02 Jul 2013
Melbourne Green Events is a weekly email publicising events related to environmental sustainability, debate, and activism across Melbourne. It is published every Monday morning.
As an active member of the Greens who maintains a few websites and is active on social media, I often hear about or am asked to publicise such events. Melbourne Green Events will be a resource for green/environmental events and is not endorsed by or affiliated with any particular organisation.
I could be accused of duplicating the efforts of The Victorian Climate Action Calendar or the Sustainable Melbourne Calendar. However neither looks very comprehensive, and VCAC doesn’t appear to have been updated for a few months. I have received some encouragement to go ahead with this, which suggests that my friends and followers on social media are mostly unaware of these other resources.
Melbourne Green Events is a personal initiative of mine and is not endorsed by any party or organisation.
28 Jun 2013
After just over a year as a freelance web developer, I have got a better sense of the questions that I should be asking prospective clients, in order to make the process easier for both myself and for clients. I have now built a web development inquiry form which can help me see how far a prospective client is into the planning process, and how much thought they have put into the project.
If you would like a quote or discussion of my services, please use this form. I would also welcome feedback from other developers on whether they have found a form like this helpful for their business, or whether there are any other questions I should be asking.
12 Jun 2013
On the long weekend, I attended Continuum, my first science fiction fan convention ever. It started off with me registering then sitting with NK Jemisin waiting for the Continuum 101 session to begin - I guessed that it might be her, but didn’t want to assume (and, not having read any of her work, I didn’t want to get into an awkward position).
I read a fair bit of fantasy and science fiction when I was a teenager, but felt ostracised for it and mostly gave it up for ‘serious’ literature when I went to university. I have been exposed to fandom through friends but only started reading and watching science fiction again a few years ago. I was afraid that conventions would be isolating in similar ways to technology conferences, especially as a woman from an ethnic minority who is also relatively new to fandom. I probably only felt confident about attending because I knew the chair and some of the committee members and expected them to bring some diversity to the programme.
I didn’t need to have these fears, and Continuum has set a high standard for future conventions for me. There were many genuine efforts to welcome newcomers and lurkers. Nora Jemisin’s Guest of Honour speech confronted injustice in science fiction, and questions of injustice and inappropriate representation were raised in many panels. I estimate at least 50% of the members were women, which far exceeds the ratio at any tech event I have attended (apart from female-only ones). It felt like a safe environment for minority, queer, and disabled people (as far as I could tell from my mostly-able perspective). None of this surprises me, knowing the committee, but I suspect it’s not representative of the wider world of fandom.
In 2014, Continuum will (again) be the Australian national convention. I expect I’ll be there - I’ve got the convention bug now. That gives me a year to catch up on a lot of books and DVDs.
18 May 2013
For a while now I have been contemplating starting a series of monthly challenges – to try something new or practise a habit consistently over a month, for its own benefit, and to blog about it (to get back into the blogging habit). Today I saw an ad for Open Family Australia’s 21 Challenge, where individuals or groups can undertake a 21-day challenge to raise money to support homeless youth. I don’t normally participate in big fundraising events like this (though I support my friends who do), but as I’d already been thinking about doing a monthly challenge, why not sign on to a cause that I support? In addition, doing a 21-day challenge in June will help me ease into a series of whole-month challenges, if I do follow up on that idea.
Here are some of the challenges I had been considering; if you think any of these are particularly great or terrible, please say so in the comments. I will decide on the challenge and set up a fundraising page on 21 May. The final decision is up to me but I am interested in what others think.
- Talk to a stranger every day
- Draw something every day
- Adopt a vegan diet
- Do not travel on public transport or in cars [which means walking or cycling in cold, wet, and windy June – not something I would like, but it would make me appreciate some of the conditions homeless people face]
If you want to suggest a different challenge, note that I already live without a car or a television, I don’t eat meat, and I hardly ever wear makeup, so some of the ideas at http://21challenge.com.au/inspiration are pointless for me. Note also that I make my living from the internet, so I can’t realistically give that up.
17 May 2013
One of my current web development clients is my mother, Ida Chionh, and I think it’s been quite an educational process for both of us as we find ourselves in a client-freelancer relationship instead of (well, in addition to) a mother-daughter one.
Today Mum is launching her new website, A Wok on the Wild Side, an exploration of her passion for food, travel, and the arts. Both my parents have been dedicated home cooks for as long as I can remember, and Mum started reviewing restaurants in Melbourne in the early 1980s, when sweet and sour pork and butter chicken were still strange and exotic dishes. Mum has a lot of stories and knowledge to share about food and cooking, and I’m pleased to provide her with another platform for her to share her experiences.
A Wok on the Wild Side
http://www.awokonthewildside.com/