iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 28/09/2026

hallo #emca people - looking for ethnomethodological scholars who work on programming, pair programming, or AI-assisted coding? @5tuartreeves.bsky.social or @saulalbert.bsky.social ?

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 25/09/2026

further weight for the “slow” transport research agenda where you do research by actually physically engaging with and mundanely experiencing the services and infrastructure you’re evaluating (am available for hire)

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Benjamin P Taylor @antlerboy.com · 21/09/2026

Making our way - Tim Ingold This is a special House of Complexity conversation. 29th September Free and online, register here: stream.syscoi.com/2026/09/21/m...

stream.syscoi.com

Making our way – Tim Ingold

This is a special House of Complexity conversation.29th SeptemberFree and online, register here:

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 22/09/2026

this is what broadstone plaza and constitution hill was supposed to look like, according to the 2012 ggda masterplan (i guess if you squint really, really hard .... 🤔 maybe??)

detail from ggda masterplan - broadstone gate phase 3 https://ggda.ie/media/jtqbktzc/081030_masterprint_executivesummary_part4e_small.pdf

detail from ggda masterplan - broadstone gate phase 2 https://ggda.ie/media/jtqbktzc/081030_masterprint_executivesummary_part4e_small.pdf

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InterAct Research Group @interactemca.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Join us for an online data session on Friday 9 October with Shan Shan Li, @robinjsmith.bsky.social and @greiffenhagen.bsky.social on negotiating rights to mobility. #EMCA Register here: forms.cloud.microsoft/r/rYVyNa9dJ4

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 09/09/2026

Our 2009 transport policy "Smarter Travel”: “Commuters will only begin to consider a shift from car to bus transport when the advantages of the bus are greater than those of the car”.

"Smarter Travel: A Sustainable Transport Future”, a 2009 policy setting out Ireland’s transport priorities for the period 2009 to 2020 which says: “Commuters will only begin to consider a shift from car to bus transport when the advantages of the bus are greater than those of the car”.

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Sally Watson @salawatson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

“The rules around car traffic are hard to modify, and any requests usually go all the way up to municipal authorities”, he added. “And politicians are really scared to touch anything with cars, because they fear it will cost them in votes.”

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 08/09/2026

terrible indictment of the juvenile system in soccer, which leaves kids in Darndale without games because the Dublin District Schoolboys/Girls' League refuses to admit clubs with less than five underage teams - other sports actively support clubs in this situation...

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 08/09/2026

news of Janette Sadik-Khan on @thewaroncars.bsky.social reminded me of her talk in Dublin a couple of years ago...

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 08/09/2026

this is very true in many cases but there's a separate phenomenon where very obvious - and correct - political solutions in various domains remain unimplemented so it's great when people suggest them after 5 seconds' thought because you get to say 'yes! that's exactly what should be done' ...

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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Dancing very very VERY close to saying “OpenAI stole our almost-complete proof of Navier-Stokes from internal access to our ChatGPT sessions because they were desperate to scoop Anthropic” which is absolutely 100% a believable thing OpenAI would do right now cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/st...

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 08/09/2026

it's apparently controversial to believe that, given the very, very, very few public grass spaces in the north inner city, the available opportunities for children to play sport in such spaces should be protected.

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 08/09/2026

Looks like more evidence that public sector "reform" which increases dependency on external service providers is likely to increase costs and reduce efficiency in the long term (all the while hollowing out internal expertise/capacity...)

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 08/09/2026

This morning (September 8th) in Arnott’s 🎄

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Padraig2112 @isomorphism.net · 09/11/2024

Advice that applies to more than just information technology: a thread. If you're simplifying a complex problem, you're likely doing it wrong.

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dorian @doriantaylor.com · 04/09/2026

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.” (John Gall MD, Systemantics)

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 04/09/2026

Last night on the way back from juvenile training, we walked ten minutes in pissing rain to get the 11 (every 30mins off-peak). We arrived in time to see the bus that was 'DUE' disappear off the display ... next bus in 29mins. A few people started walking, we had to wait. Bus turns up 5mins later...

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

They should not let people with such limited understanding of teaching and learning be deans of entire colleges at the most selective university in the country. AI "encouragement" in writing courses is a declaration that you don't care if students learn to write. college.harvard.edu/about/deans-...

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I suppose this is my manifesto on the subject that writing is writing and AI-assisted or automated document production is something else. Harvard appears to believe that AI automation is an inevitable future. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

insidehighered.com

Writing Classes Are About Writing, Not AI-Aided Production

If we want students to learn to write, AI tools shouldn’t have much of a role. If we don’t think students need to learn to write anymore, I’m not sure what we’re doing here.

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 03/09/2026

Part II of 'Bringing Children to Weekend Games using Public Transport in Dublin: medium.com/@emmet.obria... Timing is everything. This was started shortly before the ESRI research on public transport came out and finished shortly after the plans to increase public transport fares were announced.

medium.com

Bringing Children to Weekend Games using Public Transport in Dublin Pt 2

Reflections on a two year experiment trying to get to juvenile GAA matches using public transport!

