This is a blog documenting all my activities. This includes research activities such as publications, conferences, workshops and anything else; Design work; and anything else exciting that happened! If you have comments, questions, or would like a friendly chat on a shared topic of interest, please contact me via LinkedIn or email.
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FEBRUARY 2025
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Paper Accepted!
10/02/2025
It's one of the best feelings when your paper manages to get through the double-blind peer review process and gets accepted to a conference.
Look out this summer for our paper Gameful IoT Repair at DiGRA 2025.
Electronic Waste (e-waste) is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Internet of Things (IoT) devices, now ubiquitous throughout communities globally, are exacerbating e-waste production. Unrepairable design approaches, short lifecycles and ill-defined end of life management all lead to IoT devices being prematurely and improperly disposed of. This paper argues that improved access to knowledge and practical skills is needed if citizens and communities are to successfully embrace a culture of repair and reuse as part of a wider sustainability transition. This paper presents two Serious Games - Re:Play and RepairLand - designed to support and encourage society to develop a stronger culture of repair for smart devices. Applying Research-through-Design and Speculative Design approaches, this paper presents our design decisions and critical reflections that underpin their creation.
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JANUARY 2025
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Birthday Celebrations
24/01/2025
What better way to celebrate a new job and getting a year older? Ray treated me tonight to a fantastic 6 course meal at the White Swan at Fence. Our appetiser which was some sort of cheesy crispy thing - delicious! Then some freshly baked bread with salted butter and goats cheese. 1st course was panic salmon wasabi for me and loaded potato for Ray. 2nd course was brill with a crab bouillabaisse for me and fennel with tarragon for Ray. 3rd course was chicken with truffles and all these adorable mushrooms! 4th course was hot and cold caramel, which I loved. 5th course was Tahitian vanilla soft serve, mine was with honeycomb and bee pollen, Ray’s had raspberries. Then we finished with a cheese board, we selected a creamy soft cheese which was lovely, and some kind of sheep’s milk cheese, served with truffle honey and tomato chutney, and probably the gamiest crackers I’ve ever had! Finally we had some dark chocolate caramels. I will definitely go back, they were brilliant at catering for both mine and Rays allergies, the service was great and the food was brilliant. It was also nice to have a more relaxed vibe whilst still having the fine dining experience.
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Interview Success!
22/01/2025
I had a job interview today which was successful! Looking forward to starting my new role in April 2025, working on AI Educaation.
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Repair Space Blackburn
17/01/2025
I was invited to the launch of Repair Space Blackburn today, hosted at the Reel Cinema in Blackburn. The Repair Space is a new project being undertaken by The Making Rooms, a community makers space in Blackburn, led by Tom MacPherson-Pope.
A community workshop dedicated to fixing and repairing items, promoting sustainability, and reducing waste. Our mission is to empower people with the skills and resources needed to repair their belongings, rather than discarding them.
I've worked with The Making Rooms lots over the past year and a half, and they are an amazing bunch, doing so much for their local community. If you are interested in repair, crafting or making, I'd highly recommend giving them a visit.
The event today featured talks from different partners and associates of The Making Rooms, and others working towards a similar mission of reducing e-waste through upskilling and empowering the public. We also brought RepairLand and Re:Play with us to showcase some of the work we've cocreated with The Making Rooms.
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Dreaming of Shenmue II
10/01/2025
I'm currently writing a book chapter about Gamers and how they continue to care for their consoles far beyond their protean lifecycles. This prompted me to get my old consoles out again, so having a wonderful morning photographing my old games and reliving the past. Photographed is my Sega Dreamcast circa 1999, brought for my brother for Christmas when I was 9. I spent many hours watching my brother play Shenmue II, and occasionally (when he was out) I'd sneakily play myself! When he upgraded to an Xbox I took ownership of the Dreamcast.
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