Russell Davies

Energy transition norms: charger feelings

When will those people leave so we can charge? Why are they just sitting in their car? They could at least just wonder around. How long have they been charging? Should we ask them how long they'll be? That's quite a big car, they might be here for hours. I wonder if we should just head to the next one. There might be a queue there too. Obvs. Bird in the hand. Bird in the hand is better. At least we know it works. They're using it so it must work. Unless they're using the last electricity. It doesn't work like that, I know it doesn't work like that. How long have we been waiting now? Maybe we can both plug in at the same time, there are two chargers after all. That never works though does it? But no one ever tells you about that. And it's not clear if that's just a sometimes thing or an always thing. It'd just be embarrassing to plug in if everyone knows it's not going to work. And what if it stopped them charging? That would also be embarrassing. And possibly worse. People do get angry about this stuff. Either angry or much to keen to talk about it. How long have we been waiting now?

 

 

Energy transition norms - window charging

Energy transition norms - fully charged

Went to Fully Charged Live the other weekend. There was much to notice. But the most immediate and obvious thing was that everything was green and blue. Dozens and dozens of exhibitors and stalls and they were overwhelmingly green and blue. One red one, one yellow one, one purple one. (Good job Ripple). But otherwise - green and blue. (Like an idiot I have very few photos)

This, to me, feels like a sign of how early in the development of these markets we are. Green and blue is everyone's first idea. They've all chosen their colours and built their brands without regard to anyone else. They've done the obvious first thing. Competition will change this.

Energy transition norms - electric forecourt

Back at the dawn of techno anthropology Jan Chipchase used to post loads of photos of 'norms'. It was great. He was documenting the emergence of all sorts of new behaviour.

And I think 'norms' a lot at the moment, especially when I see things to do with the energy transition. So I thought I'd try and document them. (And by 'document them' I mean 'stick them on the blog')

I visited Gridserve's electric forecourt at the weekend and charged the car. It was fine. Which is massive praise for something half-way between a utility and a service station. Clean, efficient, functional. It can't really be better than that.

You can tell we're at the beginning of something because everything is about 'electricity'. It's the central point, the thing all the language and puns and ideas are centred on. And, of course, that's a temporary thing. Very soon the electricity will not be the point.

Everything is blue and green. Of course. Grass walls. Fake grass walls.

We are going to have to understand kWs. Not necessarily literally but in the folk sense that we understand a gallon (not as a quantity but as a thing that you pay for) or like SMLXL.

Baby steps

I'm remembering the Interesting experience. I decide to do it. I get excited. I book the venue, I stick it on the blog. Then I get all anxious because I've got to organise a conference. (To the extent that sometimes I just cancel it, as old-timers might remember).

Then I remember that the way to do this is to take baby steps. Just do the next thing. So I've put some tickets on sale. And on the off-chance that they're popular I'm starting by just telling you lot: the RSS massive. Chances are, if you're reading this in a feedreader, you don't need me to tell you what Interesting is all about. So, if you'd like to come, please get yourself a ticket...

Font risk

For a lot of reasons I think most organisations are going to want less data in the future, not more. Here's another input...

Presenter's block

Storythings pointed at this Clive Thompson piece: You don't have writer's block, you have "reporter's block". 

It resonated because I was chatting with someone yesterday and was reminded that one of the best way of conquering nerves with a presentation is to do more work. Do more research. Know the topic better.

A lot of organisation set people up to fail when presenting by asking them to talk about something they only understand superficially. This is particularly the case in agencies, consultancies and the like: that's part of the job, to become convincing in an unreasonably quick time. That's a useful skill to learn but it's not a recipe for anxiety-less presenting and it's not a good way for most people to think about their presenting life. And it's a diversity issue.

Your PowerPoint structure can help you organise that knowledge, make sure you're not just sharing proof of work. But feeling bullet-proof about the topic is a great way to feel more comfortable.

The draped and the sewn

I love a good bifurcation. I love someone who has the intellectual confidence to divide the world in two. Bosh. This half of the world and this half.

This is a fantastic example, from Worn by Sofi Thanhauser.

"Clothing historian Cecil Saint-Laurent argued that there are two types of clothing: the draped and the sewn. Laurent saw these two types as symbolic of, respectively, Athenian freedom and Spartan fascism, and came down decisively on the side of draped garments. In this position he was preceded by Hegel, who in 1820 declared the aesthetic superiority of draped Athenian garments to sewn German ones:

    'Our modern clothing is wholly inartistic: this is because what we really     see in it … is not the fine, free, and living contours of the body in their     delicate and flowing development, but stretched out sacks with stiff folds     … something cut, sewn together over here, folded over there.     Elsewhere fixed, and, in short, purely unfree forms."'

Charging at Watford Gap

If you've bought a budget EV and spend time on motorways you''ll inevitably spend time waiting for your car to charge.

If you're doing that at Watford Gap it's worth exploring outside the services rather than just staring bleakly at the magazines in Smith's.

Go through the 'picnic area' (Southbound) and cross the bridge. Or just walk through the lorry park (Northbound). You'll find yourself crossing a canal. Go back a bit and look a bit more carefully and you'll find a way down to the towpath. It's not the nicest canal in the world but it's only 5 minutes from the services and it's better than buying a copy of Monocle. 

There are cowslips.

Better than Monocle.

Disdain / explain

This tweet precipitated a fantastic example of the eternal conversation about PowerPoint.

Also a reminder of what a lot of the world means by 'a poster', which is not what advertising people mean by a poster. (And thinking about it, I should have thought about that when I wrote the book...)