I miss being able to look people in the eye

"What even is time, anymore?" I've seen and made many variations of this joke across Slack, twitter and meetings this week. Remote working and social isolation has disrupted all of our routines and left us feeling adrift. But, for those of us lucky enough to have good connectivity, we're certainly not talking or seeing each … Continue reading I miss being able to look people in the eye →

Quick tips for chairing remote meetings

There's a growing set of useful resources and guidance to help people run better remote meetings. I've been compiling a list to a few. At the risk of repeating other, better advice, I'm going to write down some brief tips for running remote meetings. For a year or so I was chairing fortnightly meetings of … Continue reading Quick tips for chairing remote meetings →

What is collaborative maintenance of data? A short talk at the Royal Society

Following the publication of their report on data governance in the 21st century, the Royal Society are running a number of workshops to explore data governance in different sectors. In October 2019 year they ran one exploring data governance in the auto insurance sector. Last week they held a workshop looking at data governance in … Continue reading What is collaborative maintenance of data? A short talk at the Royal Society →

How can publishing more data increase the value of existing data?

There's lots to love about the "Value of Data" report. Like the fantastic infographic on page 9. I'll wait while you go and check it out. Great, isn't it? My favourite part about the paper is that it's taught me a few terms that economists use, but which I hadn't heard before. Like "Incomplete contracts" … Continue reading How can publishing more data increase the value of existing data? →

Three types of agreement that shape your use of data

Whenever you're accessing, using or sharing data you will be bound by a variety of laws and agreements. I've written previously about how data governance is a nested set of rules, processes, legislation and norms. In this post I wanted to clarify the differences between three types of agreements that will govern your use of … Continue reading Three types of agreement that shape your use of data →

GUIDE, a retrospective

This article was first published in the February 2030 edition of Sustain magazine. Ten years since the public launch of GUIDE we sit down with its designers to chat about its origin and what's made it successful. It's a Saturday morning and I'm sitting in the bustling cafe at Tyntesfield house, a National Trust property … Continue reading GUIDE, a retrospective →

Can the regulation of hazardous substances help us think about regulation of AI?

This post is a thought experiment. It considers how existing laws that cover the registration and testing of hazardous substances like pesticides might be used as an analogy for thinking through approaches to regulation of AI/ML. As a thought experiment its not a detailed or well-research proposal, but there are elements which I think are … Continue reading Can the regulation of hazardous substances help us think about regulation of AI? →

When can expect more from data portability?

We're at the end of week 5 of 2020, of the new decade and I'm on a diet. I'm back to using MyFitnessPal again. I've used it on and off for the last 10 years whenever I've decided that now is the time to be more healthy. The sporadic, but detailed history of data collection … Continue reading When can expect more from data portability? →

Do data scientists spend 80% of their time cleaning data? Turns out, no?

It's hard to read an article about data science or really anything that involves creating something useful from data these days without tripping over this factoid, or some variant of it: Data scientists spend 80% of their time cleaning data rather than creating insights. Or Data scientists only spend 20% of their time creating insights, … Continue reading Do data scientists spend 80% of their time cleaning data? Turns out, no? →

Long live RSS! How I manage my reading

"LONG LIVE RSS!" I shout these words from my bedroom window every morning. Reaffirming my love for this century's most criminally neglected data standard. If you've either forgotten, or never enjoyed, the ease of managing your information consumption via the magic of RSS and a feed reader, then you're missing out mate. Struggling with the … Continue reading Long live RSS! How I manage my reading →