Commonplace Reading - Issue #22

Adam Tinworth

Mar 13, 2018 — 4 min read

In one way or another I’ve been writing about tech for about two decades now, starting with “ebusiness” (remember that?) pages in Estates Gazette, and eventually moving into my blog, as well as places as diverse as Computer Weekly and the NEXT conference blog.

Never have I wanted to write about consumer tech as little as I do right now. Wherever you turn, there’s another negative article about the impact it is having on our lives. Some of that backlash is deserved. Most of it is over-kill, a neoluddite urge finding form in a conservative media who feel under threat and under siege.

All of which means: I’ve tried to avoid too many tech-related links below. There are much more interesting things to spend time thinking about.

Enjoy!

If you read nothing else…

Take your time: the seven pillars of a Slow Thought manifesto

When all tech seems to be pushing us towards the real-time, maybe we need to put way more concentrated effort into valuing the slow, and the in-depth.

Journalism at work

Using Drones to Shoot War Zones

Drone journalism passed through the peak of the hype cycle really quickly, and is already hitting the plateau of productivity. But nobody's really talking about it.

The shop that buys your dead uncle's porn collection

This is a piece of work by a Newspaper MA journalism student at City, and it blew the traffic doors off last week. I wonder why? 🤔

Joking aside, it's a fascinating read about how the advent of the internet changed the world of sexy media…

Why Jordan Peterson Thinks ‘Frozen’ Is Propaganda

This interview does what the infamous Cathy Newman interview failed to do. It shows that, at heart, Peterson is a bit of a dick.

I’m the Daughter of an NRA Member — and a Journalist

I blogged about this, but it is an interesting look at the heart of a culture that's inexplicable to many of us.

Haunted by my past…

Busted.

Work & Workplaces

Why It’s so Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices · The Walrus

This is a nice dissection of the cult of the hustle that seems to surround some of the new shared office spaces. I feel tired just reading about it.

Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself

This is a great example of how formalised HR processes can become counter-productive really quickly. A lesson for any growing business.

Shedworking: Underground studio in the woods

I need a wealthy patron to fund one of these for my blogging and newsletter writing. Pleas provide one straight away, kthxbai.

How Self-Aware Are People, Really, According to Science?

Basically, your coworkers are better at rating some parts of your personality than you are.

Life and living

It’s okay for you to be boring

I've struggle with this in the past - the sense that if I wasn't doing something EXCITING and EPIC and EXTREME at all times, I was wasting my precious time on this planet. But quiet times are precious, too.

What I Was Doing While You Were Reading ‘Eat, Pray, Love’

I found this a compelling read about a life experience very far removed from my own — young women on travel-based explorations of self-discovery — that punctures the more commercial view of it.