Hadley Beeman

A group of people are smiling and interacting - a laptop shows computer code

A woman looks over at a laptop screen of her colleague

Two women are talking to each other and smiling

A woman is talking expressively as she presents whilst a man smiles in the background

A group of volunteers have been running @nhshackday.com since 2012. In a crazy world, it is all about coming together with common purpose to solve problems in our health service. Please reshare this post about #30 in Cardiff Mar 21/22. We would love to have you join us. ti.to/nhshackday/3...

That’s an amazing parenting moment. Congrats to both of you!

That is wonderful!

I’m sorry too. Let’s find another way to catch up!

Sending love and good wishes for inspiring conversations, effective planning and important mutual support to everyone headed to #ukgc26. I’m sad I can’t be with you this year, but my thoughts go with you!

@ukgovcamp.com

And hats off to @rhodri.biz, who brings this together every year, adding much fun to our holidays and inspiring so many gifts to Centrepoint.

Donate to Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025, organized by Rhodri Marsden Unbelievably, it's the 15th year of this thing. What is it? Improbably, the nig… Rhodri Marsden needs your support for Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025

One of the best parts of Christmas… it’s #duvetKnowItsChristmas

A laugh about where we are sleeping tonight, and a few pennies for those who don’t have a bed.

Merry merry, all 🎄

www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

Donate to Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025, organized by Rhodri Marsden Unbelievably, it's the 15th year of this thing. What is it? Improbably, the nig… Rhodri Marsden needs your support for Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025

Unbelievably, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas generates such good will on social media that over the years we've raised somewhere approaching a quarter of a million quid for homeless charities. If you can spare a bob or two, sling some to Centrepoint, and here's the link: www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

This is the 15th year of #DuvetKnowItsChristmas, which is preposterous. Rules: if you find yourself dealing with unusual / claustrophobic / gaudy sleeping arrangements this Christmas Eve, share a picture with the world. Use the hashtag (with capitalisation) and cc me if you can be bothered.

Thanks to @rhodri.biz for the inspiration, after running #duvetknowitschristmas for a decade.

I'll be reposting the best ones throughout the evening. Tell me your nightmares.

Along with #duvetknowitschrismas, time for a new yearly tradition:

#ITschristmas, where we share IT support horror stories from helping family over Christmas.

Here's mine to start:

That is wonderful news! Very well deserved. Huge congrats to you and every member of that brilliant team. 🎉

UK Health Camp the free ‘unconference’ on digital, design and data for health and care Come and enjoy a full day having conversations about #health, #digital, #nhs, and more. Register at ukhealthcamp.com

We’re looking for a venue partner who can help with physical space to support this open, community-driven, and free-to-attend event.

🗓️ When: A Saturday in Spring 2026 (Flexible)
👥 Size: 100-120 people
📍 Where: Accessible UK location, ideally Leeds

Please get in touch! ukhealthcamp.com/venue

This is an amazing public service, Jess. Nice work! 👏

Me too! Thanks for your service, @jim.londoncentric.media.

That is my FAVOURITE comic. It is so exactly the way the standards world works!

And thanks for the kind words, Stefan. They mean a lot to me. As always, I’m not on my own, in with an amazing team — but I hope we can do some good in those tiny, load-bearing pieces of digital infrastructure.

Thank you!

That is wonderful. Thank you, bear!

That made me laugh. It does feel pretty grown-up at times!

That’s lovely of you to say, Hilary. I hope you’re well and enjoying DCMS. Our creative industries are lucky to have you there!

Thanks, you both. What a great way to put it!

Thank you! That means a lot to me :)

I’m based in GS1’s Global Office, the standards body for barcodes. And I’m working with a phenomenal community of working groups, experts, and industry leaders.

It’s an honour to be joining them.

10/10

And from there, we can learn how to optimise our pharmacy stock, or our shipping routes, or the flow of people through our hospitals. So that’s what we’re doing.

9/

This is more than how things work now. The future we’re all working on, where AI safely revolutionises our daily lives… that’s only possible when we can identify — in our software and algorithms — each of the things we’re talking about. The products, the parcels, the prescriptions.

8/

And it is how this stuff gets written into laws and regulations.

And it’s not just linear, “zebra-striped” barcodes — it’s also 2D barcodes like QR codes and GS1 DataMatrix, RFID tags and NFC. And globally unique identifiers.

7/

And it includes how the numbers in the code can be turned into a web address, linking the physical world with the virtual.

It’s not just healthcare, it’s shopping at the supermarket, it’s buying clothes online, it’s shipping stuff around the world. Supply chains. Logistics.

6/

So that’s my new job. I’m the system architect for the standards around barcodes, which means that everything from how they get encoded (how a number becomes those zebra stripes or QR code etc) through to what info goes in them so it can go beep at the bedside or cash register.

5/

The phlebotomist takes blood, and attaches barcodes to the vial. (That will beep in the lab.)

And I know everything is going to be okay. The people and things in the real world are connected to the electronic records by those barcodes. It gives me a massive sense of relief.

4/

It’s a scary moment, easy to feel powerless. And the stakes feel high.

But then the nurse comes to take observations, and scans the wrist band. Beep! Medications are scanned before they’re put in that tiny paper cup. Beep!

3/