I’m an academic in the UK interested in social network analysis, social computing and the role of social media. In my free time, I like to explore the outdoors and attending church.
Social Media
A few days ago, I received an email from the administrator of my current Mastodon instance (moth.social) informing me that the instance is shutting down, and I have until March to migrate my account, or all my data will be deleted. I’ve been slowly drifting away from Mastodon
Social Media
I read an excellent article the other day called "The End of the Twitter Era" and the author made an excellent point about how the network effect impacts the life and death of social media platforms (both past and present). I've been thinking a lot about
Notes
In this post, I share my journey of refining my note-taking process. From handwritten notes to a private Hugo site, I’m simplifying my approach to better capture and refine my thoughts. Eventually, everything I learn will make its way to this blog and my social media profiles.
Social Media
Bluesky isn’t just a "left-wing echo chamber"—it’s a step towards sustainable, decentralised social media. While platforms like X face criticism for invasive policies and centralised control, Bluesky offers a future inspired by the open Web, driven by protocols like ATProto.
Social Media
I'm a huge supporter of decentralized social media, and after almost a week on Bluesky, and I love it! It feels like the future of microblogging—fresh, innovative, and better than Mastodon. Features like starter packs, custom feeds, and an open API make it a standout in the space.
Social Media
I'm passionate about self-hosting and want to run my own ActivityPub-powered network without relying on others. After struggling with Mastodon, I found GoToSocial—a lightweight, privacy-focused alternative. It’s easy to set up and shows promise for those wanting more control on the Fediverse.
Projects
After some trial and error, I set up my thermal printer using Node-RED, ditching CUPS for easier control. Using Node.js packages like readability and wkhtmltoimage, I convert articles into clean PNGs, making print layout adjustments simpler and manageable through a web UI—no SSH needed!
Projects
About a week or so ago now, I came across a compelling post from Hacker News about a guy who has configured a dot matrix printer to deliver his daily news. At first, I thought that this was a bit of a backwards idea considering we have smartphones for this
Work-Life
Considering a four-day compressed work week? After a year of experience, I’ve found it boosts productivity, improves work-life balance, and offers environmental benefits. While it’s not for everyone, if you get the chance, it might just be worth it!
Social Media
For what it's worth, Mastodon is a great platform and my general experience of it has been positive. Yes, I've experienced a lot of teething issues with self-hosting but overall, I much prefer it to Twitter/X. But, there are bigger problems at play which I
fediverse
As you may have seen from one of my previous posts, I tried to set up my on Mastodon server. While it worked for a short while, due to factors such as not knowing Ruby very well (the programming language used to build Mastodon) and trying to maintain work-life balance.
Academia
I had the privilege of attending a leadership conference a few weeks ago now designed for early career researchers such as myself. The topic was about what it means to be a future leader in my area of research. If I’m honest, I went into this event thinking that