Hello from Duncan 👋

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A Pop-Up Newsletter, A Crumpet Feast, A Lot of Googling of Syntax

Hello friends, I'm Duncan and I'd like to welcome you to the latest episode of Hello From Duncan. This, as I'm sure you know by now, is a newsletter that I sent every ten days or so about my recent creative input and output.

It's totally free and there are no "upgrade tiers". So if you like it, then the nicest thing you could do is recommend me the next time you hear about someone who needs some information design work doing. If you want out, then there's an unsubscribe link at the footer.


Tomorrow, the first episode of my new pop-up newsletter will go out. It’s called Signal Chain, and it’s a creative collaboration with photographer Oliver Holmes.

We’re going to take it in turns to send each other things every two weeks. I’m kicking off with a modular soundscape, then he’ll respond to that with a photograph, which I’ll use as inspiration for another soundscape, and so on. It’ll run for 10 episodes, then we’ll publish the whole lot somewhere on the web.

Subscribe here if you’d like to get our creative exchanges in your inbox every couple of weeks for a few months.


I’m in the UK this week for the first time in two years - a very brief visit to see close family, so won’t have time to really see friends etc. But I’m aiming to be back over by train next year, pandemic permitting, and I would love to see many of you then.

I’m mostly working from my parents’ home, but I’ll be popping up to the capital tomorrow to meet my colleagues at Possible for the first time. Kind of weird that I’ve been working there for almost a year now, and I’ve never met any of them in person. So I’m looking forward to that.

Turns out the number one thing (beyond family, of course) that I’ve missed from the UK in the last two years are crumpets. So I’ve been gorging myself on those.


Not having to walk a dog four times a day while in the UK has earnt me a bit of spare time, which I’ve been spending on developing a sonification script for my Monome Norns.

Norns scripts are written in Lua, which I’ve not worked with much before, so there’s a lot of Googling of syntax going on - but I’m slowly getting there. Lua starts counting from 1, rather than 0, which is very distressing to me, coming from Javascript and Python.

Nonetheless, this is one of the largest coding “projects” I’ve worked on for a while, with several different moving parts. First the script needs to grab a list of data files in a directory, choose one, and read it. Then it needs to parse a selected column of data out of that file, putting it in Lua data structures. Then it needs to show a visual representation of that data on the screen. Then the user needs to be able to select a scale and a root note (it only maps to pitch for now). Then they need to be able to play back the notes in sync with an internal or external clock.

Most of that is done, but I’m struggling with the file reading parts because they’re slow, and the script tries to do things with the data before the reading is complete. There doesn’t seem to be native support for asynchronous coding in Lua, so I’m exploring other options. I’ll crack it eventually, but I fear it might involve restructuring the whole codebase in the process.


My coding has been accompanied by the excellent Music For Programming - a collection of mixes put together with a lot of love by Datasette. Highly recommended as a soundtrack for work of all kinds.


When quoting a price recently, I realised that my pricing strategy has changed a bit in the last year or so. Originally I was expecting to find a magical sweet spot where I felt that a price was not too high and not too low. But the reality is that the sweet spot is when I feel like the price is BOTH too high and too low. So sketched a graphic to illustrate.


Something changed this year in the discussions around climate change that I see on the web. More and more right-wing figures are switching from denying or delaying climate action to full-throated support. Look at Boris Johnson, leading the largest right-wing majority that Britain has seen in a long time, preaching the need for cutting emissions, installing heat pumps, and abandoning coal.

In truth, this has been coming for a long time. Conservation and conservatism share more than their first 10 letters. Both are about returning to a vision of how things used to be, before they were “ruined” by modern society. Both default to less interference, rather than more. Both value the “local” over the “foreign”.

While this shift in right-wing thought should be broadly welcomed, it’s worth thinking about the battles ahead. Already, extremist politicians across Europe are attempting to use environmentalism as an argument for reducing immigration and strengthening borders, as described by Oliver Milman in this Guardian piece:

In the UK, the far-right British National party has claimed to be the “only true green party” in the country due to its focus on migration. In Germany, the rightwing populist party Alternative for Germany has tweaked some of its earlier mockery of climate science with a platform that warns “harsh climatic conditions” in Africa and the Middle East will see a “gigantic mass migration towards European countries”, requiring toughened borders. Meanwhile, France’s National Front, once a bastion of derisive climate denial, has founded a green wing called New Ecology, with Marine Le Pen, president of the party, vowing to create the “world’s leading ecological civilization” with a focus on locally grown foods.

