…quite a bit less than I will by the time 23 August comes around…

Today I found out that I have a paper accepted for the VALA: Libraries, Technology and the Future 2020 conference, being held 11-13 February 2020 in Melbourne. The theme is “Focus on the future”.

The full title of my paper is “Kindness and UX in GLAM online presence: Same, same but different?”.

I plan to add together some Michael Stephens, some Mitchell Whitelaw, the governments of Scotland and New Zealand, maybe some Neilsen, a bit of empathy in public policy making, some rather scholarly and unscholarly ideas about kindness, some Carnegie Foundation UK kinder communities work, my own take on what it all means ….. and come up with a 2000-4000 word paper by August.

I understand the key definitions and can write about the context until the cows come home, but what I want to play with and get my head around is a question I will be nutting out for the next couple of years anyhow…

…”If it is not possible to mandate/enforce kindness, due to the voluntary and discretionary nature of true kindness, then is it instead possible or desirable to create an environment that grows kindness?”