iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 14/02/2026

Willow’s Valentine 🏹🐾 Cupid napped; Willow swiped his spark to fire her Caturday spa day. This grooming bath is a sovereign cure for the soul! I hied a distempered guest, only to find my heart’s heat where Cupid first found his: in those calico eyes. #caturday

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 07/02/2026

In the flickering light of the Yorkiwara, one must possess eyes that see both the light and the dark. My face is split like the dawn and the dusk-a mask worn for the sake of justice. 🏮 To catch a thief, one must move like the mist and strike like the mountain wind. #Caturday

A regal calico cat named Willow sits poised and upright on a wooden stool. She has a striking "split-face" marking—the left side of her face is orange and black mottled tortoiseshell, while the right side is solid black. She wears a bright white "tuxedo" chest and has white paws neatly tucked together. Behind her is a shelf filled with books and lush green houseplants.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 31/01/2026

I felt like I was standing on the wrong side of the Grill this week. The stillness in seminars is a survival mechanism. I've written about how I'm using "Silent Participation" (Post-its, Red Pens, Secret Ballots) to help the "Zeroed-Out" generation take up space without being devoured.

The title page of the book The Fatal Strand by Robin Jarvis. A central black-and-white illustration shows a hooded, skeletal figure pointing a finger, surrounded by swirling mist. The page is autographed in purple ink with the inscription "Best wishes" at the top and Robin Jarvis's signature at the bottom.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 31/01/2026

“Do not speak to me of kibble. My soul belongs to the crags." She tolerates the living room with the weary fortitude of a Brontë heroine trapped in a parlor. A Wuthering Heights in miniature, judging the Lego chaos with silent, brooding disdain. Happy #Caturday from Heathcliff. 🥀🐈‍⬛

A tortoiseshell cat sits on a sideboard, with the dramatic air of a Victorian heroine slighted by fate. She stares intensely at the camera, pointedly ignoring the domestic reality of scattered Lego behind her.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 26/01/2026

The #BartonFile is a forensic study in Digital Integrity. From a £516k "Hate Tax" to an 18-month suspended sentence, we’re seeing the structural collapse of a digital bully. @thejeremyvine.bsky.social - The High Court just gave us the blueprint for containment. open.substack.com/pub/thatprof...

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 24/01/2026

The 147:1 Ratio is the new baseline. From Sun Tzu’s survival fallacies to the "Digital Drawer" of failure, here is why 6,700 subscribers might just be a stadium full of ghosts. It’s time for a Success Audit. open.substack.com/pub/thatprof...

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 24/01/2026

While I spend my week at Durham deconstructing the ethics of machine-first worlds, Willow is busy monitoring the kitchen counter—which, in her mind, is a tactical launchpad for deep-space surveillance. #Caturday

A portrait of Willow, the Calico Scout from a binary star system. She sits on a dark grey kitchen counter, her face divided with surgical precision - one side the color of a dying sun, the other the deep black of a vacuum. Behind her, a black-and-white curtain displays a repeating pattern of stylized cat faces, representing the 'Cat Matrix' she is currently hacking. Her green eyes are fixed on a point three inches behind the camera lens, where she is currently calculating the exact trajectory required to overthrow the household and reclaim the tuna-supplies. She is the physical manifestation of a system update that didn't quite finish, and she is perfectly comfortable with the error message.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 17/01/2026

The mark: a silver sedan. The witness: a tortoiseshell with ice in her veins. She’s been on the sill since the kibble hit the bowl, eyes locked on the asphalt. To you, it’s a nap. To her, it’s a stakeout. In this city, the only thing sharper than her claws is her intuition. #Caturday #Noir

A cinematic, low-angle shot from the perspective of a gritty detective's office. A tortoiseshell cat sits with her back to the camera, perched on a deep teal windowsill like a private eye surveying a rain-slicked street. She gazes out a large window at a silver car and a massive, rounded green bush that dominates the yard.

