It's the middle of the year, and time for a moment of reflection this week. I've been celebrating with colleagues, friends and former students the promotion I achieved to Associate Professor. I felt it was the right time to go for it, and I now feel very proud for having achieved the upgrade. The whole process was an opportunity for reflection, for thinking about what I've achieved, for thinking…
I’ve picked up on the Hemispheric Views inspired trend for people listing the apps they use. I’ll be submitting this to Robb Knight once it’s live, at the link above. So here goes. 📨 Mail Client - Personal: Apple Mail - Work: Outlook 📮 Mail Server - Personal: Gmail - Work: MS Exchange 📝 Notes - Apple Notes - Apple TextEdit - Apple Freeform - Craft ✅ To-Do - Apple Reminders 📷 iPhone Photo…
In late June 2023, 70 people gathered at Craiglockhart to discuss the thorny issue of Festival sustainability. There has long been an intricate relationship between festivals and the various ways that sustainability themes affects their actions, impacts, and the ways audiences and stakeholders relate to them. The Festival Sustainability Symposium was an opportunity to discuss a variety of these…
Relay FM is an independent podcast network, with a variety of different podcasts either still in production or retired. Their focus is primarily on technology, Apple, creativity, and ultimately building a community of hosts and listeners. Several of the hosts appear on multiple podcasts on a regular basis, and feature as guests on each others’ shows, while other people contribute to one or more…
The following notes are based on my experiences of having a new baby (albeit one that is now nearly five years old). I first put the list together for a friend who is currently expecting their first baby. Having it here means I can share and update it. Snack supplies around the house are a good idea, but try to include some healthy stuff in the mix – fruit is good! A nappy bag (for carrying around…
Earlier this year I wrote up my PhD trip for Edinburgh Napier University’s Tourism Research Centre blog. You can find the original post here . The same text follows… In the world of festivals and communities, relationships matter. Festival managers and producers understand the overlapping links, both professional and private, amongst their colleagues. Freelancers and graduates developing their…
Among the requirements of the PhD completion process is to write a public summary of the work. This will accompany an online hosting of the finished book (in PDF form). The summary text has been finalised, and ahead of its Tilbury publication here it is. ___ Social network analysis and festival relationships: personal, organisational and strategic connections In the world of festivals and creative…
I have a little widget on my phone telling me how long to wait before the final act in my PhD story: a public defence of the work on Monday 1 September. It currently reads two months and eight days. This is all scheduled to take place in Tilburg, in The Netherlands, in the auditorium at Tilburg University. This here blog started life as a research and PhD resource, so as I get into the final 10…
I’ve been renovating a bench. Bought just before we moved house, it sat outside for a while, then got pulled apart. The wood went to make a little hotel for bugs and beetles. And for the cast iron bench ends… they sat outside for another 18 months or so, suffering the Edinburgh autumn, winter, spring and summer. Stripping the old nuts and bolts out took a while, filing them down and drilling them…
A healthy proportion of the podcasts I listen to are focused on Apple Inc. I’d say healthy is the right word there. I get a lot out of following this company; as they say on the Bombshell podcast, it’s the thing I follow like a sport that isn’t a sport. It’s not that I write code for the Mac, or the iPad. I don’t use many applications outside the norm, though I’m still a devotee of Scrivener for…
Earlier this summer I kept track of my podcast listening habits over a 10 day stretch. 35 episodes flowed by during that time, which seems about right for my listening habits. A high proportion of the new information that reaches me comes via podcast these days, and has done for quite a while. There’s a practical dimension to this, making walks seem more productive and overnight child soothing…
Another walk Spring 2020. Edinburgh is “in lockdown”. Scotland, the UK, most of the world, is “in lockdown”. Movement is restricted. When people walk out they cut into the middle of the road to avoid each other. When people walk out there aren’t many places for them to go but back home again. This is just one dimension of my experience of our collective response to a global crisis. Spring 2020. My…
img_7219 img_7220 August 2016 has come and gone, in a blur of shows, events, work, friends and good times. Here's the detritus of three and a half weeks of stuff, with a list of what stuff it was. I managed to catch 25 shows/events during the month, which averaged at one a day. Can't complain about that really. Some great variety too... Music: Kathryn Joseph was excellent, right at the start.…
img_7199 img_7200 Making Events Critical 09-09-2016 There's a growing momentum around the idea of 'critical event studies', which has led to the publication of this edited book (including a chapter from me!). Themes include research methods, history, ideologies and encounters.My chapter is titled 'The Strength of Festival Ties: Social Network Analysis and the 2014 Edinburgh International Science…
27798372881_36bfcd08ef_m The sunny Edinburgh lunchtime outside my window looks sublime, and I'll be finishing up here soon so I can get out there and enjoy it. It's Sunday, so about 48 hours after the UK's 52% / 48% vote to leave the EU. The country will be going through some weird times in the days and months ahead, but for now here are some of the tweets I've sent since Thursday night relating…
Mass Assembly 2016 Last Thursday, 26 May 2016, I headed up from Edinburgh to Dundee to Mass Assembly 2016 . It was an early start, but the wonderful Scottish climate offers about 20 hours of daylight at the moment. That's plenty enough to check on the new Forth crossing: looking good just now. The whole event was devised and built around collaborations, networks, hubs and partnerships in the…
Uig camping To round off my travel journal of nine days in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, this post lists what Bob and I did each day, plus some costs. The opening post has links to Google Maps of the route, along with photos of the eastern and northern stretches. Part two covers Lewis and Harris, part three the return leg of Ballachulish and the West Highland Way. Planning the route…
West Highland Way One of the inspirations for this whole trip was for Bob and I to plug a gap in the West Highland Way. We walked most of it in July 2010, accompanied by friends for some of the southern stretches and tired limbs by the time we got to Fort William. Time was against us back then though so we skipped a bit (by bus), and it has taken us five years to join the dots between Inverarnan…
Stornoway Coastguad Ferry rides... they come and go, one crossing much like the next I should think, apart from changes in weather conditions. But that's without counting on the Stornoway Coastguard to drop by. Purely a training exercise they said, nothing much to see here. Well, being easily entertained Bob and I loved it. We were also impressed: well done the Coastguard. As the boat charged…
Centre Of The Action Tomorrow morning, 20 August, I'll be with twenty students from Hong Kong University SPACE for three hours. They have been in Edinburgh and Scotland over the past couple of weeks, and our task tomorrow is to discuss their experiences, particularly in relation to the Festival Fringe. Rather that producing a few dozen slides to keep us 'entertained', I'll be armed with marker…