Writing

Since 2020, I’ve written a quarterly column, ‘Scripturient’, for the UK’s Information Professional magazine. You can read previous instalments here.

Together with Richard Sandford, I co-wrote “Scenarios as a device for forming common futures: plurality and the post-pandemic university”, a chapter in the forthcoming edited volume Building the Post-Pandemic University.

In Public Libraries Quarterly, Bronwen Gamble and Melissa Adams of the Reading Public Library co-wrote a piece with me, “More than a Game: Scenario Planning, Imagination, and the Public Library’s Future“, on the library’s scenario planning journey through the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and a leadership transition.

For Vector, the journal of the British Science Fiction Association, in March 2022 I co-wrote a piece with Marie Mahon on “Facing the Strategic Sublime: Scenario Planning as Gothic Narrative“.

In 2022, I co-wrote a piece for the US Library Journal with Reading Public Library’s Bronwen Gamble, discussing the library’s use of scenario planning during the COVID-19 pandemic. My paper on the Reading project, “Mapping the Future: Scenario Planning for the Post-Pandemic Library“, formed part of the New Librarianship Symposia in Autumn 2021 and can also be read online at the Symposia website.

In 2021, I co-wrote several pieces on the the IMAJINE project, which seeks to address the future of regional inequality in Europe. Together with Marie Mahon of NUI Galway and David Robertson of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, I wrote on the IMAJINE scenarios for Resilience, the blog of the Post Carbon Institute.

Marie Mahon and I also wrote about using scenarios to reimagine the future of urban-rural balance for Regions eZine, the online journal of the Regional Studies Association; and our post “Tales of the Times to Come: The Humanities and Scenario Planning” appeared on the website of the Irish Humanities Alliance. Marie and I had previously co-written pieces in 2020 for The Conversation and RTÉ’s Brainstorm exploring the early stages and first findings of the IMAJINE project.

With Mylee Joseph and Brendan Fitzgerald, in September 2021 I wrote on scenario planning for public libraries in INCITE magazine; I also wrote a solo piece on how libraries plan for uncertainty as part of Civica’s “One Thing” thought leadership strand in November 2021.

In August 2021, I co-wrote a piece with the University of Oslo’s Niamh Ní Broin and Steffen Krueger on our work using scenarios to explore the future of the Norwegian education system for the Horizon 2020 Children Online: Research and Evidence (CO:RE) project. You can also read an academic paper on the Oslo scenarios from the proceedings of the 2021 conference “Teaching In A Time of Change” and a piece with Steffen Krueger, “2050 was last year”, for the “Times of COVID-19” blog run by the University of Oslo’s Lifetimes/Temporalities group.

“Never assume the future will be an extension of the past“, my interview with the Saïd Business School’s Trudi Lang, appeared in Australia’s public sector leadership magazine The Mandarin in April 2020. It’s behind a paywall, but you can also read the full text here at my site.

For the April/May 2020 issue of the US Public Libraries Magazine, Katherine Moody and I co-wrote “Even In The Worst-Case Scenario: Exploring Libraries’ Social Role in Crises Real and Imagined“.

“We can’t predict the future, but scenario planning can identify what it might look like” appeared in The Mandarin in December 2019. It’s behind a paywall, but you can also read the full text here at my site.

“How public libraries can help us prepare for the future” appeared in The Conversation in July 2019.

“Scenario planning in public libraries”, a discussion with Professor Rafael Ramírez of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, appeared in the September 2018 issue of Public Library Quarterly.

My 2016-2017 project Marvellous, Electrical captured strange tales, secret histories, and local stories from Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. You can read the complete collection online as a Google Map of geolocated texts.

I reviewed Darran Anderson’s Imaginary Cities for Australian literary journal The Lifted Brow in November 2017. You can read “Where Do We Dream Ourselves Next?” at the Brow website.

“Professional Development in the Land of Fiction“, my piece on using stories and play in training and strategic innovation, appeared in the April 2017 issue of Library Life. Download a PDF of the article here.

In 2017, I wrote “Mums, Dogs, and Inmates”, a three-part series on digital life for The Writing Platform; the series was a successor to “What Are You Playing At?” and “Where Do You Find Yourself?” – two prior pieces on digital literature and community outreach for the same outlet. 

I also wrote an occasional column for The Library as Incubator Project until the Project wound up in 2017. The final instalment, “A Romance on Three Legs“, explored the afterlife of Glenn Gould’s beloved piano Steinway CD 318.

In May 2016, I wrote “Hit The Library, Get A Drink, Start A Riot” for Fairfax Media’s The Vocal.

My online game A Tear in Flatland appeared in the July 2015 edition of The Lifted Brow – you can play it at the Brow website now.

You can buy the 2015 Library Innovation Toolkit from ALA Editions – I co-wrote the chapter on youth outreach with Tracie Mauro.

‘Pushing the Limits: Play, Pressure, and Public Librarianship‘ (PDF) appeared in the May 2015 issue of British librarians’ magazine CILIP Update. Another CILIP Update piece, ‘Crisis and Consequence‘ (PDF), explored librarians’ responses to the earthquakes which struck Christchurch, New Zealand in 2010-11.

My review of Nick Sousanis’ Unflattening was in the May 2015 Brooklyn Rail. I’d previously reviewed Nnedi Okorafor’s Young Adult novel Akata Witch for the Rail, and interviewed Nnedi about her work.

In January 2015, I wrote on Hasbro’s Transformers for The Cultural Gutter, a Canadian website devoted to disreputable art. I previously wrote a piece for them commemorating the life of the late Ernest Borgnine.

I wrote about Auckland Libraries’ Dark Night Burlesque Festival, which I helped to organise, for the Backtalk column in the July 2014 issue of US Library Journal.

‘Less Like a Lesson, and More Like an Adventure: Learning, Libraries, and the Zombie Apocalypse’ appeared in the 2013 volume of the American journal Reference and User Services Quarterly. Thanks to the wonders of open access, you can read a proof copy of the article for free here.

‘Why Are Zombies So Good For Libraries?’ appeared on the School Library Journal’s media literacy blog Connect the Pop in June 2013.

‘Finnish Lessons for Kiwi Schools?’, my article on the Finnish education system, appeared in the September 2012 New Zealand Education Gazette.

The July/August 2012 edition of Australasian Science magazine featured my piece on scientists who have tattoos of their own research.  I also wrote about science tattoos and Carl Zimmer’s book Science Ink for Australian National University’s ScienceWise magazine.

I’ve written articles on gender and pop culture for Role/Reboot – a January 2012 review of the American TV show Justified, and a February 2012 piece on elementary schooling and the comic book Daredevil.

In Manhattan, I covered World Read Aloud Day (March 2011) and the First New York Kids’ Food Festival (January 2012) for NYC news site DNAInfo. From 2011-2012, I wrote for the New Zealand Education Gazette on comics and education, and from 2007-2008, I reviewed gigs by up-and-coming bands for the BBC’s in-house blog Ariel. 

In the late 2000s, I wrote on Austria for the Insight series of travel guides. I contributed to the 6th Insight Guide to Austria and co-wrote the original Insight SmartGuide to Salzburg. My academic work on the history of Austria includes an article for the journal Central Europe, ‘Vienna 1900 as Lieu-de-mémoire’, and reviews for East European Jewish Affairs.