The reality, of course, is that few climate migrants want to migrate at all. They’re being forced to abandon their homes by the extreme weather and climatic changes unleashed by the wasteful, high-carbon consumption habits of richer countries - the same lifestyles enthusiastically promoted for decades by the very same right-wing politicians who are now sounding the alarm.

What’s more, the personal carbon footprints of these climate migrants are a tiny fraction of those of people in richer countries. So don’t be fooled by anyone claiming that “population” is the real climate problem, or that the only way to protect our way of life is to enclose our homes in a ring of steel.

The least disruptive path forward is to rapidly cut emissions and reverse the destruction of natural environments, so that as few people as possible are forced from their homes by severe weather and climatic chaos.


Finally, a book recommendation. I just finished and very much enjoyed the short and sweet A Psalm For The Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers. It’s a short solarpounk novella that tells the story of a person who doesn’t know what they want, and a robot who does. It wears its solarpunk firmly on its sleeve (in fact it overdoes it a little at times), but it’s short enough that that’s not a bother. If you’re looking for a little more optimism in your reading diet, a little glimpse of a better world, then I think you’ll enjoy it.


That’s all for this week. Catch you in ten days.

- Duncan

#65
November 30, 2021
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A Neat Exercise, A Supportive Community, A Paler Shade of Brown

Hello. My name is Duncan, I'm an information designer interested in technology, culture and the environment, and from a hotel in Gothenburg this is "Hello From Duncan" - a compilation of my recent input and output which I send every ten days. You're getting it because you signed up for it, but it's easy to unsubscribe with the link in the footer.


The beta test of my data visualization membership programme, in collaboration with Alli Torban, Will Chase, and Gabrielle Merite, is going very well, and we've decided it's viable to launch publicly - which we're planning to do in January.

If you'd like to invest in levelling your data visualization skills through a supportive, like-minded community, and gain privileged access to four mentors without needing to send a single awkward email, then grab a place at the front of the waiting list by filling in this form.

#64
November 20, 2021
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A Prime Symphony, A Simple Area Chart, A Tough Turban

Hello friends. My name is Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days which collects together my recent input and output. As always, you're getting this message because you signed up for it, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.

Lots of personal news bits today, so let's get straight into it!


Last time I wrote to you, my "London Under the Microscope" collaboration with Valentina D'Efilippo was being exhibited in a gallery at the Brighton Digital Festival. Now, it's available online for all to see! I recommend listening with headphones for best effect.

#63
November 9, 2021
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A Pentagonal Meteor Thing, A Repurposed Turbine Blade, A Telescope for Exploring Imaginary Exoplanets

Hello friends. My name is Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days summarising my recent creative input and output. You're getting it because you signed up for it, and you can unsubscribe with the link in the footer.


I spent a little time this week busting out my pen plotter for the first time in what feels like forever. My role in the Prime Symphony project has expanded to not just create a soundscape for every prime number, but also to create a unique piece of generative pen-plotter art for each one too. Outputs so far include this pentagonal meteor thing.

The process has meant digging out lots of my old generative scripts and figuring out what everything does again. It was only about a year ago that I did a lot of pen plotting (remember Inktober?) so it's not too far gone. In fact I was surprised how quickly I was able to jump back into things.

#62
October 31, 2021
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A Bit of Brickwork, a Geography of Mice, a Few More Small Kindnesses

Hello friends, my name is Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter-shaped summary of my recent input and output, which I send every ten days or so. You're getting it because you signed up for it, most likely at buttondown.email/duncangeere.

You might wonder why I mention this every time I email you. It's because we all get a lot of email these days, and I don't want anyone, especially new subscribers, to be wondering "what the hell is this?". Just seems like a small kindness that's not much bother for me, and we all need a few more small kindnesses in our lives.


I've been living in Helsingborg now for a little almost three months, and over that time Denmark and Sweden have both relaxed their (already pretty lax) pandemic rules. So on the weekend, I crossed my first international border in about two years.

#61
October 20, 2021
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A Sonification Soundtrack, A Wider-Than-Expected Gap, A Book That's in Your Corner

Hello friends. My name is Duncan and this is “Hello From Duncan” - a compilation of my recent input and output, which I send three times a month. You’re getting it because you subscribed to it at some point in the distant or recent past, and you can unsubscribe with the link in the footer.


