iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Imagine five-years-ago-you hearing that *this* company, the company that did this stuff below, is the one the Bodleian have **partnered with** in order to let it train its model on their materials. You’d think it like something from dystopian sci-fi (and it basically is).

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

My modest dream is for my two worlds to collide & for my 90s dance music band to play at a library event… So far two library conferences & a forthcoming wedding between two massive LEGENDS on here have been ruled out due to band unavailability, but one day it’ll happen and it’ll be epic. 🔊

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Really pleased with this book wallpaper (with all book titles chosen by our students and staff!) in our newly refurbed entrance area - which is otherwise bookless… 📚

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

If you want to follow a bunch of academic libraries in one go, step this way! 📚 (Also Public and Health library equivalents, both found via my profile)

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Student Curators is one of the really good things my library does year on year... 📚

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Using GenAI *reduces cognitive function*. The actual function of your brain. It reduces it. So when you use GenAI regularly for a task, you lose the ability to do the task without GenAI (just like if you used a machine to do your exercise for you, you would lose fitness and muscle).

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University of York Library @uoylibrary.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Great to see so many pearls of wisdom on here for people getting their A-level results today... We just hope they reach all three of the Bluesky users young enough to be doing A-levels.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

This is well worth reading. I liked: a) "A recommender that’s a mediocre predictor of what you’d love in a rich, diverse world becomes an excellent predictor of what you’ll click in the impoverished one it creates" And b) that it wasn't called 'Whither serendipity?' which it easily could've been.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Our Customer Services team are at an all-day training event so us non-CS managers are each covering an hour on library reception today... Can confirm I've not felt this out of my depth since doing my 10m swimming badge at Junior school. 😱 However, halfway through shift: building still standing. 🎉

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I have had several huuuuge, disparate projects on, all of which need to be done by 5pm today cos of the financial year end - and my goodness, Bluesky, my shoulders will be lighter at approx 5:01pm! I am PLOUGHING through these projects like a fricking PLOUGH. In your FACE, metaphorical top-soil

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

There needs to be a button you can press on insta that says ‘I’ve now bought the item you somehow creepily know I’ve been looking for so you can tell your advertisers to stop wasting their time making 90% of my feed that item’

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Big job available if anyone's up for it: jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/dire...

jobs.york.ac.uk

Jobs - The University of York

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I agree with this fully, but also LinkedIn is who you follow. Not a single one of you lot have, as far as I've seen, compared your recent project management journey with The Odyssey... The key thing to keeping LinkedIn tolerable is to disconnect with anyone who does all the awful LinkedIn tropes.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I went to a festival this weekend and let my 12 year old niece glitter and colour my beard and NEVER have I had so many compliments from strangers! 😄 (At one point I danced onto someone’s foot and turned around to apologise and all their anger vanished when they saw the beard…)

Me a 46 year old man in a hoodie with a glittery yellow/gold and green beard, posing with a 15 year old daughter and 13 year old daughter

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

This = good, at least they're getting rid!

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Trying not to get wound up by this use of GenAI on CILIP's website... (Were I overthinking it, I'd think it says: are librarians principled enough to take a stance against GenAI? No. But are they competent enough to use it well? Also no. Ah, but can they proof-read websites? Still no.)

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I was really pleased to work with @openingthefuture.bsky.social again recently. We did a session about the idea of trying to 'market' open access better - I see a lot of comms, and a lot of advocacy, but not the marketing part that sits somewhere between them... #OA

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

It may have been unprecedented but it would surely surprise no one if it became a precedent...

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

My university has done what now?

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Imagine looking so bad doing something, that it turns out a teacher uses you as an example of resilience to his class 😄 This morning someone stopped me on my run &> told me he sees me every morning (it's actually every other morning but hey...) & inspires his pupils with stories of how I'm always >

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A time-lapse of (a small portion of) the affinity mapping @andypriestner.bsky.social and I are doing today! We’re taking probably 200 or so insights on post-its, and arranging them by theme. #UX

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

This morning I am in the attic bedroom / office - which is like the sun itself, but hotter and less orange - delivering a workshop on marketing with video... During all the activities I will mute my mic and put on the fan full blast 😬 Here's a slide from it, on virality's relative merits.

