Stephen Parnell
@stephenparnell.bsky.social
Formerly an architect, academic and software peep. Now advocating for media literacy and responsible GenAI in HE. Northerner: border collie & brass band lover. Trombone learner (still). Here to learn not argue. Thinking round corners.
Pinned
I have experimented heavily with GenAI these past couple of years in my research and teaching and can see its potential and well as its dangers. The genie ain't going back in that bottle. So when I leave academia next month, this is where I will be focusing my attention: thinking round corners.
I liken my writing cycle to the hydrological cycle. Lots of reading, thinking, doing other things (evaporation) leads to a build up of clouds that have to hit a cold front in order for rain to pour down in the form of words. Which leads to rivers and lakes and seas for more evaporation for others.
December 6, 2025 at 7:11 AM
I liken my writing cycle to the hydrological cycle. Lots of reading, thinking, doing other things (evaporation) leads to a build up of clouds that have to hit a cold front in order for rain to pour down in the form of words. Which leads to rivers and lakes and seas for more evaporation for others.
I can't get enough screen real estate.
December 6, 2025 at 6:59 AM
I can't get enough screen real estate.
I find it so weird how the media reports death in the present tense. Surely if there's anything less present, it's the fact someone is no more. Hashtag autistic brain.
December 6, 2025 at 6:42 AM
I find it so weird how the media reports death in the present tense. Surely if there's anything less present, it's the fact someone is no more. Hashtag autistic brain.
I'm not getting anywhere. Sadly.
December 6, 2025 at 6:38 AM
I'm not getting anywhere. Sadly.
The legendary architect Frank Gehry didn't sadly die. He's just dead at 96.
December 6, 2025 at 6:37 AM
The legendary architect Frank Gehry didn't sadly die. He's just dead at 96.
Reposted by Stephen Parnell
Global coal generation FELL slightly in the first three quarters of 2025.
This drop, combined with rapid growth in wind and solar, meant that renewables have generated more of the world’s electricity than coal so far this year ⚡
#COP30 https://loom.ly/AK3Fn3I
This drop, combined with rapid growth in wind and solar, meant that renewables have generated more of the world’s electricity than coal so far this year ⚡
#COP30 https://loom.ly/AK3Fn3I
November 15, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Global coal generation FELL slightly in the first three quarters of 2025.
This drop, combined with rapid growth in wind and solar, meant that renewables have generated more of the world’s electricity than coal so far this year ⚡
#COP30 https://loom.ly/AK3Fn3I
This drop, combined with rapid growth in wind and solar, meant that renewables have generated more of the world’s electricity than coal so far this year ⚡
#COP30 https://loom.ly/AK3Fn3I
When people do these seminars on failure and call for people to talk about how they've failed, do they actually want people who have overcome failure to succeed? Or genuine down-and-out given-up-all-hope failures who nobody wants to actually hear?
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 PM
When people do these seminars on failure and call for people to talk about how they've failed, do they actually want people who have overcome failure to succeed? Or genuine down-and-out given-up-all-hope failures who nobody wants to actually hear?
Today, I wrote a letter and posted it in a post box.
November 13, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Today, I wrote a letter and posted it in a post box.
Finally writing up my research on 1980s Post-Modern AD and out of the whole circus, Demetri Porphyrios is the most civilised, intelligent, and interesting person. An absolute gent from whom we could all learn a lot.
November 13, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Finally writing up my research on 1980s Post-Modern AD and out of the whole circus, Demetri Porphyrios is the most civilised, intelligent, and interesting person. An absolute gent from whom we could all learn a lot.
Today I become the father of an adult. Where did time go?
November 12, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Today I become the father of an adult. Where did time go?
Everybody's understairs cupboard eventually turns into a vacuum cleaner graveyard.
November 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Everybody's understairs cupboard eventually turns into a vacuum cleaner graveyard.
Reposted by Stephen Parnell
Theo Crosby: 100 Lives
An exhibition about designer Theo Crosby (1925-1994) is on now through 11 December at Osh Gallery, London
@pentagramdesign.bsky.social
More about the exhibition here: www.oshgallerylondon.com
And more about the Crosby archive here: blogs.brighton.ac.uk/brightondesi...
An exhibition about designer Theo Crosby (1925-1994) is on now through 11 December at Osh Gallery, London
@pentagramdesign.bsky.social
More about the exhibition here: www.oshgallerylondon.com
And more about the Crosby archive here: blogs.brighton.ac.uk/brightondesi...
November 10, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Theo Crosby: 100 Lives
An exhibition about designer Theo Crosby (1925-1994) is on now through 11 December at Osh Gallery, London
@pentagramdesign.bsky.social
More about the exhibition here: www.oshgallerylondon.com
And more about the Crosby archive here: blogs.brighton.ac.uk/brightondesi...
