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Doug Belshaw

@dougbelshaw.com

710 followers 700 following 1.1K posts

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again." (Groucho Marx) Founding member of We Are Open Co-op. General man about town. 🟡 Some capacity for new projects

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · Nov 18

👋 Hi, I'm Doug. I deleted my Twitter account in 2019 as I could see the way the wind was blowing.

I'm part of a #coop focusing on #learning, #technology, and #community.

Probably best known for my work on #OpenBadges and #DigitalLiteracies

Currently studying towards an MSc in #SystemsThinking

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 1h

Microcast #108 — Skills Taxonomies: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/09/microcast-skills-taxonomies.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 18h

The alternative to depression is not happiness, but feeling whatever is there, a kind of truthful emotional spontaneity and freedom: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/08/the-alternative-to-depression-is.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 18h

The primary energy fallacy gets perpetuated because it suits those who are critical of the energy transition: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/08/the-primary-energy-fallacy-gets.html

Auto-generated description: A bar chart compares global final energy demand between the current energy system (416 EJ) and the post-transition energy system (247 EJ), showing reductions across fuels, electricity, and traditional biomass.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 2d

What do you mean my #weeknote is late? YOU'RE late. dougbelshaw.com/blog/2025/10...

Weeknote 40/2025

What I’ve been up to this week.

dougbelshaw.com

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 3d

*these

(I wish you could edit posts for typos here!)

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 4d

Just to say that I enjoy reading there's when I see them and that talking about the downs as well as ups isn't "whiny" but rather real and being fully human. Please continue 🙂

Reposted by Doug Belshaw

Tom watson @tomcw.xyz · 5d

tomcw.xyz/weeknote/wee...

A tough week, but a good one. Launching The List, meeting new people, a giant melon sculpture, interesting things.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 5d

We’ve gotten really good at creating elites. We’re not that good at creating economies to sustain them.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/04/weve-gotten-really-good-at.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 5d

We humans are limited to having only one perspective at a time: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/04/we-humans-are-limited-to.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 5d

But that's how it's always been, when change has to happen. There's nobody to do it but us.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/04/but-thats-how-its-always.html

Auto-generated description: A weathered poster on a brick wall displays the quote, Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; freedom is something people take, attributed to James Baldwin.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 5d

Hope you and yours are OK, Eylan

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 5d

It will not be compulsory to obtain a digital ID but it will be mandatory for some applications: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/03/it-will-not-be-compulsory.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 5d

Until recently, videos were reasonably reliable as evidence of actual events: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/03/until-recently-videos-were-reasonably.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 6d

Cultural questions cannot be settled by war metaphors unless what you want is perpetual war: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/02/cultural-questions-cannot-be-settled.html

Auto-generated description: A person is sitting and resting in an abandoned industrial building with graffiti on the wall that reads, TIMES HAVE NOT BECOME MORE VIOLENT ONLY MORE TELEVISED.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 6d

OK, but what if: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/02/ok-but-what-if.html

Auto-generated description: A person represents rational thought talking to a brain, highlighting the contrast between perceived brain functions and actual anxiety-inducing thoughts, leading to bedtime restlessness.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 6d

Motivated not by warm fuzzies, but by cold pricklies: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/02/motivated-not-by-warm-fuzzies.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 6d

Anything that looks easy is hard: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/02/anything-that-looks-easy-is.html

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Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 6d

Being able to intensely live this experience for a day makes you want to revolutionize the world: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/10/02/being-able-to-intensely-live.html

Auto-generated description: Three brain scan images display highlighted areas with contrasting activity levels, indicated by color gradients, across two different conditions labeled Aphantasics > Controls.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 10d

So here's the thing: you don't just spin up a Discord server and hope for the best if you're a human rights org. Some reflections on what we're up to with AIUK 👇

We Are Open Co-op @weareopen.coop · 10d

New on our (new) blog: some reflections on how we're helping Amnesty International UK set up a new community platform blog.weareopen.coop/conscious-di...

A collection of Open Peeps

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 11d

Yeah, I bet. Glad it didn't turn nasty.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 11d

My wife showed me some videos on Facebook which shows there was a police line further down from the Monument.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 11d

Would have been there myself if my daughter wasn't playing football.

How many far right protesters turned out?

Reposted by Doug Belshaw

Chris Thomson @cbthomson.bsky.social · 11d

Good turnout for the anti-racism demo in Toon today.

Protesters with placards gather around Grey Monument in Newcastle to protest against the far right.

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 11d

Really real time?: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/09/27/really-real-time.html

Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 11d

To be honest it sounds like NFTs all over again: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/09/27/to-be-honest-it-sounds.html

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