Let’s do reading recommendations first today. I’m still really enjoying Jenny Odell’s How To Do Nothing, now that I’m a little over half-way through. Just the right mix of politics, philosophy and self-help, in that the self-help doesn’t take the form of “do this”, but “here’s a new way that you could think about this”. It’s gentle with the reader, and firm against those forces that assail the reader. It’s a book that’s in your corner.

#60
October 10, 2021
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A Gigantic Jet, an Old Farm, a Bioregionalist Identity

Hello friends, my name is Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a thrice-monthly compilation of my recent input and output. You're receiving it becuase you signed up for it, and if you've changed your mind about that then there's an unsubscribe link in the footer.


I was a very early user of Spotify, and I think the first tech journalist to write about it in the UK. In a , I called it a “breath of fresh air”.

#59
October 1, 2021
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A Siesta, A Traffic Filter, A Layout of Furniture

Hello friends, my name is Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send three times a month. It's a compilation of my most recent input and output. Because you can't have good output without good input.

You're receiving it because you signed up for it (probably here) and you can unsubscribe with a single click using the link in the footer.

#58
September 20, 2021
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A Fort in the Woods, A Blue Hyperlink, A Lonely Christmas Party

Hello friends, my name is Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days about what's going on with me and what I'm finding interesting. You're getting it because you signed up for it, probably at this link. If you like it, forward a copy to a friend who you think would like it too. If you don't, then the unsubscribe link is in the footer and you're free to go.


#57
September 10, 2021
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A Norns Shield, An Optimal Use of Land, A Lot of Early Post-Rock Albums

Hello friends. My name is Duncan, and this is the newsletter I send out every 10ish days. It used to be exactly ten, but now I'm sending three issues a month on the 10th, 20th and last day of each month instead. Less decimal, more lunar. Feels right.

As always, you're getting this message because you signed up for it. You probably subscribed at buttondown.email/duncangeere, so if this email comes as a surprise then check that link and see if it looks familiar.

Okay, on to the show.

#56
August 31, 2021
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A Lot of Stuff, A Sea Power, A Lowly Aron

Hello folks, my name is Duncan and this is a newsletter I send every ten days called “Hello From Duncan”. It’s free, it’s healthy, and it’s carbon-neutral. What’s not to like? You’re getting it because you signed up for it, most likely here, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.


Things are for me right now. I’m currently working on an extremely short-deadline sonification project for a large US company, a long-term editing job on a large scientific report for a large US charity, a deep analysis of some survey data and a map-based web design project for Possible, a bit of visualization work for a British startup, preparing for the launch of my dataviz membership programme, my usual writing commitments for Minecraft.net, and trying to progress a few little art projects in the background.

#55
August 20, 2021
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A Marina, An Interactive Atlas, A Pie Crust

Hello folks. My name is Duncan Geere, and this is “Hello From Duncan” - a newsletter that normally arrives every ten days with a mix of things I’m working on and things I’m finding interesting.

You didn’t get one ten days ago because I was about to move house, and I’ve also spent most of the last ten days moving house, but I did get a chance to write a few notes for it so I figured it would be better to send something short than nothing at all.

Before we begin, the usual housekeeping - you’re getting this newsletter because you signed up for it, probably at buttondown.email/duncangeere. If you’ve had enough, there’s an unsubscribe button in the email footer.

#54
August 9, 2021
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A Tiny Island, A Box Generator, A Fugue

Hello. My name is Duncan, and according to the banner image above, this is my newsletter: Hello From Duncan. I send it every ten days, and you’re receiving it because you signed up for it. You can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.

Enjoying it? Forward a copy to a friend who’ll like it, or just hit reply and tell me what you’ve been working on lately. You will be heard - I read every email I get, and quite honestly I reply to almost all of them too. Now let’s get on with the show.


In a couple of weeks I’ll be leaving Gothenburg, my home for the last nine years. I’m moving down to Helsingborg, a town in southern Sweden close to Lund and Malmö, because my partner got a new job at the start of the year based down there and so we’ll need to move sooner or later. Right now Covid-19 case statistics in Sweden are extremely low (not much delta variant here yet), so it seems like a good time. We’ve found an apartment, and will be moving on 2 August.

