Things to recommend: March

I like lists of recommendations, and given that some recent research has shown folks are looking for curation more than ever I thought this might be helpful.

So I’m going to share some things that I’ve read/visited/watched/listened to and that I think are good, useful or interesting.

So, in March I…

Read

• “Bing A.I. and the Dawn of the Post-Search Internet” by Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker), I first started pondering the effect of AI on search after reading a thread by Andy Budd, it’s going to be very interesting to see how wide and deep the ripple effect will be of solutions that can answer your question and keep you in place, rather than directing you somewhere else relevant, “With Bing A.I., Web sites are the source material, not the destination, and results are produced through what Danzico called a “co-creation process” between user and bot”.
• “How to log off” by Rhiannon Williams (MIT Technology Review). As someone who regularly berates themselves for the amount of time spent staring at screens this was a thoughtful and thought-provoking read, “there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that reducing your screen time won’t in itself make you happier […] is it actually the technology that’s the issue? Or is it the person that’s annoying you on WhatsApp?”.
• “How to spark creativity when you’re in a rut” by Priscilla Claman (Harvard Business Review). This is a fairly old article (from 2017) but the simple advice it gives still feels relevant and helpful. The recommendation to “share what you know” is something that always works for me.
• A collection of UX research templates from Odette Jansen. Even if you don’t have a specific responsibility for UX in your role, if you’re interested in or responsible for anything happening online it’s a good idea to understand something about the discipline. This is a really helpful collection of templates and resources.
• “The story behind the surreal photograph of Salvador Dalí and three flying cats” by Jacqui Palumbo (Artsy). Any article that contains the sentence “before photographer Philippe Halsman and Surrealist Salvador Dalí settled on the idea of tossing three cats into the air for the photograph Dalí Atomicus (1948), the Spanish artist suggested they blow up a duck using dynamite” deserves a recommendation.

Visited

• LightPollutionMap.info, does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a map showing levels of light pollution around the world. I came across it when the aurora borealis went bonkers earlier this month and I was trying to see where might be a good place to see it. But dark skies are a beautiful thing to enjoy at any time and this helps you find them.
• The Bowie by Sukita exhibition at the Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm. It was really nice to see something that focused on what came from a single creative relationship. Lots of iconic stuff in there, but also lots of other, more candid images that were just as affecting. I think the exhibition is touring so keep an eye out.

Watched

• Rye Lane. I love a rom-com, and this is a very good, very charming rom-com. It’s also nice to see something set in London that isn’t the central London, ‘tourism campaign’ version of London.

Listened to

• Orpheus (Monteverdi, Degun). A reworking of Monteverdi's Orfeo (one of the earliest operas), combining it with classical Indian music, from Opera North.
• Tropic Morning News - The National. The National have been a bit boring over the last few yearss, the first single off their new album is a nice return to form.