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Anna Pendergrast

@annapendergrast.bsky.social
2.9K followers 635 following 150 posts

Writing about tech, data and infrastructure + their impacts on people and planet. Occasional posts about buildings and food. I live in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
If you missed me and @kellypendergrast.bsky.social talking about the landline telephone on the radio last week, you can listen here. Our mum says she was surprised how similar our voices sounded. www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
rnz.co.nz
What do we lose when technology moves on?
Remember when the landline really was THE phone? Then mobile phones came along and completely changed the world as we know it.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
If any Wellington cricket fans have been looking for a model of the Basin Reserve, do I have good news for you... (spotted at the Vinnies Brooklyn)
A photo through the glass windows of a shop front of a model of the Basin Reserve cricket ground. The Model is plastic with the cricket green and surrounds. It has perspex panels around the outside and stands on a wooden frame.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is sad news -- the proposed changes would have made a big difference not only to bikes using this busy stretch but also for busses, cars and trucks going towards the city.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Ah, that makes sense, thanks!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Um, why is it cheaper for me to send a postcard from NZ to other countries ($2.90) than sending one locally ($3.60)?
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Excited about our Antistatic research project about people's experiences with once-ubiquitous technologies & what happens when they disappear. First up: the landline. We just expanded the project website big time! Take a look & get in touch if you might want to collaborate: www.everyobject.org
everyobject.org
Every Object an Archive
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
This is the kind of robot I can get behind!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Went to Project Hail Mary last night (I enjoyed it) but today’s discussion in my household is mostly about the unrealistic choices of drum machines in the early classroom scenes
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Just got to chase a golden retriever down our very busy road in Wellington after it walked out a fence that blew down in the wind. It had no collar but with the help of two other sets of neighbours the dog is safe and its owners are being contacted.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Also, just realising the lyrics might not even be correct for all the songs where lyrics aren't published in liner notes or whatever -- the source as far as I can tell seems to be user generated lyric sites.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
I don't want my music streaming to have live lyric replay. I spent the mid-2000s listening primarily to bands with warbly vocal delivery and incomprensible lyrics. Learning the words at this stage of the game is just disconcerting.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
It’s one of my fave times of year: when new students and their parents amble around town laden with laundry racks, duvets and other stuff for setting up flats.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
I love that idea! Did you receive a response?
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Did anyone ever have success with chain letters? Did something ever actually arrive in the post?
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
a good question — by 2030 I think we’ll be moving away from home delivery to centrallsed community mail boxes you go and pick up from.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
It feels silly but I just bought enough stamps to send out my business’ mail for ~4 years since they hold their value. 10 years ago it was 80c to send a standard letter in NZ, now it’s $2.90.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Hi Jason, sorry I am not on Bluesky often these days! Will get in touch via email shortly.
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Reposted by Anna Pendergrast
kelly pendergrast @kellypendergrast.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
New project alert -- me and @annapendergrast.bsky.social having fun and learning things in 2026 www.everyobject.org
everyobject.org
Every Object an Archive
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Do you want some mail? It's that time of year: @kellypendergrast.bsky.social and I are about to send out our 7th annual Antistatic Print Object. Sign up & we'll send you a zine + extra object in the post (gratis). We love to send gifts to our friends!! Sign up>> docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Image of a spread of Antistatic Print Object zines and paper ephemera in different colours spread on top of a wooden table.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Loose topic: Finding aids. In a partly de-physicalized cultural landscape (where even the architecture of the web doesn’t feel much like an architecture any more) are there still ways to follow your nose, or happen across something excellent? How are we finding books, ideas, objects these days?
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Come and hang out with me & @kellypendergrast.bsky.social in our Antistatic Group Meeting next week! It's our monthly group call to link & connect & plot & think. Wed 24 Sep, 10:30am NZT / Tues 23 Sep, 3:30pm Pacific More info and sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/1bhc...
A screenshot of a zoom call where all 6 attendees have homemade backgrounds. The people are blanked out in bright green so just their outlines are visible.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
I'm calling into this AGM from Canada and really hoping I can get to bed before 2am...
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Officially on holiday as of 20mins ago, although I’m yet to find the off button to stop me from thinking about work stuff when I’m off the clock.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
@kellypendergrast.bsky.social and I are excited to be part of the research team for this project. We helped write this backgrounder about internet infrastructure and climate resilience in the context of Aotearoa. To find out more, and learn to get involved, head to internetresilience.nz
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Apparently he's on to the detective novels now...
