Week 008 though has been the week for removing blockages - the dynorod of weeks.

We've now started to move quite quickly on the playingwithculture work - deciding on a format that will move the project along at pace with lots of different iterations (I've been hanging out with techy dudes too long). We've recently been hamstrung by wanting to have a large launch but very little time to spend on it. Our new approach has kind of freed us up a little.

I've also been doodling and noodling on paper looking at new designs for the Surface tables. We had spent the previous month looking at wireframes and mock ups  with a gut feeling they just don't work. Last week we realised it was because the design and interactions were innately boring. The design focused solely on the objects and the categorisation of content. Or put another way, we had designed something particularly amazing for the researcher visitors and completely forgotten the other 85% of the visitor population. We get to see the new designs in action tomorrow.

My last mental block was the research. we knew we had something rich from all the comments on our questionnaire but frankly had no idea how to harness this. A couple of weeks ago a colleague showed me the wonderful art of  coding. This involves finding themes in the responses and then tagging the comments that apply. None of the data is earth shattering but the process of looking for the themes has really helped the focus of the app we hope to develop as a result.

I'm in the process of tidying up one project and moving on the next few projects. This has left little time for musings and noodling as the state of my blog will profess.

The Leeds project has suffered a couple of set backs over the last few days and there is going to be a delay. Again, working on the inside the museum is proving insightful into how some of the infrastructure, funding and policys can make delivering projects relatively difficult.

A couple of colleagues are both back from Easter holidays, one completely impacted by the ash cloud and another nearly left behind in Oz. With their return comes new focus and enthusiasm for some left behind projects.

Nick and I have stepped up a gear on the whole playful museums ideas and having some great conversations with wonderful folks - so much positivity behind the project is an absolute tonic.

The project that shall never be named is also coming off, at a reasonable pace - just wish we could keep up with the changes.

Oh and the personal stuff? Yes, I'm getting married in September?!

As you'll see from the list below, the back-to-back workshops have finished and work time has become a little less heavily scheduled.

The edited highlights of the last two weeks...

• A trip to see Jack Chestermans exhibition at Dean Clough - art and printmaking I'm happy, paintings of boats in boat sheds Johnny's happy.
• London for the 'still top secret' project kick off with the developers
• Deep discussions over refreshments with herbs in - Rosemary and olive oil cake (?!) and Pear and Thyme Collins (Double ?!)
• Coming up with questions for the project evaluator to ask me. My new conversation starter -  'what questions do you think I should ask you?'
• Answering positively to an email asking if I can source floral arrangements for this event made entirely of weeds found in skips/ditches etc
• Putting the newly re-established Leeds Savage Club in touch with Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society who are researching the Victorian Leeds Savage Club.

The next week looks set to be one of application design and specification for the Microsoft Surface tables and writing the report for the research.

The question I'll leave you with, and what I think we will have  to decide on by the end of this week is -  interpretation provided by the group members - should this provide insight the object that inspired them or the object they created.

Project number one. About two hours ago we got a verbal green light. I'm impossibly bad at keeping secrets but I have been currently sworn to secrecy until the contract is signed. Needless, to say it's been very exciting and possibly the fastest "Yes, let's do it'' I've ever been involved with.

The second project is Leeds Museums iTransform which is now into the third phase - design and delivery of the group content onto the tables. You can see a discussion I posted earlier this week.

One of the strands, is based on the research by a local Historical Society around the local Savage Club. This group has, for me, provided the most worries -  mainly due to my lack of awareness about historical research methodologies and the fact the project is based around an object belonging to the group rather than the museum. With this in mind, it has been the group that's taken the longest to get going.

This week, however the group had two sessions. The first, with Sara Ayad on carrying out picture research. The second with A Different Drum Productions to begin the creative development for an animation to introduce their work. The project has suddenly come alive. The groups enthusiasm and eagerness to tell the story has been infectious. A lot less formal in the workshops/learning, the project is flowing in a way I hadn't expected. The groups are now at full steam of their research and pro-actively partnering with ourselves and the artists, making suggestions and connections to make the best work they possibly can.

