stephen blyth’s blog

I’ve just missed the “Introduction to Social Software” session today at the Duke Street Community House. It was a bit far to travel to Melbourne to attend.
The course is one of the early practical outcomes chalked up to a new project being run in Victoria, Australia. The Doing IT Better project is being run over […]

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Last June Roz and I spent a week exploring the rural hinterlands near Noosa and further up the coast at Rainbow Sands. It was our last trip together before our little one came along and transformed our lives (which Elsa since has done so, of course).
I was reminded of our trip after hearing a docmentary […]

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Pounding in the background is Talking Heads from on their “Stop Making Sense” live concert, now on dvd. It’s an astoundingly good concert, with a real spark over 20 years after its first release.
Using the concert name for my repackaged blog is not a homage to Talking Heads, though I’m fond of their quirky, edgy, […]

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When we were doing some planning for Heartbeat last month one of the five key areas we decided to focus on was FUN. Organising fun events, that is.It all started with a list of alternatives to the proposed v8 motor-race. The list was faxed by Diana’s daughter from London. Amidst the suggestions were pram racing, […]

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I didn’t manage to visit the Smith Family’s Community Technology Learning Centre (CTLC) in Collingwood when I was working in Melbourne earlier in the year, but I wish I had. The Centre has recently been declared Australia’s official demonstration site for the Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) Programme.
Microsoft are partnering with the Smith Family and other […]

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The computers at the Robertson Community Technology Centre (CTC) are named after potatoes. Pontiac, chips and mash are among the names of the PCs and Macs you’ll find. I learnt about all of this and more on the most recent edition of “The Buzz”, a technology focused programme broadcast on demand from Australia’s National Radio […]

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You probably can’t tell but my computer is shaking as I write this. Not violently, but dully shuddering. I’m on the Ghan, a quarter of the way from Alice Springs to Adelaide. It’s not exactly smooth nor quiet.
There’s plenty of space in the Red Kangeroo carriages. We’re the folk sleeping in our seats on the […]

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It’s unseasonably wet in the Centre at the moment. The Todd River in Alice Springs is usually a sandy ditch, but at the moment water is actually flowing through the river bed. Temperatures are below average too. A maximum of 14 degrees is expected, ten degrees lower than the May average.
It would be churlish to […]

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I’m pictured here with Wally Jacob, a senior Aboriginal guide with Anangu Tours. The tour was definitely the highlight of my trip to the Uluru. The Anangu are the local aboriginal and they welcome visitors to learn about their home and culture.
Wally told our group of four the creation story of Kuniya Python Woman. His […]

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It’s not quite the desert around here, but I surely have found an oasis. Needing to swap my book, get a copy of Saturday’s Age, buy some replacement tent pegs and hook up my iBook I’ve found all this and more in Alice Springs within half an hour of arriving. Ferdinand, who runs the Green […]

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