Sue Thomas's Blog, page 5

OrchGard – a community digital orchard/garden funded by @natyouthagency

This month, The Environment Now, managed by the National Youth Agency, gave a total of £70,000 worth of funding to green tech projects. They’re all very interesting – check them out – but OrchGard especially caught my eye because it chimes with the growing interest in bringing nature and technology closer together.

Developed by Joshua Dean, OrchGard will be a community digital orchard/garden that will use the latest technology to keep the fully automated orchard as productive as possible. The...

Podcast: Find Your Tech-Nature Balance with Sue Thomas, hosted by Lisette Sutherland

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST  ‘Find Your Tech-Nature Balance’

In May this year, Lisette Sutherland asked to interview me for her website Collaboration Superpowers. Lisette and her colleagues run workshops and offer advice on how to be location independent; how to feel comfortable working from anywhere and, importantly, how to build camaraderie on your remote team. Their podcasts tell the stories of remote teams  and how they work together online.

The people who listen and contribute to this great se...

Thousands of ‘Second Life’ Bunnies Are Going to Starve to Death This Saturday – Waypoint

Here’s a grim little curiosity for you; a story about what can happen at the intersection of DRM and virtual pets, straight from the reaches of Second Life.

One of the biggest markets in this unfairly sensationalized virtual world is in so-called “breedables.” These scripted, modeled and animated objects take countless forms—from cats to chickens to dragons to shoes to flowers— with the general premise being that someone buys them blindly (usually in egg or nest form) with certain odds of get...

Biophilia for patients and visitors at the Khoo Tech Puat Hospital, Singapore

[image error]Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore

This week I’m in Singapore as a Visiting Professor in the Biophilia Research Cluster, based in the Department of Psychology at James Cook University. I’ve seen dozens of fascinating examples of biophilic design here, but this post is about just one of them – the incredible gardens at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

It’s a general and acute care hospital which opened in 2010. Laik Teng Lit, its CEO, commissioned a design which lowers stress levels and helps patients...

For the un-Kindled – a free preview of ‘Nature and Wellbeing in the Digital Age’, no Kindle required

Amazon’s latest clever idea is the Instant Preview. It lets you dip into a Kindle book without having to install a Reader.

I admit I’ve been surprised at how many of my friends and acquaintances don’t read Kindle books. I just assumed everyone did these days! Anyway, as a result I will be producing a print edition later this year, but for now, if you are un-Kindled, please enjoy this Instant Preview.

Amazon’s growth on full display in greenhouse where exotic plants are raised for its Spheres – GeekWire

It’s no secret that Amazon knows how to grow a business, based on what the company has achieved over its almost 23-year history. But how does the tech gian

Source: Amazon’s growth on full display in greenhouse where exotic plants are raised for its Spheres – GeekWire

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Guest Lecture at James Cook University, Singapore. ‘Living well with nature in a wired world’ 18 May 2017

I’m excited to be invited as a Visiting Scholar this May at James Cook University, Singapore. As part of my work there I will present a public lecture on Thursday, 7pm 18 May 2017. If you’re in Singapore then and would like to come along, please follow the link below to the University website.

Living well with nature in a wired world: an introduction to technobiophilia
Do you worry that wired life is taking you away from nature? You may be surprised to learn that you could be getting your dai...

Short Talk ‘Technobiophilia: Nature and Wellbeing in the Digital Age’ 19 April 2017, Bournemouth.

I’ve been invited to give a short talk about my new book Nature and Wellbeing in the Digital Age at a meeting of the Dorset Humanists. This is the first in a series of talks by members and there are two of us on the programme – Chris Street, who will be talking about Poetic Naturalism, and myself.

7.30pm, Wednesday 19th April 2017 at The Greenhouse Hotel, Bournemouth. More information.

The event is open to everyone and you don’t have to share Humanist views to come along and join the conversa...

FREE THIS WEEKEND: ‘Hello World: travels in virtuality’ by Sue Thomas. The story of a life online

‘This is a book about a love affair. It’s also a meditation on a phenomenon that has changed not just our lives but our perceptions of ourselves.’ The Independent.

This weekend I’m giving away free copies of the Kindle edition of my book  ‘Hello World: travels in virtuality’, first published by Raw Nerve Books in 2004. It’s a memoir/travelogue of reflections about virtuality in Cyberspace, California, Australia, England, and a few other places.  I’m told the Death Valley section is especially...

‘Nature and Wellbeing in the Digital Age’ – new book by Sue Thomas

I announced a while ago that I was working on a new book, and now it’s ready. The title has evolved to ‘Nature and Wellbeing in the Digital Age‘. This is the first time I’ve written and created a Kindle book from scratch, and it has been a very enjoyable experience. I plan to do more!

I hope you like this short excerpt from the new book, including a few practical tips you might like to try. You’re also warmly invited to join the conversation in the Digital Wellbeing Facebook Group

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