Recreating sci-fi terminals using VHS

I heard about VHS recently. It's a tool for creating recordings of command-line tools, so you can create little demos and tutorials about how to use them. You can write a script to run commands, manipulate and theme the terminal and produce output in a range of formats. I started thinking about how I could … Continue reading Recreating sci-fi terminals using VHS →

Viewing historical maps of Bath in Google Earth

I've been tidying up some of my online presence this week, including getting rid of a server I wasn't using any more and moving some project around. One of those was a project I did a few years ago to digitise some historical maps of Bath, georeference them so they can be overlaid onto current … Continue reading Viewing historical maps of Bath in Google Earth →

Highlighting harms when writing design patterns

I enjoy writing design patterns. I find them a useful way to clarify my thinking around different solutions to problems across a whole range of areas. A well-named pattern can also help to clarify and focus discussion. I've written a whole book of Linked Data patterns and lead a team that produced a set of … Continue reading Highlighting harms when writing design patterns →

Reflecting on Energy Sparks as a “Community Tech” project

I recently attended the launch event for the new Power To Change Community Tech Fund and have been reading through the essays and report on the Community Tech network website. It's great to see this topic getting some attention and much needed funding. It's also prompted me to reflect a bit on my own experience … Continue reading Reflecting on Energy Sparks as a “Community Tech” project →

It’s just a spreadsheet, but it’s still data infrastructure

I've found my new favourite example of a well documented, tiny slice of data infrastructure. I'm going to hazard a guess that it's probably the simplest dataset that is designated as national statistics. If you can think of one simpler, then let me know. It's the weekly road fuel prices data on gov.uk. This data … Continue reading It’s just a spreadsheet, but it’s still data infrastructure →

Notice of plans to erect…another big database

This privacy notice went past in my twitter stream earlier. It announces that the UK government is planning to create a new database that will some quite detailed data about every electricity meter in the UK. In particular it'll combine together information about the meter, the energy consumption and billing details associated with that energy … Continue reading Notice of plans to erect…another big database →

Freelancing 2021-2022

Currently I'm working four days a week as CTO at Energy Sparks and then using my remaining time to do some freelance work. While I'm really enjoying my work at Energy Sparks and now have a small technical team, I also thrive on having a mixture of other work and responsibilities, so have been keeping … Continue reading Freelancing 2021-2022 →

Improving access to non-domestic energy consumption data

I recently wrote a post describing the data ecosystem for non-domestic energy consumption data in the UK. In that post I summarised my current understanding of the different actors involved in that data ecosystem, and some of the challenges of trying to access data from the perspective of a third-party service provider. In an earlier … Continue reading Improving access to non-domestic energy consumption data →

Wonky fruit and data standards

There was an article in the Guardian this week about supermarkets selling "wonky" fruit during the current drought. It got me thinking about how our perceptions of what is good, normal or acceptable get shaped by decisions made by others. This lead me down a bit of a rabbit-hole reading about cosmetic standards for fruit … Continue reading Wonky fruit and data standards →

The data ecosystem for non-domestic energy consumption data in the UK

Since joining Energy Sparks I've started investing time in trying to understanding the UK energy system and, in particular, the parts of its data infrastructure and broader ecosystem that we work with. It's a big, complex system so lots to wrap my head around. I looked at one part of that data ecosystem in a … Continue reading The data ecosystem for non-domestic energy consumption data in the UK →