To her left, a whimsical Lego display features a robotic white cat atop a pile of gold bricks; to her right, a lone Lego Empire State Building stands sentry next to a vibrant green ZZ plant in a textured turquoise pot. The atmosphere is one of quiet, hard-boiled observation—a silent guardian watching over the suburban sprawl.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 10/01/2026

Behold the creature, spun from night and fire, Upon a clouded fleece of milky white; She rests from twilight's hunt and fierce desire, A captive now to slumber's gentle might. This tranquil scene, my love, I share with thee; For where thou art, is sweetest rest for me. #caturday

A vision of domestic tranquility wherein a calico cat, robed in a motley coat of deep charcoal, burnished amber, and pristine snow, has succumbed to profound sleep. Her face is turned from the viewer, lost to the realm of dreams, yet her alabaster paws are clasped delicately together upon her breast like a silent prayer. She rests upon a soft, pale expanse of fleece, which is patterned with the faint, orange vestiges of wandering tracks.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 08/01/2026

Come for the title (“I just go headbutt a tree...”), stay for the incredible scholarship. Serious admiration for this multi-national study on how kids navigate digital play and well-being. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #ChildhoodStudies #DigitalPlay #NewMedia #AcademicSky #Research

Header of an academic article published in the journal 'New Media & Society'. The title reads: ‘I just go headbutt a tree or something’: Children’s contextualised digital play drivers and subjective well-being in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and Cyprus. The authors are listed as Fiona Scott, Liz Chesworth, Stavroula Kontovourki, Karen Murcia, Karin Murris, Kim Balnaves, and Cath Bannister.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 03/01/2026

The prophecy spoke of a Doppelgänger. A silent watcher made of brick and stud, perched upon the Grey Highlands, waiting to usurp the throne. But I have claimed the Purple Fortress. Let the construct come. The age of Flesh and Fur is not yet over. #Caturday #FantasyCats #CatsOfBluesky #LegoCat

A tableau of domestic tension. In the foreground, a calico cat—the Chosen One—sits ensconced within the Walls of the Violet Keep (a purple felt storage cube). Her eyes are wide, gazing at the viewer with an expression of startled prophecy. Behind her, perched upon the Grey Monolith (an ottoman), sits the False Idol: a Lego tuxedo cat. The plastic construct stares with unblinking yellow eyes, mimicking the form of the true beast. The background reveals the Green Archives (a bookshelf filled with Nigella Lawson cookbooks) and the Red Boots of Haste, setting the scene for a tale of magic and identity theft.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 27/12/2025

I nearly forgot, it’s #caturday The Overseer has assumed the high station upon the wooden skeleton. From this vantage point, utterly indifferent to the technology hanging beneath her claws. We are merely the ground crew in her orbit.

A low-angle observation of a biological sentinel—a calico feline with a carapace of orange, black, and white fur—perched atop the weathered, skeletal beams of a wooden gantry. The creature gazes upward into a vast, featureless azure void, the planet’s atmospheric dome unblemished by clouds. Below the sentinel’s station, dormant, bulbous photon emitters hang on insulated wiring like synthetic fruit, while the chaotic, thorny lattice of organic flora encroaches from the periphery.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 25/12/2025

Whatever spirits may visit this house today, this particular cat-apparition demands its tribute of turkey before she shows a solitary spark of benevolence. God bless us, every one (especially Willow). 🎄🎩🐈‍⬛

A solemn feline of tortoiseshell and white coat sits upright upon a wooden stool, possessing a countenance as grim as Ebenezer Scrooge before the spirits' visitation. She fixes the viewer with a direct, unblinking stare, seemingly unimpressed by the festive trappings behind it, where two stockings—one bearing the likeness of Saint Nicholas, the other a snowman—hang upon a grey wall, awaiting the abundance of the season.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 22/12/2025

Forget the New York Times and The Financial Times. The final boss of book reviews has entered the chat: my daughter. What will she make of my latest book, Navigating the Web of Disinformation?

A scene of high domestic drama in a well-appointed library. A young lady of decided opinions—and the author's most formidable critic—is thoroughly obscured behind a copy of her parent's recent publication, "Navigating the Web of Disinformation." Whether she is engrossed by the prose or merely composing a scathing review behind the safety of the hardcover remains a mystery to the anxious observer. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a daughter in possession of her parent's book must be in want of a red pen.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 20/12/2025

It was a dark and stormy night. She walked in with a yawn that could stop traffic, a real Femme Fur-tale looking for trouble. I told her to put a lid on it, but she was already heading for The Big Sleep. 💤 #caturday

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 13/12/2025

You pierce my soul. There may be other cats in England, but none with such a countenance—divided by nature into shadow and gold, yet united in perfect beauty. I am yours, utterly. #caturday

