Weekstarter 41/2026
Intro
As I mentioned last week, and as you can guess from the above photo, I've been in Toronto for the past few days. I'm on my way home, overnight, via Dublin.
It's a long way to come for a couple of days of unconferencing and a bit of sightseeing either side, but it's been worth it. There's nothing quite like the Mozilla community, and the #MozAlums crew are fantastic.
I ran a couple of sessions. The first was a conversation on Productive Friction, the topic of my recent zine, as well as some tools I've created. The second was a lightning talk on systems thinking which I named I am a strange loop after Douglas Hofstadter's book.
What's coming up
On Friday, I found out via email that FIELD STATION has been successful in winning a multi-year contract with a network-based organisation. More on that when everything is signed. I've also got a couple of conversations coming up later this week for more work, which is good.
I've got sessions to be part of to advise my Dynamic Skillset client, INASP, as they work with Yalla Cooperative on their two new websites.
I'll be in Barcelona for the Mozilla Festival at the end of the month, and the in Bristol in November for a 'Just Enough AI' thing with Friends of the Earth (for who I co-authored this report) and the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures based at the University of Bristol. I might also spend an extra day down there to attend sessions as part of Brazen, Bristol's renamed tech festival.
Tom and I have some spaces left in the next TechFreedom cohort which is due to start towards the end of this month. We've also had a great response to news that we received a little bit of funding via Spark microgrants to run a Digital Sovereignty unconference in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in February 2027. You can fill in this form to stay in the loop about that.
Media consumption
I'm doing OK with The Brothers Karamazov and, despite being too tired to read most nights in Toronto, am over 20% of my way through. It would have been more, but my transatlantic flight on the way over had Starlink so I messed about on the internet a bit.
After attending Benjamin P. Taylor's Systemic Consulting online session last week (one he was scheduled to run at #SysPrac26) I've been listening to a book he recommended: Flawless Consulting by Peter Block. It's good so far, although the American voice artist has too much vocal fry for my liking.
Other updates
I really enjoyed getting the ferry over to Toronto Islands this morning and hiring a bike so I could ride around for a bit. My wife, Hannah, and I did the same 24 years ago!
Grace, my daughter, damaged her calf just before half time in her game for Northumberland U16s vs North Yorkshire. We were initially concerned that she'd torn it as badly as I did with mine a couple of months ago. But, while she's not back to training yet, it looks like she's going to be OK.
Ben, my son, has been on a number of field trips for his Geography degree which he seems to have enjoyed.
Where to find me
- Social networks: Mastodon / Bluesky / LinkedIn
- Work: Dynamic Skillset / FIELD STATION
- Bookmarks: Are.na
Also, feel free to get in touch and/or book time to chat!