It's working so well it has me thinking if this is the way to be working with adult learning groups all together. And that leads me to thinking - why does this always happen half way through a project?

We also went back to the Families in Museums research this week, with fresh eyes. Over 50 people have asked us to see the results now, which is great - but has distracted us a little from the main aim. When we started, we wanted to know - do families who don't visit museums regularly use smart phones and if so can the technology help them navigate the space. Having access to loads of data and lots of people to who were interested meant we started to delve too deep but miss answering our own core premise - the results were in danger of becoming a little vanilla in the present form. No one likes vanilla research... so we're changing it and the results will appear on April 16th.

Ada Lovelace day is about celebrating inspirational women in technology.

I'm not normally someone who gets involved in 'days'. I'm also in the camp that sees technology as a tool rather than a definable sector. I'm adverse to event/organisations who focus only solely on placing boundaries around technology. I like to think of technology as something that is integrated into our lives and serves as a tool rather than a medium. It sometimes feels a little like celebrating the use of a stationary cupboard or having a conference on the theoretical use of the monkey wrench.

So, it looks like I'm not attending right? Well it turns out this is neither of the above cliches. It is about writing a post on women who inspire me and use technology. Much to my shame, I've this hard and I've really struggled to name a woman who is high profile and 'in technology'. I can name numerous men, one after the other - but not women. The fact I struggled told me several things but most importantly - Ada Lovelace day is needed and we should be doing more of it.

When I focussed on my own sector, many of the most significant people in the industry are women, who use technology as a tool in super smart ways and inspire me to try an do the same.

I've come up with what I will call 'my post-digital list of women I admire in technology with museum edge' (a snappy title huh?):

Nina Simon from Museum 2.0 - Nina spotted the link between how people use social technology and how that applies directly to the museum experience. Her exhibition designs use technology but are rarely defined by it. Her blog challenges my assumptions and encourages me to reflect on my own practice.

Nancy Proctor from Smithsonian and MuseumMobile- I worked with Nancy at Antenna Audio and can confirm she is a whirlwind of ideas and energy in an often slow moving industry. I am constantly in awe of her tireless approach to promoting the smart use of mobile in museums and her abiltiy start intellegent debates within the industry.

Dr. Jane Magill - I met Jane at a creative science and learning lab for PAL in 2005-6. At a time when I was becoming dissolutioned with my own work, Jane was the person who inspired me to look at the creative physics of chips and bytes. Her positivity and motivation to 'apply and do' is something I aspire too.

It feels really positive to be discussing such great women who've had an impact on my practice and in a way it's sad that I don't write more things like it. Maybe it's time to start and not make it once a year.

So, let's hear it for the ladies and here's to a Happy Ada Lovelace day. Thanks to Emma and I'll be at the bar at showroom to raise a glass.

[Image courtesy]

Another upshot of the co-design session was a discussion about 'who would help' when older or less experience folks came across the table.

As a true technologist, I pointed out the table was touch sensitive and looked friendly and everyone who saw it's rippley surface would want to touch it. As there were several more mature members of the group, I was promptly righted.

The group were very keen there was someone in the room who would help show them how easy the table was to use, but would also point out 'interesting bits' they might like.  We'd like to have a learning mentor. Again, my museo voice kicked in - well who would do that, we can't afford to have someone stood around. You already do. We do? Yes, the guards.

Thoughout the project, a couple of the visitor assistants have joined the sessions to support the group, offer history and knowledge about the house. Also as we have carried out activities in the discussion their have been other visitor assistants in the space. The group saw the visitor assistants who shared their experience as learning mentors, the group who stood around - as guards. We'd always referred to both sets of people as visitor assistants, but the term had never resonated with the group and therefore had named them with according to their percieved behaviours.

I'd had a similar discussion before at an un-conference session at MuseumNext. A contributor to the session was a PhD student who had evaluated the social interaction around the interactive table at the Cabinet War Rooms. The discussion finally led us to the conclusion to make innovative design easily navigable by visitors, having a welcoming friendly face is very important.

