continued on the left but my right foot still caused me trouble.
Being stubborn, I persevered, concentrating on using my toes, and observing my foot fall to look for problems.
I noticed the more I used my toes the softer I could walk.
In addition I also realised that I had an outside roll on the right foot.
Being careful not to over compensate, I worked to correct the roll and found the side heel pain receding. However, the bottom of my right heel was persistently sore, as if bruised, but showing no bruising.

So this week I am wearing conventional shoes as a rest and the pain is subsiding.
I am hopeful that once the bruised feeling goes I will finally be able to take the next steps towards the running ambition I initially planned over a year ago.