I just want my data to mean something

Er… hello?

This is a blog of openly licensed thinkery. They are doodles, thoughts and ideas of Bryan Mathers – little curious tidbits which have emerged from juicy conversations. Also, this is a dumping ground for abandoned artwork. But one man’s dump is another’s treasure trove – amirite?

You can include artwork from this site under a Creative Commons CC-BY-ND licence.

  • The early bird…

    The early bird…

    Mixed metaphor? Yes please, especially if it’s silly. Is there NOTHING a three-panelled comic strip can’t convey? Inspired by this tweet here about OER18.      

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  • The Innov-A-team

    The Innov-A-team

    In 1972 a team of open workers was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. This team promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the global underground. Today, still wanted by the bad guys, they survive as members of a worker’s co-operative. If you have a problem, if no one else can…

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  • Smiley Card

    Smiley Card

    It’s become a bit of a tradition in our house to make each other cards for our birthdays. The Paper53 app for the ipad – my goto drawing app – is very handy for this sort of spontaneous creation. Draw something every day – especially if it’s silly…

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  • Is technology addictive?

    Is technology addictive?

    It feels like I’m missing something. I wonder if there’s a record-setting sporting contest I need to witness. Um… nope. I wonder if anybody’s retweeted that awesome last thing I drew. I’d better check. Sheesh, tumbleweeds. Maybe something’s breaking in the news. It’s still snowing in Scotland. It feels like I’m missing something… Inspired by the post – Is…

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  • Shed – ideas worth making…

    Shed – ideas worth making…

    And so it was that we chanced upon the very spirit of makery captured forever in this conversation…

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  • A post-brexit passport

    A post-brexit passport

    So far, the only emerging upside of Brexit is to have a new-in-my-lifetime-but-old-in-others coloured passport. So in order to help out, I thought I’d throw my own design into the mix. This is the third in the facepalm thinkery series, following this and then this. Given the current state of things, I’m sure there’ll be many more to come…

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  • Open Badges 2.0

    Open Badges 2.0

    I attended the badge summit in London last week. I had the opportunity to visually digest the chatter from different speakers regarding V2 of the Open Badges spec. If you have a look at how the standard is described, you hopefully agree that abstract things need all the visualisation help they can get…

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  • Love and hate

    Love and hate

    A story. Of how their life had changed. There’s none so powerful as a story. And this is what I heard him say.

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  • The Principles of Makery

    The Principles of Makery

    As I thought about the making process behind my Raspberry Pi being installed as protector of my shed from overheating, I found myself wondering (as I do) about the principles of Makery. Here are three that came to mind in the building of this project. If you think of others, let me know…

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  • Raspberry Pi – protector of the shed…

    Raspberry Pi – protector of the shed…

    SOMEONE left the heater on in my shed. You can read all about it here in the most recent dollop of thinkery to your inbox.

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  • People and Jobs

    People and Jobs

    I attended a Cities of Learning event recently, hosted by the RSA. I’ve long been interested in this project, and how it is interwoven with a local use of micro-credentials. The day was teed up by Kirstie Donnelly, MD at City & Guilds, who framed this problem.

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  • Data: it’s personal

    Data: it’s personal

    Meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless! It’s just 1’s and 0’s after all… Unless, that is, I can get some insight from your habits, or predict what you might do (or want) next. You are part of a herd after all… This thought came from a thinkery conversation with the API Evangelist, Kin Lane.  

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