John Burke

John Burke is an early years educator turned play theorist, accidental technologist, and determined optimist about what children teach us. After years of jotting notes on scraps of paper between spilled paint and small chaos, John began developing the Legible Play Taxonomy—an attempt to honour what children express through play and make it easier for adults to recognise and support it. His research at SmartLab blends creative inclusive design, ethics, and human-centred technology to build tools that reduce educator workload without compromising trust or the magic of play. He runs a pre-school/afterschool service in the west of Ireland, which is a hoot, and worries that there is not enough playfulness in bios.