An intimate study of a most striking countenance, divided by nature into hues of ebony and ginger. While the cat boasts a gaze of such wide-eyed innocence and deep sensibility that one might suspect a silent plea for cream—or perhaps the concealment of a scandalous secret regarding the pantry.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 07/12/2025

Influencers want you to believe that if you arrange your words into R-I-S-E, exponential leverage will flow. We contort ourselves like a Mechanical Turk so the machine can take the credit. My latest on the "Top 10%": www.mariannhardey.com/technologica... (with a nod to someone who gets the joke)

A circle and two triangles demonstrating their complete lack of understanding of gravity. It's not going to end well

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 16/11/2025

Ever get a review that felt less like feedback & more like a personal attack? I received a desk reject. Our work was "a big mistake." I contrast this with a "good" rejection. Yes, they exist. I reflect on academic elitism, esp in the age of AI slop. www.mariannhardey.com/technologica...

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 14/11/2025

Let's be blunt: 'Neuro-inclusion' is being used as a Trojan Horse to sell AI in education. [shouts] AI companies, our minds are not a market for your solutions; they are a reason to change your systems. I wrote about this here. www.mariannhardey.com/technologica...

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 10/11/2025

A prospect of a library-room Preparing my keynote about AI and Deepfakes for tonight. Somehow, with a flu-laden voice, I am speaking faster(?) and need to add further exciting thoughts, or I will be short for my audience! I have help from my co-workers. (spot the real pup, read my alt text).

A prospect of a library-room, presently in a state of most delightful and whimsical confusion. A distinguished canine personage, possessed of a fine curly coat, has taken the high station upon a cushioned chair, turning its noble head away, as if to entirely disregard the rabble below.

And what a rabble it is! A veritable society of plush creatures has assembled upon the rugs and seized the finest beds by the window. A formidable blue unicorn, clearly of some station, stands guard in the foreground, whilst a large Eevee of considerable prominence holds court, attended by a small orange dragon, a pug, and other soft-bodied sycophants, all gathered in a bed that is clearly not their own. The scene, one must confess, speaks to a most charming breakdown of domestic propriety.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 08/11/2025

#caturday is the best day for sitting in top of books.

Calico cat sat atop a book, four white paws satisfyingly close together. She has an earnest glint in her eye that could be “I love you” or “I will F your stuff up”. Her white whiskers say fierce.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 30/10/2025

I am a vampire who is teaching today for our online MBA programme. @durham.ac.uk

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 13/10/2025

Yeah I got this Post You From A Different Era Me, from when we lived in a squat

Young girl kneeling in an over sized shirt picking up milk bottles. Image from the 1980s.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 20/09/2025

It Is #Caturday (Not my cat, just my photograph).

Image of a fancy home with bay windows and white cat glaring at passer-bys

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 19/09/2025

ok, here it is, a few thoughts on professional pain, badly behaved organs, and the healing power of a Pokémon pillow. lnkd.in/p/e-3-dtMF

The image shows Pokémon plushies with Pikachu as the main centre.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 05/08/2025

They don’t care I have a book deadline

Tricolour cat asleep on chair and black and white dog asleep on the rug in front of the chair. Both looking humphy.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 27/07/2025

A little late for #caturday (cos camping). On returning home, The Cat

Calico cat in cactus cat nest, glaring at the camera

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 24/07/2025

The cat and I can’t wait to read and learn from this collection :-)

Cat sat on a computer keyboard staring at the camera. She is Tri colour calico , there’s an assortment of Lego and books on the desk.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 20/07/2025

A wet weekend in #york As people lose their minds about A/C units in the uk, my current cool reading is this, One day I’ll share my archive of air con units images.

A book: Cool. How air conditioning changed everything.

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 15/07/2025

Cluck Cluck and I are reading, The Age of Diagnosis, Suzanne O’Sullivan. “If I took the advice of people with mild autism on Twitter and on the radio, [he] would end up in residential care… risperidone being pumped into his veins and five people holding him down… this is what autism looks like,”

Chicken helium balloon over a book. The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan

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Prof Maz Hardey @thatprofmaz.substack.com · 14/07/2025

Rather idyllic scenes with co-workers

Cat and dog lounging in pet beds, next to plants and books, an assortment of rugs with sunlight dappled on their backs.

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