Amsterdam – Open Thinkering

Weeknote 25/2023

Posted on June 25, 2023June 25, 2023 by Doug Belshaw

I was in Amsterdam from Monday to Friday this week, for MozFest House and a WAO meetup. We ran a session entitled ‘Fostering Transparency and Building a Cooperative Economy’. I also lied about my personal details and preferences to get free iced coffee, hung out on a boat, and melted in the heat.

The end of MozFest House where it was announced that the next one will be in Kenya.

Our house went on the market while I was away, as things moved more quickly than I envisaged. This is a good thing, as we had five viewings booked in yesterday. I was out with my daughter, who was at a Future Lioness event and then represented East Northumberland in the discus at the area athletics championships. She had to run from that even to take part in the relay, and then pretty much kept on running to do the first leg!

I’m keeping this short as we’re about to go and view a house that would potentially be a backup plan to the one we really want. I published a single blog post this week, other than this one, which I called On the paucity of ‘raising awareness’.

Next week it’s back to work in my home office. I hope it’s not too hot, as the lack of sleep from late nights and being in a really hot room with no openable windows while in Amsterdam really took it out of me.

Weeknote 11/2022

Posted on March 20, 2022March 20, 2022 by Doug Belshaw

I’m writing this from a hotel room in Amsterdam, on my first overseas trip in two years. This week has largely been a preparation for going away, both physically in terms of packing, but also mentally in terms of preparing myself.

I’m in the Netherlands to present at the Dutch National Library Conference next week, which is taking place in three different cities on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I’m running the same session on each day. I also gave a presentation on Open Badges for FERS in Leeuwarden on Friday. Altogether, I’m going to be away from my kids for eight days, which is the longest I’ve been away from them since 2014, I reckon.

My wife is here with me this weekend, which is great as we love Amsterdam! Another added bonus is that Laura and her husband are driving over from Dresden today to meet us for dinner. The Netherlands is in the same position of coming out of restrictions as the UK was about six weeks ago, so there’s plenty of people still wearing masks, and they’re enforced on public transport.

We had a co-op half day on Monday, in which we talked about a whole range of things. I was suffering from migraines earlier this week and at the end of last, probably in anticipation of this trip, so I decided not to go to the late-night Week 4 session for the Tethix course I’ve been doing. I’ll miss this coming Tuesday as well, so in the end I’ll only do three of the five sssions. That’s a shame, but sometimes life (and health) get in the way.

Otherwise, there’s not that much to report. I’ve been keeping myself reasonably fit, eating nice things here in Amsterdam, enjoying good hotels, and finishing off bits and pieces of work. The world is in a crazy enough state right now to do anything other than just take life as it comes.

Next week I’m travelling to Assen, Eindhoven, and Amersfoort, returning home on Friday. The week after that, I’m working as normal, and then I’m taking the first three weeks of April off work. The first of those, I’m walking Hadrian’s Wall with Aaron, the second the kids are off while Hannah’s not so I might do some DIY with them, and then the third we’re on holiday in Croatia.

Photo of a window at the Design Museum in Amsterdam.