I started out as a primary school teacher and have spent much of my working life around education and technology, including a decade at Apple. It’s taken me to some interesting places, introduced me to some remarkable people, and given me plenty to think about.
I’ve got history with the blogging format. In January 2001, the children in Mr Ford’s Class were encouraged and equipped to write and publish their own blogs – or weblogs, as we called them back then. Blogging was still a relatively new idea, and primary school children publishing their work online was definitely not the norm. I loved giving them a real audience for their creativity and, perhaps most of all, making their thinking visible.
A decade at Apple meant getting rather good at keeping things in. Ideas and work tended to stay behind the curtain until they were ready to be shared – often not by me.
So, 25 years after Mr Ford’s Class, there’s something pleasing about returning to a blog. This time, it’s my thinking I want to make more visible.
I’m curious about loads of things. Often randomly. Sometimes usefully. Occasionally disproportionately. I want somewhere to think in public: to follow ideas, make connections, ask questions, change my mind and occasionally head down a dead end. A workbench rather than a showroom.
Community and culture have been recurring themes, dreams – and occasional nightmares – over the years. Over on Substack, I’m exploring what connects us, how we experience community and why it matters. This blog gets to wander more freely, though community will no doubt make an appearance from time to time.
I’m open to conversations, projects and collaborations, and curious to see what might come from them.
I’m looking forward to returning to blogging. Yes, I know there are newer, shinier ways to put yourself out there, but I’m a man of simple pleasures. A blog seems a perfectly good place for the comeback tour. Or the difficult second album. I haven’t quite decided which this is yet 🙂