Inside View

Happy Axolotls

By Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel

I NEVER EXPECTED to experience serenity with a fish tank but something about the slow and plodding Mexican walking fish in our kitchen takes me to a quiet place. I'm enthralled by our two Axolotls.

[Bernie Goldbach teaches creative leadership at the Technological University of the Shannon.]

Seeking Just Transition with Climate Change

By Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel.

ALTHOUGH IT IS THE SILLY SEASON in Ireland, a time when items worth discussing wait until September, strong opinions are being aired about whether Ireland can achieve any of its meaningful climate change goals.

Any initiatives proposed by the Irish government will collapse if back benchers resist approving government plans. Many of the initiatives will affect constituents in their pockets, at supermarket cash tills, or in terms of lifestyles.

Summer Clear-out with Minimalism

FOLLOWING A 90 MINUTE conversation with Larry Maguire, author of Sunday Letters, I've reset my goal of executing a meaningful clear-out of digital services this summer. I'm afraid to admit the extent of my usage of digital services. Fortunately, there are several proven strategies to help me dial down digital services.

This socialist agenda needs to be reeled in

BECAUSE I TRY to understand people who have political viewpoints very different from mine, I let myself fall into rabbit holes where some of my family get their political values. I remember my grandfather at the kitchen table in the 1960s telling me that "some people want to have a government that gives them everything" and once that happens those people keep voting to keep the socialists in office. But as all gun-carrying Americans know, socialism runs counter to American values. In the minds of some people, an armed citizenry needs to rise up to protect American values.

So that's why military garb and assault rifles are in the crowd with veterans who defend the American constitution. That's why Open Carry is being normalised across a wide stretch of America. The backwoods training has moved to on-the-streets activism.

Twenty Years on Typepad Seeking Agency

I'VE BEEN PUBLISHING on Typepad at least once every fortnight since July 2002. I'm motivated by the thought that I'm creating agency in the process.

This has not been an easy row to hoe. Five years after I switched from Movable Type to Typepad, my average daily readership of Inside View fell below 1000 daily visitors. The downslope happened in mid-2007, even before it won "Best Technology Blog" in Ireland. Its peak viewership happened in late 2005, when all my work (i.e., photos and audio) emanated from my Typepad hub. Twenty year later, I still attract more than 1000 daily instances in aggregate but you have to count Flickr photostreams (around 400 a day), my YouTube channel (100 a day) and my podcasts (150 a day). Add 550 different people viewing my tweets and Instagram content and I'm back to 1000 daily impressions.

But I know my voice has faded in the mix.

Time to Cull Streaming Services

Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel. Now logo from our Samsung TV app.

NOW IS THE TIME to reduce the number of streaming services in our home. I'm asking Mia (14) to edit this blog post as we run through and justify the services we currently use.

First Week of Microblogging

By Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel. Screenshot by @topgold.

I've finished my first week of microblogging after setting up clonmeldigital.micro.blog as a space we will develop with creative students on the Clonmel Digital Campus next semester. Using the microblog structure feels like blogging was in early 2000.

Impressed by Veed.io #EdChatie

By Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel. Screenshot by @topgold.

I STARTED EXPERIMENING with Veed.io on my Samsung Note 9 handset. Here are a few impressions concerning mobile content production, project templates, and workflow.