How to use the Community Power Compass
A practical walk through on how to use the Community Power Compass to evaluate and analyse communities in spaces like Web3.
Introducing the Community Power Compass
The background context for a beta version of a tool for investigating and evaluating different types of community, particularly those in the Web3 space.
A bar without walls
Spotted in a barber shop last week. I won’t name names, as I’m not entirely sure how legal it would be… During last summer, they opened up within strict COVID guidelines, as did the pub nearby. As with most pubs,…
Salad days in the layers of Leather Lane
I’ve been in London and Brighton recently, getting back out into the world. I’ve been uploading a bunch of pictures over here on Flickr, just gathering a bunch of things I’ve noticed in the layers of these places. It’s not…
Cosmic Ordering on the High Street
From a London wander last week. Rather than letting shops look empty and dormant, a few management companies have put ups signs like these. They promise a great and wondrous experience within, from a yet-unknown mystery occupant. “Just imagine, in…
The Entropy of Insights
I was flipping through my Readwise highlights the other day, and came across this gem again. It’s the neatest wee description of entropy; moving “from rare configurations to common ones”. It started me thinking about a variety of projects from…
Making the most of moments that matter
The creation of a commonplace book As perhaps we all have, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting in the last few months about how to make those precious moments when people are together really matter. For a lot of…
Watch Me Think (in real time)
This feels strange… I’m doing a talk, live, in person, to people. I vaguely remember people – legs, arms, faces, right? Wave their arms around when talking. Those folks. It’s at Watch Me Think in London, on 13th October. There…
10 Years Later: A Decade Of Smithery
Helen and I were standing in the kitchen this morning, talking about how today marked the official tenth birthday of Smithery, when we officially opened the doors to take on client work. “Ten years since you decided just to leave…
Fidelity, Non-linearity, and the Double Diamond
I’d recently shared the Design Council’s new Systemic Design Framework work, including a wholesale upgrade for the Double Diamond model that’s well worth your time. Having been a fairly vocal critic of the @designcouncil Double Diamond, it’s brilliant to see…
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How To Resign – Three Tips From Ten Years Ago
There are very few ways in which Smithery is like The Queen. The only one worth mentioning is that we both have two birthdays. Ten years ago today, on May 4th 2011, I resigned from my previous job as Chief…
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Mapping the territory – Design and Economics
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with Simon Gough about a submission I’d made to host a talk at the first Design and Economics Unconference. It was one of those things that had flown past my eyes, and…
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Zenko Mapping, Inception and Pace Layers #WIAD2021
I was honoured to give a talk on Zenko Mapping as part of this year’s virtual Word Information Architecture Day. Thanks to Mike and Mari for the invitation, and help in planning. As per the last talk I gave, I…
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Finding intimacy in the infinity of Clubhouse
Clubhouse is, as they say, a thing right now. A self-styled drop-in audio app, it’s moving from beyond just the darling of the dilettante set of Valley media hobbyists, spiralling outwards past the long lines of social media specialists, and…
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Practical starting points for a polymath
I’ve been reading The Polymath by Peter Burke over the holidays. I make no pretence of being any sort of polymath in the sense Burke describes, but as a generalist who likes diving in and out of various disciplines the…