Weeknote 18/2025
I forgot to write a weeknote yesterday, so this is me catching up during the Early May Bank Holiday. I’m actually going to do a bit of work today, as I took Thursday off. Not only was it International Workers’ Day, but it was the ninth anniversary of the founding of We Are Open Co-op.
The sun was out in Northumberland, with temperatures up to 25°C, so I began my day with a barefoot (and barechested) run a Druridge Bay. It was absolutely glorious.
At the end of the run, my Garmin watch informed me that my fitness age had decreased. I’m 44 and that metric used to be a decade younger than my chronological age. I think I’m still doing OK, given that my (still undiagnosed) heart condition meant that this happened:
Talking of my heart condition, I’m fine and back to running three times per week and going to the gym three times (2x arms, 1x legs). At the moment, I’m just doing 5k on the treadmill and sticking to 10km/h pace as that means my heart rate doesn’t go too high.
On Friday, I had a cardiac MRI scan, which I’m glad I didn’t read too much about beforehand to be quite honest. It took way longer than I expected, involved me having to breathe (and hold my breath) on command, which as an asthmatic wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had. Also, I’m not a huge fan of needles, so having a cannula fitted so that they could insert dye into my heart also wasn’t particularly enjoyable. I reckon I was in there for two lots of 20 minutes.
Still, at least the results from that and my other tests should give the consultant enough information to make a diagnosis. Although I can probably live out a decent enough life as I am now, I get tired and cold more easily than before. So it would be nice if there was something the medical profession could do, especially as it affects my sleeping; I can’t really get to sleep lying on my left-hand side, which is my preferred sleeping position.
Work-wise, it was four-day week due to taking Thursday off. I continued on the BBC AI Literacy and Amnesty International UK community projects, doing much more work on the former. We’ve reviewed around forty AI Literacy frameworks now, based on seven criteria. For the sake of transparency and model the kind of behaviour I’d like to see in the world, I’ve written a blog post about that which I’ll publish soon on the WAO blog.
After seeing a UNESCO call (now closed) around ‘think pieces’ around the future of AI in education, I convened a group of researchers to work individually, but in sight of each others’ work. We all managed to submit something before the deadline at the end of April, and are now planning an online roundtable session to discuss what we’ve written. That will probably be in early June, where we’ll be encouraging others to write something similar.
I supported Kate Parsley by co-hosting a session on Tuesday entitled Feeling the Flux: finding the positives and protecting our wellbeing in times of change, which went well. The recording can be found here. I also attended a community call run by Tris Lumley called Opening Up focused on sharing knowledge, resources, and insights in the social sector. I supported by contributing a bit and ensuring good notes were taken on the etherpad.
Other than that, I had a nice chat with Mark Williams, attended the ORE Community Call, and wrote my obligatory ten posts over at Thought Shrapnel. The only other thing of note to mention last week was attending an event called Holy Men of the Electromagnetic Age, which was a talk by Dr Raphael Cormack about his book of the same name. I really enjoyed it, and turned to my mother, who I’d gone with, and asked if she was interested in buying the book. She laughed, thinking I was joking, as she’d really not enjoyed the talk.
I bought the book anyway, got it signed by the author, and have devoured it over the last few days. I love the mix of history, geography, and metaphysics. I’ve already added a couple of highlights to the place I track my book reading — especially as Cormack shows how the worlds of 1925 and 2025 weren’t so different.
My son, Ben, won his basketball game yesterday. However, I wasn’t in attendance as I was out celebrating my daughter’s U14 team winning the U15 League Cup. They’re on for the treble this season, despite losing a league game midweek due to some of the worst refereeing I’ve seen. Grace also had a trial for Newcastle United Academy, so we’ll hear whether she’s got a callback this week for the next round.
I mean, I know I’m biased, but just look at that touch! 🙌
Next week, or should I say this week, I’m doing a bit of work today while spending a bit of time with my family who have the day off. The rest of the week I’ll be splitting between the BBC and AIUK projects.
Ben has his end of Sixth Form celebration event on Thursday, for which we bought him his first suit last week. He looks great in it, so the photos should be good. Given they’re 18, it could get a bit messy afterwards, so it’s probably best that the rest of Team Belshaw will be at another of one of Grace’s football matches…