Prompting

My feed is full of screenshots of AI generated images made using Midjourney and DALL-E. I've seen Kermit the frog in, well, everything and Foucault on a swing. Creative prompt engineering can lead to some interesting results. And because interesting results leads to clicks which lead to revenue, then engineering interesting prompts will be a … Continue reading Prompting →

There’s a hole in my lawn

There's a hole in my lawn. I don't mean the grass is patchy. Although it is. I mean an actual hole in the earth. It's in the corner of the lawn tucked away by some lavender bushes. I think it was dug by a mouse. We used to see a mouse bolt across the patio … Continue reading There’s a hole in my lawn →

What are Data Unions?

I've been doing some research around different types of data intermediary recently and thought I'd share some things I've learned about "Data Unions". Like a lot of the terms being applied to new approaches to data governance, there's no clear definition of what constitutes a data union. A vision of collective action For example, this … Continue reading What are Data Unions? →

We need the right data institutions

Popular Science have recently published three pieces of speculative fiction exploring the question of "will 'we the people' benefit from our data?". They're called "Shared data", "The Memory of Tomatoes" and "Home@Heart". Each of the pieces of fiction is followed up a response from a policy expert. I read the first of these this morning. … Continue reading We need the right data institutions →

Assessing data infrastructure: the Digital Public Goods standard and registry

This is the second in a short series of posts in which I'm sharing my notes and thoughts on a variety of different approaches for assessing data infrastructure and data institutions. The first post in the series looked at The Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure. In this post I want to take a look at … Continue reading Assessing data infrastructure: the Digital Public Goods standard and registry →

Assessing data infrastructure: the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure

How do we create well-designed, trustworthy, sustainable data infrastructure and institutions? This is a question that I remain deeply interested in. Much of the freelance work I've been doing since leaving the ODI has been in that area. For example, I'm currently helping with a multi-year evaluation of an grant-funded data institution. I'm particularly interested … Continue reading Assessing data infrastructure: the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure →

Reflecting on “How to Do Nothing”

I recently finished reading "How to Do Nothing" by Jenny Odell. It's a great, thought-provoking read. Despite the title the book isn't a treatise on disconnecting or a guide to mindfulness. It's an exploration of attention: what is it? how do we direct it? can it be trained? And how is it hijacked by social … Continue reading Reflecting on “How to Do Nothing” →

How could watermarking AI help build trust?

I've been reading about different approaches to watermarking AI and the datasets used to train them. This seems to be an active area of research within the machine learning community. But, of the papers I've looked at so far, there hasn't been much discussion of how these techniques might be applied and what groundwork needs … Continue reading How could watermarking AI help build trust? →

Downloading magazines from the Internet Archive (and making gifs from their covers)

I like reading old magazines and books over at the Internet Archive. They've got a great online reader that works just fine in the browser. But sometimes I want a local copy I can put on my tablet or other device. And reading locally saves them some bandwidth. Downloading individual items is simple, but it … Continue reading Downloading magazines from the Internet Archive (and making gifs from their covers) →

The COVID is coming from inside the house

We're two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and I still keep having moments of "Holy shit, we're in a global pandemic". We've all been through so many emotions. And there's more to come. But it still seems surreal at times. I say that not to deny or dismiss what is happening. It's just a lot … Continue reading The COVID is coming from inside the house →