#53
July 20, 2021
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A Mapping Tool, A Perverse Fondness, A Total Wizard

Happy Saturday, friends. My name is Duncan, and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days, covering things I've been working on and things I've been finding interesting. It's free, but not cheap, and you can always unsubscribe with the link in the footer.


Before we get started, another apology for sending you a Loud Numbers newsletter the other day. This is the problem with having too many newsletters. But yes - episode three of Loud Numbers is now out - and it's an old-school jungle track, with plenty of airhorns, backspins and a phat bassline. Give it a listen.


#52
July 10, 2021
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A Flawless Sapling, A Lampshade Repairman, A Zen-like Problem-Solving State

Hello folks. My name is Duncan, and you’re reading “Hello From Duncan” - a newsletter I send every ten days filled with things I’ve been working on and finding interesting. You’re getting it because you signed up for it, probably on Buttondown. And you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.


The second episode of Loud Numbers, my data sonification podcast, has been released. You can , or in your favourite podcast client by searching for “Loud Numbers”.

#49
June 30, 2021
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A Reclaimed Parking Space, A Singing Synchronizer, a Surprisingly Satisfying Process

Hello folks. I’m Duncan Geere and this is Hello From Duncan, a newsletter I send every ten days about the things I’ve been working on and the things that I’m interested in. You’re getting it because you signed up for it, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.

You know all this, of course. But I like to remind people each time because we all get too many emails these days and there’s no shame if you want to take a break for a bit.


For Clean Air Day on 17 June, Possible has released the that I created for them. A parklet is a reclaimed parking space that’s been turned into a park, and my Parklet Designer lets you design your own by placing common ingredients, like bike racks, plants, picnic benches, birdbaths, and more.

#48
June 20, 2021
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A Climate-Techno Banger, A Tiny Park, An Enormous Hamster

Hello friends. My name is Duncan, and this is my newsletter - Hello From Duncan. I send it every ten days or so, and it’s basically things I’ve been working on and things I’ve found interesting. You’re getting it because you signed up for it, and you can unsubscribe with no hard feelings using the link in the footer.

With that out of the way, let’s get started.


Loud Numbers, my data sonification podcast, is out! It has been a long journey up to this point, and I’ve talked about it quite a lot in the past, so I won’t go into too much depth here, but suffice to say that I was really happy with how our launch event went and the reception of the first episode so far.

#47
June 10, 2021
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A Podcast Launch, A Ketchup Bottle, A Non-Functioning Toilet

Hello folks. My name is Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days about… well, about all kinds of things really. You’re getting it because you signed up at buttondown.email/duncangeere and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.


The biggest news this week is that the that I’ve been working on for about 18 months, Loud Numbers, is almost ready for release! We’ve put together five episodes of the podcast, covering topics as diverse as climate change, EU bureaucracy and beer tasting. The first will be released on 5 June 2021 - that’s this coming Saturday (how is it June already?).

#46
June 1, 2021
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A Puppy, A Puppy, A Puppy

Hi folks, and welcome to Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days about the things I’ve been working on and the things that have been interesting me.

I don’t have a newsletter for you today. Well - that’s not strictly true, you’re reading one right now. But for the last ten days I’ve been the guardian of a tiny puppy who has been eating a lot of my waking hours (as well as toys, treats, walls, chair legs, and anything else she can get her teeth into). I have not really had time to do much beyond the bare minimum.

So instead of a newsletter today, you just get a photo of the puppy. I hope it will suffice.

#45
May 21, 2021
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A Mosscore Banger, A Sonification Festival, A Car Free Megacities Dashboard

Hello, close and distant friends. This is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days with some bits and bobs about what I’ve been working on and what I’ve found interesting. As always, you’re getting this email because you signed up for it, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.

This is quite a chunky edition, because I’ve been busy. You would think that would mean a shorter email but being busy means lots of things to write about, so here we are. I feel like I have a lot of plates spinning at the moment. But nothing has crashed to the ground yet, so let’s hope that continues. On with the show.


#44
May 11, 2021
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A Frame, A Fictional Data Visualization, A Second Dog

Hello friends. I’m Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days about what I’m working on and what I’ve found interesting. You’re getting it because you signed up at buttondown.email/duncangeere.

This episode is rather link-heavy - as explained below, I’ve not had a lot of time for side projects lately, and a lot of my work time has been going into things that I can’t talk about publicly yet or are simply quite boring. But they’re good links, so let’s get started.