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Reposted by Anna Pendergrast
New_ Public @newpublic.org · 20/05/2025
Grounded in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s latest book, The Serviceverry, writers @kellypendergrast.bsky.social and @annapendergrast.bsky.social look at the power of reciprocity and gift-giving in various digital spaces. newpublic.substack.com/p/the-unexpe...
newpublic.substack.com
🎁 🔁 The unexpected gift economies thriving online
Seeking digital inspiration from Robin Wall Kimmerer's The Serviceberry
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
I agree on all those things! But fear that might be a request or 3 too far based on the reports I read today!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
You may definitely ask! But I fear you may not receive in most cases!!!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Writing a report? Please, I am begging you, PUT A DATE ON IT! Not just on the website page you can download it from, or in the title, but somewhere obvious in the actual report itself.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Thanks so much Rachel! So glad to hear you're working on writing more about "just enough" in this context - looking forward to reading it when it's out in the world!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
It was a fun one to write, and we look at tools that support reciprocity at a community level, ways people are protecting and contributing to the knowledge commons, and what it might look like to build digital technologies within natural limits.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
The latest @newpublic.org newsletter is written by me and @kellypendergrast.bsky.social. In it, we explore how concepts in Robin Wall Kimmerer's 2024 book The Serviceberry might manifest in digital projects and online spaces. newpublic.substack.com/p/the-unexpe...
newpublic.substack.com
🎁 🔁 The unexpected gift economies thriving online
Seeking digital inspiration from Robin Wall Kimmerer's The Serviceberry
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Come and hang out with me and @kellypendergrast.bsky.social in our Antistatic Group Meeting next week! It's our monthly group call to link & connect & plot & think. 9.30am May 20 (NZT) // 1.30pm May 21 (Pacific) More info and link to sign up is here: mailchi.mp/e259a21f3649...
A screenshot of 6 people in a zoom call, all with different hand-drawn backgrounds. The people themselves have been removed and replaced by bright green shapes.
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Reposted by Anna Pendergrast
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
I learned from @kellypendergrast.bsky.social + @annapendergrast.bsky.social about this Decomputing class at Dark Times Academy — refusal, Ludditism, analog alternatives, etc. I really need this, so I signed up.
darktimesacademy.co.nz
Decomputing: A Community Exploration – Dark Times Academy
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
The newsletter also talks about probably the best podcast episode I've heard this year so far, @davidfarrier.bsky.social's Flightless Bird episode "Mysterious Sound" www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6ze...
youtube.com
Mysterious Sound
YouTube video by Flightless Bird
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
New Scope of Work newsletter written by me and @kellypendergrast.bsky.social is out today. It's about moving house – from packing your life into boxes to physically moving a home from one place to another. We also snuck in a bit about Shihad, because why not. www.scopeofwork.net/moving-house...
scopeofwork.net
Moving House.
A moment of personal intersection with global shipping infrastructures.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
My pals at @darktimesacademy.bsky.social have announced their latest classes and they look fab (ft. some awesome guest speakers)!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
[From Dunedin: Founding a New World City by Ian Dougherty].
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
For the second time in a week I've realised stories I love (and have never previously interrogated) about Dunedin and its streets/buildings are in fact folklore... “Dunedin has steep streets, not because of some attempt to impose another town’s plans but, because Dunedin has steep hills”.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Good idea, thanks!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Oh cool, thank you for looking into this! Not sure how deep I want to dive into this question, but it's tempting to see what I can find!
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Was always Hawai'i in the story I heard! Tell me more about this Brazilian lead...
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Same! Only thing I can find online is a passing comment in a Critic article "Speculation abounds that the building was originally designed without a roof for somewhere either in Fiji or Hawaii. When the project fell through, the University bought the plans instead.." www.critic.co.nz/features/art...
critic.co.nz
Getting Around the Orthodoxy
There is a possibility that I wrote this entire feature in order to begin with the fact that I was in New York over the summer break. With that in mind, I was in New York over the summer break. One ni...
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
I'm trying to find info about the history of the Otago Uni Commerce building, can you help? In particular, is the story I learned as a student in the 00's that its leaking issues were due to it being designed for the Hawai'i climate true or an urban legend...
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
We still have a couple of spaces for our Antistatic Group meeting this week - details and how to sign up below:
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
A bit more context for our Meeting Room project is in our Feb Antistatic newsletter: mailchi.mp/af0550352489...
mailchi.mp
February newsletter: meeting / shopping / close to the machine
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Come shoot the shit with me and @kellypendergrast.bsky.social in our Antistatic Group Meeting next week?? It's our monthly group call to link & connect & plot & think. The Feb call was sooo fun. 10am March 19 (NZ time) // 2pm March 18 (Pacific) Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Screenshot from a Zoom call with Kelly and Anna. Kelly, left, has shoulder length brown hair, and wears a nordic-inspired polar fleece. Behind her is a colorful cut-paper zoom background. Anna, right, has bleach blond short hair, circular plastic glasses, and wears a black sweater. Behind her is a watercolor painted zoom background.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
A real blind spot in my musical knowledge! I learned this from the same video you shared, so much good trivia in there.
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
I second Duct Tape workshop, I've got my last couple of phones there. I currently have an iPhone SE 3 which is great (camera isn't as flash as later models but totally fine).
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Anna Pendergrast @annapendergrast.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
How did I never know that it's Sting singing the second vocal part on Dire Straits' Money for Nothing?
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