Walking around Glasgow

Posted on 16th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

I know that people have strong opinions about all of the building that is happening at UofG, but personally I love the juxtaposition of old and new buildings, and views like this one, with the tower behind the crane for the Keystone building:

The old and the new
The old and the new flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

I had a meeting with a friend this morning, and after that I decided to walk down to Partick, do a bit of grocery shopping, and grab a sandwich for lunch.  I almost decided to walk down to the Riverside Museum and see the tall ship:

Tall Ship
Tall Ship flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

But instead of turning left I decided to turn right and sit down by the flats on the Clyde. Many gulls shouted overhead, and I was careful not to wave my food around:

Gull
Gull flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

To the west the day looked sunny, and the Barclay Curle Crane was looking good:

197/365 Barclay Curle Crane
197/365 Barclay Curle Crane flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Over the water on the South Side, though, there were dark clouds looming:

Govan Old Church
Govan Old Church flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

I checked my weather app, and it said there was no chance of rain, but I wanted to get home in time to catch the monthly Blogging Community of Practice, so I packed up my sandwich wrapper and headed back up to Partick to find a bus stop.

And waved goodbye to the Uni tower again.

Partick
Partick flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Posted in Photos, Scotland, University | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dear Green Shawl

Posted on 13th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

194/365 Dear Green Shawl
194/365 Dear Green Shawl flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

I’ve been meaning to knit this shawl for many years now – it’s been sitting in my Ravelry queue awaiting the right yarn. Luckily I’d downloaded the pattern, as it’s no longer available. ‘Dear Green Place’ is Glasgow’s nickname – a translation of the Scots Gaelic Glas Chu, and the pattern is a play on that, with motifs from the Glasgow coat of arms.

Glasgow Coat of Arms 1996

TilmannR, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Glasgow’s coat of arms is composed of symbols representing the life and legends of Saint Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow, and are often remembered by the following poem:

Here is the tree that never grew
Here is the bird that never flew
Here is the fish that never swam
Here is the bell that never rang

The shawl itself has these in a different order, as the designer says:

The shawl uses lace motifs representing a bird in flight, a tree, and a bell, ending with the traditional ‘Shetland’ fishtail lace pattern.

Dear Green Shawl
Dear Green Shawl flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license
It was a lovely shawl to make – really quick and easy. It’s currently drying out in the garden, next I need to decide who to give it to.

 

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Silent Sunday

Posted on 13th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Ardgartan Forest
Ardgartan Forest flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

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Thoreau

Posted on 12th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Thoreau
Thoreau flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Today was a very hot day, so we decided to head out to the woods with a packed lunch. Despite the inevitable traffic jams around Balloch it was a lovely drive in an air conditioned car up to Ardgartan. We arrived shortly after 1pm and had an hour’s walk through the woods along Croe Water.

Today’s Daily Create asks us to make a motivational poster based on one of Thoreau’s quotes, so here’s mine above. It did, indeed, make me well going out there today. Happy Birthday, Henry.

Ardgartan Woods
Ardgartan Woods flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Ardgartan Woods
Ardgartan Woods flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Ardgartan Woods
Ardgartan Woods flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Ardgartan Woods
Ardgartan Woods flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Posted in DailyCreate, DS106, Photos, Scotland | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blogging as an academic practice

Posted on 11th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Percolating ideas
Percolating ideas flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

I’ve been enjoying dipping in and out of the “On Writing” series that Jim Groom’s been hosting on Reclaim TV, although I’ve not been able to watch them live as they usually stream at 5pm on a Friday, by which time I am off line and off to the pub to meet friends. However, luckily they are also recorded, so I can catch up at my leisure, and this week I finally got around to watching the episode with Lee Skallerup Bessette, or ReadyWriting, as she’s known on ALL the socials.

