David Turton
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davidturton.bsky.social
David Turton
@davidturton.bsky.social
310 followers 690 following 76 posts
Haptic heuristics, multisensory multitudes, hab conflab, texture texxture text
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davidturton.bsky.social
Tragic scenes in Oxfam today. The trend for oversized soft toys appears to have ended. Spare a thought.
Giant plush panda sitting at a desk, head down and looking forlorn, waiting for somebody with love to give (and plenty of floor space) Giant brown plush (rabbit??) in similar pose. A blank computer monitor stands on the desk in front, ignored, completing the scene of twenty-first century ennui.
June 28, 2025 at 12:45 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Longest day, hottest day—potato flower
Tuber, rhizome, solar power
Flowering potato plants
June 20, 2025 at 10:42 AM
davidturton.bsky.social
Look closely—the conifers are flowering!
Close-up of conifer, with pink and black tips on the leaves, which produce clouds of pollen when brushed past
March 28, 2025 at 9:28 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Exploring bus travel skills for children with vision impairments today, with help from the wonderful Marvin and Loretta at Stagecoach. Also learned that new buses don’t need mirrors!
Habilitation students sight-guiding one another on and off a red, fully electric bus Marvin from Stagecoach answering questions from a group of habilitation students and explaining accessible bus travel from a driver’s perspective.
March 14, 2025 at 7:05 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Cultures of Surveillance (at Marylebone this morning)
Hawk(?) perched high up in Marylebone Station, just beneath a CCTV camera.
January 13, 2025 at 8:07 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
A promising start…
Pretty sunrise—trees and houses silhouetted, textured orange clouds, wisps, clear skies above
December 23, 2024 at 8:17 AM
davidturton.bsky.social
After the snow, the lichen!
Close-up section of a stone covered in lichen of many colours—green, orange, pink, yellow—interspersed with moss
November 24, 2024 at 1:56 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
The accessibility of Birmingham’s University train station caught my eye (and feet) when passing through recently. Impressive use of tactiles for wayfinding, amongst other things.
A well-lit area in University station (Birmingham) between steps and lift. Corduroy paving is used at the bottom of the stairs, in addition to high-contrast nosings—mostly white, but yellow for the first step. Wider, metal, corduroy-style tactiles mark out lines of travel, switching to metal blister-style dots at key points or turns. Also visible are large-print signs, including for “mobility lounge” seating and a hearing loop system.
November 18, 2024 at 8:58 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Habilitation students at UCL have been exploring ways of incorporating tactile maps into their teaching this week
Tactile map improvised from scraps of card, with key attached Another tactile map with bits of drinking straw and a gift tag as key A third tactile map—some sponge, blu-tack, sandpaper used A messy table of students making tactile maps—arms, hands, sticky tape, scissors, card, cork, straws, etc. Also some Zychem plans of road junctions, toy cars, and Lego for inspiration
November 17, 2024 at 7:12 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Ladybirds!
Cluster of ladybirds of all colours on gritstone Cluster of ladybirds of all colours in a gritstone crack
April 8, 2024 at 7:28 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Don’t be distracted by daffodils—the heather is out!
Different pink and white heathers crowded together, most in bloom, some in seed
February 23, 2024 at 2:28 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
A tiny wilderness
🟢
Close-up of green, red, blue, yellow tones of intermingling varieties of moss, some flowering, on a stone wall.
February 16, 2024 at 11:39 AM
davidturton.bsky.social
The corner of an elaborately textured and gold-leafed wooden picture frame
February 11, 2024 at 8:28 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Abstract: shades of brown, vertical stripes
February 3, 2024 at 6:04 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Objects of Reference can serve as an effective communication strategy if they’re always available and if their meaning is understood by everyone concerned. In this case, Lola brings her orange ball, which is understood as a request for Dreamies.
A calico cat has dropped an orange ball onto a patterned carpet. Said cat stares, tragically, into the middle distance, awaiting cat treats. The same calico cat sniffs at the orange ball.
January 24, 2024 at 6:29 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Fabulous support from the Wellcome Collection this week during a visit to explore the (superb) accessibility of their exhibitions. All angles and perspectives considered!
An inverted photo of an artwork depicting a human figure “standing” on the ceiling of the reception area at the Wellcome Collection.
January 21, 2024 at 1:12 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Many of these stormy January days have a silver (and pink and orange) lining, if you’re up in time to see it
Bare trees silhouetted against a dawn sky illuminated by pink- and orange-edged clouds.
January 21, 2024 at 1:00 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
The bats are also worth a look! Excellent museum, currently closed, but reopening sometime in February.
A “Monkey-faced Bat” preserved in a large glass jar. A Fruit Bat preserved in formaldehyde(?). The label reads, “Unlike many smaller carnivorous bats which mostly hunt using echolocation, fruit bats find fruit and nectar to eat using sight and smell.”
January 3, 2024 at 9:25 AM
davidturton.bsky.social
No one moment of renewal, but a process of exfoliation, exposing vulnerability and gradually letting go of the crusted remnants of last year’s protective layer
The bark of a churchyard yew tree, with various colourful layers exposed.
January 1, 2024 at 2:55 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
John Lee Clark on your alt text:
“Get to the point, already! […] during one of my seminars, a participant made us all laugh by doing a parody: ‘Mary is wearing a green, blue, and red striped shirt; every forth stripe also has a purple dot the size of a pea in it, and there are forty-seven […etc.]’”
A colour photograph of the dust jacket cover of the hardback copy of John Lee Clark’s book, Touch the Future: A Manifesto in Essays. The main title and author name are printed in black capitals, with the subtitle in white italics with only the initial letters capitalised, except in the case of the word “in”, which is in lower case only. The letters are set against a background texture resembling MDF, while the wood of the table on which the book lies… (etc.)
December 19, 2023 at 5:49 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
🟢
Small section of a stone wall with dozens of patches of assorted moss and lichen, lit by low, winter sunlight
December 17, 2023 at 5:55 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
As each group boarded the craft, the light from a corresponding module blazed out…
A photo of the Arts Tower at the University of Sheffield, in the dark, with the bright lights of each floor illuminating the surrounding mist.
December 12, 2023 at 6:25 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Think it must be some kind of local in joke—this was just around the corner from that crossing
Access cover on edge of blister paving, with paving displaced by reversal of cover
December 11, 2023 at 2:03 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
Cleethorpes in December—bracing sea breeze, wheeling gulls, great chips—a fantasy world of sorts.
Black and white photo of the clock tower and rear of Cleethorpes station, with an entrance to Fantasy World arcade opposite. The sea can be seen in the background between the two, and there are puddles on tarmac in the foreground. Black and white photo of a pier at low tide, with all the supporting stilts visible. The large building on the pier is a fish and chip shop, with the name “PAPA’s” in large letters on top of the roof. Seagulls circle against an overcast sky.
December 7, 2023 at 7:34 PM
davidturton.bsky.social
And how about the side-eye!
The painting Embroidering the Earths mantle, by the artist Remedios Varo (described above). One of the embroiderers glances to the side, perhaps towards (or through?) the cut-away wall of the tower.
December 5, 2023 at 8:53 PM