For me, the most suprising element was the insistance that this should be a mentor role. Supportive and knowledgable about the house. Asking the visitors for the right sort of questions and pro-active in offering advice. I'm pretty sure the museum would hope that perfectly describes their visitor assistants.

So, what do you think, is it the name or the behaviour that needs to change?

Describing the tables and how they work has been a bit of a nightmare. As a shortcut we've mentioned their a bit like 'Minority Report' or X Factor (at the point when the judges decide who to take to their flash villas and everyone hopes they don't get the groups). It turns out everyone knows at least one of those examples. For this particular group it has been the inspiration for their project and work with artist, Jack Chesterman. We hoped the session today would provide us with some feedback on how the 'X Factor' application could work.

A lot of amazing and inspiring ideas came from the group  in terms of the software, but more importantly about how to design the  whole experience. Their ideas were cost-effective, simple and completely  inclusive. They were looking at how to invite and talk to groups like  them, groups who would normally not come to a stately home because they  "aren't for people like us". The whole experience has left me inspired -  but also considering the role of professional consultancy within the museum sector.

I'm not a fan of reality TV and as such I don't believe that inviting the public to develop content is the panacea for creating great experiences. Facilitating consultancies with members of the public has been one of the most rewarding parts of this project. Their ideas have directly effected what the museum does and how other people experience the space. And I like that.

I'd  love to hear from anyone with similar experiences. Do you know of any  projects where visitors invited to be design consultants?  Have you worked with groups in this way and how has this impacted on  your practice?

Like most government funded projects, iTransform this week has been about sorting out and spending all the beans in the can by March 31st. I could mutter all day about this crazy situation organisations find themselves forced into - but I'll spare you the details and look on the positive. The most interesting result has been the speed at which we have had to make decisions, offer solutions and agree outcomes has been exhilarating.

One absolute highlight of the week has been hearing some of the evaluation surrounding the iTransform project. The discussion  on the impact of the partnerships on both the groups and the museums is starting to become tangible, it's awsome (that's in the true awe inspiring sense of the word rather  than the 'totally, high five' kind of way).

I found on Wednesday I was being followed by RaleighChopper on Twitter, we had a chat about the fact I broke my tooth on his handlebars whilst learning to ride but now he's gone. Not to the giant Sheffield Rack in the sky but to be an exhibit in the Nottingham Museum. The project, My Life as an Object, is a wonderful one by Rattle. It has inspired me to write half a blog post which I will finish once I can think beyond =SUM(C46:C48)

I'm working with a colleague to develop a new organisation, we seemed to be going great guns until it came to the name. At the moment, we are throwing around a number of ideas, all of which seem to have some double meaning or unfortunate connotation (we would like to introduce the 'practically intelligent group' ) So for the next few weeks it would appear we will have to mumble into our handbags if anyone asks us who we are.

Last thing, the mums, museums and smartphones research is going through a second draft and we hope to be sending out super soon.

I'm writing this with Seven Ages of Britain on in the background. It's good but I wish I were  writing it at SXSW.

So, last week was one of reflection and frustration that I'm a self-employed freelancer and basically if it doesn't move it's because I'm not pushing it.

The reflections came about due to the completion of a series of workshops with adult learning groups for Leeds Museums. Watching the groups and the artists they have been working with, as they began to discuss the project was wonderful. Discussions around how the project had changed their perceptions but also how they planned to display their work on the interactive tables and keep the project going made my heart leap. Along with this came the realisation of missed opportunities and realising how many assumptions had defined the project. Lots of lessons learned and lots of ideas generated.

Other projects are bobbing along in the background - and I wish were moving faster etc. We made a call for projects and the ideas of play in cultural heritage on GEM. Plus offering up the long awaited research for smartphone and familes to MCG.

Finally, a call out on twitter and linkedin turned up some great web designers for this site and a couple of others I'm working on. Turning dreaded projects into exciting ones.