by Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel
I'M FLIPPING BACK through 2023 and pointing to 12 items that deserve special mention. I discovered each of them have landed inside several online camera rolls where I can see what was happening around the same time these significant events occurred. The most memorable of the dozen items involve people.
Dylan Took the Mic
Dylan (12) has been walking around the house with a mic in his hands since he turned five. It's been a natural progression for him to add video recordings to his skill set. Several of his video interviews gained more than 1000 views, including his review of the Clonmel Sports Hub.
Digital Transformation
I started teaching classes in digital transformation and ended in a new (yet comfortable) thought space. I have totally integrated generative artificial intelligence into my workflow. My core technology is Mem.ai, a service I'm using to cross-check the validity of this blog post. I pay to use Magisto, a video production software as a service owned by Vimeo.
Consulting with fellow lecturers, I surveyed several AI-enhanced image editors that I used with text prompts to create photos from real people such as the one in this paragraph. If you follow my blog, you might be interested in how a wide variety of students interpret "digital transformation" by the images and short descriptions that they share in the Flickr Digital Transformation Group.
Journaling with TN
I enjoy the routine of journaling and this year I converted from Leuchtturm 1917 hard covers to soft cover B6 format Traveler's Notebooks. The TN format is smaller which means the journals fit easier in my pannier bags or in the Tumi messenger bag that I carry everywhere.
I lost one month worth of my notebook when I left it behind on an Irish train and since that time, I've promised myself to keep line items of each page in my Obsidian digital notebook. I add content in Markdown format to my Obsidian database by using my five year old Samsung Note 9 or a three year old Microsoft Surface Book.
Hosting Friends from America
It's always a big day when friends from America visit. In May 2023, Huck Donovan and Thomasine Sahd reset their COVID travel plans and dropped into County Tipperary enroute to the O'Donovan ancestral home in County Cork.
I hope to host a crew of my high school graduating class before the end of the decade. I know we would have a blast remembering times past. And a large cross-section of graduates from Lancaster Catholic High School can trace their roots to Ireland.
Leargas and Erasmus
I attended several Application Clinics hosted by Leargas in 2023 but I haven't made an application--yet. I hope to co-ordinate with two other European collaborators and produce a series of intergenerational conversations with young people interviewing elders in their communities.
Fibre Broadband
It took six attempts to connect our home to fibre broadband but we got gigabit speed in time for the new academic year. And then we didn't connect Vodafone TV service until December, in time for New Year's Eve parties.
Proud of Mia
We watched Mia turn 16, earn five distinctions in her Junior Cert, and start a part-time job. If she can continue focusing on academic achievements, she will have a wide assortment of options for higher education.
Grow Remote in Clonmel
I've become a chapter lead for Grow Remote Ireland. The Clonmel group doesn't have an activity level that the community deserves. But the national organising committee is strong, focused, and willing to help South Tipperary show people the importance of working remotely and in hybrid versions in the 2020s.
RUN-EU
The Regional Universities Europe is a relatively new grouping and TUS.ie is a lead partner. I attended a Short Advanced Programme (SAP) about Critical Thinking in Portugal and got motivated to see if I can spin up a similar offering in Ireland.
My current collaboration is with Filipe Santos in Polytechnic Leiria. We hope to launch a "Building a Second Brain" SAP to run in September 2024.
Best Ever Graduates
I worked with the Digital Animation Class of 2023 from start to finish and then attended their graduation ceremony in Limerick. They shared their energy and creativity with me from COVID through film studies and during break-out sessions. I sincerely doubt that we will see another creative collective with their group dynamic until their children arrive on campus.
Friends In Person
Only after connecting over coffee with a group of friends I used to see on a daily basis did I realise how important the person-to-person connection is. During the run-up to Christmas, I squeezed in change meetings with Darragh Doyle (pictured), Larry Maguire, Dermot Casey, and Kevin O'Rourke.
It's the personal connections that often yield the strongest professional collaborations. I plan to prove this point during the next 12 months by following through with a series of plans involving each of these four men. And as I write these words, I realise (1) there are strong women who should be in this mix of collaborative energy and (2) none of those I cited here are local. I am not ignoring local talent and need to pay a visit to Skypaper to ensure we're still sharing the same motivations.
Meta View
The latest technology to grace my life comes from Meta in the form of Ray-ban Wayfarer glasses. I snapped a shot of mine on the table.
I hope Dylan and I can make content with the two sets of glasses while he interviews people for his YouTube channel.
If you've read this far, please consider sharing a memory you cherish from 2023 by commenting to me @topgold on Threads.
[Bernie Goldbach teaches digital transformation on the Clonmel Digital Campus for the Technological University of the Shannon. Follow Dylan's creativity by searching Google for #littlebitoftipp]