Is going viral actually good?
It’s fun, it’s a wave you can ride, and ‘the wisdom of crowds’ means more of your own audience will give it a chance. But it can confuse the local impact, and it can distract from the core aims of what you were trying to do in the first place – so aim to engage your people, first and foremost…
Other people liking it is the icing on the cake, but the cake itself is your target audience liking it.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Went on an adventure last night! My dad came out of retirement for one last gig in London (in the Oranges and Lemons church! From the nursery rhyme!) so me and the girls surprised him by going to it… he sang so beautifully and he was so thrilled when he saw them 🥹 It was all round an ace night.

Two singers and two lutenists in St Clements church

Two grandchildren hugging a grandfather whilst others look on smiling

My daughters and my parents hanging about outside the church waiting for other people to come to the pub

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I'm talking about library social media and authenticity at an @m25consortium.bsky.social event this morning: here's my final slide. 📚 I mean this in many ways: SocMed is better when connected with your wider strategy; with purpose and intention; with other social media; with non-social media...

Slide saying 'Social media is most effective when it is connected'

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Shout out to all the other parents waking up to the post-GCSE exam era! No stress for a while, at least until results day eh? 😄

static.klipy.com

Super Strong Baby Lifting Weights

Alt: A baby lighting a weight off its shoulders and then celebrating

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I put this GenAI statement on my #UXLibs slides and so many people came up to me and thanked for me for it over the next 2 days! Sometimes it feels like an uphill battle to care about this sort of thing, and I enjoyed this not being one of those times...

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Elizabeth McIntosh @imnotemilyok.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Thoroughly enjoyed my first #uxlibs conference in York this week. My main takeaway was that we should be designing for real people and not averages and that we shouldn't be afraid to fail!

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Having promised #UXLibs yesterday that I'd just published a blog post with my slides and associated links, it turned out I didn't actually press publish... Apologies! So here it is, now. Elevating Voices: UX as a tool for equity. www.ned-potter.com/blog/elevati...

ned-potter.com

Elevating voices: UX as a tool for equity — Ned Potter

Presentation and related links from the User Experience in Libraries Conference Keynote speech.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I have to be honest, the conference starts today and the York weather very much has not held... 👀 In the meantime in my #UXLibs excitement I've written a post about ten tiny tips for preparing a conference talk >> www.ned-potter.com/blog/ten-tin...

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The sun is (at least temporary) welcoming delegates to York for the User Eperience in Libraries Conference… Do I know anyone else on here going to #UXLibs this year?

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I've just done my first run-through of my #UXLibs talk, and it's 10 minutes too long, which is fixable, so that's good news. The bad news it means this slide is going to have to go, and will now never be explained... 🥹

Andy Priestner's head badly copied onto a 'character creation' screen, possibly from Outer Worlds 2. Andy's traits include 'innovative' and 'tall', and his specialised skills include 'drive' and 'conflict'

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

I've said it before and I'll say it again - @yalepress.bsky.social / @yalebooks.bsky.social are really good at cover design! Check out the jacket for my Dad's (forthcoming) book, I think this is really lovely stuff. 🤩

Cover mock-up for Christmas Carols by John Potter. Featuring dark blues and reds, and old illustrations of people singing carols, and endorsements from other authors

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University of York Library @uoylibrary.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Someone check what the Temple Run people have to say about Open Access, so we can update our policies accordingly.

