These manky tea towels are all too clean at #emfcamp please come use, donate, swap and soil. Don’t forget to take a zine! Or download one here: oliverbates.itch.io/manky More info: Manky.website
oliver
@oliverbates.co.uk
design researcher. he/him researching through making games, zines and critical tea towels about climate futures, tech, and systems. Links to my stuff: https://oliverbates.co.uk https://fractals.coop/ and research fellow @ lancaster uni
Another great donation to The Museum of Manky Tea Towels! “this timeless dishrag was restored from on top of the wardrobe in the zebra enclosure at Knowsley Safari Park. During a full moon it shapeshifts into a roll of sellotape. Donated: Apr 1992” #storiesofmankyteatowels
🎲We're hiring! Modiphius is looking for a new Games Designer to join our team based in Nottingham. Based in the Nottingham studio, this is a full-time position in tabletop game design to help us deliver projects in 2027 and beyond! Apply here: buff.ly/5vT1puW #GamesDev #Hiring
Me and @ben.kirman.org are zine making this week ready for the Museum of Manky Tea Towels (manky.website) and tea towel making workshop at @emfcamp.bsky.social next week! Get in touch to donate your tea towels!
Prepping for my workshop on making games for fairy lights at @emfcamp.bsky.social next week! Just adding some header pins and sample code to these @pimoroni.com Plasma boards, sealed with the magical swear words I invoke when soldering my fingers.
In June I had the immense pleasure of bringing Zines to the ICT4S 2026 conference to encourage alternative voices, ideas and forms of expression about ICT and sustainability. You can find all the zine contributions on my itch.io page here: lnkd.in/ePySFi4Q #zines #digitalsustainability
learning about LÖVE as a low carbon/permacomputing language for artists today at LIMITS - love2d.org looks great. CONSTRAINTS ARE GREAT. Time to make my p5 games even less resource demanding. Cheers Lee Tusman for the talk! (leetusman.com)
LÖVE - Free 2D Game Engine
love2d.org
Delighted to discover that our tea towels are now appearing alongside papers in google scholar searches ("critical tea towels") - thanks @oliverbates.co.uk for uploading them. and a reminder that "article" is a very broad term so maybe that weird thing you made is also one?
People look at you funny when you’re going through security and you get your scanner out.
Fresh hot Zines! 11 zines contributed to the #ICT4S2026 zine jam oliverbates.itch.io/ict4s2026zines we’ll be making a conference zine this week. I’ll be collecting confessions and questions as prompts for others to collage and sketch zine pages. Come and find me in the coffee break area :)
ICT4S 2026 Zine Library by oliver bates
A collection of zines created and curated for the ICT4S 2026 Zine Jam and conference
oliverbates.itch.io
memories of my x220 fan taking off on zoom or if too many tabs open, etc, a more perfect computer has never existed, etc... from this: Un vélo électrique pour l'esprit / an electric bike for the mind by Martin Lafréchoux digital: ebike.nologos.net digital zine: oliverbates.itch.io/ict4s2026zines
On my way to #DRS2026 in Edinburgh this week, presenting "Research through Game Design" on Tuesday, w/ @oliverbates.co.uk , Marcia Tavares Smith and @dpgreen.bsky.social. I just deleted "GAMES ARE INDUSTRIAL WASTE FOR DWEEBS" from the talk. But what did I replace it with...? drs2026.thedrs.org/home
I’m glad I don’t have to activate a passport like a new bank card.
I'm hosting a 1 hour zine making workshop next week at a conference about tech and sustainability. I'd love to hear about any engaging any prompts and activities for making zines from fellow creatives, zine makers, and facilitators. #zines #zinemaking #creativity #facilitation
Our next project is the Museum of Manky Tea Towels. Me and @ben.kirman.org need your help! Got any novelty/souvenir tea towels you could donate? Here’s a longer call for tea towels: crankandfile.co.uk/museum-of-ma... If you’re in the UK drop me a dm so we can arrange postage or a collection.
Museum of Manky Tea Towels: Call for Tea Towels!
Call for Tea Towels! As part of ongoing research with tea towels and storytelling, we are co-organising an event at the arts and science festival Electromagnetic Field called “The Museum of Manky Tea ...
crankandfile.co.uk
Award winning poster alert from NetDrive spring event at Oxford Uni!!! Had fun coming up with a speculative noticeboard from a future where scientific computing is championing digital sufficiency (consuming “just enough”) to reduce the carbon footprint of digital research and scientific computing.
