I’m ambivalent about working from home. It’s precarious not having a regular salary and unpredictable, especially with no long-term contracts. We are not a trust fund couple. The choices we have made have been possible because of textbook royalties. Unlike many fathers, I’ve also had the privilege of watching my children grow up and being …
Author archives: Derek
Demonstrate ….
Edtech Strategy Development Technologists have made modernity possible, and technology is a creation of modernity (Bray 2003). Education technology may be situated in modernity, but its purposes can differ, since participants are informed by a social context and spatial structures. Some assume that technology shapes and transforms education. To them, progress is linear and keeping …
A lost decade
I read last year (2024) that 5 new universities were being planned. With News 24 declaiming a graduate unemployment rate of 24%, I have wondered whether another handful of new institutions is the best way to spend our country’s limited resources. The StatsSA report in the tale of the two new universities shows that academics …
One wrong word….
This Easter, we had a lovely visit to the Midlands. We normally avoid travelling on a long weekend, but Mike, Kelly, and the gals were in South Africa for a wedding. So we left home at sparrows (4:30 a.m.) to beat the long weekend traffic, arrived on the meander at a very respectable hour and …
DH 2023
Please note that I first published this piece about the Digital Humanities conference on Substack in December 2023. Meant to post it to my blog, but I didn’t. I have also made a few Grammarly corrections. Introduction My first in-person conference since 2020. Yes, it was so good to be back with people (not screens). …
Place and Site Naming
Recently, (4-5 March 2025), I attended the second of SADiLaR’s Data Management Workshop at Unisa, in the Senate Hall. You might remember, I attended a similar workshop last year, where Benito Trollip opened my eyes up to research data management and Bianca Peterson (from Fathom Data) introduced to Open Refine. Here, with cameras and lights, …
Re-imagining Africa’s Knowledge Futures
On Tuesday and Wednesday (25-26 March 2025), I had the pleasure of attending a key event for those who are interested in Digital Humanities. Entitled “Re-imagining Africa’s Knowledge Futures in the Digital Humanities”. The summit was organized by Dr Denzil Chetty (and the team), who lead the Advancing African Digital Humanities Ideation Hub (AADHIH) at …
Mentorship – Part 2
A mentor is “someone who can hold a mirror up to us” (Abbott and Been). Someone with experience, knowledge, wisdom. The mentorship relationship allows for shared learning. A place for non judgmental observations about goals and performance, between mentor and mentee. A generative learning partnership that has the potential to shape the craft and culture …
Open to Mentorship
Today’s blog post is dedicated to the people who have gone beyond the call of duty and changed the way that I (and hope quite a few other people) think, act and be. People who have been responsive to concerns, aspirations. Who’ve helped me anchor myself and find a purpose. If there was a stage, …
Copyright and the Public Interest
Recently (3 Feb 2025), I attended a very interesting seminar at the Tin Temple (Wits University). The Title: Copyright and the Public Interest, Africa and the Global South. Thanks to Denise from Scholarly Horizons for the invitation. First, my apologies to her. I should have passed the invite onto my Mobile Literacy and Wikipedian friends. No matter, Matete …