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University of York Library @uoylibrary.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Noted, thanks Mel. We should probably hold off on making any firm decisions about REF2029 until we've heard from the bloke who made Angry Birds.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Alice’s dress for York Pride is 🤩🤩 (It’s like being here with a celebrity, we get stopped every 2 minutes for someone to talk to her about it 😄)

A mid-40s woman in a spectacular rainbow dress with stars on it

Me wearing rainbow face paint, Alice wearing rainbow dress

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I too was promised a right-wing old age and was looking forward to an uncritical future caring only about myself and yelling at clouds, but I’ve just got more and more left wing as I’ve got older 🥲

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Bluesky, do we still need 'Home' buttons in website navigation bars? Or does everyone know that clicking the title / logo takes you back to Home, these days? I've redone my site and don't know if 'Home' should be there or not... www.ned-potter.com

Welcome page from ned-potter.com. NED POTTER in big letters to the top left, navigation - including Home, Blog, About, Events. Workshops + Training, top right.

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Amelia Haire @ahaire.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

🚨 Exciting news! 🚨 We’re hosting the first ever NLISN Conference 🎉 📍 Leeds 📅 17–18 July Join us for two days of connection, ideas, and inspiration with people passionate about learning, inclusion & support networks. #NLISN #Conference #Leeds #Inclusion #Learning #Neurodiversity #Autism #ADHD

eventbrite.com

NLISN Conference

Our first 2 day conference for neurodivergent library and information workers, held in person in Leeds, UK. 16th/17th July 2026.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I made this for TikTok but because I can't post it there I've put it here (sort of as a joke really) but also Instagram, where I suspect it won't be as successful as it would have been on TikTok. It's interesting how the different vertical video audiences like slightly different things / vibes. 📚

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

@garybrannan.bsky.social I hope you are across this, you love all elements of this story (Morecambe, Wise, Northern Lads, Song-and-Dance, Comedy, the West End, history, ephemera, and of course military dress)

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

We had a proper photographer at the gig on my birthday. 📸 Alice won a ‘family photo shoot’ as a prize in a raffle. And we asked if we could turn it into the photographer taking shots of the band instead… He kindly agreed. Would recommend Tom Jackson Portraiture to anyone Yorkshire based!

Me - a Middle Aged man - laughing on stage

Two men in ludicrous torch-glasses behind keyboards

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Cabel Sasser @cabel.panic.com · 11/05/2026

this graduation speech moment is notable, and her amazed shock at having failed to read the room feels instructive. when you're inside the bubble, you think everybody else is. but everybody isn't.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Grace has had a short story published in a horror compilation! 🎉🌟 I am delighted for her, and I love this.

A short story called Thing. It ends ‘I am face to face with horror. Glowing eyes, too many teeth, grey skin. I tried to run. To get out. To live.’

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

It’s mad that these days kids want batter bottles so much they chose them as actual presents. Growing up in Essex in the 80s I don’t remember ever seeing anyone drink water 😄

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

I think there's an interesting thing happening where, in online engagement terms, depth is becoming more important & breadth is reducing in importance ever so slightly. Bluesky is a prime example of this - the community is small but really engaged (deep) rather than massive and indifferent (broad).

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I'm running a workshop on creating library newsletters this afternoon - I'd love to crowd-source some examples of ones people like. 📚 Do you either work somewhere with a successful newsletter, or subscribe to a newsletter you rate highly? Leave a reply with a link! Thank you, people of Bluesky.

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Ned Potter @nedpotter.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

2/3 of ebooks released onto Amazon are now GenAI written. 50k+ GenAI tracks are uploaded each day onto music streaming services. GenAI is everywhere on social media and advertising. There's an abundance of everything... except authenticity and human creativity. So they become even more valuable. 🧵

Forgive me for going Full LinkedIn, but this really did get me thinking about my job… and communications, and social media, and marketing, and content, and the arts. In a world in which there is an abundance of almost everything arts-related (music, visual imagery, video, literature) the only things there aren’t an abundance of are authenticity and human creativity – and they become even more valuable as a result. We need to remember this, and be prepared to swim against the tide to defend it.

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