Ash

My 2026 research project - mapping the hidden labour of digital work Digital professionals are constantly absorbing tasks that don’t appear on paper anywhere - dealing with fragile systems, bridging role and skills gaps, or translating digital for colleagues - I want t...

In 2025 I looked at why digital projects fail, in 2026 I'm exploring the hidden labour of digital work. Of course every role involves *some* hidden labour- the necessary but often invisible work that keeps things moving. In digital roles that hidden layer is often vast www.ashmann.co/my-2026-rese...

How Gen Z is fighting back against digital brain rot From analog hobbies to tech curfews, these Gen Zers are experimenting with science-backed ways to help their brains feel a little less foggy.

How Gen Z is 'fighting back against brain rot' (tl;dr by trying to spend less time on their phones) www.nationalgeographic.com/health/artic...

Psychological Safety: The hard, quiet work of building brave spaces It happened again, I went to a session and the facilitator strode in and announced “this is a safe space” My brain yelled ‘is it? IS IT???’…

Enjoyed this from the brilliant Tash Willcocks “in any sector grappling with AI and systemic complexity, the problems we face aren’t solvable by single experts. They need collective intelligence, diverse perspectives willing to collide and recombine.” - tash-willcocks.medium.com/psychologica...

One of my favourite website discoveries this year was Clickens, which - as the name suggests - is a website that has lots of paintings of chickens on, it's silly and beautiful: clickens.chicken.pics/passionate/1...

Beyond the Promise: webinars A candid look at what’s really going on beneath the surface of digital work in the cultural sector, and how we can do better.

I've written a report on digital failure in the cultural sector, & it's released next week. I'll be hosting 3 webinars to unpack & discuss the report's findings, and I'll be joined by the very insightful @chrisunitt.bsky.social and @tashwillcocks.bsky.social - join us www.ashmann.co/beyond-the-p...

Beks Leary (National Gallery) on the challenges & opportunities of working in larger vs smaller teams, different ways of thinking about audiences, and the value of building meaningful relationships wi... A chat with Beks Leary, Senior Social Media and Content Lead at the National Gallery in London.We talked about Beks's career, which has encompassed working at a diverse range of organisations includin...

Here are some podcasts I've recorded recently. One about content, audiences and working with creators at the National Gallery digitalworkspodcast.buzzsprout.com/841957/episo..., and one with @mkeating121.bsky.social on AI policy digitalworkspodcast.buzzsprout.com/841957/episo...

also, don't send me a voicenote, you heathen

Beyond the promise - when digital falls short Digital is more crucial than ever for how we operate, engage audiences, and sustain our work. Yet digital projects in cultural organisations often fall short of expectations, and we rarely talk about ...

Digital is more crucial than ever for how we operate, engage audiences, & sustain our work. But digital projects in cultural orgs often fall short of expectations, and we rarely talk about why. I'm gathering responses to try to identify patterns & common pitfalls: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Run across Sweden '25 In Spring 2025 I will be running from where I live in Gothenburg to Kalmar on the Baltic coast, on the other side of Sweden. The route The route is just over 500km, and should take me about two wee...

In May I'm going to run 500km across Sweden, which should be fun/difficult/etc www.ashmann.co/run-across-s...

The Duolingo tone of voice is so weird and emotionally manipulative "You spent x minutes learning this year, but was it enough to keep Duo happy? It’s time for your Year in Review. Open the app to see it now!"

almost as precarious as being reliant on government largesse in the middle of the culture wars - as the last 15 years has shown. there is no one lifeboat.

points 3 & 4 on this slide are the ones I see cultural orgs struggling with most consistently, understanding who the audience actually is & delivering something that is genuinely valuable to that audience will almost certainly require doing things v differently than the way you usual do #MuseTech24

But often without a plunge pool, or obvious bucket of cold water with which to drench yourself afterwards which is WORRYING

Very happy to see the uk embracing the sauna

Interesting to see this having moved to Sweden last year where digital id (BankID) is a critical part of everyday life. Everything is *extremely* difficult without it, but the convenience benefit once you have it is significant

Public Service Broadcasting - The South Atlantic [ft. This Is The Kit] YouTube video by PSBHQ

This new(ish) thing from Public Service Broadcasting is very lovely www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUh1...

Bernina Express - Rhaetian Railway RhB The UNESCO World Heritage Site and pristine Alpine landscapes within reach: a trip on the Bernina Express is a travel experience in a class of its own.

but we *are* going on the Bernina Express which should be excellent tickets.rhb.ch/en/pages/ber...

OBB, however, take the 'dynamically generate everything on the fly' route which mostly doesn't work and made me furious. There's only so many 'order can't be retrieved' and 'pdf can't be generated' error messages you can see before you think maybe clever does not equal better

I got to compare & contrast the different ways European train orgs send you your tickets. From a pdf attached to an email (Deutsche Bahn) to including your qr code *in* the email (SBB), a link to a page with your tickets (Trenitalia).

at no point have I regretted leaving, at least they seem to have slowed down with the multiple emails per day about new features, 'thought leadersip' or general nonsense