#43
May 1, 2021
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A Bottomless Pit, A Photorealistic Landscape, A Database of Abandoned Seafarers

Hello friends. I’m Duncan, and this is “Hello From Duncan” - a newsletter that I sent every ten days about what I’m working on and what I’m finding interesting.

This episode is shorter than usual, because I took three days out of the ten to walk the 75km from Gotheburg to Alingsås. More details on that below.

Otherwise the same rules as usual apply - you’re getting this email because you signed up for it at some point at buttondown.email/duncangeere, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like with the link in the footer.

#42
April 21, 2021
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A Chelsea Tractor, A Few Years of Experience, An Hour Could Last Days

Hello. My name is Duncan and you're reading Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days with some bits and pieces about what I've been working on and what I've found interesting recently.

If you've been forwarded this message by a beloved friend, then click here to subscribe. You can unsubscribe at any time with the link at the bottom.


I'm extremely proud to announce that over the Easter weekend, I did not record and release an album.

#41
April 11, 2021
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A List of Aesthetics, An Incidental Fungi Bank, A Blend of Organic and Synthetic

Hello folks, and welcome to Hello From Duncan - a newsletter I send every ten days about things I'm interested in and things I've been working on. You're getting it because you signed up for it, and you can unsubscribe today, tomorrow, or at any point before the heat death of the universe, with the link in the footer.

I'm aware that the last few newsletters have been on the loooong side, so I've tried to keep this one a bit less wordy. It's at least 25% shorter than last time at least. But with no less good stuff, I hope.

Let's get started.


#40
April 2, 2021
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A Stack of Needles, An Alphabetical Order, A Car Free City

Hello there. My name is Duncan and this is "Hello From Duncan" - a newsletter I send every ten days, covering some of the things I've found interesting and some of the things I've worked over the past ten days.

You're recieving it because you signed up at buttondown.email/duncangeere, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer. If you like it, pick a friend you think might like it too and forward them a copy.


I like to rearrange things. Not meetings, or plans. Sometimes deckchairs. But I find putting physical things into a new layout to be an immensely satisfying, therapeutic activity.

#39
March 22, 2021
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A Weird-Shaped Brick, A Membership Programme, A Universe in Folders

Hello. My name is Duncan and this is "Hello From Duncan" - a newsletter that I send every ten days which rounds up all the things I've been working on, reading, looking at, thinking about and generally "into".

Today's issue is rather longer than normal. Turns out I had a bit more to say about cryptoart, but there are also chunky sections on membership programmes, carbon offsetting, modular synth, and sonification for journalism.

Make yourself a cup of tea, settle into a comfortable chair, and read on.


#38
March 12, 2021
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A Fiery Blueprint, A Concern About CryptoArt, A New Normal

Hello. My name is Duncan, and this is “Hello From Duncan” - a newsletter I send every ten days about things that I’ve been working on and things that I find interesting. I hope you find it interesting too. You’re getting it because you signed up for it - most likely at buttondown.email/duncangeere - and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.

Quite a few new folks on the list today, so if you have a moment, and you want to, then hit reply and tell me a little bit about yourself, the kind of work you do, and something you find fascinating. Just a couple of lines is fine. I promise you’ll get a personal reply. You can also do this if you’ve been reading for ages but haven’t ever messaged me before - I like getting to know you all.


#37
March 2, 2021
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A Metaquestion, An Outlier Encore, An Iceberg Simulator

Hi! I'm Duncan and this is "Hello From Duncan" - a newsletter I send every ten days, covering what I'm working on and what I'm interested in. You're getting it because you signed up at buttondown.email/duncangeere, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.


Let's start with a big question. Why am I writing this newsletter?

Don't worry - I'm not about to get all philosophical on you, but I do want to briefly explain its value to me, which will hopefully allow you to be a more informed newsletter reader.

#36
February 20, 2021
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A Season, A Conference, A Reef

Hello. I'm Duncan and this is "Hello From Duncan" - a newsletter I send every ten days where I talk about what I've been doing and finding interesting.

If you want more, then check out the archive. If you've had enough, then there's an unsubscribe link at the bottom. If you want exactly the amount that you're getting, no less or more, then I've got good news - you don't have to do anything at all. Just read on.


Outlier conference is over, and wow - what an experience. By far the best online conference I've ever attended, successful at beaming great talks into my brain but also forging new connections with smart people doing interesting work.