An exhibition about designer Theo Crosby (1925-1994) is on now through 11 December at Osh Gallery, London
@pentagramdesign.bsky.social
More about the exhibition here: www.oshgallerylondon.com
And more about the Crosby archive here: blogs.brighton.ac.uk/brightondesi...
Architecture and I have not yet divorced, but I've definitely moved into the spare room.
November 8, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Architecture and I have not yet divorced, but I've definitely moved into the spare room.
Yesterday I was writing in my garden cabin and witnessed at close range a peregrine falcon catch a pigeon, take it to ground, kill it, and devour it over the next hour. The cabin turned into a bird hide and I became an amateur Attenburgh. Quite the most gory but beautiful thing I've ever seen.
November 4, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Yesterday I was writing in my garden cabin and witnessed at close range a peregrine falcon catch a pigeon, take it to ground, kill it, and devour it over the next hour. The cabin turned into a bird hide and I became an amateur Attenburgh. Quite the most gory but beautiful thing I've ever seen.
When AI can connect to a printer and print something first time without 17 reboots, driver reinstallations and tantrums, only then will I be worried. I think we are several decades away from that.
October 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM
When AI can connect to a printer and print something first time without 17 reboots, driver reinstallations and tantrums, only then will I be worried. I think we are several decades away from that.
Reposted by Stephen Parnell
A really interesting piece about the indebtedness of the University of Chicago and how it is destroying its academic reputation - killing the humanities subjects - so it can finance prestigious buildings by top architects.
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
Why Did UChicago Destroy the Humanities?
The answer is simple: to spend untold sums on useless buildings by starchitects.
www.thenation.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:31 PM
A really interesting piece about the indebtedness of the University of Chicago and how it is destroying its academic reputation - killing the humanities subjects - so it can finance prestigious buildings by top architects.
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
I have a 1979 Selmer Mark VI Soprano sax that I want to sell because I don't play it any more. Anybody know how one goes about selling expensive musical instruments these days? I bought it about 25 years ago!
October 17, 2025 at 6:07 AM
I have a 1979 Selmer Mark VI Soprano sax that I want to sell because I don't play it any more. Anybody know how one goes about selling expensive musical instruments these days? I bought it about 25 years ago!
No thanks, I don't want to unlock any exclusive benefits.
October 6, 2025 at 2:11 PM
No thanks, I don't want to unlock any exclusive benefits.
Reposted by Stephen Parnell
(New) #Brutalist #architecture: So, let's remember today Theo Crosby's house and Studio in Hammersmith from the late 1950s, which Stephen Parnell (@stephenparnell.bsky.social) is vindicating as an early example of (New) #Brutalism #BrutalTuesday journal.eahn.org/article/id/8...
September 30, 2025 at 11:06 AM
(New) #Brutalist #architecture: So, let's remember today Theo Crosby's house and Studio in Hammersmith from the late 1950s, which Stephen Parnell (@stephenparnell.bsky.social) is vindicating as an early example of (New) #Brutalism #BrutalTuesday journal.eahn.org/article/id/8...
The world is full of intelligence, both articifial and natural.
Yet people still use [at] and [dot] in their online email addresses thinking that bots won't notice them.
Yet people still use [at] and [dot] in their online email addresses thinking that bots won't notice them.
September 12, 2025 at 7:03 AM
The world is full of intelligence, both articifial and natural.
Yet people still use [at] and [dot] in their online email addresses thinking that bots won't notice them.
Yet people still use [at] and [dot] in their online email addresses thinking that bots won't notice them.
It the Enlightenment was all about establishing knowledge, the Disenlightenment will be about disestablishing it.
September 12, 2025 at 6:16 AM
It the Enlightenment was all about establishing knowledge, the Disenlightenment will be about disestablishing it.
I'm as fed up with AI slop as anyone, but I'm even more fed up with HI (human intelligence) slop.
September 12, 2025 at 6:10 AM
I'm as fed up with AI slop as anyone, but I'm even more fed up with HI (human intelligence) slop.
If you think artificial intelligence is bad - wait till you see artificial grass.
September 12, 2025 at 6:10 AM
If you think artificial intelligence is bad - wait till you see artificial grass.
Yesterday I was shocked that my daughter told me that Charlie Kirk had been shot. She's 14 and lives in Newcastle, UK and had seen him on TikTok. I had never heard of him until yesterday's news.
September 12, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Yesterday I was shocked that my daughter told me that Charlie Kirk had been shot. She's 14 and lives in Newcastle, UK and had seen him on TikTok. I had never heard of him until yesterday's news.