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 03/09/2026

To complement the fuel excise cuts to subsidise driving and the increases in public transport fare, we also have the "Your Journey Counts" campaign which encourages people to take sustainable journeys to help reduce Ireland’s transport emissions... www.gov.ie/en/departmen... 🫥

gov.ie

Your Journey Counts

Information on how you can help reduce Ireland’s transport emissions

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 03/09/2026

Irish Times subheading on that story about increases in public transport fares: "Rising cost of State funding for public services has been a spending concern for some time" 🤔

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 02/09/2026

this is still my favourite Dan Ariely contribution to the world CENTER FOR ADVANCED INSIGHT (is there anything that captures more perfectly its use in policymaking?)

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Warren Swords @warrenswords.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Irish Times have used a photo of a dog from 2016 that was seized in Belfast for "looking like a pitbull" to illustrate their pets on public transport story.

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 02/09/2026

Just discovered possibly my favourite critique of a very particular phenomenon by @lisamcnally.bsky.social 🫡 "...there is a special place in hell for those who try to reduce ... complexity ... to what can be scribbled down on flip charts and sticky notes"

Lisa McNally [@Lisa_McNally1]. (2017, July 9). It all going a bit like… [Tweet]. Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Lisa_McNally1/status/884098516242620416

https://andifugard.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/logic-model.jpg

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Deontological Warfare @clockworklady.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

like this is LITERALLY WHAT MAKES THE STORY SATISFYING. We meet Scrooge and ask "why is he a dick?" Then we find out about his bad past and learn "oh, that makes sense, but he took it too far." Then a ghost shows him the rest of the world and he says "oh, I totally took it too far!"

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 31/08/2026

sean bean meme adapted for urbanism: one does not simply drive through cities (it’s a really good point when you apply it to Dublin’s woes)

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 31/08/2026

”I used to be with 'it', but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it' anymore and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me.“

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 17/06/2025

... "we won’t stop climate change by adjusting the language on people’s energy bills, making them aware of social norms or offering them greener “defaults” to steer them toward clean energy"

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 31/08/2026

the final chapter is about how they averted the ai apocalypse by just turning everything off and back on again

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 30/08/2026

"Capital markets should not feel remote or like something that is only for people with significant wealth or financial expertise," Minister Harris will say. I am in awe of the genre-blending awfulness of "capital markets should not feel remote"

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Ray Minehane @rayminehane.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Look this is a great thing for the upper middle class and up to make more money for themselves with zero effort and have no work taxed less than actual work. Added bonus is people will protect a system driving wealth inequality more.

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 29/08/2026

GAA reforms proposed by Dublin football managers (Tired) Kevin Heffernan: "abolish the committee, give the manager complete control" (Wired) Jim Gavin: "introduce a two-point arc to encourage attacking play" (Inspired) Pat Gilroy: "we must return to the Túatha"

"Unless we're absolute idiots, Dublin should win everything. If Dublin gets itself properly organised, which it will, that will happen," he said. "I laugh when people go on about the tradition of the counties.
Who put the counties there? The British. We didn't have counties before that, we had túatha. The túatha was more or less like a GAA club. Why are we so wedded to the county system - a British system?

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Frank Pasquale @frankpasquale.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

“We can think of many kinds of knowledge work, including software development, as a “decide-execute-deliver sandwich”. AI compresses the “execute” layer…but the other two layers resist automation in a way that will not be overcome by capability improvements alone.” www.normaltech.ai/p/why-ai-has...

normaltech.ai

Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t

Coding agents as normal technology

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 28/08/2026

I'm a soundscape maximalist ... (listening to my own thoughts against the backdrop of whatever ambient sounds feature in whichever setting I find myself whether cycling, walking or running).

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 28/08/2026

Not really respecting a “shared space“ when you put up a sign telling children: “No Ball Games No Loud Noise No Wheeled Play” (what’s left for children’s play?)

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xX💖🌹Xx_dolly_Angelic_xX🌹💖Xx @dollyangelic.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

EMCA and discursive psychology friends

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 26/08/2026

this is a great summary of helmet discourse

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 26/08/2026

Would love to see someone map all of the areas in Dublin where it would be unfeasible for someone to own a cargo bike - thinking particularly places where residents have on-street car parking but no provision for cargo bikes or bigger e-bikes

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 26/08/2026

every time a new plan/policy/reform is launched, it should be obligatory to begin with an extremely detailed explanation of why all previous visions and plans for the exact same thing remain unimplemented

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Rob Smith @robinjsmith.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

If you are working on practice and perception in high-stakes environments - where timely noticings (or, indeed, “missings”) of interactional and environmental significances are highly consequential - do consider submitting a paper to our panel! www.iiemca27.org/calls #iiemca27 #emca

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 26/08/2026

Peak ’thinking like an economist’: “Increasing the number of people using active travel reduces mortality and workplace absenteeism”

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Emmet Ó Briain @emmet.quiddity.ie · 25/08/2026

New adventures in micromobility on Infirmary Road … what is it???

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