#35
February 10, 2021
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A System For Taking Notes, a Portrait of Mt Rainier's Glaciers, an Index Fund for Cultural Change

Hi there, my name is Duncan and this is “Hello From Duncan”, a newsletter that I send every ten days about what I’ve been working on and what I’ve been finding interesting. Thankyou for being here, but if you’re ever suffering newsletter overload then you can unsubscribe at any time with the link at the bottom.


First up a quick reminder that I’m speaking at Outlier conference next Friday, 5 February, at 9.10am UTC. You can see that in your timezone .

#34
January 31, 2021
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A Magic Brain, A Modular Rack, a Hopeful Zine

Hi there! I’m Duncan and this is Hello From Duncan - a newsletter that I send every ten days about what I’m working on and what I’ve found interesting. You’re getting it because you signed up for it at some point - probably from here, and you can unsubscribe with the link at the bottom.


The first weeks in my have been great. The team and culture are fantastic, and I’ve already been able to be useful - designing up a .

#33
January 21, 2021
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A New Job, A Conference Talk, A Move to Skåne

Hi there! I’m Duncan and this is “Hello From Duncan” - a newsletter that I sent every ten days or so about what I’ve been working on, and what has been catching my interest. You probably subscribed here, and there’s an unsubscribe link at the bottom if you feel like you need it.

It’s been a while since you got a regular newsletter from me - December was full-on roundup season. I rounded up my work last year in information design, , , and . Thanks so much to those of you who sent kind notes in response!

#32
January 8, 2021
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2020 in Review: Community Building

Hi there. I'm Duncan, I'm a British information designer living in Sweden, and this is "Hello from Duncan" - a newletter I send every ten days about what I've been up to recently and what has caught my attention.

This entry contains neither of those things, however. It's the last of my three (and a half) round-up posts about my work in 2020. The first was about information design. The second was about generative and data art. The 2.5th (this half thing is going badly wrong) was about my data sonification podcast Loud Numbers (I didn't send that one by email (well, I did, but not to this list (ahhhhh too many brackets))).

This last entry is about community. Let's start with the number one most rewarding thing that I've done in 2020. But before we do, you might want to read this newsletter in your browser instead - I have a bit more freedom to embed things there, so the experience is a little nicer.


#31
December 27, 2020
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2020 in Review: Generative & Data Art

Hello there! I'm Duncan and this is "Hello from Duncan", the newsletter I send every ten days talking about what I've been working on and what I've been taking an interest in.

This issue, however, is about neither of those things. It's the second of three end-of-year roundups that I'm writing about my work in 2020. Here's a link to the first one - focusing on information design - in case you missed it.

This one is about generative and data art. I’ll be talking about what I’ve created over the course of the past year, but also what I’ve learnt in the process.

You may have noticed that I'm also sharing these posts on my blog, where I have a lot more freedom to embed pretty photos and live media than I do on email (where including lots of big photos reduces deliverability). As such, I recommend reading this message on my blog instead. But if you prefer to read in email, without images, go right ahead!

#30
December 17, 2020
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2020 in Review: Information Design

Hello! I’m Duncan and this is “Hello From Duncan”, my regular newsletter about what I’ve been working on and what’s been interesting me. It arrives in your inbox every ten days (which I now want to call a “decad” because I’ve finally got round to reading The Dispossessed). Need an unsubscribe link? You’ll find it at the bottom.

A year ago I that “I have a love/hate relationship with roundup posts. I love reading them. I hate writing them.” Well, it turns out that writing a and all year makes it a lot easier to remember things, which in turn makes the work of writing a round-up post a lot easier.

#29
December 8, 2020
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A Data Art Workshop, A Lake of Pitch, The Weight of the World

Hello, my name is Duncan and this is a bunch of electrons whizzing around the internet that have miraculously assembled themselves into a newsletter, aimed at your inbox, called Hello From Duncan.

It lands in your inbox every 10 days, with a mix of things I've done and things I think you might be interested in because I find them interesting. You can unsubscribe at any time with the link at the bottom.


First things first. I'm going to be giving at workshop at Datafest Tblisi between 15 and 17 December. Datafest will be held online, so you don't need to go to Georgia to attend (and neither do I - you just need to buy a pass, the cheapest of which costs 45 GEL (about £10).

