a requiem for "The Future" What is the object of the verb "to future"? What is its subject? And what are the implications of the answers to those two questions?
feeling out the format Less a round-up of the last week on Worldbuilding Agency, and more an exploration of what such round-ups will likely look like, on weeks when things have actually happened.
week 29 / 2024 This week: ethnography-in-reverse as an analogy for narrative prototyping... and the infrastructurality of the scroll-wheel?
Week 28 / 2024 This week: the power of moving from mere analogy to full metaphor... and why sometimes one needs to simply start.
Week 27 / 2024 This week: why it's good to end a workshop when there's still energy in the room... and why it's good (for me, at least) to act the fool somewhat.
Week 26 / 2024 This weeknotes will be brief, as the whole week has been spent on site in Bergen, Norway, doing workshops for PROJECT TEMPORAL. And I guess you get to learn at the same time as me that there will be weeks like this, when the weeknotes simply state that you spent
Week 25 / 2024 Greetings from midsommar, a day which—as far as I can tell—matters more to most Swedes than Christmas. As a long-time fan of sunshine and warmth, I can dig it... though I'll pass on the pickled herring, thanks. This week has been dominated by finishing the first-draft
schedule adjustment notice Hello, worldbuilders! Just a quick note to let you know: it occurred to me this morning that my spending a bunch of time compiling weeknotes which don't get emailed to you, only to then spend a shorter amount of time two days later writing a short note alerting
hot in the city 2nite Hello worldbuilders! It's 28°C in Malmö this afternoon, and it's reliably been around that temperature in the afternoon for close to a week now. I quite like hot weather, really, but a lot of other folk are less keen—and I dare say I'
call it in, take it off Hello, worldbuilders! It's been quiet here this last week, because around this time on the Sunday previous I started thinking "hmm, I don't feel so great", and by the evening I was feeling (as we Brits say) like death warmed over. Hell knows what
less magic, more traffic Hello, worldbuilders! It feels a lot like the roundabout just hasn't stopped spinning over the week just gone—and next week it's The Conference, which means the metaphorical carny will be reaching out his hairy hand to give it another good shove... which means there'
pass the vol-au-vents Hello, worldbuilders! And welcome to those of you who've signed up in the last few days. Glad you could come—take a chair, get yourself a drink. How are things? We've got no Actual Announcement this week; I would announce again that I've giving
the circus comes to town Hello, worldbuilders! This is your weekly newsthingy... and we're gonna start with An Actual Announcement. Talk and workshop: The Conference, Malmö, Mon 26th August 2024 I will be giving a talk entitled Wisdom for worldbuilders: fictions, futures, fandoms on the morning of Mon 26th August. Said talk is
null but not void Hello, worldbuilders! What's been happening at Worldbuilding Agency this week? No essay or interview Um, yeah—bit of an absence at the middle of the week, wasn't there? Sorry about that. There's an interview in the pipe, but it's awaiting approval from
week 37 / 2024 Having flashbacks to rhinestone country compressed through the speakers of a first-generation Ford Fiesta—yep, it's WEEKNOTES. This week, many meetings have been had, and we find ourselves agreeing with *gasp* a quantitative analyst!
week 36 / 2024 Gingerly g**gling "relieve hip flexors sedentary work", blinking at the tiny-font AI garbage you get in response—yes, it's time once again for WEEKNOTES! This week, the undocumentation of some working hours is documented, and Andrew Dana Hudson sends solarpunk thoughts from a road-trip.
week 35 / 2024 Why do they call it "a cold" if a) you can get it in the summer, and b) it makes you feel hot and fevered? This week, things have been slow, for reasons of plague.
week 34 / 2024 Apparently adults don't get a sticker for visiting the dentist, even when they've not been for two decades? ANYWAY—this week, tales are constituting tellers, and patterns are undergoing recognition.
week 33 / 2024 Muggy, sticky, clammy... and that's just my handshake! This week, we've got Kentucky gentlemen and New Yorickan communists, and a whole lot more besides.
week 32 / 2024 Malmöfestivalen and the rain have arrived in town at the same time; who will win? We ask this and much much more in this week's Worldbuilding Agency weeknotes... now in an exciting new format!