I am a Digital Humanities Specialist at the Digital Humanities Observatory (DHO) in Dublin, Ireland.
Academically, my research interests revolve about nineteenth century Canadian economic, business and social history. Most specifically the role of drink and those who served them in late 19thC Ontario. More broadly I explore the adaptation of technology and information visualisation to the pedagogical process.
Professionally, I enjoyed the dotcom boom as jack-of-all trades in co-founded development ventures. Prior to that I was a self-employed journeyman involved in all aspects of information architecture.
I have some history in technology and my main joy in life is catalyzing the reaction between technology and the study of history.
I just noted that Massimo Marcone (one the nicest and most brilliant guys at the University of Guelph) has published his new book - In Bad Taste? This one is definitely going on my must read list. Massimo Marcone is a food scientist at Guelph who is internationally known and respected for his studies of coffee. Although this book is about food apparently it is not one to consume when you are actually eating or having anything to do with food.
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When in Montreal, one must savour the fine eating opportunities and I am thrilled to report that I stumbled across a winner. Rumi is a Persian/Sufi restaurant located in Mile’s End at the corner of Hutchison and Fairmount. It has a charming terrasse and absolutely yummy food.
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In my research into nineteenth century Canadian drinking habits, I very quickly learned that the temperance folks had a special enmity for the custom of treating. The crusade against this special social practise informed much of the pamphleteering and petitioning of legislative bodies. You can see the threat: if you have a lot of friends, and the members of group want to maintain the respect of their peers, the rounds just keep on coming. It was often the exuberant nature of the bar that so threatened the well being of the average Canadian. The warm surrounds of the tavern, the good company of friends and the intellectualizing influence of alcohol. The temperance folks figured that they might be able to somehow beat this custom out of Canadian bar behaviour. There are however some customs that simply do perpetuate and certainly treating is one of them.
So lets take that into the internet age…not constrained by the need to be physically present, the Frog Pub chain has introduced TextToPint. You can now purchase a round for your friends online. Its pretty simple. You pay for the round online and are provided with a simple code that can be text’d to your buddies and they can redeem it from their ‘genial host.’ Brilliant. Good for the pub. What will the temperance folks say???
I have spent the last decade naturally evolving towards a work day that largely takes place in coffee shops. 
Having written my MA largely at the Second Cup in Guelph and turned to the Starbucks before that to do business planning, I currently spend the bulk of my time at the Second Cup in Westdale. During this time, I have evolved from relying on pen and paper to hopelessly attached to my laptop. That same appendage has gone from tethering to an electrical outlet to craving attachment through wireless connectivity. The way in which I work away from the office or home has evolved, technically and socially.
The pen and paper days also involved a good book and allowed for reading during the day. As data connectivity has progressed, direct social connectivity has decreased.
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I will probably betray my rather unrefined palate with post, but its all about honesty right? Tasted a grape that I hadn’t tried before on Monday night. The Italian Primitivo. Its apparently a relative of the Zinfandel and is harvested from the heel of the Italian boot…so appetizing. Apparently both the Primitivo and Zinfandel can be traced to vines originating in Dalmatia sometime in the seventeenth century. The Primitivo is generally fairly high in alcohol content, yet it tends to be more on the fruity side, with a spicy finish. I was quite impressed. I’ll have to get the label off the bottle I had.
I did find a 2003 A. Mano Primitivo (product id 972588 - can’t link directly to a page in their less than user friendly site) at LCBO vintages and it was quite delicious another American site mentions the American winemaker in Puglia who is actually fashioning this fine stuff. So, I throw this out to you as a Shawn pick for all that’s worth.
I have long been a fan of the Food Guru podcasts. This was one of the first video podcasts that I started to download. Peter Harmon, the presenter kept these up on a weekly basis for quite a while then last Fall there was a huge dry period. Then they seem to have started up again recently - cheers. For the last week I was getting download errors and figured that maybe he was going dark again. But suddenly today I have re-established contact and three new video recipes popped my way. One for brown sugar salmon (sounds yummy) a very nice blue cheese and caramelized onion buschetta and the subject that drove me to blog this…an absolutely decadent sounding pizza.
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