#28
November 27, 2020
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A Dangerous Hypothesis, A Seismic Sonification, A Collection of Oscillating Cycles

Hello. I’m Duncan and this is “Hello from Duncan”, a newsletter I send every ten days where I talk about the work I’m doing and the things I’ve found interesting. Want more? Here’s more. I love to hear from readers, so hit reply and tell me what you like about it and what you don’t like it about it.


Subscribers who’ve been around for a while will remember that back in May I published a . Titled “Boom & Bust”, it ran through the history of global oil prices and consumption over the last 50 years. The editor-in-chief of the Data Visualization Society’s publication, Nightingale, it was “like watching Hans Rosling at his first TED talk except, with a digital pen plotter”.

#27
November 17, 2020
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An End to Inktober, A Green Stimulus, An Online Park

Hi there, I'm Duncan and this is Hello from Duncan - a little newsletter I send every ten days about what I'm working on and what's interesting me. You're recieving it because you signed up at some point in the recent or distant past. Either way, I appreciate it very much. Thankyou.


Inktober is over, and with it the need for me to be writing generative art sketches on a daily basis.

Honestly, I was a little relieved when the final day arrived - it was quite creatively taxing, particularly in the penultimate week. But I'm proud of what I achieved in this little sprint and I'm really looking forward to developing some of the pieces into larger artworks.

#26
November 7, 2020
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A Homepage Redesign, A Fungal Newsletter, A Done List

Well hello. I'm Duncan, and this is "Hello from Duncan" - a newsletter I send every ten days where I talk about the work I've been doing, things I've been reading and watching, and anything else that catches my interest.

If you love it, please forward it to a friend. If you hate it, there's an unsubscribe button at the bottom. If you just quite like it, then it's fine to just read it and not do anything else, of course.

Let's get started.


#25
October 28, 2020
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An Oracle Bot, An Irregular Grid, a Native Speaker

Hi there, I’m Duncan and this is “Hello From Duncan” - a newletter I send every ten days about what I’ve been devoting most of my brain cycles to.

This is kind of a long one, so give yourself permission to get a cup of tea, sit down in a comfortable chair, and read it slowly.


I’ve always liked Twitter bots as an artistic medium. Some of my favourites include , , , and the weird and beautiful .

#24
October 18, 2020
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A Playlist, An Inktober, An Inequality of Emissions

Hi! I'm Duncan and this is the newsletter I send every ten days where I talk about my work and anything else that's been catching my attention.

If you haven't already, then you'll want to turn on images in this email - there are some pictures of some of my plotter and visualization work, and they have no tracking code attached. Done? Okay. Let's get started.


As a music fan of a certain age from Britain, I have a great affection for BBC 6Music - a digital radio station that plays a wonderful selection of music I already like and music that I don’t know yet.

#23
October 8, 2020
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A Walk, A Change of the Seasons, A Small Visualization

Hi there. I'm Duncan Geere, I'm an information designer, and this is my regular newsletter - which you signed up to very long ago or not so long ago. Either is cool with me. It covers work I've done lately, and things that have caught my interest. If you're not feeling it and you want to unsubscribe, then there's a link at the bottom.


2020 was supposed to be a year of walking. I had grand plans to walk the Gotaleden, and maybe the Höga Kustenleden if I was feeling brave. That didn't happen, because I didn't want to take public transport to/from the starts of those walks, and then my bike crash took me out for six weeks or so at the height of the summer.

As case numbers in Sweden have gone down, I've cautiously started using buses and local trains again (with a facemask, which is very unusual here) so the Gotaleden might still be a possibility in the Autumn. But I've tried to start walking more on weekends to begin building up my tolerance for longer walks in the meantime. A few weeks ago I did a 24k walk to Ytterby, and today I did about 15km in a long loop around the southern part of Gothenburg. It feels good to be outside, moving, and it's a relatively safe way to meet up with and chat to friends. Laika, my dog, loves it too. So everyone's happy.

#22
September 28, 2020
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A Pool Party, A Rhythm, A Weird Indie Game

Hello, and how are you? My name is Duncan, and you're getting this email because you've signed up to my "Hello from Duncan" newsletter.

It works a bit like this: you get a hello every ten days, and I tell you a little bit about what I've been up to lately. Then you reply if you want to, and we get to have the kinds of nice conversations that we perhaps once had in person, or in the early days of social media, before all this (*gestures wildly*) happened.

Let's get started, shall we?


