Field notes
Field Notes is a collection of observations from living alongside emerging technologies and changing human experiences.
Based in China, I document everyday encounters with electric vehicles, intelligent systems, and digital ecosystems, not as product reviews, but as reflections on how technology reshapes the way people live, learn, create, and adapt. Drawing from more than two decades across art, design, education, and emerging technologies, these notes explore technological transition through a human-centred and creative perspective. They combine first-hand experiences, cultural observations, and research-driven reflections to understand not only what technologies can do, but how people experience and give meaning to them.
THE FIELD ARCHIVE:
The Day I Realised My Car Had Stopped Being a Machine
FIELD NOTE 01: How living with an EV in China changed my understanding of what a car can be.
June 2026
When my wife and I moved to China and bought an electric vehicle, I assumed we were just replacing an engine with a battery. Instead, I discovered we had accidentally plugged into a massive, pre-built infrastructure grid where the car behaves less like a machine and more like a connected smartphone. This note is a reflection on what happens to our daily routines when the ordinary objects around us quietly evolve into something completely new.
[ Read Full Note on Substack ]
Meeting New Technology
on Old Terms
FIELD NOTE 02: How living with an EV in China became an unexpected lesson in how people adapt to technological change.
July 2026
A realisation behind the wheel one evening made me notice I was driving my EV as if it's an ICE car, relying on decades of old driving habits rather than trusting the onboard system. Shortly after, during a university research visit to several tech boardrooms in Shenzhen, I noticed that global organizations often do the exact same thing with tools like AI. This note looks at why the biggest challenge in any major tech transition isn't learning a new tool, it's finding the courage to unlearn the past.
[ Read Full Note on Substack ]
The Day Charging Disappeared
FIELD NOTE 03: How a casual coffee conversation revealed a different way of thinking about energy.
July 2026
When a colleague visiting China questioned whether an EV could really complete a 600-kilometre journey, the conversation revealed how our understanding of mobility is still shaped by the habits of the petrol era. This note explores how charging an EV is not simply a replacement for refuelling, but part of a wider connected ecosystem where technology, infrastructure, and everyday routines work together. Through this simple conversation, I reflect on how new technologies are often understood through old assumptions, and how experiencing them first-hand can change the way we see the future of mobility.
[ Read Full Note on Substack ]
When the Engine Disappeared
FIELD NOTE 04: My first EV service appointment made me realise that for 35 years, I was not just maintaining cars, I was maintaining engines
July 2026
During my first scheduled EV service, I realised how much of my relationship with cars had actually been a relationship with engines. After 35 years of maintaining petrol vehicles, I found myself looking for familiar conversations about oil, filters, and mechanical repairs, only to discover that an entire layer of complexity had quietly disappeared. This Field Note explores how technological transitions are shaped not only by what new systems introduce, but also by what they make unnecessary.
[ Read Full Note on Substack ]