Weeknote 44/2024
It comes to something when you’re pre-writing weeknotes in bed at a quarter to nine in the evening on a Saturday night. But here we are.
This has been a strange week, existing at two paces simultaneously. On the one hand, I was surprised when it was Friday as the working week seemed to go quickly. On the other hand, I seemed to have the post-conference lurgy for what seemed like an age. The two may be related.
It would be nice to talk about this time of the year as bonus time. But I can’t, for three reasons. First, November sucks. I’m tired. Second, financially-speaking, the first half of this year was really tough for most agencies and freelancers I know. So I’ve had to dip quite heavily into my reserves, with now being the time to top that back up.
Third, and this deserves a separate paragraph, the way that in the UK we move seamlessly from Halloween to Bonfire Night to Remembrance Day to Christmas. Pumpkins to fireworks to poppies to mince pies in the space of less than three weeks is either inane or insane. Take your pick.
On the work front this week I’ve been collaborating on the Friends of the Earth AI sustainability principles project. I’ve also been beavering away on the NDLN Horizon Report around microcredentials for N-TUTORR. We’ve also spent time responding to an RfP from Amnesty International UK about a community platform for activists.
On Tuesday I had the pleasure of another conversation with Angela Gunder, who is writing a report for UNESCO around AI Literacy which uses my doctoral work as it’s basis.
I published a few posts here and one on the WAO blog. The latter was a share-out from ePIC and the others are listed below:
- On ghosting in a work context
- On our tendency toward (creative) destruction
- Open Badges for organisational performance
It would be lovely to get comments on blog posts but it’s 2024 and my expectations are low about everything, to be honest.
It’s now Sunday afternoon and I’m typing this on my phone while watching England vs Republic of Ireland on TV. My daughter’s team lost 4-1 this morning and my son’s team lost 10-2 this afternoon, with me running up and down the line during the latter as assistant referee.
My daughter was at an England Talent ID session. I decided to skip that as it tends to be technical small-sided games that are fun to play in but not to watch. So while my wife took her there, I visited the BALTIC art gallery, before watching my son’s basketball game. Sadly, they were beaten narrowly, meaning it hasn’t exactly been a red letter weekend for Team Belshaw.
Next week is the first of four weeks I’ve got left of work before I stop for Christmas. As usual, I’ll be taking off three weeks during the festive period. I’m very much looking forward to that.
Before then, we’ve got an online roundtable to run for the Friends or the Earth project and an article to write. I also need to finish the NDLN report and do some bizdev.
It’s going to be cold this week, with snow forecast. As a result, I might be running on a treadmill at the gym, rather than outside. I may also go swimming.
Photo of the BALTIC art gallery taken by me yesterday