#21
September 18, 2020
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A Satisfying Project, a MicroCOVID, a Weird Accent

Hi! Welcome to “Hello from Duncan”, a newsletter I send every ten days which covers things that have been catching my attention and things that I’ve been working on. It’s free to read, so if you enjoy it and want to support it then the best thing you can do is share it with a friend. The more the merrier, right?


The opening of Ekistics - my exhibition of pen plotter art went really well. A big collection of my friends came down, many of whom I haven’t been able to see in months, and it was great to catch up with everyone. I had forgotten how nice it is to buzz around a room chatting casually to people.

#20
September 8, 2020
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A Holiday, A Book Review (or Two), A Return to Nature

Well, that was a lovely break. I've just returned from a week on Björkö - one of the islands in Gothenburg's northern archipelago. It's only about 90 minutes' travel from home, via two buses and a ferry, but given that my world has shrunk down to walking distance in the past few months it was wonderful to get a bit of a change of scenery.

I'm Duncan Geere, and this is "Hello From Duncan" - a newsletter I send every ten days about what I've been working on and what has caught my attention.

Gothenburg's northern archipelago is quite different to the southern one. While both were heavily militarised during the Cold War, they've taken slightly different development paths since. The southern one is more sparsely populated, with a few settlements connected by intermittant ferries and no cars allowed. The nothern one, in contrast, has much more regular ferry (and bus) services and feels like a place where people actually live and commute to the city. I've spent much more time in the southern islands, so it was great to spend a week exploring the northern islands - even if it was a little too hot and sunny for my tastes.

I'm back to work now, though, and my top priorities for this tenday chunk are to finish off the various Nesta write-ups I'm deep in the middle of, finish off the artworks for my exhibition (more on that below), and do some short-deadline visualization work for a new client, Ellipsis Earth, which I'll hopefully be able to share more about in due course.

#19
August 29, 2020
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A Routefinder, A Dark Side of Solar, A Him-icane

Hi there,

I’m Duncan, and not coincidentally this is the latest issue of Hello From Duncan - a newsletter summary of what I’ve been up to and what has caught my interest over the past ten days or so.

I’m always interested in hearing reader feedback, so feel free to hit reply and tell me which bits you like most and which bits you don’t care for. I might do a “reader survey” one of these days, if I find the time. Speaking of which…

#18
August 9, 2020
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A Pattern Language, A Sonification, A Lab Notebook

Hi! I'm Duncan, I'm an information designer, and this is the newsletter I send every ten days where I talk about what I'm working on, what's interesting me and what I think might interest you.

This is quite a bumper issue, so let's get started!


Why did no-one tell me about A Pattern Language before today? It's a 1977 book on architecture, urban design and improving the liveability of communities by architect and design theorist Christopher Alexander. It's also online in its entirety.

#17
July 30, 2020
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A Change of Scenery, A Map of Lighthouses, an Exhibition

Hello, I’m Duncan. I’m an information designer, and this is my newsletter/workblog/braindump/lifeline to the world which goes out every ten days.


My last ten days have largely been spent helping innovation thinktank Nesta write up its annual report. It has been pretty interesting - interviewing the heads of different areas of work, and putting together a summary of what they’ve done over the past year. It’s quite an impressive collection. I’ve particularly enjoyed learning about and the

#16
July 20, 2020
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A Hospital Visit, A Birthday, An Internet of Beefs

Hello. I’m Duncan. I’m an information designer, and this is my personal newsletter where I write about things I’ve been working on, or thinking about.

I appreciate tremendously the space you’ve granted me in your (no doubt busy) inbox, and this is a rather long newsletter today, so let’s get straight into it.


Today I went to the hospital for the first time in my eight years in Sweden. I went early - arriving about 9.30am and after passing a barrage of questions at the entrance about my sense of smell and whether I had (was?) a pain in the neck then I was allowed into the Accident & Emergency waiting room.

#15
July 10, 2020
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An accident, a pull request, a Yankovic

Hi there, I’m Duncan and this is the newsletter I send every ten days where I talk about what I’m currently interested in and/or working on (they’re usually the same thing).

Those of you who filled out the form a couple of months back to get something in the post from me should keep an eye on your mailboxes, because I have sent them out. If you missed it all then don’t worry - it was fun so I plan to do more of this kind of thing in the future.

Shall we get started with some DRAMA?


#14
June 30, 2020
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