CONSOLE NERDS GET ON THIS GAME RIGHT NOW!!! Switch & PS5 Out Now! - Anthology of the Killer thecatamites.itch.io/anthology-of...
Switch & PS5 Out Now!
greetings, potential console gamer. what are you doing on itchio? well, i appreciate your broadmindedness. our two cultures have much to teach each other... as part of this magical transfer of informa...
thecatamites.itch.io
I’ve spent the last year investigating how the UK's broken employment tribunal system lets rogue bosses evade justice. But this is the craziest case,by far. A restaurant chain that lost 21 tribunal claims over several years, yet never paid a single one🧵 www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...
Meet the restaurant boss who flouted judges’ orders for years
Jason Wells’ restaurant chain has cheated workers, lost 21 tribunal claims – and not paid a single one
thebureauinvestigates.com
#zine jam is still running for ICT4S! If you’d like to contribute or chat dm me. We’re inviting any kind of contribution about sustainability and ICT/tech! We encourage: - Critical perspectives - unfinished ideas - fictions - poems - photo albums - games - absurdity - thinking “otherwise”
oliver@oliverbates.co.uk · 5mo agoWe’re inviting game makers, artists, researchers, manifesto makers, and creatives of all kinds to make zines about sustainability and digital tech “otherwise”. The zine jam is one way we’re bringing diy + critical and divergent perspectives to tech and sustainability. #zines #games #diy #jam
We’re inviting game makers, artists, researchers, manifesto makers, and creatives of all kinds to make zines about sustainability and digital tech “otherwise”. The zine jam is one way we’re bringing diy + critical and divergent perspectives to tech and sustainability. #zines #games #diy #jam
oliver@oliverbates.co.uk · 6mo ago📓 ICT4S Zine Jam @ ICT4S 2026 (Bern, Switzerland) We’re excited to host the ICT4S Zine Jam and invite you to explore different ways of doing research on ICT and sustainability. conf.researchr.org/track/ict4s-... We’d love to have you there. The ICT4S Zine Collective More info in thread ⬇️⬇️⬇️
“Do not eat” written on the lid of some particularly wet feeling slime that came with a kids magazine. The image of a cake draws me in. I lick my lips. “NOOOOO” screams the child as she swipes it from my mouth. Why is there a picture of a cake on it if I’m not supposed to try a bit?
Posting a day late to say : this was so much fun! Thanks all for playing the first cut of this zine game + coming up with new hospicing tactics. Thanks to @oliverbates.co.uk jamming on this with me. I'll share an updated version soon here + other places + directly with those who've asked.
Atmosphere Community@atmosphere.community · 4mo agoAt 10:30 join @dcwalker.ca for Hospicing social media: Personal archival practices for transition atmosphereconf.org/event/A7ebKjo
We’re inviting game makers, artists, researchers, manifesto makers, and creatives of all kinds to make zines about sustainability and digital tech “otherwise”. The zine jam is one way we’re bringing diy + critical and divergent perspectives to tech and sustainability. #zines #games #diy #jam
oliver@oliverbates.co.uk · 6mo ago📓 ICT4S Zine Jam @ ICT4S 2026 (Bern, Switzerland) We’re excited to host the ICT4S Zine Jam and invite you to explore different ways of doing research on ICT and sustainability. conf.researchr.org/track/ict4s-... We’d love to have you there. The ICT4S Zine Collective More info in thread ⬇️⬇️⬇️
TODAY! The final episode of this season of 20 Minute TTRPGs! @drakoniques.itch.io joins @cutestpatoot.itch.io for a deep dive into game design and another spin if the wheel. www.twitch.tv/EUphoriaAP
"AI-resistant ‘halo’ [heavy asset, low obsolescence] stocks drive UK and EU markets to record highs" www.theguardian.com/business/202...
AI-resistant ‘halo’ stocks drive UK and EU markets to record highs
Investors shifting to ‘heavy-asset, low-obsolescence’ companies insulated from disruption, says Goldman Sachs
theguardian.com
📓 ICT4S Zine Jam @ ICT4S 2026 (Bern, Switzerland) We’re excited to host the ICT4S Zine Jam and invite you to explore different ways of doing research on ICT and sustainability. conf.researchr.org/track/ict4s-... We’d love to have you there. The ICT4S Zine Collective More info in thread ⬇️⬇️⬇️