Lee and Jim talk about many of the facets of Lee’s life – such as her growing up in Quebec but not being a francophone (watch the episode to hear why she asserts this), but – of course – it’s what Lee says about blogging that really resonates with me. Like Lee I’ve always been a voracious reader and a prolific writer, though I don’t write nearly as much as Lee, I don’t think. And, also like Lee, I do find it pretty easy nowadays. So when I heard Lee saying (at about 53 mins into the video) that her habit of blogging has helped her to be able to consistently push out a lot of decent quality words quickly, as long as the subject is one that’s familiar to her, I was nodding vigorously at the screen. And then she connects this type of writing to learning a musical instrument:

you don’t have to be great at it right but you just keep practicing it because it makes sense and it brings you joy and it helps you make sense of your life and it connects you to other people (at about 54:44 mins in)

Yes, absolutely yes. I’ve had a pretty shit week this week, for one reason and another, but I’ve still managed to churn out lots of words – because I can.  Well, when Lacey lets me!  Thanks Lee, and thanks Jim, for a great episode.

Posted in DS106, HE, Writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Academic Book Chapters

Posted on 9th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Every time I have an academic book chapter published I promise myself that I will never do it again, because it takes so long from first submitting an expression of interest to finally seeing it published. But then I forget, and see a call for chapters that interests me, and before I realise what I am doing I’ve committed myself to the process again.

But, on the other hand, there’s something really fulfilling about seeing the final publication and reading over what I wrote again  – not least because it’s been so long that I have actually forgotten what I wrote. So recently I was really pleased to find that I had chapters in two books published.

The first was a book about similarities and differences between disciplinary research and SoTL:

Honeychurch, S. (2025). SoTL and Disciplinary Research in Education Sciences: Collaboration, Bricolage and Remix. In: Bohndick, C., Kordts, R., Leschke, J., Vöing, N. (eds) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning und disziplinäre Forschung: Eine komplexe Beziehung. Doing Higher Education. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-47908-4_14

The second was, on the face of it, on the very different topic of Hope:

Honeychurch, S. (2025). 3. Serious fun: Reimagining Higher Education from a humane perspective. In S. Abegglen, T. Burns, R. F. Heller, R. Madhok, F. Neuhaus, J. Sandars, S. Sinfield, & U. Gitanjali Singh (Eds.), Stories of Hope (1st ed., pp. 41–48). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0462.03

As I read both chapters over I realised that both owe a lot to my remix communities in different ways. The title of the first explicitly talks about bricolage and remix, though the chapter itself discusses it in the context of an academic group who are not themselves bricoleurs. The second doesn’t mention remix in the title, but the chapter itself uses DS106 as an example of how to infuse HE with hope and fun.

When I talk to newer academics about starting out in publishing I advise them to find a golden thread – a theme that they see recurring in their work, or would like to develop. I guess it’s no surprise that I’ve found mine.

Posted in HE, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

HOMAGO

Posted on 6th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Today’s Daily Create asks us to reflect on what make a community. That’s quite a big question for an an activity that typically takes 15-20 minutes to complete. I didn’t check before replying to it today, but last time this challenge was set I put together a quick video and shared it to the playlist.

This time I looked up at my notice board and took a picture of an image that’s been there since I was writing my PhD and learning about affinity spaces.

Homago
Homago flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

The concept of HOMAGO – Hanging Around, Messing About, Geeking Out – comes from the work of Mimi Ito, and was fundamental to my understanding of connected learning and affinity spaces. It describes the practices that I enjoy when I complete the daily create and see what others have created. When I was thinking about all of this and trying to understand what makes a successful community, network or affinity group I remembered the work of Emile Durkheim that I has learnt way back as an undergraduate, and his theory of society as being composed of Community, Cultus and Creed (who we are, what we do and what we believe).

I still think that’s right.

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Silent Sunday

Posted on 6th July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Swan
Swan flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

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Dogs of war – or peace?

Posted on 2nd July 2025 by NomadWarMachine

Today’s Daily Create asks us to

Try this site that gives you a bit of control over world maps. It allows you to re-orientate the world map to specific countries (so you change the common perspective found in so many maps).

You have a few different map types to play with, too. Maybe you make a political statement? Or maybe you just make some art!

I clicked on the UK, and the resulting map reminded me of two big, friendly dogs saying hello to each other. so I loaded up SmoothDraw and did a tiny bit of doodling:

Dogs of war - or peace?
Dogs of war – or peace? flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license

Dogs of war, or dogs or peace? Who decides?

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Six months of photos

Posted on 30th June 2025 by NomadWarMachine

One photo a day, every day. Six months of the year gone already.

Photo of the Day 2025

Posted in Photos, Scotland | Tagged , | 3 Comments